Features
Science and Technology and national development
Science and Technology in human civilization and industrial revolution
by Emeritus Professor Ranjith Senaratne
Former Chairman, National Science Foundation
Homo erectus, which originated about two million years ago, discovered fire about one million years after their origin. However, it came into habitual use only about 400,000 years ago, which provided warmth, lighting and protection against wild animals and enabled the making of more advanced hunting tools and the preparation of healthy and nutritious food. The resulting improved nutrition promoted rapid brain development and Homo erectus gradually evolved into Homo sapiens around 200,000 to 300,000 years ago. Hence, fire was a critical and decisive technology which enabled human evolution from the Stone Age (around 2.6 million years to around 3300 BC) to the Bronze Age (around 3300 BC to 1200 BC) and then to the Iron Age (around 1200 BC to 550 BC).
Humans have gone through four ages of civilization, namely the Hunter and Gatherer Age, Agriculture Age, Industrial Age and the present Information Age or Knowledge Worker Age. Technological advances have contributed to those transformations and there has been a phenomenal increase of efficiency and productivity when transforming from one Age to another. A new set of skills and new knowledge were required as earlier ones became obsolete with the progression from one Age to another. Different countries, different sectors within a country, different industries within a sector and different enterprises within an industry, could be at different levels on the continuum, depending on the type of technology used. When we look at the industrial revolution (IR), it has progressed from the 1st IR in the 18th century to the 4th IR in the 21st century. This shows the rapidity of technological advances and pace of innovation. Each IR brought significant changes to society, including workforce transformations, economic growth, and societal restructuring
The 1st IR marked the transition from a handicraft economy to a manufacturing economy characterized by mechanized production through the utilization of energy sources, such as coal and steam-power, and the emergence of factories, such as weaving mills and ironworks for mass production. The 2nd IR occurred in the late 19th and early 20th century and was marked by the use of electricity and the invention of the assembly line, both of which resulted in a significant increase in mass production. Henry Ford, for example, successfully used the assembly line in producing his automobile assembly facility. In addition, gas and oil also became important sources of energy during this era. In the 3rd IR, the emergence of electronics and automation technologies significantly impacted manufacturing and information processing, thereby paving the way for the development of computers and transistors. In addition, nuclear power also became an important source of energy. The 4th IR is the integration of cyber-physical systems, the internet of things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), block chain, virtual reality and advanced robotics, blurring the lines between the physical, digital, and biological spheres. Now some are even talking about the Fifth Industrial Revolution which incorporates concepts such as “sustainability”, “human-centeredness”, and “concern for the environment”, thereby striking a right balance between robotization and humans and blending the power of smart, precise and accurate machinery with human creativity and ingenuity. However, some argue that it is a mere extension of the 4th IR.
However, we have to recognize that some of the problems we face today are due to unintended consequences of S&T. For example, the Green Revolution that was aimed at increasing food production in the world has unintentionally caused serious environmental issues and health hazards. Similarly, industrial developments in the 19th century have contributed to climate change which is now wreaking havoc in the world. Thus, when we apply science to address one problem, it can create a number of unintended consequences and complicated problems. This should be born in mind and sustainability science should be used when addressing real-world issues.
Technology and economic development: Lessons from other countries
According to the UNDP (1983), one quarter of humankind – some 1.1 billion people inhabiting two-fifths of the land area of the Earth controlled 80% of the world’s resources while 3.6 billion people inhabiting three-fifths of the globe controlled only 20% of the global resources. Therefore, Abdus Salam, founding President of The Third World Academy of Sciences, Trieste, Italy, in 1988, said that the globe is inhabited by two distinct types of economies, called developed and developing, which basically stemmed from their differing mastery and utilization of present-day science and technology
If we look at the export portfolio of Sri Lanka, garments (45%), tea (20%) and rubber (15%) collectively account for about 80% of the total exports of which the high-tech exports accounts for only about 1.5% as against 15% in India, 26% in Thailand, 36% in Korea, 43% in Vietnam and 56% in Singapore. Similarly, the digital economy of Sri Lanka contributes less than 5% to the national GDP as opposed to 13% in Thailand, 20% in India and over 20% in Malaysia. This shows the abysmally low level of adoption of technology in the manufacturing process in Sri Lanka, which is not hard to understand given the low level of funding for R&D; it is only around 0.1% of the GDP as against around 0.15% in Myanmar, 0.3% in Nepal, 0.8% in India, 1.2% in Thailand, 4% in Korea and 4.2% in Israel. Consequently, many local industries in Sri Lanka still operate at very low level, i.e. 2nd IR, thus lagging behind many countries even in Asia. This issue has already been highlighted by Dr. W.A. Wijewardena, former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank, through the print media.
