NCERT Textbook: Mahatma Gandhi And Self Sufficiency (Introduction to Indian Art) | Old & New NCERTs for IAS Preparation (Must Read) - UPSC PDF Download

 Page 1


3
MAHATMA GANDHI AND
SELF-SUFFICIENCY
A cause is often greater than the man. Certainly the spinning
wheel is greater than myself; with it, in my opinion, is mixed up
the well-being of the whole mass of Indian humanity.
– M. K. GANDHI
THE first article of Gandhiji’s faith, as he himself has
said, was non-violence. Therefore he could not accept a
society that produced violence. True civilisation, he said,
was to be found where industries had not entered and
cast their influence. India, before it felt the impact of
industries through the British rule, represented this
true civilisation.
Mahatma Gandhi’s ideas about self-sufficiency and
handicrafts were directly related to his views on
industries and industrial society. Gandhiji believed that
industrial societies were based on an endless production
of commodities. This produced greed and resulted in
competition. The end result of this
was violence and war.
What I object to is the craze for machinery
as such. The craze is for what they call
labour-saving machinery. Men go on
‘saving labour’, till thousands are without
work and thrown on the streets to die of
starvation. I want to save time and labour,
not for a fraction of mankind, but for all; I
want the concentration of wealth, not in
the hands of a few, but in the hands of all.
– M. K. GANDHI
Young India, 13 November 1924
Page 2


3
MAHATMA GANDHI AND
SELF-SUFFICIENCY
A cause is often greater than the man. Certainly the spinning
wheel is greater than myself; with it, in my opinion, is mixed up
the well-being of the whole mass of Indian humanity.
– M. K. GANDHI
THE first article of Gandhiji’s faith, as he himself has
said, was non-violence. Therefore he could not accept a
society that produced violence. True civilisation, he said,
was to be found where industries had not entered and
cast their influence. India, before it felt the impact of
industries through the British rule, represented this
true civilisation.
Mahatma Gandhi’s ideas about self-sufficiency and
handicrafts were directly related to his views on
industries and industrial society. Gandhiji believed that
industrial societies were based on an endless production
of commodities. This produced greed and resulted in
competition. The end result of this
was violence and war.
What I object to is the craze for machinery
as such. The craze is for what they call
labour-saving machinery. Men go on
‘saving labour’, till thousands are without
work and thrown on the streets to die of
starvation. I want to save time and labour,
not for a fraction of mankind, but for all; I
want the concentration of wealth, not in
the hands of a few, but in the hands of all.
– M. K. GANDHI
Young India, 13 November 1924
CRAFT TRADITIONS OF INDIA: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE 32
Even in the twentieth century, Gandhiji argued, it
was possible to find large areas in India that were
untouched by industries. The future of India and of its
civilisation lay in these villages which were governed
by simple norms of reciprocity and self-sufficiency.
Gandhiji wanted to revive these villages, their craft
economy and their practices and make them represent
a system that was completely different from Western
societies based on industry. His ideas about handicrafts
were part of this vision.
THE MEANING OF SWARAJ
Gandhiji described this vision in many of his writings,
most notably in Hind Swaraj, a treatise written in 1909
while he was aboard a ship, coming back from Britain.
He wrote about the idea of a self-contained village
republic inhabited by individuals whose lives were self-
regulated. In Gandhiji’s philosophy, swaraj for the nation
did not mean merely political independence from British
rule. Swaraj, for him, was something more substantive,
involving the freedom of individuals to regulate their
own lives without harming one
another. His swaraj was one where
every individual was his or her own
ruler, with the capacity to control
and regulate his or her own life. This
would remove inequalities of power
and status in society and enable
proper reciprocity.
Gandhiji certainly did not want
British rule to be replaced by another
form of rule where Western
institutions of governance and civil
society would be run by Indians
instead of white men. That would
be “English rule without the
Englishman’’. He wrote that such a
process “would make India English.
