Society
1. What is your dream of an ideal society?
2. What change do you want to see in your society?
3. Who can bring these positive changes?
4. What role do you want to play in making these changes possible?
Market
5. The world around us (of various products and services) sends us signals to consume more and more to reach a higher level of happiness. Are they fulfilling their own interest or are they benefitting us?
6. Does the Market fulfill your needs or your wants?
7. Do you feel that the market is dictating your choices? It is chasing you wherever you are. Do you feel powerful or helpless by this?
8. Can advertising make a woman impressive? Does she just appear special because of appearance in advertisements or is she truly contributing to nation-building?
9. Do you always feel great about being a ‘consumer’ always? Or do you feel better when you create, share, design and solve with your heart?
10. Do you feel confident after buying something? Does this confidence last for months and years?
11. Does Market mean profit-making at any cost? Who is paying this cost?
12. The market makes you feel that you are unique. When you muster extraordinary strength to face a situation, does that make you unique or just buying a hyped-up item makes you stand out from the crowd?
We and our government
13. India is a welfare state. What does welfare mean… we, the young citizens are helpless, Government must do everything for us?
14. The Almighty gave us a fertile mind, sensitive heart and two hands. We are surrounded by ample resources … Water, land, Jungle, animals, people, technology and well thought out government schemes. If we observe; ask good questions; learn and grow with supportive people; make use of Government policies, unemployment is impossible. Did we ever try in this direction or just followed what everyone else was doing?
Development
15. What is the true meaning of development? Does it mean promising, confident, dynamic young minds or incremental infrastructure (media, transport and communication)? If we call both as development then which is more important – first or second? Why?
16. We enjoy our food because farmers grew that crop in their villages. Have you ever imagined if farmers leave agriculture and come to cities? Does ‘Development’ ever make us grateful towards farming communities and villages? Or does it make us arrogant and selfish city dwellers?
17. What is your opinion about genetically modified (G.M.) seeds? Are the people of your area using traditional or company seeds?
18. Do you know the shortcomings of the G.M. system of seeds? Can these seeds be reused, or do they require chemical pesticides, insecticides, fertilizers etc. for high yield? Will it be a healthy choice? Will the farmers be compelled to depend on Multinational corporations’ monopolizing seeds business? Will this lead to a chain of exploitation that never ends? Is it an open attack upon people’s food and health? Are the farmer organizations aware of it?
19. Mother Nature gave us five elements to ensure our survival: Fire, Water, Earth, Air and Space. Today we are grappling with pollution and deterioration at all these five levels. Our ancestors enjoyed a superior quality of life. Are we truly developing? If the quality of air, water, sky and soil is consistently falling, what is our destination?
20. What kind of rural infrastructure is required for the growth in the rural economy?
21. Should village youth think differently to promote cottage industries and artisans’ development? What kind of government help is available to such industries?
22. Should there be special marketing professionals for marketing handicraft/ forest produce?
23. Can Ayurveda help in promoting medicinal plants cultivation and contribute to the rural economy?
Livelihood / Employment
24. What is the difference between employment & livelihood?
25. What are resources? What resources does everyone possess?
26. What is self-enterprise? How can it help one to start earning money and be self-reliant?
27. How does education help our earning capability? Can we earn even if we have not gone to school?
28. How can we improve farm productivity and soil nutrients?
29. Are you aware of the land, water and forest resources available in your locality? Are they depleting? How can they be regenerated so that they become the key to your livelihood?
30. What are the main crops in your area? What facilities (seeds/ fertilizers/ loan/ technical knowledge/training/ marketing/cold storage etc.) are being provided by the Government to peasants?
31. Millions of women lost their livelihood in lockdown. Can craft help them to be on their own?
32. Cleanliness also leads to job creation. Cow dung, elephant dung, old newspapers, discarded plastic and lots of other waste have huge possibilities of livelihood. Are you aware of such possibilities?
