Technological Progress
Source Of Development

By Tanka Raj Niraula

TWO formulations have now been well established in the economic development. One is the technology of production that is a distinct input as distinguished from the traditional inputs, namely land, labour and capital. Another is advancements in technology that play a crucial role in the growth of a country.

In economics, Production Function is a basic ingredient, which may be defined as a mathematical relationship between various levels of inputs and outputs. Now-a-days, technology is included in the production function, in contrast to the traditional setting. That’s why reasoning and historical evidences have proved beyond doubt that technology is central to the growth process. It is more important than the traditional factors as it enables a country to produce more irrespective of whether other factors increase or not. Equally significant is the fact that progressive technology alters the living conditions of individuals and societies.

A very common definition of technology is "skills, knowledge and procedures for making, using and doing useful things." It is often identified with the hardware of production-knowledge about machines and processes.

Technology is a function of time and the first derivative of it is always positive and increasingly changing. Therefore, change in the way inputs are transformed into outputs will be always advanced to the past ones. This change reflects to more output with the same inputs or same output with lesser inputs. Technology is not only about hardware but consists of software too. It includes methods used in non-marketed activities as well as marketed ones. Technology extends to services, administration, education, banking, law, manufacturing and agriculture and so on, which are supportive to development process.

A basic problem of every economy system is the means of achieving an allocation of resources that will result in maximum efficiency. Maximisation of allocative efficiency is resulted through technological advancement. It is imperative for any country to undertake technological innovation all the time in order to fulfill the growth objective. Technological change increases productivity of the factors of production, overcomes scarcity of resources and also raises welfare. Through a large increase in the productivity of labour, there will be an increment in the per capita output too, which correspondents to people’s welfare. Apart from the economic benefits technological progress causes profound social and cultural changes in a society. It is reflected in terms of not only consumption of new goods but also in new ways of doing things, opening vast opportunities for new life styles, new thinking and emergence of different social organisations.

The Characteristics of technology are largely determined by the nature of the economies for which they are designed. For a significant economic structural change to take place, a society needs transformation in attitudes, institutions and ideologies. Since modern technique is not a matter of just getting a modern tool and using it, but also following modern thinking. This is the reason behind the success to technological change in achieving the development goal. The technology applicable in the United States may not be applicable in Nepal. Furthermore, the technology, which is appropriate
for Kathmandu will not be suitable for Palpa.

Technological advancement has harmful consequences too. It has done irreversible damage to the environment, which is evident from the pollution of air and water, deterioration of soil, forests, wildlife and so on. It has also adverse effect on employment scenario as well, because sophisticated modern technology is more capital-using and labour-saving.

Since improvements in technology are of great importance in compared to disadvantages, it is natural to suggest that the less-developed countries should endeavour to change their existing backward technology. Now holistic approach of development, decentralised mode of technology transfer and a wide scale of social mobilisation and community participation are in the front line of development practices. In Nepal’s case efforts have to be made along two lines: generating new technology, and diffusing the same in economy. Taking the case of agriculture sector, majority of the population depends on this sector and is mostly poor. The poor households have low quality and fragile land suitable for limited activities. Therefore, to increase the production, new technology is necessary. But mainly it has to be suitable for the rural setting because of the literacy factor. Nepal can adopt new technology through learning by doing, research and development, and import of technology. For this, appropriate technological policy is needed in accordance with the changing scenario. But Nepal’s skilled manpower and mostly technicians are out of the scene. Efficient manpower are going abroad in a great numbers everyday. This creates a Brain-Drain situation in the country. For this reason, the state has to give due incentives, protection and recognition to the able manpower.

Thus, it can be concluded that technological advancement is the strategic factor for development in this new millenium as evidently shown by the developed countries.

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