If ever there was a time to act in a spirit of renewed effort to usher in peace, a time to revive Vocational Service back into Rotary, it is now.
A section of our population is just waiting for a chance to earn their first salary, however small it may be. Vocational services means empowering someone with a job and pull them not just out of unemployment but poverty too. Vocational Service is empowering men and women to end their own hunger.
Work is an important part of every person’s life; it defines who we are and without work we often feel socially excluded.
For young people, finding a stable job position is also a symbol that marks the transition from childhood to adulthood.
In finding employment, young people find independence and a freedom of choice about their lives. It gives them a certain degree of economic security that is often a prerequisite for partnership formation and parenthood.
Vocational Service is all about giving this security to people who wish to lead a simple life and develop the nation.
India as a nation is faced with massive problem of unemployment. Unemployment can be defined as a state of worklessness for a man or woman fit and willing to work. It is a condition of involuntary and not voluntary idleness.
Vocational service, as I see it, makes these people wake up to opportunities of employment or self-employment by learning the required skills that the new decade demands.
India’s labour force is growing at a rate of 3 per cent annually, but employment is growing at only 2.3 per cent. Thus, the country is faced with the challenge of not only absorbing new entrants to the job market but also clearing the backlog.
It is said that right is not what someone gives you; it’s what no one can take from you. Yet we find in India and many other developing countries the human right to live a decent life has been taken away from a vast section of the population. As I understand, Rotary’s Vocational Service says that it is your right to give them their right to live.
For a country whose population of women alone is more than the total population of many other countries, we seem to be lagging far behind where their treatment is concerned. Vocational Service, as I see it, will give half our population an equal world.
Every October Rotary Club leaders meet in the plush atmosphere of hotels to reaffirm our founding charter, our faith in fundamental principles of peace, justice, human rights and equal opportunity for all. But, they assess the state of the economy, engage on the key issues of the day and disperse. There is little or no activity concerning vocational service. Rhetoric has always been in abundance in clubs while discussing about worthwhile vocational service activities.
But this Rotary year should be different. October, I know, has gone. But not our faith in vocational service. That October should be designated as Vocational Service month, the month Gandhi was born, is a reason to take a relook at our efforts in promoting this avenue of service.
Gandhiji might have gone, but even today his vision of creating employment through cottage industry has proved correct for our country. In fact, Alvin Toffler’s book, The Third Wave, forecasts that the world will go back to Gandhi’s thoughts of cottage industry, though in a slightly different avatar.
When we talk about Vocational service as a tool to bring in lasting peace in this world, many people have cocked a snook at it. As I see it, without a proper vocation for everybody our rational civil society will be forced to surrender to a cocoon of poverty ridden desert society.
Vocational service projects have to be eco-friendly to be sustainable in the long run in rural and semi-urban areas which have maximum unemployment.
As I see it, the first step is to ensure that knowledge comes within the reach of everyone. Rotary’s principle, which I can say is centered around Gandhi’s futuristic and prophetic vision, envisages the right of every human being to live with dignity. We cannot be hypocrites by simply talking about the greatness of Rotary and make a show of austerity when people around us starving. The first step in starting a vocational service project, as I see, is to have a simple life with high thinking.
We are facing many crises –food, recession, diseases and conflict, hitting all at once. Vocational service requires recognizing the need for an agreement all members of the club can embrace in line with their capabilities, consistent with what the market requires.
To be sure, issues concerning vocational service projects are complex and difficult. A report of the United Nations titled ‘Voices of the Vulnerable’ says that the near-poor are becoming new poor. The report states that an estimated 100 million people could fall below the poverty line this year.
This is an indication that those restless minds can turn angry and even become violent, if something is not done now. Vocational service activity of Rotary is one way of meeting this challenge.
Listening to the speech of PRIP Rajendra K Saboo during the 2009 International Assembly in San Diego on Vocational Service, I was struck by his passion, commitment and determination to turn a page from the past and give vocational service a new direction.
From confronting unemployment to creating sustainable peace and building a more equitable economy, I can see that the task is very very big. No national government can alone deal with any of these challenges. But, as a people united, the Rotarians worldwide can make a difference.
In India, some state governments are facing the problem of waging an undeclared war against their own people, who have been branded as disruptive forces. But one common element in all these cases has been the lack of genuine concern for the people deprived of even their basic needs. Most of the people who have joined together to disrupt the daily life in towns and villages were never born as people with violent character. Somewhere, they felt that the system of allocation of resources amongst the people was not fair and when in most cases there was no machinery to redress their grievance, they took up to violence, just to be heard.
