IN SEARCH OF A NEW PARADIGM OF DEVELOPMENT

Introduction:

                In June, 2000, a team of American tourists, aboard the Russian icebreaker Yamal, went to the North Pole and to their utter astonishment found a fresh water lake, nearly 1.5 km diameter, right at 90^o N. When the news came up in the New York Times, experts readily identified it yet another menace signal of global warming and said that such an opening in the polar permafrost could have appeared nearly 50 million years ago. They also pointed out some other danger signal of global warming and said that in the past two decades, average annual temperature has climbed up as much as 4^o C in Alaska, Siberia and some parts of Canada and as a result, the sea ice in the polar region 4.0 thinner and now covers 6 per cent less area than in 1980s.

                Due to global warming, winter is coming late and spring is arriving nearly two weeks early in Canada and due to this late freeze and early thaws, the feeding time for the polar bears has been reduced and they are migrating to the north. Forests in Alaska are turning into wet lands with scattered grasslands and ponds due to unusual melting of ice. Fishes and birds, adapted to cooler weather, have started to migrate to the north and 2002 and 2003 were recorded as the warmest years in human history.

                All these phenomena indicate that the surface temperature in the Arctic region is rising. If this temperature rises by another a few degrees, the polar ice-cap would disappear completely leading to a considerable rise in sea level and the valuable coastal land all over the world be inundated. Scientists predict that cities like New York, Mumbai, Hong Kong, Singapore would be flooded, while considerable land mass of the low lying countries like Bangladesh would be submerged under sea water and small island nations like Maldives would go into extinction. One may notice that all these calamities are due to the so called greenhouse effect arising out of emissions of industrial greenhouse gases.

Greenhouse Effect and Global Warming:

                It is well known that carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane and three other gases, generally known as greenhouse gases and these by products of burning fossil fuels traps heat emitted by the earth. This blanketed heat raises the temperature and the phenomenon is known as the greenhouse effect. Scientists speculate that this global warming would drastically alter the   present climate pattern causing severe damage to agriculture. Many believe that Africa would be hit by perpetual drought, while South East Asian countries would experience torrential rains and floods. These would have devastating effect on agriculture leading to mass starvation in some parts of the world, since agriculture has to feed 80 million more mouths every year in addition to present 6 billions. It is needless to say that the origin of the afore mentioned disasters is the Western concept of development using eco-destructive Western technology.     

                Experts apprehend that other related calamities are yet to show their faces. For example, the difference of temperature between the tropics and the poles generally drives the global climate system. The excess heat that accumulates in the tropics is conveyed to the poles by two different means. About half of this heat is conveyed by what is known as the Ocean Conveyor, a vast deep water current equivalent to 100 Amazon Rivers, while the rest of the heat is conveyed as energy in the storms that move towards the poles. So, if the poles become warmer faster than the tropics, the vigour of the global circulatory system may diminish and radically alter the prevailing wind, ocean currents and rainfall patterns.

            In 1995, the global emission of green house gases was nearly 6.2 billion metric tons and the figure  climbed to about 7.2 billion metric tons in 2001. Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in the middle of 18^th century, the level of carbon dioxide has increased 30 per cent, nitrous oxide by 15 per cent and methane by 100 per cent in the atmosphere. At present, USA is the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, China has come up to occupy the second position and 34 industrial nations in the West, including the US, are the major polluters. According to a recent estimate by the UN, their emissions for the past 100 years have already raised the global temperature by 0.6^o C. It should be mentioned here that a lowering of the global temperature 3^o C brought the last Ice Age and in absence of greenhouse effect the earth would be cooler by 33^o C. Experts speculate that, if emission of greenhouse gases is not curbed, the temperature of the earth may rise by 3.5^o C  to 5^o C by the end of the 21^st century. In addition to that, the moisture content in  the atmosphere has increased by 10 per cent in past 20 years and  it would also play its own role in altering the global climate pattern by increasing rainfall and creating more hurricanes or cyclones.

