Present Problems of Plenty, Poverty & Population
Suresh Suratwala

The United Nations Conference on Population and Development will be held in Cairo during September 1994 while the International Conference on Education of UNESCO  member-states in Geneva in October 1994.  Both these meetings are of vital importance to the world and the developing countries in particular.

The large increase in world population and its consequences are the main theme of the Cairo Conference while the Geneva Conference is expected to assess the situation of education for international understanding.

But the subjects cannot be discussed superfluously without going to the roots of the global problems of humanity.  The problems of the World are not so much material or financial, scientific or technical but ethical and cultural.

Generally, it is taken for granted that the developing countries are responsible for the increasing population.  But if we really believe that the whole world is one family,  then this is wrong.  As a matter of fact, the principal problem of our planet is the earth-destroying production methods and consumption patterns adopted by the people of the developed countries at the cost of the exploitation of the people and resources of the developing countries. The minority population of the developed world are using so much of the earth’s resources and energy, that they are depriving the majority population in the Third World of their legitimate access to these resources.  This extravagant use of resources has entirely upset not only the ecological balance but the social fabric and human relations of society.   This has also led to the creation of wide gaps between the haves and have-nots, rich and poor, advanced and backward, civilised and un-civilised, big and small, urban and rural etc.

Today due to such artificial divisions, there are large regions in several countries of the world, which are struggling for their minimum basic needs like potable drinking water, food, clothing, shelter, health and education.  Population growth is therefore not the real reason of large-scale poverty and misergy in the developing counties but rather I is vice versa: Poverty is the main cause for increasing population.  The real problems of the world are (a) unequal access to world’s resources and (b) unjust relations between the countries of the North and South resulting in over population and poverty in the South and over-production and over-consumption in the North.  These are two sides of the same coin.

What is worse is that the extravagant and wasteful standards of production and consumption are serving as models for the developing countries.  The North is trying to propagate, promote and export destructive and un-sustainable development models to the countries of the South.  The political leadership of the developing countries is equally responsible for the present state of affairs in the world.

Most of the developing  countries are politically free but still psychologically slaves.  They have forgotten their own history, traditions and culture.   They want to still depend on others and remain beggars in all respects - economically, socially and culturally.  A small minority of western educated leadership which is in power in these countries  is misleading the large and silent majority-economically and culturally - to serve its own selfish interest to remain in power.

The problems of war and violence, poverty and population cannot be abolished, unless there is social justice and economic equality at the national and international level.  Education was and is supposed to enable us to move from the culture of hatred and pain, war and want, misery and suffering to a culture of love without any distinction of race and religion, class or caste, colour or creed and physical or geographical boundaries.  Thus, education is the key but the question is what type of education?  Formal education has lost its human sensitivity, it must undergo a thorough renovation and a total revolution, at all levels - structural, institutional and educational.

What are then the challenges before the world and the two forthcoming conferences at Cairo and Geneva?  What do we expect from them?  We have got to get away from the “Cult of Possessing” and move fast towards a “Culture of Sharing”.  The way of life in the north has to undergo a very radical and fundamental change, so that all life on this earth - plants, animals, birds, and insects - get a chance to live comfortably.  The rich and the developed can no longer uphold their production patterns and consumption habits, on any ground, ecological, economical or ethical.  They must immediately drastically reduce their use of earth’s resources and energy, and accept both in principle and practice, a just and equitable access to all resources.

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