“Pessimistic and negative news in the media will spread faster, and may increase curiosity in the short run, but Optimistic and positive news will bring in long lasting change in the society in the long run”.
Mantra for bringing in the positive and long lasting change should be to,
· Spread Hope, optimism and positivism, so that it breeds enthusiasm,
· Spread knowledge with the application, it gives confidence
· Both enthusiasm and confidence leads to commitment
· Commitment leads to better results
· Better Results again will drive optimism, and the cycle will continue.
So, media is in a powerful position to fuel this engine and moderate as it moves on with relevant tweaking required at that point of time.
Media should run a consistent and continuous campaign with various themes (given in subsequent pages) to
· Bring Optimism in the society
· Make society responsible for making our lives better
· Make every one work in one profession or the other that is legal.
· Make people have balanced work life, so that in the long term, they lead a healthy and peaceful life.
· Develop local solutions for our local problems, without blindly copying from others.
Because of glorifying one profession especially the money making professions too much, common public in other professions have lost their confidence and become pessimistic. They have resorted cribbing and not taking their jobs seriously.
Instead, highlight the beauty of every profession, a) how one can make enough money to lead a comfortable life, b) how it adds value to the society / economy, so that every profession is taking seriously and with passion.
Because of sensationalizing crimes and frauds in the media, common public
· Have got tuned to the illegal ways of making money or taking life casually
· Have lost even the little ethics they had in the past
· Are substantiating their wrong doings by comparing to one of these high profile frauds or crimes.
· Also, budding fraudsters are getting the false confidence that society will accept them even if they are punished for their sins
So, every time there is some major catastrophic crisis, rather than treating one of the many manifestations of the wrong minds, it is better to seed them with the right ways of living and give everyone a confidence that each of them can make a living in righteous way.
Country is like a face in the human body, it is happy, smiling and pleasant if mind and body are in synchronous with each other and every organ of the human body is healthy and functional, whereas if any one of the organs has a problem, it will show up in the face.
So, country is made up of individuals, community, government (eyes) villages and cities (ears) and environment (Mind) individuals have to get education, have to earn for their livelihood (Nose), lead a healthy life and good living (Mouth).
Campaign Themes for building vibrant society
Every week, select one theme, publish series of background articles, discussions, expert opinions, highlight best practices and people following these in their daily life. Some of these are experience based, for which you can collect real examples / stories from the people and some are forward looking, which requires discussions from the common public and experts
Creating a prosperous country with
· Each of the citizens getting educated, working and earning legally, leading a healthy life and living a balanced life
· Bridging the gap between rural and urban lives, and improving the living conditions in both
· Working towards improving the community in which one lives
· Making the government deliver its promises.
· Providing an positive and optimistic environment
Health and Good Living
1. Living disease-free life
2. Overcoming ones’ inadequacies, taking responsible to overcome them
3. Virtues of simple living
4. Meditation : a way of life in the modern times
5. Good ways to beat Noise, air and water pollution
6. How people have created green cover around their living places in the cities, with minimum investment and water
7. Desi fashion
8. Ways to beat the stress and related diseases
9. Humor in daily life
10. Gen Next Gandhigiri
11. Managing personal crisis and Converting problems into opportunities
12. Secrets behind happy married life and How working couples overcome the challenges and lead a happy life
13. Good ways of taking care of parents especially in their old age.
14. Systematic ways of investment
15. Proactiveness in reality – in true sense
Education and Upbringing:
16. techniques Imparting good, practical and long lasting education
17. Overall development of the children
18. Raising special children
19. Raising prodigy / gifted children
20. Value systems for children
21. Students belonging to economically weaker sections or less privileged sections, who have excelled on their own hard work, without using the quotas available for them
