Reflective Diary From Four Seminars - Essay Example

In order to bring about development I believe that understanding the concept in its totality is very important. I was glad I got the chance to do just that by attending the four seminars on development. “23rd Jan 2014: ASM: A blessing or curse in developing countries” Movies are the mirror of our society and many a times they show what is unseen to common eyes. One such movie that left a mark on me was ‘Blood Diamond’, but it was the seminar by Professor Gavin Hilson dealing with the same subject of artisanal and small-scale mining that gave me the clarity to think about it in depth. I knew about the issue of small-scale mining, its existence in developing countries but to become aware of the gory details of the illegal operations associated with small-scale mining was overwhelming. According to Hilson (2014), 20-40 million people are directly involved in the small-scale mining and 100-150 million are dependent on it for their existence. One would assume that in the present scenario where jobs seem but a dream why should anybody be up against a sector which provides jobs to millions. Small-scale mining has its own negative points including environmental degradation and the use of mercury in such areas has led to bioaccumulation posing threat to both environment and humans alike. Besides the environmental factor there’s also social stigma attached to small-scale mining. Since the business is mainly operated through unskilled workers, they are the uneducated lower strata of the society that is often associated with unhealthy social environment. Prostitution, alcoholism, drugs, AIDS are associated with people working in the industry. Besides, the work environment remains dangerous because of absolute negligence of standard safety measures for such industry based operations. The operations are mostly illegal, but because of high economic gains it attracts those desperately in need for money. Even children and women are involved in mining and negligible attention is given to their safety. Because of the unhealthy conditions, the workers attract several diseases. Fig. 1. Balancing status of illegal mining. The professor explains that employment is the main reason that despite such hazardous situation, people continue to work in the mines. He further explains that since gold is a standard “currency” and the currency is being produced by local people, hence it adds to the foreign exchange earnings of the country. This is the reason why developing economies cannot just shun small-scale mining. I think that in present scenario with such high unemployment ratio, which is especially true for developing countries that also happen to be resource rich, it would be unfair to judge people on the basis of what they do. Given the harsh environmental conditions they are supposed to face as children and due to the lack of options present to them, it would be best if the available option was made more favourable. Hilson believes that there are measures that can be taken to tackle the problem. The basic is to understand who all are involved and the problems they are facing; unless we understand the situation clearly we cannot help them. The best way is to use the local knowledge for maintaining the economic conditions and at the same time safety standards can also be given due consideration. ASM has its limitations but completely ousting the system is not the solution for developing countries. “30th Jan 2014: Seminar on agriculture and development by Steve Wiggins” Agriculture is often associated with poverty and something that only poor deal in. However, it is important to understand that without agriculture we cannot survive and hence what becomes important is to understand agriculture and its role in development process and using developed technologies for sustainable development of agriculture. Thus, it becomes important to realize the strong bond between agriculture and development which Wiggins achieves through his seminar. Wiggins (2014) says that in low income countries, especially without minerals, agricultural growth is more effective in reducing poverty than services or manufacturing. I think that for anybody to understand the concept one has to either live in the conditions or should be given a descriptive information about the situation. It is the latter through which Wiggins explained why agriculture is important for development in developing economies. Most of the developing economies are said to be agriculture dependent countries and it has been seen that neglect of agriculture had consequences like rise in food costs, rural depression, urban riots (Wiggins, 2014). The importance of agriculture can never be denied as there’s production of food, as a commodity what can be more important than food and hence the benefits in form of foreign exchange earnings, besides there can also be development of domestic industry. I had always been of the opinion that even though agriculture cannot be completely denied however, associating it with development of a country is going too far. This is especially true in the current “technologically rich” scenario where almost everything is associated with technology. Never has the economic progress of a country been associated with agriculture but with the industrial development. So it was interesting to know the views of Wiggins about agriculture and development. He presents the example of Ghana where growth in agriculture has been directly associated with the reduction in poverty. There are many road blocks in the path of development since most developing countries also have higher corruption and hence the policies by government are either never implemented or are not followed properly. Besides, one has to also understand the basic need of those directly linked with agriculture, the farmers. With Green Revolution, many agriculture based countries like India had seen a makeover in their economies. A similar thing needs to be done again as even though the Green revolution increased the production but sustainable production is the need of the hour. Hence for development to occur we need to find different ways for sustainable production so that future demands are met and at the same time considerable attention should be given that no more harm is done to the ecosystem. It is only when these are followed that agriculture and development can go side by side. I think the most important point that Wiggins makes is the importance of integrating both technical and local knowledge for sustainable production. In developing countries with fertile land areas, they have a high chance of achieving development through agriculture. However, proper policies need to be laid out and strictly followed for the change to occur. Wiggins’ seminar gives the hope