Improve India

The best way to do this is by accepting there is a problem, several in fact. But if you are reading this, then you already have. There are several suggestions to improve India and they are right in their own ways.
But I have always believed, advocated and lived by the 'Self help is the best help' mantra.

Many of us want change. Change, for personal benefit or a social cause. Change, which has the power to alter ones own destiny or the future course of mankind. Change, which seldom happens due to several reasons, but rarely due to the lack of ideas. Everybody, right from the veggie vendor to the CEO of a MNC & their aunts have a thing or two to say about what's wrong and how to change it. But yet there is absolutely no change b’cos hypothetical ideas need a practical, physical form, else it is called bu @#%$ it .

It is true that there is an innovator lurking in all of us b’cos man is, by nature, a very curious and restless being. The quest for change & improvement is hardwired into all of us & is as old as mankind itself. We all have, at some point, been dissatisfied with the way things are. It is this dissatisfaction which has fuelled improvements (fire- tinderbox-strike anywhere matches- safety matches) & is the backbone of any invention.

But look at India. We hardly have any inventions to our credit. Does this mean we are a very content society? Not if you keep your ears open.

The general perception, wrongly though, is that we Indians want only social changes. Is this true? In a way, Yes. But the path to this change, crazy as it may sound, is technical. Technological solutions are tangible components and once in place applies to one and all, low and mighty, poor and rich, tall and short, Hindu or Muslim.

Submit yourself to a small test. Rage and Corruption are very prevalent in our society. Though seemingly unrelated, these two "social problems" do have a technical solution. Let us also assume for a moment that since modern man's (especially an Indian's) happiness is largely due to materialistic things, it is safe to say that, conversely, any anger or embitterment is caused due the lack of the same.

1. Rage, anger, road rage: Several manifestations of the same emotion, an emotion so strong that it has caused death & genocide and on a more personal scale, causes family discord, workplace friction and general unhappiness. But how is this a technical issue? Take an average day in our lives.

If there is a power outage, the rage caused by things like uncooked rice, discharged mobile, dead elevator etc., are not social but technological.

If my mo-bike needs several, shin-hurting kicks each morning, isn't my neighbour happier with a self starter equipped mobike?

If my fav Darshini irritatingly serves me inconsistent (light/strong) coffee, can’t this human-error-problem be solved with a simple volumetric dispenser for the decoction?

A more specific example. Notice how buses park randomly, blocking traffic. Wrongly assuming this to be a social problem, several attempts have been made to 'educate' the commuter to stand on the footpath, auto drivers to not park at bus stops and the bus driver to park next to the kerb and only at designated stops. But to no avail.

An associated problem of random boarding / alighting at signal lights & unscheduled stops as also dangerous foot board travelling was solved with expensive automatic doors. But the ability to control these doors was again vested with the same callous, couldn't-care-less driver. And he ended up subverting a good system by either not closing the doors or opening them at signal lights. And how did we 'Indians' react? Stop fixing buses with these doors thinking they did not serve the intended purpose. Whose fault was it? The door or the human behind it?

The solution to any social problem is a balance between usage of machines and humans. And it is also true that lesser the human interference, the better the efficiency of machines. This is the way the developed countries developed. If our approach had been technological, what would the solution have been?

Factor out the rarely ‘responsible, conscientious, Human’. Devise a simple system whereby these doors can be opened only at the bus stops. A very simple lever mechanism which is tripped to open the doors only if the bus is parked within a certain distance from the kerb and only at the designated bus stop. When the bus moves away, the doors automatically close. Like with trains & trams, you have created an exclusive corridor, sans the track. Human psychology does the rest.

When people realize that there is no ’adjust-maadi’ human in charge, other vehicles and people automatically keep off this area. The bus drivers have no option. Civic authorities will ensure proper tarmac. Its either that or ‘inoperable doors & no bus service’ . And the same commuters who stood on the roads will ensure adherence coz the machine can't be manipulated.

Simple, ingenious, cost-effective, long-term? But why hasn’t it been done yet? That’s because the people ‘capable’ of suggesting such change are busy assembling billion dollar imported toys to send to the moon, debating e=mc2 & The Big Bang Theory or building useless, outdated planes, tanks, guns & ships which even our own armed forces shun. The rest of us are busy financing this addiction for all things hi-tech and phoren.

2. Corruption: Corruption begins with the excess need for money and the most corrupt are the most inept. Why does this need arise? The average Indian is so helpless (or lazy) that his inability to solve any of his own problems forces him to rely on others and hence he ends up buying their services. This may sound farfetched and absurd, but it is a major part of the malaise.

If a mixie fails to work, the intelligent person analyses the problem, zeroes in on a loose connection, takes a screw driver and sets it right in 5 minutes flat, all for the price of a 'one-time-investment-on-simple-tools'. But most of us, including qualified engineers, prefer to lug it to the neighborhood electrician, take his word on the ‘serious’ problem and end up spending several hundreds. Multiply this with the many appliances, gadgets, furniture and automobiles we own & our spending on such trivia is enormous. The more you acquire, the more you spend on maintenance. Self help means less reliance on others, less services to pay for, lesser the expenses and hence lesser the need for money.

This is the DIY concept. A skill powerful enough to change our lives & society itself. DIY is the mantra for self reliance & self confidence. (Remember Gandhiji, the Charaka, salt satyagraha?) The move away from a buying society. It also ensures that people with theoretical knowledge acquire practical skills so that corrections can be made to the theory. The people with just skills have, unfortunately, limited or no knowledge, can’t upgrade b’cos they cant read, write, communicate or surf the net. This imbalance has to change.

If we make a honest analysis of our problems, we will realize, It is undeniably technology, its failure, its misuse or the utter lack of it which is the cause of many problems. And fuelling this problem is our inability to correct things.

Discover the genius in you. See how practical your ‘over-a-drink’, ‘improve-the-world’ ideas really are.

I am no arm chair critic. I will tell, what I feel we can all do, in my next post.