Article on sustainable development-pathway to the future (5 paras)
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Explanation:
Sustainable development is a common agenda for global concern, which everybody agrees upon, but bringing this global concern into public policies is a difficult task. The most accepted definition of sustainable development according to the Brundtland's report is, “To meet the needs of present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. It advocated the idea of “sustainable growth”.(1) According to The World Conservation Strategy report (1980), by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), for development to be sustainable it must take into account the social and economic factors as well as the ecological ones.
India is presently emerging as an economic superpower, but in contrast, there is another profile of India. We constitute around 17% of the world's population, but account for about 35% of the poor and 40% of the illiterates in the world.(2) Experiences from the economic reform indicate that while there have been improvements in economic growth, foreign exchange, IT revolution, export growth, and so on, inequality in income distribution has been growing simultaneously (ratio of urban to rural income is 4.5).(2) Exclusion from benefits of economic revolution has been continued in terms of low agricultural growth (agriculture's share in GDP has been reduced to half, with no decrease in dependent population in the agricultural sector(2)), low quality employment growth, concentration of poverty in certain groups (SC / ST), occupation (agricultural and casual labor), and region; and inadequate development of women and children. Our sex ratio continues to remain favorable to men. Studies based on hospital statistics in South Delhi indicate that sex-ratio at birth is as low as 500 females per 1000 males,(3) All the above factors have resulted in the widening of economic and social disparity, which is a threat to sustainable development. The present economic growth helps to create more opportunities for the more educated section of the upper and middle class, with a ‘trickle-down’ effect on a section of the poor.
In India around 700 million people in the rural area are directly dependent on climate-sensitive sectors (agriculture, forests, and fisheries) and natural resources (such as water, biodiversity, mangroves, coastal zones, grasslands) for their subsistence and livelihoods. Climate change and its effects will further reduce the adaptive capacity of dry land farmers, forest dwellers, fisherfolk, and nomadic shepherds, which is already very low.(4) Water, soil, and air, which are the vital environmental sources for maintaining life have been shrinking alarmingly. Annual per capita availability of renewable freshwater has been decreasing from 5,277 m3 in 1955 to 1,820 m3 in 2001.(5) The main reasons for the water crisis are increasing demand, zonal disparity in distribution, lack of ethical framework for use, inadequate knowledge and resources, major land-use changes, long-term water level decline, and increase in salinity and pollution. India, with a large percentage of its land under agriculture, is also prone to the vagaries of weather conditions and climate change. About 228 Mha of its geographical area (nearly 69%) falls within the dry land (arid, semi-arid, and dry sub-humid) region and 142 Mha (68% of the total cultivated area) in the country is rain fed.(6)
To meet the challenging situation of widening economic and social disparity, inclusive growth is the best tool, but it is a dream without improvement in agricultural growth, employment generation, poverty reduction, and involvement of the social sector (health, education, and women empowerment). We must learn from China in this regard. Elements of the successful experience of the Chinese such as, high and labor-releasing agricultural growth, favorable income distribution through broad-based agricultural growth, availability of infrastructure, higher levels of literacy and skills, inducements for the location of enterprises in rural areas, and easy access to credit and inputs for the poor section of society, are extremely relevant for developing countries. Women empowerment through replacing the “Life-Cycle Approach” of the girl child, which has a prime objective of marriage and motherhood by a “Capability Approach” – as propagated by Amartya Sen, where the girl child's contributions both in economic and social terms are given due recognition. All Acts and Schemes related to the girl child, therefore, need to be thoroughly reviewed to raise the status of the girl child as an asset rather than burden, for example, conditional cash and non-cash transfer scheme, and so on.
We have a path for sustainable development, but unless all our methods are directed toward it, we cannot achieve sustainable development.