According to an ancient Sanskrit saying, woman is the home
and the home is the basis of society. It is as we build our homes that we can
build our country. If the home is inadequate, either in material goods and
necessities or in the sort of friendly and loving atmosphere that every child
needs to grow and develop, then that country cannot have harmony. A country
which does not have harmony cannot grow in any direction at all. That is
why women's education is more important than the education of boys and
men. We have neglected women education. When I was a child, the story of early
days of women's education in England was very current. Everybody remembered
what120 had happened in the early days. I remember what used to
happen here. I still remember the days when living140 in old Delhi
even as a small child of seven or eight. I had to go out in a palanquin160 if I left the
house. We just did not walk. Girls did not walk in the streets. This was in a
family or community which did not observe purdah of any kind at all. In fact,
all our social functions were mixed functions but this was the atmosphere of
the city and of the country. Now, we have got education and there is a
debate all over the country whether this education is adequate to the
needs of society or240 the needs of our young people. I am one of those who
always believe that education needs a thorough overhauling. But at the same
time, I think that everything in our education is not bad and
that even the present280 education has produced very fine men and women,
specially scientists and experts in different fields, who are in great
demand all over the world and even in the most affluent
countries. Many of our young people leave us and go320 abroad because
they get higher salaries and better conditions of work. But it is not a one-sided
business because there are many who are persuaded and cajoled to
go even when they are reluctant. We know of first-class students, especially360 in medicine or
nuclear energy, where they are approached long before they have passed out and
offered all kinds of inducements to go out. Now, that shows that people
do consider that they have a standard of knowledge and capability which
will be useful anywhere in the world. That is why I say that there is
something worthwhile. 420 It also shows that our own ancient philosophy has taught
us that nothing in life is entirely bad or entirely good. Everything is
somewhat of a mixture and it depends on us and our capability how we can
extract the good, how we can make use of what is around us. There are people
who, through observation, can learn from anything that is480 around them.
There are others who can be surrounded by the most fascinating people,
the most wonderful books, and other things and who yet remain quite closed in
and they are unable to take anything from this wealth around them.
Our
country is a very rich country. It is rich in culture; it is rich in many old
traditions and even modern traditions. Of course, it has a lot of bad things
too and some of the560 bad things are in the society, like superstition, which
has grown over the years and which sometimes clouds over the shining
brightness of ancient thought and eternal values. Then, of course, there is
the physical poverty of large number of our people. That is600 something
which is ugly and that hampers the growth of millions of young boys and
girls. We have to fight against all these bad things and that is what we
are doing since Independence. But, we must not allow640 this dark
side of the picture which exists in every country in the world. Even the
richest country in the world has its dark side, but usually other people
hide their dark sides and they try to project the shining side or the
side of achievement.
Here in India, we seem to want to project the worst side
of700 society. Before anybody does anything, he has to have
knowledge and capability, but along with it he has to have a certain720 amount of
pride in what he is doing. He has to have self-confidence in his own
ability. If your teacher tells you that you cannot do this, even if you are
a very bright student, it will be more and more difficult for you
to do it. But if your teacher encourages you to try a little harder, then you
will try a little harder and you will be able to do it. It is the
same with societies800 and with countries. India has had remarkable achievements to
its credit, of course in ancient times, but even in modern times. I think
there are a few modern stories, success stories, which are as fascinating as
the success story of our840 country. It is true that we have not
banished poverty, we have not banished many of our social ills, but if
you compare us to what we were just about 27 years ago, I think you will not
find a single other country that has been able to achieve so much under the most
difficult circumstances. Today, we are passing through dark days. But
these are not dark days for India alone. Except for the countries
which call themselves socialist and about which we do not really know very
much, every other country has the same sort of economic problems which
we have. Only a few countries, which have very small populations, have no
unemployment. Otherwise, the rich countries also960 have
unemployment. They have shortages of essential articles. They have shortages
even of food. I do not know980 how many of you know that the countries of Western
Europe and Japan import 41 per cent of their food requirements, whereas
India imports just under two per cent. Yet, somehow, we ourselves project an
image that India is out with the begging bowl. Naturally when we ourselves say
it, other people will say it louder and stronger. It is true that our
two per cent is pretty big because we are a very big country and we
have a far bigger population than almost any country in the world
with the exception of China. You have to try and see our1080 problems in
the perspective of what has happened here in this country and what
is happening all over the world. There is today great admiration for
certain things that have happened in other countries where the society
is1120 quite differently formed, where no dissent is allowed. The
same people who admire that system or the achievements of that system are the
ones who say there is dictatorship here, even though I think nobody has been
able to point out to me which country has more freedom of expression or
action. So, something is said and a lot of people, without thinking, keep on
repeating it with additions until an entirely distorted picture of the
country and of our people is1200 presented.
As I said, we do have
many shortcomings, whether it is the Government or the society.
Some are due to our traditions because not all traditions are good. One of
the biggest responsibilities of the educated women today is how to
synthesize what has been valuable and timeless in our ancient
traditions with what is good and1260 valuable in modern thought. All that is modern is not good
just as all that is old is neither all1280 good nor all
bad. We have to decide, not once and for all, but almost every week,
every month what is coming out that is good and useful to our country and what
of the old we can keep and enshrine in our society. To be modern, most
people think that it is something of a manner of dress or a manner of
speaking or certain habits and customs, but that is not really
being modern. It is a very superficial part of modernity. When you lead a
particular kind of life, your clothes, your everything has to fit into that
life if you are to be efficient. That is why, gradually, clothes and other
things have changed in some1400 countries because of the changes in the life-style. Does
it suit our life-style? We may adopt some of these things if they suit us and not
merely because they are followed in another country. What clothes we wear is really1440 quite
unimportant. What is important is how we are thinking. Sometimes, I am
very sad that even people who do science are quite unscientific in their
thinking and in their other actions or their attitudes towards other people.
Now, for India to become what we want it to become with a modern, rational
society and firmly based on what is good in our ancient tradition and in our
soil, we have to have a thinking public, thinking young women who are
not content to accept what comes from any part of the world but are
willing to listen to it, to analyze it and to decide whether it is to be
accepted or thrown out. This is the sort of education which we want, which
enables our young people to adjust to this changing world and to be able to
contribute to it. 1583
