3 Mega-Trends To Look Out For

Image: Vidyanand Kamat

Bling Trumps Reason
The first, worrisome, mega-trend is the corrosion of society by the acids of corruption and violence. The celebration of achievement — of wealth, power, and fame — has drowned concern with the means used. Those who become visible somehow become heroes, even if all it takes for them to be widely known is their brazenness in displaying their inanity in reality shows. The ‘got-mosts’ are celebrated by the media — those with the most wealth, the longest yachts, the largest homes. Grabbing from others to satisfy one’s greed is tolerated, perhaps even admired. The weak are the victims — women who are brazenly raped in India’s most ‘with-it’ cities; marginal farmers and forest dwellers whose lands are taken to create ‘shareholder wealth’. The more skillful such grabbers are in staying ‘on the edge’ of the law, the more they are held in awe. Ends justify means.

Bid Adieu to ‘Classified’
The second mega-trend is the ubiquity and ‘democratisation’ of information. The media, the Internet, Google, and Wikileaks are enabling citizens to know about anything, anywhere, anytime. Which is exposing the corrosion of the system. ‘Sunshine is the best disinfectant’, ruled a US Supreme Court justice. The notion that citizens have a ‘right to information’ and should not be denied is gaining currency. The line between what is private and what is in the public interest is being debated not only in India but in Western democracies too. More sunshine is required to expose and to clean the rot in the system.

Taking Up the Cause
The third mega-trend is the increasing numbers of individuals, small groups, and large networks, rising up to pursue causes. These include NGOs for myriad causes, self-help groups of poor women, and Internet-based social networks. Enabled by the democratisation of information, such organisations can strike without warning. While it is possible to keep track of the number of governments in the world, and to make reasonable estimates of the numbers of business enterprises, it is no longer possible to count such non-Establishment actors.

(The author is Member, Planning Commission)