Japan was devastated in 1945 during the 2nd World War, but emerged as the second largest technological powerhouse in the world by 1965. Today Japan with only 0.25% land area and 1.5% of the population in the world has become the fourth strongest economy on this planet and is second only to the USA, China and Germany. Israel, with an annual precipitation of about 400 mm, produces the highest milk yield in the world, i.e. over 30 litres/cow/day whereas Sri Lanka, blessed with an annual rainfall ranging from 1750 to over 2500 mm, still produces only 2-4 litres/cow/day. Another such example is the Netherlands, which is only about 60% of the size of Sri Lanka, but is the third largest exporter of agricultural produce in the world, whereas Sri Lanka, with a year-round favourable climate for agriculture, imports food commodities to the value of about $ 2 billion annually. Needless to add that the countries referred to above have a strong S&T base. While several factors, including incoherent and inconsistent national policies, adhocism and short-termism in Sri Lanka, have contributed to it, low investment in R&D in the past has been a major contributory factor.
Against this background, it is heartening to see that the new government has recognized the overriding importance of S&T for national development and has formulated a comprehensive Science and Technology Policy Framework, titled “Quantum Leap,” including several strategic interventions for public consultation. Moreover, the government has reestablished the Ministry of Science and Technology and has pledged to substantially increase the allocation for R&D in the 2025 Budget. If the interventions proposed in the policy framework are successfully implemented, it would afford a huge boost to the national economy, enabling it to come out of the present economic morass and move along an upward trajectory of economic growth. As public comments are sought on the proposed policy framework and strategies identified, I wish to share some of my thoughts in the hope that they may prove useful in formulating policies with actionable interventions as per the framework developed.
Prioritization of the strategic sectors and high-impact interventions
Here, it will be useful briefly to present how some countries set about in formulating such a policy document. South Korea, in its strategic plan for science and technology from 2025 to 2030, identified 12 national strategic technologies and established a strategy road map for each technology. This ambitious initiative involves a significant investment, i.e. over $19 billion aimed at fostering those 12 strategic technologies essential for economic security and competitiveness of the country. (https://www.msit.go.kr/eng/bbs/view.do?sCode=eng&mId=4&mPid=2&pageIndex=&bbsSeqNo=42&nttSeqNo=746&searchOpt=ALL&searchTxt=). The UK government recently unveiled its Science and Technology Framework, aiming to position the country as a global leader in science and technology by 2030. This framework is a key initiative of the newly formed Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, and outlines 10 strategic actions to foster innovation, enhance public and private R&D investments, and leverage the UK’s existing strengths in critical technologies (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-science-and-technology-framework).
The Technology Information Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC), coming under the Department of Science & Technology in India, having taken into account the economic situation, geo-politics and technological advances in the world, has formulated Technology Vision 2035, presenting a fresh perspective on technology imperatives for India. It is a consultative document meant to inspire all the stakeholders and capture the collective aspirations and expectations of the people and the ambitions of the youth of India. A blend of bottom-up and top-down approach was used in the design of this visionary exercise. In addition, people across the spectrum were consulted in multiple ways to anchor the vision, notably through regional brainstorming meetings, thematic interactive sessions with students, faculty and technocrats, open online surveys, etc. Moreover, a large number of experts were consulted to get deeper technology insights and perspectives, at different stages of exercise and the feedback and inputs from those interventions were studied in detail and synthesized to evolve the technology vision for the country. Based on in-depth analyses and discussions during the scoping phase of the exercise, 12 strategic sectors, namely Education, Medical Sciences and Healthcare, Food and Agriculture, Water, Energy, Environment, Habitat, Transportation, Infrastructure, Manufacturing, Materials and Information & Communication Technology (ICT) were identified (https://www.indiascienceandtechnology.gov.in/sites/default/files/file-uploads/roadmaps/1527503991_Technology_vision%202035.pdf).
The policy framework recently developed in Sri Lanka has identified six broad areas which encompass over 25 sectors involving over 100 wide ranging interventions. As their implementation exerts a formidable strain on the available limited resources, including financial and technical, it is of the utmost importance to reflect and deliberate deeply on them with the participation of all the key stakeholders (including S&T and R&D institutions, industry and community) and conduct the necessary surveys and investigations where applicable. These will prove important in order to identify a few high-impact strategic interventions (low hanging fruits) that could yield tangible results in the near term without losing sight of the medium- and long-term national interests and needs.
