Money and the luxury of choices

When you look at what has driven people for thousands of years and examine your own life today, you realise that if you take away the Starbucks, cell phones and some of the other stuff, the basics that matter most are strikingly similar

“Yet he was not content. At first he could not say why. He and Akun....could look back upon great achievements: he had led his family on their epic journey from the tundra: he had found warm lands. They hunted well and raised fine families. Both of them were now treated with honour and respect—surely he had done all that it was possible to do. But with each passing season, the feeling of unease and disquiet grew.”Sarum by Edward Rutherfurd. This is a book based on Salisbury in prehistoric times.

“The dynasty? What will become of my line? Will it endure?” The king’s voice reached me, and then was lost in a cacophony of other sounds that filled my head—the sound of battle trumpets, the shouts of men in mortal conflict, and the ring of bronze on bronze. I saw the sky above me, and the air was dark with flights of arrows arching overhead.” River God by Wilbur Smith. This book is a story about ancient Egypt, based on some real events.

“In AD 731, the prosperous Pallava kingdom in southern India faced an existential crisis. The Pallava king , Parameswara Varman II, had died suddenly without a direct heir. He had been on the throne for barely three years and it is likely he had been killed in a raid by the Chalukya crown prince, Vikramaditya. There was grave danger that the neighbouring kingdoms would support rival claimants to the throne and then gobble up territory in the ensuing civil war.”Ocean of Churn, by Sanjeev Sanyal. A book that documents the history of India, as shaped by the Indian Ocean.

“The rift within the Samajwadi Party may have widened after party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav on Tuesday (25 October) declined to name his son, chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, as the face of the ruling party campaign for the assembly polls.” Mint story on the Yadav versus Yadav family fight over power, 26 October 2016.

From prehistoric times to today, the stories are the same.

But each new generation imagines itself to be unique in its pursuit of what it imagines is happiness. But nothing much changes over time.

We’re still driven by money, power, love, lust and territory. I’m a recent fan of historical fiction and history. Not the boring old textbook history, but the modern re-imagining of history.

Edward Rutherfurd writes historical fiction and writes about cities from prehistoric times to current times—telling stories of different epochs through fictionalised subaltern characters, with famous historical characters and events as the backdrop.

Wilbur Smith, in his Egypt series, fictionalises events from ancient Egypt. In River God he writes about a period that dates back to about 1780 BC.

Sanjeev Sanyal is writing Indian history from an Indian perspective, moving away from a largely western view of Indian history.

And of course, the Yadav clan fight is a story that has played out thousands of times across history all over the world.

I find it useful to read these books, not just for the reading pleasure but also for the perspective they give to my own life.

When you look at what has driven people for thousands of years and examine your own life today, you realise that if you take away the Starbucks, cell phones and some of the other stuff, the basics that matter most are strikingly similar.

Reading these stories shatters illusions of uniqueness: the things that drive us today are no different from those that motivated people thousands of years ago.

Just the form and substance has changed, the underlying is the same.

They also give me a sense of continuity. We have survived much worse periods of human history and lived on to see better days. It makes for greater responsibility. In story after story you read about that one person because of whom the course of history changed.

It need not have been a decorated hero, but may have been the stable hand on a highway, who was just doing his job and had a fresh horse ready when the King’s messenger rushed in at midnight, en route to getting reinforcements to fight off the enemy attack.

The attack was foiled and history took a different course.

Diwali is just over—those reading this are lucky enough to have the luxury that education and freedom from poverty can give.

The festival season is still on. It’s a good time to go back to the basics and rework the purpose of life and your place within it.

That’s the luxury of money that the newly emerged Indian mass affluent has, which the previous generations did not.

Monika Halan works in the area of consumer protection in finance. She is consulting editor Mint, consultant NIPFP, member of the Financial Redress Agency Task Force and on the board of FPSB India.

The challenges of trekking

The latest among the fads that have captured public attention seems to be wanderlust. The idea of being in the mountains, away from civilization, has been romanticised to an extent where going to the mountains has become akin to a modern form of a pilgrimage. Yet, as the unfortunate recent death of a trekker from Chennai in Sikkim shows, there is a cost to adventure that is often downplayed or ignored, resulting in tragic accidents.

