Principles Of World Development And The Basis Of Development Strategy
Karmayogi
October 5, 1978
Presentation to the Brandt Commission
Development is the human aspect of a natural process known as growth. All life is instinct with growth when the overflowing energies seek insistent expression. Growth is in evidence when the person is more than filled with inner energies. Naturally the occurrence of this phenomenon is less frequent. Occasionally we find men who can stimulate a growth in themselves, having observed the process of growth in nature. They are creative, original and dynamic individuals. Societies too arrive at a point of maturity when they can stimulate a growth in themselves. This is self-stimulating dynamism, self-development. Development is the stimulation of a growth process in one by another and hence inherently artificial. Man's special characteristic lies in this artificiality, and his capacity to hasten the process of nature, to master its present process and induct it into another process determined by him. Often he has succeeded; often he has failed. He has succeeded when his pursuit was in conformity with the inherent laws of nature and he has only tried by his superior vision to quicken the pace within the basic framework of the laws. Wherever he has either ignored these laws when he has known them or was unaware of them, man has sorely been defeated. The ecological imbalance is one such incident where Man has followed his trait of expansionism ignoring the ways of nature, her requirements of harmony and her relentless laws.
Our subject is human development. The world over, development is restricted to greater income and is understood as material prosperity. This is not wrong if taken in its context. When taken in isolation and treated as a subject in itself it is unrealistic and also the approach to problems lose much of their validity. In the result a huge effort is rewarded with a little result. Development, even if considered as economic development, cannot be divorced from social aspects. Therefore, we call it socio-economic development. It is an axiom of life and nature that every aspect of theirs is powerfully integrated with every other aspect. Therefore, this subject should be considered in its wholeness and its integrated nature fully recognized. The actual dealing with an aspect may be somewhat isolated and a special focus permitted but the consideration of any part must be in terms of the whole. Development is not given to non-humans or to other members of life. For them it is growth. Development is given to man, and only to man. Our subject is human development and its special emphasis for action today in the world is the practical realistic aspects of material prosperity and its increase with a view to totally eradicating absolute poverty.
The one instrument of development in man is mind and its equipment, called education. One develops another on the basis of his already having grown to the required level. The principles of one man developing another is, in short, the principles on which he himself has grown. By growth we mean the mind's understanding of the environment and its full appreciation by his life (vital) to the point of seeking it for himself and the physical aspect of actual acquiring. For example, man observing the seed falling from the plants and growing again into another plant begins to enthuse himself after a period of observation. Now his vital consents to the mental knowledge. Later when compelled by physical necessity he tries to grow plants. This is one process of his growth into the science of agriculture. For this to be possible man's mind must have been saturated by the knowledge of observation, his vital charged with the enthusiasm for the experiment and the physical necessity should provide the urge to create. Without these circumstances man, even if faced with the necessity of greater quantity of food, would have perished. He would not have embarked on the adventure of agriculture. To repeat: his own energies must be set in motion in pursuit of what he understands and what he is enthused about at a time when physical necessity presses. Either when the physical necessity is not there or his knowledge is not full; or he is not enthused, man does not act as he is not constituted to move himself without these urges. What LAW held good for growth, holds good for development. Should we attempt development in an area, we should ascertain that these three aspects are present. In all areas we wish to act to-day the physical necessity is there and the mental knowledge can be given with some effort. And what is generally missing is his enthusiasm to achieve. Man today is more social than personal. This enthusiasm can be best released if it relates to a social necessity, a social recognition he cannot afford to miss. In other worlds we create a situation where his mind understands a possibility of a physical necessity being fulfilled and a further impetus that someone among his compeers has achieved it and he can no longer be without it. At one level, which seems to cover all the population, this seems to be a very effective strategy. Education develops the mind. The greatest known civilizing force is education and its best instrument, the printed word and mass media. Education abridges the achievements of the past, the entire past, and passes it on to the next generation so that the youth can capitalize on the entire past achievement of the society. At one look we can see (in the tables of World Development Report on Income and Education) the direct proportion of Education and per capita income. In the words of Kamaraj, "Educate a man, he will develop himself." Investment in primary schools (or in higher education) is as valuable as in dams (or in steel plants). Without education development in an area has a very limited scope as in Andhra where copious water was supplied to farmers, they raised the bunds to two feet and let all crops rot under water. Kerala has very high 70 percent of education but with no land, no money; they spread allover India and now they migrate in enormous numbers to Gulf countries.
