Extension of Journey, Russia-Ukraine Crisis Part 4

 

             Let me converge on few harsh realities upfront. As days flew past, making us adults and we see the real world problems, one of the challenging and most disturbing factors to live with is – debt. It is the most suffocating ordeal to go through if not properly dealt with. Debt can happen to three groups – 1. Individuals 2. Organisations 3. Governments. Is debt good or bad? It is not a question of good but is it bad. I do not want to become any expert but watching the world around us and our own experience can help deduce few points. Based on the circumstance, it is not bad since it drives us to clear the debt and makes us hooked to the goal with discipline.

             There is no equal to the feeling coming out of clearing a huge debt. I recently completed re-payment of my house loan after 7 years and became a house owner. It is a sense of achievement and without the debt, I would have never gone through the entire process in 7 years, achieve the goal of clearing it and become house owner. So, the debt I incurred at an earlier point moved me ahead in my life with purpose and discipline. God knows the pain I gone through in the process of clearing it and everything is worth in the end. In the hindsight, it is not a bad debt as every stakeholder benefitted from it, including me. In fact, it is also good to have, for bringing some direction and purpose. This is my experience and my tryst with debt didn’t end there.

               Come to the other side of coin and talk about bad debt in general. It is the debt which defeats you, drowns you, overwhelms you, threatens you and extremely challenging to handle even if you work to the full potential. We can see many defaulters around us, their lives turned upside down and thrown into a quagmire.

                While the defaulters lie all around us in different jobs, the worst and disturbing example we see often in news comes from farmers who take agriculture loans. India is an agrarian country where 70% of the country depends on agriculture. This is the sector which is a huge victim of bad debts. In the last 25 years, nearly 3 lakh farmers in the country ended their lives with primary reason being the inability to repay huge pile of debt incurred from formal and informal sources.

                 Does anyone knows firsthand, the pain they must have gone through and circumstances forcing them to take the extreme step. This is still continuing unabated. Are we living in a civilised, humane society with concern for others or behaving like yesteryear untouchables. And what is the attitude towards this problem – ‘Let them live with debt, struggle with debt and die with debt’. Their suffering cannot be relegated to the side track since they are the main track and majority. Their suffering cannot be neglected since one day it will catch up to the rest of us. Why are their poor lives debt-ridden, lifestyles attracting debt and livelihoods giving losses? Imagine the plight of an old farmer, who is staring at retirement but need to continue the grind due to the debt he needs to repay.

                I agree, it is more self-inflicting and self to blame than anyone else. But there has to be interventions, bail-outs and improving the circumstances, improving farming in itself to make their poor lives far better. The voice-less souls cries begging for better shores but slowly fades away into darkness. What is it we need to look after – it is their welfare, wellbeing and wellness since they are dependents and not independents. For they are feeding us and there is a need to reciprocate with gratitude. For they are serving our stomachs and we need to serve them back. Let us strive for their welfare and wish for their financial prosperity.

                There are divisions in the entities incurring debt and till now we had seen debt incurred by individuals. A bad debt at individual level is most destructive than at organisational or Government level. There are organisations which suffer from this menace. Air India is a visible example of how the carrier suffered from bad debt despite having valuable assets. Debts incurred by governments are another source of concern where each state and central governments of different states and countries borrow huge money. By all fairness, the countries should practise financial discipline and remain debt-free.

                The habits percolates from top to bottom – Governments to its people at individual level.  If the Governments follow good practises, people will follow the same and get saved. If Governments incur huge debt, it will automatically translate to debt on people. Government should look at the welfare of financial policies and welfare of people in equal measure. One will take care of the other. In the end, let us ensure, each one of us incur a good, controlled debt which gives a direction, purpose to our lives. Let us ensure each one of us attain financial literacy and complete financial freedom in the quest to become debt-free.

               Let me come out of it and quickly point out another factor which propels me ahead in my onward journey. It is the youngsters of the country. The youngsters have lost their young lives due to pandemic but still coping up very well. My life is filled with young people these days. Whenever I open twitter, there are teens, college students and young workers who are telling life lessons. They are very relevant as well, as if some sane voice speaking truth. I can relate to my own self when I started the first blog at the age of 20 and wrote far superior than present. The serious tweets of concern by these college students in their ages of 10 and 20 something always provide a smile.

                Other than social media, the youngsters are relevant in my professional work as well. I am being bossed by a young person at work in all seriousness and naivety.  If I am the worker, the boss is the gateway to work. This youngster is commanding me for a very long time and this is happening in this way. Another youngster who extends me by myself is my spouse and I need not tell the importance of this role. We work hard for the youngsters and their interest, future which is superior to anything else. The youngsters should always get what they dreamed of and it is responsibility of everyone else, including governments, institutions, organisations to give them a chance to succeed.

                 One of the problems they face is the unemployment after graduation. This has to be solved and I can see their time coming. The IT companies are hiring in thousands and very recently, government of Telengana announced to hire nearly 1 lakh in government posts. Likewise, all the parties concerned should open doors for youngsters for their role in nation building. On a funny note, many of these kids on twitter have a start up to their name and many are considering dropping out of colleges. Many build complex websites and apps. It is a kids twitter and college twitter – the world which is different than ours.

                  Another factor which drives me forward and makes me who I am is the Muslim brothers and sisters. I cannot overemphasise their importance in building the secular fabric of the country and making it a truly great nation. More than anything else, a heterogeneous mixture of people enhance the greatness of a country and adds another dimension to it. There might be misconception about the mention of Kashmir problem and India against Pakistan in my last post. But it has nothing to do with the religion. It is the injustice of one country towards other over a region. The religion has no significance here and it can be two divided Hindu nations as well. The injustice needs to be mended and the two countries must get along well with each other. Other than that, every person is equal irrespective of race, caste, religion etc. We should pledge discrimination towards none and equality of all. They need not feel excluded and should always be included in growth story. The minority in the country should prosper by all means and they need to build a Dubai within India by joining hands with everyone else. I am always appreciative of their contribution to my story and to the history of this great nation.

              I had mentioned three topics and factors which are adding petrol to my old vehicle to continue the journey. Let me mention the fourth one and continue from where I left in last post. It is the war between Russia and Ukraine. Everyone agreed that none of us agreed with the reasons for Russia’s aggression on Ukraine. But seems like none of the Russians agreed with the world’s view. Since all of them rallied behind their leader in their invasion over Ukraine. There is a poll which showed the President’s approval rating at 83%, up from 69% in January before invasion. The war is approved by Russians and many are falling behind their commander-in-chief. It is not a small thing to pull a country into war and invade another country. It is to note that thousands of Russian soldiers have lost their life as well.

             But still, there is an expectation that the country will notice the abuse of power by the highest office and correct the misadventure. That none of it happened and there is no insurrection from people is a clear testimony to the war continuing in its 5^th week. The people must revolt, the soldiers must retreat from this point-less war. But everyone in the country has been brainwashed by a carefully constructed propaganda using the experience of decades of remaining in the highest office. All the experience and political acumen came to the point of building this war, destroy Ukraine.

               It is also reported that Russians don’t have access to social media to spread truth or anti-war propaganda. All the state sponsored media is running continuous stories on the west based on half-baked truths or falsehoods and coercing anyone who opposes the war into a supporter. Let us acknowledge, we live in a much sensible world and in a much better country. Let us also acknowledge that we must liberate Russia and Russians from this war and the abuse of power. Non-violence is the highest ideal and let us get attached to it. Let the mistake be corrected, wrong be undone and shun the evil path.