Problems Confronting Less-Developed Nations - Essay Example

The problems confronting the less developed nations of the world are emblematic, with many of its strands twisted together, thereby enhancing its impact. It is not inconceivable though, that many developed countries, through the medium of the United Nations have joined hands in this ongoing fight to obliterate this menace from their lands. One of the major problems facing many underdeveloped African nations in particular is the vicious cycle of malnutrition and hunger. In some parts, its impact is so great, that there are reports of multitudes being wiped out in some remote and far corners. There are even stray reports of tribes, scavenging the barren earth to seek out any plant life, or sapling which may have grown under cover and beneath the rocks. Concerted efforts have been made to serve cooked food at many centers, and even dry food packets have also been distributed from various locations in order to tackle this menace. The effectiveness of these adopted strategies can be felt to a great extent, but to completely wipe out this menace from the earth’s face, needs a long drawn and sustainable fight. It is indeed an irony, that when hunger and malnutrition is so rampant, large tracks of cultivable land explicitly for agricultural production, is being covertly and illegally altered to cultivate the highly profitable ‘poppy’ crop. The cash rich small farmers brave the authorities’ eyebrow, and a few corrupt officials are bought off by the powerful lobby of drug mafias, not only in Africa but in a few countries of Latin America. The world authority is striving hard, but political boundaries often act as a hindrance. The following table and illustration will make the gap between the income of developed and developing economies prominent: Continent Country GDP per capita (PPP) (USD, 2007 CIA) Africa  South Africa 9,800 America  Brazil 9,695 America United States 45,800 Asia  China 5,300  India 2,700  Malaysia 13,300  Philippines 3,400  Thailand 7,900 Europe United Kingdom 35,100 CIA World Fact Book, 2008 The prominent height of the two columns corresponding to the nations of America and UK shows the stark difference in individual level income or wealth from that of the developing economies of China and India. However, in these less developed countries of the world, the problem is not restricted to the cultivation of ‘poppy’ only by a restricted few – the signs are ominous enough! A whole new generation has been entrapped in its grip. It is quiet widespread in the towns and cities, and that too, among a cross- section of the society who can ill afford to. It is indeed a tragedy that the less fortunate strata among these less developed countries are its worst victims, who could otherwise have lived a life not so mucky and enslaved. The rehabilitation centers and the counselors have an unenviable job at hand, but given the enormity of their task, they are perhaps doing a commendable job by all accounts. The ambit of the damage is not confined to that of drug abuse only, rather it is extended to its killer cousin, HIV is a curse, that has spread its pernicious wings far and wide. Sub Saharan Africa, has been particularly hit hard by this epidemic. The Harvard Medical School, and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are conducting exhaustive research and survey work to discover its cause and effect. The picture though at present is grim, and there are concerns that it may further escalate globally. But all is not lost however! With the best of international brains at work , this threat can surely be overcome, and mankind can very soon heave a sigh of relief ! Again, in another report, ‘doctors without borders’ are vaccinating children against meningitis. The awful state of health care in these states, have acquired a helping hand from such international medical team, who not only treat patients but administer free medicines and health checkups, and thereby help in sustaining their otherwise fragile health care system. (Field News, 2008) While dissecting the anatomy of the ‘ills’ of the so called under developed world, one need not dig further, for education and drinking water problems stare one in the face. The privileges of the existing educational setup filters down to a distinct few, in the towns and city schools and colleges only. And it is self deceptive to assume that the same standards are maintained in the village schools, and district colleges. The medicos, the journo, the techies, and the black coats, and the white chalk holders who pass out every year from the academies are not only insufficient to meet the growing requirements; the authorities have to constantly cope with the problem of finding suitable replacements for those who flock to greener pastures abroad. The education system therefore needs a great boost, and ideally drastic steps should be taken to expand it across the towns to the village centers. But that requires a huge amount of money and therefore, one can only hope for action on a step by step process. Water management problems are critical mostly for such nations, who are facing an acute shortage of both- that is, pure drinking water and irrigational canal water for agricultural purposes. While supply of pure drinking water can eradicate a lot of diseases for those who have to otherwise use water from contaminated sources; canal irrigation will yield a rich harvest, and thereby, help in their fight against hunger and malnutrition. No developmental work can be implemented, let alone, be sustained, until and unless the law and order improves. Violence by groups of gun-totting youths as well as little children have started gang-wars and spread terror in large parts of the area. Mercenaries at the behest of mafia lords take control of large such tracks from the fragile administrative setups, who in turn have to regain it back with the help of UN forces. A bleeding generation, maimed and mutilated must be rescued and the powerful gang lords who must be brought to book. It is not a problem but a menace which needs to be tackled at the very earliest. Economic growth therefore is not only beneficial but essential, to overcome the challenges of hunger and malnutrition, drug abuse, health care activities, spread of education and water management, as detailed above, for an infrastructure development and sustainable growth. However small industries need to receive greater attention as bigger is not always better for such economies. Several developing nations resent that their resources are engaged in steel factories set up long ago. (Begg, Fischer, Dornbush and Ward, 519) A fiscally stronger economy would mean lesser inflation and higher growth rate. However in developing nations where government creates too much money, the value of money falls, that is, such an economy is plagued by inflation. (Mankiw and Taylor, 2006, p.13) It should then percolate down to the poor who could buy more bread and milk, rice and flour. It could then see a slew of activity, for it would mean, more schools and colleges, hospitals and factories, more roads and townships, airports and shipyards. More work for the common man, and a growth graph for the economy that would escalate further. It could then emerge as developing countries and the policy- makers flush with cash, could outlay projects to reach those lying in the farthest corners of the land. The down turned economy could be wrested and with the multinationals coming in followed by the small and medium size enterprises, which in turn could mean currency appreciation. However, all this would mean a loss of agricultural land, and could further exacerbate the food situation, and could bring misery to a wider cross- section of the agricultural poor. (United Nations, 2008) Distortions in the financial scene could arise as well as in the society with the gap between the rich and the poor escalating further. But then again all this can be avoided if we have a land bank policy, and the farmer can be compensated suitably for his loss of land and livelihood. In the end however, we must not forget that the ‘mantra’ of the day is to ‘progress or perish’. Progress one must, and without being much too distracted by the teething troubles, aspire to keep pace with the rest of the world, which after all is one united ‘global village’. (Van Alstyne and Brynjolfsson, 2008) References 1. Begg, D.K.H, Fischer, S., Dornbush, R. and Ward, D. 2005. Economics, New York: McGraw Hill Higher Education 2. CIA, 2008, The World Fact Book, available at: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/ (accessed on July 27, 2008) 3. Field News, 2008. “Niger: MSF Vaccinates Nearly 300,000 Children Against Measles”, available at: http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/news/article.cfm?id=2586 (Accessed on July 27, 2008) 4. Mankiw, G.W. and M. P. Taylor, 2006. Economics, London: Thomson Learning 5. United Nations, 2008. “Economic and Social Council: POP/961”, Commission on Population and Development, available at: http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2008/pop961.doc.htm (accessed on July 27, 2008) 6. Van Alstyne, M.W. and Brynjolfsson, E., Global Village or CyberBalkans: Modeling and Measuring the Integration of Electronic Communities. Management Science, Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=756445 (Accessed on July 27, 2008) Read More