6 Tweaks India Needs

I remember Charles Dickens opening his ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ with the sentence, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times….” and India is experiencing something similar today as it progresses towards becoming a developed nation with a mature society that is based on mutual respect and cooperation. Well begun is half done as the saying goes and here are 6 tweaks India needs from bottom up which will likely do the nation great good.

Tweak #1: Make ‘Fundamental Duties’ as meaningful as ‘Fundamental Rights’ in the Indian Constitution.

At the moment we have Fundamental Rights and that makes every Indian believe that he or she is born with all those rights and privileges– right to equality, right to freedom, right to this, right to that which is all very well except that the very concept of having a set of duties to the nation is seldom if ever emphasized. It gives people a wrong orientation. Let them know that there are very real Fundamental Duties as well – duty not to break a traffic signal, duty not to waste food, duty not to break a queue, duty to keep surroundings clean, duty to report a wrong - these kind of simple things. We should have a national debate on what these ‘Fundamental Duties’ should be and how they can be meaningfully implemented. There should be a line on the first page of every school text book that says, “Perform your fundamental duties well , the privileges will follow on their own.” In fact this line should be visible in every eatery and office across India. It is definitely worth a try.

Tweak #2: Compulsory military training or its equivalent for 2 months during school vacation after Standard 10, 11 and 12.

This will provide exposure to the virtues of discipline, sacrifice, spirit of service and physical strength. Let people grow up realizing what it takes to serve in the armed forces and also what it takes to defend the national borders. A unique mental sharpness combined with physical strength will then come to our youth. Both are missing at the moment. Instead of wasting time taking ‘selfies’ on their mobile phones, let them spend 6 months in military training or its equivalent , spread over 3 successive summer vacations. They will emerge smarter and more confident.What's more , the quality of their 'selfies' will also improve! I feel India needs to give this tweak a serious thought.

Tweak #3: Implement an ancient Indian principle that made India very prosperous in the past – “Work hard during the day and play harder in the evenings.”

People have an erroneous impression about India that it is a land that produced only sages and monks who renounced the world believing it to be ‘maya’ or a Divine illusion. That they certainly did but not before demonstrating great success in their worldly endeavors. I remember a monk saying, “Remember one thing….the monk's ochre robe has traditionally been worn in India by achievers….people who did great things on the material plane progressed to even greater things on the spiritual plane.” That is a great statement to make and perfectly true. India needs to imbibe that spirit of dedicated hard work that creates prosperity. Chandragupta Maurya became a monk in his later years but he became Chandragupta Maurya first. Work hard, enjoy the good things in life and then we may move on to higher things if we so wish – it goes well and makes perfect sense.

Tweak #4: Adjust the education system so that everyone receives a sound basic education till Standard 12. Thereafter, let young India pick up a vocation that suits their aptitude or natural inclination.

By ‘sound basic education’ I mean a system where our children are trained how to control their minds and bodies so that they become disciplined youngsters. That controlled mind is a great treasure which our youth must possess, greater than those mobile phones and motorcycles they have at the moment. If you enjoy doing something you will work 16 hours at it and prosperity will come. Today I see many youngsters aspiring to become fitness instructors, musicians, classical dancers, painters and linguists after completing Standard 12. That is good to see. Sachin Tendulkar did something similar and we know how successful he is. Akshay Kumar is another great example.

Tweak #5: Reinforce the virtues of a simple life.

Simplicity was never a crime in India and it never should be going forward either – a person could be simple, even austere, yet highly respected because he was learned, hardworking and yet lived simply, reducing his needs. The best way to achieve this is to involve our people in rural development activities so that they will realize that the real India lives in the cottage, happy and content and also what it takes to grow the food they often crib about on the dining table – perhaps then they will realize that it is really far easier to eat ‘Maggi’ watching a TV serial in an AC room than it is to grow ‘Masoor Daal’ (lentils) and vegetables in a field under a scorching sun.

Tweak #6: Give India a holistic philosophy of work life that is based on positive collaboration, not just competition.

It is good to compete but it is also good to collaborate. The story of ‘Amul’ and the White Revolution is a great example. India was a milk deficient nation in 1969 – 70 and today we have enough milk to produce ‘Amul Masti’ (spiced buttermilk), ‘Amul Ice Cream’ and all things ‘Amul’. That is the result of the collaborative spirit. The same holds true of the Green Revolution that made India food sufficient.

‘Nirma’ washing powder is another example of a home grown product that gave ‘Surf’ a run for its money. ‘Nirma’ competed all right but they collaborated as well. Our people need to know that life is not necessarily only about post graduate degrees and CTC’s but more about the spirit of entrepreneurship and sturdy economic self-reliance, both of which can be achieved through a collaborative spirit.

Look at ‘Lijjat Papad’ (disc shaped thin crisp Indian cracker made from a special type of seasoned dough) – everyone eats them with relish and they are the result of simple collaborative effort. They have won the ‘Best Village Industries Institution’ award.

Moreover, it is one of the great ironies of modern life that Indians who go to the US for an MS and/or a PhD often seek to work for global organizations that have been founded by college drop outs who first collaborated positively using what little they had at the time, then competed to become what they are today.

When I look at India today and compare it with what it was when I was a child I can think of many things that have changed for the better and a good many things that still need to change for the better. ISRO has done India proud many times and we now win more medals at the Olympics than we used to. Our professionals are amongst the best in the world, whether it be accounting, business management, engineering, medicine or entrepreneurship. GST has been rolled out, we have a ‘Swacch Bharat Abhiyaan ’ ( which loosely translates as ‘Clean India Drive’ ),infrastructure is being built up steadily, goods are moving faster across Indian states as octroi posts have passed in to history and young Indians have started to embrace self employment,looking beyond jobs and promotions.

We are visibly a more confident nation today with a footprint in just about every sphere in life globally and yet there are some basic tweaks that are required for the nation to prosper holistically with greater long term benefits. I have shared them with the hope that they will be implemented by intelligent minds sooner rather than later.

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