Kyoto  Conference:

On December 1, 1997, nearly 1500 delegates from 159 countries along with 3,500 representatives from various non-governmental organizations (NGOs) assembled in Kyoto, Japan, for a ten day long negotiations  to rein in the emissions of greenhouse gases by the above mentioned 34 industrialized nations and also to take a stock of the situation after they had met 5 years ago in Rio De Janeiro in 1992. The Kyoto Conference aimed to set mandatory reduction of emission of greenhouse gases by those 34 nations.

              However, after contentious bargaining and brinkmanship that continued for 11 days, USA and other industrialized nations could reach an agreement on 11^th December, that called for USA to cut its emissions of greenhouse gases by 7 per cent below the 1990 level, while Japan and European countries agreed to cut their emissions by 7 per cent and 8 per cent respectively. It was also decided that the above reductions must have to be reached within the 2008 and 2012 time frame. Most of the environmentalists believe that the said reductions could easily be achieved by developing less polluting and energy efficient technologies. Though the 159 participating nations had approved and signed the Kyoto protocol, it is feared that most of the governments could make little progress towards implementing the same. For example, the US Senate has not even considered ratifying it.

            For us, the Indians, the phenomenon of global warming and rapid melting of Arctic ice is a very serious matter and could cause a catastrophe since such developments would weaken the monsoon causing serious damage to Indian agriculture.

Plunder of Nature in the Name of Development:

            Another feature of today’s Western concept of development is the ruthless plunder of nature. This has led to a serious depletion of natural resources and grave disturbance of the eco-system. The entire nature has gone under the grip of human greed and lust. Finally, this greed has given birth to a demon called technology which has begun to rape nature by cutting down trees at an incredible rate and hence world’s forests are disappearing very fast. Thus the modern civilization based on Western concept of development is injuring nature in two ways – firstly, by releasing more and more carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, linked to global warming, into the atmosphere and secondly, by cutting trees, our real friends, who convert baneful carbon dioxide into oxygen.

According to a report by the Washington, DC, based World Resource Institute (WRI), more than 60 per cent of World’s pristine forests has already been cut down. Another report by UNO’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) says that, between 1991 and 1995, tropical rain forests were burnt and bulldozed at the rate of 126,000 sq. km per year, in the name of development. Satellite photos show that the Brazilian rain forests are being cut at an average rate of 21,000 sq. km per year.

Experts say that even 50 years ago, most of the seas were pristine. But now the development based on the Western concept of consumption has started to pollute them as well. Oceans, spreading over two thirds of the earth’s surface and having depth from 4 to 11 km, control the climate and weather, and regulate temperature. In brief, the survival of the human race is absolutely dependent on the state of the oceans. But now they are being polluted by chemical fertilizers, pesticides, oil spills and billions of tons of industrial wastes. Furthermore, owing to indiscriminate fishing, many species of whales seals, sharks and many other fishes and aquatic creatures are on the verge of extinction. Many species, experts apprehend, are going into extinction before being recognized by man. According to an estimate, as many as 300 species of fishes, birds, insects and plants  are going into extinction every day owing to the attack of development.

About 50 per cent of world population live in Asia. Today, these 3 billion Asians, being lured by Western culture of consumption, have started to follow Western type of development through industrialization with an aspiration to lead an affluent life like that of the Westerners. But a World Bank report says that, because of rapid industrialization toxic releases, between 1975 and 1988, went up by 500 per cent in Indonesia, 800 per cent in Philippines and 1200 per cent in Thailand. This has made Asia’s cities, rivers and lakes most polluted in the world. Among 15 most polluted cities in the world, 13 are in Asia. A similar report by the Asian Development Bank in Manila reveals that Asia is now the world’s most polluted and environmentally degraded region. There is no doubt that the said allurement has made China the second largest greenhouse gas emitter in the world.

But is it possible for the Asians to catch up the Europeans or the Americans in the race for consumption? The answer is a big no. Today the Americans account for 4 per cent of world’s population, but they consume nearly 24 per cent of world resources, which is extremely inequitable. So, it becomes evident that such a horribly inequitable distribution can never be accepted as a model for the entire humanity.

