Let me start not by the problems that we (henceforth by we I mean India, its people) are facing; but by where we dream to stand. The point being to momentarily forget that we have any problems and to start afresh to achieve this dream.
As I said, by any country what we mean is its people. Of course it includes a lot of other components, but ultimately what we want to achieve is a dream that its people see. So, the way to achieve the collective Indian dream is via achieving the dreams of all of its people. Now the question is, do we all have a dream? Does each one of us imagine himself standing somewhere ahead of where he is now? Do we want to change the way we are?
I think the answer is a little complex than a mere yes or no. The factors to be considered are individual thoughts and perceptions AND social and economical conditions AND professional section.
The needs and aspirations of any human are at 3 levels ( for a more accurate description google for Maslow and theory of motivation).
1. Most basic are the needs of shelter, food, clothes necessary to survive
2. Somewhat intermediate are the needs of emotional sharing and support
3. And then come the aspirations to achieve something more than that is necessary to merely survive.
To put this in the perspective of social and economic conditions-
1. Economically and socially weak class- A huge class of Indian population still striving to satisfy their basic level 1 needs.
2. A lower middle class- They have earned their survival and want to move into the upper middle class.
3. Upper middle class- In this socially and economically stable class I see 2 groups of people.
a. A group that is satisfied with survival and stability. There is no dream.
b. A group that has a dream. They may or may not know how to achieve it. But they are struggling.
4. Rich class- The group that either had a dream and they achieved it or they belonged to the established dynasties. Some of them want to expand their kingdoms and some just want to maintain them.
I hope now it becomes clear, that what we want to achieve as a nation is not a single goal as is usually portrayed. Each socio-economic group is driven by different dreams. The ground realities and issues invloved in achieving these dreams also depend on the professional sectors (agrarian, industrial, service) It would be foolish to expect all groups to work passionately towards a single dream.
In the replies that follow later, I ll try to explore the relation between the dreams of these different groups and how they depend on each other, how the current economic and political condition in the country and the world affects it and what is our role in all this.
Not so simple, is it?
Showing posts with label india. Show all posts
Showing posts with label india. Show all posts
Beautiful Country, Beautiful People and Us
Hi folks,
We all have come together with the dream of a beautiful country.And we agree that a beautiful country will be created by beautiful people.
What do we mean by beautiful people? Let me ask you to do this. Just try to remember the last time you were completely absorbed into something.Anything as mundane as writing a code, making a presentation, or reading an inspirational biography or maybe dreaming of a house you would like to build... Have you ever felt the excitement that comes whenyou are absorbed into something wonderfully creative?
Thats what I mean by beautiful people. Who are constantly doing something creative, something that willmake a difference, to them or to someone else. And they love what they do, they are completely absorbed in the work. No other thoughts, khana-pina sab chod ke just trying to achieve that single thing.
I had the chance to meet two such beautiful persons today.
Suraj is in Class 8 at Manavya. When we reached Manavya today, he and two other kids were sitting on thefloor with thermacol, cardboards, colors, scissors, wooden pieces... When I asked Suraj what was he doing,he told me that they were building the model of an Restaurant. He told me that it would be a garden restaurantwith a stream flowing in the mid. There will be a bridge on the stream. Food will be served in cottages surrounded by trees; there would be benches to sit and an area where you can dance. If you want you can havea candle light dinner or just sit on the grass and enjoy a picnic snack. He was completely absorbed while describing all these things to me and so was I. I immediately asked him whether he could build a college for me.He said yes and then we discussed our plans to do it. Suraj would probably become a wonderful architect.
Tushar is in Calss 10. He writes beautiful poems. Here is the one he wrote yesterday.
अंतराळाची सफ़र ही भारी
ग्रहांची दिशा ही न्यारी
अनेक यंत्रांचा शोध लागला
अनेक तंत्रांचा शोध लागला
अंतराळाची सफ़र....
शोध लागला बुध-नेपच्युनचा
शोध लागला आकाश पाताळाचा
अंतराळाची सफ़र...
You should have seen the glow in his eyes when I was reading the poems to other kids. Tushar would probably become a fabulous writer.
Todays experience made me realise that we have an amazing chance to help build beautiful humans. Humans who would love their work by all their heart. I see this as a challnge in front of us. To help children explore what they like, to help them to nurture their passions and to help them develop into beautiful humans.
