Gram Swaraj

to growing up in a city, and that, due to modernization, one rural product had fallen
off, but that was the most important product of all namely, the country-bred children
Gandhi put it fervently, To serve our villages is to establish Swaraj. Everything else
is but a dream. If the village perishes, India will perish tooIf we want Swaraj to be
built on non-violence, we will have to give the villages their proper placeWe can
realize truth and non-violence only in the simplicity of village life
Alternative to all isms such as Capitalism, Socialism, Communism, Industrialism,
Parliamentary Democracy, and their various combinations. Village Republics,
Gramraj, Lokswaraj, Organic Swaraj, Hind-Swaraj, Sarvodaya, Saamyayoga, and
Ramaraj
Meaning: Poorna Prajatantra(complete democracy)/ grass-root democratic
system/Sarva ki Kranti(a complete or total revolution)/ village alone is a foundation
of Swaraj/replacing Raj niti with lok niti/ lok satta with lok Shakti/non-violent social
order via non-violent revolution/ local level planning

Principles: supremacy of man/best utilisation of man power in India/bread

labour/equality/trusteeship/decentralisation/swadeshi/self-sufficiency/cooperation/
satyagrah/equality of religions/village governance

ending the individual ownership of means of production, other resources, and

property
does not mean ownership of the State: ownership of village; cooperative sharing of
resources; villagisation of resources; village would be a trustee more than an owner
not meant to replace the Welfare State by Welfare Village; it teaches, encourages
people to adopt a communitarian, collective, co-operative, co-sharing way of life, and
discard the philosophy of individual self-interest; transforming the villages into family
radical simplification of the mechanics of living/the fear that such a social order
would disintegrate India is misplaced/elevated mind set of the people, cultural unity,
emotional integration, the suitable language policy, the stress on spiritual education
and enlightenment would lead to disintegration without decentralisation
primarily a spiritual foundation and only secondarily a constitutional foundation/not
Gramraj or Constitutional Swaraj/ basis is self-control, self-restraint, self rule or rule
over self, control of mind, voluntary inner self-discipline, and disciplined rule from
within by each and every individual
Gandhi, when things around us go wrong, the cause for it must be looked for within
ourselvesthe outward freedom that we shall attain will only be in exact proportion
to the inward freedom to which we may grow at a given moment. Political selfgovernment is to be attained by precisely the same means that are required for
individual self-government or self-rulePolitical power means capacity to regulate
national life through national representatives. If national life becomes so perfect as to
be self-regulated, no representation is necessary
Best system for world peace: control of self + communities being the bulwark of
democratic freedom

Freedom, liberty, independence, self-rule of the villages

The village is at the core of the Gramswaraj Samaj (Society)
Toyanbee argued that for a child to grow up in a countryside was a happy lot compared

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Gramdan: solemn resolve or vow, undertaken by their own volition, to offer or

surrender their everything to the village

At present India is witnessing a paradoxical co-existence of about fifty million tonnes of food
grains in Government stocks with many hunger-deaths and about 300 million Indian people
living below the poverty line. The phenomenon of overflowing godowns side by side
numerous empty stomachs has been the hallmark of Indian economy in the recent past.
Gramdan would guarantee food security, water security, environment security, etc. to all
through decentralized management of all the natural resources in general, and production,
storage, and distribution of food products in particular

radically redefines the meaning, concept, and content of Development/ The Modern
Age has been called the Age of Development in which the economic growth,
industrialization, increase in the consumption of goods ad infinitum, urbanization,
accumulation, acquisitiveness have become the important objectives/ alternative
paradigm of development:
o have
enough
instead
of
more/universal
participation/peoples
participation/normative theory of needs/ voluntary simplicity or austerity/

eliminate both the pull effect and push effect behind the urbanization by reviving the
rural economy, by providing necessary facilities and amenities in the villages, and by
making the village life meaningful, healthy, enjoyable, and attractively liveable
while the Gramsabha of GS is an institution of service, Grampanchayat of PR is an
institution of power and jealousy. It is not possible to nurture peoples power through
such an institution of political power. While the origin of GS is the collective will of
the villagers, that of PR is the decision and enactments by the States. Panchayats are
established by the Government, they function with the support of the State power, and
in all this, and the concurrence of people is taken for granted. It is well-known that the
elections to PR institutions have exacerbated the caste and other conflicts in the
villages

GS has not failed; it has remained incomplete so far. The ascent which took place at
the ideational level could not be matched by the actualization of the vision during the
last century
multiple crises-food crisis, water crisis, environment crisis, energy crisis, moral crisis,
and so on have created the crisis of very survival of modern man and the isms have
been tried without avail; no alternative way left but GS
Swaraj is my birth right was the motto of 20th century, Gramswaraj is my birth right
has to become the motto of 21st century.
using the concept of net energy, the energy scientists like Odum have argued that the
return to agricultural and rural way of life would become inevitable in the years to
come
not a Utopia; the non-violent village republics existed and worked well in India till the
dawn of modern era/little village republics that had everything they wanted within
themselves
Aryan polity: so jealous were village assemblies of their liberty that no soldier was
allowed to enter a village except with royal permit
Sustainability concepts to be added here + Gaianism

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GRAM SWARAJ IN 21st Century