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Technology
basically consists of 3 components - knowledge, skills and the
means (instruments) to achieve a particular end.
As such the purpose of technology is to achieve capacity
utilisation both of the promoter
(user) and that to which it is applied.
Thus a tool is not only the extension of the one who
wields it thus helping him to realise his capacities and
objectives but also focuses and brings out the potential of that
to which it is applied. Refinements
and further developments in technology, help in realising
greater potential actualisation (value added) with increasing
efficiency and effectiveness.
Development of technology however is costly and time
consuming.
Technology,
by its very nature, is therefore not neutral.
It goes where it can be made use of, where it can be
applied. And as
such, except in
cases where there is active state promotion, it can usually only
be taken advantage of by people “already on the way” - those
with the appropriate education skills and access to resources.
The poor can rarely avail of technology that will
significantly enhance their capabilities or result in increased
value added.
This
aspect of technology often causes ethical as well as social
problems. For
instance, lift irrigation - the technology that enables the lifting
and transportation of
water over large distances for agricultural purposes -
draws upon a common or “free” resource
- water- but primarily benefits only those who use it.
Only those with access to resources can appropriate it
leading to their advancement while those unable to do so,
who constitute
the majority of people get progressively left behind leading
eventually to divisions and social tensions.
Thus the “green revolution
has led to islands
of prosperity” in
an ocean of poverty. Technology,
without social control or which benefits or can be accessed only
by a few, divides and polarizes a society instead of building it
up. The more
complex and significant the technology, the greater the
polarization and contrasts.
In
this regard, watershed development from ridge - to - valley
centred around the hydrological principle and covering the
entire catchment area is a technology, that is not only
accessible to the watershed dwellers (community) but also has
the potential to draw them together in a common effort.
This
is so because the majority of measures are well known,
understood and already practiced although in an isolated and
unsystematic manner. Furthermore,
the watershed being the area of survival of the inhabitants
provides the forum that brings people together as well as the
agenda for negotiations and relationships.
This is particularly so in rural agrarian economies where
the bulk of a household’s basket of consumption is provided by
the environment, namely water and biomass for food, fodder,
fuel, bio-fertilizers and fiber.
The dwellers who are also user groups thus have a vital
stake in their environment, its health and whatever impacts on
it. Moreover
regeneration and management of the environment in a sustainable
manner does result in substantial long impacting benefits,
economic, social and political.
The
application of technology has not only economic consequences but
also profound social and political consequences.
The Industrial Revolution replaced an entire “Order”
with the world we are familiar
with today. Hence,
no political and administration establishment can afford to
ignore a development that impacts significantly on existing
societal relationships.
Thus,
sustainable watershed development, by its very nature, lends
itself to participation, is
accessible to and benefits all,
and since it involves
social awakening, is of interest to the political,
developmental and administrative sectors
of society. Thus
watershed development done along self-help participatory lines
is a powerful instrument for poverty alleviation. |
