ECONOMIC GROWTH IS A MEANS TO ACHIEVE AN END, NOT AN END IN ITSELF..

Our societies have gone through a complete overhaul after the industrial revolution kicked in. This changed many values that were widely accepted earlier and brought in a generation that had different kind of desires and aspirations. This flow emerged as the basic human necessities were met and there was scope to venture into new arenas. The social establishments that came up had to work towards making those aspirations a reality.

These establishments emerged but had a hurdle they had to overcome first. This hurdle was not prominent in western European countries but was itself an aspiration for many others. This was the hurdle of economic growth that was crucial because the dreams and aspirations of public could only be a reality if government had enough funds.

From the very first it is clear that economic growth was not an aspiration of the general public, rather it was a tool to make the actual aspirations a reality. In the 50's when UN set targets of economic growth for member nations, it had in mind that development in these newly independent countries needed funding. The funding as aid was hard due to the aftermath of second world war , hence economic growth was given priority before everything else.

Economic growth thus became a development indicator in early days. Most of the studied indicators of development established this fact. The well off countries were able to fulfill the aspirations of the public which made them stronger. Every country that came up in the later years followed the same trend which was thought to be the way to glory.

To elaborate this above fact we can sight some examples such as GDP, HDI, HPI and many others. They all aspire to give the depiction of reality. Thus the modern day nations focus on them and improve them through time bound developmental plans, priority sector lending, fiscal targets etc. They are all multi dimensional but aim to achieve a good standard of living for the people. The one thing that is common in all of them is that all of them require funding which is possible through economic growth. The economic goals are thus mere necessity to achieve the set goals.

Now if we consider economic growth to be an end product we are somewhat wrong. Yes, there are factors like trade, FDI etc that boost economic growth. To better explain it we can sight the aspirational target of India to become a 5 trillion dollar economy by 2024. There have been plans etched out to achieve it but it can not be said to be an end of growth. With changing times and growth of population the demands and aspirations will also grow. Thus a day would arrive when even better economy would be the need of the hour hence pushing the boundaries further.

Arguments can be many. There can be many examples sighted. But with all of them we cannot deny the important role money plays. Everything we do or aspire to do has a monetary aspect attached to it. Thus economic growth cannot be considered a stable target but rather it is dynamic. It changes with time. It never is the end but it surely is the most important aspect to achieve many ends..

BEING DOWN TO EARTH..

Success is not a destination, it is a journey. This statement tells it all. We should not think success is a point in our lives, rather its life in itself. People often tend to associate success with luxuries and ease of living. They think it is the only way to be happy. But all of it is not true. There are billionaires who, as normal people think should be happy, but they suffer from regret and solitude. Thus considering that being on the top is all luxuries is a false notion in a whole.

Financial success is the most sought after success in the modern era. This has a popular trend. People associate financial success with luxuries, extravagance etc. But financial freedom is more important than financial success. And this is not a destination, rather it is a daily hustle. The hustle is the hard work that is needed to maintain that all, or else it would fade away soon enough. This hustle keeps the one with financial success aware of the difficulties and generates a feeling that keeps him/her humble. We often come across many individuals who have hefty sum as their bank balance but are very frugal and down to Earth. This is because they appreciate struggle. They know that no person is different, just the struggles for each one of us is. 

This appreciation for hard work and the process of success is not confined to the financial arena only. It's in every field. People who have hard struggles in life appreciate life. They take their struggles as building and teaching sessions that life provides for free. This makes them appreciative of others who have gone through the same. At this level of intelligence, competition and jealousy vanishes. People become humble because they have been taught to be humble by life, and we know life is the best teacher out there. 

Some individuals after getting success often think that they have achieved what they were destined to achieve. They start absorbing the glory that comes with success and in turn forget the hardships of life. They get the notion that they are now at the center of the universe and the entire universe is revolving around them. This is what kicks most of the individuals back down and they fall hard. It's life's way of teaching humility. Fame and glory are short lived , it requires continuous hustle with life to keep and maintain a position because nothing is stagnant. People who get it become leaders. They know the overnight success is a myth because it never lasts.

Now you must get that you are and never will be the center of the universe. There will always be someone who will work hard and leap a mile higher. The thing that is most important to keep leaping is to realise the fact that success is working each and every day. This makes individuals frugal. The realisation of not being at the center would enable one to be down to Earth person. We can pull out any example from the pack of people we know as successful and we will get one thing in common, that is they all have a down to earth personality. They may be surrounded by luxuries but they have never forgotten who they really are and what they had to sacrifice to be there. They appreciate struggle and hard work.