                   For example, there is one car for every 1.6 Americans and to provide this facility to1.0 billion Indians and 1.3 billion Chainese, it would need nearly 1.4 billion cars, which is not  possible. And if provided, one can easily guess the pollution they will create. An average adult  needs nearly 2,200  calories  per  day  and  an  average American  consumes 3,600 calories. To  provide this much of food to every Chinese and  every Indian, peoples of other parts of the world  would have to starve. In India, per capita consumption of fresh water is 2.2 cubic meters while a Canadian uses 98.5 cubic meters, hence to provide so much of fresh water to every Chinese and   every Indian, all the sources of  fresh water in the world would dry up.     

               So, it becomes evident that the Western paradigm of development cannot embrace the  entire humanity, or in other words, it is incapable of taking care of each and every human being on this planet. As a matter of fact, this paradigm originated as a tool for exploitation and still it is sustaining on exploitation. It cares for a short time benefit for a few  and hence is unable to think for   long time benefit for the entire humanity and owing to this reason it is unfit  to take  care of nature  and the environment. 

Development and Its Impact on Human Society

  The most unfortunate aspect of Western concept of development is that, it has produced severe crisis within  human society and has done irreparable damage to it. For more than a century, we have followed the Western pattern of development through industrialization and as a result, like in the West, in our country too people are flooding the urban areas, leading to disintegration of families and thus destroying the social fabric. It is also causing erosion of traditional cultural values, decay of religious, moral and ethical institutions along with steep rise in crime, drug addiction, anxiety, depression and other by-products of a modern developed society which have over eclipsed the benefits it has provided to the humankind.

In the so called developed countries in the West, it has made suicide the third common cause of death among the younger population, after car wreck and homicide. It is doubling the number of people suffering from mental depression every ten years and has turned more than 15 per cent of the population victim of chemical anxiety and mental disorder. It has isolated people to the extent that nearly 25 per cent of households in the West now consists of a single member, and this loneliness is marring their material affluence. Hence there is a good reason to give a serious thought over this Western paradigm of development and importing the same in our country if we are not ready to see our 12 year old school-going daughter to carry her second baby or our 15 year old son turning a gay, addicted to drug and contact AIDS.

A group of scientists, known as evolutionary psychologists (EPs), are trying to trace the origin of these maladies of modern civilization arising out of the said Western paradigm of development and the results of their investigations show that the miseries of the so called modernity stem from the contrast between the modern environment and the ancestral environment in which man was evolved. This view is popularly known as the mismatch theory. According to this theory, the modern world with all its technological marvels is, in fact, an uncomfortable and unfulfilling place to live as it compels us to behave in a way completely different from our natural pattern of behaviour.              

According to the evolutionary psychologists, anxiety, depression, sadness, ejection, and murderous alienation are diseases of social isolation created by urbanization. The scholars have studied the primitive hunter gatherer societies , not yet contaminated by the so called development, such as the Ainus of Japan, Kung Sang of Southern Africa, Aches of South America and so on and to their utter astonishment found extraordinary low level of cortisol, a biological by-product of anxiety, in their blood samples. In primitive societies, a group of people live in close contact with several dozens friends and relatives for decades and hence kinship and intimacy predominates. The life in such a society bring people into regular and random encounter with neighbours and hence an occasional spat and rivalry finds an outlet for speedy reconciliation. But in a developed urban society, isolation makes such a reconciliation difficult.

Perhaps children are the most sufferers in a modern developed society, where families have been fragmented into atomic dimension. In a society, not yet contaminated by modernity, child rearing is a social task and uncles, aunts, grand parents, cousins and other relatives share the responsibility. But in a developed society, it has become a real burden for an isolated mother. Anthropologist Dr. Phillip Walker has studied skeletal remains of more than 5000 children, dating back to 4000 B.C., but failed to detect bone bruises in any of them. But in a modern developed society, such bone bruises could be found in more than one in 20 skeletons of children who have died between the ages of 1 and 4 years. Dr. Walker has attributed this finding to public nature of child caring in primitive days, before the careful eyes of relatives and neighbours. In a primitive society, it is a common practice for a woman to breast feed her neighbour’s child, which is beyond imagination in a modern developed society.

