The concept of RWA is nothing new. It has been around for quite some time now. RWA is basically a voluntary body formed to act as a mediator or facilitator between the residents and Government and civic agencies.
As in any democratic set up there are all kinds of people in the RWA also. Most office bearers of the RWA work selflessly for the welfare of the sector but there are one or two individuals everywhere who use the RWA for their own personal gains and here ultimately the sufferers are the residents. Political aspirations and ego clashes hinder the vision of these individuals sometimes. Any given individual has his or her own capabilities and limitations and an ideal RWA representative is one who knows when his limitations start getting in the way of working and it’s time to pass on the baton to someone else. This brings us to another question of why RWAs usually consist of more senior citizens and very few youngsters. We say the Youth of our nation are the future of our nation. Be it business, arts, social service or social media, the youth have made many platforms for themselves where they can raise their voice and contribute to society. But you might have noticed that the same youth is not so well represented in our democratic political system and to some extent RWAs, which invariably are micro forms of the same democratic setup. Are we to believe that the youth does not have time or is simply not interested in any community service or interaction? Had this been the case, we would not have seen an entirely different pattern in housing societies where younger people show aggressively active participation. Sometimes a whole management committee is formed of young people and they do a fairly good job.
The reasons for this absence can be many. The Bylaws of many RWAs say that only house owners can be a part of the RWA and most houses are in the name of senior citizens and their children are not allowed to participate even if they are eager to. Secondly, it has been noticed that the older generation does not trust the youth. They want the youth to take us forward but do not trust the decision-making abilities of the youth. An ideal RWA would be a mix of the young and old. If the older generation has the experience, the youth has a different perspective and a host of new ideas. Also as I said earlier, it has been seen that RWAs turn into places of petty politics and this drives away the youth that is in it purely for social work and nothing else. In every sector, there will always be some youth who are passionate towards society and would definitely like to contribute their bit to the development of the sector. It is the duty of the older generation to find out such members of the younger generation and encourage them to actively come out and participate in RWA so that new ideas keep flowing and the sector is taken to new heights.
