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Missing Links in Sustainable Development: South Asian Perspectives
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Sustainable governance key to development Sustainable development cannot be achieved in South Asia without an effective sustainable governance based on principles of accountability, transparency, participatory approach and meritocracy. The need for good governance was highlighted as one of the main links during the final and third day of SDPI’s Ninth Sustainable Development Conference ‘Missing Links in Sustainable Development: South Asian Perspectives’ here on Friday. Research Director, Nepal Water Conservation Foundation and Institute for Social and Environmental Transition, Nepal, Dipak Gyawali has called for the need to re-define sustainability away from neat but static ‘proceduralism’ towards a more clumsy but dynamic ‘constructive engagement’ between the bureaucratic hierarchism of regulatory state, the risk-taking innovativeness of the market and the cautionary criticism of the egalitarian social auditors. Sharing examples from Nepal’s water and power sector where community management of resources has been successfully practiced, he said it was important to move the debate on sustainability to the plurality of the policy terrain. Aasim Sajjad Akhtar during the session on ‘South Asian Peoples’ Movements: Bringing Development Home’ has discussed the role of the state and its justification for dominating society by invoking the imperative of ‘national security’ or ‘national development’. He shared how this had been the pretext for the suppression of many people’s struggles for livelihood, national rights, shelter and ecology. He said military was directly involved in the suppression of movements and struggles considered to be threatening national security or being anti-development. Dr Bishnu from Nepal looked at the people’s war waged by the Communist Party of Nepal and the people’s movement of April 2006. Dr Karin Astrid Seigmann from the SDPI in the session on ‘Water Justice and Governance in South Asia’ recommended that water conservation should be given priority over large storage projects and that health implications of water-related interventions should be accessed before embarking on them. Dr Peter L. Thomsen from Denmark discussed public-private partnership (PPP) of water resources. Pervaiz Amir commented that since Pakistan was now a water stressed country there was need for comprehensive planning, policy development and implementation in this sector. Prof Parimala from the University of Delhi in the session on ‘Educational Policies in South Asia’ shared that South Asia continued to suffer from high drop out rates, especially a high incidence of young girls dropping out of schools due to increased demands on women labour. The participants pointed out that Pakistan’s educational policies were silent on the education of disabled students and recommended that educational policies on the macro-level should be combined with micro-level strategies.
Sustainable governance key to development Sustainable development cannot be achieved in South Asia without an effective sustainable governance based on principles of accountability, transparency, participatory approach and meritocracy. The need for good governance was highlighted as one of the main links during the final and third day of SDPI’s Ninth Sustainable Development Conference ‘Missing Links in Sustainable Development: South Asian Perspectives’ here on Friday. Research Director, Nepal Water Conservation Foundation and Institute for Social and Environmental Transition, Nepal, Dipak Gyawali has called for the need to re-define sustainability away from neat but static ‘proceduralism’ towards a more clumsy but dynamic ‘constructive engagement’ between the bureaucratic hierarchism of regulatory state, the risk-taking innovativeness of the market and the cautionary criticism of the egalitarian social auditors. He lamented that despite sustainability presenting itself as an obvious idea with inherent appeal, it had proven to be notoriously difficult to pin down or put into practice. Sharing examples from Nepal’s water and power sector where community management of resources has been successfully practiced, he said it was important to move the debate on sustainability to the plurality of the policy terrain. Aasim Sajjad Akhtar during the session on ‘South Asian Peoples’ Movements: Bringing Development Home’ has discussed the role of the state and its justification for dominating society by invoking the imperative of ‘national security’ or ‘national development’. He shared how this had been the pretext for the suppression of many people’s struggles for livelihood, national rights, shelter and ecology. He said military was directly involved in the suppression of movements and struggles considered to be threatening national security or being anti-development. He particularly highlighted the case of the struggle of landless farmers on state lands in Punjab centered on Okara military farms, and the struggle of coastal fishing communities in Badin and Thatta. Dr Bishnu from Nepal looked at the people’s war waged by the Communist Party of Nepal and the people’s movement of April 2006. He discussed how the civic movement of April 6-24, 2006 proved that people’s power could defeat autocratic, feudal regime by peaceful means. He recommended that non-violent civic movement need discipline, commitment, ability of leadership and believe on people’s inner strength to settle conflict and building peace. Dr Karin Astrid Seigmann from the SDPI in the session on ‘Water Justice and Governance in South Asia’ recommended that water conservation should be given priority over large storage projects and that health implications of water-related interventions should be accessed before embarking on them. There should be economic incentive such as secure property rights, improving access to water for the marginalised and more efficient use of scarce resources, she said. Dr Peter L. Thomsen from Denmark discussed public-private partnership (PPP) of water resources. Pervaiz Amir commented that since Pakistan was now a water stressed country there was need for comprehensive planning, policy development and implementation in this sector. Prof Parimala from the University of Delhi in the session on ‘Educational Policies in South Asia’ shared that South Asia continued to suffer from high drop out rates, especially a high incidence of young girls dropping out of schools due to increased demands on women labour. There is also a class and gender disparity in the classroom as well as in the textbooks, she said. She recommended that schools, rather than politicians should have the autonomy to choose their own syllabus. Sarfaraz Khan from the University of Peshawar discussed the role and policies of the HEC, while Shahid Siddiqui from Lums Lahore, examined the relevance and impact of teacher-training programmes in Pakistani classrooms and the return to the status quo in spite of these trainings. The panel closed by raising questions on the relationship between knowledge and power and the hierarchies between transfers of knowledge. The participants pointed out that Pakistan’s educational policies were silent on the education of disabled students and recommended that educational policies on the macro-level should be combined with micro-level strategies.