Allocation of funds for the strategic high-impact technologies and interventions identified
A vision by itself would not serve any purpose unless appropriate actions are outlined and acted upon to realize the large objectives. In this connection, construction of a road map and allocation of the requisite funds, particularly on a short- and medium-term basis, and ensuring their availability are of prime importance. This will develop confidence and credibility among the stakeholders including the private sector and scientific community and motivate them to commit themselves to the high-priority concerns as per the road map. As S&T interventions demand a wide range of inputs from home and abroad, building and maintaining a robust and resilient supply chain is also of crucial importance. Many plans in the past have failed as commitment has been only in word, but not in deed. In our country, according to past experience, R&D became the first casualty in the event of a crisis since governments were generally more concerned with populist measures and vote-grabbing interventions. However, in many developed economies, R&D rarely becomes a casualty and on the contrary, they even provide enhanced funding for R&D in order, for example, to tackle such crises as the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, unwavering commitment to strategic R&D with firm conviction is a prerequisite to drive economic growth and competitiveness of the country.
Providing tax incentives to the private sector for investment in R&D and innovation
Global spending on R&D has now reached a record high of almost US$ 3 trillion in 2023. Asian countries (including China, Japan, India and South Korea) now account for more than 40% of all global R&D investments, with the US and European investment accounting for less than 30% and slightly more than 20%, respectively. Governments worldwide increasingly rely on tax incentives to promote private R&D and innovation investment. In the early 1980s, the contribution of the public sector to R&D in the USA was comparable to that of the private sector. However, in the 2020s, the private sector has contributed 75% of the R&D investment while the public sector only 25%. For instance, the total funding on R&D in the USA in 2021was US$ 806 billion of which US$ 602 billion was from the private sector. France has implemented the Research Tax Credit which is one of the most generous R&D tax relief schemes in Europe, making it attractive for businesses to invest in innovation. Finland, Sweden and the Netherlands have also introduced similar schemes to promote private investment on R&D.
(To be continued)
In one of India’s coldest and most remote regions, a group of women have taken on an unlikely role: protecting one of Asia’s most elusive predators, the snow leopard.
Snow leopards are found in just 12 countries across Central and South Asia. India is home to one of the world’s largest populations, with a nationwide survey in 2023 – the first comprehensive count ever carried out in the country – estimating more than 700 animals, .
One of the places they roam is around Kibber village in Himachal Pradesh state’s Spiti Valley, a stark, high-altitude cold desert along the Himalayan belt. Here, snow leopards are often called the “ghosts of the mountains”, slipping silently across rocky slopes and rarely revealing themselves.
For generations, the animals were seen largely as a threat, for attacking livestock. But attitudes in Kibber and neighbouring villages are beginning to shift, as people increasingly recognise the snow leopard’s role as a top predator in the food chain and its importance in maintaining the region’s fragile mountain ecosystem.
Nearly a dozen local women are now working alongside the Himachal Pradesh forest department and conservationists to track and protect the species, playing a growing role in conservation efforts.
Locally, the snow leopard is known as Shen and the women call their group “Shenmo”. Trained to install and monitor camera traps, they handle devices fitted with unique IDs and memory cards that automatically photograph snow leopards as they pass.
“Earlier, men used to go and install the cameras and we kept wondering why couldn’t we do it too,” says Lobzang Yangchen, a local coordinator working with a small group supported by the non-profit Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF) in collaboration with the forest department.
Yangchen was among the women who helped collect data for Himachal Pradesh’s snow leopard survey in 2024, which found that the state was home to 83 snow leopards – up from 51 in 2021.
The survey documented snow leopards and 43 other species using camera traps spread across an area of nearly 26,000sq km (10,000sq miles). Individual leopards were identified by the unique rosette patterns on their fur, a standard technique used for spotted big cats. The findings are now feeding into wider conservation and habitat-management plans.
“Their contribution was critical to identifying individual animals,” says Goldy Chhabra, deputy conservator of forests with the Spiti Wildlife Division.
Collecting the data is demanding work. Most of it takes place in winter, when heavy snowfall pushes snow leopards and their prey to lower altitudes, making their routes easier to track.
On survey days, the women wake up early, finish household chores and gather at a base camp before travelling by vehicle as far as the terrain allows. From there, they trek several kilometres to reach camera sites, often at altitudes above 14,000ft (4,300m), where the thin air makes even simple movement exhausting.
