As India celebrates 67th year of Republic, it will be worthwhile to consider whether or not the nation has been moving in the direction that was envisaged by the architects of the Constitution of India. Going by the ground realities obtaining in the country, one would not miss the fact that the country has been forced in a direction not intended by thefounding fathers of free India and the framers of the Constitution.

66 years after India became a Republic the country is still suffering the scourge of inequality, discrimination and intolerance. The fundamental rights speak of Right to Equality, Right to Freedom, Right against Exploitation, Right to Freedom of Religion, Cultural and Educational Rights and Right to Constitutional Remedies. Lofty thoughts. But when it comes to implementation part, the people of India realize with considerable pain that the rights promised are not theirs and within their each.

All talk of India making rapid economic progress and getting ready to be one of the three world economic powers in the foreseeable future is simply insulting when one looks at the poverty, injustice, discrimination and intolerance reigning supreme over the lives of people.

The greatness of a country lies not in the wealth some in the country come to have but in the system in which the poorest of the poor is able to live in dignity, without any fear of discrimination and oppression. India has to go a long way to provide to its people the basic human conditions before the dream of the founding fathers of the free India can be realized.