Abstract

The importance of this research lies in explaining the contemporary meaning and relevance of Gandhi's vision, as outlined initially in Hind Swaraj and later in community-oriented experiments, for Indian agriculture and planning. This exploration, in particular, demonstrates the need to re-examine the relevance of Gandhian principles while working on the transformation of a largely agrarian society into a self-reliant, truly independent, and self-sufficient nation. The crisis affecting India at its core is primarily one of human values and only secondarily a lack of resources, technology, and production and distribution methods. ;One of the possible means by which humane values can be re-impregnated into social mores, thus creating conditions for achieving the goal of nonviolent social and economic transformation of the polity, is to conduct a rigorous examination of what it would mean to adopt Gandhi's six ethical and moral principles--swadeshi , aparigraha , bread-labor, trusteeship, non-exploitation and equality. ;The four chapters of this study address four distinct, though inter-related, themes which contribute to the overall understanding and exploration of the principal question, namely, Can the ethical and moral principles experimented upon by Gandhi initially in Hind swaraj and then in his agricultural communities serve as the basis for reconstructing a more harmonious, poverty-free, nonviolent, and self-reliant society? In Chapter One, I address the context and text for Gandhi's religiously-based views on agricultural development. The broad relation between Gandhi's religious perspectives and agricultural issues is explored in Chapter Two. A review of planned agricultural development in India during the period 1951-1974 is undertaken in Chapter Three. The rationale for this extensive, historical analysis is to portray how the planning apparatus has approached the situation of poverty as arising primarily from agriculture. In Chapter Four, I explore and show the relevance of some Gandhian experiments and current alternatives. ;The conclusion which I am led to is that programs for social change and planning exercises in Indian agriculture, on macro or micro levels, have necessarily to be moored in the six ethical and moral principles and the concept of satyagraha expounded and practiced by Gandhi. Further, the volunteer-based, democratic, non-governmental organizations which assiduously toil at the grass-roots in solidarity with the Indian masses are the ones best equipped to concretely implement the Gandhian path. The application of these principles in their contemporary context, while not a panacea to India's problems, will certainly be a major step towards making India a nation which tries to achieve its goals in an ethical manner as outlined by Gandhi in Hind Swaraj. Thus, in such a "way of life there is no room for violence in any form against any human being, black or white."