And when it becomes English, it
will be called not Hindustan, but
Page 3


3
MAHATMA GANDHI AND
SELF-SUFFICIENCY
A cause is often greater than the man. Certainly the spinning
wheel is greater than myself; with it, in my opinion, is mixed up
the well-being of the whole mass of Indian humanity.
– M. K. GANDHI
THE first article of Gandhiji’s faith, as he himself has
said, was non-violence. Therefore he could not accept a
society that produced violence. True civilisation, he said,
was to be found where industries had not entered and
cast their influence. India, before it felt the impact of
industries through the British rule, represented this
true civilisation.
Mahatma Gandhi’s ideas about self-sufficiency and
handicrafts were directly related to his views on
industries and industrial society. Gandhiji believed that
industrial societies were based on an endless production
of commodities. This produced greed and resulted in
competition. The end result of this
was violence and war.
What I object to is the craze for machinery
as such. The craze is for what they call
labour-saving machinery. Men go on
‘saving labour’, till thousands are without
work and thrown on the streets to die of
starvation. I want to save time and labour,
not for a fraction of mankind, but for all; I
want the concentration of wealth, not in
the hands of a few, but in the hands of all.
– M. K. GANDHI
Young India, 13 November 1924
CRAFT TRADITIONS OF INDIA: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE 32
Even in the twentieth century, Gandhiji argued, it
was possible to find large areas in India that were
untouched by industries. The future of India and of its
civilisation lay in these villages which were governed
by simple norms of reciprocity and self-sufficiency.
Gandhiji wanted to revive these villages, their craft
economy and their practices and make them represent
a system that was completely different from Western
societies based on industry. His ideas about handicrafts
were part of this vision.
THE MEANING OF SWARAJ
Gandhiji described this vision in many of his writings,
most notably in Hind Swaraj, a treatise written in 1909
while he was aboard a ship, coming back from Britain.
He wrote about the idea of a self-contained village
republic inhabited by individuals whose lives were self-
regulated. In Gandhiji’s philosophy, swaraj for the nation
did not mean merely political independence from British
rule. Swaraj, for him, was something more substantive,
involving the freedom of individuals to regulate their
own lives without harming one
another. His swaraj was one where
every individual was his or her own
ruler, with the capacity to control
and regulate his or her own life. This
would remove inequalities of power
and status in society and enable
proper reciprocity.
Gandhiji certainly did not want
British rule to be replaced by another
form of rule where Western
institutions of governance and civil
society would be run by Indians
instead of white men. That would
be “English rule without the
Englishman’’. He wrote that such a
process “would make India English.
And when it becomes English, it
will be called not Hindustan, but
 33
MAHATMA GANDHI AND SELF-SUFFICIENCY
Englistan. This is not the swaraj I want”. Swaraj, from
Gandhiji’s perspective, would have to be located not
only outside the domain of British political control, but
also beyond the influence of Western civilisation.
SPINNING THE IDEA OF SELF-SUFFICIENCY
However, for all this to happen, Indians would have to
take care to revive and preserve all the village arts and
crafts. Among the crafts, the one on which Gandhiji
put the greatest emphasis was spinning and weaving.
He wrote, “What is the kind of service that the teeming
millions of India most need at the present time, that
can be easily understood and appreciated by all, that is
easy to perform and will, at the same time enable the
crores of our semi-starved countrymen to live? And the
reply came—that it is the universalisation of khadi or
the spinning-wheel that can fulfil these conditions.’’
Spinning, an integral aspect of Indian handicrafts, had
to be made an essential part of the lives of the common
people. This would make the common people self-
sufficient and thus enable them to survive. The poor of
India, if they were to prosper, needed a subsidiary source
of occupation and livelihood. They could not remain
solely dependent on agriculture. Gandhiji suggested that
hand-spinning and, to a lesser extent, hand-weaving
could become the subsidiary source. He commented,
“This industry flourished in India a hundred and fifty
years ago and at that time we were not as miserably
poor as we are today.’’
