Media commentators are celebrating India's 67th
Independence Day, praising the country's
achievements but also stressing its continuing
challenges.
"We see many dimensions of progress - famines are
history; we manufacture much of what we need and
are no longer threatened by competition from across
the seas; we have opened up our economy… We are
the world's largest democracy," The Tribune, in an
editorial, says.
Taking a more nuanced view, The Times of India
says: "Growth is down, inflation is up. Internal
security challenges are compounded by unsettled
international borders… Yet, there remains the
confidence that a child born in India today will enjoy
better opportunities than her parents' generation."
The Hindustan Times comments on demands for
new states, saying that "India is a work in progress…
It's time to fine-tune India's federal structure to make
room for regional aspirations".
"There are two abiding images of the meaning of 15
August. There is Nehru, in his inimitable way,
announcing a new tryst with destiny. There is the
poignant absence of Gandhi, mourning loss, the
erasure of an ethical ambition. India marches on,
with all its contradictions," writes senior analyst
Pratap Bhanu Mehta in The Indian Express.
Senior journalist Antara Dev Sen, in her article in The
Asian Age, says that "the problem with our
democracy is that our representatives do not
represent us. They represent their own interests…
Perhaps we need to take a long, hard look at
ourselves".
Meanwhile, newspapers feel the sinking of the INS
Sindhurakshak submarine after a blast and fire
accident in Mumbai is a "severe blow" to India's
strength in maritime warfare.
The sinking is "a major blow to the Indian navy,
which depends on a handful of such stealth vessels
to guard the country's vast coastal swathe", The
Pioneer reports.
The loss of the submarine means that "20% of India's
underwater fleet is now inoperable", says The
Indian Express.
Moving on to other news, India will now import
onions from Pakistan and Iran in an effort to bring
down the vegetable's soaring prices, the NDTV
website reports.
The government has also curbed exports by setting a
minimum price, making onions more expensive for
foreigners and cheaper at home, the report adds.
In foreign affairs, India and China have held their first
talks on Central Asia, The Hindu reports.
The talks come weeks after China "checkmated India
in winning an oilfield deal in Kazakhstan", the report
says, and quotes a Chinese analyst as saying that the
dialogue mechanism will "help both countries better
coordinate their positions and manage their recently
competing interests".
Moon mission
Meanwhile, India has parted ways with Russia over
its next moon mission, the Deccan Herald reports.
"India's second moon mission, Chandrayaan-II, with a
moon lander, will be a solo effort by India as the
Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) and
Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) have not
been able to get on the same page technologically,"
the report says.
In domestic news, Vice President Hamid Ansari has
been criticised by the main opposition Bharatiya
Janata Party for comparing MPs to "anarchists", the
DNA reports.
"Every single rule in the rule book, every single
etiquette is being violated... If the honourable
members wish the House to become a federation of
anarchists, then it is a different matter," he said in
the parliament on Wednesday.
Mr Ansari defended himself saying his comments
were not meant as allegations against anyone, but
has now promised to review his remark.
And finally, the government has honoured six people
for their technological innovations to help differently-
abled people, The Times of India reports.
Among them are IT professionals Arun Mehta - who
earlier coded a software programme for renowned
physicist Stephen Hawking and went on to build
many applications for disabled people - and Bhushan
Verma - who developed a tool for children to help
them learn basic concepts, including social skills,
language and self-expression.

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