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Development: Meaning, Measurement and Strategies - Part One of ten

Dalmia Launches Specialised Cement in Kerala

Pride Marketing : Bajaj Auto

International Perspectives on the HIV/AIDS Epidemic in India

Democracy and India  

Preamble

The endeavors of emerging economies to achieve sustainable levels of development have been the focus of attention of many individuals and agencies in developing as well as developed countries.  For those in developing countries, the renewed challenges afford opportunities to better their living conditions and to come out from the clutches of poverty, famines and other social, political and human deprivations.  For those in developed countries, the opportunities emanate from the developing countries present new ways to overcome the growth plateau that they have encountered in recent years. As a prelude to a discussion of risks and opportunities in emerging economies, we attempt to understand the concepts and issues related to development.

For very long, growth in national income has been thought of as a predominant measure of the health of a nation.  However, in the last 50 years advances in the field of economics and the evolution of development economics as a separate branch have brought to the fore the different dimensions of development.  In the following we explain the concepts of growth and development and the differences in them. The contentious issue of measurement of development is also dealt with.  The development process of advanced countries has varied in many respects.  We study the different paths followed by them with a view to understand their implications for the present.  We also analyze the strategies followed by many developing countries in their efforts to conquer poverty, illiteracy, malnourishment, shortened lives, and lack of adequate opportunities for a decent livelihood.  We also study the issues of the relationship between democracy and development and the implications of prevalence of wide-spread corruption for development efforts.

Growth and Economic Development

A country's well being can be measured using a variety of parameters such as national income, indicators of health and education etc.  Gross National Product (GNP), the broadest measure of national income, measures the total domestic and foreign value added claimed by residents. In 1997, GNP of high-income economies countries aggregated to $24001 billion, where as the low-income and middle-income countries together accounted for only $6124 billion.  The aggregate GNP of all middle- and low-income countries in 1997 was less than that of the US, which aggregated $7783.1 billion.  Sub-Saharan Africa continues to be at the bottom of GNP figures with an aggregate of $311 billion.  Growth rate of income is one parameter, which has frequently been employed to gauge the state of an economy.  In 1997, The low- and middle-income countries recorded an average annual growth of 4.8 percent compared to a 3.0 percent growth of the high-income countries.

However, the measures of GNP and the average growth rate suffer from the drawback of not considering the distribution of income and the changes in population.  The per capita GNP is an improvement over GNP, in the sense that it also considers the population in measuring the economic activity of a country.   The World Bank designates forty-nine of its member countries as "low-income economies" with a GNP per capita of $765 or less in 1995, and fifty-eight other countries as "middle-income economies" with a GNP per capita of more than $765 but less than $9385 in 1995.  The bank's low-income and middle-income countries constitute the LDCs of Africa, Asia the Middle East, Latin America, and the Caribbean.  In contrast, "high-income economies", mainly industrialized members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), number twenty-six countries, with an average GNP per capita of over $24,930 in 1995.

Another important measure of economic activity and standard of living of a country is the Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) measure.  The PPP measures the relative purchasing power of different countries over equivalent goods and services.  The per capita GNP measured in terms of PPP in 1997, shows a higher average level of $1400 for low-income economies compared to $712 in terms of per capita GNP.  The aggregate GNP in terms of PPP for low- and middle-income economies in 1997, amounts to $15187 billion compared to an aggregate of $21253 billion for the high-income economies.

Rate of growth along with rate of employment and inflation capture to a reasonable extent the economic state of an advanced country.  However, such an approach has many shortcomings, particularly when evaluating the state of human progress in developing countries.  The concept of economic development is broader and encompasses growth.

GNP growth accompanied by reasonably equitable distribution of income is generally the most effective path to sustainable development.  The Republic of Korea shows what is possible.  But if the distribution of income is unequal and if social expenditures are low (Pakistan and Nigeria) or distributed unevenly (Brazil), human development may not improve much, despite rapid GNP growth.

Many human choices extend far beyond economic well-being.  Knowledge, health, safe drinking water, a clean physical environment, political freedom and simple pleasures of life are some of the other dimensions of development, which may not exclusively be dependent on income.

Concept of Human Development

Human development is a process of enlarging people's choices.  The most critical of these wide-ranging choices are to live a long and healthy life, to be educated and to have access to resources needed for a decent standard of living.  Additional choices include political freedom, guaranteed human rights and personal self-respect.  The process of development should create conducive environment for people, individually and collectively, to develop their potential and to have a reasonable chance of leading productive and creative lives in accord with their needs and interests.

