Hunting for a new paradigm

Several years ago, I was invited to deliver a talk at the Gujarat Vidyapeeth in Ahmedabad. Founded by Mahatma Gandhi in 1920, it became a deemed university in 1963. Against the general impression I carried that I would be speaking in an auditorium full of students and some members of the faculty, I was greeted by charkha-spinning students seated on the floor. All through my talk, these students listened patiently while they continued to operate the portable box charkha.

At a time when ‘development’ has become a buzzword and the inherently flawed ‘trickle-down’ theory is the global norm for achieving economic growth, the growing inequality and the resulting destruction of nature and environment in the name of development is now being challenged with an increasingly shrill call for reducing consumption and waste.

With US President Joe Biden publicly acknowledging that ‘trickle-down’ has failed, the world is keenly looking for an alternative economic design which is non-violent and built on cooperation.

As the UN Chief Antonio Guterres explicitly warned: “The era of global warming has ended. The era of global boiling has arrived.”

Development As Swaraj by Sumanas Koulagi draws attention to the twin principles of sustainability and equity that have the potential to create a new paradigm of development, thereby giving a new sense of direction for humanity to follow, and in the bargain, save our civilisation from a collapse.

Hailing from a small town near Melukote, in Karnataka, Sumanas is a third-generation member of a Gandhian family. He grew up in a family-run organic farm, which also had a weaving unit, and was therefore naturally drawn into a development model that is now gathering dust. As he acknowledges, the book is a revised version of his PhD dissertation at the University of Sussex, UK. No wonder, the first half of the book provides a strong theoretical version of the idea and concept of Swaraj Development, as put forward prominently by Gandhi and J C Kumarappa, a trained economist from Colombia University and long-time associate of the Mahatma. He also looks at various radical movements globally which emerged from environmental concerns and grassroots initiatives.

In the chapter, Swaraj Development Vision, the author digs deeper into how this vision evolved and how the nature of production defined the structure of social order.

He illustrates this with examples of how the khadi production system involves a large section of the society whereas a power loom takes away that social and economic relationship with the populace.

In an interesting aside, Kumarappa talks about the value chain that takes cocoa beans from western Africa, and then the roasting and tinning that is done at various other places before the chocolate, as the end product, reaches our tables. More recently, a study on food miles talked about how food travels at least 3,000 miles on average before it reaches the supermarkets.”As the distance between production and consumption increases, it becomes impossible for consumers to comprehend all the social and environmental impacts of production.”

Based on Gandhi’s understanding of development as swaraj, the revival of khadi was aimed at rejuvenating the Indian textile sector, which lay in ruins from the repercussions of the Industrial Revolution that was sweeping through Britain at that time. Gandhi had even wanted the Congress party to make it mandatory for its members to wear khadi. Later, he was instrumental in setting up the All India Spinners Association in 1925, which not only established its own production and sale centres but also ran it on commercial lines. The wages for the workers were relatively higher compared to the national average.

In the chapter that interprets the Khadi sector in Karnataka, the book also looks at the environmental crisis (and wildlife destruction) emanating from intensive agriculture and mining activities. At the same time, it talks of how the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) subsequently centralised its operation thereby leading to disenchantment. Going beyond Khadi, the author tries to provide a development roadmap, which if followed, has the potential to lead us into a more sustainable and equitable future. This book will not only interest students and development practitioners but can also serve as an important guide for policymakers.