Development Goals and Poverty

Development in contemporary times has expanded its scope. It has admitted many concerns and definitions within its ambit. Therefore, development is a forever expanding term that may be vaguely defined as; a value addition to today as compared with yesterday, and a value addition to tomorrow as compared with today.

But what is this value addition? Value addition is the priorities that a society plans to inculcate within itself through pre-determined methods to be adopted for realization of the goals. Now the question moves ahead with asking for the definition of goals? Goals or the development goals are the ultimate destination which a society thrives to arrive at. It depends upon the preference of the society or the country. For a capitalist society, the goal might be to achieve a double digit economic growth and improved standards of living, whereas, a socialist society may be striving for economic equality. A fascist regime might want to expand its empire and bring more territories under its ambit. The same could be called for a theological society that may be looking for an expansion of its religious ideology.

As we see that the priorities of a society depends upon the ideology to which it is based, therefore in modern era, various societies joined together to form a common agenda or the development goals (Millennium development goals) that each society would strive to achieve. Few of such development goals are – Universal education, access to clean drinking water, poverty reduction, fighting malnourishment and hunger, reducing Infant Mortality Rate etc.

Why development?

As the society is a part of the universe and the law of universe dictates that change is a part of life, therefore change is the only thing constant. But the society has to decide ‘the form’ of this change. Does it want the change to take the form of anarchy? Where the lives of its people are solitary, poor and brutish or does it want to take the positive route ahead to achieve prosperity, happiness and improved standards of living for its people. Certainly, no society would aim for a difficult life for its people, therefore the path of development becomes the obvious choice.

Development for whom?

Again the question has many dimensions which are dependent on societal priorities. For a neo-liberal or capitalist society, the development of the upper rich class would be preferred through the means of maximization of profits. Such a society conceptualizes the working of an ‘invisible hand’ that might disseminate the fruits of development to the subordinate classes.

For a socialist society, the subaltern sections of the society could be preferred as the need of the hour for them is to achieve economic equality.

But for a society that prefers to stay away from the extremes of a continuum, the goals of development cover all the sections of the society under its umbrella without any prejudice, but to ensure the principle of equality, they could extend its umbrella to the disadvantaged sections of the society through affirmative action. India is the best example of such a modern society that emerged in the middle of 20^th century.

What are the development goals?

Development goals are the ultimate destinations of a journey. A society strives to arrive at this destination and the remarkable fact of this journey is that it is endless. To address the forever growing needs and expectations of the people, the engine of development reaches one destination at a time and simultaneously prepares for the second journey. The common understanding has arrived at following contemporary development goals which are regarded as universal by some sections of society –

• Universal literacy and education, especially primary education.
• Access to economic, social and political benefits universally to all citizens of society.
•  Poverty reduction to ensure smooth journey of development.
• Fighting hunger and malnourishment, especially among children and women.
• Access to safe drinking water and sanitary toilets.
• Equality in treatment of women and human rights protection.
• Environment protection.

I have mentioned above that some sections of the society regard these goals as universal. The reason for their belief is that these goals touch all the societies. These goals are internationally recognized. No matter if the political form of the government is democratic or autocratic, whether the economic ideology is capitalist or socialist, or whether the society is secular or communal, the above mentioned issues affect us all without any prejudice.

Poverty – A barrier or an opportunity?

Poverty is the state of inability to procure minimum required resources to live a dignified life. Is poverty a barrier to the path of development? Different ideologies regard poverty differently. But the most optimistic and prudent answer is that poverty is not a barrier, but a reality, which is one of the issues that need serious attention, and probably, the most sincere efforts for its circumcision. Poverty is like diabetes, which invites many other diseases with it like social ills, hunger, illiteracy etc. Therefore, the optimistic theory suggests that to kill societal diseases, the uprooting of poverty becomes the single most necessary step.

Poverty looks as only a part of the development goals which we need to deal with, but it is giving shelter to many other problems. Therefore, the need of the hour is to unite and make serious policies against this ‘virus’.

What could be the methods of poverty reduction?

Although the state of society in terms of poverty differs from region to region, so a one-size fits all approach could not bring the desired results. But the cause of the poverty is same, therefore few universal measures are discussed below that should be adopted –

•  Universal education and access to nutrition.
•  Opportunities of employment through vocational education or job-oriented skill training. (as enshrined in the Skill India Programme)
• Expanding the share of manufacturing sector because it requires human labour.
• Expanding the tax ambit (progressive taxation) and in return strengthening social schemes like MGNREGA and expanding its scope for infrastructural development.
• Supporting farmers in stress through schemes like crop insurance, credit availability etc.

There could be infinite measures that could uplift the poor and thereby help in realizing the goals of development. What matters is the path that we prioritize and apart from political initiative, there is a duty of we, as the people to fight against the virus of poverty, as a single unit. After all, the government, the civil society, the people when comes together, the barriers to the journey of development start shattering to make way for a prosperous society.

India is pegged to be the most populous country, but the good news is that we are the youngest country. For the realization of an ever expanding dream of a prosperous India, we need to tap our huge demographic dividend and march together to achieve the contemporary goals of development. As I pointed out earlier, this journey is endless and expands each moment with the rise in people’s expectation; therefore the journey is long before we pass on the baton to our next generations. It depends on us, if we want to travel alone or if we want to travel together to truly encompass the feeling of ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikaas’.

