Three Grave Dangers

In the Independence Day speech on Aug. 15, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi rightly listed the following three as the gravest dangers to mankind, in general and India, in particular: (i) the suicidal arms race, (ii) growing disparities between the rich and the poor and (iii) attempt by some nations to control non-renewable natural resources and their indiscriminate plunder.

The arms race is gradually taking up larger and larger share in human productivity in all countries including ours In Research and Development also its share is the biggest. This is due to the competitive world economy where both for raw materials as well as finished goods, each country struggles against its neighbouring and other competitive peers. This competition could be minimised if there is a planned world economy where external trade is adjusted on the principle of regional self- sufficiency Goods which are needed more in quantity and frequency will have a smaller, circle of self-sufficiency and be procured in a closer area than those required in lesser quantities for lesser number of times which could have a circle of a larger radius. The world trade then will be on the basis of varying circles of self-sufficiency for different commodities the lesser the degree of urgency, the bigger the radius of its circle and vice versa. This Gandhian principle has the key to avoidance of the Arms Race which basically emanates from economic compulsions of a world getting progressively competitive and thus exhibiting self-destructive propansities. Our own country's efforts to get rid of the unhealthy exploitation of the weak by the strong would be more successful if this mode could be followed. Arms Race, a sign of insecurity and aggression has to be removed by its very root. In the changed economy of peace, Science & Technology will also have a different mould.

The growing disparity between the rich and the poor, the urban and the mural, the North and the South is augmented by the kind of means of production adopted, Productivity through capital intensive centralised units with sophisticated high level technology can be afforded only by the affluent countries and entrepreneurs. The benefits that accrue from such enterprises are not equitably distributed. Even in the case of agriculture that depends on high investment as in the case of high yielding varieties of hybrid crops requiring greater nutrients,

pesticides and insecticides, the gains of greater production have gone to the prosperous among the farmers. Thus, in all fields of production, apart from productivity increases, the aspect of social justice must also be closely monitored. We, in our country will have to safe guard industries of the rural poor against those with heavy capital and bring about new techniques that could be taken up by the land- less villagers and other weaker sections of the people utilizing modern principles, yet which are simple and cheap enough for their level. A new stress on such technologies needs to be given.

Non-renewable natural resources are basically the ancestral properties which need be passed on intact to the generations to come. If these are encashed for the present prosperity, we will be cheating in 'time' in the same way as imperialism does it 'space' by misappropriating the share of other countries. Unless the comity of nations comes to an agreement that the mineral resources of earth, which are non-renewable, belong neither to the generation which discovers them nor to the nation-state where they may be lying buried, It should not take long to understand that as the treasure-trove that an individual may find in his courtyard is not his, but of the State, so also the minerals, in the making of which a nation has no contribution and which is a part of the earth's heritage kept at random in its various pockets, belongs to the world community. Planning and control of these resources must not be left to the nation of their origin. The particular nation where the coal, petrol, iron, tin or other minerals are found, is a trustee of these resources and its extraction, sale and utilization must be managed under the direction of an inter- national body which takes into view the long range interests of the world and its various nation states. This is an area where enough thought has not been given.

In a sense, the above three grave dangers are interrelated. The arms race emanates from causes of growing disparity and the competition for control of non-renewable resources of the earth. Thus, we will have to act on the, three fronts simultaneously.

                                                                                                                                    Devendra Kumar