Sustainable Economic Development - The Social Ripples

Living in a sustainable environment refers to living in a socially and economically developed environment. Creating a sustainable developed society refers to increment in the quality of life within the community using the skills of the population and ecological services that remain for a longer time. Various areas integrate to bring up the sustainable development in the society that includes sustainable ecological development, sustainable economic development, and sustainable social development. These three are the pillars of sustainable development. 

Every pillar is interrelated to each other. Sustainable economic development is the basis of sustainable development. It refers to economic growth that strives to meet the daily needs of humans maintaining natural resources and the environment. Various natural resources factors that are responsible for economic development are land, natural resources, labor, and capital (produced from natural resources and land). The social ripples strive to generate awareness and create measures towards economic development in such a way that the daily needs of humans are met without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their daily needs.

We can define sustainable economic development as a technology-based process that helps to raise the economic life of every individual. For example, it aims at moving the agriculture economy to an industrial one or the commercial economy to technological-based trade. It is all about creating development plans to improve the economic state of every individual of the society by implementing a series of successful economic strategies. Using the present environmental assets is the best way to promote economic growth and development as it will give employment opportunities to most of the population. One of the aims of sustainable economic development is to make individuals make self-sufficient and self-reliable.

Goals and objectives of sustainable economic development

Increase in national income

It is one of the main objectives of bringing sustainable economic development. It is because it contributes to improvement in the living of the individuals. It also aims at strengthening the structure of trade and industry that helps to improve the economic life of many individuals by creating employment opportunities.

Increment in the natural resources investments

It aims at bringing the investments in natural resources present in the country by supporting the public infrastructure nearby the state lands and also support in production and maintaining the natural resources and supporting the public services.

Capital support services

It refers to provide required economic support to the weak public capital.

Token exchange

This goal and objective aim at focusing on the development of trade. It includes the follow-up of trade exports and imports. It mainly aims at promoting trade between the developing countries and other countries to fulfill the basic needs of the population.

External debt management

Its aim is at finding ways to repay the external debts.

The indicators of sustainable economic development are the Gross National Product and the Gross Domestic Product. These two are the perfect definition of economic welfare.

Why do we rescue the women and children first?

 

It is A very nice question. It is the point of discussion and not debate. I would like to put in my idea behind it. Today, we are all talking about women empowerment and feminism. What does that mean? It means to respect and accept women and their existence.

 It means to give equal opportunities to them in the decision-making process. We can see the same words everywhere ‘Women are no less than men’ they can do good for themselves and their family. Why do we rescue the women and children first?

Children are young and innocent hence; they need assistance in rescuing from the situation. They cannot rescue themselves as they have no power and enough experience to come out of the situation. Hence, it is the elder ones who can help them rescue. It is an unwritten policy that a child cannot live without his mother. Hence, in case of rescue, it is important that women should be rescued along with the children. It is not that men cannot look after their children but when it comes to children’s well-being and looking-after, mothers are preferably chosen.

The entire rescuing situation has nothing to do with women's empowerment and feminism. If it was such thing that women have less power or immunity than men they wouldn’t have given opportunities to serve the nation at borders and everywhere in defense.

How does the empowerment of women affect development?

 

There is an increase in the trend of women empowerment all around us. The impact of the measures taken by the government is also seen. Women's empowerment is nothing but considering women into the decision-making process by educating her and promoting her skills to the fullest. I would like to share some of the areas that will help to understand the empowerment of women and its effect on development.

Before empowering a woman, you should first understand to accept and respect their existence in society. Once people will accept women and respect them, it will be easy for them to give them equal opportunity in the decision-making process.

Women's empowerment affects both the social and economic development of the county.

When a woman gets an education, she is responsible for the education of the whole family. She educates her children to be good citizens of the country and in turn, helps to contribute to the social and economic development of society. 

Women empowerment also opens a door for women to be financially independent. It creates job opportunities for women. It will help society to make full use of her skills and help women and their families to get developed.

