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 OF

l A quest for a social order based on non-violence]

'

By
J.C. KUMARAPPA

Wit Ii a fci'eword from

- M. K. GANDHI

.
This reprint is brought out with financial assistance
of Gandhi Seva Sangh, Sevagram ( Wardha )

-SARVA-SEVA-SANGH-PRAKASHAN
-
.RAJGHAT, VARANASI

'-.

...

<(

Title
Economy of Pemauien~

Writer
J. C. Kumarappa

Foreword Writer
M. K. Gandhi
.

.. .. ' .

Edition : Fifth
Copies ;
Total Copies : 5,00()
.,
September, 198"4 '

Published by :
SarvaSeva-Sangh-
Prakashan
Rajghai, Varanasi.. 22100 I

P.inted by :
~""'"' Sli~ q~q1it;w J Laxmi Priaters
~m ~l{tql Sn. 2/364 Pandeypur.
~: iilC5 ~ VARANASI.
 Telephone 4-1 Sevagr.am
Ward~ C. P.

FOREWORD
.
Like his brochure onthe 'PRACTICE & PRECEPTS OF
JESUS' Or. Kumarappas on 'THE ECONOMY OF PERMA-
NENCE' is a jail production. It is not as easy to understand
as the first.. .
It needs careful reading twice or thrice if it is to
b'! fully appreciat<?d. When I took up the manuscript~ w~s
-curious to kii~w what 'it could contain. .The opening chapter
s1tisfied .
my curiosity and led me. on to the end. without
fatigue
.
and yet with profit. This doctor of our village. indu-
.
-stries shows that only through them we shall arrive. at the
economy of permanence in the place of that of the fleeting
nature We see.around us at present. He tackles . .
the question-
..

:shall. t he body triumph

.
over and stifle th'! soul or shall the.
latter triumph over and express itself through a perishable
bo<!y which, with .
its few wants healthily satisfied, .
will be
free to subserve the end of the imperishable soul _? Th~ js
"Plain living and High thinking'.

On the train
to Bombay.
20-8-1945

. - .. ...
 . " PREFACE
. .

.
In a previous . study, ' WHY THE VILLAGE MOVE-.
MENT 1' the conditions prevailing in India in comparison.
with the orders obtaining ia leading western countries were
consid~red, In this booklet, an attempt .is made t~ present a
positive outlook that. will suit the genius of the people of
our- 1~d.
.
Religion, as practised today, is largely institutional and
ritualistic. It has lost its grip over the everyda.y actions of.
men. . Hence there are many who have lost faith in it and
regard'~~ as a superstition to be shunned. As the natural
consequence of excluding religion from. life, ecQnomics has.
been divorced
.
from moral considerations on the plea . of
business bei~g
business. In the traditional archives of know-
ledge; religion, sociology and economios have all been reserved

their separate and exclusive spheres. Man has been divided

into various watertight compartments. The left hand is not
to know . .
what the right does. Nature . does not recognise.
such div~ions. She deals with all life as a whole~ .Hence, in
this little book an attempt is made to co-ordinate the various.
. . .
.
principle~ governiag different departments, and to focus .them
all on ~he many problems . of everyday ]jfe of mati as an.
integral undivided unit.
The object of the present quest is to relate our spiritual
and higher self back to life so that the daily routine of
.m undane existene may be regulated in accordance with the:
di.eta~ of our better self, and to find a way of life that will
lend purpose for existence and action to such as have no
use for the present day .traditional religion because of its.
 v
. .
_other worldliness from humdrum every day life. An effort is
here made to bring .all .w alks of lif~ int9 alignment with
.
the
universal order. What men of religion term 'eternal life' or
'Union. with the Godhead'
.'
has been interpreted in. relation to
the everyday life of man in the title of this book as :1he
Economy of Permanence'.
The .~pproach may be noyel, but if it sets others thinking
on the ways and means of achieving . the end aimed at, this
. . ~ .
venture would be amply justified.
Part I of this book was written during my inoaroeration .
in J uhb\llpore Central Jail and before the Second part. could .
be tackleu I was set at liberty on grounds of health.
I am thankful~ Gandhiji for bis (iriticism and suggestions
and his Foreword.

I am indebted to. Artist Madhav Satwalekar who has

kindly provided pictorial representations to elucidate some
passages~

24th August, 1945.

-J. C. Kumatappa
Maganvadi, Wardha, C. P.
 PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
. ' ,

In this edition Part I remains much 'the same~

Part II-Man in Gregation has been added a...s ~ scpa
rate volume. This part deals with
( . .
activities
.
of man. as a Mem..
ber of Society. Taken by itself this part may be considered
"

a plan for the Development of the country on the basis of .

non-violence. It trea~ about planning, Agriculture, Village
Industries, Exchange, Democracy and the State in relation
to Key Industries, Monopolies and Natural Resources . . It
indicates the services that the State should render to the

c1tu.ens.

It is hoped that this addition will give a complete picture

of life in a community working towards non-violence and
peace.

~th January, 1948.

Maganvadi, . -J. c. Kumarappa
wardha, c. P

THIRD EDITION

This is only a reprint or the Second Edition.

9th . February, 1957,

Kallupatti, S. I.
 TABLE OF CONtBNTS
' .
PART I
.. .
. . . Page
..

foreword by Mahatma.Gandhi 111

Preface. . . ....
'

JV

Introduction XI

SECTION I: NATURE

CHAPTER I. NATURE

1
.
. ,, II. Work and Wages in Nature 2
/,III. Types of Economies in Nature 5

SECTION II ; MAN-THE INDIVIDUAL

,,. IV. Man and Freewill 9
,, v. . Use and Misuse of Freewill 12
,, VI. Stages of Human Development 19
1. Individuals
,, VII. ., 2. Groups or Nations 26
,, VIII. Scales of Values 32
,, I~. Valuation 41
,, .~. Life, Living and Existence
'
54
)J XI Standards of Living ..... 76
,, XII. Work 96
,,XIII. Divaion of Labour 103


..
...
vru
PART II: MAN IN GREGATION
Introduction .
' 123
CHAPTER I. The Need. and Nature of Planing. . . 121
,, II. Agriculture -...
... .... 134
,, III. Exchange 139
,, IV. Co-operative Functions 141.
,, v. Village Industries 149
7J
VI. Democracy
.
158
,, VII. Nation! Industries '! . 167
,, VIII: Government. Functions 173
. ,, IX. Education for Life .... . 17 7 ;

x
,, Life in Gregation 190
,, XI. A Pilot Plan 201

..
 I

PART ONE
 INTROLlUCTORY
What is permanent 'l What is transient ? ..
Apart from God there is nothing that can be said to be
permanent . . He is the only being with neither beginning nor
end. Human intellect being limited, it is not possible for n
to comprehend fully what is. everlasting in the absolute
.

sense. Sueh a conception refers to conditions beyond Time and

Space. The laws of God, Truth and Love, are absolutes being
unch~ngeable and permanent in ihe strictest sense of. the
term.
Within Time and Space there .
is no such thing as absolute
.

permanency. Everything begins somewhere and ceases to ex-

ist sometime. The interval that separates the two moments .
varies. In some cases it is short, and in others it is long. A
flower blooms in the morning, by lhe evening it is faded and
'

gone. Its life is but a few hours. Tortoises are reputed to

' .
live .for centuries, while a unn of millions of years is requ..
ired to compute the age of our universe. So in comparison
with the flower, the tortoise is said to be Jong:-lived while
the world is Permanent. It - is all a matter of relative terms.
. .

Nature ( when it is not a term convertible with God ) :iS

limited by Time and Space. It came into ex~tence once in
the remote past and will cease to be ~ometime in the future
Human life rarely reaches even a hundred years while the
unit to ~eckon the life of Nature will run into astronomical
figures. Hence the life of man is said to be Transient in com..
parison with that of Nature which is Permanent. It is in this
relative sense that we speak of 'An Economy of Permanence.'
 SECTION ONE
NATURE
1
NATURE
. .
There are
.
certain things fouod in .Nature which apparently
have no life and do not grow or increas-::, and so get exha-
usted or consumed by being us"'..d. The world possesses a
certain stock or reservoir of such materials as coal, petr_o-
leum, ores or_ minerals likf! iron, copp~r, gold etc. These
being available in fixed quantiti~s, may be said to be 'transient'
while th~ current of ovrflowing water in a river or . the
constantly growing timber of a forest may be considered
'permanent' as their stoek is inexhaustible iu the service of
1nan when only the flow or increase is. taken advantage of.
In animate life, the secret of nature's permanency lies
in the cycle of life by which the various factors function in
clos~ co-operation to maintain the continuity of life. A grain
of wheat falls from the parent plant. It gets buried in the
earth, sends out roots into the soil and through them absorbs
nutritive elements with the aid of moisture and the heat of
the sun. It sprouts up into a plant by this process. The plant
shoots out leaves which help to gather nourishment from the
air and light, as the roots d.o from the soi I. When some of .
these leaves 'di-!' they fall to the ground and are split up
or decomposed into the various ~lements which the par~nt
plant had absorbed from 'he soil, air, and liglu. This is
again used to nourish the next generation of plants. The

- 1- .
 ..

2 ECONOl\1Y OF PERM.-\NENCE

bees etc. while gathering the .nectar and pollen from these
plants for their own good, fertilize the :flowers and the
grains, that are formed in consequence, again become the
source of life of the next generation of plan.ts. When ready,
this seed falls to tl1e ground and con1es to life with the help
of the.
soil that has already been enriched by fallen
. leaves
of tl1e previous generation of plants. Thus a fresh cycle of
.. life begins once a gain. In tbis manner, life in nature . goes
on, and .as long as there is no break in this cycle, the work
in nature continues endlessly, making nat~re permanent .

II
.
WORK AND WAGES IN NAT.U RE
'Work' in nature consists in the effort put forth by the
'
,/ various factors insentient and sentien.t which cooperate
!
1
to complete this cycle of life. If this cycle is broken,
at any stage, at any time, conscio\lsly or unconsciously,
vioJence reEults as a cons~quence of such a break. When
voilence intervenes in this way, growth or progress -is
stopped, ending finally in destruction and waste. Nature
iS unforgiving and ruthless. Ther efore, self-interest and
self~presetvation dema11d complet~ non-violence; co-operation
and submission to the ways of nature if \Ve a re to main-
tain permanency by .non-interference with and by not short-
circuiti ng the cycle of Jife.
 , .\.ORK AND \Vt\GES IN NATURE

Even sentient creatures have to fall in line and func-

tion properly in their O\VTI sphere if they are to exist.
An earthworm by its inove1nents in the earth, loosens
the soil allowing it to absorb air and water. When it
fr~eds on the earth contai11ing \egetable matt~r, it tl1oroughly
u1ixes the various consti~ucnt parts .i n its stomach and
throws ot1t a well prepared and fertilized soil worm casts-
frorn which plants can draw tl1eir O\VU nutriment easily.*
Here is a sample of the forLn of vital co-operation existing
between soil, plant and animal life similar to the one
where bees and b utt~rilies fertilize the flowers of plants.
In retur(1 for s u~h s:; rvices or ' )vork' done, the worker
{Jllit gets its feed. In ti1is ,vay nature pays its wag~s
honestly in 1he form of food and nouri.sh,ner1t i ll return
for every benefit received by her in obtaining cooperation
a,1d bri.1ging ab;)ttt cu-ordination of tl1~ manifold factors,-
i1.1aniinate and a11i1n.lte--in air, land and \.Vater.
The life i11 the vegetable kingdom is immobile. The
.seeds ca.11 0 11ly fall directly below, n ::a.r the paren t 1)lant
or tr~~e. If all seeds fall and germinate around the parent

plant it \V ill create a suffocating congestion. It is necessary:

to broadcast the seed fur,her a il eld. To do this, nature
com1nandeers the services of birds, animals . etc. . Here:
tl1c mobile cre<:ture performs a special fu:i1ctio11. A bird
-Jc \\!hen v;e u5c c he:11ical fe~tilizers in t.l1e pl a ce of orga nic m ::i.nu rcs, for
a. ti11le ' ''e may obt a in L>ctccr crops, b u t c011stau t a pp lication of the5e clest roys
tlic earth ;vori.ns as rhe y c:-a nnot feed on chen1ical5. \Vith tb.e disap peara nce
of earth vvo rrns the S'>il b:::com es heav y a r1d ultim;itel y }'.>~es its fertility.
Nature's cycle b eing broL ~n by c.liscarding farn1ya rd manu re a11d vegeta ble
-co1np0s.ls, rh c E cono:11y uf p er m a n ence yields p lace to th e lna 11 m a.d. ! Gc0nomy
,...t; .., . . . .
v... "a1.l.Sl e 11cc.
 ECOK 0 }.1Y OF PER~I .\i'l'ENCE

may eat the fruit of a plant and pass out the seed>
perhaps miles away. I t does this co-ordin~.ting work as. a
part of its own existence and not as an obligation to anybody.
It eats to satisfy its O\VIl hunger. While performing its.
own p rjmary function it fulfi ls its role in tl1e cycle of life.
In this m anner , nature enl ists and ensures the eo-opera~
t ion of all its un its, ea ch \ltorking for itself and in the
process helping other units to get along their own too-the
inobile helping the immobile, and the sentient the insentient ..
Thus all nat11re is dovetailed together in a common cause..
Nothing exists for itself. \V hen this \vorks out harmonio-
usly and violence does not brea k the chain, we have an
economy of pe r1nanence. e

.
.;\bird living on oth er creatures

. IL.
.~

Birds feeding on ears of corn which they have done nothi ng~to cultivate
 TYPES OF ECONOMIES IN NATURE

A bird u 5ing a nest built by its o'vn ~ffo rt

'

..

III
TYPES OF ECONOMIES IN NATURE
This complete non-violent co-operation b~tween , th1
various uni ts is not al ways prese11t in all forms of life.
Some units, instead of passing through the different sta&es
in nature dr~.wing their sustenance from the elements and
insentient creatures, short-circuit the long process by
preying on their fellow creatures. Here too, violence
interposes with its accompaniment of destruction.
1. Parasitic Economy : Some .Plants liva on others
and become parasites. Often the host tree, or plant, dies
in cc1nsequ~nce of all the . nourishm~nt drawn by its roots
not reaching its various parts, as it is robbed o~ the way
.by the parasitic growth. This also leads to violence and
d eath. Among the animals, the sheep eats grass and drinks
 ECONOMY OF PEfu\1ANENCE

water and exists non-violently, \V bile the tiger sl1ort-circuits.

the proc~ss of nature by feeding on the she~p,. drinking its.
blood, introducing violenc~ and basing its whole existenc~
on it. Her~ violence becomes an essential part of the life
of the tiger.
2. Predatory Economy: \Vhe11 a unit in 11ature
ben~fitS itself without
conferring a correspotlding advantage
to another u11it it is said to be predatory. A inonkey comes
into a n1ango grove, to the existence of which it has not
contrib1lted anything by eitl1er diggi11g 1 plGi.nting or
watering, but enjoys the fruits 011 the trees. It acts i11 self-
interest but witho:Jt
. a contribution. This form of economy'
may be less vioient than the previous one, but nevertheless..
it is destrttctive.
3. Economy of Enterprise : Some creatures take
what t11ny i1eed while performing some distinct service to the
unit from which they derive tl~eir benefit, and while thus
contributing to the product, they take something that is of
their own. effort and making. In the case of the honey be~s;
they fertilize the flowers f"ro1n which they gather the nectar
and pollen, and convert the i1ectar into honey, and store
these products in combs built by ~l1-:i.11s~lves with wax
produced out of their secretion. Th~se creatures are not
parasitic as they help the unit fro1n which they draw
bc11efit i11stead of killing it. They are also not predatory
as they contribute their ow11 share and effort in the.
obtaining of the product. The be11efit by their own enter-
prise-insti11c4ive tl1ough it may be. 1hey are active construc-
tive units.
 ~

TYPES OF ECONOMIES IN NATVRE I

4,__ Ec~nomy of Gregation : Incidentally, it may

be _obse.rved, that the honey bees do riot work for . their own
.

' . .
.. respective individual
gains but for the com-
. .
mon benefit of the
.
whole colony. Hel'e
is an exter1sion from
self-interest to. group-
.
interest and from
acting on the nnme-
diate urge of present
needs to planning for
/ future requirements.

A honey bee collecting food, not for 5. Economy

itself, but for the 'vhole colony of Se1"vice : The
highest form of economy in nature is the econorny of service..
~

This is best seen in the relation between the young one and
the parent. The
mother bird wjJl
icour the jungle
. to
.

feed its young one

and risk its life in
defendini the
young fro1n its
enemies. It func-
tions neither for its
The mother bird feeding its )7oung ones, \vi thout present need nor
expecting a reward for its personal
8 ECONOMY OF PER~IANRNCE

.future
. .
requirement, but projects i!s activities into the. next
generation, or generations to come, without looking for any
reward. Because of its mother love, it contributes disinte- .
restedly, without desire to benefi~ personally. This co1nes
nearest to what inay be Cqlled a non-violent economy .
of perma11ence.
These pure forms are set out in this ch~.pter in the in-
. creasing order of permanence and J).On-violence .
Out of these five simple forms of economies many more
.
complex. types can be obtained by permutations and
combinations.

A robber killin1 a child for its nec.klae~

 !vl'\N ..\ND FREEWILL 9

A pickpocket at ,vork

SECTION T\\!O
MAN-THE INDIVIDUAL
IV
MAN AND FREEWILL
. .
For the purpose of our study we need not go further
into the economies of life go\erning other orders in nature
but .confine ourselves to. the !ife of the one creature in the
animal kingdom Man who has the ability either to m ake
-Or mar the orderly functioning of Natu-re. Though such
10 ECONOMY OF PERMANENCE

interference as it may suffer from him may be but 'ransient~

as Nature is mighty enough to hold its own against man and
ultimately hav~ its own way, yet, from time to time, he does
upset its even working and cause a jar or jolt, like the .

present global war. By a closer study, we may be able to
find ways and means of co-operating more satisfactorily with
the .order of the day in nature and thus be able to avoid
needless violence and contribute to greater happiness by
consciously working towards, if not attaining) an Economy of
Permanence.

All other animals conform, more are less rigidly, to

the laws of Nature. They do not have much latitude for
the exercise of their own ' Freewill'. They wor k under the
dictates of their instinct which tells them the \vay of Nuture.
Their path through life is like that of a railway train, 'fhe
rails, like their inst1nct: g 1ide the direction and course of
the trains. Without any further steeri11g, if nothing untoward
happens, as long as the train is kept iu motion, it is sure to
reach its destination travelling by night or day, through open
country or forests, over 11ill or dale
.
As soon as a chicken burst:; it~ way out of the egg-shell
it runs about in search of food and picks up grains that are
good fo r its nourishment . When fed , it. rests und er the winds
Of the inother bird, get:ing the needed warmth. It is n:!tutally
~ware of approaching danger and runs to shelter instantly.
Ii never overeats because the food may be palatable, nor g.oes
in pursuit of pleasure to gratify its seuses. All such life in con-
trolied by insti~ct and i1ot conscious volition.


M.\N AND FREE\\'ILL 11

Animals that Jive .cJ~ to nature seldom get ill and, even
if they do suffer from digestive disturbances occasionally,
,

. they eat certain herbs by instinct which set them right either
by vomitting or purging.
The main trouble \vith man arises out of the fact that he
is endowed with a 'Freewill, and possesses a. wide field for.
its play. By exercisi1g this gift in the proper way he can
. consciously . bring abo11t a much greater co-operation and
co-ordination of nature's units than any other living being.
Conversely, by using it wrongly he can create quite a distur-
bance in the economy .. . of nature and in the end destroy
hi:nself.
Instinct was compared to a railroad which unerringly
guides the coaches
. o.;i the .track, and does net allow them to
stray from the path or cot1rse laid out f<?r the1n . On the other
hand, the gift of 'Free,vill' allows for freedom of movement.
But all movements are not \vith impunity. It is like being on
a bicycle . Theoretically the rider is free to go where l1e pleases.
1'he steering ge:;i,r-the l1artdle bar-is full v under his control .
Nevertheless, his mo\ements are restr icted by the Iimita1;ions
o f the machine and t l1e d ictates of prudence. He ~ cannot fly
into the air, nor flo at
.
over wai;er. Even on land r he cannot
go everywhere,, He has to restrict himself to the beaten path
or road. If he tries to go across ploughed fields he 1nay be
tossed over the bars by the front wheel sticking in the rut or
. .
mud. I .f be tries to go over thorny weeds etc. the tyres will
be punctured. Hence, this theoretical freed om has its limita-
. lions and a wise rider will keep within bounds. This cons-
cious control of his movement requires discjpline and know-

 12 ECONOMY OF PER.M:ANENCE

ledge, without which th~ machine, which was intended to help

him, would be the means of bringing distress. A rider, who
uses the known road ci.nd tr2.vels by light of day, can attain
a speed several times that of which he is capable on foot.
In .the same way, man can accomplish much 1nore thao
the instinct-driven animals if he disciplines himself to the use
of his 'Freewill' to the pPoper sphere and does not let his
fancy run c_:1.\vay with his desires and senses. He can be a con-
scious agent of his own fate , n1oving either t o success or :to
destruction by following the light of day within . him-his
11ative intelligence combined with the spark of the divine. If
he d oes not do so Ii ke the rider of the bicycle who rushes in
. '
_ the da: k o r ventures over rough country, he will come to
g rief and will have to pay the penalty for sin.n ing against his
conscience and against 11ature. Nature is faithful and submi-
ssive t o those who res~ect her; .but to those, who of their
own 'Freewill' choose . to ignore her requirements, she is
sterner than justice and visits such transgressors with unrele-
nting punishme:i1ts of violence and death as areward for their
sins. I nstances of these we shall notice in the next chapter .

.
v
USE AND f\1ISUSE OF FREEWILL
The life of man today is so complex that it is not possi-
ble, within the range of this book, to take notice of all the
activities resulting from the exercise of his freewill. All that
 .
USE AND MISUSE OF FRl.E\VII..L 13

.
we can attempt is a limited consideration of a few outstan-
ding types~ directly arising out of such primary needs as hun-
ger, thirst ~tc., leaving it to the .reader t() explore other insta-
nces coming within his ken, and to judge for himself wha.t is
the proper use of freewill called for, and to .what result its-
i1nproper use leads on each of those occasions.
'
. .
Hunger: Let us ta ke the highly urgent call-the most
elemental instinct of hunger. The physical body of an ani-
mal is like a machine. It requires fuel to supply the necessar y
energy to run it, needs repairs and renewals to replace wear
and tear and to maintain it in working condition, and oil to
lubricate its various moving parts to lessen friction. These
needs are indicated by the feeling of hunger . .The sense of
smell and t aste direct the animal to the things that will sati-
sfy the need and keep the body in sound \VOtking order~

Generally, all animals that lead a natural life follow

their instincts.
.
They eat to live and are
- healthy. Man too can
do likewise. But, unfortunately for him, in many cases man
. uses his freewill, not to appease his hunger but to ponder to
his palate with overcooked and highly spiced savoury dishes.
The enjoyment of taste frequently makes him eat more than
is necessary. He lives to eat. This inisuse of freewill to
gratify his tongue is often the cause of most of the. ailments
modern 1nan is heir to . Over-eating not only taxes the
digestive system and causes irregularities, but, even nutritive
.f ood in excess of normal needs. becomes injurious and even
poisonous to the system and gives rise to all kinds of disea-
se reSulting in muoh pain and probably in premature death.
 14 EC0~0~1Y OF PERMANENCE

Thirst :
When food is digested, it is absorbed in
~

liquid form. The nutritive elements are carried by the blood

.stream to the regions \.vhere they are needed and the waste
from the body tissues etc., is also transported by it to the
lungs, where the waste matter is eli1ninated _by being burnt
up with the oxygen of the air we breathe in. In the process,
a good deal of the water of the blood evaporates and goes
out or the .system as moisture iil o:,ir breathing and also as
perspiration through the action of the skin, which last helps
to. regulate
.
the ternpera.ture of the body. This drying up of
the blood is signalled by the feeling of thirst, to quench which
a copious in-take of J?ure, clean water is vital to life, not
.0 nlY
as. a means of transporting nourishment to the. different .
. . .
parts of the body, but also as a cleaning agent o f blood, to
wash out. the impurities in it- through the passing out of urine
and to air-condition the system .vith the aid of the skin .

.
. By the .wrong use of will, ma11 displaces this natural
functio~1 by allaying his thirst with in~~oxicating liquors which
introduce various poisons into the sys~e1n. Tri.ese- deaden .the
nervotlS mechanism.
ai1d retard mental p owers and . finally .

become an impedime11t to sot.ind health. This habit often bri-

ngs dishonour to the individual and spells .ruin to 1;he family.
Alcoholism is the root cause of many evils and vices found in
modern society.
Smell : Si1nilarly, the sense of s111ell, which directs the
animal to its food, js r~ut to \\'tong use by inhali11g iobacco
-0.r t~ki:ng snuff whicl1, thougl1 for tl1c moment may seem to

soothe a~d stimulate, have l1armful after effects on the heart

.arid brain.
 USE .A..~D MISUSE OF FREE\VII.L 15

, Sex :Perhaps the strongest of all urges to activity in

animal life arises out of tbe natural mating instinct to ensure
I

reproduction and continuity of the species. Most birds and

some animals too, not only centre their colourful, emotional
life round this instinct, b:.-it also pair off and live i11 harmony
. .
to put forth a joint effort to rear t heir young ones. In all
cases t11e male a11d female come together in 11a~ure, at cert~.in
seasons only, for the .sole purpose of r eproduction ~

By the exercise of his will, mc.n has fallen below brute

beasts by putting his ph) sical sex equi-pment in th~ service of
1

'
sensual pleasure, \vithout any intent or desire for progeny.
Children, . instead of being the only purpose of sexual inter-
course, have llOW become a by-prod .
t\Ct and
.
in r.O.any
.
cases,
merely unwanted accidents of such relations. Nature 'wreaks
h,er vengeance for this depart ure fr om her ordinances by
visiting the sinners with such dire diseases as Syphilis, Gono-.
rrhoea etc. Not content with punishing the actual offenders,
Nature pursues even the innocent progeny of such rransgress-
ors from its path.

Imagination : Among all animals , t~e . faculty . to.

. '
project thought into uns.ee:i1 spheres, through the capacity to
imagine and to produce art \vould appear to be peculiar to
.
man. Instead of_ exercising th is faculty in the natural .way,
man calls in the aiJ of::;: ~ !ll!lants a11d narcotics like opium,
morphia, bbang etc. , to cause artificial exhilaration for. a
time. This drug habit, also like alcoholism, renders the vota...
ry unfit for an~' work and finally brings rui11 to the victim
~nd his dependents.
16 ECONOMY OF PERMANENCE

The Creative Faculty : Man comes . nearest to his

God. the creator, when he utilizes his brain power to marshal
mechanical forces to ser,:e his purposes. To do so ia a way
.
that will bring blessing and not destruction, he bas to follow
closely nature's way t') get the best out of it. We cannot get
the co-operation of nature purely on our own terms. Any
attempt to do so will bring violent destruction in its wake.
The natural heat r adiated from the sun evaporates sea
water. Leaving behind the salt, the fresh water vapour rises
high up with the energy absorbed from the sun, forming clouds
and condenses into rain in the cold at111l1sphere above. The
rain water falling on the hills has much potential energy .
in
it because of its altitude as the force of gra\'ity of the earth
' .
will draw it down and tl1~ land level will direct it back to
the sea finally.
.
While it is still
.
on the way to the sea as a river,
.
roan can, by bis intelligence directed by his will, devise
means of harnessing its en~rgy to do n1uch work for him . .
Early on its course, be can build a dam across the river and
store up its potential ene1gy and utilize it as, when and whe-
re he needs it, by using simpl~ watermills to grind flour etc.,
on the spot as they do on the hilly tracts in our country, or
by using giant n1ills convert the energy of the flow ot' water
into electricity which can be taken by cables to places hund-
reds of miles away for lighting cities, towns and villages on
the way and for supplying po\ver to work water-pumps,
electric motors etc. After all this, he can still use the outflow
water directed through canals, using these as highways for
boats etc., and to irrigate his cultivated fields. In this way he

can intercept the ~urrent and water of the river to bring
wealth and happiness to .hundreds, without violer.lce to natui;e.
 USE AND MISUSE OF FREEWILL 17

This is a commendable use of his freewill so to condition

his circumstances as io invite nature to cooperate with him
to work out her purposes on her own lines. She then blesses
him with fuller and richer life.
On the other hand, man often uses his will to interrupt
nature's working. He strays from her paths for bis own
enjoyment without giving any consideration to her laws.
For instance, he may use machi11es to polish rice and wheat
to make these products look pearly w bite to gratify his
ill-conceived a1ld misdirect~d aesthetic sense. In doing this,
he upsets the balance of harmony in nature . which has
carefully provided in a grain of cereal, the germ to afford
nourishment and a coating of bran to aid digest~on. Both
these essentials are lost in the process of polishing. Nature
punishes those who stray from her ways .
by eating polished
grains, by inflicting them with .Berineri disease which causes
much pain and death.
Similarly, nature blesses us with wholesome fresh fruits
like apples, dates, grapes eto. Instead of eating these as they
are, man extracts the juice and ferments it into cider, toddy,
wine eto., to exhilarate him artificially. Here again, as we
have already noti<:ed, nature deals heavily with those who try
to play. pranks with her in this way.
It is in pursuit of pleasure, and not in the fulfilment of
uture , that man uses. bis creative faculties in the manufacture
of contraceptives to defeat her provision for the preserva~
ti()n of the species. She comes down on him relentlessly, f 011
excess in this line ultimately leads not only to th~ loss a.f the
2
18 ECONOMY OF PERMANENCE

reproductive faculty but also to nervous disorders and deran-

g~ment of mind.

It is
.
needless to multiply instances of such malpractices
and deviations from naiure. Modern life is replete with them ..
.
Man, with his undoubted ability and enterprise, is rushing
headlong in pursuit of personal pleasure aad .
momentary and
fleeting happiness, approaching, at an alarming speed, the
precipice wl1ich will be his end. In so far as all such misuses .
of his free\vill lead to destruction, we enjoy a life that is
transient. It is contrary to the -enternal purposes of nature and
ultimately brings violence to the permanent order of things.
The.
noblest
- . .
faculty man possesses in excelsus is his ~apa~
city -for love and. to express it in the form of selfless service
to his fellows. We see . just a. glimpse of it in the inother love
of. nature. In thus serving his fellow beings, he functions in
the highest aspect of hi$ life and brings the divine spark_ to
earth. He dedicates his surolus- energy and transforms it into
the well-being and happiness of those in need of sll:ch help
and.. services.
_ By the misuse of will .
even this faculty is diverten from
.the. permanent blessed way ot love into one of selfishness and
greed, being transformed into love of material possessions,
His surplus energy if stored up i'or selfish considerations as
accumulated wealth. This will be detrimental to the owner
;when he gives himself 11p to enjoyment and luxurious living;
and such riches, when b~queathed, often are the causes of
~nfict between brothers and not infrequently are the instru-
:ments of sending hi& deseendents to ruin.
"

 VI
.STAGES OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT-

..
INDIVIDUALS .

we . have considered in an earlier chapter the .various

types of econorr~ies that ci.re found among sentient creatures,
both .in the vegetable a nd an ime.l kingdoms. I n this chapter,
:\ve shall apply those test s a.nd considerations \Vitl1 special
reference t o man and see ho\v and \vhere he fits in.
As all other creatures are committed to a set form of
life by the guidance of instinct, they cannot rise from one
form of economy to another by their own efforts. Their
1uode of life, from birth to deatl1, fi:i,lls \vithin a fixed pattern.
A member of tt\e p2.rasit~c group remains a p arasite all i~~
life. It cannot help itself. ,..\ leopard can no 111ore change its
nature than its spots. It perforce has to prey on other crea-
ture or. die. It is not responsible for the mode of .life it leads.
.

It is impossible for it to advance into either the Economy of

Enterprise or that of Gregation. .. .
As we have already noticed, man is disting11ished by the
gift 9f free\vill,. and, h~w, b)1 the exercise of ii, he can
change his enviro111nent and circuaJsta11ces with the help . of
the ir1telligence h~ is endowed with. Herein . lies the
. defference
.

between man a'ld ti1~ other orders.

A dacoit or robber, who belongs to the parasitic eco-
.nomy,. m~. y by cho..:1ging his mode of life become less
1 .
violent
and set hi;n self up as an absentee landlo rd who gets his reot
without any perso11al co.ritribution or l ~.bour, th us rising into
the next higher Eco;nomy of Predation

- 19 -
20 ECO!\O!\fY OF PERMANENCE

Or, be may decide to make an honest li,ing as an agri-

culturist or as an artisan, putting forth his own effort and
making a livelihood by the S\veat of his brow. He woulcl
then have cli1nbed into the third type the Economy of
Enterprise.
He may become a responsible member of a Hindu joint~
family, working for the dependent m~mbers and sharing the
i11come he enjoys \vith all the members. He would have
then reached the Eco11omy of Gregation. _
By developing a deep love for his fello\vmen, he u:iay
be transformed into a national \vorker, spending his best.
efforts in a noble cause, leadiag a simple and frugal life.
He would now attain a position . in the highest type-the
Economy of se rvice.
All this is within the range of possibility provided the .
needed self-control and discipline is forthcoming, and the
individual submits himself to the law of his being and steers.
his will power so as to attain that whicb is highest.
It will be convenient to summarize here the peculiar
characteristics of the various economies as they may apply
to man.
Parasitic Econo1ny : Leading type--a robber who-
murders a child for its ornaments.
1. Selfishness motivated by greed.
2. Intention : benefiting himself regardless of any injury
his actions may cause to others.
3. Harming , if . not destroying, the source
. of benefit.
4. Emphasis wholly on one's own rights.
5. Absence of recognition of one's duties.
 'STAGES OF HUM1\N DEVELOPMENT-INDIVIDUALS 21
.
'6.. Absence. of altruistic values.
7. Productive of violence.
Chief Test : Destruction of source of benefit.
Predatory Econo1ny : Leading type--a pickpocket
who robs his \ictim without making him aware of
his loss.
1. Selfishness motivated by desires.
2. Intent on his own benefit and attempts to attain it,
if possible without much harm to his victim.
J; Emphasis wholly on rights.
4. Little or no recognition of one's duties.
s~ Absence of altruistic values.
6. Productive of violence.
Chief Test : Benefit ~,i 1;h :)Ut contribution.
.

.Economy of Entei:prise : Leading type-~an agricul-

turist ploughs the land, manures and irrigates it, sows
selected seeds, watches over the crop and then reaps and
:enjoys his. harvest. .
'
:l . Motivated by enlightened self--iuterest and
atnbition.
2. His sense of self-respect demands his contributing
his personal laoour, thought and effort, taking only
the benefit so occasioned.
3. Venturesomeness and a willingness to take risks.
4. A desire to benefit co-workers,. and others too, if
possible .
.5. An attempt at a b~J ~.nce of rights of all.
~. An increasing recognition of duties to others.
2:Z ECONOMY OF PERl\-1:\NENCE

7,
Based on a sense. of justice and fairplay.
8. May occasion violence.
Chief Test : Benefit and contribution correlated, with a
readiness to take risk .

.
(
l

.
A ro'v of farn1ers plottghing eacl1 other s lie!ds it1 co-opcratio1t.

Economy of Gregation : Leading type--a member of

joint family \Vorking for the good of the family as a
whole. A. village puncha)'at or a Co-operative Society
working for the group it represents.
1. Motivated not by individ.:.ial self-interest but by the
" common i11tercsts of th.c group,
 STAGES OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT-INDIVIDUALS 23

2. Submission to the will of groLlp leading perhaps

to even self-abnegation and sacrifice of personal
interests.
3. Emphasis on the duties to the group.
4. On.e's contribution being regarded more important
than one's share of benefit.
5. Based on altrujstic values.
6. May lead to violence to those outside the group.
Chief l'est : Benefit to the group rather than to individual
member
.. .
Ecoomy of Service : Leading .iype~-a relief worker.
1. Motiv~.ted by the good of otheri even if the work be ~

seemingly detrimental to ielf-interest.

2. Pressing forward to perform one's duties uncons-
cious of one's rights.
3. B'lsed on love and deep desire to icrve without reward.
4 Brings non-violence and peace and makes for~per
manence.

-
~ 1
't i.
OlV~

. l ~"""'(
) tJ--

=
" Financiers living in luxury without producing.,vcalth
24 ECONOMY OF PERl\ti.\NENCE

-' -

Working of public utilities like Hydro-Electric generating station

Chief Test : Contribution \vithout regard to any benefit
received by the worker.

. .
Giving \Va.ter to a thirsty 'vayfarer \\'ithout expecting a reward
In every group of human beings community or nation,
we come across individuals that fall into these various econ-
 STAGES OF HUM..\N DEVELOPMENT- INDlVIDUALS 25

omies. In our own land, the ancient V arnashram Dbar ma

was based on a recognition of these types. The Sudras, who
are happy to serve as long as their animal are met and are
assured of an even course of life, comprise the first two types.
The adventurous Vaishyas are of the Economy of Enterprise.
The Patriotic Kshatl'iyas, whose one absorbing care is the
welfare of the State, constituted the Economy of Gregation.
Those, who were to render selfless ser~ice to the community
and
.
bold high
. .
the id.e als of the people with no material
benefit to themselves, \Vere the propertyless Brabmins forming
the highesi group.
Modern caste system has fallen far away from these
origin1I ideals to such an extent that it is difficul t indeed to
identify the original qualities of the groups designated now
by the same old name e>r title. A so-called Brahmin of today
may be a Judge of the High Court or a member of the I. C.
S. cadre working for the princely salary he is paid . However
conscientious or efficient he may be, such a person, in so far
as he receives material benefit w\th a permanency of tenure
of office with no risks, is by functio11 definitely.
a. Sudra of
the old ca\egory. If he is an industrial magnate he is a
Vaish ya. A selfless political leader, possessed by the ideal of
freedom for people, like Lokinanya Tilak, regardless of cost,
is a Kshalriya p.lt excellence. One, who pursues an ideal
ardently regar dless of consequences or results, ~mphasizing
the purity of the means used, rather than merely the
attainment of the end, like Gandhiji, may be termed a aeal
Brahmin.
. Possibly, to meet the conditions then p revailing, the
framers of. the Varnashram Dharma made it hereditary, thus
 . . . .
26 ECON0~1Y OF PERMANENCl.
.. . . .
rendering it rigid, The exercise of the fre_ewill of the fudivi-
dual
.. ~
in the
. ,,
choice of a profession
'
.
or calling was. strictly
limited
.
and curbed by the accident
. of his birth. Henceit
. is
that it has become a total misfit in the modern world with
its ff.tJ.idity of employment and occupations, mobility. of labour
force, rapidity of communications, facilities for acquiring skill
and te chnique of work and universality of education. What-
ever conditions may exist, the functional grouping will always

hold. Every encouragement needs to be given to those of a
lower order who ~ndeavour to rise to a higher stage.
The types we have considered are not always as distinct
as would a ppear from our treatment of the1n. Even the self-
same individual may, at various tinles, function diffe1ently
according to the nature of the motive that impels him
.. .
to act
of the morr1ent. The general classifieation will depend upon
the balance of his actious ~nd the goal of life which deter-
mines his philosophy and outlook,

VII
ST,.\GES OF HU\11AN DEVELOPMENT (Contd.)-
GROUPS OR NA1.IONS

Just as au individual can pass from one t)'pe of economy

into another, so also a group of.individuals, or even the
hu1riaO: race as a whole, can advance collectively from one
 .'
ST1\GES OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT 27

type of economy to another, emphasizing in its collective life

the peculiar characteristics of the econorny to which it belongs.
Therefore, it is possible to determine what stage of human
development a certain group or nation has attained by exami-
ning the traits that its collective life and its relationship to
other groups or nations discloses.
. '
For the purposes of our analysis we may divide the devi-
ous route civlization
.
has followed into three stages the
primitive or the animal stage, the modern or _the human stage,
and advanced or spiritual stage, With reference to five types
of economies we previously considered,- it may be taken gene-
rally that the first two types of economies, viz. the ,'Parasitic,
and the 'Predatory' characterize the primitive or animal stage
of civilization, the next two, viz. that of 'Enterprise' and
'Gregatioil' indicate the modern or human stage and the last,
viz. that of 'Service' the advanced or the spiritual stage. 1"he
first is definitely transient and violent, the second also is tran-
sient with a large element of violence, although also with a
growing deiire for permanency and non-violence, while the
last makes for peace, permanence and non-violence.
The Primitive or the Animal Stage ~ Those in this group
may be parasitic in their rela1ions to other groups or nations.
A parasite does not consider the rights of others or ho\v it
comes by what it needs, or what results follow from its acti
ons. Amongst animals, a tiger does not s~t down and weigh
the emotions of tb e lamb tt is about to pounce upon. It is
only intent on appeasing its own hunger for the moment.
Similarly, the hunter or fisher, without any pangs of conscie-
nce, kills his game or catch to satisfy his immediate need. In

28 ECONOMY OF PER.i\1 \ NENCE

the same manner, any nationaL economy, that depends for its
existence on the injury or ruin of another gro~p, is parasitic
in .its very nature.
. In ancient days, the Greek and Roman Empires, which
owed their grandeur to the tributes of other peoples and were
based on a system of slavery . were parasitic.
At the present time, all national organizations thl.t
d epend upon colonial production Or OU exploited labour are
Parasitic. The British Opium Trade with Chi11a, the British
Slave.
Traffic with the Southern States of America J king Leo-
pold's exploitation
. of the West African Estates, and the depe-
ndence of British manufactures on Indian markest are pa.za-
sitic in that they spell ruin to their victims.
There are others who are like the monkey, which enjoys
the fruits to produce which it has done n Jt hiag. B:.it still, it
does not injure the tree that yields the f rtiic but leaves it
unharmed so that it may produce soine more. The inonkey is
predatory.
In ancient. his!ory, there were men like Nadir Shah,
.
who
plundered temples and carried away surp lus idle wealth but
did not affect the weulth prodtlcing capacity of the citize11s.
-
Tl1eir raids were predatory.
l\llodern financiers
.
of New York, who hold
.
the South
American republics in tribute, are of this type. Shareholders
of pre};ent day joint stock companies, who draw their divide-
nds without contributing any personal effort in product.ion,
are also predatory. They share in the benefit but do not help
in the working. Similarly, the great cartels, trusts, and com-
bines, which through monopolistic control, get a greater share
'
 .
STAGES OF HUMAN D:!VELOPMENT 29

of .benefit in proportion to their contribution, are largely

predatory.
The Modern or Human Stage : The former stage was
based on a purely self-centred
. outlook ::i.nd on rights. .This
human stage shows signs of recognition of one's duties and
oft""n thei.:e. is an attempt to balance rights with duties. Naiions
in this stage strive to be content with the fruits of their ovin
labour without injuring their neighbour. Agricultural civiliza-
tions of India and China, supported largely by artisans purs-
.uing their vocations peacefully for profit, are typical of this
-
group of enterprise.
The Islamic culture, with its ethnical solidarity and unity,
where there is no distinction of colour, White, Black, R'ed,
Brown or Yellow, nor of estate-p~ince or peasant, is definitely
of the Gregarious type. The recent acquisitions to this group
are the Nazis CJ,nd Fascists. These are highly group-conscious,
though of a violent type, especially to those outside their
circl~. Nevertheless, they are gregarious in character and
have developed a high sense of duty to their own people.
Every member of the group m~rges his individuality in the ,
general interests of the whole body or organization.
The Advanced or the Spiritual State :: He.re the sense of
duty, .not only to those of the group, but to all creatures,
pervades the whole atmosphere. Most religions are levers to
attain this stage. They all advocate love of our neighbours and
service of the needy. They also point out how man, when
he deviates from God's \vays, sins and comes under judgment.
They warn people cf the allurements of desire and of the
danger of exerciSing our "ill to subserve wordl y pleasures
 30 ECON0~1Y OF PERM.'\NENCE

of the passing moment. As yet we have not evolved any

large social group which can be cited as an example of this
order. Though the ancie11t conception of the Brahmins was an
approach to this stage, yet, the modern sect, so called, is far
away from tl1e ide?.1.