The best aspect of education is its creativity at all levels. On top is the originally creative idea. Next is the creativity in intelligent imitation. Creativity in lesser fields comes next. The others are as follows: Creativity in adjustment, creativity in using the waste and creativity in discovering usefulness in difficulties. To summarize our assessment of world development:
Allover the world there obtains a positive climate for development (World Bank says the growth in the last quarter of a century is double the expected. This confirms our view). The richness of the positive climate may vary; there is no part of the world which is not ready for development of some type. The active efforts by international fora should presently confine themselves to the extent the human dynamism is released i.e. Man's awakening is there and he is ready to put his best foot forward. Wherever the development effort is within this ambit, the effort will meet with total success. Every area that presented the failure will, on examination, reveal that the development aim overstepped this urge. World leaders of development focus on Trade and the third world only. This is a partial approach bound to lead to very little result compared with the effort put in. The effort must embrace both ends. There is no effort that can deliver the goods to one's side. Unless the effort is beneficial to both sides, it will be difficult to move and if moved difficult to achieve. An examination of the last three decades of success will show the presence of mutual inclusiveness. At least in our consideration the effort must embrace all nations and all walks of life, though the emphasis can be on a particular subject. Education, culture, life, life-style, trade, agriculture, industry and every walk of life should be inclusively (integratedly) considered simultaneously in all nations of the world. Within this framework of wide consideration, the immediate work can be confined to practical realistic approach of eradication of absolute poverty in the third world. Under this graded approach I have given examples to illustrate what I mean by the principle. My examples are drawn from only India and are repetitive. It must be possible to fill up the columns from the examples in other countries. That must be simple if we look at conditions in other countries.
I shall try to speak on the notes, so that in places where the notes are not explanatory, I can give the background I had in mind.
1. Principles that are creatively original, reflecting the genius of the society and are essentially idealistic.
Trade: Debt is a developer: The article in Development Forum ridicules the idea of adverse balance of payments and says the U.S.A. had adverse balance of payments till 1920 and jokes there were no statistics in those days. About foreign capital too, it says that most of the U.S. companies were foreign owned until 1940 or even today and gives a list.
Development being a process induced by one in another (before he naturally arrives at a point of growth), the instrument of development and also (capital) should come from another. In the post World War II period, the development role played by debt to Europe is well known. There need be no controversy over it.
Education: Wind up major universities: knowledge should be pursued and not the degree. Effort in education must be content-seeking and not outer form-oriented. Human development being the aim, perpetuation of form (in the shape of a degree) is an unidealistic aim. Life with its printed word, city life, mass media is capable of educating any above-average child. He can give self- education. If we should realistically expect the ignorant villager to accept an effort on his part to usher himself into comfort (whereas he has no felt need for that effort now), it is equally realistic to ask the above-average child to give up formal education in favor of self-education. Both are similar efforts at different levels. Without this simultaneous approach, it is very difficult to have good results at the level of poverty. At least the mind of humanity should be addressed on these lines. Universities are for the slow learners. Disbanding of Oxford or Princeton will open the educational conscience of the world. Such efforts must be conceived in agriculture, trade, etc.
Politics: Institutions are no longer for profit but for development. The article in Development Forum "Beyond the Profit Motive" moots this idea. The idea of a stock holder's profit is less than a thin veil. The corporations today are the major forces of development in Science and Technology. They profess profit motive, but really work for general welfare indirectly. The change must be sought that they officially profess development or progress and still pay the dividend to the shareholder as they pay the wage earner. As the officers are paid, the shareholder also is paid. The aim shifts, the practice remains. No longer the corporations are "really" owned by the shareholders. They are really public utilities. The effort to espouse the ideal of service in preference to profit is indispensible at this level. This is not merely idealistic, but "practical and realistic" because there is no way of running a corporation based very much on the idea of profit whereas basing on the idea of service it is realistic that much profit can be made.
