Dear GKD Members, Historical evidence suggests that technological developments of all kinds can make improvements in the process, time management, convenience for the consumer. However, to the best of my knowledge, no technological innovation has demonstrated "enhanced" employability of the people. I do not want to start my postings on a negative note; but if we talk of the poor then we must talk about the poorest of the poor who probably do not have the education, nor tools nor technologies for eking out livelihods for themselves.
It was widely perceived in my country (India) when we initiated the reform, liberalization process and consequently the globalization process, that poverty would decline, and uneven development would get bridged. Ten years later, we still find a very high degree of joblessness. Worse yet, there been a complete erosion of "employment" security--employment now tends to be casual, temporary, sub-standard and lower-paying than before. It seems ironic that a country with a huge population of over 1 billion people, a resilient economy, abundant natural resources, a just and equitable democratic Government, has over 30-35% marginal/partial employment, 60% self-employed (most of whom are poor), and only 10% regular employees of which two-fifths are employed by the public sector. Why does that high level of unemployment persist? Why do small European economies such as Germany and France, who have always embraced technology and have such a huge technological advancement, have major employment problems? Why does Finland, despite home-grown Nokia, continue to languish with unemployment and joblessness? If we do not have jobs of any nature--if we do not even have stable livelihoods--then what has been the worth of Globalization and technological advancement? It was said that when economies transitioned from agrarian economies to manufacturing and then to services, that huge opportunities would get created for the poor across the globe. Regretably, nothing of this sort has happened, at least in India where it ought to have happened. So should we not hesitate to dig even deeper into the African and Latin American malaise? The truth is that Indian BPO and technological advancements in ICT have benefitted only a very small percentage of the elite, English speaking, highly educated Engineers and Professionals. Vast masses of Indians who neither have English nor technological prowess have remained untouched by the BPO and ICT surge. Let us examine the case of the Apparel and Ready-Made-Garments sector where a lot of modernization occured driven by illustrous Fashion Designers, supported by the Global Chain of Designer Labels: GAP, Marks & Spencer and hundreds of them. As a consequence, huge increases in the production of Ready-Made-Garments were reported from India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, three South Asian countries who manufactured large quantities of ready made garments. Yet rapid growth of the Ready-Made-Garment Industry did not improve the state of the employees, especially women employees who predominate the Garment Industry. The women faced retrenchment and statutory benefits were denied to them. They faced, and continue to face, erratic work schedules, reduced wages and lack of any form of "Decent" long term sustainable livelihoods. (SOURCE--UNCTAD, UNIFEM) Therefore we need to examine the covergence of Globalization, Technology and Poverty with greater innovation and greater "Empathy." As our Prime Minister Dr. ManMohan Singh, a noted Economist in his own right, says: "Globalization with a human face". I believe "Globalization" largely means "Business" and indeed Business stands to benefit most by Globalization. Yet there are Business Approaches and Business Models that can and are making a lot of difference. There has been no dearth of outstanding businesses that are also philanthropists all across the world especially in the West--in USA, Europe. There are innumerable examples of awesome Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives all across the Globe. I intend to cover many of these in my subsequent postings. However, for all of us who believe in Globalization, Business and Technology, our first and most critical priority ought to be livelihoods and to make these forces work for the poor. If there is no trickle down effect of these three forces -- Globalization, Business, Technology -- to help the poorest of the poor, disadvantaged, disfranchised, women and aged, sick and frail -- then I am afraid it is not going to work. Chetan Sharma-CEO, Datamation-New Delhi (India) www.datamationindia.com Founder-Datamation Foundation Trust (a registered non-profit organization) www.datamationfoundation.org Ph#s 91-11-22167230/22167973/22168017 (M) 91-9811039482 ------------ This DOT-COM Discussion is funded by USAID's dot-ORG Cooperative Agreement with AED, in partnership with World Resources Institute's Digital Dividend Project, and hosted by GKD. http://www.dot-com-alliance.org and http://www.digitaldividend.org provide more information. To post a message, send it to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. In the 1st line of the message type: subscribe gkd OR type: unsubscribe gkd Archives of previous GKD messages can be found at: <http://www.dot-com-alliance.org/archive.html>
