Economic ideas of Mahatma Gandhi - Issues & Challenges

- By Dr. Suresh Maind

Abstract

Mahatma Gandhi had a multifaceted personality. His aim in life was to achieve enlightenment by serving his nation and mankind.  He was born in India and so he was of the opinion that it was his first duty to serve India. He did it through his thoughts, creative activities, different movements, organisations, and his own lifestyle. His creative activities can be classified in 18 forms which cover mainly political, economic, social, educational, religious as well as medical fields. Many forms of his activities were related to economic wellbeing of society. He was clear that economic self-sufficiency for an individual and for a nation is unavoidable. This led him to think about and study various economic problems of the country and devise action plans for solving them. This was the root of his economic thinking. His work, discussions or writings therefore, were not educational fancy but were the need of the hour. He knew that the major part of human life is busy in economic activities. In that case economic activities can never be without ethics and non-violence.

Gandhi's economic ideals, much like everything else in his life, were governed by ethical and moral considerations. His stress on rural economy and emphasis on a simple life, coupled with his concern for universal well-being formed the foundation of his unique views on economics. Gandhi's economic models were based largely on his understanding of the Indian situation. However, it should be stressed that Gandhi himself believed that the model could be employed on an international scale as well. It should be remembered that Gandhi's economic modes are particularly humanitarian in nature and for him no economic model is worth implementation unless it aims towards the general well-being of mankind.

Introduction

Gandhi's economic ideals, much like everything else in his life, were governed by ethical and moral considerations. His stress on rural economy and emphasis on a simple life, coupled with his concern for universal well-being formed the foundation of his unique views on economics. Gandhi's economic models were based largely on his understanding of the Indian situation. However, it should be stressed that Gandhi himself believed that the model could be employed on an international scale as well. It should be remembered that Gandhi's economic models are particularly humanitarian in nature and for him no economic model is worth implementation unless it aims towards the general well-being of mankind.

Basic Gandhi's Economic Views:

1. Self Sufficient Village Economy

India lives in its villages. Naturally the development of the country depends on the development of villages. That is why Gandhi stressed on the growth of rural industries such as khadi, handlooms, sericulture, handicrafts etc. Rural industries are based on family labour and require less amount of capital. Raw materials are available in local and surrounding areas and the goods, thus, produced is sold in local markets. Therefore, there is no problem of production and market.

Gandhi has strongly advised development of cottage industries in villages, which will reduce the burden on agriculture. Cottage industry can also work as a good support system for villagers. Thus, all villagers can get employment in their respective villages, which will check the migration to urban areas. Moreover, they can also satisfy the need of the urban people and can also export the surplus goods.

Every village should be a self-contained republic. If every village distributes its surplus produce to the poor villagers then the problem of poverty and starvation would not arise. This can help eradicating poverty and thus people can be happy and self-reliant.

Gandhi also recommended citizens of India to use rural products. He said, "All should make it a point of honour to use only village articles, whenever available. Given the demand, there is no doubt that most of our wants can be supplied by the villages. The village economy would satisfy two important objectives. First, it would provide maximum employment and income to inhabitants, and second, it would generate equality, freedom and justice. To quote Gandhi, "We have to concentrate on the villages being self-contained, manufacturing mainly for use..." My idea of village Swaraj is that it is a complete republic, independent..."

2. Production

According to Gandhiji, a macro version of the system of production should be very simple and characterised by the features as: "The production process should ensure that creation should be primarily for use and not for exchange. It should ensure the utilisation of resource in such a way as to register a trend of movement from parasite economy to service economy and from reservoir economy to current economy. In other words, production should be free from exploitation and violence."³

The production of injurious or harmful commodities should not be undertaken. The system of production should ensure self-sufficiency in the necessities or the primary needs. This self-sufficiency should be achieved at all levels: family, village and nation. Production process should be simple. It should be based on the locally available resources. It should not be violent. It should conserve the available resources instead of wasting them. It should be free from pollution.

Gandhian economy is neither purely capitalist with no state control nor communist with complete state control. It is a new type of mixed economy, which, if a name is to be given to it, can be called a Pragmatic Economy or Labour Oriented Economy. Gandhi said, "Under my system it is labour which the current coin, not metal is”.

According to him, "Industrialisation on a mass scale will necessarily lead to passive or active exploitation of the villages as the problem of competition and marketing comes in. Therefore we have to concentrate on the village self-contained, manufacturing mainly for use."

