- 326 = 
3. Involvement in Development 
  
There is another aspect that we generally, as specialists shun, to get in- 
volved in the development process as some of us professionals think, it 
to be the prerogative of the politician. One must not forget that to 
develop ones people and ones country is one's moral right and profes- 
sional duty. To this end as photogrammetry/remote sensing is the key to 
development, by the very nature of this expertise, we specialists are 
privileged to possess knowledge that can perform the unique task of being 
change agents in the development of one's country. 
For some of us who have not been fully exposed to the decision making 
process in a democracy, it would be useful to know that decision on pro- 
jects are taken on 4 basic criteria. The projects have to be 
. technically viable, 
. economically feasible, 
. socially desirable, 
. politically acceptable. 
BU N — 
In short, though projects may seem technically viable and economically 
feasible to the developed world, it may be socially rejected or considered 
undesirable by the people of the developing country. In such a situation 
if such projects are politically accepted by the powers that be, it could 
result in the overthrow of a government by the democratic process by the 
ballot at the next elections or the suppression of the people's wish by 
the bullet in a dictatorship. 
It is apparent that it is the indegenous expert who is sensitive to the 
peoples needs, who will have to play the key role in identifying projects 
that are socially desirable otherwise it would be a waste of time and 
money. It must be made very clear that the technical expert needs not 
necessarily play politics in identifying people's needs and servicing 
it. After all it is not the politician alone who is responsible for the 
development in a true democracy. Each citizen, whether he is a scientist, 
technologist or economist or an ordinary citizen or politician has his 
particular role to play, which should be done to the best of their ability, 
as otherwise it would be disasterous for all in the end. Thus we as tech- 
no-experts in developing countries should remember very well that we should 
not attempt to impose things that are apparently acceptable to the western 
world, where the social conditions are different. In the developing world, 
we are today only attempting to survive at very low levels of sustainence 
and this is well known to the sensitive local expert. 
Planning models developed in one country cannot be transferred or applied 
to another because the historical, cultural and social conditions are 
peculiar to itself. It is in this context that it is necessary that the 
ultimate authority and responsibility for planning should rest on the 
indegenous experts. Therefore, there is the need to have an external stra- 
tegy to improve and strengthen the knowledge, quality, ability and number 
of experts required by each country. 
4. Utilisation of Experts and Sponsorship Removing Discrimination and 
Frustration 
It is worth making an indepth study of the utilisation of experts trained 
in the developing world under the auspices of the UN and other agencies 
including bilateral educational training programmes in the fields referred 
Fernando 6