Inequality, helplessness and corruption
33. It is the worst job crisis in over 90 years because of Covid pandemic. Does this fact disturb you?
34. Throughout history, the rich and the aristocracy always believed that they had superior skills to everyone else, which is why they were in control. However, history also tells us that the average ruler wasn’t more talented than the average citizen. The ruler exercised his superiority only to unjust legal–social-economic discrimination. What do you feel?
35. The richest 1 percent owns half the world’s wealth. The richest hundred people together own more than the poorest 4 billion. Income inequality has worsened in most of the countries. Do you think that since it is happening in many countries, why should we worry about India? Or do you feel sad to do something positive about it?
36. Under MGNREGS paying wages is mandatory for job card holders. Are the wage earners getting jobs under it or is the machine engaged? Are you aware of the present practice of irregularities and corruption involved in this scheme?
37. Do you know the salary of a Government employee, wage of skilled and unskilled workers, and income of small holding peasants?
38. Do you know how the Government fixes MSP for agricultural products like paddy, wheat, maize, ground nut, cotton, sugarcane etc.?
39. Is distress migration a reality in your locality? How many percent of people are forced to migrate?
40. Are you aware of the corruption, mismanagement, and the immoral activities going on by some employees and teachers in the residential schools meant for tribal students?
41. Do you see malnourished children around? Is emergency feeding or temporary treatment a solution? What about their cognitive skills and education? What can be done?
42. Do our well fed, well dressed, well-educated children think of malnourished kids? Have we ever enquired from where these children are coming and why are they living such a miserable life worse than the life of beasts? Are we blaming only the Government, or does civil society too have a major role to play?
Education
43. What is the meaning of education – only accumulation of information which has low relevance for life or anything more? What type of education your community needs?
44. Do you know what a digital divide is? How is it affecting children’s morale and learning in India?
45. Is the ‘lecture and listen’ method of teaching interesting? Where is joyful learning? In your area which method of teaching is in practice? Do you know crores of rupees are being spent in teachers’ training for joyful education in India through DPEP (District Primary Education Programme)?
46. Is courage an essential quality for personality development? Does the present education system provide scope to enhance fearlessness?
47. Does the present education system involve the head, heart and hand of a child? Is simultaneous development of body, mind and soul occurring? Why is the sector regularly blamed for copying, paper leaking, provision of fake certificates etc.
48. 32 crore children were affected by the closure of educational institutes in India because of covid. A large no. of them may not return when schools reopen. What solutions can you think of?
49. Out of the poorest 20 percent households in India, only 2.7 percent have access to a computer and 8.9 percent to internet facilities. These children cannot be taught through online or distance education mode. Can you think of low or no-technology learning mechanisms?
50. Does education prohibit us from getting involved in agriculture/cottage industries or working in the rural sector?
51. Is today’s education making only job – seekers, or office workers, and not entrepreneurs?
52. What is your opinion about Gandhiji’s thoughts on basic education i.e., learning by doing? Do you believe in it? Can you visualize it to make it doable, in other words turning this idea into action… making a small beginning?
53. Should the curriculum be designed as per local needs and or should it be universal as done in CBSE and Government Boards? Which is more important for us to know: the geography of America or our local geography? Whether to learn western history instead of learning peoples’ movements in India?
54. Why do our people have poor reading habits? Why do people prefer to watch TV rather than reading books?
55. Complex analytical thinking and inspiration are essential for a civilized society. It is the basic point of scientific, cultural and spiritual progress. Do you agree? If yes, how can we develop these qualities in ourselves?
56. Are Indians behind western thinkers in original thinking?
57. In which fields of science have we progressed and in which fields are we behind?
58. Only a few researches, that are being done in Indian universities, get to prove themselves and give us a responsible solution to the problem. The rest of the research is just a formality to get a degree. What are the factors of our education system responsible for this?
59. In what ways the government’s skill development programmes are helpful and what are the shortcomings?
60. A large number of out of school children are working as child labourers. Some are seasonally employed. Those children are struggling to sustain themselves or their families. What alternative do we have for them?
61. Does the present education system help the common mass of our country who are engaged in primary production activities? If not, how can they be benefitted?
Health
62. “Health is wealth” Do you agree?