According to the evolutionary anthropologist Dr. Martin Daly and Dr. Margo Wilson, the above findings are due to rising cases of child abuse in modern societies. A child is more prone to become a victim of this menace if he or she happens to be under the care of a step father instead of the biological father. Unfortunately such incidents are rising day by day due to increase in the rate of divorce and a study conducted by the University Chicago in 1997 reveals that 538 per 1000 marriages are ending into a divorce in USA within a year. Moreover, children born out of unwed mothers (now account for more than 25 per cent of the newborn in USA) and divorced couples are generally denied adequate parental care and affection and these children, after getting age, swell the number of criminals.

Evolutionary psychologists are of the opinion that the old order has largely been eroded by modernization. They believe that human mind possesses an inherent infrastructure for friendship, affection, gratitude, trust and reciprocal altruism and accuse modernization and development for large scale erosion of these gentler and delicate aspects of human nature leading to a decline in social cohesion and kinship. They also believe that modernization is not only spewing out antisocial technologies like cars, TVs, VCRs etc. but also creating isolation by ‘sorting people into little vocational boxes and scattering these boxes far and wide’.  “It has started fragmenting families by drawing farmers to the cities and is continuing the process eversince. It has made people to spend more time to build up professional contacts rather than nurture friendship and social kinship”, says an evolutionary psychologist.

Role of Television in Creating Social Isolation:

Evolutionary psychologists consider television to be the ultimate and most efficient technology that helps to create social isolation, especially when it is connected to a VCR or a co-axial cable. “Electronic technology enables individual tastes to be satisfied more fully but at the cost of social gratification”, says Robert Putnam, a Harvard University professor. According to Rudolph Nesse, an evolutionary psychologist, TV also distorts our self perception by way of depicting fantasy people and their lives on the screen. “We, in general, compare ourselves with people we see around us. In primitive societies it is possible for an individual to find satisfaction, at least by discovering one among his fellow villagers, whom he excels. But in modern society, an individual gets increasingly dissatisfied with not only himself but also with his wife, sons and daughters, father, mother and so on by discovering them profoundly  inadequate in comparison to the fantasy people he sees on the TV screen, says Dr. Putnam.

Furthermore, it is an accepted truth that TV escalates crime rate. In fact, the rate of theft and burglary jumped in American cities in particular years when TV broadcast was introduced in 1950s. In her book It Takes a Village, Ms Hillary Rodham Clinton, the former first lady of USA, has given several instances to expose how TV programmes are polluting and perverting the minds of younger people. She also has accused that the element of sex and violence in TV programmes are continually rising. She also has quoted an opinion of an American educationist which reads, “… for both in its advertising and its programming, it has created demand that appeal not to the best in our nature, but to the worst”.

Development on Wrong Premises: 

The above maladies of modern civilization originate from the fact that the West has erected the edifice of this civilization on a wrong foundation – it is not for the benefit of many but for a few and that too by causing severe damage to the society. In fact, it overlooked the inner contradiction that the attempt of an individual to earn a benefit from the society for himself by injuring the society the society is nothing but axing one’s own leg.

Aristotle said that ‘man is a social aniumal’, and the West has accepted this definition of man as an absolute truth. Furthermore, according to the Western notion, ‘society is an organization which these human animals create, re-create and utilize to achieve their material ambition’, and hence an individual and his freedom is of supreme concern, while the interest of the society is of secondary importance.

This notion of individual freedom was further nurtured by the liberal thinkers like Bentham, Locke, Mill and others during the budding stage of capitalism in Europe and the new class of capitalists hailed and utilized the concept for making money by whatever manner they could, even by injuring the society. A few examples may suffice to explain how the Western concept of individual freedom is causing damage to the society.

To harness online pornography and to make the Net safe for the children, President Bill Clinton signed the “Communication Decency Act” (CDA) on 8^th February, 1996. But a panel of three judges of the Federal Court in Philadelphia ruled in the second week of June that the CDA violated the First Amendment of the US Constitution that protects free speech. The proponents of the CDA, on the other hand, rightly pointed out that an exposure of children to hardcore online pornography would severely injure the traditionbal moral and ethical values by permanently altering the lives of children. But the Philadelphia Judges had no other option but to uphold individual freedom enshrined in the US Constitution.