It is this stage as a goal that Gandhiji is pressirig forward

to with .all bis might and main. The institutions he has spon- .
sored st1ch as the All India Spinners' Association. The All
India Village Industries Association etc., are examples of his .
practical atte1npts to translate his ideals into action. If he
succeeds, a non-violent Economy of Permanence would have
been established ushering in a civilization of lasting peace or
Ram Raj .9r Kingdom of God on earth.

' .

..

.. .' .

- ~ . . .

. ., . . .. ....


NATURE
I
. I I

Transiimt-Destructive P~rmanent-Creative

I
Based o.n rights, with the
I
Based on duties and altruistic g
~
absence of Altruistic Values values r:Jl

. I I ~
All creatures including man Caltured man 0::
I II I ---- ~, I . .. . . ...I --------1 -~
z
Parasitic Economy of Economy of Econon1y of Econon1y of Econon1y of ti
s~rvice
Economy Predition Enterprise Gregati on GregCJ.tion ~
.I II -I . ___ . ---r--.. . -.. I I
I ~
~
No contri- No contri-- No contribu- Contribution in excess of Contribution td
bution bution, or tion and share share without. a 11 y z
~
.I share in thought of
I excess of benefit
Harm to contribution
source of

benefaction ....
c..:>

VIII
SCALES OF VALUES
.
We apprais~ various things by comparing them with .
certain known or w ~ll recognized standards. There are also
different methods of measuring various kinds of . goods; we
reckon some by number, others. by weight, qua:.!tity or
length and so on. Solids like wheat, gur, iron are measured
by weight-tons, mauads, etc.; wood or timber as so many
cubic feet; bamboos by their number, cloth by the yard,
paper by the ream; bidis or cigarettes by katas or packets,
while liquids like oil are measured by the seer and kerosene
oil, ink etc. by thfj number of containers, as so many bottles_
.
Each standard has its unit accurately defined and the articles
-
to which they are applied are also -well known and accepted.
Nobo~-iy will go into a shop and order a thousand grains
of wheat!
Nature of Approach : 1n so far we judge things in
relation to ourselves we say it is self-centred and when meas-
ured against an external or abstract ideal and in relation to
others it is said to be altruistic. Most animals also judge
for themselves but their considerations are always self-
centred i. e., in regard to tl1e immediate use of a tbiog for
themselves. They do not have altruistic valuations. Similarly,
primitive man also has not much use for altru~tic values.
It is .the cultured or more advanc~d man that can take a
detached view of things. Jn fact, we may well say that a
man is known by the standard of value he uses .
32
 sc_-\LE OF V.\LUES 33..,

INDIVIDUAL Q_"f?. .SELF-CENTRED VALVES._

Typ~s
of Valu~s : In al I \valks of life \Ve a re~ cro11stantTy
:called upon to judge men and things. We st~te that the water
fro1n a well is fresh '1.nd pure; we may declare a flower to
be beautiful and we m~.y pronoi;nce a certP.in person's . condrict
.

as noble and good. These decisions all indicate c~tain sta:h;;.

dards b~b.ind them. \1\:hen a ma11 is kno\vn to judge correctly
always, w~ hold hitn to be a man of discerntr.ent... that is, he
uses appropriat~ ~nd accurate standards of valte. We may
group these standards l:l.s f)l1ysical or m~.terial, mental or
cultural and spiritu~.1 sta11d ards.
A merchant 'vill \'a!ue articles by the profit they v,;ill fetch
i11 h.is tr2.de. A worker, living on the margin of subsistence,
. \vill look at things from the use to \Vliich he can put them to
s~.tisfy 11i5 crying needs, food. clothing and. shelter. An artist
will ha\'e an eye for bea1tt}'.
on Tin1c, Fame, Acqtiisitivene~~.s etc. .~
1
Valuation !>ascd .

The guide ~t tl1e Cr:.iro IVLuscum valu~s everything .

frcm .
the
point of \'ie\v of tim~. He 'viii tell. t11e tc~urist that this Muin-.
my of Tutci.khamcn is so mr~ny thc~usa11ds of yefl.rs old, and tl1ci.t
of R?.111seys belongs to a period so m~.ny milleni~ before . Christ..
I-le will fo11dly 'expect 11is \ isitors to be highly impressed by
'
tl1e 8.ge of tl1ii1gs.
. .

At Rome or Florence, tl1e guide

.
will
..
point out frescoes,
mural I'aintings etc. . by t11c lv1~ts:ers.
like Michael .Angelo, oi
R uebons and th~ yisitor will ltave to accept t~t as. a .. ~t~mp
of
.". . '..excellence. . . ' . ._,
3
". . .. ..

.........
:
' : .

. : .
. .,

~ . .
34 ECONOlvlY OF PERi-.it.'\:\ENCE

The P?.riii(l.'lS pride the111s~I ves as b-:ing fine con11oisse urs

9f the b ~au :iful gardens, buildiJ.gs, art ?.nd literature.
Th ~ visitor to the Br i~ish Musei.1m will be introduced to
varieti~s of exl1ibits br(\ Ugh~ from Chin::i, l11<l i~., Persia or
Peru and will h~.ve to b ~ greatly i.nprcssed by the world wide
acquisitiveness of the B:itic;h.
As. o ae cranes up 011e's neck from the bottom of the
s:reets of New Yo1k to see the upper end of buildings
touc'.1ing the s.kY, the megaphone. will declare the cost of each
buildi:ig in terms of r1.1illions of dollars. The i1npecunious
foreigner will be str:ick dumb, not at the hoary past, nor at
the renowned architect nor at the beauty or rarity of the
e.{hibit but at the display cr colossal wealth.
N.o one stand.ird . is applied exclu. siv~ly in any one case
b :1t the m.iin emphasis is shown by the specia,l importance
attached to the partic:.-tlar standar d employed. The pilgrin1 to
the Taj Mahal does not wax eloquent over tl1e qu?.lity of
marble used. Are t11ere not better mar b1cs at Carrar " ? The
name of the architect may not even be known to him. The
age of the noble edifice is not av. e-i11spiring; but it is the
1

general effec:, the sight of the building in its setting, \Vhich

<;reates on one. an i1npression tl1aL is noteworthy, and cr..lls
forth spontaneous admiration wi~hout anyone having to reci~e
laboriously irs various high points.
H\:;re we h?.v~ given illustrations of many S!andc:i.rds of
values based on different considera~ions otl1er than the mate-
1'ial intr-insiQ value, like that of a gold-ring set with diamonds,
exhibited for sale in the show case of a merchant. A pic:ure
by 11otable artist does not owe its value to the cost of rnC1.terials
 SC_\LES OF VALUES 35

-cinvass and paint-which have gone into the making of
i~. Even an old, worn out shoe that belonged to a father or
mother m1y. be treasured by a fond son or daughter. This
tn;;i.y not repres~nt any marketable velue but still it has a
value all its own to the particular person.
'

In individuP.l or self-centred values there m~.y be no un1-
formity of intensity with which a thing may be desired. The
value of a thing may differ between persons. Even a univetsel
~.rticle, standardi~ed like money, will not neces~.rily represent
e~U?.lity in satisf~ction .. A rupee in the hands of a farmer may
represent one day's food for his family. The same rupee, with
. .
a clerk in a city, may be the satisfP.ction of seeing a cinema
show. While in the hands of a richman it may only mean a
tip to a waiter or to a taxi driver. From this it. may
.
be infer-
red that. the mere transfer of a rupee from a rich m~n to a
f~.rmer or poorer person \\ill of itself enhance the satisfaction
it is c?.pable of affording. And conversely, a rupee taken from
a poor m~.n and p~.ssed on to a richer ma11 reduces the sati5~
faction i~ c~\n give.

Eve11 in the ha1ids of tl1c sa1l'te idividual a . thing

-
does not
.always represent the same value. A boy may have seven jilabis.
Each ji labi m?.y be equal in \veight and contents, yet the.
s~.tisfaction one .jilabi will brit1g will not be the same as
~~nother. Ile will eat the first ji l.1bi \,rith much relish. Tlie
next one or two he will still enjoy. Then with each addi-
tional ji /obi eaten, the desire for more will diminish until it
reaches a point whcr~ it will be nauseating to thi lk of having
.any more. So the valt1e of a jila':Ji to the boy goes on dec:-ca-
sing. as the number consumed increases. This is the same
 S6 CONO?v1Y OF PEIUf.'\NE~ CE

ph~nomenon \\ e noticed with the rich m~.n's rupee. The inore

1

he has the less value a unit will represent.

Now when c:i. boy has eaten, say 6 ji labi and his desire
' .
for more h<!.s decreased while his thirst for water h?.s increa:- .
sed, he would gl~.dly swop tl:ie ~~venth jilabi for?.. glass of
water "' ith another boy who may 11ave a potful of it. Th at
1

glass of water will represent greater satisf~.ction to 11in1 than

the seventl1 jill!bi, wl1ile to the seco11d boy thEi.t ji !chi, wl1ich
is first to him ?.nd se\:enth to the other, will bring 111uch
relish. The exchci.11ge of goods-the seventh jiJ,~bi for 8. gl?.ss
of water brings more sci.tisf~.ction, profit or. gci.in to both the
boys, and if v1e can me".~ure the happiness the two boys b8.d
before (l.nd ~. fter the transa.cticn, \ve shall find th?.t though the
sum totci.l ef goods with both the boys remi:.ins the sci,me, yet
the (l.ggregc:i.te hi:l.fpiness ?.fter the exchc:i.nge is much greater
. than before it. Tb.is is tl1e basis of r~ll trr.dc. Both the btryer
and selle~ gc.in mutu~.1 Iy . Nobod);'s loss should be c<.nother's

gain.
ALTRU!~TIC Af~iD OBJECTJVE ~TANDARD~'
. .
Human \'alucs : Bcc~use of the conft1sio11 money excha-
nge c~.uses "1e find oursel'.es in m ?.ny enomalons situ?.tions.
Our economic sys:em gets ?. lopsided development. Our lands
.are bci11g ~l1ift-::d from food culti\'1.tion to the productio11 of
. r?.w ffi(l,tei ials for mills. People nre stci.r\ ll.1g due to the show
1

rt(l.f:,e of rice \vl1ile rice lP.nds ~.re made to produce oil for
1

soap-maki11g. In SC\'erc.l I\rfal?.b?.r \'illc>.ges p?.ddy lands acrec.ge

ha$ been reduced by 20 pe~ cent ?.11d cccontrt gro,es h<.v~
been
. . .plapted
.
. in those fields . . These ccconuts are sent to tr.e ..

.:mills _ f~r soap~making . ..Virtually

. . .
therefore, ri~e 1~.nds b.a,e.
'
. .
 ~C \LES OF \~_,\LUES 37

b-;en tu r11ed h,to 'Soap produci11g lands~ while the poor peo-
ple ?.re facing starvatio11 a11d 1nalnutr ition . The existence .of
such a state of affairs proves that 1noney v~.lues are not dep-
endable scales of hu .na11 r eed.
... ~ ' .
An econo1ny th?.t is b2sed purely on mone!~.ry or material
st~ndards of v2lue, does no: take in a realistic perspective in
Ti .11c a11d Space. Tl1i ; shortcomi11g le~.ds to a blind aJley of
\)iole11ce and des!ructio11 from \v11ich there is no escape. The
mor e ad". '1.nced i11 cul:ure a perso11 becomes) the less will he
1

be g uided .by such shor~-sighted peri:;h ab!c s:.andards of value.

10 lead to any degree of pcrma11cnceI the s!ci.ndard
.
of value
i:self rr!USt be based on some~hing apar;; from . the person
-~

valuing, who is afte r all perishable. Such a basis, detacl1ed

and i ldependent of personal feelings, controlled by idea.ls
\\rhi'.: h have their roots i .1 the permanent order of things, are
objective and
.
so are true and
.
reliable gtiides. An eco1101ny
. 1

basei OJ such values, will be a prerc:iuisi!.e to the achieven1e-

nt of per111anence.
M~ral Values : An i ldividual, who follows a moral .code1
applies standards whi;;h ha,e no material basis. A robb. '
er
.. .
murders a child 1 .takes .
away i;s . 11ecklace . and offers
.
it for
.

sa le, Who will car e to b:Jy that ne~klacc kno\viog the ..

.history
behi:1d i~ ? That o rnan1eni represe~ts, not merely so many
tolas of gold, b!lt the blood of the i111locent child. No one who.
abhors the murder of a child would wish to possess that arti
cle, 11owever cheaply it may be offered.
Si.nilarly, moral values are always att~.ched to e\'ery
a rticle exposed for sale in the market. We cannot ignore such
values and say 'busi 1ess is busi 1ess.' Goods produced under

38 ECONOMY OF PERM1\l\;E~CE

condi!ions of slavery or exploit~d labour, are s~ai~ed wi~h

the guilt of oppression. 1 hose of 1.is who purchase such goods
becon1e p~.rties to the axist.en.ce of the evil conditions t 11der
which those goods were made. Hence, there is a grave respo-
nsib il ity rest i Pg o.1 every one ~- ho enters in to co:n rn er cial
transactionsJ even though it. 1nay be 011ly to the extent of a
pice, to see to it that he de.es not beco1ne p'1.rty to circun1s!a-
nces thC1.t he would not consciously advcc?.te i1or \.vould c?.re
to sta11d by.
Ignoring moral considerations and iving free play to

greed, selfishn'"'ss and jealousy h?.\e been frui.ful sc.u1:ces of

global uph~avals. Afr.er th'! first \vorld wa.r th~ ' Co11querors"
u nburdened Ger1n'1.ny of her colonies '1.nd cl~.i1ned reparc.tjo11s.
to compmsate for the war dama~es.
Once agP.in .Germany has been v~.11quished along with
Japan. Their patents, dismantled industrifl.l e=ttJ.ipments etc.,
are being pooled by the allied countries. Our co.:.ilt ~y ~-lso
has been drP.gged into this sh1ring of the boot)'. 1 hu~~ ci,re
our hands stained wi!h the blood of this war ci.nd we are
guilty sharers of the injus~ice and cruelty attendent on the
doings of imperialist nations. Can s:J.ch transac~ions ever form
the basis of an 'Economy of Pcrmci.nence' ?
Social Standards : Society itself c?.n vP.lue the
b~efit it receives. It ci. ckno,vledge3 such values in the form
of the status it co11fers on different services re11dcred to it by
individu1ls or cl?.sses .
. For inst!l,nce, the respect attached of old to the f( Ut Cis~es.
is based on considerci.tio11s of scrv.ices to society. A Sudra,
who thinks of no one but himself and works to sci.tisfy his own
 SC.\LE5 OF V.-\LUES 39

personal r1eeds, is given har dly any public recognition. The

Vaishya also, who ventures out to acctrmulate material weal~h
for him!;elf, birt in the course of doing so does render some
service incidentally' f?.res li:tle better, though he is allotted ~
.
. slightly r1igher posi'.jon. 1 he Ksha tr i y~' who is much C011-
cc.rned \viili the protcc~i,Jn of the people commi~ted to hi$
charge and values his life less thfl,n the honour of duty done,
is assigned a noble s~ci.tus. \Vhile at the feet of the Br<':hmin>
\vho pursues a~1 ideal for itself, rega1 dless of lhe cost to his
physical existence, all including even royal princes prostrate
themselves. This is a c.ultur~l st tndard of values attamed in
our land thousands of )'ears ago; unfortunt1.tely, at present,.
tl1esc st1ndards have b~en eclipsed by tl1e gl:: re of mr.tc.ri~.1,
Vv'.e1lth 'ivl1ich is blindi11g but trci.nsient. \\'e hP.\'e to strain.
every nerve to g~t b1ck to the noble ide.ils bequeatl1ed to us
etnd !;he f0Jlo\\ i11g of which alone wil I lead to permr.nence!
1

.
Spiritual Appraisal : There is an incident recorded .
of how OJice K.ing David, one of t11e g1 e'1ter.t i ul-:rs cf the

Jews, \v?,S arra;ed ag.ainst his formid;}b)e eiJemies, the Phili
s!ines \vhose armies had encam?ed bet " een him and city,
Bethlehem. From his c1mp the King could see the well
. ,

outside Bethlehem t:eyond tl1e enemy ca1np. 1he King in a

sentin1ental mood exclain ed ''Oh, fe r a d.rink of cold water
.
from that well." So111e of tl1e valiant soldiers who hea1~d I

this wish of tl1e l( i11g set c.:.tt to f ulfil the roy~.l d.es!!e
1

literally. They risked thci r . liYes th:ot.tgh the t:.nemy cam:i!,.

ched the v.cll. . and brought b:-. c!~. t o tl1e King a p c t c r
t1l;.!,t well a 11d vl1ccd it t.cf;.:,rc l~ i;i1 . 1hc l<.i11g w2.s,
hcd tiy the dcvo.ivi1 and lo):aity c,f Llle so1d ier s
 "
40 ECON01vlY OF PER!vli\NE!'\CE

. who placed such little val :Je on their own lives and .ve11tured
fortli to sati:>fy the passi11g wish of their King. T he spirit11al
. .
eye of the king saw in. that pot, not pure cold v1c.ter, but
the life blood of the n1en who had gone to l)fOCi.lrC it. He
picke~ up tb.e pot and being n1uch mo,ed ~~id,
11
H~\V can
I dri11k tl1is ? It contains 11ot \vater but the blood of my
telovcd soldiers ? If I dri11k it, it \\'ill be a curse to ine. ~
pour it o:.it to God as their sacrifice and noble offerii1g."
The more our ac:ions are based on such spirit ual apprai~
s:1J whicl1 values objcc~s j :1 tl:.eir tr1,1e .se:ring a11d perspective,
1

tl1e purer our li.,es will be and s1J.rer will be tr_e fou11dations'
.of the road to an .
economy of per1na"1e::-ice, leadi11g humanity
t e> h appiness and peace through the med iu;11 of 110:.1-viole11ce.

VALUES
f
r
Self centred
I
Alt: i.i is::ic
1
I I I 1 I I
Phys!cal tvlaterial Em )tional Moral Social Spiritual
j I I
Sa:isfies Satisfies Sati$fies

j)11mary artificial ment:al
i1eeds wants desi:es
 IX
VALUATION
The standard of VJ.lue applied and the me::hod of val1.1 1.;.
tion used im~ :ess tl1ei r c!1ar.lcteristi ~ trait 0~1 their users.
l 'he spirit of. t 1e inost predomi';1e11t value thlt prevails
.amongst a pe0ple wiil col;Ju r a w11ole ci vi l izR~i on for ccntu-
ties. . l!ence the grc2t impo r.t~.nce of cl1oosing our standard
conscio:.tsly and dclibcr::i.:,el~/.
.
The old civiJi.-i; at;o11s of Egypt. Babylon, G : ec(;e and
Rome ~;re no more t o tell their t?,lc. The'i have vaniJhed after
;a few ce:1::uri0s of b : ief, glamo;ous splendour becci.1is as the
1,;

stindards on whi;;h they were b:.iilt \ve.-e p::cdo.ni'11e:;,1tly self-

ce.1tred and transi~nt, their whole organiz ation a11d syste:n
were .poi3oned by the jJsti:ution of slavery and e.{t()rtion of
t :ibutes frc,n subject races, as \Ve :i1otcd in pas5ing i-;-i t11e last
. .
~.hapte:. No doubt, il1e G.-ecks and the Romans have left
i .1delible ir1a rks of the:r e.notional and self-ceJtred outlook
.and values ii1 thei: scul:ptt.Jre) art ai1d l iterat:1re. These are
. . .

'~ut heirloo1ns for their de.5ceJdents to 'h;.tg and cherish a

4ead p~.st. The.ir civilization is no lo11ger a liviug force.

In strik.ing contrast .
to these, tJ1e equally old, .
or even
<>Ider civil ;zations of Cl1ina ai1d India, \vhich were found.ed
.on altr:;,istic ru1d objccti\ e values,, testify e,en to this day,
1

.thei.- \'itality '1 D ;J otl1er attributes of permanence and non-

violence ii their organi~ation. Modern worldly wiseacres n1ay
throw cheap gibes at the other worldli .
-.ess and
.
the religious
.

- 41 --
42 ECONOMY OF PERM.~NENCE
. .
trends of the orient. There ls nothing to be apoJoge:ic in this.,
which after all distinguished a progressive human being fron1
a prowling beast. The enduring qualities of these civi;i.~ation
are pointers to the grc.lt farsighr.ed s~;andards of value our
forefathers had made use of, in lay;ng the foundations of a
lasting . society. If we are to contin!..'.e <.O b!::ild on. their lines
of permanence and non-\ iolence our standards too mu.&t be
.
1
I

altruistic and objective and no~ tho5e that serve inerel)' the .
needs of the moment. Especially at the presen~junc:ure, while
political organiza1.ions are in the melting pot and so n1uch
tho~ght is being put into the plans for the f1,1ture, we have to
be on our guard.
.

Ui1fortunately for the present age, the parties tl1at are
playiilg the star roles on tl1e world are wielding rn r..i.1ly, if
not solely monetary s~andards, which are fleeting iil . th.eir
effect and inflt1 ence. Everywhere, we hear talk of 'Higl1
standards of living,'' Raising the national irico111.e ,' 'Increa~ing
1
productive power and eff. c.iency,' N1c-,ki 1g it pay i11 the.
modern world of competition' and a 5core of s~:ch arres'.:ing
. .
slogans. The prevailing school of economic thought is built
on the. quicksands of Profit, Price, Pu.r chasing Power and
Foreign Trade, There is no thought lost on the deeper thing&
of life that mark our man from the other orders. If al1y-
.tbing, there is even a daogerous tendency to treat with
contempt any 1ne,1'.;ion of human or spiritual values. Hence
. the n~ed for caution.
A few .specimen applica~ions of 1nodern methods of LYieas
ure:nent to some of tl1e treas:.1res that have been barided down
to us will disclose how absurd these so-c;illed uptodate 1netl1-
ods are i.1 that setting.
 \ 7 :\LU:\ TION 43

-1he Director of the Pot~ery \\7orks, a fter examining a

r are ~pecime!1 0f Cb.iJesc 11and-painted . vase, \Vill exclaim
''What. ! tl1is article took so long to make. Why I can
produce a tr1ouand pairs o f sucl1 ' 'ases in a m onth. ' 1
I ' 1
The L!thograpl1 expert visiting tl1e Ajanta caves, \VDlCll
co ;1t ai;t. some of the 111cst ,vonderful n1ural . rainti11gs. and
frescots i1 the world and \vl1icl1 mitst have taken decade~
or even centuries to produce, \vould pro mi s~ t o t tirn out
thousands of copies of these n1a5terpieces in a matt"r. of
few weeks!
The cil se"ds mercha~. t \vill bewail the \vast~ of acres
of fertil~ land at Sl1alirria r Ga rd~ns, which, if plact:d ur..der
cultivatio1, rnig'.1t pr0duce tl1 ousands of ni.aunds of ground-
nuts every year !
Seeing the a.ncient mani!scripts, styled on p~.11~ I aves,
w hi cl1 11?.ve i nspired ma1y schools of Philc.sophy aP.d h(l.ve
h~lpt:d to mculd lasting civili~ations, the publishing . 5e. i ~
will wonder
. at the inf-:rior . 1n aterial used and will go on to
quote estimates to bring out a'.l edition of it printed on 'Bond,.
p~.per at Rs 5 /- per copy !

A c,,ntractor, who supplies tea table to Irani res!:auran:;s,.

will conde.lill the waste of good marble on a tomb at Agra.
He will co .npu~e how ma:ly thousands of table tops lOJld
have been made out of the tons of serviceable marble used
up ii building the Taj Mahal, .
An expert cerr.ent co11crc!~ archi;ec: from New York will
. '

stand aghast at the val:)..ible ti.ne los1: at Ellora in carving

out three Storeyed tc~nples out of livi,1g rock with. elabora:.ely

chiselled figures adorni 1g tl1e pillars etc. He will be quite.


44 ECON01'v!Y OF PER1v1.-\?\E~CE

i~11able
,
to appreciate the grc;it knowledge of geology which
e11abled tl1e ai1cients to select those rocks as flawless
for such 111asterpieces of sc :~Jptu re, &.nd the deep devotion th~t
has gone i11to the n1aki:ig of tl1em. He will p ri1e himself Oil
the 60 odds:.oreyed struct11res at Ne\v York, b~ilt like s:>
}nany kcror.ene t in packi"1g cases, 11eaped one 011 top of
~;11other to reach up to the h eavens, at a frac:ion of the ti.n e
it took t v carve ou: these ' pri mi!ive' tem~Jles. He may even
llrOn1ise to reproduce, wi:l1i 1 three m :J11~hs, the Kailash tc.nple
-of Ellora i11 good reinforced conc;rete ftom plas~:er cast t1ke11
fro.n the a11cie11! n1onument, at a f racticn of the . cost of the
origi11::1 l !
A raceh:Jrs~ dealer wl lki:lg i~1to Sevagram '\\ill forthwith
1)roceed t o eval u:ite G andhiji by 1coking i11to his 1nou:h
exa111i11i'1g his teeth ( which do not exis1: ) . He \Vill 2.ssig"J. hi.n .
to the Pitlj t,ipole as bei't1g ~~ipe:aaut.~a::eJ and lJ.5.eless .
The absurdity of the above valuatioi1s is 0 11 a par wi;h
tl1at of the golds l .ith who wa lks i1to a rose garden and begins
e,xa1nii1ing the flo'"'ers-will1 a to:Jcl1s~one-thc 011.ly mctl1od of
appraisal k 11owa to him .
. All these ludicrous si :!lations oriJinate from applying the
~t-i:cr ia of one economy to a11other. For example the race-
horse dealer, who belongs to the Parasitic Econo1ny, misapp-
ijes the
. only standard he is f .imili1r .wiL h . to one \vho m:.!st
be j :.tdged by c2.no~s that prevail in th~ Economy of
Servisc.
.
As prcse-11:eJ above tl1cse appear too ridictilous to be
true, yet actual life such valuations are being insisted on,
iil

llOt by ignorant tradespe,);>le but by great scholars iss:.ii:1g

 \ TALU.<\ TIO~ 45-

forth from the renowned . universities of .the world. The

universi~ies 8.re used ?,s hotbeds for raif.i1g theorists who wilt
ra!ionali"?:e and support the modern iadus!rialist belonging to.
the firi:t three economies~of Parasitism, . of Pr.edation and
of Enterprise.
Every solution of c:i. problem \Vill be tes~ed by the1n on
.th.e universal touchs.~onc of :will it pay' ? If a mother n1ak es.
balva at her ho use, for her children, with the purest of ghee>
Prof. Dr. Wiseecre will ask the mother irnrosingly 'If you
do not adulterate the ghee with some vegetable fat how. can
you compete in world markets '!'' He will advise the mo::her
to compute her cost of rn~.teri'.il l adding to it a cert8.in 8.mou nt
indic~ ting . the cost of the time the mother spei1ds in the
prcpar a:.i:>n .o f the sweet. This addition, he 'vill ins;st, is in
the interests of _scientific acc!.lracy . Then he will w~n! her to
compare h~r cost so arr i\ ed at \V i~h ~he 'n1ar ket price' per
1

seer. The sin1ple 1nother ~ 1 ill reply, ''\Vh?.t ~re \VOr ld

markets ? Where a!e they held 'l I am only . mak.ing this fo1
my children to eat. They must h?.ve the clea11est and purest of
. things. I am not intcres~ed in the_ m arket price or .in the,
scientifically computed cost per seer. H ow c6n I char&e up
my time ? Is not my whole life .dedicated .
to . the welf<l.re
.
of
my fami1y ?'' Dr. Wiseacre \Yill te (;Stounded at the coloss 1
igr~ora11ce of the rudiments of economic science .d isplayed by
this 'Pri111itive, unculutred woman.' 1he pri11ciples of. the
ecoomy of service perv(ice the home, . and the mother being
imbued with i!, judges her own action .accordingly; w.hile
the Professor is rr1isapplying the methods prevC1.l((nt in_t11~
Economy of Predati'?ll to one on .service. basis. H has been
46 ECON OMY OF PERM~~"\E:\CE

famili1rized in such me:hods, under laboratory conditions of

isolating all dis!urbing factors, to think in terms of one parti-
culars principle only, regardless of the environment. [-lowever .
. .
excellent such processes m~y be as inental gyn1nastics, they ill
qu1lify hi~ to judge in the O:Jtside world, where S!.lch simpli- .
fi~d and artifici \l conditions do not exist.
A Professor of Physics, who has veri1ed every princi;>le
Qf Dynamics by experiments conducted in his elaborately
. .
equipped l 1boratory, may well st:ite that pieces of paper fall
to the earth ~.t the s:ime rate-3 2 ft. per second as bi~s of
tead or other heavy met~ls. Any school boy 'Yill challenge
this staterr1ent. He will say, ''Well, old man, you .do not
know wh:it you are t~Iking abo.u t. I throw i::ebbles into our
.village
well and \vatch the;n strike the water at the bottom..
I have also let pieces of paper fall into the well. The pebbles
. 0 down to the w?.ter .strai~h~, \V hi le the bi:s of pafer keep
flying in the air and sometirr.es eveJ get blown right outside
the well. I have been flying paper kit"!S \Vhich rise so that you
~anhardly see them. I be~ you cannot fly lead ki!es''. .No
doubt, the learned professor is correct in his own simple
laborat_o ry under artificial condijons, with vacuum tubes
where there is no air resistance; but the boy's simple words
a re wisdom in
the outside complex world as i~ is found. There
a re a hundred and one conditi:)fiS that e11ter into the conside-
ration of any problem. For a pro~er valuation, all those
prevalent factors have to be taken into account before deci-
ding. Of~en values
in le.is! evi'de11ce a!e the more lasting,
while those that. are most obvio:.is like money values are
the leas~ im2ortant from oilier considerations.
 '

VALU ..\TION 47

A Professor of E. conomics will say that price mccb2.nism

~ontrols sti-pply a 1d de_nand, the cheaper the article the
greater the de.nand and so on. Is this always true ? In the
-outside world 'the econon1ic man' does.
not exist. A. woman,
who wi.;hes to buy a s?.ree, does not call for . the cheapest
arti\;le. She has her own ideas of colour-co:nbinatioa., textu1e
etc., and

she wot1ld purchase that which fulfils most of l1e~
notions. Similarly, a prince who prides on being exclusive,
may b!!y up a whole stock of ties of the same pattern that a
deale.r may have, so that no one else may te seen \vearing a
ti~ like hi'J. A.gain, a petroleu-m company may buy up a pP.tent
of a veget1ble oil b:.irning lamp paying a fabulous price for it,
and le1ve the pateJ.t unexploited in a _pigeon hole in its office,
to prevent anyone else bri .1ging o:.it a lamp that may adver-
s~iy ?.ffect the sales of its kerosene oil by creating a dema11d
for ~. substi~ut.e. Such and many other deviations from the
acade1nic standards of economi;s there are that vitia:e our
unc011d iti0nal acc~ptance of them .
'
The criterion used will ha\e to suit, not only the parti-
<;1,! lar case but s:10:.ild also fit into the economy as a wl1ole.
A person garbed i r th~ western style may hold What Kh adi
at Re. I a yard is exi:ensive while mill cloth sells at as. 12 a
yard. Here the c: ite!ion ignores the setting. The . Khadi lo\ er ,
jf ZL \ illaf;er, will ha,e grown his own cotton, gathe1 ed it,
1

-cleaned and spun it in his leisure time ~.nd had it woven by his
neighbour-the \!illage weaver~ He \\ill wash his own clothes,
:Sit oil the .floor and have such . other habits as fit into the.
viltage econo1ny as a whole. While the c;:ritic may ha\e to
pay heavily for tailoring charges of his suit by a c~mpetent
48 ECON'O:Y1Y 01~ I'ER~-f .\NENCE

tailor and for laun.de ring his clothes by a prefessionaI

dhobie as he cannot afford to ruin the crease of his.
svits by sitting on the floor, l1e needs a ch air to
sit on and
that calls for a table to "''Ork en and other chairs to offer
to his visitors. His \"\1ho:e n~1ethod of jivi11g becomes compli'-
cated and expensiye. T8.ken in this setting who can say t11at
a few annas extra i;er . yard. makes the KhCl.di way .
of .life-
expensi\e, .e \en apart from other sc.cial considerations ?. We
c~.nnot isolate one item cf cost a11d compare it with another
:Agure sep8.rated from its setting. Often the ,-alue of a gem lies
n1ore in its setting in the jewel than in itself. We h;,..ve to
consider the whol~ backgrou.n d of an economy under eci.ch.
~ype . So far we h~.ve deC1.l t \vith valt~ation fro1n the point of
\iicw of the u~er or the consum~r,
.
. ' 'Can cottage ind ~; stri~s exist in a rracl'iine age ?'' is a
question one often hears rci.ised. Tl1e full consideration of this
question 1nay h~.\c to be deferred for a l:: . ter c ccasion b.: t it
ir.ay te pc intr-d out here that 'cottr~ge ind ustries' is not merely
a n .ethod cf prod L'. c;.ion b;,'. t stands for a t)1 r_:e~ of c:conor11y of
which it is ai1 integral rart j ust as 'La rge scale production'
. .
for1ns part of another type of eco11cmy. The question posed
above rC'solvcs its~lf ir:.to asking, which form of economy is
,
prefcrab:e, ,vhich again \\ ill (~pend on what o~~r objcctivrs
1

are ~.nd tl~ is ~-il l finally .mean what our standards of value
in life . arc . TherC'fore, ''alues and valuation are the pair
that drci.w. .
the cl1ariot .of Human Progress. They / in the final
analysis, detern:ine tbe direction to be t'a kcn-eithet tow~.rds
perm'ane:cce and ncn-\iolf-nce or tc'''f.rds transience : ~.iid .
violen.ce. Hence it is imrer~.ti~. e to be '1.bsolutely clear
 V ALU.~ TION
.
on these two factors, confusion ia our standards an.d ai.n
leads to ruin.
In Travancore th~y make beautiful sofi, white, mats out

of split screwpine leaves. In that part.
of the country .
each;
hut stands on its own land and is surrounded and protected
by low mud compound . walls on which these screwpine
plants are grown. Once while on tour i.n that locality we
halted to inspect the making of these mats. The he?-d .mat~
weaver of ~he village-a musalman came .t o explain to us
the various processes in which men, women aud even children
of the fam:ilies took part. Then he led us to three or four
other houses to see others also at work. All the time he was
with us be was chanting but one chorus, 'Why is it that our
ind nstry does not flourish at present as it did in the times .
of our fathers who, following this very occupation, became.
wealthy enough to build these two storeyed houses . while
we, their descendants, cannot even afford to repair ?'' After
we had seen all that there was to be seen,. as it was
midday, this man entreated us to accept his hospitality. I
asked 1ny two Brahmin companions what they felt about it.
They said they would have no objection if the. food was
strictly vegetarian. Our guiae 1 on being tolJ of this condition.
said. that although he would like to have meat, his poverty
would not allow of it and, so per(orce. he was obliged to be-
a vegetarian. Besides, as our ~it was not previously arranged
.or ~nnounced, we had to take pot-luck and he would place .
be(ore us whatever had been prepared for the family. . -H e :
warned us that the food would be just plain rice and dhal
.'
4
 . ECONOMY OF PERMANENCE
.
and pickles, but he a~sured us he would be highly pleased if
we would partake at bis house even this frugal .fare. We
a~cepted his invitation more because of his importunity and to
see for ourselves his way Qf living at his ho&ise than because
of 0,ur need, and so we repaired to his home. While we were
ltaviilg a wash he gol the varandah prepar~ for us tO sit
down to our repast and all the w bile he was reciting the same
old query about the cause of the decay of the industry. I
was raking my mind as to what answer to give him. Just then
he called us in to take our seats. I was shown . to the middle
. \
ieat, being considered the chief guest, and my two compa-
nion& were assigned seats on either side of me. For these t'W{}
scrcwpine asan3 we1e placed and as _I glanced. at the seat
meant fQr my augi;st perSOnage, I exclaimed, ''I now know
why your industry is Ianduishing aud you are facing ruin.
The fault lies in yo:.-!r scale. of values.'' He implored me to
explain how that was. 1 asked him. 'where did you get
these asans spread for my companions 1' ) He replied, ''Sir,
they are specimens of the humble labour of my hands. I
made the1n." Then I enquired, ' 'Where did you get this mat
that has been spread for me with this tiger. printed on it ?''
He said ''That ~ a Japanese mat I bought in the bazar.'' I
then explained, ''Considering me the principal guest you
thought of hono'1ring me by seating me on this Japanese mat
while you provided my friends with your own handi-.
work~ This shows you valued the Japanese mat m<>r
than your own produ~t. If you yourself do so, ,can you
blam' oUler.doing likewise 'l If many others follow your
method of valuing foreign articl~ they will also cease buyin:
 VALUATION 51

4ocally
. .
made scre,vpir.e mats. How can your industry flourish
.
with all your old c;1stomers gone? Are you not the chief
j1 . c~lprit
to destroy
. .
your own trade '?''
With folded hands
.
he accepted the
reasoning and
forth with
,, rep laced
the J~panese mat
by one of his own
make.
The use of for~ign articles deprives
our people of employment ,.
-
Here is a picture in miniature of what is happening all
-0ver our country. The standards by which we judge are not
tcomprehensive enough. We are often led away by low money
prices ignoring the great gashes in our economic and social
-orgaoizatio:\ made by such shortsighted choice of ours. The
:g<;iods produced by our own neighbours have values which
.
.:are not represented in the money price. The money value is
most often the le~stimportant of all considerations. although
frequently, it is the sole factor that affects our decision. Such
pur~ 1no:.1etary co;i5iderations 1nay lead t9 the blasting of the
ramifications of our social order and spell ruin and distress

all round. Ivloney value blinds the vision to a long range

:Social v1ew, so that the wielder of the axe fells the branch
-on which he is standing, He is the contributing party to his
,own destruction and fall. Hence and unfettered long term
policy' which w1ll ensure permanence. calls for the appli-
52 ECO~OMY OF PERMANENCE

cation of objecti\ e criteria, taking into consideration not

1

merely the i1nmedi1te solution of a problem but also the

more lasting aftereffects which may follow in the yake. No.
act
..
of a single individual ends with an isolated transaction
It ha$ its repercussions right through society, though many
of us do not have our sight trained to perceive what follows.

1n its train. - .
. A secretary of.. a co-operative .society was enumerating
the benefits his organization had conferred on its members
by marketing the honey produced by them. Proudly, he took
me to show me a farm where the owner bad domesticated
about 30 colonies of honey-bees in simple hives ..constructed.
out of old mud pots. The bees seemed ve.ry active. Hundreds:
of pounds of honey were being . sent by this fa:rmer to the
society
.
for marketing. I was much impressed by .the recoun- -
ting of aJl . this achievement and how. much money it had
brough.t i.n. Just then a little girl, a child of the owner, came
in running. I asked her if she also knev. what these honey
1

bees were so busy about. She said they W('.re making honey~
I next enquired if she liked honey .. She looked blank ..
Thinking she did not understand my question, I repeated it
in another form saying ''Donrt you like the t::i.ste of honey ?''.
She startled me with ''I do not know what it tastes like." I
turned r ound to the owner and enquired if he did not give
his own children any honey. He gave me what he thought
to be a perfect ans~er. ''How can I afford to use it at home
when I get Re. 1/- per lb. at the society?'' My appreciative
attitude vanished and I remarked to the elated secretary of
the 6ociety 1 ''Your work is damned when this child does not
 VALUATION 53

know the taste of honey. By offering high prices you are

enticing away this honey from the mouth of this child to the
overladen tables of
the rich''. The story is
. .
the sa1ne everywhere
with eggs, milk and
other articles with
high nutritive v2.lues . .
In the N. W. F.
Province, where eggs ,
were once largely
produced and locally
consumed, the con-
sumption of the local
population has fallen
considerably since the
..
Milk produced by ,-illagers is t aken to be sold inilitary authorities
in towns 1ea\'ing the village children . .
without this nu~riti\'e arti cle of deit . of Rawalp1nd1, Quetta
and Ambala began to draw on these supp.lies.
Money valuation benumbs the faculty for . the bener
appreciation of higher considerations, and results in a transa-
ction which may he a gain to one party, but lc1ds to irrepa..
rable loss to the other. Instead of drawing on surpluses ( as
we noted in the last chapter in the exemple of the boy with ..
jilabis ) it helps to drain out vital sustenance, thus causing
grave social loss which is not apparent ~.t the moment. It
was the monetary mechanism that was at the bottom of the
great Bengal f,lmine of 19-43. It snatched a.vay life-giving
 ECONOMY OF PERMANENCE

clements from the mo'ijth of the starving pop.ulatiorf before

they wre aware of it, by giving them valueless p aper notes.
representing frozen credi~ at London. Let us - take this.
terrible disaster
. to heart and }earn the lesson it has to. teach
us, reminding us, that there are other and more vital
considerations in this life than money with which to measure:
values.

x
LIFE, LIVING AND EXISTENCE
Has life any significance '1 Does it convey any meaning ? .
What constitutes it '1 mere existence 'i
We have seen that man is distinguishe"d from the lower
orders by the possession of Free will. Therefore, what a
m an is, is declared by .the way he exercises bis will interpre-
ting his scale of values. Thus eventually, man is what he:
prefers to be. Man by his living, gives expression to-
. '
.h is faculties and we t.erm the resultant his 'Personality".
(Life is .the means b~ which man dev~J ops himself and. it is.
that which affords h1in the opportunity to exp.ress himself
" . v--
through his creative faculty. Hence the great importance..
that has to be placed on the ay people Jive or have to live)
Life then becomes the great canvas on which man, the:
artist with his peculiar brand of paint of ma ny valu~s~ ..
and the firm strokes of his brush of freewjll, brings into
existence his indelible work of art, which he will leave:
behind him to help or retard human progr ess. lf ~e uses.
a large mixture of self~centred values, which ate like water-
colours that may wash out or fade away with age, his work
 LIFE, LIVING AND EXISTENCE 55
.
will not attain a h igh degree of permanence and will be
disfigured by violence. On the other hand, if he uses
mainly altruist1c or objective values, which are like t he
earth paints used at . Ajanta that have retained their freshness
through the centuries, then his masterpiece will go down
from generation to generation with i~ message of permanence
and non-violence.
Such being man's opportunity and responsibility, he
cannot afford to leave his life meekly in the hands of others.
Each man is responsible for the. way he lives. He cannot
- ..
substitute for his masterpiece cheap lithographs supplied
wholesale, with frame and all complete, by the manufacturers.
/The standardized production of large scale industries
. to-day, more or less lays down the way people are to live
instead .of consumers calling for .the type of goods they
want, the producers press, whatever they make J on. .... . ..Jhe
~ '

passive public. We cannot discharge our responsibilities

by re1naining passive. We need to be up and doing. (
vThe two great ~lobal wars, that have been visited on
this generation, are witnesses to the destructive nature of
modern institutions and organizations. Even science, which.
by its very nature, ought to be objective and creative, . has
been prostituted by being turned into an abominable
engine of destruction. Instead of standing rm footed
on the rock of permanence and non-violence, eminent
scientists have been engulfed by the river of violence in
spate, which is carrying death and ruin through the fair
fields of human progress and civilization. They eomplac-
ently claim to be on neutral ground. This is selfdecepti.Qn.
 ECONOMY OF PERMANENCE
'

. There is no neutrality. Either we are creative or destructive.