Agriculture: To raise food production with fertilizer and pesticide. To do the same without fertilizer and pesticide is an art and few people can cultivate more than 10 or 15 acres of land. Now it is essential. To make a virtue of necessity and raise agriculture to idealistic levels, all efforts can be successfully made to divorce agriculture from chemicals and integrate cultivation with weather and animal, bird life around. It is many times more difficult but can be attempted in developed countries. It is as difficult in the U.S.A. to cultivate without chemicals as it is in India to produce without chemicals. This idealistic overtone is essential.
U.N.: The thoroughness with which the U.N. bodies have pursued the aim of trade, etc. as evidenced by the resolutions and proceedings is amazing. Such thoroughness is commendable. All these idealistic approaches must be pursued with the same thoroughness through periodicals of different frequency, mass media, gatherings and every possible field of education. Beyond doubt the U.N. has exhibited a dynamism in propagating the views it has accepted. Now we must make the U.N. accept these truisms so that the U.N. will lend its thoroughness to this also. U.N. by itself can educate the elite whereas it is the elite which educates the public. The weight, reality, necessity of a positive public opinion is not questioned. Once it is created, the translation of it into field reality is only a question of time. For instance, deployment of 5% of the army in a developing country is an idea that U.N. can theoretically approve. If done even by a few countries, the psychological results will be far reaching. It can escalate soon into the whole army working for development. So also the idea of conscription for development. The idea of "territory occupied in development" and hence seeks U.N. protection so as to concentrate all its energies (including the army) into development, can easily be approved. I wish you meet the Waldheim and explain it to him.
Development Forum: The one issue you sent contained many ideas. He says as agriculture has receded into the background, industrial capacity should also recede giving prominence to challenges on the frontiers of human development. It is good. Disband the colleges or at least deny admission to the above average boy and let him knock on the frontiers of human development. Challenges on the frontiers of human development means acquiring culture at the mental level --- a very big effort requiring centuries of effort --- and peace and poise at the spiritual level. Presently it is a pursuit of culture.
2. Prepare original imitation of the best possible ideas and projects from one part of the world to another: This one strategy alone, if thoroughly studied by an international agency and results made public, is capable of achieving all the results presently aimed at by development. Fisk once said that U.S. agriculture production can be doubled if all research findings can be practiced in the farms. The principle is the same, i.e. if all known techniques in the world are fully used, production is doubled. The philosophy behind is, only a small portion of any achievement comes to the surface. Development is to bring to the surface for use what is presently neglected. In yoga it is general knowledge that man uses for his social existence an infinitesimal part of his energies. When his full energies are used, man can rise to one-hundred times greater heights. The axiom in Integral yoga is, man, when he operates on full scale, can transform nature into divine nature. In the most dynamic man we find on scrutiny that only a portion of his energies are used. He is himself unaware of it. If a man, or an institution uses all his energies, his growth must be continuous. I have kept this approach under the head of "Imitation" and not under "creation" because it is enough man --- to achieve glorious prosperity allover the world --- is creative enough to imitate another.
International Food Corporation: It is possible for a few producer countries to join together on any commodity agreeable and fix a floor price so as to give the farmer the support price and prevent the farmer from ruin. Later U.N. and other international development agencies can come forward to support the idea. The notorious fluctuations in price in sugar, cotton, wheat, rice, etc. have ruined the farmer allover the world. This is a simple idea. A few countries can start with a few items. As the Indian Food Corporation has ushered in the Green Revolution in India, International Food Corporation can come into its own very soon and usher in agricultural prosperity world over.
International Export Promotion Council: The great service Export Promotion Council in India does is well known. It is not impossible to float an international one. Its service can be very great. To say the least, the investment of a few billion dollars cannot achieve what one good idea translated into action can achieve.
International Credit Guarantee Corporation and International Trade: 95% of Indian exports are on L/C. There is a system within India by which 95% of internal trade is on terms and through bank. To extend the internal arrangement to foreign trade requires only some cooperation from banks and trade. Suppose the exports are carried on like internal trade, the volume can increase tenfold. A little imagination is needed. There can be also another support from insurance organizations to guarantee freight to and fro without covering the value of the goods. International trade will face a boom on this score only.
3. In each country---------logical conclusion: Health food in the West. This is a movement of awareness of deviation from the central pursuit of man. Once this awareness is there in food, it is possible to extend it to agriculture, industry, education. The principle is: base on reality not on artificiality which will lead you nowhere. In education salaried employment is artificial, self employment is natural and real. In business, fashions and fads are artificial and capable of spoiling the national psychological health; utility (beauty in utility) is realistic.
