Indians are growing younger

The Stars Are Calling (Published in Sunday Herald

By 2020, the average Indian will be just 29 years old, making India the world's youngest country. Over 64% of India's population will be in the working age group, while the population of western countries, Japan and China grows older and less active. This would unleash a workforce with immense potential and give India's economy a massive boost.

On the other hand, this could become a demographic disaster if enough jobs are not generated and infrastructure does not gear up to adequately support the growth potential. Will our youth get a chance to test their wings and build a better India and world? Will our current leaders and policymakers be able to provide them quality education and training to prepare them to face tomorrow's challenges? Or, will India's youth be bogged down by lack of healthcare and social security, and cut-throat competition, to get and retain jobs?

India is already set to overtake China as the world's most populous country. In the coming years, New Delhi is likely to become the world's largest city, beating Tokyo. And India could, in a matter of decades, overtake USA and China to become the world's largest economy. India, as we know it, will be dramatically changing in the near future. What areas do our leaders and policymakers need to work on to make India the best she can be?

Are they prepared?

How do today's young Indians foresee this brave new future and their role in it? Let's talk to some bright youngsters from namma Bengaluru and find out. Orthopaedic surgeon Dr Shashikanth V S, software engineer Anusha Sridharan, children's author and PhD scholar Shalini Srinivasan, software engineer Swateek Jena, Jindal Global Law School student Paushi Sridhar, and software engineer Mohan Sriram Nayaka are insightful and cautiously optimistic. They offer their views tempered with humanitarian concerns, enlivened with dashes of humour.

The youth of the future cannot give their best to the world unless they are adequately educated and versed in skills needed to become productive contributors to society. There are expected to be 600 million Indians below 25 years by 2030. Are India's countless and opening-every-minute institutions for higher education prepared for the challenges ahead? Prime Minister Narendra Modi has just announced an assistance of a whopping Rs 10,000 crore to 10 private universities and an equal number of government ones for a period of five years.

While such steps make a few elite institutions of learning accessible to a minuscule number of students, the vast majority make do with universities which are below par or mediocre at best. India boasts of over 750 universities and 36,000 colleges and other institutions of higher education. Questions arise about the quality of education and the academic culture they provide. In 1931, C V Raman won the Nobel Prize for his research done in an Indian university. Since then, not a single Indian working in an Indian university has earned this honour. Dr Amartya Sen, Dr Har Gobind Khorana and other Indian Nobel laureates migrated to foreign universities mainly because Indian academic institutions could not provide them with an atmosphere adequately geared towards high-level research.

What about building foundations for primary and secondary education? If the roots are weak, can the tree grow strong from the top? We frequently come across news reports of dysfunctional government schools in various parts of India, which lack basic facilities such as proper buildings and trained teachers. 
"There could be a back-to-the-roots movement, based on how the present generation educates their children," Anusha Sridharan says. "I foresee many young parents sending their kids to gurukul-type of institutions." She feels that they would want to be the ideal parents who do not want their kids to suffer the mindless rote learning and academic pressures they suffered.

Lack of suitable employment and sustainable income for India's youth is another burning concern. A vast majority of Indians live in rural areas and depend on agriculture for their livelihood. Their income is tenuous, and farmers' suicides are daily news. This uncertainty forces large numbers of rural Indian youth to migrate to urban areas. With poor quality education and vocational skills, they end up in urban slums where they live in inhuman conditions and eke out a precarious subsistence. Recent agitations demanding reservations in jobs by certain communities, and related violent incidents, are symptoms of a greater problem. In the Global Hunger Index 2017, India ranks 100 among 119 nations. This indicates the yawning gap between India's haves and have-nots.

Meanwhile, the privileged urban youth often amass higher qualifications to delay entry into the workforce. When an engineering degree no longer guarantees a job, they get MBAs or go abroad to study further. With many engineering and management seats going vacant in recent years, and not even all the many IIMs securing 100% campus placements, it would seem that more academic qualifications do not necessarily translate into suitable employment.

The hire-and-fire culture appears to be here to stay. Job security is likely to become increasingly rare as more young people join the workforce. Employers are likely to cut costs by offering fewer benefits and retrenching senior workers only to replace them with younger and less-experienced but cheaper workers. With the supply of labour even more rapidly outstripping employment opportunities, the prevailing insecurity is likely to increase.

"Our parents in private jobs are working harder, for longer hours, and with more competition and less job security than our grandparents who held government jobs," Paushi Sridhar observes. "India is likely to become more privatised in future. Jobs will not be guaranteed without the effort. The competition will be stiffer and more challenging than it is now."

"I think that the direction the youth take us in depends on how fearful they are about their future," says Mohan Nayaka. "I see a direct correlation between economic and cultural/social insecurity and an inclination towards authoritarianism. I've seen people in their 20s frantically seeking safe government jobs. Isn't that the age to go out on adventures? There's insecurity because of the hire and fire culture. One looks for safety when the risk seems too high. If one is confident about oneself and the environment, fear will reduce and productivity will increase greatly."

Dr Shashikanth goes a step further. "Youth can show their talent only when given an opportunity to serve the country. Highly talented and dedicated people should be in Indian Government and not in the US or some MNC. This itself will help improve the system when the right people occupy appropriate positions. A person who has got a suitable job in the right way will do full justice to the job. When you go to work in a government office, it is often the people who irritate you more than the system itself. "Things can change only if the job selection process is further streamlined. We often see less-deserving and less-motivated people in top positions where they don't fit in. Though we, young people, want to sacrifice high-paying jobs to help people, bribes, influence and reservations frustrate you to the core and prevent you from applying for the job.

"Good architects can plan better cities, good police can ensure safety, and good doctors can improve the health system. A relatively simple step like entrance exams after the Std 12th level to IITs, AIIMS and other leading educational institutions has given equal opportunity to all. Similarly, more scientific entrances to all jobs at state and local as well as central level would ensure higher quality and transparency.

"We need better planning for future, especially infrastructure. Every day new road construction happens. Freshly laid roads are dug up within months to lay water and sewage pipes. These mistakes are happening in every department of the government. You may pass as many bills as you wish, but skilled and motivated personnel are a must for effective implementation. There should be stricter quality checks and immediate action should be taken if standards are not maintained," Dr Shashikanth concludes.

Lack of access to affordable and quality healthcare continues to be another major concern for Indians. The Centre recently cleared the long-awaited National Health Policy 2017, which promises to increase public health spending to 2.5% of GDP in a time-bound manner and guarantees health care services to all Indian citizens, particularly the underprivileged. Will 2.5% of GDP be adequate for something as vital as healthcare? Opening more medical colleges and producing more doctors alone will not solve the problem. Sending doctors to rural areas without building adequate infrastructure will be a waste of talent. Can a highly qualified specialist, for example, who has spent over a decade to acquire skills, benefit needy patients in a run-down health centre with little or no equipment, trained support staff, or even basic medicines?

Today's youngsters foresee great changes in society. "The future definitely lies with us and our thinking," says Anusha Sridharan. "But it will take time for change to take effect. The political verse should get out of the hereditary lane. Family and relationships will become more superficial as more young people join the rat race for money and career. You wouldn't know whom to trust any longer. Arranged dating will gradually replace arranged marriages. The concept of marriage may get a new edge.

"Religion and spirituality will still be there, but secularism would cast itself better. Young people will not reject our spiritual heritage without trying to understand its intricacies. But they will take a more scientific approach, and superstitions will be less binding. Mythological fiction will create more interest where authors put creative twists while reinforcing ancient principles. Some of us will stick to our good old principles and beliefs after exploring the world of ideas," Anusha concludes.

"Hopefully, gender disparity will reduce," notes Paushi Sridhar. "We may see better-empowered women in the corporate world. We also need more women in public life and policymaking."

"Lack of sustainable development scares us all. This growth may continue at the cost of the environment. In a broad sense, our standard of living should be on a par with developed countries. Younger people would probably have more general awareness because of better education and exposure.

"As a student of law, I hope laws such as Section 377 can be decriminalised. As we move forward, Big Data is crucial and handling anything with respect to this is easier for youth raised with technology around them.

"Artificial intelligence seems to be the future. There will be more advances in technology, but how it impacts society remains to be seen. This will require more hardware, which will further exhaust natural resources over time. Already India is producing unmanageable amounts of garbage. Most of my fears for the future are environment related. We have only one chance with nature. India seems to be going the way of the Western world, and it may be a long time before people realise the consequences of exhausting nature," Paushi Sridhar adds.

