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The following is the complete version of Dr.Ganesh Devy's article on development, which appeared in the 2007 January Dishaa.
1.
Years ago when I first started working in Adivasi areas, the term ‘development’ frequently cropped in the social discourse I had to encounter. Whenever I was being introduced to strangers, my friends would say ‘Professor Devy has been working on issues of Adivasi development’. I was trying to figure out for myself as to what exactly was meant by development. While discussing various government progammes and their implementation I used to hear use of expressions such as ‘beneficial to Adivasi development’, ‘in the interest of Adivasis’. Upon asking my adivasi friends, “What exactly does development mean to you?” their responses generally were “we need roads in such and such a place”, or “this village needs a school”. Once an adivasi man stated that it would be nice to have more Mahua trees. His response compelled me to think more carefully on this subject.
In the initial years of my work with the adivasis, I had numerous opportunities of participating in discussion panels and conferences on adivasi development. A lot was discussed at these events and a multitude of approaches were advocated. But in these discussions Adivasis were usually quantified in terms of ‘thousands’ and ‘millions’ instead of being characterized as ‘Adivasis gathering Mahua flowers’ versus the ‘Adivasis working in cities as laborers”. I also heard in very structured terms how this or that Commissioner for Tribal Development had issued a variety of circulars and office orders to his staff. But my basic question as to what development really is, remained unanswered in these forums. Perhaps, this was a reflection on my own intellectual inadequacy.
Subsequently, the Adivasi Academy was founded, and a Post Graduate Diploma program was established as the first crude experiment in it. The first batch of the diploma program attracted fifteen students of whom thirteen were adivasis. There was no clear roadmap of what would be taught in this programme of instruction. All my student friends had completed three years of studies in a college. But I do not think that any of them had read books written by any acclaimed Gujrati authors. Neither were they aware of the existence of different states and regions in India. Their familiarity with the English language is best left uncommented upon.
Initially, I believed that everyone in this group would first learn to operate computers, then start reading books in English, Gujrati and Hindi, and would in general become aware of the modern world like students elsewhere. I tried hard to accomplish these goals during the first few months of our work together. But instead of seeing a change in the approach of the students, I noticed that my own ideas and thoughts on the subject of education had started undergoing a change. First of all I realized that the assumption about the validity of certain thought processes which I had come to accept for my intellectual transactions over the decades had to be radically questioned. I realized that my own views on history, society, culture and politics had to be set aside and an attempt had to be made to see the world through the eyes of my students. Instead of changing the thinking of fifteen individuals, I thought, it would be better for me to make those individuals my teachers and to begin exploring every facet of life according to their world-vision. So I did away with the coursework and started an interminable dialogue with them on life, learning and development.
During the initial phase of the Adivasi Academy, the Tejgadh’s panchayat had rented a small room to us for use. We used it to keep our office files, library books and other materials. But for our discussions we used the open plot at Mandar given to us by the government for building the Academy’s campus, but where so far no building had been constructed. When the sun got scorching hot, we would move to the shade of the giant Mahua. Under the shade of the Mahua’s giant branches during the noon hours and, in the evenings, on open craggy rocks- our discussions would continue from noon to the evening and from night through dawn.
During these discussions, I realized that these students possessed an intelligence of a different kind... They had clear views on every issue. They articulated their opinions very lucidly. Their vocabulary did not require support of jargon and clichés to prove their argument. They did not imitate anyone.
My student friends had to leave their homes early morning after eating a meal of maize bread, rotla. They would stay with me throughout the day without having lunch. In the first few months, a person from Tejgadh used to fetch lunch for me cooked by a family in Tejgadh. As I ate my lunch, the students would occupy themselves in reading the files, books and newspapers in the library. Some spent time chewing tobacco or smoking. After a while it occurred to me that it was not right for me to have lunch when all of the students remained hungry. So I changed the routine a little bit. I decided that first of all if discussions stretch into the lunch hour then I would forgo eating lunch, and if it became impossible for me to control my hunger, the time of the discussions needed to be changed. The question of hunger started keeping my thoughts occupied during my daily commute between Tejgadh and Vadodara.
