Accountability -Difficult But Essential

“जीवन की एक बड़ी विडम्बना यह है कि हम सदा दूसरो के कार्यों को देखते है, उनकी समालोचना करते हैं । कभी न अपने विचारों और कार्यों पर दृष्टि डालते हैं, न उनका आकलन करते है, बल्कि हम हमेशा स्वयं को सही मानते हैं । अपने इस अहंकार की मार हम पूरे उम्र खाते हैं ।” – Shri Gulab Kothari Ji in Raj Patrika

(One of the greatest ironies of life is we always look at the actions of others and criticize them. We never introspect nor do we assess our actions and thoughts and always consider ourselves right. And this arrogance holds us back, all our life)

A student at the Ambedkar University Delhi was recently stopped from taking her final semester exams till she paid fine for derogatory remarks posted by her against the CM and state Education Minister during the university’s online convocation ceremony. Following which, the Education Minister reached out to the university to cancel the fine, stating that ‘no student should be punished for exercising their right to free speech within the university space.’ This step was highly welcomed by student bodies and fundamental rights activists alike.

The concept of Human Rights is foundational to a society’s growth and wellbeing. It is what makes us civil and aims at providing a dignified life to all. But incidents like these make me wonder if today, amidst this growing obsession with ‘rights’, all we are left with is little or no capacity to understand and appreciate the concept of ‘accountability and its consequences’. I am in no way against an individual’s basic rights and neither am I, an advocator of punishment as a corrective tool; also, I firmly believe that institutes should be safe spaces for students to freely voice their opinion, debate and develop points of view but I also understand that for true progress, building a culture of accountability is integral.

 

The word accountability is neither unfamiliar nor unexplored. Yet, its understanding is rather slender; we pre dominantly limit it to the armed forces, corporate work culture or workplace ethics, and this is why we fail to realize its importance. Accountability is a behavioral characteristic, a quality where the person takes full responsibility of his / her actions – all the actions, good or bad, right or wrong, foolish or wise, and understands the consequences attached. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? Why then do we more often than not, fail to behave accountably? It is because our entire race finds holding someone else responsible, especially for our own wrongdoings, convenient.

 

So, when a mother wrongly or by chance says something to a child that the child does not like and misbehaves, an obvious justification would be ‘it was the child’s reaction to an unfair treatment’. But if we understand accountability, we will understand that misbehavior is misbehavior, and it cannot be justified as a reaction to someone else’s wrongdoings. In this case, the mother is responsible for her wrong actions and the child for his. Similarly, when elected honorable members create a ruckus in parliament/assembly meetings and justify their behavior by saying `when they were in opposition, things were worse`, it is them being obnoxiously unaccountable. Because not one party or front is going to rule forever, hence is it justified to behave in a manner which they do not approve today?

 

The shameful act of Draupadi’s cheer-haran was justified by Kauravas as an act to avenge insult meted out to them. Kans, on his deathbed justified his intentions and attempts to kill Lord Krishna as the only way to prevent his own assassination. He even justified imperialism and his acts of harassment as a reaction to the injustice and discrimination that, as a child, he and his mother were subjected to by his own clan and the general populace. The list of examples of unaccountable behavior, even from our mythological teachings is long enough. But the bottom line is, as Lord Krishna said “व्यक्ति चाहे जितना भी महान हो, व्यक्ति पर हुआ अन्याय चाहे जितना भी निष्ठुर हो, तब भी किसी सामर्थ्यवान व्यक्ति को अपना एकाधिकार स्थापित करने का अधिकार नहीं जाता। एक अन्याय का सामना उससे बड़े अन्याय द्वारा नहीं किया जाता।“

(No matter how great or capable a person is or however cruel the injustice done to him may be, even then, nothing gives him the right to establish his lordship and rule over others. Responding to an injustice by a more severe one is wrong and potentially fatal) 

Thus, meaning that this vicious cycle of reactions to immoral and unfair behavior will only lead to anarchy, because an eye for an eye will make the whole world blind. And we might not always be lucky enough to find Pandavas or Lord Krishna help re – establish the order.

Being accountable is thus, understanding that our life – the decisions and choices we make, including the choice of sometimes not making a decision, are fully our responsibility. A lot of you would be thinking of ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’ already and honestly that is a natural reaction; it is probably the way we are wired. But in reality, each one of us knows when we have done something wrong or not done something that we promised to. For e.g., if a teacher is unable to manage the class, he/she might blame children for that, when in reality it is his/her own inability not to have controlled the class. The children should be held accountable for their behavior but teachers should not forget their action.  This is applicable in reverse also. If we introspect and consider self as accountable then nobody will need to look for reasons outside but within. I am not saying that the children who do not behave well in the class are not to be corrected. They should also be held accountable for their behavior. And the teacher should also be accountable for his/her own disposition. Though our reaction to mistakes can manifest in many ways, the productive one will be wherein we own up to our shortcomings and resort to corrective actions. The other ways will make us seek to cover up or feel incompetent and ultimately behave defensive.

