The enigma of development and resources

When somebody initiates a discussion noting ours is a resource-scarce country, and that the scarcity of resources is one of the main stumbling blocks to development, we feel tempted to wonder and ask: are we really a resource-poor country or is it the scarcity of resources that impedes development?
The word 'scarcity' is both an omnipresent and omnipotent word in economics. The modern theory of value, which underlies the basic foundation of economics, has emerged from how scarcity governs the economic activities and their worth. It is omnipresent in the sense that it is everywhere (economic models and theories), and omnipotent because scarcity is what matters the most - nothing can make up for it nor gain command over it.
However, even being omnipotent, scarcity is not what matters for our development. Nor are we a resource-poor country. We must not teach our future generation that we are a resource-poor nation. It is not resource what matters, but commitment behind the use of resources. For example, if corruption is pervasive, then it doesn't matter what is the magnitude of resources at our disposal; either scarce or abundant, the quantity of resources will not make any difference.
Resources will be wasted in inefficient paths - either by brain drains or by unfair allocation and distribution or by the damage of potential human capital through unfair selection - the selection and recruitment of less capable persons in key positions and discouraging the more capable ones.
It seems really surprising how easily resource-scarcity gets our attention and makes headlines in the leading dailies. The question is: who uses resources? Surely, humans are the managers of resources, not aliens. If so, then why have we been so negligent in focusing on those aspects of human beings that drive efficient use of resources - the motivation behind using resources?
If we as a nation can't give a lift to our aspiring youths - those who want to do something better - then what is the rationale of the claim that we are a resource-poor country? Contradictorily, we are not a resource-poor nation but rather a resource-abundant country. It is clear that we are not resource-poor because of the miserliness of Mother Nature but due to the damage we have been unabatedly doing to ourselves since our independence.
We have become resource-poor because we damage our resources. Our damage starts from the very micro level to the macro level. Corruption damages our resources by making professional entry difficult for youths. What can we expect when we see that an able-bodied, highly educated person has to give bribe for a job at a government institution? Due to corruption and unfair selection and judgement, many educated people are forced to flee from the country to seek destination in the Western world - where they hope to see a better place for working and living with equity and justice.
There are innumerable youths residing both outside and inside the country who want to contribute to the well-being of the nation. But due to our nasty politics and bad law and order situation, they are forced to lead an unproductive life. Humans are the key to development, but, sadly, our society is very much hostile to the development attained through better utilisation of the human capital.
Instead, a trend of degeneration has set in - promoting mediocrity and liaisons. The consideration of appointment to some key positions is often based on how strong the liaison is. The stronger it is, the higher is the chance to get appointed.
A nation cannot get developed by destroying its productive and innovative capacities. Unfortunately, we have been doing this both at the micro and macro levels for a long time.
So, it seems how silly is the argument that we are a resource-scarce nation. We are not resource-poor because of the 'miserliness of Nature' but because of ourselves; we have made ourselves resource-poor by damaging our resources over time to such an extent that now we claim that we are severely resource-constrained.
Our resource-poverty is like pouring water in a bucket that has a hole underneath. It doesn't matter how much you put into the bucket, the water will be drained away and the depletion is just a matter of time. Likewise, we have created some severe leaks and holes that drain our resources to trashcans.
Corruption is one significant leak. Another is the lack of commitment. It doesn't matter how much we possess unless we bear a strong commitment toward the betterment of our society. Every year, we produce a lot of higher-educated productive machines such as PhDs, doctors, businessmen, engineers, world class researchers, writers and so on. But the question is how much our society as a whole is being benefited from their contributions.
Being a doctor is not sufficient or will not bring any significant change unless the person getting the education in medicine has the dedication to render his service to patients. If the mercenary motive totally drives somebody to take a particular education, though it does to some extent, then we will not observe any difference. Only the quantity will increase at the cost of quality. There is no reason for being happy just looking at the statistics that the number of people getting higher education is increasing day by day.
 A society should expect to receive higher level of dividends from its better educated and highly productive machines; they are the drivers, actors, role-models and icons. But we will be able to get this dividend only when we are able to change our orientations.
If the prime concern of an engineer, a doctor, a businessman, a researcher is just to become rich and amass huge amount of wealth, we should prepare ourselves to get the lowest of dividends.
Instead of focusing on the so-called resource-scarcity, we should bring our focus to the leaks and holes that are draining our resources away. Unless we are able to plug these leaks, the quantity of resources will fail to bring any significant change at all.
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