Amartya Sen emphasizes that development should be interpreted as a process of expansion of the positive freedom that people enjoy and as the process that expands the "entitlements" and "capabilities".  Human development thus concerns more than formation of human capabilities, such as improved health or knowledge.  It also concerns the use of these capabilities, be it for work, leisure or political and cultural activities.  Thus the concept of human development is a holistic one putting people at the center of all aspects of the development process.  However, capturing all the dimensions of development either through a single measure or a composite measure is riddled with many difficulties.

[To be continued]

Dalmia Cement (Bharat) Limited, founded in 1939 at Dalmiapuram (Tamil Nadu) has a turnover of US $ 60 million and has a production capacity of 1.2 million TPY. Dalmia Cement currently operates in Tamil Nadu and Kerala and the company has a 8 per cent market share in both these markets.

Dalmia Cement has several ‘first’ to its credit. Dalmia was the first to install semi dry process and wet process kilns in India; first company to introduce the coal slurry based Vertical Shaft Kiln technology in the world; first to introduce the energy-conserving Vertical Roller Mill technology for cement grinding; first cement plant to venture into a wind mill farm for captive power in Tamil Nadu; and the first cement manufacturer in South India to obtain the ISO 9002 quality system certification.

The company has launched Dalmia Superoof Cement in Kerala. Through the years the company has continuously adopted emerging technologies to establish themselves as “specialists” in the industry. The company has been meeting the specialised demands of the core sectors of the country through its products designed for Airstrips, Railway sleepers and Oil wells.

Dalmia Superoof is another innovative product designed keeping the individual house owner in mind. The product has been specially designed to meet the requirements in the critical Roofing and Concreting applications. Concrete structures are exposed to the environmental attacks from rain and windstorms. These attacks have been further aggravated by the increasing levels of pollution and the presence of Sulphates, Chlorides in the environment. The Roof, a critical concreting application faces the most of these attacks.

Dalmia Superoof is specially designed to provide the requisite strength and importantly, protection from environmental attacks. The state of the art technology of Dalmia gives the cement an optimal particle size distribution (OPSD), which leads to a denser concrete. The denser concrete protects against cracks developing and leaks ensuring that the Roof has a better performance. The need for the product in the Kerala weather context is therefore all that much more. Thus, Dalmia Superoof is unique in its category as this is the first attempt to fulfill a specific need that goes beyond strength alone.

Transport sector always enjoys high level of competition, either in the four or two wheeler category. This competition has increased with the advent of more players due to the liberalisation process  that has led to more models and brands trying to vie for the same quantum of market share. In such an environment,  selling a product calls for more efforts.

Bajaj Auto’s two wheelers enjoyed market leadership till the late 80’s without any major threat of competition. It roped in millions of satisfied customers. It was the largest selling scooter in India. But things changed during the late 80’s, where Bajaj, especially Bajaj scooters faced competition from LML Vespa and Kinetic Honda. Both these competitors were claiming technological superiority of their products. Though Bajaj claimed ‘value for money for years, the new competition created a perception that Bajaj scooters were made of  old technology that was now on its way out. However, in order to upgrade its technology, it needed time and resources. In the mean time, Bajaj Auto wanted to further  consolidate its leadership status.

Till Bajaj saw competition, their advertisements spoke about  product features, sales figures and product ranges available, etc. The new competition forced Bajaj and its advertising agency - Lintas - to rework on their communication strategies. The assignment in front of the advertising agency was to take the brand ‘Bajaj scooters’ to a superior position without altering the already established brand equity of the product.

The creative team exploited the brand’s market leadership position of over 70 % as the foundation for the new theme though it had other advantages such as, an Indian product that is reliable and trustworthy.  Thus, the need was not to execute a product differentiation exercise, but an authoritative claim of leadership.

Bajaj through research found that most of  its customers were older men. Further, it is a known fact that scooters are more of an Indian concept compared to motorcycles. And motorcycles are usually associated with youth whereas scooters are used by a cross-section of the population. Therefore, can India and Bajaj be associated for the benefit of the brand?

The company had to check earlier global experiences of linking an automobile with the country of origin. “Heart beat of America” was the campaign run by Chevrolet. And Mercedes is greatly associated with Germany. Can such linkages be utilised for Bajaj scooters?

The company and the agency shortlisted factors which has strong India-association, such as, Independence Day, sports (cricket), cinema and heritage.  The company released a press campaign in 1990 with the theme ‘the great Indian spirit’. This was also prudently extended to the electronic media. The commercial depicted habits and behavioural aspects of a cross-section of the population comprising the length and breadth of  India, such as Panjabis, Parsis, etc. Thus, the commercial was targeted at the emotions and moments of the viewers with  relation to the brand.