At present, there is no specific law in India that governs trekking. While trek operators may register with the Indian Mountaineering Foundation (IMF), such registration is not mandatory. It is perhaps the unregulated nature of the enterprise that leads to operators and trekkers failing to accord the respect due to nature and this often paves the way for accidents and tragedies. Treks are often conducted in groups of more than 15, which reduces the operating costs of the organisers and increases margins but the real cost of this is borne by the trekkers. The bigger a group the less are the chances of an individual getting the requisite attention when necessary. On many expeditions, the interest of the majority in finishing the trek outweighs an individual’s personal problems, which may not be given the requisite attention. This is especially problematic at higher altitudes where the consequences of apathy can even be fatal.

Unlike some other adventure sports where training is expensive and out of the reach of many people, India has some world-class mountaineering institutes which provide basic and advanced mountaineering courses at affordable and subsidised rates. Yet, when operators fail to exercise due diligence and have leaders on treks without adequate training, it is the inexperienced trekkers who suffer. How such carelessness can be allowed to go on is beyond comprehension.

While being in the midst of nature can be a rewarding experience for an individual, it is imperative that one is responsible when one forays into the wild. And when an individual entrusts his or her life with an agency, it is important that the service is professional and that the operators behave responsibly. The law can play a key role in this endeavour. For any guided trek, the leader/guide has to have the minimum amount of training as a mountaineer. Such leaders need to be trained to be equipped for any exigencies that may arise at high altitude. It is the responsibility of the operator to ensure that the group has certain basic medicines that are needed at high altitudes, always ready. Before embarking on the trek, every person needs to be certified to be fit to go on the adventure.

For batches that comprise more than 10 people, a doctor should be mandatorily a part of the group to ensure that any individual does not suffer. The list of essential items, available on the IMF website, needs to be made the mandatory minimum and should be strictly adhered to.

These ideas are not novel. Any responsible individual who is aware of them will conform with them diligently. But the authority of law would ensure that individuals do not suffer because of the inadequate understanding of operators.

The tale of a cow: why sacredness doesn’t always seem to protect and sustain

 master doesn’t allow them to feed their own calves, but weans them away within hours of their birth, and they’re often never seen again

The small animals scattered, tails tucked in, ears stiff, feet on the double, fear flitting in their eyes. The birds took off instantly, cooing, cawing, trilling and hooting. The trees woke up from their slumber, disturbed by the dithery of the animals, and the cacophony of birds aflutter. And then, all of a sudden, a blanket of silence enveloped the forest, which was witnessing an unthinkable event. Punyakoti the cow walked purposefully towards its predator, Arbhuta, the tiger.

“Everyone said I was a fool to let you go,” said the incredulous Arbhuta, with relief and disbelief.

“Thank you for letting me visit my children,” replied Punyakoti. “I returned as promised, although I haven’t been able to find guardians for them.”

“Why? Isn’t the village full of cows that hold you in high esteem?”

“That’s the problem. I always had enough to feed my children. I was the first choice at temple festivals, and grihapravesams. I lived my life in relative comfort. I never acknowledged it, but I always occupied a special place within our community; my lineage mattered.”

“But aren’t all cows equal?”

“I thought so too, until they said: ‘We would love to take care of your calves, but what would we feed them? Our master doesn’t allow us to feed our own calves, he weans them away within hours of their birth. Sometimes we don’t even see them after they are taken away. We wake up to their moaning, and keep calling out to them through the night. We cry our hearts out, till our faces are stained by streams of dried tears’.”

“Why wouldn’t he allow the little calves their share of milk?”

“His greed is unbounded. My friends produce more milk than normal. They feel heavy, drugged, and drowsy; they are perennially made pregnant and lactate continuously; they are scared, confused, and helpless. To be forced into motherhood so you can satisfy others’ thirst for milk is a curse, not a blessing. Their lives are so wretched they offered to swap places with me.”

“That’s incredible. Aren’t they afraid of death?”

“They are dead from the inside. They died a little when their calves were snatched. They died some more when their bodies were manipulated. And they continued to die a little every time they heard how their bull-calves and the older cows were slaughtered.”

“Isn’t that illegal?”

“In our country there is a way to bypass every rule. Law can be softened by violence. Violence finds justification in religion. Religion finds refuge in politics. The engine of politics runs on money. Even the scriptures specify how to wash away sins with money. Within this nexus, man has found ways to play god; running on his farm a vicious cycle of life and death, in which he feeds, breeds, milks animals, and turns them into food and leather.”

“But aren’t those cows sacred?”