In India the idea of hire purchase can be introduced in education for first class students:
Hire purchase, installment purchase are innovations in trade which have expanded the volume of trade many fold. It is possible only in countries with some public character and through some financial institutions. Basically hire purchase is a system which makes the consumer buy with his future income. This expands his capacity to buy from the present cash on hand to a year's income. It is similar in effect to currency. Barter reduces the transaction to a locality and to any useful commodity for one. Imagine today that currency is withdrawn and replaced by barter. Where is trade? Reversely if hire purchase is introduced in any field, an expansion witnessed in trade when currency was introduced will take place. Currency reduces one's purchasing power to a symbol and is not perishable. Hire purchase relates one's purchasing power to his whole year's earnings capacity expanding it beyond the cash in purse, because today the salaried class, the banking system, etc. have emerged. The great success of Indian Road Transport and housing schemes is due to the extension of hire purchase system in these fields.
In India (and elsewhere too) very many bright students are deprived of the opportunity of higher education as they are poor. Here the Brahmins are traditionally very poor and very bright. All the government concessions are given to low caste students and not to Brahmins. Societies have grown so systematic that no one can run away from commitments. Suppose the hire purchase system is used here and any boy securing above 60% aggregate marks in S.S.L.C. is free to join the college and pursue higher education drawing the necessary funds from the government (or a bank) for six or eight years and it is repayable from his salary when employed. I am sure a very large portion of society's unused talents will qualify themselves and the society will be richer for it. I would personally say this money can be given free in toto ---as I cannot conceive of a greater development scheme than this in any country however advanced it is. The enriched soil pays doubly for the effort; the improved machine does so; would not the educated individual repay the society abundantly? Conforming to the realistic suggestions, I suggest the money can be repaid. Collection of the money cannot be or should not be a problem in any country hereafter.
3a. Do the minimum under accepted heads: Lay roads to every town and village: Suppose in a backward economy of isolated villages --- centres of production --- if an experiment of laying roads alone is made, the economy's visible growth can be recorded. This is a known truism in economy. Now that societies the world over have accepted trade, road laying will reward doubly. To connect every centre of production to the nearest market place is to activate its capacity to produce. When a country has accepted the idea of development, road laying is a must; it will succeed, too.
Democracy in India ...... cultural values and aims: As the society has accepted democracy, the subserving activities when fostered will succeed. No education or persuasion is necessary. Education is the basis of democracy. And in every country that has accepted democracy (as against authoratarianism which flourishes on ignorance and lack of information) the educational effort will succeed. Hence they are the areas for the developmental effort to focus upon.
What new movements ...... to other fields: Amul in India: After I have mooted this idea two months ago, now I see in the Hindu a scheme for Rs.485 crores to spread dairy schemes, the strategy being: bring within the fold of Anand-pattern Dairy. What system or idea has succeeded in one field, can be mechanically multiplied allover the country and allover the world. Amul, Anand is the best example. This can be extended to another product, like fruit, etc. How many successful ideas and practices allover the world are not available for one to copy. Recognition of these ideas and approaches by the U.N. and the international bodies will popularize these ideas and nations will more easily take to them than now. International development agencies that finance can suggest to borrowing members the use of such successful strategies copying it from their own country or from other countries. They have a list of such ideas.
Greater Leisure.....for progress: Greater quantity of food for poor people and greater leisure for traditionally working people are the same at different levels. The former effort is likely to succeed in a greater measure if work is taken up at the latter levels too simultaneously. To teach them to use the leisure properly is as important as giving the leisure. Basically it should be put to acquire culture. Exploration of higher values in life in other countries, information about other nations, activities that upgrade one's own life style are the types called for. The role of reading rooms, libraries, documentary films, the printed word, etc. are immense. To devise ways and means; to imitate from other similar higher cultures leisured ways of life must be easy. An organized effort in this direction is necessary. Details can be had for the asking. Just one example: Free theatres exhibiting valuable documentary films on all higher aspects of life the world over --- rendered suitable to the prevalent taste of the audience --- will be one.
