Our country had been under the British rule for about two hundred years. This long term foreign rule suppressed India and his people ruthlessly and it seemed for a while that she (India) would never raise her head in the free air. But Mahatma Gandhi's efforts and his right direction made it possible and the Britishers went to their home land for good. India got independence in 1947. Since then the leaders and the politicians have been trying their best to improve the condition of the masses. Many achievements have been made already but still there are many more to achieve for the alround development of India.
In the economic field, unprecedented progress has been made so far. Our five-year plans have been successfully completed with shining results. Many multipurpose projects such as Bhakra Nangal, Hirakund and Damodar valley projects, etc. have been taken in hand and completed in time. Many factories have been established, for example, Haldia Fertilizer complex, Sindri Fertilizers Factory, Barauni and Guna Fertilizer Factory etc.
Since Independence, our country has made great progress in agricultural production. Farmers have been introduced to improve varieties of seeds and fertilizers. They have also been provided with better machines for agriculture. Lakhs of tube wells have been dug up for irrigation purposes and many new canals constructed. Modern machines can also be seen in our villages today. As a result, our farms are not facing the food problem today. Now, we have enough food for all.
In the field of education, our. country has made wonderful achievements since independence. We have about 7.75 lakh primary schools. 1.10 lakh secondary level institutions and about two hundred twenty one universities in our country now. Apart from these, all the states have well known engineering colleges both government as well as private. The government has also set up Navodaya Vidyalaya in the rural areas to encourage education there.
India's defence setup has also been strengthened by producing most-sophisticated weapons. India has successfully fired 'Agni' a long range missile in 1989. Since then 'Akash' surface to air long range missile, Trishul', 'Nag' and recently 'Prithvi' surface to surface short range missible have been launched. Rapid advances have been made in the field of electronics and a comprehensive programme of computerization is also under way.
The launching of "Aryabhatta", Rohini, Apple INSAT-1 and INSAT-1 (D) Satellites marked the entry of India into the space age. Since then many more multipurpose satellites have been sent into outer space. India has successfully conducted
underground atomic tests for peaceful purposes. Now she (India) is nuclear.
Although our country has achieved much in almost all fields, it is still lagging behind in many things. It has solved many problems no doubt but at the same time it has come in the grip of many new problems like population explosion, Unemployment, pollution, deforestation, corruption, price rise, above all the game of dirty politics and terrorism. These
problems have rocked the country and some times it seems that our selfish leaders, the so called saviour of the country,
will further worsen its condition instead of doing something good for it. However, we should be hopeful. A day will certainly come when India will be a developed and powerful country in the world.