(And btw this has nothing to do with their being HIV +ve. We need to build a beautiful human out of every kid.)
Tell me your ideas about how can we help Suraj and Tushar achieve their dreams. Lets share this challenge!
We all have come together with the dream of a beautiful country.And we agree that a beautiful country will be created by beautiful people.
What do we mean by beautiful people? Let me ask you to do this. Just try to remember the last time you were completely absorbed into something.Anything as mundane as writing a code, making a presentation, or reading an inspirational biography or maybe dreaming of a house you would like to build... Have you ever felt the excitement that comes whenyou are absorbed into something wonderfully creative?
Thats what I mean by beautiful people. Who are constantly doing something creative, something that willmake a difference, to them or to someone else. And they love what they do, they are completely absorbed in the work. No other thoughts, khana-pina sab chod ke just trying to achieve that single thing.
I had the chance to meet two such beautiful persons today.
Suraj is in Class 8 at Manavya. When we reached Manavya today, he and two other kids were sitting on thefloor with thermacol, cardboards, colors, scissors, wooden pieces... When I asked Suraj what was he doing,he told me that they were building the model of an Restaurant. He told me that it would be a garden restaurantwith a stream flowing in the mid. There will be a bridge on the stream. Food will be served in cottages surrounded by trees; there would be benches to sit and an area where you can dance. If you want you can havea candle light dinner or just sit on the grass and enjoy a picnic snack. He was completely absorbed while describing all these things to me and so was I. I immediately asked him whether he could build a college for me.He said yes and then we discussed our plans to do it. Suraj would probably become a wonderful architect.
Tushar is in Calss 10. He writes beautiful poems. Here is the one he wrote yesterday.
अंतराळाची सफ़र ही भारी
ग्रहांची दिशा ही न्यारी
अनेक यंत्रांचा शोध लागला
अनेक तंत्रांचा शोध लागला
अंतराळाची सफ़र....
शोध लागला बुध-नेपच्युनचा
शोध लागला आकाश पाताळाचा
अंतराळाची सफ़र...
You should have seen the glow in his eyes when I was reading the poems to other kids. Tushar would probably become a fabulous writer.
Todays experience made me realise that we have an amazing chance to help build beautiful humans. Humans who would love their work by all their heart. I see this as a challnge in front of us. To help children explore what they like, to help them to nurture their passions and to help them develop into beautiful humans.
(And btw this has nothing to do with their being HIV +ve. We need to build a beautiful human out of every kid.)
Tell me your ideas about how can we help Suraj and Tushar achieve their dreams. Lets share this challenge!
SEZ policy: excerpts
SEZs- leading to the growth of labour intensive manufacturing industry: Out of the 404 formal approvals given till date, 137 approvals are for sector specific and multi product SEZs for manufacture of Textiles & Apparels, Leather Footwear, Automobile components, Engineering etc.. which would involve labour intensive manufacturing. The employment projected in the 172 SEZs notified so far is over 2142,089 additional jobs. SEZs are thus going to lead to creation of employment for large number of unemployed rural youth. Nokia and Flextronics electronics hardware SEZs in Sriperumbudur are already providing employment to 7932 and 2069 persons, majority of which are women. Hyderabad Gems SEZ for Jewellery manufacturing in Hyderabad has already employed 1200 girls majority of whom are from landless families, after providing training to them. They have a projected direct employment for about 30,000 persons. Apache SEZ being set up in Andhra Pradesh will employ 20, 000 persons to manufacture 10,00,000 pairs of shoes every month. Current employment in Apache SEZ is 3549 persons. Brandix Apparels, a Sri Lankan FDI project would provide employment to 60,000 workers over a period of 3 years. Even in the services sector, 12.5 million sq meters space is expected in the IT/ITES SEZs which as per the NASSCOM standards translates into 12.5 lakh jobs. It is, therefore, expected that establishment of SEZs would lead to fast growth of labour intensive manufacturing and services in the country.
Education System
Now I am trying to identify how close we are to such an education system.
I am reading the National Policy on Education (1986, revised in 1992). According to the NPE the essence and role of education (among others) is to-
1. Create individuals with scientific temper and an independent mind and spirit.
2. Create manpower for all levels of economy and Research and Development.
“Education is an investment for the present and future. This cardinal principle is the key to the National Policy on Education”
2 points are very notable-
1. Absence of focus on creating able individuals to achieve the above goals. There is no discussion on what qualities must such an individual have and how education can help achieve them. The education policy seems to focus on the social and developmental goals that education has to meet in general.
