As A Police Officer, Shaktiman Was Let Down

I am not sure if Shaktiman, our brave, handsome white horse of the Uttarakhand Mounted Police, had leg guards on when he was on duty when his leg was thrashed and he fell down and injured himself. 

We do not have proven evidence of what happened. The visuals are indicative but not conclusive. How the injury was caused is a matter of police investigation. The person suspected, a politician, was arrested and is currently on bail. He continues to deny he hit Shaktiman. 

We do not know the truth. We only have a gut feeling! 

But my question is: was Shaktiman, our brave mount, whom Maneka Gandhi addressed also as a police officer on duty, protected both on his face and legs to protect from getting hit or injured in case of stone-throwing? This is what mounted police gets in many countries - due protection.
 
If that was not done, then it was inadequate preparation for mounted police to be deployed to maintain law and order in such a volatile situation. 

Mounted Police has a distinct advantage when positioned correctly. It gives a higher visibility and allows walking on tracks which are not road-worthy. It's very good for patrolling, can walk inside parks, on beaches, in small lanes, or on undulating surfaces. But when crowds need to be dispersed, I am not sure we should use horses. It can hurt both people and horses.

For dispersal of crowds, we have better options. We have trained personnel for riot control who are reasonably protected with riot gear. We have tear gas shells. We have water canons. We have rubber bullets too, though these are rarely used. 

Mounted police is at risk when it is unguarded (face and lower limbs) as perhaps Shaktiman was, in a lawless, stone-throwing situation where even cops were hit.
 

I think it's time to restrict the deployment of Mounted Police where it can serve us as best such as ceremonials, patrolling the streets, small lanes, rural areas, and, of course, for visibility and confidence-building.  

Shaktiman's case also compels us to have a fresh look at our law...(sic!) The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960. 

It's a shame that it has not been updated till now. 

Section 11 of the said Act says, ''If any person beats, kicks, overdrives, tortures, so as to subject it to unnecessary pain or suffering or causes, or being the owner to be so...Shall be punishable in case of a first offence with fine which shall be not less than ten rupees, but which may extend to fifty rupees and in the case of second or subsequent offence committed within three years of the previous offence with fine and shall not be less than twenty five rupees but which may extend to one hundred rupees or with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three months or with both."

If our state assemblies and parliament do not legislate to keep up with the times, who does one complain to? Shaktiman's case also shames the legislatures to correct the law.

The Animal Board can also recommend appropriate changes (these may already be pending, who knows) to make the law effective, deterrent and respectable.

For now, the accused who has been arrested for cruelty to Shaktiman, if found guilty, will pay Rs. 10, maximum Rs. 50, since it may be his first offence. But the cost of his investigation and trial may run into thousands when measured against the time and effort invested by criminal justice system.

Besides the loss of majestic mount akin to a cop on law and order duty..the less said the better!
 

My own version of Shaktiman was Chandni, my 6-year-old horse who trained with me for nearly a year at the Police Training Academy in Mount Abu. We had riding classes every day and not once did she let me fall. Chandni was a very beautiful, well-behaved horse and there was a lot of mutual respect.

Kiran Bedi is the first woman to have joined officer ranks of Indian Police Service. Recipient of Magsaysay Award (1994) for police and prison reforms, she has also worked as a UN police advisor. A tennis champion, she earned a PhD from IIT Delhi and is a Nehru Fellow. She's founded many NGOs and is the author of several books.

Ensuring right to life and security

Just because we in India are more than a billion people does not mean we let people die in blazes, collapsed bridges, stampedes, floods, riots or even while crossing the road. Life in that case will be highly unsafe.

Insecurity breeds fear that affects human development and creativity. The biggest hallmark of civilisation has been the guarantee of human security. Or else what is the difference between earlier jungle living and now urban setting? What is the point in living in gated communities, but once out of them being vulnerable to all kinds of risks? The key to ensuring safety and security is respecting and adhering to laws made by mankind. Right to life and security is our basic need.

To provide this basic right, a country secures its borders from external invasions. Alert soldiers ward off enemies from any intrusions even if it is at the cost of their lives. That is why we daily hear of brave encounters. Brave men and women in uniform keep awake so that we are not invaded. They protect our geographical boundaries. It is because of them that we sleep in peace.

