Value Crisis in the Indian Society

Values are something with which we Indians are very familiar with. Also called ethics, values form a part of the Indian society; a part which is a pseudonym of it. Even the West sees us as spiritual, peace-loving people who have the ability to change their poor standard of living but do not do so. Even yogis are today considered typical Indians.

    

  Right from childhood, we Indians
have been taught to obey our elders, always speak the truth and all the usual stuff.  In a nutshell, we have been taught to be ethical, spiritual and responsible citizens of the Nation.

    

  But looking at the present scenario, does it reflect what we have been taught right from our childhood? With criminal activities on the rise, the newspaper has more details of murder cases than that of the ICC World Cup final match. On the top of that, we have leaders who commit scams after scams and still claim to be innocent. Every year we have communal riots that kill hundreds of people.

    

  Looking at the “so called” values, this shouldn't have happened. Our elders taught us ethics from childhood; from the “classic” speak the truth to “everyone’s favorite” don’t be greedy- all can be defined as “desi” teachings.  On the top of that, we have Moral Science as a compulsory subject, in CBSE, right from 1^st grade to 8^th grade. Even after living in a country where ethics are taught at school, how come we have demagogues voted to power, the guilty released from the court and

    

Though the truth is bitter, we Indians need to admit that we are responsible for this. Yes, you’re reading it right: WE. This mainly because of three reasons: our numbness to injustice, our conservative society and lack of a clear set of values.

    

  We Indians have always been numb to injustice. We tend to ignore the injustice done by the politicians. We have a belief that the affluent and powerful are someone not be messed with. That’s why we never question our leaders but leave no stone unturned to scold the shopkeeper who raises the price of the goods.

    

  The second flaw in our DNA is that we are very conservative. We still believe in the caste system and witchcraft. We still believe that boys are better than girls and thus, consider the latter nothing but burden.

     

The last and last flaw in our genes is not something to be changed, but to be created. We have always lacked a clear set of values. What we have today is a vague set of values which can be easily translated by one according to one’s own desires.

     

The Indian society lacks ethics. Such societies do prosper but ultimately suffer in the long run. No wonder issues like witch hunting, racism, corruption, and female infanticide are prevalent in India.

     

All is not lost. We still can hope for a better India. With more than 50% of the population under the age of 35, we have one of the largest population of youth in the world. The Indian youth has the potential to solve this problem by creating a new set of values before it’s too late. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.

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