Is India progessing or regressing?
Charmi Doshi
1st Prize
“Progress is the activity of today with assurance of tomorrow”, these words were rightly quoted by Sir Emerson. ‘India’, ‘Bharat’, ‘Hindustan’, as many names as many cultures, religions, languages, a complete hotchpotch of diversity and traditions. But being multi-linguistic and extremely diversified just does not make it a fully developed country, but yet, surely it plays a great role in chiselling the structure of the country. The question to be asked today is, ‘Is India capable of becoming a superpower or at least change its title from a ‘developing’ to a ‘developed’ country?’
Well, the answer is crystal clear, ‘Capability is never equal to power unless it is backed by intent and willingness to use the power in the pursuit of ‘National Interest’.
Let me put it this way; you are on a long road trip. Do you always find the road to be smooth and complete the journey without any obstacle? This same concept applies to the journey of a country from an underdeveloped to a developed one. There are always highs and lows, sometimes uneven road; similarly in the entire process of development, the country has to go through all the phases of highs and lows. So, this makes it clear that in the path of progression one has to face regression but, with the condition of bouncing back even higher. No doubt, India has progressed immensely in the past few decades that even our forefathers would have never imagined. Seeing the current scenario, it is definitely clear that India is progressing but, is it exactly how we imagined?
Tall towers in cities like Mumbai and Bangalore, four-lane drive ways in cities like Ahmedabad, monorails and metros in Delhi and Kolkata, sealink as a flyover above the sea, huge dams, constant electric supply, automatic cars, defence equipments matching the World class standards, space-crafts circumnavigating the space etc.. etc.. etc.. all these are the most lively and vibrant examples of tremendous progress the country has made in the past few decades. Today, a man can circumnavigate the globe within 24 hours. This has made the saying very clear that ‘Sky is not the Limit’. India is like the new ‘epitome’ of opportunities in the World. Many multi-nationals and business houses are looking forward to open their businesses in India. Discovery of life saving drugs, excelling in the fields of Science and Mathematics have made the Nation really proud. The most recent development in the field of ‘BPO & KPO’ i.e. business process outsourcing and knowledge process outsourcing.
We all know that in NASA organisation maximum employees are Indian. In each and every part of the World Indians are spreading goodwill and are shining all the way. What would we call all this? This is nothing but splendid performance proving the ability to progress by our Nation. Then, why is it still referred to as ‘stagnant and developing’? No doubt, the country is on its path to success. But with success come many downfalls and negative elements. Who said the developed countries do not face the adverse elements?
Yes! You heard it right, even the superpowers of the World have gone through their ‘Regression’ phase. But, what is important to know is ‘Do the adverse elements of a nation in the path of progress outweigh the favourable elements?’ This is where India is lagging behind. With each step of success comes a number of obstacles and hurdles which pulls back the country to step 1. Pollution, black money, corruption, indiscipline, are the very common hurdles present in this Nation. ‘If you want to get the work done, fill your pockets before going out’, ‘bribe’ the most common terrorist of the Nation. Adulteration in food, using cheap quality materials in building infrastructure just for earning few extra rupees at the cost of endangering the entire country, black money circulating faster than air, money laundering, ill practises like caste discrimination and untouchability. Who can say that the country which has developed so much is still backward that most of its children are malnourished and live below the poverty line? Wealth in hands of few is the ongoing picture. More than five lakh villages are still without power; more than half of the population is still illiterate. Is this exactly what we call ‘favourable progress’? It is high time that we fellow Indians must awaken and sow the seeds of development with minimum chemicals to it.
In the end, I would like to say that no doubt India is progressing yet, it needs to change and modify its ways.
‘While India is developing to the fullest extent with infrastructure and technology on its peak, our fellow Indians are still living in ‘drudgery’. Progression has to come with regression. But, on the condition of bouncing back even higher.
‘Progress is like a double-edge sword’. It is upon us whether we want to use it to cut vegetables or to kill a person? Thus, India is definitely progressing but it is still a slave to many ill practises giving rise to regression.
Religion & Spirituality
Aneri Merchant
2nd Prize
Every religion stems out of spirituality. Religion becomes rigid and restricts you but spirituality brings that expansion you crave for.