"We're in for interesting times," quips Mohan Nayaka in a lighter vein. "Let robots do all the work. We will drink coconut water served by robot butlers on the beach and live happily ever after. Why not dream of self-sustaining energy, safe nuclear power, or renewable power sources? Don't worry. Elon Musk is on it, and he's far more brilliant and enterprising than any of us."

Swateek Jena sees the need for a change in our collective attitudes. "Patience, something uncommon these days, can change many things. Getting pizza within half an hour and noodles in two minutes has subconsciously changed our expectations. We don't think of or wait for the long-term effects of any solution; we need quick changes. We need to go back to the books, form an opinion over incidents and issues before providing judgements based on someone else's opinions. We need to learn and grow, help others grow; build the nation by starting with ourselves and then moving to change one person at a time.

"We understand that we are a young country, that we have more power to change things than ever before. But power is known to corrupt. We squabble among ourselves, go out of our way to prove a point, label people for their political ideology. Such pointless pursuits move our focus away from our goal of building a nation that will be better than ever before. If only we could get our focus and priorities right."

Shalini Srinivasan's optimism is uplifting and infectious. "I meet India's future youth every time I write a new book and go to schools for readings. Invariably, these turn into energetic conversations. Children are hopeful and open, animated by empathy, curiosity, compassion. Imagination and a deep concern with fairness thrive in them. And every time I hope they keep these things close, so we can look forward to a kinder, and possibly stranger, future."

Proud to be Indian

My tribute to my homeland on her seventieth Independence Day. Published in Deccan Herald

As we celebrate seventy years of India’s Independence, let’s take justified pride in the wonderful land and culture in which we were nurtured. A cradle of human civilization, our motherland has an ancient heritage of greatness. The Indus Valley Civilization flourished in our subcontinent over 5000 years ago. Algebra, Trigonometry and Calculus originated in India in times when humans in Europe were still hunting in the forests for food. Lagadha’s Vedanga Jyothisa, an ancient text on astronomy whose earliest version dates back to 1400–1200 BCE, has astronomical calculations, calendar related studies and lays down rules for empirical observation to help plan religious functions. Today India is the only country after USA and Japan, to have built a super computer relying mainly upon home grown expertise and resources. India produces the second largest number of scientists and engineers in the world. Our highly evolved schools of philosophy; our many languages each with its unique literary treasures; our eminence as the world’s largest democracy; the list stretches on.

India has the largest postal network in the world with over 1, 55,015 post offices. A unique floating post office in Dal Lake, Srinagar, was inaugurated in August 2011.The largest employer in India is the Indian Railways, employing over a million people.

While we have much to celebrate, we also fall short in many ways. Our current situation is riddled with contradictions. Our citizens are among the wealthiest in the world, and India is the world’s largest consumer of gold. Meanwhile, many Indians eke out a hand-to-mouth existence. Some suffer from severe malnutrition, while farmers continue to commit suicide when crops fail and debts become unbearable.  Patients from distant lands come to India seeking state-of-the-art healthcare at reasonable cost. Yet many Indians do not have easy access to health facilities. Mothers die from childbirth related complications, while others die from treatable ailments like dysentery and tuberculosis.

Let’s take pride in our many strengths and achievements, not for the sake of blinkered jingoism or a false sense of complacency. Let’s remember all our many great achievements to motivate ourselves to reach for greater heights. After all, if we could engineer such impressive feats in the past, then we are surely capable of even greater wonders in the days to come. Let’s celebrate the patriotism of hockey wizard Dhyan Chand. After trouncing Germany and leading India to the gold medal in hockey in the 1936 Berlin Olympics, Major Dhyan Chand was offered German citizenship by Hitler himself. He was also offered a high post in Germany’s army, and a place in the German national hockey team. Dhyan Chand never hesitated to decline with polite dignity.

Let’s seek inspiration from Rabindranath Tagore, the only poet in the world to have composed the national anthems of two countries, India and Bangladesh. He was the first Asian to win the Nobel Prize for literature, and was conferred a knighthood by India’s British rulers. He refused the great honour to register his protest against the bloody Jalianwala Bagh massacre.

India is the world’s largest democracy. We are a free people of a liberated country. Our elections are overall free and fair, and have been that way since the past seventy years. This is an amazing achievement, especially in a world where millions of people are ruled by totalitarian regimes, or face strong state imposed restrictions curbing their freedom. Our government goes to great lengths to ensure that all citizens are able to freely exercise their franchise. A special polling booth is set up since 2004 for a lone voter, Mahant Bharatdas Darshandas, in a place called Banej deep in the Gir forest of Gujarat. In remote villages in the mountains of the North East where there are no motorable roads, polling officials arrive with their equipment on elephants to dutifully supervise the election process.

We are fortunate to have freedom of speech. Social media, that noisy ranting space for intellectuals and pseudo intellectuals, is flooded with shrill opinions based on questionable reasoning. Mainstream media is often accused of resorting to sensationalism in order to push TRP ratings. The corruption and ineptitude of our past and present leaders is a burning topic. Outrage is expressed selectively, and a sense of balance and objectivity gets lost in the babble of conflicting views. People like us love to complain how the country is run by unprincipled politicians. We must also remember that these same leaders we revile, have so far managed to maintain our homeland as a free country. And because we live in a free country, we can get away with such open criticism of the powers that be.

We have the right to express our opinions, so we rush to shout our half-baked views from the treetops. But when it comes to acting and contributing positively to society, most of us withdraw into our comfort zones without lifting a finger. Let us introspect and try to get a balanced and informed view of issues at hand, and act responsibly before jumping the gun on public issues. Let us also try, each in our small ways, to improve the world around us instead of simply complaining. After all, little drops of water make the ocean. It’s up to us to ensure that we don’t become ‘webaqoofs’; folks who take everything floating in social media as gospel truth. While taking pride in being citizens of the world’s largest democracy, we need to remember that “eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.”

True to its principles as a land of freedom, democracy and peace, India has been the largest troop contributor to the United Nations Peacekeeping Missions since its inception.

 India has the world’s third largest active army, after China and USA. India is the world’s largest importer of arms. But India has never invaded or attacked a country. In recent times, India has welcomed large numbers of refugees from Sri Lanka, Tibet, Bhutan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, who fled from religious and political persecution.

Some people hold that the concept of India as a nation was a British invention. According to them, there was no connection binding all the people of the subcontinent before the advent of the British. However, thousands of years before the birth of Christ, the Aryans called the river Indus as Sindhu. Then Persians came and called it Hindu. Sindhu and Hindu combined to form the name Hindustan, which continues to refer to the entire land of the Hindus. Our homeland has also been called Bharat since time immemorial. Once upon a time, India was a land of fabulous wealth and great advancement. In 1492, Christopher Columbus set sail from Europe seeking a sea route to India across the Atlantic Ocean. He didn’t reach India famed for her spices, silks and jewels, but discovered America instead!

The British were certainly not the first to unify India under their political rule. Thousands of years ago, India was governed by the same code of laws and rulers when the mighty Mauryan Empire spanned across most of the subcontinent. Rock edicts and pillars inscribed by Emperor Ashoka stand witness to this fact in many far-flung parts of our country.

India had cultural and spiritual unity thousands of years before the British came. Scholars in ancient times traversed the length and breadth of the subcontinent in pursuit of learning, moving from the great university of Nalanda in modern day Bihar, to Takhshila in the far west in today’s Pakistan. Around 800 years CE, Jagadguru Adi Shankaracharya travelled from his native Kerala in the far south, to important holy pilgrimage centres for the Hindus across the length and breadth of the land. He established Shringeri Sharada Peetha in Karnataka in the south, Govardhan Peetha in Puri in the east, Jyotirmath in Badrinath high in the Himalayas in the north, and a matha in Dwarka in the West, spreading his message of spiritual enlightenment from the mountains to the seas surrounding our homeland.

Our ancient places of pilgrimage drew saints and pilgrims from all over the land. Consider the example of Puri on the coast of Odisha in eastern India. Puri is one of the four holiest Hindu Char Dhams. Through the ages, saints and sages came here seeking divine enlightenment. Aside from the Adi Shankaracharya, Guru Nanak, Kabir, Tulsidas, Ramanujacharya, and Nimbarkacharya also visited Puri. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the founder of Gaudiya Vaishnavism, prayed here for 24 years. Srimad Vallabhacharya travelled from his birthplace in the distant south and visited Puri, where he performed a 7-day recitation of Srimad Bhagvat. He also travelled to Gujarat in the west to establish his spiritual philosophy, Pushtimarg. The mathas and meditation spots of these saints continue to exist in Puri, though many are neglected and encroached upon.

