New Delhi (CNN) -- In New Delhi's upscale diplomatic district, Ram Dhan lives in a parallel world. For years, his home has been a rickety shanty that he shares with his ailing wife, a young son, a daughter-in-law and two grandchildren. Now 62, Dhan has lived through India's journey as an independent nation. He finds little reason to rejoice as the country celebrates Monday, the 64th anniversary of freedom from British rule. "The poor have hardly benefited," he says. Sitting on a cot in his shack huddled in a squalid slum in one of the richest neighborhoods of the Indian capital, he bitterly recalls how flooding in his native village ravaged his ancestral land way back in 1978 and forced him to move to the city in search of work.
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India is marking its 64th anniversary of freedom from British rule
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"The poor have hardly benefited," says one man
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Prime Minister Manmohan Singh admits much needs to be done for the "common man"
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Policymakers have agreed over the years that corruption is a major factor
But today, @placeholder says, the family of six can barely manage $130 a month.