Gandhian Vision of Development
Siby Kollappallil Joseph
The modern development paradigm is rooted in the transformative forces unleashed by the Industrial Revolution. This revolution radically altered the lives of people, driving technological advancements and innovations that reshaped rural societies into industrialized, urban ones. Today, we inhabit a world where artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics have permeated every aspect of human life. A notable example is Sophia, an AI-enabled android, which was granted Saudi Arabian citizenship in October 2017 – a historic first, where a robot was recognized as a citizen of a country.This development raises fundamental questions about the implications of equating robots with human beings. By doing so, we risk overlooking the unique personality and essence of human existence. The cumulative effect of these advancements has been a profound shift in value systems. While many have celebrated these changes, a few visionary thinkers and philosophers have offered a critical perspective on modernity and modern development.Mahatma Gandhi stands out among these critics, not only diagnosing the maladies of modernity but also proposing an alternative framework to overcome them.
As early as 1909, Mahatma Gandhi, in his seminal work Hind Swaraj, critiqued the modern development pattern based on machinery and automation. He argued that it overemphasized material aspects of human life, neglecting other essential aspects. This lopsided view created an environment of greed, competitiveness, violence, and domination.
Gandhi pointed out that modernity and its development pattern failed to provide basic needs to a large section of the population, resulting in a society marked by inequality, injustice, and atrocities. These ills extended beyond national borders, perpetuating colonialism and imperialism. Gandhi firmly believed that these systems were born out of industrial society, with a racial connotation that empowered white races to subjugate colored races.
Gandhi was deeply concerned about the lack of compassion and human values in modern development. He emphasized that compassion and non-violence are intertwined, using the terms 'ahimsa' and 'compassion' interchangeably. Gandhi clarified the relationship between ahimsa and compassion, stating that "there is as much difference between ahimsa and compassion as there is between gold and the shape given to it." He further explained that ahimsa without compassion is impossible, and that every thought and action must be guided by conscious compassion.Gandhi's concept of ahimsa emphasizes the importance of self-reflection, conscious action, and compassion. He believed that ahimsa is not merely the absence of violence but a proactive and conscious choice to live a life of compassion, non-violence, and service to others.
Mahatma Gandhi's philosophy of life was indeed deeply rooted in the principles of truth and non-violence. These two principles guided every aspect of his life, from economics and politics to social and personal relationships. As J.C. Kumarappa, a renowned Gandhian economist, aptly put it, Gandhi's devotion to truth and non-violence is what characterized his life and should be the foundation of any economy associated with his name.J. C.Kumarappa said: “If there is anything that characterizes Gandhiji’s life, it is his devotion to truth and non-violence. Any economy that is associated with his name should, therefore, answer to these fundamental principles. …..economy based on them which will be permanent and will lead to the peace and happiness of mankind.”
Gandhi returned to India from South Africa in 1915. He delivered an address in the University Extension lectures organised by Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi from 5 to 8 February, 1916. It was his first public lecture on Indian soil. He was so disgusted with the pomp and show of Maharajas assembled there one the one hand and suffering of Indian people at large. Gandhi emphatically pointed out to Maharajas that: “There is no salvation for India unless you strip yourselves of this jewellery and hold it in trust for your countrymen in India.” Subsequently in his speech he presented an alternative view of economic principles for finding solutions to the problems facing the common masses.
Gandhi was not an economist in the professional sense of the term. While delivering a lecture on “Does Economic Progress clash with Real Progress?”, at a meeting of the Muir Central College Economics Society, Allahabad on 22 December 1916, he admitted the fact that “Frankly and truly, I know little economics as you naturally understand them”. He also pointed out that he had not read Mill, Marshall, Adam Smith and such other authors who are cited in studies in economics. Then what was the guiding light in his action, it was his conscience or the voice of God. He answered this question in the same lecture. “There come to us moments in life when about something we need no proof from without. A little voice within tells us, ‘You are on the right track, move neither to your left nor right, but keep to the straight and narrow way’ with such help we march forward slowly indeed, but surely and steadily. That is my position.” Gandhi in the address that we have cited articulated his argument that if our goal is materialistic, we will go downhill as far as moral progress is concerned. He said, “You cannot serve God and Mammon is an economic truth of the highest value. We have to make our choice. Western nations today are groaning under the heels of the monster –God of materialism. Their moral growth has become stunted”. He even quoted Wallace, a great scientist, in support of his argument. “This rapid growth of wealth and increase of our power over nature put too great a strain upon our crude civilization, on our superficial Christianity, and it was accompanied by various forms of social immorality almost as amazing and unprecedented.” In conclusion, he stated, “Let us seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and the irrevocable promise is that everything will be added with us. These are real economics. May you and I treasure them and enforce them in our daily life.”
Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya in his concluding remarks stated that the ideals of Gandhi are so high that we may not subscribe to all of them. But many years later, commenting on this lecture, two economists associated with American universities, Diwan and Lutz wrote, “An examination of his lecture clearly points out to what he knew rather than what he did not know. He was not interested in the scope and method of economic science as we economists naturally understand it. Rather, he worked for a whole lifetime on articulating the principles of an alternative and more real human economy centring on the very themes outlined in his lecture: the lack of correlation between material expansion and genuine progress, the need for an economics-cum-ethics that will enable moral growth and dignity for all, the fallacy of seeking happiness in individual acquisitive behaviour, and the need for encouraging people to seek a life rich in self-esteem and genuine meaning.” Thus it is very clear that his emphasis was on moral progress than material progress. Thus the concern of development should be moral progress and not material progress.
Even in his statement before the trial court in 1922, during which he was imprisoned for six years, he unequivocally stated that the administration and urban people have joined hands to suck the blood of poor and deprived people of this country. He again followed it with his written statement on Poorna Swaraj in 1929 that his concept of swaraj is primarily for the poor or daridra narayan and not for the elitist people.
He pleaded for centrality of nonviolence in the village economy he propounded to the end. As he put it, “Now I have no historical proof, but I believe that there was a time in India when village economics were organized on the basis of such non-violent occupations, not on the basis of rights of man but on the duties of man. Those who engaged themselves in such occupations did earn their living, but their labour contributed to the good of the community….Body labour was at the core of these occupations and industries, and there was no large-scale machinery. For when a man is content to own only so much land as he can till with his own labour, he cannot exploit others. Handicrafts exclude exploitation and slavery.Large-scale machinery concentrates wealth in the hands of one man who lords it over the rest who slave for him. For he may be trying to create ideal conditions for his workmen, but it is nonetheless exploitation which is a form of violence.
When I say that there was a time when society was based not on exploitation but on justice, I mean to suggest that truth and ahimsa were not virtues confined to individuals but were practiced by communities. To me virtue ceases to have any value if it is cloistered or possible only for individuals.” He visualized an economic constitution and development pattern that takes into consideration the basic needs of the people. He wrote:
“According to me the economic constitution of India and, for the matter of that, the world should be such that no one under should suffer from want of food and clothing. In other words, everybody should be able to get sufficient work to enable him to make the two ends meet.And this ideal can be universally realized only if the means of production of the elementary necessaries of life remain in the control of the masses. These should be freely available to all as God’s air and water are or ought to be; they should not be made a vehicle of traffic for the exploitation of others. This monopolization by any country, nation or group of persons would be unjust. The neglect of this simple principle is the cause of destitution that we witness today not only in this unhappy land but other parts of the world too.”
Gandhi’s economic ideas are based on his total commitment to non-violence and it is reflected in all his economic ideas. As stated earlier, his concept of ahimsa is inclusive of compassion. To put it differently, he made an earnest attempt to integrate his concept of ahimsa with compassion in all fields of life. The kind of alternative system of development and indeed the entire civilizational framework he provided is marked by principles of justice, equality and compassion. A close examination of his socio - politico - economic system based on decentralization will go a long way to show that his system is entirely different from the existing model of development as its primary concern is the common man and his problems and solutions thereof. His well known talisman is a reflection of his compassion for the last man and a test for the development pattern we follow. He wrote “I will give you a talisman. Whenever you are in doubt, or when the self becomes too much with you, apply the following test. Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man whom you may have seen, and ask yourself, if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him. Will he gain anything by it? Will it restore him to a control over his [her] own life and destiny? In other words, will it lead to swaraj for the hungry and spiritually starving millions? Then you will find your doubts and yourself melt away."
