There is much that independent India has to be proud of. However, there are also many holes, in policy and in its goals – the misses – it must confront.Here is a short list to think about:The biggest miss is the lack of a proper agricultural policy aimed at multi-faceted development of the rural economy. This has been the biggest lacuna in our political strategy. Though the oppressive zamindari system was abolished, small farmers were not given irrigation facilities to grow crops or storage facilities to help market them. Currently, a total indifference can be seen in the fact that governments, both state or central, are doing nothing to prevent burning of crop-stubble which has been contributing to hazardous pollution. This has a policy fix, and one that is easy as technological solutions are available.Technology to convert stubble into manure has been developed, giving us the Pusa dispenser. But we can’t expect the farmer to buy it. The government has to open centres close to villages to collect the stubble, turn it into manure and then sell it at nominal price back to farmers. Development of technology at large can be considered among the ‘hits’ of the period. But therein lies a miss. Easy availability of imitation in the digital world and pursuit of mediocrity is eating away at our ability to think creatively and effectively. As a writer and thinker, I shudder at the approaching supremacy of artificial intelligence – AI.Just imagine AI being manipulated by those in power to create a fake reality. We are already living in a post-truth world, where the (real) truth is so terrifying that we prefer to believe in propaganda that is dished out to obliterate the difference between the real and the fake. It keeps us in a state of stupor. Road construction is another hit, which also conceals a miss. Flyovers and highways, four-lane wide roads are built to connect and service cities.Yet, there are no feeder roads to connect to the interior of villages.Sometimes the roads end at such places and are so poorly designed that farmers have to carry their produce on their backs to reach the trucks waiting where the road ends. The irony is that what was most needed was left unconstructed, that is, small basic roads which would connect the wide main road to the farms. Then there is the destruction of our plural society and hardening of differences between religious groups we are seeing today. Distrust and hatred is actively supported by the state.The unprecedented intolerance of ideological differences makes a mockery of our efforts to increase connectivity to other countries. We have made ourselves a laughing stock of the diverse countries of the world. They see our obvious diversity go hand-in-hand with our inability to connect with each part and live in at least a working harmony. This is no Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam (the world is one family). Reservation for Dalits and women are considered hits. But again the way policy is crafted, they are designed to remain toothless in large part, and social inequity continues unabated. The law and state institutions are not interested in improving conditions. So the state and the elite don’t just ignore the atrocities that have got worse now, rather they reinforce them by their overt support.Mridula Garg is a Sahitya Akademi award winner and has authored over 30 books, in Hindi and English.