Our progress in the last 68 years is noteworthy and yet, in certain social indicators, we continue to trail behind. We have built bridges that rise mightily above oceans but find it tough to keep our streets cleans. Our women lead the world in sports and business but our girls fight to reach schools everyday. We are a land of paradoxes, a land where many countries reside in one.
We often wonder, then, what is it that unites us? The answer to this question reaches us through day-to-day stories of courage and leadership that emerge from the country. We are Indians, bound by five strong and inalienable values that govern our collective conscience. This was, has been and will be our voice and weapon for change, as relevant now as it was in the past.
This blog post brings these values to light, and Desh Apnayen celebrates all of them.
Value 1: Being entrepreneurial and taking initiative
Chewang Norphel from Ladakh brings this value to life. The people of this wondrous mountain region are no strangers to drought and struggle to meet their basic water needs. Norphel, a 79 year old civil engineer, put his skills to use for creating at least 12 artificial glaciers in the region which help in increasing the ground water table levels and providing enough for irrigation. He constructed them at lower elevations, so that they melt earlier, expanding the growing season.
To know more about Norphel’s work, click here.
Sumaira Abdulali’s is another story worth reckoning. Through her organization, the Awaaz Foundation, she is working to build a transparent citizen-led movement to link urban development and noise regulation. Through her own efforts and initiative, she has successfully proven that noise pollution need not be a side effect of urbanization. To know more about her, click here.
Value 2: Tolerance
Tolerance not against injustice, but towards one another is a mantra that has bound us for good. Take for instance the village of Burondi near Ratnagiri in Maharastra. In February 2015, the elders of the village signed a pact to protect their communal harmony for the next 100 years. A website, www.ummid.com, reports that village head Pradip Rane, 44, said the main objective of the agreement, considered the first of its kind in the country, between the two main communities was to create awareness and importance of communal harmony, especially among the next generation. Burondi has a total population of around 10,000, with nearly 3,500 Muslims spread mainly across three large ‘mohallas’.
To read this village’s story in full, click here.
Value 3: Duty First
Nirma Chaudhari is not only extinguishing stereotypes as one of the first female fire fighters in the country, she is also setting an example for how duty always come first. Chaudhari serves her society and nation before tending to her husband and five year old son. “If women are in the army and stationed at the border and are ready to fight our enemies, then why not fight fire? We are ready, we are committed and we are strong.” she believes.
Shyam Negi, India’s oldest voter, echoes this sentiment of duty. At 102, he has voted in every election since 1947 and considers his supreme duty to do the same until he lives.
Value 4: Innovation and Invention
We are problem solvers. Simple. In the last decade, Indians have been at the forefront of technologies that currently drive the world, may it be the USB (development led by Chief Intel Architect Ajay Bhatt) or the Solar Powered tablet (called the iSlate, developed by Krishna Palem). We learn, we do, we share. To learn more about how our youth are innovating to bring about social change using energy efficient solutions, read this India Today article here.
Value 5: Fearlessness
We are fearless, and we fight. Lalit Wadher from Raipur is fighting to end the VVIP culture in his city of Raipur and Chhavi Rajawat has changed mindsets by becoming the first non-political elected female Sarpanch of her village, Soda. Keeping the truth alive are our journalists who show us who we really are, and how we can change. Meena Sharma and Shripal Sakhawat brought to us harrowing tales of female foeticide from Rajasthan that forced the state CM to take action and Barkha Dutt and made us feel proud of our soldiers in Kargil. We wear valour like a shield.
At the end of the day, we come home to our values.
The Invaluable five
