Muhammad Atif Ilyas

Reflection Exercise #1
06th February, 2017
My idea of life revolves around the welfare of human beings, not in terms of monetary
conditions essentially, which has been the case in most of the early part of development
discourse, in which GDP per capita was considered to be the metric to measure development.
From my point of view, development must be seen in the context of human development
approach, and its philosophical underpinnings provided by the Nobel laureate Amartya Sen. His
focus on the moral significance of an individuals capability to achieve the kind of life one have
reason to value, gives much insight to the development discourse. Although such approach has
its detractors, and its operationalization requires side stepping some application loopholes, but
still seeing development, on a conceptual level, as expansion of ones capabilities, provides a
broad perspective on human welfare, out of the confines of mere monetary measures. Sen
provides a complete conceptual approach because he sees economic activities for the welfare of
people, therefore keeping peoples welfare as the primary narrative in the development discourse.
When we talk about sustainability, our main focus lie on the environment sustainability, but
using this term just in environmental background pits it against the same processes and structures
that it aims to modify, which creates an environment of hostility. Let us take the example of
farmers using pesticides and fertilizers to nurture their crops. On the one hand, they are trying to
maintain their own and national economic sustainability, by producing produce at a rate that can
cater to the burgeoning population, but on the other, they are seriously eroding environmental
sustainability, in terms of soil erosion, excessive water usage. Therefore, sustainability revolves
around involving practices that can sustain life over time, and it can only be possible by
converging both environmental and economic sustainability. So it is paramount that instead of
competing; social scientists, theorists and commentators find a common ground i.e. inclusive
approach, so that development, or more accurately sustainable development is achieved.