Two Decades of Independence

Standing on the same rampart of New Delhi's Red Fort where her fa ther had hailed India's independence 20 years ago, a tired and frail Indira Gandhi seemed to reflect her country's uncertain, troubled mood. There was no joy, no bright promise in her independence-day speech. Instead, last week the daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru told her countrymen: "We are in deep water." But even while she conceded the gravity of India's food shortages and other problems, the lady Prime Minister scolded the younger generation for complaining about the situation and for being oblivious of the country's progress in the past two decades.

Famine & Recession. Indira had a point. Since independence, India has built up the world's 13th largest steel capacity, started a petrochemical industry, expanded electrical power fivefold, boosted total output of manufactured goods by 150%, and made immense strides in bringing better hygiene and education to the country's masses. Most important, while many other developing nations have turned to dictatorships, India has hung on as the world's largest working democracy.

Still, for most of the younger generation she criticized, the Indians under 30 who now make up about 50% of a 510 million population, Indira's facts were not likely to sound impressive. India's progress has simply not been good enough. Faulty government planning, plus two years of drought, have caused such severe grain shortages that only massive imports of food, mainly from the U.S., have staved off full-scale famine. Monsoon rains returned to India's parched fields last month, bringing hope for sizable rice and wheat harvests. Even if they exceed previous records, though, India will remain dependent on foreign suppliers for perhaps one-tenth of its food for years to come.

Lack of buying power at home and an inability to compete abroad have sent most of the country's fledgling industries sliding into a recession. Regional and linguistic rivalries tear at the unity of the Indian nation, and so strained are India's nerves that almost every week minor incidents in one or more cities flare into full-blown riots over food, language or politics. For all its efforts, the government so far has failed to bring under control the country's high birth rate that adds 20 million people each year to an overcrowded land.

Star in the East. Since succeeding Lai Bahadur Shastri 20 months ago, Indira has done little to convince Indians that she can effectively cope with the country's crises. Partly because of her weak rule, voters in last February's elections administered jarring setbacks to her once all-powerful Congress Party. Its massive margin in the New Delhi Parliament has dwindled to 48, while opposition coalitions have ousted Congress Party governments in nine of India's 17 states. Some Indians hail the decline of the Congress Party as a necessary condition for developing a strong multiparty political system. The short-term result, however, is increased bickering and friction between opposition-led state governments and New Delhi over food consignments and other famine relief measures.

Last week's anniversary reminded many of the words with which Nehru had greeted independence: "A new star rises, the star of freedom in the East; a new hope comes into being." Two decades later, Indians were sobered by the realization that the star still shines, the hope diminished.

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