Where Have We Failed

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Reading and watching the news, now a days, gives the impression that in India we have only scams and corruption, rapes and murders. Our nation which has one of the oldest cultures on this earth has fallen so low. Even in our day to day life we see people who are not at all concerned of some one else. We see persons driving (even the costly limousines) breaking traffic rules, we see people violently reacting even for a very minor incident, we have become so self centered that by hook or by crook I have to be number one even if it is at the cost of a more deserving person. We talk of the degrading moral values constantly going south. When we go to our old school we often hear some one quipping that ‘when I was there the school was excellent, but not today’. Our teachers or the ‘dharam gurus’ or the politicians are not respected and they are not good to lead. However, have we ever pondered as to why has this all happened. Even centuries ago we read of corrupt and bad characters but then in numbers they were a very small fraction of the total population and today it seems that it is just the opposite - a very small fraction of the total population are the ideal honest persons. I feel that we have been failed by our dharam gurus, political gurus and the gurus in our educational institutions in the last few decades. We talk of sanskars coming from the family and if this is the state of affairs I am sure you would agree we have been failed here too. It is time that all right thinking people take concrete steps to find a solution to this malaise or else we will be doomed to a point of no return. We have to address as to what values we are giving in our education to the children and the youngster. Most of the above mentioned wrong doing is done by a literate person. Then it can certainly be said that education without values is of no value.

Layman’s Idea to Fight Inflation

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The nation is struggling with high prices and the common man is suffering beyond limits. The depreciating value of Rupee has added to the problems and the government has been forced to increase the price of petrol which once again will add to the price rise. One does not know as to how much more s/he will have to pay for a kilo of potato or onion – the very basic necessity, in the subzi mandi when the visit is made next day. The experiments and the solutions being offered by the experts, who are all specially trained for the purpose, with degrees from the best international institutes, are yet to offer some solutions which can ease the situation. From months or from years now we are seeing an endless inflationary pressure mounting. As a layman I want to offer some solutions – for what ever its worth. May be, the common man’s idea can work, not necessarily mine. The first of these is that the salaries of persons in the very high bracket, say those getting in five figures, should be sacrificed a little. If one has less it will give a lesson of spending judiciously and will surely lead to reduction in the cost of any product. Examples can be cited of say the consumer goods or the oil companies where the salary of seniors is astronomical. And why only two such examples? This will be a universal truth. In fact we keep on increasing the salary to fight inflation, which ultimately results in more inflation. Some day we will have to take difficult, unpopular decisions. Our cost of any product, in totality, will have to be cut to sell it cheaper. The second idea would be to provide social security to every citizen resulting in less corruption and reduction in costs will therefore arise. If a person is provided the guarantee that in the difficult days, when s/he is ill or does not have money for basic needs, the country will provide the bare minimum, I feel that with this effort corruption can come down considerably. Today one is tempted to secure oneself, even if unfair means are to be used. And, once again, this will result in reduction of cost of every product. Stop unnecessary expenditure, would be my third idea. In one’s household or in the business – big or small, in the private or the public sector, if we can stop wastage of the precious available funds this would necessarily result in declining cost of any product leading to easing on the inflation front. Recent example of concerns expressed by even senior cabinet ministers is the case of oil companies. If the cost of administration here can be brought down the prices of petroleum products can dive south and give the much needed relief to the common person. The fourth suggestion and the last one for the time being, is to acquire all the money of various scams and put this in the national kitty and reduce the taxes – be it the service tax, be it the excise duty or the import duty – or others. This will also reduce the cost of products and therefore sell cheaper. Some may say that the ideas given are not for development – and our GDP will not increase with such measures – we should think of progressive ideas to bring the GDP in double figures and everything would be on right track. However, I do not agree with this school of thought. In a nation like ours it is the common person’s cost of living which really matters not the GDP figures.

Celebrate Environment Day Every Day

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Today we all are celebrating the World Environment Day. However, we should observe this every day and not only on the 5th June. Today the newspapers have numerous stories on the subject and are doing a massive awareness drive. Many ideas have been talked of which would certainly help in making this world a little better to live in. Have we ever realized that the richer we become the more we contribute to the deterioration of the environment. The money that we have makes us buy luxury too, which is not good for the environment. More cars, more travel, more air conditioners, more clothes, well more everything – all adding up to more deterioration of the environment resulting in less life time for enjoying all this. Consuming less can help our environment. Another angle – we usually do not make good quality products which can last for long. Instead we compromise on the quality feeling that the consumer will buy again for replacement creating more market for the product. This tendency also creates problem for the environment – more raw material needed and even the disposal of the waste creates environmental problems. Quality products can help our environment. Similarly at our home we often remake our rooms or the furniture. This should be done only when absolutely necessary. Here again, the raw material needed and the waste disposal creates environmental problems. One can see this happening even on roads daily – unnecessary replacement of side walks etc. drains the exchequer and creates all sorts of environmental problems. One would say that this anti-consumerism will affect the industry or will affect the employment scenario. But to live a healthy long life some sacrifices will have to be made. And we are capable enough to create other employment opportunities.