Global economic crisis, poverty and starvation, religious fundamentalism and terrorism are interconnected and based on inter-sector imbalances against the rural and farming sectors. The most effective strategy to deal with these complex issues is to upgrade the status of the rural and farming sectors on a par with the Industrial and Service Sectors. A five fold investment is required. Other wise, these problems will persist and aggravate.

1. GLOBAL ECONOMIC CRISIS,
STARVATION AND TERRORISM :
COUNTER STRATEGIES
DR.RAJU M. MATHEW

2. AN INTEGRATED APPROACH
• As the peoples and the nations are getting more and more
interconnected for the forces of globalization and Information
Technology, every major problem affecting the humanity has
become a part of several other problems.
• There is no single solution for any problem without taking into
account the solutions for the other problems.
• Faith, ideology, technology, poverty or starvation, inter-regional and
inter-sector imbalances, terrorism or fundamentalism and the
global economic crisis are getting inseparable and mutually
interconnected.
• Hunger and Starvation are getting emerged as the greatest threat of
the very survival of the humanity as they are capable of aggravating
terrorism, fundamentalism, inter-sector imbalances and the global
economic crisis.
• These are the basis of alternative strategies, quite different from
the familiar economic, political, technological and social policies
and strategies of the
national
governments and intergovernmental agencies besides that are advocated by the Think
Tanks, Academics and Multinational Corporations.

3. WORSE THAN THE CASTE SYSTEM
• It is much easier to make a tablet or smart phone available to every
school children and bring everybody under the control of e-or mgovernance than to feed everybody on this earth.
• Even though industrial revolution had made blue collar workers
superior to farmers and farm workers, it also contributed for the
wide mechanization of farming operations and thereby substantial
increase in food production and creation of value-added and
innovative food products.
• Information Technology Revolution has brought out a new class of
white collar workers or professionals dominating the blue collar
workers and even reducing farmers and farm workers or ‘green
collar workers’ to the status of beggars or the ‘Sudras’ of the caste
dominated India.
• The gap with regard to the earning and the social status between
the green collar workers, the blue collar workers and the white
collar workers has been widened into several folds in the ratio of 1:
5: 25. As a result, farm products, especially food production has
been declining at an alarming rate globally, making agriculture
inferior or unattractive , especially for the new generation.

4. INTER-SECTOR IMBALANCES LEAD TO THE
GLOBAL ECONOMIC CRISIS AND STARVATION
• Even the school children with a minimum understanding of the
working of an economy know that the humanity cannot survive
with the over-dominance of service sector, neglecting the industrial
and agriculture sectors. This has become more evident with the
emergence of globalization in which the entire nations have been
brought under a ‘mega global economy’ making national economies
or the familiar ‘Micro-’ and ‘Macro-Economics’ almost toothless or
irrelevant.
• The growing inter-sector imbalances is the basic reason for the
prolonged global economic crisis and acute shortage of food
products and increasing hunger and starvation affecting the entire
humanity. Both the UN and its Food and Agriculture Organization
(FAO) have already admitted that the non-availability of food
products to feed everyone on the earth is the greatest crisis and
challenge of the Humanity. If the present trend continues, at least
one fourth of the mankind will be wiped out with hunger and
starvation by 2025.

5. TERRORISM AND FUNDAMENTALISM
• In the pre-globalization era, hunger or starvation was mere a local
issue limited to the affected without any international
consequence. The victims had taken it as their fate.
• With IT Revolution and the consequent globalization, hunger or
starvation of a particular region or country has turned a global issue
and the victims have taken it as something that is thrust upon them
by the others and they want to take retaliation against the
international community.
• Poverty and starvation coupled with the denial of dignity are the
basic motive force behind terrorism and fundamentalism, though
religion or faith has been used as a mask. Young people who could
not make use of their creative energies start to believe that dignity
has been denied to them.
• Glorification of martyrdom for the sake of faith or religion, including
special status in the Paradise after martyrdom, is the other motive
force behind terrorism. Terrorism is capable of attracting even the
non-affected people towards its fold by sympathy or oneness with
the victims of starvation or oppression.