Let us celebrate India’s beautiful tradition of religious diversity and harmony. India is the birthplace of four major religions – Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism, which are followed by 25% of the world’s population. Islam is India's, and the world's, second largest religion. With lakhs of active mosques, India can boast of numbers larger than any other country, including the Islamic world. Jews and Christians have lived and thrived in India since 200 B.C. and 52 A.D. respectively. Zoroastrians came to India in waves over several centuries to escape religious persecution in their native Persia.

I remember with respect the Catholic nuns who affectionately taught us in school. Haven’t we all exchanged greetings, gifts and delicacies with friends from other religions, and shared the joys of each other’s festivals? Let’s maintain this friendship and harmony, and be proud of it.

Through the ages, India has made great contributions to world civilisation. The art of seafaring and navigation was born in the mouth of the river Sindh or Indus over 6000 years ago. Archaeological excavations in the Harappan seaport of Lothal in Gujarat, throws light on their advancements in shipbuilding. Indian sailors regularly sailed to Eastern Africa, the Middle East and Greece for trade. In eastern India, sailors set sail from the mouth of the Mahanadi River for the islands of Indonesia and beyond. The word ‘navigation’ has roots in the Sanskrit word 'navgatih'. The word navy comes from the Sanskrit word 'nou'.

The Indus Valley Civilization prospered 6000 years ago because of technological innovations such as drainage and sewerage systems. Sophisticated systems of irrigation and water storage, such as artificial reservoirs at Girnar C 3000 BCE, led to planned settlements and townships. Cotton and sugarcane were cultivated in this region as early as 3000 BCE. The Indus Valley civilization has also shown evidence of ploughs, hearths for firing terra cotta, map making and the use of weights and measures.

India has contributed to advancements in science since thousands of years. The studies of Algebra, Trigonometry and Calculus had roots in India. The 'Place Value System' and the 'Decimal System' were developed in India circa 100 BCE. Baudhayana c. 8th century BCE composed the Baudhayana Sulba Sutra, with basic Pythagorean triples, as well as a description of the Pythagorean theorem for the sides of a square: "The rope which is stretched across the diagonal of a square produces an area double the size of the original square." It also has a formula for the square root of two. Indians used numbers as big as 10*53 (i.e. 10 to the power of 53) with specific names as early as 5000 BCE during the Vedic period.

Charaka consolidated Ayurveda 2500 years ago. This is the earliest school of medicine humanity has known. The Sushruta Samhita, an Ayurvedic text, has exhaustive descriptions of 1120 illnesses, 700 medicinal plants and a detailed study on Anatomy. Sushruta, widely recognised as the Father of Surgery, performed complex surgeries on cataract, urinary stones, and brain surgeries. Ancient Indian doctors used anaesthesia. The world's first university was established in Takshila in 700 BCE. Thousands of students went there from far corners of the world to study over 60 subjects. The University of Nalanda built in the 4th century was another shining example of India’s advancement in higher education.

India’s first satellite was brought on a bullock cart. India’s first rocket arrived on a bicycle to the Thumba Launching Station in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. Yet despite financial constraints, India’s space program is among the top 5 in the world. In September 2009, ISRO’s Chandrayaan- 1 used its Moon Mineralogy Mapper to detect water on the moon for the first time. ISRO’s women scientists have helped build India’s spectacular Mars Orbiter or Mangalyaan project. These dedicated women teamed up with their male colleagues to set ISRO’s world record by launching an amazing 104 satellites in one shot.

While excelling in many fields, Indians did not forget recreation. Chess was invented in India. The popular game of Snakes and Ladders, earlier known as Moksha Patamu, was invented long ago to teach children moral lessons about karma. The modern version of this board game is popular to this day.

India boasts of the world's largest film industry. Around 1,100 films are produced annually, which is twice as many as the American film industry.  Commercial Hindi films account for around 200 films a year, followed by Tamil and Telugu films.

Let’ appreciate these and many more Indian achievements, and continue our best efforts to help our country forge ahead.

International Women's Day

She's an Eagle When She Flies

(This was first published in Deccan Herald)

On International Women’s Day 2017, the spotlight is on women’s progress. New initiatives are being launched to help forge a better world, where men and women will be truly equal. This annual focus on women has indeed triggered awareness and positive action. Organisations and individuals as well as governments, have been making sustained efforts to help women achieve their full potential.

Disparities and injustices entrenched since the dawn of civilisation cannot vanish overnight. The World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report tracks the intensity of gender disparities and the progress made. The 2016 Report covering 144 countries in the crucial sectors of health, education, economy and politics, predicts that the gender gap will not be fully bridged until 2186. We are unlikely to see complete equality for half of the human race within our own lifetimes.

However, the progress is impressive. Complex intellectual realms are welcoming more women, and they are shining with unparalleled brilliance. Iranian mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani became in 2014 the first woman and the first Iranian to be awarded a Fields Medal for “her outstanding contributions to the dynamics and geometry of Riemann surfaces and their moduli spaces.” The Fields Medal, awarded once in four years, is widely regarded as the Nobel Prize for mathematics.

Women today are flying higher, and the sky is no longer the limit. In November 1997, India born Kalpana Chawla shattered barriers to fly into space aboard the US space shuttle Columbia. A decade later, Sunita Williams became the second woman of Indian origin to conquer space when she flew aboard the US shuttle Discovery. Today, Canada-born with Mumbai roots Shawna Pandya is shortlisted after gruelling selections to fly with eight other astronauts in space missions planned by 2018.

Closer home, ISRO’s women scientists have helped build India’s spectacular Mars Orbiter or Mangalyaan project. Rocket science is part of the day’s work for ISRO’s Minal Sampath, Anuradha T K, Ritu Karidhal, Moumita Dutta, Nandini Harinath, Kriti Faujdar and N Valarmathi. These dedicated women teamed up with their male colleagues to set ISRO’s world record by launching an amazing 104 satellites in one shot. Breaking gender stereotypes, these wonder-women earned the applause of every Indian. 

India’s women are rising to the highest echelons of the corporate world. State Bank of India is among the elite seven Indian corporates to rank among the world’s leading Fortune 500 companies. This gigantic Indian multinational is headed by a woman, Chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya. She is listed as the 4th most powerful woman in Asia Pacific by 'Fortune' and as the 30th most powerful woman in the world by 'Forbes'.

Indian women are taking centre stage in the world of sports. In the 2016 Rio Olympics, Sakshi Malik fought heroically for a bronze medal in wrestling. P V Sindhu earned a brilliant badminton silver. Dipa Karmakar won the nation’s heart by finishing 4th, missing a medal by a whisker. She became the first Indian female gymnast, and the first Indian in 52 years, to compete in the Olympics. Wrestler Vinesh Phogat stormed valiantly into the quarterfinals, but missed a medal because of an injury.

To appreciate the changes in our own neighbourhood, I spoke to talented and motivated Bangalore women from diverse professions and experience levels. Rashmi Misra is founder and chairperson of VIDYA, an NGO providing quality education and uplifting boys and girls from the poorest sections of society.   Founded 32 years ago, VIDYA has seen 3.5 lakh people pass through and benefit from its systems. VIDYA currently has around 45,000 young beneficiaries enrolled in its 57 projects spread over five states.

Annabelle Manwaring, Pro Vice Chairman, Delhi Public School Whitefield and Delhi Pubic School Mysore Road, has guided a stream of promising young girls and boys emerging from her schools.

Prof. Sahana Das, Head, Dept. of Communication Studies, Mount Carmel College, has mentored numerous brilliant young women to follow their dreams.

Madhulika Dant, VP and Head – Corporate Search, Daedalus Consulting, deftly matches a growing stream of highly qualified professionals with suitable jobs.

Megha More, Co-Founder and COO, Trueweight, balances the challenges of building a start-up while mothering a lively toddler.

 With a fresh masters degree in International Relations from S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Singapore, Shibani Mehta is currently working at the Military Affairs Centre of the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA) in New Delhi. Like many of today’s girls, Shibani received full family support to go abroad, and enter a career of her choice.

