Discover the “leader” in yourself

I wonder sometimes: why talks about “leaders” often invoke awe and mystique ?

May be, because when we talk of ‘leaders’, we think about “revolutionary” leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Lurther King, Nelson Mandela and the like; OR a few people who have achieved extra-ordinary visible success in their fields; OR those who adorn the positions of power by virtue of being in ‘leadership roles’.  Except the last category, there are very few people in the other two categories and more significantly, their accomplishments flow from their own super-ordinary personal qualities; hence, thought to be above the capabilities of an “ordinary” person. Hence, the high pedestal for them. As regards the third category, leadership roles come through some sort of organisational hierarchy – be it in Government or Corporate or any other formally assembled group; and therefore, it is not the cup of tea for anyone and everyone. Worse, the third category breeds huge confusion, as not everyone in a leadership role appeals to the heart as a true leader.

And this unnecessarily complicates our understanding and appreciation of some of rather simple and often-latent human traits associated with leaders,  making these out as complex and not-in-everyone type qualities!!

Semantically, to “lead” is to move someone or something somewhere. In other words, making a difference to the existing status – as simple as that! When we qualify that difference with elements of desirability in terms of improvement, expansion of horizon, human development and ethics, we get the term “lead” with a spirit.

Interestingly,while not everyone in a ‘leadership role’ comes across as a true leader,  the converse, i.e a leader is a person in a leadership role, is also not necessarily true. Yes !! A leader  need not always be in a leadership role. This world is what it is and still kicking despite all the negativities/constraints/challenges, because there are many “leaders”, without titles, at every level of society, who, in effect, lead themselves and others towards better and desired conditions, even without an official tag or being acknowledged or acclaimed in public.

What, then, is leadership, or at least the crux of leadership?

By far, leadership is perhaps one of the most researched and written about theme in social science, that has engaged and intrigued thinking minds since inception of human civilisation.. Yet, it becomes so difficult to define leadership in brief, unambiguous, straight-jacketed, fit-for-all terms, like any other scientific concept. Leadership is about human traits; and hence subject to interpretations. Further, even though almost all studies/reseach/interpretations of ‘leadership qualilities’, point to  at least a few key qualities like vision, courage, compassion, creativity, credibility etc. as the top-on-the-list traits, it is quite fascinating as well as intriguing to note that most of the so-called leaders ( i.e. people in leadership roles) actually lack all/most of these qualities and yet, have most of the times been riding on success waves. In time, they do crash on land, no doubt and the audience gets disenchanted; but by then, a lot of damage is done unfortunately. That’s why, instead of trying to list out traits that one has to possess to be a true leader, I find it makes more sense to me, when I look at leaders, I mean true leaders who make positive differences and say, leadership is what a leader does, and that includes getting done, in any situation.

So for me, the shortest-ever, position-neutral, situation-neutral definition of a “leader” is one who demonstrates what it takes to do what is needed to be done in any situation.

Here go some stories. Personally, I find these not just stories, but situations that illustrate what indeed leadership is and how an ordinary person can act like a true leader.

Story 1 : 

One day a man was walking along the beach when he noticed a boy picking something up and gently throwing it into the ocean. Approaching the boy, he asked,”What are you doing?” The boy replied,”Throwing starfish back into the ocean. The surf is up and the tide is going out. If I don’t throw them back, they will die.”  Surprised, the man said,”Son, don’t you realise there are miles and miles of beach and hundreds of starfish? You can’t make a difference !”

As the boy listened, he bent down again, picked up another starfish and threw it back into the surf. Then, smiling at the man, he said politely… “ I made a difference to that one .”

I am sure, the message is loud and clear. It does not matter whether the difference you make is small or big. What matters is: if you are truly concerned about a situation, whether you take those tiny steps to make a difference – without bothering whether your action would totally change the situation or not. Does not matter if the boy could not save all the starfishes affected. It is important to note that by his positive action, he could save at least a few starfishes out of hundreds about to die, and it did make all the difference to those few, who were saved by the boy .

Leadership is all about making a positive difference to someone, to some situation in the environment, which, you think, should not remain the same, without getting cowed down by the enormity of the  problem.

Story 2

Three hundred years ago Christopher Wren, who designed St. Paul's Cathedral in London, wrote about three men he spoke to who were building his creation.

He asked the first worker what his job was, to  which the worker wearily replied, "I'm laying bricks. Can't you see that?" Wren moved along and asked a second worker the same question. "I'm just earning a living," the second worker snapped back. He then asked a third worker the same question, who was engrossed in perfecting a statue that he had already completed and got a very different response.   "Ohh, I'm building a Cathedral”, he said proudly.

While for the first two workers, it was just a ‘job’, for the 3^rd sculptor, it was something entirely different – he took his work as a part of the whole – the cathedral. He was passionate about the fact that he was contributing towards building of a cathedral. For him, everything he did needed to be perfect, so that the cathedral could be built perfectly as envisioned.

This is how true leaders view their role in a bigger act; they see the larger whole much beyond their specified roles and work towards being a part of it, unleashing their best potential pursuing excellence and perfection in doing their bit. Because, in essence, they own up what they are a part of!! They show up not as a mere cog in the wheel, but as a valuable part that moves the wheel!

Each of us in the society, each employee in an organisation irrespective of organisational hierarchy can be a leader in one’s own right - title or no title.

Does this interpretation bring back memories of people in various roles and strata – from top management functionaries to menial workers, who show this exemplary quality and how much love and genuine respect they earn from people coming in contact with them ? Well, personally I have seen quite a lot and that keeps alive the hope and faith in leadership in simple, so-called ordinary individuals.

Leadership is owning up the bigger whole and showing up at your best, as a part thereof.

Story 3

Once Sharu Ragnekar, a renowned Management Consultant, visited the Wagha Border near Amritsar. The unique thing about this border is that there are Indian soldiers and Pakistan soldiers on the two sides of the border. At sunset, both sides lower the flags and there is a drill. This is very interesting to see as the drills are identical on both sides of the border and looks like a mirror image.

Ragnekar saw on our side of the border a teacher with 20 students. She was telling them, “ When the flag moves in the evening, all of you sing Sare Jahan se achchha Hindostan hamara.. ” Curious, he asked her what she was doing. She replied, “ It is my practice to bring a batch of my students here on the first day of every month so that they can see the moving flag and sing. I do it every month – although this month, this was very difficult for me.” When asked why difficult that month, she explained how she bears the busfare of some children whose parents can not afford it and how that particular month being the month of transfers, she had also to pay(bribe), out of her humble salary, for staying in the same place.  

 “ When this is what is happening to you, why do you want the children to sing Sare Jahan se Achchha Hindostan hamara?”

She asked spiritedly,“Who is going to improve India? I have not been able to improve India; you have not been able to improve India. I have no influence over the Prime Minister or the Chief Minister, but I have some influence on these children and I am going to use it. These children believe in me – so I bring them here, let them look at the flag and let them sing Sare jahan se achchha Hindostan hamara. When they grow up, at least some of them will be proud of India and try to improve India.”

To me, this teacher is a true  leader. From the problems in her own circumstances, she has taken a decision that things must change for better  and she is committing herself through personal action to bring about that change – using her own resources – i.e. her own humble salary and her influence on her students, the future citizens. She is able to see a goal, much bigger than anyone in her position would see and is navigating through constraints – but towards the goal .

Above all, notwithstanding the fact that she herself is a victim of an undesirable situation(corrupt bureaucracy), she is spreading,  not cynicism, but HOPE that things will change for better !! She is making a difference, trying to instill patriotism in the future citizens of the country.

Leadership is spreading hope and enthusiasm, undaunted by personal conditions of despair.

Story 4 :  A short story that probably I had read in my childhood .

