Over 2.5 billion people mostly in rural areas across the world do not have proper sanitation facilities and over one billion people defecate in the open due to lack of proper toilet facilities. The situation is no better in our country where more than half of the population defecates in the open. (Read in Hindi: जन आंदोलन में परिवर्तित करना होगा स्वच्छ भारत अभियान को)

A 28-year old Dhoti-Kurta clad young man was jostling to push his blanket-wrapped baggage into the unreserved compartment of a passenger train at Delhi Railway station on May 8, 1953.

“Among Congressmen the greatest supporter of partition was Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, but even he did not believe that partition was the best solution of the Indian problem. He threw his weight in the favour of partition out of irritation and injured vanity. He found himself frustrated at every step by the veto put on his proposals by Liaqat Ali Khan as Finance Minister. It was therefore sheer anger that he decided that if there was no other alternative, partition should be accepted. He was also convinced that the new state of Pakistan was not viable and could not last. He thought that the acceptance of Pakistan would teach the Muslim League a bitter lesson. Pakistan would collapse in a short time and provinces which had seceded from India would have to face untold difficulty and hardship” – Wrote Maulana Abul Kalam Azad in his autobiography “India Wins Freedom” while reviewing the situation ten years after Independence in 1957.

From a grain deficit country to a surplus producer of wheat and rice within a span of four decades or so, India notwithstanding its huge population has managed to feed them without resorting to imports.

A high spot of the economic scene in a normal circumstance in a parliamentary democracy is the presentation of the budget. But this fiscal, the major highlight could be the launching of ‘Make in India’ campaign by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 25.

“Ageing is a development issue. Healthy older persons are a resource for their families, their communities and the economy"-states WHO Brasilia declaration on healthy ageing, 1996.