The twentieth century witnessed growth in numerous frontier technologies. The contribution of scientists such as Einstein opened avenues for a wide range of scientific initiatives, each giving impetus to the other. Information technology is amongst those that fortify research in all frontier technologies. Its capability of speeding the processing of information facilitates designing increased capabilities, leading to its exponential growth. This impacts research in other frontier technologies.

Such unprecedented growth in science and technology has given a big boost to man’s ego. He has started believing that the global society can enjoy a limitless growth. The Club of Rome that some decades ago created a stir by prophesising limits to growth seems to have been overtaken by continuing growth. Issues such as global warming and availability of energy to sustain high consumption life styles are bugging contemporary society. The ripples they make are however not big enough to slow down the global marketplace. Market aberrations such as recession do, but only to further fortify the global market.

Developing countries have become the sinks for absorbing the aberrations of the global market. A ripple in the developed nations becomes a blast in the developing world. Truly speaking, without the two worlds, rich and poor, the global market cannot function. It operates largely by transfer of resources from poor to rich nations through skewed trade practices.

This raises issues of global ethics. Is it fair for rich nations to bleed the poor nations? The more bothersome question is, is it fair for self-seeking political systems of poor nations to bleed the poor in their nations through their exploitative centralised polity? The two instruments through which ethics operate are the polity and the economic system. Both are heavily skewed in favour of the rich nations and the rich in the poor nations. While the global marketplace gives an illusion of global prosperity, in reality, it is a one way route to global disaster. The price that such illusory development is paying in terms of loss of environmental resources is totally irreversible. The doomsday of the Club of Rome is likely to become a reality sooner than it had prophesied!

While globalisation of ideas and ideologies is desirable, the global market is clearly a serious concern. Before we make any more blunders, we need to review in depth both the political and the economic system. It would be best to adopt a common sense approach, a methodology fast disappearing.

1. Basic Structure of Universal Democracy

Democracy is now recognised as the best vehicle for realising a sustainable world order. Political science discusses democratic experiences but has not defined democracy. Democracy can be best defined as how the sovereign people would like a nation to be governed. Given the choice, the common people would retain resources at the local level to handle all local matters such as administration of justice, police, education, healthcare, land, water systems and forests. They would devolve a fraction or one sixth, according to Indian scriptures, of local revenues to the state for higher level functions and coordination but not to interfere in local matters.

The people would ensure that their elected and appointed executives are directly accountable to them. They would institute their sovereign rights to information, consultation, participation, and referendum. Derived from simple logic, this can be said to be the basic structure of universal democracy. Any other form is pseudo or fake democracy. Based on Indian ethos symbolised in the just rule of the epic monarch Ram, Gandhi called it Gram Swaraj, that is self-reliant village republics.

2. Egalitarian Economic System

Social philosophers such as Gandhi have been highly critical of consumerism driven capitalism as being exploitative and unsustainable. Soviet type controlled socialism has collapsed. Chinese type neo-fascism may best be avoided. The question is, if both capitalism and socialism are undesirable, what is the type of economic system that can realise a sustainable world order.

Gandhi advocated an egalitarian economic system in which all have equal social, environmental, economic and political rights and opportunities, realised through true grassroots empowerment. Sadly, few understand his simple language. Gandhi favours free enterprise but operating under the discipline of empowered local communities. While leasing land, local communities can enforce that industry produces goods and services useful to society and generates wealth for creating productive employment and expansion, and for philanthropy, but does not indulge in ostentatious consumption.

We need such an egalitarian economic system nurtured by grassroots empowerment, truly capitalism with a human face. The world will then become a confederation of peace loving self-reliant local governments.

Courtsey: Narendra Shrivastava

Man must recognise the limits of science and technology. Notwithstanding the strides made in the twentieth century, science still has not been able to unravel the medium on which electromagnetic waves travel. To cover their ignorance, scientists call it ether but cannot explain it. Indian sages talked of celestial vibrations, OM, pronounced A-O-M, the three sounds instinctively made by a just born baby. According to them, such celestial vibrations pervade the universe. They are the creator, the protector and the destroyer. They can make man reach great spiritual heights. They carry the electromagnetic waves, and the internet. Sages have realised them. Science will never be able to unravel them. Physics needs to bow to metaphysics. Technology and markets to ethics. q

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