Once a boulder was lying in the middle of a  roadway, much to the inconvenience of the passers-by. Most of the people who came by saw the boulder in the middle, uttered angry words, cursed the “someone” who did that mischief, loudly blamed the Government for not keeping the roads clear and simply passed around it. None stopped to clear it off the road. After sometimes, a farmer came along carrying a load of vegetables. On seeing the boulder, he stopped and tried to move the boulder from the middle of the road to the road-side. After much pushing and straining, he could move the big stone some way to the side, but it was getting strenuous for a single man to do this job. Slowly some of the people coming along the road started joining him one by one and finally, the boulder could be moved off the road.

The farmer, like others, could have just walked around the stone. But he chose to think about the others’ inconvenience and took pain to move the stone. Is not he a leader in his own right? He did what was required to be done in that situation rising above one’s own limited interest alone. Moreover, by his personal action, he inspired others to join the cause – to follow him.

The doers are the leaders. It is easy to preach; it is easy to blame others. It may take a specific skill to shirk and shift responsibility to avoid taking action. But true leaders are those, who act as necessary, not just preach or blame others! And inspire!

Leadership is solving a problem if it exists, even though it directly does not affect you, and inspiring others to join in.

Story 5

In 2002, a high caste school teacher in Odisha’s Brahmagiri area, Baghambar Pattanaik, quit his job to fight against a sysyem of compulsory servitude under the bartan system, bonded labour by another name, which permits the upper caste people to force lower caste barbers and others to work for them, often at menial tasks, in exchange for 15 KGs of rice a year. The system was so rigid that if the lower castes refused, they faced a debilitating social boycott. For example,  a 65 yr old lower caste person faced the ire of the whole village when he bravely decided in 2002 to stop working for one upper caste master under the bartan system. As a punishment for his defiance, he was made to serve 200 upper class families in the village. Stories abound involving similar oppressive inequity, against which the lone school teacher started fighting persistently, later garnering support from Human Rights Commissions. After nine years of persistent fight, the state govt. finally issued a notification abolishing bartan.

Leadership is displaying extra-ordinary courage of conviction in standing up for a cause even against a mighty opponent with determination to change the situation for better for the exploited !

Story 6

A few months back, a horrific act of terrorism occurred at Sandy Hook Elementary School ( Connecticut, USA), that claimed 27 lives, 20 of them childen. Victoria Soto, 27, a class teacher, managed to hide her pupils in cupboards and closets, as the gunman was on a killing spree. She was then confronted by the gunman, who asked where the kids were and she convinced him that her pupils were elsewhere- in the gym. The gunman then shot her dead and went away. But her action of hiding the kids and lying to the gunman led to the survival of those kids. Faced with the most horrifying experience of her life, she chose the heroic path of love and responsibility for those entrusted to her care, rising above her personal safety.

In crises, leadership is also about heroism – supreme sacrifice and courage emanating out of love, compassion and a complete sense of responsibility !!

Story 7

Most of the greatest innovations begin with a simple idea. Paint lines in the highways is one of such great ideas, which was a safety innovation conceived in the year 1917 by Dr. June McCarroll, after having a narrow escape from an accident on a highway. Without lines on the road, there was no clearly delineated lane separation to help regulate the flow of traffic and avert side-swiping and collisions. McCarroll came up with the idea to paint lines on the road, separating lanes with a centre line. When she first told her idea to the local authorities concerned, no one listened, as is typical with a bureaucracy. Finally, she took upon herself to hand-paint a white stripe down the middle of the road.This later helped the drivers easily see the actual width of the lane and keep accidents due to sideswipes from happening.She took her idea to the local Women’s Club and with their help as well as campaigning by many similar groups for long 7 years, finally in Nov, 1924, the idea was adopted by California Highway Commission and highways got painted with middle lines. It was not long before the concept was accepted world wide – known as McCarroll lines.

So, leadership in many cases is also about innovation and persistence. A leader not only thinks out-of-box, but also displays persistence and perseverance to act/get others to act on the idea.

In our daily lives-both personal and professional, there are many instances in which we, the common people, solve problems innovatively. But once the implementation of our new or innovative ideas requires involvement of/owning up by others, it loses steam as many of us lack the needed persistence to go the whole hog. And there lies the difference.

The foregoing 7 stories are among innumerable such stories about true leadership. If you are conducting yourself this way, you too are a leader, whether you are acclaimed in public or not.

Yes, the life stories of great leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and the like exemplify some of the rare leadership qualities like time-defying vision, time-less values, mass following and ability to bring about iconoclastic changes, which we all know as they are always talked about and find place in literature. But such revolutionary leadership does not belittle the small differences that each of us can make in the lives of all we touch directly or indirectly. So, let us also ‘read’ our own book of life stories – our own life experiences as well as that of the people we know. We will understand that “leadership” is actually not something for a privileged few. We all have it in ourselves.

Many a renowned persons have said, to be a leader, you must have followers. Very correct. But do the “followers” have to be a visible gang? How about people, who lead their own self to higher levels of evolution and thereby ‘inspire’ many a souls whose life they touch-directly or indirectly? How about the ripple effect that an innately good & simple individual creates in the society through his personal actions ! Are they not “leaders” in their own right? Yes, they are. They may not be having their followers in a herd – but I am sure, here and there, without they themselves knowing about it, they are creating their followers in some way or other – through personal example, inspiration and sharing of ideas/ insights!!

I come back to where I started. There could be a million ways in which you ‘lead’ if you do whatever is needed to be done in any situation – in regard to your own self, others, the surroundings – any one or some or all of them. The more we try to comprehend the term ‘leadership” in simple ways without unwarranted awe and mystique, the more visible it will be in people.  The more visible leadership becomes, the easier it will be to harness and groom it for overall, all-inclusive development. And harnessing leadership is another big leadership quality. As is said, good leaders create great followers; but great leaders create greater leaders.

At the end of it, leaders inspire and leaders make a difference!

Mahatma Gandhi (one of the best examples of leaders without a title ) once said, “We must become the change we seek in this world .” Very true. Titles may support your efforts – but not necessary for leading in a true sense .

What about us? Are we simply giving up whining ‘I am not in a position to do this’, ‘How can I alone change this’ etc.  or taking committed action saying, ‘ Let me do whatever little I can’ and making the small & big differences to our world that we are capable of ?

Yes ! There is a leader in each of us; we just need to discover and act.

Green Acts : Am I doing my bit?

Green Acts : Am I doing my bit?            

Very simply put: We and all living beings need air, water, soil and energy to live; but unfortunately the ways in which our lifestyle has been evolving, especially over the last few decades, either we are consuming stocks of natural resources too fast to be replenished by Nature or we are mindlessly wasting or polluting scarce resources. Coupled with that, we are not yet able to find enough and viable sources of renewable energy. Result? Global Warming, Resource Depletion, Energy Crisis and dangers of possible extinction of even the human race in not-too-distant a future, unless we all act appropriately!!

The physical survival of the human race and our Mother Earth is now severely challenged by three major environmental issues, off-shoots of our high industrialisation and urbanisation :

i. climate change/global warming mainly due to emission of carbon and other hazardous pollutants to air on one hand and rapid erosion of green cover (forests, trees)  on the other.

ii. rapid depletion of natural sources of energy like coal, oil, gas and potable water mainly due to excessive usage of the same to maintain our modern lifestyle which would come to a complete halt without these. Can you imagine even a day without electricity? Without fuel for your car ? Without energy ? Without water? And of course, without pure air with enough oxygen? Run a quick glance through the everyday items of use and the lifestyle of even a common man – you will shudder to think of a situation without energy !!! The real challenge is that these natural ‘stores’ of energy sources are finite and are getting exhausted at an astronomically higher rate than Nature can replenish. So, the challenge before us is to conserve energy to the last bit, have better and better extraction technology with improved ability to tap the available natural deposits of oil, coal etc. and most crucially, to find and harness alternative sources of renewable energy, like solar power, wind power etc. (which researchers say is not really an easy job!)

iii. Waste management : solid waste, chemical waste, industrial waste etc. ; perhaps now e-waste can also be added as a menace in not-too-distant a future. These are polluting our air, water and soil in almost an irredeemable manner.

As far as our physical environmental hazards are concerned, these ‘trio’ form the crux of the menace – acting and interacting on one another !!

