By: Angmo
Sep 23, 2006

Development of the underdeveloped?

Indeed, January 29, 1949, did mark the epicenter keeping newly triumphant United States on the pinnacle from where swift vibrations of capitalist transformation was to sweep even the remotest corner of the world in the name of “development”. In his speech on this day, President Truman announced the two-thirds of the world “underdeveloped,” and bore upon itself the “responsibility” of the “improvement and growth” of underdeveloped areas.

“We must embark on a bold new program for making the benefits of our scientific advances and industrial progress available for the improvement and growth of underdeveloped areas.” (Esteva 1992:7)

At that time, perhaps one didn’t have the measure of the potential ideological hegemony such an undertaking would cause among the two-thirds of the world’s population that they not just started considering their history, cultural attitudes and values, and their existence in the dark, but at the same-time, without momentary thought, started aligning itself towards the “light house” (Sachs 1992:1). The lighthouse in the process was gathering brick to constantly build itself higher from the sweat of the people, natural resources of the nations which it was able to allure in their broken promises and thus constantly raising higher and higher and making itself unreachable to others while at the same time, pushing the underdeveloped further and further away from reaching the peak it promised to help them to reach.

“Development” thus became a unified goal for cultures in multiplicity. The development assumption ignored the diversity in humanity. History, values, ethics, morality, religion, beliefs, concerns, gender relations, were all to be crushed under one ideal. Thus, multiple trajectories arising from diverse cultures were to take the path of democracy, rationalization and material improvement which was to end up at one but fluxing end (Shanin 1997:65).

The changing geographical demography of the world following the decolonization period in the mid 1900s brought together what were earlier individual nation-states. This created spatial integration within a redefined nation-state. Political demography was also reworked, and so was power. The pursuit of development by these redefined nation-states emphasized on transfer of objects of development – education, technology, health facilities, capitals etc within its boundary as well as with other nation-states. Development and globalization (spatial integration) thus became non-detachable processes . This essay attempts to highlight how “development” and “globalization” work together to destroy socio-economic-political-psychological stability of a long established sustainable place.
Ladakh

Traditional Culture:
Located in the cuddle of one of the highest mountain ranges in the world, Ladakh was originally formed by the traders on the silk route some thousand years ago. This small community had minimal interaction with rest part of the world ever since its formation. The people have adapted themselves to the harshest climate and had evolved local knowledge well enough to sustain themselves in the place. Within family sized farms, barley and millet were grown within four months of short summer which were the main food crops. Cattle rearing, cows, donkeys, sheep, goat and Yak provided dairy and thus variety in their food apart from helping in the fields. The long winter season provided ample leisure time for the communities to come together, perform various festivities, and forge ties.

In the harshest condition, interdependence was inevitable and its inevitability was realized by each and every individual. This interdependence and its realization together with religion – majority Buddhism - determined the formation and devotion towards the web of close social relationship – kinship, phaspun , neighborhood, and ties between, among, and within villages which provided tremendous emotional as well as social security.

Interdependence fostered social relationship and coexistence ideology mostly took the form of voluntary but binding cooperation not only in fields but at times of religious rituals, birth, marriage, death and other social requirements. Money had no place and therefore, there were no source to buy cooperation then to give. Religion and culture had evolved together to emphasize on forbearance, coexistence, and sustainability.

Conventional education meant being able to read and write Tibetan for most of the religious texts were in Tibetan. local education comprised of growing crops in the field, knowledge about the different diseases and how to prevent them in their local way, how to make oil out of the apricot seeds, knowledge about indigenous flora and fauna which was imparted not through any institution but through assimilation within communities through out the period of growing up. This education formed a close tie between human and land.

As in any other community, social hierarchy was present but did not exist with sharp edges. The descendants of king and his ministers earned social respect whereas Mons (the blacksmiths, goldsmiths etc) were looked down upon, the majority fall on the same social status. There was constant mingling of all three classes. Moreover, everyone was located along the same line in terms of economic well being. Owing to the harsh climate, seldom people bothered to grow more than they needed for a particular year and because everyone had farms lead to minimal to nil trade that have significant elevation of one’s economic wellbeing - another reason why society lived with harmony with no feeling of jealousy, treachery, bribery and as such.

Location of the place in the colder region further helped in protection from various tropical deadly diseases. Amchi, the local doctor, followed homeopathic treatment, the knowledge of which is inherited from generations.

Within the bounds of limited resources, the place has learnt to sustain itself both socially as well as environmentally as a result of, as Helena Norberg puts it, “ continuing dialogue between human and their surroundings” (Norberg-Hodge 1992:136-137). People were at peace. The fact that they weren’t exposed to outside world also limited their domain of desires and the conditions for being happy and satisfied.