“What is sacred for some is profane for others. Sacredness doesn’t protect. It merely defines the boundary that separates people who exploit, from those who aren’t allowed to exploit. From the days of Kamadhenu we have been considered sacred, and milked. In the ancient times, the gods and the holy men fought over us. Now their descendents have made us a symbol, a political flashpoint.”

“So why did you return when you had a chance to send one of your friends?”

“They think I am learned, and are willing to make sacrifices for me. I have always been secretly proud of the fact that my knowledge is from the scriptures. I enjoyed the sense of entitlement it gave me.

“For me death was a visitor, for whom I should be prepared when he arrives at the appointed time. For them death is a constant companion. I dreamt of living beyond death. Their dream is to survive alongside death. I lived my life in search of salvation. They live theirs in search of emancipation. I made a mistake by straying into your territory. They never made a mistake in their lives. I got a second chance, thanks to you. Man gives them no second chances.

“To tell you the truth, despite being close to the gods, and the holy men who serve them, I never raised my voice in defence of the weak and downtrodden, even within my own community. About my regard for the unconsecrated animals, the less said the better. Somewhere along the line, I became so preoccupied with myself and my family, and our well-being, that I lost the empathy for the less fortunate. I never tried to understand their words, let alone feel their pain. Yet they were willing to help me. They deserve more. I merely studied the scriptures, they are beyond scriptures.”

For meaningful education

Acclaimed surgeon and writer Atul Gavande finds a remedy to tackle immensely complex problems with the humblest of techniques: the checklist, says the synopsis of The Checklist Manifesto, 2010.

In his journey to discover the value of checklists, Dr. Gavande makes the point that everywhere he looked, the evidence seemed to point to the same conclusion — there seemed to be no field or profession where checklists might not help.

We all know the sorry state of education in India. We know the cause — a system that is based on the student cramming information without demanding understanding and a subjective system of evaluation of the student comprising in the main of examinations principally testing memory recall.

Is there a practical alternative to this unsatisfactory system?

There is. And at its core is the humble checklist advocated by Dr. Gavande.

But first, what is a checklist?

Very simply, a checklist is a list of items required, things to be done or points to be considered, used as a reminder. This is clear. Is the consequential implication equally clear? Perhaps not.

A checklist is purely objective, no subjectivity is involved. That means, if the checklist is framed as a set of questions, the answer to every question can only be a binary “Yes” or “No” and nothing in between; no shades of grey.

Such objectivity is the very antithesis of the education system today — both in the way teaching happens and in the evaluation of the student.

How, then, can an alternative system based upon the checklist work?

In order to answer this question, it is necessary to first examine the implications of learning. Learning, after all, is the fundamental objective of education.

The late nineteenth and early twentieth century saw many savants in India — Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Vivekananda, Ramana Maharshi, Jiddu Krishnamurti, Sri Aurobindo and others who did not come into the glare of the media. While all of them addressed the liberation of man from sorrow, J. Krishnamurti brought unique insights into education that were revolutionary, especially to the western education system of which we all are products.

Krishnamurti pointed out that acquisition and accumulation of information was not the primary objective of education. Rather, it is necessary to explore what is implied in the movement of learning because learning is a far more important component of education. Learning includes discovery, insight, understanding as well as accumulation of information.

Discovery, insight and understanding can only happen in the context of the act of experience. And every discovery, insight and understanding must result in accumulation of information as well as its association to other information in ways that are unique to the individual.

No two individuals will arrive at the same conclusions and associations. The same individual too, going through the same experience multiple times, will arrive at different conclusions and associations every time because even if the experience is the same, he, the experiencer, is dynamic and never the same.

That is the beauty and magic of learning!

The role of a teacher, then, is not to lecture or impart information. Rather, it is the teacher’s responsibility to organise experiences for the student, one after the other, and allow discovery, insight, understanding and the consequent conclusion and its association to happen in every experience. For this, the experience has to be broken down into steps that the student observes objectively. This means designing questions that have only binary answers — “Yes” or “No”.

Obviously, such an approach must be individual student-centred, even when the student is part of a class or group. Learning is always self-learning and individual. Competition, stress, anxiety and all the negative emotions that are part of the process of education today are eliminated naturally and without effort.

When there is a goal or a syllabus to be mastered, these experiences need to be adequate, appropriate and properly sequenced so that the student is guided in the desired direction. If the steps and direction are correct, reaching the goal must follow. Therefore, the student’s attention has only to be on the immediate experience and never on the goal itself.