For the past one decade at least, we have had enough of talks on these to comprehend the enormity of the issues and the catastrophic results that await us if we do not start acting without further loss of time.. WE SIMPLY HAVE TO ACT NOW.

And action lies at multi-levels, undoubtedly. The goverments, the various national/international bodies entrusted with the specific duty to evolve strategies on this, the Corporates etc.  must play their role in an organised manner at macro level; while, we, as individuals, must also play an equally significant role at the micro level  through our conduct in our day-to-day life – in fact, I would say, a far bigger role than meets the eye !  

Let us leave the macro-level deliberations, strategies, policies, laws and implementations to the bigger shots. But what about each one of us – at the micro level? Am I doing my bit? 

Let us list out small little things that we can do as individuals to make our drop of personal contribution count in the ocean of action required to address the “green” issues. And I would request each of you readers to add to the list, if you can and let us share it. Let us have copies of this list all over our houses and office space to constantly remind us and nudge us to action. It does not take rocket science to do these things – except a firm resolve!

Here goes my check-list: (And the idea is: every unit of scarce resources saved/reused/recycled is equivalent to that much resources created!)

1. Stop the running tap while attending to call of nature and brushing your teeth.

(Many have this habit developed from childhood, if you care to observe.)

2. Ask your maid not to leave the tap running as she cleans utensils, until she rinses/washes them.

(Observe her/your own style of washing utensils closely and you will find where to conserve and reuse.You will be surprised to see how much water is actually saved if the dirty utensils are first dipped in just a small vessel full of water, then cleaned with detergent and then only washed well under running tap.)

3. Go for slim cisterns for flush - makes a huge difference to the quantum of water used for the purpose as compared to the older large-sized models.

4. Do not discard the water used for washing anything without detergent( like chopped vegetables, dals, rice  in the kitchen and even clothes). Re-use it for watering your potted plants.

5. Do not discard vegetable peels – make your own compost manure and use to enhance soil in your potted plants/kitchen garden. Just store these peels/green wastes in an earthen pot; put some soil and water. Go on repeating – it will decompose in time to be added to soil.  In apartment complexes with earth patches, this can also be thought of as a collective action to improve soil quality- by having a common earth pit wherein veg peels from all flats can be put everyday.)

6. Stop running or leaking water taps, if noticed at public places and draw the attention of the concerned authority for repair of broken / leaking pipelines. Similarly, repair your leaking taps at home on priority basis. In fact, repair and maintain well all gadgets/equipments to avoid wastage of energy on their operation.

7. Use Pressure Cooker as much as possible in cooking. At least, cook covered and bring gas to sim after the dish reaches boiling point. It can reduce  gas consumption quite significantly.

8. See what you can do to install water treatment/refining/recycling systems, rain water harvesting systems in your apartment complex/locality. When lots of voice rise together, some positive development may take place. ( spread awareness and build opinion)

9. Watch out for the fans and lights left on after the maid completes mopping the floor. Switch off immediately when the floor dries up. If not checked habitually, on many occasions, you will find your fans on full speed even much after your bai (maid) leaves.

10. Stop switching on fans, lights and ACs, if not truly needed.

(Many of us have a habit of doing this the moment we enter the house – without much thinking, just to have an illuminated, feel-good ambience!  Many of us who leave alone have a weird habit of leaving the TV on just to have an illusion of having human company or making outsiders believe there are people inside, from security perspective. That is just not tenable in the present context of energy crisis. There are much better ways to address the issue of being alone at home.) 

11. Switch off lights /fans/electrical gadgets at home as well as at workplace, if in use unnecessarily.  

(Especially at public sector offices, one sees numerous fans and lights on, proclaiming that the office is open even when higher animals called employees are not in sight to adorn their seats. Not many of us bother to switch them off - thinking “company ka maal, darya mein dal ” ! We have to change our attitude.)

12. Do not leave TVs/computers/sound systems in stand-by mode, when not in use, as they consume quite a bit of electricity even on stand-by mode. Simply switch them off.

13. Be very careful about use of paper !! After all, where from paper comes ? Is it not one of the major reasons for felling trees, erosion of green cover ??

14. Stop making and retaining multiple hard/photo copies of documents without genuine necessity.

( Especially, at office, you can stop taking those n number of photocopies of official communications to be sent to numerous units of operation, to which you would have already sent these communications by e-mail or fax! Please remember that the recipients of these faxes/emails must have already kept hard copies! I mean, if at all, hard copies are to be preserved in each and every damned case. )

[ And no offence meant to anyone, but what about the common practice in many organisations to keep a copy of every communication received from top and passed down the line, at literally every point it passes through ??? For operating units at the grass root, most of the time, one ends up getting at least 6 to 7 communications with same/similar contents around the same time – by letter, fax, email print-out etc. It used to amuse and amaze, and then hurt me, while in service in a PSB, to think of the colossal wastage of time, paper, fax rolls, fax ink and so many other resources due to this one single reason! One should imagine, with thousands of operating units alone and hundreds of controlling/administrative units across the organisation, how much resources must be getting wasted in maintaining this kind of a working culture !! In fact, I used to get wild to get faxes on the same matter from five different places around the same time and all on official letter heads ( you can imagine, how much costly fax ink gets used up just in printing these logos and other detailed stuff that appear in all letterheads !!). I have even called up many of them to say … please, for heavens sake, stop this ! But, unless an organisation-wide awareness and sensitivity develops, this will go on unabated. Till then, each of us can do whatever possible at own level PLUS openly voice one’s views against it.]

15. Encourage your children to use libraries/ old books from seniors etc. instead of always buying new books even if you can afford it. Lesser the demand on fresh printing, lesser the need for paper and lesser the need to fell trees!

16. Use the reverse side of the envelops/letter covers/obsolete stationery/ fliers/ receipts etc. for drafting, noting, listing reminders etc. instead of wasting fresh plain paper for these purposes.

17. Maintain separate dustbins, at home and office, to dump paper-based waste  and other wastes separately, to facilitate their disposal by burning/ recycling/ reuse, as is best suited.

18. Use cotton/jute bags for shopping instead of using plastic carry bags. Reduce use of plastic and other non-bio-degradable materials as much as possible.

19. Register for various bills and statements (like cable bill, internet bill, credit card bill, electricity bill, bank account statements etc.) for on-line delivery to your e-mail inbox.

( Simply amazing, how much paper and other resources involved in their printing & physical delivery would be saved!!)

20. Line the inside of your dustbin with old newspapers instead of using polythene garbage bags everyday.

21. Use re-cycled paper bags or cloth or paper as wrap for storing stuff in refrigerator to reduce use of plastic. This way, veggies also stay fresh for long.

22. Plant trees, Plant trees and Plant trees – wherever and as many as possible. At least maintain green potted plants / small gardens in your residence/ neighbourhood/office premises.

( An absolute must for maintaining oxygen level in air, apart from other obvious benefits. )

23. Use public transport or pooled car, whenever and wherever feasible, instead of feeling pride in speeding away all alone in a huge car with AC on and blocking half the road all by yourself.

24. Walk down or go cycling, if possible, to the neighbourhood market instead of using a vehicle. That way, you reduce your carbon footprint and also stay fit for free!

25. Plan your visits to multiple shops/visit points ( say, the tailor, the dry-cleaner, the grocer, a relative etc.) on the same day by the shortest route, instead of dashing off in car to these places on different dates, just because you have time and money to spare.

26. Switch off vehicle engine at traffics red lights if it is slightly long ( say 60-70 secs or more) to save fuel, reduce emission.

27. Stop seeing the romance in the “long drive” just for the fun of it! It is a crime in the present situation.

28. Say NO to crackers and fireworks that directly pollute air. Just imagine, how much carbon di oxide we must be sending to air one Diwali every year! And how much such pollutants we are adding during marriage seasons !! Not to talk of the grand fireworks every evening at Disneyland, USA. Just mind-boggling how we are adding to our own woes.  