2. And if education is seen as an investment, what are the criteria to judge the returns and does the education policy ensure the returns.
The specific aims of higher education have been identified as-
1. Dissemination of specialised knowledge and skills.
2. Producing teachers for the system.
I can identify 3 components (in hierarchy) for achieving these goals-
1. A proper organization of higher education institutes and coordination amongst
them.
2. Infrastructural facilities in these institutes.
3. Efficiency of the grass root teaching and learning process.
Obviously, problems persist in all the 3 components and absence of any one component can lead to severe impediment of the output.
Being a student the teaching and learning process is the closest to me. I will try to identify the problems with this component.
I am reading the National Policy on Education (1986, revised in 1992). According to the NPE the essence and role of education (among others) is to-
1. Create individuals with scientific temper and an independent mind and spirit.
2. Create manpower for all levels of economy and Research and Development.
“Education is an investment for the present and future. This cardinal principle is the key to the National Policy on Education”
2 points are very notable-
1. Absence of focus on creating able individuals to achieve the above goals. There is no discussion on what qualities must such an individual have and how education can help achieve them. The education policy seems to focus on the social and developmental goals that education has to meet in general.
2. And if education is seen as an investment, what are the criteria to judge the returns and does the education policy ensure the returns.
The specific aims of higher education have been identified as-
1. Dissemination of specialised knowledge and skills.
2. Producing teachers for the system.
I can identify 3 components (in hierarchy) for achieving these goals-
1. A proper organization of higher education institutes and coordination amongst
them.
2. Infrastructural facilities in these institutes.
3. Efficiency of the grass root teaching and learning process.
Obviously, problems persist in all the 3 components and absence of any one component can lead to severe impediment of the output.
Being a student the teaching and learning process is the closest to me. I will try to identify the problems with this component.
Changing the system
’जाग्रुती यात्रे’ बद्दल वाचत होतो.
“You could be one of the 450 people selected to join the yatra which kicks off on 1st May 2008. We are seeking participants between the age of 18-25 to apply, especially those who have an interest in learning how to scale up grass roots social and business initiatives. If your application is succesful, you will have the opportunity to meet and learn from the real heroes and change makers of India and pick up on invaluable, life changing experience.”
As a part of their application they have asked us to fill up a questionnaire.
One of the questions was- “What is the single biggest challenge that India faces in the next decade? What will be your contribution towards addressing the challenge you mentioned above?”
I think that the biggest challenge before us as a country is to increase the efficiency in grass root processes in every sector including education, governance, bureaucracy, industry and commerce. For achieving optimal efficiency in any process apart from the suitable infrastructure it is necessary that the human resource involved is competent and willing to achieve the optimal efficiency. This will happen only when every individual realises his full potential and expresses it for achieving efficiency. So, the challenge is to create a society which will produce such individuals.
There are many factors that should form the part of such a society. The foremost being an education system conducive to our aim. (So the reforms have to inevitably begin with the educational system) What are the elements of such an educational system?
“You could be one of the 450 people selected to join the yatra which kicks off on 1st May 2008. We are seeking participants between the age of 18-25 to apply, especially those who have an interest in learning how to scale up grass roots social and business initiatives. If your application is succesful, you will have the opportunity to meet and learn from the real heroes and change makers of India and pick up on invaluable, life changing experience.”
As a part of their application they have asked us to fill up a questionnaire.
One of the questions was- “What is the single biggest challenge that India faces in the next decade? What will be your contribution towards addressing the challenge you mentioned above?”
I think that the biggest challenge before us as a country is to increase the efficiency in grass root processes in every sector including education, governance, bureaucracy, industry and commerce. For achieving optimal efficiency in any process apart from the suitable infrastructure it is necessary that the human resource involved is competent and willing to achieve the optimal efficiency. This will happen only when every individual realises his full potential and expresses it for achieving efficiency. So, the challenge is to create a society which will produce such individuals.
There are many factors that should form the part of such a society. The foremost being an education system conducive to our aim. (So the reforms have to inevitably begin with the educational system) What are the elements of such an educational system?
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