Internal security

But what about internal security? Who are its soldiers? They are both in uniform and in plain clothes. They are the civil administration. They are specially selected, elected and appointed by people. If they fulfil their responsibilities honestly and sincerely and without fear or favour, people enjoy internal safety and security. It’s when they fail that people die in fire blazes, on roads, in floods or in other manmade disasters.

Internal security keepers must consider themselves akin to soldiers on the borders, envisioning what would happen if they fail their countrymen? We will be overrun by marauders who will come and exploit our vulnerable sections, rob us of our wealth and resources, enslave us and perhaps kill us too. Just as we expect our soldiers on the borders to secure our borders without being reminded to, we expect the local administration to be civil soldiers within, protecting and ensuring our internal safety.

Police, civil servants, elected or nominated or selected representatives are internal soldiers, whose duty is to guarantee internal security by doing their duty without fear or favour. Anyone coming in the way is the enemy of society and has to be dealt with as per laws.

Rules flouted

Had rules been followed, we would not have lost over a hundred lives at the Kerala temple with hundreds suffering from burns. It has left behind orphaned children and grieving families. If the district administration had denied permission to the temple authorities for fireworks, it was also their duty to prevent its violation by courageous enforcement. They failed in their duty to protect people as internal soldiers, which is a criminal breach of trust.

All manmade tragedies have a few common factors: Neglect of one’s duty, callous behaviour towards others’ safety, greed or highly selfish motives behind neglect, showing off of one’s pelf, power or position, taking risk at others’ cost and indifference to others’ suffering.

We, the billion-plus people, need to be a better humanity with a better sense of responsibility. We should have an enhanced consciousness towards our duties. We should respect human rights and live our lives for a higher purpose. We have got human life to do good, and not to injure and destroy others. Let’s be trustworthy civil soldiers to serve humanity, and protect our people with the same courage and patriotism with which our armed forces protect our borders.

Had predicted Kolkata flyover collapse, writes Kiran Bedi

I had anticipated the collapse of the Kolkata flyover on one of the recent visits to the city and asked it on Twitter who was in charge of this ghost structure. Left unattended for years, the rusting, concrete juggernaut without a workman near it was just waiting to cave in. It had to take lives to let the world know it was dying.

Cases would be registered and a few company officials arrested but no one would say a word about the other public servants (political or non-political) responsible for the oversight. We’ll hear public statements that they will spare no culprit and compensate the families of the victims. Then politicians will descend on the scene. It has become a predictable drill.

When under pressure, politicians wait for the next disaster or the public memory to fade. In our subcontinent, disasters occur too frequently for the general public to keep track of all. They who must be held accountable will never be.

Bureaucrats first

The clean-up should start with the public works department, from the lowest secretary to the highest bureaucrat. It was their duty to oversee the work, clear the bills, do regular site inspection, audit/test the material, and ensure that safety standards were followed. How many times since 2008 did they review the project? We do not know, nor will we get to know, unless we file an RTI. It will be months before we get the information, which will be incomplete and not of much help.

Files will show where the matter was kept pending at the administrative and political levels. The construction company went bankrupt within a year of the project, so blame will be shifted to it, without transparency and accountability, even though many politicians also deserve to go to jail over this.

Leaders retract

Can the area legislator and MP be held accountable? I heard the MP say on television that monitoring the rusting flyover was not his job. The Trinamool MP of Kolkata North said that by the time the flaws had come to his notice, 60% of the work had been over. He forgot what he owed to his voters. Did they pick him or his party? No one knows. No one can ask. No one will reply.

What about CM’s accountability?

As CEO her government, is West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee not supposed to review the progress of pending projects for public safety? But she said on TV that her predecessors had awarded the contract and it is they who should be asked why they had hired a blacklisted company.

Information in the public domain suggests that she knew the company was untrustworthy. The question is who will dare to ask her what her government had been doing for almost five years? No one can. She has already put the blame o the company and washed her hands off it.

Opposition not innocent either

How about the Opposition parties who also seek votes? Did they protest to seek time-bound completion of the project? If they did, when and to what effect? Did they persevere, or gave up? They can say it’s best to protest when the structure has collapsed, not when it is collapsing. Imagine the votes the tragedy will get them. They say the Opposition’s accountability is never certain; tell them so is the case with public vote.

Public guilty, too?

Cities have their media and citizen groups for taking up causes. Did they find out what the government was up to? I fear they, too, will turn around and say: “O’ please, we do only campaigns like marathons, environment runs, save the tiger, school charity (that don’t question the government).”

