DEVELOPMENTAL HUMANISM.
Posted by bmhegde on 1
“Under democracy one party always devotes its energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule-and both commonly succeed and are right.”
H. L. Mencken (1880-1956)
In Minority Report.
Any activity on this planet must consider man as the centre point. This concept is called humanism. Humanism is a neologism. If the world has to change first man has to change basically to fit into the world. The greatest problem today seems to be the lack of humanism in every sphere, be it political, bureaucratic, judicial or, even, the media. Truth and ethics are the first casualties. All these areas can not be cleansed from above; we need to change the educational system to bring forth a new ethical generation charged with the spirit of humanism. Humanistic culture demands that man does not do anything that he does not want the world to know. Culture is that which man does when no one is observing him.
Humanism is a word that is so ambiguous that one might lose its significance if the word is not immediately properly defined. The word was coined by a German historian, Pierre de Nolhac, the author of Petrarch and Humanism, in the nineteenth century, to be precise in 1808. Petrarch also introduced the word to the French University in 1886, during the course of his lectures, Ecole des Hautes Etudes.
In the present context the word could be applied to an ethic based on human nobility. It should recognize and exalt the greatness of the human genius and the power of its creations. “What is essential remains the individual’s effort to develop in himself or herself, through strict and methodical discipline, all human faculties, so as to lose nothing of what enlarges and enhances the human being,” wrote Fernand Braudel in his celebrated book A History of Civilizations. “Reach towards the highest form of existence” said Goethe at the beginning of Part II of The Faust, “by dint of uninterrupted effort.” Man should neglect nothing that could make him/her great.
Humanism, in general, lays the foundations of “individual and collective morality; establishes law and creates an economy; it produces a political system; it nourishes art and literature.” Thus defined humanism is totally against a purely materialistic world, although materialistic growth today is inevitable for man’s existence on this planet. We can not now reverse the clock and go back to the age of sustenance economy where man must have been very happy indeed. The word developmental humanism, my own creation, gets more significance in this background. Development is inevitable with the growing population and many more mouths to feed. Until and unless the poorest of the poor get three square meals a day this world will not be tranquil. No human development is possible without the basic needs of every citizen met in any country.
With this in view we have developed an organization, Jaya Sri Krishna Environmental Friend Inc., an NGO which oversees all developmental efforts in and around our part of the world as a watch dog to see that the technological and other advances do have a human face. It is also the responsibility of this organization to keep a careful watch on the hazards of industrialization that aims purely to improve the economic conditions of the owners without due regard to the dangers the industry might bring in its wake for the health and welfare of hapless people around. When the word humanism was developed first it was noted that if only the surroundings are conducive man could develop all his faculties to the fullest. Thus, through this organization we would strive to build an entrepreneurial atmosphere that would attract industrial capital to this coastal Kanara district without harming the unique bio-diversity and ecology of this region which has one of the greatest laboratories of biodiversity in the Western Ghats.
Situated as it is between the Western Ghats on the east and the vast Arabian Sea in the west, our district could also be developed as a tourist paradise in addition to attracting environment friendly industries. It has lots of very beautiful spots that need infrastructural facilities to attract tourists. Known for its culinary specialties this district could be a heaven on earth for the western tourist who is looking for authentic tourist destinations with basic amenities at affordable costs. All these and more could be provided by us. This district has one hundred per cent literacy, lowest infant mortality from global standards, and life expectancy equal to Washington DC!
Thanks to the efforts of a few well meaning but misinformed groups agitating against industries in this area, our district has been noted as an investor unfriendly district in the world industries guide book. That has to change and the potential investors must be assured of friendly welcome provided they bring with them the most modern pollution control techniques of international standards to be implemented honestly. It shall be the responsibility of this organization to see that while the industrial capital comes in the health and future welfare of the citizens of this tranquil coastal district are preserved zealously.
Developmental humanism would facilitate industrialization of the area with special emphasis on the following important parameters.
* Not more than ten per cent of the land area only should be used for industries.
* Only the land that is not being used for any other purpose now would have to be selected for industry.
* Industries should not be situated within ten kilometers of human dwellings.
* Around every industrial zone there should be a buffer zone of greenery. The latter must be created and maintained by the industry. For every tree that the industry cuts ten trees will have to be planted and looked after by them.
* Industries must be scattered in such a way that at a future date they should not be cause of unnecessary traffic congestion making life miserable for people on the roads.
* We have the best communication facilities here-an air port that could be expanded to let international charter flights to land directly bringing in tourists, a large harbour for import and export industrial use, rail connection to all parts of the country and good roads for road transport.
* This district is the mother of five large nationalized banks in India and many other financial and insurance industries even as early as the beginning of last century.
* It has some of the finest educational institutions led by the MAHE deemed University known all over the world for its excellent standards.
* People are friendly, authentic and intelligent. They need to be convinced of the need for proper growth of the area.
* Agriculture had been our main breadwinner, but has been almost forgotten lately. Reasons are protean but, the future economy should be based on scientific and environment friendly industrialization.
* Fishing has been our cottage industry and the land between the National Highway 17 and the sea should be exclusively reserved for fishing related activities and no other industry should come there.
* We probably have the best medical care facilities in this district of world class. This could be developed to be another industry attracting patients from the richer countries offering them the same class of services at a very low cost compared to their own countries.
* With infrastructural facilities developed we could be one of the important airports for transit stop for the future long range aircrafts flying from the west coast of USA to the east coast of Australia or to New Zealand.
We have to take our people along with us in all our endeavours. Regular information dissemination is another area of the activities of this organization. Information is disseminated through talks by experts and through writings in the media both print and electronic. To this end we have already formed a highly specialized group of six men-a bio-diversity expert, a scientific environmentalist, a civil engineer who has specialized in industrial problems, an expert in water and sanitation management, a pathologist that understands diseases well, and an economist to help with the monetary aspects. Every new industry will have to be rigorously screened by this group. The group will only have moral authority but no legal authority. We strongly believe that anything that is ethical and moral has got to be legally correct but the converse might not be always true. Anything that is legally correct need not be ethically sound. This organization, therefore, derives its powers from the people of this district who could easily separate the wheat from the chaff, based on its authenticity.
This organization was originally conceived and built by a devoted son-of-the-soil, Tonse Jayakrishna Shetty, who has made it big in Bombay but, it has now become a popular mass movement. This district as of now depends solely on its money order economy: money orders coming from Bombay and the Gulf. This might dry up any time soon. Before it is too late we have to wake up to the reality and do something without waiting for any outside agency to help us, be it the government or otherwise. The functioning of this organization is an open book for anyone to audit. We also believe in the Gandhian principle that this organization should not have any capital fund. Gandhiji felt that, and rightly so, that any sincere organization doing good to society will have to be maintained by the society itself. We hope and pray that this is true in our case also. Our vision is to make this the pilot project for the whole nation, while our mission is to do most good to most people most of the time.