Three areas Hindus must be concerned about are: decision making at the state level; health and fitness; and wealth generation.
How are Hindus doing in all three. Some may say not bad but given our numbers we must answer if we are doing good. I would contend that a few families and individuals are doing fine but their success would be short lived. These ‘successful’ individuals, sooner than later, would come to the realization that their success is linked with their community. Theodore Herlz (1860-1904), founder of the Zionist Movement learned that the hard way. A successful lawyer, he was well positioned in Parisian social circle until the Dreyfus Affairs where Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish officer in the French army was falsely accused of spying for Germany. The arrest triggered protests on the streets with the shouts ‘death to the Jew.” This bitter experience jolted Herzl and led him to form the Zionist Organization with the objective of Jews having their own homeland.
Hindus must not only win scholarships but work to win senior positions in the state apparatus to shape policies. Too many ‘bright’ individuals become professionals and render their services with excellence but avoid the public service where decisions are taken to shape the destiny of the nation. We need to work for the welfare of the community; not for personal success!
My second area of concern is health and fitness. With diabetes, hypertension, heart diseases overwhelming the community, desperate measures must be taken to arrest this calamity. A sport program needs to be developed, especially among youth. It is a medical fact that regular exercises contribute to good health.
Instead of young medical personnel aspire to expound the scriptures from the singhasan, they should use their professional knowledge and skills to educate the population on health issues. Today diabetes is the biggest challenge to the Hindu family. Some urgent steps have to be taken to arrest this scourge. Without good health, life has no meaning!
Security is integral to national development. Law and order are integral to economic development. Are we to leave law and order in the hands of others. It is about time that employment in national security be embraced as a career option as much as law, medicine and business management. A concerted effort need to be in place to prepare Hindus for a career in the security services.
My third area of interest is wealth creation. We need to move into the private limited companies which provide the forum for capital to be pooled and consultation are held before decisions are made. The sole trader enterprises are good but it cannot compete with the large business enterprises that run the insurance companies, the banks, manufacturing and even the service industry including foods, drinks and entertainment.
This is a skeletal outline I have provided. I hope that Hindus can come together and address these issues for their survival. Trinidad and Tobago and the diaspora would only succeed when Hindus began playing their roles. At present we are more focused on individual and family survival, thus our ability to win scholarship but unable to guide the nation forward. We need to think like a unit and not like an individual.
