Upliftment of Villages |
"We
are inheritors of a rural civilization. The vastness of our country, the
vastness of the population, the situation and the climate of the country
have, in my opinion, destined it for a rural civilization. Its defects are
well known but not one of them is irremediable. To uproot it and substitute
for it an urban civilization seems to me an impossibility, unless we are
prepared by some drastic means to reduce the population from three hundred
million to three or say even thirty. I can therefore suggest remedies on the
assumption that we must perpetuate the present rural civilization and
endeavour to rid it of its acknowledged defects. This can only be done if
the youth of the country will settle down to village life. And if they will
do this they must reconstruct their life and pass every day of their
vacation in the villages surrounding their colleges or high schools and
those who have finished their education or are not receiving any should
think of settling down in villages."
(Young India,
7-11-1929; 42:108.)
"India does not live in its towns but in its villages. But if the cities
want to demonstrate that their populations will live for the villagers of
India the bulk of their resources should be spent in ameliorating the
condition of and befriending the poor. We must not lord it over them, we
must learn to be their servants. When the cities realize that they must live
for the welfare of the poor, they will make their palaces and institutions
and the life of their inhabitants correspond somewhat to our villages.''
(Young India,
23-4-1931; 46:12.)
"I
have no partiality for return to the primitive method of grinding and
husking for the sake of them. I suggest the return, because there is no
other way of giving employment to the millions of villagers who are living
in idleness. In my opinion, village uplift is impossible, unless we solve
the pressing economic distress.
Therefore, to induce the villagers to utilize their idle hours is in itself
solid uplift work. I invite the fair correspondent and those who feel like
her to go to some villages, live there for some time in the midst of the
villagers and try to live like them, and they will soon perceive the
soundness of my argument."
(Harijan,
30-11-1934; 59:413.)
"The
true Indian civilization is in the Indian villages. The modern city
civilization you find in Europe and America, and in a handful of our cities
which are copies of the Western cities and which were built for the
foreigner, and by him. But they cannot last. It is only the handicraft
civilization that will endure and stand the test of time. But it can do so
only if we can correlate the intellect with the hand. The late Madhusudan
Das used to say that our peasants and workers had, by reason of working with
bullocks, become like bullocks; and he was right. We have to lift them from
the estate of the brute to the estate of man, and that we can do only by
correlating the intellect with the hand. Not until they learn to work
intelligently and make something new every day, not until they are taught to
know the joy of work, can we raise them from their low estate."
(Harijan,
30-3-1940; 71:335-36.)
"India is trying to evolve true democracy, i.e., without violence. Our
weapons are those of satyagraha expressed through the charkha, the village
industries, primary education through handicrafts, removal of
untouchability, communal harmony, prohibition, and non-violent organization
of labour as in Ahmedabad. These mean mass effort and mass education. We
have big agencies for conducting these activities. They are purely
voluntary, and their only sanction is service of the lowliest."
(Harijan,
18-5-1940; 72:60.)
"If
some of you see the villages, you will not be fascinated by the sight. You
will have to scratch below the dung heap. I do not say that they ever were
heavenly places. Today they are really dung-heaps. They were not like that
before. What I say is not from history but from what I have seen myself. I
have travelled from one end of India to the other and have seen the
miserable specimen of humanity with lustreless eyes. They are India. In
these humble cottages, in the midst of these dung-heaps, are to be found the
humble Bhangis in whom you find the concentrated essence of wisdom."
(Harijan,
20-4-1947; 87:192.)
". .
. besides communal unity I had recommended to the nation only one thing,
viz., handspun yarn with which alone we could bring swaraj nearer.
"The
spinning-wheel has almost been forgotten. There is all this talk of
militarization and industrialization. But it is my conviction that a day
will come when they will all see for themselves that for India there is no
way other than that of village industries and non-violence. We shall not
find a way out unless we develop these. But I am still optimistic."
(Talk
with C. Rajagopalachari, 25-5-1947; 88:4.)
"Take
the village people and slum-dwellers in your hands and give them the benefit
of your knowledge, skill, insight, constructive work and patriotic spirit.
Give the people this true education through the example of your own lives.
Let all your activities be directed to the welfare of the people. If that is
not done and if the people lose patience, our plight will be much worse than
the present slavery. Before the people take to the path of destruction, see
that they are given constructive, life-giving training."
(Bihar Pachhi Delhi,
pp. 14-19; 88:16.)
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