KOCHI: Chief secretary Tom Jose on Thursday bemoaned the unbridled growth led by professional managers, saying they were more concerned about the bottom line and cared less about the environment impact.“Organisations are only concerned about the bottom line. The more money you make, the more successful you are thought to be,” Jose said. He was speaking at the valedictory session of the 39th annual national convention of the Kerala Management Association.
“Some time ago, the World Bank came up with a formula that, rather than GDP, the markers for success for any country should be decent living standards for common people, access to healthcare, information and education. However, these did not find favour with professional managers,” he said.
Jose said while coming to Kochi on a train from Thiruvananthapuram, he could see “an endless trail of plastic packets, bottles, food packages and all kinds of garbage beside the tracks.” “This is the visible effect of progress. This is the visible impact of a higher GDP which we are all hankering after,” he said.
Now, plastic has reached the belly of fishes, inside birds, and at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, he said. “We have brought this upon ourselves,” he said. Jose said professor Peter H Kahn Jr of Washington University had come up with another concept to be considered as the right model of development.
“He said development should include, apart from human beings, animals, trees, rivers, water bodies, landscapes,” said Jose.
“Sadly, the idea never received serious attention as the biggest polluting agencies, the oil companies, are also the most powerful. They know that 80 percent of the pollution is due to hydrocarbons. Yet, they have not taken steps to find alternative forms of energy. And finding other means is the urgent need of the hour,” he said.