AFVOA Newletters of Year 2007

Page 56 of 68 EDITORIAL THE DAWN OF A NEW ERA 1. Slowly and inexorably an eventful year has wound down and we stand today in 2008 at the dawn of a new year, nay, a new era. The year gone by marks the end of one of the most important decades of modern India, and no historian of our times can afford not to give it its due importance except at his own peril. 2. In the last half-century of their rule the foreign power that had colonized us till then considered us nothing more than ‘the white man’s burden’. And thus due to general neglect our country had fallen into bad times of poverty and lack of employment opportunities. Then, in 1947 the ruler left, leaving behind only the rules. The generation that saw our Tricolor rise over the ramparts of the Red Fort was one that was happy, with a hope filled heart, but also care worn because of half filled rice bowls. 3. The years that followed were intense with debates and discussion, not all of them non violent. There were at that time two dominant forms of society in the world – the communist form of Russia and Eastern Europe and the exploitative Capitalist form of the Western world. These two divergent ideologies, neither of them the ideal in their raw form, clashed in most of the newly liberated Asian countries leading them into 'guided democracy’, ‘people’s democracy’ ‘martial law order’ or military rule – all of which were nothing more than totalitarian rule by a minority which denied a voice to the majority. 4. On the other hand it is due to the innate wisdom of our people that we have evolved ourselves into a working democratic country with a voice and a vote for every one while our neighbors are still groping for ways to achieve it. The credit for all this goes to our early leaders who not only gave us a vision of what they wanted the country to be but also showed us the way there. Yes, we have not achieved all this without strife. But the struggles had been counter weighed by effective instruments of development such as the Five Year Plans, Green Revolution, White Revolution, Industrial and Educational projects. 5. At long last, 50 years after independence, we reached the water shed year of 1997 when for the first time we had the confidence to face the world and welcome globalization. We had the potentials to seek and absorb the technologies of developed countries and simultaneously the strength and wisdom to take our business to foreign shores. In the decade ending 2007 we have been able to achieve a growth rate of 9% compared to 5.5% at the beginning of the decade. Thus the decade gone by can truly be called the ‘launch pad decade’. We now set foot into the ‘take off era’. 6. Brimming as we are with confidence in the future there is yet a lot of work to be done before we can become a true welfare state fully fit to take our place of respect in the comity of nations. One of the most urgent needs is for us to look after our elder citizens. The last decade brought to fore the predicament of parents neglected in their old age by their offspring. For the first time in our nation’s history this plight is being recognized. Attempts, are being made to frame laws and rules which make clear the obligations of the younger generation towards their forbears. Old age homes and retreats are becoming more and more a vital societal issue akin to housing for the populace. 7. Nearer home in recognition of the difficulties faced by Veterans with children who are away we have for the first time found success in organizing Geographical Core Groups among