Asia and most capitals in the pacific archipelago notably have greater number of mega cities as much as there are as many urban slums, said Head UNDP Regional Center for Asia Pacific in Colombo, Omar Noman. He was addressing the opening sessions on policy dialogues on Inequality in Colombo, recently, in honour of Professor Frances Stewart.

Senior Presidential Advisor, and MP, Basil Rajapakse was chief guest.

Noman said conflicts within States and festering race and ethnic conflicts were hampering development and destabilizing the political equation causing regression which progressively developed to changes in equality.

Ripple effects of such undermining repercussions are lateral proliferation for instability.

Chief Guest Rajapakse did not speak. He left prematurely saying his presence was needed in parliament.

Professor Frances Stewart from the University of Oxford was instrumental in accentuating her life long commitment to human development and her path-breaking work on inequality helped to guide and frame discussion on those lines.

Technical sessions that were in place were spread over three days in Colombo. Participants from other, mainly Eastern Countries, were part of the academic audience participating. Additionally participants from most UN agencies and international service organizations were also participating delegates involved in these discussions.

Prof. Stewart said although growth rates have been impressive in Asian locations benefits have been unevenly distributed.

In an exclusive interview with The Sunday Island professor Stewart said she had not quite studied the Sri Lankan conflict and could not fully comment on its implications relating ill effects stemming from this conflict.

She conceded that her reference to macro effects in conflict situations, for instance Sudan and Dafur, were globally involved. She also said policy agenda in countries such as Sri Lanka needed restructuring to address growing inequality. The gap separating uneven distribution is widening and Sri Lanka is no exception.

Asia and the Pacific are the fastest growing region in the world and would achieve a number of goals by about 2015.

"Although growth rates have been impressive benefits were noticeably un-evenly distributed. This led to further fractional inequality in wealth distribution." She said inequality is rising across social and ethnic groups and inexorably strips away personal dignity.

Although there are Asian locations with phenomenal growth there are simultaneously 14 least developed countries that lag far behind the Asian Miracle.

Sir Richard Jolly of the University of Sussex chairing opening sessions said income distribution and inequality were twin malaise affecting wide spectrum of people in the Asian context. Solutions far from being found or discussed are not in tangible context till Professor Frances Stewart’s study and work she has done to address this problem.

According to UNDP study papers, estimates suggest that over 340,000 migrant workers who moved to urban areas looking for employment were mostly women. 90 percent in Cambodia and Bangladesh and about 87 percent in Sri Lanka.

This was not a pleasant phenomenon because rural farm land was progressively abandoned and ultimately dependency on food imports would be inevitable.

Countries in Asia Pacific are now contributing to this imbalance.

Particularly China which is likely to become a major importer of food. This would result in supply of food being eventually tighter and result in global back tracking and have debilitating influences world wide.