Lyrics for the commercials were first written in English and later translated in Hindi. The birth of  ‘Hamara Bajaj’ took place with the Hindi translation. The company, promptly replaced ‘the great Indian spirit’,  identifying the potential of  ‘Hamara’. The term ‘Hamara’ encompasses the entire target audience - consumer or not; it led to a strong association with India. Indians are proud to say ‘Hamara India’. Thus, ‘Hamara Bajaj’.

The theme ‘Hamara Bajaj’ not only helped the company to build its brands. But it also functioned indirectly as a motivator to all those associated with the company : the dealers, employees, suppliers...  Bajaj, in the process of brand building, has also built national pride and enjoyed positive mileage as a result.

In an international perspective, HIV/AIDS arrived late  to India. From an estimated number of a few thousand HIV-infected persons in the  early  1990's, there are now at least  four million  people living  with HIV/AIDS in India. This means that India today  has the highest absolute number of infections in all countries of the world. In comparison, China- as another one billion population country  has an estimated 400,000 HIV infected persons. However, in  global comparison, sub-Saharan Africa, with 9% of  the  world population, harbours  two  thirds of the  global  total  of HIV infections,  while  Asia  and  the  Pacific, with  60%  of   the population, carry 20% - at least 6.5 million-people living  with HIV/AIDS.

As  in  most  countries, India has  several  HIV  epidemics  with different   patterns and prevalence.   The  epidemics   vary significantly  from state to state. Heterosexual transmission is predominating  in e.g. Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, whereas,  HIV infections  associated with injecting drug use is most common  in Manipur. In General, there is a comparatively high HIV prevalence in  western and southern India and low levels in the eastern  and northern  parts of the country. This heterogeneity together with big differences in social structures and the enormous size  and population of the sub-continent, make it particularly difficult to monitor the various   epidemics   and   institute   effective interventions.  This  has probably contributed to the  rapid  and continuing  spread  of HIV in India, despite the  ten-year  grace period India experienced from the start of the extensive spread of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in western countries and in Africa in  the early '80s until the prevalence rose abruptly in India.

Globally,  the  epidemics  linked to  different  modes  of  risk behaviour seem to exist independently of each other without  much interaction;  one of the best examples is the parallel  epidemics in  Thailand-two epidemics caused by HIV-1, subtype B in men  who have  sex with men and in injecting drug users and a third major epidemic  caused by subtype E in the heterosexual population.  In India subtype C  seems  to  be  predominating.

In  Asia,  including India, the frequent male use of  female  sex workers  together with migration patterns, seems to be  the  main risk  factors  fueling  the heterosexual  epidemics.   This  has resulted in a prevalence of 2-3% HIV- Infections among the  total 15-49 year old population in several states in India, as well  as in Cambodia, Myanmar and Thailand.

Among  injecting  drugs  a prevalence of above  50  %  occur,  in Northeast  India  as well as in several provinces  of  China,  In Malaysia,  Myanmar, Nepal and Vietnam and also in the Many  parts of  the Former Soviet Union. HIV is spread, not only by incepting equipment, but also from drug users to sexual partners.

The  Continued development of HIV/AIDS epidemics in India  is  of major  global concern due to the size of the population  and  the central role that India plays in this region.

Indian constitutional architect Dr Ambetdkar argues that there are three important things we have to do to maintain democracy. We must hold fast to constitutional methods of achieving our social and economic objectives; the individuals’ liberty, at all cost, should be maintained; and Dr Ambedkar argues for a social democracy, for, he believes mere political democracy will decay. Let us analyse these deep and sound arguments of Ambedkar in the 21st century context.

If we have to hold fast to constitutional methods of achieving social and political objectives, both the Government machinery and the people have to be responsible and matured. Both the Government and people should learn to be objective and not subjective in their outlook on any issue. Invariably, the Governments in the 20th century ( at least in the last three decades) had been interested only in the survival of their own parties or vote banks. Generally, the ignorant people had to decide between the devil and deep sea. Moreover, the people are usually cheated by all the political parties. No politician or political party had been responsible towards their citizens in this strange country. No Government office can be help responsible for any of their malpractices or inefficiencies.

The people are harassed by almost every Government office irrespective of health, education and justice. To get an ordinary signature, an ordinary citizen will be driven from pillar to the post despite giving money from office assistants to the officers in position. Ironically, the officer is paid by the citizens. (Ideally, we must hold fast to constitutional methods of achieving social or economic objectives.) It is very difficult to find a responsible officer in a Government machinery. It is more difficult to find a responsible minister in any political party.

Dr Ambedkar is at once against non-violent methods of revolution and satyagraha. The question is what can an ordinary citizen of India do in the prevailing situation? An Indian is at an absolutely helpless situation. He is a victim of a democracy which has become irrelevant to a common man except for his voting rights. This is only one side of the coin.

