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Integrated Human Development An alternative Indian model of Sustainable Development

A preliminary draft for discussion

Overview• Introduction

• Current Crisis

• Some existing relevant measures

• Roots of the crisis

• Exploring options

• Economic achievements over millennia

• Indian worldview

• Indian concept of development

• Parameters of Development

• Task Ahead

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Introduction Today’s socio – political debate revolves around development agenda

Economic growth forms the core of development action

Globally, there is a rat race to increase economic growth

Economic growth has resulted in huge crisis leading to

Depletion of natural resources

Increase catastrophes and threat to food and agriculture

Alarming impacts on society

Assault on cultural diversity

Paradoxically growth based development has been detrimental to very existence and

survival of life on earth in total

Hence an urgent need to establishing a holistic and integrated approach to development

Ancient Indian society was known to have such model

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Current Crisis

Environmental disaster Excess fossil fuel consumption – expected scarcity by 2050

Natural gas and Coal will be severely scarce commodity by 2080 and 2100

25% increase in pandemic and epidemic communicable disease in 10 years

Sea level rise due to polar ice melt would submerge more than 50 islands globally 2050

accounting more than 3.5 million refugees in India and Bangladesh

Ganga glacier melt – by 2050 would impact more than 4 million people in gangetic delta

38% of land area is used for agriculture, and sea level rise by 2050 would reduce minimum of 5%

of land surface

Every year 13 million hectares of forest lost globally, adding to climate change and global

warming

Nearly 17,000 species biodiversity threatened on which more than 1.5 billions of people are

directly dependent for their livelihoods

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Crisis : Food and agriculture Globally 1 billion people are under nourished

40% reduction in global soil productivity - expected chronic food scarcity by

2050

Depletion in genetic diversity – ex, In India 42000 rice varieties were grown

before green revolution – today fewer than 500 variety grown

Almost 80% of global fish stock is over exploited by 2009

40% of the earth will face physical scarcity of fresh water by 2025

70% freshwater is used for agricultural production in 2007 and More than

30% of fresh water decline is expected by 2025

Global warming is predicted to reduce 30% wheat and 15% irrigated rice

production by 2050 in developing countries

Global grain reserve declining steeply since 2000 – lowest in 2009

Constant increase in landless rural livelihood - accounts 22% in India in 20086

Impact on Society The rich - poor divide has increased from 3:1 in 1820 to 72:1 in 2006 with One third of the

world lives below the poverty line

1.6 billion people live with vulnerable employment and the poorest 50% of the world’s adult

population receives 1% of global wealth

Around 9 million children die under the age of 5 due to lack of Medicare, 100 million children

globally are homeless and sleep on streets

2.6 billion people globally lack access to sanitation

Globally, 75 million children (55 % girls) with no schooling - 776 million adults (16 % of adult

population) lacked basic literacy skills —two-thirds of whom were women

In India – divorce doubled in past 10 years with 3.6% increase in crime rate

In India increase in crime against women by 17% and crime against Children by 10.2%

Increased urbanization – More than half the globe in cities by 2050 - 33% of urban population

– slum dwellers today

In India - Cyber fraud increased by 44.9% in one decade of which people under age group 18-

30 accounted for 61.2% of the offence7

Impact on Culture More than 350 million indigenous community, accounting 6% of global

population spread over 72 countries facing threat of extinctions. Of around 8000 language spoken globally, over 11.5% (600) of the language

has less than 150 speakers and 95.2% of languages are listed threatened globally

Dominance of English as single communicative language is threat to multilingualism, identity and by 2050 half the world will have single lingua franca

Culture Industry – accounts 3.4% of global GDP – economic promotion of culture

Annual steady 4% increase in ethnic violence - displacing of over 20 million people

3 billion people use disappearing traditional medicine as primary health care Homogenization of food consumption – 2 decades there has been 94.5% shift

towards rice and wheat – reduction in crop and food diversity8

Some relevant measures

Important measures of development

GDP is the principal measure of growth for more than half a century and still

continues to be the dominant indicator

Only few indicators are known to address issues of happiness, well being and

sustainability

More than 20 indicators have been used to measure progress

Sense of incompleteness is prevalent in all the available measures

Some of the most important ones are

Human Development Index (HDI)

Ecological Footprint (EF)

The Happy Planet Index (HPI)

Gross National Happiness (GNH)10

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) Considered as measure of progress and economic growth

The value of output of goods and services produced during one year

Can be viewed as being national income, national output or aggregate

demand (AD)

GDP per capita – GDP divided by the population (GDP per head)

It is only an aggregate monitory measure

A large set of services are not accounted

Cannot measure welfare objectives

Cannot measure natural stock and ecosystem services

No opportunity to incorporate culture11

Human Development Index (HDI) HDI – A socio-economic measure (1990 – World Bank)

Revised measure in 2010

Earlier HDIs measured Longevity , Knowledge and Income poverty

Focus on multiple dimensions of human welfare:

Health and Education

Well being and happiness, Multidimensional poverty

Environmental vulnerability, Living standards

ICT, Economy

Infrastructure

Employment etc..

