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United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and Kumarappa's Economy of Permanence

- Siby K Joseph*

Abstract

The paper traces how the term sustainable development became the new agenda of the United Nations Organization. In this process, it examines the major efforts of UN in this direction, including the important conferences and summits which laid a solid foundation for sustainable development in the discourse of peace. The paper argues that J.C. Kumarappa placed before the country a vision of an economy which promotes sustainable development practices, whereas the 17 Sustainable Development Goals are based on the premise that the existing pattern of development could be reoriented towards achieving the goal of sustainability.


Introduction

THE TERM SUSTAINABLE development became popular in the discourses of development with the publication of United Nations Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development: Our Common Future in 1987. It underlined the need for sustainable and enduring development. The Report inter alia said:

Humanity has the ability to make development sustainable to ensure that it meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. The concept of sustainable development does imply limits — not absolute limits but limitations imposed by the present state of technology and social organization on environmental resources and by the ability of the biosphere to absorb the effects of human activities. But technology and social organization can be both managed and improved to make way for a new era of economic growth. ..., but sustainable development requires meeting the basic needs of all and extending to all the opportunity to fulfil their aspirations for a better life ... Sustainable global development requires that those who are more affluent adopt lifestyles within the planet’s ecological means - in their use of energy, for example. Further, rapidly growing populations can increase the pressure on resources and slow any rise in living standards; thus sustainable development can only be pursued if population size and growth are in harmony with the changing productive potential of the ecosystem. .. sustainable development is not a fixed state of harmony, but rather a process of change in which the exploitation of resources, the direction of investments, the orientation of technological development, and institutional change are made consistent with future as well as present needs.”1

Though the report seeks to reform the pattern of development, the changes it suggests are not fundamental in its very nature. Some scholars looked upon the report as a clever attempt to control the damages created by unbridled economic growth and to justify the continuance of the existing pattern of development with cosmetic changes. However, this report is a milestone in the development discourse because it raised doubts about the continuance of existing pattern of development and the need for economic and environmental reforms. The United Nations followed up its concern for sustainable development with a number of conferences and summits which laid a solid foundation for it. Thus, it became the new agenda of the organization. These included the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, the World Summit on Sustainable Development, the World Summit for Social Development, the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development, the Beijing Platform for Action and the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development. It would be appropriate to briefly discuss the major efforts of United Nations in this direction.


Major Efforts of UN Towards Sustainable Development

The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), which took place in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992, was a landmark event bringing together Heads of State and Chiefs of Government, officials of international organizations, and representatives of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and others. It is also known as Earth Summit. The Rio Declaration on Environment and Development outlined the fundamental principles on which nations can base their future decisions and policies, considering the environmental implications of socio-economic development. Agenda 21 was an outcome of the Earth Summit. This historic document was a road map towards attaining sustainability by integrating local, national, and global action.2

In furtherance of the goal, the World Summit on Sustainable Development was held in Johannesburg, South Africa, from 26 August to 4 September 2002 with the goal of improving lives, as well as preserving earth’s resources and to reaffirm the commitment towards sustainable development. It is also known as Rio +10. The challenge before the Summit was how to reconcile development and economic growth with environmental sustainability. The Summit aimed at “improving people’s lives and conserving the natural resources in a world that is growing in population, with ever-increasing demands for food, water, shelter, sanitation, energy, health services and economic security”3 The Programme of Action adopted at the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) held in Cairo Egypt from 5th to 13th September 1994 changed the world’s approach to population and development issues. It provided a new vision about the relationships between population, development and individual well-being.4

The Beijing Platform for Action was the result of the Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing from 4 to 15 September 1995. It placed the agenda for women’s empowerment and emphasised the need for a transformed partnership based on equality between women and men as a pre-condition for people centered sustainable development.5 The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development popularly known as Rio+20 – was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on 20-22 June 2012. It renewed the commitment of UN to ensure an “economically, socially and environmentally sustainable future for our planet and for present and future generations.” It decided to launch a process to develop a set of Sustainable Development Goals which will build upon the Millennium Development Goals and converge with the post 2015 development agenda. The Conference also adopted ground-breaking guidelines on green economic policies.6


