Interview series

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Q. What role do you envision for local governance in a country’s development? How can the right balance between local and central governments be achieved?

A. It must be very clearly understood that to achieve sustainable development, the role of each contributing segment is very important. In that sense, the dissemination of individual roles is extremely important.

Concerning the relationship between local and central governments, the latter cannot be too informed about the details. It needs ideas and suggestion, which the local government should be able to provide.

Q. What is the role of education in population management?

A. A civil society must be educated and enlightened. The role of education is very important. Population management is one of the most important lessons that education can provide, especially in a country like India.

Q. What lessons can developing countries learn from Japan’s use of technologies to improve the common man’s life?

A. Japan has long been engaged in industrialization and in improving the standard of living of its common man. Unfortunately, we have been impatient with traditional industrialization and that is probably one of the reasons for environmental degradation. The search for material wealth has been overemphasized till now. I think this should be replaced by the search for spiritual wealth.

Q. India faces an impending water crisis right now. Does Japan face a similar situation? What steps are being taken to combat it?

A. In Japan, water shortage is not as acutely felt as the degradation in water quality due to chemical contamination. This problem will be an important issue in the near future and just like other environmental problems, it will assume the face of an ethical/moral issue.

Q. In your book, A plea for civilization, what is your plea?

A. I make a plea for a new spiritual civilization, based on ethics and solidarity, that respects the environment and the cause of the future generation. The necessity of a new civilization is evident in the fact that if we continue living as we are doing now, the future of the material civilization is not very bright. The only solution is to create a spiritual civilization.

Interview series