 Keep your head down and keep learning. A down to earth personality is rare, soo is frugality, but they both are gems that every one appreciates and respects..Hustle in life never ends but being down to earth sure does help..

ART OF BEING BUSY..

We have a lot of responsibility. It may be personal requirements or societal demands. All such tasks demand our time. Adding to our already busy schedule is our future that demands time of its own. These all are tasks that make us busy. They may not be adding any value to our lives, but as they eat away our time, they make us busy.

Busy is a term we all are familiar with. It means that our physical and mental selves are occupied with a task. In early days humans had limited tasks. The only thing that kept them busy was the task of their own survival. With the humanization of Earth, survival is not a task but an accepted reality. Food gathering and hunting have been replaced as we entered into the era of surplus food production. Although all this advancements have taken place, human life seems to have become more and more busy rather than being a relieved one.

With the emergence of society things got more and more complicated. Humans now had different kinds of tasks. They now had to earn. This earning enabled them to have food and other necessary items. Then came social responsibilities. Humans now had to play diverse roles which all required sincere attention. As aspirations grew, competition also grew. People had to work hard to reach their goals and make their dreams come true. The most recent is social media. A communication tool which transformed and made a space for itself. For most individuals this is the most time consuming thing of a day which keep them busy but does not provide with anything substantial other than pleasure.

So we have looked into the timeline of humankind and seen the things that make them busy evolve. We all have aims and aspirations, but we are humans, so we can not remain without being social. Then the question is how can we indulge only in those things that can keep us busy but add value to our lives at the same time. This requires very deep thinking. A careful thought will keep us busy in a positive way, this is the true art of being busy. The secret is mental decluttering. We have to group tasks into two categories. Indulge more in tasks that help us grow and limit time donated to the other category ones.

This idea is not alien. We hear about it all the time. But it is high time now to implement it into our lives. Taking social media as an example. Unless you earn a living or any substantial opportunity from it, limiting social media is the wise choice. Next is social demands. Society is made up of people. People have their own lives to care of. Thus indulging more in societal essentials is a foolish choice unless you are doing something worthwhile for the welfare of the masses. The only thing that can keep you positively busy is the work done towards yourself. These are the work you put into to make your dreams come true and make your life worthwhile. Being busy working for yourself and growing while doing it is the true meaning of life. All other things that occupy our time and make us busy are not worth the attention they get. Classify the task first, segregate them and then start working. This will free up more time and help us enjoy life as well as grow us into a mature human being..

VALUE OF FAILURES..

Learning is the process of acquiring knowledge. This is the most basic definition that we can obtain. But the process of learning is not as basic as this definition. Here we are not concentrating on the subjective knowledge by referring to learning. We are strictly in the arena of lessons of life. These are the knowledge which can be obtained through experience and not by mere reading about them.

Failure is perhaps the best teacher of all. It never leaves anyone without a lesson. The wise gain wisdom from them. While those who neglect the teachings get occupied in the vicious circle of life. It is rightly said that we can not come out empty handed from difficult situations. If on the other side of it we win, then we have its rewards. But if we fail, we gain experience that is worth more than materialistic possessions. 

There is a popular saying which we should keep in mind. It goes as" Everything we need to get through the hard times is within us"
This is a theological statement which explains that we are never served with anything we can not handle ourselves. We have passed hard times and we are not alone. Others who have lived before us have also faced similar situations and have overcome them. Their experiences are real life wisdoms. We can gain strength by reading about their struggles and often come out with solutions to our problems.

Learning is a continuous process because life never stops teaching. The day we stop learning will be the day we die. This continuous process needs a strong will power and a positive outlook. The hard times are the only things that would make our TED talks interesting. Thus we should never consider failure and hard times as some curse. We are lucky that life has chosen us to teach a valuable lesson. This lesson will only enrich us and make our wisdom deeper. One can never completely understand life. New phenomenons and new laws are discovered each day. The only thing we can value is the teaching that we get from failures. They are permanent and universal. 

With every set back we are offered with a new opportunity. We have to have the mindset to use the wisdom we have gained from the set back to our advantage. This is the true meaning of hustling with life. In this hustle we always gain. Life is full of prospects, we just need to look hard for them. Similarly failures are full of wisdom, we have to have the eye for it. A person trained by life is unstoppable. He is backed by experience and wisdom. This is the reason why corporates value wisdom and experience. Because money cannot buy such wisdom nor any college teaches them. If you are going through hard times just remember that nothing is permanent and at the end of this phase, we would always be on the winning side , whatever may be the outcome.....