29. Stop chasing new models of cars mindlessly. At least enquire about its mileage (fuel efficiency) and its emission levels or compliance certifications while purchasing new motor vehicles – consciously, out of concern for global warming. Similar display of concern by large number of prospective customers would ultimately push the manufacturers to improve green-compliance of their products. ( Obviously, govts and policy makers have a big role in setting regulatory framework in this regard, but I am talking about my role as an individual only – so not discussing that aspect).

30. Give up your lust for ‘earth’ and go for an apartment in a multi-storeyed building for residence. Many of us still would love to have a stand-alone house, with garden patch and own land. But in today’s scenario, even if still affordable at some small towns, stand-alone houses amount to wastage of precious living space vis-à-vis an exploding population.

Well, the above list is surely not exhaustive. Please add and share. The point is: even if each of us consciously do these small acts in our daily life, it would add up to something impactful. If I save a unit by curtailing my wasteful usage, it becomes available elsewhere for a genuine need. Once we imbibe this green consciousness, we can find a lot of  To-Dos following what has been coined as  the 5 Rs philosophy in our day-to-day life :

Refuse: We should refuse to direct or indirect wastage of energy/ natural resources
Reduce: We should cut consumption of energy/ natural resources
Reuse:  We should check all the things that can be reused before discarding them
Repair:  We should repair all the machineries from time to time to avoid wastage of any sort of energy
Recycle: We should recycle  materials as far as possible and use it in preference to non-recyclable, non-bio-degradable materials( like using paper instead of  plastic/polythene). Studies say, every tonne of recycled paper saves 17 trees, 20,000 litres of water and energy equivalent of 1,000 litres of oil!)

Let us understand that “sustainability” is the ability to meet the needs of the current generation without compromising the ability of the future generations to meet their needs. So, in a wider context, I would say, when it comes to the survival of the human race in its real sense, apart from environmental threats, economic and social ‘pollutants’ affecting the sustain-ability of the human civilisation also need to be addressed on an equal footing. Truly, ‘rising temperatures’ are equally a consequence of unadmissible entrants into air, water and earth as of unadmissible entrants into our value system – of ‘falling values’ !!!How ? Worth reflecting by anyone genuinely concerned beyond self-interest.

Let’s resolve to save the Earth, ourselves and our future generations. 

Dealing with Rape & other sexual crimes against women: A quick compilation of suggestions emailed to Justice Verma Committee January 3, 2013 by Snigdha

Dealing with Rape & other sexual crimes against women: A quick compilation of suggestions emailed to Justice Verma Committee

January 3, 2013 by Snigdha 

The following is what I have emailed to the Verma Committee in response to their call to citizens to give suggestions regarding amendments to existing laws on rape and other sexual crimes against women.

Please add your suggestions and/or reiterate the ones with which you agree, and send by email to justice.verma@nic.in or through fax at 011-23092675 by 5^th Jan, 2013. We simply can not afford to keep quiet at this juncture. It is necessary that the committee gets a sizeable cross-section of public opinion on various dimensions of this complex issue of crime against women.

Any crime has to be dealt with broadly at 3 levels – Prevention, Deterrence & Justice. Prevention requires Reforms to change attitude & systems on all related fields and implementation of systems. Deterrence comes from fear of consequences of committing a crime, which, in turn, flows from visibility of quick & certain apprehension of the culprit, conviction  and severity of punishment. Justice comes from reasonable correspondence of punishment to crime committed including reform & rehabilitation of the convict in eminently deserving cases – very discerningly & judiciously based on all critical dimensions like motivation, provocations, triggers, age & maturity, residual life out of jail after serving the sentence requiring the need to bring back the person to the social mainstream etc.

While Police and Administration has the first responsibility to ensure safety of citizens & quick apprehension of offenders, investigation & producing them with evidence before the Court of Law, the Legal system has the onerous responsibility to ensure carriage of justice as well as a major portion of deterrence in terms of  fast-track trial/conviction and exemplary punishment that instils fear of consequences.

Keeping in view the above and my understanding that the assigned scope of suggestions to be made by the esteemed Verma committee is to suggest amendments to existing Laws relating to crimes against women/ sexual offences, I, as a lay-person, offer the following suggestions. Legal nuances & modalities can always be worked out by the experts and experienced in the legal field.

 1.  The first cardinal principle on which  Laws relating to RAPE must be based on should be : “ Even a prostitute/sex worker has a right not to be raped.”

2. Rape to be made a non-bailable offense.

 3. Fast track courts at least for crimes against women of serious nature like rape, acid attacks and other serious sexual assaults ( to be clearly defined). The ideal position would be to have separate fast track courts for all crimes against women – from eve-teasing, stalking, molestation, other sorts of sexual harassment to acid attacks, rape, and dowry deaths.

4. Fast track must be set up across the entire legal structure from trial court at the bottom to appellate judiciary at High Court and Supreme Court.

 (Otherwise, even after fast track trial and conviction at the lower court, the ultimate conviction may take years to come through, prolonging the misery and victimisation of the victim, ultimately resulting in possible miscarriage of justice. Delayed trials and appeal disposals, coupled with chargesheeted rapists or serious sex offenders out on bail is a sure shot recipe for enhanced risk to the victim in particular and society, in general. )

 5. In- camera trial of these cases.  Information Technology need be harnessed to speed up proceedings in the fast track courts  & enhance efficiency of the courts in actually disposing off these cases.

 6. The fast track courts to complete trial within 3 months hearing on a day-to-day basis. The appellate judiciary similarly need to have fast track disposal of the appeals within another 3 months. All cases, thus, must be disposed off and final verdicts passed for ultimate execution thereof within 6 months of commencement of trial.

 7. ban on much objectionable ‘2-finger’ medical test of the assaulted and repeated offensive, humiliating questions regarding details of the incident and exact sequence of violation.

8.  DNA test reports and other forensic test reports relating to sexual assault to be made sufficient evidence of crime having been committed.

9. The onus of proving innocence in sexual offenses should lie on the defendant           ( accused) instead of onus resting on the prosecution to prove the crime.

10. Attempt to rape/ gang-rape to be treated on par with rape.

 (Although establishing evidence relating to attempt to rape may be a little difficult, as compared to establishing rape, it is equally culpable and must be equivalently punished, if proven, for a greater deterrent value. Hopefully, with advanced forensic skills and DNA tests, physical resistance by the victim before the ultimate violation ( read, rape) happens is likely to leave many other verifiable evidence like bruises by nails, bites, hair and so many other stuff.)

11. Stringent and graded punishment need be imposed, depending upon motivation, gravity and brutality of the assault. The minimum in case of rape should be 7 years of imprisonment to 14 years with fine or added term in lieu thereof. In grievous cases, punishment must be  enhanced to  life imprisonment upto 30-50 yrs  subject to a maximum sentence of capital punishment in the rarest of rare cases. Gang rape must attract stricter punishment on the upper end of the scale of punishment.

 (Nothing less than death penalty will be deterrent enough for rapists. Rape is a bigger crime than murder, not only from a woman’s perspective, but from a perspective of the entire society and humanity at large. And gang rape touches the nadir!

The recent Delhi gang-rape case is a glaring example of an open and shut case involving unimaginable degree of savagery in a rape case that may qualify for capital punishment.)

12. Chemical castration should NOT be a prescribed punishment.

(Perverts like rapists getting out of jail after going through such punishment are more likely to imbibe greater mental sickness and adopt other deadly modus operandi like acid attacks, murder or other brutalities on the victim and/or others in the society.  Society can not afford to have these pervert minds roaming around freely even with impotency. )

13. Mercy petitions to the President against capital punishment in a rarest of rare case of sexual assault, once upheld by the highest judiciary, viz. the Supreme Court, must not be allowed.

14. On conviction, full legal cost & medical expenses incurred by the victim/State to be made good by the convict, or extra punishment in lieu thereof should be imposed, if has no means to pay. State to bear this in latter cases.

