Sustainable Development
Focus On Poverty Alleviation

By Chiranjibi Paudyal

THE increasing gap between the rich and poor nation, environmental degradation, lack of equitable and sustainable access to resources and information technology and surging population have made the process of sustainable development more complicated. Keeping in view the present situation the goal of sustainable development is not possible without making drastic changes and empowering the poverty-stricken people.

Hurdle

One of the most serious hurdles in the process of sustainable development in the world is the increasing gap between the haves and have-nots. About 2.8 million people live on less than dollar a day and around 800 million people, more than 150 million of them are children, are undernourished. A few rich people especially from the developed countries have utilised most of the resources. Majority of the population of the world is left without any resources in their disposal. According to the estimate, 80 per cent of the world's wealth is held by 15 per cent of the population, concentrated overwhelmingly in the developed industrialised nations. The 85 per cent population has only 20 per cent of the resources and that is also not distributed in an equitable manner. The majority of the poor people are living in the Sub Saharan Africa and the South Asia where the number of people living under the absolute poverty line is more than 50 per cent of the total population of the world.

The people of the developing countries have been living in a pitiable condition with scarcity of basic needs. The needs and priority of the developed countries and the developing countries is quite different. The developed world has gone far ahead in every aspect of their daily life whereas the developing countries have been languishing in the bottom. They are even failing to realise their own basic necessities. The situation of the poverty stricken population is heart rending. More than 1.1 billion people still lack access to safe drinking water, more than 2 billion people live in the condition of darkness withour the access to electriciry and 2.4 billion to improved sanitation. Majority of these population live in the Africa and Asia, especially in the South Asia region. The poor become the victims of the pollution. It is estimated that half of the world's rivers are seriously depleted or polluted. The pollution is mainly due to the industrialisation of the rich developed countries and the poor are the sufferers. The poor have been the victims of the problems of garbage and pollution, dirt and dust. The fruit of industrialisation goes only to the rich.

The malnourished children suffer from various diseases, which could be treated, and a large number of such children die every year due to the lack of basic needs. The tears and sorrow, the suffering and agony of the mother during the delivery period and after is also very pitiable. The corrupt and resource-crunched government of the developing world has no meaning of such deaths unlike in the developed countries where the life of every individual is precious. The distribution of the resources is not done on the basis of need, justice and equality. Pessimism is very bad but the real picture of the world does not show any basis to be optimist. The needs and priority of the developed and developing countries are quite different and the developing countries are learning the process from the developed countries, which are free from such difficulties.

The world population stands at more than 6.1 billion at present and is likely to grow by 50 per cent to 9.3 billion by 2050. The population of the developing countries will increase significantly. According to the United Nations Population Division, the world's 49 developing especially least developed countries will see numbers triple from 668 million to 1.86 billion. This will make the development process more complicated in the developing countries and the number of people living under the poverty line will increase dramatically and the government will have no any alternative expect to plunge into the mire of complex problem of absolute poverty.

The poor population lives on agriculture. The increasing population in the least developed countries will further deepen the problem. The increasing population pressures will decrease the forest area. According to an estimate of the World Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the forest, which cover a third of the land surface, have shrunk by 2.4 per cent since 1990 due to mining, logging and urbanisation. Due to this about 40 per cent of the remaining forests will be finished in the next 10 to 20 years. The over population will also invite serious problem in the soil erosion directly affecting the lives of the poor farmers of the developing countries. The picture of the world is very bleak and the hope for the sustainable development is not possible without the just and equitable distribution of the resources.

Poverty eradication with integrated approach with full participation of the poverty-stricken population should be the main focus of the development efforts and that only can lead the world towards sustainable development. The world cannot be divided in such an unjust way for a long time. The people of rich and poor nations are living in the same world and the problems of the earth are interrelated and cannot be isolated in the long run. The political division of the present world cannot divide the rich and poor nations forever. The nature has no political and geographical boundary and sooner or later the developing and the developed countries must solve these problems jointly and make the world an equitable and just home for all.

The most important thing for the sustainable development is the participation of the poor people in the decision making process of the programmes. The poor people should be empowered by involving them in the development process and provide them with resources. Their participation in the development process from the selection to the implementation of the programmes help empower the local people and it ultimately help improve their living standards. Democratisation for the development is essential for the sustainable development. For the people, by the people and of the people for sustainable development with equal distribution of resources is the only solution of sustainable development.

