Inclusivity

History has told us how countries dominated the world at different points in time.  During my time, I have seen UK and US dominate the world.  As the dominance of UK declined, US took over. Over the last few years, I notice that the US is on the decline.  Each country adapted their style and the methods used to dominate the world. While the UK used firepower (cannons), the industrial revolution and its inventions, language (making English as the only official language, medium of instruction, business and law), brazenly taking away wealth from colonies, the divide and rule policy, etc., the US used economic power, sanctions through International Organizations like UN, World Bank, IMF, etc. as well as military power (significantly better air power) and dominated the world.  Along the way, they have made the US Dollar as the global currency, created multi national corportions that edge out local companies in acquiring wealth and resources in different countries due to their superior economic prowess.

Most countries that try to dominate the globe for resources do so for a period of time but when the decline sets in, it is really difficult to recover.  Decline sets in because something else is more important to the world and this country has not spotted it early enough to dominate the trend.  Decline sets in because the country could have become arrogant about its position and wants to grow at the cost of other countries.  Decline sets in when the country does not want to share its knowledge with other countries in the world. Decline sets in when countries stop innovating.

What is needed is inclusivity.  India was the global power thousands of years ago. The knowledge that was available was not shared with anyone else in the world. This started the decline of India. The knowledge gained over thousands of years stands lost today.  The Nalanda and Takshila Universities (the best known universities in the world in those times) do not exist any more. India prides itself for having known many concepts thousands of years before these were touted as being invented. So much was lost because the knowledge was shared by word of mouth and in coded form only to few and the rest of the world was excluded.

I believe that no single country can survive at the cost of other countries.  Nature has given us enough and we need to know how to use these resources responsibly and to share it with everyone else.  Governments of the day can ill afford to ignore this aspect. They need to plan well to ensure equitable distribution of wealth.  Yet, we do not pay attention to this and over 50% of mankind lives in poverty.  The back office industry is a classic example of how companies can make a difference to different countries by putting their work across the globe rather than just one or two.

The social unrest, the naxalite movement in India, terrorism, civil strife, etc. are all as a result of economic issues that have come about because of inequitable distribution of wealth.  Just like no one country can survive at the cost of others, no individual or set of individuals can live at the cost of others.  We need to remember this and ensure we do something about this actively.

Yet, in our daily lives, we seem to be self-centred. There is so much happening in our own lives that we barely step back and think as to what we can do for others.  It need not always be giving money to help someone.  We can help by giving our time, our knowledge or what ever else that is needed by those around us.  The joy of giving can only be experienced and not explained.  I was at a home for the visually impaired. The children there wanted volunteers who could help read books out for them so that they could write that down in brail and be able to read it when they were studying for their exams. The home did not want my money. It wanted my time to help those who could not see this world as we do.  It was paradoxical.  The numbers who can see and read far outnumber those who cannot. Yet, they don't seem to be helping out their bretheren to come in to the mainstream of life.

I will repeat a story that I have told before. It is about a rich farmer who had bought few thousand acres of corn fields.  His neighbours were poor and were not making money out of their fields because they could not afford to spray their fields against pests and these pests had destroyed the fields.  He had the option of buying them out.  Instead, he decided to spray his field and theirs too.  He did this for 3 years in a row and from the 4th year onwards, the neighbouring farmers could afford their own spraying. However, each one of them then helped some other neighbour of theirs to ensure that those fields were also sprayed.  This helped a huge community to not just survive but also thrive.  And all this started because of a selfless act of one human being.

Each of us needs to work this through in our heads.  There is a need to bring many of us back in to main stream...be that economically or physically or mentally.  The task is on each one of us.  We need to be inclusive.  We may ask ourselves as to how to do it...it cannot be mandated. You cannot force inclusivity through law or mandate...it has to come from within. Each of us needs to be a little less self centred and look around us to see where we can be of use to someone else.  If we can make a difference to even one other person, we would have made a significant difference to mankind.

Let us hope that the next superpower of this world is a country that is much more inclusive in its thoughts and deeds.