ASSIGNMENT ON DISCERNING THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES

TOPIC:
DEVELOPMENT: IT’S IMPACT ON HUMAN LIFE AND ENVIRONMENT

SUBMITTED TO –Asst. Professor Rev. B. Zirsangliana

SUBMITTED BY: GROUP B- Gospel Vanlalrinchhana, H. Lalchhandami, Date

I.H.Vanlalmuanpuia, Israel Lalramluahpuia, and Jangminlen Haokip 9th Feb, 2022

INTRODUCTION:
People around the world depend greatly on the natural environment for their health
and livelihood especially people in developing countries. Environment and
development cannot go against each other. They should be complementing each other.
Development is a continuous and constant process. However, every development has
some positive and negative results.

DEVELOPMENT:
Development is defined as the process of growth and change in human, social,
political and economic systems. Development means a new stage in a changing
situation. It is an improvement in human welfare, culture, quality of life, social well-
being, and satisfying the population’s needs and wants. The meaning and perception
of development is continuously changing. It can vary from place to place, time to time
and even individual to individual.

Human is a social being and the history of human is nothing but development, from Stone
Age to Bronze Age and now we are in Cyber Age. In the beginning human struggled to have
food that too raw one, then due to the invention of fire tasted cooked food, later on human
accommodated themselves in urbanized set up.

According to oxford dictionary, development is a gradual growth of something so that it

becomes more advanced, stronger, well-build etc. Because human is a social being therefore
development involves the whole society (it also includes nature) and not for one group alone.
But the development model which we follow is not able to do justice with every creation but
suits to a few. Nevertheless, everyone should pay the cost of so-called development.1

TYPES OF DEVELOPMENT
There may be several types of development but we will discuss only three types of
development, viz
A) Economic Development:Economic Development is programs, policies or activities that
seek to improve the economic well-being and quality of life for a community.
What “economic development” means to you will depend on the community you live in.
Each community has its own opportunities, challenges, and priorities. Your economic
development planning must include the people who live and work in the community.2

1
Laji Chacko, DISCERNING THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES (Kolkata: SCEPTRE, 2014), 17.
2
https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/employment-business/economic-development/plan-and-measure/
economic-development-basics (accessed on 26th January, 2022)
B)Political Development: The capacity of a political system to deal with its own
fundamental problems more effectively while responding to the changing political demands
of the people. Political development begets good governance.

C) Social Development: Bringing about improvement in the social being of the people. It
lays stress on provision of health services, education, housing, cultural amenities, etc. Social
development begets human development.

Broadening the idea of development to human development was the first step in defining
development in a new way in a little bit comprehensive way. But the idea still had limitations
as it was unable to incorporate political and cultural aspects in the idea of human
development.3

PRINCIPLES OF DEVELOPMENT
1. Development is Continuous:
The process of growth and development continues from the conception till the
individual reached maturity. Development of both physical and mental traits
continues gradually until these traits reach their maximum growth. It goes on
continuously throughout life. Even after maturity has been attained, development does
not end.
2. Development is Gradual:
It does not come all on a sudden. It is also cumulative in nature.

3. Development is Sequential:
Most psychologists agree that development is sequential or orderly. Every species, whether
animal or human, follows a pattern of development peculiar to it. This pattern in general is
the same for all individuals. The child crawls before he creeps, stands before he walks and
babbles before he talks, etc. 4

FACTORS AFFECTING DEVELOPMENT

1. HUMAN RESOURCES
Human resource plays an important part in developing and making a company or organization
at the beginning or making a success at the end, due to the labor provided by employees.
Human resources are intended to show how to have better employment relations in the
workforce. Also, to bring out the best work ethic of the employees and therefore making a
move to a better working environment.5

2. NATURAL RESOURCES
Natural resources are resources that exist without any actions of humankind. This includes the
sources of valued characteristics such as commercial and industrial use, aesthetic value,
scientific interest and cultural value.6

3. MODERN TECHNOLOGY
3
https://m.timesofindia.com/city/goa/environment-and-development-go-hand-in-hand-citizens/articleshow/
47548576.cms (accessed on 20th January, 2022)
4
https://www.psychologydiscussion.net/educational-psychology/principles-of-human-growth-and-
development/1813 (accessed on 26th January, 2022)
5
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_resources (accessed on 26th January, 2022)
6
https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_resource&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwiny-
Lf9871AhXF7nMBHXVbArUQFnoECAoQAg&usg=AOvVaw0ep536pSdTiy8OsUfdv_PZ (accessed on 26th January,
2022)
 Modern technology is all about efficiency and speed; it is about ensuring face-to-face
communication, connecting you to your healthcare provider, and empowering you by giving
you more access and control to the kind of care you get as well as service you receive. 7

ENVIRONMENT:
The environment is defined as the entirely of the physical world consisting of the
worlds land masses, oceans, atmosphere etc. It is also defined as the sum total of all
conditions and influence that affect the development and the life of organisms.