It’s not safe for the local media to ask the government uncomfortable questions. Then who will? Who killed the people?

The hand of God?

Did the voter under the bridge not have the duty to exercise safety? Was it the hand of God, as a company executive said, as another man on TV said: “The state anyway is run by God.” Since God is neither visible not accessible, how do we make God accountable? But the case should not be closed. The challenge is to fix responsibility.

@SivadasTV2, who follows me on Twitter, had the following suggestion. I think it’s worth considering. “Pass a law requiring all elected representatives to file a monthly intelligence report on illegal activities in their constituencies.” Will the voter demand it? But again, from whom? They who do not understand the words ‘responsibility’ and ‘accountability’? India begs for accountability, from its corporate houses, public servants, and appointed and elected representatives.

Will the judiciary take suo-motu notice?

Delhi Cop Monika Bhardwaj, Ignore The Trolls. You Did Good.

It's a curious, hungry, angry world on social networks. Social Media reflects the microcosm of our society. We have cynics as well as applauders. But we also have marauders who use the anonymity of space to be offensive too - trolls!

After this tweet by a sensitive and a communicative Delhi Police Officer, she was horribly trolled.

Here is what she tweeted, and see what happened. (Monika Bhardwaj is a young IPS officer, an Additional Deputy Commissioner Police, West District in Delhi Police.)

I recall I was asked a question on my Twitter handle as to whether it's appropriate for a senior cop to disclose the nationalities of the accused, to which I tweeted back saying, yes, if it is to nip nefarious rumours and in the larger good of society, if it is to maintain peace and harmony. (I believe it helped )

The police was swift in taking action in arresting the accused involved in the brutal lynching of dentist Pankaj Narang, who was killed with hockey sticks and his rods by a mob at his own home in Vikaspuri. The police were well-aided by technology - pictures captured by CCTVs privately installed by other residents in the area

The good news is that people have become very conscious of maintaining security in their own area. They are filling a vacuum.

But the question I wish to highlight is whether Indian Police services are using social media enough, both for crime prevention and crime detection? Is it being used to its full potential to raise general awareness and seek participation and support?

The fact that Ms Monika Bhardwaj got trolled and was abused is indicative of not enough use of the social network in normal and better times...and certainly not enough two-way traffic.

There is a sniff of cynicism from within the department also for reasons not understood (I can only conjecture). I believe the police organisation is still at the stage of formulating the policy on use of social media. An occasional page on traffic information or creating issue-based circles for views is just not enough. It's not vigorous to engage, provoke and encourage visitors to come to social network sites.

I believe it could do the police services good in current times to formulate and implement a proper social media plan when there is a large proliferation of smart phones. Use Facebook and Twitter and others in local languages for maximum participation, positive or negative. At least it will tell the police what people are thinking, which is important to know.  

Here are a few other steps which I think the social media policy could incorporate.

First and most important: the purpose of its use. What are the goals? What is being set out to be achieved? Social media could have various sections of traffic, crime prevention, crime interdiction, behavioural issues, satisfaction levels, ideas, observations, alerts, safety issues, initiatives, recognition, awards, new policies, experiences, feedback. The object is engagement with the community which increases security.

In a two-way communication, social network sites must become essential "go- to places".

Social networking is cost-effective. It comes at lightning speed. It enhances accountability of the police service (while providing anonymity to the troller - so be it!) I thought the police world over is used to brickbats, not kudos. The former is a daily affair while the latter is occasional. But this will increase once communication is well-conducted, has a face from the police department side, and is always well meaning for the larger safety of the community.

So what if Monika was abused? We cops are trained to deal with it. Earlier it was to our face. Now it's on the wire!

Well done, young friend. Keep up your communication, and do not get bullied by bullies. You also were appreciated. Hope your department appreciates what you did. You stopped rumour-mongering. You checked escalation of any further breach of peace.

You did your duty well. You are the new generation of tech-savvy, communicating cops, and a woman at that.

