Personalities, Change and Effort

Do personalities change?
I was told recently that they don't. And I could not argue against that more than I did.
What about "shaping"? What about Pavlov and his dog? Or Skinner and his reinforcements?
These two social scientists demonstrated that people can change. Can is to be emphasized. And yet, I was told people don't change.

I have been intensely studying the MBTI test, understanding its framework. This is a test based on the characteristics that the self-reporting person sees him/ her endowed with.

People do change. If they want to. My sample set for the basis of this statement is statistically insignificant, however, I have observed that those who reported change in their personalities reported this after some crisis hit them. A break up, a firing from the job, a family crisis, puberty, college, moving away from parents.

The point is people change when they want to. I think it is a myth that people remain the same. They do not. The way they see the world changes. Man does not live in isolation. Being social, he interacts with his environment and cognizes this interaction to make meaning out of it and behaves accordingly. This cognitive process changes his attitudes and value systems.

However, the easy way out always is to say, "I am like this, you are like that." Inertia I believe. Or taking the easier route. Sounds similar to the advice given to Alia Bhatt in Dear Zindagi. Sound advice, I must say. But till what level? In what all contexts? Does that apply to casual relationships? Does that apply to marriage? Does that apply to relationships with family? With society?

These days!

Tanhai Mein Faryaad To Kar Sakta Hoon

Veranay Ko Aabad To Kar Sakta Hoon
Jab Chahoon Tumhein Mil Nahi Sakta Laikin
Jab Chahoon Tumhein Yaad To Kar Sakta Hoon

Maine Pur Noor Sitaaron Mein Tumhe Dekha Hai
Maine Masoom Baharon Mein Tumhe Dekha Hai
Achi Surat Ko Sanwarne Ki Zaroorat Kia Hai
Sadgi Mein Bhi Qayamat Ki Ada Hoti Hai

hum ibaadat mein rasmon ke qaayil nahi
tujhko dekha toh yaad e khuda ho gayi

The Death of A Farmer

"Arre ruk ja re bande, arre tham ja re bande,
yeh kismat hans padegi ho!"

These words are on a repeat in my mind since the mind numbing news of the death of Gajendra Singh, the farmer who committed suicide in the Aam Aadmi Party rally was seen on television, sitting in my AC room. I so wish someone could have told him those words.

The Reason for Suicide
Taking a myopic view of the damage caused due to the crops because of the unseasonable rains could be the prime reason for the suicide. But this view is fraught with a lot of doubts, since the family of Gajendra has asserted that though there was sadness due to it, it couldn't have been a reason for the suicide. Was it, as some politicians have said, an instigated suicide, where due to emphatic assertions in the rally, Gajendra could not see his future not being what he would have desired, and thus committed suicide?

One thing is for sure, that the farmer of today is not happy. Let us increase the scope of the reasons.

A recent report states that farmers do not want their next generation to be farmers and that majority of them are  not happy being farmers. If so is the reason, then we have a very long term problem at hand, that where the economy is not ready to accommodate the number of people that it can employ to give 'a decent standard of living'. It was with this view that the MNREGA scheme for employment was started. Gajendra had, ignoring the long delays of payments involved in the scheme, an alternative mechanism to earn for his family. Can it also be said, given the last decade where agriculture related official number of suicides have come down, though it could be a case of under-reporting but not questioning the numbers here, that the suicide was not related to absolute poverty at all, but that related to relative poverty?

Relative poverty, in simple terms is when the rich become richer and the poor become poorer, and poverty defined here is not just in the economic sense, but social and political sense as well. Since the 1990s, the relative distance between the rich and the poor is on an increase and this could be seen as a situation by the farmers of haplessness, thus taking such extreme step?

Or, this could just be a bizarre incident, where Gajendra, either lost control of his senses to take a right decision at the spur of the moment?


Solution
It cannot be ascertained as to what the reason was. What can, though be ascertained is that the economy is full of distress. And for that structural long term solutions are urgently needed.

There is a glut of labour, which is not finding employment and hence has to join agriculture.
Structural changes are required in the economy to shift it from agriculture to more productive alternatives of manufacturing.

Agricultural productivity also, using the newer scientific techniques of production shall be increased. If we are able to match the rice productivity of China, we would be able to double our production!

Mental health centers should also be made to open in rural areas and should be administered well. A recent report shows our nation's total negligence on this front.

The youth should be skilled, not just educated so that they are able to find meaningful employment.

In the short term, the government can implement populist measures of increasing the wage rate in MGNREGA scheme and increasing the number of days of employment, though through Aadhar card based direct debit transfer, stop politicians to make inflammatory speeches and start a communication campaign for psychological counselling for the poor.

Conclusion
"Natha marega! Natha nahi marega!" was how Peepli Live made a mockery of the political class being so insensitive to the problems of the agricultural poor. The media was potrayed to make a tamasha in the movie, and so it did in Gajendra's case. What is required is to work on the structural problems of the Indian rural economy. Else, as the song, from Peepli Live concluded, " samay ki lal aandhi, kabristaan ke raste, arre latpat chalegi ho!", would come alive in the near future again!

Down the Memory Lane

I always used to find it a bit stupid. Tagging people on things like ...

What do you want to .... blah blah! And you fill it.

I did one back in 2009. I am glad I did. Just re-visited it now. Had stated that would learn to play the guitar if I had the time.

I learnt it!

Something for myself!