Former Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales Lord Bingham once said that his father never made use of his office phone for making personal phone calls. Today more than a century later, we can hardly differentiate our conversations as official and personal. Our life is a bundle consisting of family, friends, work and leisure, spearheading towards the ultimate objective of survival in this competitive world at a pace unknown in those times! In this transition from one generation to the other, have we left behind our ethics and values?
The society that we live in today is built on the foundation of trust. This trust is present in various stages.
GOVERNMENT AND ADMINISTRATION
At the primary level, it was the trust that we had in our leaders that helped them raise their voice against the oppression of foreign power and ultimately win us the freedom for self governance. The whole constitution and political system is built on the principles of fairness and faith. The faith that- you (the administration consisting politicians, bureaucrats and the defence service that takes care of the security of the people) do your work while I do mine, so that together we can build our nation.
However, with the growing avenues of new media and the irresistible temptation in the public to not just mind their own business, we have had a series of exposes of our politicians, bureaucrats and defence personnels. Beginning from 1990s- Bofors scandal, Hawala scandal, the most popular Tehelka expose; the list is endless. So when our own elected representatives who adorn the highest offices in our society fail to exhibit citizen ethics, what can be done to restore the lost values and ethics in our society? And how important it is to revisit the core principles of citizen ethics and redraft them to suit the modern society?
THE SERVICE SECTOR
At the next level of trust comes service sector like banks, postal department, electricity, water etc. Corruption and poor incentive for employees in these fields (except banks) have resulted in the vanishing of the service element in their business. In the case of banks, what happened due to recession in the west has violated all trust we had in allowing them retain and handle our money. Thankfully due to the strict regulatory system imposed by RBI, the Indian banks were quite safe. Again, risk is a matter of trust. To multiply money, banks must take risks for which they will need the complete trust of their customers.
SPIRITUALITY
When all that we trust fails us, we turn to religious gurus who are in abundance in the society today. That is the next level of trust, when we submit ourselves to these gurus in whom we trust to help us in the process of revival through God´s chosen means. That is what Bhagwan Rajnish (Osho), Sri Aurbindo, Sri RamkrishnaParamahamsa and Sathya Sai Baba did, and they were leaders in bringing out the concepts of meditation and yoga to benefit the common man. It was later taken forward by Sri Sri Ravishankar, Baba Ramdev and others to be tailored to the needs of the stressed man from today´s society. However in this period, opening an ashram has turned into a viable business opportunity thanks to the exponential increase in the number of victims of stress and tension in our country and abroad. To name some of the recently exposed spiritual gurus Swami Nityananda and Swami Amritachaitanya. Again we are at a point when some of the highest order of trust is violated and vulnerable people are exploited.
However I do not wish to conclude that we are living in a society in which the administration, service sector as well as religious gurus are all not worthy of trust and hence we have lost all foundations to uphold our value system and ethics. Its all business and profit making now!
A VALUE SYSTEM FOR THE NEW GENERATION
It is required is to revamp the value system to suit the new generation. For instance the age old principle, ´Love thy neighbour as you love thyself´ has lost all significance in todays world when all concepts of neighbours and space sharing have lost their meaning. Privacy and personal freedom have gained an importance that was never there. Todays value system and ethics should be built on a platform of equality, of mutual inter-dependence and transparency. Accessibility to public information is the first step to building trust and reviving the principles of values and ethics on the lines of trust.
In this information age, it is up to India to set an example and lead the world on building citizen ethics and a moral society, because it will play a key role in determining the global capital for this century. And the time could never be better than now when the west is battered by the financial and social meltdown in the last two years, and is seeking out assistance in rebuilding the society.
Jaago India, for tomorrow is ours!
The society that we live in today is built on the foundation of trust. This trust is present in various stages.
GOVERNMENT AND ADMINISTRATION
At the primary level, it was the trust that we had in our leaders that helped them raise their voice against the oppression of foreign power and ultimately win us the freedom for self governance. The whole constitution and political system is built on the principles of fairness and faith. The faith that- you (the administration consisting politicians, bureaucrats and the defence service that takes care of the security of the people) do your work while I do mine, so that together we can build our nation.
However, with the growing avenues of new media and the irresistible temptation in the public to not just mind their own business, we have had a series of exposes of our politicians, bureaucrats and defence personnels. Beginning from 1990s- Bofors scandal, Hawala scandal, the most popular Tehelka expose; the list is endless. So when our own elected representatives who adorn the highest offices in our society fail to exhibit citizen ethics, what can be done to restore the lost values and ethics in our society? And how important it is to revisit the core principles of citizen ethics and redraft them to suit the modern society?
THE SERVICE SECTOR
At the next level of trust comes service sector like banks, postal department, electricity, water etc. Corruption and poor incentive for employees in these fields (except banks) have resulted in the vanishing of the service element in their business. In the case of banks, what happened due to recession in the west has violated all trust we had in allowing them retain and handle our money. Thankfully due to the strict regulatory system imposed by RBI, the Indian banks were quite safe. Again, risk is a matter of trust. To multiply money, banks must take risks for which they will need the complete trust of their customers.
SPIRITUALITY
When all that we trust fails us, we turn to religious gurus who are in abundance in the society today. That is the next level of trust, when we submit ourselves to these gurus in whom we trust to help us in the process of revival through God´s chosen means. That is what Bhagwan Rajnish (Osho), Sri Aurbindo, Sri RamkrishnaParamahamsa and Sathya Sai Baba did, and they were leaders in bringing out the concepts of meditation and yoga to benefit the common man. It was later taken forward by Sri Sri Ravishankar, Baba Ramdev and others to be tailored to the needs of the stressed man from today´s society. However in this period, opening an ashram has turned into a viable business opportunity thanks to the exponential increase in the number of victims of stress and tension in our country and abroad. To name some of the recently exposed spiritual gurus Swami Nityananda and Swami Amritachaitanya. Again we are at a point when some of the highest order of trust is violated and vulnerable people are exploited.
However I do not wish to conclude that we are living in a society in which the administration, service sector as well as religious gurus are all not worthy of trust and hence we have lost all foundations to uphold our value system and ethics. Its all business and profit making now!
A VALUE SYSTEM FOR THE NEW GENERATION
It is required is to revamp the value system to suit the new generation. For instance the age old principle, ´Love thy neighbour as you love thyself´ has lost all significance in todays world when all concepts of neighbours and space sharing have lost their meaning. Privacy and personal freedom have gained an importance that was never there. Todays value system and ethics should be built on a platform of equality, of mutual inter-dependence and transparency. Accessibility to public information is the first step to building trust and reviving the principles of values and ethics on the lines of trust.
In this information age, it is up to India to set an example and lead the world on building citizen ethics and a moral society, because it will play a key role in determining the global capital for this century. And the time could never be better than now when the west is battered by the financial and social meltdown in the last two years, and is seeking out assistance in rebuilding the society.
Jaago India, for tomorrow is ours!
dude... serious shit... nice read...
ReplyDeletethnx kc! :)
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