The BBC accompanied the group on one such trek in December. After hours of walking in biting cold, the women suddenly stopped on a narrow trail.
Yangchen points to pugmarks in the dust: “This shows the snow leopard has been here recently. These pugmarks are fresh.”
Along with pugmarks, the team looks for other signs, including scrapes and scent‑marking spots, before carefully fixing a camera to a rock along the trail.
One woman then carries out a “walk test”, crawling along the path to check whether the camera’s height and angle will capture a clear image.
The group then moves on to older sites, retrieving memory cards and replacing batteries installed weeks earlier.
By mid-afternoon, they return to camp to log and analyse the images using specialised software – tools many had never encountered before.
“I studied only until grade five,” says Chhering Lanzom. “At first, I was scared to use the computer. But slowly, we learned how to use the keyboard and mouse.”
The women joined the camera-trapping programme in 2023. Initially, conservation was not their motivation. But winters in the Spiti Valley are long and quiet, with little agricultural work to fall back on.
“At first, this work on snow leopards didn’t interest us,” Lobzang says. “We joined because we were curious and we could earn a small income.”
The women earn between 500 ($5.46; £4) and 700 rupees a day.
But beyond the money, the work has helped transform how the community views the animal.
“Earlier, we thought the snow leopard was our enemy,” says Dolma Zangmo, a local resident. “Now we think their conservation is important.”
Alongside survey work, the women help villagers access government insurance schemes for their livestock and promote the use of predator‑proof corrals – stone or mesh enclosures that protect animals at night.
Their efforts come at a time of growing recognition for the region. Spiti Valley has recently been included in the Cold Desert Biosphere Reserve, a Unesco-recognised network aimed at conserving fragile ecosystems while supporting local livelihoods.
As climate change reshapes the fragile trans-Himalayan landscape, conservationists say such community participation will be crucial to safeguarding species like the snow leopard.
“Once communities are involved, conservation becomes more sustainable,” says Deepshikha Sharma, programme manager with NCF’s High Altitudes initiative.
“These women are not just assisting, they are becoming practitioners of wildlife conservation and monitoring,” she adds.
As for the women, their work makes them feel closer to their home, the village and the mountains that raised them, they say.
“We were born here, this is all we know,” Lobzang says. “Sometimes we feel afraid because these snow leopards are after all predatory animals, but this is where we belong.”
[BBC]
If elephants are truly to be given “freedom” in Udawalawe, the solution is not simply to open gates or redraw park boundaries. The map itself tells the real story — a story of shrinking habitats, broken corridors, and more than a decade of silent but relentless ecological destruction.
“Look at Udawalawe today and compare it with satellite maps from ten years ago,” says Sameera Weerathunga, one of Sri Lanka’s most consistent and vocal elephant conservation activists. “You don’t need complicated science. You can literally see what we have done to them.”
What we commonly describe as the human–elephant conflict (HEC) is, in reality, a land-use conflict driven by development policies that ignore ecological realities. Elephants are not invading villages; villages, farms, highways and megaprojects have steadily invaded elephant landscapes.
Udawalawe: From Landscape to Island
Udawalawe National Park was once part of a vast ecological network connecting the southern dry zone to the central highlands and eastern forests. Elephants moved freely between Udawalawe, Lunugamvehera, Bundala, Gal Oya and even parts of the Walawe river basin, following seasonal water and food availability.
Today, Udawalawe appears on the map as a shrinking green island surrounded by human settlements, monoculture plantations, reservoirs, electric fences and asphalt.
“For elephants, Udawalawe is like a prison surrounded by invisible walls,” Sameera explains. “We expect animals that evolved to roam hundreds of square nationakilometres to survive inside a box created by humans.”
Elephants are ecosystem engineers. They shape forests by dispersing seeds, opening pathways, and regulating vegetation. Their survival depends on movement — not containment. But in Udawalawa, movement is precisely what has been taken away.
Over the past decade, ancient elephant corridors have been blocked or erased by:
Irrigation and agricultural expansion
Tourism resorts and safari infrastructure
New roads, highways and power lines
Human settlements inside former forest reserves
Sameera
“The destruction didn’t happen overnight,” Sameera says. “It happened project by project, fence by fence, without anyone looking at the cumulative impact.”
The Illusion of Protection
Sri Lanka prides itself on its protected area network. Yet most national parks function as ecological islands rather than connected systems.
