Essays - 2 | Current Affairs & Hindu Analysis: Daily, Weekly & Monthly - UPSC PDF Download

Progress Is More Plausibly Judged by the Reduction of Deprivation than by the Further Enrichment of the Wealth

Human progress and well-being are the central goals of social policy in a welfare state. 

• Directive Principles in our Constitution obligate the Indian state for general welfare and progress of the population at large. While there is no doubt that there has been general well-being and development in our country since we have gained independence, however, we find that this growth and development has not been fair, equitable and humane. Some seem to have acquired larger proportion of this wealth at the cost of vast majority of population who continue to live a life of penury and destitution.
• This essay is a reflection on this contentious path to development. There have been wide ranging discussions in academic circles on the path to the development and progress. Some argue that economic freedom and free enterprise with limited state intervention will create situations of general economic growth and affluence, first for the rich which will gradually trickle down to the large population at the proper time. Thus, these scholars believe that economic growth is the ultimate constraint on development and that successful growth will at the right time eliminate poverty and other social problems.

This view was pushed by the Washington Consensus, advocated by IMF and World Bank. They emphasised on the role of free markets as efficient mechanisms for promoting economic growth and advocated reforms like withdrawal of state, market deregulation.

The result of pursuit of market led development policies across the world resulted in problems of growing inequality where the rich became more richer, there was widespread damage to global environment threatening world’s biodiversity and climate change, there was increasing consumerism, individualisation and commodification leading to loss of community feeling. 

• The markets have appeared to be often sub-optimal as they are open to manipulation and irrationality. Also, rich often seem to be rich not due to their efforts but often due to luck and chance.
• The incomes and wealth of world’s top 1% have increased at an increasing pace in the last three decades. Back home, Indian income inequality was extremely high under British colonial rule, with a top 10% income share around 50%. After independence, socialist-inspired five-year plans contributed to reducing this share to 35-40%. Since the mid1980s, deregulation and liberalization policies have led to one of the most extreme increases in income and wealth inequality observed in the world. While the top 1% has largely benefited from economic reforms, growth among low and middle-income groups has been relatively slow, and poverty persists.
• Oxfam in its recent report ‘Inequality Kills’ reveals some staggering data on wealth inequality. The wealth of the ten richest billionaires in India would be enough to fund the schooling and higher education of India’s children for more than 25 years. According to the report, despite the pandemic the number of billionaires increased in India from 102 to 142. Collective wealth of India’s 100 richest people hit a record high of USD 775 billion. In the same year, the share of the bottom 50% of the population in national wealth was a mere 6%.
• On the other hand, scholars of the human development school have taken a different path. They have advocated for a rights-based approach and have oriented towards enhancing human development rather than economic growth. Enabling everyone in society to achieve their minimum basic needs and over time, with rising prosperity to the raise the minimum level. For them, economic growth is just the means to the end of human development.
• Poverty is hunger and fatigue. Poverty is being sick and not being able to see a doctor. Poverty is not being able to go to school and not knowing how to read. Poverty is not having a job. Poverty is fear for the future, having food once in a day. Poverty is losing a child to illness, brought about by unclear water. Poverty is powerlessness, lack of representation and freedom. Thus, poverty is real or relative of many deprivations which result in outcomes which result in unfulfilled life for the individuals. Some of the outcomes of poverty are:
  • Deprivations compromises human capability: Without access to basic services of healthcare, education, housing, and sanitation the capabilities of individuals will continue to remain under utilised. This is a loss to humanity.
  • Vicious cycle of deprivation: Malnutrition leads to lower educational and learning outcomes, lower healthcare leads to lower physical ability, these combined lead to lower earning and income outcomes in adult life. This in turn means lower opportunities for the children born in these households. Inter-generational continuity of poverty.
  • Poverty leads to social conflicts: Poverty leads to ghettoization and proliferation of slums in cities. The uneducated people are often vulnerable to be exploited by religious and extremist thoughts. No wonder that the poor are breeding ground for resentment against the state and prone to crime and revolutions.
  • Culture of Poverty: Poverty forces the poor the poor to develop certain behavioural enabling them to survive the sordid conditions of poverty. This pattern has been termed ‘Culture of Poverty.’ The poor develop a subculture of their own, tend to be socially isolated and have narrow outlooks. The individual who grows up in this culture has strong feelings of fatalism, helplessness, dependence, and inferiority. Their orientation is to live in present, they hardly think of the future.

There is thus a need to take a more nuanced approach to human development and progress. The first focus should be measurement and identification of poor. 

