Beyond Numbers

The problems of ‪#‎sustainable‬ ‪#‎development‬ are arguably the most important challenges facing humankind today. They entail intra- as well as inter-generational justice, including the attempt to ensure a non-decreasing portfolio of productive assets to future generations. They also involve the most important problem of climate change. The United Nations listed 17 goals to be achieved by 2030 that would help bring the Earth on a path of sustainable development. The goals include the usual quality-of-life indicators like the absence of poverty and hunger, good health and access to clean sanitation, water and energy, and on the economic front, reduced inequalities in income and wealth along with decent work for all. A recent attempt to measure these efforts was made by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network and the Bertelsmann Stiftung, who produced the Sustainable Development Goal Index and Dashboard. The data for 2016 collected for 149 countries puts India at 110 in terms of its position towards achieving the sustainable development goals. China is ranked at 76 and Pakistan, Myanmar and Bangladesh at 115, 117 and 118 respectively.

This a sobering piece of evidence for India, where there is pride expressed in having the highest rate of growth of national income in the world. Clearly, the quality of life and environment is far from good. Poverty and inequality along with threats to biodiversity make living for most Indians far from comfortable and secure. India's carbon emissions are also on the rise, and it is ranked third behind China and the United States. The challenge is to make economic development ‪#‎inclusive‬ and ‪#‎pro_poor‬. This does not make the market mechanism the best way to attain sustainable development. There are three essential requirements that must be addressed by the State and society. The first is a growing awareness and conviction that the economy has to be thought of as only a part of a bigger ‪#‎ecological‬ system of the planet. Secondly, this understanding of the system must lead to a shared vision of a lifestyle that is substantially different from the current crass ‪#‎consumerism‬ noticed in India. Finally, there must be a decisiveness in government policies that promote collaborative efforts to change lifestyles. This will compel businesses to create products and technologies that put life ahead of the numbers that firms refer to as their bottom lines.
[The Telegraph (Kolkata) Editorial, Tuesday, August 02, 2016]