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Economic stepping stones

Environmentalists everywhere will watch with hope and concern to see whether the induction of a new government in India after the general elections of May-June 1991 presages change or continuity in policy on the bigh ‘green’ issues of the day. And if change, change in what direction?

Early indications suggest that things will be no worse even if they turn out actually to be no better. What arouses hope is that on issues of concern to the poor in India today, one discerns a certain bipartisanship of approach between ruling and opposing parties.

Indeed, it could not be otherwise. In a democracy, no responsible political party can look away while millions of people are offered ‘development’ that assures no access to potable water or a decent rood over their heads.

But for those of us in the ‘independent sector’, striving to open the eyes of the world around us to the need for an alternative pattern of development, the take is never done. It is a task like that of Sisyphus (in the Greek myth) of rolling a heavy boulder up the slope of a steep hill.

For the message we seek to foster - as much in the developing countries of the world as in the developed ones-is of new and unconventional ways of looking at ’development’ - development that is sustainable and affordable; development that is appropriate and non-wasteful; and always, development that is environmentally sound.

In the context of this ideal of development, the question that is most often asked is: what exactly do we mean when we talk of the adoption of ‘appropriate technology’? Activists of voluntary agencies in the developing countries are well aware that the vexed issue of choice of technology - whether this should favour ‘traditional’, ‘modern’ or ‘hi-tech’ - cannot be easily brushed aside.

In India, in particular, the situation in this regard is classically that of "two nations", in the sense that British Prime Minister Disraeli used the expression to describe conditions in 19th century England. There is a ‘modern’ nation and a ‘traditional’ nation existing easily or uneasily, side by side.

This divided psyche, we believe, has resulted from the application of unsuitable modern technology particularly in our rural area, where the bulk of the most deprived part of the Indian nation lives. It has led to the well-known ills that disfigure the otherwise bright picture of Indian development - namely, concentration of power and wealth amongst the already privileged, the growth of structural unemployment, and the general neglect of the poor.

The answer does not lie in the adoption of this or that kind of technology, but in the choice of a level of technology that is appropriate to the needs of the poor in a given local region, area, or cluster of villages - after taking into account is endowment factors including available human skills.

The adoption of such appropriate, suitable, affordable technologies - call them what you like - in these regions is an inescapable imperative of indian development today. these intermediate technologies must be seen as "economic stepping stones’ on way to the achievement of ever higher levels of material and spiritual development.

The message we seek to foster is of new and unconventional ways of looking at ’development’ - development that is sustainable and affordable; development that is appropriate and non-wasteful; and always, development that is environmentally sound.