Page 88 - NIS - English,16-30 September,2022

Nation Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav

THE NATION IS REALIZING THE DREAM OF A LITERATE INDIA AS

ENVISAGED BY NATIONAL HEROES

When a country becomes
independent, it develops its own
ideas and wants to finalise its plan
of action based on those ideas.India
is a vast country where illiteracy
is a major issue. People could not
understand their rights even during
independence struggle because they
were uneducated, which pained the
national heroes. This is why these
freedom fighters had many dreams
about independent India, including the
dream of an educated India. India's
literacy rate was only 18.3% in 1951,
but it has since risen to 74.4% in
2018. All of this was made possible
by educational infrastructure, policies,
and campaigns such as Beti Bachao-
Beti Padhao, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan,
and Samagra Shiksha. With the new
education policy, these dreams are
becoming a reality.

Rathore helped Bhagat Singh, Batukeshwar is said that the British tied his body with stones
Dutt, and Durga Devi to escape from Lahore. He and threw it into the sea.
was arrested by the British in the second Lahore Rathore's father Devi Singh once said, “Your
Conspiracy Case in 1929. He was sent to Lahore fight for the country proves that you have not
for trial and sentenced to life imprisonment. accepted slavery from the heart. Now that
Mahavir Singh Rathore went on a hunger strike you are on the road to freedom, don't look
in jail along with Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, Sukhdev, back and never betray your comrades." After
and other revolutionaries inside the jail for 40 independence, a statue of Mahavir Singh
days. He was later sent to the Cellular Jail in Rathore was installed in the Cellular Jail
Port Blair, Andaman and Nicobar, along with premises of Port Blair in Andaman and Nicobar.
some of his associates, to serve Kala Pani. He When Prime Minister Narendra Modi reached
again went on hunger strike in 1933 to protest the Cellular Jail on 30 December 2018, he paid
against the mistreatment of the prisoners in jail. tribute to Mahavir Singh. On 15 October 2021,
An attempt was made to forcibly feed milk into the Home Minister of India Amit Shah also went
the mouth of Mahavir Singh in jail. During this, to the Cellular Jail in Andaman and paid tribute
milk went into his lungs, due to which he died. It to Mahavir Singh.

86 New India Samachar September 16-30, 2022