TISS As A Catalyst For Socio-Economic Mobility In The Eastern Himalayas
At the fifth convocation of Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Guwahati, Ranjit Barthakur; Founder Trustee of Balipara Foundation, pioneer of Rural Futures in the Eastern Himalayas, emphasizes on the key role that Institutes like TISS, Guwahati, can play in focusing on ecological restoration and social transformation keeping in mind the Sustainable Developmental Goals.
The establishment of Sir Dorabji Tata Graduate School of Social Work had an objective of Social Welfare through the establishment and creation of excellence in the field of academia. With the confidence of the board of Trustees from Sir Dorabji Tata Trust, there was a need of utmost importance that had to be shown around social issues at a time of grave instability in the country. The need for great human power was inevitable and also, the need to impart education in the field of social work required much attention. With that said, Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata, propagated and believed in any form of business that translated into social impact and betterment of human beings. Hence, TISS.
In the Eastern Himalayas, we are fortunate to be amidst an array of rich assets ranging from the world famous Kaziranga Sanctuary to the Pakke tiger reserve, from the vast expanse of the Eastern Himalayan Botanic Arkto the Elephant Countryat Udalguri amongst many others. The very significant region of Guwahati, acts both as a converging point and as a connector for the Eastern Himalayas. But our actions must spread across boundaries of nations, ethnicities, languages and must encompass this immense biocultural diversity from the snow line of Southern China to the sea line of Bangladesh and Myanmar.
Tata Institute of Social Sciences stands as an institution for diversity and not only towards the diversity of the country but also the Eastern Himalayas. The framework of the Eastern Himalayas rests on the diversity of its unique cultural heritage due to the amalgamation of the Dravidians, the Aryans, the Afro Mongolian, the Tibeto- Burman; and its immense natural diversity — hence complementing with social neutrality.
As we begin to re-imagine futures in Tata Institute of Social Sciences, we must make plans for their implementation in the Eastern Himalayas — through focusing on ecological restoration and social transformation keeping in mind the Sustainable Developmental Goals. The interdependence of research, academic knowledge and field experiences will increase the contingency working towards greater social justice.
Since it is the future generation, who are our best hope to guard futures for our iconic biodiversity, rivers, cultures and wildlife — what could be our stand to ensure social mobility? How do we make sure that the democratization of information has an impact on education, health, food security and enhances our Natural, Ecological and Social diversity?
The global economy has risen since 1950, from U.S. seven trillion dollars to around U.S.$127 trillion in 2017 (based on purchasing power parity). Economists consider this as a major success. But what has been the ecosystem cost of this growth? Shrinking forests, collapsing fisheries, soil degeneration, falling ground water levels, rising sea levels, climate change, vanishing species, drying rivers and lakes and water scarcity. And what has been its cost on humans and growth of the social fibre? Social Economist Amartya Sen stresses on the importance of education and investment in a sound social infrastructure to attain and sustain growth. No nation has grown out of poverty to prosperity without taking care of the basic needs of its people. The age of enlightenment and reformation in Europe laid the grounds for religious and cultural freedoms and made scientific enquiry possible. This, in turn, led to breakthroughs in knowledge and the spread of education from the confines of the church. Over time, this was followed by improvements in healthcare and extension of life spans. ‘Growth and Prosperity’ followed.
A closer examination of Asia’s miracle economies — South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan & China shows that they all stressed on education, healthcare and reform of social structures along with export-led growth. Most of these nations achieved high levels of literacy before their burst in economic growth. India is far from achieving this goal & the North-East, more so. Health, Education and food subsidies are essential and necessary to get rid of discrimination, ignorance & hunger. Sustained development flourishes in societies that give their citizens the right to inquire, speak freely and stand up for their rights. Without liberal values, prosperity is a farce.
In the North-East and across the Eastern Himalayas, the Forest communities are our assets and they should feel empowered, and become “owners” of the development and conservation projects in Rural areas. We must learn from the circularity movements across the world and create Rural Circular Economies and allow for opportunities in Agri-preneurship and Rural-preneurship. Through circularity, the utilization of our resources can be done in such a way that we can replenish our natural assets, with generation of zero waste. Therefore, our intent should be to continue the promotion of the three major R’s, that is, Reduce, Reuse and Recycle with newer elements of Re-Manufacture and Repair. We are hence moving beyond becoming good citizens to catalysts of ecological, social and cultural restoration and reform.
Large development projects such as the Maritime Silk Road Initiative of China includes up to 70 nations with a price tag of $8 trillion. With this great connectivity, growth in tourism and economic prosperity, come enormous amounts of ecological degradation. Therefore, the need for equity and justice becomes essential for the maintenance of this social fabric. We need Community Preservation laws, which allow communities to take charge through social, economic and ecological interdependence and not in isolation. Our communities, governments and corporates need to work together and with force and zeal to change society for a larger good.
Our world needs individuals and communities to lead the way towards restoration of the damages caused to the environment by imbibing a sense of social responsibility. We must always be in the process of learning and teaching. There is no agreement on the qualities of a leader and it is usually understood that a leader is born out of complications. The society at large and particularly in Assam is going through magnanimous degrees of difficulties but the most beautiful result would be to persevere as a community and be resilient through a symbiotic interdependence. We must look towards the future and aim to secure food, alternate livelihoods, gender equality and above all good governance under the purview of Sustainable Development Goals.
Through Rural Futures, we have created a framework for 16 of the 17 sustainable development goals in the Eastern Himalayas and it is imperative that we work together and help the Tata Institute of Social Sciences to adopt the RuFu framework. We need to redefine the meaning of economic performance with social equity. We need to think of a trade-optimisation for achieving equality and overall economic performance. Financially wealthy countries like the US have shown that extreme inequalities exist in the presence of high economic performance. Other countries such as Germany, Norway and Sweden have shown that through the principles of Social welfare, inequalities are diminished and the economy grows. These countries have also paved a way for economic growth while preserving and propagating nature.
Through TISS, we must enhance and implement Rural Futures (which will be richer than urban futures) and over the next 2 to 3 years, we would like to give 10 scholarships to enable students to study the Rural Futures Framework and collaborate with Universities in Tokyo, Oxford, Berlin and Scandinavian nations. We must make TISS the catalyst for Socio-Economic Mobility in the Eastern Himalayas.
Lastly, as tomorrow’s leaders, are you asking yourselves the following questions?
- Are you living and are you happy?
- How do you define wealth?
- Are you in good health?
- Are you well educated?
- Do you feel a sense of Integrity?
- Are you being able to use your senses, imagination and power of thought?
- Are you being able to have attachments to things and people outside yourselves?
(Emotions)
- Are you able to reason with logic?
- Are you living with concern for animals, plants and the world of nature?
- Are you thinking of communities and do you feel a sense of belonging?
- Do you have control over your communities & environment?
If you have any thoughts on this article or would like to contribute to our publication “The Himalayan” and join us in our endeavor to build knowledge resources on Rural Futures in the Eastern Himalayas, we will be happy to hear from you at saurav.malhotra@baliparafoundation.com