Non income HDI

Robust theory and methodology 12

The Happy Planet Index (HPI) HPI challenges other well-established indices such as (GDP) and (HDI). (Europe – Global

measure – 2006)

Built on principles of

Ecological Sustainability

Social Justice

People’s Well-being

It connects Human system (culture, education, governance, economy, social capital and

health) with Ecosystem (natural capital, water quality, biodiversity, co2 emission, air

quality and soil erosion) by controlling resource demands

Consider ecosystem and human well being as two compelling parts of development

Measured as a ratio of happy long life (life satisfaction X life expectancy) divided by

resource use (ecological foot print)13

Ecological Footprint(EF) EF compares human consumption of natural resources with Earth’s ecological capacity

(biocapacity) to regenerate them. Also called living planet index (LPI) (WWF – Global

Measure – 2006)

EF measures the amount of ecologically productive land used by individuals, cities,

countries, etc.

EF believes that production and use of goods and services involve land use: have ecological

footprints

Measures foot prints of consumption

Measures inequality in terms of ecosystem functions

The recent measures concluded following key elements There is not enough earth to support our current consumption patterns

Thus all poor countries cannot follow the miracle of developed countries

Someone must bear the ecological burden of consumption by the affluent

Our continued over-consumption hits the poor hardest 14

Gross National Happiness (GNH)

It is an attempt to define quality of life in a more holistic and psychological terms

than GNP

GNH is practiced in Bhutan since 2004 and is based on Buddhist worldview

GNH believes that material and spiritual development together can constitute true

development

Four pillars of GNH

The promotion of equitable and sustainable socio-economic development

Preservation and promotion of cultural values

Conservation of the natural environment

Establishment of good governance

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Roots of the Crisis

Roots of the crisis Current practice of “development” is material economy centric,

understood as economic growth

Economic growth means increase in the production and

consumption of goods and services, which is measured as GDP

A thinking which is consequence of Western, “modern” worldview

Human species is superior than all creatures,

Nature is an infinite resource

Materialism and consumerism

Atomizing the individuals

Nationalizing the families, communities and their functions17

Exploring Options

Option

Patchwork approach would not resolve the crisis

The notion of development needs complete transformation

Alternative could be more than economic growth with

environment, welfare, culture and society finding a place in it

India flourished as a world leader even on the economic front

for 1700 years and still retained balance with nature and life

Therefore this worldview could be the basis of Indian approach

to development

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Economic achievements over millennia

Indian Legacy With this world view, Indian spectacular achievements as an economic

superpower is undisputedly established

Paul Bairoch – Economic Historian – GATT

– Estimated global production for the period of 1700 - 1980

– During 1700 – 1800 - India’s share of global production was 24.5% as opposed to

23.2% produced by entire Europe

Angus Maddisson – Economic Historian – OECD

– Estimated global GDP and population for the period of 1 CE – 2000 CE – predicted till

2030

– From the 1CE till 1700CE –for 1700 years – India had almost continuously reigned as

the most successful and most powerful economy in the world

– Generating over a fifth to a third of the global output continuously over the millennia21

Distribution of World GDP: 1-2003AD

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First row: Share of GDP in Billion dollars; Second row: Percentage contribution to global GDPSource: Angus Maddisson, Contours of the World Economy 1-2030AD, Oxford 2007

1 1000 1500 1600 1700 1820 1870 1913 1950 1973 2003India 34 34 61 74 91 111 135 204 222 495 2,267

32.02 28.04 24.35 22.39 24.43 16.04 12.14 7.47 4.17 3.09 5.54China 27 27 62 96 83 229 190 241 245 739 6,188

25.45 22.06 24.87 28.95 22.29 32.91 17.08 8.83 4.59 4.61 15.12Japan 1 3 8 10 15 21 25 72 161 1,243 2,699

1.14 2.65 3.1 2.9 4.14 2.99 2.29 2.62 3.02 7.76 6.6Africa 8 14 19 23 26 31 45 79 203 550 1,322

7.62 11.49 7.8 7.08 6.94 4.5 4.07 2.91 3.81 3.43 3.23W.Europe 14 11 44 66 81 160 367 902 1,396 4,097 7,857