Arrest of JNU students, and the policing side of it

So much is being debated about police arrests these days in view of the students of an elite university in Delhi having been arrested. Here, based on my experience in policing, I will try to explain when police make an arrest and when they don’t. Why do police in one case make an on-the-spot arrest, while in another they may wait, defer, delay or even not make one? Is it because it is to favour anyone? Or be unfair to another? What does the law say? Does it give the police any discretion? Further, who are the police accountable to when they use the power of arrest? Also, when and why do police seek police remand for some people they arrest, while in others they let them out on bail soon after? Also, why are some taken into custody for interrogation while some after arrest are released on bail either by police themselves or the courts.

Why these differences?

The answer to this lies in understanding the law and its processes. To arrest or not to arrest, when and where to arrest, are important discretionary powers the investigating officer exercises. It is a responsibility with full accountability and justiciability before the judiciary. In many democratic and developed countries, false arrests call for heavy penalties and loss of job for erring police officers under the law, which enables civil penalties and damages. In India, it calls for suspensions as well as criminal proceedings leading to prosecutions.

This discourse is against the backdrop of arrest of students from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) for alleged seditious slogans raised in the university. Since the police arrested them for grave offences, which were non-bailable, and wanted to investigate intensely, they sought police remand and the courts gave it. By now, all arrested students have been sent to judicial custody by the courts and the bail petition of one of them is to be decided soon. On the other hand, the police, while dealing with the same case, did not make any spot arrest of riotous lawyers on the Patiala House court premises even when their ‘hooliganism’ was captured on camera. It’s a different matter that some of the advocates were summoned and later arrested and granted bail. In their case, the police released them on bail as the offences were bailable by police. While in the case of students the bail could be granted only by the courts.

Both happenings are under investigation, so I will desist from drawing any conclusions.

Power with responsibility

Coming back to the power of police to arrest, in my experience, every arrest is a power to be exercised with a great sense of responsibility. Because arrest means restraint on the other person’s fundamental right to freedom of movement.

No arrested person can be detained beyond 24 hours by the police without being produced before a magistrate. This ensures protection from illegal detention. Every arrest is a discretionary power to be exercised with total accountability. The police may or may not arrest. In both cases, the officer is answerable to his seniors and to courts.

Here is what the section of law on arrest says, and I quote here only the headline that is meaningful. Section 41 of Criminal Procedure Code says: When police ‘may’ arrest without warrant. The police ‘may’ arrest. It’s not ‘shall or must’ arrest. This is where the police officer on the spot gets the discretion by law. Now, the discretion which the officer exercises is scrutinised by the courts when the person arrested is produced before the magistrate. If the court feels the discretion has been abused, the court can even discharge the person and seek an explanation from the police. The police are defended in the court by the state prosecutor, who is not subordinate to the police. He is independent. Therefore, chances are that he will not defend before the court an unjustified arrest. The accused on production is made aware of the grounds of arrest. The accused has a right to defend and is also given legal aid in case he cannot afford a lawyer.

It is this discretion in power of arrest that comes under debate daily as it did in the incidents of both the JNU students and riotous lawyers.

Under court scrutiny

We may or may not agree with the timing or decision of arrests, but this is to make readers aware that justification of all arrests made or not made is scrutinised by courts. These are situational keeping in view several factors. Because it is the duty of the police to ensure law and order and not let it deteriorate. As then Delhi police commissioner BS Bassi said to the media that he did not order the spot arrest of the lawyers at Patiala House court “to avoid collateral damage or further aggravation of law and order situation”.

The courts, meanwhile, are reportedly issuing contempt notices to erring lawyers too. The Bar Council, too, is examining their conduct under the Advocates Act.

It’s a question of our believing or not believing in the judgment of police whenever they make arrests.

Over the years, we have been losing faith in police; we tend to doubt their intentions every time even when they are in keeping with the law or the discretion it gives. There is a thin line between prudence and cowardice.

The real test of such situations is the intention known only to the police officer in charge. But, we judge them and often doubt them, which is what makes the job of policing most challenging in polarised situations.

Had cops touched lawyers at Patiala House Court, it would’ve been mayhem:Kiran Bedi

IPS officer Kiran Bedi discusses police-lawyer run-ins old and new with AVISHEK G DASTIDAR & PRAGYA KAUSHIKA

What is your opinion of the violence by lawyers at Patiala House Courts?

Public memory is short. This is not the first time this has happened. Except that it has happened before a younger generation…

Do you believe that lawyers involved in the violence should be arrested?

Of course. They must be arrested, held for contempt of court and licences cancelled too… Had we been doing so in the past, anywhere and wherever they committed breach of professional ethics, we would not have reached this situation. We only saw a repeat…

How well do you think the police handled the current situation?