By the exercise of their freewill, they have chosen to serve
.the latter end and hence great is the destruction thereof.
Material destruction, immense a~ it is, is the least part
-0f it. What is bemoaned above everything else is the irre-
placeable loss. of young promising lives. If a tiger should
kill a great scientist what is its gain. and what is the loss
to humanity ? The man-eater gets perhaps 120 lbs. of
.flesh, bone and blood. The nutritive value of these can well
:be replaced . even from the vegetable kingdom : if tl1e
digestive apparatus were adapted to it. On the other hand;
. what humanity loses is not so mucb the flesh and blood but
.the higher faculties which are the resultant of generations of
culture, expressed under changing values of life and action and
which are of no use to the tiger, w~ile the loss is an irrepar-
able one to mankind. That part which is noblest aad highest
and which works towards permanence is lost by the parasitic
act of the tiger) whose gain is but transient. The flesh and
. .
b lood have gone to appease i~ hunger for a few hour~ at the
:cost of an eternal loss as a heritage. The higher life of the
scientist comprising knowledge, creati?n and love has been of
no use to the prowling beast .
.../ In the same way, the loss to humanity occasioned by the
millions of lives sacrificed in these wars cannot be computed
by human effort. The clock of human progress and civilization
is set back centuries by such holocausts.
Again, which hort.iculturist will hew down a graft mango
tree. that yields . good fruits for the sake of firewood '! Yet
.
in an is so foolish i.S to offer his children as gunfodder and is

 LIFE,- LIVING AND EXISTENCE 57

even proud of doing so. Such is the potency of propaganda

glorifying violence.
It may be mentioned here in passing tb at apart from
sentimental or. religious feelings and considerations. of such
principles as violence and non~violence, slaughter of animals
...
for food stands condemned by the above reasoning.
.. .
While the
meat-eater gets the flesh, which can easily be substituted by
nutrition obtainable from other sources I nature . loses 'v aluabie
. '

expressions of ins:inctive life--the song of birds, the love of

animals etc. which often excel the fitful exhibits of man a11d
ar~ eqnally as irreplaceable .functions as the creative faculty
in man. Flesh~ating, therefore, belongs to the parasitic Econ-
omy of Transience and causes avoidable destruction. It low-
ers the 'habitne'. to the lowest order of existence. which has no
dignity attached to it.
Applying these ideas of life to the five forms of econo-
. 1nies, with special reference to the creative faculty of man, the
Parasitic Economy becomes the House of Imitations,, the Pred-
atory .Economy gives us the House of Adoptions, while the
--
Economy of Enterprise will assume the form of the House of
-
Material Creatio~and the Economy of G regation forms the '
- ~
House of Social Innovations, a\d the Economy of Service
which enables its devotees to ro ect themse . ife
o .
qt ers. may b~ termed the House of Sublimation.
>
The House of Imitation : Those who fall .. within this
group do not trouble to contribute anything .themselves but
take whatever they can from others' creations by closely imi-
tating them. The guiding characteristic still remains self-love
and pleasure-seeking by the .easiest route. J.n effect, they iive
58 ECONOMY.OF PERMANENCE

through the lives of others. Theirs is just existence pure and

simple. They are like the moondead or lifeless ihemselves~.
but their glory, such as they possess. is a reflection .o f other
people's efforts. Their own personality finds no expression.
N~thing worth while is to be learnt from them. It may not
be wholly their fault that they are sterile like the mule
which, being hybrid, is neither a horse nor_a donkey or and
is . unable to reproduce itself: It lives and dies without leaving
a progeny. Similarly, the imitators have no creative facu.,.
lty or if they posse~ it, it is allowed to lie dormant, .being
given no opportunity to express or develop itself. It may be,
if their environment were changed, they would be able to
contribute to the general progress of society. To the extent
th.a t they remain functionless, the exist~nc~ of such a group .
is deftni tely a loss. to society ..They consume without creating.
Their lives are not works of art but just colourless black and
w bite prints from the printing press.
- Earlier in this century, the Japanese, who copied every
thing western, fell into this group. It had led them from the
Economy of Perm-
anence, which they,
along with
'
their --

neighbours China
and India I were
following, into the
House of Imitation
and we see vividly d

today their inevi- ''Best foreign missionary style''

tabJe fall into the Parasitic Economy in their inroads 1nto
 LIFE, LIVING AND EXISTENCE

Manchuria and China. From following non-violence they

have now enshrined violence
. and destruction.
In our own country, many of our friends; especially
Indian Cbristia.n s ( I write this in regard to the community
to .w hich I belong in humiliation and shame ) fall into this.
group .. 1hey imitate the westerner in every possible way
even to the extent of abandoning their own mother-tongue
for :English. They dress like the westerners, they keep house-
in the best foreign missionary style and in their well-to-do
eircle even their food habits have been borrowed from the
West inclusive .of many tinned imported stuffs. Their-
reaeation follows all that is held fashionable in the west,
such as racing and ballroom dancing, \V hich latter has been
well described as 'hugging set to music'. This group . has.
also be.en hlghly sterile intel1ectually in spite of the fact
that most of them can boast of a varied liberal education.
Unfortunately, the trend in big cities is towards ~his, the
lowest type. The only consolation is that their nuinber is.
comparatively small, and if measures are taken in hand in
good time to check its spreading further, we may be able to
eradicate it root and branch.
The House of Adoption: The motto of those who
belong to this group is ''Let us eat, drink and be. merry,_
for tomorrow we die''; These also do take from the contri-
butions of others as do those of the previous house but the
difference lies in
. this that they try to make the creations
.
or
others their own by slight modifications which however, are:
not distinctive enough to lay claim to originality.
Again the present day Japanese afford us a good example
of ihose who attempt to adopt the lead given by others,.
60 ECONOMY OF PERM.\NENCE

originality. What they had taken previously from the .

Wes1l they have acclimatised to their land. For instance,
they .had taken over large scale production from the West
and split the unwieldy units of centralized factories into
many small cottage .industries, assembling the various parts
when fi.nished, in a central workshop~ 1'o give one example,
. in England the bicycle is produced in its entirety by single
plants like that of t11e B. S. A. Company. But Japan manu ..
1~actures si:nilar goods by organizing cottage workers who
are supplied with tools and materiali. Some of. them
produce only spokes, others only rims and so on. All
the~e separate parts are brought to the Central Assembling.
work-shop which puts out complete useable machines:

Some -persons in our count~y1

who are not so much under west-
ern infiuence as those of the House
of lmitati?n, attempt to adopt
\Vestern modes-say in clothes .-
with grotesque results. A Babu may
put on an open coat but he may
omit, with commendable rationality
in this hot climate; the irksome,
. stiff starched collar and the trouble
\ some, purposeless extra tie. . He
may wear his shirt outside the
trousers thfuking it makes for
coolness, and on .his socksless feet
he may use the only Indian
I mper f l C t -/.1.U4'
.l -
.\p t a t i' on
-chappal be possesses-Oxford shoes beini expensive. Such

 .
LIFE, LIVING AND EXISTENCE 61

may be an eyesore to the wholehogger but it must be admi...

tted he is more or.i ginal than ~be pure imitator. Such
persons are only as much works of art as the cheap lithogra..
pbic pictures we find pasted on stocks of mill-cloth. They
have the will-:PO"fler to pick and choose, but lack the sense
of perspective to create anything complete and whole, ..or
are too lazy to do so. Such patchwork, as they may ,
accomJ?lish, is bound to be transient and their eagerness . to.
obtain quickly what . they want is sure to lead them into
paths of violence. ..

T~~ House of material Creations : According

to the Law of the Economy of' Enterprise we would expect
that in this house every . individual will assert himself and
lead his own life regardless of what may be the lot of

Producer ma.de fashions

others following the maxim, ''Every man for himself. and the
devil take the hinde1 most'' They would be expected to

..
 62 ECONOMY OF PERMANENCE

have original ideas which will be translated into life for

their 9wn selfish benefit. nm would imply that . every
person . would be free to express himself in his daily mode
~ living_ -.v (fnfortunately, the world today is under tho
heels of producers who have power to lay down the way
their consumers should live. Hence the freedom of Qhoice
.and the faculty of the consumer have been neutralized and
. rendered ineffeetive.

,./Jn France, the beauty specialist will proclaim. that

.
tho
fashion of the day is to have butterflies painted on the
bare backs and which are to be exposed to the gaze of
.admirers. Unquestioningly the aspiring females will resort
'
to the beauty parlours, don their bathing costumes and have.
butterfiies painted on their uncomplaining
.
backs, and
.
repair
.to the sea resorts of the Riviera to exhibit their hicks to the
.stupefied public.
J Again, in Western clothes and feminine fashions Paris
leads the world. London imitates these and probably com-
mercialises the modes, while New York may adopt these 10
its needs and standardize tbein.
/standardization iu the West has killed all originality of
the Consumer in his mode of life. People are mainly con..;
cerned with wbat others will think of them if they departed
from the universal set mode of life. Even ihe life in the home .
is controlled by fashions called for by O\ltsiders-the court,
.the aristoor~cy or the business interests .
. : : F~r a while . the fashion wilJ be to eat ~o=up
:
out of .a . soup
.

-plat~.Yfidl "-.'rim round the bowl, with a .large

. eliptical
. spoon.
. .
 LIFE, LIVING ..\ND EXISTENCE 63

A few years later the fashion will change. A soup -bowl

'
without a rim will now be used and a spoon more or
less circular .in shape will be the proper style. These frequent
-changes are productive of snobbery and are good for business.
The poor cannot afford to scrap their crockery and silver
off and on to adopt new ways. and so are easily eliminated
from the 'C~unty Set'. From the business point of view, if
the same kind of things are to be handed down from father to
son, the. capacity of the mark."1 will be limited, while if
such changes in the material modes of living are effected, the
artifi.ci~lly created demand will widen the scope for more
business.
People who follow such senseless and ba~eless fashiQns .
are the innocent victims, or social climbers or enterprising
business houses who, by their skilful advertisements and
high pressure salesmanship, push their goods where there
are no natural markets. Such ignorant victims of propaganda
and fashions, in time generate in themselves a kind of infer..
iority complex, lose confidence in themselves, and fail to give
free play to their own creative faculty, rendering life
monotonous.
If one visit.s a few Rats in Bombay, one will soon get to
know what to expect in every other house. The same modern
laminated wood furniture with glass topa to tables and all
that will go with these are to be met with house after hous~ ..
There is no variety, no imagination, no original ideas. It is
one dead level. Even in old cemeteries one may find wonderful
specimens of works of art or sculpture, but nol in a mP<fern
Bombay ft.at where people are supposed to ' live _' ~ - T;he~e:
 ECONOMY OF PERMANENCE

homes are more dead than graves. Everything is done for

the consumer by the manufacturer un.d er the pretext of
making life comfo1table and easy; such ease leads to the.
benumbing of the higher_ faculties which spells death to
p,rogress and development. .
v.1' If life is to be creative, such deadening standardization
must go. There should be plenty of scope for individual
taste to express itself. Des1gning one's own house or furni-
ture is a fertile field for the play of one's personality.
Under the specious plea of simplifying one's problems, large
sc:ile manufacturers are laying waste personality and indivi..
dualiiy and are impoverishing life. In the
U. S. A., prefabri..
cated houses can be built overnight. All one has to do is to
ring up the. wholesale manufacturer and tell him where one
wants it and which plan one prefers, Plan .A., Plan B or
Plan (:: All the doors, windows etc. of each plan are kept

ready .. in stock.. The only time needed is to assemble tbern
like a p3:cking case out of boards. Even in matters of food, .
where one would expect in.d ividual tastes to prevail, the
manufacturers have borne down individuality by carefully
wo~ded advertisements setting forth fanciful food valures etc.
Ready prepared foods are making. their appearance also in
Indian ~CIS and homes dealing a death-blow to the art of
J~ooking very housewife should pride herself on her culinary
art. Instead we have standardized fruit preserves, pickles,
chutneys, infant and invalid semi-prepare~ foods, supplied
from factories thousands of miles from our land.
. .

Man is &o constituted that the less he thinks on problems

the. less he ~ fitted for life. Therefore, the all cons.iderate
 LIFE, LIVING AND EXlSTENCE

apd
.
thqughtf
.
ul ni~ern manufacturer, who professe&.tQ ..do .
all the thinking for the consumer, is. . really cr.i pp ling . . him. '
Even a. mother
:
has to. . let her child . attempt to .walk
. . .. . . .. '
and
perhaps to fall and hurt . itself too. .If she strives take to
s~ch care of her child that it sho~ld never .
fali, .and . . . ..
'
". always .,

carries it herself, the child will never devei~p a se.nse.~f .

balance. and will have to go through life a .cripple. Such .
.
. .

is the service rendered to society by the manufacturers

' . I
of
. . ... . - ,
>

today. . J

In .our country
J': :
we ~ve a. whole
.
range
.
and variety '. ~ .
of
methods of daily . .
life that afford the creative faculty
; . .
1}\any-
rich comb~ations; among the different clim~s and Provinces.
Even in a single
.
Province there is variety among. the . comm~ . .
unities. Thus we have a very wide field for the development . ..
.

and expression of our personality if we; do not fall . .

to the .
.
wiles of
business houses. Fortunately here aJso, but (or.
the cities and towns, the life in the villages remains mostly
~ ; . >

unaffected, although rapid strides ~re being made in the

. . - ' J

wrong direction even in remote paris, still the situatio~

is not beyond redemption. This .death dealing contagion
calls for immediate protective measures. .'.
Instead of the House of Creations being a source of
strength, the topsy turvy order, in which the manufacturer
plays the central rol~, bas aade it the weakest link of the
chain, as the consumer, who forms the bulk of the population,
is mercilessly suppressed and his creative faculty is .bU.ried
under the debris of modern factories. This, method of living
does not bring into existence works of art but just produ~es
5
~ :ECONOMY OF PERMANENCE."
.

tfaltsient and flimsy transfer pictures which any child ""can

paste' in his !chool books.
. .

The eonsumer has no voice in calling for his goods. . His

. side of the transaction is misnamed by learned 'Economists,
as the Demand. He makes no demand. He meekly takes
what is presented to him. The cart is put before .the horse.
~h~ may pe prepared in Northampton, England, by the.
workers who never have any contact with th'! consu.m er in
India or some oth~r remote corner of the earth. Instead of
shoes beiog made to St the consurtl~rs' feet, thP, consum~r bas
. . .
to go to a . shop and fit his foot .
into a ready-made shoe of the
. .
.
nearest shap~ avaltabie.. If sufficient . customers' feet are not
available
. in.
the market under ..
the influence of the makers,
then, some OOUJitr_v , like Abyssinia, wh~re 'natives' go bare-
fcioted, has tO be brought under political control and 'civilized,
so that the people may be taught to
.
we~r we.S tern type8 of
.
footweari.
. .
This chase of the pre-existent
.
supply for a demand
.

if one of:the most fruitful sources of :diodern conflicts and

wars. The unnatural Creation ;or:a demand: generates violence
~ produces an unstable equilib~ium. In the effort to right
itself,
.. the swing again causes violence. ,
v if we .
seek to obtain . pe~manence and non-violence1 we
must have an orde1 in which the customer will play the
leading role and that personally. This can only be achieved
when consumption.;.goods
. . are locally made, perhaps in cottages,
uriderthe eye of tbe consumer, to meet the existing needs.
Only
.
under such .
conditions
.
can the consumer bring ihto effect .

his scaie of values which will develop, as well as express, his

personalny. Modern forms of production and sale have
 .. .
LIFE, LIVING AND EXISTENCE 67

/ ;reduced life into stagnation and living into mere existence.

The atmosphere is suffocative. It can be cleared by those
/

who have the needed gifts to belong to this House of

Creation asserting their personalities and arousing themselves
to action. The monetary scale of values, which has taken
complete possession of this House, has to be ousted and tho
manifold scale of cultural values bas to be installed and
;given full sway over the conditions that affect t~e life of the
'

_people in gener-al. .
House of Social laaovations : This House be- . '

aongs to the Economy of Gregation. Hence the d~iding

..
--0riterion at every stage will be ''what is good for society in
.-general'~? And not any consideration of personal benefit to
-any indiVidual or to any -special perSons. It is .needless to
poi:ilt; out that money values will have h~rdly. any ._place
:llere.
.
,LOng range consider~tions will . prevail over ..
sllo~t
.
raiigc:.
. . .. . . . .
. . .. . . . . . ... . ..
policies.
~

. . . .. . . . . . . . . .. .. .

There have been, of fat~, many att~mp~s at So~io~con~m~~

~experiments. Russia set the ball rolling. with.
.....
her
Soviei
j. -.

Communism. 1'hen Fascists and Nazis followed: Their .

exp_eri-
..- . .
.ments have failed to usher. in per1nanence and non-vi~len~e.
<On the other hand, they have _sunk humanity in a rive~ of
blood. They sought shortcuts, eac~ for their -o~ cla~s or_
..
nation; forgetting the larger issues of tqe whole h~ma:11_
family. The 'Submissive populations have been drilled. under . . . ..

.'the
.
maxim 'My Country Right or Wrong.,. Hence they .
have-
landed themselves in violence and destruction. . "
.
The '.f:!eague . of Nations though-it. .has. : an
. .. ' .. . . . .
ambitious . . ..
.and. .
_,high~sotind1ng name to comprehend the whole world, also
 f).8 ECONOMY OF PEM1ANENCE
..
followed .
. .... . . . .. .
a transient and short-:sighted, .
e~nomy; servi~g - . only
: the
..~

. .
selfish ..interest .. .. .
.of a fe,v who .controlled . its machinery-
_ The~eforc,
. . it also . . failed to se~ure permanen~e :and non~
-v iolence for humanity at large ..
.

. Pr_oper planning of !i fe is imperative. To be iuccessful
th~
.
objective .
of the plan recommended .
inust be universal
be
~

and in c;omplete alignment with the eternal. orde.r . .or

t)tings ...It sh,...~uld n~t..be a.. . convenient attempt ( such a~ the.
.. . ~
. . . .

one we noticed in the last House ) to. foist stand~rdized:

methods
. . .
of . life on others, .
with .
the .pur.pose of disposing of .
ihe products .. . of ..
centralized. ..
be
factories, nor should it .such .
-a..s to. .kill . .
individual .
expressions
.
of . personality.
.

In our land, the field of work for those in this Ho\l&C

~ . .. . .
is . i1Pmense. The vi_llages are in dire need of those who . will
' ..( ' . . . .
<?rganize their ~cti-yities so as to mak~ life possible. TQd~y> .,
. .. .
they fare w~rse than the jungle animals, which !it l~st o\)tain
s~fficient . nourishment for .healthy and active. life. The social
and economic .. .
environment
.
is ~uch as to kill .all initiative:..
.. will bC
It. the function
. . of those of this ..House to plan out.
the_ lives of the helpless mass~s so -as to aff~rd them . the.
chan~ .of .
leading.
a human life rich in its possibilities for
self-expression. .
.
Planning to this end implies the formulation .of a norm'.
. .
towards . which we should work. If the norm is well-concei-- .
-
ved .it will afford free play to all creative faculties of every

member of so~iety. Whether the norm _is a proper one or
not can be judged by the effect any change in it causes.
The tU:\tural norm can n~itht;r
.
be. raised nor lowered within
the short span
..
of
life. Any such deviation wjll cause _patholo-

\"
 .. .
LIFE, L1\' ING AND EXISTENCE 69

,gical' conditions. Nature has designed the wonderful human

system through millions of years. No scientist can ~quip a
laboratory so s_imple and yet so efficient as the digestive

-system we posses~. No engineer has yet devised a self-acting. .
-and self-regulating pump as the heart. Whether wireless or.
otherwise, no Marconi bas designed a system of communi
~ations as perfect as our DP.rvous system. The normal working
-of this body and mind ca~not be altered or designed ~fre~h
by ignorant man..Hence, it will be futile for any . mortal
' :individual . _to attempt to change the course of life as he
wishes it. All that can be done is to c~perate with . nature
:and arrange to maintain theenvironment in. such .
a form . .
.a'i will guarant'"e its working at its best. This stag~ o r: norm
is set by nature and man's part is to study and understand
nature's requirements and pay heed .t o it . .If there:be any
departure from nature's norm, .it w ill lead to social malad-
justments. ..
Every .medical man is aware of the futility of trying to
. .alter the normal temperat11re of the body. If it goes above
.the norm ; fever sets in and if it falls :below, depression and
weakness follow, in either case,. death is .t he end. Nor can
-we tune the heart to cope with a life of feverish activity that
. ~ . . .
a man .may desire to lead. No doubt there 1s a certain . range
.

<>f adaptabilitj. We cannoi bank on this unduly. Tbo . m~ch

strain may give the danger. signal of high blood pressure.
But that is not a new norm at which we may settle down
without endangering life. In the same way, there is a norm
-0f requirement s \\'hich J when fulfilled , causes ...t he hU.Qlan
~ystem to . function at its best. The purpo~e of pla'ri~iog is to
 .
70 ECONOMY OF PERMANENCE
. . .

.. determine
.. . it and tak~ such steps as will ensure it to every
' ..
human beio g.
. . . Unfortunately, today the -golden calf { or rather "s.
1old has v~nished into thin air, the Sterling calf ) has been.
enihroned. and all considerations centre round .money and
p.ot round human personality.
v .
Th~re have been plans and J?lans, all aiming at .. ans
. .
abundance of material production but lacking root in human
~ture. Such
-
plans are like a well arranged vase of cut
.

fiowers. They are, no doubt, beautiful and retain for a time

their natural S<;ent and appearanee but, as they are severed
~rom the parent .plant,- death is in them. 1herefore, their-
.glory is shortlived.
A p Janne.r should rather be like a gardener. He . fir st
prepares , the soil, s9ws the ~d and waters it and having.
done his part he stands aside. The plant of its own nature.,
drawing the nutriment supplied by the conditioned soit;
.
grows . ~nd brings fonh :flowers. The well arranged vase,. .
however much loaded and crowded wi.tb :flowers, . was.
transient and death was in it; while the plant is permanent
. ~ause it .draws.:i ts sap from nature with its roots and .sa
,has life~ Some. fiowers of the plant may fade away but ~thel'.s. .
. :wil
. -blossom . .forth to ~ke their place.
' Similarly, planning should ensure w"l1olesome condition~

for. the growth of human beings. What i$ put forth by them.

is .not the end or aim. The m~tbod of btarting wjth a predeter).o
mined output and working towaids it, is not the way .or
nature. We may; by such m~thods, obtaiu forced results.
but that; not being a natural growth> will fade away and.
 LIFE, LIVING AND EXISTENCE .
.
may even leave behind an after.math of .. decay, .S~ch
.
for~c,l , ~ .

pace. is like a Christmas tree welJ decorated with .tinsel

.
candles
.. . :

etc., and . overladen with presents-drums; bu~les, . d.olls etc~;

neither the decorations nor the presents b.eing. natural
.
to the ' ~

tree it cannot pride itself on it. As the X'mai tree is but a

branch cut ot? froin the live plant, it cannot draw the sal>
of life f1om mother earth through roots ~d so ~he leaves,
though they may retain their freshness . for a while, will . .
droop down :an_d the branch itself will dry up, being there..

after fit only for fir~wood. Such also will be the fate of plans
J

tllat ollow the glamo'1r of plenty.

. . Th~ condition
. and environment
. .
for the full .growth .
of . tho
~faculties of man ~at . have to be ensured ~re the 'pri.ai~ry end
. . . . ' . !

.of .Planning.Every individual _has to hav'f. enough wholeso~~

and balanced food, sufficient clothing to protect the b<>d~
t'rom changes .
in. .. weather' adequate
.
housing
.. . . aecommodation
.
. '
full opportunitjes for training the mind and body for life,
~lean . surroundings tosafeguard h~alth and anipie facillti~
for human interCourse, economic produttion and ;exchange~
Such then are the planners' objectiVes . Bey'ond these alt
other accompiishments should bC -left to the., initiativ.e Gf itie
. people tbems~lves. Only then ~ill they have room.io: tiftoAt
them chances of exercising their freeWill'and their sealc of
. .
values, which would make their lives, not mere existence) 'but _
something worthwhile and that will produce a culture as a
consequ"'nce, which will be lasting and will be a definite
con ibution t9 the progress of manltj~d.
No pl.a nned way of life Gan deprive the human beil;lg . of.
his rjght to_ .choose ha own method of living, .. .
as loq
. . . .
~ ,ih~. ~
 ECONOMY OF PERMANENCE

sen.
form
. . does .not infringe on the rights of his fellow-
:beings. The planned
. .
life is only to ensure that each person
gets his minimum human needs at the- least. Over anq above
that, .every individual must have as much scope . possible as
for the individuai sense of valUP.S to make i~s presence felt.
Any planned life that is too rigid to allow of it and takes
a way or restricts beyond measure the individ11al freedom to
. .
act a.. n d express his idea.
of values will be guilty of regimenta-
tion. ~egimentation
. .
deprives a human being of his individua-
lity and lowers him to the level of a cogwheel in an unaltera-
.
ble machi~e. Such regimentation of life from the cradle to .
the grave, whatever be its merits or efficiency, _will stand
condemned as it rails to aoswer our first require1nent for the
. . .
..
progress. of a human being, the right of freedom to express
one's personality.
. . . . . .
. ' RegiJJ1eDtatiori
. .. '
certainly has . its place and function where
.ihc objective not the development of personality but some
r, ' . . . . . ,

joint effort as in an army or a factory

., . .
~re each head
.
w
pr b~d coun~ rather than the individ_al, who has to be
.ubmer~ed in. suc_h cases in ihe general .. ~f the goal,
futerest
whicb is the all absorbing
.
and . supreme consid~ration
. .
and ,the
. . '

indivi<iual is only the means

. of attaining it. To us,. the develop-
ment of t~ individ~al be.ln8 the objective, and the o;rganization
. . . .
only the means of securing it, there can be no place fo:r
regimentation in our scheme. . .

. For example, in a well conducted dairy, animals will be

fed well on
properly . prepared cattle feed, given salt and
water m
due time and in regulated measure, stabled . well m.
'
 Lll'E, LIVING AND EXI~TENCi 73

<1onstructed sheds, taken out to . exerciie in the . sun for a

while t rubbed down
.
and cleaned daily and milked
.
according
.

to time table. This is not what a human being need~ if he .is

to rise above the level of mere existence of brute. . beastS.
A well regulated prison affords such . condition of existence.
Under prison rule~ it is evenmade a punishable offence to
'
abstain :from proper sleep or rest .or food which may ha\le a
deleterious effect on the .health of the prisoner~ Such care is
taken of-the body 9f the prisoner. But that is not life where
freedom of choice and activity has. been taken
. away. . .
. '

'It. is,. t herefore,

.
imperative that no plan should raise
insurmountable . wells on all sides and reduce .life into
.
a
jail" It should function like .a fence that, while protecting .
the fteld from the depredations of destructive intruders, does
not interfere or shut off air and 'lig_h t from the . sequ~stered
spol. The creative faculties of those who belong to this

House
. and. who
.
dedicate their lives to serve their fellow
beings. will have to be directed towards devising such plans
-of free life for -t he people.
.
At. this place we have confined
. . .
ourselves to a consideration
. ..
of the function of the plan and the field to be devoted to it.
11:1 the following cbapterwe shall take up the requisites of a
norm of life which will form the basis of a satisfactory plan.
.
The
.
House of Sublimation : In the Economy of
Service, to which section the House of Sublimation belongs, .
}>ersonal rights fade away yielding place to duties that assuine
the regulation
.
of .life. Freewill is used to control the anillial
-side of man and his ~elfish bodily inclinations directing his
activities.. rationally into certain well . chosen channels. The
 ECONOMY OF PERMANENCE

scale of values is designed .. to measure the welfa.r~ .Pf. others

.rather than '0ne~s own pleasure. Hence, .the perspective ,i, ~
long range one, as the . immediate personal-gain is not $he.
.desired end.
Therefore, for one in .. this House to be creative it is
essential to realise in oneself the defects and needs of society
before any re.f orm or plan can be suggested~ Mere intelle-
ctual appreciation or criticism will not serve. the purpose.
A laboratory is called for to carry out experiments on a
limite~ scale and then only the remedy that has been P.roved
efficacious . can be recommended to others. A nutrition
expert first car,ries on experiments .bY feeding guinea pigs or
white mice, .Pigeons, monkeys etc., on different typef) Qf
articles of food and observes the effects produced on .t hese
4

cr~atures.. Only after this he is in ~ position . to suggest .,.the

.

. conitituent .parts of a well-balanced diet for human bein~.

Similarly, _in all socio-economic innov.a tions .
.it would. . .b;e
.necessar.y to..try o.ut the
.
new. . .
jdeas 011 . ....human beings. The: .
ones in this House, therefore, are y':)l-nteer .:.guinea pi.gs and
iCie;ntific experts rolled into one. .
v/Wf: saw that those of. the last house .
had to plan . for th~
masses;
.
But_
.
the plan can be
. drawn up . only on tried principles. .

This opens the field for the House of SLlblimation. Necessity

is said to be the . . mother of invention. If we. feel in our own
.&elves the needs of ot'1ers, and if we ar.e endowed with
creative faculties, we should be able to devise ways and means .
.of solving those \iiffi~ulties. One belonging to this Hose. will
suff~r or live vicariously in the lives of other~. He .will
be more: sensitive to the feeling of o~h~r.s and their .s~r.i;.oun4,-
 LIF~ LIVING AND EXISTENCE . 75

ings than to bis own. He will. weep with those who do weep
and rejoice : with ihose who do rejoice. His scale of values.
. .
. .
will be altruistic. He will not be conscious of his own.
. .
rights. He will sublimate his fatherhood into protecting and
'
supporting those who are helpless and friendless, accepting
. .
the whole human family as his own.

V'Jn the history of

. . . ..
scien~iftc research there
. .
are many insta-
. . ..
nces of scientists
. trying tbe effect of their researches on their-
.

own pers'?nS~. .Many.have .risked their lives in doing

.
so and some- .
have. lost
.
them
.
in the process.. . ....These
.. . ,
ar~ tlle
. ; . .
niartyrs
.
with
.
~

who~ blood human _p1ogre~ is cemented . . One ,pf the .chief

. . .
reasons why Gandhiji has adopted the loin ~Ioth as ~~
.' . ' . . '

complete wardrobe. . is because he wanted .

to identify himsf:tlr
,

and feel one wit!}x~be millions of o~r land who ~ave not;.even.
decen~
. rags
: '..
to c~v~r
. .
\ .. . .-
their nakedness
..
{. ' leave along any prot~-
' . . ..
ction against the inclemencies of the we.atner. . :. .
~. In a country . li.ke .ou~, . bristling .. ~ith socioeconoll)ic:
probl~ms, w.~ . n~ed persons who will t~.ke on themselves the:
disabilities, privations and poveriy of the masses and having,
experienced in their own being the s~fferings of those around
them will
.
proceed to find a suitable . remedy. It is for this.
purpose that the various human laboratori~s or ashrams and
.
institutions like and Gandhiji's.
Tagore,s Santiniketari.,
Char~ha Sangh, the Gram Udyoga Sangh, e\C. are established.
. . .
These function like a nursery where a horticulturist produces.
.tested and selected seeds to supply the gardens of, the land.
The proved remedies of these exper~ental stations are placed
~- the ~rvice of the world at large.
 16 ECONOMY OF PERMANENCE

Hence, it is ibrough the House of SubliincUion we can

,
: find a solution for the ills humanity is suffering from violen<:e .
. 1
. and hatred.. The-. life of the people in general has to b_e
'
'1 planned .and ordained, not from the poinf . of view of indivi- '
?
; dual interest based on laissez-faire prinoiples, but from a '.
..
I selfiess, detached and l~ng range poi~ of view. . When so -~
' '

planned each member of society, however humbly he may be ,

. .
placed,
.
will. he:ive full opportunities to make
.
bis. own contr~
.

bution for the._good of all . .Then.

life will be neither
.
pure
.jmitation
. without any regard for varying circumstances
.
no r
will it be one of limited adoptions with just 'a_few variatiom
-io suit l<>cal needs, nor will it be called to perform the
functions
.
of an expanding market in the. .interests of m~nufa-
du.res of material goods, nor will it be based on sectional
needs ignoring the wider range of responsibilities. Life- so
.: -planned; will not only meet individual and-.sectional needs,
but it will als0 be sbt as to lead to the happiness of all and
.open_up wlde fields of opporturii&ics for Personal development
..and expressions which will ilOt fall foul of the welfare of
.-One's neighbours. - -
. '

XI
STANDARDS OF LIVING

/ For. the reasons discussed in the last chapter it becomes

jmperative that the daily life of the people should be s0
.regulated as to enable them ro express . their pcrsonalitJ~

 ~TAN.DARDS OF 'LIVING 77

What we eat, where.with we are clothed and what . manner .

of lives we lead, all ]\ave a bearing, not only on oQr own
lives, bu~ also, on the. future of mankind. Just as each person
expresses, himself through. th~ scale of values he usesso; also
his manner or living will express . his personality. To do
this there should _be norms for all people to ad~ere to, and
tbese norms or standards must be arrived at from purely
obj~iive. considerations calculated to afford every person.
that 9p~rtunit;y in.full measure that is. needed to - develop
all his_.. facul ties and thereby his personality. The suggested
~rm
. . .. .
Or standard. shoulc;l relate not only to bodily and
material. needs but also .
to all those innumerable items that .

go_ to enriQh and ennoble life and raise it above the level.
of
~ere existence. Of course, it will naturally deal ~ .with
food that is required to maintain a level of human perform-
. . ~dequate medical aid, with clothing. tha~ will .not .
ance with
. .
only. cover nakedness but will also afford room for. . an
expression of art and beauty, with ed\lcatiOn whi<ih . will
widen and brighten life while developing the inherent fa~u'tties
. . .. . .

with congenial work that will open up opp~rtunities for the

creative propensities of man and with all such otber acce~
ssory facilities that will help in the progress both of the
individual and the group. '
V'A standard that is to fulfil all these requirements will
naturally be one that bas to be acceptable both to the indivi-
dual and to society. It cannot be chosen .merely .
from a .
onesided consideiation. If the individual-is allowed- to follow
his own 8Weet will without any other restrictive consideration
. ..

if he -~ one in the House of Imitations or that of Adoptions
 711 ECONOMY OF 'PERMAN RNCE

his : .m ode of life will not contribute anything to progres5

,but may even harm society. If the belongs to. the Houso of
Material Creations his innovations may clash with those of
-Others and retard progress thereby.. A producer left to his
-own machinations will utilize

the opening to lay down waYs
'by which he can push his own goods by propaganda and
:by sening up fashions favourable to his business. On the .
other hand, if it is left to society alone, the individual citizen
.! -.may be crushed and .t urned into an unquest-ioning. automaton. .

I
l
:Such is the fate of the common man today under Capitalism,
.Imperialism, Fascism. Nazism and State Socialism. The world is
1argely under the heels of tbeprooucer who calls the tune and
. the. . pace. This bas led to chaos
:sets .
as even
.
these interested
parties .have no agreed plan or rule of life to guide t'bem.
Each manufac~urer freely follows . his. own whims. As a result
there ls widespfead confusion in the methods
..
of living. I

.\/'ft. . _,i.$. difficult

. even
.. . to .understand .what. . people mean
of
~

when
. .
they
. .
talk . . a. Standard Qf " living_.
- It .. _js a delightfulJy
-vague terin. Hence ,
ii 'becomes
.
convenient to . ba1_ 1dy .the~e
words about without fear of coimitting . oneself to an)'thing
depnite:
.. .
,.
Each
.
person may have his own noti9n. of a .standard
~

of livi11g and c:s to what it comprises. To one a radjo _set

.and a motor car may fall within the barest minimum. .
10
another two meals. a day may. be .
a rare luxury. Tberefore. '
it is necessary to work out an objective standard . taking
into consideration the conditions obtaiaing in our land
..Should this. standard :
have an. economic
.
basis. or follow
-01iltural considerations or social needs ? What is meant by.
"high' .. or 'low' standards ? . By the former standard is meant.
 .. STANDARDS OF LIVING 79

full satisfaetion of a wide range of material wants and by

ihe latter a very limited enjoyment of worldly g0ods ?
In previolis chapters we have discussed the many waYe
-0f' looking at life and their respective scales of values. Vf!;.
have come Co the con_clusion that life is not to be ued

'immediate presentl out that a well-balanced economy leading .

. ,. . . ---....___ _.,.....-:----~-=------:-:--

to permanence and non-violence calls for a ~omprehensive

,_--=-:~~~~~~~~~~~-.-----~~ ---
-00 nsideration of various factors making life broad-based.
Tn such an economy money is of the least importance. ''M!li
doer
r . .
riot live
. . .
by bre3d . ~.
alone;, but by
.
ev~rything th:t. afto~da
bi'm. 'o~ortunities fc)'t.the free expression of the whole Jllan-
..
his body, mind and spirit-(or all that will make him
i"n"n[o~cli perfectio'n ' .
~~
. ' . .
..
--

:Th~ st~nda.rd of life in England 'generally sp~ken

is
of as being high. Ther.e a gardener may live i'n a two storeyed
.cottage with three or four bedrooms upstairs, with a flush
lavatory and a bathroom. Downstairs there may be a living
room and a dining room along with a kitchen store and
washroom attached. All windows will have gl~ss shutters
:Sheltered by curtains and blinds. The doors .will . have
.
heavy
.

~urtains to keep out the draught. The floors .w ill be carpeted

and the walls well-papered. Every ~oom will have its appro-
priate aud adequate furniture though s~ple arid inexpensive.
For instance, the dining room will have a dining table with
'
-proper armless chairs, a sideboard, perhaps fitted with a
mirror, with a requisite supply of table:"linett, crockery etc.
The table service. itself, though not very elaborate,will furnish .
appropriate dist es, plates, forks, spoons, etc., fQr.the .yario.u s
80 ECONOMY OF PERMANENCE .

cors~s such as soup,. fish, ,meat, s}Ve~t,: and de~ser;t, f<;>r .. it ~s

.
not the proper thing to eat one course. with the ~quipJ;nen.t :
fpr. .. a:nother . .Knife and fork for fish is .of one kind., knife and
f9rk for meat . .is of another, . .. . . .while
. the service ~ts are .-~till.
'clifferent
. . .When ... one .person sits down to a meal . there . will
.

.be. at least about 50 pieces to wash ' . up~ Such

. .is . genera)
.
ly
a
accepted as 'High' standard o~ living.
In 1.ndia, a really .
cultured man, perhaps .
a Dew.~n
.
. or -~'
. . .

. Minister of a State presiding o~~r the destinies.. of.

Prime ~ . ,

millions of people, .
may have. hardly .
any furniture ~his .

bosti
. .
though -
it may
.
be of palatial dimensions..
His reception
.
rooms
- may have floors .
of marble, .
mosaic
. .
or polished tiles
and
.
will be washable .
and clean.. There may .
be hardly any
.carpets t-o accumulate dust and dirt. The Dewan himself will-
go about.barefooted .
at home as the .best of persons .
do in .the

. The t\vo ways of dining

South. Our Dewan may squat on an asan on the floor and

eat, perhaps off a plantain leaf, He may not have been initi-
ated into the art of wielding knives and forks, for it is an
 ST,<\.ND:\RDS OF LIV ING I 81

art not easily acquired, f.ollowing sacred rules not meant for
the common
..
folk-he may use bis naturebestowed fingers, .
and when he has finished his repast, the leaf will not have
to be washed' but may le thrown away and may be readily
I

disposed off by a goat which will turn ,it into milk for its
O\vner ! There will be only his ftagers to be washed. By co~
trast this will be termed a 'low' standard of living.
Is this an appropriate use of terms 'high' and 'low' ? If
the standard or norm must contain a multiplicity of mate~ial
. . .
\vants artificially created, then only these terms will have
. . .
aay significance. But if we choose to be perverse and regard
. . .
as desirable that which calls into play the highest faculties
in man, then . the Dewan's life follows a higher standard
than the British gardener's whose standard now becomes
'low'. For a standard based on material considerations
. .
the
more suitable terms will be 'complex' and 'simple' rather
than 'high' and 'low'. We may then say that the Dewan's
standard of life ,is 'high' but 'simple' and the British garde-
ner's is 'low'' but 'complex'. It would appear as though the
present terms have been specially devised to convey a psych
ological preference for the 'complex' standard which is the
foundation of a good market for . the n1anufacturer~. Who
w jfl rationally fall for a stan9ard which is dubbed 'complex' ?
The complex standard converts its devotee into a
drudge. From dawn till nightfall the British gardener's
wife, if she means to be reasonably clean, bas to toil away
at sweeping the carpets with a vacuum cleaner, polishing
the window panes, washing the curtains, bed. and table
linen, the dishes; plates etc., and cooking utensils, apart
6
 .
82 ECONOMY OF PERMANENCE

from attending to her daily round of duties sueb as shoppiog

and kitchen work. To clean even one fork properly between
the prongs will take more time and labour than washing
one'& , hands. Is it a wonder that where such complex stand-
ards prevail, women prefer to be rid of the 'nuisance' of .
having ehildren ? ''Children and dogs not allowed'' is an
ubiquitous noticeboard to be seen everywhere in such coun-
tries. Motherhood, of course, adds to the already overcrowd~
ti1:11e-table for the day, but the choice of a complex standard
is a reflection on the scale of values prevalent. By various
means at their disposal-propaganda, advertisements, setting
up fashions etc. the ma~ufacturers are able to induce the
house-wives to adopt this mode of life and become their
devoted customers. Let us beware of such traps which will
enslave us to . material wants, but offer nothing in exchange
(or filling our time with wasteful details which ought not
t<.l be allowed to encumber our lives.
The intere$ted parties glibly talk of creating leisure for
the house-wife by introducing labour..saving devices, but no
sooner is a machine allowed to oust human labour than
some other invention is brought .in to absorb the money and
time_ sal'ed by the former device, leaving the second state of
the house-wife worse than the first.
For example let us revert to our friend, the British
gardener~s wife.. Formerly carpets were beaten and cleaned
by easual human labour. The vacuum cltianer made iti
appearanee. It dispensed with outside labour. A travelling
salesman would have vmited the gardener's wife and waxed

eloquent over tht marvellous performance of his
 STAND_.\RDS OF LIVING 83

commodity for sal.e the vacuum cleaner-and would have

appealed to the thrifty house-wife by showing her how
much she could save every year by not having to call in
human labour to do this heavy work of carpet cleaning and
how much such S'iving will ainount to in her lifetime with
interest added !" As a result of this high pressure salesman
ship she would go in for a vacuum cleaner and would, no
doubt, save a few shillings a year but she has to do the
Glcamng herself with this 'la hour-saving-device'. After a few
years, when she has saved a few pounds
.
this way, the travelling
.

salesman will make his appearance again to sell her a newly

invented dish washing machine. He will again expatiate over
the. performance of the machine. If her savings scraped
'

together happen to fall short of the amount needed to pay

down cash for it, the salesman obligingly will offer an
instalment payment scheme or a hire purchase system by which
she pays a sinall
.
deposit immediately. all that she
.
may have
in ready cash and the machine is left with her for use for which
~he should have to pay a small hire annually for five or s~en
years, after which the whole machine will become her sole
property. She fall a victim to this temptation and pledging
. .
her future savings instals a dish washing machine ! She can
now dispense with the services of the neighbour, an old
woman perhaps, who came in to help wash the dishes for
half an hour daily, thus perhaps saving two shillings a week,
b!.tt she has now to 'attend' to the machine herself. If tac
vacuum cleaner or this dish washing machine needs att~tion,
the company will send its visiting mechanic to set it right and,
-Of course, make a small (:barge for his time. In this manner
 84 ECONOMY OF PERMt\ NENCE

both the labour and the money saved by dispensing with

~uman Ja bour is quickly absorbed by the manufJcturers, wbile-
the simple gard en~r 's wife sloggers on like a donkey having
displaced the help ;of other human beings. She has to put
in extra work att~~ding on those--her mechanical . servants.
The leisure promised to her pro\1es illusory and whatever she
. . .
saves up goes towards the purchase of son1e other 'labour-
.. . saving-device'.
. .
She is no better off jn the end. If anyt1ting
'
she has to work harder, all by herself driving her machines. .
1he human labour that has been driven out of employment.
here " ill ultimately turn up at the factory gates of . the
1
.
manufacturers for work and wages. The story of these . w~
shall trace later

.
Has the
-
sta~dard of
..
living of the ga1:de~er's wife cl1anged __
. .
s..o. . as to allow her opportunities for the free . play of her .
1.1igher faculties ? Has tl1is complex standard given her more.
~ime for thought ai1d reflection ? On the other hand, as.
. . ' '

she has to attend to everything singl~handed she may. have .

no time even to look i nto a . magazine. She drudges from' . .:
inorn
. till night. All this. for what ? H er time is- filled. up- :
~ith work that. brings li~tle c- f real life. Is this 1
iiving' i n.
. ,
.
the proper sense of
. ..
the word.
? It .is worse th an mere exis-
tence.
The simple life, on the other hand , can be 'high' and
\ present all that is finest in human Jife, perhaps. even better . :
than a complex life which later kills perso11ality as it follows.
ways set by others.
Taking the occasion of dining, whether the meal .is taken..
W.. Western style or iu Indian style there is little difference:
 ST i\NDARDS OF LIVING 85
.
nutritively. The l 11dian method of eating has advantages of
cheapness combined with . cleanliness and affords free . scope
for one's ideas of art in serving. What is : more colourful
tl11n a meal served on a green fresh Ieaf 1 .The cream ~ ice
-0r chapanies wim )1ellow dhal, white dahi, red chutneys,
'brown pickles, multicoloured salad of fresh vegetables; red
tomatoes etc., 1nake a pleasing sight to start with; when
the meal is over and the leaves have been removed only the
floor remains to be washed out. The diners_themselves, who
eat with their fingers, invariably wash their teeth and rinse
their mouths also after meals, which is a most desirable and
hygienic habit. But those who use forks and spoons have .
.abandoned this wholesome custom. The farthest .t hey may
~o in this direction is to dip their finger tips d.aintily in a
finger bowl of water and after moistening their lips wipe
them off with a napkin ! Wh~rein lies the superiority or
higher .quality of the most complicated Western style ? The
complex manner of life increases expense without any corres..
ponding benefit in cleanliness or art. Therefor_e,._ a_s, has been