These women see growing awareness and social support for women to realise their potential. Madhulika Dant’s professional career began three decades ago. “Having given up my career with the Tatas to bring up my children, I can see that husbands today are more supportive at home, in the kitchen and parenting. Equal importance is given to both careers.” Megha More agrees. After marriage, she went to the US to join her husband, but a formal job did not satisfy her. She wanted to give her best to an enterprise she could call her own. She and her husband agreed that he would remain in the US, while she went to a new city and founded her enterprise along with a friend. He wanted her to be happy, and to follow her dreams. He joined her two years later, when both were sure of their choice to return to India. By then, Trueweight was flourishing with around eighty people on board. Having a child was also a joint decision, and they share the duties and joys of parenting their lively three year old. “Today’s men are becoming naturally more supportive, and are active partners at home,” Megha says. “Improved support systems such as good daycare facilities, helps women make better life choices.”

“While we used our education for financial stability and social identity, my students aspire to be free,” says Sahana Das. “While my generation balanced home and career, the girls today include their individual passion into their profession.” Sahana is proud of her students like Vaishali Dinakaran, who was passionate about racing as a sport. Today she is a leading writer on Formula One racing. “Another very bright but restless girl said she liked to walk. And she walked… Across the Himalayas! Today Shikha Tripathy has written for Planet earth and Nat Geo and is a travel blogger who organises treks and runs an eco-friendly resort in Uttarakhand.”

“The negative attitude towards marriage and family is changing, and there is less gender rivalry among adolescents,” says Annabelle Manwaring. “Girls today no longer feel that marriage and family will curb them. Youngsters don’t feel that some careers are inferior or better than others. Whether they opt to be homemakers, chefs, entrepreneurs or artists, they want to choose their destinies and give their very best. They see themselves less as boys or girls, and more as seekers of knowledge and self-fulfilment.”

Shibani Mehta is inspired by a Minister sharing how “her gender played little role in her rise to power. She never used her gender as either a crutch or a privilege. That is something we need to consciously and constantly remind ourselves,” Shibani says. “I find these reminders everywhere. A young mother, my boss juggles vaccination appointments and review meetings while fulfilling the commitments of a senior research scholar. I admire my landlady, who at 78 plays golf and drives her own car. Women are each other’s best inspiration.”

2016 saw steady advances in gender parity. The CRPF sent a path-breaking team of 135 women commandos to tackle Naxalite insurgents in the forests of Jharkhand. More Indian women are donning uniforms to fly military planes, and actively serve in our armed forces. Policewomen are visible everywhere, and women Indian Police Service officers are no longer rare. More women are making their mark in the prestigious Civil Services.

The highly demanding field of medicine has a growing number of Indian women doctors. Karnataka’s elite Bangalore Medical College (BMCRI) alone has produced several young women Plastic Surgeons and Orthopaedic Surgeons in recent years, proving that women can take on the most skill and knowledge intensive challenges.

Indian girls next door are conquering new bastions. Surekha Yadav steered a Mumbai local train in 1988 to become India’s first woman train driver. In 2011, she became Asia's first woman to drive a major passenger train, the celebrated Deccan Queen. Other women are following her footsteps. On the streets of our major cities, it isn’t unheard of to encounter capable, business-like women auto drivers, bus drivers and bus conductors.

 “There’s gradual and positive sea-change,” adds Annabelle Manwaring. This optimism is trickling to the most deprived women, feels Rashmi Misra. In rural Haryana where girls rarely go to school, Rashmi has helped ghungat smothered mothers emerge confidently from VIDYA centres knowing English and driving. Her underprivileged youngsters have excelled in Board exams and computers. In one of her schools in Delhi, 100 kids scored IQ of over 120. “Given facilities and exposure, these children are capable of anything, she says. Boys are learning to treat their sisters equally. Not looking down at each other as rivals, they are becoming friends. These girls as well as boys have the capacity for crystal clear thinking, and are shining in the national robotics championships, Maths Olympiads and Mock UN.

The dedicated efforts of countless women spanning several generations, is building up this change. As a young girl in Delhi, I was fortunate to be inspired by trailblazers in women’s education. Smt. Kamala Sengupta, retired Principal of Delhi’s Lady Irwin School, and Prof. Bina Dasgupta retired Principal of Indraprastha College, shared their experiences with me. In the early Twentieth Century, a few such remarkable Bengali women ventured into northern India leaving their homes in undivided Bengal. Armed with impressive degrees from distant Dhaka University, they helped start schools and colleges for girls in Delhi, where nothing existed. On International Women’s Day, let us celebrate this spirit of women who led the way, those striving for excellence today, and for future generations.

The narrative of Literary Festivals

As the rains abate and cool breezes begin blowing, people all over the country gear up for celebrations. In recent years, literary festivals have joined this exuberant bandwagon, with almost 100 such galas planned in India this year. Litfests, as they are fondly termed, add glamour and crowd pulling appeal to reading and writing, which are essentially quiet and solitary activities. Publishers, publicists and ‘Famous Authors’ of every feather flock to literature festivals all over the country. With new literary festivals sprouting up every year to add to the already rich variety,  lifestyle coaches, gawkers, culture vultures, fast food vendors, aspiring writers, fitness gurus, film personalities, film stars of every sparkle level, and everyone who is anything else, all join the festivities. With so much fanfare and drumrolls, are these litfests becoming commercial circuses? Or do they really serve the cause of literature by focusing on good books, offering a platform to a variety of voices and artistic perspectives, and drawing in new readers to books they would otherwise never have known?

First, let’s take a look at the not-so-literary but equally vital practical part of litfests. Organising any literary festival is a huge exercise in management. The Jaipur Literary Festival, that mother of all Indian litfests, draws stupendous crowds that can fill up an entire town. Other litfests are also catching up. This is enough to prompt borderline introverts like me to hide inside the nearest cupboard at the very thought. Such litfests are organisational wonders, with promoters juggling finances, public relations, logistics and heaven alone knows what else. Star guests have to invited and hosted, air tickets and tour itineraries have to be synchronised, sponsors have to be tapped, venues have to be booked, security has to be in place, volunteers have to be organised and trained, and I faint to think of what else organisers have to go through to present these grand events to the world.  What happens in Jaipur on a mammoth scale, is repeated in varying degrees in all the other litfests. Hotels are fully booked months in advance, and a galaxy of literary greats descend from all over the globe. Many star studded sessions are organised simultaneously, and the audience are spoilt for choice. Food stalls, book stalls, souvenir stalls, contests, workshops and many other activities are also presented to keep the crowds entertained and well fed as they pursue the literary muses.

Litfests are definitely big business. The many visitors also look for accommodation and visit places of interest, giving a shot in the arm to tourism and the local economy. Hotels, restaurants, tour operators and other business establishments profit from this influx of migratory literati. Many visitors consider Famous Authors themselves as major tourist attractions, jostling to click selfies and grab their autographs. No wonder many literary festivals are co-sponsored by government tourism departments and major corporates.

Book sales are only a small part of the commercial extravaganza. From what I’ve seen, malls and junk food stalls steal a march over books. Fine dining in fancy restaurants, grand cars and designer clothes may cost the earth. People still feel their money is well spent on such luxuries for making a lifestyle statement. Books are cheaper than pizzas and burgers which we gobble to attain blissful obesity. But books are considered a waste of time and money by many, who have never read anything but textbooks or advertisements in their lives.  

Meanwhile, brick and mortar bookstores are downing shutters. Authors like me whom nobody has heard of, are delighted to get occasional four-figure cheques for what some bright comedian has termed ‘royalties’. If more people bought, read, and learnt to love books, they would realise that books are not only cheaper than junk food, they are healthier for our brains and bodies too. The hoopla of litfests will be well worth it if it draws such doubting Thimmaiahs to reading books.

Publisher Dipankar Mukherjee of Readomania perfectly sums up the symbiotic connection between literature and commerce. “There is a distinction between a literary platform and a literary jamboree. A platform that promotes literary voices, celebrates good writing and showcases different perspectives is a cultural and societal need, but a jamboree to make noise, earn money and create a saleable property is a commercial need. Both must co-exist.”  Which, in my ‘author whom nobody has heard of’ speak, also means that well written books for the edification and entertainment of humanity cannot be produced with empty coffers.

Accepting an invitation to the recently held Pune International Literary Festival (PILF) I experienced this happy combination of a literary platform in a lively carnival atmosphere. While three literary sessions were conducted simultaneously in various halls, street plays, book readings and signings by authors, and just plain fun happened outdoors. There was a colourful exhibition on Enid Blyton, and book stalls, souvenir stalls and food stalls to keep everyone busy between sessions. Bestselling author of mystery novels and PILF founder Manjiri Prabhu seemed all hands, eyes and ears as she coordinated the three-day event, while playing gracious hostess to the many literary guests. I observed author Shinie Antony speaking at sessions and interacting with fans. All the while she was mentally planning for her own responsibilities as the lady behind the Bangalore Literary Festival. As I prepared to speak at my own session and braced to don the mantle of moderator for a panel discussion, I realized that planning and smoothly executing such massive events was a challenge requiring much blood sweat and tears to flow behind the scenes.

