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EGALITARIAN ETHOS:

The most horrifying tragedy of “Sahnehah-e-Muzaffarabad aur Muzafaat” had not

served as an eye opener to remind us about the unsustainable existentialist mode of habitation that we have adopted under the influence of materialism and consequent rank 

exploitation of Natural Resources, when the Floods of 2010 followed. It is imperative

that we take a closer look at the unsafe and environmentally damaging practices that wemaintain.

We can yet avail the possibility of making a new beginning by adopting a 21 st

Century, Low-cost but High Tech approach that is closest to Nature and thus sustainable,in order to ensure a safe and comfortable future for our children.

By now we are assured of Global Warming; Unpredictable Weather Patterns;

Increasing Environment Stress from Pollution; Degradation and Potentially Devastating

 Natural Calamities as well as increasing Population pressure upon dwindling NaturalResources, all compounded by Geo Strategic Imperatives. It would be wise to take up the

challenge and come up with an adequate response.

Jargon not with standing, a new Mechanism based upon Cultural Values and

effective Interventions for Community Driven Sustainable Development is the need of the hour. We must ensure that it is sensitive to issues of Poverty; Emergency Relief; Food

Security; Adequate Shelter; Health Cover; Education based upon our own EgalitarianEthos supported by Eco friendly and Honest Commerce in Basic Economy Generation.

Performance based upon excellence and not words is required and a clear “Way

Ahead” can be demonstrated, imparted and replicated if proven an adequate response tothe challenges that we face. For this purpose a Model Eco Habitation complete with

Mechanisms and Appropriate Interventions is called for. A nucleus based upon the Late

Akhter Hameed Khan’s Training & Development Center and a Community Based Eco

Habitation that is Self Reliant and Industrious based upon an Improved Sialkot/Faisalabad Model can be established at Low-cost and in a very short period of time.

The first and foremost hurdle that we encounter in any Development orientedsituation is “Who will Bell The Cat!” Populist Democracy as practiced by most Countriesrapidly degenerates into an Oligarchy or rule of the rich. This is due to the fact that a

materialistic society is soon enthralled by a display of wealth to attract or even to

 purchase votes. Secondly, it is apparent that in a polarized society, actual voter analysissoon draws the conclusion that this Democracy is actually rule of the largest minority and

not one of the majority. This is exposed in a situation of say one hundred registered

voters, forty five percent turnout and five candidates. The leading candidate gets twenty

votes, the second gets sixteen votes, the third gets five, the fourth gets three and the fifthgets one vote. Are we expected to believe that twenty percent is a majority? Are not

eighty percent unrepresented?

Structural Deep Democracy or SD2 as named by Mark Rostt, the originator of thismethod, uses PageRank as a centrality algorithm to analyze votes to determine the center 

of TRUST and CONSENT in a human trust network.

PageRank is an algorithm that allows the participants to determine who the bestleaders are, eliminating the popularity game of conventional populistic-democracy. SD2

uses PageRank to select the top three or five to lead such an organization with one of 

them as the executive and then keeps those leaders accountable with frequent rank recalculations. This creates a small and efficient locus of trust and accountability.

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PageRank allows members to vote their conscience without wasted votes and

analyzes the deep structure of votes to find the coordinators that would be most likely to

represent the values of the community as a whole.The philosophy of SD2 is "Deep Democracy" - which centers on the idea that

minority opinion should be respected. SD2 takes this two-steps further - not only will

leadership be replaced if it doesn't respect minority opinion, but minority opinion canactually be decisive.

Our Political scenario almost always has aggressive "strongman” types - who are

more than willing to bully and steam-roll peaceful people. "Strongman tactics can oftenimpress ignorant common people, and can often lead to "strongmen” acquiring leadership

  positions with populistic-democratic selection processes. SD2 is ELITIST and non-

 populistic - SD2 is designed to MARGINALIZE would-be bullies and "strongmen”

oppressors and give spiritual/intellectuals a selective advantage. This is ensured byuncovering the *flow-betweenness* ranking within an interactive grouping.

If this method were used in the very basic population grouping of Villages or 

Wards (urban) it would be true Devolution to empower such organizations to ensure self-

rule and “Localization”. With inspired Leadership and an agreed minimum agenda, self-reliance through basic economy generation can be ushered in and maintained through a

rapidly evolving “Globalization” via the IT Revolution.This should serve to unmask the charade of “Devolution” to Union Council Level,

which is not the Grass Roots! This exercise has merely served to ensure that all the

inherent flaws, drawbacks and evils that existed at Provincial and National Levels are

transferred to Union and District Levels as well as creating tension between the two.Rapid Industrialization through Centralized Training and dispatch of 

Containerized Units to appropriate locations will serve to uplift the common man and

woman if planned and executed scientifically and honestly. For example Mini Feed Millsare ordered through existing small and medium workshops. At the same time small

groups of trainees from pre selected localities are imparted training at a central place with

attendant facilities. By the time training is over a Container is dispatched to the selecteddestination and production can begin. If care is taken in planning and organization this

will lead to rapid industrialization. Post Harvest Processing of various produce; small

chemical and minerals works; assembly of electronic devices; handicrafts and designer apparel that is not mass-produced, intensive horticulture and other appropriate efforts will

soon lead to prosperity.

This factor along with Provision of Clean Water; Roof-Top and Surface Water 

Harvesting; Conservation Irrigation; Integrated Plant Nutrition and Management Systemsto ensure “Fair Plants and Produce”; Environment and Predator, Plant Protection

Measures; Rapid Composting and Liquid and Solid Waste Management through

Phytoremediation and Bioaugmentation; Use of Alternate Energy for a “Clean SkiesProgram”; use of “Low Carbon Building Technology for Earthquake and Hurricane Proof 

Habitation using Ceramic-Adobe Technology; Emergency Medical Cover; Afforestation,

Range and Watershed Management; use of Urdu/ Local Languages, based IT Technologyfor Web Based Knowledge Banks and Distance Vocational and Learning Centers as well

as E/ M Commerce; Geographical and Management Information Systems and Data

Banks will prove to be a results based and dynamic movement towards sustainability.