After the Independence Day euphoria, let’s now ponder over some complex issues facing the nation. What are these?

Let me take you back to Uttar Pradesh of the 1960s. My generation was born in this decade. Our democratic values had been strengthened after conducting two general elections and many epoch-making works were initiated.

Cities, at the time, didn’t get electricity for hours, and most of the villages were batti-vihin (without electricity). During this time, India suffered catastrophic droughts and famine. Ganga’s flow almost dried up.

I have vivid recollection of ration shops that would shut before many in the long queues could secure their ration. That decade, India and Pakistan got into a war. The exemplary bravery of our soldiers assuaged, to some extent, our deep hurt from the defeat at the hands of the Chinese some years ago.

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Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru too passed away during the decade. His replacement Lal Bahadur Shastri’s tenure was short. Indira Gandhi’s ascent was the result of Shastri’s untimely death. The emergence of dynastic politics can be traced to this. In those times, Dalits couldn’t fetch water from many wells........

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