The Swadeshi Movement
TEXTUAL QUESTIONS
Q.1: Discuss Gandhi's views on the Swadeshi movement.
Ans : Gandhi defined Swadeshi as the spirit in people which restricts them to the use and service of their immediate surroundings to the exclusion of the more remote ones. He mentions about three parts or devisions ot Swadeshi which are religious division, political division and economic division. Gandhiji visioned a free India which would be a confederation of self-governing, self-reliant., self-employed people.
According to the principle of Swadeshi movement, first and foremost opportunity to get benefit in trading should be provided to the localities.Gandhi states that Swadeshi avoids economic dependence on external market and destructive transportation. Gandhi dreamt of a self-sufficient village community. Swadeshi laid stress on each village being a microcosm of India - a web of loosely inter-connected communities.
Gandhiji's Swadeshi movement put down a principle opposite to the British, who believed in centralized, industrialised and mechanized modes of production. According to Gandhi there should not be mass production,instead there should be production by the masses. He viewed a decentralised, homegrown, hand-crafted mode of production, as guarded by Swadeshi. According to Gandhi, communities practising Swadeshi movement will not experience an economics dominated society. It is believed in the modern world that more the material go0ods one acquires,the better 1s his life. But Gandhi had a negative view on it. As he mentioned about an economy dominated by free society, he puts forward his views by saying that physical comfort is a necessity upto a certain level, but beyond that limit, it becomes detrimental. The ideal of creatinga an unlimited number of wants and satisfying them becomes a delusion and a trap and thus acts as a hindrance, rather than being a help. ACcording to Gandhiji, Swadeshi movement is the way to comprehensive peace,peace with oneself, peace between peoples, and peace with nature.Swadeshi for Gandhiji was the spiritual imperative. He deseribes Swadeshi as a call to the consumers, to be aware of the VIOIence mignt be causing by supporting those industries that result in poverg a WOTKers and to humans. He portrays or views SWadesnl as that serve their immediate neighbours spirit in people which requires them to immediate neighbourhood before others and to use things produced in the more remote ones. The Swadeshi in preference to those produced in remove British power movement strategy to was a successtul economic improvisation and revival of domestic to boycott foreign products and the Mahatma Gandhi industry. Thus, Swadeshi was a key focus of by many.Gandhiji also replies to a few objections put forward warrant Objectors consider it to be the most selfish doctrine without any objectors do not in the civilised code of Morality. He says that these patriotic effort look upon Swadeshi as a rule of life. For them it is more Swadeshi not to be made if it involved any self denial. He has urged that is the only doctrine consistent with the law of humility and love. Thus,Gandhiji described Swadshi as the soul of Swaraj i.e. self rule.
Q.2: What are the three branches of Swadeshi mentioned by Gandhi in the essay?
Ans: Gandhiji has mentioned about three branches of Swadeshi-religious, political and economic branch.In the context of religious branch, Gandhiji has mentioned that Hinduism has become a conservative religion and thus a mighty force because of the Swadeshi spirit underlying it. It has succeeded not in driving, but in absorbing Buddhism. Hinduism needs reforms Gandhiji says that this is_true of the other great faiths of the world. Gandhiji acclaims that he has endeavoured to study the Bible. He considers it as a part of his scriptures. The spirit of the Sermon on the Mount competes almost on equal terms with the Bhagavad Gita for domination of his heart. He says that what he has said about HinduiSm is not because he himself is a Hindu, but because he is a humble and impartial student of religion with great leanings towards Christianity. He also mentions about the frightful outrage going on in Europe, which shows that the message of Jesus of Nazareth has been little understood and that light upon it ma may have to be thrown from the East.Gandhiji, portraying the political branch, calls politics a corpse, fil only to be buried. ie observes the indigenous institutions and villagen chayats. He says, Plnces and princesses, whether Indian or foreigners,haven't connected with the masses, but just collected revenue. Thus, the vast organisation of caste answered not only the religious, but also the political wants and the villagers managed their internal affairs through this system only. He says that we, the educated class, have laboured under a terrible handicap owing to an almost fatal departure from the Swadeshi spirit. He says that if we would have had proper education in all branches, the village panchayats would now be a living force and India would be enjoying self-government.Talking about the economic branch, Gandhi says that we had been very greedy and had thus made a big error of letting England get into trade with us. He said that he has studied some treatices which shows that England is a self-sustained country, unlike India. India need not be,not ought to be, drawn into the vortex of mad and ruinous competition which breeds fratricide, jealousy and many other evils. If we follow the Swadeshi doctrine, we would be able to find neighbours who are in want of healthy condition, and then almost every village of India will be a self-supporting and self-contained unit. He says India is a country of nonsense. It is nonsensical enough to parch one's throat with thirst when a kindly Mahomedan is ready to offer, water to drink. Thus,religious demands make it a nonsensical place.
Q.3) 'I yield to no Christian in the strength of devotion with which I sing. "Lead, kindly light" and several other inspired hyms of a similar nature.' From your reading of this statement, asses Gandhi's view on religion.