Sustainable Development Goals: The 2030 Agenda

Finally, to chalk out Sustainable Development Goals, on the occasion of 70th anniversary of the United Nations, a summit of world leaders was held at New York in September 2015. It adopted the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) endorsed by 193 Member States of the UN. The UN Secretary General’s remarks at the Summit for the adoption of development agenda clearly indicated the new global goals of UN and the paradigm shift in the approach to peace and development. Ban Ki- moon said: “We have reached a defining moment in human history. The people of the world have asked us to shine a light on a future of promise and opportunity. Member States have responded with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. ... It is a universal, integrated and transformative vision for a better world. It is an agenda for people, to end poverty in all its forms. An agenda for the planet, our common home. An agenda for shared prosperity, peace and partnership. It conveys the urgency of climate action. It is rooted in gender equality and respect for the rights of all. Above all, it pledges to leave no one behind.”7 The resolution named “Transforming Our World: the 2030 Agenda” adopted on September 25, 2015 placed before all countries of the world to achieve these goals over a period of 15 years. It aims to end poverty and hunger, protect the ecosystem and peace and prosperity for the future generations. The 17 Sustainable Development Goals of United Nations are the following:

  1. End poverty in all its forms everywhere
  2. End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture
  3. Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
  4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
  5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
  6. Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
  7. Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
  8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
  9. Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation
  10. Reduce inequality within and among countries
  11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
  12. Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
  13. Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
  14. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development
  15. Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss
  16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
  17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development

Further, these sustainable development goals were the theme for The International Day of Peace 2016, i.e., “The Sustainable Development Goals: Building Blocks for Peace.”8 The International Day of Peace of the year 2016 was a reminder to humanity about the significance and role of sustainable development achieving everlasting peace.


J.C. Kumarappa’s Economy of Permanence or Economy of Peace

The 125th Birth anniversary of J.C. Kumarappa gives us an opportunity to reflect on the UN Sustainable Development goals because he placed before the country a vision of an economy of permanence or economy of peace which would promote sustainable development practices. It is to be noted that the economic order visualized by J.C. Kumarappa was farsighted and went beyond the goals of present UN Sustainable Development goals. Therefore, it is significant to understand the economy of permanence outlined by Kumarappa.


Classification of Economy

Kumarappa classified ‘types of economy in nature’ into five different categories viz. parasitic economy’, ‘predatory economy’, ‘economy of enterprise’, ‘economy of gregation’, and ‘economy of service’ on the basis of increasing order of permanence and non-violence.9 The parasitic economy could be best explained with the example of parasitic plant, which draws its nutrition from another plant which may eventually die. It is basically violent. In the predatory economy, one is enjoying the fruits of labour of another unit without contributing to it. Here the guiding factor is self-interest. In comparison to parasitic economy it is less violent. In the case of economy of enterprise creatures take what they need and contribute to production. For example, honey bees fertilize the flowers from which they gather the nectar and pollen. In the economy of gregation, creatures do not work for their own gains but for the benefit of the whole community. Here there is a paradigm shift from self-interest to group-interest keeping in mind the future requirements. Economy of Service is the best form, which may be found in the relation between the young one and the parent. Without looking for any reward or personal benefit one behaves in an altruistic manner. Here the concern is next generation or future generation. This kind of altruistic relationship exists in a non-violent economy or what may be described as an economy of permanence.10

Similarly, Kumarappa outlined the peculiar characteristics of the various economies which may apply to human beings. To explain the characteristics of Parasitic Economy, he cited the example of a robber who murders a child for its ornaments. Here the selfishness motivated by greed is the driving force, which ultimately results in the destruction of source of benefit. The second one, Predatory Economy was depicted through the example of pick pocketing where one robs his victim without making him aware of his loss. Here also the chief characteristic is selfishness motivated by desire with the intention of his own benefit without making any contribution. The third type, Economy of Enterprise was explained through the example of an agriculturist who ploughs the land, manures and irrigates it, sows selected seeds, watches over the crop and then reaps and enjoys his harvest. He is motivated by enlightened self-interest and ambition. Here the benefit and contribution are correlated, with a readiness to take risk. The fourth type, Economy of Gregation was described through an example of a member of joint family working for the good of the family as a whole or a village panchayat or a Co-operative Society. In this case, he is not motivated by individual self-interest but by the common interests of the group. Here the whole emphasis is on the benefit of the group rather than individual members. Finally, in the Economy of Service, the leading type is a relief worker who is motivated by the good of others even if the work is detrimental to self-interest. It is based on love and deep desire to serve without reward, which brings in principles of non-violence and peace and paves the way for an economy of permanence. The chief test in this type is contribution without regard to any benefit received by the worker.11