The Second Amendment of the US Constitution has granted freedom to the American weapon-makers to sell firearms to civilians like any other commodity. As a result of this freedom, today, roughly 135,000 American children carry arms to their schools. To check this trend, the US Government is now installing electronic metal detectors at the entrance of every school. In mid-1990s, Finland and a few other European countries have legalized gay marriage and  in 1996, USA has also followed their foot prints. But according to legal experts, it would put an end to the traditional concept of marriage and no legal ground would be left to prohibit polygamy and incest.

The  Indian  View:

The Indian view in these matters is diametrically opposite to that of the West. Firstly, we believe that man is not an animal but a divine being. Secondly, we consider human society to be abiogenic and hence it cannot be created and re-created by individuals. Thirdly, we believe that the interest of the society is of supreme importance and not the sweet will of an individual. According to the Indian notion, the aggregate of innate social laws and virtues that aims to perpetuate the integrity and cohesiveness of the society and to bring forth well being for each and every member of the society, is called dharma. This dharma is of supreme concern. According to Indian tradition, even God Almighty cannot surpass dharma, not to speak of ordinary individuals.

Ancient Indian lawgiver Manu (from which the English word ‘man’ has been derived) dictates a three-fold indebtedness of an individual to the society and declares the denial of an individual to repay his social debts as a criminal offence (Manusamhita-IV/257). Kautilya, the most celebrated politico-economist of ancient India, prescribes a criminal prosecution against an individual with the confiscation of his entire property who, in spite of being wealthy, does not perform his social duties (Arthasastra- II/i/28-32). Mahatma Vidur in Mahabharata says that an individual who, despite being rich, does not give away a portion of it in charity, is fit to be drowned in water (Udyogaparva-XXXIII/65). So, Indian tradition sacrifices individual freedom for the sake of the society. So, according to the Indian tradition, development should embrace the entire society and the entire creation at large and this development must not injure the society or the creation to the minutest extent.

Epilogue:

Can material wellbeing alone make ourselves happy? Between 1957 and 1990, the per capita income in real terms more than doubled in USA, but number Americans who consider themselves very happy remained fixed at 33 per cent on the population. “More gross domestic products is not the answer to deepest needs of human beings”, says Dr David Myers, a renowned psychiatrist, in his book The Pursuit of Happiness.

Here lies the basic shortcoming of the Western paradigm of development. The Western scholars have defined man simply a social animal, and hence according to their view, material wellbeing and sensual pleasure is enough to make a man happy. So, J. S. Mill says, “Pleasure is the only thing desired; pleasure is the only thing desirable”. Similarly, J. Bentham says that the sole purpose of an ideal democracy is to provide greatest pleasure to the greatest number of citizens. He also says, “Pleasure is good and pleasure alone makes a man law abiding”. But a question may be raised – Can a man suffering from acute insomnia, or mental depression, or anxiety, be happy with his riches? Thus it becomes evident that then agenda of the above scholars do not contain the finer or gentler aspects of man. Or in other words, these scholars have grossly ignored the non-material aspects a man needs to be happy. Material well-being prepares only a basis for his happiness but that is not enough.

Indian wisdom, on the other hand, defines four aspirations or purusharthas, namely dharma, artha, kama and moksha, for a human being, of which artha and kama are of material origin and the remaining two, i.e. dharma and moksha  are nonmaterial entities. Out of these four purusarthas, artha and kama have been kept aside for material well-being,, while dharma and moksha have been earmarked for his moral, ethical and spiritual fulfillment. The Western paradigm of development includes only two of the four purusarthas, namely artha and kama, and rejects the other two, i.e. dharma and moksha due to trheir utter ignorance of human nature and poor understanding of the deeper as well as finer aspects of man.

