The villages under the best of ancient Indian kingdoms enjoyed true freedom.
And some villages of today's India live that spirit
too. Why are they different?
"Government the doer, and Village the receiver," is the norm today...
"Village the doer and Government the auditor and promoter" is the alternate mindset of real freedom
Government the doer and village the receiver: this is the present
and it is slavery. Village the doer and Government the auditor: was traditional
freedom.
The best of empires in India were built on empowering people and governing
their free action. ...That is the story of Uttaramerur, the Gupta empire,
Cholas, Akbar, Chandra Gupta maurya and others.
For the village to experience this freedom it must build its community power and take charge.
The Gandhian vision contains this.
There are great village stories in modern India working at this ideal...
There is great strength in togetherness. Village togetherness can
give it a lot of power to solve problems of its members.
The colonial powers had an interest in keeping villages divided. They made changes
in administration to achieve this. What was done by the then administration has not been undone.
...
On the other hand administrators and statesmen who want to strengthen people
would facilitate community strength. When neighbors get together they can help
each other, take charge, enforce freedom and have control over
thier destinies (Tagore); a statesmen will facilitate this
Villages must not wait for the central or state governments to hand this over to them.
Even in the present system there is great scope to work on community power.
If a village decides to build upon it, no one can stop it. All it takes is for the village
to be the change.
The place to start is to help genuine, non partisan, Village leadership.
Buy from Villages. Buy village goods in the spirit of Swadeshi. In response
Villages must produce things that can be described as
"Necessary, Clean and Quality".
In the Capitalist system, lack of money makes the Villages powerless.
Money must flow into the villages if they have to prosper in this system.
Swagrami can set this prosperity cycle into motion.
Basic agriculture cannot give commercial strength because ...economic
demand for agriculture produce is finite. If farmers produce more, the prices
will drastically drop. So that is not the answer.
Research shows that the Indian system employs 60% of its populaiton on a
job that requires may be only 10% to be involved. This model will not sustain and
it leads to distress. villages will wither away.
Villages must diversify. We need to engage our villages in more commercial
activities till they can self sustain. Some kind of value addition of goods must happen.
At least primary processing of farm produce must happen in villages.
We need to protect villagers' right to a decent livelihood; and
therefore help preserve indigenous traditions and culture.
This was what drove 'swadeshi' in our freedom struggle...
We need a Gandhian mass movement where all well wishing Indians paticipate
to the extent they can. If they buy village produce and village brands,
villages can kick start to prosperity.