After our group had completed a year of study some adivasis in Chattisgadh died of food poisoning caused by eating the meat of a dead pig. This incident occurred on the Independence Day in August 2001. That the death of adivasis by starvation even after a self government in India for fifty-five years was shocking news would have occurred to me even when I was a university teacher. But now, because I had a seen the hunger of my student friends from very close quarters, this incident made a deep impression on me. I decided to give up one meal in a day, and I wrote a letter to the Prime Minister of India asking that village food banks be established to prevent Adivasis and other vulnerable sections of Indians from dying of malnutrition and hunger. Subsequently, I met him in Delhi on 12th September. This meeting was also attended by Smt. Mahasweta Devi, Shri. Laxman Gaikwad and Dr. Ajay Dandekar. The meeting was arranged by Shri. George Fernandes. Some weeks later the government announced its decision to establish food grain banks in 1, 16,000 villages. After the announcement I resumed once again eating two meals a day.
The student’s lack of interest in reading academic books, their disinterest in imitating urban lifestyles, and their clarity of thought - all these characteristics and habits were rooted in the context of their experience of hunger. I felt that people touched by hunger, irrespective of whether they are in Indian or in other countries would have similar views. Perhaps they have firm convictions about what is appropriate for human beings and what is inappropriate. Their convictions and views deserve to be understood and articulated. The desire to do so took a firm hold of my mind. New facets of the word ‘development’ started occurring to me.
2.
The modern discourse of development, which has come to India from the west, has evolved through a historical and social context spreading over three to four centuries. This concept is dominated by the widely prevalent technological and industrial culture. Nature’s law of ‘survival of the fittest’ forms the philosophic framework of that discourse. Development means to dig up the earth, turn it over, explore and formulate new products, metals, chemicals; to wage wars to procure unrestricted rights on these resources; to collect innumerable weapons to fight these wars; to personally command these wars, to spread this ideology everywhere by strengthening the state’s power of coercion through supporting legal structures; to feed into the greed of human beings by institutionalizing greed! This discourse of development has been globally accepted. Thanks to the prevailing developmental discourse, certain sweet-sounding terms like ‘privatization’, ‘democracy’, ‘globalization’, and ‘progress’ have acquired a global legitimacy.
Even those opposing social structures and economies based upon the principle of ‘limitless greed’ are unable to come up with an alternate definition of development. They ask, “Privatization is definitely an important idea, but isn’t it also important to simultaneously have limits on greed and the profit motive?” “Law and order have to be obeyed, but isn’t it equally important to oppose the violence and genocide that comes along with it?” “It is important that everyone become literate, but should we give so much importance to written script in our communications?” These questions are raised from a combination of certain ethical and pragmatic concerns. When such ethical questions arise, it is usually noticed that the people who ask these questions have a pre-formulated opinion. They do not want to accept changes in social transactions because their interests lie in maintaining a status quo. To idealize ‘development’ and praise it out of personal interests, as well as to oppose the concept of development for protecting personal interests, are two sides of the same coin. As far as ethics are concerned, we know that they are not self-evident principles. Ethics change in every age. Therefore, one cannot say that a given set of ethical norms has a perennial validity.
At the same time the meaning of development cannot be seen as entirely linked to economic considerations. It would be a mistake to maintain that improvement of the quality of life hinges entirely on economic betterment. The real issue of development has got way-laid between these seemingly important considerations of ethics and economics.
More essentially, development is far more profoundly a political and a cultural concern... Political, because the conceptualization of the distinction between development and backwardness rests on political interests, and, cultural, because every village, every country needs a different idea of development. In that sense to have a global definition or a common global norm for development is not desirable.
Social development and political transactions are very profoundly interlocked in every aspect. In the same way, the cultural impact of development has an amazing durability.