No sustainable development sans accountability Sustainable development cannot be achieved without an effective sustainable governance-based on principles of accountability, transparency, participatory approach and meritocracy. The need for good governance was highlighted as one of the main links during the final and third day of SDPI’s Ninth Sustainable Development Conference ‘Missing Links in Sustainable Development: South Asian Perspectives, here Friday. ‘Dipak Gyawali, Research Director, Water Conservation Foundation and Institute for Social and Environmental Transition, Nepal called for the need to re-define sustainability away from neat but static ‘proceduralism’ towards a more clumsy but dynamic ‘constructive engagement’ between the bureaucratic hierarchies of the regulatory state, the risk-taking innovativeness of the market, and the cautionary criticism of the egalitarian social auditors. Aasim Sajad Akhtar discussed the role of the state and its justification for dominating society by invoking the imperative of ‘national security’ or ‘national development.’ He shared how this has been the pretext for the suppression of many people’s struggles for livelihood, national rights, shelter and ecology. Dr. Bishnu from Nepal looked at the people’s war waged by the Communist Party of Nepal and the people’s movement of April 2006. He discussed how the civic movement of April 6-24, 2006 proved that people’s power could defeat autocratic, feudal regime by peaceful means. Dr. Rafi Khan from SDPI highlighted the positive role played by the Sarhad Awami Forestry Ittehad (SAFI) as the only formal attempt to engage in forestry reform advocacy and political activism despite the harsh and challenging environmental, cultural, political and financial odds. Faisal Shaheen shared the findings of a study conducted in the state of Orissa, India conducted by Manas Rajan Kar. Dr. Peter Lund Thomsen from Copenhagen chaired the session. Dr. Abid Q. Suleri said that the trade and marketing trends in the world were changing drastically. He highlighted the fact that there was never a win-win situation in the WTO and Pakistan needed to focus on areas where it and a comparative advantage. Ms. Bryn Gay and Chatrini Weerratunge focused on conceptualizing the principles of participatory economics, corporativism, fair trade and corporate social responsibility and called for the development of an alternative global, social–economic justice framework in order to foster the climate of participation, fair pricing and equitable partnership for small-scale producers. Roshan Malik from Southern Illinois University identified seasonal supply, poor insemination, lack of proper feed, poor collection system, food safety system and the lack of Government support as the main reasons for the low and poor productivity in the dairy sector of Pakistan.
Good governance must for sustainable development Sustainable development cannot be achieved without an effective sustainable governance-based on principles of accountability, transparency, participatory approach and meritocracy. The need for good governance was highlighted as one of the main links during the final and third day of SDPl's Ninth Sustainable Development Conference ‘Missing Links in Sustainable Development: South Asian Perspectives’ here on Friday Dipak Gyawali, Research Director, Nepal Water Conservation Foundation called for the need to re-define sustainability away from neat but static ‘proceduralism’ towards a more clumsy but dynamic ‘constructive engagement’ between the bureaucratic hierarchism of the regulatory state, the risk-taking innovativeness of the market, and the cautionary criticism of the egalitarian social auditors. He lamented that despite sustainability presenting itself as an obvious idea with inherent appeal, it had proven to be notoriously difficult to pin down or put into practice. Sharing examples from Nepal's water and power sector where community management of resources has been successfully practiced, he said that it was important to move the debate on sustainability to the plurality of the policy terrain. Aasim Sajad Akhtar discussed the role of the state and its justification for dominating society by invoking the imperative of ‘national security’ or ‘national development’ and shared how this has been the pretext for the suppression of many people's struggles for livelihood, national rights, shelter and ecology. Dr. Bishnu from Nepal recommended that non-violent civic movement need discipline, commitment, ability of leadership and believe on people's inner strength to settle conflict and building peace. Dr. Rafi Khan from SDPI highlighted the positive role played by the Sarhad Awami Forestry Ittehad (SAFI) as the only formal attempt to engage in forestry reform advocacy and political activism despite the harsh and challenging environmental, cultural, political and financial odds. The panel closed by raising questions on the relationship between knowledge and power and the hierarchies between transfer of knowledge.