The Change:

It is interesting to note that a remote place such as Ladakh holds no importance in raising the GDP of the country where the land is not generous enough to sow more than what will be consumed in a given year, where before independence it didn’t even existed in the map of India or the world for that matter, where concentration of technological advancement in the period of “taking-off” of the country is a cost with no return, Ladakh wouldn’t have gotten the initial attention had it not been the friction between the India and Pakistan that suddenly brought the place in the limelight. It was the border that had become the symbol of the strength of India and Pakistan, their pride, which lead to the establishment of roads to transport artillery and military to protect the place or rather their pride. Ironically, it wasn’t then quite known, that the protectors came through an ineffaceable trail. It was not known that transformation was to take the same trail, the same road as well.

The seeds of feeling of inferiority were first sown by the army who had bases in the remotest villages as well. The army got plenty of supplies, rice, rifles, Rum and radios. Since they were army, people had since the beginning gathered their fear. The lowest of the army still acquired “saib” (meaning “sir”) title, the local thus putting themselves lower to them. They were the first that started to bring in changes in cultures when people started to value rice more than barley, local docility was considered their servitude. Army used to intrude the local gathering and was placed in the place which is mainly reserved for aristocrats. Even though army was never considered as a part of the community, but the army did indeed leave some remarkable influences. My father told me, when he was young, at every meal he would escape from the house and go to the army base camp. There he would find all the kids in the village. The army would ask them to dance for them in return for a bowl of cooked rice. Local people had thus became objects of laughter and ridicule.

Another sector that accelerated the process of cultural doubt and ideological hegemony was the introduction of educational institutional. It is to be noted that India is a nation-state of diversity and the Central education curriculum was translated in States official language. However, diversity didn’t stop at State level. Within each states, there were further variations in language and culture. The state of Jammu and Kashmir is perhaps the only state were three completely distinct cultures exist, the Kashmiri, the Hindu, and the Ladakhi. Within the state, there were two distinct curriculums - one in Hindi and the other in Urdu. Ladakh was mostly considered part of Kashmir and therefore, Urdu curriculum was infused in the place. The village head, Goba , was required to make arrangement with the families to send at least one kid to the school since, in the beginning hardly anyone showed interest in going to schools (Oral interview)

The Kashmiri teachers who were posted in the villages of Ladakh had their difficulty to teach since the teacher and the students spoke complete different language. It was difficult for the students to learn things in a language they have never heard before and moreover, to learn about things, for them, were more than abstracts. Thus, teachers constantly bit their student both physically and psychologically. Terms such as “buddu, gaddha, or gawar” (meaning dumb, donkey or illiterate) were constantly used by the teachers which broke the moral of the students and after sometime, the students themselves started to consider lowly of themselves.

In the early seventies, development programs started trickling in. Education and Health sector gained particular importance and a lot of jobs were created. Other government jobs were created as well but mostly in the capital, Leh. Rice, wheat, sugar, kerosene, and other consumer goods started flooding in at highly subsidized rates.

In 1972, Ladakh was open to tourists who brought with them consumer culture and an illusionary lavish life. A tourist would spend in a day more than what a Ladakhi family would spend in a year. Jewelry, art pieces and even the everyday things were bought by the tourists at very high prices. Not only were this, Ladakhi seen as from the superior developed western eyes as poor and uncivilized. Superiority of material culture was further emphasized with the introduction of television.

Spread of education, army, tourism, and technology, all three contributed in rejection of culture. Not only did the initial illusion of material culture influence the youth, but at the same time, the older generation. Since education was considered the key to be able to gain money, more and more students were sent to school in a hope that they would bring in more money. Education thus became the spade to fed traditional people into the capitalist machine out which came a processed confused individual cut off from the traditional culture and rejected from the modern.

Current State:
Even though education produces people for the capitalist machine, yet together with globalization with the help of media, first hand experience, it also introduces them to the vulnerability of the outside world. The fragility of the outside world makes it hard for Ladakhi to leave the place where they still have a sense of belonging, their dignity, and their community. So, after completing their higher education outside Ladakh (Ladakh still doesn’t have a good college), most of the Ladakhi look for jobs in the main city. They are not able to go back to their villages because of newly found wisdom- "educated people are only educated when they have jobs and an educated person doesn’t work in the field." New social stigma further restricts the integration of younger generation in the in the family and in the society.

Money culture has replaced long established interdependence. In summer, scores of laborers from other parts of India goes to each family for field and construction work even in the villages. The hiring of laborers replaces the need for earlier interdependence and thus commitment to social relationship. Even though relationships such as Phaspun still exist, but is still holding on because of the presence of older generation who were themselves brought up in traditional cultures prior 1960s. When my mother died, it was my grandfather who brought in our Phaspuns to organize rites and rituals and that was the first time, I ever knew we had phaspuns!