“We think declaring land as a ‘national park’ is enough,” Sameera argues. “But protection without connectivity is just slow extinction.”
Udawalawe currently holds far more elephants than it can sustainably support. The result is habitat degradation inside the park, increased competition for resources, and escalating conflict along the boundaries.
“When elephants cannot move naturally, they turn to crops, tanks and villages,” Sameera says. “And then we blame the elephant for being a problem.”
The Other Side of the Map: Wanni and Hambantota
Sameera often points to the irony visible on the very same map. While elephants are squeezed into overcrowded parks in the south, large landscapes remain in the Wanni, parts of Hambantota and the eastern dry zone where elephant density is naturally lower and ecological space still exists.
“We keep talking about Udawalawe as if it’s the only place elephants exist,” he says. “But the real question is why we are not restoring and reconnecting landscapes elsewhere.”
The Hambantota MER (Managed Elephant Reserve), for instance, was originally designed as a landscape-level solution. The idea was not to trap elephants inside fences, but to manage land use so that people and elephants could coexist through zoning, seasonal access, and corridor protection.
“But what happened?” Sameera asks. “Instead of managing land, we managed elephants. We translocated them, fenced them, chased them, tranquilised them. And the conflict only got worse.”
The Failure of Translocation
For decades, Sri Lanka relied heavily on elephant translocation as a conflict management tool. Hundreds of elephants were captured from conflict zones and released into national parks like Udawalawa, Yala and Wilpattu.
Elephant deaths
The logic was simple: remove the elephant, remove the problem.
The reality was tragic.
“Most translocated elephants try to return home,” Sameera explains. “They walk hundreds of kilometres, crossing highways, railway lines and villages. Many die from exhaustion, accidents or gunshots. Others become even more aggressive.”
Scientific studies now confirm what conservationists warned from the beginning: translocation increases stress, mortality, and conflict. Displaced elephants often lose social structures, familiar landscapes, and access to traditional water sources.
“You cannot solve a spatial problem with a transport solution,” Sameera says bluntly.
In many cases, the same elephant is captured and moved multiple times — a process that only deepens trauma and behavioural change.
Freedom Is Not About Removing Fences
The popular slogan “give elephants freedom” has become emotionally powerful but scientifically misleading. Elephants do not need symbolic freedom; they need functional landscapes.
Real solutions lie in:
Restoring elephant corridors
Preventing development in key migratory routes
Creating buffer zones with elephant-friendly crops
Community-based land-use planning
Landscape-level conservation instead of park-based thinking
“We must stop treating national parks like wildlife prisons and villages like war zones,” Sameera insists. “The real battlefield is land policy.”
Electric fences, for instance, are often promoted as a solution. But fences merely shift conflict from one village to another.
“A fence does not create peace,” Sameera says. “It just moves the problem down the line.”
A Crisis Created by Humans
Sri Lanka loses more than 400 elephants and nearly 100 humans every year due to HEC — one of the highest rates globally.
Yet Sameera refuses to call it a wildlife problem.
“This is a human-created crisis,” he says. “Elephants are only responding to what we’ve done to their world.”
From expressways cutting through forests to solar farms replacing scrublands, development continues without ecological memory or long-term planning.
“We plan five-year political cycles,” Sameera notes. “Elephants plan in centuries.”
The tragedy is not just ecological. It is moral.
“We are destroying a species that is central to our culture, religion, tourism and identity,” Sameera says. “And then we act surprised when they fight back.”
The Question We Avoid Asking
If Udawalawe is overcrowded, if Yala is saturated, if Wilpattu is bursting — then the real question is not where to put elephants.
The real question is: Where have we left space for wildness in Sri Lanka?
Sameera believes the future lies not in more fences or more parks, but in reimagining land itself.
“Conservation cannot survive as an island inside a development ocean,” he says. “Either we redesign Sri Lanka to include elephants, or one day we’ll only see them in logos, statues and children’s books.”
And the map will show nothing but empty green patches — places where giants once walked, and humans chose. roads instead.
By Ifham Nizam
SAARC or the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation has been declared ‘dead’ by some sections in South Asia and the idea seems to be catching on. Over the years the evidence seems to have been building that this is so, but a matter that requires thorough probing is whether the media in South Asia, given the vital part it could play in fostering regional amity, has had a role too in bringing about SAARC’s apparent demise.
