Karan’s fourfold tip to youths
The recently concluded International Youth Camp at the campus of Sri Aurobindo Institute of Indian Culture has earned huge accolades from one and all for deliberating on key contemporary issues in its panel discussions and keynote lectures.
The presence of resource persons who were identified from among nation builders and their take on various subject matters concerning the youth besides the presence of youth delegations from over 11 Southeast Asian countries and Indian states is a great momentum for Shillong.
Dr Karan Singh Rajya Sabha, MP in his address to the youth gave fourfold tips on Sadhana. Firstly, the human body has to be strong and the youth have to ensure that they don’t indulge in substance abuse, unsafe sex etc. The second tip is intellectuality where the minds of the youth have to be supple and receptive. “Noble forces come to us from all sides.
When the Sufis came to India we embraced their message of peace and harmony,” he said. Thirdly, you have to open your minds and ask questions since Indic civilization is based on dialogues. “All our Gitas, Upanishads, Vedanta and more are dialogues and you have to ask questions and have the capacity to listen,” he said while adding that people don’t talk about emotionality.
“Anger, hatred and jealousy are as disastrous as any fatal disease as it corrodes a person from inside,” he added. The fourth tip is social responsibility as we are also part of the larger social contact.
“Our weakness has been the non-capacity to work as a team and without it we cannot achieve any great work,” he said while giving the example of Lord Rama’s venture to Lanka to rescue Sita.
He also lamented that Indian education does not lay emphasis upon Indian spiritual scriptures. He said that it is strange to notice that right from KG to PhD there is no reference to Indian philosophical thought.
Question that the young ask
What is a bandh? Why does it happen? Who calls it and why? What do we get out of it? Can we say something about it? What is this ILP? Why do our teachers not tell us about it? Don’t we too need to understand?
These are questions that children of Class V-VI of some schools have asked their parents. Depending on the answers given by their parents the children will carry the ideas about all of the above questions in their impressionable minds and that will guide them in their future actions.
Said a teacher, “No one thinks about children. People forget that they will grow up and become members of society and that the opinions they form during adolescence will form their behaviour as adults.”
According to this teacher, bandhs, picketing and road blockades do not only have a debilitating effect on the economy and restrict social mobility but create huge mental blocks in the young.
Meghalaya Police on Facebook
In an effort to connect with the public, Meghalaya Police have opened up a Facebook page. A senior official informed that the Police invites comments, suggestions etc about their performance while on duty. Public are asked to post comments on good behaviour and also negative experiences.
This feedback is of great importance to police to review their performance on a daily basis and introduce corrective steps for providing better service to society. Police Department wants to know if all policemen are responsive and whether they respond on time to a crisis; whether the city patrol reached them on time to attend to a distress call; were the police polite and courteous etc?
Other questions posed to the public include – “Were policemen rude or drunk while on duty? Were they in civil dress or in uniform when they attended to members of the public? Did they identify themselves? Did they display their name plates while on duty? Did the Traffic constable on duty know his drill? Who is doing a good job and must be rewarded? Who is lethargic and lazy?”
The Facebook site says Meghalaya Police wants to serve the public with a smile and sincerity. Well done Meghalaya Police!