With great joy and zest we celebrate the Independence day since
1947 and it is an occasion we all seriously discuss and deliberate on various
issues and challenges that our nation face; poverty, women empowerment, environmental
degradation, corruption, malnutrition, public health, social justice and
myriads of other issues. When I happened to listen to a discussion on social
justice and inequality, I recollected the speech of Mr. Mata Prasad Pandey, the
speaker of Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly. He was sharing his experience
while participating in in a session held as part of third Indian Student
Parliament held at Pune few months back.
He and his family were returning home after visiting a remote
village in the state by his official car and on the way he chanced up on an old
woman selling a different kind of fruit that he had never tasted before. He asked
the driver to stop the car being fascinated by the charming fruits in her
basket. He purchased for all his companions in the car and he could buy 10
fruits just for 5 rupees. With great eagerness he and his companions started
eating it and he liked it very much. Immediately he asked his driver to reverse
the vehicle and wanted to buy more for his family. The woman was surprised to
see him again and was little embarrassed. To her relief he said he liked the fruit
very much and it was for the first time he had such tasty fruit and that too
for damn cheap rate. He enquired how much he should pay for the whole fruit in
the basket. To his embarrassment the old poor lady replied, “If I give you the whole basket, what will
my villagers eat?”
Being humiliated at her response he just got into his car and
left. He was doubtful if she had got an
opportunity to be at least a literate in the remote village. Several questions
remained unanswered. Then what made her to raise the question of ‘distributive justice and selflessness’
instead of bargaining and selling her fruits to make a windfall profit and end
her business for the day easily. She definitely missed the important lessons of
successful marketing and profiteering. Is she fit for the liberalized, and
globalized world?
thought provoking ...
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