Is freedom the most important part of development?

Wednesday, 3 December 2014 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

What is meant by the development of a country? Development is enhancing the wellbeing of people. So is it GDP growth? Is it growth in per capita income? Yes, it is all of those things but perhaps the most important component of development is enhancing freedom.

S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike was a leader who recognised the importance of freedom

The most severe punishment From ancient times the biggest punishment handed to a person was imprisonment (if his head was not cut off). Imprisonment is the most severe punishment because it removes a person’s freedom. Even though jail provides an inmate with a roof over his head/her, food and company, people do not want to go to jail because freedom is more important than material things like food, clothing and shelter. These material things do not compensate for the loss of freedom. If a Government provides its people with food, clothing, shelter, etc. but does not give them freedom, it is equivalent to putting society in jail. And just like an individual, society does not like being in jail. Great leaders Great leaders have recognised the importance of freedom. It is good to read again what was said when we got freedom from the yoke of being a colony. On Independence Day, the late S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike spoke on behalf of the Government. He said: “We must not, we cannot, allow our newly-regained freedom to run the risk of remaining merely a theoretical concept, a thing dead and without real meaning for the vast mass of the people; we must see that it quickens into a life of greater happiness and prosperity for us all. Political freedom comes alive only when it is utilised to achieve other freedoms - freedom from poverty, freedom from disease, freedom from ignorance, freedom from fear. Nor is that all. We have to fan the flickering flame of democracy so that each individual is assured of these freedoms for which democracy has always stood and which safeguard man’s self-respect and secure decent, honest and fair dealing between man and man.” Bandaranaike was so committed to the concept of freedom that when he formed his political party he called it the Sri Lanka Freedom Party. Freedom and development There are many links between freedom and development. Every society must endeavour to ensure that its people have freedom from poverty in all its manifestations (food, shelter, water, disease, ignorance, etc). Therefore development becomes the process of expanding the human freedom from poverty. Development must encompass all the components like freedom from hunger, freedom from disease, etc. GDP and poverty A growth in GDP does not mean that there is necessarily an expansion in freedom from poverty. Growth in per capita income does not always mean an increase in the freedom from poverty. It could be the rich getting richer and the poor remaining poor. A growth in GDP must be married to an inclusi

ve development which ensures that all segments of society experience the developments that reduce poverty. We are reminded regularly that per capita GDP is increasing but we are never told of the pattern of distribution. So it’s expected to be $ 3,719.But how many people are above this level, how many are below this and how many people have a per capita below $ 2000 etc? Until such data is provided it is not known whether the growth in GDP and per capita income is increasing freedom from poverty. Growth in GDP Growth in GDP is essential to give a country the capacity to increase freedom from want, be it food, clothing, shelter, or disease. To achieve this, an economy must have the freedom to do business that facilitates growth. It is universally recognised that freedom to do business will impact GDP growth. This is deemed to be such a fundamental concept that the World Bank publishes annually an Ease of Doing Business Index. In the latest index Sri Lanka is languishing at around 99 out of 189 countries. Strangling Freedom to do business The important question is ‘What is Sri Lanka doing to expand the freedom to do business?’ We continue to be riddled with a plethora of controls. These arise from numerous Acts that have to be navigated to do any new business. In addition, there are gazette notifications that supplement these Acts. A further addition to create still more complexity are a host of administrative circulars. Those who have to grant approvals do not have a mindset of wanting to help to do new business. The anecdotal evidence is that this is a ploy to compel those seeking approval to bribe to get what can be legitimately approved. Is bribery the only lubricant that turns the wheels of bureaucracy? There is no evidence of a strong political will to radically eliminate these practices that severely curb the freedom to do business. Freedom for the inner spirit We all have an inner spirit. It is this inner spirit that makes us feel happy to see a gorgeous sunset. It is this inner spirit which makes us feel good when someone says, ‘I love you’. None of this touches us physically like food or drink. Freedom from want of physical things like food and water is important and expanding it is an important component of development. But freedom from what causes unhappiness to our inner spirit is a far stronger emotion. Therefore development must encompass all those freedoms that matter to the inner spirit. Development is creating a society where its people can live without fear. That means freedom to say what you want, freedom to practice one’s religon, the freedom to support any political organisation, etc. Corruption, bribery, thuggery, nepotism, injustice, police brutality, harassment of political opponents, etc., all of which add up to a corrupt society, will impact the inner spirit and will hover over it like a dark cloud of oppression. As depression is the twin sibling of oppression, it will become a society where people are depressed because where there is no freedom from oppression. Therefore creating the freedoms that eliminate what oppresses the inner spirit has to be one of the most important components of what constitutes development. The inner spirit purrs and growls The inner spirit is not a pussy that purrs when it is pleased and curls up silently when it is not. It is the unhappy inner spirit that creates fury and rage and drives people to kill and destroy. When there is no development of these freedoms and there is a steady erosion of what there was, it creates an explosive scenario. Even those who are not personally affected feel oppressed when the freedoms they value are suppressed. This explains the phenomenon of mass uprisings around the world in support of freedom .The fuse that leads to an explosion catches fire by itself. You do not need a man with a torch to set fire to it. The inner spirit creates revolutions It is the inner spirit’s discontent with erosion of freedoms that created the revolt against the communist system in Europe and it is this same inner spirit that created the Arab Spring. We see many rebellions in Africa against leaders who have been warming presidential seats for a long time. All on the same theme of wanting freedom from what oppresses them. The Palestinians explode from time to time for the same reason. None of these revolts is a demand for more bread. They are all a demand for freedom. Development has to mean expanding the freedoms that impact material wants but even more importantly development has to be creating and expanding the freedoms that will remove the oppression of the inner spirit.

Is freedom the most important part of development?

Recent columns

COMMENTS