. . ...
-
al~ady observed, the distinction is more ~ccurately made
' .....:-
bl_ calling the Western method 'complex' and ou~s 'simple'
-
rather than 'high' and 'low' respectively.
- -- ----.. - ..__ _ . . . -
Within a definite mode of living there cart be 'high' and
(low ' standards indicating differing qualities. A man who
uses fi11e counts for his dhoties has a 'higher' standard than
.
-011e who is content \vith coarser _cloth; while o~e who uses .

suits, cut and t:lilored in Western style with collar, tie and
perhaps
.
a hat I
cannot be '
' for that reasonI
said to have a
higher standard than one who uses j.ust a D hoti and Kurta ~
 .6 ECONOMY OF PERM..\NENCE

The hat wallah certainly has an imitation-complex standard

while the dhotiwallab is perhaps more original in having
h~ dhoti designed and woven to his taste locally and defini-
.
. tcly more . sensible in view of the climate. Similarly, one:
who eats . plain rice with chillies or pickles has a 'low~
standard in comparison with one who enjoys a _well balanced

djet.
The life of one in the 'Parasitic' or 'Predatory Economy,,
~ certainly lower than the life of one in ''Service Economy''.
'l'hc standard of life of a multimillionaire, however expensive:
it may be, is 'low' in comparison with that of an ashramite
devoted to the service of the land.
In ihe preceding example, we discus&ed the Indian.
De.w an, wh~ belongs to the Economy .of Gregation, and_ has.
.
a_higher standard of life, whatever his material mode of
.living may be, than the British gardener who at best belongs.
to the Economy. of Enterprise. . .
("" The trend in modern life is to follow fashions by iDCl'ea-
f sing the complexjty competitively while lowering the human
;

standard in so doing.
In America, home-life is being rapidly broken up by
false ideas of living being disseminated. A couple may Jive
in a flat of one or two rooms with '!abour-saving devices'.
The husband will go to work in the morning and so will
the wife. Each will have a snack breakfast on the- way in .
some cafeteria, and, perhaps, lunch at a factory refreshment
bar or grill, and the two will meet in the evening and have
their supper in a restaurant and, if their combined inco1ne
is big enough to support a car, will go for a drive and v isit
 STAND.~RDS OF LIVING . . 87

a cinema and return to-:their rooms to listen in to the radio

Th~re is no house-keeping, cooking or other attribute& of
the home. They will not care to have the bother of having
children nor can their 'high' standard of living allow of it.
These are they who arc slaving away for tbe
manufa.cturers who set the 'high' standard so. _as io have
'hands' readily available for the factories. The casual labour
that helped the British gardener's wife, the parlour maids
and o tber ho11sehold servants have been driven to the factory
gatea and have had their standards of living 'raised.
/ ' Such 'high~ standards are advocated Dot for the better-
(' roent of the people from altruistic motives but to serve. the
I selfish ends of interested parties.Manufacturers, apart .from
J diverting servants into factory hands, paralyse the freedom
of action and movement of their employeei by such standards
being set u:P. ~e ~argaining power of labour. .is reducr&t in
the proportion.. in which material stand~rds are raised.
~ .
A mill-owner
-
who desires that his 'hands' should not seek
' .
periodical digression but should be regular in their attendance
so that his mill production may be steady and not fluctuate,
will plan on bis workers leading a complex standard of
exist~nce which he will be pleased to call a 'high' standard
of living. To achieve this end he will pay rus workers higher
wages, support a liberal-welfare scheme and get them accusto-
med to amenities of factory 1ife such as clubs, tea rooms,
games~ cinemas, good housing etc. The result of all this will
be, that the worker who gets used to live on this level or a
. ~omplex standard of the American couple we noticed, will
be loathe to change places even if his principles were violated
by the factory owner. Such a standard
.
is expensive and so .
'
 8.8 ECONOMY OF PERMANENCE

he will have no reserves to fall back on, in case of being p!Jt

but of e1nployment, and being habituated .t o spending money
on material wants, these would assume the role of necessities
without which, he is led to believe:, he cannot li~e. Thus are
his freedom of movement and bargaining,power curbed and
the ,vorker is glued down to his work bench. Such a
standard functions like a nose~string to a bullock. It is
pla~d there to neutralize his freewill and to make the
worker a:nenable to the will of the employer. .
The high salaries paid to public servants under a -
foreign government are of this nature. Many a patriot
bas been drawn away.from bis path of duty by such baits
..
and has been so caught in tbe meshes as to deaden his
conscience into adopting strong measures against his own
people which he would never have consented to in his untra-
melled and detached state. Such persons have their sense
of values distorted and their will to act has been paralysed by.
- .
the lQre of colourful and comfortable existence.
Again, looking at it from the point of view of the bargai-
:n ing powet of capital and labour, if any dispute shou.ld arise
bc~ween the employer_and the workers, the former, having
.g.r eater financial reserves, can bide his time and wait till the
power of resistence of the workers is broken. The workers
who live on their wages .
cannot .h old out long before
.
they are
.faced \Vith dil'e need and starvaiion. But workers, whose
'method of living is simple and, therefore, inexpensive, can :
resist longer than those whose livin_g is conplex and ~pensive. .
/

Hence also is the employer interested in advocating a complex

. standard of li.~ing for his workers so that bis workers .may
 STAND.\RDS OF LIVING 89
.
not be in a position to bargafu with him long. A part froin
these reasons concerning his workers, we have ~]ready seen
how the complex modes of living afford good markets for
the .manufacturers
.
as in the case of the British gardener's
.
household.
.
So both on the side of
.
production and . that of
sales, the complex standard is a profitable one for the . manu-
facturers.
( Industrial nations, like America follow such a policy
Las being one of 'enlightened self-interest' but it is inimical
/\\10 man's freedo~_ of action and growth of personality.
There are other objectives in introducing or follow.i ng
a comp lex standard of life, but .as these do not concern
the masses intimately we shall but give a passing notice to
such.
.
- Ostentation calls for a complex standard. A person may
put his servants in uniform to attract attention or appear
distinguished. A uniform sinks the personality of the. servant .
and makes him a mere functionary. He ceases to be ' Rama,
of '.Din Mohamed 1 and becomes 'Boy', Bearer, Peon, Chaprasi,
'Driver, etc. Such servants ( poor creatures that they are.)
do not possess such finery in private life and so hug these
uniforms and are proud of them. Ostentations spending ha~
been well ter1ned 'conspicuou waste' . Such habits, in a poor
. <:ountry like ours, must be regarded 'criminal waste:'
Then exclusiveness can only be ensured by a complex
standard. Travelling first class or paying high rents to live
in aristocratic locBliti~ are of this category.
1~ For our country no one standard c&n b.e f1x~d. ~ny
i\~ / form chosen will have to be selected after . fully taking mto
\ \ consideration the local demands of nutrition, climate; facilities
90 ECONOMY OF PERMANENCE

for_human progress, opportUnities for exprcssin1 personality,

etc
In South India, rice as staple food may be adequate
but it mus_t be unpolished and balanced with other
articles like milk, dhal, vegetables, fat, etc. The clj.Jnate
here may not call for much clothing or any foot-wear and
a mat may be sufficient bedding. In the North, wheat may
do duty as a staple with other articles to balance the diet.
The severe cold of winter may call for more clothing and
foot-wear, charpoys or cots etc. So what is a necessity ir1
one place 1nay be a superfi \lity in another. Hence ihe need
to judge the mode of life in close relationsb ip with local
.

circumstances and environment.

vt-tr the norm chosen is to lead to permanence and non-
violence, i' should fit into the local economy of the people.
. . . .
We have, in an earlier chapter, noticed how nature works
in cycles, the life of one unit forming the comple~ent -of
another and how 1 if this cycle is broken, violence is genera-
ted accompanied by destruction. The accepted standard of .
living, besides providing the opportunity for the development
of one:s f iCUlties and_ laying out the method of expressing .
o :.e's personality, should also form a link between the various
members of society whereby the better equipped help the less
fortunately placed ones.)
. British gardener's beds may be equipped with spring
The .
.
'
mattresses. These are manufactured in factories with the .

labour of those who fo rmerly, were helpers in the gardener's "

household cleaning carpets and washing dishes-but were

displaced by lahowr-saving device8 and drawn away by the
 STANDARDS OF LIVING . ~l

factory owner by the lure of a complex standard of life.

Such mattres~s are made of steel springs which are themso-
Iv-es factory prod.uctS. If any part of the mattress requires
attention the factory's 'service squad' will have to be called.
There is no organic unity between the life. of the people and
the production of such a mattress.
Our Dewan, leading a high but simple life, may sleep on
a mat, not necessarily a coarse one. It may well be a patum-
adai' creation witli silk warp and made of reeds split into
thirytows or even finer. Those mats are qooler than quilts
or mattreiSes and they are local products . . The making of .
these provides scope for the matweavers to develop. their
sense of art and skill in workmanship and affords an oudet
for t heir creative faculty; thus it helps in building and
expressing their personality. These mats have variot1s artistic
designs worked into ~em and are so supple that they can be .
folded like silk. They are clean bei~g washable. Of cour'se.
the high quality ones are expensive. Mats .may range from
8 annas a pair to Rs. 200 each according to the material
used and workmanship involved. What the Dewan may
spend on these will go directly to support and maintain the
artisans and their families and so forms a complete cycle
with the locally available reeds which constitute the raw
materials. Such an economy does not require the Army,
the .Navy and the Air Force to secure their raw materials, find
or make the markets and to keep the long ocean lanes open
ai1d safe. Hence, they have no need of violence, as would
be the case if the Dewan patronized spring inattresses made
in Britain and included them in bis 'Standard of Living.'
 .
92 ECONOMY OF PERMANENCE

Similarly also the Dewan's dhoti and other clothing,

bei1g of fine Khadi,. made to order, ..will encourage local
:s pilners and wea'Vers and afford then full scope for develop-
ment.
In such a manner, everyone of our require-ments should
be so linked up with local production and the Jife of the
people arou,1d us as to form a solid well-knit economy.
. Only then will it lead to permanence, .as it will promote
healthy growth without destmction by violence.
Frequently, the standard of life is described in terms
of money and . materials without any reference to the lives
-Of those around us Such standards are artificial and so
are ~.: nstable and bei:lg superim?osed and superficial will
n ot be permanent having no root in the very life of .the .
. people. The British gardener's standard of life is laid out in
that fashion. Such lead to regimentation and standardization
which are soul-killing.
-There is no need thus to determine all the details thai
go to make life. What we need to do is to tak'! care of
the minimum that is . essential, and direct the productivity
-0f the people by conditioning their environments and making
raw materials etc. available to them, and then safely leave
.the rest to their initi1tive and their ingenuity without further
interference. Just as , if we wa.nt tv raise the level
. .
of water
in a tank , all we need to do is to increase the quantity of.
water in the tank. The level Ylill rise of its own accord in
obedience to nature's laws without any further aid from us.
If people in our country are starving or going about ill-
<1lad, they are neither sliming for a beauty contest nor are

-
 ST.-\ NDARDS OF LIVIN G 93 .
.
they following the cult of the nude ! They know how and what
to eat and what to put on. What is needed is not a schedule
but the goods articles of food
.
and clothing. We have . to tak.e..
steps to make it poss-
ible to produce these
in needed quantities .
.If we increase
productivity of the
masses and direct
consumpiion, so as
to afford a ready
local mar .ket, the
standard of living of
the people will auto-
matically rise. Such
.
a
natural formation of
a standard will pro-
cl aim the culture and
genius of the people,
and will be permanent The Nude cult and.ill-clad poverty
being rooted in the life of the people.
The British gardener's standard of living. was strictly
individualistic in that it was not correlated to the life of
.the people around him. It was confined to the four walls
of his house. It is said ''An Englishman's house is bis castle''.
Yes, . it effectively shuts out the \vorld however much of .
material creature comforts it may provide for those inside.
Such isolation from the life currents around them. is caused
in our country also by those who follow westerl\ modes of
life. :.
 ECONOMY OF PERMANENCE

The norm we seek. for is not for a single family or even a

clais. or group but f 0r the local population as a whole. This
means the norm will interlink the life of evi:ryone. In a way,
-0ur ancient village organization attempted 'omething on these
lines when it tried to assure every inhabitant his 'ubsistenco
by allocating an annual share to each from out of the total
produce of the village, in the form of 'Baluta', .' Padi', etc., ta
its members who serve as barbers, chamars, mochis. This
system recognized that they all formed one corporate whole.
But what we want, is not merely provision for bodily exi~
stence, but a provision also for opportunities of development
of the higher creative faculties of man.
To~ again to our Dewan, when he wants a leather
case for his papers, he would call in the mochi, specify the
quality of leather b(: requires, a.o.d the shape, size and accomm..
odation needed. The mochi, in his turn tnaY get the chamar
tan
to the required quality leather. All this will present seve-
ral problems which will have to be solved. lhis provides
scope for ingenuity and resourcefulness. Thus the Dewan's
demand opens up an opportunity for the exercise of the crea-
tive faculty of those around him. If instead, the Dewan
walked into a British store and bought a ready made article,,
such a brief case may not be exactly what he wants as ht
had only to choose out of the ready stock. Besides, he may
not even have exercised his mind as to what he wants. Th$ .
thinking would have been done in advance for him by the
manufactUrCrs, not f Or him in particular, but as a general
prepositi.On. When he orders a thing locaily he himself thinks
-0f the various details and decides the kiud of article he wants
and then directs those around him to prodt1ce it. In tll.is way,
 STAND.\RDS OF LIVI NG 95
. .
the life and thought of the consumer is cloicly entwined with
the- life and cr@ative faculty of the producer, each attempting
to solve ttie problems formulated by the other. Our lives are
not independent entities but.are closely associated one with
another. A proper standard of life will then be the silken
str&nd which
. strings
.
together the goodly pearls ot life-indivi-
dual members of society. Such is the Dewan's standard of
living in that it oonnected up his life not only with those of
the spinners, weavers mat-makers, chamar&i, mochis etc., but
. '
also with his dumb fellow creatures such as the goat that fed
on his dining leaf. No man liveth unto himself. When factory
mad_e a~ticles are used there is no such living touch with the
people around. Then the standard of living is , coupled to life-

less machines which are producers without any creative faculty

tha_>can be develop~; _ - .
v Hence, our norm of life must be such as to bring together
as a living organizm the various sections of society in healthy
co-operation. Such a norm will not be calculated to be of
use to isolated and segregated individual only but wi.11 func- ~

tion as a binding cement of society as a ..,bole. There will

then be mutual trust J unity and
.
happines.5 which will be a
source of strength and not of discord, in that society.
/The staple . of raw cotton taken by itself is flimsy and
weak. But when thousands are spun together and the strands
are twisted into a cabled rope it will be strong enough to tow
an ocean liner. Such should be the result produced by a
.
satiiiactory standard of living. It should be designed to bring
together the consumer and the producer into such intimate
relauonship as to solidify society into a consolida~ed mass
which alone can lay claim to permanence.
 XII
WORK
. .
Al though a most commonly used word yet 'work' is per-
. haps one of the few words whose meaning people never
take the trouble to consider. W.bat is work ? What function
does it perform in the economy as ordained by nature 'l
/one of the great problems facing the nations today is the
provision of work for the millions, so it is imperative that the
significance of work should be fully comprehended. Jn an
earlier chapter, we considered how in natnre tbe various
. ' . .
factors th1t make for continuity and permanence are brought
together by natural agents to serve ~e eternal order of the
universe worms as fertiliz~rs of the S?il, birds' as carriers
and sowers of seeds, bees as fertilizers of plant life. Such is .
work and such is the life mission of these creatures
in nature.
As regards man also, \Ve discussed what life was, and
.
what its constituents were, apart from mere existence. .._A ..
.
di~:;:in::c:::t_:.f:~r~o..,m~th~e:'......!.:lo~.Y!~e~r~o.:..:rd~e:.:r;:s.,_,..::m:::;a::.:n=-=c-=-o-=uc:.::ld::........e=..;x~e:;..oor.....c.....,is~
e ~b~is!__!.fr~ee-
rwill . and . bring together
~ .
diverse units of nature to. serve their
lpurposes better. In so doing he himself can develop bis facul-
1ties and also .
be able to express his personality
.
through the
pplication of his scale of values in solving the practical prob-
ems before him. This then constitutes work for man and also
lits function. .
For. a proper understanding of what work is, it is neee- .
ssary to consider the simplest form ot~ it in the early history of
man, shorn of all its manifold and confusing appendages with. .
which it is enshrouded today. The origin of work, in its

- 96 ...


WORK .97

purest fo rm, can be traced

.
to
.
the early .days of man when b.iS .
ways began to diverge from those of the instinct-driven ani-
mals when be began to make himself tools out of ston".8. His
work, was to s'upply his own i;ieeds using his Jatelligenc.e fore- .
tho~g'1t
.
and resourcefulness in a way sim.il~r. to. how ~ird .
a
builds itself a nest and goes about
.
in s.e~rcb" . .. of-fOod.. '. Man
.
: :'

worked to serve and please himself. There was. no" w~ge - otlicr '.. ..
..
. "' .
' : - . . .
than the satisfying ~f his personal wan~. . UUS, :'~ny .wa~
h~tb~~nough to sha.q>e.n his fa~ulties .aJ!~ ~U?. . I~t .bilp 8!..o~
,f .... ~

as a thinkiag animal. He brought bis finds ttn~ :. ~Is ho~c,. ,. ~<>.
his simple c~v~dwelijng where is womaii 4r~ .~~~ a~<;!-
~ ~ " ' . ' . 3 .

got theill . rea4y for ~~ting. ~~began bousek,~PW&f.lS ~~~ ,

beginnig. of wom~'s .w<?~k. TQ thi$ day,' at ".~e~st i~qLl.f.
' ' ', ' ' ' ' ' . . ,,: I

country, women's work follows t\l~ ; p,~e . forP.l of. s~~y~~

one's,Jle.e ds o~est;lf in one's own ~om.e.
,qf.
Constitu~t. Eleil!eU:t!;.. work : Wh..en . wqr.l< .is
j]lalysed it is fo~nd that it is a 'cB~pound .Qf ma.nY..,P~r~~'~
each. conti:ib"\lting. its ~are tow.a rds .
the 'achievemeni
.
of tlie
. . . - .. .
final goaJ. In me inain it cons~sts of routine &nd restt yros~~ss
. . .
and pleasure. W~ cannot ~solate. any one of those from ie
others and constitute 'it into a living unit capable"Of existence .... ... .,,
. ' . ~ .. l

by itself, . we cannot give the routine part of ii to on~ mifti .

. . and the . resting part to another' . neither can a . thitd 'party ..
appropriate all the pt~asure io himself. In ~usic, :each not~
has its characteristic timing or test, which forms .
.an integral
.
..
part of the note itself whiah would haveno :meaning wirb~llt
that period of rest. A man, who' asPires to become:a 1:11usician,
h'a s .to put in hours of.rowin.e praeti~e: of: scales an4 - oboid~,
only-by so doing. can ne:ultimately.. obtai11:.:the;1jczyiof; :ro.uder.ipg "
7
 98 . ECONOMY OF PERMANENCE

in. _m usic bis deep emotions. This routine .

cannot be detailed
~

.
out .to one so that another may feel the joy of success. One
. may .
passively enjoy music-tune in the radio. But, that. does
not make a musician of one. Similarly, everything that is
worth doing demands repeated practice.
To take another example, a proper di_e t is constituted
of roughage. nutritive elements and taste. One who desires
tQ have the taste only without the bother of masticating t~
whole meal. may1 with the help of modern science, get what
. he wants but he will not be able to sustain himself on it for
'
any length of time. So also the roughage in our . diet plays ''
. 4h~ most _important part of aiding digestion and. full assimila-
. itc>n. Similarly, a11 the constitu~nt parts of work are essen-
. - .
tial t~ get the best out of it and to ~et it serve its definite
purpose ordained by nature. .
.
Since time immemorial; man .ha.s used his freewill in
trying to break up work into its component parts; passing
on. .
the routine to those who are. helpless to resist and
appropriating to the strong the pleasures to be derived from
work. The routine was shouldered on the slaves while the
ma.s tet enjoyed the fruits. of his ..labour. .
The civilizations.
of
. .
Greece and Rome .
were based.
on such misappropria~ion. .
of pleasure and avoidance of routine. Consequently they
have perished leaving behind just their ashes . of greatness
to lell. their tale as a warning to. us. Not heeding this, the
modern industrial enpires are repeating the same effort to
i:eserve. for the manufacturing countries the beneftts and
pleasures, while shifting unmitigated drudgery to raw mate-
. r~al producing countrits. Being contrary to the 9rder.. orqained
by nature, such attempts are bound to fail. In oui: own
 "
99
.
ti1nes we have a visible demonstration of the devastatiJlg .
violence generated b!f such
. efforts to
.
thwart nature. These
periodical . global wars are the means through which the
..
empire countries are .trying to impose their will on ~he rest

-0f mankind. For a while they may appear to succeed, but
since the seed of destruction and decay is in it, any such
organization brought about by violent means w.ill perish .. in
due course.
. - . '
We noticed, in a previous chapter, how the makers of .
"1abour-saving..(levices'
..
by their successful high pressure
sales organization droye ou~_ household servants, farmers
and field labour, and converted. them into factory thands'
a
for themselves to tend their machines. ,Such transformation
in England naturally left its countryside uncultivated as
there was none to attend to the farms and :fiel.ds . .No countl'Y
can live oa coal, iron an.d tin. It must have food. This made
it imperative for England .to hold other countries in political
.subjection to obtain its food supplies and other materials, as
i t ~anaot afford to depend
'
for such essentials on the .
tnder
mercies of others or leave it to the vagaries of unaided
'
private commerces. Other countries, naturally, will n-pt meekly
submit to such subjection, and, hence, violence has . becom~
the foundation stone of life in England. Every alternate
.generation sheds its yo~th and talent on the ~attle ' ~elds. to
.accomplish and mafutain its organization. Is this a sensible
'
.arrangement 'l Generally speaking, the man in. the . stre~ .
will acknowledge the futility of this method .which has to
'b e :sustained by periodical slaughter of the innocents There-
fore., to confuse the issues, all the means available advoca-


. .
100 ECONOMY OF P~"'v!ANENCE

c~g a
.
complex standard of living, a system . of education
.

. giving false values, glorifying violence--have be~n u~d t0:

. mislead the public, whose unquestioning support is . ,ieede~
to nia.i ntain such an order. The devastating effects <?f such
p ropaganda are to be noticed in mothers' sacrificing the lives
oftheir sons with pride for such a purpose, and wives urging
. . husbands to risk themselves on the battle-fields. It is.
tbeit
natural
.
for a mother to take pride in the fact . . that her_ &on
b'as been trained to murder other innocent .
sons. on.
a mass. .
scaleand get killed himself in the effort ? Can a .Iovig . .
.wife contemplate the sacrifice of her beloved on tbe altar
of Internationai Robbery ? Yet, these results have . been
.o.btained by inf~sing into the minds of the people a .scale
:bf.r~ise . values, 'w hich treachero.u sly enforces them use. to
their freewill to stray into paths of violence and qestruction~
~hlch in their normal lucid thinking they would naturally
:flee . from. .
.
. To make .
such a perversion possible violence has been .
~glormed
.
. Murder in retail iS visited by capital
..
puJ;iishme11t..
. . .
.
~ut murder in wbolesale of innocent young promising lives.

.
is
rewarded
. .
by natfonal bonour being
' . .
accorded
.
to the . doe~s.
.
.
of. such dastardly deeds, by the conferment of titles, . by
erect~ng_ monument8'' in their memory in holy places Qf .
worship such as the Westmins~er .
.~bbey o~ St. Paul's Cathe-
.

.dial. Is there not something radically wrong . in a. system.

. which has to resort to such devious ways to maintain itself ?
.. .
1'he public.is rendered senseless by having its. finer . feelings, .
. . . . . . ..' . .. .
'benumbed ~Y this topsy turvy .o rder. The complex stan<;lard
.. . ..
cf living, we ~onsidered in the previo~s chapter, is helpful
. ' ,

 \VOR.K. \01

in that it leaves the people no time to contem.plate .the.
situation in calmn~ss.. It keeps_ them .self-satisfied aqd
-0omplacent, leaving those . in . power to~ pursue their ends
unhampered.
The modits operandi is simplicity.
.
itself. We
.
saw that as
ordained by nature man works only to satisfy himself.. so
his wants are the direct sti1nuli for him to put forth the .e ffort. .
,

Increase. his w?-nts .and the greater will .be his effort. Here. is
the . 1aison d'etre of the advocacy of a created multiplicity of
w~nts, in other. words, o.f 'the s6-called 'raising' of his mate-
rial. standard of living Or' making . it complex, which we
notice . functioned
.
like a . nose-string
.
to a bullock. It curbs
1nan's .will restricting his freedom of. movement and action' and
di rects him" into the ways desired by the one who holds : the~
reins The one who is .,under such a lead .is soon bereft
Qf his reasoning f acuities a,.nd follo.ws unqnestioningly.
.{ / .We also noticed that io day the .world is und~r the heels.
of d:J.e large scale manufacturer, who stands to gain by stifling .
.the .-voice of the people and .by spreading an organizatio.n :w~ich
will bring ,him profits either way.. .Duriug peace.aterludes:he.
inakes and ,sells bjcycles, and, while war clouds ~darken .ih.c
skies -~e t\lrns. his attention to the manufact\lre .of bombs . and
gu_ns. To his .dictates, camo uftaged by self--interest, .the
foolish public lay down gladly the lives of their be.loved to
make this ordFr possible. All this is direcwd towards isqlati.ng
,

the routine element of work with ~e discipline it involv~s,

arid securing only the satisfaction and pleasure which lJ.bour .
well done brings with it.
Wholesome \VOr k provides our body with energy, health
and rest just as a well b.ilanced diet does. It provides
162 ECONOMY OF PERMANENCE
. ~

bodily exercise while affording, at the same time bpportun-

. ities for mental development .and satisfaction.~e modern .
.
. tendency, however, is to avoid the discjpline work involves).
passing it all . on to one class of society which is helpless>
. . .
reserving to the dominant class all the pleasurable consequ-
ences of work. It is sought to distil out the component part&
of work to this end and then the bodily exercise alone in a.
pleasurable form, without the drudgery part of work_, i&
obtained
.
inpill form in games like G olf, T~nnis,. Cricket,.
Hockey, Football, etc. which are all naturally expens~va .
luxuries beyond the reach of the poor

Tr.u:qcating work in this manner is like the way they

manage
. .
on ocean liners to provide the .muscles with. the kind
of movements they ar~ accustomed to on land in games and
hob~ies .which for . obvious reasons cant1ot be indulged in on
a boat. On such liners the gymnasiums are equipped . )Vith
.machines which provide the substitutes for horse-riding, boat- .
ing, etc. 1 'h e . horseman bestrides a saddle on a mechanicai ..
horse, holding the reins switches on the electric contraption
into a 'trot' or a 'gallop'. The .saddle gives .the semblance of
'jerks one . get~ on a horseback
.
on land although here the , .
rider has no live spirited animal under .
him. Similarly,
. .
there
are oars .
for the boating
.
enthusiast to pull away at, seating
himself at a bench and kicking his feet on tQ a rest. The
.
oars are provided with springs to give the resistance of water..
He,re we have horse-riding and boating ber~ft of the natural
pleas'1res attendant o~ them on land---the scenery, the ple~sure.
of movement through the air and over water. For a -few
.
days for the duration of the ''oyage; such contrivances will


DIVISION OF LABOUR 103

. .
answer the purpose bui they cannot be .substitutes. for all time
for the natural counterparts.
'
Thus is work broken up into the component parts into
routine and play, and sQme people are relegat~d for all .
.. . . .
time to do .the hard routine, and a few appropriate to ~m .
ielves the play part of it. When work is ao divided without
the
.
balancing factor,
.
the routine
.
becomes drudgery
. and the
. .
play.part becomes indulgence. Both are equally detrimental
t.o human progre~ and well being. The slave dies of priva
tions and the lord -of over-indulgence. These efforts, which .
have been made repeatedly through the ages, have . adequ-
ately demonstrated over and over again their impotency to
lead m..an to his maturity.
. In our own generation, this.
aitempt to secure the pleasures apart from.
the d]scipline
.
has
let loose on h~inanity ~he wolves of war, pestilence, famine
and death. Are we not to cry 'halt' and take note?

'

XIII
DIVISION OF LABOUR
No one will dispute the be~efits to be obtained from a
division of labour, which makes fol'. ~pecialization and eJ:Hc.io--
ncy. lo our land, -Such specialization has held sway since
time immemorial and it has even gGne to seed, having
become he~editary and caste bound. Such an extreme has also
led to difficulties and to a blind alley. . .
L / Under the plea of a whoiesome division of labou r,
. Western industrialists have broken ~up work into minute
. processes in such a way that work and drudgery have become
synonymous. terms associated with all the undesirable quali-
ties of a curse

~
 ..

.
. . JM. ECONOMY OF PERMANENCE

. ~ Work, to be hea.Ithy,:and beneficial to .the worker. .h im-

self, apart from all considerations of the produ ct,, should have
diversiQn and variety
~ . .in .sufficient measure . in every sub'1ivi-
. .ded unit of it to. prevent its \>ecorning a . strain on the .ner\es.
Ther e is, therefore, a limit beyond " 'hich division of Jabour
cannot go without impugning its ~laims to wholesomeness, .
' . . . .
The sub-divided unit must be as near a whole industry
..in itself as it possibly

can
be .and not be reduced to a mere

process
. .
of an fndtistry. For instance, if carpentry is to be
su. b divided, it may well be into wheel-wrights and oil-mill
.. .
makers. These two are highly skilled departments
.
each affor-.
ding _full scpi:;e
. for all the faculties
.
of the artisans. The
. products also are complete marketable units. Instead of thiS
. , . '
if these. cra(ts we.r.e further. sub.divided into makers. of spc>kes
. and felloes for the. wheels oil the one hand, and into hewers
. of wood on the other, it would be verging on drudgery. 1n
leather .craft, shoem~g
. .
or even SPeCializing in chappals .
cl.n be a healthy unit, while the mere c1:1ning out of pieces
of leather for the soles or the uppers of ~hoes cannot stand by
' . . .
itself
.
as. a healthy sub-division. In modern factories , such
.div~ion .of work into its minute processeS has gone to such an
.
.C,nent as to limit .a man's operation and attention to driving a
ni1il-'Or screwing. on a ;nut bolt. Take a shoe factory. An elec-
trically driven. belt moving horizontally will carry . hundreds
of lasts on wbich the various operations inci'dental ~o the
. making of ?. shoe "'ill be performed by the operators staiiol}ed
. .
,all along the line. As the ha.r e last moves up the first man
"On the line, who will have by his side a pot of sticky paste
. .
and a brush, will dab the last with the paste on the sole
as it passes in front of him. He \\'ill repeat this operation o n

 ~ ...

DIVISION OF LABOUR 105

. . '
hundreds of -lasts that will move past hi!n from eight in the
. mor:riing till five in the evening with a break ror lunch in
the .middle. / . .. -
To repeat such actions for -eight hours a day for 300' .
days in. the year is enough to cause a nervous st.rain" which
will send the worker .to the mad house whatever ma.y be.the:
wag9s offered. . .
~Is it any wonder that in the most industrialized
. country
.
in the world , in the U. S. A., more people suffer .from. ... .
nervous.
disorders than from all other forms .of ailments 'l*
Man,8
. .
constitution is not an inanimate machine.. His system,
. :

calls for a balance of operations which will . exercise all

his facultie s. This condition cari only be ensured t>y a wide
enough unit _o f work.; .
Too small . uni~. which are merely processes, are hig~ly .
. wastful of man power as it puts workers out of action in a .. .
short time. A. hardworking labourer i& made a wreck by the
time he reaches 45 years of age. But this wastage
- . is shifted
.
frbfu t he manufacture_r to society by the wage system rende
ring ..it . possible for ihe industriaiist.
.
to flo.urish in spite 9f
this great loss iri man. power~ The employer is totally unco~..:
ce:rned with the .destruction ..his system of work ca:uses.If one
.
., '
. .
.
it "'l'hcre are more patients suffering from iental dise~ses in -the
. . . . .
hosp\tils of America than frcm all other diseases combi:r1ed. One student
out of ev.cry 16 at sch:ool th~re 1od.1.y will spend pa.rt -Of h is l?fe-in a n insane
asyl11m. I f y<'u are 15 years of age, t he cha11ces a:re 1 out of 20 that you
will be confined in an ins titution for the m entally ill for 7 years of your
life. During the last d ecade, m en tal dis~ases have almost dou bled . If this
a ppalJing rate of increase con~inues for another cent ury, .half . the .entire
popUlation will be in t he i nsane as}'lum~ a n d the ,oth~r half will b.e outside
t rying to su ppor t the~ by ;a xes'' . ( p . 55 Biography of Mayo Brothers ).
Ref : Fi,re Min ute Biograph:es by Da le Carnegie,_ Publishers Vo ra & Co .
Ltd, Kalbad evi, Bom bay. ..
'
 .
106 ECONOMY OF PERMANENCE

of his workers breaks down .he .is immediately discharged

. and
a,more youthful one is taken on. There is no love lost. The
employer thinks no more of dispensing with a man who has .
.
wrecked his life in his service than of throwing away a smoked
bit of a cigar. If anything, in casting off such worn out per
'
sons he stands tp gain as the younger man may bring in more
. .
energy,
.
There
. is no liabilizy attaching to the employer for so
drawing the life out of his man. Is this not a callous waste.
of humai;i faculties and life 'l Can such waste lead us to
permanence .'? Any little higher wage such '\\'.orkers inay ,,
appear to enjoy is but the realization of present value of their
life after 45 years of age~ . .
'.
VAn excessive emphas!s laid on wages, the product or the
maintenance
. of a complex standard of ljfe, ignoring the.
higher faculties of man , deprives man of th~ use of his free..
.wili and distorts. his scale of values. \ .
. . .
Under such circumstances . the labourer's condition and
work are like that of a bullock that drives an oil mill. The
bullock .being blind folded does not see where or how , it
. goes. Being controlled by its nose string, which is not even
guided by a man but is .only fixed to the machine itself, the .
animal 'turns eternally to the left walking round and round
all day within a circumscribed area getting nowhere .by its
movement. No doubt the oilpresser gives it a little oil~k,
with a complacent feeling of generosity, out of the _lot that is
made by the bullock's toil during the day. Our millhands
fare no better~ The joy of life and the heaithy ~tmosphere of
freedom are not. for them. They are. deprived of all opportu
nities of growth and development. This is not work as
'

\
 DIVISION OF LABOUR 107

designed by nature. Hence it can only briillto the workers ..

ruin and decay of iheir higher faculties. No. money \vage "
can compensate for that loss.
While the manufacturers thus attempt to avoid for them"."
selves drudgery and apl!ropriate only the play and pleasure
of work. our _socialist friends dream of scooping .out leisure '

from. Wotk. Properly understood work of the right sort con~

tains . leisure or period of rest within 'itself. Leisure is an
integral part of.Work . just as rest is an essential component
of a .JilUSical _note. The two cannot .be taken. apart. Leisure is.
not a complete cessation of all activities. That will l?e deatb.
Neither is leisure idle time. Idlen~ss leads.to deterloi:ation~
Beneficial leisure provi':les res~ .to one faculty, while other
par.t s of our personal icy are being exercised. A mental worke.r
at his desk need~ an active . holJby like gardening to f or:m: a '
. .
complement to the nervous strain .
caused.. by desk work. Any
work to fulfil its proper function as ordained by nature, and
not multilated by man, must contain these . complement~rY.
parts in itself.
Once I was discussing
.. '
this aspect.. of work with .an.
~

experienced e.ngineer. He re1narked that he could no t con

ceive how there can be work and rest at the same time. To-
explain this theoretically it may be difficult, but to demonstrate
it is easy, and so I sugg~ted

he
should visit any artisan and
analyse the proposition himself. He accep~~ this suggestion
and took me to a school master who eked out his living by
- .
making caps and requP-sted me to point out wherein lay . leis-
ure and wh~rein diversion or rest in the making of caps.
The school-master, on being asked to show us how he
set about the .task of making a cap, brought out his work .
 108 ECONOMY .O F PERMANENCE.
.

basket, . took a""Piece of plush-like material and cut out a.n

-0va1 sh4ped piece. Then taking some red coloured lining
cloth cut out also a similar piece. To this be attached some
pieces of old newspaper and stitGhed some floral designs
with the se\ving . machine, and then sewed this on to the .
plush top. After that with punches he fixed some eyelets
through theseto serve as. vent.ilating holes- on the top of
. the .c ap. While the master was busy . with his manifold
operations, I _was explaining to th.e engineer that the obtain- .
ing of. the raw material presented certain problems for. the.
master to solve in international
.
trade aS the plush
.
came from
Italy ~nd the .red lining cloth from Japan; that when the
master was occnpied with the cuning operations with . his
scissors one faculty of his was functioning, whea he w~s
-se"wing. on the floral. design the artistic faculty, when he .was
punching o n the eyelets for ventilators still another part of
!lis nervoi1s system 'Yas called into action diverting .his ener-
gies from the artistic employment the faculty of which was
now having its rest. .
While we were talking about these matters' the master's
little child cried in the . backyard of th~ house. f romptly
.the master got up, left his work and ran to the .child, picking
it U,P . scolded bis wife roundly for allowing the child to _cry .
while visitors were in the hcruse. While the master was
having this uilholy row with his spouse . I said to the engi- .
neer, ''There, now he is having his relaxation and recreation''.
The engineer burst out into a laughter and got up to go
saying '~I fully grasp your meaning''.
~ .Life when it is allowed to run its natural course is
resourceful enough to provide for itself all it needs without
any further conscio us effort On our par,t. .
 DIVISION OF LABOUR 109

. /such
.
then is work and its function in life. It makes
.
.i t
possible for man to use his faculties and develop himself
during his own lifc:-time and leave behind him his personality
"indelibly .stamped on the product of his work .....that which is
the best part of. him .
.we saw how an artist transfers his sense
beauty to a~f
' .
piece of canvas and leaves behind a masterpiece for posterity .
to.cherisl1 and admire. While that artist was dabQ~g bits
of paini on :to the canvas it must have : seemed hard .work ..
drudgery of days and days. Bi t such labou~ b:ad to ~o into '
tbe' m'aking of a masterpiece. A lithograph may avoid ~ueh
ilrudgery and hard work but its products .are as wastepapei:
wh.en con1pared :with ihe work of't he rea:l 'artist.
. .
, .
.
Even before ihe \votk of the pieture is iaunched on
hours of hard 'wotk ,vere necessary f6r the skilful mixing of'
J

paints and ' blending of colouts. The colours used at the

. . . .
Ajanta Caves must have taken decades to evolve to have
" .
attained such perfection as to liave lasted' all these many
. 'centuries. The artists of: th<>se.times d id not grudge: ibe
:labour on it; and
posterity pays its obeisance to them ' for
.,, their peerless gift. Those artists did not devise ways and
. . ..
means of obtaining the effect without the lal1our involved

Nature is a hard task;..master. It never awards permanence to
grudgingly rendered
.
work. lf'. we wish to attain permanence
we must. put in whole work, no transient labour which satis-
fies, only the passing moment will answer the purpose. Nature
refuses ;to"be browbeaten or cheated.
1

'
. . Similarly
. :t a beautiful embiem of devoted labuur hasbeen
.

'. beqlieathed to generations yet unborn. by;. t~ose creators wlto



110 . ECONOMY OF PERM ..\.NENCE

hewed out of living rock the whole edifice of a temple at

Ellora. That sense of proportion and symmetry are . not the
result of an attemp_t to shirk work nor the outcome of seek-
. ing shortcuts so as to a void labour. lt is the product of an
opportunity squarely faced. Labour properly directed blesses
those who work and also the products of their labour.
To give
.
out one more. example of faithful work. well doneI
. .
~here is a steel pillar near tht: Kutub Minar at Delhi bearing
. .
an ancient inscription. This pillar ~as . stood in the open
exposea to sun and rain, heat and cold for _centuries on end,
yett there is not a speck of rust on it. The composition of this
alloy bas confounded the best of modern metal! urgis~ The iron
smiths or old w-h9 cast this wonderful pillar did not seek any
shortcuts to produce this effect. They did not shirk the rou-
tine labour and discipline involved in manufacturing such
. metal. They took work as nature meant .
ii to be. Hence we
. have this.
monument declaring that fact to ustoday.
One would associate the idea of weal ti}. and comfort .with
the industry
. -
of mining gold. . But this. system of
.
relegating
. .
drudgerY. to one class and appropriating pleasure by another
has made -the district of the most famous gold mines. in India
-0ne. of the poorest localities. . The farmer :of that district
has been reduced to such a wretched condition financially
. .
that he is drive'n .to maintain. a 'dual purpose
,
cow'; . i. e., a
cow yields
... a few drops
.
of milk at one time and when dr.y is
used to plough the land
!
a
While Ori. visit there I was taken down the shaft of
-0ne of the deepest mines, about 7000 ft. There in 4arkness
made visible by small Davy's lamps . men worked in tunnels,
. ..

blasting
..
the rock. I in dust, diri and danger from morning till
 DIVISION OF LABOUR 111

evening for a pittance that hardly helped to keep the wolf

from the door. The strain of this labour was so great that
m~n were completely done up when brought up into the
fresh air and light. This district contributes the greatest
revenue from liquor to the State. Is it . a wonder that
.
. after.
the nerves of the miners had been strained tq this extent they
should
.
find refuge in the oblivion provided
.
by merciful.
alcohol
.
'l Venereal diseases
. are also rampant
. among such
. .
miners. Wherever the nervous system is overwrought it is but .
to be expected that it will naturally rush for relaxation made
aveilable in wine and women. This is a pathological condition
. .
of the human constituiion. At the end of my visit,. when the
manager of the mine asked if I could suggest any social
.
welfare work that he can introduce for the betterment of the
conditions of life of the .miners I gave him these two alter..;
...

natives 1: The best welfare work will be to

restore the
dignity of work. and labour by closing down such a mine, or
in the alternative, 2. To provide more liquor shops to enable
the men to drown their miseries. it is needless to say that

these shocked
.
the manager, and that
.
neither of them. were~
found acceptable as the company was one which paid.. the
heaviest dividends. Money and gold v.ere much more to them
. ' -..
than human ~eings .

. /1r we are to derive fuil benefit from work as designed

by na~ure we have to keep as close as we can to the simple
original form of work without dividing it up it?-to its .
ineffective parts.
. .
Wages ~ We saw that nature rewarded work ma .whole--
 '

ECONOMY OF PERMANENCE
.
some manner by conferring benefits on the worker~ Such
benefits derived . from \vork are the natural wages.
As life became more and 1DOre complex, division of lab"'. .
our \vas brought into being by man with .a dole in . the form
. of a money wage repre~enting a share of the natural benefit .
derived oi:l the whole. But such complications need not c~ri:y
.. . . .
us off our trac;;~
.
if we constantly keep the true function .of
work befo.r.e us.
. .
Unfoi'tu~tely,
siu9e th.e appearance the wage ~Y~.tem; . or
. the emphasis had shifted from the function .o f w~rk to .the
, . . , . r , , .

prod.uct of v1ork, so m~cli so that t~day.

. .
th~. pr9.~- t ~bpld.s
. . .. .
.. the field to the exclusion of the.