   ******************************* explanation of purusharthas ***********************************

  But the great seers of India could foresee that material well-being alone is unable make man happy and hence, thousands and thousands of years ago, prescribed a development where all the four purusharthas are taken into account and nourished and nurtured. We, the descendants of those great seers, therefore subscribe to that view and consider a development to be a real development which offers equal opportunities for all the purusharthas to grow and develop. Where all the four purusharthas are considered equally important  and provide adequate scope for their nourishment.

Another important aspect of Indian concept of development is that it should be absolutely eco-friendly. The present eco-destructive Western paradigm of development starts from the belief that man is not a part of this nature and he has ultimately to win a victory over nature. It therefore permits ruthless destruction of nature for the satiation of his ever-growing greed and lust. As a matter of fact, the fundamental inspiration in this direction comes from the Bible, where God commands Adam to descend to the earth and says, “Be fruitful and increase in number, fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and birds in the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.  …  I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours food. … I give every green plant for food” (Genesis-I/28-30).

Then after the Deluge, God gave Noah the permission to destroy the ecological balance by indiscriminate killing of every living being and said, “The fear and dread of you will fall upon all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air, upon every creature that moves along the ground and upon all the fish of the sea, they are given unto your hand, … Just as I gave you the green plants, now I give you everything” (ibid-IX/2-3).

But trhe great seers of this ancient nation could foresee that man, by plundering nature would invite his own doom if he is slightly indulged in to let loose his infinite greed for material pleasure and consumption. They therefore advised people to preserve nature in one hand and prescribed self restraint and abstinence for them, in the other. They preached that, nature is everyone’s mother and hence none should hurt or injure her to the slightest extent. For his survival, man should milk mother nature and never plunbder her. He should collect his  subsistence from mother nature as a bee collects honey from a flower, without causing any harm to the flower. “See the earth, whom the gods, sleepless, protect all the time without failure. Let her yield honey to us. Let the earth to us, a mother to a son, release milk.  … earth  is mother and I am her son. … What of thee, O earth, I dig out, let that quickly grow over; let me not hit thy vitals nor thy hurt, O cleansing one” , says the Atharva Veda (XII/7,10,12,35).    

It is a good news that the Western thinkers have also started to understand the importance of preserving nature and abstinence in man. “A new paradigm will emerge incorporating the recognition that humanity depends on nature and not vice versa.  … The change must occur because every year distress signals from the bio-sphere become more and more pointed .  … When more people will be forced to understand how environmental degradation mortgages their future and future of their descendants”, says Dr. Peter Vitousek, a biologist at the Stanford University. “Our challenge is to find new ways to address those problems by reaching back to our oldest values of community and responsibility by inspiring a greater respect for the land and other resources (of nature) we share”, says Mr. Al Gore, the former Vice President of USA.

                In 1997, the renowned American commentator Mr. Lance Morrow, in an article Fifteen Cheers for Abstinence, wrote that abstinence is the sole remedial measure against the maladies of modernity like teenage pregnancy, disintegration of families, drug addiction, alcoholism, AIDS and so on. “Teach this; the more you indulge in anything, good or bad, especially bad in drugs, casual sex, violence, driving too fast, bad manners and rage, more you lose. The more you abstain, the more you gain”, asserted Mr. Morrow. Finally he recommended that, even elders should practice abstinence and thus we have to build up a culture of abstinence. It should be pointed here that the very basis of Indian civilization is abstinence and self restraint. “As the waters from rivers flow into the sea, full and filled, unmoving in its depth, so too do all desires flow into the man, and such a man wins peace, not the desirer of desires”, says Bhagadgita (II/70).

So, we the sons of this great land of the Vedas, the holy land of Bhagavadgita, believe in a development that takes care of all the four purusharthas of man and aims to nourish and nurture these purusharthas. We aspire for a paradigm of development which is absolutely eco-friendly and does not cause slightest harm or injury to mother nature. We believe in a process of development that prescribes a society based on abstinence and self restraint. We do not subscribe to a notion of compartmentalized development that looks for economic development alone. But we believe in an integral development which, along with material and economic development, looks for moral, ethical, and spiritual upliftment in man. A paradigm of development that brings peace and prosperity for man and at the same time peace for the entire creation.