Profundity of potential human resource

Millennials or Y generation which was born during1980s and early 1990shas already grownup and is part of labour market/human resource in USA and other developed countries. Millennials have been followed by Z generation that was born between the mid-1990s and 2000 is also ready to go to colleges/universities. These young children are fast marching ahead to become future players in their fields of work.
People born in 50s, 60s and even 70s grew up in the pre-internet, email, cell phone, yahoo and Google age. It is an environment, generally speaking, which shapes the personality, behaviour and capability of an individual. Environment includes its political, social, cultural, economic, and geographical and above all development level of science and technology at home and at global level.
There was a gap of almost a century between majority of population in newly independent/poor/developing countries and population of developed countries particularly in 1950s and 1960s. This gap, however, started narrowing after the 3rd phase of technological revolution in all fields including in communication and transport sectors. Physical movement due to improvements in land, air and ocean transport sectors became easier. Gap bridging process picked up speedily after dish antenna, pager, telephone booths, and direct dialing system with fibre-optic, internet, web revolution, and search engines particularly Yahoo and Google along with other fast telecommunication services started becoming available to increasing number of people.
Children today are born with smart gizmos, mobile internet and social-technology era around. Today, browsing and computing on smart phone is easier than supercomputer of the 1970s. It is said that "a single Apple iPhone 5 has 2.7 times the processing power than the 1985 Cray-2 supercomputer and that our smart phone is millions of times more powerful that all of NASA's combined computing in 1969".
Millennials of developing countries were born during the 1990s - a decade or so later than their developed country peers ie a gap of a century few decades ago was narrowed down to decade or so. They either have just earned their bachelor degrees or are on the way to get the same. Whereas, Z generation of developing countries born after 2000 is in schools and have more opportunities to plug the gap with Z generation of developed countries.
But here one stark reality has to be reckoned. Developing countries that also include least developed countries consist of a wide range of people at different developmental level. For example, China is a developing country but an exception as well. South Korea and Singapore are developed countries. Malaysia is a developing country. Bangladesh is a least developed country. Pakistan is a developing and a low middle income country.
Yet there are some other pinching and frustrating facts as well. Within these all developing countries there are wide income and infrastructure/essential services disparities. Pockets in big towns and cities are relatively advanced and have a semblance of living standards of middle income groups of developed countries whereas majority of population is not well-off and the combination starts from poorest of poor to sort of middle classes. Infrastructure and essential services like education, health, clean drinking water, electricity, gas, sanitation, paved roads and transport also vary to a great extent, ie, from almost being absent to insufficient ones.
Even in big cities, the issue of slums is very painful. People living in slums and sub-urban peripheral areas lack facilities of developed parts of same city and do not get almost anything unadulterated. Even at some places, they are worse off than people living in rural areas. Such slums are in vicinity of almost all relatively developed or posh areas of same city or town and are big blots on their face.
Yet the most painful and frustrating part of the story is the gender issue. Women and particularly the girls of all ages are most disadvantaged sections of societies of these developing countries. Girls are born with bias and inequality even in their own families. They are treated inferior to boys due to economic and succession reasons. Girls grow up in a very unsupportive environment. Female population in Pakistan is estimated by Economic Survey of Pakistan at 48% of the total population. The question is how many of them are educated, adequately skilled and properly paid for their services. What is their contribution to GDP?
If day by day increasing influence of global phenomenon of sci-tech-human power complex for the time being is ignored, and, then, if we take people living in slums, in peripheral areas, in rural/backward areas and women into account, it will reflect a grim picture for growth and future development prospects of the country. How a country will prosper whose majority potential human resource is wasted. How that country will compete with other countries whose majority population is either active in economic process or is fast moving ahead to jump on the economic train of the country like in China?
Productivity is always counted as productive output of a person per hour of work. When people in general are not educated and trained as per global standards; what will be their productivity level and what will be their contribution to GDP, growth and development. And, when its half of the population women along with people living in backward environment are just speaking animals and have only one main power tool, ie, muscle power what would be the chances of improvement of standards of lives and their participation in economic growth and development. Why are we blind to these realities? Is it some sort of mistake or failure of implementation of policies? No, it is a simple crime. It is a manifestation of criminal thinking and approach that suits those who are obsolete social force and who continue to manage to walk in power corridors for the last 69 years.
Just give a look to Economic Survey of Pakistan which is published with great fanfare for the last many decades before launch of budget process each year in the month of June. You will find nothing new and sometimes very strange and fake figures. Just go to population chapter and you will find women doing very well. There is no dearth of claims of their advancement for last many decades but what is the reality? Had this scientific and technological revolution born in the world outside and showering us with its windfall been not there; what would have been the plight of these most disadvantaged section of the society?
There is another question: Do we lack resources to help these destitute people to climb out of this lowliness? The answer is a big 'No'. More than enough resources have always been around. Moreover, resources in this second decade of 21st century are many times more than enough. But these resources are being not used; these are wasted or misallocated or embezzled by those who are their managers on behalf of the people of the country. Why is it so? Because current managers all around the country mentally live in the 1990s and spiritually live still in more distant years. There are sci-tech volcanic disruptions all around for last 2-3 decades but there is no disruption in mental faculties of these obsolete managers. They are excessively smug and satisfied with their incremental, atomistic and isolated successes.
Vision facilitates formulation of correct strategy and policies. Vision generates will to implement such policies. If vision is old/adulterated/distorted or not up to the mark, then abundance of resources will not be of much help as these resources will stand either misallocated or under-utilised or wasted. Even abundance of opportunities will in certain cases prove counterproductive as such abundance will take away the pressure/stress to improve fast and will inject a dose of complacency into the veins of managers of public resources.
Complacency is the worst enemy of rationality and objectivity. It blinds almost all. It makes one deaf and oblivious of realities. What we need is to rethink our patterns of thinking. We must start understanding changes being brought about by sci-tech-human power complex in economic arena. We must understand that today human beings are extremely important engine for transformation of a country. All human beings are born with human power. But this human power grows and unfolds only in conducive environment. All parents find their babies very smart but with passage of time if adequate or required environment is not provided, their smartness gets stymied.
Here comes the role of government and the society. We must decide whether we will continue to waste our 70% or more human resource and continue to remain a poor country for majority of masses; or will waste no more time to turnaround the potential human power into a kinetic and transformative one.
Mercifully, sci-tech-human power complex an objective revolutionary force and a determinant one that is reshaping everything on its own is available to us as windfall.
Let's make use of it. Let's be part of it. Let's be responsible public resource managers, citizens and human beings. It is not only now easy to become a prosperous country but it is also hundred percent possible.