15. Victim and witnesses be provided protection even if the accused is in police/judicial custody till the final verdict and execution. Necessary to foil any bid to pressurize the victim by anyone known to the accused, especially when accused is a person/related to persons of known clout or  known criminal background.

 16. Laws relating to juvenile accused need a relook to book accused aged 16-17 years of age on par with majors in crimes involving brutality of high degree.

 (A question mark still remains. Even if the juvenile laws are amended, will the same be applicable to the 17 yr old minor accused in the bestial Delhi bus gangrape case ? Because, as on the date of committing the crime, the accused was a minor and came under the purview of the existing juvenile laws. Should be examined, if retrospective effect clause could be brought in by way of amendment.)

17.Mandatory in-jail counselling of sexual assault convicts aged upto 30  serving prison terms upto 14 years

 (A peculiar aspect of many convicts in cases of sexual offences involving sentences at the lower end is their age and expected residual life after serving the sentence in prison. A majority of them happen to be young & in their 20s/30s and even after serving a long sentence in prison from 7 to 14 years, long years of life in the society normally await them. This makes it imperative to think about how to reform and reclaim these people, in eminently deserving cases. Start with mandatory counselling of at least those under age of 30 ( i.e very young, who are likely to have a quite long residual life even after completing 7 to 14 years of sentence), put their behaviour under observation for suitable further BS intervention. As these crimes are usually committed in young age in some cases on the spur of the moment or to settle a score after being rejected, some of them still have a possibility of getting truly remorseful and reformed. The aim of this measure is to try and reform the convict, so that when he goes out of jail, he will not be a repeat offender and /or will be in a position to return to the social mainstream.   )

Other suggestions:

18. National database of rapists and persons convicted of other sexual assaults to be compiled and updated on an on-going basis and made public with their photographs by displaying at police stations. The directory should also be made available on-line. This will go a long way in alerting prospective employers/hirers and others entering into any kind of dealings with them, apart from helping law enforcement authorities in averting repeat offences or bringing them to book.

19. Mandatory Identity Badge with photograph and driving licence particulars for drivers of all types of commercial/govt. vehicles plying for public transport – which should be displayed/mounted inside the vehicle in front side in such a manner as to be visible to the passenger as soon as he/she enters the vehicle.

 20 . Install GPS in all public transports

 21. FIRs must be lodged under CCTV coverage in police stations.

 22. Segregate law & order enforcing team from investigating agency within police

 23. Ensure good infrastructure and technical skill for forensic tests and preservation of forensic evidence till production in court

 24. Ensure street lights in cities

 25. Increase visibility of Police -  more PCR Vans, more constables/homeguards near malls, entertainment spots, in public buses/ trains/metro at night after , say, 9 pm, more beat police at night etc

 26. Install CCTVs at various points of roads for a good enough surveillance of all public transports

 27. PCR & PCR Vans to be equipped with advanced technology-supported tools like mobile trackers etc. and special numbers be allotted or IT be harnessed in some other way to enable women in distress to send out sos calls to police by simple touching/pressing of one or two keys. With mobile tracker, police can reach the spot most expeditiously.

 28. A special drive be made to gender-sensitize police.

 29. Each Police station to have a woman police officer &  each PCR van to have a well-trained woman police officer.

30. Consider feasibility of on-line lodgement of FIR. Online lodgement of FIR to be noted immediately– to be formalised after either visit by the police to the complainant on the spot through mobile tracking/to address given or, after the complainant comes to the police station – depending on the exact situation. Modalities may be worked out by the experts.

31. Fill up all vacancies in the judiciary and enhance strength of police and judges to reasonable numbers vis-à-vis the vast population of India that they are supposed to serve! Crying hoarse about fast-tracking without ensuring the numbers, skills and other enabling factors will lead us nowhere.

The long term solutions, however, call for reforms in Police, Judiciary, Social mindset.

………………………………………..

Rape Vrs R-A-P-E

Rape Vrs R-A-P-E

( Uploaded in my website snigdhamohanty. com. Unfortunately, traffic there is almost nil - hence uploaded here again for wider readership.)

Rape Vrs R-A-P-E                        
Following the recent incident of savage gangrape of a paramedico student in Delhi public bus, there has been a huge countrywide outrage as well as a massive brainstorming on how to ensure safety of women and curb crimes against women. Lots of articles containing valuable opinion and suggestions from esteemed members of society have also been published in media.

But one article “ Crime and Punishment” ostensibly championing the cause of women, got me really thinking about the duality of beliefs and consequent lack of genuine empathy for women in society .
(visit link http://newindianexpress.com/opinion/article1389302.ece)

The reasons and concerns observed by the author asto why “award  of death penalty will not stop rape, but swift and harsh punishment will certainly deter would-be rapists” are well taken (although,personally,I would advocate stringent punishment for rape with capital punishment as the maximum, depending upon the rarity and severity of brutality of the crime.). But I felt deeply distressed to find two observations by the esteemed author at the same breath, which perhaps reveals a disturbing phenomenon of many in the society, both men and women, who think they believe in gender neutrality/equality, but deep down in their subconscious, they still harbour and accept the centuries-old prejudices against women. To quote, at one place the author says, “ Rape is horrible because it violates the body,the mind,the honour and the dignity of the victim and thereby is a direct attack on all womanhood.”  and yet, at another place, he goes on to say,“ Murder, that is, permanently depriving a person of life, will always be a more serious offence than rape, regardless of what women activists might say. Despite this, generally speaking, in murder cases life imprisonment is the norm and death penalty is the exception. Is rape so much more serious than murder that we should insist on a mandatory death penalty in rape cases?”

A Freudian slip by the esteemed author??

Rape, (that too the unimaginably violent ones being perpetrated by sick and pervert men with frequent regularity of late) is a violation of body that results in inhuman physical torture- in many cases leading to death or severe conditions leaving the victim as a living corpse, and leads to an  annihilation of  the soul of the victim and worse still, it systematically crushes down entire generations of women through an atmosphere of intense fear of dire consequences for women who dare establish an identity of their own beyond being an appendage to some male!  Pray, how is this any less serious than murder? How I wish I had a magic wand to convert a few men to girl foetuses and make them grow through the entire labyrinth of gender discrimination from mother’s womb to grave, from subtle to pronounced to violent – just to make them understand what it means to be a woman even in today’s so called much-progressed world!!

By the way, the word RAPE itself contains its own solution: Reform, Act, Punish , Exemplify ! Ironically, R-A-P-E can serve as a Master Approach to address any type of deep-seated sickness pertaining to mindset and system. High time, this word is purged of the stigma attached to it so that all can utter it – like all other words referring  to a ‘crime’ so that the shame is on the criminal and not on the victim and secondly, convert it to a positive term to mean a multipronged approach to deal with complex socio-systemic problems.

Any crime has to be dealt with at 3 levels – Prevention, Deterrence & Justice. Prevention requires Reforms to change attitude & systems on all related fields; Deterrence flows from quickness&certainty of being caught & convicted and severity of punishment; Justice comes from reasonable correspondence of punishment to crime committed including reform& rehabilitation of the criminal in deserving cases.

Within this broad framework of action, commendable doable suggestions have come out of all the brainstormings vide sloganeering, debates, discussions, articles etc – which need to be collated and acted upon. Not that we did not know about these earlier – but definitely the silver lining for the society in this darkest cloud for the rape victim is that it has brought the focus back on the issue of women’s safety ! As in every other difficult situation, here too the crying need of the hour is action – the willingness to act !  Some of the suggestions specific to safety of women out of house, like FIR on  CCTV, CCTV coverage in public transports, near malls, cinema halls, more PCR vans, badges for drivers of all public transports ( both govt. and private owned vehicles ) with their name, driving licence and photo  etc. can be implemented forthwith without any difficulty.

