Gandhian Ideas: His Days and Ours

Abstract

A large section of the world population continues to live in hunger, starvation, malnutrition, deplorable living conditions with unsafe drinking water, inadequate health amenities and lack of proper education. The fear and uncertainty associated with the COVID-19 pandemic have resulted in the loss of lives and livelihoods for a large number of poor and vulnerable persons, pushing them deeper into the confines of poverty. It is in times such as these that Gandhian thoughts are popularly invoked by Gandhi’s followers. The present study is an attempt to revisit the Gandhian perspective on the development of the Indian economy. It intends to capture and crystallise his socio-economic ideas on the wide expanse of issues in a comprehensive manner. These are systematically encapsulated in six Ends: employment, emancipation, equality and egalitarianism, environment, ethics and education. Further, the study goes on to discuss Gandhi’s economic prescriptions to achieve these six ends. Furthermore, it attempts to categorise the Gandhian methods into one of three states—alive, ailing or abandoned—based on their current usefulness. Additionally, if the status turns out to be failing or abandoned, it aims to provide a nearby current approach that can appropriately fit in Gandhi’s vision without being dismissed as being too far-fetched.