63. Health is only physical fitness or more than that? What is your consideration?
64. Which factors are responsible for good health… fast food/ haphazard life/ late rising – late sleeping/ no physical labour/ entertainment through internet/ stressful life/ balanced diet/ clean air/ taking alcohol/ bad company/ pure water/ systematic lifestyle?
65. It is said that “prevention is better than cure”. What preventive practices do you or your family adopt to stay healthy?
66. Which source is your first choice for the treatment of your people…Allopathic doctor/Ayurvedic doctor/ Homeopathic doctor/ Vaidya/ Quack / Traditional knowledge from elders /Ojha?
67. Do people grow medicinal plants in your neighborhood? If not, how can we start a medicinal plant bank in our community?
68. Are your Primary Health Centers (PHCs) and Community Health Centers (CHCs) functioning well; addressing the health issues of the communities efficiently and effectively?
69. The closure of government schools in lockdown has disrupted the mid day meal scheme (MDM) which covers 120 million children in 1.26 million schools. A large no. of children depend on MDM for their nutritional intake. Are you aware of it?
70. What are the major health issues among the people of your area? What type of intervention are being made on behalf of Government/ NGO/ Civil society and what further efforts are needed?
71. Do the Government hospitals of your area have infrastructural facilities/ lifesaving drugs/specialist doctors/ proper diagnosis/ clean atmosphere?
72. What have you observed and learnt from Corona? How can we prepare ourselves better for such epidemics?
73. The belief system of people determines their health priorities. In your area what are the beliefs that people are following?
74. Do you know life-style diseases, what are those?
75. Are the people of your area getting 108 Ambulance facilities and the facility of Janani Suraksha Yojana?
Local Self-Government (Tisri Sarkar)
76. What is the difference between a Gram Sabha (GS) and Gram Panchayat (GP)?
77. How is a Gram Panchayat accountable to the village/ Gram Sabha?
78. What are the provisions of the 73rd constitutional amendment? How has it helped in a three tier government?
79. What is interdependency among various levels of government? How does a state government depend on Gram Sabha / Gram Panchayat?
80. What are the powers of a Gram Panchayat? What are the powers of a Sarpanch?
81. What are the responsibilities of a Gram Panchayat? What are the responsibilities of a Sarpanch?
82. How Gram Sabha / Gram Panchayat can play a positive and constructive role in rural development?
83. Can planning begin from village level? What role can the Gram Sabha / Gram Panchayat play in the planning process of the government? What role does a Panchayat play in implementing policies?
84. How can village youths participate in local governance and influence the working of Gram Sabha / Gram Panchayats? What are the mobilization techniques for village level development?
85. How can Gram Sabha / Gram Panchayat help in people’s education and maintain a rich library- how to get books and magazines to the village library?
Environment & Development
86. What is climate change? Is it really happening? In which direction?
87. What type of climate change are you facing in your region and what are its causes? Is it harmful or helpful?
88. India is a developing country and it wants to move fast towards a developed nation. Between development and environment which is more important in your view and why?
89. What model of development will help us to get rid of acute poverty? Will it be in harmony with Nature?
90. Is it mandatory for our development and employment that we must compromise on destruction of ecology?
91. What type of development do you need for your people? Will they prefer your model of Development or current centrally planned model of development?
92. How can environmental resources like water, soil and forests be preserved? What techniques are available?
93. Can we create models of eco-friendly development? What are those?
Self-development
94. What should be our goal as an individual and as a part of the Society?
95. What is our strategy to achieve the goals of self development?
96. What values are necessary for a good human being?
97. How can a person become popular by his good deeds? Which personality trait helps a person to get respect from society?
98. How to make others follow you? How to inspire others?
99. What are the essential qualities of a leader?
100. How does listening to others help one to be a good leader? What are the essential traits of an effective leader?
101. Is it necessary to evaluate another person? How to expect the minimum from other people so that we don’t end up feeling disappointed and bitter? How to draw this Laxman Rekha (border line)?
102. How are political/business/social/spiritual leaders different from one another? In India’s thousands of years of tradition, what were the traits of personality through which the leadership of every field got acceptance from the society?