Assuming a girl is allowed to be born and treated equally in getting an opportunity for going to a school, Co-education from day one is perhaps one of the most effective measures to facilitate inculcating respect for women in menfolk and self-esteem in women. When boys see a girls matching upto them or doing better in academics and extra-curricular activities in schools/colleges, they automatically see the latter with respect – nobody has to keep preaching “respect the women”. These boys and girls, when they grow up and take important positions in society and organisations, are most likely to be merit-oriented without much gender bias, unless they have picked up that gender bias from other stronger social fabrics and wrong role models.  I can say this with conviction from my own experience and examples of many other women that I know of. So, I reiterate, co-ed is not a sufficient measure to deal with gender issues, but surely one of the most effective ones.

A lot more to be done – to reform society, to reform police, to reform provisions of law, to reform all involved in law enforcement and justice delivery! Herculean task . But we must start dealing with it with genuine seriousness. Let a man not rape a human being; let all of us R-A-P-E the issue of crime – not only against women, but against crimes of all types!

Hi Friends

Hi friends,

Finally, I have launched my own website . I will be blogging from there henceforth. Right now, I am trying to carry over some blogposts from this blog - the ones with all time relevance.

I have deliberately chosen a very simple design and thank my daughter for understanding my needs and giving me a design accordingly.

Pl visit and share your comments and suggestions.

Hi, Alisha ! You are more than a Winner

Hi, Alisha ! You are more than a winner !!

Just to tell you, you ARE more than a winner ! So what, the “ sunhari takdir ki topi” - the winning title in the Dance India Dance competition, went to Salman and you missed it by a whisker – and won the 2^nd position ?? I could not miss whatever there was in your eyes when the results were declared – hence this post.

Believe it – you were simply phenomenal and what is important is the fact that you have transcended your natural boundaries.

Salman is also a fabulous dancer and so are a few other boys like Jay, Mayuresh, Prince and a few other girls like Khushboo & Bhavna Purohit etc. But when it comes to the boys, who performed superbly – my take is: it is more like operating within their natural boundaries. The physicalities, that Nature has endowed the men with, actually aid and support the dancing ventures – call it stunts or power-exuding postures – that these boys executed. Well, that is not to take away from them the credit for their powerpacked performance with remarkable grace and grit, for which they deserve all kudos. I am saying this just to make a point, just to make all pause for a moment and think about what is actually happening to the hugely talented participants from the fairer gender.

Think of the girls ! Nature has designed their body and physicalities differently for other purposes and naturally, it does not support taking excessive physical strain as a male body can. Nevertheless, these girl participants did what not (!) to match up – in physical stamina - especially Alisha ! On top of that, a woman’s body also sets many other limitations, in every sense of the term. A woman’s woes !! Does anyone ever spare even a nanosecond to visualise how the girl participants might be coping with the practice and dance schedules – nonstop – for 18 weeks ( for long periods ) !!

Add to that, the types and magnitude of psycho-social barriers a girl has to break to set her free to do what she wants to do – pursue her passion and showcase her talent in full glare of public view.

And yet, these girls demonstrate the courage to compete with the boys on equal footing ! And match up !! Well, matching up has nothing to do with whether you finally win the particular competition or not – which depends upon public voting as per the format of the show – and there again, who does not know the biases, the basis of votings ? Talent is not its sole determinant, as even the worst critic of women would admit. Matching up is when you leave the stage amidst the wild applause of the gallery and tears in the eyes of the mentors ( the judges - experts who are legitimately capable to judge your talent), fully satisfied within yourself that you have done a 101% job and were no less than the ones who get to continue in the competition !!

This dance competition is only a small example of what a woman actually goes through to get her fair share in all walks of life.

But despite all barriers, hurts and biases over the ages, there have been many sung and unsung women, who transcend all their boundaries and match up to men in all walks of life. At the most, the world says ‘ Wow ! a woman has done as good as a man’ – but very few realise or give the credit to her for the fact that in so achieving, it has taken her at least twice as much as the man !!

Reminds me of what Vince Lombardi once observed :

“Nothing is more unequal than the equal treatment of the unequals .”

-

Errr.. have I started sounding like a feminist? Well, I did not mean to raise placards against the menfolk ( my father was a man, my brothers are and my husband is ! I love them all !! ) I just wanted to make the Alishas feel legitimately proud of themselves and carry on undetered by so-called failures to lift trophies in some competitions. Plus I wanted to reflect ( and make you reflect, too) on concepts like “winning”, “competition”, “success”, “ accomplishment”, “ achievement motivation” and put them to perspective – in short, what is it that really matters at the end of the day ? Is it to win or to achieve, to accomplish ?

Actually, I am not really averse to competitions as such or even competition among participants of both genders. That, in fact, brings out the best in each – by setting benchmarks, by continuously increasing the bar. But beyond a certain point( i.e benchmarking against others in the similar field of expertise), competitions are not important finally. Ultimately, what matters is the attitude with which you participate and the attitude with which the gallery looks at it ! True competition lies in competing with yourself – beating your former self everytime.

Personally, I am rather averse to the term “winning” !! Winning has ‘others’ at its centre – you focus on what others are doing: to win you must defeat others.

To my mind, more than an urge to‘win’, it is healthier to have an “accomplishment attitude” or an “achievement motivation”, or a ‘winning attitude” and let me clarify winning and winning attitude are different. Winning is a specific incident of winning; whereas winning attitude is the quality of perseverence – the ability to bounce back after every fall and continue running the race to accomplish what you had set out for ! An accomplishment attitude will always have ‘yourself’ at its centre and you will always be prompted to do better than your last time to satiate your accomplishment motivation. And what is more, true achievement motivation will also have you keep an eye on what others are doing to fix your bar at a challenging level. Very simple logic : if you have already ‘accomplished’ something at a particular point of time, and you are driven by what I call ‘an accomplishment attitude’, then

- you will look forward to accomplishing something still better.

- You will challenge yourself to become a conscientious, hard worker;

- you will raise the bar after each accomplishment to make a still greater achievement ;

- you will become still more alive to grab more opportunities to learn and excel in what you do;

- you will look still deeper inside yourself to recognise your hidden strengths n talents and seek their expression ! In short, you will look more at yourself – how best and how fast you can become better than your earlier selves, while looking at others to have an idea on the benchmarks to be fixed and not necessarily to defeat them, although history shows that such a person, who runs his own race with all his might and sincerity eventually wins against others – not as a conscious effort, but as a natural outcome! And even if, there are a few still ahead of him/her, he is still an achiever as he has achieved his goals! Actually, that would constitute true ‘winning’ spirit, winning against your own limitations, winning against your own former self !!

That will also be true success in life – you get closer and closer to becoming what you can be !

Back to the specific issue of women !

My submission is : each of us must develop clear perspectives as also the sensibilities and sensitivity that it takes to sit on judgement in life. Well, ab initio, no one has a right in the first place to judge others – but in real life, whether we like it or not, we do find ourselves in specific roles wherein we have to take such calls. Hence, the more alive we are to what goes into a particular quality n level of performance, the fairer our judgement would be. At least, that way, a day will come when all the hurts, humiliations and injustice that are being meted out to the women now will see a decline !!

Ladies, do not ever set impossible standards just to compete with the males – set challenging standards, that challenge your own natural endowments, persevere and transcend - fly beyond the visible horizon ! Run your own race ! Challenge yourselves; give your best ! And then let go; listen to the music in your own heart on your accomplishments. Who gives a damn, whether the gallery applauds or not ! There will be applause, though – much deserved - in time, if the onlookers have the ‘eyes’, ‘ears’ and ‘soul’ for it !!

So, Alisha – three cheers to your exceptional talent and remarkable perseverance ! These are THE TWO things that would lead you on the path of true success and accomplishment and ultimately lead you to become who you are capable of : who you are meant to be . Do remember two things in life:

i. "Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome." Booker T. Washington,

ii. Success is not winning every battle: it is winning the war ultimately .

So… Buck up my Alishas !!

And before I end, I would share a story of nine extra-ordinary winners, who ‘won’ because they knew that something else was more important than their winning the race !

[ story collected by my friend Veera from Net]

Some time ago, at the Seattle Olympics, nine athletes, all mentally or physically challenged, were standing on the start line for the 100 m race.

The gun fired and the race began. Not everyone was running, but everyone wanted to participate and win.