According to Kumarappa, there are three stages of human development viz. the primitive or the animal stage, the modern or the human stage, and the advanced or spiritual stage. In his view, the first two types of economies, viz. the ‘Parasitic’ and the ‘Predatory’ characterize the primitive or animal stage of civilization. The next two categories viz. ‘Enterprise’ and ‘Gregation’ indicate the modern or human stage. The last one, i. e., ‘Service economy’ refers to the advanced or the spiritual stage which paves the way for peace, permanence and non-violence. Gandhi and Kumarappa through their life-styles and work placed before us an economy which would lead the humanity to the advanced or spiritual stage.


Salient Features of Economy of Peace

What was the economy which Gandhi and Kumarappa were talking about? Truth and Non-violence were the twin principles which served as beacon in their way of life and action. In the field of economics too these were the guiding principles. That is why Kumarappa said: “If there is anything that characterizes Gandhiji’s life, it is his devotion to truth and non-violence. Any economy that is associated with his name should, therefore, answer to these fundamental principles. ….. economy based on them which will be permanent and will lead to the peace and happiness of mankind.”12 In the place of artificial economy of the industrialized world, Kumarppa placed the concept of Natural Economy. He said: “The natural economy calls for the satisfaction of the demands made by the primary needs of our body and by the requirements to keep it in good working condition. As long as we satisfy our needs in this way without infringing on the rights of others, there is no occasion for violence.”13

He was highly critical about artificial economy which believes in multiplicity of wants and gears its production system to profit making rather than to meet the basic needs of the people. Such an economy needs wide markets which could be attained through political domination making violence and forcible colonial occupation inevitable. Kumarappa pleaded for restrictions on free foreign trade. He wanted it to be confined to surplus products which countries could exchange mutually. Following in the footsteps of Gandhi in Hind Swaraj, Kumarappa’s idea of development is premised on the fact that material prosperity alone does not bring joy and happiness in the lives of the people. Working for the ever rising standard of living turns out to be a mirage which brings dissatisfaction in its trail. Therefore, he strongly argues for simple life based on fulfillment of basic needs and necessities. He wrote: “The term “high standard of living” is often made use of to connote a life led with a desire to satisfy a multiplicity of wants, and it has no reference to the qualitative conditions of life. It refers to the quantitative aspect of one’s existence. Therefore, the more accurate way of describing this position would be talk of a “complex life” and a “simple life” rather than a “high” and a “low” standard …. Hence, what we want to give our people is high standard of life which will be simple.”14

Kumarappa strongly pleaded for maximum utilization of human resources as our country has too many hands to work and too many mouths to feed. That is why he with the active support and involvement of Gandhi tried to work out a congenial production system through All India Village Industries Association and All India Spinners’ Association, in which there would be maximum opportunities of employment to the growing masses without disturbing the ecobalance. Such an economic order would be based on principles of decentralization which Gandhi called production by masses instead of mass production. He was clearly of the opinion that the western model of development was based on production of weaponry system whereas the need is to develop one characterized by industries of a peaceful nature.