REDUCING WASTE..

Our lives today have become fast. To aid this fast life many inventions have come up that are designed to save time. We all come across hundreds of such inventions in our daily lives. Some prominent among them are the one time use polybags, canned food items, packed foods, ready to eat items etc. These all have changed our lifestyle to suite the need of the hour.

These items are trending and the demand is very high. To keep the interests up, this arena is dedicated to more innovations to suite the needs of the growing population. We accept them as a boon of modern age and never give a second thought before accepting them.

These items have been responsible for immense damage to our ecosystem. By using these items we have played our part in damaging our environment. The whole concept of use and discard has been a curse in disguise. Almost all of such items are non biodegradable. The world as a whole generates thousands of tonnes of these non biodegradable waste per day. Most of these items end up in the landfills or in the oceans leading to land and water pollution. The oceanic ecosystem has been heavily impacted by these and have resulted in mass extinction of certain species.

The international forums have now become conscious about the impact of such inventions and have placed many restrictions on their use. The developed countries have been somewhat able to implement these restrictions and replacing these items with environment friendly ones. But developing countries have not been able to properly implement them due to cash crunch and lack of innovation.

The important thing to note here is that the government is not responsible for the waste generation. The waste is generated by us. Then why should we blame the government for the environment? It is our home, its our responsibility to take care of it. In early days people lived and had a very minimum carbon footprint. We can reduce ours by taking conscious decisions. We can avoid using one time use items and replacing them with alternatives that can be used multiple times. While shopping we can opt for items that are not packed in plastic. Canned food items can be replaced with fresh ones. All these are just small lifestyle changes which can impact the environment in a positive way. Plus there is an added benefit of good health as the packed items usually contain harmful chemicals. 

The social media has addressed this topic very well and there have been numerous experiments on minimalism and carbon negative lifestyle. Some have proved these lifestyle changes to actually have been economical. All we need is just conscious decision making and we can actually do wonders for our environment.  

CARING FOR THE ENVIRONMENT..

We only have one planet to live in. We depend heavily on its environment for our survival needs. Without it we would not have been able to survive. The simple way to express the importance can be by saying that everything that nature provides us like light, air, water etc are priceless.

People are well aware of the importance of nature, yet they turn a blind eye to all the problems that the nature is suffering because of them. There are numerous indications around us that show us that our environment is getting sick day by day. The government is under pressure to maintain the development of the nation but in a sustainable way. But we have seen that the trickle down effect is almost never upto the point. Hence it is in our hands to implement the ideology of environmental protection in our daily lives. We are 1.3 billion people. Imagine the impact a simple change of ideology can have on the environment.

Talking about ideological change we must not assume it to be some serious dedication. It simply means that we should keep the safety of our environment in mind while carrying out our daily chores. A simple change in choice can benefit the environment in a large way. 

The season of festivals have approached. As per hindu traditions almost every household observes puja of the God or Goddess they believe in. For this purpose they buy idols. The market for idols shines as the demand gets high. To meet this high demand sculptors have developed the method of making idols using POP. POP stands for plaster of paris. The idols make of POP have several benefits over the traditional clay idols. They are quick drying, durable, easy to work on, look beautiful and can be made in a short time. But most importantly they are quite cheap because it involves less amount of work. Amid all these benefits the concern for the environment receives no importance. POP is non biodegradable. The custom of bisharjan of idols in the water bodies has contributed to water pollution and marine habitat destruction. POP remains at the bottom of water bodies and hamper the natural process of sedimentation. The clay idols melt in the water and itself gets deposited as sediment but the POP idols remain there for decades.

Humans are economical creatures. This very reason has contributed to the increasing popularity of POP idols. The sight of clay idols is rare today. A single person can make hundreds of POP idols but the clay idols require craftmanship and time. If we make a simple choice of choosing clay idols over POP ones we can create jobs as well as protect the environment. The POP idols usually have artificial colours that again harm the environment. There are ample reasons to avoid POP idols. Thus we require awareness and a simple change in ideology to curb this problem. Environment is in our hands. It's our choice to keep our home clean and green. This festive season take a pledge to avoid POP idols at any cost. This simple step can change our world for better because in the end we only have this single planet in the entire universe to survive.