Notes from Gandhigram by Samir Banerjee

Author:Samir Banerjee
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Orient Blackswan Private Ltd.

ALTERNATIVE APPROACHES

The basic tenet of Gandhian economics is 'gram swaraj'. To achieve this, khadi is not enough. While khadi could to an extent meet the non-farm requirements of the village community, for gram swaraj and regional self-sufficiency you still have to respond to farm and non-farm production, rural industrialisation and the more generic issues of employment and technology. Since Gandhigram's basic mandate is to work towards gram swaraj, Gandhigram obviously had to go beyond khadi to the more generic issues of technology, employment generation and rural industrialisation. In all these, the pivotal parameter is technology. Technology links science with society. The efficacy of this linkage is judged on two premises: first, in the production of goods and services and second, in the reduction of drudgery for the labourer in the production process. Machines and an appended production system are the manifestations of technology. The process of this manifestation, however, is not simple. History shows it can and has left many an ugly scar both in its advent and in its demise. In terms of its impact on society, while machines have made daily life less of a chore and relatively less affected by the vagaries of nature, it has also unleashed enormous intra-community potential for exploitation of man by man. The simple process of restriction of access to machinery has over a period of time led to concentration of power in the hands of a small section in society. Simply put, science and technology serve specific interests and classes.

All this is because technology by itself has no way of either segregating needs from wants or distinguishing labour from idleness or for that matter subsistence from conspicuous consumption. Further, by itself it has no way of separating incentive from self-interest. These comfortably remain ethical issues. Above all, while it is supposed to be a progeny of science, unlike science the motive of technology is not necessarily to unravel the mysteries of nature and the universe. Its domain is more mundane and prosaic. This is because over history, technology started as an aid but soon became a handmaiden to those in power. Consequently while science is meant to savour, technology seeks to serve and that too a select few.

Not surprisingly, most technologies either have a short shelf life or are not sustainable. To illustrate, take the case of solar energy technology vis-à-vis non-renewable petroleum as a source of energy. Why is it that the use of solar energy remains rudimentary? Why are we recklessly going on with petroleum and at the same time desperately trying to contain pollution?

This is because ever since the industrial revolution, a deeply self-centered, arrogant corporate-state leadership has hijacked the process of creation of almost all technologies. To consolidate its hegemony, this coalition has systematically tried to shackle the core elements of science, search and chance, all unavoidable and crucial to the emergence of science and technology. To make the researcher in science conform to the demands of the elite and the market, it is this coalition, which has usurped the authority to set the agenda for both science and technology.

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