Good Works: Perspective from India  – by Tuhin Mukharjee

Look inside to shape your impact

This pandemic has affected the world population and we are facing different kinds of problems. But we believe that we will come out much stronger from this crisis. Hence we need to take some steps to ensure that the world becomes a better place for living in post pandemic era. We need to take some steps towards that. Helping others is not only good for them and a good thing to do; it also makes us happier & healthier too. It also helps us to build a strong communities & a society at large. It is not only making money & creating wealth, but also sharing time, energy and ideas.

The greatness of humanity is not in being human, but in being humane… Change yourself – you are in control.”
~
Mahatma Gandhi

Digitization has revolutionized the world. Social media has changed everything. We can publish every opinion and display our talent. COVID has shifted the whole world towards digitization. We are doing more webinars than earlier. Zoom has become a platform of choice and definitely a market leader in virtual conference now days.

We are changing and the first step to adapting is to look inside ourselves. Take a few minutes to do an internal review. How do you respond to things? Are we becoming more positive or becoming more negative? Changes in mindset are required to address the challenges of this COVID era.

India’s Issues and Challenges

Success and Failure – Government Policy

India made a remarkable success in economic progress and lifting tens of millions out of abject poverty.  Prosperity has indeed been spreading across the country. A solid middle class has been created. But it is a story of private success and public failure. Government wants to regulate the funds received from abroad for charity. It created a negative impression among people & lots of organization suffered for this. Indian government did not deliver  basic public services: law and order, education, health, and clean water. India desperately needs honest police officers, diligent officials, judges who deliver swift justice, functioning schools, and effective primary healthcare centers

Access to Water

Level of underground drinking water is reducing every day. Less than 50 per cent of the population in India has access to safely managed drinking water. Groundwater from over 30 million access points supplies 85 per cent of drinking water in rural areas and 48 per cent of water requirements in urban areas. We need to be cautious.

Agricultural Output

Agriculture plays a vital role in the Indian economy. Over 70 per cent of the rural households in India depend on agriculture. Agriculture is an important sector of Indian economy as it contributes about 17% to the total GDP and provides employment to over 60% of the population. Agricultural production has increased many times since 1960.  Agriculture revolution has happened in many countries & production capacity has increased. But we need double of present capacity to feed the world population.

Scientific Research

India accounts for about 10% of all expenditure on research and development in Asia and the number of scientific publications grew by 45% over the five years to 2007, according to Indian science and technology ministry.  But India has only 140 researchers per 1,000,000 populations, compared to 4,651 in the United States. Scientific research is a neglected area in many countries including some major Asian countries. We need to fund more resources for scientific research & development.

Immunization from Disease

India reported 42 polio cases in January 2011.Some diseases are still paralyzing humanity and humanity is facing a huge challenge in discovering some vaccines. But we need to be more proactive to eradicate diseases from our society.   

Female Education

The Indian government has expressed a strong commitment towards education for all. We need to design the syllabus in a way that there is no such problem in providing education to female community and they are encouraged to continue to complete their education. However, India still has one of the lowest female literacy rates in Asia. In 1991, less than 40 percent of the 330 million women aged 7 and over were literate, which means today there are over 200 million illiterate women in India.

It’s Time to Make a Difference

We need to create positive impact to make changes and make the world a better place for living. Creating positive change in the world is about action. You need to get into action and make the things happen. It’s about keeping your eyes open to see to make things better and then doing something to help.

Of course, nobody can force us to change if we do not want to change ourselves. But we need to change and we need to take some actions. A better world is possible. But it starts with us. You can start small. All our efforts will make a difference.

This pandemic has affected the world population and we are facing different kinds of problems. But we believe that we will come out much stronger from this crisis. Hence we need to take some steps to ensure that the world becomes a better place for living in post pandemic era. We need to take some steps towards that.

Set an example:

Lots of people have lost their jobs and face difficult conditions in life that they never had imagined earlier. We never thought that COVID would change everything right away. But it has happened. Now we have to act on charity and need to provide honest services to our community. This is the need of hour. People need our help. So do not hesitate to extend a helping hand and make the world a better place for living.

Many of us are reluctant to ask for help. So be vocal and urge the people to come forward. It’s time to reshape our world in new ways. Since so many of us are reluctant to ask for the help that we need, you have to listen to what’s said and sometimes what’s not said. Quite often, a simple conversation will reveal the things which are very important to solve the issues.

Be Generous

We have to be more generous than earlier as the world is changing and 2.0 version is going to come after covid pandemic. Unfortunately, most of us, link generosity with money and feel they don’t have enough to help others. Actually you do not need to be rich to be generous. You need to have a big heart to be generous.

ACT: Create a positive impact

We need to create a positive impact to make change & make the world a better place for living. Creating positive change in the world is about action, not the intention. You need to get into action & make things happen. It’s about keeping your eyes open to see where you can make things better and then doing something to help.

Of course, nobody can force us to change if we do not want to change ourselves. But a better world is possible if we do change and take action.  But it must starts with us. Even starting small can make a big difference.

Tuhin Mukharjee

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