THE FREEDOM TO PURSUE PERSONAL NEEDS ANDWANTS

This year we are celebrating the sixty fifth anniversaries after gaining independence. It is, therefore, high time now to contemplate as to whether we have made all efforts to make the best use of the independence which our fore-fathers have won not easily but after much struggle. It was not a gift of God or donation but was something our forefathers wrested from the foreigners. We are the owners of our motherland. Foreigners invaded and snatched it from us. They were not the heirs or owners of our country. Hence, it was the responsibility on their part to hand over to us everything which was and which is our own. What they handed over to us on February 4, 1948 was only a part of what we possessed before 1505. What we received on February 4, 1948 was a country which had been exploited. It was something like the refuse of what had been chewed. We have to rebuild the country to satisfy ourselves that we are truly independent.

Whatisindependence? Thetruemeaningof Independence

According to the free encyclopedia "Independence is a condition of a nation, country or state in which its residents and population or some portion thereof exercise self- government and usually sovereignty over its territory". J.R. Turner defines the term independence as "the freedom to separate ourselves from personal ideologies and intellectually challenge ourselves to see the full scope of an issue in order to find real solutions for the good of the whole". Independence means that we must not depend on the opinions of others but on the factual issues and actions of individualsandourgovernments.

TheUnitedNations Organization-Dependencyof thecountrieswhichbelonged totheBritishEmpire

In a way U.N.O is an organisation established to keep the countries of the British Empire still dependent. Non Aligned Movement was set up by countries which wished to stand on their own feet without being dependent on big powers. The first large-scale AsianAfrican conference also known as The Bandung Conference was a meeting of Asian -African states most of which were newly independent. It took place on April 18-25, 1955 in Bandung, Indonesia. The twenty nine countries which participated at the Bandung Conference represented nearly one fourth of the Earth's land surface and a population of 1.5 billion. The conference was organised by Burma, India, Indonesia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The conference's stated aims were to promoteAfro-Asianeconomicandcultural co-operation and to oppose colonialism orneocolonialism.

Independence-thestateof choosingtoempowerourselveswiththeinformation

Further, independence means the state of choosing to empower ourselves with the information to make up our own minds independently. According to anotherdefinitionindependencemeans the freedom to create a world society in which the people can perceive nations through a satellite view rather than a microscope view and make value judgments based on what is good for the future rather than for the present. True independence means recognising that every type of thought and belief system has something to teach, to offer, and that if we learn from those in our world our chances of creating a real change for the betterment of all will be increased. Wisdom demands that we should further our own independence by freeing ourselves from the prison of personal experience by embracing realities other than our own and thereby freeing ourselves from the shackles of ignorance. This is the quality of being independent, freedom from dependence, and exemption from reliance on or controlled by others. This is the state of self subsistence or maintenance, direction of one's own affairs without interference which provides sufficient means foracomfortablelivelihood.

Anopportunityforthe peopletoavail oftheirrights

In a sense independence is the opportunity for the people to avail of their rights. Jurists and thinkers of France having themselves based on the Declaration 1789 and afterwards have enumeratedfourrightsi.e.

I. The right to be treated equally with others in the eye of law and in all legislative acts,

ii. The right to be treated equally with others in matters of Justice and in the courtsof law,

iii. The right to be treated equally with others in matters of taxation so thateachmanpaysthesameproportion of hismeansasispaidbyothers

iv. The right to be treated as equally admissible with others to public honoursandofficesof employment.

J.R. Turner defines the term independence as "the freedom to separate ourselves from personal ideologies and intellectually challenge ourselves to see the full scope of an issue in order to find real solutions for the good of the whole

We have learned to think not only of whatmaybecalledpoliticalequality,inrelation to the general life of the whole of the organised community and we have accordingly come to believe that there are further rights which ought to be added to the rights of political equality. These further rights are still as it were in the process of construction. They are emerging from the social thought and beginning to pass into the common conviction of thepoliticalcommunity;butthepropernature of their form and the exact extent of their dimension have still to be determined by the continuing process of social thought and by the method of tentative experiment. They are the right which men are beginning to claim not in relation to governing authority and the distribution of its incidence, but in relation to one another measure of general equality between man and man partly in economic status and the distribution of economic possessions and partly in educational opportunities and enjoyment of the general treasures of culture.

Independence-thefreedomto pursuepersonalneeds

It is said that sovereignty is independence of a country, a nation or a state in which its residents and population or some portion thereof exercise self-government. In a sense this is group independence or freedom for a group of persons or freedom for individuals belonging to a group, such as a country, a nation, a state or some portion thereof. It should be pointed out that there are individuals who belong to these groups who are deprived of personal freedom of liberty. Although the needs and wants of the group as a whole are fulfilled those of certain members remain unfulfilled. In the family of a politician who agitates for independence or freedom for the people belonging to a nation, region or an electorate represented by him there may be domestic servants who are deprived of individual freedom. Often domestic servants are prisoners confined to the family for which he or she is working. They too have numerous needs and wants. In most cases domestic servants get food, clothing and shelter. However, very often they are deprived of the other needs such as humanitarian treatment, recognition, esteem etc. Domestic servants are often not allowed to enjoy self- satisfaction.