Are classrooms irrelevant to learning?

Classroom learning is often termed as the teacher-student ‘relationship manager’. It not only provides an aura of learning and teaching but it also facilitates the development of a more intimate teacher-to-teacher, student-to-student and teacher-to-student relationship, thus maintaining the warmth of this sacred association.

Traditionally, parents were the sole force responsible for the education of their wards which was limited to art, hunting, fighting and survival techniques and other basic necessities of life. As the world progressed gradually, the need for diversification of education was felt to match up with the pace of development. Ultimately, it lead to the emergence of ‘Gurukuls’ where the wards were admitted to a teacher for not just education but for the overall development of the child through permanent residence at the Gurukul’s premises. As the world moved to medieval times, the Gurukul culture started diluting and specialized teachers were called in to teach the wards of the rich class, whereas the poor class adopted the system of school learning. Eventually, through the introduction of imperialist forces, the idea of dedicated schools of learning caught pace and ultimately transformed to the contemporary schools with good quality infrastructure, modern education and drop in oriental mode of learning, to which some skeptics regard as the replication of western mode of education.

The classroom learning is more than just a monetary business of education dissemination which involves the physical presence of the modes of learning and teaching whereby the teacher and students interact in an environment filled with knowledge sharing and intellectual development. It is a system of not just a two-way communication but rather a multi-way communication technique where the interaction is more intimate and not just categorized by the virtual presence of a teacher. Therefore, it is not just limited to syllabi learning but contributes towards the development of an overall personality where the pupil is prevented to become an emotionless robot. The method of multi-way communication allows the development of ethics, morality, right aptitude and most importantly the ‘ability to question’. It offers a wide array of learning techniques where the educational roots are not just confined between the teacher and the students, but they are disseminated to all the participants connected via a physical classroom. The extra-curricular activities, improved ways of communication, counseling techniques offered by specialized teachers as well as right and personalized guidance to the pupil prevents the escalation of solitary confinement of a student which contributes towards the balanced physical and mental growth of a child. The regular assessment via periodical tests and availability of teacher to parent feedback mechanism of the pupil circumscribes the possibility of development of irregularities in the behavior of the child.

Although there are innumerable benefits of classroom learning but in the new technological world, the trend of online learning is picking up pace, primarily due to affordable learning, wide choice of learning to pupil as well as ease of learning through the student’s computer screen. It reduces the idea of physical presence to minimum and rather brings the classroom at the computer screen of the learner. As this is economical as compared to the idea of classroom learning, therefore the modern, especially developed and developing countries are promoting it as an alternative source of learning. It increases the competition among the teachers to provide the best services or to go home; therefore the process of continuous learning among the teachers has touched down the teacher’s roof too. It theoretically provides uniformity in quality of education and 24 hours availability at the pupil’s doorstep. As it is giving boost to the idea of a globalized and interconnected world in the sector of education, therefore the neo-capitalist are excited about its prospects too (especially the giant corporations in the education business). Initially, it was a medium of one-way communication but with the rise in technological development, it has adopted the multi-way communication strategy too (exg – Google Hangouts and Conference Calls). It also proclaims to provide an emotional touch to the system of education through the availability of specialized analytics, guardians and counselors which help the student ‘virtually’ for personalized issues at a nominal cost. The idea of e-learning crosses all physical barriers to learning to promote development of the child. In case of India, it is more feasible because it is a cost-saving, quick and uniform education dissemination technique which complies with the ideas of ‘Digital India’ as well as to a larger extent to ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan’ too.

But for the strengthening of e-learning capabilities, India needs to –

•         Ramp up its digital infrastructure presence even to the remotest area of the country with regular upgradation of technology.
•         Provide education material online (like NCERT books are already provided) for those who cannot afford to avail the physical material.
•    Sharing of quality learning via lectures of globally recognized institutions of India like IIT, IIM etc on a registered Government portal for the realization of the idea of ‘Skill India Initiative’.
•    The promulgation of techniques of personalized assessments through periodical surveys of the pupil through his/her teachers, fellow students and the parents (an idea advanced by the Prime Minister himself).
•     Gradual lifting up of caps on the entrance of foreign educational institutions and allowing them to offer online education and share technology and methods of e-learning.

A well educated mind is the driver of growth and the vision of ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikaas’. Therefore, it is unquestionable for India to tap its huge demographic dividend via quality education to prevent social ills from spreading its roots in our society. As we have seen above that on one hand, classroom learning is an intimate form of learning where the pupil is prevented from becoming an emotionless robot, and on the other hand the ideas of e-learning synchronizes with our need to disseminate quality education in a cost effective manner throughout the country. Therefore, if India wants to enhance its capability to provide good quality education, it is imperative for us to use a mixture of both in the sense of strengthening our already available centers of ‘classroom learning’ and make them competitive worldwide by technology upgradation, and to disseminate quality education to the remote areas of our country via e-learning where the physical methods of learning are not feasible.

The best approach is to prevent a radical change and to introduce a gradual change in the core sector of education continuously to which the society would find easy to absorb and would transform itself with a passage of time.