That South Asian governments have had a hand in the ‘SAARC debacle’ is plain to see. For example, it is beyond doubt that the India-Pakistan rivalry has invariably got in the way, particularly over the past 15 years or thereabouts, of the Indian and Pakistani governments sitting at the negotiating table and in a spirit of reconciliation resolving the vexatious issues growing out of the SAARC exercise. The inaction had a paralyzing effect on the organization.
Unfortunately the rest of South Asian governments too have not seen it to be in the collective interest of the region to explore ways of jump-starting the SAARC process and sustaining it. That is, a lack of statesmanship on the part of the SAARC Eight is clearly in evidence. Narrow national interests have been allowed to hijack and derail the cooperative process that ought to be at the heart of the SAARC initiative.
However, a dimension that has hitherto gone comparatively unaddressed is the largely negative role sections of the media in the SAARC region could play in debilitating regional cooperation and amity. We had some thought-provoking ‘takes’ on this question recently from Roman Gautam, the editor of ‘Himal Southasian’.
Gautam was delivering the third of talks on February 2nd in the RCSS Strategic Dialogue Series under the aegis of the Regional Centre for Strategic Studies, Colombo, at the latter’s conference hall. The forum was ably presided over by RCSS Executive Director and Ambassador (Retd.) Ravinatha Aryasinha who, among other things, ensured lively participation on the part of the attendees at the Q&A which followed the main presentation. The talk was titled, ‘Where does the media stand in connecting (or dividing) Southasia?’.
Gautam singled out those sections of the Indian media that are tamely subservient to Indian governments, including those that are professedly independent, for the glaring lack of, among other things, regionalism or collective amity within South Asia. These sections of the media, it was pointed out, pander easily to the narratives framed by the Indian centre on developments in the region and fall easy prey, as it were, to the nationalist forces that are supportive of the latter. Consequently, divisive forces within the region receive a boost which is hugely detrimental to regional cooperation.
Two cases in point, Gautam pointed out, were the recent political upheavals in Nepal and Bangladesh. In each of these cases stray opinions favorable to India voiced by a few participants in the relevant protests were clung on to by sections of the Indian media covering these trouble spots. In the case of Nepal, to consider one example, a young protester’s single comment to the effect that Nepal too needed a firm leader like Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was seized upon by the Indian media and fed to audiences at home in a sensational, exaggerated fashion. No effort was made by the Indian media to canvass more opinions on this matter or to extensively research the issue.
In the case of Bangladesh, widely held rumours that the Hindus in the country were being hunted and killed, pogrom fashion, and that the crisis was all about this was propagated by the relevant sections of the Indian media. This was a clear pandering to religious extremist sentiment in India. Once again, essentially hearsay stories were given prominence with hardly any effort at understanding what the crisis was really all about. There is no doubt that anti-Muslim sentiment in India would have been further fueled.
Gautam was of the view that, in the main, it is fear of victimization of the relevant sections of the media by the Indian centre and anxiety over financial reprisals and like punitive measures by the latter that prompted the media to frame their narratives in these terms. It is important to keep in mind these ‘structures’ within which the Indian media works, we were told. The issue in other words, is a question of the media completely subjugating themselves to the ruling powers.
Basically, the need for financial survival on the part of the Indian media, it was pointed out, prompted it to subscribe to the prejudices and partialities of the Indian centre. A failure to abide by the official line could spell financial ruin for the media.
A principal question that occurred to this columnist was whether the ‘Indian media’ referred to by Gautam referred to the totality of the Indian media or whether he had in mind some divisive, chauvinistic and narrow-based elements within it. If the latter is the case it would not be fair to generalize one’s comments to cover the entirety of the Indian media. Nevertheless, it is a matter for further research.
However, an overall point made by the speaker that as a result of the above referred to negative media practices South Asian regionalism has suffered badly needs to be taken. Certainly, as matters stand currently, there is a very real information gap about South Asian realities among South Asian publics and harmful media practices account considerably for such ignorance which gets in the way of South Asian cooperation and amity.
Moreover, divisive, chauvinistic media are widespread and active in South Asia. Sri Lanka has a fair share of this species of media and the latter are not doing the country any good, leave alone the region. All in all, the democratic spirit has gone well into decline all over the region.
The above is a huge problem that needs to be managed reflectively by democratic rulers and their allied publics in South Asia and the region’s more enlightened media could play a constructive role in taking up this challenge. The latter need to take the initiative to come together and deliberate on the questions at hand. To succeed in such efforts they do not need the backing of governments. What is of paramount importance is the vision and grit to go the extra mile.
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