Women, if given a job, will help the country economically as there will be an increase in tax payable candidates. Also, it will help women to have their own identity other than someone's wife, mother, or daughter in front of society. Also, there will be an increase in the quality workforce with which the companies will be benefitted.

Why does society make women feel required to have children?

 I am a woman and aware of all the social expectations that people have from a woman. Since from my childhood, or you can say from the time when I got to know about womanhood, I am hearing the old saying that 'a woman is incomplete without having children' or 'a woman becomes complete when she bears a child.' Since then, I was having the question, why? Today when this question has been raised, I would like to thank you. Also, I would share my views.

A woman is blessed with the reproductive system to bear the child during her childbearing days. But society has taken it in another way. The social norms are set for a woman, to bear a child so that she becomes complete and can take their dynasty forward.

 A child, that too a boy child is said to be the remark of their dynasty. I do not say that a woman should not give birth to a child. She should give birth to a child if she will’s to and is prepared to have it.

In many of the areas of society, a girl is forced to get married early instead of gainingan education. She is then forced to do house chores and also give birth to the child.

 The social norms had made women show proof of her fertility by reproducing a child against her wish.

Our society has trained a woman to think that a child will help her be complete and feel secured and live with dignity in society. It is one of the norms of the society that if a woman does not have children has no respect from society.

How can the Indian government ensure gender equality in India?

I believe you all might be aware of gender equality and how it is affecting the development of our country. The question raised here is about the Indian government's role in bringing up gender equality so, I thought to share something related to it.

Gender equality is one of the important aspects affecting the development of our nation. It is all about giving equal opportunities to the individual of every gender in society. The Indian government has passed many legislations and acts to generate awareness about gender equality. But still, there is a gender gap seen in society. Women and LGBT groups are underrepresented in society. People are not ready to accept the change in a male-dominated society. Hence, as a result, according to the global gender gap report, 2016 by the world economic forum, India stands 87^th in the gender gap index amongst 144 countries in the world. India has climbed from 105^th rank to 87^th since 2015.

The government of India has taken many measures concerning educating and empowering women of India to eliminate the gender gap. With this, it was seen that women were allotted a reservation to get a job and education. But at the workplace women are finding problems such as they are underrepresented or over mentored. They have refrained from decision making for their company. It shows that the government is doing everything to eliminate the gender gap in every area of society but, it is the responsibility of an individual to bring change in society by accepting women as their fellow employees.

It is about women's empowerment. The government should also create awareness related to the transgender and LGBT groups, at last, they are also an integral part of society. A fair opportunity should also be given to these communities so that they can live with dignity and confidence in society. Creating equal opportunities for every gender will give rise to a better society.

How are corporations supporting sustainable development goals (SDGs)?

 Without any support, we cannot achieve our goals. UN's sustainable development goals are focusing on developing society for a better future. The goals of the UN  are eradicating the problems universally. Hence, it needs partnership and support from the governments and corporations of all the nations.

UNsustainable goals are interrelated to each other. The 20 major corporations are supporting the United Nations to promote their sustainable goals in various areas. Most of the global projects are accomplished by the corporations for the UN. Major corporations such as CJ logistics have helped the UN the most.

Following are the ways corporations are supporting sustainable development goals.

·         Giving people employment opportunities

It helps the individual to raise his financial status and contribute to the nation’s development.

·         Generating awareness about clean environment

Some of the corporations are carrying out the print messages campaigns to generate awareness about the importance and effect of environmental cleanliness.

·         Taking developmental initiatives towards change

The corporations that are members of UN sustainable development goals are taking initiatives personally to bring change. For example, some of the corporations are replacing disposable and plastics to renewable and eco-friendly materials.

·         The collaboration of the UN with the energy forest business is an effective measure to drive the attention and awareness of fine dust and deforestation issues.

I have mentioned some of the most evident contributions of the large scale corporations that are national and international. Many such corporations are supporting the UN to promote their sustainable development goals.

Why SDG 17 is the Most Important UN SDG?