Ans : Gandhiji says that Hinduism is a conservative religion and it needs to be reformed. But this is true of the other great faiths of the world. In the above statement, Gandhiji has liberal views on all religions.He portrays the point that though he has great leaving towards Christianity, but it does not mean that he wanted to convert. He says that he had endeavoured to study Bible as he considered it as a part of his scriptures. He says that the spirit of the Sermon on the Mount competes almost on equal terms with the Bhagavad Gita. He had come under the influence of noted Christian Missionaries belonging to differente dnominations and he enjoyed the privilege of friendship with some of them even for a very long time. But he did not want to convert. He says that many conversions are only so-called. In some cases, the appeal has gone not to the heart but to the stomach. And in every case, a conversion leaves a sore behind which he thinks is avoidable. According to his experience, a new birth, a change of heart, is perfectly possible in every one of the great faiths. According to him, if there was any substance in what he had said, the great missionary bodies of India whom she owes a deep debt of gratitude for what they have done to her and are stili doing. would have done still better and served the spirit of Christianity better by dropping the goal of proselytizing. He at last says that he has put forward all these suggestions in all sincerity and with due humility.
Q.4) If during the last fifty years we had been educated through the vernaculars, our elders and our servants and our neighbours would have partaken of our knowledge; the discoveries of a Bose or a Ray would have been household treasure as are the Ramayan and the Mahabharat.' Discuss.
Ans: In the above statement, Gandhi lets us know about his view on the political aspect of the Swadeshi. He says that as far as the masses are concerned, those great discoveries made by Bose or Ray, might have been made by foreigners. If we had had instructions and knowledge in all the branches of learning given through the vernculars, Gandhiji makes bold to say, we would have been enriched wonderfully. The backward and poverty stricken villages would have been developed with most advanced upgradation. The village panchayats would now be a living force in a special way. The question of village sanitation would have been solved long ago. India would be enjoying self-government. suited to its requirements Humiliating spectacle of organised assassination on its sacred soil would have been spared. It is not too late to mend still. Gandhiji tells us that long back in our own larguage, our elders and our servants and our neighbours would have taken in our knowledge in some amount and would have greatly utilised the great discoveries of the Bose or the Ray in the household, just as the knowledge of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata has become common houlsehold knowledge. Since we, the educated mass have received our education through a foreign tongue, we have not reacted upon the masses. We fail to represent the masses. And thus we witness not in reality failure to organise but want of correspondence between the representatives and the represented. Gandhiji has moreover let us know that it still is not late to mind our mistakes and if we all join together, the educatcd and the non-educated as well, we could still have a problem free society and could become self-sustained and independent and free in the true sense.
Q.5) 'Swadeshi is the only doctrine consistent with the law of húmility and love.' Explain what the author implies by this statement. Do you agree with his view? Why/why not?
Ans : The author, Gandhiji tells us through the above statement that the principle of Swadeshi is always holding on fast to the law of humility and love. Gandhi says that it is all arrogance to think of launching out tO serve the whole of nation when we are hardly able to serve even our own family. It woula be better for us to concertrate our efforts upon our family and consider that through them we are serving the whole nation and the whole of humanity: This is the humility and it is also the love. Our motive will determine the quality of our act. We may serve our family regardless of the suffereings we may cause to others and thereby enrich ourselves, satisfying many unlawful demands of the family and there we are actually neither serving the family, nor the state. This is violation of the law of humility and love or we may work for our sustenance and for that of our dependents without causing any injury to anyone. If we suppose everyone followed this mode of life without violating the laW, we would at once have an ideal state, although all will not reach that state at the some time, but those realising its truth and enforcing it in practice will clearly anticipate and accebrate the coming of the worthy day. Gandhiji says that his patreotism is both exclusive and inclusive. He says that it is exlcusive in the sense that in all humility, he confines his attention to the land of his birthand inclusive in the sense, that hiS service is not of a competitive and antagonistic nature. He talks about 'Sic utere tuo ut alienum non laedas as a grand doctrine of life. It is the key to a proper practice of Ahinsa or love.
EXTRA QUESTIONS
Q.6) Not mass production, but production by the masses" Explain.
Ans : Mass production is that aspect which leads people to leave their villages, their land, their crafts, and their homesteads and forces them to work in factories. Instead of being dignified human beings and members of a self-respecting village community, the people become cogs in the machine, standing at the conveyor belt,living in sharty towns, and depending on the mercy of the bosses. And since masters of money economy want more production, they start employing more machinery, which start replacing man power and the workers are thrown on the Scrap heap of unemployment. In Swadeshi, machine would be subordinated to the worker, it would not be allowed to become the master. Gandhiji did not believe in mass production but he believed production by the masses, which is only concerned with the production. By adopting this principle, village communities would be able to restore dignity to the work done by human hands. There is an intrinsic value in anything we do with our hands, and in handing over work to mchines we lose not only the material benefits, but also the spirtual benefits as work by hand brings with it a mediative mind and self-fulfilment. Through this we would be able to keep ourselves, the manpower, the workers from being dominated by the machines. According to Gandhi, it is a tragedy of the first magnitude that millions of people had eased to use their hands as hands, which have been bestowed to us by nature. If the craze for machine products increases, it is highly likely that a time will come when we shall be so incapacitated and weak that we shall begin to curse ourselves for having forgotten the use of living machines we own. Thus, production by masses, not masS production should be basic economic principle.
