Youth favour an aggressive India

Youth want more aggressive, pro-West policies, pointing to an emerging national consensus that may take the country away from its non-aligned, pacifist moorings. HT reports. Opinion poll

India's youth want the country to move away from its pacifist, non-aligned moorings.

A Hindustan Times-C fore survey of 5,068 adults across 13 state capitals shows that a majority of people between the ages of 18 and 35 want India to become an expansionist superpower like China or a pro-US capitalist country.

A vast majority said reforms were good for India and wanted the government to go in for more reforms with a human face.

Children carry the national flag on the eve of Independence Day at Chetavanpur village in Mirzapur. UNI

India, past, present and future, will always mean different things to different people. But what can we do to make it deliver? Read on:

India remains a work in progress

Discrimination against low castes, corruption in public institutions by government officials, and a growing trend towards women's equality — India's report card in its 65th year is a story of moderate achievement. Ramachandra Guha writes.

Sincerely suspicious

Aamir Ghauri gives a Pakistani perspective.



Hindu nationalism: pragmatic and amoral

The RSS harps on being strictly a cultural organisation, but it is yet to be seen if this brand of ideology works for our mainstream democracy. Jyotirmaya Sharma writes.



Engine of growth or laggard?

Countries that gained independence around the same time as India have done better economically. Can we shake off our complacency and rise to the occasion? Gautam Chikermane writes.



How free are we economically?

High growth rates and a nearly $2-trillion economy hasn't translated into economic freedom. We rank a lowly 123 out of 179 nations on this count. Gaurav Choudhury writes.



Third generation defines India-UK ties

A new relationship based on trade, investment and mutual interest is slowly replacing the nostalgia and neglect that had defined ties so far. Pramit Pal Chaudhuri writes.



Their passage to India

Four foreigners, who stayed back after Independence, recall why they didn't return to the land of their forefathers.



Lives changed by partition

The Radcliffe Line forced families to split. Two towns at the border look back.

A child carries the national flag as he takes part in a street play during rehearsal for Independence Day celebrations in Bhubaneswar. AP/Biswaranjan Rout