103. What do you feel inside when you encounter resistance? Is it important for you to develop this quality of responding positively when faced with resistance?
104. In the path of social leadership, what role does the administration play? Does administration discourage social leadership?
105. As a strategy, what are the implications of confrontation and persuasion with the administration? How far is a network with state level organization necessary?
You and Technology
106. You have easy access to Wikipedia, TED talks, Online courses, YouTube and PowerPoint presentations. Do you spend time cramming this information and focus on ‘covering the syllabus’? Do good grades satisfy you or do you prefer to think critically, communicate, collaborate and create? Are you developing your ability to deal with change, to learn new things and preserve your mental balance in unfamiliar situations?
107. Do you know your strengths and weaknesses? Have you found your true inner self? Do you realize that internet algorithms are watching where you go, what you buy, who you meet? Once these algorithms know you better than you, they can control you and there is not much you can do about it. You will not be able to stop yourself from going on the wrong path. Do you know that this is not a fiction but a real problem which is a matter of concern for the country and the world? What way do you see for yourself to nurture your independent and original thoughts?
108. Do you wish to retain some control of your personal existence and of the future of life? You must run faster than the algorithms, faster than Amazon and facebook/ instagram, and get to know yourself before they do. Do you want to lose this race against algorithms? To run fast, are you ready not to take much luggage with you? Are you willing to leave all your illusions behind? Do you feel that the baggage of illusions is very heavy?
Community
109. What is the difference between community and society? Do you get love, encouragement and support from the community or society?
110. Facebook intends to identify ‘meaningful communities’ and ‘strengthen our social fabric and bring the world closer together’. Does this vision excite you?
111. Physical communities have a depth that virtual communities cannot match. Do you agree?
112. When we use the internet, online giants tend to view us as audiovisual animals – a pair of eyes and a pair of ears connected to ten fingers, a screen and a credit card. Have you ever experienced this?
113. If something exciting happens, the gut instinct of social media users is to pull out their smartphones, take a picture/video or write a comment, post it online, and wait for the ‘likes’ or ‘followings’. What is your view – is it helping youth or is it making them ever dependent on people’s attention?
114. Visualize a new community model that encourages young minds to connect to their physical environment; to their senses of touch, smell, taste; to their natural creativity, friendship, laughter and joy. Do you think this will be better than the present style?
115. Suppose a new tool is invented to make this model work – that enables you and your friends to plan and execute meaningful field activities and share your collaborative pursuits on the internet regularly (using little time online and lots of time offline). Do you think youth need such a tool?
Religion / Dharma
Whether you consider yourself religious or not, following values help us live and let live.
116. Truth: Do you observe, look at the evidence or decide on mere faith? Do you confuse truth with belief? Do you sanctify any group, any person or any book as if it alone has sole custody of the truth? Or do you accept the truth in the writings of various human traditions, in tables of statistical data, in images of far-off galaxies, in ancient fossilized bones?
117. Compassion: My Almighty is superior to yours, does that belief drive you or suffering moves you?
118. Equality: Suffering is suffering, no matter who experiences it; and knowledge is knowledge, no matter who discovers it. Do you think so or do you consider a particular class or gender of people to be above others? Are you proud of the uniqueness of your community and culture – or do you confuse it with superiority? Are your duties exclusively towards your ‘own people’ or towards humanity as a whole?
119. Freedom: Do you cherish freedom to think, investigate, and experiment? Or do you invest supreme authority in any text, institution or leader as the ultimate judge of what’s true and what’s right? Do you prefer to check again, to listen to your conscience and try a different path?
120. Courage: Do you find it easy to criticize others for their weaknesses or do you courageously admit your ignorance and venture into the unknown?
Do you ever doubt your opinion and check yourself again? Do you comfortably introspect and see your flaws?
Are you afraid of the unknown and want clear-cut answers for every question?
Are you at ease with the questions that you cannot answer, or do you favor answers that you cannot question?
121. Responsibility: Do you wish to wait for a higher power to take care of the problems around you? Or consider it your duty to find solutions?
*Aatm deepo bhava – be a light unto yourself