India, Dec. 29 -- The new year is around the corner. By the time this piece is read, many of us will be bracing for the first dawn of the new calendar. Some might have already made their way to the hills to witness the annual snowfall, while others, wishing to avoid the extreme cold, may have planned a retreat to warmer places.

But regardless of where we are headed, this moment has a way of compelling almost everyone to pause, to reflect almost instinctively on the hits and misses, the habits we clung to despite better judgment, and the behaviours we promise ourselves we will finally change.

However, if this soft accountability toward ourselves were to become a mandate for larger systems, the story would be clearly different-especially ...