PILF 2016 showcased multiple genres of books. Mysteries, thrillers, crime fiction, yoga, comics, mythology based fiction, romances, self-help books, food writers, health, beauty and nutrition all had a space here. There were also fascinating movements across various art forms. A ballet was performed based upon Pervin Saket’s novel about a modern day Urmila, the neglected wife. The ballet incorporated several classical dance forms such as Kathak, Odisi and Bharat Natyam. There was even the screening of a film on Lahore, a travel documentary about filmmaker Rahul Chandawarkar’s visit to Pakistan to perform a play. And of course, there were the lively street play performances. The exuberant fairground atmosphere helped in the free flow of ideas as people moved from one session to another, soaking in whatever suited them.

From Pune, I travelled to Bhubaneswar, where I was invited to speak at two sessions of the Utkal Literature Festival (ULF). I saw how each litfest has its unique character and flavor, offering fresh perspectives and insights. ULF 2016 was a more formal event conducted inside a spacious auditorium. While there were poetry readings in the lawns and a bookstall, there were no food courts or other fairground trappings. Acknowledging that intellectual activities cannot be digested on empty stomachs, visitors were generously offered lunch by the hosts. The focus was upon novels, short stories and poetry, giving equal importance to both English and Odiya writing. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I could understand the gist of what was being read and discussed in Odiya. This offered another wonderful perspective on the great work happening in our neglected languages. There were lively panel discussions on relevant topics such as the crisis in translation in Odiya literature, the art and craft of fiction writing, independent publishing, book promotions, blogging and the role of literary festivals.

Literary festivals are coming up to cater to every angle of the complex world of literature. Bookaroo, the children’s litfest, is going strong with editions all over the country. As a speaker in Bookaroo in Delhi a few years ago, I saw how the playful open air atmosphere drew excited kids to books. Another theme based festival Comic Con, focuses upon comic books and graphic novels. Poetry festivals attract many enthusiasts.

Do we need more litfests? Yes, says author and publisher Zafar Anjum, who is launching the Seemanchal International Literary Festival in November. Set in Kishanganj in the picturesque foothills of the eastern Himalayas, this litfest will draw attention to a beautiful but neglected region of India. Anjum’s literary venture Kitaab focuses on building a platform for Asian writing in English. In keeping with this spirit, speakers will be coming from countries such as the US, UK, Singapore and elsewhere. Among other attractions, the India release of noted Singapore author Isa Kamari’s latest book Tweet is planned here.

As ‘an author whom nobody has heard of’, I am all for litfests. Through them, an eccentric reader or two may have come to know of my books. Perhaps someone may actually buy, read, enjoy my books and tell others. We live on hope. I have a soft corner for literary fiction, with its stress on the inner life and struggles of fictional characters, and style and artistic expression. It was enlightening to learn of new work in other areas. I reconnected with old writer friends, and met some interesting new ones. I’m still ‘an author whom nobody has heard of’, and my books are languishing on Flipkart. But thanks to generous sponsors and hosts, I briefly emerged from under my bed, travelled to new places in comfort and had literary adventures.

This is published in Sunday Herald

2016 Wish List

As another year comes to an end, we welcome the New Year with hope in our hearts, and prayers on our lips. May strife and enmity reduce in the world around us, and in our own backyards. May our elected leaders continue to work for improving our economy, our environment and the living conditions of our masses.  May netas bury their hatchets and expend their energies and lung power on nation building instead of launching tirades against their opponents.  May the spirit of freedom and respect for our fellow citizens and for our motherland continue to prevail. May we continue to deserve and value our freedom by also being conscious of our responsibilities as citizens of the world’s largest democracy.  May we also remember that freedom does not mean license to indiscriminately and aggressively do and say as we please. May humanity survive the unending onslaught of wars, terror strikes and growing environmental pollution which are bent upon destroying us and our planet.

In 2015, terror, war and hapless refugees fleeing war, cast shadows all over the world.   Paris began the year with a murderous attack on the office of Charlie Hedbo, a magazine which published, among other things, satirical cartoons of various religions, and religious and political leaders.  Another heinous terror attack upon Paris ended the year. Meanwhile, Mali is emerging as a centre of terror in Africa. Hostage taking, attacks on public utilities are becoming business for insurgents along with narcotics smuggling. Boko Haram has continued to launch deadly assaults in Nigeria, and strife has flared in Yemen and in Palestine. Terror has spread its tentacles to Denmark, where there were attacks near a Jewish synagogue.  Peace eluded Ukraine, while ISIS continued to launch offensives and execute hostages. Somalian militants have targeted non Muslims in attacks such as the one in April 12^th on Garissa University College in Northeast Kenya.  The IS claimed responsibility for attacks in a beach resort and the National Bardo Museum in Tunisia.

The tragedy of Alan Kurdi, a cute Syrian toddler whose body was found washed ashore on a Turkish beach, personified the worldwide refugee crisis. Alan Kurdi and thousands like him, died violently while fleeing war in their homelands. The immigration crisis in Europe intensified. Thousands of refugees from war-torn Afghanistan, Syria and turbulent regions of Northern Africa, poured into the Balkans. Many European nations offered refuge to only a few migrants, turning away the rest. European Union officials struggled to reach an agreement on tackling the crisis. Western nations are concerned that terrorists will mingle with genuine refugees to infiltrate their countries. We pray the New Year will bring peace and reconciliation among all the countries and factions at war.

Indians can take justified pride in the fact that India has always been a welcoming haven for immigrants from distant lands, and for victims of religious persecution. The Saint Thomas Christians of Kerala, also called Syrian Christians, trace their origins to the evangelistic activity of St. Thomas in the 1st century, at a time when Christians were persecuted by the Roman emperors. This is among the oldest Christian communities of the world. According to Wikipedia, St. Thomas Christian culture is Hindu in origin with influences from East Syrian, West Syrian, Jewish and later European sources. Our fellow citizens include Jews, and Zoroastrians whose forefathers came to India to escape religious persecution in their native Persia. India has generously sheltered huge numbers of refugees from war-torn Bangladesh in 1971, and later from Sri Lanka. Over the decades, many of these hapless victims of strife have found new lives in our motherland. May the rest of the world embrace the spirit of magnanimity, and continue to shelter unfortunate victims of war and persecution.

Bangladesh born author and literary translator Mahmud Rahman now lives in the US. “Back in 1971,” he says, “I joined millions of my countrymen and women to flee an insecure life in an occupied land. India gave us refuge, and for that I have always been grateful. When I flew to the U.S. with these identity papers (issued by India to refugees from Bangladesh) -- newly independent Bangladesh not yet recognized by many countries -- I could not stop in London for a planned visit with some friends... When I landed in Boston -- I did have a proper visa in my possession -- the immigration official said, "Welcome to the U.S." That was a precious moment. There's no question as to what's right today when it comes to Syrian refugees. It would be a shame if our borders were shut on them.”

The end of 2015 saw mass shooting in the U.S. and stabbings at a London Underground station. Terror links to both incidents are being investigated. Countries around us are in grave crises because of rifts created among their own people. Afghanistan, Lebanon and Syria were peaceful once.  Like India, these countries have a rich cultural heritage, and were home to ancient civilizations. Yet today opposing factions  are killing each other, while ordinary citizens drown in the seas to escape anarchy and mayhem.  The poison of pointing harsh, accusing fingers, and spreading hatred among our fellow Indians, is extending vicious tentacles over our homeland.   We must be alert to nip in the bud messengers of divisions and enmity among the people of India, and prevent our motherland from becoming another Syria or Afghanistan.  

We are most fortunate to be living in a free country. We can rant and rave about the ‘system’ and the powers that be, without being beheaded or imprisoned.  May our democracy continue to prosper, and may we enjoy our rights and freedom responsibly. The mainstream media plays a vital role in disseminating information. The onus falls on mainstream conveyors of news, to provide a balanced and rational perspective, which in turn moulds public opinion and people’s reactions to current events.

