Anupam- The Dreamer

On the face of it, dignity of human life may seem as a very ordinary issue, which can be easily glossed over if one ever comes across it. But, if we go to the depth of it, it is a very essential and most fundamental of aspects governing the lives of all of us.

But before going into the depth, it is imperative to understand what constitutes a good human life. A good human life is one which is lived with dignity and purpose. And what is dignity? It means living with your head held high with high self-esteem and leading a respectful life. It is the evolution of millions of years which has brought the human civilization to this stage. We consider ourselves to be most evolved and cultured of civilizations that ever existed on this planet. In the process, it was desired that humans must become more “humane”, which is nothing but respecting human values which have brought us this far. And, the dignity of human life is among the most basic of such values. It assures every individual that (s)he is valued and has a niche in the human society.

This reminds me what Gandhiji once said and I quote:

“Whatever may be true of other countries, in India at any rate where more than eight per cent of the population is agricultural and another ten per cent industrial, it is a crime to make education merely literary, and to unfit boys and girls for manual work in afterlife. Indeed I hold that as the larger part of our time is devoted to labour for earning our bread, our children must from their infancy be taught the dignity of such labour. Our children should not be so taught as to despise labour. There is no reason why a peasant’s son after having gone to a school should become useless, as he does become, as agricultural labourer. It is a sad thing that our school-boys look upon manual labour with disfavour, if not contempt.”

Infact, dignity is such a basic value, that it is inscribed in the Preamble to our Constitution. The Preamble, which is like the crux of our Constitution, promises to assure to all its citizens “fraternity, assuring the dignity of the individual”. This again means that our Constitution makers placed utmost importance to the dignity of the individual. But have we kept our promises is the question that leaves much to be answered. Have we been successful in annihilating the age-old caste ridden inequalities in our society? Have we been successful in abolishing inhuman practices like manual scavenging and untouchability from our societies yet? Have we been successful in meaningfully addressing the gender prejudices that still plague our society? Have we been successful in assuring the same dignity to the rich and to poor; to young and to old; to the abled and to differently abled; to men and to women; to persons who don’t identify with either of the genders? The answer to these questions is- To a large extent NO!

It is for us to introspect where have we gone wrong and where are we still going wrong. Dignity is the basic of things that we as society can provide to its members. It doesn’t cost anything. It just requires basic humane treatment to everyone around and to treat them with respect and give them “equality of status and of opportunity” (which again is promised by the Preamble to our Constitution). We are not envisaging a utopian society where there is no inequality in terms of wealth or status, but what we are seeking is to reduce them. Atleast, we could provide equal opportunities to every individual to develop his/her true potential. And this cannot be expected from the private sector, which thrives on talent and excellence already present in the society. It can only be assured by the government, which can strive in this direction through various measures like social welfare schemes for the poor, gender empowerment programmes, affirmative action to provide equal opportunity to the under-represented sections of the society to be meaningfully represented at all levels, etc.

It is really heartening to witness the dignity to a large section of the society through “Paralympics” which is going on besides the “usual Olympics”. It is a landmark opportunity to the differently abled athletes across the world to showcase their sports prowess. Obviously, the competition should be among the equals, therefore they cannot be expected to compete against the abled athletes, but atleast they are getting the platform on international level that their lives too matter and that their victory is also celebrated. There are some very emotional stories where these athletes have trained harder than the usual athletes and crossed multiple barriers (even surpassing their bodily abilities) to reach the pinnacle of victory. The story of Sheetal Devi, the great para-archer from India is not hidden from anyone now. What she has achieved without arms, cannot be done by the usual archers without arms. Her victory and her dignified welcome is a recognition that she too has a place in this society and that she matters!

We can build a more dignified society by such small gestures of according respect and dignity to people around us. It hardly takes big efforts to treat the people with dignity, who are serving in our homes like maids, the delivery boys, the taxi drivers, the small vendors on the streets, the security guards, the thela walas etc. etc. They don’t need whole of your money, they just want their fair share of labour and respect from you. As Gandhiji said- No job is menial and no job is superior. A labour is a labour, whether it is manual or intellectual. Period. Every person who is doing their duty voluntarily deserves the same level of respect and treatment that is accorded to the wealthiest and most powerful individuals of the society.

What if we could contribute in making a dignified society around us? What if we can fulfil the ideal of assuring the dignity of every individual around us? What if we can be a little more dignified in our approach….