Reality

The words of one of the participants of the world summit held in Johannesburg. South Africa clearly reflects the reality of the present world and the solution for sustainable development. "We want the participation in the development process with full resources in our disposal with the total freedom of selection and implementation for the benefit of our children with clear message in our mind that we have borrowed the planet from our ancestors to our children."

Promoting South Asia's Regional Cooperation

By Khilendra Basnyat

THIS is the world of interdependence. Therefore, cooperation has emerged as an effective and viable response for managing the challenges of growing interdependence among nations.

Imperative

In fact, there is hardly any region of the world, which is without some sort of regional cooperation arrangements. The imperatives of economies also demand regional cooperation and integration for the augmentation of regional prosperity. Actually, the regional voice has far better chances of being heard than has the lone voice of a nation.

It is being widely accepted that the harmonisation of interests among and between the regions of the world over will lead to the creation of a just democratically legitimised world economic order.
It would be difficult to imagine if the EEC or the OECD would have come into being and succeeded to the extent they have without the security links among these countries within the framework of NATO. Likewise, in Eastern Europe, COMECON was the economic manifestation of strategic cooperation existing under the Warsaw pact organisation.

Although the interest of the United Nations Economic Commission for Asia and Far East (now ESCAP) in regional cooperation dates back to 1948, till 1968 it existed only at a package deal embracing trade liberalisation, payments arrangements, infrastructure development, etc.

In general, the exercises in regional cooperation in the Third World have had close links with strategic factors. Time and again, these links remain dormant even in the case of cooperation exercises of the developed region such as Europe.

The process of Third World regional cooperation movement that appeared in the post second world war in the 1950s was the blocks such as the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), South-East Asian Treaty Organisation (SEATO) and Central Treaty Organisation (CENTO).
Unlike in other continents, regional cooperation in Asia has been very slow. It is because most Asian countries gained independence only after the Second World War. They were at the initial stages of national unification and were far from the stage of regional cooperation.

Of late, it has been realised that regional cooperation for Asia is little but unwieldy. The recent wind is blowing towards sub-regionalism or sub-regional cooperation. It has been felt that smaller regions such as ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations), ECM (European Common Market) etc, would do well compared to bigger regions.

It is against this background that the approach to regional cooperation for South Asian nations consisting of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burma, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka has to be viewed.

Georgraphically, South Asia has a good basis for regional cooperation. The cross-cultural identities apart from social and economic interactions over the centuries have generated a sense of affinity, which is conducive to cooperation among this region's people. However, South Asia has been far behind in promoting viable regional cooperation.

Of course, South Asia is a group of low-income countries among the developing world. These countries are striving to develop their economics through the planned economic development process. Most of them were former colonies of the British Empire. They have common cultural, religious and language heritages binding them with one another. Apart from these, the natural factors such as the Himalayas and the Indian Ocean link them geographically.

South Asian countries face the problems of hunger, diseases, and conflicts, they all require to speed up their development efforts to meet the basic needs of the people and to improve their quality of life. These and some other factors indicate the need for regional cooperation among them.
No doubt, regional cooperation among South Asian countries will reinforce and strengthen non-alignment. It will help consolidate the common desire of each country to live and let live, strengthen friendship, minimize differences and secure their independence and sovereignty. Actually, it will be the initiation of establishment of a new economic and political order in South Asia.
South Asia's regional cooperation has become urgent for alleviating poverty and for finding solutions to common problems. It is essential not only for achieving balanced interdependence through mutual benefits but also for identifying unexplored resources and harnessing them. However, regional cooperation in South Asia should be based on the principles of sovereignty, equality, territorial integrity, political independence, non-interference of personal affairs of other states and mutual benefits.

The costs and benefits of regional cooperation need to be carefully assessed. Unless gains from each country exceed the losses, there will be little possibility of forging cooperation.

In reality, regional cooperation could act as a catalyst for South Asia's economic development through increased opportunities for foreign aid and domestic investment, including joint venture, diversification of foreign aid, opening up of new markets and opportunities for innovation and release of economic forces.