A Government servant has not understood his responsibility as a citizen of a country. He believes, he is responsible only to his family and not to a society at large. Most of the unions in this country are more powerful than the Government itself. Most of the unions are made up of educated fools.

The unions are not interested in the welfare of the nation. They become a refuge to the individuals who are lazy, irresponsible, corrupt and inefficient. Moreover, the unions are interested in more money and perks but less accountable either to the institution or to the public.

For example a college lecturer works hardly three hours a day. Hardly 10 per cent of the teaching community can be seen in any libraries today. But, they demand the maximum salary in the country’s cross-section of the Government sector. Any retires professor will agree with me that 90 per cent of college lecturers do not deserve the salary they get. The Government is unable to make a teacher correct his student’s university exam paper without payment. A teacher demands exorbitant amount for a clumsy piece of correction work. After all they are paid their salary for the holidays they enjoy. Logically, they are responsible for the correction work. Ever for examination supervision, they are paid a token amount which is again should be a part of their work-load. The unions demand more and more for correction and supervision. Are the unions accountable for a job well done? (or) Are they right in their demands?

Every other trade union is as irresponsible as the college unions. Every union that go on a strike force the Government to pay its salary for the strike period. The Government becomes helpless in the hands of the powerful but irresponsible unions.

India has a democracy where neither the Government nor the people are responsible towards its country. The question is, do we have a solution to this irrelevant, non-existing democracy? A revolution is on the cards. It may not necessarily be in the Gandhian way.

Individual is a major concern in a democracy. Thorean argues in one of his essays, an individual should be able to question the Government, if it is on the wrong path. The individual should be willing to go to jail, if needed to correct the Government policies. In India, an individual’s life is not guaranteed even in jail. An individual is dwindled into helpless victim of a non-existent democracy.

The gratefulness of an individual at the cost of his liberty is dangerous, warns Ambedkar. He says, “No woman can be grateful at the cost of her chastity and no nation can be grateful at the cost of its liberty.”  The sacrifice of an individual’s liberty is a sure road to dictatorship. The path to devotion or hero-worship plays an unparallel part in Indian politics. This again is a dangerous sign. Gandhi preferred an individual’s liberty than the nation’s. This nation does not care for a human life. Mother Teresa’s life was dedicated to the life of the neglected individuals in this poverty stricken country. In the novel ‘The City of Joy’ by the French authors, we see thousands of helpless individuals in an unlivable slum meanders through life’s journey. A polish catholic father had done more to the slum dwellers than the millions of Indians and the so called democratic Government in West Bengal. Is there hope to the millions of Indian individuals? Hermingway says in ‘The Old Man and the Sea’, “Not to hope is a sin, and every day is a new day.”

Mother Teresa quoted a touching real-life incident in one of her interviews. A mother got one meal for her hungry-crying child. Then the mother heard the neighbour’s child crying. She divided the food into two equal portions and shared the little food she had with her neighbour. What a gesture? if only every individual understands the meaning of a neighbour from this incident, and learns to share with care and love what he has, this country has hope inspite of this democratic set-up. Truly, this country has more hope in an uneducated, rustic, helpless individual than the educated, healthy individual.

Ambedkar too argues for a social democracy. So, he accepts the principles of liberty, equality and fraternity as the base for the social democracy. We have elaborately discussed the liberty of an individual. Equality, in a pragmatic sense, is possible only in a time frame. Young or old, rich or poor, healthy or sick, educated or uneducated, everybody is given by nature 24 hours a day, 30 days in a month and 365 days in a year. This is the only equality other than birth and death a man can dream of in the realistic realm of life. Fraternity is very much practical, if a human being learns to treat another human being first as a human being. In the Indian context, we are in a battered fragments in the name of gender, caste, creed, language and state. Forester, in the essay ‘Tolerance’ argues that tolerance is a negative virtue but it is a very practical one. He also believes that tolerance is the need of the hour. If only the Hindu political organisations and the Muslim fundamentalist outfits learn to tolerate each other, this country has a hope to live in harmony. The other important factor which this nation should wake-up to the hour of the need is caste. The lower caste, upper caste divide and the general caste system may not wither away. But, if a human being learns to treat the other human being as human a human being, that is enough. This is practically a feasible solution in the battered psyche of the Indian context. Ambedkar’s idea of social democracy is definitely better than a mythical political democracy. Liberty, equality and fraternity form a trinity. We can divorce one from the other. They are inter-dependent.

Political democracy is a myth today. If India has to survive in a democratic set-up, then social democracy is the only way out. The hope to create new social order at present looks dim.  NATURE  has the power to create new societies irrespective of selfish Governments and selfish leaders. Let us firmly believe in the language of Hermingway, every century is a new century.