that the path may be difficult but it is not impossible. Fig. 2. The road to development through agriculture “20th Feb 2014: Seminar on disaster and development by Terry Cannon” Why is development such a complex process? Shouldn’t economic growth suffice the conditions for development? Terry Cannon’s seminar was able to satisfy my curiosity as to why development needed much more than what is already being done. The issue of climate change, global warming, conservation of ecosystem and other related matters has surfaced in the past few years and has affected every part of our life. While we bear the consequences of climate change in the form of lack of drinking water and food availability, seasonal uncertainty, and natural disasters, the major reason that climate change has gained so importance is because of how it has made changes to our development policies. It is difficult to assimilate how climate change and development can be related but Cannon’s seminar explains concepts of vulnerability, adaptation, climate change, disasters and development which makes it easier to look at the broader aspect. Cannon (2014) explains that climate change has affected us in four ways, first is increase in uncertainty that leads to problems related to agriculture and allied sectors, second is natural disasters that pose a threat to human life, third is adaptation measures for climate change that has led to development of several protocols, and fourth is its effect on development. Since climate change affects agriculture hence agriculture based economies are forced to undertake measures to control the damage and due to heightened interest in issues about ecosystem industries are also forced to cut back on their emissions. Thus, it has led to situation where both agriculture and industrial sector face a common problem. It is said that this has been a bigger problem for developing countries that have been at the receiving end of these problems. It is the farmers who are most affected by seasonal uncertainties. The policy makers tend to think that “resilience” is the natural property of people and by laying down measures that satisfy rational and scientific theories the problem can be solved. However, for those belonging to the lower strata, it is the factor of vulnerability that overpowers resilience and hence the policies tend to fail under normal conditions let alone under a stressful condition. Cannon also points out the fact that for the past few decades, development has been associated with just economic growth and a holistic approach was never put forward. Also for the ones who really need development, it is not the issue of earning that haunts them, for them development is associated with water supply, roads, food and such basic needs of life. So our effort should be to provide them these basic needs of life. According to Cannon (2014) it is because of the behavior of economies of richer countries that the development of poorer countries is hindered. I think it is the same as blaming China and other growing economies for the current pollution problems and limiting their growth by all sort of policies even though the current problem is because of the actions of the developed countries. So the adaptive measures do block the growth for developing countries, but as Cannon says we need to look for ways where developing countries are given a chance to have their say and policies are made for holistic development. “27th Feb 2014: Seminar on finance and microfinance by Howard Jones” I had always thought that banks are a place for people who have money, and the services provided by the financial institutions are not available for poor. Jones explained the concept of rural finance and microfinance that are related to poor and how banks can help poor people. There are banks for farmers and rural people like Grameen Bank that provide special provisions to them. However, as should be expected due to lack of adequate information most people are unable to avail the services of the banks and the schemes designed for them. Jones explains that there is a common belief among poor that banks are not meant for them. Jones (2014) said that the reason poor don’t trust banks is because they don’t know about bank products, various terms and conditions that they unable to comprehend, and bank charges and fees. The problem with finance handling in poor households is that there is hardly any proper handling of financial matters. However, I think that when one has money on hand it’s the same as having credit card for rich; it is all spent without much consideration for saving. Hence, there is a need for educating poor about handling there financial matters. Fig. 3. Rural financial system Microfinance as an option for small-scale entrepreneurs especially farmers was hailed as major advancement under rural finance. But then the bubble burst happened with the microfinance crisis of Andhra Pradesh, India. Jones (2014) said that microfinance suffered a major setback during the Andhra Pradesh mishap when it was realized that the debtors had committed suicide because of the tactics used by financial institutions to obtain the debt. This also brought to fore the huge amount of loans that were piling up, this was adding to the burden of the government. Also, there was lack of sincerity on the side of loan receivers who often used the money for personal purpose rather than any enterprise and continued to take multiple loans. Such irregularities associated with microfinance shows how things need to be tightly handled for them to be of any benefit to the people. Jones however remained optimistic that microfinance has a future and further developments can include correspondent banking, mobile banking, and client protection schemes. I believe that with proper implementation of policies poor can be empowered by helping them financially. Conclusion I believe that understanding the problems associated with developing countries was never as easy and hence I could never clearly think about what is required for development of these areas. I am grateful that I was able to attend the seminars that gave me a better idea about development process essential for these countries. Annexure Fig. 1. Balancing act of illegal mining Fig. 2.The road to development through agriculture Fig. 3. Rural Financial System References Cannon, T. (2014) ‘Vulnerability, Resilience and development discourses in context of climate change.’ Cannon, T. (2014) ‘Four myths of development, disasters and climate change: some marriages, many funerals.’ Hilson, G. (2014) ‘Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining (ASM): A blessing or curse for developing countries?’ Jones, H. (2014) ‘Rural finance and Microfinance.’ Wiggins, S. (2014). ‘Seminar on Agriculture and Development.’ Read More