Development: Mobilisation of Public Opinion

In Sri Lanka, while President Ranil Wickremesinghe and the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) Government are expectantly waiting for the second tranche of the International Monetary Fund(IMF) assistance, various development plans are being finalized and the authorities need to ensure that the people are given fair, accurate and balanced information. 
Some print media groups and television channels appear to be biased and over-critical. They highlight or give prominence to the negative aspects of any project, while some social media networks are adding to the chaos and confusion with contradictory reports.  
Journalism needs to project the voice of the sovereign people. The Government also needs to act immediately and effectively whereas bribery and corruption run into billions of rupees of public money and involve political leaders and big-time business magnates. 

On October 24, the United Nations marks World Development Information Day with the theme being ‘Mobilization of public opinion.  In a statement, the 200-nation world body says an essential part of the work on development consists of the mobilization of public opinion in both developing and developed countries in support of set objectives and policies. 
Governments of the more advanced countries must continue and intensify their endeavours to deepen public understanding of the interdependent nature of development efforts, and of the need to assist the developing countries in accelerating their economic and social progress. 
Similarly, Governments of developing countries must continue to make people at all levels aware of the benefits and sacrifices involved and to enlist their full participation in achieving the development goals and objectives.
According to the UN, the mobilisation of public opinion has to be the responsibility mainly of national bodies. Governments may consider the establishment of new national bodies or strengthening the existing ones designed to mobilize public opinion, as a long-term measure, to give increasing development orientation to the educational curricula. Considering that leadership can make a significant contribution to the mobilization of public opinion, the formulation of concrete aims by the competent authorities is indispensable.
The role of the organization of the UN has been to assist the various national information media, in particular by supplying adequate basic information from which these media may draw both substance and inspiration for their work.

In 1972, the General Assembly established World Development Information Day to draw the attention of the world to development problems and the need to strengthen international cooperation to solve them. The Assembly decided that the date for the Day should coincide with United Nations Day, 24 October, which was also the date of the adoption, in 1970, of the International Development Strategy for the Second United Nations Development Decade. The Assembly deemed that improving the dissemination of information and the mobilization of public opinion, particularly among young people, would lead to greater awareness of the problems of development, thus, promoting efforts in the sphere of international cooperation for development, the UN says. 
Referring to the role of science and technology the UN says developing countries must continue to increase their expenditure on research and development. They must also continue their concerted efforts, with appropriate assistance from the rest of the world, in expanding their capability to apply science and technology for development, to enable the technological gap to be significantly reduced.
Full international cooperation must be extended for the establishment, strengthening and promotion of scientific research and technological activities, which have a bearing on the expansion and modernization of economies. Particular attention must be devoted to fostering technologies suitable for each country, and concentrated research efforts should be made in relation to selected problems - the solutions to which can have a catalytic effect in accelerating development.

However, there are concerns regarding the digital divide in access to information and communications technology tools and broadband connectivity between countries at different levels of development, which affects many economically and socially relevant applications in areas such as government, business, health and education, and further expresses concern about the special challenges faced in the area of broadband connectivity by developing countries, including the least developed countries, small island developing States and landlocked developing countries. 
British mathematician, philosopher, logician, and public intellectual Bertrand Russell says one should respect public opinion insofar as is necessary to avoid starvation and keep out of prison, but anything that goes beyond this is voluntary submission to an unnecessary tyranny.