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I have immense respect
for social workers. But being a practical person or at least trying to be one,
I always questioned how significant a change these few people can bring about in
such a huge population. They are truly altruistic and they face challenges that
people like us can only imagine. But how much impact does their hard work
really have when we consider socio-economic development at the macro level?
When we look at our
history, we find that most social reformers who went against the flow and stood
up for what they believed in, like Mahatma Phule or R. D. Karve for instance,
were given hell during their time. It took us years to realize the worth of
their work. Now, if the majority of the society was not with them, exactly how
much of an influence do you think they had? In terms of statistics, how many
citizens per cent really were convinced by their views and also acted on changing
themselves and the society?
The answer to this
would be grim. Of course, it can be countered with the fact that social reform
never happens overnight and although the beginning is always difficult, truly
progressive thoughts emerge undefeated in the end. In case of the two reformers
mentioned above, their thoughts did not vanish. They were not only acknowledged
but followed by most of the next generation. As clear indicators of this, the
number of girls in schools rose steadily and family planning became a norm. Both
of these far-sighted philosophies have benefited our society tremendously. But, an entire generation had to pass
before the expected progress actually took place!
Contemplating this
pattern, the present is depressing for today’s workers. The number of people
ready to give up material pleasures and stability for a social cause is not a
large one, making the ratio of each such individual to the ideal number of
individuals required for successful change-making unimaginably hopeless.
This is not surprising
because man, originally, is selfish by nature. We are not designed to help
others but to help ourselves first. This core of our being is necessary for the
survival of the fittest. By this natural rule, all development, whether social
or economic, is first undertaken for our own benefit. We get educated for us, earn more and more for us and create better traditions, norms,
buildings, transport, technologies, philosophies, institutions, laws and
destroy outdated ones that hamper new growth, also for us.
In the pyramid of
socio-economic classes, the top layer develops first and gets its sweet fruits
before everyone else. Then the development gradually seeps down to the middle
and lastly to the lowest layer. This process is continuous and the points
reached by various classes/ societies can be extremely different at the same
time.
This has been happening
forever, no matter how many social workers have tried to equate the development
in all the classes. How important a part then, do they play in the big picture?
Well, you know how
development percolates from top down to the lowest levels? From the rich urban ‘haves’
to the middle-class to the poor ‘have-nots’ residing in the most remote places?
These selfless people who live for the society are the channels, the mediators!
They introduce development in the
underprivileged people and poverty stricken places. They empower them to achieve a higher standard of living, motivate them to aspire to do it and enable them to live a better life in all
senses of the term. They create the spark in them which goes on to light up their
whole world and which pushes them upward in that pyramid. Without them, however
less in numbers they are, even gradual percolation of development would be
beyond us. They are a blessing for the society and for mankind. They are a ‘dua’ in Hindi as well as Marathi!
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