As citizens of the country and as Rotarians, if we don’t start moving and moving now, a showdown between the have and have-nots may become inevitable. Growth projected on paper or discussed enthusiastically in cocktail circuits, is not enough to hold the people together. Social tensions that are bubbling beneath the surface must be addressed. Benefits of your prosperity must percolate down. Otherwise the success stories of a few individuals could end up in tears.
As I see it, the situation is grave, but still under control. It is still not too late, if we, Rotarians decide to act.
In my travels to many parts of India, especially in the polio endemic areas where poverty, illiteracy and ignorance is still rampant, I was able to see that there was a great deal of optimism, surprisingly even amongst the most economically backward societies.
These are people who have never benefitted from the new prosperity that we are seeing in India. I could see that their optimism stemmed from the assumption that eventually they can see a better life for their children and themselves.
This confidence is largely built by seeing you, the Rotarians, who have been working tirelessly for eradication of polio. But I can also see that their optimism can wear out soon, if we do not do something now.
Vocational service of Rotary focuses on:
1. Adherence to and promotion of the highest ethical standards in all occupations, including fair treatment of employers, employees, associates, competitors, and the public.
2. The recognition of the worthiness of all useful occupations, not just those that are pursued by Rotarians.
3. The contribution of your vocational talents to solving the problems of society and meeting the needs of the community.
I must focus on the last point of using your vocational talents to solve the problems of the society. I see this as the most vital factor that can attempt to create a society that can live in harmony.
What you do now can result in big gains when the economy grows faster. An activity in vocational service requires sea-change in the mindset of the wealthy people. It is better to have a growth rate which would reduce the gap between the rich and the poor and ensure that no child remains hungry or uneducated.
Many clubs have been conducting courses for training electricians, carpenters, automobile mechanics, computer hardware maintenance personnel and many more such vocations. I can say with confidence that every individual who has passed these courses is today an individual living with self-respect and dignity, thanks to Rotary.
I was excited to see the bakery set up by Rotary in Chennai. The products made by the bakery are patronized by the Rotarians there and the trainees also find employment in five star hotels.
With less than 1 percent of India’s GDP being spent on healthcare, the scenario is not very pleasant. Private health and medical facilities in rural and semi- urban areas can open up a huge opportunity for training nurses, attenders, medical shop assistants and people connected with health sector. Even if one doctor per club decides to do this, thousands of jobs can be created.
Statistics shows that more than 18 million children are employed in industries and other activities that can be termed dangerous. The greatest service you can do is to stop this. Stop this in your home, your business, your factory and in your vicinity.
I would say that such efforts result in huge advantage. But there is more to be done. I see that most Rotary Clubs have the means but not the desire to take up vocational service projects. As I see it, vocational service in some clubs is limited to distributing the 4 Way Test placards, giving classification talks and presenting vocational award to some individuals. While, the importance of such activities cannot be undermined, these alone do not constitute a vocational service project.
I see that the gradual degradation of ethical values is the main reason for most of our social ills. I would ask you to recollect the first objective of vocational service. It is about adherence and promotion of high ethical standards. I hope that a day does not come when the need to adhere to ethical standards is questioned! I am afraid, but many clubs and districts are flouting all ethical standards during the election process. You cannot be good in parts.
Isn’t it sad that we expect honesty and fair play from others we are often unprepared to extend these attributes to others?
We have our responsibility as an individual in practicing and promoting fair play and honesty in our dealings with others. It must be our crusade and our mission. Let these permeate to allow business or professional bodies so that they, in turn, can promote that rare commodity, which we call ETHICS.
As I see, vocational service projects need plans that can be implemented through people, as it affects their life directly. Each person should be prepared for the training and professional help and leadership must be provided. I see these qualities in abundant measure in every Rotarian. The question is, will they use it?
If Gandhiji, a simple man, could lead an entire nation to win over a colonial power with just a walking stick and spinning wheel,
Rotarians who sport the Rotary Wheel can conquer unemployment by creating mass employment opportunities in the small and cottage industry sectors. The way to do this, as I see, is to be both the messenger and the message.
Gandhiji’s ideas for peace were a feat of craftsmanship. Rotary’s peace programmes can be classified in the same manner. The peace scholars use their vocational skills and resolve conflicts. But, if people are too busy with the work they like, there will be little time for conflicts! Vocational service’s objective, as I see it, is to create this conducive climate. There is nothing passive here. Vocational service is constructive. It is an activity to stimulate the inventiveness in every citizen. Impossible demands? But the impossible is what Rotary conquers.