3
My student friends from the Tejgadh Academy defined development according to what seemed appropriate to their own context. According to their understanding, development implies creating villages where starvation and deprivation do not force people to migrate out of the village, where no one dies of malnutrition, where no one becomes bonded laborers under the burden of debt, where no one is exploited due to illiteracy, and where every patient has some access to medical facilities. When this definition found a verbal articulation in the group, everyone’s faces lit up as though they had just seen a pleasant dream. This was the dream of a happy village dreamt by the youth of India, dream of the poor living in seven hundred thousand villages of our country.
It is indeed sad that after so many years of independence the rural masses in our country have remained deprived of drinking water, primary education and primary healthcare. To an extent these questions even bother the poor in the cities. But the situation in the villages is far worse. In the fifty years of my life I have seen that the boundaries of the cities are slowly expanding to include the villages situated close to them; and these villages are getting caught into the horror of existence in the city slums. As small villages become big they start imitating the cities. But in the end they continue to exist as underprivileged small towns. The quality of education in their schools and colleges is substandard. The quality of clinical care is also far from desirable. In the midst of dirt, sickness and unemployment they wait forever in vain for development to come their way.
When an imaginary foreigner comes out after landing at the Mumbai or Delhi airport, the first thing that strikes him or her is the stench in the air. It is an ordeal for one to finally arrive at their destination in an air-conditioned hotel or flat. When the person travels outside the metropolises, he comes across uncultivable land stretching on both sides of the railway tracks for hundreds of kilometers. When he arrives in a small town, he realizes that these so-called small towns have an alarming density of population. Every place is infested with mosquitoes, and the electricity supply is extremely unreliable. The railway stations are enveloped in stench and show the sorry sight of helpless people gathered there in search of a temporary shelter... When one continues the journey one arrives in the countryside where villages are overflowing with poorly planned cement houses built in imitation of city-dwellings, where open gutters flow near the vegetable vendors’ carts and grocery stores, and where puddles and potholes on roads steadily breed mosquitoes. From here, when one goes still further one will start noticing tiny villages, villages which are linked with narrow dirt roads but which look favorably upon agricultural activity. Upon looking at the villager’s clothes, faces and houses our imaginary traveler may be led into thinking that these villages have recently experienced a major natural disaster. This travelogue of our imaginary traveler is quite unsettling; but is it far from the truth about our country?
Some may argue that this picture is superficial and biased. Why doesn’t this hypothetical traveler focus on the progress we have made? There is some substance to this argument. Side by side with the squalor and poverty, our country is experiencing a rapid advent of an economic revolution. Its print can be found on the billboards of every city. The signboards on the broken buses of our State Transportation Corporation suggest to us the great deeds accomplished by the government. The clubs and air-conditioned convention centers in cities like Mumbai, Delhi and Ahmedabad give us a taste of this revolution. The credit cards that are widely circulated by most banks bear the signature of this revolution. The English language newspapers printed on pink paper, focusing on economic issues, emit the sweet scent of this revolution. The cars, refrigerators and changing tones and tunes from cell phones used by the upper middle class fill our ears with the music of this revolution. The magical insignia of an American visa in a person’s passport as life’s most precious achievement preoccupies their entire mental universe of the class benefited by the new revolution. Can this be an economic revolution? Can this at all be our ultimate claim to development?
When my Adivasi friends created their definition of development, I saw in their eyes, just once or twice, a question mark. The question was ‘Is it likely that we will stand the risk of missing out on the economic revolution happening elsewhere if we take up the cause of this newly defined development?’ “What if we never get an opportunity to satisfy our desire for economic well-being through the new economic revolution?”
My students and I continued our discussions, thinking and work. There were moments when I feared that perhaps under my influence they are concealing their remaining natural instinct of material greed. I even feared for a while that the communication between them and me would snap because of the ‘unnaturalness of the ideas in our experiment’. At times I wondered if I was forcing them on a path that they never wanted to take, or else, whether they would suddenly turn away from this new and meaningful definition of rural development, which they have created for themselves. But at the same time when I saw their enthusiasm in discussion and action, I felt reassured that these were extremely creative and committed activists. They were illuminated from within. The world’s greatest illusions shall not influence them. I became convinced that I was not their teacher; rather they were, collectively, my guide.
