75th anniversary of Independence. But are we free?

"Recalling how the industry used to face 'hardships' in securing permissions and 'harassment from bureaucrats' 50 years ago, chairman of the city-based vaccine maker Serum Institute of India (SII), Dr Cyrus Poonawala on Friday hailed the Modi government saying that red tapism and licence raj have come down under its rule. He also said that in the past, he had to 'fall at the feet' of bureaucrats and drug controllers in order to get permissions, and added that the situation has changed now, which resulted in quick launch of SII's COVID-19 vaccine - Covishield," News18. The ban on exports of the vaccine by the government was a "very bad move" and put the company in a "difficult situation", he said. "It is a very bad move the Modi government. My son asked me not to open my mouth," News18. Son Adar Poonawala escaped to London in May because he was being threatened. "Threats is an understatement. The level of expectation and aggression is really unprecedented. It's overwhelming. Everyone feels they should get the vaccine. They can't understand why anyone should get it before them," he said, Business Today (BT). "BJP leader Ram Iqbal Singh on Thursday claimed the state (UP) government is being 'run by bureaucrats', while party workers who work at the ground level 'face lathis' and 'no heed' is given to public representatives," Indian Express (TIE). "The corruption at the grass roots level by officers has become the norm and they are extracting money from the public, and there is no one to listen to the people," Singh said. "A PhD student from Uttar Pradesh has walked over 180 km from Saharanpur to Delhi in a bid to clear his name of 'terror taint'," The Print. Praveen Kumar's name was apparently found in a list of Hindus who were converted to Islam. He said he is a nationalist and said, "I experienced this (injustice), which is why I am saying we cannot become a superpower until we weed out this poison of hatred among the people." The UP Police tried to stop his walk to Delhi. "A police team from Saharanpur had tracked my phone's GPS location," Kumar said. "They found me and, at first, tried to make me give up on my march. They were quite persuasive. When I didn't listen, they started pressuring me. They would have detained me and forced me to go back." But he managed to give them the slip, Times of India (TOI). "The withdrawal of Dr Hari Singh Gour University in Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, from an international seminar on 'Cultural and Linguistic Hurdles in the Achievement of Scientific Temper' due to bullying by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and the local police must not be treated lightly," wrote Prof Apoorvanand and Gauhar Raza. The ABVP is the student arm of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and claim to have 3 million members, wikipedia. The RSS is a Hindu organisation, formed to unite and protect Hindus from attacks and conversion by other religions, and is the support base of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which forms the government in India, wikipedia. "Defame, delegitimise and disrupt. This is how the ABVP and its fraternal organisations work in destroying the academic culture in India," wrote Apoorvanand. "Disruption comes with after or with delegitimisation. Seminars, film screenings, theatre performances are vandalised and disrupted. The ABVP seldom engages in arguments." Universities are relevant only after completion of school education. But schools have been shut since March 2020 due to the coronavirus epidemic even though the All India Parents Association demand their opening, TOI. "Only the children of the privileged have had any semblance of education in these past 16 months, through a combination of online classes, personal tutoring and family support," wrote Anurag Behar. For the poor children, "Most of them have forgotten a lot of what they knew when schools shut, and have also been deprived of the school's mid-day meal since then, which for many would have been the day's most nutritious meal." Many children have been pushed into labor to augment family income. And we don't know if there will be a third wave because the numbers of infections and deaths in the second wave have been hidden, wrote Mihir Sharma, Economic Times. Licence Raj has been displaced by Violence Raj. Tomorrow is the 75th anniversary of Independence. But, are we free?