Had the police tried to arrest lawyers, mayhem would have happened. So the police acted with maturity and prudence. It was a question of minor injury versus major injury. From my experience I know, had the police touched even one lawyer that day, all the lawyers would have ganged up and more violence would have taken place.

In 1988, you had ordered a lathicharge on lawyers in Tis Hazari Courts…

The lathicharge was in a different situation. It was in a narrow space, so because of physical proximity, the matter led to a scuffle and a lathicharge. Here, it was open space, police had the choice of escalating it or not.

What have your personal experiences with lawyers been?

Showing the law book to unionised lawyers for violations they commit, least of all arresting them, is like putting your hand in a hornets’ nest. You will be stung several times over. And almost left to yourself to deal with its fallout for the rest of your career, if not your life.

In I Dare, you wrote of a ‘nerve-wracking’ time after arresting a lawyer.

Indeed. It was like going through fire! What started with handcuffing of a lawyer who committed theft in St Stephen’s College… went on snowballing… for almost a decade of protracted legal battle impacting my career… No one was willing to appear for me… till the SC intervened and K T S Tulsi agreed… Later I faced a hostile commission of enquiry… I as a former tennis player was used to playing a three-set match. With the then legal fraternity I played a nine-set match.

In the current case, do you feel the Centre has acted as it should have?

This is a police matter turned highly political… What has Centre or state to do with it? Police responded to an FIR by a MP… Allegations made out a case of seditious behaviour. Police registered the case, collected evidence, arrested an accused who happened to be a union president… Matters got heated when the university got visited by politicians making provocative statements and these getting widely televised…

Give health the respect it deserves

It’s something we experience daily. Yet we do not give it the kind of respect it deserves. It is a healthy body. The real wonder of the world is the gift of good health to a living being.

In the past few months, we in the family, close friends and relatives had been in a spin, attending to a loved one who was not keeping good health. He was hospitalised, discharged, hospitalised again and finally set himself free of all suffering. But what is left behind is the deep loss to the family, friends and the causes he was serving. He paid inadequate attention to his health despite being regularly advised by family, friends and doctors.

Everyone has to die one day. But one need not hasten it. This kind of loss is caused by personal negligence, when a person takes the gift of good health for granted. In this attitude, he chooses to ignore early indications and delays attending to his health. Such a person does not “stitch in time to save nine”. We usually tell ourselves, ‘Nothing will happen’, ‘everything will be all right’, ‘it’s all destined’ and ‘time will heal’. Many do not seek timely help, medical or social, when it’s available. Such an attitude ignores proper diet, personal management, lifestyle or the environment causing the decline or other contributing factors.

Dealing with crisis in health

Dealing with crisis in health of a loved one places highly stressful demands on family, friends and finances, causing heavy dislocation on all three counts. The departure of a loved one causes deep deprivation, leaving behind a void.

We witness this frequently, but many do not realise that the inevitable will happen to the observer one day. Apparently, the realisation of consequences of this attitude is absent in our grooming systems, be it home or education.

We over-eat, consume unhealthy food, do not nourish our mind and body correctly, overuse it, overload it with extraneous responsibilities, and also make stressful acquisitions way beyond required needs, little realising that one day all this will be left behind, and counted by those who may not even be there to perform the last rites.

If we truly love our family, our first responsibility is to maintain ourselves for our own sake and for those whom we do not want to see suffer. Despite that, if one takes ill, there is a willing support and acceptance, as the situation was not invited by that person. That is why daily correct nourishment of mind, body and soul is vital and has to be an integral part of growth, upbringing, schooling and community life. It’s also about collective social health.

Asset to society

Being healthy adds to national wealth. Every healthy person is an asset to society as he contributes his energy and productivity to the well-being of the community in one form or the other. Since maintaining good health is a personal responsibility, it’s left to the conscientiousness and maturity of individuals as adults, parents and citizens.

The interesting part is: we all tend to expect this from others, forgetting about ourselves. By this failure, a great amount of suffering is caused. We need to learn and practise to prevent and minimise it. We know the inevitable will come anyway. But why fast-forward it? As Galib said, “Age travels at a galloping pace, who knows where it would stop; we do not have the reins in our hands, we do not have our feet in the stirrups.”

