The multiple social identities of Indians are forever being reinforced for the cultivation of power. This has a dangerous potential of spinning out of hand. While that may fare well in the light of electoral politics, there is a need to check their growth
The times that we live in are complex to the point that only a high degree of maturity and knowledge can show the way. The energy considerations are an obvious point of reference. The global reality is driving up prices and putting pressure on enterprises.
To control cost, a focus on raw material and process efficiency is no longer enough. One needs to carefully manage, besides energy, other valuable natural resources that enable one’s business and existence. From taking people to work or delivering products to customers, or making office and data centre operate with efficiency, one has to manage resources that are largely hidden from sight.
What is needed is an integrated approach to tangible and intangible resources. One needs to move towards a holistic understanding of sustainability. This cannot be confined to a focus on energy and environment only. The developmental idea has to be fuller and complete. To reconcile various contending pressures into a unified focus is the challenge of the times.
The increasing quantum of waste and pollution and the rising prices of raw materials are well-recognised problems. There is a growing recognition of the threat caused by green house gas emissions which have brought the world to a critical point, where actions in each and every region of the planet have widespread effect.
The demands on national governance are changing because the nature of challenges is changing. The solution would lie in technology infusion, infrastructure development, financial infusion and proactive capability development.
The poverty of large masses of people has worrying human dimensions. The fruits of development are eschewed and no one enjoys them in their fullness. The economies of need are beginning to dominate the developmental debate. If one out of three cannot afford two square meals a day, and education of the next generation remains a luxury, then security and peace are bound to be at crossroads.
There are also other concomitant results of poverty, absence of education, poor education and uneven distribution of wealth. Competency, in such a context, cannot grow as required. If competency does not grow, development and ultimately gross national happiness will be a casualty.
The objective is to create core competencies in major areas which also enable production and availability of quality goods. A shift in the paradigm of development is needed to manage the change better. The focus cannot be solely on the tangible. There is a never changing characteristic of human resources and social behaviour which often overrule the efforts that ignore them. The social fabric can lead to devastating circumstances.
The multiple social identities of Indians are forever being reinforced for the cultivation of power. This has a dangerous potential of spinning out of hand. While they may fare well in the light of electoral politics, there is a need to check their growth. This is what developmental planning must also include. But this needs maturity and knowledge and sobriety too. The continuous multiplication of social identities may hinder the collective progress of society.
Technology has a powerful hand in social regulation. This has to be carefully nurtured. The power of social networks is also in speeding up word-of-mouth exchanges. There is a need to contain the tinting of the content at each exchange.
What is challenging is not only the ease with which panic can be introduced but the rapid change in social fabric that it can bring about. It is relatively easy to react and respond to the existing social structure. But when matters are in a state of flux, it is another situation altogether.
Pre-emptive localised strategies which balance the system that keep global enterprises efficient must be explored. Gross national happiness has to be the ultimate gainer.