They ran in threes, a boy tripped and fell, did a few somersaults and started crying.

The other eight heard him crying.

They slowed down and looked behind them.

They stopped and came back… All of them…

A girl with Down’s Syndrome sat down next to him, hugged him and asked, “Feeling better now?”

Then, all nine walked shoulder to shoulder to the finish line.

The whole crowd stood up and applauded. And the applause lasted a very long time…

How GREEN are you

HOW ‘GREEN’ ARE YOU ??

As I was sitting at home a fews days back and leisurely browsing the internet - deeply soaking in the soft rustles and pampers of the nice, cool breeze blowing through the room even during this hot summer day in mid-May, suddenly I woke up to some serious realisation.

Yes, I had not switched on the fan in the room since morning and it was already about 3 pm in the afternoon. What’s more, I also realised that I have not been using fan or light in this room for the past quite many days, ever since I returned from Patna !! It is so very well ventilated and well-lighted that you simply do not need a fan, AC or lights !! (though, others may feel obsessively compelled to put on the fan or even AC ) Actually, our apartment is south-facing, looking over a large stretch of vacant land; so we are extremely lucky to have been blessed with Nature’s most precious gifts – air and light- in abundance !!

Recently, to harness this blessing all the more, I had re-arranged my furniture in the living room – shifting my dining set to the huge window facing the balcony. During morning hours, I just love sitting there, having my steaming cup of tea, reading the newspapers and working on my lappie, caressed by refreshingly nice n cool breeze and ample light. No need for fan or light again ! During the last three decades, I had almost forgotton this amazing feel of natural breeze, that we used to have in our childhood at our residence at Puri ( located near sea )!!

I really feel very happy that at least mine is a GREEN home and relish giving myself a pat on the back once in a while over the fact that I have got into a habit of making conscious moves to keep it that way ; saving on electricity consumption to the last bit possible. I switch off all lights, fans in rooms other than the one I am in – almost obssessively now. But for this energy-consciousness, I would have liked the entire house to be lighted especially when alone ( and most of these days , I am alone ) !!

So to cut the long story short : I am deliberately trying to reduce energy consumption / wastage – not only it saves my money spent on electricity – it does something much more significant for this planet: it helps in energy conservation- the insignificant quantum of my personal contribution notwithstanding! Every unit of energy saved is equivalent to a unit of energy produced !! Because the stock of natural energy is finite and availability of energy in usable form like electricity is also finite by the extent of production. So if I save a unit by curtailing my wasteful usage, it becomes available elsewhere for a genuine need. Just imagine, what the gross impact could be, if each individual makes a conscious effort to reduce wasteful consumption of energy at one’s own level first !! Add to that the impact of green initiatives that are possible at an organisational level !

Actually, by now most of us know( but the point is how many act as needed ) that the physical survival of our race and our Mother Earth now is severely challenged by three major environmental issues, off-shoots of our high industrialisation and urbanisation :

i. climate change / global warming mainly due to emission of carbon and other hazardous pollutants to air on one hand and rapid erosion of green cover ( forests , trees ) on the other.

ii. rapid depletion of natural sources of energy like coal, oil , gas ….and even water mainly due to excessive usage of the same to maintain our modern lifestyle which would come to a complete halt without these. Can you imagine even a day without electricity ? without fuel for your car ? without energy ? Run a quick glance through your everyday items of use and the lifestyle of even a common man – you will shudder to think of a situation without energy !!! The real challenge is that these natural ‘stores’ of energy sources are finite and are getting exhausted at astronomical rate. So, the challenge before us is to conserve energy to the last bit, have better and better extraction technology with improved ability to tap the available natural deposits of oil, coal etc. and most crucially, to find and harness alternative sources of renewable energy, like solar power, wind power !

iii. Waste management : solid waste, chemical waste, industrial waste etc. ; perhaps now e-waste can also be added as a menace in not-too-distant a future.

As far as our physical environmental hazards are concerned, these ‘trio’ form the crux of the menace – acting and interacting on one another !!

[Of course, when it comes to our survival in its real sense, economic and social ‘pollutants’ affecting the sustain-ability of the human race also need to be addressed on an equal footing. Truly, ‘rising temperatures’ are equally a consequence of unadmissible entrants into air, water and earth as of unadmissible entrants into our value syatem – of ‘falling values’ !!! How ? Worth reflecting by anyone genuinely concerned beyond self –interest.]

Coming back to the environmental hazards, my take is : although these issues to be meaningfully addressed, the corporates and the goverments must play their role at an organised level, we, as individuals, can also play an equally significant role through our conduct in our day-today-life – in fact, I would say, a far bigger role than that meets our eye on first thought.

This reminds me of an interesting concept called “Waste Hierarchy ” that I had read about somewhere, which I think, is a wonderful way to internalise green consciousness in both individuals and organisations.

This is a ranking of possible environmental actions in increasing order of environmental benefit:

• To burn material for energy is better than sending it to a landfill.
• To recycle it is better than burning it.
• To reuse material is better than recycling it.
• To reduce the amount needed is better than reusing it.
• To eliminate the need for material is better than reducing it.

The last one is the best option and last but one is the second best and so on. If as an individual, as aslo as a part of an organisation, I imbibe this thinking, then instead of giving lip service to the environment issues, I would act in a conscious manner everyday – at least to reduce consumption, curtail wasteful consumption, reuse to the extent possible and find out other modes of doing things which are not dependent on scarce resources or produce lesser solid waste for disposal, plant trees in office and home/neighbourhood, walk down to the neighbourhood shop instead of using my car etc. etc.

a. At home and office, I can desist from switching on fans, lights and ACs, if not truly needed.

b. I can switch off TVs/computers , when not in use, instead of leaving them in stand-by mode. Contrary to common belief, stand-by mode consumes a significant amount of electricity .

c. I can pause a moment when I see numerous fans and lights on, proclaiming that the office is open even when higher animals called employees to adorn their seats are not in sight; I can simply switch them off - without listening to the clamour of voices inside ringing with cynicism “ company ka maal, darya mein dal ” !

d. I can be very careful about use of paper !! After all, where from paper comes ? Is it not one of the major reasons for felling trees, erosion of green cover ??

e. I can stop taking those n number of photocopies of official communications to be sent to numerous units of operation, to which I have already sent these communications by e-mail or fax ! I will do well to remind myself that the recipients of these faxes/emails must have already kept hard copies !! ( I mean, if at all, hard copies are to be preserved in each damned case .)

[ And no offense meant to anyone, but what about the common practice in many organisations to keep a copy of every communication received from top and passed down the line, at literally every point it passes through ??? For operating units at the grass root, most of the time, one ends up getting at least 6 to 7 communications with same/similar contents around the same time – by letter, fax, email print-out etc. It used to amuse and amaze, and then hurt, me while in service to think of the colossal wastage of time, paper, fax rolls, fax ink and so many other resources due to this one single reason ! One should imagine, with 10000+ operating units alone and hundreds of controlling /administrative units across the organisation, how much resources must be getting wasted in maintaining this kind of a working culture !! In fact, I used to get wild to get faxes on the same matter from five different places around the same time and all on official letter heads ( you can imagine, how much costly fax ink gets used up just in printing these logos and other detailed stuff that appear in all letterheads !!). I have even called up many of them to say … please, for heavens sake, stop this ! But, unless an organisation-wide awareness and sensitivity develops, this will go on unabated. ]

f. I can use the reverse side of the envelops/letter covers/obsolete stationery for drafting, noting etc. instead of wasting fresh plain paper for these purposes . I have the moral right to say this, because I actually do this.

g. I can ‘sell’ the letter covers etc. along with newspapers, old notebooks, books etc. – instead of dumping them in the dustbin – obviously not for the price ( which is just measly), but because it ensures that it goes to the recycling factories eventually. Dustbin wastes mostly get disposed off by burning. My uncle once mentioned about this practice that he follows and the reason for it and I really appreciated.