6. DISINTEGRATION OF THE RURAL AND FARM SECTORS
• Planning and development strategies of almost all nations and
international agencies are aimed at urbanization and pumping
resources, technologies and expertise for the development of cities at
the expense of rural and agriculture sectors.
• Cities are not only the beautiful streets, fashionable men and women
and sky scrappers but also ugly slums, coldblooded crimes and
alienated youth and women.
• Neglect of the rural or farm sectors leads to the disintegration of the
rural life, drastic decline of agriculture production leading to inflation of
farm products and the starvation of the millions, migration of rural
work force to cities, even from foreign countries and the fall of the
general purchasing power of the people leading to a glut in the
industrial sector and then economic crisis.
• The deliberate and consistent neglect of the rural and farm sectors has
created a new class of socially and culturally alienated men, women
and teen agers who are cut off from their rural culture and unable to
integrate with the urban culture. They can easily be attracted towards
crimes, alcoholism, religious fundamentalism and terrorism as a means
of expressing their identity or even frustration.

7. MISGUIDING UNIVERSITIES
• While almost all universities glorify the higher qualifications that they
offer, they are reluctant to appreciate the skills, knowledge and expertise
of those who do not have higher qualifications though that are required in
a fast changing world.
• In the glorification of higher qualifications, those who do not have higher
qualifications have been relegated to the status of ‘fake’ or fraudulent or
illiterate even if they have valuable practical skills, expertise and
knowledge.
• As a result, a best fitter or farmer or mason or carpenter with a lot of
practical skill, expertise and knowledge is made eligible for one third pay
or status of a graduate in agriculture or engineering on the ground that
the former does not have a university degree, though the latter may not
have the practical skill, expertise and knowledge of the former.
• This has adversely affected the income and social status of the farmers
and the rural people and driving the educated people away from the farm
and rural sector to cities besides making investment in the rural sector
unattractive. The net result is the increasing rural poverty and decreasing
farm and agriculture products, especially food products which is the basic
reason for prolonging the Global Economic Crisis and increasing frustration
of the lower and middle class people both in urban and rural areas.

8. ECONOMIC CRISIS,STARVATION AND FUNDAMENTALISM
• Now the world is the grip of economic crisis that will
prolong at least 2025 or above; poverty and starvation
are spreading in almost all countries in Asia, Africa and
Latin America ; greater number of people are turning
towards religious fundamentalism and terrorism; most
of the religions are acquiring the characteristics of
fundamentalism to satisfy the new breed of frustrated
youth and women. Hardcore criminals, murderers, and
looters will be attracted towards any religion that
glorifies revenge, terror and murder and self-sacrifice
in the name of the God or the faith as ‘Martyrdom’ or
facilitates in branding the victims as the enemies of the
God or non-believers so as to justify the crimes
andesnure a better place in Paradise after death.

9. SALUTE AND EMPOWER THE FARMERS
• By taking into account the increasing rural
poverty, falling agriculture products and
prolonged global economic crisis, it is time to
salute the farmers and the rural community who
produce food items and farm products and
creating market for the industrial products. The
rural or farming community deserve better
income and social status on a par with the
industrial and service sectors, reducing the
illogical gap in earning and social status between
the different sectors of the economy.

10. THE NEW GLOBAL STRATEGIES
• New global strategies have to be
formulated to counter starvation and nonutilization of the creative energies of the
young people in the backward regions or
nations and the consequent terrorism and
fundamentalism besides the global
economic crisis by developing the rural and
agricultural sector and increasing the food
production supported by proper marketing
and distribution of food products.
• .

11. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
FOR THE FARMERS AND FARM WORKERS
• IT professionals can help farmers in adopting the best
farming practices with specially designed software to
different crops at different climates, temperature,
doses of manure or fertilizer or watering, harvesting,
storing or processing. Banks, financial houses and
insurance firms can help in mobilizing and investing
capital for rural development and financing the rural
community in a mutually beneficial manner.
Governments and the private sector must come
forward to make at least a five fold investments for
rural infrastructure development and a ten fold
increase in food production and thereby creating new
employment to millions ,including the urban people.

12. A FIVE FOLD INVESTMENT
• Development of the rural sector leads to
engaging the creative energies of the entire
young people, including those of cities besides
making them free from the grip of religious
fundamentalism.
• This is possible only by making a five fold
investment in rural and agriculture sector and
increasing application of high technologies and
management techniques for food production,
processing and distribution besides elevating the
status of the farmers and farm workers by
reducing the unjust and illogical gap with the
service sector.