After a lot of thought, I decided to put down on paper all the ideas that had come up in our discussion during these two years of discussion and work together. When there is a storm raging all around, how long can a small candle continue to provide light? If I write the thoughts developed at the Tejgadh Academy, then maybe they will inspire someone all over again.
At this juncture I feel it appropriate to say something about my adivasi student friends with whom I have mapped new ideas of development. It may be necessary to understand the circumstances in which the creators of these ideas live in order to appreciate the gravity of their ideas.
Naginbhai Rathwa, Narayanbhai Rathwa, and Govindbhai Rathwa are residents of Tejgadh’s Hardaspur quarters. Naginbhai and Narayanbhai are not even twenty-five years old and Govindbhai is perhaps four or five years elder to them. All three have a B.A. degree. All three of them have the ability to organize major events with very little outside help. They are all taciturn. A peculiar adivasi intellect glimmers in their eyes. Naginbhai had once wished to renounce everything and become a sanyasi. Now he is anxious to work for the benefits of the adivasi society; but he wants to stay away from politics. He stands tall and has a very expressive smile. Narayanbhai has a poet’s sensibility. He is interested in literature and literary activities, and believes in doing everything in a disciplined manner. Govindbhai is simple as a saint in everything. He is always happy as though there is an unending source of music within him. He reminds me of Narsi Mehta. I always feel compelled to pull him out of his musical trysts.
Shaklabhai, Vireshbhai, and Gumanbhai Rathwa are from the Panwad area. Shaklabhai’s village is Shihada which is close to Panwad. He is very cheerful. Like a trainee soldier, his excitement in things new is tempered by self-control. He is very perceptive and is a perennially willing volunteer for good work. Vireshbhai is comparatively gentler. His eyes bear a question mark tainted by modernity. His mind is always lost in thought and tormented by ethical dilemmas, he is very knowledgeable about Adivasi cultural history; but at the same time he is also pre-occupied with the deprivation that has come as a result of this cultural past. At a very young age, Gumanbhai came in contact with Christian culture because of which his style of posing questions is very different from that of the others. He is a committed volunteer. But because of economic difficulties he is always under mental stress, which sometimes drives him to the verge of insanity. He is extremely generous and, like Govindbhai, never gets angry.
There is another Naginbhai. To differentiate him from the Naginbhai from Hardaspur we refer to him as Naginbhai C. Rathwa. Naginbhai is older and as a result is more experienced. His manner of working is extremely disciplined and flawless. Had he been in Mumbai he would have been an administrator in some corporation. Nagin C. Rathwa would perhaps never have a pending file on his table. Hemsinghbhai Rathwa is probably the same age as Naginbhai C. Rathwa and exhibits an extraordinary political awareness. His eyes are always red. I had earlier assumed that due to his habit of excessive thinking he is unable to sleep soundly. Later I realized that he is suffering from an eye disease. I have in my mind an imaginary picture of Hemsinghbhai some years from now: He is pouring over books until late night under a solar lamp, bespectacled and worried about how to create a just and fair society; his chequered shirt is unruffled by the slow breeze.
Manharbhai Rathwa is striving hard in very unfavorable conditions to get his village of Moti-Amrol to become self-reliant. He has good awareness of changes in the political and cultural climate. He fights for the rights of Adivasis. The brightness in his eyes comes, as if it were, from the Adivasi’s ancestral skills of handling pointed arrows.
Rajendrabhai Variya is ever ready to spread happiness despite personal grief. When he gets into the gear of setting up a health-camp one gets the impression that a European doctor has come to serve the villages. The dominant characteristic in Rajendrabhai’s nature is the spirit of service. Whenever a feeling of pride surfaces in him, he readily turns towards serving people as a curative measure. He is very resourceful and trustworthy.