In this way, the villages in which they lived would be
less dependent on mills and machinery. For Gandhiji
this was very important since machines were an
instrument of industrial societies. They produced in
massive quantities. Thus the spread of khadi would
challenge the influence of mills and machines and the
import of cotton to India from England, and would enable
the people of India to free themselves non-violently from
the negative influences of industries and the violence
they inevitably produced.
Page 4


3
MAHATMA GANDHI AND
SELF-SUFFICIENCY
A cause is often greater than the man. Certainly the spinning
wheel is greater than myself; with it, in my opinion, is mixed up
the well-being of the whole mass of Indian humanity.
– M. K. GANDHI
THE first article of Gandhiji’s faith, as he himself has
said, was non-violence. Therefore he could not accept a
society that produced violence. True civilisation, he said,
was to be found where industries had not entered and
cast their influence. India, before it felt the impact of
industries through the British rule, represented this
true civilisation.
Mahatma Gandhi’s ideas about self-sufficiency and
handicrafts were directly related to his views on
industries and industrial society. Gandhiji believed that
industrial societies were based on an endless production
of commodities. This produced greed and resulted in
competition. The end result of this
was violence and war.
What I object to is the craze for machinery
as such. The craze is for what they call
labour-saving machinery. Men go on
‘saving labour’, till thousands are without
work and thrown on the streets to die of
starvation. I want to save time and labour,
not for a fraction of mankind, but for all; I
want the concentration of wealth, not in
the hands of a few, but in the hands of all.
– M. K. GANDHI
Young India, 13 November 1924
CRAFT TRADITIONS OF INDIA: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE 32
Even in the twentieth century, Gandhiji argued, it
was possible to find large areas in India that were
untouched by industries. The future of India and of its
civilisation lay in these villages which were governed
by simple norms of reciprocity and self-sufficiency.
Gandhiji wanted to revive these villages, their craft
economy and their practices and make them represent
a system that was completely different from Western
societies based on industry. His ideas about handicrafts
were part of this vision.
THE MEANING OF SWARAJ
Gandhiji described this vision in many of his writings,
most notably in Hind Swaraj, a treatise written in 1909
while he was aboard a ship, coming back from Britain.
He wrote about the idea of a self-contained village
republic inhabited by individuals whose lives were self-
regulated. In Gandhiji’s philosophy, swaraj for the nation
did not mean merely political independence from British
rule. Swaraj, for him, was something more substantive,
involving the freedom of individuals to regulate their
own lives without harming one
another. His swaraj was one where
every individual was his or her own
ruler, with the capacity to control
and regulate his or her own life. This
would remove inequalities of power
and status in society and enable
proper reciprocity.
Gandhiji certainly did not want
British rule to be replaced by another
form of rule where Western
institutions of governance and civil
society would be run by Indians
instead of white men. That would
be “English rule without the
Englishman’’. He wrote that such a
process “would make India English.
And when it becomes English, it
will be called not Hindustan, but
 33
MAHATMA GANDHI AND SELF-SUFFICIENCY
Englistan. This is not the swaraj I want”. Swaraj, from
Gandhiji’s perspective, would have to be located not
only outside the domain of British political control, but
also beyond the influence of Western civilisation.
SPINNING THE IDEA OF SELF-SUFFICIENCY
However, for all this to happen, Indians would have to
take care to revive and preserve all the village arts and
crafts. Among the crafts, the one on which Gandhiji
put the greatest emphasis was spinning and weaving.
He wrote, “What is the kind of service that the teeming
millions of India most need at the present time, that
can be easily understood and appreciated by all, that is
easy to perform and will, at the same time enable the
crores of our semi-starved countrymen to live? And the
reply came—that it is the universalisation of khadi or
the spinning-wheel that can fulfil these conditions.’’
Spinning, an integral aspect of Indian handicrafts, had
to be made an essential part of the lives of the common
people. This would make the common people self-
sufficient and thus enable them to survive. The poor of
India, if they were to prosper, needed a subsidiary source
of occupation and livelihood. They could not remain
solely dependent on agriculture. Gandhiji suggested that
hand-spinning and, to a lesser extent, hand-weaving
could become the subsidiary source. He commented,
“This industry flourished in India a hundred and fifty
years ago and at that time we were not as miserably
poor as we are today.’’