In summer, almost every traditional festival is flooded by the tourists clicking pictures. Furthermore, the space in the monasteries for audiences is occupied mostly by tourists. This leads to avoidance of the local people towards religious and cultural festivals which further exacerbates in loss of opportunity to know about one’s own culture.

Moreover, tourism industry has expanded. However, it has expanded to benefit only the people in and surrounding the main city. At the same time, it has attracted outside businesses from other parts of the country. Today, every two minutes walk in the town, one can find a travel agency run not by locals, but by people from other parts of the country. When a tourist comes to Ladakh, they come with a label of particular travel agency that is to cater them. These travel agencies are branches of a wider business network whose service starts from the tourists’ home country to their destination. Globalization induced horizontal integration of the businesses delimits the opportunity for the rise of local business and thus the creation of jobs which further has bearing upon social relationships.

Most of the Ladakhi goes in the travel industry. There are number of government plans gives out loan to buy cars. Travel agency according to their patrons – the tourists – have taste in cars that runs smoothly on naturally bumpy roads, thus hires only cabs that are more comfortable. Thus, every year people compete to buy cars such as Toyota, Scorpio, Armada, etc (most expensive cars in India). Not only this creates competition between families but also puts a lot of financial pressure which further restrains gender as well as family relationships.

Highly subsidized primary food products such as rice, wheat, oil, wood and other fuel and the changed in local taste away from traditional food to rice and vegetables further creates unfavorable conditions to grow traditional food crops. More and more people are turning towards growing vegetables or turning their field into greenhouses so as to supply for the market during winter when supplies run out. (haphazard organization I believe)

Development, as Sachs says, “… is much more than just a socio-economic endeavor; It is a perception that models reality, a myth which comforts societies, and a fantasy which unleashes passions” (Sachs 1992:1). So has the development engulfed Ladakh. Without recognition, people have surrendered themselves to an ideology of “development” where development means material culture. Today technology means development but technology keeps on renovating itself. Last years car today become traditional, outmoded. Development, which for Truman meant, technologification, is thus chasing an ideology; the nearer you get to it, the further it runs away.

In the process of the pursuit of the ideology, socio-cultural-environmental states are constantly manipulated. Old way are smashed, new ways aren’t viable. (Sachs 1990: 3). Spatial integration, as much as it has expanded people’s ambition, unleashed passion, at the same time, it has shown the vulnerability of outside world. This creates a situation where people aren’t ready to detach itself from the place but at the same time, keeps the desires to attain that ambition. Younger generation found themselves at a brim where jumping into the one side, they will be dissolved in the ocean of people with no identity, and jumping on the other side, they would be called primitive, socially ostracized.

For some places such as Ladakh, there were no choice between development and globalization. Nor was there any say to restrict the capitalist transformation. The state and subjects were so far apart, that any decision made by the state (tourism, building of roads, dumping of subsidized goods, educational reform) was fully abided by. Furthermore, one of the reasons why the culture was weak that it immediately lent itself in the claws of change was because the place had no history of any sudden encounter whatsoever with outside forces. Considering that it is situated among the highest mountain peaks in the world and bore no strategic importance, Ladakh was left untouched by the world outside. In addition, the inadequacy to see the changes coming, to organize, and to protest which it have never done or never needed to do before, the forbearing attitude, the breakdown of political centrality – the king – and therefore, newly scattered individuals whom, for long, had a king to make decisions, and the biased information transmitted particularly through outsiders, and at the same-time, lack of provision of complete information such as media, televisions, newspaper etc led to complete chaos in the place.

Today, the same two thirds of the world live in a confused reality. Without their realization, they have become objects fully hypnotized not under western hegemony but under illusionary hegemony of “development” facilitated definately by "globalization."

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1. Nation-states are constantly changing. There is a huge complexity to define what globalization is. Spatial interconnection within a nation-state might not be termed as globalization. However, spatial connections among nations are considered as globalization. In this essay, since Ladakh, prior Indian Independence was a nation-state,its integration in the Indian Territory and the successive imposition of development needed active interaction other parts of India can thus be seen as Globalization.
Group of families either within or among villages that are required to help at times of birth, marriage and death.

Reference:

Escobar, A. 1997. The Making and Unmaking of the third world through development. In
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Esteva, G. 1992. Development. In Sachs, W. (ed.). The development dictionary. London,
UK: Zed Books.

Hart, G. 2002. Disabling Globalization: places of power in post-apartheid South Africa.
Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

Norberg-Hodge, H. 1991. Ancient Futures: Learning from Ladakh. San Francisco: Sierra
Club Books.

Sachs,W. 1992. Introduction. In Sachs, W. (ed.). The development dictionary. London,
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Shanin, T. 1997. The Idea of Progress. In Majid R. & Victoria B. (eds.). The Post
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