Vasantbhai Rathwa is a resident of Tejgadh. He is highly intelligent and at the same time has the gift of articulating his observations in logical detail. He doesn’t get easily influenced by anyone. He arrives at his own reasons and has the patience to implement his decisions. He likes to look at modernity with an open mind. He strives to be able to give adivasi children a good education.
Manishabhen Variya is also from Tejgadh. Had she lived in the city she would have become a professor in a college. She has a M. A degree. In the last three or four years she has organized women’s savings groups and has been able to easily raise a seemingly impossible one and half million rupees. She is a shining example of what a committed woman can do towards the benefit of society.
Shailesh Patel, came to Tejgadh from Panchmahal’s Kothamba area. He has a charismatic personality. He believes in his inherent duty of doing good work. He is a great organizer and a good speaker. Sometimes he gets emotional on seeing the sorrows of others. Kantibhai Vasava is from the Narmada district. He wants to progress in a career in the teaching field. He has good knowledge of history and political systems.
All these students were my teachers. What follows is a documentation of what we as a group have thought through our work together at the Adivasi Academy at Tejgadh.
.
4.
Development is a ceaseless process. Families and the society decide new benchmarks at every stage of development; only if we work towards these goals can there be continuous development. The nature of a river is to keep flowing; the same is true for development. The beginning of development comes from the definite feeling of bringing about a change in a person, family and the society. If people do not have the desire to bring about this change, then how will development happen? The beginning of development is in the mind of a person.
To bring about development doesn’t mean to acquire more consumer goods or to gain more wealth. Development means to become free and fearless.
Real development is that which comes from within. That which comes from outside is called help.The strength of a person who becomes dependent on outside help goes on diminishing; and with just outside help how can development happen? The one which comes from within and uplifts the human being and society alike is the real development.
There is a very old rule of the world: Things change, they keep changing continuously. In some countries society keeps changing very fast. Isn’t it true that in comparison to them if one’s speed of change is less then all will say “you are not developed”, “you are backward”? But what is backwardness? Who decides that a certain society is backward? This is also a question to ponder on.
No man, society or country is backward from the beginning. When a society or man stop thinking about its development and prefers to stay like a herd of sheep then the speed of development decreases and backwardness creeps in. Also the more powerful countries consider the countries which are economically less prosperous as backward for reasons of monetary benefits, or for the purpose of exploitation. Truly speaking backwardness is not the name of a given condition of a society. It is not a proper description of a given society. It is a perception resulting from the need of economic competition. But development is a specific condition of a society. It is the proper word to describe a society. In the word “development” there is no feeling of comparison. Nor should there be any such notion.
What is development? How to bring about development? Who will cause it? Where do we start this development from? The feeling of comparison should have no role to play in any thinking about development. Because the activity which may be good for one village may not be development for some other village. In fact, it can become the cause of its destruction. Every river flows; but have you ever seen two rivers flow alike? Development is realization of ‘self’ strength that is conducive to man, family and the society.
Development doesn’t happen by imitating others. By copying the villages the cities will not develop; and by copying the cities the villages cannot develop. The nature of villages is of one kind and that of the cities is of a different kind. The villages in our ancestor’s times were so good. Full of greenery and with lots of water. The cattle used to get good fodder in those days. Human beings used to get good meals and a place to stay. Everyone’s farming was doing well. There were no fights. There was unity. Everyone respected each other. Who created such beautiful villages? With what means? With what intentions? In every village one could hear songs and see dances. The people who composed these songs and dances before us were living in such bliss! What is it that they had but we do not have?
Did they have a lot of farming land? Did they have a lot of money and silver? Were they more intelligent than us? More and less – these words have absolutely no connection with development. We have schools, hospitals, and means of transportation, fertilizers to spray in farms, newspapers, radios, and new laws to fight the caste system. Did they have all these? More and less – these words really don’t have any relation to development.