In this way, the villages in which they lived would be
less dependent on mills and machinery. For Gandhiji
this was very important since machines were an
instrument of industrial societies. They produced in
massive quantities. Thus the spread of khadi would
challenge the influence of mills and machines and the
import of cotton to India from England, and would enable
the people of India to free themselves non-violently from
the negative influences of industries and the violence
they inevitably produced.
CRAFT TRADITIONS OF INDIA: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE 34
Gandhiji was doing a number of things at the same
time. He was reviving a handicraft which had been a
vital component of village life. Through the revival of
spinning and weaving, people would be able to live better
since they would have another source of livelihood.
Individuals and villages would become more self-
sufficient. At the same time, the even bigger purpose of
fighting the bad effects of industrialism would also
be met.
In 1921, during a tour of South India, Gandhiji shaved his head and began wearing
a khadi dhoti, rather than mill-made cloth imported from abroad, in order to identify
with the poor. His new appearance also came to symbolise asceticism and
abstinence—qualities he celebrated in opposition to the consumerist culture of
the modern world. Gandhiji encouraged other nationalist leaders who dressed in
western clothes to adopt Indian attire. He requested them all also to spend some
time each day working on the charkha. He told them that the act of spinning would
help them to break the boundaries that prevailed within the traditional caste
system, between mental labour and manual labour.
– Young India, 13 November 1924
Page 5


3
MAHATMA GANDHI AND
SELF-SUFFICIENCY
A cause is often greater than the man. Certainly the spinning
wheel is greater than myself; with it, in my opinion, is mixed up
the well-being of the whole mass of Indian humanity.
– M. K. GANDHI
THE first article of Gandhiji’s faith, as he himself has
said, was non-violence. Therefore he could not accept a
society that produced violence. True civilisation, he said,
was to be found where industries had not entered and
cast their influence. India, before it felt the impact of
industries through the British rule, represented this
true civilisation.
Mahatma Gandhi’s ideas about self-sufficiency and
handicrafts were directly related to his views on
industries and industrial society. Gandhiji believed that
industrial societies were based on an endless production
of commodities. This produced greed and resulted in
competition. The end result of this
was violence and war.
What I object to is the craze for machinery
as such. The craze is for what they call
labour-saving machinery. Men go on
‘saving labour’, till thousands are without
work and thrown on the streets to die of
starvation. I want to save time and labour,
not for a fraction of mankind, but for all; I
want the concentration of wealth, not in
the hands of a few, but in the hands of all.
– M. K. GANDHI
Young India, 13 November 1924
CRAFT TRADITIONS OF INDIA: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE 32
Even in the twentieth century, Gandhiji argued, it
was possible to find large areas in India that were
untouched by industries. The future of India and of its
civilisation lay in these villages which were governed
by simple norms of reciprocity and self-sufficiency.
Gandhiji wanted to revive these villages, their craft
economy and their practices and make them represent
a system that was completely different from Western
societies based on industry. His ideas about handicrafts
were part of this vision.
THE MEANING OF SWARAJ
Gandhiji described this vision in many of his writings,
most notably in Hind Swaraj, a treatise written in 1909
while he was aboard a ship, coming back from Britain.
He wrote about the idea of a self-contained village
republic inhabited by individuals whose lives were self-
regulated. In Gandhiji’s philosophy, swaraj for the nation
did not mean merely political independence from British
rule. Swaraj, for him, was something more substantive,
involving the freedom of individuals to regulate their
own lives without harming one
another. His swaraj was one where
every individual was his or her own
ruler, with the capacity to control
and regulate his or her own life. This
would remove inequalities of power
and status in society and enable
proper reciprocity.
Gandhiji certainly did not want
British rule to be replaced by another
form of rule where Western
institutions of governance and civil
society would be run by Indians
instead of white men. That would
be “English rule without the
Englishman’’. He wrote that such a
process “would make India English.
