Social Service, Work & Reform Volume II M. K. Gandhi Compiled & Edited by: V. B. Kher First Published: December 1976 Printed and Published by Jitendra T. Desai Navajivan Publishing House Ahmedabad-380 014 INDIA Phone : 079 - 27540635, 27542634 E-mail : [email protected] Website : www.navajivantrust.org Social Service, Work & Reform – Volume II EDITORIAL NOTE "To me political power is not an end but one of the means of enabling people to better their condition in every department of life." Young India, 2-7-1931 "Mere withdrawal of English is not independence. It means the consciousness in the average villager that he is the maker of his own destiny, he is his own legislator through his chosen representatives." Young India, 13-2-1930 When peaceful transfer of power to India was effected in a unique way, hopes were universally aroused that the non-violent revolution initiated by Gandhiji would be carried to its fruition in post-independent India. Three decades is comparatively a short span in a nation's life, but it is sufficiently indicative of the lines on which the country is proceeding. Seen in this light, it is undeniable that the revolution has soured on the way. In independent India the humble villager in the 7,00,000 villages dotting the map of the country was to come into his own. He was to be the maker of his destiny and, in effect, the future of the country. The dung heap in the village was to be transformed into a green common ensuring adequate ftod, clothing and shelter for its inhabitants. The rule was to subserve his interests and not to lord it over him. The flow of men and commodities from the village to the city was to be reversed. With the village as the centre of planning, the village economy was to be enriched and only the surpluses generated, were to find their way to the city markets with profit both to the villager and the city-dweller. The weaker sections of the society exploited for centuries, such as the depressed classes, the aborigines, the women, the landless labourers etc. were to assume their due place in the society. In effect, all energies and attention of the society were to be absorbed in the uphill but the glorious task of ushering in justice - www.mkgandhi.org Page 2 Social Service, Work & Reform – Volume II social, economic, and political — by non-violent means, for therein lies the secret of non-violent freedom. However, the rulers chose to turn their backs to nonviolent revolution for whatever reasons, maybe, their lack of faith in basic Gandhian tenets, their blind' admiration and adoration and slavish imitation of foreign models of planning, their failure to involve the masses in nation- building and last but not the least their incapacity for innovation. The results are there for all to see: the villages by and large steadily becoming penurious and the consequent exodus of the inhabitants thereof to the cities where they eke out a degrading and miserable sub-human existence in slums; the cities bursting at their seams under chaotic conditions with haphazard unplanned growth and polluted atmosphere; proliferation of bureaucracy corroded by corruption etc., one can go on and on with the narration of the disastrous consequences produced by the betrayal of the non-violent revolution. This is not to say that there has been no material progress but even that has been lop-sided and uneven. It is not the purpose of this Note to condemn or censure anybody but the facts must be stated without any gloss, so that we can at least begin to think where we have gone wrong and take corrective measures to save the nation from the impending ruin. As foreseen by Gandhiji, we have become "a fifth rate carbon copy of the West" without any worthwhile contribution to make to the world. Must this state of affairs continue? Renowned thinkers and social scientists like Gunnar Myrdal, Colin Clark, and others have also opined that the ills from which we are suffering are due essentially to our straying away from Gandhian thought and principles. What does Gandhiji have to say on the economic, political, moral and ethical, and social challenges facing the country? A study in depth of Gandhiji's writings reveals the unique combination of a visionary and a practical reformer that he was, with an indissoluble bond of love and sympathy for the masses. Twenty-five years ago the Editor started with the thought of studying Gandhiji's ideas on various facets of life, but the study proved so absorbing and fascinating that he soon decided to share the fruits of his studies with his fellow citizens. As a result, the compilation in three volumes on economic, industrial and labour problems saw the light of the day under www.mkgandhi.org Page 3 Social Service, Work & Reform – Volume II the title "Economic and Industrial Life and Relations". This was followed by publication of the collection in three volumes of Gandhiji's Odyssey under the title "In Search of the Supreme". Next came the compilation, again in three volumes, on matters political, entitled "National and Political Life and Affairs". The last but not the least in the series is the present collection in three volumes on social questions, which is being published under the title "Social Service, Work and Reform". The response and appreciation of the public to the series has justified the faith of the Editor in the task which he undertook years ago with much reverence. The prize, however, is in the process as declared by the Bhagwat Gita. "You cannot have a good social system when you find yourself low in the scale of political rights, nor can you be fit to exercise political rights and privileges unless your social system is based on reason and justice. You cannot have a good economic system when your social arrangements are imperfect. If your religious ideas are low and grovelling, you cannot succeed in social, economic or political spheres. This interdependence is not an accident, but is the law of our nature".* - M. G. RANADE *From the address to the first Provincial Social Conference held in Satara www.mkgandhi.org Page 4 Social Service, Work & Reform – Volume II TO THE READER I would like to say to the diligent reader of my writings and to others who are interested in them that I am not at all concerned with appearing to be consistent. In my search after Truth I have discarded many ideas and learnt many new things. Old as I am in age, I have no feeling that I have ceased to grow inwardly or that my growth will stop at the dissolution of the flesh. What I am concerned with is my readiness to obey the call of Truth, my God, from moment to moment, and, therefore, when anybody finds any inconsistency between any two writings of mine, if he has still faith in my sanity, he would do well to choose the later of the two on the same subject. M. K. GANDHI Harijan, 29-4-'33, p. 2 www.mkgandhi.org Page 5 Social Service, Work & Reform – Volume II SECTION ONE: MISS MAYO'S INDICTMENT OF INDIA 1. DRAIN INSPECTOR'S REPORT On the lips of the good vice becomes virtue, And even virtue appears as vice in the mouth of the evil-minded; this need not surprise us. For, do not the mighty clouds drink the salt waters of the ocean and return it as sweet refreshing rain? And does not the cobra, drinking sweet milk, belch it forth as the deadliest poison? Rivers drink not of their own waters, the trees do not themselves eat the fruit which they bear, Nor do the clouds partake of the grains they grow; even so the good devote their powers to the good of others.1 Several correspondents have sent me cuttings containing reviews of, or protests against, Miss Mayo's Mother India. A few have in addition asked me to give my opinion on it. An enraged correspondent from London asks me to give him answers to several questions that he has framed upon the authoress's references to me. Miss Mayo has herself favoured me with a copy of her book. I would certainly not have made time, especially when I have only limited energy, and caution has been enjoined upon me by medical friends against over work, to read the book during my tour. But these letters made it obligatory on me to read the book at once. The book is cleverly and powerfully written. The carefully chosen quotations give it the appearance of a truthful book. But the impression it leaves on my mind is, that it www.mkgandhi.org Page 6 Social Service, Work & Reform – Volume II is the report of a drain inspector sent out with the one purpose of opening and examining the drains of the country to be reported upon, or to give a graphic description of the stench exuded by the opened drains. If Mayo had confessed that she had gone to India merely to open out and examine the drains of India, there would perhaps be little to complain about the compilation. But she says in effect with a certain amount of triumph, "The drains are India." True, in the concluding chapter there is a caution. But her caution is cleverly made to enforce her sweeping condemnation. I feel that no one who has any knowledge of India can possibly accept her terrible accusations against the thought and the life of the people of this unhappy country.