Therefore, do not call for accidents on your own. Respect, serve and guard the human temple as its priest with joy and gratitude.

Are we preparing children for challenging years ahead?

This Children’s Day, I was invited to speak to teachers at a well-known school in Delhi. I thought I had three options. One, share with them my thoughts on what good teaching is. Second, to ask them to share what they had to say to a question I had in mind. Third, to get them to answer the question that needed to be addressed and then share with them my views on good teachers.

I chose the third option. The question I asked around 200 teachers present was what they thought was the one thing they needed to do to prepare children for the next 70-80 years. They were requested to write down the answer for later analysis.

I hinted at a few things, like growing environmental stress, climate change, infrastructural inadequacies, traffic congestion, population pressure, security concerns, health access, likely deficiencies in support services, nuclear families and the ageing challenges. I asked them how they as teachers were grooming their children, who would outlive them. And a follow-up question was: who is primarily responsible to prepare them?

The answers I got

Here are a few responses to my first question. “Nowadays, children do not have clarity between what is right and what is wrong. They should have moral values. They don’t understand what struggle their parents have undergone to meet their demands. They think it is their duty anyway. Children should understand their responsibilities too. In today’s world, children think having a bank balance is success. But they should understand that fulfilling their moral responsibilities nicely is success.”

Another response was, “The most important quality a child should have is to be able to be a good decision-maker. If this quality is imbibed, the child will be on the right path and will be able to devote him for others’ well-being.”

Another answer was, “Children are sensitive and they follow what their parents do as they are their role models. So first of all, we will teach the child to express himself, whether it is right or wrong. When he will grow up, he will know the right from wrong. If we develop this habit in the child, we will be aware what is going on in his mind and can direct it in the right direction.”

Yet another response was, “Children should understand the meaning of change as they always have to face this. They need to learn how to accept changes in their life and how to make changes in their environment. If they are able to learn, they will be able to survive anywhere, at any time and in any decade.

Parents, teachers to provide nurturing

To my second question as to who would provide this nurturing, the unanimous answer was parents and teachers. Here is a response, “As the saying goes, ‘Practise what you preach.’ So it’s we who have to imbibe these qualities and act; only then our children will be able to think, act and imbibe. Only we as teachers and parents can teach our children by asking their views about a social issue. This way, we can inculcate the habit of expression. If we ask their viewpoint it would help children think and choose options and develop the habit of decision-making, and they would gain confidence. This way, children will become good human beings besides being sensible and responsible citizens.”

So the ball was back in our court as parents and teachers.

Advice to teachers

What I told teachers was: ensure due respect to every child’s viewpoint; make sure you are accessible to them all the time; enable shared expectations; encourage self and love of learning; and teach collaboration.

The teachers I got the feedback from were from Delhi International School, Rohini, and Navjyoti India Foundation. Next time, I will connect with schoolchildren and ask them what they would like to see in their parents and teachers that would help them prepare for the next 70-80 years, and who they think can best provide them the grooming? I cannot wait to know their views.

Time management, a matter of seconds

“Do you know how many seconds we get each day?” Just one hand went up to this question in an audience of more than 1,500 students at a business school where I was invited to speak on time management. The others did not have a clue. They were amazed to know they had 86,400 seconds in their account each day.

Every night, this account becomes empty as we go to sleep. We are left with no credit, as we cannot store these seconds. We also cannot even overdraw. Each day opens with a new account, this is the law of nature. How we invest these 86,400 seconds is in our hands. Our good health, happiness and success depend on it. Whether we fail or pass depends on variable factors.

Every one of us arrives with the gift of energy, visible from the moment we are born. We enhance this energy when we breathe well, sleep well, live well, think well, work well, plan well, and also maintain and cultivate our relationships well. We draw energy from all things we do, but doing it in the right way and right amount is important.

Listen to the body clock

Our body’s system has inbuilt clock. It gives us an alarm when we are fatigued, hungry, depressed, sleepless, stiff, ill, and ageing. It tells us to listen to the body and change our lifestyle when we must. Our body asks us to replenish, repair, restore, detoxify, relax, rest, recover, and treat it. It wants attention, care and right use. Not all of us are built to be marathon runners, weight lifters, boxer, or sprinters. Even champions are not for life. Every purple patch has a time span. Overstretching the body burns it out.