The greatest challenge before us is to contextualise Gandhi’s notion of development in the present national and international economic scenario where the driving force is globalization, privatization and liberalization. As a result of these policies the economic inequality is out of control.
The Oxfam International Report of January 2024 INEQUALITY INC. How corporate power divides our world and the need for a new era of public action reveals the extreme inequality in numbers • The highlights are :Since 2020, and the beginning of this decade of division, the five richest men in the world have seen their fortunes more than double, while almost five billion people have seen their wealth fall. • If each of the five wealthiest men were to spend a million US dollars daily, they would take 476 years to exhaust their combined wealth. Seven out of ten of the world’s biggest corporations have a billionaire CEO or a billionaire as their principal shareholder.. Globally, men own US$105 trillion more wealth than women – the difference in wealth is equivalent to more than four times the size of the US economy. The world’s richest 1% own 43% of all global financial assets.The richest 1% globally emit as much carbon pollution as the poorest two-thirds of humanity.In the USA, the wealth of a typical Black household is just 15.8% of that of a typical white household. In Brazil, on average, white people have incomes more than 70% higher than those of Afro-descendants. Just 0.4% of over 1,600 of the world’s largest and most influential companies are publicly committed to paying their workers a living wage and support payment of a living wage in their value chains. It would take 1,200 years for a female worker in the health and social sector to earn what a CEO in the biggest Fortune 100 companies earns on average in one year.
Due to the opening of the Indian economy in the 1990s we are also on the verge of a gross economic disaster. It resulted in growing poverty, unemployment and widening the gap between the rich and the poor. The data provided by the Oxfam about India is also shocking. The top 10% of the Indian population holds 77% of the total national wealth. 73% of the wealth generated in 2017 went to the richest 1%, while *670 million Indians who comprise the poorest half of the population saw only a 1% increase in their wealth.There are 119 billionaires in India. Their number has increased from only 9 in 2000 to 101 in 2017. Between 2018 and 2022, India is estimated to produce 70 new millionaires every day.Billionaires' fortunes increased by almost 10 times over a decade and their total wealth is higher than the entire Union budget of India for the fiscal year 2018-19, which was at INR 24422 billion.Many ordinary Indians are not able to access the health care they need. 63 million of them are pushed into poverty because of healthcare costs every year - almost two people every second.It would take 941 years for a minimum wage worker in rural India to earn what the top paid executive at a leading Indian garment company earns in a year.
The effects of this development pattern are known to all of us and it doesn’t require any elaboration. The burning issues we face are Climate Change, Ozone Layer Depletion ,Ocean Acidification ,Chemical Pollution,FreshWater withdrawals,Land Conversion,BioDiversity Loss,Air Pollution and others. The statistics and reports regarding all these are really shocking. It is proved beyond doubt that this pattern of development and economic policies cannot continue for a long time. What is required is complete restructuring of the economy on Gandhian lines with emphasis on swadeshi and self reliance which can withstand the forces of globalization. It is a known fact that the Gandhian notion of development cannot be fitted into the mainstream west-influenced development pattern by making cosmetic changes in the economy. It cannot be added in bits and pieces in order to rationalise or humanize the mainstream development because it is altogether a different discourse based on humane self, community and comity of nations guided by principles of cooperation and interconnectedness. In order to realize that dream first we have to change our thinking pattern which appears to be governed by a subtle agenda of the status quo -- "There is No Alternative" i.e. what is called a TINA mentality.
The tallest claim made by leaders of different ideological orientations that they would put the reins of power in the hands of the common people has remained as a distant dream. It was in this context Gandhi’s alternative discourse on development combining non-violence and compassion became relevant. If Gandhi’s alternative system of development is implemented to its logical conclusions which would really put the man in the street in the centre stage of society. In the light of above discussions it is clear that evolving a system which really integrates development and compassion remains as the greatest challenge of modern times. Gandhi did offer a new perspective in this regard; but his ideas are too revolutionary to put into practice by the ruling elite all over the world. Gandhi has immense faith in the people’s power. Gradually a small voice is being raised all over the world backed up by grass root movements on Gandhian lines that gives us hope for the future. It would ultimately result in the transformation of a development pattern based on violence to a more humane development based on compassion.
It is based on the presentation made by Dr. Siby K. Joseph , Director, IFPNP, Sevagram Ashram Pratishthan, Wardha, MS, India
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