Triumphant mood as India marks 60 years of independence

INDIA celebrated the 60th anniversary of its independence from British rule yesterday in a triumphant mood, with many here feeling the country is finally taking its rightful place as a major global player.

“I assure you that for each one of you, and for our country, the best is yet to come,” Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told the nation in his traditional Independence Day speech.

But with many of India’s 1.1 billion people being left behind by the country’s lightning economic growth, he warned: “We must not be overconfident.”