22. Demystifying miracles – creating interest in the logic / science of the miracles
23. Role of children in bringing and sustaining the positive changes in the society
24. Demystifying some of the basic laws / rules for the common public
25. Perseverance or competence – ingredient for the success
26. How small steps lead to bigger results – writing, acting, and singing.
27. Knowing what one wants in life and pursuing it – person pursuing it and people around him supporting.
28. People who helped in others’ success
29. Sports beyond Cricket – Desi sports
30. Satisfaction of doing Higher education – opportunities and contribution
31. Pure science and arts education
32. Research & Development : contribution to the progress of the society
33. Amateur Literature, theatre and arts
34. Local science and technology that changed the life for the better
35. Overcoming bad habits
36. Pleasure of having hobby
37. Unknown /hidden talent
Earning – Agriculture, small business and Profession
38. Completeness and perfection in the work we do
39. Innovative ways to beat the high cost of inputs and labor in the agriculture sector
40. De-desertification / Re-forestation
41. Creating more employment opportunities in villages / small towns – increasing the employability – Job oriented, finishing school
42. Progressive / proud farmers – their mindset, approach to farming as well as life, their farming methods
43. Genuine empowerment of women at every level from house to shops to factories to offices to politics
44. Work is worship – Proud and Passionate auto drivers, carpenters, plumbers, Electrician and so on.
45. Moving up the value chain – how small businesses have moved up the value chain with their knowledge / experience ( more than money)
46. Innovative micro businesses
47. How to do business being honest – without cheating people or government agencies
48. Professions beyond IT
49. How small entrepreneurs are overcoming the challenges thrown by big MNCs
50. Cooperation to beat competition
51. Linkage between Working à Health à Happiness
52. Good things from developed nations and cultures
53. Inspirational stories / examples from our backyard
54. Homemakers : the real managers
55. Having encore profession – secondary profession to give back to the society
56. Senior citizens working for the passion of service
Villages and small towns
57. Happiness in living in villages and small towns
58. Employment exchanges – people benefitted from them
59. Reverse migration – people who have moved back from bigger cities to smaller towns or smaller towns to villages, and leading comfortable and peaceful life.
60. Creating jobs beyond agriculture in villages – how people can have living income in professions other than agriculture in the villages
61. Pleasure of hard working / farming62. Organic / natural farming
63. Indian / Desi ways of Entertainment
64. Friends of farmers – government officials, NGOs, businessmen
Cities
65. Ways to build comfortable houses and commercial complexes in Bangalore with adequate regard to the laws of land
66. Lakes in Bangalore and other major cities : past, present and future
67. Bonhomie among the neighborhood for happy and secure life
68. Ways to reduce the slums
69. Ways to restrict / curb both major and minor encroachments
70. Bridging the urban – rural divide
71. Good ways to drive on the roads, how not to create traffic jams.
72. Beauty of Kitchen gardens and leveraging free plots in the cities to grow nutritious vegetables organically.
73. Good Manners in the public place and workplace and Citizens’ role in maintaining the cleanliness in the public places.
Community
74. Innovative ways to save Water
75. Innovative ways to save electricity
76. Innovative ways to save fuel
77. Love for mother tongue
78. How media ( print, electronic and net) has brought in positive changes in the society
79. How to bring beggars into mainstream
80. How to bring third sex into mainstream
81. People: How not to contribute to corruption and How not to glorify corrupt officials
82. Making homes safer for old people especially single woman or man living in an independent house in particular and securing every house in general.
83. Social entrepreneurs – local innovations
84. Innovative ways to beat illiteracy
85. Country over self
86. Life beyond religion and caste – communal harmony
87. Citizens: Responsibilities and Duties in building the vibrant society and economy
Government – Executive, Political system and Judiciary
88. Reforms in the government functioning including adoption of technology
89. Honest tax payers in the non-salaried class.
90. Efficient and honest Government officials
91. Progressive/ forward-looking / caring politicians à improvements in their constituencies
92. Effectiveness of Government programs – People who have benefited from Government programs, how to make them reach to the needy.
93. Whistle blowers and improvements there after
94. Good not-for-profit initiatives in the region
95. Saving natural resources for the future generations
96. Useful Public projects : executed within the budget and no time overruns
97. Inspiring speeches by leaders that are relevant even today
98. Law is still there for me – judgments that impacted families / communities
99. Innovative ways to control the population – how to induce motivation for population control
100. Passionate professionals – teachers, doctors, police – their mindset, commitment and service
101. Innovative / Practical ways to make our cities secure against the terrorist attacks
Environment
- Media can be a real watch dog change agent in the true sense, identifying the challenges, providing insights and facilitate the sharing of solutions and approaches to help individuals make their life better in particular and India a better place to live, in general.
Side NotesSome of the themes are suited for Electronic Media, some for print media, some are suited for vernacular language media and some are for English channels. The themes are given in enough numbers which can give sufficient ideas for each of the players to do “Hope and Optimism” for a year. At the end of the day, it is not the idea that matters; it is the implementation that matters.