Development of Department stores in Poor Nations: The idea of being able to buy all one needs from a single premises, apart from the convenience, educates the individual in the measure of development of world economy and its productive abilities. His mind gets a new dimension and is now able to subscribe to world-uniting ideas more easily than before. The department store is a symbol of modern efficiency and goods from allover the world on the show is a concrete expression of how all the world is one, at least in one aspect of production. It is an indirect symbol of world unity and has high educative value as it educates the practical emotion.
Eradication of illiteracy ...... quack managers: Education in any form is welcome and upgrading of skills and knowledge at any level is welcome. Quack mechanics and quack managers can be given proper education through an institution developed for that purpose. As they cannot be done away with and as they already possess the basic skills, to re-orient them into the pure system is very desirable. To develop an institution for that purpose is not difficult and such education will release the development arrested at that level by the presence of quack personnel. Quackery helps stagnation and often arrests the progress at their level. Our aim is to break through.
English Medium Nursery Schools: Since 1947, the year of Independence, a powerful movement in North India by the Hindi protagonists and by the D.M.K. in the South worked for the elimination of English from the Indian national life. Attempts were made to remove English from the Indian government administration through a constitutional amendment. Strangely the D.M.K. in the South which all along campaigned against English has to come forward in favour of English as against Hindi. M.G.R. signs today in Tamil. English is being ousted by Hindi in the North and by Tamil in the South. "Good morning" is replaced by "Vanakkam", signboards are in Tamil, the standard of English teaching has become deplorably low in the schools and colleges. All these people little realized that they are working in a non-existing direction. English has spread in the world more after 1947. It has become the language of the world. There was another imperceptible movement that supported English all over India. This is evidenced by the fact that published English books grew in number, the volume of English newspapers grew and their number, too. The society not carried away by the Hindi and D.M.K. politician sought to give English education to their children. Prior to 1947 nursery schools were found only in Madras, Madurai and that too in a very small number. Today there is no rural town without nursery schools with English medium. This is so in the North as well as in South India. This indicates the society's awareness of world trends. This is a movement to be supported and private educational effort at the secondary and collegiate levels can be supported with profit as it is in the direction of a unifying world force. Development programmes, project sites can include such schools and colleges. The point here is to recognize, publicize and support any society's awareness of the trend in the world towards a unifying future. We must spot out such efforts in other countries.
Sanskrit and Oriental Studies in the West: With Ford's grant a Sanskrit University is started in Haryana, the first ever Sanskrit Varsity in India. The West recognizing the value of Sanskrit is welcome. It will be better if the Sanskrit varsity is started in the West. A university of Chinese Culture is of the same type. The first ever technical varsity is started in India last month. Recognition of Western education values in the East and vice-versa is a great movement and all such trends are to be located and supported.
Holland: What Robert learned in .... 9th grade: This movement is now confined to the West where the present generation is better fed than the previous one. This movement must be extended to the East where also better food is being made available now.
Dissolution of Empires ...... Imperialism: The idea of dissolving political empires must now be extended to economic empires. That is, there must be less protectionism, free exchange of technology and releasing the corporation from the only aim of profit. Production must move towards the aim of consumption, paying for the production cost and the distribution cost and the cost of all the services rendered to the corporation for its existence. This aim is better taken and supported though we do not implement it right now.
Bank Loans: Allover the world it is now talked that financial institutions should become development-oriented and shed the habit of being security-oriented. This is very welcome. To start with, certain minimum things can be done. In India the Marwari, the money lender, lends more money against the same security which with the banks produce less credit. The Marwari is more cautious than the bank and also more profit-oriented. He is able to lend more as he is anxious for customers whereas the bank is not. The Marwari (I am not talking of the area where he uses underhand methods) lends more money against a lorry or a bus or a jewel in the exact same security circumstances where the bank lends less. The Marwari is less security-oriented and more profit-oriented whereas the bank is bound by rules and refers to the statute book in a circumstance where the Marwari looks to the attendant circumstances. Here the money lender is a greater instrument of social progress than the banker. These good successful methods must be institutionalized and introduced into the banking system.