Three periods and their purpose

There are three time periods in our lives - the past, the present, and the future. The past is for learning from experience to live well in the present and prepare for the future. Those who learn from history do not fail. Hitler would not have lost the war had he learnt from Napolean’s experience that Russian winter is the invaders’ deadliest enemy.

We must know our high-output and low-output hours, so that we can complete the difficult tasks when we are most active and easy work when the energy is down.

All creative people and meritorious students know this. Socialising during peak hours and studying during weak hours is doing it the wrong may. It requires only normal intelligence to know that we need to complete the urgent and important tasks first, or everything else in life will become urgent.

To do more in less time

If we are to achieve more in less time, personal discipline is the key. Treasure your time; evaluate regularly how and where your seconds are going. Stick to first things first. Make a to-do list and budget your time. Remember that 80% of the success comes from 20% of your activities, so remain focussed.

Set clear objectives and deadlines. Know why you are doing whatever you are up to. If you want to have fun, you must enjoy. Flow with it. It will help you cut your losses in terms of precious time. Do not stress and overburden yourself. Set realistic goals, and as said earlier, finish the difficult tasks first.

What have you sown?

You reap what you sow in those 86,400 seconds. I asked the B-school students: “If you want trust, are you sowing honesty? If you want friends, are you sowing goodness? If you want greatness, are you sowing humility? If you want victory, are you sowing perseverance? If you want harmony, are you sowing consideration? If you want success, are you sowing hard work? If you want reconciliation, are you sowing forgiveness? If you want improvement, are you sowing patience? If you want a miracle, are you sowing faith?”

Be careful in what you sow in the 86,400 seconds you get each day, for it will determine what you will reap. Fruits of labour are based on the choices you make through the day, one day at a time. Time flies, change is the law, growth is optional, choose wisely.

Women sarpanches need to be better empowered: Kiran Bedi

With Haryana panchayat elections around the corner, I decided to reach out to a few women sarpanches to know their experiences. I was curious to know how much they got to contribute in their respective villages? What was their experience like? What kind of response did they get from men and women? Was there a difference? How cooperative were government officials? What about resources? Were they reasonable? How did they meet their day-to-day expenses? Were there budget provisions to do so? Did the new elected women get any training? How did they manage as families in rural areas are mostly male-driven? Who was the real sarpanch in such cases?

The interaction brought me a lot of insights into things. I was amazed to see women so perceptive. They knew what was needed and what was wrong. They were the perfect faculty for rural management institutes. But did any institute ever think of co-opting them as faculty to share what worked and what did not and how they dealt with others to get results? Unfortunately, no one as they are not formal MBAs.

I found them the real practical managers who knew life through the challenges they survive through. I am saying challenges, because without water and electricity and with minimum resources keeping the family going is not easy; on top of it, with husbands controlling them and government officials almost ignoring them. My heart cries out for them. They are the real teachers who know what needs to be learnt and changed in rural India, which comprises two thirds of the population.

Startling revelations
Here are some of their statements which will stay with me. "Ensure we have a cocktail dinner," said a rural official to a woman sarpanch, who had invited him for dinner as she wanted a road in her village to be widened. When I asked her from where did she get the money to serve the cocktail dinner, she said she got it from her husband, that is why he dictated the terms.

Every time one of them called up the local MLA or the minister concerned for the development work in their village, he would say, "Route your request via the CM". "But why should I, you are our representative," she would respond, and he would disconnect the phone.

There is a short induction programme for them, they said, but nothing about the likely challenges at work and how to cope with them. Also, no introduction to the officials they would be working with and no sharing of experience with past sarpanches.

On dealing with men and women of the village, they said, they delivered to the extent possible. Men, of course, did not accept them, while many women were jealous and did not cooperate. Most women said they would not like to contest the elections again, terming it as a horrid experience.

When asked if they thought men and women differed in their work as sarpanches, they said, "Women unite the village whereas men divide it." On how they met their travel and other  expenses, they replied that they did it from their own pockets, which meant they tokk the money from their husbands. There is hardly a provision that recognises this need. Men completely control women's mobility in rural areas. They decide for them and even perform the duties in their name most of the time.

What needs to be done
Having heard them, I deduce this: Women sarpanches need to be better empowered by resources and training. They must be introduced to key officials in the induction stage itself so that they are in the know and the need for cocktail dinners is eliminated.

An environment of handover and takeover must be held between the new incumbent and the past sarpanch. Government officials should play the connecting role. Perhaps a practice should be started and experimented with.

