Fifty years ago, India broke free of British colonialism. Since then, it's become the largest democracy in the world. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, India in the post-colonial era. Also, a maverick journalist reports on the poorest of the poor. And the extraordinary renaissance of Indian fiction.

SEGMENT 1

Gita Mehta talks with Judith Strasser about her parents' involvement in the stuggle for Indian independence; Mahatma Gandhi as the father of post-colonial India; and the amazing faith of the Indian voter. Mehta is the author of "Snakes and Ladders: Glimpses of Modern India."

SEGMENT 2:

Bill Buford, fiction editor of The New Yorker, remembers Salman Rushdie's first public reading and why he was (and is) so important to the Indian diaspora; and tells Jim Fleming about the current blossoming of Indian writing. Also, Bombay native Rohinton Mistry now lives in Toronto but is still obsessed with the paradoxes of India. He tells Steve Paulson about his novel "A Fine Balance" and talks about the extremes of wealth and poverty in his native city.

SEGMENT 3:

Journalist Palagummi Sainath is the author of "Everybody Loves A Good Drought." He tells Steve Paulson that "Fourth World Journalism" tells the stories of the poorest of the poor, and explains the effects of one town's decision to drill new wells.

Distribution dates:

• week of 08/10/97 - hour 1