GOPIO New York and the Indian Consulate are jointly organized a reception/dinner and a talk by Dr. Ashok Khosla, the winner of this year's prestigious Sasakawa Environment Prize of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), on Friday, November 22 at the Indian Consulate in New York. The UNEP Sasakawa Environment Prize, sponsored by the Nippon Foundation and founded by the late Ryoichi Sasakawa, has been awarded annually since 1984 to individuals who have made outstanding global contributions to the management and protection of the environment. The prize, worth $ US 200,000 is considered one of the most prestigious environmental awards in the world.
Dr. Khosla’s talk was a very interesting speech for all of everyone who worry about India’s poor, and want desperately to see sustainable development and sustainable livelihood for all, without degrading the environment. Dr Khosla communicated to everyone that there are opportunities to join, to make a difference.
The topic was "Effective Strategies for National Development"
Dr Khosla, on the UN ‘s global 500 role of honor, said his aim, as president of TARA, was to generate and regenerate sources of energy, material and jobs. He said agriculture can offer work to only 25 % of our people. He stressed the need to create 15 million jobs every year. In today’s economy, the creation of one work place costs about $100,000 and this amount is even higher in the west. Conventional job creation would need at least a trillion dollars as investment! And hence, he has turned to sustainable low cost, ecologically viable job development and worked for more equality, more equity in the hands of the poor.
The determinants of sustainability are life style, choice of consumption, a relationship with nature, one’s attitude to waste and a holistic understanding of the entire world. None of these are alien to traditional Hindu culture. Policies must reflect people’s needs, e.g. if they are allowed to feel ownership of forests, the forests are beautifully and ecologically maintained. If they have no decision making power, projects can fail. The current need is creating jobs and making products that others want to buy.
Economic instruments, like subsidies, done in the name of the poor, distort the economy. He talked about the role of modern technology. Too often, he said, it excludes the poor, the villager, the farmer, women, the south. “We need labor intensive technology”, he reiterated.
He mentioned his childhood, leaving Pakistan for India, crossing the border as refugees, walking 14 days and slowly building up a life again. He mentioned that he had had the best education and was left with a sense of responsibility. He prolonged his education as he wanted to learn all that was need to be a good citizen of India. People, resources and environment were his concern. His professors were teaching this long before Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring” woke the west. “My country shall have no poor people” was his bottom line.
In no fifty years period in the US, has so much been accomplished as in the last 50 years in India. India has quadrupled its production of goods and services. 20% of India, several hundred million, live well but the other 80% are Dr Khosla’s concern. Either the greed of the rich or the survival needs of the poor are devastating the environment. He stated that 50 years ago, some hillsides could barely be penetrated because of the thick forests, but today they are bare, resulting in a landscape of poverty, inequality and illiteracy. Today development strategies can remove poverty and sustainable development means that the basic needs of all are met. “We cannot have even one person without access to education food or water,” Dr Khosla repeated.
“Our aim is to create sustainable livelihoods, fulfillment of basic needs, promote self reliance, and adopt sustainable lifestyles. Gandhi said technology was good when it liberates human potential, regenerates resources, creates economic opportunity. He was way ahead of his time but insisted it was a servant.”
The fundamental crisis now is, does India copy cat technology as it is used in the West or it to be skillfully and wisely adapted. “Do we piggy back or simply leapfrog to something new?” He gave several examples of importing and using technology as it is, in toto, adapting it locally and also bypassing it creatively to something far better for all concerned. “The automobiles and even fixed wing aircraft are unlikely to last long, how do we plan for this? Large centralized production use enormous amounts of energy, usually coal. Concrete buildings are energy intensive…. The future holds public transport... Waterways are the cheapest… Roads are not ecological viable, destroy drainage patterns, tribals and bring goods which are not necessary and destroy livelihoods.” “Leapfrogging, means creating jobs and products for local markets, water harvesting, using local material, local labor, using renewable energy, decentralized power and recycling” were some of the sentiments and reasons he espoused. (He seems to approve of wireless telephones!)
TARA is in south Delhi, a delightful, elegant terracotta brown complex built without steel, cement, bricks or coal. It is built of compressed mud, entirely of mud! 150 people work there and the electricity bill is approximately that of one household. There is no air conditioning or heating and none is required. Basically a hectare and a half of forest has been saved by refusing fired bricks. This could change the whole basis of construction in our country. “We are not interested in giving away money to help the poor, we want them proudly on their feet”, Dr Khosla stated. The TARA loom, for example, is used by weavers. It takes them one day to learn how to use it and it trebles their earnings. As the loom is very effective, the other result is high quality cloth as well.
Regarding his project for handmade recycled paper, he said, “We chose 45 totally downtrodden women, based solely on their economic need. Today they are making world class paper. The TARA coal woodstove is wildly popular and has been copied, pirated all over the world and we got reports from remote areas in Asia, Africa”.
Then there is Desipower, it is decentralized, and ca be used mostly anywhere in India. “Besharram, a green weed became the bio fuel. It was clogging waterways. We bought it, converted it in a gassifier. One plant produced enough energy for a village of 700 households and it is still cheaper than the national supply by 40%. For obtaining, conventionally, 100 KWs the investment is about Rs. 30 lakhs. The capital investment is a third less than thermal stations and is used locally within a couple of kilometers”. The message was one of hope, to encourage, nay, insist that we all change our lifestyles, to see we live in a way that sustains the earth and all its inhabitants.
Dr. Khosla has been the President of Development Alternatives, an NGO working in the field of Appropriate Technology, environmental management, policy advocacy etc. since 1983. Currently, he is the President of Technology and Action for Rural Advancement (TARA) and People First and Secretary General of People's Commission on Environment and Development, New Delhi. The award committee hailed Khosla as an "eco-hero" for demonstrating the value of sustainable development by helping villagers generate power using agricultural waste, recycling paper and showing small enterprises how to make low-cost roofing tiles.
Technology and Action for Rural Advancement , TARA has a wonderful website and can be understood by those who cannot read.
Indian Consul General Pramathesh Rath welcomed and complimented Dr. Khosla for implementing credible sustainable developments in different parts of India. GOPIO President Dr. Thomas Abraham chaired the meeting. While introducing Dr. Khosla, GOPIO Treasurer Dr. Shushila Gidwani said that GOPIO has a great commitment to motivate NRIs and PIOs to held their mother countries.
Dr. Khosla can be contacted as follows: Development Alternatives, B32 TARA Crescent, Qutub Institutional Area, New Delhi 110016 INDIA; Tel: 91 11 696 7938 / 685 1158, Fax 91 11 686 6031; Email: tara@sdalt.ernet.in