The student has only to answer “Yes” or “No” at every step. The student cannot move to the next step unless the current step is completed.

Is this not the function of the humble checklist?

gopalan@thevalleyschool.info

(The author, who qualified as a chartered accountant, has been teaching in different schools of Krishnamurti Foundation India since 1983)

A blast from the past,and a little mischief in the air

 A fresh discovery, a change in the routine, a new realisation. Good till it lasts

She woke up in the morning as usual and jumped out, promptly looking at the clock. She then turned around, only to find the adjacent bed empty. Oh yes, husband had left on a two-day trip to his home town the previous night. A faint smile crossed her face as she thought, “Oh, I don’t have to run to the kitchen to make coffee.” She slumped back without a care but was too excited to sleep anymore! She could not remember when it was the last time she was all alone and free from having to attend to others’ needs in the household. Husband had retired from service and the daughters had left home to pursue their dreams.

It felt a little funny and uneasy not having to do anything unless she wanted to. She tried to come to grips with this feeling, which she had not come across for decades, with no one around demanding her attention and assistance.

She made coffee for herself slowly and went to the balcony with the newspaper, which usually would be the husband’s preserve (while she worked in the kitchen). She mechanically looked at the clock and smiled again thinking, “To hell with the clock today.” She decided to go for a morning walk and found that the neighbours were giving her surprised looks.

Back at home, she made herself a simple breakfast and found enough food in the refrigerator for lunch. After finishing the routine household tidying-up she sat again at the balcony, putting on some music and a book in hand.

But every now and then she thought she heard her husband call — before realising that he was away. It was a mind so attuned to the daily rigmarole and seemingly unable to take in the ‘freedom’ never before experienced.

She did not really know what to do with the rest of the day and had to tell herself, “I can choose to live today the way I want.”

On impulse she called an old friend from college and planned to attend a matinee show with her. Her friend could not understand why she was giggling like a schoolgirl who had bunked class for a film show. Was there a mischievous twinkle in her eyes, last seen decades ago?

After the movie they decided to dine at what was their favourite place during their college days. The place was full of youngsters, bristling with energy. “Oh yes, I was once like them,” she thought.

After coming home late, as she prepared to go to bed she suddenly felt that the day had been a ‘blast from the past’ and she thought she had rediscovered her real self after a long time. She was shocked to realise how over the years she had let herself become rather robotic.

She mentally made a note that she would reserve a day every month to be on her own, doing what she wanted to do (as opposed to what she had to do) and being herself.

×

The telephone rang. It was her husband calling to tell her he would have to stay one more day to complete his work. When she put down the phone she caught herself smiling yet again!

In center SC - show down, it is people awaiting justice who suffer the most

The Supreme Court’s allegation that the government was stalling appointments of high court judges is an indication that the face-off between the two is getting more complicated by the day.

Chief Justice of India TS Thakur has expressed his frustration over the inordinate delay in judicial appointments. At a function where Prime Minister Narendra Modi was present in the national capital earlier this year, he was almost in tears while talking about the problem.

Read | Why don’t you shut down courts? SC slams govt over delay in appointing judges

His anger is understandable. Many courtrooms in high courts are locked because there are no judges. Most high courts are functioning at less than 60% of their strength even as the collegium’s recommendations for appointments have been pending for months. More than 450 posts of judges out of the sanctioned strength of 1,079 are vacant while close to 3.9 million cases are pending in 24 high courts. The apex court — which has a sanctioned strength of 31 — has five vacancies. The situation is likely to get worse next month as two SC judges are slated to retire.

The government has its own arguments. Had it intended to stall, it would not have appointed 86 new judges to the high courts, four to the Supreme Court, 14 chief justices to the high courts and accepted the collegium’s recommendations for the transfer of four chief justices and 33 judges from the high courts since December.

Still seriously hungry and poor

Economic growth alone is not enough to achieve key Sustainable Development Goals. It must translate into jobs for the poor and marginalised

India is the fastest growing large economy in the world today. Despite this, one in every five Indians is poor. Multilateral agencies as well as governments are playing an active role in understanding problems relating to poverty and hunger and finding solutions to them. But these challenges are pervasive and weeding them out will require clear evidence-based data-driven solutions.

Goal 1 and 2 of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) envision eradicating poverty and ending hunger by 2030. A brief look at the statistics tells us the extent of the problem. An astounding 767 million people in the world are poor while the those who do not have enough to eat are estimated to be close to 800 million.

