SURVIVAL was the first thought that popped up in the mind as human life began on Earth. It still remains man’s primary concern. The quest for security gave birth to the formation of societies. A society is a system where people live together under the ambit of rules and regulations for achieving economic and social gains.

For this purpose, institutions are formed to ensure public service delivery. Institutions work to safeguard the sanctity of the constitutional framework designed to implement the set of rules for governing the public at large. To run the system of a state, governance models are adopted for allowing people from society to participate in the process of improving a social structure. Such a system, if it gets corrupted, spurs social collapse.

Political stability is an essential element of a sustainable society. When political instability became a part of the Roman empire, its demise was triggered. This gives evidence in support of the thesis that only inclusive societies find survival.

Additionally, quality of human resource lays the foundation for a sustainable society. People are like building blocks of social fabric. Every drop counts when the target is to have a reservoir filled with water. Similarly, every person counts when the target is social development.

Sustainable societies put all their focus on improving the quality of intellect of the individuals within society. Prosperity and chaos are the choices made by the people, depending on their mental capacity to think and grow.

When societies do not invest in their people, their downfall becomes their fortune. If a state invests in people to enhance their skills and intellect, it can gain much progress without flexing its muscles to control the population through force.

Sustainable societies believe in bringing peace in society by altering the minds of people. In such societies, the crime rate is reduced not through policing, but by giving awareness to the people regarding the importance of their lives and the meaning of their existence.

A decent society ensures tolerance, freedom of speech, and mutual coexistence among different segments of society. Such a bonding among different factions of society is achieved through education. Institutions of developed societies are inclusive in nature. They win the confidence of the public through public service delivery. Public service delivery is a tool that allows people to trust in institutions, making it possible for a government to get the required support to govern the masses.

Additionally, a sustainable society always provides parity in the division of resources and equal access to every class to the available opportunities. This is important for minimising class differences and ensuring upward mobility in society.

However, if upward mobility is restricted, class struggle starts, which is the first step towards friction and collision. The most regrettable phenomenon of elite capture evolves when social mobility is blocked by a group of elite which not only extracts resources for personal benefits of its members, but also rules the public by manipulating elections.

The provision of justice is a prerequisite for a sustainable social order. When justice is readily available, crime rate against innocent citizens is automatically contained and the state thrives. The evils of intolerance, mob justice and extremism crop up in the absence of timely justice.

The fact is that we are living in a volatile society and the elements of a sustainable society are hardly found in our social structure. A sustainable society is an alien concept for many people in the country. It is time for us to think about the nature of social fissures we have developed by negating the concept of a sustainable social order.

Our existing mechanism will benefit a limited section of society for a few years, but it will lead to only class struggle owing to the exploitation of the poor at the hands of the rich. This may give rise to social chaos and disorder. It is time to act before it gets too late as history has ample evidence to support the fact that regressive societies never survive.

Waqar Hassan
Lahore

Published in Dawn, July 27th, 2022