.
function. An eJ'Apl oy~r.. thinks.
.. I I ! ,

.of the product he c:in sell \vith the gre.atestprofit .in the. op.en
l.~rket. He proceeds to obt~n such plo~Uf;ts with . the l<?~~
. .
. cost
. '
He. off~rs . a wage for ma king.it.
.
'I.he. overcrowded
. lab~ur . ~ ~-

force
.
volunteers in iceea competition to produce. the ~~~s
~ ....
fo,r a wage whatever 1nay be the moral outcome, cond~ioll&
~f work, the methods adopted and the~r consequenc~s. No
4

scale
,
of values othel' than
.
.money enters into the equation.
.
In .,

t.~is manner work ha~ been commercialised .and .lapoqr:bai

. 1 . .
bee~ degraded -into a commodity at the. disposal .Ofi. the .~big
est. bidder. . .The emJ?loyer seeks to obtain bis . labo.ur: .atillle
~

cheape~t rate possible. ,

A slave trader wants sailo(s to man his sbiPs to tr~DiSPQrt
. ... . .
. . . .
~

slaves captured in the .West ~oast of ~~rica to the. P.laD;~ati~

. . .

. U. S. A. or a poppy planter wants labour

of the .
on his ..e~tate.
. ..... _, .. .. . ~

for producing opium to be forced down on China. . _.The

re(J,ui"red !about sho.u ld be forthcoming rcgard,ess of any social .
.
 DIVISION OF L.ABOUR 113

or moral consideration, ot_J:ier than money wages. Thus moral

,

values etc. are sought to be sterilised .

'

~,
. . ,,
. ,

..

.t\ scientist at work for the benefit of hwnanity _

-

'

..

,.

.
.
,
.'\ .mother nursint the child
'
'
.,
.
.i . ..

 .
114 ECONOMY. OF PERMANENCE .
'
. .
When a mother nurses her ba:by or cooks food for her.
'
children she functions in the way intended by nature in
tl).c 'Econo~y of Service' .All the return she gets is the joy of
seeing her c~ildren . well fed and happy . that is her 'wage'.
Froni this the"re is a fall
'
to the 'Economy of Enter- _
prise' when a wet nurse feeds
the bflbY .or a hired cook
prepares the meals. In either
case the mother's work and
f'Unotion. has been. . cominerci..-
. A wet .nurse breast-fceding for salary alised. The wet nurse and the
cook.derive"iheir satisfaction from \he amount of money-wages
received
.. - . I
the good. of the . children takes a secondary place. . .
Then we descend further to the 'Economy of Predation'
-. when the natural mother's milk is sought to be,subst~tuied
.

not out of mere necessity ' but to preserve the mother's fig~e')
and .the.p oor b~by is bottle-fed on synthetic milk. The manu-
. (acturer
- does not
.
worry about the. baby but.is only concerned
to push his goods in the market by all forms of . claims for
hi~ p_roduct and concern for the mother's 'figure.'
..
When the extravagant elaims of baby f~~- do not bear
any close relation to facts we go right down to the 'Parasitw
~ Boonomy> where _the profit made mthe overruling considera- .
tion irr,espective' of any harm that may befall the baby. . .
Thus
.
ultimately the natural function of.the
.
mother is sought'.
. .
,
o be performed by various agents for a money reward. Thus .
the dignity of wo~k of the mother is lost along with. the
 /

DIVISION OF LABOUR 115

healthy constituents ;tttached to . it~ .all that is left bei.ag pure .

c ommerce which is bought and sold for money.
At one time, Kas~mir used .
to manufacture a kind of ;
carriage rug with furry .
appearance sornewha.t like
a turkis}l towel these Wete -_
extremely soft and warm and . .
. needed skill in -'ma~ing them.
They also t<>ok a tong time
to produce with the coiise-- . .. ..
quence that they were coJ:n..
~ :. paritively expensive. 1hesc
A Chl.l d given
. . f ed'
art1 6c1a 1 e 1ng to
gradually .fell .o ut ~f use yiel..
'
preserve the mother's figure ding place to mill-made rugs.

O,ice a worker of the Charkha . Sangh found
.
sqme poor
labourers.
breaking-stones . for road making. On enquiry ..
he discovered these were skilled .
weavers'
of this type of rugs
w.h o were specialists in that particular .
department of the ~rt~.
When their product -was dislodged they lost .their occupation,. . -
'1 and the world of art the use of their trained faculties.
By the shifting of the emphasis -from w()rk to the product>
..
skilled workmen are reduced. to stone breakers. Is this an
economic and nat.ural utilization of human faculties ? Such
is the degradation of work caused by . the . money
.
wage
system ignoring the real function of wo_rk... . .
. . ~fSortation of m~nufacture<:l wares haye : depr_~v~
.arusa11-s of the benefit of ennobling work. Earlier we nouc~~
ho~ independent .farmers ~n England were . co~ver~ ~nto

~"tlbsorvient . 'hands' in British Factories. The iD:tports of the

:
..
. ;.' ..
.. .. .
 116 . ECONOMY OF PERMANENCE
. .

p1oducts of such factories .have driven human beings in our

country to compete with dumb animals for a livelihood . i.n: .
~ost cities it is a common sight to see man taking the place
. of bu.Jlo.cks and horses in drawing carts and rickshaws.
This . is .the counterpart of the 'Labour . Saving Devices' in
. the industrialized <1ountries. It may save labour in England,
.but drives men in India to despera~ion to find . the where- .

withal to keep body and soul together. What may cause

plenty in one sphere should not create scarcity
~ ' .
in .another,
if it lays claim to . solve problems without bringing fb its
wake a crop of fresh . difficulties. Is it progr~s to reduce a
skilled artisan into a stone-breaker or a rickshaw . puller>
. and th.us make them compete for the fodder of animals .
?
We have to restore work to its . pristine glory as the
moulder of character and the developer of the .best in human
. . .
faculties. This can be done only by releasing work fro.in its
fetters and allowing it free scope to function naturally.
Man . needs the fire of . work to let him glow with the .
radiance of life. Proper work will radiate warmth, not only
t~. the actual w~rker, but to all those around. When a devo-
. .
ted mother works .hard for her children not . only does she- .
find her own happiness in it but 'the whole household comes.
'
un~er effect of her love and devotion. The children are well-
. . ..
looked after in body and in mind and they will grow up to. :
..... .
be sturdy citizens . . . A nurse or a house-keeper, however eflici--.
eilt, cannot replace a mother in the home. ..
.
ln tlie same manner, the true function of work cannot be: :
performed by the mere bait of money wage. Just as '1ftier- :
love ca~not be bought or sold, t he professional interest. in. .
work loses much by commercialization.
. . ' . ' - . '

 '

.
DIVISION OF LABOUR 117

'.

A .physician, who takes an interest both in the. patient .

.and the disease, and studies every case diligently, will gain .
much more experience and knowledge than one who ~ttends .
-0n his. patient for the .
fees be gets. The former works because .
be 1oves the work, the latter practices becaus~ .of his desire ~
"
for wealth. The first is strictly a professional inan while .
.the
'

'Second 'is but .

a trader
,
in medicine and so far as he prescribes. .
.
patent
. medicines he becomes a salesman of the manufacturen.
.

A man may be dying but in. a money..based economy, if . he

has not . the money to pay the fees ofa good physician he
will not be. given any attention. Another man may be just. ..
fussy, but if .he has a fat purse, all the medical profession
will be at his beck and call.
In the ~me way, a lawyer who takes a moral interest
in liis .case and deals with it on that level is a professional .
.
man, while another who takes h~ case for the fees he is
' .
-paid, is.only commercializing law. There is many a . man.
rotting behind bars today just because he J$ not able to
prodJJce the wherewithal to sat~fy the voracios appetite of
his lawyer.. . ~ .
.Unfortunately, every wal~ of life has been brought down
into the market place and is held firmly under ,the grip of
.money economy, so much so. that it is hardly .
possible to meet
with professional perSons. with a human outlook. . .
In. all these cases we have examined,. . the. emphasis
. baa . .

shifted from work .to wages, and

as
there is no.creative factor

in wage~, progress is absent. People deplore. that the se1~ncc

.of m~dicine in our, country .
has not produced any. researc.._
.
.worker
.
worthy of notice. The reason is not far to. seek. The
\ .

' ':

.. ."
' .


t18 ECONOMY OF PUM.i\NliNCE

. .
profession is being practised on the level of the 'Parasitic
Eoonomy' or that of 'Predation.' Few indeed reach that of
~e Economy of Enterprise'.: The rare ones in the 'Ecoomy
of Grega~~n' or that of 'Service' are hardly effective beca-
"~.. of the .enormous field and the lack of facilities . in an
.
o.rganized fashion.
. Such dearth of true and honest .
workers is felt
.
in every.
sP.hre of.life. Perhaps it is indispensable in a money-ridden
eqonomy: where the emphasis has shifted progressively from
w.ork to wages and produce.
'
If the nat~re of work is properly appreci~ted and applied,
it will. .stand in the same
. .
relation
.
to the higher
.
faculties as.
food :is to the physical body. It nourishes and enliveJls the
higher: man and urges hiQl to produce the best he is capable
of.: It directs his freewill along the proper ~ourse and disci~
. . . .
. plioes tbe animal in him into progressive channels. It furni-
. shes an exc~llent background for man to display his seal~ of
. . values and develop his personality.
Conclusion : We have noted that the attempt at divir
sion of labour ended in shifting the emphasis
.
from
.
the function
.
of work, and fixing it on the produce as far as the owner of
machines. was concerned, and on wages in regard to the
. workers. The consequence of this has been disastrous in that
"

the most important~aspect, tl1e reaction of work on the worker

. .
has been lost sight of. -_
. . .We also not1ced that in nature .
the motive for cooperation . .
was the self-inter~st of the worker and the , benefit derived :.
.. ..
directy. The honey"".bee does not considet"- the fertilizing of the
. .
plants -as its primary duty .but concerns itself mainly with..
.. '
 '
DIVISION OF LABOUR. 1J9

obtaining nectar and pollen which, from the point of view of

nature, are its full and undivided wages
.
for services rendeNd..
Di:visio~ of. labour has also. resulted in.. subdivision of
the benefits derived into profits, salaries, wages, rent, interest
.
etc. which has had the effect of depriving the worker of the
bulk of the fruits of his labour~ The exploiter has stepped
in and bcis carried away a large slice of the benefit$ like, the
wax-moth in a honey comb eating away the products of the
'
activity or. the bee. ,~..,
._

. Our analysis leads us to th~ conclusion that self-interest

is the. only
.
incentive_ in nature for creatures to. extend their
, eo-Qperation.
. .
All efforts to nibble away such benefits are .

contrary to the. BconQJ:nY of Permanence . .

and will lead to
violence sooner or later. Socialists, who aiin at equitable
distribution but plan on collecting the profits together first
, and then set about distributing, are going counter to their
. bo~ntiful nature, which rewards dire(}t)y. This soci~list
. .
me~od' also will spell violence in the long run. .
~ Planniog : Though _this is not the place to consider .
in detail a proper scheme of Planned Economy, yet it may
not be out of place to point out at this stage that no plan
centering its consideration s~lely on products and wages will
. be in alignment with nature. Any plan to answer our pur-
pose and to lead to the achievement of. the Economy of
.
Permanence will have to .be centred on the function of work,
and be founded, on the capacity and the nature of the human ..
being for whom the work is. intended.
A farmer had his grains harvested and stored in his barns,
rats made inroads on his stock. Then he Gonsidered the
 .
..
.
:.J 20 . ECONOMY OF PERMANENCE .

:problem and .planned his household .

based on .the _ways- of . . ;
ro
'_ .nature . . keep the rats away he obtained a cat : the . very .
;
-.n ature . o f a cat being to h.u nt down ~he tats, . his . method.
was. in accordance with the natural order.-~ Then to feed the
. .. .
oat .he bought a cow and, finally_, to look ~fter the . cow and
the household he . marri~d a wife! Such functional planning
' .. . '
will lead .to success.. . . .
. .. . . .

. .. Unfol'.tunately,
. . .
most of the plans that. are brought out .
..
. .
. , at present aTe product-ceJt~ed with a cer.tain amount of
.attention
. .. .
.paid. to wages.
.
As
.
in Germany aJ;l.d Russia, such.
.plans will no doubt prod.ilce quick results, but they . .
will . not
be lasting and in .time will generate violence;. as they. .
do not
follow the way of Permanence.
. . . [In Part II of this book, while dealing with the question .
..arising .out of ~Man in Gregation', we shall have occasion to .
consider our approach t9 a planned economy as well as dis- .
cuss such subjects as Democracy, Government or State, Trade
:Exchange,, C<:>mmunicationJ Natural resources, Education,
. etc. ]
. .
 PART , TWO "
.

. '

.
'

.
'

.
., .
 '
..
'
INTRODUCTION

In. the. first part of this book we considered man as. an

. .
individual and saw how be acts as a single creature. W e
noticed the way. Nature works.and we observed that science .
is our. study, of Natur~ and its working, and the .
~
object of
science is ~ enable man to work along the lines on whi<lh
the universe moves. Any deviation. from this leads 'us : into
vi9lenee. a:nd disorder. Most creatures work in alignment . -

with Nature mcre.ly by i_ostinct, but man, . with .his gift of

fr~will and .:intelligence, co-operates with Nature consciously,
th!s".being the m~in difference between the lower orders and
. .
Jil~. We noted the various standards of values that man, in.
this. conscious existence, utilizes to gau~e bis action and. the
part work plays in developing and improving his faculties
. When man w.o rks in this way he is abl~ to bring about
an economy of permanence which will .d o away with the
need . f Qr p~iodic upheavals in .the form Of global wars. .
. . Jn this second par.t of the book we shall study . hc:>w
man lives in Gregation.
Among
.
animals also there are to be observed forces which
..
bring
. like creatures tcgether for certain purposes~ In . the
case of animals of prey, such as the wolf, they hunt in packs,
their motive is. self-centred
.
and their life is .
parasitic. .
On the other hand, we have animals which get together, .
for motives other -than aggression, and very often . purely .
for defence, such as ~erds of cattle and eleph~nts. . Here
. th9ugh taken individually each bas a selfish . motive in: its'
'

f -- 123 --
124 ECONOMY OF PERMANENCE

o.wn safety, yet . in the aggregate eac~ has a duty in defending

the whole. .
The social
. .
.and economic order
. of the West as we had
'

observed in the first part, being parasitic, can be placed in.

the - pack. type of gregation, depending for its welfare on
- .
the .harm it can do to ot)ler groups. Fro~ the parasitic
stage we. advance on' through predatory . and enterprising
. .
stages to the gregarious stage.
, In the gregario.u s stage, as we have seen, there can be; two
kinds, the pack-type which represents the right-entred economy
and- the herd-type. which .represents
.
the duty-centred economy.
As man evolves, his corisciousness of duties enlarges
and he becomes more and ~ore aware, not of the benefits
.
I:te gets by being a member of society, but of the duties" he
'
is t~ perform - towards the well-being of that societY. In tbe .
final stage. he reaches the service economy in .which. he. reaJ.i-
. zes J>,imself in the service of others.
. .
In this part of the hook we shall consider not ih e
gregation of
.
the. pack-type but man working together
.
for the
common good of mankind.
What the world needs today is the knowledge of how
people can work together and bring abo"t general welfare
of mankind without involving the destruction of others. It
may be that in this economy the apparent well beiag may
not be flashy
.
but it would certmnly be lasting. ..
. The Western packtype gregation economy is today an .
example of what would be the result of following those
methods;
.
Those who have eyes to see need
.
only behold and
note in what state Europe is today to stady the end of the
 INTRODUCTION 125

pack-type gregation. Nearly 1 SO, years of large scale produc-

tion at a feverish h eat has resulted in starvation and naked-
nes$ and . lack of consumers of goods, .not to mention th~ ..
millions of lives that have been lost and the untold material
wealth that has been either blown up into the . air .
or
sunk .
. . .
in thevsea, leaving man tearing his .hair not knowing what .
to . do llCXt. The pack-type gregation, theref9re, is one of,
. .
which v;e should beware, as we are interested only in
. br~ging about an economy cf permanence. The . econ.o my of
pack-type gregation ultimately leads to conflict and destruc..: ..
tion . Though it may seem to flourish for a while it ends up
in a conflagration and therefore it is in the long ,r uri a tra'.'" . ..

sient economy. Hence we need not spend our time and effort
in studying. the working of this type of economy in Iridia.
.
- ' .
.
.
...,.. For our part, as we are interes\ed in an econoilly , of
. .
permanence, we have to study how man should act in a
group .and as a group to be able to work towards an economy.
of permanence.
~~". In t\le first part of. this book w~ saw ma n's action indivi- .
dually in the gro.u p. We studied the values that sho.u ld .
govern his-consumption.

In. this second part we shall se.e how man should act
' .
as a group in production as well as in distribution. H.e re
there are three forms in which man may be said to . \VOrk . "
as a group. ( 1) In production he works individually, though
.in certain
" .
processes he may have to combine with otber.s
.

similarly pi aced. This part of man's work along with his

neighbours, considers.not only bis interest, but also theirs
. _. .'aild in the long run his larger interests.
.
(2} Then
.
man works
.

 ..
. ..
!26 . ECONO?YIY -oF ,PERMANENCE
. -.
..
. _jointly, in a -group of similar interests, this we call co-opera...
tive effor1i, which is the second
. type of. work in g'regation.
. {3) Then comes the third type where the short range work
. having.been assigne<J.to individuals and co-operative bodies,

.the purely long range work is taken up by a ~ody of selfless

. individuals :who perform their duties purely with a view. to
.. benefit
. . society
.
at latge. Such a group
.
we call the State. . At
the present time it is difficult to poiat out anywhere 'in the
.world where
. .
the State is composed of the.type of individuals
who
. would be qualified to undertake this responsibility .
The present forms of States are largely failing in their duty .
towards the common man. .
We shall first take up planning for the group, then we
. . .
shall con5ider
.
how econoi;nic activity is carried. on by indivi-
duals in .conjunction
. .. witb their fellow-being.Then we shall
. : .Jook at the various 'functions that can be done by co-opera...
. tive effort, and finally
.
we shall study
..
how. the State can_ work.
.-and what the ~tate .
can do to accomplish the ends for whjcb
:the people are striving. In all of these we have, to keep ~fore
. .us the various principles we have studied in the first part,
. as these will also govern the actions of m_en when they act-
. :in gregation.
The scheme put forward in part I and part II, if worked.
-0ut thoroughly, ought to lead us ultimately to social order
, based on non-violence which sliouid provide the people with
P!enty . as far as their primary needs are concerned and
would bring about peace amongst nations. . .,

 '

THB NEED AND .NATURE . OF PLANNING .

.
.

What.is h that we plan for? Many people think .that ..:.

natfonal planning is a very intricate matter to ~e understood
only by technicians and experts. Plap.ning will have no life if
the man in the street does not understand what we are plan..
ning for. We cannot
. .
call it national planning if the farmers
do not. comprehend
.
the purpose of it an4 lend
.
their whol~
hearted support to the . carrying out of the plan. Unless we
ar.e able to get tha_t it,ltellectual understanding we shall not
.. b~ able

to carry th~ough .our plan, . except by tremendo~
t

violence as has been done in Rus&a. .

.We do not .
want blood-
shed to carry out our plan. The people should understand
whe1'.her or notwhat is laid before them is to lheir interest.
.. If they approve of it we shall have their willing co-0peration
is
. .Our object. to organise the villages for a happier, more .

prosperous and . fuller life in which the individual v_illager
will have the opportunity: to develop both as an individual
and as a uni1 of a well integrated. society. This has -to be
"

done by using local initiative and local resources to the ut...

most extent. possi.ble in the economic, political, and- social,
fields, building t hese on co-operative lines. Self..reliant. and
properly organised life in tbevillages will thus be the aim of
our plannin3. }Whatever .. ~chemes of activity are taken up
local_ly s~ould not merely be good for .t he locality, but .should
.8.t in harmoniously wilh the general plan. Such work s)lould
- ... 127 -
 .. .

128 ECONOMY OF PERMANENcE

.
ultimately lead to the establishment
.
of a just and democratic
.
social order. ,
.. ,

Planning means
- the getting . together. of certain factors te>
serve an end. What are the factors in India that we h~ve got
: ,to get together ? There may pe factors today in our plans th~t
do not exist:. in other countries. Therefore,the .plan that Russia
has taken or the plan that England or America bas followed -
need not necessarily be the same that will lead us to the goal .
Wh en the plan of Great Britain is mentioned it will .
cause
.
astonishment. People have never heard or it. The
.
British
.
:
do .not plan but they work to plan. That is their genius.They ..
get every man to work to a certain plan. Were there no plans
there would have been no Britis.h
......
Empire and there would be .
no British trade. So the whole of their financial schemings
and imperial preferences, the fleet, and the shipping policy-
. all these 1nake the plan. It may not be a national plan; it ,
.
may be a London centred plan, or may be a Bank of England
centred plan; but it is a plan all the same. -
. Therefore all these plans whether it is the Soviet Plan, or .
the American Plan, or the British Plan they all have certain
r .
factors for their background. If these factors do not exist in
: our country and those circumstances do . not bold good here.
at present, and yet if we plan on the same lines as they had
done, then we shall surely f ail.
PLAN OF ACTWITY
In India~ a.:ftlicted with poverty, dirt, disease ~nd ignora~ ..
.
nee, our plan shollld cover the following main eentres or.
..
activity.
 .
NATURE OF PL.~NNING . . . 129

.. .. .
I . Agriculttire . ' . ...
2. Village Industricl,
. .
. 3.. . Sanitation, Health and Housing. ~

4. Villgge Education. ' '.

5. V1ll 1ge Organisation. , . - .. .
6. Village Culture. - . .. . .
. .

THE AIM .. .
When the Russians. planned, Russia was under
.
the Cza,r
..
ist.. ~

regime. The aristocrats were rolling in wealth and the peasa- . )

nts were extremely oppressed . . Naturally, the pea~ants s~id : ...
' 'W hen we come into powe1', we m ust be rolling. in wealth.''
.
:.
Rolling in wealth 'means satisfying a multiplicity of wants =
palatial houses, plenty of material goods, pleasures and the
rest of it-and they made that their goal and they wor~ed
. towards that. Their plans took root in that soil:. .
It has been repeatedly stated that we want to remove
poverty. Poverty again is a term which requires definition. .
Poverty, somebody said, is inability to meet you.r .w ants. But ..
what i; your want ? Is a Rolls-Royce car a want
'? If )ou .
cannot meet that want, are yo:.i poor ? If a lady wants. a lip
stick and has not got enough cash to purchase it,. is she
poor ? There are wants \vhich are primary needs, and there
. are also _. w ants which are artificia.lly created. There are wants
. . without satisfying which a human being cannot live; tQey are
needed f~r the expressing of his personality and for t:tie exis- .
tence of.his physical body. These are the natural wants wt:
. aball endeavour to suppiy, not the artificially created wants.
. What is the greatest of prinlary needs ? First comes food.
We may ~o without clothing, but we cannot; go without fOod.
9 !

. ...

.,,.
...

I

130 ECONOMY . OF PERMANENCE

In our country we arc having not occasional famines, but

repeated famines,.
and, therefore,
. the primary factor . in our
plan must be the attempt ta meet that situation. Food and
the prevention o f famines; how are we goj ng to achieve
that ? Is it by application of Capital ? Many people come out
and say ~ ''You apply (fapital and then your results will be
so much more''. Learned economists have worked' out the
amount . of
.
capital to be applied and the percentages of
inoreased production that will result from it, . as if we have
only .to pour capital int~ the fields before they come.
up
.
in
crops ! . That cannot be the case.
+ ~

In our country,. the tremendous factor for production . is

human labour. .If we wish to meet our needs we have got to
utilise this enormous factor producing colilmodities to
satisfy b uriger.
. .
As regards the method of production, there is general
feeling abroad that we can build up the economic condition
of the people by introducing large centralised units of prod-
uction with modern machinery. This is a conception
. .
that
requires to be examined carefully before we yield to it. Orga-
. nising economic production means bringing together various
factors
. inthe .pr.o per
. manner. The chief of such factors are .
natural resources, .capital equipment and labour. Under varying
conditions varying combinations of these may be called for.
in Britain, at the time of the Indu~t~iai Revolution, capital
was plentiful and so ia their method of produetion c1pital
equipment l<;>oms large. In the U. S. A . labour was . scar~
w})ile natural resources were almoit in~xhaustible, hence they
took to labour-saving devices leading to the advent of mac'hi-
 N ..\TURE OF PLANNIN G 131
_.
.. ..
... . . . .
,, .~

cery. Expansion of such an economic org~nisation

.. -
will natu.. .
rally lead to ''saving o~ labour'' or, in other words, creation
-0f unemployment. Hence, in our country, where capita] is
~carce and labour is plentiful, the methods followed in .Great '
Britain and the lJ. S. A. will naturally be out of place.
Man himself is a machine of a fine type with this
difference that, unlike a mechanical contrivanee, he has to be .
kept alive by feeding . 1
whether he works or not. Hence;
-even if we produce materials for consumption by mechanical
:aids the people \vill have to be fed. Therefore, the efficient
utilization of the factors available will indicate extensive use
-0f man-power as the normal meihod of production in . our
. . .
.country. If we fail to adopt this mode we sha.11 be guilty.
<>f throwing away the great labour wealth- of our cou.nty.
Such a course
.
can never lead us to prosperity.
.

~The well,.being of a nation does not consist merely in the

. 'utput of .u.aterial production.
.
This prodution
.
is important
-0nly .in so far as it enables the people to 'meet their wants.
ln the first instance, therefore we must pr0ceed to organize
the people to prodUCe goods ~to Satisfy. their .OWD
needs, in regard to food materials to afford them an
-adequate diet, clothing to protect . them against the
weather and proper shelter; then we should arrange for
heir
.
physical,
.,
n1ental and moral welfare by making available
. medical aid, education and other social amenities. . Before .
.th~ elementary needs are fully met. it would be folly to. .
aim at producing goods for the export market. Money in
itself satisfies nothing cxcep' the miser's pleasure of counting
-
.it. Money is not an end in itself. If our organization is such
.......
 . .

132. ECONOMY OF PERMANENCE

..
as to p~t: much money in the hands of the prople and yet let
them .starve for . lack of rood materials, it would stand cond-
emned ... Hence, our first .care is to see. that the people:
.
a~e .
satisfactorily fed, clothed
. and housed, and only .
afte~'
. these necessities have been adequately provided for can they .
' '
. be allowed. to indulg~ . in other _production. To direct e~n-
omic activity into \his course is the first duty of any gQver- .,
nment. worth the nal1le. . .

r . Apart from the mere satisfaction of the physical need~, .
of the people .we should aim .
at inculcating.
.
the .spirit <)f
self-help~ mutual aid, and a consciousness of social solidarity.~
When we achieve this end we shall have travelled a long way .
l on the road to Swaraj through self-sufficiency:
Here again we hilve to bear in mind that our plan con- .
cerns not merely a few people but every citizen in this.
counrty,
.
The plan that
. we propose, if it is to be .satisfactory
pl~n, must _ t ouch ever.y living person in India. A broad-:- .
based plan like .t hat, in a poverty-stricken country as ours~ .
.
where finance is not ava.ilable, cannot be based on the:.
. presumption that capital is . available. Hence, . any pJan
based on the .availability of capital is out of court in . India,.
. .
and any plan that leaves .
out the primary need of supplying..
food is also out of court, and any plan that otnits to take note
of the factor of Indian labour wealth cannot be a proper plan .
for India. The Western plans are material centred. That is to.
say, they want to exploit all resources. To what end 'l That:
they were not sure of. Tables and chairs do not satisfy OU(.
primary neros. .

If it is to be a plan for India, the plan must centre round

the farmer first and th~ grow out of it for the". whole.
~
 '

NATURE OF PLANNING 133

coount~y. It may be tba:t ultimately we may not be ~s rich a$

1
England or America .but we will have sufficient food. Eng..
.land was on the brink of starvation five_y ears ago.
Therefore, self-sufficiency in food and clothingsh
..
o uid be
'One of. the prime features in any . plan for India. .If . every .
-village cannot be self-sufficient in food and clothing, it -~ n o
use having Swara j. We want. to assure to everybody enough
food and.
clothing . And. unless we do that, it :is no plan :f or
-our country. The Tata-Birla Plan and others of its ilk req.u-
ire thousands and thousands of crores of rupees to get taem
:goi!lg For this plan we do not require m_uch money because
. we are not working on a thing which we haVe not got.L-.~
/ .=are only rechannellmg the people's activ.ify, we are ~n:ly
! :Showing them the right way, we are only regulating their natu--.
'
f . ral aCtivities, and thereby we c<>ntrol the activities of peopie .
1'
into desirable lines.
 .
II
, .. .
. AGRICULTURE .
, . Our first care must be food and clothing. To this end'<
we must concentrate on Agriculture and Village Industries.._
Agric.ultural production should be regulated and controlled
ktteping in tniit.d two main c0nsi derati ons ~
l. The locality must .try to produce all its own food.
. requirements and raw materials for primary necessities -of life~
.2 . It. must aim to supply raw materials suitable
.
forvillage:
industries rathet than for ractories : for example, imtead of..
growing thick rind sugarcane or long 'taple cotton, a~ dema~-

nded by the factories, soft rind sugarcane .as can be .crushed~
the
,bY village. 'kolhus, for gi1, making and short staple-
. cotton .
as .requiredi for hand .spinning. should . be grown.
The surplus land ~an be utilized to supplement crops . needed .
by surrounding districts. Land utilized for sugarcane for the. ..
factory, tobacco, jute and other money crops should:be red-
-Uced to the minimum, and, if need be, even eliminated altoge- .
ther. In order to 'm ake the farmers adopt this policy, utiliza-:-
tion of land. should be regulated by issuing licenses by the:
government authorising the farmer to grow certain crop,s only .
. according to the plans for the province and heavy .dues . and'.
extra land revenue should be levied on land used to r.aise:
money crops. This will restrain the farmer's incentive to go.
in for money crops in preference to food crops. On the whole,.
prices of agricultural products should be made to compare
favourably with . those of industrial products by suitable
control. .
Comm~rcial crops such as tobacco, jute, sugarcane etc-.
are doubly wasteful. They reduce the food pro.d uction for
man' as well as for animals which would otherwise have got
their fodder from food crops.
'\
. - 134 --
 AGRICULTURE

Primary prpducts like cereals and milk should not be all~

owed to be used for commercial purposes for obtainit:ig. $.tarcti
a nd casieri. T_h e supply of gur. which may fall, due to : the
. .
decline iil the cultivation of factory varietieS of sugarcane, caii
' .
be made good by the production of gur from palm trees no~
tapped for toddy or from those which a~e found or can b()
. .
g~own in waste lands in suffcient numbers as
to fuJly meei our
. demand i.u this respect and the best of land, which is under.
sugarcane
.
today, can be utilized for .
the production
.
of cere.als~
fruits and vegetables that the country needs so badly~
. / The :first thing is to start with a balanced diet. In India .
we have people living on cereals only, a nd cereals do not
provide all that is nec~sary for the body in a . compact form.
If we can ar range 01:1r
cultivation, so that
.
eyery
Village
. .
_cul-
.
tivates what is necessary f~r a balanced diet, we can ea~ily
s~cu~e a balanced diet. In that way we can work o~t tbe acre-

age that is necessary for a particular type of food. ,
It is ordinarily presumed that an acre of land provides
J

more calories through.the production of grains than through

. '
a11y other food. But, apart from the question of calories, the
grains are very poor suppliers of protective food factors. the-
. refore if we aim. at . getting these factors from cereals only.
huge quantities of grains will be required. On the .other barid,
if the grains are substituted and supplemente.d by foods like
~ruit~ and vegetables, milk and its products, gur, nuts and
oilseed~ etc., the protective food factors required to make up
a balanced diet may be obtained through lesser quantitie~ of
th.ese types of food than throngh grains ~lone. Even the sup-
_pl y of calories per acre is greater in the case of gur and of

 -..
. . . .
. .. 136 ECONOMY OF PERMANENCE

the .
root vegetables like potato
.. .
than in the ca5e of. cereal gra-
ins. Thus; a balanced diet iay be a double blessing and may
'

offer t~ solution to. our problem. it reduces the per . ca.pita.

requirement of land and at the same time, it . sup.plies the
body with all Its. requirements in their correct proportions
.. .. so
as to keep it fit and healthy. It is calculated that the per oap-
ita
.
land available. in India at present for food cultivation ..
co--.
mes
. to about .0. 7 acres. This very land which is found. ..t o .
be too inadequate to meet our requirements in food according
~o tile present distribution of cultivation becomes sufficient
. . . .
.in the re-ordered s~tem of agriculture. In this .manner the
land . of the l<>cality . should be so distributed. for the
purpose of growing crops as .to - provide. its population with:
all the ne;,ded materials for a .balanGed diet, clothing .
anc\ all.
primary necessitjes. .
This aspect. of the question when thorou-
ghly .investigated and a definite plan chalked out should . be
~nforced by licensing farniers to grow only certain crops .on
' their lands. . The table on the next page shows land distribu-
tion for balanced cultivation for a population of one Iakh.
This
.
.table provides far a balanced vegetarian .
diet yiel4mg
.

2,860 calories per day for the average person and allows f~r
ihe growing of cotton for 25 yards of cloth per annum per
head. For non-vegetarian diet 6 ozs. of milk may be .substi~
tuted by 4 ozs. -of meat or fish and one egg. .
Rough calculations based on all-India .'"Statistics, which of .
course will differ from place to place, have been given. If we
allow.
16 ozs. of cereals
.
per individual, it means that 65.2 per
cent.. of o ur rand will .have to be under cereals. Similarly, if
weprovide 2 ozs. of pulses per bead, it means 8 pei' cent of
our land will have to be under that cultivation. ,
' " t: '


' I

AGRIClJLTURE 137

DISTRIBUTION OF CULTIVATION .PER LAKH OF

POPULA110N
Perlakh of population 4> d
>..
- S
~
-
-
~
~
. =='
Q
-. ..,, ,,-...
Cf.I
..,..
\J
CD
.....
Cid
s..
-~
~
...
~h
- 0
~
'O ::::s
~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 8~!< . ~d..O
Total ~- - C':l s
. d "'d
- o t -; .- ~ g a g rn ~~
./
~ u 4>
~
~ g'
M
= ~5 s:f
-
"'d 0 "~ .~
~.
l. DIET .___I . - ~ -
V')
. .,. . . -;_,_-
-

Cereals 16 1600~I 365.00 43,400. 6 510 49,910 . 65.2

,
Pulses 2 200! 45.60 5,400 . 810 6,210 8.0

.
This table is worked out on a basis .of a lakb of people.
If a vill~ge or contiguous area can grow these dlings in this
proportion, then. the people will have their primary wants


f 38 ECONOMY OF PERMANENCE
. .

satisfied. Hence, we must aim at growing these tbi~gs. The

land is a social asset, and it has got to be utilized exactly as
it. is needed for the community. If a man says, ''I have got .
s o many acres of land, I am. going to grow tobacco,''
.
he has.
:no right to .grow tobaoco simply bec1use it m~y bring him
more money. In a society . there are maliy : things,.which we
cannot do as. we individually would wish. You cannot, for
iilstance, drive <>n the right side of the r oad. The ownCfrship
in land is yours no dottbt, but you have got to have the use
o r your land m 1rshalled in such a way that it benefits every
body. T~erefor~, it is sugg~sted that a man must take out ,.
licenses for cultivating certain prcl"ducts. The man .w ho has
b.een licensed to cuitivate linseed cannot grow. tobacco even.
if i t :paid hirn ten ti mes as much.
our object is io keep the production
of the villages in the
villa$es as far as people require it; only the surplus w~ll b~
exchanged with other regions fvr the. stuff that we require.
For instance, : if cottoil is grown in a particular village, 'it
cannot go to the textile-mill anci come back as cloth, for the
simple reason that for the process of the change we have got .
to pay something in the form of export of commodities~ If
+ #

we do not want to part with our food products, we have to

. .
convert o_u r cotton into cloth ia spare time_ When we do that, ..
we retain the.
whole production of food,
.
and \Ve also get our
. .
clothing. Therefore; we are doubly benefited. Incidentally
the textile-millowners suffer. We are sorry for them but we
. -~ . '

have got to safeguard the poor villager. Our Plan is for the
. ,
betterment of the villager. And when we start with that thing .
and work in that w~y, then . only we shall find that the
villagers are self-sufficient in food and clothing.

'
 -
EXCHANGE 139

. T hus, having before us the ingredients of a balanced

.diet, we proceed to secure these through the prc:>per laying
. out of the cultivable land to produce the ".required materials .:.
to feed .the population. Then only, where there happens to
. be a surplus afte:r the full needs of the local population .. ..
.
..baye been satisfied_, should any efforts at sending . such prod:--
11cts outside be countenanced. .The marketing departme~t
.
.
would be a traitor to the land if it helped or .aided in the
export of materials which are in deficit even i8 meet the needs
of the people. Similarly steps should be taken to procure all
materials needed to put the people gainfully to work.

III .-
EXCHANGE
Multi-purpose Co-operative
. Societies:
.
. .
Co-operativ~ Societies are ide~lly suited organizations
not only for developing village industries, but also. for pro-
moting group effort by the villagers. A multi-purpose village
- .
society can make itself : very effective in a variety of way~
such as : ,
1. Stocking of raw materials for industries and _food gra-
-
ins needed by. the village people. .

2. M drketing of surplus village p.roducts and distributing .

the requirements of. the people
.
.
3. Supplying and distributing seeds, improved implements
and tools, manures~ such as bonemeal, flesh and fish manure>
seeds. etc.
.
.
' I'

4. Maintaining a common stud bull for the area.

>
 . .

..
140 .
"
.. .

ECONOMY OF PERMANENCE
'

. l .. . .

.--~ .... , . 5~ Stand~ng

.. .
between.the gover:nment 'and ~he people- in.
. . . . .

. - th-~ mattr of collection and

::- .
payment of iaxes, ~tc.
. .
.
: ... .

, " Mucb.-of the wastage caused to. .(oodgr_ .

ains in . -transport
. .
. .

and . handling .and ..the expenses of bringing.food grains .to ~ a. .

central. . place and redistributing them

. .
.. ~gain to the. village can .

: ~e eli~inated through ..the agency. -o f a co~operative society

: . w~hich can.
.
.. .
oo
.
a very
.
-
r~liable med~uin both from the govern-
.
. .
.

-..- ment as . well as from the public point of view.

. . . .
.. ' .

. . . T~e ra:riner retains the necessary amount of wheat for bis.

family... .r equirements
.
and the ~urpl us be deposits
,
in the .Co- .

operative.
So. c .
ie_ ty . and i-
n return he
.
ge.t s. the things he requires . . . . .

. on the strength
~ . .
of c"
redit he bas tlius created '
with the sociecy~ . ~ .

.Government revenu~ could also be paid in kind in the sane . .

. . .

way .and not necessarily in cash. Today. revenue. colleetions

. iri cash ..f ro(ll:. . .villagers cause . :a great h~rdship. If stock of
.. grain.ate. he;ld b y co-operatives societies
. . . .
in villages,
.
the remu~ .

. neration.also of local officials can be conveniently pai'd partly ..

:.in 'kind. . ._ . .
Money. .eoonomy does not report true :values. The valICS_
are changed. . asmoney passes from one 1ri~ividual
.
'to another. . .

'
.There is a great. difference in value between the rupee .in me
' ' '
. ' ' I

. hands of a poor man and arupee in the hands of a rich man.

Suchtransfers either increase the national..
wealth or impovc..: 4 . .

.rish the nation. Superficially a rupee .a ppears to be a rupee, .

but in practice it is not so. A rupee in the hands _o f a poor
. . " "

. man .:n ay mean 4 or 5 day.'s food provi~ions, . whereas in the .

band_s Qf a millio.n aire it ,~ay- represent the value of a . cigar~ .
. . "
.

- Thu~, when"a rupee passes from the hands of a poor --man- . .

\

into the ha~ds

..
of a millionaire it loses its value. considerably;
 . ..
~

. . . . . .
.. CO-OPERATIVE Ft JNCTIONS . . .. 141

. . . .. . ~

coaversely,
.
money when it..
. goes from the ." ric
h : to the: .."
popr_
..
. . _
. .

enhances .
in. value. Hence we have. got_ "t o. see that in o ur eco- ..> . .

= nomy we prevent money going into the h.and.s w.here it ~ wi. l)

. .
' '
. . . ~

.
' '

lose itS value and this is what the multi-purpose co-operative. . .

. . .

. society should anempt to do. It will collect the produce from .", .
the villager .and. will pay the govC!'rnment
. .
revenue in wheat: .
Qr .
.... . . . .

other commodities. It wil~l pay government

. .
offic.ials on govern~."". .
. ' . .

ment account in articles of food which will proviQe 'a bala - . . . .

. ' . ' ~ .

need diet .and .wh.en all" this .is. carried ou,t,: ultimately~ there " . .
. . .
will be only. a . very small adjustm~n~ ' to __b,.e in:ade ."between ... . .

. government.. and. the

. .
multi-purpose sopieties .
an'
d .
that. also ca~. . . . .

be done by transfer of surplus between different .region~. ... If .

. . .
. .

that can..be.managed we shall neutralise,. though . not elimi~ .

. . .

nate, the evils of 'money .economy .an~ .retain the. tru~ value as "
.
. . J

diotated by commodity value as.distinct from money value.. . . .

. . . , ,
. . .
..
.,

' .
. . JV ! .

. -
CO-OPERATIVE FUNCTIONS I
.. .

.
The Functi~n
. of a Bank : .The function . Qf any .

bank is ~o lubricate the wheels

.
. of' commerce and . industry
. . .

and keep them moving smooth with the least friction. In addi- ..

to

tion to this a co-operative .. institutien . has bring about

. . .
active co-operation . between the various factors in the whole .
. ..

economic
.
organ1zat1on. .
.
. . ..

. The Western banks, -' ased on money .e~onomy, count thei:r . "
. prngre~ by' ihe amount of deposit's .etc. they have received .
. . . .

. _and :profi.ts made. We cannot do th.at.. We .have to .appraise-

tho.. work of a bank in its r elaton to . the . well-being "of .
. . ..
'

I
 .. . .
.
. "

. ' 142
' . ECONOMY OF PERMANENCE
. . . .
. . the .p.eople~
It ,has to perform various functions in the ...
. .

economic activity
.
of the people. and serve.
their needs. even if . . .
.. ,'
. . .. . . . . / .
~

~ . . .

it meant a "loss financially. w.e . cannot asce.r tain the part a

... bank has. . played"
.. .
~Y any calculation
.
based on rupees~ annas
. an~ pies. . .. '

. western
. .
batlking sy.stem has been, like th~ ne_e..d le of the .

:. H.ypodermic. syr.inge, used.by the fin~ncial exploiters to dtaw

.. -0ut.the 1.ife btood of ~he p~od ucers. The l ast f amille of 194.3 .
.
. .in .
'Yhich about 3. . mil' l iqns lost :their
.
lives in Bengal alone, is
1arg()l'y. attributable to such misuse of banking. powers vested
. . .
.
in the R.eserve Bank which enjoys; along with the Imperial
. '

. B~nk ,.: thead.vantage

. .
of being the custodian of
.
public funds, . .

but their work is a tragedy .to tbe people of the land. This is
because
.
of tb. e
. misuse of .
money.
..

.
. .
.

.Mon.e.y, when used as an i nstrument of CJ.CC~ange

-Or as a means .of storage of purchasing power. .functions
. .
. . . .

.;".s;;itisfactorily.. .
The tokens used as. money are generilly . . .

. "imperishable :as compared with co1nmodi.ties and hence

.t he money-holder
- .
i.
s . at an ~dvant~ge as . b~ . has the .barg-

.

~ini ng power. . A plantainseller .

bas to . dispose of bis .
" . . .

"goods before they get spoilt.. but the money-holder . . suffers

, from no such disadvantage. He can hold on to ~is money for
any le11gth of time. Tl1erefore, in this inequality there is a
. .
factor
.
which .
.
m ay be used by .the money-holder to exploit ..
the. .

.commodity-holder. Banksas a rule ~.re holders of money.

. . . I

How they . use their .

a dvantageous position will determ~ne th e
. , .

part they play in commerce and industry. Where a bank useS_

. . . .

its power fbr st1~engthening its o.wn postiion as an .institution; . .

. . ~-

.a11d if t1'.e 'p.osition of .its customers .deteriorates as a oon- . .

" '

...
,
 .

.
-
CO-OPERATIVE FUNCTI.O NS 143
.

seque,:i~, such ~ bank canriot l'e . said to f ulfi.1 its purpose in

. ..

the economic . organization. This is as regards money ~~ '. a " .

. . . . . . .~

. medium. of exchange.
' .
. .
. -
. . . . . .

