“Actions speak louder than words,” is one of the most famous maxims. Yet whether this is true or not depends on what we understand by the word “louder.” Making a promise to someone without thinking how you will fulfil it just reflects how casual or unrehearsed you are about your own words. I think making a promise is one of the most powerful forms of communication. Yet, frankly speaking, how many times do we make vows that we can’t possibly keep? As humans we put our faith in promises made by others. So our politicians, business leaders, our teachers, parents, neighbours, friends, siblings, children so many make promises which help us negotiate peace and hope in our lives and yet how many times does a person really mean the promise made must not be broken.

I am sure most us must have heard from the seniors around us like our grandparents, our parents talk about those faraway times when honouring a promise was utmost imperative, people then never compromised with their words. It did not matter whether they promised something trivial or something very big, but people fulfilled what they promised. It shows how strong the social fabric was those days.

The history proves how most famous people have broken their promises. Woodrow Wilson won re-election in 1916 with the slogan “He kept us out of war” only to enter World War I a year later. While the loss of trust can lead to anti-incumbency, it also creates intangible cleavages in the institution of democracy.

In 2017 Donald Trump promised to lower the corporate tax rate and bring in huge tax cuts for working Americans. The Republican tax plan passed in December 2017, and it largely ticks the box for the president although its merits are hotly disputed. He has had to compromise on his pledge to bring corporation tax down from 35% to 15% (it will be 21% instead).

In India, the Indians do not take the election manifestos seriously; Indian voters are accustomed to the lure of grand promises made once every five years by the political parties….they struggle their way through the debris of broken promises.

In the recent election of 2019, the ruling political party has failed us in creating jobs for the youngsters, education and skill development for youth has featured prominently in its manifesto but hardly any noticeable steps taken. The Modi government has also been trumpeting about its flagship schemes, such as Skill India, in helping job-seekers attain skills for a 21st century job market, but, we are yet to see the youth employment fulfilled.  

We make and we break promises because some promises are very hard to keep we hear the builders, plumbers, electricians, carpenters saying “I’ll come back tomorrow.” But the truth is the other way…tomorrow comes after few days always. They won’t come back until next week, fortnight, month.

We love hearing secrets and we happily make this promise. And at the time we really mean it. ‘Don’t worry,’ we say, ‘your secret is safe with me.’ But of course it isn’t. Research shows that everybody will always tell one other person the secret. Very soon the whole street will know it!

“This won’t hurt.” Is a favourite phrase from doctors, dentists and nurses….they usually say it just before they give you an injection. But the phrase is not complete, without some ah, ooh, ouch..

We make new friends on holidays, long travels or on a train journey, we swap e-mail addresses, phone numbers and we make this promise of keeping in regular touch with them. Six months later you find a name and e-mail address on a card or an old piece of paper. ‘Oh dear!’ you think – but then you remember that they didn’t write to you either.

‘I’ll pay you back tomorrow.’ In Hamlet, Shakespeare told us never to borrow or lend money. He was right. When we lend people money they always make this promise but then they forget. If we then ask for the money back, they tag us as mean. If we don’t ask, we never get our money back.

And the worst, ‘I’ll always love you.’ Lovers must trust each other for a relationship to thrive. Their faith in each other’s promises and subsequent marriage is what sustains their faith in the relationship and in each other. Most couples agree that automatic trust is not a guarantee. It must be earned on a continuing basis. The shade of love starts fading away slowly in relationships. 

There are multiple levels of broken promises that create different reactions in different people. Some can be potential deal breakers, like repeated addictive escapes, infidelities, or anything else that is hidden from the other partner and might risk his or her consent were it to be known. When those breaches of trust are repeated, many cherished relationships just cannot survive.

Most broken promises are not intentional, motivated by meanness, or routinely repeated. Promises are confessions of intent, large and small, that mark a wide range of interpersonal events be it friendship, marriage, employment or business partnership. A specific behavior toward another is expected. Promises require us to declare a conscious objective: we will never do the thing the other person does not want us to do. But people have so many out-of-awareness thoughts and feelings, we may not “know” of our unconscious inaptness about a stated commitment. There are a number of commonly understood reasons promises are broken, including that our feelings, capacity, or circumstances keep changing over time. 

Your word is your bond. In this big fake world, today also there are individuals who keep their words; because for them keeping their word is of special significance. Remember this -every time you give your word, you are putting your honour on the line.

Can we call it independence, when women and children don’t feel safe? They are not free from the violence. Do our students have the freedom to select the career they want? We have the reservation coming in way of admission in the educational institutions. The caste discrimination is ever increasing. We just don’t want to let go the discrimination of caste, because it helps the vote bank politics. So what if it creates communal tensions. In past 71 years we have failed to get freedom from corruption. We have politicians with criminal records, unqualified, non-deserving people who don’t deserve to sit in the parliament and make decisions for us. In 71 years we have not been able to solve poverty and unemployment problems. So again my question is 71 years is old or young? Are we independent?

Where independence mean self-government, we the people in India have to pay bribe to get a basic driving license, birth certificate/death certificate, marriage certificate, bribe the  to a traffic police, bribe the clerk/peon in govt. office, to even get gas connection. Is this freedom?

Violence against women is increasing day by day. Rape, female feticide, acid attacks, domestic violence, dowry deaths, honor killings, forced abortion, human trafficking, sexual violence, forced prostitution and the list goes on and on. Sadly, the percentages of these crimes are increasing every day. According to an international report, every three minutes a woman is subjected to some kind of violence in our country.

The children are also not safe; they are not free from violence inside their homes, schools, streets, parks, school bus, school toilets. They go to schools to shape their future, and many of them are becoming a target of violence. We have so many cases, where teachers, principals, peons, bus drives, cleaners and washers have harassed and raped young kids. They are easy prey for human trafficking. Government data reveals that children are subjected to gross abuses in the very shelter homes that are made to protect them. This is so pathetic, its shame on us. So are we independent?

Corruption is on increase day after day. It has been adversely affecting our economy. We are immune to paying bribes; we have accepted it as a system. The judiciary, financial institutions, government offices, schools, colleges, hospitals, even temples everywhere we pay bribe to get our work done. The amount of scams is increasing. Forget the Public Sector banks; the private banks are also not clean. Major scams such as 2G spectrum scam of 1760 billion, 2010 common wealth games scam (700 billion), the Adarsh housing society scam, the mining scandal in Karnataka, cash for vote scam and many more. Wakf board land scam, AugstaWestland arms deal, Telagi scam, Coalgate scam,  Fodder scam, Satyma scam, NIrav Modi scam…the list is big. The financial institutions and criminals are hands in glove. People have lost corers’ of money – their hard earned money in numerous scams.

Who is real minority? After 71 years each of independence, number of communities is marching for reservation as minority. While only 3% to 4% of the total population of India pays taxes, they are completely ignored by the Government. They are in fact minority. And the taxpayers are harassed the most.

We are not free from the illicit use of power of casteism, communal violence. National Integration is essential for any nation with socio-cultural, religious, linguistic and geographical diversities. Our country requires it and it is necessary. But a series of religious, communal violence in recent years just goes on to show we are not free from it.

To sum it up: after seven decades of independence that we achieved from clutches of Britishers, we are yet to experience freedom from clutches of poverty, unemployment, illiteracy, communal violence, corruption, vulnerability of women and children, pollution, perilous infrastructure, malnutrition, low standards of education, low standards of health care, inferior sanitation.

Why are we called a developing nation after 71 years? What is it that is holding us back from being the super power? We have the second largest world’s population. The question gets even more intricate when we start thinking about deeper meaning of independence.