Most of the people who are reading this post were born in a free, economically resurgent and forward looking India. Our parents’ generation is responsible for having gotten us this far. But while they have achieved a lot, they could not succeed in solving a host of extremely pressing problems and dilemmas facing us today. The baton is in our hands now. We can choose to maintain the status quo or take a stand and change the society we all crib about. Here are a few things our generation needs to leave behind.

“Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” – Edmund Burke

5. Public Apathy.

While not all of us are indifferent to the plight of our fellow citizens, we still get to read and hear about horror stories where people just stood by and did nothing as their fellow man faced mortal peril or grievous insult. People have done nothing as women got molested in front of them. The police just stand around accident victims. Recently, when a tiger in a Delhi zoo mauled a young man who had fallen into its enclosure, it was appalling to see how people were more concerned about recording the incident on their phones rather than helping the poor soul out. We need to understand that apathy has its consequences. God forbid, what if a loved one were in trouble and no one would come forward to help? What goes around comes around.

6. Our out-dated education system.

Our education system is basically a relic of the British era. Its geared more towards producing brainless drones for “service” rather than enlightened, confident individuals. It’s emphasis on rote learning and competition completely takes the joy out of learning. The teachers don’t care about teaching and the students aren’t interested in “learning.” Why can’t we take a page from Finland’s book? They have no exams, pay their teachers like doctors and yet their students consistently score among the best in the world. It’s going to be tough doing that here, yes. But we can start. Let’s get rid of our so called “padhey likhey ganwaars.”