The issue is no d
oubt complicated. I guess 60years on we have reached a tipping point, something radical has to be included and institutionalized in the understanding of development. Development may be about revenue generated for few and economic indicators for many but unless it is equitable and sustainable it will lead to these situations. Most importantly poor and marginalised cannot be taken for granted; the world has changed quite drastically in recent times. Medieval methods may not work. In recent times world seem to be evaluating other nations in terms of economic clout which in turn is being defined by “growth rate” like GDP, export, consumption pattern, industrial production and so on. This in turn leads to employment generation, comfort and consumption. Now that puts pressure on the governments, they are forced to maintain these “growth rate” and make the nation investment friendly. Impetus seems to be on short term measures and benefits.
There seems to be a vicious cycle that the world has got into. And unless an immediate effort not taken this blogger doesn’t really know where it will all lead to (I don’t want to sound pessimistic). Inequitable development finally ends with poor getting further marginalised and threatened (unsustainable development leads to environment paying the price). The government is forced to exploit the natural resources (
pressure groups that protest for poor, for environment, but at the end of the day government will have to show the “growth rate” (indeed the policy makers were proud that India was able to maintain steady growth despite financial crisis effecting the world). Increasing chasms in the societies around the world is now turning to surrealism. The incredibly rich and incredibly poor looks as if are aliens and the world is getting polarized not only at material level but at the level of incredulity. So malls are so overstocked with food and children die of malnutrition. Since I travel a lot the sights/experiences in recent times have severely shaken my senses, it wasn’t so acute and rampant a decade back. This not to deny the fact that more people have benefited materially in recent times around the country than few decades back, the symbols of prosperity is widespread.
Sometime back the French set up a committee to replace these definitions of development (members included Stiglitz and Sen) they don’t seem to have succeeded. If the world has to exist for market then we are really in for something nasty, the affects are getting compounded at an exponential rate (to start with: the whole idea of some brilliant people working to create amazing products and then leaving it to cretins to sell it assuming that the buyers-that is society- consist of juveniles is in itself incredibly rotten). There is a fake world being created that live on exaggerations and perceptions. Seeing societies as potential customers, seeing the world as market…these are the worldview that seems to have started to dominate the understanding in recent times. They are the people who seem to be influencing policy makers. Frankly I find it difficult to blame the politicians…they too are victims of this vicious cycle. This blogger requests the world community to come out with a system, or indicators that balances this vicious nature of market onslaught. It is having a devastating affect in poorer societies.
Indian government (and this true for most developing societies) will have to put high premium on natural resources and products arising from these. The socio-cultural cost is heavy and should be included. Steve jobs and Bill gates (to take some popular examples) are billionaires because of their ideas, skills and talents. But when you look at rich people in developing societies most seem to be rich because of natural resources (that also includes “property developers” -they were the ones who were behind SEZs), they are necessarily the product of corruption and nepotism, it’s about manipulations. Not denying that it does require talent!. The companies that make money exploiting natural resources will have to pay back to society. It is criminal lack on the part of successive governments that these have been kept as lucrative ventures, it is about rampant corruption. This the main reason why big industrialists over the decades have shifted to these easy opportunities instead of keeping themselves competitive by pumping money into R&D and so on (compare this with countries like Japan, Germany or Korea). Many of these millionaires have become like mafia and with this easy money have developed enormous political clout -take the case of Karnata
ka the place this blogger is based. It is an extension of feudalism that is being supported and perpetrated by economy driven corrupt system. So Bill Gates will spend his millions on philanthropy while
To solve the issue of naxalism needs compassion. Compassion doesn’t come in short term packages they come from understanding livelihood needs and challenges people face. Tribals wouldn’t have deviated to Maoists if they had choices. This blogger expects government to deal with the violent element in the region severely (not to expect criminal elements in the groups is a mistake) but in the meantime open a channel for dialogue without any preconditions. There could be peace groups created through intellectuals/tribal activists/respected people from the region (like for instance ULFA issue was sought to be mitigated with help of likes of Indira Goswami and so on). This will have to be dealt innovatively.
