For a country that finds divinity in trees, rocks, rivers, skies, planes, stars, cow dung, crops, eagles, cows, owls, snakes.. the only way to solve any problem is to first integrate into its systems fully.
To weed out anything in isolation without addressing or understanding the cascading disturbances is at best self-gratification of a manufactured identity and at worst blatantly lying about meaningless numbers.
We may or may not believe in an anthropomorphic God, we may or not be convinced about metaphysical sciences of Directions (Vaastu) or souls or healing, we may or not agree with the concept of karma, prayers, temples and rituals, we may or not accept traditional wisdom at face value, but we must understand that they are integral to the underlying fabric that binds this country together. The answer to the problems within these systems is neither blind modernization nor blind fanaticism. Both these approaches evidence only one thing: need for protecting an ego-based identity; whether that is of “social saviour” or of an “educated liberal”.
At the cost of sounding clichéd, I must write this: If one really wishes to change anything around them, I believe it begins with unlearning a lot of things. That in itself has the potential to bring a dozen shocks daily with a couple of epiphanies along the way. When one has unlearnt enough, the learning and changing and saving can begin.
Gender inequality, crop failures, child abuse, casteism, patriarchy, misogyny, poverty, crony capitalism, bad loans, are all symptoms. We need to stop attacking them in isolation and address the root cause. Dive deeper. You’d be shocked at every dive. I promise.