5. Implement all Available Internationally Beneficial Schemes of the World Bank ....... Birth Control: Now that we are thinking of fresh good schemes, it is time we take a look at the existing schemes. The most popular of schemes would have been fulfilled only 50 to 60%. It is better to implement it 100%. Very many will be on paper but everyone will support it. They must be launched into action. Unless and until the known is exhausted, fresh schemes will not gain in momentum. Presently available schemes in all fields are enough to eradicate the best part of poverty. They need a push. The idea of fully implementing them before conceiving of fresh ones must be mooted powerfully. A study can be made as to how the world will change its face if all the existing schemes are implemented fully. In physical targets much would be accomplished. In psychological terms, this effort will change the quality of developmental effort and far greater energies will be unleashed.
Birth control in South India: Birth control in North India cost Mrs.Gandhi her Prime Ministership. In the South, even in remote villages, the idea is accepted and is becoming a welcome practice. In the next generation there will be no one who is averse to the idea. It is very difficult to hear of parents in their 40's having ten children, a common occurrence in the prewar period. Wherever there is something welcome it must be more vigorously implemented. And that one achievement will open the doors for others.
Work in areas ...... Established: Vegetable growing: Man, by virtue of circumstances is prepared for an effort in a certain field and does not know it himself. The planner, instead of knocking at him in other fields where he is not ready, should spot out the areas where MAN is psychologically and practically ready for an effort in certain fields. Work in all these fields will be a great success. When food itself is not available, it is useless to ask him to eat vegetables. Today in Tamil Nadu there are 20,000 acres of vegetables, i.e. one acre of vegetables for five to six hamlets of each 1,000 population. Now that food is available if the planner concentrates on vegetable cultivation --- which brings the farmer twice the income --- it is bound to succeed.
Telephone: The telephone service has come to most villages in India though as a token. Apart from its civilizing force, now the business man has a powerful weapon in his hands and can buy from or sell to all corners with the help of telephone connections. Just as roads, this is a faster (or instantaneous) connection which permits the trade to get into touch with any village. Grain trade can gain and therefore bank advance on grain must be liberalized. Trade of all sorts will get a boost and schemes to support cottage industries, village industries will receive a fillip. So the concentration must be to help float trade and small industries in the villages where (by no planning of P&T department) the infrastructure has already gone. In fact, the P&T department refuses to expand the rural service and pleads that its higher income comes from the cities. By some mistake, a fortunate circumstance is developing. Industries and commerce departments must take advantage of this. I am sure in each country hundreds of such examples can be found under every strategy I have listed. One only needs to look.
9. Invite mutually beneficial help wherever possible: Foreign investors in agriculture of Israel's standard: Speaking for India foreign capital is anathema. But the idea of allowing a foreigner to raise a 100 acre farm or even a 10 acre farm will meet with approval. Agriculture is a business and generates huge profits. The Indo-German Nilgiris Project for technical cooperation now introduced vegetable cultivation among its 18,000 members and is annually producing half a crore worth of vegetables which are sent to Madras and even Delhi. Foreigners interested in staying in India for five to ten years or permanently, if allowed to organize farms, the farms will be an excellent model and a focus for development. What the Indian cannot dream of, the foreigners will demonstrate for his profit. The venture of floating a 100 acre (or even 5 acre) farm and disposing it off when he wants to leave is within the means of an interested foreigner. No rule is interfered with and I am sure a good many will respond to the proposal. It is not within the Indian dynamism to raise a 100,000 acre jojoba farm. A foreign investor will easily do it in view of the future profits. It is wise to allow a foreigner to make profits on our soil if that is going to trigger off a green revolution. This is a small suggestion. If it is approved by the G.O.I. the results will go a long way. The idea must be presented to all concerned.
10. Innovate Small Possible Areas (help projects in live fresh areas): The Hindu has been campaigning since 1950 for the fishing industry to be developed in India. The food is protein value. It is cheap. The population eats any amount of fish. There is a very long coast and fish is in abundance. With all these favorable circumstances, to this day the potential remains untapped. In 1958 The Hindu wrote an editorial, "Fishing is Big Business in India". Of late, a prawn processing unit for export sprang up in Cochin and prawn harvested at Cuddalore is shipped to Cochin for the past seven, eight years to be canned. It is common sense to locate the industry at Cuddalore itself so that transport cost will be saved and that industry will stimulate growth of similar ones around.
