A Call For Change

                         
                      Mahatma Gandhi - The Father Of Our Nation said , " Be the change you want to see in the world " . Even when the whole country is flaring up in agitation , even when younsters , men and women alike from every nook and corner of the country shout out slogans against the alarming proportion of corruption swallowing up the countries resources , i say - The change ought to begin from us ! . Here in this post , as part of the Blueprint For Change Contest organised by Blogadda , i am baring my mind of some of the atrocities that have been sharp edged enough to let their scar soaring for long.

Problem No. 1 :  Demerits Of Technology

            I happened to read an article on a journal last month which dealt with the upsurgance of technology and how the mushrooming of  social networking sites and ultra modern gadgets have almost marked a revolutionary transformation in the lives of tech savvy adolescents of this generation . In a way the change is for good , for owing to stiff competition and readily available chunks of information at a punch of the button , there is no dearth of knowledge in their lives . Having said so , i cant help but hark back those days when we , as school kids , used to go to the library with the sole aim of digging out books so that we could come up with quality matters for the presentation. Well and good that today , the children have the comfort of ' googling ' out the answers sitting slumped on their couch . It sure spares them a lot of time and maybe an  allergic rhinitis as well ! . Nevertheless , i would like to point out a few demerits of this generation of technology driven minds - 

a )  The highly satisfying and highly enlightening habit , called ' reading ' is threatening to be on the verge of extinction , blame the over indulgence in social networking sites and customised mobile phones . 

b ) The kids become the elite owners of a social profile  right from the teeny age of 13 -14 . Come holidays , they soak themselves in the heat of a laptop , rather than warming up playing in the sunny day . Gone are the days when the kids used to frequent their grand parent's house to exploit that emotional facet of a blood relation . And so also they find it meaningless to uphold the familial values and the cynosure of the world gets secluded within their self  - result - Broken Families ! 

c ) When the focus shifts to acheiving success and fame , whether be it the number of likes one garners , or be it the possession of the most trending gadget , the children are letting themselves swallowed by a whirlpool of problems . They seek solace in the virtual world to escape the adversities , instead of reaching out to their parents for guidance and eventually succumb to the pressure , sometimes sinking into depression or suicide . 

Solution : 

a ) Make library periods mandatory in schools . They can function like book clubs too where the students have discussions, debates and assignments  on a classic literature piece . The students should be encouraged to read newspaper every day . They should be enlightened about the role reading plays in shaping their language skills for if they need to go out there brimming with zeal and skill and deal with real people , not much of their virtual chat box experience is going to be of any aid ! Infact , isnt it knowledge that holds the supreme power to cleanse the society of its vices in this era plunging into darkness day by day ? 

b ) Moral science teaching  , more than ever before has become the need of the hour . Rather than restricting the class to textbooks , the teachers can evaluate the needs for upholding principles  by elaborating real life incidents with a message . 

c )  Parents should restrict their children ( i am talking about school kids ) assessing internet by offering stipulated times every day for the same and also should encourage them to indulge in sports or reading during their free time . 

                                     

Problem 2 :   Lifestyle Diseases

      As a person who witnesses people struggling to fight against diseases on every single day of my work , i feel obliged to stress on one particular health problem so rampant that it outweighs all others - and that would be life style diseases like diabetes and high cholestrol blood profile . The clinical data concerning the same shows alarming accounts , which provides sufficient impetus to ponder on the subject , dissecting all its layers . The prime reasons leading to such diseases being - 

a ) Inadequate exercise
b ) unhealthy food habits , esp junk food 
c ) Stress , basically at work in the present nail biting scene of stiff competition . 

        People forget that such lifestyle diseases act as an alluring factor for more harmful diseases like cardiac arrest, stroke and cancer. This is one point where the individual alone should undertake the most needed intervention as once smitten the person forever remains a prey to such diseases . And the situation has become grave these recent years because studies show that such diseases are not anymore restricted to old age ! 

Solution : 

a ) Insinuate regular excercise into your daily routine . 
b ) Abstain from smoking and avoid bingeing on alchohol. 
c ) Reduce the intake of high calorie food .
d ) Practise meditation or yoga to alleviate stress . 
e ) Make it a point to undergo monthly clinical check up to ensure thatyour sugar and bloodpressure count are within limits, once above 40 years .         

                                            

Problem 3 :   Safety of Women

         Being eve teased and ogled at have almost become a part of their lives for the women in our country and that includes me . Be it in salwar kameez or in a pair of jeans the situation remains the same . Being groped at in public transport and grazed at in subways have become the price we are entitled to pay for being independent . With the massive outrage post the delhi rape case , the government promises to revise the existing laws in favour of the women . But is that enough ? 