—Sri Sri Ravi
Shankar Religion and spirituality are the two defining factors in the determination of the higher values of life. These two functions of the inner call of a human being correspond to life in the world and life in God. The relationship between the world and God is also the relationship between religion and spirituality.
A large number of people identify themselves as “spiritual but not religious.” This phrase probably means different things to different people. The confusion stems from the fact that the words “spiritual” and “religious” are really synonymous. Both connote belief in a Higher Power of some kind. Spirituality is about personal experience of a new dimension to life and living by the lessons learned therein. Religion is blind faith in somebody else’s theories, and then conforming to their expectations and demands. Before the 20th century, the terms religious and spiritual were used more or less interchangeably.
The word spirituality gradually came to be associated with a private realm of thought and experience while the word religious came to be connected with the public realm of membership in religious institutions and participation in formal rituals. Since the birth of humankind, our biggest inner struggle has been to achieve a level of complete peacefulness through religion or spirituality.
In India, there is a discipline prescribed for the gradual evolution of the human individual by stages of
(1) education,
(2) adjustment of oneself with the demands of natural and social living and,
(3) detachment from the usual entanglements in life and
(4) final rootedness of oneself in God. (Sanyasa)
Every religion has its various restrictions imposed on a person, keeping all human activity confined to specific areas of living, with its several dos and don’ts – ‘do this’ and ‘do not do that’. There cannot be any religion without these two mandates imposed on man.
People in the first two stages of life mentioned above are placed under an obligation to follow these dos and don’ts of religion in social behavior, in personal conduct and dealings with people in any manner whatsoever.
Every religion has these ordinances, defining the duties, which are religious, whether in the form of ritual, worship, pilgrimage, daily diet, and devotion and adherence to the scripture of the religion. These restrictions are lifted in the third stage where the life of a person is mainly an internal operation of thought, feeling and understanding and experiences of the materialistic life.
Even though, religion has evolved and shifted through many individual beliefs, yet the essence of spirituality has always been the same.
Spirituality exists wherever we struggle with the issue of how our lives fit into the greater cosmic scheme of things. This is true even when our questions never give way to specific answers or give rise to specific practices such as prayer or meditation. We encounter spiritual issues every time we wonder where the universe comes from, why we are here, or what happens when we die.
According to one of the religion writers, Malik Khan, Religion is applied to a great variety of human ideas, acts, and institutions. All the attempts to shift out from these common elements, which would represent the “essence” of religion, have ended in failure. Men have fought and died for their religion. Art and literature have flowered forth as expressions of faith. Many people acknowledge religion as the basis for strength, hope, and significance in their lives.
Religion is an institution established by man for various reasons. You confess your sins to a clergy member; go to elaborate churches to worship, you are told what to pray and when to pray All those factors remove you from God.
Spirituality is born in a person and develops in the person. It may be kick started by a religion, or it may be kick started by a revelation. Spirituality extends to all facets of a person’s life. Spirituality is chosen while religion is often times forced.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar in a recent interview promoted spirituality. According to him, when people become saturated by so many different kinds of experiences, even by various comforts, there is a quest to know something else, something deeper in life.
Spirituality is imbibed in a person. You don’t have to leave or sacrifice anything to have a spiritual life. You can be spiritually and materially abundant. As you become more and more spiritually fulfilled, you act more and more out of a sense of responsibility rather than a sense of greed or attachment. One may achieve financial value but if you gather a lot of stress and tension in the bargain, that affects your own health, your own peace of mind, your own relationships, then what’s the point? What are you gathering all the wealth for?
An expensive bed is no good if you can’t sleep. Losing health to gain wealth and then spending that earned wealth to regain health doesn’t sound like good economics at all.
To sum it up,
• There is not one religion, but hundreds but there is only one type of spirituality.
• Religion speaks of sin and of fault while spirituality encourages “living in the present” and not to feel remorse for which has already passed – Lift your spirit and learn from errors.
In the end what matters is faith, faith in an upper power, a divine energy to help us find a light through an empty tunnel in our darkness of lives.