Plants and Animals from Similar Climates: It is common matter of pride here that the non-descript country breed of cow is replaced by the high yielding jersey cow. It is also a common observation that milch animals brought here from cold climates suffer seriously during summer and create huge losses. High yielding milch cows are available not only in cold climates but also in other parts of the tropics. From cold climates milch cows must be moved to developing countries in cold climates. For the tropics, the better variety should come to other areas of tropics to avoid lack of accommodation and the consequent problems. Shifting animals and plants from one part of the world to another part of like climate is an approach parallel to freely giving away all available industrial technologies free to all who need them. Newdiscoveries in science and technology are kept as secrets and sold for a price when they decide to part with it. Selfishness can be organized only at this layer of life whereas in a plane above and a plane below life does not permit such selfishness a scope. In the matter of ideas (i.e., in a plane higher than the patented scientific discoveries) there is a free exchange. Anyone can copy the idea of democracy or the idea of appropriate technology or an educational reform. In a plane lower than technology i.e. agriculture and animal husbandry there are no patents, secrets, copyrights. Life permits free movement and free exchange. Wherever the human mind is open, the avenue should be used for progress. In fact, such full utilization will also open up opportunities of free exchange of technologies at a later date, perhaps in a partial measure.
As a principle in our strategy it is more necessary to know the significance of an individual approach and its wider consequences for the entire effort than assessing the results of that particular approach.
Invite Farmers from the Country of Origin to Initiate the first farm: Holland produces in glass houses more fruits and vegetables than Tamil Nadu in her fields. It is worthwhile to work out the economics of a Dutch national coming to India and organizing a farm of a size of his choice and the profits it will generate for him. At least the first farmer can be invited to organize a farm here for a period to be chosen by him. Now that greater awakening is there in the population, the effort of a Dutch national when imitated by the first Indian, will break the ice and the population may respond well. This is true of a poultry farmer and a dairy farmer from Denmark. For the foreign national the attraction will be the cheap land and labor which enable higher profits. For the inviting country it is a model venture for them with no capital. Till the first person of the locality comes forward to emulate, the education will be in latent stages. Once that happens, the multiplier effect will show its results. Governments may be shy of foreign capital in steel and fertilizer; they may not show the same chagrin in smaller inoffensive ventures. As elsewhere, here too, a greater additional advantage will be the change in the attitude to foreign investments. An article in the Development Forum gives the list of foreign companies --- prestigious ones --- now in existence in the U.S.A. When Man has to move to world unity --- there is nothing foreign; but we have to make allowances for the present prejudices and begin the good work wherever we now can. The Indo-German Nilgiris (Ooty) Project of growing vegetables has become a tremendous success in the Ooty area. Such initial efforts help argue in favor of this approach. We can initiate in each district a project of this type which became a good success only because of the technical cooperation of the German government.
Pappaya Canning between two countries: As in H.M.P. is possible to link production of H.M.P. in India and sales in the U.S.A. or France or the U.K. or Germany on a bilateral basis. It is mutually beneficial. A long term contract can be arranged. So in pappaya (and in a host of other agricultural, industrial consumer goods) it can be arranged with another country over a period that cheap, long term supply will be made. Once a market in a country for canned pappaya is located and the price makes it possible, the project is viable. Pappaya is not known in India as a regular food item. No one grows it here on plantation scale. Once this arrangement is done, pappaya plantations can be started here and canning factories too. The real development benefit will issue in the second phase when the local population appreciates pappaya's food value and are able to afford it. When that stage comes, the real development begins. Man coming to appreciate the value of his health and wanting to preserve it is a high stage of physical development. His being capable of paying for it is financial development. The effort would have developed the man to this stage which is real development.
Gap filling Industries like Prawn Processing Unit at Cuddalore: Prawn is caught, in Cuddalore and taken to Cochin for processing. Locating a factory at Cuddalore itself saves the transport cost and stimulates industrial ventures around. This is a type, a phenomenon. Even when man has moved, responded to the opportunities around, by virtue of circumstances, he has to act under great hardships. An effort to locate such gaps in man's effort and an offer of help to fill in the gap makes the effort to take off and often releases further efforts of similar nature. The principle behind is: Man moves and responds to opportunities and succeeds to the extent of accepting what material life has offered and survives precariously. Further help from social life is called for. Help offered to fill in such gaps will be social effort taking up the thread of achievement in material life plane. To do so will be society coming forward to develop material life for its own sake. That is the essence of development. This also means working in a field where material life and man are ripe for the progress. Efforts in all such fields where the climate for development is ripe will be rewarded with total success.
