India 's Priority After Independence

The right to good health is of paramount importance not just in India but also in every corner of the world. It is sad that India, the world's most populous democracy, can't guarantee that to our citizens especially to the ones who fall below poverty line. On one hand, our country is fast becoming the hub for medical tourism where people from other countries flock to get good quality and affordable medical treatment. On the other most of these facilities are simply not available to the natives who should be the first preference looking at the economy of the country (Bajpai, 2014). Healthcare was never a top priority after independence. The initial focus was on agriculture, infrastructure and military. This led to social sectors like health and education being neglected. In its recent assessment of the Indian economy, the Organization for Economic Co–operation and Development (OECD) identified India's poor health outcomes as one of the country's major developmental challenges. India is a laggard in health outcomes not just by OECD standards, but also by the standards of the developing world. In 2012, India witnessed 253 deaths per 100,000 persons due to communicable diseases alone, much higher than the global average of 178. India faces a higher disease burden than other emerging economies such as China, Indonesia, Brazil, Mexico and Sri Lanka. Even poorer neighbors such as Nepal and Bangladesh have a better record in health compared to India (Gawande, 2012).

2.2 English in India:

2.2.1

Pre–Independence Period:

English language was widely exposed to our country due to the British conquest. It was started to accept by the people when the British first came to India after the incorporation of the East India Company in 1600, and gained roots especially by the educational policies of a Governor–general Lord Macaulay.

The growth of English in India is well explained by Timothy J. Scrase in the following words: "Since the days of the British Raj, English remained the language of domination, status and privilege in India. The hegemonic colonial project in India was to create and maintain a class of administrative officers, clerks and compliant civil servants to carry out the task of ruling the vast and ...show more content...

Britishers in India, and as a colonial subjects people had no other choice but to learn, to know and to speak English. In this way the language started gaining roots in India. Meanwhile two groups came in existence. One group was the 'Anglicists' advocated the revival of English and second was the 'Orientalists' who advocated the revival of Sanskrit and Persian learning in India but the noted Hindu leaders like Raja Ram Mohan Roy and Christian missionaries like William Carey advocated Westerneducation through the medium of English. and thus a controversy arose between these groups. It withheld the smooth progress of English in India. Then Lord Macaulay was appointed as the president of the committee in 1834. His main contention was that the study of English could be beneficial to those Indians who were pursuing higher studies than Arabic and Sanskrit. He pointed out that there was already an effective demand for English. He argued that: "since indigenous languages were inadequate and chaotic, and indigenous arts and literature were petty futile things. Only 'Western' education with English as the sole medium would deliver the

Was the 1947 Partition of India inevitable?

In August of 2012, the nations of India and Pakistan celebrated their 65th year of independence from the British Raj. Although its significance was overshadowed by the Independence Day celebrations, August 2012 also marked 65 years since the tragic and violent partition of India and Pakistan. The newfound independence in 1947 was met with mixed feelings. Although the people of India, through nationalism and self–determination, had finally rid themselves from British Imperialism, they now found themselves divided into two nations. While the predominantly Hindu area remained as India, the Northwestern and Eastern, predominantly Muslim area was separated and turned into an independent...show more content...

Viceroy Mountbatten and Britain had to oblige to the League's request and go forth with the partition. Often, the main factor and one root cause cited for the partition of India is religion, however, looking back at the timing and situation historically, religion might've been a reason, but perhaps one that was intentionally stressed so that nation could be separated more easily. It can be considered that Jinnah, who initially supported Hindu and Muslim unity, eventually realized the extent of power he could gain with a separate Pakistan5. This drove him to support the idea of a separate nation to succeed in his personal ambition. Furthermore, in 1947, the Cold War had also just started between the Western powers against the Soviets. It is possible that the British intentionally separated the nation, realizing that a separate Pakistan would be beneficial in fighting the Soviets6. However, without those initial differences and conflicts between the religious groups, there would be no way to push forth and execute the partition afterwards, so there were plenty of reasons why it was inevitable.

When Jinnah's early beliefs are contrasted with his later beliefs, many contradictions are found. It is likely that Jinnah's beliefs changed to adapt to his idea of gaining power7. Like other early members of the Congress, Muhammad Ali Jinnah was also a well to do lawyer, Get more content

India has played a major part in World War One in the aiding of Great Britain in the war to end all wars. India saw World War One as an opportunity to gain their own self–government and also be able to give Britain more firepower due to India's great amount of soldiers. Throughout the course of the war, many countries were beginning to see how much of a contributor India really was. I total of 1.5 million Indian soldiers or volunteers served under the name of Great Britain. This amount of soldiers and contribution gave the people a reason to believe that they will be able to get their own self–government and freedoms from Britain. However, this does not come to be true and their social status with Britain dramatically decreased. Edwin...show more content... This might sound good in some cases for India; however, Britain's main enemy, Germany, were in the works of creating an Anti–British movement that would be able to throw off the British government. Critic and author William Archer explains how this attempt to create rebellion within would make the nation of India "burst into a blaze of rebellion" and ultimately draw India completely against Britain. A key factor for Indian economic growth was the ability to trade with other countries. Throughout WW1, India was a flourishing empire in business and economics, and were able to bring in mass quantities of goods to support their country. However, due to their increased support and spending towards Britain, they began coming into more competition with Britain based goods. Before the war, India's sole trading partners consisted of those in the Central Powers and they were able to obtain a surplus of 6.2 million dollars, but by the next year, they were in debt of almost 14 million dollars, which completely broke their economy down. Selling and making goods for trade also decreased and made millions out of work. Britain began restricting more laws on civil liberties which made the Indian people call for a strike and the man who led the strike was Mahatma Gandhi who urged Indians to leave British–run schools, boycott law courts, quit colonial jobs, and refuse to buy clothing. This strike created a sinister relationship with