 

We all are nearly aware of the UN sustainable goals. UN is trying to complete all the targeted goals by 2030. Its sustainable goals target to come up with a developed and sustainable society. Its 17 sustainable goals include eradication of hunger, poverty, social and gender discrimination, women and child development, etc.

All these UN sustainable goals are interrelated to each other. Achieving these inter-related goals require fundraising and partnerships at a higher level. It is the 17th goal of the UN to bring financial development, connecting people through information technology networks and international trade flows. It will help the governments of various countries to clear their debts.

To bring sustainable development in society there should be an understanding between the governments, private sectors, and civil society. We can see many of the countries are still underdeveloped or still developing and lack in their financial status. Most of the time, the reason is their geographical areas and natural calamities they are not able to raise their financial status. They need official development assistance to raise funds for their country. The aim of SGD 17 is to provide official assistance by encouraging growth and trade for the country with the help of collaboration with other governments. 

Half of the population in various nations are connected through networking. It leads to many opportunities for the people, for sharing innovative ideas of business, and sometimes opportunities encourage the trade flows. UN comes up with the policies that promote the idea of investments for the underdeveloped or developing nations. It will automatically help them to clear their debts and raise their financial conditions. 

Hence, it is one of the most important sustainable development goals of the UN.

What is your opinion about sustainable development goals?

 I am very happy that the issues related to bringing a sustainable society are open to discussion for all. It is we who are going to be a part of a sustainable society. Hence, talking on such issues will help us to put forth our point.

Sustainabledevelopment goals are set, to come up with a developed society. A society whose environment is loved by everyone, that coexists in society. UN promotes various sustainable development goals that integrate to create a sustainable society, loved.

These goals concentrate on bringing development universally. The main objective of the United Nations to create these sustainable goals is to balance the social, economic, and environmental sustainability. The UN sustainable goals starve on eradicating problems such as poverty, hunger, health problems such as AIDS and polio, and discrimination against women.

Collaborating with organizations, UN ensures that measures are taken to generate awareness at the individual level. It aims at creating an environment that ensures, no one is left behind, and everyone in the society is individually developed, economically, and socially.

I think that achieving sustainable goals means to have a developed society which is above all the barriers. It allows every individual to live a quality and healthy life. I think achieving sustainable goals needs the active participation of every individual. Hence, we should individually make sure that we participate in their mission of bringing a sustainable society.

How sustainable are India’s development goals?

We are talking about India; its approach and its contribution to sustainable development goals proposed by the United Nations. India is a multilingual country where people of different castes, religions, and socio-economic backgrounds reside. Also, needless to say, India is a developing country where the question of unemployment and poverty still exists.

India has made a measurable development towards achieving the development goals this year. As per the voluntary national review 2020, India has developed itself in various aspects in the case of the United Nations' sustainable goals. The government of India has taken effective efforts by engaging the sub-national governments, local governments, citizens, local civic organizations, and private sectors. We can proudly say that India has shown a positive image with sustainable development in various areas.

·         It has empowered over 271 million people out of multidimensional poverty by offering employment to talented people.

·         With many awareness campaigns and initiatives, India has enhanced access to quality nutrition, employment opportunities, and quality education for every child, sanitization, and housing that has led to reduced inequalities.

·         Awareness regarding quality health and cleanliness with campaigns such as Swatch Bharat and Sashakta Bharat.

·         It has also encouraged the inclusion and equality through campaigns such as Satat Bharat – Sanatan Bharat that approaches towards a sustainable India.

·         It has also shown its development towards bringing investments to the country with the help of the young population and their vibrant innovations by promoting the make in India campaign.

These are the positive effects of the sustainable development efforts are taken by the Indian government. There are some problems that the government is facing due to lack of funds but according to I, the young and aspiring individuals should come forward and help the government in achieving UN sustainable goals and take India towards a new height of success.

Why do you need feminism when we already have gender equality?

