Not anchoring to chosen path

Statements made by Shri Asaram Bapu and the aftermath of the same, along with what has happed over last few weeks made me think about the problems in our society. One of the thoughts that is taking shape in my mind is we as a society has lost clarity on the roles that each one of us has to perform, and therefore we have lost passion and the focus on excellence is gone. Some where we have lost our anchors. We are not happy with ourselves, we are just focused on doing what others are expected to do.

By virtue of choices that we have made, based on our own aptitudes and capabilities and interests each one of us have a role to perform. We have to perform our roles with full passion and interest with right thinking mind. If each one of us plays the role that is assigned to us most of the social problems will be minimized. Let us look at some examples.

Legislators:

They have to ensure that the Country / State has right legal system that is relevant, efficient and effective. They have a role to play in ensuring the system works, justice is not denied, it is expeditious and the whole system works as designed. All the laws are periodically reviewed for their continued relevance and amended as necessary. Questions:

1.    Are the legislators playing that role? Do they have awareness about their accountabilities and responsibilities.

2. Do they have intellectual depth and understanding of the work that needs to be done?
3. Do they take interest in their own subjects.
4. Are they connected with relevant sections of the society? Do they know what society needs?

Many film stars, sportspersons and other socialites and celebrities become the members of the Rajya Sabha – Do they look at these positions as the positions of status or the positions that bestow on them certain new responsibilities and accountabilities. Do they understand their roles and are playing the roles with interest and passion?

Politicians:

They are the backbones of the democratic society. Political parties have to be anchored to the strong ideologies and the politicians have to represent the chosen ideology. People of the country have choices to make, they have to decide which ideology is best suited for them at a point of time and which individuals can provide the leadership. Politicians have to be the role models. They have to personify the ideology, behave like “Statesman” rather than focus on the next election and populist gimmicks. Politicians represent he people, hence they need to be well connected with people. Questions:

1.    Do politicians understand their role?

2.    Are they role models?

3.    Are they perfect representatives of the people, are they well connected with realities?

4.    Do they represent the ideology on foundation of which their political party is created?

Bureaucrats, police and the allied services:

They have an important role to paly of that of management of the Government. Create right Strategies, management systems and the Governance. Ensure the bureaucracy is always kept relevant. They have to create efficient and effective systems that are citizen friendly. They have to ensure civil society fabric is preserved thru excellent Governance. They have to be aligned to the ruling political party (since it represents the will of the people at a given point of time) however in the process of alignment they can’t lose their independence as managers of the Government and the democracy. Questions;

1.    Are Bureaucrats playing their assigned role effectively?

2.    Are they becoming stooges of the political parties and losing their independence?

3.    Are they enforcing the laws with full rigor in letter and spirit? Do the citizens of the society have confidence in the rule of law?

Society as a whole:

 

Each individual has to ensure that he /she becomes a good responsible and alert citizen of the society. They have to participate in the democratic processes full heartedly with passion. Social activists too have important roles to play. They have to focus on social awareness, creating social institutions that benefit the society, etc. Questions:
1.    Are we a law abiding society?
2.    Do we participate in the democratic processes with passion and enthusiasm?

3.    Are we contributing back to the social causes?

4.    Are we alert, and active participants in the social processes or are we just the bystanders sitting on the fence all the time?

Parents and elders of the society:

Parents and elders of the society are important. They have to ensure younger generation is well educated, right education coupled with right upbringing is the foundation of the future citizens. Are we ourselves the right parents and elders? Some Questions:

1.    Are we doing right “Sanskars” on the youngsters?

2.    Are we ensuring right values, beliefs and objectives are set for the youngsters?

3.    Are we the elders - role models?

4.    Do we ensure concept of love, brotherhood, peace, and harmony are built in the minds of next generation, rather than just being selfish?

5.    Do we focus on the all-round development of the young population?

Religious /spiritual leaders:

These are other important constituents of the social fabric. Their role is to ensure right sanskars, right social norms and moral threads are intelligently woven in to the social fabric. They can’t afford to be fanatics. Every religion talks of Universal brotherhood, happiness, harmony, peace and spirituality. Religions are different from each other basis some symbols and rituals however the fundamental spiritual principles are very similar. Fanaticism of any type has no place in in any civil society. Religious leaders have following of large masses hence responsible behaviours and role modelling becomes their prime responsibility. Some questions:

1.    Are you a fanatic? If yes, you are not a spiritual leader.

2.    Do you make responsible statements that are well thought out? If not – you are a wrong leader?

3.    Are you interested in politics and social issues? If yes, you should move to become a social activist or a political leader and give-up the robes of the spiritual/religious leaders.

Our problems:

In this post, I have talked about very few roles as illustrated above. There are other roles too like the role of an entrepreneur, roles of teachers, etc., which I have not dealt with at this stage.

Some where we have lost the role clarity. We just do what we please to do. We just do things based on impulses, selfish motives and at times just based on free will and desire. We have forgotten that social fabric gets preserved only if we confine ourselves to our chosen paths and do an excellent job of what we are supposed to be doing.

There are five pillars of civil society, viz, legislators, Executives, Judiciary, press and the people. Problems come up if these pillars don’t behave the way they are expected to behave. Press gets focused on sensational news, executives get busy pleasing the politicians, legislators get busy focusing on populist initiatives and next elections,  people get busy with their own selfish motives, and judiciary becomes inefficient and everyone starts looking at judiciary as a source of strength.

There is nothing wrong for individuals to change the roles if they so desire, for example if a film star, religious leader or a sportsman wants to become member of the Rajya Sabha, he/she is most welcome to transition to the new role. However this role change has to be coupled with deep thinking, should be associated with full knowledge and awareness of the associated new responsibilities and accountabilities. Before a role change one has to ask a question - Am I the right person for this role? Do I have the right skills, capabilities and passion to perform? After the role change he/she should start playing that role with full passion and rigor. We need people who are anchored to a chosen path and do an excellent job.

The current problems are also reflected in the corporate world, where executives have a tendency to point fingers and poke their nose in each other’s areas rather than work as a team and discharge their own responsibilities diligently with passion and rigor. If all of us do what we are expected to do, with an objective of excelling, the society will become a good place to live.