 “What's with our media?” wonders literary translator and editor Keerti Ramachandra.  “Unless their callers, panellists, respondents blame government, the authorities...  they are not happy. Anyone who says a good word, shows any appreciation of the government’s efforts, is choked off. Why not highlight the generosity, the helpfulness of the people of Chennai, the constable, the fireman, the staff of the corporation (who, by the way, are also ordinary people whose homes are probably flooded) and yet they continue on duty.” “The media is getting really ugly these days, “ says Chitra Iyengar, a young engineer. “I miss those days when news was a 10 minute one every hour and half an hour programme every 3 hours. That news was actual news, useful.” 

The comparative sobriety of the Western news channels in reporting the recent terror attacks in Paris must be appreciated. Our media prefers a shriller, sensational tone. TV news presentations sizzle with histrionics, and invited guests are shouted down before they can speak a single sentence. Newspapers too, abound with aggressive headlines with phrases such as “strikes back”, “lashes out” and “blazes away.” This aggressive tone can help pit people against each other, fan the flames of controversy and deepen rifts and animosity.

When these controversies and enmities move on to social media, a multi-headed monster is born. Malicious rant writers latch on to selective quotes and facts, and spread misinformation and half-truths to further their narrow agendas. Incendiary messages flood our social media feeds, urging us to react and take sides. The facts get buried under the noise and ordinary people like us react wrongly without realizing the sensationalism or spiteful insinuations.  Heaven knows who will benefit from spreading such divisions and hatred. If this poison continues to spread, we will surely die in the cross-fire. People like us must remain cautious and balanced and not hastily react to, or pass on such messages. We must remember that eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.

Terror is just one among the many dangers our world faces. Climate change and uncontrolled environmental degradation will surely destroy this planet, finishing what terrorists have started. Global warming and the El Nino effect are considered major causes of the recent unprecedented deluge in Chennai and neighbouring areas of coastal Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry and coastal Andhra Pradesh. While some parts of the country reeled under floods, other areas such as 50 districts of Uttar Pradesh were declared drought hit. Crop losses due to the vagaries of nature, and mounting debts continue to push our farmers to take their own lives. The Hyderabad High Court recently described the farmers’ suicides and the crisis-like situation of agriculture in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh as “alarming.” Delhi, like most of our urban settlements, is beginning to smell like a gas chamber, prompting the state government to control the number of vehicles on the city’s streets.

“The Paris COP 21 talks could determine the outcome of our immediate history,” says author Amitav Ghosh. Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates has supported Prime Minister Modi’s case for India’s growth, saying it will be unjust to make developing nations shift to low carbon emission green energy, when it is much costlier than tradition fossil fuels.

Governments and ordinary people are spreading awareness, and rays of hope are piercing the noxious fumes. India’s total forest cover has increased to 24.16 % environment minister Prakash Javadekar said, releasing the India State of Forest Report – 2015. If pollution is increasing, the carbon sinks provided by forests are also increasing, he added. India has been shown as an example at the Paris Summit. However, pollution continues to grow, and we are yet to attain the desired 33 % forest cover. Meanwhile, various species are becoming endangered and sinking into extinction due to increasing pollution and the ongoing human-animal conflict. The return of the endangered Olive Ridley turtles for breeding on beaches off the Bay of Bengal, delighted wildlife lovers. We hope they and other rare species will survive and thrive to enrich the beauty of our planet. We also pray that our planet itself will survive, and continue to sustain us all.

There’s more good news to cheer us.  India is, for the first time, leading the World Bank’s growth chart of major world economies in 2015, overtaking China’s 7.1 per cent growth rate. The Bank said reforms had buoyed the confidence in India. Concerns over the current account deficit, fiscal deficit and inflation have dissipated with the fall in oil prices. It said new reforms were improving business and investor confidence in India, attracting new capital inflows.

There’s hope on the  international relations front. Prime Ministers Narendra Modi of India and Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan had a cordial impromptu meeting in Paris on the sidelines of the Conference of Parties (CoP) 21 climate summit. The National Security Advisers of India and Pakistan met in Bangkok on 6^th December and "agreed to carry forward the constructive engagement". China was happy to see a thawing of relations between India and Pakistan, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said.  In another instance of positive international cooperation, Germany has promised 125 million Euros to help finance green energy projects in Himachal Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh.  May our leaders set aside rivalries and work together to nurture these green shoots.

Meanwhile, ordinary Indian citizens have quietly worked to make this world a better place. Indian doctors from major hospitals such as the all India Institute of Medical Sciences, Fortis, Mauling Azad, CMC Vellore and Apollo have conducted free camps for African patients, partnered with local hospitals, organised continued medical education programmes and exchange programmes through the Pan African e-Network Project linking 48 African countries.

During the recent disastrous deluge, citizens of Chennai embodied the true spirit of India as they poured out of flooded homes to help others in greater distress.   The official rescue forces pitched in bravely to do their duty in Chennai, and wherever else their help was needed. Among the many ordinary Indians overcoming narrow divisive forces, were members of Jammat E Islami Hind, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), who cleaned temples as well as mosques in flooded areas of Chennai.

As we remember the Mumbai terror attacks of November 26^th, 2008, let us salute the courageous Indians who laid down their lives selflessly to combat terror. Slain Maharashtra Anti Terror Squad chief Hemant Karkare, Assistant Commissioner of Mumbai Police Ashok Kamte, Senior Police Inspector Vijay Salaskar, Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan, ASI Tukaram Gopal Omble;  these noble bravehearts are the real heroes of our country and of our times.
All these brave and generous Indians may not command prime time TV, but let us keep them and their ideals alive in our hearts. When confronted by repeated images of animosity and divisiveness, may we the people of India refuse to take the bait to destroy each other.  May we continue to stand together as proud and responsible citizens of a great nation.

This was published in Deccan Herald

cleaning India

On October 2^nd 2014, wondrous scenes unfolded in India’s public spaces. True to the spirit of the Mahatma, Prime Minister Narendra Modi celebrated Gandhi Jayanti by taking to the streets with a broom to launch the Swachh Bharat or Clean India campaign. The media was soon flooded with broom-wielding images of netas, government babus, celebrities of motley hues, and ordinary people like us. Over 31 lakh central government employees from all over the country paused from tying red tape, to pledge to clean up India. Since then, Facebook, WhatsApp and the rest of cyberspace are flooded with memes, jokes and publicity shots of who is doing what to clean up this country. The Clean India campaign is an ongoing one, with multiple suitably impressive goals. Meanwhile, we debate the issue in the social media, sign pledges, and sometimes even flourish a mop for effect. We then continue to relieve ourselves at the nearest roadside wall, and toss our garbage at the neighbours’ doorstep.

So is all this flurry of real and virtual activity leading the way to a cleaner India? Will pouring public money into more toilets be enough to keep our cities and villages clean? How can we counter the surge of environmental pollution from industries? What will happen when people misuse the toilets, and then return to squatting behind bushes or emptying their bladders upon public walls, because the toilets no longer work? Will a carpet ever be found, under which we can brush the mountains of garbage being generated by our cities? Will the dream of a clean India remain just a dream? Can people like us help turn that dream into reality?

Half a century ago, V.S. Naipaul observed in An Area of Darkness how Indians defecate everywhere. They mostly defecate beside the railway tracks. They also defecate on the beaches; they defecate on the hills; they defecate on the riverbanks, he pointed out. We Indians were profoundly hurt. We blushed, we bristled with indignation and we took umbrage. Yet the more things have changed, things and we ourselves, have remained the same.

This isn’t the first time the government has taken initiatives to clean up our country. The Rural Sanitation Program of the eighties was restructured into the Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC) and relaunched in 1999. To boost the TSC, in 2003 the government launched an award for overall sanitation coverage, maintaining clean public spaces and open defecation -free panchayat villages, blocks and districts.  This award was called Nirmal Gram Puraskar. Then in 2012, the TSC was renamed Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan (NBA). The campaign was revived in a new avatar as the current Clean India/ Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. Even more funds have now been allocated, and constant drum beating in the media, among other things, has made this campaign more attention grabbing than ever before. The government’s and our fervent hope is that all this hoopla will translate into tangible and lasting improvements.  While some other developing nations such as the Philippines also have the problem of open defecation, India’s predicament is in a class apart. India has the world’s largest number of open defecators. Therefore, the cleanliness drive is of special importance to us. According to plans, around 600 million Indians who now relieve themselves in public view because they have no choice, will all have the benefit of private flush toilets within the next five years.

