Sustainable Development

We keep hearing this term thrown about almost on a daily basis, whether it is a discussion about the future of the entire planet or our countries, our cities or even our colonies. So, what is ‘sustainable development’?

Each one of us strives to make our lives better. Most of us run from pillar to post each day to raise the standard of our living. We try to maintain the lifestyle we are used to and make it better. Collectively we wish to have better roads, better transport facilities, 24x7 power and water supply, etc. to improve the quality of our lives. Individually we may have the power and resources to make a difference in our own lives, however, to bring an effective change in the society, we require more than just concerted effort.

Good Planning is the essence and foundation of any vision moving towards the realm of reality. It is important to gather all the pieces of puzzle and then put them together, i.e., to collect data pertaining to all spheres of life in an area and then design the best possible way to make things better for the people of the area. Every plan has to be tailor-made to suit the needs of the area in question. Every area is endowed with potentials and constraints peculiar to it and a development planner takes all this into consideration before making the best set of choices for developing an area. For example, a terrain with steep slopes and bad soil quality need not have the facilities for cultivating paddy. The development of this area should be done in such a manner as to provide an alternative use, thereby enhancing the utility of all the available resources within the area and assuring future generations the same or better benefits. Resources here include human resources also.

“Earth, atmosphere, sky, sun, moon, stars, waters, plants, trees, moving creatures, swimming creatures, creeping creatures all are hailed and offered oblations” (Taittiriya Samhita i-8-13).

Today as we march into the future, we are reminded of the cataclysmic upheavals that we might invite upon ourselves by ignoring that voice of wisdom left to us by our forefathers. In our search for security from each other, we have inadvertently left ourselves at the mercy of the ground beneath us and the sky above us. There is no point making a development plan which cannot be supported by the resources available or by the inhabitants of the region. Excessive reliance on coal for power without appropriately (environmentally, economically, and socially viable) harnessing the overflowing rivers in an area could be one example of a skewed development plan and planning for industries on the banks of river without having any provisions for treating industrial waste being flushed out into the same rivers could be another. Such kind of development, which cannot be sustained for further growth and progress, can it be termed ‘sustainable development’?

The preparation of a sustainable development plan is also an exercise in democracy. The development planners have to be in touch with ground realities. They have to interact with the people of the region on a consistent basis while designing and implementing the plan, in order to know the feasibility and effectiveness of the plans. They also need to be aware of the culture of the region along with the knowledge of the socio-economic-political equation of the region. The current brand of vote-bank democracy in India with its short term political and economic goals is not enough to bring about sustainable development. So is the case with China, which has achieved miraculous economic growth over the past 30 years to become the world's second largest single-country economy. But it is also heading towards rapid resource depletion and environmental pollution. Only the development initiatives and designs, which positively impact our present while paving a solid path for an even better tomorrow, can be categorized as ‘Sustainable Development’.

Florence Nightingale once said, “To understand God’s thoughts, we must study statistics, for these are measure of his purpose”. 

Development planners need not just study statistics, but they need to feel the pulse of the people to be able to design good sustainable plans. On the other hand, at the micro level we, as individuals and citizens of the world, have a responsibility to our future selves and our generations to come to practice and advocate sustainable way of life in every way possible.