Solution : 

        School education should focus on the fitness aspects of girls in addition to the academic aspect . Sports should be made compulsory such that they remain fit . Martial arts or karate classes can be made available to the girls . Lessons in defense mechanisms to tackle an attacker also would be helpful if providing the classes prove improbable . Sex education should be inculcated into the academic curriculum for both boys and girls , which could be dealt separately . Girls should be provided proper awareness by teachers and parents regarding sexual assaults . They should be encouraged to speak up for themselves and to react if a man touches her with a wrong intention . The girl child in the families too needs to be treated with respect by letting her speak out her emotions or outrage . The boys should be provided awareness as well by teaching them to respect their gal friends and to treat them equals . 
                                                         

Problem 4 :  Religious Insecurities

                           I happened to come across an article sometime back where the writer was dissecting the many chaos that persist in our country in the name of religion . The article illustrated the example of the Kochi , a city in Kerala district , where numerous sections of society harbour in peace and harmony . Delving deeper seeking the reason behind this , the researchers came to the conclusion that the people in that city are ardent and true believers of their respective religion , and because of that they are capable of  accepting the religious sentiments of their neighbours too in equal amounts . This points to the bitter revelation that , those goons and religious fanatics who massacre their country men do so because they are insecure in their religious beliefs . The situation is far more intense than it seems . And so also believing in the idea of secularism has become the need of the hour  esp with the recent incidents related to Vishwaroopam release and about Salman Rushdie being unacceptable at Kolkata , dominating the footages !

Solution :

     -  This might be one problem where sensible thinking would prove more helpful in tackling the situation than practical intervention . The moulding of a heart which holds onto the principle of secularism ought to incept from the family . The onus of  making it happen definitely rests on the shoulders of the parents which they should inculcate in their kids right from the school days. The kids should be taught that humanity is the strongest link that connects human beings and no religion is sharp enough to saw through it . As kids imbibe whatever is taught to them esp by their parents , chances are more that the idea would get engraved in their minds . 

   -  The educational institutions should lend their support too in that matter by letting the students organise celebrations in harmony during the major festivals of all religions , such that they are provided proper awareness regarding the strength of each religious belief . 

        

Problem 5 :   Unclean Surroundings

        I had been to my aunts house last week and on the way to their lane i was welcomed by the stinking site of garbage being thrown around the road and they lay scattered on the way with foul odour of decaying food piercing through my nostrils ! I asked my aunt how they cope up with such disgusting sight and her reply was that this has become a habit and people have become used to it . Should it be so ? Haven't we all vouched to keep our country clean at one point of the time or other ? Aren't we supposed to perform our duties to the country when we are adamant that we be ranted our rights ?! Is the practice hygienic especially when our country is notorious for infectious diseases ? Given that the problem is not something without a solution , its high time the citizens worked for it . 

Solution : 

         Its the duty of the Government to make it available municipality workers to clear out the garbage flooding up . Write to the minister to take mandatory actions to bring a stop to the menace . If there is no response , write again or give a petition . If there is still no response take control over the situation . CCTV monitoring can be undertaken by the corresponding secretaries of the streets and thereby the people contributing to the crime can be caught red handed . ( This has been proved successful in a few streets of my state ) . Paste anti littering posters on the walls of your streets warning strict actions against the rule benders . Take snapshots of the littering and publish it on newspapers with a short account on the problem so that the government would sit up and notice . Make provisions for discarding the garbage in our respective homes itself - dig a small pit to bury it up or to burn paper wastes . That way the need wouldnt arise to throw it away . 

          
            I have always felt that the officers reigning the Indian Administrative Service should be loaded with greater power to control the state . The fact that they toiled for hours mastering knowledge on the veracity of the problems gnawing our country , no one but they , are armored with the perfect weapons of moral responsibility and acumen to uproot the evil over shadowing the progress of our society . Unfortunately in the present scenario , they are belittled to the role of mere puppets while the politicians and influential people enjoy the last laugh !
                                

             Having drained my mind of those fuming problems , i feel as though i did a small part to address the need for a massive cleansing starting from the base  . As the citizens of this country its the responsibility of each one of us to strive for the best of the society . Are you up for it ?

                                              ***********

Image Source : Here

This post is a part of  Weekend Contest By Blogadda in association with  chanakya-s-new-manifesto