Western Standard of Education in India: Education in India is to acquire a degree without having any real acquirement. In the best of cases, the degree means the boy knows a certain fund of information. The attempt to make the student think is never made in Indian education. It is a non-thinking system. The partial good results we have today is owning to the inherent strength of the culture and the native intelligence of students. More than that, thinking is frowned upon in the Indian schools and colleges. To re-orient the Indian educational system towards training the faculty of thinking is not difficult. The end product of collegiate education must be called up to handle works that need thought. The change and its acceptance are not so difficult as to make the people feel the need for it. No one thinks on these lines. As long as disaster does not overtake, the authorities will not give thought to it. But the climate is ripe. Suggestions and ideas will be welcome. New projects will be responded to. But a total beginning cannot be made. In each college, a beginning can be made. A non-controversial faculty may be allotted for upgrading to the level of Western standard. Nursery schools totally on private effort can initiate this change. As the general atmosphere is unconsciously ripe and the end product is required by the society and will be paid for suitably, the change will spread.
The philosophy behind this strategy is: Assess every field in terms of its readiness to make a vast change. If the field is ready, if the general psychological atmosphere is ripe, without upsetting the whole system, make a token beginning at every possible opening. If our assessment is right, landslide changes will take place.
Grant Helpful Visa Support to Useful Immigrants as Indians in Gulf Countries: In Assam Bangladesh the population crosses the border in thousands and G.O.I. resents. There are other instances where a country may invite foreign population but the other country will resent. Here is an example where the Gulf countries invite Indian technocrats, technicians and a host of other qualified and semi-qualified people and pay them ten times more than in India. These personnel are required there for their development projects, men like accountants, managers, office superintendents, engineers, doctors, electricians, pharmacists, etc., etc. All these people in India are in a glut and are unemployed. Looked at the other way, a partially developed country's human resources are used to build development infrastructure in a least developed country. Can there be a more positive movement in the world of development. Should not concerned governments facilitate the movement by making passport, visa regulations simpler. If such a movement is in evidence in this area it must be one stage of a series of grades unnoticed in other countries. A graded scale can be constructed and worked for at all levels. At the top of the scale will be the idealistic approach: The most brilliant doctors, technicians, engineers, auditors, the world over should form themselves into a club and offer to send a representative token panel of personnel to any country that need their services either for a fee or as service sponsored by the U.N. At the bottom of the scale retired unemployed, unemployable (in their country) army personnel and those in the higher age group unsuitable for employment in an advanced country can be allowed to migrate to totally undeveloped countries to start new institutions and can be well paid for their services. It is like selling used furniture. In between these two extremes grades can be constructed and taken up for implementation.
11. Use for Others What is Wasteful to Us: It may not be difficult to persuade anyone except a fanatic to part with a wasted resource for a return and in every field there will be a very long list of items. Work also will be easy. I can give another example from India that may presently look amusing but really it has lasting values. The Sanskrit Pandits in India are mostly a starving lot who are counting their days, and are presently supported by the income of other members of the family. They learned Sanskrit not to use it as a means of income. They learned it as a part of their general education called for by the culture. The interest in the west --- in whatever cross-section of people --- in Sanskrit is the most promising feature for the future of that culture. Along with the language come the culture and the wisdom of the ages. These Sanskrit Pandits will visit any country for any length of time for the minimum wages of that country. To start with, if ordinary Sanskrit schools are started a few thousand Pandits can be exported from here. The results will be far reaching in the coming decade. People in the West may not be aware of the availability of such Sanskrit Pandits here at this price. Surely Sanskrit Pandits here are not aware of such a possibility in any country. Official or unofficial efforts to organize this migration has a great value for the future of the world. Presently the whole world is BACKWARD in its thinking, acting and conception. Only if such a movement comes into being on its own, the world will be awake. The Indian migration to Gulf was not an organized movement. Would it not be patriotic duty if such movements between two countries are organized. The Indian migration came on its own. Now the Government is thinking and arguing whether this movement is good or not. How useful a journal will be in this regard. We need not one journal but thousands of journals of various periodicity and standards. The world needs a PROSPERITY MOVEMENT and it has to be carried on by millions of youths, lakhs of institutions, and thousands of journals. All over the world MAN is in a slumber.