`Development Sustainablity’ means ‘Development Equity’

According to “Brundtland Report” by World Commission for Environment and Development 1987

Sustainable Development is the development that meets the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Let us examine this definition first from the Present to Future Concept of Sustainability and Development. There are three categories of population – i) The Impacting Population ii) The Impacted Population and iii) The Common Population. The Development Sustainability from Impacting Population Perspectives relates to a very small population who may be called as elites and who brought about outstanding developments for the humanity such as astronaut Rakesh Sharma etc. The Development Sustainability from Impacted Population Perspectives relates to a comparatively larger population than the first category of population who have been beneficiaries of the developments by the former. But the Development Sustainability from Common Population Perspectives relates to the largest population who are the victims of the so called development and hence not sustainable development. This population remains devoid of sweetness of development fruits and happens to be the Victims of sourness of development fruits – natural calamities like floods, tsunami, cyclone, drought, famine, wars etc. -  and hence Lopsided development that forces us to opine - Is this the world to live in?

Let us now look at the same definition from the other way round i.e. Past to Present Concept of Sustainability and Development. We live in present the foundation of which was laid down in the past and this present is going to become past tomorrow. Should we therefore continue laying down the similar foundations as those by our forefathers? The answer is definitely a big “NO”. Hence need to think of Development Equity. There has been several MANAGEMENT PARADIGMS to cause equitable development conceived and (being or proposed to be) implemented by people in the present. Some of these are listed below:

-Deep ecology and not Frontier Economics

-Welfare economics of Prof. Amartya Sen

-Inclusive Growth of Dr. Man Mohan Singh

-Inclusive Finance of Shri P. Chitambaram

-Sabka Sath Sabka Vikas of Shri Narendra Modi

-Digital economy – Shreshtha Bharat

-Green economy & environmental sustainability – Swaccha Bharat

-Economic sustainability - Swabhimani Bharat

-Social sustainability – by Bandhan & Shri Satyarthy

-Doom and gloom of global commons

-Eco-development and political economy

And hence finally Participatory development – equity – which translates the Vedic rhymes Vasudhaiv kutumbkam for the entire humanity.

Prof. H. M. Jha "Bidyarthi", Shegaon