For e.g., in the event of a fine levied on the student from AUD, she felt it was unfair as she was one among the many who posted nasty comments. And imposing a fine only on her made her feel like being picked on, resulting in a defensive behavior. The government authorities waived off the fine, calling her behavior ‘exercising Freedom to Speech and Expression’. What I do not understand is the university fined her because she resorted to an ‘out of place’ behavior. And clearly, being one among the many does not reduce her accountability or give her the right to act self - justifying. Why then was there a need for this ‘Freedom to Speech and Expression’ angle to the entire incident?

In my opinion, what actually got waived was a consequence of wrongful behavior, turning her into an unaccountable citizen. I agree that exercising a right is important, but what is more important is learning to exercise it productively. And not to take sides with any particular political party, insulting a leader or any person just for the sake of insulting especially when it is uncalled for, on inappropriate platforms, places, times or occasions, throwing shoes or tomatoes or eggs or ink – are all acts, the opposite of productive, which cannot be justified and thus need to be condemned.

We often hear people at work offering explanations like ‘the reason I could not do this is because X did not do that’ or ‘the email went to my SPAM, so I wasn’t sure if that work was assigned to me’. More relevant here is the excuse of not looking at emails (which are significantly important) than looking at redundant messages on WhatsApp. We seldom see people coming forward to say, ‘I am sorry, let me see what I can do to make things right for you’. The problem with our society today is the line between accountability and blame stands very blurred, leading us in the wrong direction. Accountability should not be equated to blame or punishment. Accountability is taking responsibility of failures and of finding solutions - by applying the lessons of past and present to improve future results. It makes one’s actions rise above excuses, overcome fears and gather the courage and willingness to answer questions from those affected. Accountability isn’t burdening rather it liberates by helping honour and at times even exceeding one’s standards, understanding lacunas and making correct choices. This does not mean that it comes without consequences – both positive and negative. In fact, accountability without consequence, is no accountability at all. All it means is that the consequences are neither unwelcomed nor unproductive.

And should this trait of being accountable be acquired only once we are ‘mature enough’. Certainly not. Every parent should be accountable for bringing up accountable children who then turn into accountable adults, creating an accountable and hence a productive society. The earlier we start, the better, after all, old lessons die hard. Therefore, let us explain to our children that a wrong behavior, even as a reaction to another person’s ill doing, is still wrong and will attract a consequence. 

In a recent podcast episode by Rob Dial, titled ‘Your Life is Your Decisions’, he uses a very appropriate quote, “You are born looking like your parents, but you’ll die looking like your decisions” to emphasize the fact that a person’s life at any given point in time, is a combination of decisions one makes throughout. Being born in a certain set of circumstances – family, religion, culture or country, things that one has no control over, will only have as much impact as one chooses to let. What one can choose is to pick the good and leave behind the bad and transit from what is to what they want to be. No stories of people rising against the odds or even maintaining a legacy of success have or will ever be possible without the element of accountability. Nonetheless, children holding the parents responsible for their subject choices might be reasonable, however, the unsuccessful career choices is their (young adults) prerogative.  Failures does not just mean monetary failures. It also mean unsuccessful relationships. One major reason, in my opinion, for the increasingly short - term marriages, rising number of divorces and nuclear families is the paucity of accountability. Our capability to accept mistakes and make adjustments has become practically non - existent. When all we do is point fingers at others and never feel the need to introspect or mend our ways, nurturing a relationship filled with joy, affection and respect will remain a distant dream. Until both the partners be accountable for their action things would be difficult to be better. This all  has got to be instilled right from the beginning. The family and the schools would have to understand that we all act as role models for our children. If adults own the responsibility and feel accountable for all the outcomes of their action then children will learn it automatically. While thinking about this article I realised that many a times we let our children believe that their action or outcome was due to parents or teachers, then the child may not correct self ever. The parents and teachers are to be held accountable for their action but at the same time children should also be accountable for their own action or behavior.

Our children will be at disadvantage if we do not show them the way. In the name of freedom of speech social media platforms should not be used to demean the society and the country. The politicians, government officials, Judiciary, journalists, media houses, teachers and heads of institutions must own the accountability and when that happens the world will be great place to live for everyone.

 

The crux of it all is simple - at the end of the day, without personal accountability we cannot grow nor can we ever improve ourselves. Whether we realise and accept it or not, the responsibility of our life lies with us, and that is why this rare characteristic should be considered essential – it makes us not just better professionals and leaders but also better parents, children and spouses; constructive and contributory members of the society. And thinking along these lines is the only way forward on the path of betterment. To conclude, I’d like to share with you all, a short but thought provoking quote shared with me by my wife, Ms Sangeeta Yadav, “यदि कोई हमारी अच्छी आदतों के कारण अपनी बुरी आदतें नहीं बदलता तो हम उसकी बुरी आदतों के कारण अपनी अच्छी आदतें क्योँ बदलें. क्या हमारे चरित्र का अस्तित्व इतना ही है, के किसी और की बुरी आदतों की वजह से, हम अपनी  अच्छी आदतें बदल दें”

(If people do not change their bad habits due to our good habits, then why should we change our good habits because of their bad habits.  the existence of our character so bleak that someone else’s bad habits make us change our good ones)