It is not true that hunger gives rise to sadness and wealth produces happiness. Greed is the cause of unhappiness and happiness comes from the feeling of fulfilling our duty. The corn bread which we make today is the same bread that our ancestors used to eat. Then how come they were so happy and we are not? The reason is that greed has become legitimized now. Everywhere in this world an atmosphere of increasing greed has developed. The habit of acquiring more and more of everything is spreading in all directions. The trend of acquiring things we don’t need and to collect such unnecessary things is spreading everywhere. Our ancestors had the sensibility of knowing what is necessary and what is not. We have lost that quality. Our ancestors were happier than us not because they had “more” but because of their good sense. Development means having that good sense.
Comparison with one another and competition with other societies and countries has increased greed because the fruits of hard work have vanished from there. Not just to accumulate capital, but to maintain and increase it unlimitedly is what they consider production. In their eyes the greed for more means production. Not to have such greed means that a society has not progressed. Wouldn’t those who follow them also be called greedy?
To satisfy our greed, more and more things have to be manufactured. To do the work of humans, machines have to be built. The value of a human being has become even less than that of a machine. A human being is what we get easily by paying money for labor, as if one were some slow moving machine bought for exploitation. To sell these extra products new experiments have to be developed. New markets have to be created. We have to market and advertise those products. Then in the advertisements there is no need to decide what the truth is and what fiction is. If they get money for their products then their purpose is fulfilled. Those who hesitate to call their own mother their mother and their father, father; instead of teaching humanity to bullocks those who keep humans like bullocks, those who gather food in spite of not being hungry, such people with greed for far more than they need, are they sensible or vicious?..…Viciousness is not development. Sensibility is development.
Countries with unlimited greed create new markets by making other countries their slaves; they cripple other parts of the humanity. This is not just greed but an act of violence. These countries with the help of big wars create fights among various nations and in those wars they sell the arms and ammunitions made by them. Who is going to develop from this? By this, only war, violence and riots will increase. Should we call them developed or should we call them destructive?
To satisfy hunger food is required. In spite of having enough food and grains in the country as well as in the world, nearly thirty percent of our population is under-fed, the people are hungry. Is this development or destruction? The world is gripped by global politics of hunger. On one side there are mountains of grains and food while on the other side there are rivers of tears from starving people….such is today’s world. Is this development or destruction? Is this progress or regress? Those who do not call their mother as mother or father as father, how can they respect nature?
Due to unlimited greed they exploit nature in every way and in every place. The birds are getting suffocated in the air polluted by them; the fishes are getting scorched in the water polluted by them. Trees are getting alienated from their roots – the earth is getting destroyed by their poisonous fertilizers, even becoming extinct, but their greed does not show signs of diminishing. How can they be called civilized? How can development happen without fresh air and clear water, healthy roots and peaceful minds? And development of what? Does this pollution mean development for mankind or death for nature?
We have heard that a lot of education brings about development. This is true. But where education is not a wealth of thoughts, where the children don’t learn anything but get tired due to the burden of books and tension from exams, where childhood is lost altogether in the anxiety of securing one’s adulthood, can this be called education? Is there any room for knowledge where people cheat in colleges sitting on the last benches in their exams and earn their degree certificates? That education which is finally of no use, which has no connection with practical life, what kind of education is that? Does such education lead to development or wipe away whatever intelligence that is left?
We see that in the desire for development our youth have started going towards the city. We know how little they are respected there. The young men and women who leave for cities stay there till they become old. They pay no attention to the village. They do not give their earnings to help anybody and on top of that they tell us “Brother start developing, start developing.” So what should we say to them and what at all can we learn from them?
5.
There was a village.
The air there was not polluted.
The water there was not polluted.
The yield from its farms was good even by using natural manure.
The young people stayed on in the village itself instead of going to cities and they said, “Why should we imitate the city life? Why don’t we make our village like the city so that we don’t have to migrate?”
The farmers living in the village were surprised. They said, “Children, why are you harboring such foolish thoughts? Now the times have changed. It is essential for you to go to the city. How else can your sons and daughters go to America and England? Forget this dhoti and kurta (long shirt). Leave the bow and arrow. Do not touch the plough. Wear trousers and a shirt and hold the college admission letters in your hands. Sit in a bus or a tractor and get to the city. After that it’s you and your fate.”