 

We are heading towards a new and developed society where every gender is said to be equal. There are equal rights and opportunities provided to every individual regardless of his gender so that they feel included and like to be part of the society. Gender equality at every phase has contributed to the development of the nation, socially and economically. Gender equality prevents society from violence against women and gives them equal opportunities everywhere in society. Gender equality mainly focuses on fighting against a society that is prone to the men's aggression that was much seen in older days.

But it is not the same scene now. Women are getting their rights equal to men also. The rate of harassment and violence in and out of the house is lessened. The government has taken all the measures to bring a sustainable society by promoting gender equality. Gender equality focuses on giving equal rights to women that are the same as that of the men. It is showcasing that women can have equal opportunities and equal education with society. Gender equality promotes that every gender is the same as a human. The definition of gender equality refers to the meaning that women should be treated the same as men that mean that they are equal to men means women are like men that is not possible.

Here The theory of feminism comes to picture. Feminism is defined as a woman should be treated as a woman only. They should be given their rights to education, equal salary, individuality, and freedom of choice. Most of the time in India, we see that women and girls are given the chance to have quality education and have a job of their own choice. But, when it comes to having a decision-making process at the workplace or choosing their life partners, they are under-represented. Feminism is all about having the freedom of choice and decision for their personal lives and at their workplace. Feminism is not about saying 'what a man can do a woman also do.' Whereas, it is all about saying a woman can do amazing things that men can never do. No! It does not mean that women are superior to men. It depicts that men and women are biologically different and should be seen as different individuals rather than keeping men and their powers as a threshold.

The word feminism and feminist movements are scenes to be controversial these days. Politicians and some parts of media have taken the definition in their ways. Some of them also have linked it with homosexuality. It has led to a fearful atmosphere for men about women dominating more in the future. It is not the case with feminism. The theory of feminism is not for dominating men or any other gender.

It is time to understand that feminism is not about empowering women or making them strong. It is also not about changing the world for women. It is about changing the perspective about gender equality that women are different as an individual.

Inclusive education and its present perspectives - The Social Ripples

 

We all like the idea of an inclusive society, right? It is the approach to bring equality, peace, and harmony in the society, where every individual actively participates to protect the fundamental right of the other one. It is the society where we all love the environment we coexist. Inclusive education is one of the important steps included in the process of building an inclusive society. It is the approach towards educating every child equally. Inclusive education gives equal opportunity for quality education to disabled children. It aims to educate the physically challenged children and children with other disabilities along with the normal children in the same school and under the same roof. It will help the children to accept each other despite of their disabilities and there will be an establishment of emotion to help the children with disabilities.

Children are the future of the nation. Hence, they should be educated, be tolerant and inclusive right from their school. Inclusive education is the right process of bringing a tolerant and inclusive society. Also, it is the fundamental right of every child to get a quality education. 

Every child has a special thing to give to society. It may be an abled or disabled child each of the children is special. If equal opportunities are not given to both of them their talent will remain unnoticed. With inclusive education, it will be possible to give every child an equal opportunity.

It is a scenario that nearly 40 million children with physical and mental disabilities and of the age group from 4 o 16 are forbidden from mainstream schooling. It has to lead to a major discouragement to the parents of disabled children. This discouragement was given by the school and other abled children's parents as they feared that it, will affect their children's quality of education. There is a need to understand that children can flourish their talent right from their school. The only thing they need is to have a fair opportunity. Inclusive education is a path for disabled children to grow themselves as great individuals in the future by using their talent to the fullest. It will also lead to the growth and development of an inclusive society.

It is also the scene that most of the children in rural areas are excluded from schools as they are disabled, and also they are not receiving education due to a lack of special schools in rural areas. It has to lead to a loss to them, and they are deprived, of living a quality life without education at all. The social ripples, as an organization, focuses on generating awareness of creating an inclusive society through inclusive education. They aim to give exposure and opportunity to every child regardless of his physical and mental disability. It will help the whole society to be inclusive and tolerant in the future. The social ripples and the team promotes the ideas and measures to be taken by the government and schools to provide children with an inclusive environment by creating and investing in inclusive classrooms that are friendly for every child.