Q.7) What place would economy hold in communities practisingg Swadeshi?
Ans: In communiues practising Swadeshi, economics would have an imnortant place in the sOcey, Dut it will dominate the society. Beyond a certain limit, economie growth Decomes harmful to human well-being Now, the modern world view is that the more material goods one has to use, the better one's life would be. But according to Gandhi, a certain degree of physical comfort is necessary, but above a certain level, it becomes a hindrance, instead of being a help. The resultant ideal of Creating an unlimited number of wants and satisfying them, seems to be a delusion and a trap. The satisfaction of one's physical needs must come at a certain point to a dead stop before it degenerates into physical decadence. Europeans will have to remodel their outlook if they are not to perish under the weight of the conforts to which they were becoming slaves. And globalization of the economy, every nation would wish to export more and import less to keep the balance of payments in its fávour. Phere would be perpetual economic crisis, perpetual unemployment, and perpetually discontented, disgruntled human beings. Locally based economy would enhance community spirit, community relationships, and community well-being. Such an economy will encourage mutual aid. Members of the village would take care of themselves, their families, their neighbours, their animals, lands, forestry, and all the natural resources for the benefit of present and future generations.
Q.8) What objections were raised against Swadeshi?
Ans: Many have raised the objection that India cannot adopt Swadeshi, in the economic life at any rate. Such people raising objection do not look upon Swade shi as a rule of life. With them it is a mere patriotic effort not to be made if it involved any self-denial,. Swadeshi is actually a religious discipline to be undergone in utter disregard of the physical discomfort it may cause to individuals. A Swadeshist will learn to do without hundreds of things which to-day he considers necessary Moreover, those who dismiss the Swadeshi from their minds by arguing for the impossible, forget that Swadeshi is actually goal to be reached by steady effort, Another objection taken into consideration by Gandhiji was that the objectors think that Swadeshi is the most selfish doctrine without having any warrant in the civilized code of morality. With them to practise Swadeshi was to revert back to barbarism. Gandhiji urges that Swadeshi is the only doctrine consistent with the law of humility and love. Gandhiji says that it is arrogance to think of launching out to Serve the whole of India when he was hardly able to serve his own family Gandhiji dismisses the objections of the objectors by putting forward the fact that every individual Indian has his right to focus his VIews regarding this Swadeshi doctrine. He says that people sometimes enrich themselves and satisfy many unlawful demands of the family. but then he is neither serving the family nor the state. One should serve his own family without harming others. Only then India will be an ideal state and it will prospoer. And those who will enforce it in practice will clearly anticipate and accelarate the coming of happy days.
Q.9) What should every village community have and what can they do?
Ans: Every village community must build a strong economic base to satisfy most of its needs, and all members of the village community should give priority to local goods and services. Every village community of free India should have its own carpenters, shoemakers, potters. builders, mechanics, farmers, engineers, weavers, teachers, bankers,merchants, traders, musicians, artists and priests. In other words, it means to state that each village should be a microcosm of India - a web of loosely inter-connected communities. Gandhi wanted the village to play such an important part that he thought that they should be given the status of "village republics." The village community should embody the spirit of the home, an extension of the family rather than a collection of competing individuals. Gandhi dreamt the self-sufficiency of the village community. A locally based economy. i.e. village economy can enhance community spirit, community relationships, and community well-being Swadeshi,avoids economic dependence on external market forces that could make the village community vulnerable. By adopting the principle of production by the masses, village communities would be able to restore dignity to the work done by human hands. But if village communities adopt principle of mass production, if might lower down its economy and may lead people to leave their villages, their land, their crafts, and their homesteads and force them to go to work in factories. Instead of dignified human beings they wil become like cogs in machines depending on the mercy of the bosses.
Q.10) What was Gandhiji's vision of India?
Ans: Gandhiji visioned lnaia as a free-state, in the true sense. He wanted Idnia to be a confederation of self-governing, self-reliant, self-employed people, living in village Communities, deriving their right livelihood from the products of their homesteads. He wanted india to gain maximum economic and political power-inncluding the power to decide what could be imported into or exported fronm the village and what should remian in the hands of the village assemblies.He wanted India to avoid economic dependence an external market forces that could make the village community vulnerable. He wanted the villages of India to build a strong economic base to satisfy most of its needs, and that all members should give priority to local goods and services. He wanted each village to be a microcosm of India - a web of loosely inter-connected Communities. The Britishers believed in centralized, industrialised and mechanized modes of production, but Gandhiji turned this principle down and visioned a decentralized home grown, hand-crafted mode of production in India. Gandhiji wanted India to be economically strong and thus wanted that whatever was made or produced in the villages 'should first be used by the village members and that trading among villages and between villagesi and towns should be minimal. Gandhiji visioned India implementino the Swadeshi doctrine which was the way to comprehensive peace with everything else. Gandhiji visioned a home government ruled India, free from foreign tactics and prospering in its homestead manner.
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