• With the increased focus on addressing the multiple deprivations nature of poverty, measures of poverty have also evolved from a merely income level and calorie-based poverty line measures to much more nuanced multi-dimensional poverty index (MPI) developed by UNDP and Oxford University. 
• The MPI focuses on ten parameters of nutrition, child mortality, years of schooling, school attendance, access to cooking fuel, sanitation, drinking water, electricity, housing and other assets. Thus, it does not take income for measurement of poverty. It believes that if a person is able to satisfy these basic needs, he is not poor. 
• Now, coming to designing policies which create a more equitable just and fair society, where basic needs of everyone is fulfilled. Scholars have suggested following policy options:
  • Taxing the rich and progressive taxation system
  • Interventions to improve public health and education.
  • Provision for universal basic income
  • Increasing the minimum wages and increasing income security for workers
  • Ensuring greater work participation of women
  • Boosting agricultural incomes.
  • Humanising globalisation

In this line, UN has come out with comprehensive Sustainable Development Goals which are collection of 17 goals for a more sustainable, equitable, fair and just world.

At the end we should remember that human progress should be as a collective enterprise where all of humanity benefits along with sustainability. Mahatma Gandhi’s Talisman of helping the last and most destitute person should always guide our moral compass.

The process of self-discovery is now technologically outsourced

Self-discovery is a process that involves discovering yourself by looking at what you like and dislike, your life/past experiences, and the world around you. Self discovery requires one to explore one’s ideas, thoughts, values, preference, choices, opinions about life, world and society. It requires deep contemplation, analysis and open-mindedness to accept oneself just as it is. Self-discovery also known as self-realization is realization of whether you are right or wrong, whether you are moving or you are static. Socrates very well acknowledges the relevance of this process when he said- “An unexamined life is not worth living” Examples of self-discovery are

• GAUTAM BUDDHA – He went into deep introspection in solitude and concluded that the reason behind all the pains in the world is desire. It has been rightly said “Enlightenment is final frontier of self-discovery.”
• ARJUNA in Mahabharata questioned - “How can he fight his relatives?” The guided discovery of Dharma Yudhdha by Krishna led him to conquer the battleground.
• Steve Jobs after getting ousted from his job was relaxing in Ladakh under the influence of intoxicating drugs. He was sitting in front of a hill and moving his hand up and down, right and left where he discovered the technique of scrolling. This brought a technological revolution. He was not a tech guy. It was just his creativity that made him rise so high.
• With self-discovery only various technocrats have undergone career transition like Chetan Bhagat from an investment banker to an author, Jitendra Kumar /Varun Grover from an IIT to an actor. Self-discovery often results in identifying ones’ capabilities as shown in movies like Taare Zameen Par and three idiots. Here you do not have to acquire any skill from outside. It is very much within you.

Advantages of Self Discovery
Self-awareness brings clarity in your thought process. Your destination becomes clear, and the journey becomes easier. It helps in analysis of strength, weakness, opportunity and threat. As has been rightly pointed out by Swami Vivekanand - “All power is within you, you can do anything and everything. Believe in that, stand up and express the divinity within you.” Selfdiscovery assists in gaining knowledge (processing of information that you already possess). It enables one to correlate various events and draw out an analogy.

• Example – Behavioural science. It helps evaluate yourself on objective parameters and confirm if there is personal growth or not, progression or regression, evolution or devolution. Passion can be identified this way like painting, photography, reading, writing etc. One can become emotionally intelligent by understanding the underlying emotion behind a particular behaviour of oneself. Consciousness can be raised. As Gandhi ji used to say, “A lie is a lie, no matter in what context it is said.” In the process you can identify your innate ability and become a brand in yourself. Example- Mushrooming of Coaching Institutes by individual teachers. It helps by allowing us to re-invent ourselves and continuously improve.

Ways of Self Discovery

• Introspection used to be one of the most fundamental parts of self-discovery. People would spend hours alone in nature, isolated from other people, and they would contemplate their lives and its purpose while they were there. Questions like “Who am I?” were delved deeper in this process. It was often, not just an individualistic process, but also included family, friends and society. Understanding others perspective towards oneself used to be a practice. Example-King’s Durbar like Ibadat Khana.
• The principle of Guru–Shishya/Pir-Murid Parampara Mentor and disciple way of self-learning, whereby Gurus who were psychologically, mentally well equipped to guide the student on the path of self-discovery assisted this process. It was the Guru who used to teach virtues of patience, Tapasya(effort), integrity, honesty and vision on Dharma in the journey of self-discovery.
• But in this present century the act of self-discovery has been outsourced to technology. Technological outsourcing of self-discovery has become a trend. Outsourcing is the practice of hiring a party to perform one’s work. It is ubiquitous from programming to grocery delivery to education, we outsource almost everything. We once had to hunt and grow our own food. Now we outsource to stores and agribusiness.
• The whole network we call society is a web of mutual outsourcings. We may feel more independent than ever, though not because we are, we are just addicted to reliable outsourcing. That is what economies are all about; the butcher, baker, and candlestick maker outsourcing labour to each other. Technology thus has structured these outsourcing in a manner that is organized yet intricate, making it more accessible to everyone.

