India is changing fast and here's what you should know about it

Change is an ever happening event, a continuous process. This can also be put as "Change is constant". Glaciers change into small streams which in turn change into grand rivers, which finally merge into the sea. Similarly, a bud undertakes a rigorous journey to change into a fruit. Likewise, from being a house to the most advanced and ancient civilizations to the oppressive British rule, from witnessing the greatest epics to being a victim of foreign invasions, wars and brutality, from being a cluster of small kingdoms to being a unified nation, from being an oppressed country to securing independence, India too has undergone massive changes since its existence.

We often come across the phrase "India is a developing nation". Let us take a look at how much we have developed as a nation since independence. The caste system is an ugly blot in India's legacy. India welcomed a grand change right after independence when our Constitution was penned down by a Dalit (the so-called lower caste), which clearly meant the abolishment of the caste system since people belonging to "lower castes" were acknowledged, accepted and treated at par with those belonging to the "higher castes". After 1947, India became the largest democracy in the world and also gave each of its adult citizens the "Right to Vote" irrespective of religion, caste, creed or gender. This gesture brought about a huge change in the entire world as slowly, other countries began to follow suit.

Changes have also been noticed at various other fronts such as education, healthcare, defense, technology, etc. According to the Census of 2011, the literacy rate among boys is 82.14% and among girls it is 65.46%. This clearly indicates that people have realized the importance of education and have also encouraged girls to pursue their dreams, something which was unimaginable a few decades back. The Olympic Games is considered as the ultimate benchmark to measure and evaluate a country's performance at sports. India first participated in the Olympic Games in 1900 and could only win two medals in athletics. Steadily the number of medals increased and in 2012 India bagged a total of 6 medals. This increase in the number of medals can be attributed to the development of state-of-the-art training facilities, availability of equipment of global standard and dedicated coaches who sweat themselves out for the development of the athletes.

A drastic change in approach towards sports was brought about by the hosting of the XIX Commonwealth Games 2010 in New Delhi. This not only presented India as a platform for investment in infrastructure but also promoted the not-so-popular sports such as swimming, gymnastics, etc. among us. India has also stared the T20 cricket tournament Indian Premier League, which has turned out to be huge success. The cash rich tournament has drawn the best Cricketers from across the world since its inception back in 2008. Apart from cricket India has also started a Football league, which has achieved tremendous success as well. The Indian Super League is the most successful Football tournament in Asia.

The health sector has also witnessed some positive changes. These changes include increase in the number of hospitals and medical colleges, more number of doctors and nurses, easy availability of medicines, government's initiative to ensure proper vaccination, etc. The declaration of India as a polio-free country in 2014 can be viewed as a great success in this regard.

Along with these, India has also developed itself as a self-sufficient nation in terms of defense. From Agni to Brahmos( missiles), from T90 to Arjun (tanks), from Sindhughosh to INS Chakra (submarines) India has it all. The Chandrayan and Mangalyan (or Mars Orbiter Mission) can be considered as the greatest achievements by India in the field of space probes. While Chandrayan is India's mission-to-moon , Mangalyan, on the other hand, is India's mission-to-mars which plans to advance more knowledge about Mars. The most amazing fact about Mangalyan is its cost, which is lesser than the budget of the Hollywood hit movie Gravity.

Smart cities will be one of the greatest changes that India would soon be experiencing. Smart Cities Mission aims at improving the quality of life of the citizens by developing the cities and utilizing technology to provide exceptional results. If this so happens then it would open up a whole new set of opportunities for everybody and would also make the cities a cleaner, well-organised and safer place to live in. A new smart city called GIFT is expected to be the financial hub of Asia by 2030.

In a nutshell, India is constantly evolving and growing as a nation. What we can do, as an Indian, is develop a positive attitude and a broad-minded approach and welcome such changes with an open heart and help India rise and shine.