Good jobs in rural areas, more clean energy, fighting deforestation and climate
change, tax revenue and payments to developing countries. The environment can be a
powerful modifier of the normal development and behavior of human.

Environment and development are not contradictory, they complement each other,
stated educationist Prabhakar Timbal. “Environment, in an extended sense, includes
social, political and cultural surroundings. It is through development that natural
environment can be made progressive. Any economic growth that destroys nature and
ecology and is not sustainable, cannot be categorized as development,” he says.8

HUMAN IMPACT ON ENVIRONMENT

Human impact on the environment includes impacts on biophysical environments,
biodiversity, and other resources. The term is sometimes used in the context of
pollution emissions that are produced as a result of human activities but applies
broadly to all major human impacts on the environment.

Technology:
Environmental impacts caused by the application of technology are often perceived as
unavoidable for several reasons. First, the purpose of many technologies is to exploit, control,
or otherwise “improve” upon nature for the perceived benefit of humanity. At the same time,
the myriad of processes in nature have been optimized, and are continually adjusted, by
evolution: any disturbance of these natural processes by technology is likely to result in
negative environmental consequences. Second, the conservation of mass principle and the
first law of thermodynamics (i.e., conservation of energy) dictate that whenever material
resources or energy are moved around or manipulated by technology, environmental
consequences are inescapable. Third, according to the second law of thermodynamics, order
can be increased within a system (such as the human economy) only by increasing disorder or
entropy outside the system (i.e., the environment). Thus, technologies can create “order” in
the human economy (i.e., order as manifested in buildings, factories, transportation networks,
communication systems, etc.) only at the expense of increasing “disorder” in the
environment. According to a number of studies, increased entropy is likely to be correlated to
negative environmental impacts.

Agriculture:
The environmental impact of agriculture can vary widely—ultimately, environmental impact
of agriculture depends on the production practices of the system used by farmers. There are
two types of indicators of environmental impact: means-based, which is based on the

7
https://www.google.com/url?q=https://aging.com/what-is-modern-technology-and-how-is-it-changing/&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwiAof2H-
M71AhUuH7cAHU1RDgIQFXoECAwQBA&usg=AOvVaw16jrTPGBZMsDpiP5jpe1-u (accessed on 26th January, 2022)
8
https://m.timesofindia.com/city/goa/environment-and-development-go-hand-in-hand-citizens/articleshow/
47548576.cms (accessed on 20th January, 2022)
farmer’s production methods, and effect-based, which is the impact that farming methods
have on the farming system or on emissions to the environment. An example of a means-
based indicator would be the quality of groundwater, that is effect by the amount of nitrogen
applied to the soil. An indicator reflecting the loss of nitrate to groundwater would be effect-
based.

The environmental impact of agriculture involves a variety of factors from the soil, to water,
the air, animal and soil diversity, plants, and the food itself. Some of the environmental issues
that are related to agriculture are climate change, deforestation, genetic engineering, irrigation
problems, pollutants, soil degradation, and waste.9

CONCLUSION
Development is the integral part of the community and to achieve its systems are formulated.
Development involves a progressive transformation of economy and society and requires
meeting the basic needs of all and extending to all the opportunities to satisfy their aspiration
for a better and demands equal opportunities to be given to all for the improvement of all
aspects in life. Our economic system should generate surpluses and technical knowledge on
self-reliant and sustained basic and our social system should provide solutions for the
tensions arising from disharmonious development. We should understand that development
is much more than economic development. It is creating an atmosphere whereby humans can
develop their full potential and live a creative and productive life.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND WEBLIOGRAPHY

1. Chacko, Laji, DISCERNING THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. Kolkata: SCEPTRE, 2014.
2. https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wm-biology2/chapter/human-impact-on-the-
environment
3. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_resources
4. https://m.timesofindia.com/city/goa/environment-and-development-go-hand-in-hand-
citizens/articleshow/47548576.cms
5. https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/employment-business/economic-development/plan-and-
measure/economic-development-basics
6. https://www.google.com/url?q=https://aging.com/what-is-modern-technology-and-how-is-it-
changing/&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwiAof2H-
M71AhUuH7cAHU1RDgIQFXoECAwQBA&usg=AOvVaw16jrTPGBZMsDpiP5jpe1-u
7. https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Natural_resource&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwinyLf9871AhXF7nMBHXVbArUQFnoECAoQAg
&usg=AOvVaw0ep536pSdTiy8OsUfdv_PZ
8. https://www.psychologydiscussion.net/educational-psychology/principles-of-human-growth-
and-development/1813

9
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wm-biology2/chapter/human-impact-on-the-environment (accessed on 26th
January, 2022)