ANewIndia'sModernizers: Children

ANewIndia'sModernizers: Children

Sixty-eight years after winning freedom, in India, a country with an abundance of talent, the same biases and mindsets continue that have hindered her evolution into a modern nation.

Let's be clear on ground realities. A country that is not committed to every citizen's right to 'life and liberty' cannot be a truly modern, developed nation. Nor can a country where fair-play and rule of law are routinely battered, particularly by those with power. Nor can a country where pettiness, selfishness and taking advantage of others (even the weak) for gain are so common that too few realize such behaviour is unworthy of a refined nation. Nor can a country where the people do not share and care for each other, where the better-offs are insensitive to the suffering of the many. 

India has still to grasp that factories, armies, nuclear bombs, space explorations, a small wealthy class or some whose wealth matches the world's richest do not make a truly developed country. Russia has done it all, but remains stuck as a developing country.
 
The HDI or Human Development Index of the United Nations Development Program rates Denmark the most developed land in the world, followed by Norway, New Zealand, Singapore and the U.S. India ranks 135th among 185 countries. Between developed and under-developed countries the essential difference is heart: The ability of the people to feel and care for one another. Denmark, for instance, without discriminating on any basis offers all her citizens free education at all levels and free health care.

India has still the same long way to go to develop as she did at Independence. A positive change in attitudes has to happen through education. In children.   

That's the key. It has to begin in childhood.


And it means not math or geography, but the basic civilizing ideas of humanity.

When I was in school one of our subjects was Moral Science. It's not a science at all. I still remember one lesson, with the illustration of a schoolboy volunteering to help a blind man cross a busy street. Moral Science was a subject neither pupils nor teachers bothered about. We were promoted even if we failed in it. Somehow, I took the subject seriously and got a story-book every year for scoring in it. Later, I went on to professional studies. But I still consider Moral Science the most important part of my education. I believe that the subject - on caring for one another in our inter-dependent society - must be taught to children across the world.

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Tail-Lights:

1. Ready for an Amazing novel on Amazon?

An unforgettable love story that inspires the people's March to an Ek Desh India lights up Dreams of One Country by Jagjit Daniel (and John). Check it out on Amazon.com. If the transforming India Revolutionary Theme appeals to you, download the novel on any device - I-phone, pad or computer.
2. Man's Easiest Job!
 Look at history, past and present. Nothing is easier for man than to delete 'kind' from mankind. (From Tipsy Tweetlines)

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