Money as Storage of Purcha~ing Po.w er : . . _ ~

Again, as rP.gards its comparative .imperis~abili~y, . tp:e. ... .. -
. . . .

right use of. this quality in 1noney is to afford storage of p.ur-. :.

chasing. power to the people. A f ~rmer cultiva. .

t es h:i~ fields
.
. 1

and disposes of bis produce. ~ftet .ha~vest. H.e realises a ce_

. :
rtai"n .'_ '

amount in money.
..
This m oney bas .to last : him ..
till the nex.
.
t .
harvest. That is, .he should be able to exchange. it .f or otlter . . . ..

commodities of .like val.ue:.. over a period of twelve .m onths - .

.
If in this period.
the. pu.rchasing. : power - is
.
altered, - .
the
. ..
. ' . . .

position of the farmer also . flurtuates in the. s.a me way.The.re- . . . . :

- ' I , '

fore, an unalterable storage

.
of . purcha.s ing power .
is a prime . .

necessity in an agricultural country. I ike ours. .:I. n. this . f unc- . .- . . . .

tion, multi-purpose co-operative societies can help :" by, restric-

. . '

ting the spread of money ' economy, thus .limiting the chances
. .
of ftuctuation and speculation and by rendering reasonable
banking services based . on the security of commodities.
as will .
. . . . .

prevent the farmer having to dispose of his who.le stock at a . .

f

time. A>

.
. ..

. - . . .
Co-operation : This brings function us to the second
-o f co-operation. Co-operation implies the elimination of compe- -
tition and working in . a kind of parinership resulting_. i_n "_ _
advantages to .all. Its basic. requirement is an . identity of inter-
est of parties to the enterprise. There can be no exploitation . .
in co-operation.
. .
Therefore there can be no co-operati.
o n with . '

ail exploiter at one . end and his victim at the .other .eJ.ld .
. . . .
Foreigners come to sell their goods to us. That is th~ir . onJy
'
.
 .
..
-, . ..
..
, . :
. .. .
. .. . - .
l+l .. ECONOMY OF PERMANENCE .

.. .
. . . ..

. _. interest. ~n -. us. It . is fo.r th~t, they. -h~Id ~thers in political

.- .bond
.
ag~.. If co-Operative societies help .hand-loom weavers- . to.
, . . .

. . obtain American : y~rn they are linki~g up incompatibles and

tb~refore are not- functio:lling in .the true spirit of co-opera-
.. ti on. .,Their iegitimate sphere would be to bring local. village . . . . .

spinners and. weavers into .a living . touch :with one another .

. . .

Th~y
.
haye. to bring about- co-operati'on: al I along the .Jine-raw
.
.. . .

. ._ rnateria~- produced
.
with
~
the artisan and then with the consu- . . . . ;
. . . . . . . .

' . .rne"r: rhe co-operative societies should b~. the link binding all
. . .

_parties ..t<?gether . . like - ~ .silver_wire that- holds the pe~rls

.,. iogethe_~ ~ ~ .. : ~ -
- '
. . . .. .
. , A c. o-Operat.ive bank can protect the unsoph.isticated
. .

villagers . from being. duped by the. -government minions. . . .

. .

Such insti-iu,:tions' ..
can collect the produce, store it, pay 'o n .

behalf . of thei'r constituents, due-s, taxes, revenue, etc~, sell .

. . . .

the goods. . ' ..

.
a t . proper market rates,
.
right through
'
the year> . .
"
-. / without. dumping the whole stock at a time. on the . mar_k et
. .

and "thus casing extreme .f luctuatio'ns iri 'the price .of com mo-
dities. They .ca~, function like the water-tight compartments
. .

of -tlie ocean
.
li.n er and be the shock absorber in the economic . ' ..

organization. . . .~ .
.
. . ..
.The test .
of the proper functioning of . co-operative insti~
. . . . .

.
. tutions oan be seen not in their financial .
balance sheets . .
. .,

. .b ut in the bazars around. If these . shops 'are stocked with .

..
mil.I produced goods or foreign imported articles it signifies :
'_ that. there. has ..
been no co-operative. effort to bring the vario.
.
u s .
..
. . - .facto1s
. .
of -production
.

t o supply _
all o~~
.
needs. If the co-opera-
.

tiveinstitutions
.
function. properly . it. will promote
.
self-suffi- .
.

ciency
.
io all our primary needs s~ch as f~od, clot_hing, and .
..
 .

,

. .,
l
'
,. ...
.
. .. . {
' .

CO-OPERATIVE F UNCTIONS . . . . .. 145

-.

. '

- ' '

. ,
. .

. shelter. When this' happens ..there will be.:. noth.ing. to.- .aura~tJ
. . . .
. .
. ' . . . ' . . . . . .

the cupiQity of the foreign m~nufacturer. Henc.e there :will :. be

no international jealousies leading to global wars. . 'fhiis th~
. . . . . ' .. . . .. .. ..~ . .. . , . . \ . ... ):'.
. .
developmen_t of cQ-operatjve institution_s on righ~ 1~ne~ ,can 1ea4 ~
to national independence .and ' tbro.ugh . tbt,t.t ' to . i.nternaiio:nai .
.
. .. .
... ..: . . ."' . '

peace. - ... ~ . . . ..

. ,. .._ . .
. . . . .. :.- . ' ~ :.
' ; .
.. . ' . .

Manure : Much of th~~ - .waste .of the vil.lage, .incldit)g.

. . . . . . . . .

sweepings, bone~, huian .exoret~,. et~., _. that ..el\9.~ger

.
. the
. . . ~ . .
. .

sanitation of the village at present, could :-.b~. 'llt.ilize~ by. ill~~ .

king 'compost manure, This is very easily done aOO it is ::is
good a manure ascow dung. .
Bon~s and .
oil. cakes, . w h:i ch are -. ' . .

usually exported out of the'_. country, .. should not be all_owed; .

to leave .
the villages .The ..bones. .
should be . crushed 1ocally: . . .

with the help .of the cbunam cbakkis, .

" after being .charted a.
. . , . .

little in the cbunam b!iattis and . . . .. the manure ,d istributed am: . . . .

:ongst the farmers .. Manure making in villages may .be _given .

: out on subsidised contracts. This will. ensure .
the" ~lea. n lfness .
.

of the vi'llage while raising the status :o f the . sweepers 'enga~- .

' . ' '

ged in making com pest and rn~nure to.the :level of .traders. ,' .
.. . . Oil mills, which .take a way .o il seeds. from th e vi.l lagefs
. ,: ~nd .give. only .
_oil in retur
n , sending 'the cake abroad, .
a re .

~ :depriving the 1and of t.h e "valuable ,form ~f fertilizer. This .

. . .

must
.
.
.
b
e stopped altogether. This . .,.
is .one
.
of.
.
the fundamental:, .
.
be
.. . . . . . .

rea8ons why oil seeds . should not

. . .
allowed.
to go,
.
out of .
.
-..
~

the villages but sho~ld be crushed. jnth'e local country ghanis. .

. . ' . . .

Thi$ _ will retain. both . the oil an d the .cake- i~ the .v. _ill~ge :_
'
' . . '

and enrich ~en, cattle and the land. ~ . .~

-
.

.. 10 '
,
I ' ' ' ' '

.. .. .
 - .
,
;
.
.. . . ' . ..
.. .
. ..
, .
4 . ...
. .

.. . .
ECONOMY Of PERMANENCE
...
. . . . . .. . . .

,. . . , I~ ~e name of. increasing the fertility of. the soil, great .

. . .attoipt& ~re "bemg made .t o introd~ce .chemical.fertilizers . The
. . - ~~pe;icn,ce gainod through. the use of such. cb~IDical fertilize.rs
I ' ' '

. -~ . 'thr~ughout the.world is clear enough to war.n us of their

... inro~s. They:: do not add to" the fertility of the soil .but act
.. .. ~
. , . .
. ' . .
. . .

' as. /stimulant8 .., or. drugs so that the land yields up its fe~ility
. . . . '

.. 'resulting in. immCdi.ate. . bumper .crops, . but in the end bring .

. . . . . . . .. .

. .; -.&ot - . correspond.ing . e<1haustion of the land . They als<;>

. dCstroy. a ..hOs' .o.f earth-worms . so e$ential to maiJ;lta~n the
. . fertility .
of the soil~ .
In,.
.. tlle long . run, suoh .
artificial
..
. f ert~l~
.
. . . . .

. . .ZO.(S prove:to -. b.e most injuriou.s. to "the. 1a~d. Behi~d ~

S~cious.
.
pl~ading for the
..,
chemical
~
fertilizers iies
.
. th~ anxic~y , . . . .

': . A>f. the fert.ilizer .. factory .ow1,1ers .

to. push t~e . sal~ .of th~ir . ~ . .

. . pi~dtWs itrespeotive' of the.harm or fuju~~ they do to agr~-

. . . culture ..
.. ..
. . . .
. . : .
. .
' ~ \ .;.'
. " .
,,. .

: , . S~s. ~: . Selec~d .'and improv~ .varieii.es of seeds . are

essenti~I
. .. .
if agriculture
. .
is. to flourish. What is wanted in this
, . : . ~ . . ' .

. reg~rd .,~ . th~ m~chi~cry .for effe.c~~ive distribution of seeds in

. . .

. the"form,
.
of co-operative iocieties which .should run seed farms
. .. . . . . .

uti(fer.able
. . . ..
resea~ch workers
. .
.. .
'
"
. .
\
.

'. . : Grai~ ~ Storage .:~ loss of grain. occu.rs thr- J?n~rmous

.. ough
.
. bad storage alone.
.
-
Such loss
.
is. estimated
.
'
on
.
a conser-
. ' .
.
,
. .
. . . . :
' . '

. vative..
basi~ to. ~e about 3.5 million tonsj . an amount equal to
. . . . . . . . . .

: the_
. .
d~lared deficit of grains in . India during . 1946 .. The . ~ ' .

. qua.11.tative .:rloss caused by insects, rodents, dampness '. etc.,

. . ... ail .cased by bad .s~orage . arrangements res~itmg in all ki.nds
of diseases, iseqally great.

: 1:r ~iorage arra~gehients are made locally all. the waste

.through . bad storage, loss. by insects etc., and " conveyance
,. oharges will be elim~ated.

 . . - -

. . . . . ..
,.
.
'.
. .
.. . ..
.
. . .

CO-OPERATIVE .FUN.CTIQNS.
147 . .
. . . ; . "."". . ....
\ ~

The storage. pro blem is both an urgent. .

and a .
.
p erma.n.cnt- : ..
one and should be tackled in a11 earnestne~s a.-id ser~i,}~.. . _
. ,
. . .

:ness. In any case, holding .

_stocks in i~-
1 -protected -gQdOWl:lS., -~s . .

at present, should -b e stopped. _ , . :. . . "." i . --

:Big towns and cities,~~\there proportionatel:y :.- 13'rg~r
. . .
s:t~
~:b . . . . .

;()f grain are .to be held, can build, pucca . cement g~dow~s..
. . ..
.

These can be built either by the Municipality or by. pri.vaic .-.- ..

. . . .

people to be rented out for grain ~torage,~ ' or . bener . ~11,. 'b y :. ....
Co-operative Societies. These :. godowns ,sho11Id .. be ;li~ense.d : _
. - . . . .

and subjected to periodical . ~ ins.pecti~~' -. .lik:e ~1'e -_ boilers, as

.at present. .
:
.
. _ .
.
.

If the . stocks are held .in the. viii.ages .

ar_ e . whe~- they ~-
. . :

, produced and all their. movements

. ..
to towil
. .
and
.
-back
.
to vill- .
. . .

ages are eliminated, the chances -. of th~ir getting damaged . .

.. . . .

~re,_ of course, reduced. . . , .__

. .. . ..- - . . : .
Individual
..
holders.
of stock also should be educated in . ~ . . .
. .

the 1netbods f Ot the preservatiOQ of gr.ain. .: . . :

Conservation of l\aw Materials in. the Villa- .
:ges . : The greatest ~handicap . f~om . which viii.age' industries
.
. .
. .

.suffer is the utter .resourcelessne ss of the ariisan. . . ~ .

Being un- . .
,.
Qrganised he is unable ~o stand against the competition. from -... .

his resourceful and organised riv.als I . .. the .

mills
.
. With .

. . . '

_:all the resource~ . at th~ir command, tqe . mills .-practically

:monopolise the r aw materials and corner the market ~ven for
I

.tJie finished products. leaving the i~olate<i a_rtis~ns__ utterly .

helpless. The financial policy of the ba~ks, disCrimiJlative
rail-way freight rates and the capitalistic marke~ing orga~iza
J1ion,
..
all favour the working of large-scale prod~o~iOn t(; . the
.
.
.

.exclusion of , the artisans. The artisans are ieft with hardly .

 . . ..
. , . . . . .
.. '

. .
-. . . . .
............. 148. ., . ECONOMY
. . OF PERMANENCE
.
. . ..
. .
..

. .
 . .
:

.v . .

-.
._

VILLAGE INDUSTRIES
- . .
.
'
"
.
'
. .
. . . '

The M ulti-purpose c~operative societies can supply. r~w ..

. . . . . ' ,.

materials, stock the finished goo~s . and .help. in .. dist~ibuting_ -

. . . .

all village industries pro~ ucts espec.i ally. tho~e

. .
connected w
i tli .. .
. . .

f ood._processing; textiles . and othe1 p~imary needs. They . sl;lould

.
: :
..

b e ever _watchful of the interest .\of the villagers. In particular

. .

the .following recommend-ations may}?e_attend.e d 'to : . . .. ; . :-:

. . .
. . . . .'
,

{ 1 ) Rice mills should be disbanded_ ~nd : the

.. .. . .
engines ..

~ould be used for ~ irrigation _purposes.as has. been' _a. lready .

. .. .

s.ugges ted.. - .. , . , ; .
. . . . .

( 2 )' Hullers used for poli~hing rice sbot1ld be -~anned.; _.

( 3 .) People should .. be .informed about .the .better nutrtive
. .
: .. .. . ' .

. value o( whole unpolished. . .

. rice and about'
.
the l llethod ~f . . .

~ooking it, along with practical demonstrations: polishi.g of .

. .
. . . . . .
rice should b~ prohibit_e. d.or. its degree of . polishing
. .
should
.
be ~ . . .

very strictly control.led, or . par-bo_iliag of paddy .

should: be.
. . . .

encouraged. ~
. . ( 4 ) Where paddy busking is carri~d on .an _ ._industria~ .
. .

~ale, for business purposes; in. tbe case of predomi' antly '
padd.y growing areas, ~xpensive equipmeni such .as . paddy . .
. .. .

separators, winnowers, etc.

.
Should. -
b e_suppl,ed on hire to a . .

, group of artisans througp. the Co-operAtive Society. .

. ( 5 ) In view of the fact that the use -~f unpol.i sbed rice_. . ~

. is to b~ ~dvocated and popularised, the moyementJof paddy ~

fro_!ll <?De plac~ to another will become nec.e ssary, In order .
~that the freight on the extra weight of paddy may not enh~~ -
n~~ _th~ cos~ of rice. the freight charges on paddy should be
$Uttably adjusted. , ~ . .

. -.. . ..
...... 149 ... ' .~

.
. .
 . '. .. .

..
. . .. ..
.. ' . ' .

: 150 ~ ECONOMY OF .PERMANE NCE .

. . ..
. .. :
. . . .

.. :. ( 6 ) .In are~s where the ~plements fo~ de.husking p~dY .

- and .. '
poJishing
.
. rlc~.
are

the
.
same, and "oth .t4e
. .

p rocesses ar~ . ' . ' . . . . . .

com,b~~ed .i nto one of P'?ilnding paddy, resulting in .poliSh~d

.
: r ic~,,
... ..- : ...
<ieJ.iusking .. iinpl~ments,
.
.
i ." e., cbakkis. either of wood,.
. . . . . ... . ~ ' '

. atone .. or m,ud, ..should be introduced to '.restrict polishing..

~ -r.:.:. . . . . .... . , . . . .

_. .... S.ucb implements .. ~ight be supplied, . as also the equipments.

. . . .for oth~r i.ndustries, through the District
. . .
~monstration Cen~ . . ' .

- tres. The polishing of rice might be discour.aged by imposing

. . a ~ on implem~nts that po;lish rice ai1d .the_. degree.o f polis--
. bing obta,,i n'ed with'these 's hould be subject 't o supervision and
,. control. . .
- . ' .. ..
. .
. . . -: J>a.ddy and .: other grains' and seeds _required ~y the .vil.lage:,
, -' sliould be .s.tocked in the viilage itself and only the sur plue.
.-. coul-d b,e sent o.ut and. that only . "through the Co-operativs.>~
.. Socie.ty
.
. . .
. - .
.. _ 2.r..f J our .G rinding . - .. . . .
. .
- .
.
. ., _. (1 ) Good quali~y stones. for hand chakkis and . equip- ".
.
.. ment for the
.
bullock
.
and
.
water driven chakkis should
'
be :
,
.. .
.
.
.
:

. m.ade. available
..
throu.
.
g h the :.Demonstratiou Centres.
.
. . . . . .

. . . . . (2 ) The pro4.ucti~n and useof fine_-white flour; maida> .

." show-0 .be banned. . . . . . -.
. . , . . I

.. .. . . ( 3 ) '"FIour . mills grind large quantities .o f grain and' .

. . . '

. hold .their stocks of flo.ur for Jong. periods; Tllis causes such.. . . .

. fl.o ur to deteriora~e.
.
Therefore, such mills .
s hould. be disc_our-~ .
.
.. .
. aged. . ...
. ' .
.;
. . ( 4 ) Bullock-'driven flour chakkis should be introduced1',.
wher'e the necessary facilities exist . . . ~ .-.=.
. . '.
~ . . . ...

.. ( 5 ) Wherever water power is . avail.able from . runnin-:.

water of a river. ~or a aanal, water driven flour ~hakkis can
. .

be ~et '1.P.

. .

\, . .. . . .
VILL..\GE I~DtJSTRIES . . ... . . 151
..
>

( 6 ) Such chakkis rnight be o\Vned cO~opeJ,"aiively by the .

I ,. ; ,.

villagers in the Punjab. : . . . ~ :. . . .' ...

. - . . . - . . . .. _ .. .. . . . .

3.. Oil-Pressing . \ .. .. . . .
. . . . .

The m~iri difficulties..in resl;lscitating the vill.ge :Gh.ani, are .

the f o11ow ing ; , . ~ . . . . .
.. . .

The villages.-,a re
.
practicil.
l y
. . .
d ~nuded ;of
..
th.
e oii-seecls
. .
~. at .. " . . . . . . . .

th~ harvest t.ime. To set this right only surplus oil-seeds . . . . . .

sho~ld be allowed to go ~ut of the villa.ge. / ~ . ... ..

At some places the 1oc ii Gha-Iii s ~e so iaefficient . ~d
small that it is well nigh i~possibl~ .to m~ke. .them a p~act..icalJ. . . . ..

proposit~n. Even in . a si.ngle province:~thert.' are nume~ou.s .

. .
. . .
. .
.

.types of .
ghanis. A detailed
,.
survey of
. .
the wor.kiag
.
or
,.
. all
... ~
~
such ...
". . .. .
.. .
.
. :
.. '
.

g hanis should be carried out. The working. and .advantages of .

: t ..

improved g.hanis should be 'demonstrated. .. .,. .

There is ~t preSeni.a great death of g'ha~f carpe11ters
even of the old type. Oilmen :find it very . hard. to' get. their . ~ . .

timely -s~rvice. Their diffic.ulty of getting equiplllent ~nd . spare

parts is e~ual.ly. great~ Training should be givento. oilmen
and oarpente~s irt~the teohnique of the. improved ghanis .
: at . '

centres ' which will-also provide. the necessary equipm~nt and ..

.
. .
' .
spare parts. - ..
Tahsil Co:..operative Societies. of oil:tnenor .the M.
ultipur . . . . \

pose Vil.lage Societies will be the best .

medium for stoclcing ~

oil-s~eds, controlling the prices of seeds, oil and cake , elim:iri~.,. <

..
_-~i.Q . . Iteration etc. . .
. '

.
- .
aking . . .
; . .

king from .P alms is being done on a . coml)lercial

gal. and Madras .where the industry has been well
 . ,', . . .J . . .
" .. ..
... .
. .. ' .
.. .
~

.. .. . ;
.
. .
. .. . .152 . . \
.. ECONOMY
. .. ..
OF PERMANENCE
. . . .
. . ~ . .
.
..
,,
.. . :..
~

. . . . ~
. .. . .
.
: . . . .. .
.. . - .

, : p,~es(rvation . and Planting of .mo~e palms .; Felling of

.... . .pal.m tte~s should- .be prObibited. Governnient
. . .
.owned waste. . . . . . . .. .

. Ian~;- unsuited for agricultural purposes, .

s~ould be utilized . . .

-. .,: forraising: palms so ~s. . to .b.e sufficjent "to replace '. cane gur
... ~~d.. : sugar. by palm gur. in . due . course. Also. oultivation
. .
of
.. p~Iis on sim.il.a r private lands and . field bun.d s sb ould be
: s.~bsidised. .Adequate su~i)iy Of seedlings should
be arranged
. ~l1<l. proper: ~ethod~ . of cultivation
. .
should.
be ta~ght. _
. .

-... ". .-:. Co-operativ_e

: . .
Societies ~
C ..
O-operative
: .
.S-
o cieties .
should take . . ' . ... . '

:.. up
:
.
the production and .market . the.
:
prod.
..
uce.
~.
They should also, . . . . . . ... .

. . S1J,pplyj wb~re needed, equipment such _as pa~s and c~ntrifu-_

:
.
:
<:"":
.... '

. . .
. . . . . . . .. :. "'""': .

. g~l .mac.h i~es. . on hire~ . .

,. ~ . '. .
. 5 ~ .B:ee Keepillg , . . - .
'

. ,... . B~~keeplng
. .
is d~ubly useful. It enablesibetter fertiliza- .

. . tion of. the crop5 ..giving the farmers a better yield, and at the
' J .:

. ~a.tpe .
ti~e provides honey,'.
:a nutritious article of.
diet..
... .
. ' . ' . . .

. . . -_ . ~.The .' . demonstration

\ . .
. eentres
.
can keep a few colonies
. .. .
.o.f
:
, . .. . .
. . : " . .

...-honey bees.and ..t~,e work can - ~ extended .. in other .villages

. . . .
.
. . . .

... where bee pasturage is.available. A -p reliminary survey of the

. . ~ . . .

. area by' an expert. in bee-keepiQ.g will.be.necessary for t_his ..

pUrpO$.e . On'ce the centre is able to domesticate the bees, .if' .
. . .. .. . '
.

'~ ca. .I>royide

.
facill~ies for agriculiturists
. .
&o receive training a.Rd\ : .

.. to obtain the necessary equipme~ts at moderate rates . ..

. .

. 6~ Cotton
.
and Wool .
,
' .

:...I n areas where cotton. can be grown adequate lands.must -,-. . .

~ be assigned for growing at least .] 2 7 lb~.. of lint .per bead .of .

the population and_. its spinning and : weaving should be orga . ~
. niSed
.
: on
t he . lines indicated by the programme of . work : : , . '

fo~lowed by the All-I~di~ ~pinQ.ers' .Association. . . . .. : ..:

. .
'
 . .
. .
.. . . .
'
. ' .. :

VILLAGE lNDUS'l'RIES . '

153
..

Si_milarly, in sheep
.
rearin~ areas production . of ._wO.~_ J ,
e f:i
. . .
. : ... ;

goods . s~ould, be eJ;lcouraged _by_ - ~id.s -t~ sheep~br~~d-ing.;_ ._

_grading of wool, etc
' .
. . . '

1. Leather Tanning . . .....

Export of , raw hides and skins. from India .a re amongst
' . ..
.. .

the lergest in the world.

.
If we. . ca convert all this raw mate.. : . .

rial into leather ourselves we shall. .be -. providing o~ccupatioti

. . . . ....
. . . . . . . .
p ..

to millions of Harijans_. .Time being the essence .

of tanning,.
. .
. .
- '
.
. . ..
.
..

m~;:ch finance is needed. Hence the wor~ . must .be done ~o-op~.
ieratively. S9cietj~ sho.uld: pur~ha~
. .
the
..
_
h ides," etc., .:and.
.
p~y
. .. .: . . . ~

piece-work .
wages .on variou~ .
processes _
and mar- k
.
_
e i the. g<>.C>.
.. .
.
d $ . . . . .. .~ . .

<Cither as -finished leather or as manufactur-ed

' ' '
.
articles. '

..
" ~ .
. .. .. -. , ' ~
. :.

( 1) Leatht?r .is being t~nned_ in-all provinces, but . all are.

not of equally good quality . . Calcutta 'Chrome' and Ma-.. ~ras _.. . .

"Gavi', which are considered to be . .of standard. q.u,a lity11 are'.

not attempted .
elsewhere
_,...
... Other.
. .
var'ieties
..
.are far . inferior .
to .
. '. '

these two. .
T he reasons for this shoqld" be foun.d. ~ut atid . the .

same standard of tanning . should

.
-
b e
.
introduced
..
everywhere~ .
.
.. .. .. . .

( 2) Expo'r t of rawl;lides and_ski.ns . should .discouraged by

Government.
levying
.
a very heavy d~ty . ~n their export. .. '
. .
' . . .

( 3) A cart ror carrying the sarcasses .

should
.
be . supplied ... .. . .

-by C';o-operative . Societies a.t nomin~l .

cost . to a , gro: u p of .c.
ha- . . .

.ma1s. At preseni, _for want of such: conveyance, :the carcasses .

.are dragged on the ground. It is .estimated t hat this . process
.r ed_uces the "alue of the leather by about 50 per cent. . . .
. ( 4) The circumstances under which the industry is. now
~arried on are . ve~y , unhygienic-and _dema~ds a. c'C)nipi_e~e
reorganization. This can be brought ab_o~t -if prop.e r arra~ge- :~
ments are made at a site a. little away .from .the '
village .dwe-

 . .... .l
.
. .
r -: . . . " . . - .. - ~

15t . ECONOMY
. OF :PERMANENCE .
. .
' . ' . .

. i~lifig plaCes, . t'or building sheds, pits, draiilage; SUPPiy of'

. .". ~w~ter,
. . ..
. -
.
e
.
tc. and . if _
'
t he processes,
. .
which are u.nb. y gieni~,.
~. .<
:
. carried. out .by simple :machinery. ~f this involves 'a ttailsfo~-_: :
.. . mation of the. scattered ch~ma, families . into a ~entrat--i. .
. . '' .
:

":.. ~nnery for a -'tabsil or district, the change.may be thebeiter~,~~

-.. ~ .&~ch .tanne.ries may be ow.ned and managed by co-operative,~:
. :"',iso~ieties
.
only the. cha mars." .
. . .
. . . "
- . of
. /~ . . '

-,": .:, . .- {"S) ~t preserit,' .

the. r e 'are a .few . selected places wbere~j . .
- . . . .

_- '.Ieathe;r manu. factured goods ar~ prod.uced on. a very, big ~cal~;.:~
. - .. . . . . '

.. and distribut~d -0ver th~ whole co.untry. This sy.stem must .be )
. . . . . ~

... "disco.ufagect and . :l0cal manufacture o...,,f ,. practically all. . the

. . ;. . .
(
. .. . . ;_

. :. le~ther :goods, such .as foot-wear' money pur~s, . s.uit~ses.. etc. .:,;_
. .:: should 'b'e encouraged, . :e ither the local manufacture may .be :
. subsidised o~ :the. .imports. taxed. .
. . .: .

..
. .. " su. ~..sidies .
:~s hould be give n ro.
individual
. .
contractors'
or
. . . c~operative . ~ocieties for the preparation of manure .
from
.
... 'blood, .
. flesh and bones f~om .
the carcasses. The subsi d y. : . .
. . . . . . ~ . . . \

.
should . "be in .
_
p roportion.
to the .
output
'
<of manure. ..
_ ' t.
"'
. ' " . ....... .___ '

. . . : ( 6). Glue, guts, brushes, -.~nd other

. .
byeproducts can also ~ ' . ~ .
. .

.Qe. prepar.e d by these societies. .

The horn industry <1an be . 1 :;~
.

. ;profitably . .
. introduced among chama1 families. It should be..':;.~.i:i .
,; -.. '
;

. . ' . . ;

. encouraged by subsidy for some time and by 1he purchase or . :';.

.the finished .p rod u~ts by the government for its ~se. The nece~. ...;..:"~
. ~ .. '
. . "'

. ~s~ry equipm~nt should, of course, be suppli~d on hire. . -.;.:,:

. ...

_8. _Soap-Making . ;: , ::~:

... _. : .A survey
~ ,. ..of deposits of sajji matti
.
should
"
be,carried out. ~ :
. ..
,~ ~

.
And wherever such d. eposits of ~sajji matti _are found, soap: .
:. ,

.. makers should be. allowed to collec~ them without ;any tax of-: .. ;_: .
. ~
.

roy;altybeing deman9ed of.them. Iricidentally, it ~ay be obse~

. . . . . .. . . '
.

. .

VJLLAGE
. INDUSTRIES
- . . .

. .

.
.. .' . . . .
.

rved that . the removal of this deposit

.
improves the qu,
a
.
lity of . . ' .

the land . Caustic. lye.prepared from Sajji matti and'non-edible. .

oils should
. . be u1ilized
. . for soap
. . . manufacture ' in : v:i llages~
. .
I . .-
.9. Lighting . . .
1

.
: . .
. .

T~e non-edible : oils as neem, karanji , oandl~ nut, . P.i.idi; :.

mahua, rayan, eic., 'Which are . very' little Used at. present-~ . .
should be utilized . also for lighting . purposes: Every-.. effort
should
.
be direct~d toward's .maki.ng the villages - self~sufiicient. . .. . .

in ligbting. . , .. ,
. . . .

Vegetable oil l amp.s like, :the 'Magandipa~. devised.-by . the

A. 1. V. I . .A'., _can.be distributed "from: --~he : dem~ris'tiation
.. . ' ,. ' . 'A
, ' , ' ' , ,

centres . aIong with other . equipments; and the local artisans_

should also be' enceuraged to. produce them.. . . . .. : -

10. Paper Making .

( 1 ) '''The Provincia:1 Government may start handuiade:-.
paper industry in the . .
jails wh'
e re tl1e .
requi,red
. .
raw ~a~~t. i als. . . . . . . .. . ..

are available. in the .vi_cinity. For t his purpose a . survey. .Of .

. ~ . . : . . . .

. the local raw materials needed.

. . . . .
"for
.
. paper . making should
.
be . . . ' . '

carried out by an expert: '. . . .- . . . .

. ( 2 ) .All .the _,che.micals r~qlred for paper- making;.

" .
. . .. . (" . .

should be made available by Co-operative So~ie~ies _to.

. . . . '

the handmade paper

. . .
production _
c entres.
at controlled
.
:rates .
. , . . . .

c 3 ) One central workshop-should .be maintained-,. in

oommon .with other industries for making the required .ma chi- . , . . . .

.. nery such as beater , callender,. moulds, s9rew press, e~veJ.o~

. . . .

. pes making machine, etc. _ ...

Paper makers should be supplied . with. the latest type
. . . ' . : . .

of equipments
'
~
.
such as hollander
' .
beater,
.
. callen:der J;llachine,'
.. . . .

. screw press, etc.,. either o_p. hire or on the hire-purchase sys

 ..

. .
. . '

, .
. .. . . :..' .'. J 56 . ECONOMY OF PERMANENCE
'
~- ~ . ._ :_ ..... .. .
. . " ...
~

. .
. . . . :

. . ... . . . .

. :.._ _. tem_through i}le._Co-Operative Societies. The8e societies . may

: . 1 al:~~- ._supply. pulp where suoh .Pulp calls for power-driven.
_._-. ..

- :=. - nla<;hinery for its making. .

, . . ~ ( 4 ) Such. raw m~terials as office ;ecordS1 waste . i)apcr
,_ . . -:and .
gras_ses . av~~ble jn the . governllient f oresu usef111 for
. . . .,. . . ~

. . paper : ~aking,- . w~ich are a~ctioned. at _present ~o. the hs~est

b.~9~e1' ; s~ould be resen,ed fo~ - hand-made paper pr~ucing .
': .

:c.~tre~ and .sliould be"su-pplied'~'. to the.m _through their co-ope:. ~
. ! t , ' . . . -

: :;ratiy_e.. . -societies
. . . . -
at . ~oderate . rates. .
Similarly, the
.
finishe~-
. . . .

. _. :~r~d-:uqts_. prepareQ. by the centr~-s should be .pur~hased . by the

. : :Qov.e~riment for their .. statio11ery. and . offi~ reco~d -pur~es, .
.:. . thr.o.U.gh'the _co~perative So9ieties at -. such prices~s wi11 leave
.. . th~ -paper iake.~s .in a position to. maintain a. -reasonable
..- .st.andard
.
of life
. .
_..,,..
..
.. ~

.. , ( S J Training ~ The required expert . .

staff fo~ band
-
made . .

: . pape
. .
r : . prod.
u cing
c entres
.
ca-
n be _ trained at the Provincja\
.
. . .

-. .Traini~g Centres~. --
.. :. f 6) Priori~}'. sbOuld b~ obtliined from the railwa:Ys for
.:.t he. trans.port .of :hand-made paper arid it~ equipments. H and-.
. . . . .

. . made .paper sho~ld be exempted from terminal and octrot

.

duties. ._ .
,.

11 Pott_ery. . . . -
: -, ._, ... ( . 1 )..T.he 1irst requisite of ~be pottery ind~stry is tbc
_._ analysi~ of the .available .clay in. the province. This shoul4 be .
. . ' . :
'
undertaken . .
by the
.
Government. .

, ( 2 ) . Clay mixing is an art requiring considerable know- .

. ledge of chemistry. Hence it should ~e done in a central pla~
lik~
..
a
.
~o-operative
. .
. Society;
.
. or a jail, and .the ~ixed olay
. . .

sh'.ould be distributed to.._ indiyidual potters~ Al~rnatively,

'
 . .
. . '

VILLAGE INDUSTRIES -157

~
I '

the exi~ting potters

.
should be .
t aught
.
the. art
.
.of cl~y
.
fuixi~g
. ..
. .. . . . . .

if .possible, by givi~g them a set of formulas for :-' particular . '

types of clay. . . :. - .. ._ '

=.
...
.. ,
.
_
.
_. . . . : :_ . . . _ _
.

. . . . .. . . . .

. .( 3 ) As in the . case of other industri.es, the .co~pe~a~ive ...

Societies
..
can .be the agency. forthe distribution . of _clay-as well .
. . : . . .

as the improved potters' . wheel o~ _.h ire. " ---.: ., .. .

. . .
.. . . . . . . . . .
. .

( 4 ) The. . glazing and firing of .partic~lar .types ~f . pots .:.

will have to
bedone again co-op_ eratively. Both.t he processes .
ot clay . mixing and firing'. and gJazin~~ should b. e done
. . .
.
o n"
a : :
.

service basis ~operativel_y by t~e. potters themselves~ . ~ot, .

s, -
' . ..
~ . .

which do not require v.e ry high temperature _;::&r:iDg, . and

which are ord'i narily done 'at p.resentin the vi1lagesb:Ygroups ...
of potter~, can ~e fi.r ed '.better J:>y intr.oducing_ fniproyed
furnaces in place of temporary ones~ Properly . construQted .
..

' .. . . . . . . . . . .

wilJ reduce the con-Sumption of-. fuel. .. -: . . .

The big furnaces .required .

for brick-tiles-ft. r ing sh o uld be ~
. . ..

co-operatively organized,.
.
The shape and -
s trength
.
of. b~ick _. . .

and . til~s 's hould be impro\'ed. . . . .-. . . ..

. . . .

(. S ) Facilities should_be prov_ided (or . potters to . receiv~ .

. . ' ' '

short-term trainii;ig
. .
in all the processes, .
s uch.
as clay-miXing
. .
. . . .

. and improved modelling, f iring and glazing, at some conve- .

~ nient place. ~ . . -

12. Ssu:aitation and Manure . . --

. ( 1 . ) What fo11ns should the Iatrines.take in the. villages ,
. .

should. be found out.after alternative methods -have

' .. . . been. . . .

tried out.. It may be. that more than one type may be ..found
. . . . .

. suitable and necessary. Experiments must ~e made .i n . regard

.t.o types of 'l atrines, etc., t o .keep the villages . _iil ~ sanitary
condition. Bore-hole urinals should be installed in suitablC.:
places ~ t~e villages. ., . - _:_
 ,.
,
. .. . . .
. . . . ... . '
.
.. .
-

.. . . .

. 158 . . ECONOMY OF PERM .\ NENCE . . .

. : -. . ..
. .
. ~ .

( 2) Subiid.ie.s should be given_to i_ndivi4ual - contr~~rs

.. . . . . . . .

. for .cotive.rtipg human exc_reta and a.II the di.r t Qf the v_iQage
'\ j . ..

..., i.hto. compost. . manure. The subsidy .. being proportionat.e. .to

. 1be .
... ~Dl()ijnt of .manure .produced sh~uld be sush .:fs
. . .,
to attract . .. . . . '

. jpdivjd.ua-
' . .
ls. to this
.
job. .
.
U
n less it is made a profiible busi~ess.
. . . . ' . ,

.. proposition, -. i~ is ."-not likely to be attractive. The grant or

'.s.u. ~idy'. t . at~ . l~ast for .: sotlle
.
years,: is essenti.
a l to make . il
. . .. . . . . . . .
. ..

t~r~ive_ .
' .; ..( 3 .). Jhe cstom of housing
.. . .
cattle inside the village and .. : . . .

._ ~...fte.~ ill t~e. _ .dwe..lling_places: ~eiselves, requires. at.tcntion

. . . . . . .

. .from the poin.~ ()f vjew of _village sanitation. rhoUgh .this is a . ' . . .

. _l,o.q.g~tert11 . p~oblem, the sanit~~ion of the village.is difficult .to

.
. .maiD.tai~ . wiih0..ut proper provision for sta.bles an4 .man~.rs . .
. . '. . . .. ,.. . . . . . . . : . ' . ' . .. t .

... . . . . Whereve~
..
..
.
new
e xiensiqn . ~.
.
f a . . town
.
. .
or . village
.
has.
.
_to . be . . : \ . . ' . . '

made;_ .
-. th~ cattle.
bo using sho.
. .
_
u ld be
:
.
prov_i ded for 1n a .p la~e
..
~- . .. . .
. . '
. ~
.

. l-i. ttle ,~. way .f_ r. o.tn . ~he ..d wel.lin$.s. Sanitation of the village is one . . . .

. -0.f,,the. m..~in~ considerations .that weigh with som~ who _advo- . .: .

.,cate.com.mon dai~ies of the villages, . instead of Individually

~ ' "

:_. -0wne_ d '1:~.d . k:ept cattl,e. .

. .

..
. .
..
..

. VI
..
DEMOCRACY

ID;dia wa~ ~ri_ginally a republic or . villages, and each
.
.villag~ .was a. self-go_
.
verning unit. it has developed certain ~ . .

.: ~geas of state; . based on _the types of personal_ities coaimonly

found: in societv. . . :. . " ' ,
. . .. ~ . , . : . . . ' . . .

' . All activities in bu~1an _S()(:~ety pre~pnt two points of view~

the long range ~ view and th~ short rang~ vi~w. Many o{~~us
 . . . .. . . ...
. ~ -. .. ... .. " .. .
,.
'
,. .
..
,
- ,

159
- . ..

are nqt capable of taking a long term view bec'ause it me,~

workiqg for years bef~t~ the . fr~.ii . of one's
. . .
Ia.hours can :~ - . .

seen or 9btained ~nd ~en . do not l"ike._ to .w~it. .w e .are. a11. .

inclin8d to take a $hort t~rm view, .we .W'!ll,~ to .~i, drin:)( :and. :
be m~rry. Ninetynine, oui of . .
hundred
.
people . ta1'e this ahQrt . . .

term view.. But tber.e, ar..e certain .~aU.ers -w~ic'-1 .

have gf>t .to
..
be done. for the. benefit of t.he -whole ..
.
.society
. .. and::Whicb
. . .
. cal-
.
.
I :.

.
. .
.
: . ... .
.
. ..
. .

for
.
a long ra. n
g ~ view. 'fhis is wp~ a .de.
\.
~ ()~~acy-.
.
arra: n ges
..
for~.
.:.
. . . . .
. .

We require me _ ~~b Ions rangtl vie\,~();. be .

at the head of' , .

Go.vernment if <J<>.vernmen~ is to succe~~ . 3nd . the .well : being

. . . .

of th.
.
e major~ity is to .be achieved
. .
. .Peopl~ .. ~h9 !ak~ . a-. ,shor..,._. .

ra~ge view are ~ danget .t o . soci.ety, ~- _ i f th~y. .tJe .. -~~ - ~ :~~ad

of Government. They will :promot~ wars by .their short.sight@d ..
policy. . . . .. . ;:, . :( .
. . . . ' " .. .. . . '' . .. .' . .

Judged from . this view point, . Eng~a:nd and . AieriC(\ .

are . . .
. . ' .

anything but dt?niocracies.

.
'_Those
. .
countries
.
are.. un<;t'er a. b8ol ute . . . . . . .. . . .

dictatorsb~ps~ when these.countries .

were faced .
with the grave ..
danger of war, . what was the form of Government tQ.-a t pre-
- .. .. .

vailed, democracy or dictatorsh.ip ? Ba~e ; fc;a.cec;t dictatorship ,

. . . . ... .

came into . bejng in . those. countries .. That was not mer~ly a-

. . .. '
. .
. coincidence; . it was boun<:I to. happen. The~e
...._
countries . have
.
. . .

been using centralised methods of production

. -
which means
. .
'
to
. . .

central .control and regimentation, ~~~ch ultimate.ly leads

dictatorship. We cannot have dictatorship- . i~ econo_mi.cs and .
. . .

