Asian-Arab philosophical dialogues on globalization, democracy ...

The distinction between environmental sustainability and development components of sustainable
development has the advantage of avoiding the ambiguities inherent in such terms as “economic
sustainability”, “social sustainability” and “cultural sustainability” where it is not certain what is to be
sustained and how sustainability would affect environmental capital. For instance, the concept of social
sustainability might be taken to mean the sustaining of current societies and their social structures
when the meeting of human needs without developing environmental capital implies major changes
to existing social structures. Social sustainability can be taken to mean the social measure needed to
prevent social disruption or conflict, and the reduction of poverty justified by this, as McGranahan,
Songsore and Kjellen point out.
Human Element in Development
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Asia-<strong>Arab</strong> Philosophical Dialogues on Globalization, Democracy and Human Rights
Development always must take into account the human element. In order to understand the value and
importance of the human element, one must look into ethical aspects, i.e. the ethical outlook. All these
years we had been concentrating only on the end but the means were not taken into account. Here I
would like to say how the great Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi stressed the importance of the means
also. Kant’s categorical imperative very aptly explains this in a different way. “Act so as to treat mankind,
in your own person as well as in that of anyone else, always as an end, never merely as a means ”.43 Ethics
and economics must always go together to see a sustainable development in the globe. The Gandhian
principle that commerce without morality will be a failure.
New Economic Policy
In the economic history of post-Independence India the year 1991 is important as the year the country
underwent a severe economic crisis triggered by an acute balance of payments deficit. Because of this,
more fundamental changes in the content of and approach to economic policy were introduced. The
objective was to improve the productivity and efficiency of the system. The regulatory mechanism
involving multitudes of controls had fragmented capacity and reduced competition even in the private
sector. The key ideas of the new economic policy were towards creating a more competitive environment
in the economy. This is to be achieved by removing the barriers to entry and the restrictions on the
growth of firms. While the changes in the industrial policy seek to bring about a greater competitive
environment domestically, the trade policy seeks to improve the international competitiveness subject
to the degree of protection offered by the tariffs which are themselves coming down. Looking from the
point of view of the growth rate, the Indian economy has performed well in the post-reform period.
Globalization and Governance in India and the Role of Civil Society
It has been agreed that globalization always causes transformation, transformation of economies from
command to market economies. This is visible in different countries in South Asia and South-East Asia
where there is a clear move towards market-oriented economic regimes. It is believed that globalization
would promote convergence of the industrial societies in regard to the basic features of economy, polity
and society. As for polity, it is believed that globalization would strengthen democracy and federalization
process, promote decentralization and participatory governance, ensure transparency in administration
and accountability of political leaders and bureaucrats to people, and cause downsizing of government
and weakening of the state so that civil society will come to play a larger role in the delivery of public
goods. These changes in the policy are considered to be the logical consequence of the economic
reform process. Thus, the reforms, on the final analysis, are meant to promote efficiency in production
and distribution, and to integrate the national economics into the world economy. These changes in the
profile of the economy would be accompanied by similar changes in the polity too. The changes that are
likely to occur in the polity are efficiency in governance and integration of the governing units. The former
43 Kant, Immanuel. 1785. Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals. (German: Grundlegung zur Metaphysik der Sitten),
trans. H.J. Paton. 1964. New York: Harper and Row.