Re:"Major disappointment"

[Dharma Tejus <dtejus@yahoo.com>]

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> At this tiny and
> miniscule level of development we have managed to
> mess
> up our land and air to make it positively dangerous
> for ourselves and our future generations.

  This is a very important point that all poor nations
have to face up to. The Development ideology imposed
on these nations as they became free of the colonial
yoke in the last 4-5 decades has pushed them into a
spiral of debt and destitution. Yes, there's been
some progress, but it has been at a great cost to
the natural and social capital of the country. Also,
the gains are usually appropriated by a small minority.
The main proponents of this ideology have been the
World Bank and the IMF.
  The West achieved their level of affluence via
industrialization facilitated by imperialism; colonies
provided cheap and assured supply of raw materials
and labour and a dumping ground for expensive
manufactured goods. This route is not accessible
in today's world anymore. Besides, we, as a planet,
have come to many ecological thresholds whose
existence were not even known a few decades ago.
So it is an imperative today that we consider more
benign modes of progress which are very sensitive
to the environment and social justice issues; we
cannot plunder Nature for short-term benefits anymore,
we cannot 'colonize' the weaker segments of our
own nation either. We truly need to reconsider the
notion of 'Development' and encourage the evolution
of more benign and viable alternatives if we are to
live in a civil society.

Tejus





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