How to create an inclusive society ? - The Social Ripples

 we all are talking about an inclusive society and dreaming of creating a completely inclusive society. But, the question exists is what is aninclusive society? How to create an inclusive society that will be loved by all?

An inclusive society is a society where people love to live with each other regardless of their caste, religion, race, gender, class, geographic area, and other disabilities.  The idea of a socially inclusive society promotes equal opportunities for every individual to live their life with dignity and confidence.

Creating a socially inclusive society is all about creating an environment for every individual to develop his life both socially and economically. The process of creating an inclusive society starts from our home, rather it starts from you and me.

We can consider the following five ways to create an inclusive society.

Creating inclusive classrooms-

The right to education is the fundamental right of every person. Education should be available for everyone regardless of age, gender, class, and disabilities. Children with disabilities or girls have the right to get a quality education. It will be a good start towards creating an inclusive society by giving them the equal opportunity of quality education to each and everyone in the society.

Planning design of communities to be accessible by everyone-

With the increase in population and changing lifestyles, there are new societies and communities designed every day. We can design a community that is easily accessible by everyone including disabled people and design the building with a sharable environment. People should feel it easy to communicate with each other if they stay in a sharable environment.

Giving the workplace an inclusive environment-

Most of the offices unknowingly discriminate with the disabled people by not hiring them to their offices. They feel that offering them opportunities will be costly for them to create an accessible environment for disabled people. But the truth is that giving opportunities to them will help the companies to add to their reputation and create an inclusive environment.

Representing and giving opportunities to everyone equally in the government offices-

It is seen most of the time that women and disabled people are under-represented in government work. They are not given leadership and equal opportunities, even though they have the best qualities. Giving them equal importance to them will help to create aninclusive society.

Engaging every individual of the community actively

Opportunities should be equally given to every individual in society including the little ones. Listening to everyone equally and respecting each person's participation will help to have an inclusive society.

Empowering women and children Development

 

Creating a sustainable society means creating a society that is successful in taking care of and loving each other. The society that takes care of every individual that is developed and helps those who want to get developed individually to contribute equally to society.  The main aim of the society should be taking care of the health and well being of every individual and give equal opportunities to every individual regardless of his age, gender, economic background, and other discrimination factors that affect the development of the society. Women and children are also an integral part of a developed society. A developed society is one, which respects and takes care of the health, safety, and well being of a woman and child. Giving equal respect to the needs of the women and child leads a path towards women and child development.

Women and child development are one of the seventeen goals of UN sustainable development goals. The social ripples are inspired by these sustainable development goals and focus on generating awareness in the society about women and child development through their camps. The team believes that empowering a woman is as good as empowering a whole family.

Women and child development are all about empowering a woman to live with confidence, dignity, and economic ability with quality education and to focus on children's upbringing with quality education and nutrition. Women and children constitute majorly to create a better society. Children are said to be the future of the country. Hence, they need to be nurtured with quality education so that they can show a new height of success to the country with their skills developed. 

It is rightly said by the people that 'if you educate a man, you will educate only the man, but if you educate a woman, she will educate the whole family.' Sadly, this has remained only a saying as women and children are mostly left out from the attention of society. They are the major of the population who face harassment, violence, and are forced to lead a miserable life. They are prone to discrimination most of the time. There are many times when the organization, NGO's and government, etc. have taken efforts to diminish all the discrimination. They have taken the utmost efforts to generate awareness about the importance of health and education in women's life. But unfortunately, they were not adequate. 

Empowering a woman refers to educating a woman to live a self-sufficient life by using her skills to the fullest. Good quality education will help the women to develop and use their skills confidently. It will help her to live with dignity in society and also contribute equally to creating a developed society whose environment is violence and discrimination-free. Women’s empowerment aims at creating equal opportunities for women so that they become socially and economically independent.

The social ripples promote awareness about educating and empowering a woman. It also helps the women to be economically independent and she can also nurture the children with good quality education to be a better person in the future.  

