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Secret of sustainable development
2008-01-30 09:20:01
By Edit
Income disparity is an issue of concern in any given country, whether it is a developed or underdeveloped. Those who manage an economy should be worried whenever they note that the economy is growing, but only a few are enjoying the benefits.
Here we are not talking about an egalitarian state, or utopia for that matter. History has shown that a huge income gap is not good for any society, when things reach to a point that a certain layer of people reach a conclusion that all the doors to economic prosperity have been closed.
Many a time, the existence of gross inequality of income is not due to deliberate policies, nor bad will on the part of the economic managers.
The problem usually arises when the top cadre who enjoy the economic boom becomes so much blindfolded by success that they fail to note the warning signs that the benefits of growth are no longer trickling down to the grassroots.
History is full of examples of what several nations across the globe had experienced after they had failed to address the income gap in a pragmatic manner. In some developing countries, the mixture of poverty, growth and inequality has brought them to the brink of disaster.
Indeed, the structure of developing countries as they develop in this era of globalization and liberalization is responsible for the mess as they struggle to adopt the right development model while being drowned in a sea of ideas promulgated by economic experts of all kinds.
The 1997 UNDP Human Development Report states that although poverty has been drastically reduced in many parts of the world, a quarter of the world’s people remain in severe poverty.
It states that in an economy of USD 25 trillion, this is a shameful scandal and inexcusable failure of national and international policy.
According to Oxfam UK, there are still 125 million children in the world, who never attend school, and another 150 million who drop out before they can read or write.
Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for one third of the global out of school population. Oxfam says on current trends, the region will account for three quarters of the global total in 2015.
The menu of poverty, growth and inequality has been responsible for social and political turbulence in several countries, which at times takes the shape of ethnic conflict.
All this indicates that there is no alternative to meeting the basic needs of the world’s poor, and that’s how sustainable development can be achieved.
The income gap between the most and least disadvantaged should not be played down.
It is agreed that personal motivation and enterprise hold the key to development and these have to be rewarded yet the human face of any economic status is essential in sustaining registered progress.
As Plutarch wrote hundreds of years ago; “An imbalance between the rich and poor is the oldest and most fatal ailment of all republics.``
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