He was deadly against the use of highly centralized and mechanized system, which with its division of labour kills the creativity of the worker and leads to a kind of alienation from their products. Like Gandhi, Kumarappa was not against machinery per se. He favoured the kind of machines, which could relieve the worker from drudgery in their working places and provide enough leisure time to think about the higher values of life. Like Gandhi, he was very realistic in his approach; that is the reason he has not altogether rejected large-scale industries as such. He wrote:

There are certain things for which large-scale industries may be used. We do not advocate that these should be wiped out altogether. They will be used only as necessary evil. We may have industrialization; we should put industrial products in cupboards and label them as poison. Largescale industries must be under State control and not under private ownership and run not for profit but only run on a service basis. We organize a system in which there will be room for large-scale industries also….. In the industrial sector of our economic order, we have to put large scale industry in juxtaposition, and centralized industries should be used only wherever necessary. They should be used for a certain restricted purpose and not for making money by individuals by flooding the country with unnecessary things.15

Similarly, Kumarappa was visualizing an economic order that combines the best elements of Capitalism and Communism. He wanted to make use of the talents and energies of individuals in the right direction by promoting freedom of thought and action in a decentralized set up aiming at the production of basic necessities of life. He wrote:

We ought to be prepared to salvage whatever is good in any system and reject what is bad. It is with this approach that we have to look at Capitalism and Communism. Both have evils and strong points. Under Capitalism, profit motive is given free play and individuals are allowed to exploit every situation to their gain, even at the cost of injuring the society. The advantage of this system is that every individual gets an opportunity to exercise his talents and energy as he likes. In trying to check this, the Communists have gone to other extreme of doing away altogether with the profit motive. Under their system a small idealistic group plans the work for the nation, and individuals “are not reason why, theirs but to do and die.” …. We should avoid the two extremes. In the first the individualistic outlook appears in an exaggerated form. In the other, the personality of the individual is completely crushed. While the first is based on uncontrolled selfish greed, the other based on class hatred.

He followed a middle path in which he wanted to combine individual initiative with social common wealth by gradual curtailment of private ownership by limiting productive capacity under the State control.16


Conclusion

To sum up the discussion one finds that Gandhi-Kumarappa model of development goes much beyond the so-called sustainable development goals conceived by the UN. The basic flow in the perspective of sustainable development goals of United Nations is that it fails to sketch out a real road map for achieving such laudable goals. All said and done, it does not go beyond the tinkering with the existing economic system. It believes that the existing system is quite amenable to be reoriented towards its desired ends. It seeks to reduce the existing inequalities within and among the countries and not to eliminate it totally or create a system in which chances of future inequality could be ruled out. On the other hand, Gandhi and Kumarappa placed a sustainable economic model, which takes care of the environment and eco-system, provides scope for mass employment with optimal use of human resources, rules out any possibility of growing inequality, builds up a community life in which man could enjoy high comfort level, could pursue higher spiritual values and goals of life and march toward a high level of human development. The problem of poverty and hunger are the byproducts of the existing economic system; that is why they are important components of sustainable development goals. The kind of alternative economic system, which Gandhi and Kumarappa stand for, is ruled out in the UN scheme of things.


Notes and References

  1. See Our Common Future, Chapter 2: Towards Sustainable Development, from A/42/427. Our Common Future: Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development.
  2. Education transforms lives
  3. World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), Johannesburg Summit
  4. International Conference on Population and Development Programme of Action
  5. The Fourth World Conference on Women
  6. United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio+20
  7. Secretary-General's remarks at Summit for the Adoption of the Post-2015 Development Agenda
  8. ternational Day of Peace 2016
  9. J.C. Kumarappa, Economy of Permanence (Varanasi : Sarva Seva Sangh 1984), pp. 5-8.
  10. Ibid.
  11. Ibid. pp. 19-24.
  12. J.C. Kumarappa, Gandhian Economy and the way to realize it
  13. Ibid.
  14. Essential Kumarappa (Hyderabad : Academy of Gandhian Studies, 1992) pp. 7-8.
  15. J.C. Kumarappa, Gandhian Economic Thought (Varanasi : Sarva Seva Sangh, 2010) pp. 64-65.
  16. Essential Kumarappa, op. cit pp. 39-40.

Courtesy: Gandhi Marg, Volume 39, Number 4, January-March, 2018


* SIBY K. JOSEPH is Dean of Studies and Research, Institute of Gandhian Studies, Gopuri, Wardha-442001 (Maharashtra) | Email: skjigs@gmail.com