Poverty is a multidimensional concept, which involves reduction in choices to pursue freedom. So is hunger. Two recent reports try to clear the haze on measurement and yield some pertinent insights on poverty and hunger. These are the the Global Hunger Index (GHI) of the International Food Policy Research Institute and the Pathways to Reducing Poverty and Sharing Prosperity in India (PRPSPI) of the World Bank.

Improvement but not enough 

The GHI tries to capture the hunger level across countries. The index is constructed using four component indicators: percentage of undernourished in the population, percentage of wasting in children under five years old, percentage of stunting in children under five years, and under-five mortality rates. The index has been calculated since 2006 and the oldest back calculations on the index go back to 1992. The overall methodology is similar to development of other composite indices like the Human Development Index. The overall scale of the index is from zero to 100 where 100 represents ‘absolute hunger’ and zero represents ‘zero hunger’. Countries and regions are also classified in terms of the level of hunger. Those falling in the <= 9.9 category are classified as having a ‘low’ level of hunger, those in the 10.0-19.9 category are ‘moderate’, those in the 20-34.9 bracket are ‘serious’, those between 35 and 49.9 are classified as ‘alarming’, and those <50 are ‘extremely alarming’.

There are some pertinent points in this year’s global hunger report. First, developing countries have a major stake in reducing hunger levels. Overall hunger has come down by 29 per cent since 2000 in these countries. Second, there are distinct regions, the ones with the highest GHI scores, which can help in fulfilling the SDGs. On the 2016 index, Africa south of the Sahara and South Asia have the highest GHI scores (30.1 and 29.0, respectively). Thus they are placed in the ‘alarming’ category on the GHI. Third, India is placed at a dismal 97th rank among the 118 countries considered for the index. The country has improved its score from 46.4 in 1992 to 28.5 at present, which is considerable, but its overall level continues to be ‘serious’ on the index.

Decline in poverty

Related to hunger is poverty, which has been one of the most critical issues in international economic development. PRPSPI, the World Bank Group report, looks at India’s development experience. Four main points emerge.

First, the report notes that poverty in India has declined considerably from 1994 to 2013. Over the commensurate time frame, those below India’s official poverty line have reduced from 45 per cent to 22 per cent. This means that 133 million people have been lifted out of poverty. Despite this the report notes that India’s growth has not been very inclusive. It is because roughly two-thirds of the countries’ inclusive growth performance is better than India’s in the 2005-2012 period.

Second, some population groups in India are substantially worse off than other groups. These include the Scheduled Tribes (STs), 43 per cent of whom were below the poverty line in 2012, and the Scheduled Castes, 29 per cent of whom were below the poverty line. Poverty also seems entrenched among the STs, with the pace of poverty reduction slower than that witnessed in other groups between 2005 and 2012.

Third, poverty seems to be present in certain geographical locations. The top States for poverty in absolute terms in India are Uttar Pradesh (60 million poor), Bihar (36 million) and Madhya Pradesh (24 million). The top seven States account for roughly 62 per cent of India’s poor. Also important is the rural-urban divide in poverty. Almost one in five Indians is poor and out of every five poor people, four live in rural areas. Also, the poverty rate is just 7 per cent in big cities with a population of more than 1 million.

Growth and redistribution

Finally poverty has a bearing on choices and the well-being of individuals in a society. The poor also own fewer assets and spend more on food, fuel, and light. This reduces the percentage they have for spending on critical things like education and health, and it makes them prone to a vicious poverty trap. Another important insight is that for poverty levels to go down, the States will have to grow faster. The States which have lagged behind on growth rates are also the ones where there are low GSDP (gross state domestic product) per capita and in turn higher levels of poverty. Thus both growth and redistribution are necessary for poverty alleviation.

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Over the next decade and a half, the goal of citizens and policymakers in India should be improvement in Goals 1 and 2 of SDGs. Growth alone will not be enough but must get translated into jobs for the poor and marginalised for it to become truly inclusive. This will not be easy considering the pressure that automation and newer technologies are putting on jobs and employment. Newer skills will hold the key for translating growth into jobs over the coming decade.

Amit Kapoor is Chair, Institute for Competitiveness and Editor of Thinkers. Sankalp Sharma is senior researcher at the Institute for Competitiveness, India. The views expressed are personal.