.at the same time, de1nocracy. in politics. Su.ch clai~s denio-. . . .

to t

~racy are merely . smoke-screens~ .. .. - ~~m9cra~y in econo~ ..

~~~t ..be base~ on decentralized production in villages o.n.
. 1nd1v1dual basis _., ,. . -

. Of course, irrigation, roads and such large projects will

~ve to be undertaken an.d for that p~rpose. you must.s~lect .
.. . ,,
 . ,1

... -. - . ,
...." ' .
. ;
.. . .
. .. ' .
' .
..
.. . .-

.'160 . .: . ECONOMY OF PERMANENCE

. . ' .
' .

" . . : from ' sooi~ty ... p~ople . who

: .
have a Jong range view. Therefore;.
'. . . .

: ;. .a11 ~mi.niste~ atid . a:J}.. governmeqt .

.official should
b e :persons .

" ... with ~ lo ng. .range view .Iftbey talk in "terms of money ' 'will
.. . . .
it
. . . ~

. < . pay' ?:then. t hey are not people of the right sort t o bold the
. . .

.-, :~: . pr~seiit : resp.onsible posts. In _the long yiew 'will .it pay 'l' wilt
.. not~ be the cri~erion. 'Does it answe~ the purpose o.f the pee>- .
.
.: ple' .is .the question . that should
( ,,,,...
be asked. Government is not . .

:~ ... . a .ccm~ercial- institution; i t .is~ not an institution for making .'

.: .-_ money or.. "producing .
bure~ucrats. Government
.
Is there . - ~ '
to
serve the p~ople. I f it .~erves " the: needs of the people it . doe~
1

' . . . .. .. . . . ~ . . . . . . . . . ~

,. not matterwhat such .servic~ costs... It .bas get to be rendered . .,

. . . . . . :

. . . That is .the fundamental .

. principles
. .
.that we : have got
.
to reme- :; . . . ..

. . . :pibe~. ,He,re is b~~ ~ifference between private .econo~y and '/ : a

.... .public finance .in' t~is t hat public finance' .takes a long range .-
. ... view.
.
Whi.le~ planning for den{ocracy, eve.r y citizen is to. .b e' ,: . . . .

.
triade conscious~ .of the part h~ has .t o play . in the whole . .

.s.cheme.: ." .
.
. . .
. . . :
. .
.
"
.
)

. " <.The Per~onnel : One of the primary necessities for ~~

. doing _this-is:that there should be no 'self' in those. in charg~. ,_ )
... If 'self' be .there, .they will expl.o it the labour. of the millions . ./
. . . - . .

:. That is the danger, . .and . Congress Ministries we want to. cut .-~~.
. . . .. .

. :dow.n very many things. The last ministry went .

down to a- -
,.: .

. salary of Rs. 500 /-a month. Now theii: standard& have i:ncre- -#
ased, and accordingly the.

s alaries have . .
been increased. ' That {~
. . . ;.-,

.. means ih.a t ~self' bas come in. Tbe~e is danger . here~ _ We have :~ . . ~

.~: .to accept village . standards. We are . not -~o live in palaces ... , :~~~
There are many palaces . in cities> where: wealthy people are.,. : ~
1iving but
.
the villages have no palaces~ .
.:
.. '\. :~ .

. I had an occasion to meet a missionary in a village . " ..,.

about .fi.ve or six miles from a.town. He was . living in ~ .b ig . ., '
 I
..
..
i

.. ... .
. . ' . ,
.
.

DEMOCRACY
. . . . 161

' .
palatial hou~e~ like. the houses of some. of. our . ministers,
. . . . . . l .

beautifully. furaishe~~ 111 that jungle of a place he had . . .

electrici.ty,,-pumps .
for the well, flush"out . lavatories.
a. n d so
..
. ~ . . .

many other ... modern facilities. He had .a . farm of ,abpu~

. . .
._. . . .
) ..

three hundred acres of land. ..

.
. About half a mile from the house he had builtsmall
. . . mud . . . . .

h u~
.. .
for.,
m odel .
families
-.
. to estabish themselves,-
...
_ with a poul-
. . . . .

-try run and a linle land attached .

to. each .. b u.t to cul~ivate . .
.. ~
.
' . . .. .
. :
~

1
The inissionary . said: to me, _:We are _spending a lot .o f _mol).ey . .

here, but. we feel that we are_ n ot very eff~ctive .

i~, the -vi.l la. .
g es.
We are unable to get .at them. ..
Can you give me a man:trq for _: .
. ~ .

it _1''. I sa.id, :''The mantra is very simple. You s~t fire .to this...
I

palatial house.,. That is the mantra. You are 'ooming .

from . . . . .. ... .
. . . . . . . .

Western . countries and you . .

do not . know the condi.tions .
.
. that . .. . .

obtain in India. '.Y ou always think in terms 9fmoney, and

. I
.

.
' ~

- prestige it brings. The villagers respect us in this clothing. . If

we have two more patches in our. ~lothes, . . th~y . respe~t us all
- ' .
. . .
.

the more. If we do. away with_the ~hirt., they follow us, and if
. ~ . .. . ,. .

we have a dhoti hi.g h up as. .

a loin clot~, they pr~strate before ...
us l That is . the standard of values. in.our country. You missiqn-
. ~ .

aries, who come here, do not understand this position. There-

fore, if you
.
.
want to serve our people_, you . have to g~t .rid=o f . .
.
.
'

this big palace which is..: associated with - exploita tion. It crea-. ' ' I ' ' ' ' ' ' '
. .

tes suspicion and .instils fear in t he. villagers. .

If. you .
have
built these mud huts for the vill~ger at a.cost.of Rs. 250./- each
. . . ~ .

you must build huts for yourself.at a cost '. of Rs. _1 2S/-, if. .

do
~

you want to -serve the villagers. If you that they wi.11. ~o~e '

a~d list~n to you as they would' realise you ~have... n~. ':seJf., in
..
11 ..
 '
162 ECONOMY OF PRMANENCE

you. That is the -. secret of i t. Ours is not a barbarian country .

We have got a culture of values
.. . . . .
not based money.
.
we. .
on .

have .got ou.r 'Brabminical standards'. It is not the sacred . .

of
. .

. . thread
. . .'
. that.
is . the symbol .
Brahminic
' .
culture. . There .may, .

be J.. C~ S. officers .
earning
.
thousands of rupees as S3:lary1 with '
. '
.
r

sacr~d threads on but they are all m lecbbas. Vv e have

1
. . their
. . . . . . . .

got a standar.d of Brahminical "

values. That is the secret of . .

the Mahatma's .
greatnoss~ If.Mahatma ~Gandhi goes to America, . . .

crowds - ~ill go to see him;.

. .
bu~ they
.
wi 11 not ..
go in the same
.

. spirit as the crowds gather in India~ Our .people have faith ..

. .
.
.
.
' .
. .
. ~ .

. it) . .

o andhiji .
because
..
he is a .
man without property
. .
without .

. any. .
'self'. in ..
him .
. . That is what will bring popula r ministries
. . . .

.
real . power . . .That is what will restore the confidence of .the
. . . . ,. . ' ~

. p~ople. ir
you put . t.his plan before them, they will readily
. . take. :it:-.You do not require much money for it. .
.

.. . All that. is .required is to tr3:nsfc>rm ourselves and get. into . .

. . .

this way o r life. That alone will bring us swa1aj, economic

. ._.. swaraji .'Int.h at swaraj everyone will have enoug~ to eat. . ~.
. ": First of all, in a poverty stricken land; every one must .
.
have .food and clothing. That is why . should
. . .
approach
.
the .
we .
. .

-_. problem
.
from an agricultur.a l point of view.. It is n.o t a ques-
. .
. .

tion of\harnessing the patriot.ism of the people, It is a ques-

.. tio~ of harnessing every man. Ultimately .we have .to solve . . . .

the problem of food .and clothing to every one~

.
World.Reactions: Th~t .
is the oniy way ofensuring . . ~ .

peace in the world. We ha\e a tremendous hold over China

. . . I . .
.
. not .because
.
we are manufaturers of atoin bombs, but because
. . . . . . .

there are ties between

. this country a~d China created by .

.Lord Buddha. That is the sort of.culture .that we want. We


~

..
DEMORCRA.CY . 163

want to be a world power. If so

. .
we must start_ with . this ,. . . . . .

~ultural value, and we m'ust. plan from the .'villages upwards.

That is the only way of solving. not only our own problems . . : . . . .

but those of the whole world ...Those .

ai
.
the helm of affairs.
. . .
.
. .,

:should forsake their 's~lf',. and forsake their all. They.. ~ust
;then put this plan into action for the people. That is the real .
'.
I

~ontribution they can make to our counti;y. . .

. . .._ .

Gover~men~ Opposition-: Den.iocraticgovernine~t-- .

ibased. on represent~tives requires an
. --
opposition to direct . its . . .

working. The water in a river is kept to its . course by the

banks. If the banks are .
of 'rock it is. best. If not the. banks
. . .

_get eroded and the river silts and shifts its course..
. .
Hence .
there can be no competition
. .
between
.
the banks and
..
the
.
waier _
~for the .bed of the river. .
. .

Similarly the director

.
and
..
the directed cannQt .
be competi- . :" . .

tors. There should be co-operation and not competition.. ..

-As tl1e waters of. ariver are kep~ in their cour~e 1:>est by .
. . . .

its rocky banks, so also the Government 'of a country h~s . to..
be directed by forces which lje outside the . ofJicial sector. . of
the Government. Great Britain prides itself on possessing the - . .

"Mother of Parliament'. The method prevailing there is to -

. . . .. .

1naintain, at Government cost,_ "His Majesty's Opposition' to

'
3.<eep the ministers within bounds by directing ihe :flood light.
. . . '

-0f-public critici~1n, on the steps taken or proposed to be take~

by the Government .. British Parliament is. -~eritable are~
. .

where many a mortal combat betwee~ political knights.take

place. The discomfitted knight yields place to. the victor. The
oocupants of the opposition benches today may be the . proud -
-Occupants of the _Treasury Benches tomorrow according
 "'

. ' !
. . . . \

. 164 -- . ECONOMY -.O F PERMANENCE

.
to the fortunes of. parliamentary Debate.. ' This is the functioc
. .

.
.of the opposition in the British Parl.iamentary System.
. . .
It is ' . .
/ . .

"an. outcome of the

.
competitive econoumy projected into the.
..
'
, .
. .
.
~ politi ~al $phere. . . -_ . .
. . . . .. . . '

: .: The c.. o mposition

- . ..
of the cabinet
.
itself reflects the structure:: ~ . . .

of: imperialism .in, . the . economic field. Centralised industries

. .need
. .
to ga.ther
.
the raw
.
materials . from the four corners of the .

.:world -and send b:a ck .t heir finished products to mark_ets _in the.
. ' . ' ..

uttermost
.
par~ of the globe. This necessitates wide-spread . .

use of money .and . transport and control of political

.
power
.
. . .
... . . . . . .

To. a~bieve this . Foreign

.
Affairs, Finance and
.
.
A'
rmy,..
Navy . . .

and
. .
Air Force . become
. essentials.
.
Hence these have ~ecured
. . ...

.covet status..
in
.
the British
.
Cabinet

. "
<

' ' '

'
.

.
.; . )Joth.
. .
- competition and imperialism have thei1-- roots in
)' .
"
v_iolence. .. .
.
. .
. Our country has iak.~..n up the reins.. of Government. If . ' .. . .

w,_e desire to pursue non-violeace,

. .
what shall . be the
.
form ot . .

our .Government
. ? Our
... -Gove1'nment
..
also will need a correc-
.,
.
.
'

tiv~- . force to, perform the functions of an . 'Oppos~tion'. ~U;~ we.

, . =-, t -----
.. 3 ~

want. an .econcmy ba,sed on 90-operation and not .one on

T - - m + , ~ ~ d - i ~ ....... p :::$

.,c'?-m)?!tij~~.n."'Tbe. ~'Opposition members In .our economy will

not be l~oking _for ward to occ~pying the . Treasury Benches,
- . ' .

one d ay, . should tbe~fortunes of debate .go against those in.

the saddle at th~ time. Personal ambition can have n~
. .. . .

pla_ce in an. economy . of non-violence a~d . cooperati_on.

What .we should .a im at is . not to replace tne ministers, but
. . .

to hold \IP models .

that
.
they should
.
follow. The
. .....
construe-
. ' ' . . .

tive workers
~ . should 'direct
. them
.
into proper .c hannels by the~ -
. .. .

.b eacon light of t11eir example. This is a great responsibility

' , '
 ''
'

\
,
DEMOCRACY '
165
.
- . . .

that would devolve upon the constructive

. .
workers ._ in,. .a. non-
violent economy. ..
. ' . ..
A well organised body of constructive workers wi~l be . .
.. . . ~ . . . . .

needed to provide this di.rective force~ Tlleir sent-ice to the

~people will be their sanction and the merit o:f '.t heir wo.r_ k will _
be their charter. . The ministers
..
will . dr~w their ii:tspi.
r ation
.

.
. . .
.
.
.
from such a body which will advise and guide the secular
' .. . .
.

Qovernment. To. be able to discharge this <function

. .
the con- . . . . - ~

~tructive workers forming such a body will"have to be drawn

.
. . . .. . '

from. men of renunciation, whose one aim and _embition i~ . .

' . . .

the service of the people.

. . ~.
. . . . . .. .

In such a political make--up the.ca~jnet .wilt han4le p ort

folios that will be essential .:to. an economy
.
of . self-:sufficiency
.
... .
. '

'The major portfolios

.
will be Agriculture,.
Land, Develop- .
. . . . .

inent-A11tierosion 1 reclamation, fertilisation,

. .
Irrigation, River .

C ?nt~ols, Forests, . Village and Cottage Ind ust_ries, Mmer~ls _

and Heavy Industries,
.
HeaJth, Education and Home Affairs. .
.

It is not imperative in such a set.:.up tQ give Foreigh Affairs,

.Finance and Defence cabinet rank, how~ver important. these ..
, .departments may be. . .
. .

In a pol~tical structure of this nature t'he body of ~onstru-

-0tive w.o.rkers will form the
.
bulwark
o f safety for the people ' ' .

.against exploitation. A Government run on this .basis will. .give

._.the.needed emphasis to-the .affairs of the people -and ensure
. .. . .

.. .thc_ir welfare bringing i.n Sw araj to the masses.

- . .

. Nationalisatio~'" presupposes th-a11 real power rests with

t he people, i. e., with the masses. There .should be ..
in .
t'
h c first
. ;place, a wide foundation of experience in the_management of
-0ur affairs. This has to be o~tained . by the villagers looking
 . .. ...
. . .
,.
... 166-- . ECONOMY .O F PERMANENCE
.
after
. .
th~ir co.mmon nteds through well organized
.. .
panthayatsL
From.
such experienced meri the district_ s wil~ ~aw their. ad- . .
......

. ministr-ators and these will also supply the requirements,of: .

. th~ provin(:e in regarq to public men and legislation~ Such.
.. well-based .and properly conducted'Provincial administration~
. . .

will be able to . keep. under control the Central Government

. . . , . ~ .

~nd.
nake it function . in.
the :i~ teres1s of the villagers.
. . . . . . .
. .

. . . When the
. .
Government of the land is in thr- hands of the- . .

millions as .their
. ' .
first
.
care ' then
. .
alone can we claim to have . . .

.a National
. G. overnment and 'Na-tionalisation' will then ensure
. that the inte~ests of the masses.
wil.
l be tak~n care of. . .
' . . . ' ' . .

.
... .In the absence .-o. f such .a village based and controlled by . . ~ .

. Central
.
Goye r nment,_ 'Nationalisation' may
.
lead to the greater .

exploitation. of the . 'have nots' by the 'haves'.

. .
'

.. . For instance . , there

.
has been
. a lot
.
of talk recently
.
~bout
. . . .

. 'Nationalising' . the Airwa~ s. These airways, present, are. ' ,I ' '
at
. not .
w ithi~~ the reach of the villagers
.
. .They . do not .
need them.' .
. . . .

~o~. a re they likely .~o use t~em. As it is, at the present time,
the .'haves' . own t]lem and use_them. So Gover_ nment co~trol
now will mean the Government will spend 'its money an.d tho-
. .

ught in m~king 't~e Airways' easily_. available.to the 'haves:'

. .

w.hil~. othe_ r 'haves' will provide the service. Aerodromes may

have . .
to be constructed and various roads; etc., provided.
.
For
th-.is .these private bodies would like to exploii the Government. .

io exploit the Government . resources

.
and obtain .tb eir assistance
. . . .

und~i; the -plea. of Government _

.
control or , ~Nationalisation'.. .
.

The
. funds available to the Gov-ernnient should .be earmarked: . .
. .
for the provision
.
. or facilities for the . masses and. hence we:
. . .
..

.~annot diye~_t t hem. for th_e beiterment._ of a.irways. Let p~ivate..

. .

'
 . . .. .. . .. . . . -- - ..

' ~.
. ..

.
NATIONAL INDUSTRIES .. 167
. . . . . ;

enterprises go on as they have done. Some 'haves' will exploit

. other 'haves' and later.. on when.village. bas~dNatiOnal oove~
rnment comes into exlstence we shall have time . tnough t6
. . , .

consider 'Nationalisation' of such services~ ._

. .
. '

.. . . ,

.
. ..
:

... .

. VII

~ . .
NATIONAL INDUSTRIES . .~

.. :

'

We come to the question of organisation and . IQethod to

. . .. . . . '

b~ followed by industries. We have to bear in mind two main .

'

principles jn economics. These a1~e,. concentration of w~lth

, . ..

and distribution of w:ealth. . . . ..

. .

Centralised industries generally act like centrifugal .Jnach'."'-

. . .
. :

iQ.cs. These concentrate wealth in a few hands. Concentrat\Qn ~ ..

.

may be either of weal~h or of power. The decentralised indus-

tries have the natu-ral tendency of distributing wealth. There-
. , . . .

fore, if we do not want, in our socjety, . con~entration of

wealth,_ then we must take .out ' the centralised ind_ustries. .

Since wha~ we want is -oistribution. of wealth ~spe.cially in a

. . . .

poor count~y like India, we must decentralise the, industries. . . .

. There is another way of doing it. Rus~ia has.done

.
it~_ .

. They say that they will produce wealth in aconcentratedform"

. and then distribute it through government. The danger there .
lies in ~he concentration of powe~, and not in the concentra-
tion of wealth,as in our country. When wealth has. been pro-
duced the people. who have to redistribute it-'have the power
. . .

 ..
.

'-168' '
ECONOMY. OF PERMANENCE
. . .
' .
..
. . .
in thejr
. . . .
hands~. . Therefore
.
it is concentration
. . of power or con-
.
.

oeniration
.
of wealth, both ar.e evils. In Russia there is concen-
.

tra.t ion
.
of _
p ow,
e r 1
as against concentrati~n of wealth in ~e- ..
.

rica and Engla~d. India is a poor country where we have got

. . . . . .

to produce wealt~h, and in the process of production of wea~

so,
. . .

. Ith. we have to distr.ibute it. where we want to produce .

. consumption . goods, we should put centralised method of .
." p roduction our of. court completely. . ,
. .

Place of. Centralised Industries : There should be

. .

. cent.r alised
-
industti
~
e.
s . only where they can be in the .
. bands
. . .

. :of people whQ . _will not have any profit motives or who wilJ
not c)Iicent-
r ate -.- the~ wealth. we shall have to sterilise the
--
centralised indllstri;~ of thei~ power of concentl'ating wealth.
How. shall . ~ we do.. that 'l It must be o.n a service basis. Electri-
city,' tr'a nsport, _cornmunicati,
.
ons, post and telegraphs, .
roads all
these. l:DUSt
.
be on a service basis .and must be run_by govern-. .
.
.

.. men t ~oiriposed . ofselfiess workers; If we want motor c ars or .

'

. aeroplanes, they must be produced by Government~ It may be

. .

said that s,uch industries, as are .r un by government~ .are very,

ofte~ wasteful. We must condone a certain amount of waste.
- . . . . .

COn~entratiOJ.\. Of we_ alth is ~uc]l inore_ wasteful. All thcSc

wars are the resul t of concentration of wealth and power .
. .
~onsequent
.
on .centralisation of
i ndustries.- Look at the huge .
..

amou~tof we~lth_ ~hat has been wasted during the last few
.
. years~ . . . .

.. If we must have a centr~lised industry, we can have_it

. ' . .

only where we cannot help it. It. is just like a pomon. Even . .
,. . ' .
. .

poison is sometimes .good~ For example, you ta~e quinine .It

is ~ - good thing when you take i n limited - qu~tities: and as

 ... .
"
.
' . .

NATIONAL INDUSTRIES 169 .

"

. . . .

prescribed
. . .
by a doctor . You. put '
a red label
.
to the effeqt that . .. , . ..

it is a poison, and you .t ake i'.t in small doses. If .-YOU ,w~nt ~o

. . . . '

have a centralised- i11dustry . that i s a . poison fol .the nation

' '
. . .
. '

you may have it with a red label, and tak~ it in small .doses
. . . . . . . . . '

.as pres9ribed by the doctor ! Otherwise there is danger. Cen-

. .

tralised industries are in thei~ very nature anti-social. There~

fore, w'e have got to limit their"sphere. How do we limit. it .. 1 . .
-
Limit . it. to cases where society r.eq uires their fnction .and
.

the indu~try itself .

is of the . nature
. .
of a monopoly. Take for
. . '.

exa~ple,_ ~ater-supply- . . We should "let governmeni arrange for ._

. '
. . . . .

water-supply. .
We have to allocate to government
. . .
thiJ.lgs which .
. . . . .

req ~ire .a long-range view. .. . . ,

. Costs antJ.' Profits : , There.. ~re people \vho talk ,in .. "
, . .

terms of cost. 1hey say centralised indllstries are.. :good beca~"

use things can be produced cbeap. It. is not al.ways so. Centra...:
Jised
.
industries can be used with. advantage in the case of
.. . ' , . '

public uiilityconcerns s uch as RaiIways po&ts and Telegra-

. . . . ) . I . :

. phs_. . Electricity supply' I rrigation

. . . , which . are . :by . naiu~e .
._

monopolistic; there must not be :~ny . profit "motive, . but they . .

hould be run on a service .basis . . When .the State undertake . s . .

these. e_ilt~rprises-
the profit motive .
is .
eliminated. which an
indivldua.I has uppermost in his mind.

.
Private individuals are actuated by profit motive ... Higber . . . . .

the cost, lower the profit, and lower the cost, higher the pr~ . ' .

fit. This means we.. cut 'down .cost in centralised .

industry. T4.
. .
e
-easiest way to do so 'is . to cut down. .
wages, ' purch..ise . raw .
m~terials at a cheaper price and effect other economic . savings

in overhead charges. profit is the main . motive power. When

we are ;cutting down wages and the raw . materials .are purch- . .

 . . .. ..

. .
170 . ECONOMY OF PERMANENCE
.
. I
.

,.
. _. ased cheap, then we m~ke one man whoorganises. the industry
' . , . . .. i

.- rich .a nd the other peopte poo.r.

. . .
Thus unequal distribution of .
. .
. .

wealth sets In .. .. .

.

. . .

-. This i.s. not:so with villag~ .

industries.-Tbere is no .question .

- of profit, although
' . .
prices may
b e higher. There is a fair return .

for. ev~~ybody. This is why we need not worry even though .

. - .....,....,.
. ~
. . . .: . .

_. :pri_ceS:~'\ under village indusiries 'are high and prices unde~ cen- . . .

tralised
.
industries
. .
are. low. ..
All .we want to do is to prevent . . ,.
. .

-unequal
.
dist r idqtion .
o{ .
wea. l th. .. .

.. . . P r ice Control : It ,is wrong to treat th~. larg~scale ., . ~ .

.. and small-scale industries in the same way in regard to price

c0ntrol. We must - unde_rs~nd .
the nature
.
of the .industry ~

before we .
.begin.
place controls. Cont. r ols . are
.
not
d to
esirable
. in every
. .
. .
sphere.
. . --
Where an indust- ry is anti-soci. a l. it
.
.
~h-ould .

. not be a centralised industry~ Thus, the .element of being

. .

.
anti-social <:letermines whetb~r the indus~ry should or should .
.. . .
. . . .

not b e a large-scale industry.

: . ' .

As observed earlier, centralised industries are good where

.
. .t~ere ..are natural . monopolies and where
. . . inucb .c apital is.
. . . . .
. . . -
~equired.
For instance coal mines-, railways. and ventures . of
. -

ihat ~ype require l.arge capital, big labour force - everything

. .

on a. vast scale and sucb industries

. . .
. .
should not be left to . .

private individ.u als but should. be ianaged by the State.

'.
. .

: . Democr.a cy industries : Textile-mills are antidem-

.. ocratic because there are thou~anas of. pe"ople working under ..
</!
. .

a bos$
.
who is an. autocrat within bis little spbete the Mill
~Bis
.
word is Jaw, be is the Cza:r
.
whose word must be obeyed. _.
There should not tie a place in de1nocracy for sueh. .anti-


. . .
NATIONAL INDUST.R IES . 171

socialelements. Democracy must be...pure everywhere . .- From .

. .

this political aspect .-als<? centralised indu~tries. . are an evil ~ . ..

. . . .

We .want a society bas .

ed on c.o-operatio-
..
n. Competi~ion . . . . .
'
means un.gle law. We do not want it in : our country. . . Our- . . . .
. .

aim is io bring co-operation, . ban . competition ,and we . .. .

cannot ban competition merely .

by saying that
.
we shall regu-: .
"
late prices. . -- ..

... . . . .

Just as .a _docJor prescribes poison in smaJ.I doses

..
_
t o.; cure . . .

his patients after careful examination, so als. o we .

hav~ got to . . .
. . .. .

carefully. examine each industry and. .~ee whether_-

.
centralisa-
.- .
. '

tion is good or bad.

. ..
. . .
. .

when. we . reject centralisation

.. :
.
we -do n~t: object~ : to the
.
.
.

use of machinery; What .

we .desire js that man shoul~ .not . . . .. . .
. . . .

become
.
.
the
.
slave of -
t he machine. .
When .
man loses control . .
.

over the m.achine, we have. violence maifesting itself.

. . ..
. .. ' . .
. . . .

Violence and Peace : In text-t.ooks on Economics we .

.. ~ . . . . . .

read so much about the 1aws. of supply and demand, .but ip.
.
'
'
.
. . .
.
- .

the actual wGrld w~ do not find anything like that especially

in a, competitive ~eg~me ..A. ~a-chine must . be worked _t9 . _ its. .
. . . . .. ' . . .

economic . productive capacity. To take a .c()ncrete example,.

. . .. .. . . . .
' . . .

'suppose there is a shoemaking factory. There is a_ demand.

. .. . :

for 300 pairs of shoes but the economic pr_oductivity of the

. . .

factory is 500 . pairs

.
of shoes~ This means that the cost of .

production to be the low~st, 500 pairs otshoes ~ust be

. . . .

- produ~ed whether there is a demand for them or not . . Beca-

. . ' .

use the factory owner is concerned with profits, he will. .not_

care _for anything else but to see that the cost of production
is the lowest 13er pair of shoes. I-le_wi_ll ignore the demand
side and produce 500 pairs because the- cost o( production .

 ,

. ...

-
...
: 172 > :
ECONOMY OF PERMANENCE ,

. . . . . ,

would be .reduced to -the minimum ~nd then he wiHtty

_, _ to find a m arket_ .
out~ide~ Thus man .
is governed by ihe-. speed . .
.. . .

-0f the. mach-ine a-nd .not by th<? demand.

.. /
. .
Wars are thus started
. 'ill

. for ,.capturing markets, creating customers for the surplus

. . . .
~ . .. . .

.- products. Production takes place first and demand _is then

~reated
.
at .
poi nt of the bayonet..
the
It is, therefore,
. eyident .

that centralised ind.usiry is the root causeof wars. It i~ nee>

J

essary, t be
.. . ..
ref
,,
ore, to put a rational-Iim- i t on the use ofcentra- ~ .

..1ised industries. .,_. . ' . I

. In certain industries like tanning there are some prooe-

sses_,which require . large-scale methods to be employed. In

s uch cases by al.I . means

may use them, but not under
we f

. private
. .
management .. I.
f chrome t~nning
. :

i s necessary it.
i nust
.. .

be . dolle under - rriult.ipurpose co-operative soai'eties on . the
.
. . . .

basis or ~upplying leather at cost price to the shoemaker~ .

. .

.
'
Ia tlie s ~me way there may be so many' functions which . .

. <;an .be undertaken on individualistic or smal_l-scale basis. For -

.insiance, . kiln with 1,6000 heat cannot be had. without IPUCh
. capital _and electric power...:.a centralised process . We may ~ ' . .

use electric power and all . other ,. methods functio~ally, but

not for profit. -Let it not b~ a handle to expioit society.

~ '

' '.

' . ...
' . .

..
 '

.
"
. .

...
,

.. . .
..
..
.
. ~

VIII ..

GOVERNMENT FUNCTIONS. . .

' . . :--

As bas been observed all activities in human societY

I : "

present two view-points-the lQng range _view and the short

range view. . The ind.ividual is generally obsessed . with the
. . . .
. .. . . ' . .

immediate benefit . he gets. He is not

,, .
much
,
intere.
.
s ted..
in .a . . . . '

programme of work that . will t'.ear ~r(uit a(ter his time. He .

. .

would be prepared tO be satisfied: with lower retur~ in _the

near future tban to work f or an end that will. .
fructify IDUOh . .
later .. Therefore it be~9mes
.
neces8ary, jn the interest~ of. the .. .

whole social=_g roup, to detail

. ' .
out ce.r tain .
individuals t,o atte:p.d . , . .

to the dictates of the long range interests. This is the func-

tion of a National. . Government.
. . .

Again, certain necessary functions cannot b.

e . perfor~ed
. . . .

within the limits

..
of the
. .
resouroes available to the.
common. . . '
.
.
.
.
.

citizen .. Such functions also fall to the government whose

' ' . . : .

resources of men
.
and material. are imn1ense~ . . Research, expe~
. .

rimentation and dissemination of .information are such func-.

.
. .
.

tions which an individualfarmer..

or artisan
.
.
cannot
.
undertake.
. . ' .
.
. '
.

All the zeal, .t alent ..arid reso~rces of the:. State and tbe ~
. . ~ . .

pu~lic
. that have up to the . present been directed towards ' 1
.

pushing ahead factory products, should now .b(! rechanne11ed "

. . .

into a drive for village sufficiency. based 9n village ind~stri.es .

. . .

With determined.
effort all the handicaps (rom w.hich_villagers
. .

suffer IJ,t .present should be removed as soon. as possible... :

. .
. . .' . .. ;_ I I

,
, {> .;.;.. 173 -:..
..
 . . .. . . . . .

' '

'

. . .
.
. . . .

I 74 . . . ECONOMY OF PERMANENCE
. .
. .

: .. irrigation : The need for providing irrigation facilities

. .

to .all the villages cannot be empli.asised too gr~atly. This

.
is
. . .
.
.
.

. _the foQndation up.o n wh.ich agriculture

.
depends for its prog-
. .
. .

.ress, in t-h e absence of which farming becomes. a pure gamble.

'
' .
' '
.
, I
. ~

.A drive for _. sink~.ng wells,_enlarging ~nd . dredging tanks1

buildia.g : canals, has to be launched.
.
The .power engines used .. . .

. i n .rice and fl.our niills now can be .acq1iired by the gc;>vern-.

s
~ . . . .

. . merits
. .
to pump
.. . .
up water from tube wells. No proper manur- . .

. i:Q.g. .can be done without water fa~ilities as manure in the

absence of water is barmf ul . . .

. Land . , Manage1J1ent :. we _.have. . to increase the

. . . .
>

.extent and quality of soil under cult_ivation. .

The quality
-
-0f. the s oil shou-ld .be maintained
.
by checking erosion
.
and -
water~logging by means of proper drainage, , embankments,
. .cpntour bu~.ding etc. ..In the final analysi~ the soil .is the ~

:.fountain head. from which springs . all nourishment for men / '
. . . .

- and ca ttle in the form_of corn and fodder. If the .quality of

.tbe soil .is reduced the food produced upon.it' will be of p~o~ .. .
quality and consequently the health of the. people will suffer.
. . .. .

_This is why nutrition experts connect up health: with agricul~

. .
ture.. .

. -
1
I n "Bihar. and other places . for iner food crops like
. . . . .
rioc

have been -m ade to yield plac~ to commercial crops:... sugarcane,

. . ,

. t()bacoo an4 k>ng staple cotton-by using the price mechanisJJJ.

Similarly, in Malabar large. tracts of rice lands have been : . .

converted-
.. into coconut groves~ These c9conuts are sold to
,
. .
-o~l1:lli lls and the oil is used in preparing
. ..
soap. The old ~ccu.:. - . . .
-.
.pants of rice fields no longer get their own rice hand..pou~ : . :
4~d but depend on polishe~ rice- from Brazil and suffer f~
 .,

. '

GOVERNMENT FUNCTIONS ~

175
. .

malnutrition consequently. It is.~he Government. ,to see that ..

~ . . .

proper us~ is made. of the land to produce primary necessities: -

first. If there be any surplus land available afte~ providing ..
. .
food and clothing, such lands may ~ -used for commercial .
purposes. The above.
cited instances show criminal dereliction . .
. . .

of duty of Government in that in effect rice -. lands havebeen. .

..converted into soap lands while peopl,e are facing starvation~

The use of lands should be subjeat to a license which . .

will be -given after considering the products to be raised

according to a well,;;laid-out plan: . - '
.
.
.

Research : All research .in agriculture should he - ,

. . . . .

directed towards improving food crop~ as well.as raw.mate-_ .

rials. for village industries rather -than encourage. the growth. . .

of money crops, like tobacco, and raw materials for factories

' . .

like thick rind sugicane and long staple cotton. . .: . _,

, . . ~.

Freights and Prior~ties : At . present priority

-. .
and
discriminativ; freight rates are granted to f actefy ;rti.at~rials. . ,:
Villa~e ind~stries articles such as handmade paper, equip- ,
. .

ment for village industries, vegetable oil. lamps,. ~tc., are not . .
. . .

e,iven a look in on the railways. This causes

. .
bottle-necks in . .

the industries concerned. l~his policy of the railways . had '

.
.
.

played no small part in checking the progress and spreaa

of. village industries, which pro~is~d to ft.ourish ~nder the.
conditions prevailing during the war. As in all other m.atte1~, .
the policy in this too should be changed i-n favour of village
produoe~s. Railway prjority for the transport of goods "and
equipment of village industries should be granted. -Village-
.
made arti~les must be exempted from imposition$ suoh as
t~rninal taxes, i;nunicipal duties, etc. ,
'
 .
176 . . ECONOMY OF PERMANENCJ.
. .

.. Cattle-breeding : The government should undertake

cattle-breeding farms on m1:1ch wider scale. In everyprovince
where ther.e are. special . breeds suited to the place, these sho'.'"
uld. be .preserved.aild improved. Where necessary the mainte~ .
. . . .

. nance of stud bulls may be subsidised. Generally the work

may be
' .
do.ne on lines followed by the Go~seva sahgb;' Wa.,:- .
'd ha, Central Provinces .
. .. .

Communications, Roads etc. : All roads me~nt

for motor traffic in villages should be tarred and the cost
must be borne by the motor owners. lhe licence .and taxes on
. . .
motor vehicles and on petrol should be so regulated as to
.. motor owners bear the entire cost' to. Government for
make
the construction
. and the maintenance
. of. such
.
roads. . Mo1or..
. vehicles
. ..
should not be allowed, exce~t
.
with spe~ial permit, on
untarr ed roads and then only with .a sveed limit of S :Qiiles
per hour.
The .government . will _have to ~a<lically revis~tbeir policy '
. .
of maintaining forests~ Forest management should be guided,
' .
not by considerations of reven_ue but by the needs of the peo-
. . .
pl~. Fo~est. produce such as timber, lac etc., should be supp..:
~

. . lied. in useable form.. The wood sho.u ld be seasoned . . .

in the
forests. Forest planning ID'U St be based on the requirements of
the villagers around. Forests should be divided into two main
classes ~ ( .1 ) '!hose supplying timber to be planned from the
long range poin-t of view,. and ( 2 ) Those supplying .
fuel and
. grasses, to be made availa-ble t o'. the public either free of co st
or at nominal rates. There .
are vi_
.
llage
.
industr.ies such as palm
gur, paper m ak ing, pottery, etc., w~ich can flourish only if
fuel or grass be supplied to them at cheap rates. .
 EDUCATION FOR LIFE 111
. .
Training Centres i There should b~ Training Cenf!res,
preferably on linguistic basis, ~o carry on the following func-

t1ons :

. .
( 1) To carry on res~arch
in conjunction with the district
demonstration centres in . the techique and process or
village industries of the province. ( 2) To prepare literature
on villa.ge industries in the local languages. ( 3) To bold

village industries exhibi~ions. (4) To run a workshop for the
supply of such tools and implements as bullock-driven flour
chakkis~ paddy separators, sugar centrifugal ma~bines, beater,
digester, calender, scre\Y press, etc., which cannot be manu-
factured in the district centres. ( 5) To train Gram ~evaks'

staff for the district demonstratio11 centres as well a~ for

co~operat1ve soc1et1es.

IX
'
EDUCA rION FOR LIFE
. .
In the las~ analysis we are led to the. conclusion that all
problems radiate from education. We can solve our difficul-
ties only by_ educating the people to view life from a comm-
on standpoint. Education is a master key that gives admission
into all departments that make up life.

Meaning of Education : If educatiQn js_to fit us

for' life-to make us better citizens, better busbapds and
better fathers it has to be a continuous process f~om the
12 . ... ' .
 \

,.

' .
.178 ECONOMY OF PERMANENCE
' ' .
c .~adle .. Through
to the grave. .
all the changing scenes of life
. .
we. ought to be able to pass with the least shock. If, on . the
other band, education .
taught us only certain
.
tricks
.
which
.
we
. .
could perform we should be completely ~t sea when a diffe-.
. .
re.nt
. .
se~ of. circumstances confronted us. Education need not
c.~ani.P our minds with facts and figures but it should give us
ari
.
attitude towards .
life. . .
~n educational system has
.
to
have a philosophy behind .
. .

it and its purpose shou1d be to elicit tbe best in an individual.

Therefore, the undertaki11g .of education is a .grave resposibi- .
. '

lity fraugl1t with many dangers

.
and we cannot
.
launch out
lightly . upon any scheme
.
wi thout proper preparation and .
thought. .. . .

. Unfortunately the system of spreading the. art of reading

.. . . .
an:i writi~g has be~n .
often. identified'
.
with education. No th-
in(l can be more . grote.;que. Readi t1g a11d wr.i ~ing ar~ means
. Q ' . . . .

of acquiring c:ilture but they are dot the only means nor are
. .
they the most important means.
Education .
\Vith
. .
a Purpose: Jn most co.untries,
.
at p,::esent, edcati <>n has a definite purpose or goal. In capi
..
t~Jistic countries, the.captains of industry look upon it as a
nui's~ry for their future e.~ecut~v~~ and admi1istrators. Ia
s0ciali)t .coi1ntries, they bar11ess it to ii1creas'e materi1l prod u- -
.
cti.Jn In.
militaristic .nations, ed uci:!.tion.. 1neans a creation of a .
narrow patrictism. ..
The Oriental Method: In our own country, the
system of educatio11 follo,,.vcd in the past .was a training
. : .
grou~d for . life. A student chose his , master and lived his
everyday life under his master's watchful ~ye and ~imbibed
 1.<t . ..
-.

EDUCATION FOR
. .LIFE
.. , ... ..
179
. .. /
.
the s~irit,. of his gu.u.
-
This
.
was . the case., not .me.rely .w ith
.s piritual training, .but in every walk. of life. The gui'u himself
did
.
not look upon t~achi.i:}g
.
.as a profession
- . .
any more. than
.
a.
father 109ks upon his parel\tal duties as a profession. The.
guru led hi-5 own life . from .w~ich. emanat~d his ou~look o~
iife and his disciple gle~ned what he could from his . practice
.

JesusJ when he chose his . .

disciples said 'follow. me'
.
' and he.
~id not give them a list of text books to read. They had to
. . . '

follow in their master's foosteps. That is or system of

education.
True Econumic Value : The close contact of West-
ern commerce has e.nshrined. gold amongst us. Our. cultural -
values _h~ ve. yielded
; .
place to inoney
~ .
values .. We ~.ave begun
to thi1k in terms of gold and not in . terms of humanity. The.
~

Brahmanic1l cultural standards have gone and .the B1p.iya

<;ivilizativn of the V.'est hJs crept in. The BrahJllin was valued
.and respected .not because of his possession. but beca U)" of
the service he \vas to render to society witho.ut 'regard to the
. .. '
returi1 he gets. No educational. system \vhich does not place
first things first is worthy of our atte 1tion. Any attempt to
t}du.c ite the m::i.sses inust include inculcation of true standards
-Of finlnci:ili social and ec:> nomic value above all .things. '

. Varied aspects of life: Man is a co.:nplex being;

we. cannot divide him up into wat~r-t.ight comp.artments and
<level op him in stages. Education which att~nds OtllY to the.
I

intc.Jlectu.i.l developmeut leavi ng aside the physical,

.
moral.
.
.and spir.i lual aspectsJ is directed towards the .production of
monstroci:ies. If our aim is -a true education we have to att- .
end. to all faculties at one and the s1me. time. We .h.ave to
..
180 ECONOMY OF PERMANENCE

develop a person physically, socially,' mentally and spiritua~

. .
lly. H~ bas to learn an occupation, he . has to lear~ how tO
live as a member of a community, he has to know how i<>
. evaluate. men and. lll3tters. Unless al 1. these. are attempted we
. . ..
can have no education worth the name .
. There.
is. not a single
.
action of ours that does not leave.
its.
indelible mark on us. Our work, our play, our pastime and
our rest air have to be consciously planned oqt if the reacti
ons have to be healthy socially. Training. for work takes care
. . .
of tbe major .
. parl of a work.er's life. We spend mo st Qf our.
"time in our economic . activ~y. If it is s o a~ranged . that it
develops our facu.lties and enriches oul' life. in the. process or
producing goc.ds, to that extent the nation will be the better
,
for it. Proper work will not v-ear out a n~tion but build i:t.
The function..
of work should be to reduce .
to practice ~Ul.;,
ideal of life. Pure religion, which begins and ends with cert>
monial worship, is superficial. If religion does not affect ev~r.y
act of ours, every moment of our life, it is futile. We have.
. seen by our analysis. of .work, in the chapter on Work, the.
highly important rofe tha-t work plays in developing the indi-
vidual and the race. If .work can be so potent a . force in
'
developing the adult we can well harness .it to .develop the .
child.
. We have to concentrate our efforts. on the villages. Uni'-
ver.sity education c an go overboard for a time without 'damag-
. .
ing t11e nation. As it is we ate top-heavy, we have many m.ore
graduates than we need. These have also created a problem
of u~employment as they are not P.roduct~ of the type of
education we need. Otherwise, there would be no difficulty
.
 EDUCATION FOR LIFE lSt
. .
.in atsorbing
. them.
. Our end .must be to make our villagers
.

more useful and efficient. It is not necessary to load

. .
them
with much outside information. Radio and t:ilkies though they
. .
m ay be helpful, cannot be, the mai1 source .of rural educa-
tion.. The amount spent on them is disproportionat~ly high.
Tlie work must be an evolution rtom witbia the village and ..
not an i:nposit.ion from outside the community. Anything from .
. . .
outside will require . to be propped up by . artificial means,. .
but that which .comes from within will develop true culture ,
' which will bind man to man , village to village and. ultimately
.

the country itself as one whole.

We need not place too much emphasis on the organization
to be brought into existence. When we pin our faith on orga-
nization, however important they may be in themselves, we
oft~_n Jose sight of the personal influence, and the organiza-
tion tends to become expensive and wooden. Centralization of
education, as in other spheres, leads to too much controi_from
t hose at a distance. Central zation of education will le~d to
.hide bound methods . and standardization which are fatal to
true . ed:lcation. It is much better for the village ~eacher to
work under the eyes of his neighbours . Therefore, .it ~ould
. .
seem h~tter if each village can be made to finance its own
. .
education by the old method of endowing lands to a Mandir
dedicated to education. If such a system can have the ad.Yan-
'

tage of inspection and advic~ from the centre;. it ought to

answer our purpose well, as the management itself ~ill , be .
amenible to local public opinion. As it is, the 't eacher bas tQ
"5atisfy the inspector once a year or so and, .after such inspe.
'Ction is over, he relaxes.
.
This does not make for progres~,
.
much
 .

....less
.
f9r ..steady work. Every village school should be the centre.
' '' ' ' , '

.of culture a.n d th.epoint of contact with . the outside world .. .

The. only .danger in .this conception is that the teacher niay
. . ' .
get into. the habit
.
of .looking upo his .
part in the village
.
as
. .

one of promoting
. .
social ~pirjt
. .
and. .may neglect
.
h.is JDain d.uty
.to. the youngpr. generation. This social
' .
asp..e ct is only a bye
' .
. .Product, it is not the end of a school. Let us place our faith
. .
~n human nature and in ourselves and go ahead keeping our
.load-star
.
iri. sight. w~- m'ay differ in det~ils, but we shall'.
... ' . .
.te(lch ou:c: goal of developing tr.u e cul tu.r e, reliable standards.
. " ' ' '

of value and attain unity in spite of our a pparent diversity.

. . . . ~

. : The. s.u ggested Sche~e : Of late .t here. has been a

. '.

.good deal of di~cussion

.
as to the line wb ich true education
.
should take. Gandhiji . suggests education should be .made se!f-
supporting. He .w1 it~s .'By. education I mean an all-sound .
drawing out of the best in child and man_.;...body, .mind and .
. spirit. Literaqy is not tbe end of education nor even .the begi'." .
.ning. It is only one of the means whereby man and. w oman ,
can be educated. Literacy in itself is no education . I would, ,:
therefore, begin with the child's education by teaching it ~
us~ful handicraft enabling it .to produce from the moment it. .
begins its training. Thus .every school can be made ..self-supp-
. O'rting,
.
the condition being
.
that the. State takes over th:e
manu..
factures
.
of these schools.
.
. ''I .h old that the highest development of the mind. and the.
soul is possible
.
under. such a system' of education. Only
.
every
.handicraft has to be taught not merely ~echanically; as is
done today, . but scientifically~ ;. e., the. child should know ,
. the why and the wherefore of every proc~ss~ I am not writing.
 EDUCATiON FOR LIFE 183
t
"
this without . some confidence,
.
because it has the backing of
expe.r ience. This method is being a~opted more or les> compl-
