The anniversary of martyrdom of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev went by recently. Every year this day reminds us of an era in which the youth scripted the destiny of the nation with their blood, an era in which we dared to dream beyond the shackles of time and time was forced to stop for the moments that became the defining milestones of history. I am not sure why, but this year, on this very day, I was particularly reminded of one such hero. A hero who led a struggle not only against the foreign subjugation, but also against centuries of exploitation by the feudal lords.A hero, history remembers as Birsa Munda and the tribals of Jharkhand as 'Dharti Aba'. Someone who spelled the dream of retrieving tribal lands to be ruled by their rightful owners in countless tribal hearts. The dream of an independent Tribal state which could grow unabated picking leaves of inspiration from its rich cultural heritage. What remains in our hearts as the most striking aspect of this story is the fact that this extraordinary hero was merely in his early 20s, when he had set out to change the course of time.
Why are we unable to find such mettle and such grit in today's youth. Isn't it because we are hardly subjected to absolute crisis, crisis that brings about greatness, brings about heroes. Or perhaps, we have failed to recognize the crisis looming over our existence, while we remain merrily oblivious of the dangers posed by a society sans values, sans equality and sans the concept of a larger 'WE'.
We presumably strive hard to bring the indigenous tribal communities to the 'mainstream'. We establish dedicated institutes to teach them better communication skills, enhance their 'employability', so that they can migrate to cities and work as bank clerks, sales executives or call-center professionals instead of construction workers, plumbers, rikshaw pullers, while their lands are 'utilized' for constructing mega projects!
While we ponder hard on solving problems of high infant mortality, rampant epidemics and illiteracy in the tribal communities, what we conveniently overlook is a long trail of problems we have left for our generations to come, while cruising towards globalization, industrial expansion and technological developments. The idea here is neither to enumerate the problems faced by tribes across the world nor to expose the lacunae of the new world. The idea is to emphasize the fact that we are nowhere near perfection, that we have loads to learn from each other and it would be wise to accept it and work in collaboration towards an inclusive growth.
Why are we unable to find such mettle and such grit in today's youth. Isn't it because we are hardly subjected to absolute crisis, crisis that brings about greatness, brings about heroes. Or perhaps, we have failed to recognize the crisis looming over our existence, while we remain merrily oblivious of the dangers posed by a society sans values, sans equality and sans the concept of a larger 'WE'.
We presumably strive hard to bring the indigenous tribal communities to the 'mainstream'. We establish dedicated institutes to teach them better communication skills, enhance their 'employability', so that they can migrate to cities and work as bank clerks, sales executives or call-center professionals instead of construction workers, plumbers, rikshaw pullers, while their lands are 'utilized' for constructing mega projects!
While we ponder hard on solving problems of high infant mortality, rampant epidemics and illiteracy in the tribal communities, what we conveniently overlook is a long trail of problems we have left for our generations to come, while cruising towards globalization, industrial expansion and technological developments. The idea here is neither to enumerate the problems faced by tribes across the world nor to expose the lacunae of the new world. The idea is to emphasize the fact that we are nowhere near perfection, that we have loads to learn from each other and it would be wise to accept it and work in collaboration towards an inclusive growth.
