Make Less Waste and Save Environment

“Our land is our mother” – it is a very old quote. Land gives us whatever we need. It gives us food, fruits, survival, money, and shelter. However, are we giving anything good to land except waste and dirt? Based on statistics, around 8000 metric tonne waste is produce on a regular basis and it is dump outside cities. People living in outside skirts areas are the most affected. For poor people it is a medium of earning money. Daily rag pickers search for materials to earning money.

Last week while travelling, I was shocked to see Delhi landfills near the by-pass area. It was like a huge mountain and poor people were searching and filling rags. It was very difficult to breathe in that area. It not only affects environment but also the health of peoples living in that area. Every people living on this planet produce this waste. The day is not far when we will see negative impacts of this waste on our planet. Increase in global warming is the common example of this. One cannot burn this waste because the gases, which will be there after burning, will kill million of people. The impacts of this waste are on surface water contamination. Water bodies are being polluted and this affects all ecosystems existing in water. Another impact is increase in pollution and Delhi is termed as most polluted city in year 2014. Hazardous chemicals that get into soil harm plants and trees. Animals are also affected by this waste produced by us because they also feed themselves in the waste.

Waste and dust also have an economic impact. Everyone wants to visit clean, healthy environment places but because of increase in waste, there are no such places around us. A city with poor sanitation, smelly and with waste matter all over the place does not attract good people, investors, and tourists. Such cities tend to have poor living standards.

The only solution of this problem is to make less waste and utilize more of the waste material. This is possible only when each one of us joins hands and takes regular measures to make less waste. This, not only will save our environment but also will have healthy living standard. Another solution is recycling of this waste. Government need to invest in recycling and proper waste control. This will also increase job opportunities for people and we can live in a healthy environment. Adopting sustainability is also an important measure to save environment.

There is a famous quote said by Mahatma Gandhi – “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s needs, but not every man’s greed.”

Child Labour

During the Industrial Revolution, children as young as five years of age were forced to work in production factories with dangerous and fatal conditions. The same understanding of children working as labour is now considered as Child Labour.

In India, According to census 2001 figures there are 1.26 crore working children in the age group of 5-14 as compared to the total population of 25.2 crore. However, there are 12 lac children working in hazardous conditions. This problem of child labour continues to be a woe for Indian Government. Government has taken various pro-active measures to tackle this problem but it seems that the efforts of government have borne the desired fruits and it requires much more effort.

Poverty and lack of education are the main cause of Child Labour in India. Parents force their child to work in factories, hotels, restaurants to earn money. Most of the children start working just after they know how to walk which affects their whole life. This has become a tradition for poor people. They feel that this is their work and only medium of earning money.

I was travelling to Dehradun and suddenly I looked at a ‘dhaba’ where around 15 children between 5-15 years of age were working as a waiter. Few of them were washing glasses and plates and the others cleaning tables and serving food. Owner of that restaurant was proudly seated on counter and charging money from the people. Then I thought what could be the reason for these kids to work here? May be the owner find it a very cheap and dedicated labour or there might be the family conditions of these kids. However, whatever was the reason this issue is what makes a child life hell.

Many of us visit restaurants or barber shop, saying loudly ‘Oe chotu idhar aa’ and giving them work as they are not human beings. No, friends this is not humanity. We should join hands together to stop this problem in our country. One should not depend on government measures or actions. ‘We the citizens of this country’ have every right to stop this. Many government committees in India like Gurupadswamy Committee is working on the issue of Child Labour and suggesting measures to tackle it.

It is not about other kids, it is about a nation and future of millions. One should not think, why should I care about others I am happy in my life. Friends there is a famous saying ‘One man can change the entire nation’. Now a day’s every man is saying only one man name i.e. Narendra Modi and once a time in his life he was a tea vendor and now the PM of a country. So one should not underestimate a child and let them force to work before they know what life is all about.

There is a famous slogan – “Children are surprise gift from given by god, open, and bring them forward for all good things.”

PERSONALITY

The word “Personality” comes from a Greek word “Persona” which means, “mask.” “Persona” was used in play by Greek Stage Players to present them, as they wanted to be. Hence, here we come to know that whatever is presented by us is only our personality.

According to the Cambridge International Dictionary of English your personality is the type of person you are, which is shown by the way you behaved, feed, and think.

“Personality,” according to the Longman Dictionary of contemporary English, is the whole nature or character of a person.

How a person behaves, feels, and thinks, how he conducts himself in a given set of circumstances is largely determined by the state of his mind. When we sit for a few minutes trying to pray or think of a divine name or form, our mind start wondering, thinking about some past event or some plans.

Swami Vivekananda once said: Free! We who cannot for a moment govern our own mind, cannot hold our minds on a subject, and focus it on a point to the exclusion of everything else for a moment! Yet we call over selves free. According to the Bhagawad Gita, the indiscipline mind acts as our enemy, whereas a trained main acts as our friend too. Therefore, we need to have a clear idea of the mechanism of our mind, as it will contribute to the under-development our personality.

The following famous quotation of Swami Vivekananda can be our mantra for Personality development. “Each soul is potentially divine. The goal is to manifest his divinity within by controlling nature, external and internal” and “Strengthening of will power is the essence of Personality development.” Faith in oneself, positive thoughts, attributes towards failure and mistakes, self-reliance, Ruination, and service are some essential qualities for Personality development. Therefore, if want to develop our Personality. We must furnish our behaviour first and should have above-mentioned qualities.

A Poor Man Labour of Love

Dashrath Manjhi, a poor man from Bihar (India) made history when he chisels down a mountain in two decades. He uses his tools to create path for his community members. He is also known as Mountain Man. Everyday villagers from his town had to travel to other village to earn money, which was 70 kms away. One day his wife died due to an accident on mountain and he could not reach hospital because it was 70 kms away in the other town. This loss made the ambitious man to focus on his task.

If you are looking for an inspirational and motivational story then do not go far. Being an illiterate there was no option for him except to work in fields but the spark in him set out to carve a 1mk-long path through a rocky hillside, in order to make easier for his fellow villagers to access schools, markets, hospitals, and neighboring villages. People started taunting him in the beginning and called him mad for such a task but it was not possible for anyone to stop him. Now people in Bihar had nothing to say except “Mountain Man”.

With his chisel, hammer, and shovel this legendary man turned what was once a precarious one-foot wide passage into a 360 ft-long, 30 ft-wide road accessible by bicycles. Children had to walk eight kilometers to reach schools but that this brave man reduced distance to three kilometers.

Friends we always say “akela insaan kya pahad tod dega.” However, here is the answer of this old saying. Out of 1.2 billion population of our country, no one would dare to do such a task in today’s time but the man did it for his villagers and wife. This is such a motivational and inspirational story that no one would ever forget. He never received any compliments from Indian government except the path was named as “Dashrath Manjhi Road” in Gaya, Bihar.

In July 2010, director Manish Jha announced a film, Manjhi, based on the life of Dashrath Manjhi. Nawazuddin Siddiqui has been cast in the lead role in the film Mountain Man. Dashrath Manjhi story was also shown in Aamir Khan’s show Satyamev Jayate Season 1. I was so inspired by this story that it made me feel what am I doing for my country? One should take inspiration from this movie that if a person can carve out mountain alone then one can do anything in his life.

Source: Satyamev Jayate.