Contemporary Times

• As a society, we have turned our back on the idea of selfdiscovery in favour of using technology as a crutch to find out who we should be. The world we live in today is much different than the world people lived in a century ago. We have more knowledge at our fingertips than ever before, but it can be hard to make sense of all of it. We live in a time when your phone knows more about you than your closest friends do.
• You share your location with GPS, you post photos on Instagram and Facebook, and you often check-in somewhere via OYO. For better or for worse, we are collectively giving up our privacy to companies whose business models are based on selling our data. Even if you do not think about it consciously, there is a good chance that technology has already revealed things about yourself that you did not know before. With enough data, patterns emerge, and the process of self discovery has now been technologically outsourced.
• A new pattern can be observed wherein humans have started to offload their consciousness to external factors that may include social media or lifestyle coaches or personal growth sessions, all guided and influenced by technology. It is estimated that everyday new accounts are opened on Instagram or Facebook to represent selfaffirmation techniques, motivation quotes or positive mind set.
• We all fall prey to those claims as if joining the 5 AM Club for success is the only way to achieve greatness.

Platforms for Outsourcing

• Today, we do not need to meditate or think deeply about who we are because social media like Facebook and Instagram will do it for us. We can now curate our photographs and present ourselves in a way that is most likely to attract a potential mate. It allows us to showcase our best selves and create an identity through the content we consume and share.
• Numerous technological innovations are also making it easier for people to discover themselves. One such technology is virtual reality, which can provide an immersive experience that many view as being superior to real life.
• Virtual reality allows users to do things like create a personalized avatar that represents their ideal selves. They can then use this avatar in a virtual setting and interact with other avatars that represent their ideal selves as well. These types of interactions allow people to see themselves from outside perspectives and gain valuable insight about who they are. One could even say that this is a technologically driven process of self discovery. We do not need to go to a psychologist anymore, because algorithms can now spit out a prescription for us.
  • Example-online personality tests. The future of self discovery is already here, in the form of AI personal assistants. As our relationships with technology continue to evolve and AI becomes more ubiquitous, we will continue to find ourselves interacting with software in ways that previous generations could never have imagined. And as these interactions become increasingly natural, we might even find an increasingly surer sense of self.

Advantages of Use of Technology

• Today you can become a YouTube/Tik-Tok star by understanding your camera consciousness. Your leadership abilities can be identified and nurtured through various groups on social media. Self determination- guided discovery through internet. The ability to edit our lives on social media has created a new form of self-expression. 
• This often boosts our confidence as identifying raw talents is enabled through technology. Good observation skills through reaction time in games and improved performance. Games like Pokémon Go can help you discover your physical strength by measuring how long you can walk. It can help one realize his/her sexuality (homo or hetero) by exposure to websites like omegle.

Disadvantages of Use of Technology

• Often forwarded messages can raise communal consciousness in you, by making you discover that you belong to a particular religion. This can lead to polarization and radicalization in the society. Technology giants like Apple and Amazon can affect your choices by behavioural pattern recognition and targeted advertisements. Example- you may be induced towards consumerism which is not what you really are. 
• Through technology it is easier to misguide people because of its wide reach. It can lead to false perception of oneself. Example – following traditions is backward. Through technology, people can create new reference groups with idiosyncratic norms rather than being socialized primarily through more conventional means.
• The Internet supports the forming of alternative communities sometimes giving rise to cults. Technology now facilitates “Instant Gratification” which hinders the growth of tolerance and patience which cannot foster mutual coexistence of thoughts. As a result, humans are unable to accept views, thoughts and opinions of others causing conflicts both internal, external, national and international. 
• The more curated our online identities become, he more we are vulnerable when meeting someone face-to-face. There are billions of posts that guide humans on dos and don’ts on the path of self discovery. This process is so decentralized that it ends up leaving people confused, lost and anxious. Should people be worried about this?
• On the one hand, self-discovery is a critical aspect of human growth and happiness, and if it can be technologically enhanced, it could potentially help people live fuller, happier lives. On the other hand, technology’s ability to understand and process human emotions is still relatively primitive, so the risks involved in removing that aspect of self-discovery from the equation are considerable.

The human brain is wired to seek approval from others to feel secure, but social media has created a strange paradox where we have access to thousands of people yet feel disconnected from all of them at the same time.

