PANCHAYATI SWARAJ
Second Freedom; when my village becomes self-responsible
PANCHAYATI SWARAJ
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...
COMMUNITY POWER
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.
SWAGRAMI
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.