The failure of the
materialistic models of development is the raging topic from the United
Nations to the portals of academia. In a series of articles we would try
to build a perspective on one of the burning issues of modern times. The
subject is important and close to our hearts as the success of every
individual constitutes the success of the society, the nation and the
world.
While putting forth
our own ideas we would like an active participation from our readers so as
to create a debate which would certainly enable a vision for all of us to
work towards achieving.
As
the new millennium unfolds, it is no longer possible to believe that the
current approaches to social and economic development based on
materialistic conceptions of life are viable and capable of meeting
humanity's needs. Consider these compelling proof of the way the world is
headed:
*More than one billion people around the world live in absolute poverty.
*30%
of the global workforce is either jobless or underemployed.
*Social disintegration through factors such as racism, ethnic and
religious intolerance. Rising violence because of these factors has become
a global problem.
*The
tragedy of 9/11 has brought to the fore that these problems can no longer
be confined to national borders and requires global solutions.
Everywhere we look, whether it is the family unit, national scenario or
global perspectives it is evident that we are slowly but inexorably
heading for an unsustainable model of development that can no longer
assure humanity of equity, peace and prosperity. The materialistic models
of development has only generated the 'have' and 'have not', the
'developed' and the 'developing' societies with ever widening divide
between high living standards of a small and diminishing minority of the
world's inhabitants from the poverty experienced by the vast majority. No
wonder this massive divide has led to the economic collapse everywhere
from Japan to Mexico.
All
these by no means suggest we are headed for doomsday. They are a feedback
to the world at large of failure of the current models of development.
These signs are an indicator of the need for a unified world economic and
social order where the materialistic mores are replaced with a simpler
model of smaller self sustainable communities of diverse people living an
equitable physical and spiritually balanced harmonious life.
THE NEXT article highlights the conditions under which a new model
can emerge
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