Should emerging countries like India, splurge more on Science, Technology and Defence when the same money can be utilized for poverty alleviation programmes?
· Science and Technology is one of the powerful
criteria to determine the level of advancement of any society.
· India is being looked upto as a major player in
the international arena. It is said that the twenty-first century would belong
to the Asian super-twins India and China. We drive the global economy and
nations over the world have accepted the fact that India is a reckoning force
in the years to come. If we are to perform our duties and obligations
successfully in a constantly changing society, then funding on technological
endeavours would become inevitable and of utmost necessity. To quote Dr. Kalam:
“Many individuals with myopic
vision questioned the relevance of space activities in a newly independent
nation, which was finding it difficult to feed its population. Their vision was
clear if Indians were to play meaningful role in the community of nations, they
must be second to none in the application of advanced technologies to their
real-life problems. They had no intention of using it as a means of displaying
our might. ”
·
Many critics question the importance of spending
a major part of the GDP on defence in peaceful times. But the fact remains that
India is confronted with a security scenario that is drastically different than
any other country, except maybe, Israel. We have security concerns within the
nation as well as outside. Insurgency and militancy are one of the main forces
snuffing out the innocence of thousands of children.
·
A few have even said that several government
schemes like the rural employment scheme, rural electrification schemes, food
security schemes are a sham. How else would you explain the fact when millions
of people are starving in one part of the nation when there are others who talk
about offshore accounts in tax havens?
·
Poverty is directly related to energy security
and technological advancement. Looking
at it one way, it’s like the money that is being spent on technological
advancement is indirectly invested in the social security and the mass
empowerment programmes.
·
Poverty alleviation should focus not only on the
economic liberation, rather on the social well being of the community too.
Rahul Gandhi once talked about how something as simple as electricity could
transform a person’s life. During the debate on US – India civil nuclear deal,
he spoke of a woman Kalavati in Vidharbha region and her children’s aspiration.
He directly linked the dreams of the common citizen to energy security.
·
We have our fair share of folks who love the
machines, swoon over the history and long to see Indians on the moon and flying
on toward Mars. The national pride of seeing an Indian scale such a feat will
be possible only if the funding towards space research is enhanced. Just
imagine the pride in your voice when you say to your children or grand-children
that you were alive when an Indian flew towards Mars.
·
On the other hand, we have some people to whom
their daily bread carries a far more significance than an Indian on moon or the
purchase of new Dassault Rafale aircraft. These people are the citizens of our
country too and their voice carries as much power as others, if not even more.
·
Some people say that the root cause for the
Maoists to woo the youth from the economically and socially backward areas is
the lack of development and positive changes in their lifestyle. Many of the
government’s flagship schemes fail to reach the desired targets and this in
turn makes it easier for the militants to exploit the masses. Therefore, the
topmost priority should be given to the empowerment of the disadvantaged
masses.
In many cases, technology has proved to be the
game changer in the life of the common man, emancipating him when several
government schemes have failed to do so.
Consider for example, the telecommunication revolution of India :
When a fisherman from a remote
hamlet of our country says that his life has become better with the
telecommunication boom, you know that you don’t have to look farther to explore
the truth. For instance, He gets up very
early in the morning and sets off to the sea. As soon as he gets the catch, he
is able to contact someone and find out a fair price in the market for his
goods, thanks to the advent of cell phones. This virtually eliminates the need
for middlemen and thus consolidates his earnings. Mind you, this comes from the
mouth of a person for whom the terms like spectrum allocation, jail-breaking
etc. has no direct impact on his day-to-day life.
It should be kept in mind that poverty alleviation and advances in science & technology are two sides of the same coin. Whenever the world celebrates the momentous achievement of a path-breaking invention, the poverty level comes down. This is because sometimes, science and technology creates jobs for the unemployed. Thus, investing in one is very much like investing in the other.
The success story of this twenty first century would be on how nations would manage to strike a fine balance between expenditure on poverty alleviation and increased funding in the science and technology sector.
