Window
Seat | Mrinal Chatterjee | 29. 11. 23
Gram Swaraj
Recently
I was invited for a discussion on ‘Mahatma Gandhi and rural India’ on
television.
Mohan
Das Karamchand Gandhi was a city born (Porbandar in Gujarat) and city educated
(London) person whose professional commitment took him to Durban in South
Africa. It was only when he came back to India on the advice of Gopal Krishna
Gokhle, one of the pioneers of freedom movement in 1915, toured extensively
across the country to ‘see’ and ‘know’ the land and its people- that he
realized the need and potential of rural India.
However,
a blue print of the emancipation of India was in his mind since 1909 as he
wrote Hind Swaraj which brought
together his three basic themes of swaraj: self-respect, self-realisation and self-reliance. In privileging the rural over the urban, Gandhi was arguing for a
minimal state, since he saw the state essentially as an instrument of violence.
As
Gandhi got a feel of rural India, appreciated its problems and potential- the
thought of Gram Swaraj gradually crystalised.
Gram
Swaraj (village
self-rule) is the central concept of Mahatma Gandhi for India’s rural reconstruction and development. This concept was
later further developed by Vinoba Bhabe and others. Gram Swaraj promotes
conversion of every village into a self-efficient autonomous entity where all
the systems and facilities for a dignified living are available. It envisages a
decentralized form of Government where each village is responsible for its own
affairs, as the foundation of India's political system. It envisages creation of self-sufficient and self-governed villages,
which can look after the basic needs of its people like decent livelihood,
food, shelter, health, education, justice dispensation system, general
sanitation and general well-being based on ethical and spiritual constructs. In
this village women will be respected and there will not be any discrimination
based on caste or religion. Egalitarianism will be a social practice.
Gandhi penned his first thoughts on Gram Swaraj
in his book Hind Swaraj, which he wrote in just nine days, aboard a ship
while he was travelling from London to South Africa in 1909. It contains his thoughts and philosophy on several
subjects. It is also often cited for its considerable influence on the Indian
freedom movement along with Satyartha Prakash (1875) by Swami Dayananda
Saraswati, Anand Math (1882) by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhay, Unhappy India (1928) by Lala Lajpat Rai and
several other.
His ideas were
later crystalized as he actively practiced experiment of rural reconstruction
in Champaran in 1917, Sevagram in 1920 and Wardha in 1938. He also urged his
followers and colleagues to focus on rural reconstruction.
The question that
is often asked: how relevant are Gandhi’s thoughts regarding Gram Swaraj in
present post-modern times?
I’ll try to
answer this in the next week in this column.
Howrah station
I live in a small town in
central Odisha with a recorded history dating back to 16th century with
less than one lakh population. Kolkata’s present population is about 2 crores -
that is 200 times more than Dhenkanal, Mumbai and Delhi are even more. I have
been living here for over 23 years now, and have gotten used to open space
devoid of crowd. The railway station wears a deserted look most of the times of
the day.
In stark contrast, Howrah
station, which I visited recently, was teeming with millions. For record, Howrah Junction, located in
Kolkata (opened to the public in 19905), is the busiest railway station in India,
serving over one million passengers
per day. It has 23 platforms, making it one of
the largest railway stations in the country.
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It was so crowded that at one point
I felt completely disoriented. Then standing beneath the grand old clock I
forced myself just to look around as if you did not exist, or exist like an
inanimate object like that old signboard. And then it made sense. You discover
a pattern in the seeming madness. You notice a cancer patient with tubes taped
to his blackened nose waiting to board the train on an overcrowded platform,
two young lovebirds chattering sweet nothings to each other oblivious of the
din around, some people having a nap right on the platform, even as thousands
of passengers are passing by. You see the kaleidoscope of life and realize: life
in deed is beautiful.
Vitamin Lassi
I saw a board at Bhubaneswar road
side: Vitamin Lassi.
Lassi may have some ingredients which
may have vitamin in it. It may also have protein, carbohydrate, and loads of
fat. Some minerals also could be found.
But foregrounding only ‘Vitamin’!
.jpg)
Why, bro, why?
I could not ask, as the shop was
closed.
Life Insurance
The way the smart executives explain the benefits of life
insurance, it seems you earn more profit being dead, than alive.
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