The youth replied, “Elders, it is our wish to do farming. Let the admission letter be where it is. We will read the books staying here. After a few days we will set up a computer learning centre here itself. There are power cuts so often, so we will build our own generator. The terrain here is so hilly so we’ll build check-dams. After the monsoon is over we will take a second crop, we will grow vegetables. We will educate the children ourselves by staying here in the village. The yield from the crops will increase. We can get back the jewelry mortgaged with the moneylender. During the festive season we will sing and dance. The women folk know so many songs; we will listen to them. If outsiders come to impart wisdom to us then we will tell them “We are happy to listen to you. But you too must listen to what we have to say, Sir. We too have been thinking…”
Everyone was surprised. What is this! A fever never seen or heard of before has taken hold of their minds... All the youth replied in one voice “This is the new outlook to development”
6
There was another village. This village used to get the benefit of each and every subsidy from the government. If the government floated some water-harvesting programs, then immediately a hand pump would be made available in this village. Every year during the “forest festival” new trees would be planted ritually by the Forest Department. Whenever the government officials planned a visit, they would definitely visit this village. Gradually it so happened that the farmers started to wait every year for the time when new plans and policies were announced. They knew that during a loan fair, eight or ten preferred persons from the village would surely get a loan. And there would be no consequences if they were unable to repay the loan. When the hand pump broke down there would be a fight between the persons whom the leaders favored and those whom they did not favor. Gradually it so happened that the non-favored persons didn’t get anything while the favored persons took away everything.
This continued for many years. But then the government itself had a shortage of funds. Then it was decided that every farmer had to pay for the electricity. It was also decided to stop the subsidy. “There were no new policies or plans and there was no path ahead” – such was the worry of the village.
The youth there said “Now in this village the big question of earning daily bread has arisen. We should go to the city and find some kind of job or work there as laborers and earn a living for ourselves. It is better if the children and old people stay in the village itself”. These young men and women went off to the city. Even today we can see them toiling in every area of the city. But their children are still playing in the dirt and growing up without any hope of a better life.
7.
Development means thoughtfulness. Development means good sense. Without self-reliance, without standing on our own feet it is meaningless to even talk about development. The paucity of resources can also be reduced by thoughtfulness and good sense. Even if the land is rocky, it is possible to cultivate crops with the help of new agricultural techniques. Even if the rainfall is less or there is a shortage of water, it is possible to provide water by hard work. Even when the subsidies coming from outside are cut down or stop completely, there is still a sign of hope. Once that has been decided it is possible to create a new life in the village itself. Everything is possible but we will have to work hard for it.
Nature is more important than humans. The society is more important than a person. If an individual thinks first about the development of the society, then the individual’s progress is also bound to happen at the same time. If we protect the environment, then we can solve human health problems. We have to think about all this. Development means to distinguish between good and bad.
To think or to share thoughts is not like daydreaming. Every village has different problems. For each one of these problems the solutions have to be found. If the problem is of debt then small savings schemes have to be made. Through these schemes one can surely become debt-free. If the problem is of water scarcity then we have to create a water harvesting cooperative. We have to build dams. Somehow we will have to save every drop of rainwater. If the dowry amount is very high then all have to decide together to reduce it. If the red tape and bureaucracy in the government are impeding our plans we will have to work towards getting the wheels moving again. We must make the most out of the government schemes that help us in making ourselves self-reliant. In every type of community work we must show honesty. We have to talk about every problem - with patience, courage and clarity.
Combining thoughtfulness and good sense means freeing ourselves from the addiction to bad habits. The reason behind it is that bad habits are born from unreasonable thoughts. We should not be violent because the reason for violence is tangled thinking. We must reduce our wants in life because they increase the enmity between us. Utilize time fruitfully because the time that passes never returns. We must trust every individual alike as inequality between upper and lower class is not good for development. The tribal villages must decide to abolish caste system because injustice happens due to these differences. How much will it cost to do all this? It will not cost a single rupee. By not doing all these things how much would we have to pay? As much as this so called sophisticated world has paid, and a lot more.