Conclusion

• The pace at which technological revolution is taking place, in the future, the process of self-discovery will be a simple matter of downloading an app, plugging in your choices and letting the device tell you who you are. We may create our own individualized version of reality by selecting our newsfeeds, web searches and social media content. Each of us will have his or her own unique experience and perspective on what is happening in the world. That is how we will all see ourselves as unique individuals.
• Self-discovery is a journey that requires time, effort and courage. This century though dominated by technology, but humans can make a conscious choice and limit its usage. Technology has an invisible dominance in this self-affirmation which needs to be checked. We humans have huge reservoir of mental strength and capacity to guide our own path to self-discovery. Technology should be a supportive tool and not an authority that guides our actions.
• Hence what we need is a little more acceptance of our vulnerabilities, a little analysis of our strengths and weaknesses, a little more discipline, a little more gratitude in life, a little more renunciation to things or life events, a tinge of spirituality and strong “SANKALP” or determination. As Swami Vivekanand rightfully said, “You can do anything and everything even without the guidance of anyone.”

Courage to Accept and Dedication to Improve Are the Two Keys to Success

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, one of the most admired wicketkeeper batter and cricketer in the world was dropped from the national team selection for the first time. He not only accepted the decision but also celebrated with his friends as he came to know about his weakness that led to his non-selection. He worked on himself and the next time, the selectors had no choice but to admire his capabilities and select him.

• In the same spirit, Thomas Edison experimented over in ninety-nine ways to find tungsten as the metal to light the bulb. He famously remarked, “I’ve not failed 99 times but only found 99 ways of not doing it.”
• The above real-life examples substantiate the fact that courage to accept and work towards the goal are the two critical keys to success. Courage means having an indomitable will (Gandhiji) to face the adversity and rise above it. It is often the easiest way around to blame others or situations for one’s failure, but it takes courage to accept yourself as the reason of your failure. Gandhiji in his book ‘My experiments with Truth’ and even in his march for independence was not successful at his things in the first go. But he had a will to succeed and improve his shortcomings.
• Unfortunately, today (in the 21^st century) which is a fast paced, technological evolving and growth driven world, this quality of accepting one’s failure is missing. In today’s world there is a race to be the youngest millionaire or billionaire in the world and the stories of shortcuts to success become famous, your acceptability depending on your likes on social media and your popularity being your identity; the courage to face and accept a shortcoming brings disastrous consequences. The rising student suicide rates in India aptly highlights towards this phenomenon.
• Therefore, it becomes absolutely necessary to make our kids mentally and emotionally and work to make them forts of virtue. Their inability to manage failures and rejection can be countered by making education more value based. Inclusion of sports and arts along with music will surely function as stress busters. Sports is the best way a child can learn to embrace a loss gracefully and work for the betterment next time. Furthermore, lending an ear to students about their issues can also help. PM Modi’s Pareeksha Par Charcha is one such example. Teachers and Aanganwadi workers can be given a short-term training about counseling and ways to improve.
• It is said that attitude not your aptitude determiners your altitude of success. Thereby not only accepting failure but working and improving for a better outcome is really required. In your path towards success, you should not only learn from your mistakes but from others as well. Great Sportspersons such as Sachin Tendulkar, P.V. Sindhu, Saina Nehwal, Roger Federer have applied this skill and need to be emulated.
• Leo Tolstoy once said that time and patience are world’s greatest weapon. Recognising your flaws and working towards it requires undertaking of systematic approach and time. To reach one’s level of perfection, practice should be done religiously. Sachin Tendulkar used to practice on different pitches and conditions to get desired results. Determining achievable targets and rewarding yourself after achieving them also acts as a constant motivation to achieve your goal.
• As the saying goes, ‘Believe yourself and you are halfway there.’ The above things would only be beneficial if a person believes in oneself. The newly crowned Miss Universe 2021, Harnaaz Kaur Sandhu was bullied and body-shamed in her teenage, but her self-belief made her achieve this feat and win the crown after 21 years. 
• Even Gandhiji had immense self-belief. When prominent leaders and compatriots were criticizing his decision of calling off the Non-cooperation movement during the Chauri-Chaura uprising, he still continued to believe in his principles of Satyagraha. He realized that at times leader must take some decisions that are discomforting and not in favour with the majority but then he knew that by violence he would not be able to win freedom and swaraj for his people.

Therefore, it can be rightly concluded that a nation whose citizens are courageous enough to not only accept adversity but also possess a never give up attitude to work towards their success will truly be an asset to the country. One of our fundamental duties says that a citizen should develop to his/her potential while contributing towards the country.

Such virtues would help us to fulfill the values enshrined in our constitution of just economic and social development. These human assets would help to build a better nation and thereby a better world. The success achieved would be more inclusive and rewarding.