Yes, there is an alternative: You will find it when you realise that 'Sab Changa Si' is a lie...

Being an HR Professional is not only about making things better inside your organisation.

When you treat people with equity, meritocracy, transparency, inclusivity and respect as self-motivated and responsible adults, you also equally hold them accountable for their deliberate acts of omission and commission.

There is always that difficult conversation that needs to be had, no matter what.

Or who.

The mirror needs to be held up for the person to behold themselves.

This is true for individuals, teams, organizations.

And community (like this one: Linkedin).

A nation too.

Pratap Bhanu Mehta does it brilliantly here.

Of the five writs that our constitution enables, I would today go with Mandamus.

Mandamus is a command issued by a court to an authority directing it to perform a public duty imposed upon it by law. For example, when a body omits to decide a matter which it is bound to decide, it can be commanded to decide the same.

(Credit: https://www.legalserviceindia.com/legal/article-68-types-of-writs-in-indian-constitution.html )

I think the Doctors were right to want to walk to the Supreme Court to register their protest.

What I don't know however, is if it is possible to bring a writ of Mandamus against the CJI himself? And all the judges of all our constitutional courts.

Their credibility is at its lowest.

Our country has outstanding public servants. Some, even inspirational.

And yet most of these Judges, IAS Officers, IPS Officers and other Constitutional Office-holders have conspicuously failed to uphold their oath of office:

"

...I solemnly affirm that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India as by law established, that I will uphold the sovereignty and integrity of India, that I will faithfully and conscientiously discharge my duties and that I will do right to all manner of people in accordance with the Constitution and the law, without fear or favour, affection or ill-will.

"

When I started my entrepreneurial journey - the buzzword then was 'the demographic dividend'.

Every month India was adding about a million 18 year olds into its population. That's 10 lacs a month. 1.2 crore young adults a year.

Historically, a demographic dividend for a country has been a mixed bag, mostly tragic.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographic_dividend:

"

Demographic dividend is "the economic growth potential that can result from shifts in a population’s age structure, mainly when the share of the working-age population (15 to 64) is larger than the non-working-age share of the population (14 and younger, and 65 and older)".

In other words, it is a boost in economic productivity that occurs when there are growing numbers of people in the workforce relative to the number of dependents.

"

This was the tide that was supposed to lift all boats in India.

Fifteen years later - it has only lifted Ships; mostly large Ships.

The boats have all but sunk.

(90% of India's corporate profits accrue to 10 of India's biggest listed companies: https://marcellus.in/blogs/three-distinct-layers-of-polarization-in-the-indian-stock-market/ )

If the founders and CEOs here on Linkedin were honest with themselves, all they need check is where they were in their growth trajectories 10 years back, and where they are today ...

I sense that the present situation in our political-economic-social sphere is an irresistible tide of history - which is turning into a demographic disaster for us.

It is staring at us in the face for all those who still have eyes to see, and sensibilities they choose to use.

No matter all the parallels to Nazi Germany, we have created this monster all by ourselves.

And now, if you have eyes to discern, we have found the enemy.

It is us.

Do we now choose to build Living Bridges, or choose to spend time in the purgatory of hate & violence that we are surely headed to?

It depends.

On you.

Choose wisely. It will be more powerful than what any Writ of Mandamus can accomplish.

Happy New Year!

*Edit note: @Manasi: Thank you for your gentle insight yesterday that helped me turn my pain into an appeal to conscience of all good people of this earth, instead of lashing out and calling them names.