8
I’ll tell you a story.
There was a city. Dirty. Overflowing gutters. Illegal money existed in every home. The people there were very proud and greedy. They were afraid of speaking the truth but could tell lies without hesitation. The city had big roads; and thousands of cars running on these roads contributed to the noise, pollution and dust.
Slowly the city started falling sick. The sickness would not let it sleep at night. The thoughts of the sins it had committed would startle it and wake it up at night. Because of that its hunger started increasing. No matter how much it ate; its hunger would not be satiated. Its favorite food was land. That is why the sick city started eating more and more land adjacent to it. The villages around it also slowly started falling sick.
Far away from this city, behind the mountains there was an adivasi village. This was the same village whose youth had shared their new vision with their elders. The village had now become self reliant. The city started calling out to the village, “Why don’t you join me also? My hunger won’t go away until I consume you.”
Although the village was small it had a lot of self-confidence. So this village replied clearly, “Brother, you are sick yourself. Your sins have increased manifolds. You won’t be satisfied even after eating me. That is why listen to me. Learn something from me. I may be your younger sister, but I have earned the habit of hard work and my good sense through a lot of effort. I am willing to give them to you. With that your hunger and illness will both go away. From then on you will be freed from this sickness and insomnia”. The city felt that if by following the village, there was a possibility of getting rid of its sickness then it should listen to what the village had to say. It may be small in size but in thoughts this village looks to be venerable.
So the city asked, “My sister from the mountains, what are your new ideas? The Adivasi village replied, “the new idea is development’. The city said, “But that thing in plastic covers sent from America and England, isn’t that development?” The village replied, “Big brother, what comes from outside, and is given as loan, how can that be development? Development has to be initiated from within. The city felt for the first time that perhaps there was a cure to its illness.
9
Development means increase in self confidence, thoughts and ideas. These have to be achieved ourselves. If we all become creative and start thinking for ourselves, then our villages too will be simple and happy.
Everyone will have to start thinking of various non-conventional methods available for improving one’s economy. We have been farmers, and if there is no farming then we are laborers. The question of irrigation for our crops will have to be solved without help from anyone. If four or five farmers get together, then even with their own labor, they will easily be able to build a well. At the same time there are many experiments to try to collect rainwater and increase the level of water. It is important to get that information and to implement it. There is no cost to this; no one’s permission is required. We can do it ourselves.
To keep our houses, our neighborhood and our villages clean is in our hands. To keep planting more and more trees, to water and nurture these plants is our duty. If all the men or women of a village get together and make this decision then in a span of two years the whole village will be lush green. There is no need for more water to do this. Using the drip system of irrigation, a few buckets of water per day is sufficient for every household to do all this. No one will come from outside to do this work. We will have to do it ourselves; we should do it ourselves.
It is very natural for fights to erupt within the village. But we will have to devise ways in which to resolve these fights so that we don’t waste money on lawyers, courts and police. Besides whatever money we save from these legal pursuits can be used for the benefit of the village.
Every year we have to spend money to buy seeds, fertilizers and sprays. We can conveniently purchase these things in wholesale if we get together. Everyone will also save a little money. Every one should have the power to save, so that saving groups can extend loans in times of need. And slowly it will be possible to start small businesses and professions related to agriculture.
It is everyone’s duty to ensure that each child in the village goes to school. If every child starts learning then it will become a thoughtful individual, will be able to live and prosper in the contemporary world.
These are not small challenges. This is precisely what development is. No one’s assistance is required to achieve this. Take this decision on your own. We will have to do this courageously. Only from seemingly minor achievements, self reliant homes, self reliant villages, and a self reliant country will emerge.
Self reliance is the only real road to development. Once we make the decision to become self-reliant and try everything within our means to achieve it, it will not take long to achieve complete and holistic development. No political system in the world can stop us if we make this decision.
I suppose these thoughts from my adivasi friends will be beneficial to the larger world.
Vikas Vichar
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