And when it becomes English, it
will be called not Hindustan, but
 33
MAHATMA GANDHI AND SELF-SUFFICIENCY
Englistan. This is not the swaraj I want”. Swaraj, from
Gandhiji’s perspective, would have to be located not
only outside the domain of British political control, but
also beyond the influence of Western civilisation.
SPINNING THE IDEA OF SELF-SUFFICIENCY
However, for all this to happen, Indians would have to
take care to revive and preserve all the village arts and
crafts. Among the crafts, the one on which Gandhiji
put the greatest emphasis was spinning and weaving.
He wrote, “What is the kind of service that the teeming
millions of India most need at the present time, that
can be easily understood and appreciated by all, that is
easy to perform and will, at the same time enable the
crores of our semi-starved countrymen to live? And the
reply came—that it is the universalisation of khadi or
the spinning-wheel that can fulfil these conditions.’’
Spinning, an integral aspect of Indian handicrafts, had
to be made an essential part of the lives of the common
people. This would make the common people self-
sufficient and thus enable them to survive. The poor of
India, if they were to prosper, needed a subsidiary source
of occupation and livelihood. They could not remain
solely dependent on agriculture. Gandhiji suggested that
hand-spinning and, to a lesser extent, hand-weaving
could become the subsidiary source. He commented,
“This industry flourished in India a hundred and fifty
years ago and at that time we were not as miserably
poor as we are today.’’
In this way, the villages in which they lived would be
less dependent on mills and machinery. For Gandhiji
this was very important since machines were an
instrument of industrial societies. They produced in
massive quantities. Thus the spread of khadi would
challenge the influence of mills and machines and the
import of cotton to India from England, and would enable
the people of India to free themselves non-violently from
the negative influences of industries and the violence
they inevitably produced.
CRAFT TRADITIONS OF INDIA: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE 34
Gandhiji was doing a number of things at the same
time. He was reviving a handicraft which had been a
vital component of village life. Through the revival of
spinning and weaving, people would be able to live better
since they would have another source of livelihood.
Individuals and villages would become more self-
sufficient. At the same time, the even bigger purpose of
fighting the bad effects of industrialism would also
be met.
In 1921, during a tour of South India, Gandhiji shaved his head and began wearing
a khadi dhoti, rather than mill-made cloth imported from abroad, in order to identify
with the poor. His new appearance also came to symbolise asceticism and
abstinence—qualities he celebrated in opposition to the consumerist culture of
the modern world. Gandhiji encouraged other nationalist leaders who dressed in
western clothes to adopt Indian attire. He requested them all also to spend some
time each day working on the charkha. He told them that the act of spinning would
help them to break the boundaries that prevailed within the traditional caste
system, between mental labour and manual labour.
– Young India, 13 November 1924
 35
MAHATMA GANDHI AND SELF-SUFFICIENCY
A Vicious Circle
Through taxes, tariffs and other restrictions the British
Government discouraged the production of cotton cloth in
India; instead the raw fibre was sent to England for processing.
Gandhiji described the process thus:
1. English people buy Indian cotton in the field, picked by
Indian labour at seven cents a day, through an optional
monopoly.
2. This cotton is shipped on British ships, a three-week journey
across the Indian Ocean, down the Red Sea, across the
Mediterranean, through Gibraltar, across the Bay of Biscay
and the Atlantic Ocean to London. One hundred per cent
profit on this freight is regarded as small.
3. The cotton is turned into cloth in Lancashire. You pay
shilling wages instead of Indian pennies to your workers.
The English worker not only has the advantage of better
wages, but the steel companies of England get the profit of
building the factories and machines. Wages, profits—all
these are spent in England.
4. The finished product is sent back to India at European
shipping rates, once again on British ships. The captains,
officers, sailors of these ships, whose wages must be paid,
are English. The only Indians who profit are a few Lascars
who do the dirty work on the boats for a few cents a day.
5. The cloth is finally sold back to the kings and landlords of
India who got the money to buy this expensive cloth out of
the poor peasants of India who worked at seven cents
a day.
– LOUIS FISHER
The Life of Mahatma Gandhi