We are sometimes embarrassed by the sight of gentlemen hopping out of their Mercedes to urinate upon conveniently located walls. Don’t we all have relatives and friends who indiscriminately generate plastic waste, or toss garbage wherever they like? We hope the awareness campaigns will also change the mindsets of such educated urban citizens like us. The Intensive drive for awareness also hopes to cover people from all social and economic segments in interior areas of the country. We can do our bit here, by pointing fingers at the wrongdoers among us, and hope to shame them into better behaviour. After all, clean households and a clean environment will help us all stay healthy and keep communicable diseases at bay.

The current Clean India campaign is a multi-pronged ongoing drive, and not a short-lived action and publicity blitz. The Prime Minister is keen on involving the entire country, and hopes that the campaign will inspire youth and encourage everyone to follow his steps. Innovative ways are being explored to encourage cleanliness. Social media is being used as a key platform to spread the message of the cleanliness drive. Our Vibrant festivals are also to become occasions for spreading the good word. The Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation has evolved a new campaign strategy to spread the message of ‘Swachh Bharat and safe drinking water’ at festivals such as the Kumbh Melas, where lakhs of people come together. The renowned Meenakshi Kalyanam festival of Madurai in Tamil Nadu and the Amarnath Yatra in Jammu and Kashmir will soon be occasions to spread awareness among pilgrims coming from far and wide.  Lord Jagannath’s Rath Yatra of Puri, Odisha, Maharashtra’s Pandharpur Palkhi Yatra, and Bihar’s Sonepur Livestock Fair are among the festivals recommended by the Ministry as platforms for launching the campaign.

 By 2019, the authorities and we, hope that Indians everywhere and from all walks of life will know and actively participate in the cleanliness drive. The drive envisages:

•  Construction of sanitary toilets for households below the poverty line, offering government subsidy where applicable.
• Upgrading existing dry pit latrines without a water seal, into low-cost sanitary latrines.
• Constructing village sanitary complexes for women, with facilities for hand pumping, bathing, and washing. This can be done where there isn’t enough land or space within houses, and where village panchayats consent to maintain the facilities.
• Total sanitation of villages through the construction of drains, soakage pits, solid and liquid waste disposal.

Let’s hope that key people in the government and in the private sector help the Prime Minister make this campaign a success. May this campaign fire the public imagination and involve the entire country. Only with widespread participation and commitment will the dream of a cleaner India be realised.

The path charted out by the Swachh Bharat campaign doesn’t quite perfectly address all aspects of cleanliness. The programme leaves some gaps in the complete sanitation chain, which goes beyond building better and cleaner toilets. What will happen, for example, when the toilet pits fill up? That’s happening in some states like Kerala with high sanitation coverage. Existing treatment facilities are inadequate to deal with overflowing pits. This creates a different health hazard.

The programme stresses upon providing toilets and offering subsidies. But many toilets are later misused and stop working. Sometimes the money is siphoned off by unscrupulous officials and the toilets exist only on paper. Despite all official efforts and in spite of increasing prosperity, access to education and information, too many of our fellow citizens simply don’t care. They will not properly use and maintain what they have, let alone make efforts to improve things.

Despite these inherent stumbling blocks, palpable positive change has happened in pockets in our own country. Best and lasting improvement has been seen where various agencies and the people themselves, have actively coordinated their efforts at all levels to achieve a common goal. In the 1990s, the Nandigram II block in West Bengal became the first block in India to take pride in providing a sanitary toilet for every rural household. To make this success story happen, officials at the district and block levels worked together as a team along with the Ramakrishna Mission. Competent technical support was secured, and funds were released according to needs, and in time. The state sanitation cell monitored the overall process. Similar successful projects later happened in some areas of other states. They were all marked by active involvement and leadership from within the community itself. With the help of strong political and governmental support, the local people themselves helped to usher in positive change.

Success can happen. Ordinary people like us can help make good things happen. It’s time we stopped passing the buck and criticizing the ‘system’.  We are ourselves a part of that very ‘system’ we never tire of blaming. Here are a few ways we can do our bit to clean up our environment:

People like us can help spread awareness and support government initiatives by our personal actions. As members of local citizens’ groups, residents’ welfare associations, or as volunteers with social service organizations, we can help facilitate positive action at the grassroots level. Best and lasting results are seen when ordinary citizens participate wholeheartedly. Aware citizens groups can point out shortcomings in government policies, and offer suggestions for fine-tuning those policies so that optimum results are achieved in their own communities. Knowledge is power. Spreading that knowledge and using it to help ourselves, increases its benefits exponentially.

The Government authorities are making some efforts to address various issues involved in cleaning India. A committee set up by the National Green Tribunal, for example, has suggested that the use of fresh river water for industrial processes, railway and bus cleaning, fire-fighting etc. should be prohibited and made an offence. This will help maintain the minimum environmental flow of the highly polluted Yamuna River. In a seemingly unconnected move by the Government Railway Police (GRP) in Agra, 129 people were fined for allegedly urinating in public, in just three days in June. Noise and light pollution is another problem in our cities. Increasing amounts of untreated sewage, industrial effluents and other waste are finding their way into our rivers. We can help spread awareness about the many ways our environment is being sullied. We can draw attention to the importance and interconnectedness of all measures to counteract environmental pollution, and thus help policy makers and fellow citizens more conscious of the big picture.

The authorities need to clean up their act in implementing pollution control measures upon our industries. Too often, the small fry fall below the radar of the authorities, while big money has a way of getting its own way. Vigilant citizens groups can help by whistle-blowing on such pollution generators within their own communities. Citizens groups can also help pinpoint the sources of corruption, which help polluting industries find loopholes, and siphon off funds meant for public projects or paying sanitation workers.

We need to get over our feudal prejudices, and treat with respect those who clear our garbage and help keep our surroundings clean. We can show some concern for the welfare of the sanitation workers in our own neighbourhoods, by guiding them towards better healthcare or educating their children.

Cynicism is ingrained in many of us. We take it for granted that government measures will fail. We justify our own inaction by averring that others will dirty our surroundings anyway, no matter how hard we try to keep everything clean. The murky side of human nature sometimes surfaces not just in our own country, but elsewhere in the world. Plastic waste ‘islands’ stretch for miles in the Pacific Ocean. Mt Everest’s majesty is being sullied by mounds of waste left behind by mountaineers. Around 30% of the Great Wall of China has disappeared over time, not just due to natural wear and tear, but also because of reckless human activities. Reckless constructions and deforestation are increasing the risk of flash floods and landslides in the Himalayas. It’s up to us to resign ourselves to the elephant of pollution in the room. Or, we can pick up our brooms to help make a difference.

The fact is, that small groups of ordinary citizens with full time jobs and families to care for, have come together to show results. Instead of just talking, they have worked in silence even in our very own namma Bengaluru to clean up spots such as Church Street and Malleswaram’s vegetable and fruit market.  Once they have taken the lead, other folks like us have seen the change and curbed their native muck-tossing instincts.

This brings us to a bigger question of our role on this planet. The rate of extinction of species has been precipitated in recent times by human activities. We have a hand in making our earth less liveable, not just for other creatures, but even for ourselves. We seem hell-bent on transforming our planet into a toxic junk heap someday. If we don’t want to clean up out act and save this world, perhaps we can still hope to discover new worlds to colonize and exploit.  

This essay is published in Sunday Herald

The price of genius

“Make your child a genius!” This hoarding on a Bengaluru bus grabbed my attention. The advertisers promised to make your kid, anybody’s kid, a master of general knowledge, elocution, creative writing, art, dramatics, fashion designing, film making and heaven knows what esoteric else. A universe of knowledge and talent, stuffed into your kid in just six weeks for a fancy price. The savvy promoters knew that busy people like us will refuse to waste our time to think. Can talent and genius be bought like potatoes or chappals? Who cares as long as we can keep up with boastful neighbours? Superficial glitz can readily be bought and cobbled together. No wonder they score over hard-earned substance. We ourselves are busy scrambling up the slippery ladder to ‘success.’ Who has time to nurture their own children these days? The problem is not with training courses and camps, which can indeed be useful. The problem is with our own attitude. By forcing our children into countless extra-curricular programmes, we expect them to become multi-faceted geniuses overnight. Buying talent, genius, all-round development and sundry mind-blowing intellectual accomplishments for our precious darlings, seems to be the latest craze in shortcut privileged parenting.