No doubt, the impediments to South Asian regional cooperation are many. The most important factor hindering regional cooperation is the Indo-centric nature of the region, India standing head and shoulders above the other nations by almost every reckoning. Another factor impeding the regional cooperation is the meager knowledge about each other country in regard to their needs, perceptions and sensitivities. This ignorance has led to the lack of interest and interactions in promoting regional cooperation.

In fact, obstacles must not discourage regional cooperation initiatives. Rather efforts must be made to turn these obstacles into meaningful opportunities.

Despite physical proximity policy-makers have been aloof from each other. Actually, there should be a long-term perspective to regional cooperation. Action programme should be based on adequate research and homework. Sufficient implementing modalities and mechanism should back them up.
Policy-making on regional cooperation can profit from structured policy dialogues on various issues those still remains to be clarified. Such issues include the need to overcome hurdle in social and economic sectors, the role of political parties, parliamentarians, media, governmental and non-governmental organisations, and capacity building through institutional mechanism and strategies for developing social and economic cooperation and promoting economic and financial cooperation.
Above all, people from all walks of life need to be clear about how they can contribute to the promotion of South Asia's regional Cooperation. All this requires suggestions and recommendations regarding well thought-out operational programmes of action, which can lend it to implementation within a limited time and their dissemination to all concerned. This would help the decision-makers involving appropriate policies and programmes.

Suitable policy dialogues needs to be engendered preferably through a conference attended by leading personalities from different segments of society concerned with regional cooperation.
To promote an appropriate policy dialogue, it is indispensable to make a critical assessment of regional cooperation in South Asia and to have an in-depth discussion on the finding of such assessment.

Demand

South Asia has been quite late in waking up to the need for regional cooperation. Actually, regional cooperation in this region demands total commitment supported by political will in all the countries. Mutuality rather than reciprocity should serve as a key to its promotion.

Haunting Son Syndrome

By PNK

FAMILY planning is a very popular word used by the government agencies and NGOs. Even ministers do take the trouble to spell out the benefits of a small family. They even talk of spacing which many find it hard to understand.

The society is such that attitudes change slowly. The conservative nature of the people make it even more difficult. How can parents go for one child only. Maybe two would do. But, when one talks of God's will and so on then more children are to be born. Imagine a bunch of four, five or six children hanging on to your worn out collar or jostling you around for something or the other.

All this means the meagre income is not going to meet the rising demands. The husband and wife have all this on their mind all the time but the children are oblivious of the problems that face their parents. Empty coffers is the biggest culprit in making such a family desperate. And, mind you, going the corrupt is not everyone's forte.

Yes, in some offices, there is what is called the 'prevailing rate'. Call it commission, bribe or anything else. It's the same. Suppose the asking rate for a piece of work to be done is Rs. 4,500, it might be that employee's whole months salary. For such 'lucky' ones there may not be many problems. And the most surprising thing is that God blesses them with very few children.

Those below the poverty line ones are blessed with many children. They know better where the shoe pinches. Another fact that has emerged that the more affluent a society becomes, the birth rate falls down and it's vice versa for the poor countries.

Nepal is a case in point where poverty is rampant, violence a part of daily life, illiteracy is a curse but children are born wind or rain.

One-child policy of China deserves praise. For a country with such a huge population if it had been otherwise the right allocation of the resources would have been difficult. Here, let not the human rights activists intervene. They have their own axe to grind. Violating the one-child policy, in China, means a hefty fine that is, according to the rules, upto six times their annual income. It might seem harsh but the nation matters more and individuals can do with only one child to give all attention and care to. These children of today will become responsible citizens of the future. The prosperity of the country is possible if every person fulfills his/her duty.

One child is manageable but many can lead to one problem after another. For this why not the political leaders and eminent people take the initiative. After all, they have to play the model role. Assurances alone are not enough. Sympathy hardly helps. It's education that matters. Get the people educated and they will grasp the importance of few children. Realisation must dawn that you don't have to have a son to carry on the family. Daughters are equally capable of doing it. The fact must be hammered into the heads of the people before changes can take place.

A few ads on TV or radio or billboards does not make any difference. Face-to-face interaction may be considered as the best way out. But, first comes education and then poverty alleviation before anything can happen for the better. Only contraceptive manufacturers and retailers cannot complete the whole story.