Accountability vital for sustainable uplift The 9th Sustainable Development Conference (SDC) organised by Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) ended here Friday, with a message that accountability and meritocracy are vital for the sustainable development. The scholars, who during the three-day international dilated upon diverse issues pertaining to sustainable development, suggested participatory approach was better model for development. They highlighted the importance of good governance on the third and last day of the conference titled, ‘Missing Links in Sustainable Development: South Asian Perspectives’. Dipak Gyawali, research director, Nepal Water Conservation Foundation and Institute for Social and Environmental Transition, called for the need to re-define sustainability. He lamented that despite sustainability presenting itself as an obvious idea with inherent appeal, it had proven to be notoriously difficult to pin down or put into practice. Sharing examples from Nepal’s water and power sector where community management of resources has been successfully practiced, he said it was important to move the debate on sustainability to the plurality of the policy terrain. During the session on ‘South Asian Peoples’ Movements: Bringing Development Home’ Aasim Sajad Akhtar discussed the role of the state. He said military was directly involved in the suppression of movements and struggles considered to be threatening national security or being anti-development. He particularly highlighted the case of the struggle of landless farmers on state lands in Punjab centred on Okara military farms, and the struggle of coastal fishing communities in Badin and Thatta. Dr Bishnu from Nepal looked at the people’s war waged by the Communist Party of Nepal and the people’s movement of April 2006 and said the civic movement proved successful. Dr Rafi Khan from SDPI highlighted the positive role played by the Sarhad Awami Forestry Ittehad (SAFI) as the only formal attempt to engage in forestry reform advocacy and political activism despite the harsh and challenging environmental, cultural, political and financial odds. The SAFI activists president, Dr Abid Q Suleri, during the session on ‘Re-Governing Marketing: Inclusion of Small Growers and Producers in the Supply Chain,’ said the trade and marketing trends in the world were changing drastically. He presented the micro and macro level picture of the governance system of the country and stressed the need of the functional and institutional governance and democracy and the politicisation of cooperatives. Ms Bryn Gay and Chatrini Weerratunge focused on conceptualising the principles of participatory economics, corporativism, fair trade and corporate social responsibility and called for the development of an alternative global, social-economic justice framework in order to foster the climate of participation, fair pricing and equitable partnership for small-scale producers. Pradeep Mehta from the Consumer Unity and Trust Society, India, and Engineer Jabbar presented their papers on ‘South Asia in the WTO: In search of a common position’. Mehta and Pranav Kumar spoke on ‘Suspension of the Doha Round Talks: the cost implications for India’ and acknowledged that at such negotiations there is always a give and take. The two experts recommended that domestic reforms should be benchmarked on whether they can lead to a relatively more pro-poor growth or not, if one has to link pro-development outcomes of trade negotiations with pro-poor growth outcomes. They also highlighted that opportunity costs need to be taken into account in these negotiations. Dr Peter L Thomsen from Denmark discussed public private Partnership (PPP) of water resources. Pervaiz Amir commented that since Pakistan was now a water stressed country and there was need for comprehensive planning, policy development and implementation in this sector. Dr Urs Geiser from University of Zurich, Switzerland chaired the session. Prof Parimala from the University of Delhi in the session on ‘Educational Policies in South Asia’ shared that South Asia continues to suffer from high dropout rates, especially a high incidence of young girls dropping out of schools due to increased demands on women labour. There is also a class and gender disparity in the classroom as well as in the textbooks, she said. Sarfaraz Khan from the University of Peshawar discussed the role and policies of the HEC, while Shahid Siddiqui from LUMS Lahore, examined the relevance and impact of the teacher training programmes in Pakistani.
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