h. I can maintain separate dustbins, at home and office, to dump paper-based waste separately, which will facilitate their disposal in a way as to facilitate recycling or reuse.

i. I can plant or maintain green plants / gardens in my neighbourhood and office premises.

j. I can close running water taps , if noticed at public places. I can draw the attention of the concerned authority to broken / leaking pipelines.

k. I can use public transport or pooled car, whenever and wherever feasible, instead of feeling pride in speeding away all alone in a huge car with AC on and blocking half the road all by myself. I can also prefer walking down or cycling, if feasible, of course.

l. I can at least enquire about the emission levels or compliance certifications and fuel efficiency while purchasing new motor vehicles – consciously, out of concern for global warming. Similar display of concern by large number of prospective customers would ultimately push the manufacturers to improve green-compliance of their products. ( Obviously, govts and policy makers have a big role in setting regulatory framework in this regard, but I am talking about my role as an individual only – so not discussing that aspect).

m. I can sacrifice my lust for ‘earth’ and decide in favour of an apartment in a multi-storeyed building for my residence over a stand-alone house.

n. I can resist the temptation of going to that bigger shopping mall at a distance, by car, to window-shop and get my branded stuff; instead I can walk down to the neighbourhood mall where all these same things are available.

o. I can plan my visit to multiple shops / visit points ( say, the tailor, the dry-cleaner, the grocer etc. ) on the same day, instead of dashing off in my car to these places on different dates, just because I have time to spare.

Well, so on and so forth …. But am I really trying to do similar things?

If green consciousness sounds not-something-to be so finicky- about, then please think twice .

A few days back, there was a news item in a Daily ( TOI issue dt 06^th May, 09 , reported by : Nitin Sethi) – captioned :

“ Disaster date may move up 21 years to 2029”

It said, the world must restrict its carbon emissions to 190 giga tonnes by 2050, if it is to have a chance of escaping the consequences of global warming. These are as per the latest findings published in “ Nature” magazine, which puts aside all earlier calculations and warned that our planet could take even less of the greenhouse gases than imagined before. There is 75% chance the world can hope to escape the danger of global average temperatures rising by more than 2 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial era only if it can keep its carbon emissions below 190 giga tonnes over the next 41 years. Although this inspires some hope, there is much to be worried over, as last year alone, the world emitted 9 giga tonnes of carbon by burning fossil fuels. And the rate at which we emit carbon is rising 3% every year. If we continue to burn fossil fuels and gases at this rate, the safety mark of 190 giga tonnes will be crossed by 2029 !! Every single tonne of carbon thrown into the air thereafter will reduce progressively our chances to survive the havoc of catastrophic climate change .

Some wake up call, I swear ; but seriously, are we listening ??

Well, that is only about the issue of global warming and climate change due to carbon emissions. But it is not this single issue alone, that needs to seize the attention of anyone walking on this planet. It is the entire spectrum of issues concerning our SUSTAINABILITY - from emission of carbon and other toxics/pollutants into the air, rapid erosion of forest cover / water mass, rapid depletion of energy sources like coal, oil, gas and water levels to …… well, a host of other things that affect the sustain-ability of this planet, that may well include how we conduct ourselves as individuals as much as how the corporates run their businesses from a perspective of corporate social responsibility( CSR) - everything to do with rising temperatures and falling values that may affect the sustain-ability of our current generation as well as the coming generations !! I reiterate this at the cost of repetition .

In short, “Sustainability” is the ability to meet the needs of the current generation without compromising the ability of the future generations to meet their needs.

And “Go Green” is coming up as a metaphor to represent the entire spectrum of sustainability issues and not just planting trees or addressing global warming. When I say how green are you or your organisation, I am simply keen to make you introspect on all these issues from a long term perspective and do whatever you can to address this at your level – as an individual, as part of a corporate, as part of policy makers n government, as part of the global community.

The volume of carbon emissions and rate at which it is increasing - should there be a prize to guess whether the ability of our future generation to sustain themselves is compromised or not ? Are you, as a person, not a party to this if you are unnecessarily using a motor vehicle when you could have avoided using it ? Are you not a party to this if while buying or marketing cars, you have not given even a thought to know how much carbon it is going to throw up into the air/its compliance with emission standards? Are you not a party to it if you are not trying to have enough green trees around to help nature convert the carbon emissions to life-saving oxygen and lessen impact on environmental temperature ? Think about it and you will be amazed to discover in how many small ways you can make a positive contribution to make this problem a little less. I have already mentioned a few earlier in this post.

Yes… I catch what you are thinking right now. The corporate world, the manufacturers, the financiers, government etc. have a big, big role to play, so far as this particular issue is concerned. In fact, I was a little sad when “Nano” came to market and the bankers started falling head over heel to finance the cars – with slogans like “ Nano for each Indian” - that too, without anywhere coming out with any public announcements on the emission-performance of this little common man’s car. Obviously, the target is the two-wheeler owners who would be tempted to upgrade. Would it lure the big-car owners to give away their swanky status symbols for a Nano for the similar services it offers as a city-ride at a ridiculously low cost ?

AND, LORD SAVE US – how would the traffic scenario be, if actually each Indian possesses a small car, with nothing improving as far as the roads are concerned ??? Honestly, personally, I feel, it is time for huge public transports and not small cars for a multitude. It is high time for a twin action - a robust and efficiently managed public transport system that can inspire confidence in everyone that it is better than driving own vehicles AND disincentives for buying vehicles for personal use (say, by way of high taxes, stricter permissions like in Singapore ) as also disincentives for using motor vehicles during certain distances/ time periods. Such govt. imposed disincentives can work a miracle in taking the status-symbol out of personal possession of four-wheelers. What no amount of social awareness campaigns can do in this regard can be achieved overnight and the message will spread that it is no longer the happening thing to show–off a car ! A word of caution ! The disincentives, without developing an efficient public transport system first, will not achieve the objective at all.

In Office premises, go for centralised air-conditioning as much as possible, instead of numerous window ACs or split ACs, design your interior aligned to natural light and see the savings on energy consumption !

Bankers and financing companies can contribute a lot just by containing their opportunism in coverting everything into a business opportunity and financing everything that comes to the market, without making a reasonable study of its long term impact on the environment/society/economy from a sustainability perspective. On the side of affirmative action, bankers and financiers can also contribute positively by giving incentives by way of reduced interest rates/service charges to manufacturing units or other industrial/service units, who invest in and implement green initiatives.

I feel a fresh gush of breeze when I hear about new concepts like ‘Carbon Credit’, ‘Green Home Loans’ ‘ shifting to green suppliers’, ‘cut carbon out of the supply chain’ ‘stop transporting air’, ‘go local’etc.

As per some studies, industrial and transportation sectors—those that coincide with supply chain activities—account for 61 percent of carbon emissions in USA ! So, if only transportation aspect in the supply chain can be taken care of, say by rationalizing sourcing, assembly and distribution in relation to markets, travel distances, corresponding fuel use can be reduced. At times, even simple changes to a product design – from reducing weight to making it easier to disassemble or assemble — can reduce energy consumption and waste throughout the product life cycle. Someone made a brilliant point: a delivery truck filled with flat-packed chairs can carry the equivalent of six trucks of fully assembled chairs; so why transport air ?? The same principle can apply to all types of surface transport for goods and merchandise - enhance carriage space upward, you save dramatically on energy cost on transportation. { Indian Railways did something similar a few years back – kudos !}

Point is: the industrial world, even the service organisations – in fact the entire corporate world needs to gear up now to go green – invest in R&D for cleaner and greener technology, adapt green practices, orient their staffer towards appreciation of and compliance with green initiatives. Governments and Policy makers, as also NGOs and awakened citizens/citizen groups must do their bit in driving something like a Green Revolution through awareness projects and regulatory/punitive frameworks.

Ekks… suddenly I realise that I am going on and on. Well, my objective was to stir your conscience and consciousness about sustain-ability of our Mother Earth – obviously our race and our future generations included. I would like to believe, I have hit it ! And you are thinking for yourself: “how green am I ?”

Please think and act.