Also, the first-rank local officials in rural areas need to be overseen better by the district administration and the head offices, which appear to be rather weak or distant. My enquiries revealed absence of field visits and any worthwhile interactions with locals through rural tours and community interactions and dialogues with panchayats.

Unless the senior officials regularly visit villages, the situation would not change. Corruption and delays and cocktail dinners would prevail and women would remain an undermined potential in rural development.

During my interaction, there were two very telling statements. "Are villagers so worthless that they do not need electricity during the day? and "who could be a better manager than a woman, who manages her large family despite different constraints, yet becomes a sarpanch and struggles her way through again?

My key learning from this interaction is: unless the male-dominating mindset changes, women would not be able to contribute their full potential to society. And unless senior officials regularly visit villagers and connect with their residents, rural India would not change. And unless both these changes happen, India's development will remain urban-centric and migration from rural areas will continue to the detriment of overcrowded cities.

Solutions lie in the hands of self-driven field-oriented civil servants, better-quality politicians and progressive teachers sending out educated boys with inclusive mindsets and confident and informed girls.

Setting agenda for generation next

As students, you build your own future; and education is your duty to acquire

"Remember to comb beneath the hair if you want it to stay recharged and keep your mind virus-free," was one of the several nuggets I gave to college students in Mumbai on the subject of early leadership.

I began by asking them if they had planned for the next one, two, or 60 years? "If all goes well health-wise, you will live up to be 90-plus, so have you prepared for the decades to come in the demanding circumstances ahead? Would you be self-reliant, managing relationships well, and fulfilling responsibilities? Are you preparing your toolkit for the long haul?" I asked them. Laying the foundations of life skills was the focus of my address.

I told them leadership was an expression of responses to situations in life, responses drawn from the toolkit of our character that we build consciously or subconsciously. I reminded them that time flies. Their mentors, parents or providers will pass away some day, and in the end, they will be left on their own. Will they be in good company of their own self when they are by themselves?

Three gifts

I told them they were gifted thrice more than they thought, with a healthy body, a young mind, and the capability to grab the opportunities before them. They need to use all these gifts, none at the cost of the other. They must be conscious of their every thought, word and deed, which is called being your own witness. It's not early to know.

Time is now, before habits harden and we learn at a huge price.

Without mentioning names, I asked them if they had learned anything from a high-profile murder case where it is alleged that a rich mother killed her daughter in pursuit of greed. I reminded them that life would give them many instances to learn from. Wise will be those who pick up the right things to learn.

Be self-driven

Why must anyone remind you of your own responsibility at different stages of life? As students, you build your own future; and education - which is a combination of life skills, including professional ability - is your duty to acquire. The more attention you pay it, the securer you will be for the next 60 years.

Since youth indulge too long in social networking, it was natural to talk about this. "Why can't you be researchers? A world of knowledge is available at the press of a button, with search engines as your librarians. How much time do you spend on this, compared with the time you spend with friends on social-networking websites?" I asked them.

Don't wait for jobs

Your life will be built on the company you keep, the material you read, the experience you gain, and how you apply this experience in your day-to-day life. I was told the college had a department of entrepreneurship. I thought of asking the students how many of them had used their summer vacations to earn some money. In the audience of more than 650, only 30-odd hands went up. "Learn by doing, don't wait for jobs, that might come or not. Your self-confidence will be built by doing. The younger the stronger," I said.

When you give the attention-starved generation too much to absorb, they will pick and choose, even when all you said is vital. During the question time, a student was keen to know how the Indian youth could create a revolution of any kind. I replied: "If you care for your country, spare time to teach the illiterates and give skills to the poor, rural communities in particular."

Be responsible

India needs a million more schools. Why? Because we add another UAE or Australia each year to our population. Where will more resources come from?

The youth of this country need to be aware of their responsibilities as citizens and add "kindness quotient" to their IQ, EQ, and spiritual quotient. They could invest their summer vacations in doing internships or helping India become literate, skilled, and cleaner in the next five years. Independent women with earning ability would want to produce fewer children.

I was happy these graduate students heard me with respect. It was at Guru Nanak College of Arts, Science and Commerce. Built as a school in 1947 by the refugee Punjabi community, it has grown into an institution with own management institute. India's present and future were right there. I was the past, striving to remain in present and contribute to the future.