Gandhian Approach To Development Planning

Email

Whatsapp

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Copy link

Ram Binod Singh (b 1938) is a retired professor of Economics, C.M. College, Darbhanga (LNMU). He obtained his M.A. (Economics), B.L. and Ph.D. degrees from Bihar University, Muzaffarpur. He worked as the founder principal of Kunwar Singh College, Laheriasarai from 1970 to 1974 and as a Research Fellow in the Institute for Rural Development, Patna from 1978 to 1981.

He is a socialist by conviction and is influenced by Gandhian doctrines. His published works include Alternative Planning for Rural Development; Petroleum Industry in India; India's Economic Development; and Lohia's Thought. Besides, he has contributed many research papers to various journals of repute, and participated in seminars and symposia organised at different levels.

Dr. Ram Binod Singh's current interest includes rural development, energy problems, Gandhian economics and current socio-economic problems.

The existing models of development, that are being practised, have failed to deliver the good. There has been increasing awareness about the failure of both Keynesian and neo-classical economics. There has been a serious questioning of. the relevance and meaningfulness of economics to the present day reality. This questioning has initiated and encouraged the search for alternative ideas on basic assumptions, policies and principles. Gandhian economics provides a major alternative.

The present book, Gandhian Approach to Development Planning, deals with this basic question in multi-dimensional manner-social, political, economic and technological, besides moral and spiritual aspects of man and the society. Going deep into the Gandhian approach to planning and development, it discusses at length Gandhian concept of man and society; challenges to acquisitive society; his criteria of welfare economics; and his views on trusteeship, sarvodaya, total revolution, socialistic pattern of society and environment. The book will be of great use for Gandhian researchers, development planners and welfare economists.

Ever since my school days, I have been impressed by the socialist thought. My temperament and my bitter experiences throughout my student life due to economic stringency confirmed my belief that emancipation of men in general and of down-trodden in particular lay in socialism. With the passage of time, it was clear that U.S.S.R. and other communist countries were deviating from the main ideology and commitment and consequences are obvious with the disintegration of the U.S.S.R. and other communist countries of Europe. In the sixties, I got an opportunity to go through Gandhian literature and was convinced that Gandhi alone offers the solutions of the ills confronting the present social order.

The traditional socialist, though being rooted in materialism, has failed to interpret history and the evolution of the human race correctly. Man is not merely matter but spirit also. Any theory of social reconstruction would fail if it overstresses the one and ignores the other. Credit goes to Gandhi who established a judicious relationship between the two. The tragedy of Marxian socialism is that it ignores totally the non-material forces. Gandhian socialism is primarily based on his ethical concept. Ashok Mehta asserted that socialism is a science of new society as well as the vision of new civilization.

The contribution of Mahatma Gandhi to the theory of economic planning and development is highly significant. It is also relevant for dealing with contemporary problems created by the process of economic development itself. It is paradoxical that while these planners talk of value that must impregnate the process of development, they do not favour the methods that Gandhi advocated as the most efficacious in realizing these values. Gandhi was a rare admixture of a great humanist, a master strategist, a veteran politician and a down to earth pragmatist.

Gandhi might have borrowed from different traditions of economic thoughts, both Eastern and Western. The influence of Tolstoy, Thoreau, Ruskin, Romain Rolland and several other thinkers on the economic ideas of Gandhi is undoubtedly great. His scheme of economic planning and development is primarily based on his principle of micro- variability and micro-viability, which necessarily incorporated ideas of Swadeshi, trusteeship and bread labour. Swadeshi fits in with his design of self-sufficiency. Gandhi's theory of trusteeship, enunciated in reply to the socialists, is a unique scheme where accumulation of wealth and the consequent concentration of power may remain an empirical reality but it cannot become oppressive and exploitative. Gandhi is dead but his ideas are still with us.

Similarly, economic development was considered Summam bonum of life and economic man was the main focus. This lacked human consideration. There was confusion and erroneous notion about means and ends. For Gandhi, man is the focal point and all other activities revolve round him. Economic development is for the man and not vice versa. There is symbiotic relationship between man and society on the one hand, and man and nature on the other. True economic development not only respects this relationship rather strengthens this.

Jayaprakash Narayan also made it the focal point of the struggle against administrative lapses, corruption and democratic disruption injuring the society and the nation at large. Similarly, Cultural Revolution was also launched by Mao in China during late sixties of the last century. Gandhi rightly believed that if changes are to be brought about in society, it must start from man who constitutes the society. This is why, Gandhi claimed to be a socialist whose vision was equality, justice, freedom and complete autonomy of individual to think and decide his destiny. This led him to be anarchist who considered state as an evil representing organized and concentrated form of tyranny and violence. He finds his hope in the individual whereas he spurns the state power.

**Contents and Sample Pages**