What is your opinion on transgender?

 

Transgender- I have been hearing this word from my childhood. People have been seen behaving weirdly with them and also have some of them having a weird opinion about them. I never got the reason why? To be honest, when I was a child, I used to fear when I used to see them. But never felt that they are not part of society.

If they are human and living around us of course they are the part of our society. Years before, people did not like to talk about or talk to them. They were not given equal opportunities to work in offices with other employees. Also, they were not seen to be living with needed confidence and dignity. They were seen as a different part of society and not as a fair part of the society. But as times changed, things also changed for betterment for them. They have started getting a reputation in the community.

In recent years there is increased attention seen towards transgender amongsociety. Claps for the organizations and media to drive attention towards them through popular culture and popular debate. Transgender was given all their human rights because of their efforts.

There was a wave of gender equality seen in recent years. It has helped transgender to come up in society to contribute their skills in the development of the nation. People are also seen supporting transgender. It will take time to change the behavior of society. But, I believe that there will be a positive change in the community, and it will change for its betterment in the future.

What are the different goals of social development?

 

You all might be aware that the UN is on the mission to create a sustainable society until 2030. Its focus is to come up with a society where every individual will love to live.

We all know that one of the areas of UN sustainable development goals is to bring social development in the world.  

What is social development?

Social development is all about investing in people. Its main objective is, creating a society by removing all the barriers that result in diminishing the confidence of people in the community. The barriers in society include inequality regarding caste, gender, religion, political backgrounds, etc.

The society succeeds if and only if each and every citizen is developed socially and economically.

Differentgoals of social development

·         The main goal of social development is to give equal opportunity to every person to earn his livelihood, depending on his talent and education.

·         It also focuses on the formation of human capabilities such as better health, knowledge, and skills. 

·         Economic growth by individual human development

·         Distribute benefits equally among the community regardless of gender, race, caste, or any other barriers of discrimination.

·         Bring balanced regional development.

The social ripples work on these goals of UN SDG along with the individuals and organizations. Its prime focus is on bringing the qualitative growth and development within the society by generating awareness among the people. They also focus of promoting the idea of helping the people to live a quality life with confidence and dignity. it will help every individual to develop himself and his family by using his skills in a meaningful way. If their families also do well they can contribute equally to bring up a better-developed society.

Gender Equality Is An Important Aspect Of A Growth

 

Mindset Society Which Emphasizes On Equal Opportunity And Human Rights For All.

Let's Encourage And Build Societies That Value Women, Men And Also Transgenders As Equal.

The society we live influence us in the way we act and communicate. It is the other way too. Each of us can greatly influence the growth and development of our society with our social connections, personal relationships, and physical environments. Our culture has a major role to play in creating society. It shapes the way we work and communicate, and it plays a major role in the way we view ourselves and others.

At The Social Ripples, we greatly encourage and believe that society is shaped by the interactions, participation, and contributions of every individual. For a social framework to be rock solid rigid, biased, and stereotyped gender-specific roles need to have a complete shift. It is imperative that Women and Transgenders must also contribute to the decision-making process, creating policies, and setting a more positive societal norm.

We strongly advocate moving ahead from the prejudiced norms and notions of the society where Men, women, and Transgenders too participate in the decision-making process at the workplace and at home.

United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)

Our area of focus on Gender equality follows the vision and goals of The United Nations where women have a critical role to play in all the SDGs. Goal 5, of SDG, refers to "Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls" is dedicated to respecting, recognizing, and representing women at the various forums and opportunities. Moving a step ahead, at The Social Ripples we also support Transgenders and encourage them to have a fair chance.

Having a society that is not biased towards a specific group of gender can set the base of a growth-oriented society. A society where both Men, Women, and Transgenders are treated similarly and have the equal access to Resources, and Opportunities regardless of Gender. It is important to encourage a society where humanity is respected above all. A society where every gender is valued, nurtured, and given importance across social, political, economic, and cultural activities.