etely wh~rcver spilping is being taught to workers. I hr.ve
myself t1ught sandal-making. and even spinning on these lines ..
with good results. This method does not exclude a knowledge
of history and geography. But .I find that t11is is , best taugl1t .
by. tr?.nsmitting
- such general information
. -. .
by word
.
of mouth,
.
One imparts ten times .as much in this manner as by reading
" l

and writing. The sigr:s. of the alphabet may ce taught l:. .ter
"

when .he has somewhat .developed his or her tastes. This is a

rcvoluiionary proposal but jt saves immense labour at: d e11a..
bles a student to acquire i~ one .y ear wh~t he may take longer
. '
to learn. This mear;s all-round.
eco~omy; Of course the . pupil
.
learns mathematics whilst he is I.earning bis l1andicraft;
''I attach the greatest importance to priinary edu~ation
. . .

whicl1 accord.ing to my -conception. should . . be equal tq th.e

present matriculation less English. If all the collegians were
. .
all of a sudden to forget their knowled ge, the lc.ss s ustained ~y
the sudden lapse of the memory of s~y a few 12,cs of coll.eg~..
ans would be as nothing compared . .to the loss that .the nation
. .

bas sustained and

.
is sustaining tbrogh
. . . the ocean of dai k-
.
ness that surrounds
. three
. hundred
. . millions.
. The measure of
illiteracy is no adequate measure
.
of the prevailing
. ignorance
among the millions of villagers''.
. .

The education of children in the early stages can

never
I:
be self-supporting.
.
The articles they may produce . .will not
..
com:nand any exchange value. If the State is to tAke the.m
over that will ,only be another way of meeting the_ loss and
we shall be deceivi;ng ourselves that education
.. is Sel f.supp<r
.
 . ' ' . " '

.. . : .
18 l ECONOMY. OF PERMANEN.C E
. . . . \ . . .
rting. What Gandhiji means by self-supporting is not that '
~' . .
each year of' .
the child
. must be
.
paid for . by the products that
.the ' child makes in that year.. This . is too narrow . . a financial
.
.
viewpoint and it can never be truQ., \Vhat is meant is a much
wider value, .net in terms of money . only but in terms of.
~ . . . .
.. future services rendered by the child as a well-trained citizen.
At present, \frequently . the drilling in th~ thre~, R's that a
.c hild gets
.
i.i a village is so<feeble that after a few yea~s . it.
.fapses into ilJi:eracy gain and the time and money spent on
.the . child
.
become a shee'.r waste in .course of time But if it
.b8.d been properly spent~ the production of the class, though
it inay not pay for itself each year,. in the course. of the seven
years' schooling, the aggreg~. :e production of the class, ought
to cove:r the amount sp'!i1t on. the salary
r . . .
of the teacher.
.

.Jn the nrst

.
two
. .
years there will be losses, in the next three
.
~years it inay just balance and th'! last two years, if the child .
:h1d beeii. properly trained~ ought to show " profit
.
sufficient
.

.to cover i'he losses of ~he fi : st two years. Apart from this,
. . .
as has already been pointed out, the training Of a good citi
z~n more 'than compensates any capital expense incurred by
J

the State. When the child"is taucitit crefts "which are in local
d.eril~nd such as spinning, dyeing, weaving. tailoring, . mat
. . - . . . .
and b1sket-making . potte-y, .. shoe-making, .carpentry, smithy~
. . .
_brass. and metal workipg,. papermak.ing, gur productio11, oil- .
. . .
pressing; bee~keeping etc., . the problem of .marketing will not
. . .
.be. gi,-eat. Even th~ apprentice of ..an artisan dces rtot pay for
Jlimself from the very start. His training is bound to result
. . .
~.P. a loss for s~1nething. A~ter t4e initial st~ge~ he may. pr o-..
. . . . . .
duce something worthwhiie. Thence onwards he may pay
'

.
EDUCATION FOR LIFE 185

his training through. To meei such early training the Gover-

nment has to find th~ funds or the people will have to set
aside certain assets like. lands earmarked for the _purpose.
This was done formerly '1Iltil the British system of taxation
dis established the village schools. But educa_tion ~f the young
must re.nain
. ..
a duty of the .
State. As we .are situated at
prese.lt, our problem is a politically created fi.naacial prQblem
and is not . natural. The solution , lies in correct~ng it politi-
.
(;ally and not accepting it as inevitable. _The ~eacher sh.ould
him~elf be a well-irajned person who may have to be paid.
adequately say . Rs. 25/~ as a slart. The school hours and
ter1ns should. \9e related .to the . .village calendar.
. .
The.'e may
be no classes during harvest seasons or .dur~ng periods when
a great deal of work has to bed.one on the fields.

t}eneral outline of the.Plan: The Wardha or

. .
:Basic sche.ne~ as this new plan J:ias come to . be known, reco-
m nends a c o~rse of seven . .
yea!s' compulsory . basic. . educa".'
tion for boys an4 girls from the age seven to fourteen. The
medium of instruc~ion. is to be a craft like spinning, around .
wl1ich a.11 subjects are taugh~. The everyday life of the child
. .
and the correlation of the craft, the physical.
and social en-
. .
vironment of . the child afford points "of co-ordination for all .
de,t>artments of kno.w ledge. The standard aime<L at is the pre-
sent matriculation without English. There will be no effo.r t
to teach writing until the child has learrit drawing, Reading
will be t:tught first.
. .
After the. age of twelve I the pupil. may
be allowed to choose
. a craft as a vocation. It does not
. aim
~at turning out expert workmen at the age .
of fourteen
.
b~t;


186 ECONOMY OF PERMANENCE

the pup.ii will have ~cquired sufficient training to enter a

vocation in which he will do his t~lents justice;
The central idea of this scheme is that intellectual deve-
lopment must be attained through vocational traiLiog. The
present system emphasizes general education and bases voca- .
' '
tional t~ain.: ng on it. Therefore, when intellectual training
comes first, \\e, i'n.: a w~y, tie the hands and feet of the cbi!d
and .he becomes impractical. No amou.nt .of the latter train-
ing wil I ever restore his limbs paralysed in childhood. Instru~
ct ion,. without experience to base it on, becomes a pure
memoty training exercise. J.t does not develop any initiative.
or personality. . .

Examination
.
: . The brunt of examinations will be bo..:
rne by the teaching staff and not by the pupils under thi~
scbe~e. As the pupil's life is t o be controlled by the teacher
for 24 hourc; of the day, the. teacher becomes knit. tog~ther
with the home of every child and so with the village. The
work of the .teacher will be reflected
' . in the condition of.tl1e
.
. .
.homes and of the village. . . ...
. W~men's Part: .
We have to follow.
the natural
.
phy-
sical development of the child and follow . ..
it mentally, morally
and spiritually. The child takes intere&t in form, colo ur and

movement and 'then tries to. understand the reason why things
are what they arft. Then he will experiment to ~e .i f t e
. .
cannot make things what he wants them to be. Thus he a~-
vances
.
from play .to investig(;ltion and then
.
to creation. Our
educational system bas tq cater f o~ these three stages. of gro-
' ' . '

wth if we plan on eliciting the . best in each Ghild. To do

. ought to be .fully qualified to enter into
this, the teacher .
the"
 EDUCATION. .FOR
. LIFE 181

spirit of the. child. .and sh~.re . it with him. By temperament

and natural endowment, women, generally speaki~g, . are bet..:
ter able to understand children of the first stage~ The syst~m
ia Irdfa suffers in no sma ll measure by the lack o:f education:
among women.. The mothers are not qualified io train the
.
child nor can we g,et properly ~ducated young women to enter
the schools as teachers. It seems. to me if. we are. to reformthe
schools, the first step.
is the . educ!'.l.tion
.
of girls and. young wo-
men, who are the natural custodia~s of the generations to
come. Unless we begin there, any amount of. planning and
scheming b.y mer~ 1i{an will. .be in vain .
as he only. comes i n
after the impressionable age of the cbil.d has been lost. Every
. .
village school, hand ling chil_dren under eight, must be in tha
hands of worr.en. One c~n almost say_that with rare excer- /
tions no
.
man teacher.
should
. be. empJoyed
.
in such. schools.
..

In the se9ond stage of development of th~ : c~ilq, we ~eed

pe.rsons who will stiqiulate the thinking .
.of the pupils
.
and
explain the why and wheref ore of phenomena. I had the.
opportunity of visiting a school in New Y.o rk State run by
. the Federation of Labour Unions. In that school the whDle.

.community liv.e d together and the children
. .
took part in the-
supply of ~food products and all other domestic matters. They '
had their own dairy;
.
one of tlie te~.chers
: .
was in. charge
.
and
a few .boys helped him. I attended. .an '.'economic class'' o.f
pupils of about : eleven years of age.
. .
The subject for the day
was ''Buying
.
of a cow''. The class was taken charge of by
a boy of about ten1 the
.
teacher
.
sat in a back row with m e.
The lad . in charge (we shall call him Henry) described t<>
the class what his-experience was when he went with the tea-
;
 188 ECONOMY OF PERMANENCE
. . . . . .

-cher (Bill) in charge of the Dai~y to an adjoining 111arket to

:buy a cow. This is how the class wenton : ''Bill and 1 went
t o an ~uction to buy a cow tecause we do not get enough
..-m ilk from our cows for us all''. One of the pupil$ asked
11
"what an Auction'' was. The other .explained
. .
''An auction
is a shop where they had no fixed prices. ]he shopman brou:-
. ght ou.t an article and the pe:rsons. who wanted it told him
what they would pay fot it and the shopnian gave it to the
.
<>ne. who <bid" highest''. Then followed an explanation
.
wha.t
a 'bid' was~ The:1:1 another pupil asked why different persons
'bid' differeat
.
prices. Henry replied ''the cow they bought .

$tarted at 7$ dollars and was 'knocked down' at 120 dollars
1'or Bill'' After the explanation of c'knocked down'' he said
lhat the first . man . suggested
. .
p~ying . 7 5 dollars and OthA,rS.
.

went 9n increasing the price till Bill bid 120 dollar s.: After
. "that nobody came forward with a 11 igller price, so it was sold
to :Bill. Another pupil asked ''why nobody wanted to give
. .
more .than 120 dollars '?'' Henry described how before the
.auction al) the pro.s pective buyers bad gone through the re
-cords of the cow and found how much milk per year. it gave, .
"wha_t fc od it ate du1i:1g the year and other costs and .f ound
. .
-out what aniount spent on its price would b~ just covered by
':t1e .p rice of milk. So the highest limit was calculated and
.those who wanted an animal would stop biddiog when it
-. reached this limit; The whole houi; spent by those children

'in thinking these things out for themselves stimulated their

f aculiies. to a .greater extent than the . cramming of economic
1 bcories from . Adam Smit11 to Marshall . Wh<!n theories are .
ibas~d on experience, it leads gently on to the . next stage of
<:reation and originality .

.. '
 "

-
EDUCATION FOR .LlFE 1891
.
-The present system is not capable .of produciag original :
thinkers. Even Graduates of our universities have. not reached:
this third stage. It is becuase of this defect that we are stag~)
. .
nating. As we have already seen,. the instruction _we - were:
given was designed to make clerks of us and original mind
is no part 9f the equipment of a. clerk. This stage requires.
some initiative and a good deal of self-confidence. The part .
the teachers should play is to stand by, .watch and suggest.
No . vocational training or education can be complete;
unless it bas some relation to art. This part of our education
. .
bas been attended to by Poet Tagore. The emphasi$ placed.
011 folk songs, music and art u. ust form part of every village .
school. If such
. schools .cari be found .to function w ith. a voca- . :

tion of craft. as the base and. art as an aid~- however simple

the courses may. be, the result will be. an outturn of me,_
and worreJ. with a backbone of character and , self-respect
who will not purr round the feet of foreign .masters for a.
silken couch to lie on but who will hold the'.r h~ad erect, be..
independent, and be prepared to share the lowly_life of . the
general run of the people. Unless we bend all our might to.
.
produce such a stalwart nation, ..broad based on the sound:
culture of the masses, it will be futile to attempt to build a
superstructure. No nation can ever hope to take its plac~ in
the vanguard of the nations which has not got its roots in it>
own culture. w.e
cannot shine on borrowed feathers . .We
hlve to develop our own contribution to the world of litera~
'
ture, art and music.
Of course, as Gandhiji suggested_, college education must:
be made self-supportini. Au agri cultural college.which can~oJ:.
 . '
1'90- ECONOMY OF PERMANENCE

majntain
.
itself on the land allotted to it belies .the object for
which. it exists. Similarly,
.
all other professional and technieal
<iOIJeges should be made to pay for themselves. .

x
LIFE. IN GREGATION

Up to now we have discussed mainly life of an i:idiv"idual

in conn ection with his daily economic life. In this .cba pter
we shall deal with maa as a member of a society le~c!i;:ig a
coa1mOn life. We have been envisaging _human .
life. as .paTt .of
nature. Thus each m~n's life is biit a passing phase in the
existence
.
of the .universe. .. Jn .t his setting our dailv life also
~

bas to be rev iewfd. .

:.:
The individual life of man may be a short ra11ge one if .
. . . . ~
\.ve look at his life
.
as .an en'<:J in itself, but when !t dovetails
.
i
.j
-in the liyes of other.s there are. certain limitatio.n s which \

. . '..'
ari.se; !v1a~ cannot a.ct as he pleases. His movements have to I,
,

be restricted iu consideration of the well being of others.
Tl1erefore the personal habits of each individuaJ, health and
,1bode bave a bcari11g on the co11di:~ion.s prevailing in the
environment.
. .
With this end in . view we shall have to lay out general
li11es .o n whioh people should .live in groups. In India.
many
of our human abodes ate clusters of houses, hamlets and
huts which form our villages. The vill_age life, therefore; .has
10 be studied from this aspect of c0m~on welfare . .
 . .
LIFE IN GREGATION 191 .

To take one instance

.
man eats to replace the wastage
: - in
his t>;)dy, to supply energy and to provide vitality to protect
hi n against diseases, etc. Out of the food the body t::lkes
. .
\vhat it requires. ~nd returns to nature what is not assi.mila-
ted. The rejected element has to be so returned to nature as to
enable nature to assimilate it to itself.
.
and at the same
. time in
such a manner as not to injure other fellowmen. Thus there
are two aspects to every one of these questions and these \\'ill
be touched upon in the following paragraphs.
In
.
this chapter . therefore, we shall. be rapidly
. glanciJg
over the variJus points that should be attended to ii regard
to Sanitation, H~alth and ,Housing. And then we shill pass
. -0n to consider the inter-relationship of man i_1 villages which
should facilitate
.
the formation
..
Qf organized unit . working
s1noothly on the socio-political axis apart. from the economic
aspect . that _we have already considered; These vill~.ge units
will form the. bJsis of the self-governing
.
natinn. These will. be
. the training grounds
.
'in. which the villages. will .be prepared to
take up the responsibilities. in regard to public administration
. .

and se1f-government. llence it is important that we should lay

great emphasi~ on these. village organizatio11s.
Whea the village organization is properly . formed it
.
should develop a pecuJiar culture of its ov1n which will be a
<listi~1guishirig feature cf group, just as the personality is of .
the iadividual. Thc$e aspects of village life should bring us .
ne:.>.rer to permanence. Hum~.n.
. lives cover at best three score
.
years and ten I. but. these units based on village culture endure
for all tine. The quality of the culture we develop will dep-
e.Jd not only on ltuman nature but also on the point of appr-
. .
 192 ECONOMY
. . OF PERMANENCE
.. . ..
.
oach we have adopted all along in this volume. We hav.e beet11
approaching the -problems as an application of the. principles.
of non-violence. and truth to . our every .day lives. If this is.
done carefully and attended to in every detail conscientiously
we shall realise a society based on these principles.
. Sanitation
.
: Personal babfts of cleanliness. VjllagerS.
h.ad generally a .fairly high. sense of personal . c1eanlinesi
derived through traditi~n and habit. Unfortunately some or
. . . .,
these good habits are being given. up under a . false sense of
modernity. Therefore the value of al! good old pe.rsonal
habits of cleanliness should b~ ,re-e1nphasised and where:
necessary new good habits i11cluded.
.
Coll:ctive o; group cleanliness This is the weakest link.
in cur. village
.
life. Village
.
paths, roads, pubJic .
places and .
..
tank bunds have all become so many public latrines. Villag- ,

ers answer calls of nature .

anywhere indiscriminately, .poltu..:
. .
ting most . of. the pla~es on .wh.ich peop~e walk at.out and.
defiling even the available drinking water. . .
But the fault is-
not the villag~rs' .wholly. There are no organized latrines or
urinals
.
in a village ai:d houses are so crowded and.
,. small
that each house has no such facilities. Therefore .
the constru-
.
ction and proper maintaining of latrines, urinals and ba thing
places on common basis becomes very necessary

as also a
plan .to convert all rubbish and nightsoil, etc., into manure~
. Such a programme is necessary from the point of view of
sanitation
. and of village economy. .
The following
.
details of
group cleanl.iness are indicated : -
(a) Suitable and cheap drains, even if only open ones, . and
' their periodical clariing and disinfecting \vith indigenous
materials;
 ..

. . . . IN GREGA:rION . . ~
... LIFE . l93
l

(b) Use of drainage water fQr kitchen garde~s and fruit trees
and flushing latrines. .. . .: ;'
(c) Collection of ali rubb.ish and its conversion into manure.
(d) Keeping village wells, paths, tanks and open places clean
and uncontaminated. . .
(e) Tho .making and maint~jning of small . gardens for. the.
village . public, .children's playground and clean . little
open spaces.
.
Health : 1. Village dietetic~. Mal-nutrition is rampant
in the villages~ Villages must be ta~gbt the nutritive values of
different articles of food which are or can be produced in the
villages. Every family should understand the meaning of. a
-
balanced d.iet. and how ~est to- get it under village conditions ..
The Health Department should take up educative w9rk
in this line in all the centres seriously.
. The Government .
. . . .

should prohibit rice mills within the centres to begin with..

2. Drinking w~:te,.Supply of clean. drinking water is a
fundamental need. Many.
more ~ells are required in. the
villages. Old ones need to be repaired. In Some cases clean
and protected tanks will have to be made sources of drink..-
ing water. This is one of the items which should secure
..... ,
.. '
immediate priority.
. .

3. PtE'Ventive . measures.--Preve-ntive measures again~t

disease should be emphasised more than curative
.
measures
.
.
This means emphasis on balanced diet, personal and collec
tive sanitation and general healthy living with provision , for
recreations and. exercises. '
. .
'
..
13 . .
. . ,. , '
. .
. . . . . . . . .. . .
 .
194 ECONOMY OP P.ERMANE~CE ,.

; . .4.. 01dinai'Y at.Imtnt s and:. cheap rt:medies. . Common

village ailments and their prevention and cure should be .tall.
. ' '
ght . Natural
.
methods and cheap
. .
remedies
.
with suitable vifI ..
a ge herbs and drugs should be e.npbasised~ Every family
should be supplied with and taught the use of . cheap disin-
fectants~ The. Health Department :should investigate t:h e
.
value
Qf po.isqnous herbs, we.eds, etc., in this conncctio.n. . . "
. .
5. ltec;eatrons and exet'cises.-Provision -Of space' and
. equipment for open air r~creations and exercises should be
. ~ .
made in every village. Exercises, Z.ikeSuryanamaskat, asanas,
and collective village games should bt? encouraged and orga-
nized.
" . . . . . .

Housing : Better and healthier houses are an important

item; Village. houses are .insanita~y, . overcrowded. and built

"Without any
. .
common plan. This has to be altered under a
well~conceived plan which will be . drawn up by the villae .
..
panchayat in consultation with public . health .and public
. works autborities- available neat at. hand. The fo11owing
' .
p.oints
.

need emphasis : . .
. I. Relieving congestion of village houses by providing
extension sites for buildings under aplan.
. . . .
2~ Future house building to be on a co-operative basis.
3;, . Improvement of existing houses through. . educative
. ' . . . . ..
propaganda. .
.. .

4,. Provision . of some kind of . drainage for . individual

houses .
and f-0r .the streets. The first is obtained by digging
and maintaining soak pits which will . be periodically Gleaned
and changed. The second is done through simple and ch~ap .
draioage system., even if open, which will be periodically


.
-. .
. LIFE IN GREGATION

~le1ned and disinfected.

.
Normally dtairiage' watetshould.be
used for vegetable gardens an~ fruit trees. ,
S. Village houses being small and overcrowded, common
latrines,
.
bathing an.d washing places should . be pr.ovided~
6. _lmmediate_.
.
_levelling up .
.o_f all stagnant .
water pools and
pits ""'.hich become sources of malarial infection.
7. Laying out and improvement. of. village paths . .
and
roads on planned basis. .. ..

8. Model houses .
suited
.
to village
.
conditions should be
'

made and exhi\>ited by Public Health and Public Works

Departments. .. ,
9. In. select places wMre old villages .cannot be improVcd
in sanitation and health cond.itions, an atte~pt s.hold be.
' ' . . ..
made- in transplanting
.
the village progressively .
to . a new-.
site
n.earby with free gift of land and small building iibsidies on. ,
a. co-operative basis.. . . .
IO. In all new ~nterprises and schemes of. hou~e building
care should.
be taken
.
to do.
away with the present segregation
'

-Of the Hari]an livin:g quarters from the rest of the village. .
Village Organization : Village organi.zati.on can.be
undertaken under .th~ee institutions.-:( 1 ) A village panchayat
~ ' ' . . .

for village administrati9n on the basis of Village Self-Govern-

ment, { 2 ) Multipurpose Co-operative Society for the eco-
nomic organuation of the village and ( 3 ) a Gram S~va :
Sangha
.
to .mobilise non-official su,pport and initiative
.
to back .
up the work of the whole scheme of Rural Development <>n
the basis voluntary effort '
l T"iie uillage p~ncl1ayat. There will havet& be a villa-
ge panchayat for ea-ch vill~ge or a group:of :vitta~ tlleeted
 . .. ' .

Qq ~4\llt :fr~n~~i.se, _lh_

e. villages... bein.g <livided .. i~t<) wa,rc,ls f~
oonvenient sections .fo.r. {he,, purpose.. .. . . .. '
. .. . The panchayat will have direct responsibility .in regard to
all village services,. such as, ~village roads, -village watersupply;~
~illage. educati'ori, village .
. dispensari
.
~ ~ ' village .
. .
sanitation,
administratien of justice within certai'a limits, village, light..;:
. . .. .
mg; . .
etc. These .services will have to be co:qipulsorily
.. provided.
for in every village. lf the revenue raised and allotted is not
suffi~i~nl to pro~ide.for those se~~i~es the . deficit should be
A ' ' '

l)or.ue by Gove.rnment.
.
. ,_ .There 'wiil be_ another set of . ~ervices like ~ libraries,
vill~ge' hall~, . exhibitions, etc., wbi~h should be paid f~r partly
' : ' . ' I

by. .1oca:1
. .
contributions and partly by Government.
. . . should
, . .There .
a
-be panchayat union .
for all the panchayats
in 't he selected a reas. The du_ty of such a u nion will be to
link. up the various
.. . . . . . essential services
. under the village pan-3
_chayats.
.
1he
.. .
union will. thus . guide, supervise and cc-ordina:e
the a~.tivities
. . . of village panchaya~ . . . and . audit their accounts.:
The. uriion will f u_ rther undertake .
basic or postbasic ~ edu-
cation and maintain . .
bigget hospitals and maternity homes..
An Assistant Engineer attached to the union will prepate
' .
. estimat~s and .execute all work.
. . The unio~ o f. panchayats wiil. consist of ., representatives
. . . . . . . . . ' .
from :thc various panchayats in the centre. It will get.. contri-.
butions from the. panqhayats and g. r ants froni the. Go~ern-
., . ' ' . . .
. inent. ,,,
, . . . ... .,
. .
. N~ B. .The village panchciy~ts should be soniething more .~
~an ~~r~---ad~
....
i i:ti~t_r ativ~ . a ~ncies: .
They. sb..ouid
,
h~lP._
.
, in_ . :~ rain~ '~
-"'
. ,
.,
.
 . .
~.. .~~<L.IFB: lN GREGATION. . . :: 1
197
~

. .
ing villagers .generaJly in
.
civic.
.
responsibility,.
. . ..
'
giving
..
every
. . ..

~dult knowledge of the .right$ arid duties of v.i llage citizenship.

- ' '1

They sl1ould also take up the tasks of social refo~ms like the
. , -~ . .
abolition of common vices such as gambling; etc., abolition
of superstitions
. '
and social. evils, like unto.uch..ibilitr,-
. .
etc. .. ...
Special organized
. efforts will have to . made for .the be
uplift and. assimilation .in the body politic of s~ctions
soci<!ties of like. Harijans and Adi..vasis who have .. been
victims of social injustice. The unfort~nate con. .
dition
, ..
of
women is a more ser.ious problem wh.ich cannot .
be tackled .

singly by a.n insititutioa

.
or a department, It is. a !lla~er of
awakening social conscience and overcoming old prejudices.
Special attention will h~ve to be paid in this directi~n. A
few women workers having practical approach and .some
.knowled.g~ of home science ( cooking . medicines, weaving;
tail<iring, etc. . ) may p~ove .U$eful for t~is wqrk.
2. Multi~pu,pose Ca;-operative Socteti~s :: J~st as the
paucbayat is the instrument of political an4 admi~s~ative
organization,- the Multi-purpose .
Co-oper~tive ~oc. .
iety. is the
instru 11ent for the economic organization of . the village. The
Mul'l:i purpose Co-operative Society will .d eal with the folio..

w1ng 1ten1s ~- .. ....

. . . . ' . '

1. The obtaining_ and storage .of the food produce :of th.e .
village. . .
.. .. ~
2. The proces~ing of food articles. .
. 3. The balanced distribution of I~~al . produ.cts a~d ..9f
such itnp~rts ~s a~ necessa~y.. . .: . . :.' .: ....~
4. The stocking and supply of the .in~truments
.
for agl"i~
.
ultu r.al o:per~1iQ~, vill~ge Jndustries, .et~ ., ..- , . "' ~ ... .......:
 jga . . ECONOMY OF .PERMANENCE

. . .
:... 5. 'f.he
..
stock:i~g .. and supply ~f r~w .
materials
.
like cotton~
.
. . . -
wood,. metal,
. .
etc._, for local indu~tries.
.

(). The marketing of finished products'.

7. Arranging for lhe exchange of surplus .village produce
for necessary rrtaterials and goods from outside.
_8 . The orga~ization of import1nt village industries as.
inter-related co operative uni ts, se that, as far as possif:il~
profits and benefits are
.. .
equitably shared by the village comm~ .
unity . as a whole. Care sbould also be taken to see that the.
people as a . whole are gainfully employed so that the . avail
a~le la~our ( human resources ) is fully utilized. The obj~ct
is that there should be no unempioyinent . or under-employ!.
ment.
9. Upto-date tech_nicians and those with artistic training .
should be mad~ available to village ar.tisans to help and imp-
rove their work. The cost of such inst~uction and supervision.
should be borl!~ by the Government. .
.
10. There should be. one fully trained Co9pcrat-ive
.
lnS P.-
,
ector for each area. . .
, ll. Furnishing avail"able informationand guidance to the.
villages an9 villagers.
3. Gtam Seva Sang has. TJ;le question may: be raised~
where is the-place for a Gram Seva Sangha, where a : panch-.
ayat an~ a Multipurpose Co-operative Society are together-
organizing village.
life. It should not be forgotten that . th~-
village panchayat and the Muitipurpose. Co~operative Society .
will be run only by a few elected people whereas all the adu :
Its who have el.ected them will have only a waiting arid wat- .
ching program.a:e unlc&s .ibey:are also ha~ne6sed~ to consiructiv~ ;'
,

LIFE ~N GRJ!.OATIOl'J ..
.199

work under. the vari~us h~adings

.
of. village reconstructio~.
. .
The'
O.i,-am
.
..Seva Sanghas wilJ
.
be. non-official voluntary
. .
bodies. :

which would organize. all such wor:k as will help .the panch- .

ayat and the Multi-purpose Co.-operative Society to fulfil their

. . . . .
task. Rural development
. . officers . and village development
officers. ~nd others.
.
should help .
in organizing, .strengthening
.

and utilizing
.
the Gram Seva Sangb~s which shold . be auto- .

nomo~s ~odies with their own .co~stitution, .rules and funds .
. Government may give grants to these Gr~m Seva. Sanghas,, bui
without fettering .their autonomy. The Gram Seva Sa:tJ.g}\as
.
wi' l
organize bodies of voluntary Worke~$ for village :~anitation,
. . .

for the regulation of village me-::tings ad .festivals, (Qr the

protection of life and pr.op.erty .in the villages and.
for ~arious.
services on such occasions as the prevalence: of .
epidcmiQS- . or ~

floods or similar emergel'\cies., In fact for every fu,~l-tim~ paid

Worker under Government, Panchayat or Multipurp~se Society
there will have to qe humetous . .
non~official
.
yo,luntary s~ryants
of the village from the village
. .
traine~ for such
. .
wor"
. .
by the

Gram Seva Sanghas. . .
. . . ~ . . . . .
NoTE. We have dealt with Village Panchayats,. Multi-
. . . .
purpose C<roperative Societies and Gram Seva Sangbas as the
three instruments of .
village
.
.organization.
. . .
But the .
ltiniate
.

aim of village organization is village .

self-sufficiency..
in ,food.
and .clothing and
. other major ..
need~ .of village life .as also . .
self-
reliance and. self-dependence. .
as far as . possibl~
. .
as the .
.fouJJ-
dation of village. life and ail
.
this ..to be. achieved
.
o,i dent_ocra..
"

tic and peaceful lines. . . , ..

Yillage Culture ; Village ~~lt'1~~ i~ a ui~ph .neglept~d
it~m. Neithe~ Village Self-Go~~rn~e~i ~n9,~ ,. .
Yilla$e:~~lf:~\lffi-
. . .:. . ,.. . .. . . ..
,
 . .
i oo
" ' J ,. ~ :

.~iency ~ill . be real .or perma~c~t ~ithout. ihe Solid inftue~~e

of village culture. Indfa bas evolved through the centuries a
village culture which has fairly stood the test of time. it
must . be - rediscovered, valued and developed. The village
woman particularly indicates the iaheritan.c e of this . culture
a.dding beauty ;and ~trengtb to ~illage life. It has o'ftcn been
_said that a yillage grand-mother can put a university graduate
to sh~l'.ne with her practical wisdom and onderstanding of life
a nd its P.i'oblems. The following suggestions are made to nou-
.rish village culture ::
. . I .....Study of~village traditions and habits, village instituti-
.
ons and village history~
2. Study of folk
.
songs,
.
folk tales and .folk art;
. . 3. Recovery and improvement of artistic handicrafts and
lillage art. in general.. .
'. .
4 . . Organization of bhajans,- kirthans , dramatics, etc., for
,
v.illa ge ed ucation. ,
' 5~ 0i'ganizc.1ion of village f estivals and impolt1nt religious
occasions
. .
t<? st.engt.'1en the unity of vi l./age life wit.'1 out distinc;.
tion of caste and community~people belongi 1g .to different
communities shouJd be encouraged to t..tke part in each ether's
fe~tivals . and religio~s occasions in a . spiris .of common
happiness. . :
..6. Organization orvillage 11traries, village mus~ums and
village study circles.
. ' . ' ,\

7~ Provision for he~l thy and open air recreations like

,games, folk dances, excursions, ~tc. ..

. NoTE:--The
. reorganization of village culture should.
be .
creative and should ai'lll: at giving the village a .high sense
or :t he values that .. should govern his life

as an. individual and
' >

as"lhe unit >fa new society. . "

 ..
.' . . ..
.. . .. \
.- .
'

.. .. ..

XI . .
. A PILOT PLAN
. . : .

Hitherto. we
. have
. .
studied
.
the various .aspects of. ~ife which
should be moulded so to bring about an /ec<;>nomy or perma-
nence. We have indicated
.
the lines on .which
..
the country .
has
to be organized. . . .
To enable us to .achieve .
this end it is necessary to have
.a laboratory unit, as it were,_and which will also provide a

training ground for workers. Therefore a village or a group
<>f village~may .be tak~n as the unit and work on all fronts
may be organized in the selected area or region on the lines
hitherto considered. For this work associations inay be formed
in such a way .that the member of each association .
will func-
ti on as though rep~blics managing
. they were independent
, . .

their affairs themselves

.
in the various
. spheres of village.
life.
These may be termed. 'Lok Seva .
Sanghs' working .
ori .a com.

1non plan. . . . .

4
SuQb Sanghs, when
. .
in
. .
full
.
swiog, .will form the
.
necessary
Opposition'
. .
to th~ governments.
ia as much .as they wo11Id . .

indicate to the government the lines on which their adminis..

' , .
tration may .
move. ..
-In a competitive economy the executive part of. govern..
ment is checked. and dir:ected by . the opposition; but in an
economy~
. .
as contemplated
. . ..
by us, based on non-violence and
. . ,

truth, there can be no. such opposition. Our effort should be

to attract govern1nent attention to our method of work arid
., .
. '
..
' .. . . .. . : . ,~. 201 ~~ - -
'
..

202 ECONOMY OF PERMANENCE

..

make them imitate our schemes in the measures they under-

~- ... .: .,
take. This organizi:ltion, in the first instance, will be formed
in various centres. These will ultimately join together or be
united to form the Lok. Sevak . Sangh,
.
This will be a formi-
dable
.
force and the government cannot ignore it. Th'e policy .. . . >

. of. the.
Sangh will therefore
.
have considerable
.
wei.ght
'
in the
' councils of the nation.
,

. The following is a suggested organization for the Sangh ...

:.:_
. .
. .
. . The Cabinet ; The. Lok .
Se.
.
v ak Sangh will be composed.
~f a.cabinet o_f abqut 9 ~~mbers inyluding the Presi_d ent and
.a Secretary. A_p art fro1n the Pres.i~ent and the Secr~tary, the .
other membe.rs .
will hold por.tfolios for various .departments
,

-~i,nd they will be the Sanohalaks of tho~e departments. The

departments wil.I be : 1. Health, 2. Education, 3. The Econo!"'
m
.
ic Sector, 4. The Political Sector,
.
:5. Social Sector, 6.
Publications. ~
. Sancbalak's Council : The policy in regard to these .
departments will be settled by the Sanchalaks in Council in.
, ,
. .
the Cabinet.
.
The Executing part .
.of it will be carried.
.
out by
the ~anchalaks .
.in their own . departments with a council of.
their own. The SanchaJak's Council will be com.posed . .
of
.
technicial_ls of the different _lines. of activity in their own.
,

department.. .
, . .
For instance. the He/th
" . . Counci.I . will....
be. made :UP .
of a.
M:ant~i in charge o( Dieteti'?s, "another in charge .of c~d and
. . ". . .. ~ .
General Welfare, and a thir~ in c~~rge 9f Sa~ita.tion and. S.?'
. . . . . . . " -.
on. Similarly, each such department will have its own
Council of Mantries over which:tlle Sanchalaks will preside. ..
'
 A PILOT PLAN 20!; .

. .. .- ..

Committee of Man.tries : These Councils of Mant)..

ries will . be. supported by
.
Technical Committees composed of
. '
..
provincial or r.egional. representatiVes. For . example tl1e
Dietetic work Gommittee will be composed of th"! Mantri at
the centre in charg., of dietetics and dieteticiaos from all oveF
the country belonging to provincial or regional. organiz1tions.
of the L')k Sevak Sangh .
~ The Technical Com~iitce will,.
. .. .
therefore, be able to exchange notes on the experience in their
own lines from all over the cou'ntry .
Similar organizations will function in different regions.
Thus, .i:be country should be cove~ed with organizations of
' . . -
this type .which will b~ wor k.ing in .,a~ organic unity. . . .
Parliament . of Sanchalaks
. . : The Central
~

. . Li::>k ,
Sevak .Sangh Cabinet will, .from time to .ti~e,. call . a Parlia-
ment. of Sanchalaks
. . from all the
. ..sister
. Provincial
.. ... or-
Regional Lok Sevak S.a nghs and discuss questions . arising
out of policy. .
.
In the same way there will be an Assembly of Techni..;..
cia11s. to exchaJ'.!ge their experi~nces and knowledge gained ia:
their line
Similar Councils of Mantries and Technical Comittees.
'"
will function under each of .t he departments.
. Education : Education, for iostance, will have pie~
basic and basic education imp~rted by various Talimi Sanghs}:
and another section will t ake up Hindustani Prachar and
still another . will have Vidy.apiths for postbasic training.
which will . impart professional and occupational education;
0 n the UniverSity level; as .well as carry on research"' Suck.

Vidyapiths will be ~sp_onsible for. pr.ovidmg. recruits and


:.204
. . . EOONOMY:QF. PERMAN.ENCE
"
..training them to the required . level, . .for absorpti()n .in the
-various phases of the Constructive Programm~. The Vidyapiths
.themselves will be fed by the Talimi Sanghs. ..
The Economic '.. Sector . : The Economic~ Sector will
liave under it the departments of Agricultu :e, Oram Udyog
.
...and Murti~Purpose Societies along with political and propa-
_ganda sections.
Agricultu,;e will .deal with all matters co.nnected with the
-0ccupationaI as well the self-suifici~ncy aspects to this vital-
. .
.i1:1dustry. The former . will be mostly co~cerned .
with .
prod-
-uction for exchange,
. such as money crops. The . latter will
fea.t ure produ<:tion for use and will include growing of vege..
table~ and fruits in garden lands.
. .
. . A.nimJI Husband.y will carry on the work of Cattle Bre~
. .
-Oing, Sh~ep Breeding, Goat . Rearing .
ap;d
.
other allied . ind-
..ustries
.
such.
as Seri-Culture and Plsci-culture. In this section
.
will also.
be included Diiry .
Production. and. ~Distribution~
.
This .will again have a byeproduct section which will be
-closely connected with the Primary Needs sulrsection. of the
Economic Sector ~nd deal in horn articles, leather tanning,
.making of guts, glue etc. . . .
Gram .Udyog .. ..,ill, in the first instance, deal with food
processing industries in close co-operation with Agriculture
Depa.~tment. Another section of it will deal .with consumer
.goods including primaty .needs. such as clothing, so~p . making,
. . . .

?aper making; po~tery, tannery etc. .. .... ..'.

Tbe Multi~purpose Societies wi.11 . . form the co-~rdin~ting ",
link betw~en the producers and the consumers and perform '
also the functions of distributors. , They ..will, obtain raw
 ;

.. '
A PJLOT PLAN
. . . ... . 2.os..
..

JDateriaJs. and; d.01_, them.out to th~ producers cotleci the fini

shed articl~~an.d. market. them . As far. as practicable tliey- .
will render functional aids rather than.give financial help. .
The.PoliticalSection will be. the connecti~g link between
. .
the economio
.
activities of
.
the people and the Government~
.
The Secretary. in charge of this- section will be the liaiso~
officer between. the people and the .
Government. He will. conoo:
tact t~e- Provincial .and Central Governments, whenever nece
ssary, to shape the cotitro1 of Key Industries in the interests:
of the people's
. .
activities
.
and assure the proper. functioning
of controlled National Services
..
..
:

The other sec~ion of this department will be for propag.:

anda which will disseminate such. information as is gathered,
. . . : ~~ .. .
by the .Reseal'oh. .
Department
..
of the Vidyapith
.. ~nd
.
other:
_facts
. .
.and figures which.
may be of use to .
the people J and'
.

work in close touch with the Publication Sector. " '

. . .
,.
Political .. Sector :. The Political
. ..
. Sector
.. will have a.
. . .

department in charge of the organization

..
of Village panch;..
. .
ayats and othe~ political bodies and a second section wil~
be detailed out with the.duty of keeping in touch with Prc>--
vincial and Central Governments'
..
activities and will function
in close co-operation with the liaison officer of t'1e Economy
Sector. .
, .

Social Sector : The Social Sector will have

. .
depart~,
- .
ments for l. Communal Unity, 2. Uplift of Harijans and_.
Backward Tribes, :J. Organizing. Kisan . .Labour and other.:
workers,
..
4. TraiJting of Youths and Voluntee~s
. . . . Bodi~s in
national work, S. Removing of the Disabiliti~s ~f Wome~.
 . ECONOM\1 OF ~PERMANENCE

. .

Publication The Publication

.
:Oepartment Will take up
. . .

publications of .books which will be of permanent use~ both

as t~xt books .
and as reference books,
.
and will also. dcai ~with
'

~he. iss\le of periodicals, which will keep the va.rio'us . .aci.ivi..

ties .in touch' .with
.
one another
.
and with .the rest of th~ world.
n this. dep~rtment the Navajivan Trust. tnay .
play an i np9r
t.a~t role and. the pr,esent journal 'Harijan' may.
become tran.. .
sformed into .the 'Lok Sevak' and carry . on the message of
Gandhiji to all the Constructive Workers.
.
Conclusion : This may appear an elaborate icheme.
But in practice it. should be simple. of execution. The various
Lok Sevak Sanghs will limit theit activities t o a group of 1 S
.
or 20 villages with a population of 25 to 30 thousand peer'
ple and concentrate in their own sphere''thevarlo:us activities
adumbrated ab0ve. the experience gainedin so running these
. .
institutions in full co~operation with the people will be not
. \ .
only an education hi public affairs to the }Jeople, but will

also form a ~ode! to work upon for the Govemment and

. .
prepare the way to realise ~a full . mea$ure the fruits of Swa-
raj of the proper typ.e for the masses~ .
PLEDGE FOR MEMBERS OF TH~ LOK SEVAK SANGH
1. H1ving read the Constitution arid Rules of the Lok
Sevak Sangh, I offer to be a Member thereof, .and ood hel
ping, pro.i:iise to devote the best part .of my . energy. a nd
. talent~ to the . furtheran~ . of its ol,ject which
.
is the ~elief and.
.
.service of the poor inthe villages. .,
2. To the be&t .o f my ability I shall try to live up to the
ideals of thc Sangh~
 . .

A PILOT PLAN 207 ..

.. .3. In the discharge

. of my duties: I shall seek the assis-
tance and co-operation of all those who m.ay be willing to
give them, irrespective of differences.in politics~
4. I will not take part in politics unless it. be as directed
.. . .

or. . required. by .the Lok

. .Sevak Sangh
.
. If ordered to seek
election to any of the Legislatures, I will live on such am
ount as is allowed
. .
by the
.
Lok Sevak Sangh_ ~o ..its worker$
and turn in the excess, if any, to the Lok Sevak Sangh.
< ,
' .
5. I will. always wear only Khadi, made from .
self.spun
-yarn. or certified by the .All India Spinners' Association and
shall prefer the .
use of village. .manufactures
..
, .
to any other.. I
shall.
.
abstain from
.
all
.
al .
cobolic
..
drinks.
.
I abj-qre
.. .
untoucha
.
....
bility in any shape or form in my own person and in my
family, I believe in inter-communal unity. I. ~espect and bold
in regard all religions. I subscribe to the equality of oppor-
tunity and status
.
l>eing extended to all irrespective
,
of race,
-
creed or sex. ,~ Sigriatui'e
Such organized Lok Sevak Sanghs will be studded all
over the country leavening the. people in public affairs. They

will form the training ground for statesmen who will have
to shoulder the larger burdens in the national arena.
. '

Until t.he country is prepared to take up this . type of

organization and whole heartedly take to a society based on
non-violence and truth there can be no hope of any perma-
nence .in our economic, social or political life. The present.
type of organization based on competition and central~ed
. .

iJidustries lands us pe:riodicalJy into terrific upheavals. These.

have to be avoided if nations are to progress steadily towards
 208. ECONOMY OF PERMANENCE

a set goal, which .

w111 bring peace amongst nationsand pros-;.
.
perity to the citize11. . .. . . : ..
Only in .such. a_ state can we. expect fair play for the4.
~eak, justice to the .
common
. .
man, where might
.
will not
.
bd. . ;

right and where there will bf: no premium on .deceit and ex.::~
ploitation.
.
Such: a society will not have .
the glamour .
of ill',".
gotten gains; neither will .there be the attraction . of racket:. ...

carriers, but it will. have a steady upway trend. towards a;;4

. . . . i
stable culture bringing man out from the jungle bestowing on:~
him the dignity of . a human 'being. This calls . .
for a consi-l
. "4
derablc amount of self-disciplin~ and selfcontrol. We hopc'\1
these will be forthcoming in the required measure and thus.~i
enable us to see the advent of the ~concmy of p~1manen~e. . 1
. ,
. ~
 ... .

The world is weary of hate. , .We see .the

fatigue overcoming the Western nations. We ~

aee that th~s song of hate baa not benefited

humanity. Let it be the privilege of India
to turn a new leaf and set a lesson to the
world

.

/