Admitting a Problem

Often we come across situation where people have 'problem' in accepting the real Problem.
We see people in 'denying mode' when they face some problem.

Let us look at  some of the recent issues  and the way people associated with these issues delt with them. 

 
• Govt. Handling of Anna Hajare movement.
• BCCI and Cricket Players reaction to fatigue issue.
• Delhi high court bomb blast and reaction given by concerned officials regarding security.

When Anna Hajare movement-2 started, Govt. felt they were prepared for it. So they went ahead and arrested Anna even before the protest was started.

But this step was a great mistake and fuelled the movement. But UPA was not ready to accept the fact that people are very angry and applied 'wait and watch' policy hoping protest is just a weekend drama and it will end very soon. Everyone was aware that the deadline of 15 days set by Anna was unrealistic (I think even Team Anna knew this) and passing the bill is not in govt. hand as UPA do not have the full majority.

It took 10 days to arrive at a solution that JLB will be presented in parliament and accepting\passing resolution is responsibility of the whole parliament.

In my opinion, they could have arrived at this solution after Anna's release from tihar jail itself.
By then Govt. had fair idea of size of this movement and they could have easily transfered the problem of passing the bill over to the parliament. But by dragging it for 10 days, UPA took whole blame on itself and made it a movement against the govt. But this movement was not against any particular govt. rather it was against whole corrupt political system across all parties.

Second incident was after the England series debacle, BCCI was bashed from all corners that they are very cruel on the players w.r.to scheduling the matches. But unfortunately BCCI is still in denial mode and takes defiant stand saying 'players can take rest from any series whenever they want'. But practically it is not possible for the players to take rest because of money and competition.

BCCI is not only denying this problem but also they want to prove a point by introducing more and more (half cooked) young players on international stage. This will definitely hurt team India's long term growth. It is very hard for coaching staff to concentrate and develop players when players come and go (due to injury) like passengers of a city bus!.

Third and most importantly the concerns raised regarding security threats.

We have seen numerous attacks by the terrorist groups. Things are not changing even after so many attacks. Home minister gives the statement that all necessary precautions have been taken to avoid such attacks but the fact is our security system (police and Intelligence) is too weak and lot of catch up to do to face current advanced terrorism. It is high time that our administrators admit that our fat belly police officers are neither focussed nor equipped to fight terrorism.

After each attack one or more terrorist groups claim the attack but even after so many attacks no branch of our security system admit that it is their failure which caused the attack!.

after delhi high court bomb  attack, It was very sad to see that in one of the TV shows ,a senior IPS officer was still not ready to accept that there is vigilance problem!.

Intelligence blame the police, police blame the politics.

                     Among all the issues discussed, the attitude of the concerned is same. i.e "Denying Mode". But this attitude takes longer time to solve the problem.

In our day-to-day life also we face such situations. But how many times do we admit that there is a problem?

We can take many examples in our daily life, But I have restricted myself only to generic or institutional problems in this post :-).

Admitting to a problem is easier said than done. Sometimes ego and sometimes status are the main hindrance in admitting a problem.

But Admitting to a problem in its early stage itself has two main advantages:

1. It assures the other party that you really 'care' about the problem.

In the first example given above, UPA completely lost confidence of the people.

2. It allows you to find a solution which can last longer. It will allow you to plan for long terms.

In the second and third example discussed, If concerned authorities realise that they have a potential problem, then they can think of some real solution. 
If BCCI agrees that frequent injuries are destabilising the team and they agree that too much cricket is a reason, then they can utilise the rich pool of talent in a better manner either by re-scheduling or by better rotational policy.

Similarly,  One needs to realise our security system failures and need to focus more on the problem. You need to equip policemen to fight advanced terrorism and in a country like India (with huge population), you need to avoid people forming crowd wherever it is possible. 
for ex: In delhi high court bomb blast a terrorist came and placed the bomb easily at the gate where there are lot of people standing in a queue for ticket to go inside high court. Definitely such large queues can be avoided with e-ticket or by having more counters. Later it was also found that CCTV cameras were not functioning even after bomb blast at same place before 3 months!
I heard that there is a police reform bill, which proposes many changes to our police system, infront of the Govt. But govt. has kept this bill for years but has not acted on it.

You might have heard a saying "The person who asks the question is a fool for few minutes but the person who does not ask the question is a fool forever!". I would also say "A Person who admits the problem will have problem for few minutes. but the person who does not admit it, will have the problem forever!".

Finding the solution to a problem may take some time and one needs to have proper approach for this. But realising that there is 'problem with me/us' is a huge step forward.

I just hope admitting  a problem becomes easy for everybody including me :-)