13.69 9.08 17.78 19.79 21.87 23.01 33.08 33.01 26.18 25.57 19.2USA 0 1 1 1 1 13 98 517 1,456 3,537 8,431

0.26 0.43 0.32 0.18 0.14 1.81 8.85 18.93 27.31 22.07 20.61Former USSR 2 3 8 11 16 38 84 232 510 1,513 1,552

1.48 2.36 3.4 3.45 4.36 5.42 7.53 8.5 9.57 9.44 3.79L.America 2 5 7 4 6 15 27 121 415 1,389 3,132

2.13 3.79 2.93 1.13 1.71 2.15 2.46 4.42 7.79 8.67 7.66World 105 120 248 332 371 695 1,111 2,733 5,332 16,023 40,913

Indian Worldview

Indian worldview The whole universe is the manifestation of consciousness (Vishwa Chaitanya) at

different levels

Chiti – Universal integration of souls - Individual to nation creates kinship based society

Philosophy of Purushartha evolved and instituted a model of duty centric socio-

economic order

Purusharthic life: worshiping wealth (Artha) and pleasure (Kama) subjected to the code

of ethics (Dharma) leading to eternal bliss (Moksha)

Purushartha – acquiring wealth as duty with a sense of detachment leading to wealth

multiplied and not wasted needlessly.

Tenets of Dharma – freedom (Swatantrya), truth(Satya), non-violence (Ahimsa), helping

others (Paropakara), charity (Dana), sacrifice (Tyaga)

Belief that all wealth belongs to god and not be used for ones own enjoyment - restrain

hyper consumption, increases savings for future generations and preserve environment

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Indian worldview Relational approach with recognition of “organic connectivity” of individual,

family, community, society, nation, the world and finally to entire creation at

various levels

All units are interdependent, integrated, self motivated, self propelled and self

regulated

Relationship based society with Duties and rights integrated, acts as social

security and safety net.

Like family with the individual as its inseparable part take care of elders, infirm,

unemployed, disabled and others

These civilizational resources and social capital has a perennial advantage to

future socioeconomic growth and power25

Indian concept of development

Integrated Human development (IHD) Sarve Bhavantu Sukhinah,Sarve Santu Niramayaah, Sarve Bhadrani Pasyantu, Maa

Kaschid-Dukha-Bhag-Bhavet. - Ensuring “Sukha (happiness) and Hita (well being)”

to all

Durable and non-conflicting happiness

Ensuring physical and emotional well being

Increasing satisfaction of life

Expanding freedom and capabilities

Wealth creation with moderate consumption and Savings orientation which is

environmentally sustainable

Duties and rights integration

Decentralization through enriching and empowering civilizational infrastructure

and social capital (Family, community, society and so on) 27

Parameters of development

Parameters of IHD

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Physical

•Wealth production & distribution, Security, Financial flows, Physical infrastructure, Food and agriculture

Human

•Education, Health, Employment, Self respect, Living standards, Personal security, Mental health and leisure

Political

•Decentralization, Participation, Freedom & Rights, Governance & accountability, Political engagement

Natural

•Provisioning functions, Preservation functions, Regulating functions, Sustainability & Footprint

Social

•Inequality and poverty, Civilizational infrastructure, Women & Social Security, Demography & Violence, Discrimination, Urbanization

Cultural

•Livelihood choice & fine arts, Language & Identity, Cultural harmony, Indigenous knowledge, Monument and heritage

Task Ahead

Our Objectives

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Currently Development Foundation is engaged in following projects

1. Synthesizing the Indian worldview and its philosophical basis2. Deriving principles to establish a sustainable socio-economic order

based on Indian worldview3. Creating a new understanding Indian social theory and4. Reconstructing Indian Economic Thought

In the long run Foundation intends

5. To define the concept of development based on Indian Ethos6. To establish a theory based solutions to current development crisis7. To build policy research and advocacy group to promote Indian model of

development nationally and internationally

It is a long journey Quest has just begun

we need your suggestions and cooperation

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Our TeamSl. No Name Profession Place of work

1 Sri. M. P. Kumar CEO and Chairman Global Edge software Pvt. Ltd. Bangalore

2 Dr. K. V. Raju Professor of Economics Institute of Social and Economic Change - Bangalore

3 Dr. Shamasundar CEO ProSIM R&D Pvt. Ltd. Bangalore

4 Dr. Vaman Acharya Managing Trustee Samagra Vikas - Bangalore

5 Dr. K. B. Akhilesh Professor of management Department of management studies –IISc, Bangalore

6 Dr. Vinayachandra Sanskrit Scholar SVYASA – University Bangalore

7 Smt. Ashwini. B. Desai Adjunct Fellow Development Foundation

8 Sri. Harish Kumara. B. K Research Associate Development Foundation

9 Sri. M. S. Chaitra Fellow Development Foundation

Thanks