Heavy schoolbags and endless exams are no longer enough to satisfy ambitious educationists and parents. A lady proudly shared how her child, enrolled in an exclusive school, even had library exams! What on earth is that? The sixth standard student did not know or have the energy left after a deluge of edifying activities, to care. She simply ticked random choices and submitted her paper to the teacher. Children fare best in extra-curricular activities if they pursue them out of interest, and not external pressures. A rigid and compulsive approach kills any natural curiosity and joy of discovering fascinating and fun activities. A hollow sham of all-round development is the end result.

Many Indian children are denied even primary education due to poverty. A global report tracking nutritional status of children worldwide, states that half of Indian children below five years are stunted. One fifth of Indian children are wasted, and a large number of them don’t even get ORS when suffering from diarrhoea. On the other hand, privileged Indian children are denied childhood joys and holistic growth by having an avalanche of curricular and extracurricular activities shoved down their throats .While pouring money to buy such education and accomplishments for our children, we seem hell-bent upon turning them into mindless robots and dysfunctional, disgruntled future adults.

Educated urban Indians like us are a hard-nosed, materialistic lot. Our houses, cars, clothes and other possessions certify our ‘success’ in life, which in turn defines our sense of self-worth. We live vicariously through our children, projecting our own unfulfilled ambitions on them even before they have grown out of diapers. Modern Indian parents strive to buy education as a commodity for their children .The more privileged ones vie to also buy every sort of accomplishment for their precious darlings. This begins when children are starting to walk and speak a few words. We push them into play homes, prep schools and tutorials before they can remember their own names. In the good or bad old days, Indian kids bent under schoolbags heavier than themselves. Youngsters routinely took their own lives, unable to cope with the pressure of eternal exams, and the compulsion to get that vital half mark more than the next kid. That’s now become an accepted part of ordinary Indian life. Meanwhile, people like us strive to rise above the average herd by pushing our children into a bottomless quagmire of structured extra-curricular activities. We insist on regimenting every moment of their residual time after academics, and drag them into courses, camps and classes to hammer all-round intellectual development into them.

Vacations are when tiger dads and lion moms go on the rampage. We enrol children into swimming and horse-riding camps, followed by Bharatnatyam and sign language classes. We won’t allow them to waste a precious second, for there’s also coaching for singing and dance contests on TV.  To meet the skyrocketing demand, creative coaches will soon launch courses for mushroom cultivation, sand grain carving and grave digging.  We ensure that the miserable young ones are given no breathing space. God forbid they should have choices or a few moments to reflect and ask uncomfortable questions.

To meet the growing demand from well-heeled, busy parents, a new crop of fancy schools promise fast-track all-round development of the child.  I’ve written books for children, among other things. Times were when committed librarians and teachers invited me to interact with their students, taking care to familiarize themselves with my work. Together we encouraged students to read and enjoy books of their choice, and freely explore many ideas outside the academic curriculum while having fun. It was an exciting experience for youngsters to actually meet and talk to someone who had written a book they enjoyed. Such breaks from the routine helped recharge the children’s’ spirits and excite their curiosity.

Times are changing. During a recent visit to a posh school, the teachers’ demands dampened my excitement. I had to teach the kids to become authors in the space of a half hour session! I spent many years improving my writing and working on those books, and I still feel there is much more to learn. I began my journey as an avid reader. Even as a pre-school toddler, my parents left me free to choose my favourite picture books. But my experiences were irrelevant here. These children from privileged backgrounds had no time for books, the teachers explained. They only needed to learn to become authors themselves. They had far too many enlightening and personality building activities to keep them busy, and dazzle the world with their accomplishments. Meanwhile, their guardians and instructors saw no sense in allowing them time to understand, absorb or enjoy any of it. They were so busy manufacturing budding geniuses, neither the students nor most of the teachers even knew who I was! I realized how my presence was part of a marketing gimmick. The parents would be informed of the school’s efforts to expose children to experts in various fields. And this would justify a hike in school fees. Since many among us earn a living by providing various goods and services, we will appreciate this innovative concept of selling Mt Everest to busy parents with no time to bring up their children. Parents are squarely to blame. Genius shops are selling what they desperately want to buy. Something that cannot be bought. But we try to overcompensate for our own lack of involvement, by pushing our hapless children into an endless whirlpool of activities.

Research by scientists is confirming what wise parents have known all along. Babies and young children have immense potential for learning. Findings by Carolyn Rovee-Collier, a psychologist at Rutgers University, suggest that "even at two and a half months, an infant's memory is very developed, very specific and incredibly detailed." Language skills and emotional responses to the world around them, also begin developing early. Early and sustained nurturing is vital in shaping intelligent, balanced, and emotionally healthy adults of the future. Parental involvement is essential for a child’s ongoing development. Parents are the first and most important teachers long before a child begins school. The sincerest teachers in the best schools have to deal with many children. They cannot give each child individual attention like the parent. Yet a growing number of educated young Indian parents are too busy to spare enough quality time and attention for their children.

Helping children to develop their intelligence and skills does not mean tossing textbooks of Medieval History and Trigonometry into the cradle to produce precocious geniuses. Nor is enrolling kindergarteners into the friendly neighbourhood creative writing school likely to manufacture many bestselling Nobel laureates. We need to adopt the right attitude and not allow ourselves and our children to get trapped in rigid and unimaginative training programmes. As caring and concerned parents, we need to carve time out of our busy schedules to enjoy watching and participating in activities that interest and stimulate our children. Reading aloud, for example, is a joy shared by both parent and child. And you don’t need to pay hefty fees for it. Far from being a waste of time, reading encourages children to explore and learn. When parents read to their children during the first three years of life, the foundation is laid for a lifelong interest in learning. While vital for building brains, reading to young children while they cuddle up to a loving parent or elder also nurtures children emotionally, and lays the foundations for trusting and close emotional relationships as adults.

Reading books to children opens their mind to new things and places in the outside world. When children learn that books contain exciting stories and pictures, they want to read more. They do far better in school, as books are not something to be dreaded, but a thing of joy. They can understand their textbooks better, and organically improve their vocabulary and writing. As the child grows older, reading expands their horizons of knowledge. Children who are allowed to spontaneously enjoy and take interest in reading, painting, music and other activities, become independent learners and thinkers. They can attend their school work with minimum help, and entertain themselves when they are alone. Once a child enjoys such an activity of her choice, the habit will serve her well for the rest of her life. A child who can think independently will be more competent to deal with the challenges of adult life.

Studies and life haven't become harder these days. It's the attitudes that have changed. Kids habitually cram lessons, and go to private tutors for spoon-feeding of fixed notes. Then parents and schools herd children into activities such as film appreciation, chess or piano playing, without taking their choices into account. If we allow children to play, to think and decide for themselves, then they will derive maximum joy and benefits from extra-curricular activities. Extra professional coaching certainly is helpful, but parents and teachers need to motivate the children first.

Unstructured play time is also essential for children. As parents and educationists, it’s up to us to allow young people some time to breathe freely, and even play in the mud if they wish to. When children explore something that interests them, they learn more quickly and readily remember what they enjoyed learning. By allowing children choices, we can help nurture important skills such as making decisions, solving problems and forging healthy bonds with others. By encouraging children’s questions and curiosity, we can boost complex thinking.

Pushing children into strictly regimented activities is a reflection of our own fear of failure. We all need to overcome that fear of falling and getting dirty, of failing, if we are to ultimately succeed. Success cannot come quickly simply from unimaginatively planned, one-size-fits-all tutorials forced upon exhausted children. We cannot buy our way into genuine achievements, or expect our children to become perfect at one shot.  Let’s take a tip from American author Toni Morrison, whose impressive awards list include the Pulitzer Prize and the Nobel Prize in Literature. “As a writer, a failure is just information. It’s something that I’ve done wrong in writing, or is inaccurate or unclear. I recognize failure—which is important; some people don’t—and fix it, because it is data, it is information, knowledge of what does not work… then you have to pay very close attention to it, rather than get depressed or unnerved or feel ashamed. …What you do is you identify the procedure and what went wrong and then correct it.” Even for such a towering, world-renowned literary figure, success and confidence came with time, introspection and constant effort. Who are we, then, to bamboozle our children into camps and courses with the ambition of turning them into TV stars or authors overnight?

Are we turning our children into intellectual bonsais by dumping our unrealistic expectations upon their tender shoulders? Is it so difficult to appreciate our children for themselves? Do we have to push them into endless courses and camps in order to transform them into star performers overnight? It would be better if we try to bring light and joy into children's lives. If only we could allow them some space to play freely, let them figure things out for themselves and guide them to activities they find interesting and refreshing. 
This is published in Sunday Herald