Abstract
Introduction
The case study ‘Zinda Park: Rural Community Eco-park Complex in Bangladesh’ shows that in the wave of development, the Zinda village where the park is located is affected by urbanization. The park was built with the motive of social welfare along with the development of the livelihood of the local people. The paper discusses how the community helps the society by sharing a certain portion of revenue generated from the park. Its aim is to save the environment by developing the social condition of the villagers.
Mahatma Gandhi had sought to build a nation from the bottom, that is, from the poorest and the weakest, and hence his concept of development followed the centrality of the village. He stood for the integrity and foundations of the villages. In his own word, ‘Under my scheme of things, nothing will be allowed to be produced by the cities which can be equally well produced by the villagers. The proper function of cities it is to serve as clearing houses of village products (Singh, 2006).’ He advocated value education exposed to various knowledge, disseminating media, fostering leadership building, developing rural entrepreneurship, undertaking participation in social and culture activities, and engendering keen interest in undertaking a high level of interest in community activities in its totality all of which together would contribute to accelerated rural development.
Mere pumping of funds for rural development does not really ensure that the mission of rural development shall be really achieved. We should intend to educate and develop people in villages to undertake the role of development catalysts in their respective villages in order to accelerate the process of holistic rural development and promote the spirit of self-reliance in the villages in a manner, which may be more convincingly observed. Self-reliance oriented rural development can take place only if the citizen of village develop into an empowered and enlightened development force and medium and what better ways to ensure this for the future at least than by educating the village children and youth to take care of their future, themselves.
Community Development: Time for Fresh Approach
Coming to community development there are three basic areas, which deserve top attention. They are economy, education and health. Zinda Park: Rural Community Eco-park Complex in Bangladesh is a perfect example of such fresh approach taking due care for all these three aspects. Zinda Park is an exemplary and respectable concept for saving the nature along with the social well-being. Apart from having a school and a health centre, it also takes into account the community needs, expand through revenue generation so that they could diversify the park with other elements of eco-park. In addition, many local people are connected with the park. It seems all these issues reflect a sustainable future of Zinda Park.
Education for Sustainable Development
Sustainable development is a dynamic and evolving concept with many dimensions and interpretations and reflects locally relevant and culturally appropriate visions for a world in which the term ‘sustainable development’ indicates ‘the aspects of development which meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generation to meet their own needs’.
An important area of focus is to plan for the sustainable development. As the Chinese proverb says, ‘If you are planning for one year, grow rice. If you are planning for ten years, plant a tree. If you are planning for one hundred years, provide education to the children.’ This imbibes the essence of sustainability.
Zinda Park is providing value-based education to the children of its villages. The continuous erosion of moral values in public life has shocked educationists and they are now thinking of reintroducing value education in school curricula so as to rebuild social life on sound ethical ground. A student should develop a sort of personality that would be able to resist all evil influences and will stand unshaken. If the students of today are succumbing to immoral ways, the reason is that their moral base in school was not well laid out.
The strategy of achieving the goal of self-reliant villages through faster community development with schools as the catalysts and change agents needs a holistic approach. For example, the villages will always remain dependent on cities in terms of the supply of such items as petrol and fertilizers and likewise the cities will depend on the consumption of items like petrol and fertilizers with a view to protect the natural resources from the devil of environmental pollution. There is a need to make a serious effort in order to find out an alternative source of these products. Organic farming is one such area, which should be promoted to make villages not only self-reliant in nature but also richer in terms of natural wealth. This, however, does not mean that there should be any conflict between the growth of industrial and farming sectors. On the other hand, a new pattern of complimentary relationship bet-ween the rural and the urban sector should be evolved. Zinda Park is an example of such bridging between the rural and urban areas.
Recommendations
The case study is silent on the issues of adoption of new technology, vocational programmes etc. by Zinda Park. And above all the case study should cover the measures taken by Zinda Park for women empowerment in the area. In the case study, the Daudpur Union has 48 per cent population of females. The disabilities, disadvantages and inequalities from which the society’s women suffer, form part of the larger inequalities of the society that affect males, adults and children as well. The empowerment of women must be part of a total movement for removal of inequalities and oppressive social institutions and practices. Substantive equality for women—inside the home and outside—is necessary not merely on the ground of social and economic justice but as a basic condition for ensuring that women as citizens contribute fully to the social, economic and political development of the society.