3. Industrialisation

Large-scale production is meant to be profit-oriented and therefore, they are bad for the society because they lead to concentration of wealth and power in a few hands. Gandhi advocated decentralisation because it can avoid violence. He suggested delocalisation of production as against concentration in particular areas. The Gandhian pattern of decentralisation is basically aimed at correcting the evils of a centralised economy.

The centralised industries are generally large-scale industries. Gandhi advocated strict state control over such industries. He recommended nationalization of some basic and key industries. He recommended nationalization of some basic and key industries. Large scale industries are sometimes found to be wasteful, and these industries are not helpful in the generation of social and community relations.

Appropriate Technology

In 1946, Gandhi wrote: "I am not opposed to machinery as such. I am opposed to machinery which displaces labour and leaves it idle."

Gandhi was against machines if they keep people idle, if they create an unemployment problem for them. Otherwise mechanisation is welcome. According to Gandhiji, machines should help man, improve his productivity, but they should not throw men out of employment. Man should handle machines at will without being its slave.

Gandhi's forceful advocacy of labour intensive technology was entirely rational for the labour-surplus and capital deficient economy of India of his time.

He further positively asserted, “I want the concentration of wealth, not in the hands of few, but in the hands of all. Today machinery merely helps a few to ride on the backs of millions.”

Containment of Wants

Gandhi talked of the Containment of Wants. In this regard it is appropriate to quote his famous sentence, "Nature produces enough to meet the needs of all the people, but not enough to satisfy the greed of any man."

To meet the minimum needs of everybody, Gandhi suggested two measures, “First everybody should get sufficient work to enable him to make two ends meet. Second the means of production of elementary necessities of life should remain under the control of masses.”

Gandhi's Swadeshi

Mahatma Gandhi was a champion of 'swadeshi', or home economy. People outside India know of Gandhi's campaigns to end British colonialism, but this was only a small part of his struggle. The greater part of Gandhi's work was to renew India's vitality and regenerate its culture. According to the principle of swadeshi, whatever is made or produced in the village must be used first and foremost by the members of the village. Trading among villages and between villages and towns should be minimal, like icing on the cake. Goods and services that cannot be generated within the community can be bought from elsewhere.

Swadeshi avoids economic dependence on external market forces that could make the village community vulnerable. It also avoids unnecessary, unhealthy, wasteful, and therefore environmentally destructive transportation.

Swadeshi is the way to comprehensive peace: peace with oneself, peace between peoples, and peace with nature. The global economy drives people toward high performance, high achievement, and high ambition for materialistic success. This results in stress, loss of meaning, loss of inner peace, loss of space for personal and family relationships, and loss of spiritual life. Gandhi realized that in the past, life in India was not only prosperous but also conducive to philosophical and spiritual development.

Conclusion

For Gandhiji, a machine civilisation was no civilisation. A society in which workers had to labour at a conveyor belt, in which animals were treated cruelly in factory farms, and in which economic activity necessarily led to ecological devastation could not be conceived of as a civilization. Its citizens could only end up as neurotics, the natural world would inevitably be transformed into a desert, and its cities into concrete jungles. In other words, global industrial society, as opposed to society made up of largely autonomous communities committed to the principle of swadeshi, is unsustainable. Swadeshi for Gandhi was a sacred principle - as sacred for him as the principle of truth and non-violence.

References:

1. Gupta Shanti Swarup (1994): ‘Economic Philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi, Concept Publishing Company, New Delhi, p. 185.
2. Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Samiti, Concept Publishing Company, New Delhi, Vol. 4, PP. 78-79.
3. Gupta Shanti Swarup (1994): ‘Economic Philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi, Concept Publishing Company New Delhi, p. 136.
4. Gupta Shanti Swarup (1994): ‘Economic Philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi, Concept Publishing Company New Delhi, p. 137.
5. Gandhi M. K., (September 15, 1946), Harijan.
6. Gandhi M. K., Completed and edited by Kher V. B (1957): ‘Economic and Industrial Life and Relations’, Vol. III, Navjivan Publishing House, Ahmedabad, p. 38.
7. Gandhi M. K. (1952): Truth is God, Navjivan Publishing House, Ahmedabad, p. 26.
8. Pyarelal, (1959): Towards New Horizons, Navjivan Publishing House, Ahmedabad, p. 49.

Courtesy: This article has been reproduced from the ISBN Publication - Gandhi in the New Millennium - Issues and Challenges' published by Khandwala Publishing House.