I was attracted more by the
subtitle of this book which reads: “A quest for a social order based on
non-violence”. Ecoenthusiasts, ecocritics and nature lovers alike have constantly emphasised the need for the creation
of an ecocentric social order/world view that would be an alternative paradigm
for the environmental problems of today. In the same vein, an alternative economic-social order based on non-violence merits a serious reading in itself, and more so, because, in today's world scenario, no economist would dare talk or write on such a topic, which, for him would be tabooo to the core!
The highlight of the book, is that, the
great M. K. Gandhi himself has written the foreword for his close friend, with his signature affixed below it, and the words “On the train to Bombay, 20-8-1945” beside it.
Now, a few thoughts started disrupting my reading process. And, it so happened that, I discussed my thoughts on this book, at length with a few of my good colleagues, who augmented my 'apprehensions' in this regard. Hence this blogpost!
First of all, the plethora of
knowledge emanated by these two great
visionaries and captured in these books, reflect, the sincerity and commitment of
two great minds of the past, towards the cause of nation-building. In days when
telephones and other communication facilities were quite a rarity, here are two great
scholars with single-minded devotion planning and dreaming together with the nation’s progress as their goal, through hand-written letters. The various letters exchanged between the two stalwarts speak volumes, not only to their friendship, but also to their patriotic fervour that served as the impetus for their enthusiasm and the economic upliftment of the nation.
scholars with single-minded devotion planning and dreaming together with the nation’s progress as their goal, through hand-written letters. The various letters exchanged between the two stalwarts speak volumes, not only to their friendship, but also to their patriotic fervour that served as the impetus for their enthusiasm and the economic upliftment of the nation.
Secondly, it gave me a hypothetical guesswork.
What if a politician and an economist were to converse on the same lines today?
Would it be as noble as their predecessors? Or would it degenerate into the
mundane and the ridiculous? Or, would they even have the time at their bidding
to discuss such futuristic goals with single-minded devotion? (Kindly click on this LINK for the hand-written letters of Bapuji to his intellectual circle of friends).
Thirdly, it makes me wonder how
politicians, statesmen and economists of the good old past had the courage to use writing as a
weapon to put forth their ideas for the betterment of the human race. It is
said that, Francis Bacon’s novel New Atlantis was instrumental in shaping
modern education to a great extent, with the formation of a Society for
Science. Its impact on education has been phenomenal. Similarly, an academic,
by putting ideas to paper, not only shares his ideas, but also contributes to
the existing body of knowledge in his/her own little way, thereby encouraging
healthy debates. The Art of Writing today has taken a severe beating, to the extent that it has become a commodity, where ghost writers are in great demand in almost every field of inquiry. Academics
write to get increments/career advancements. Journalists write, to get paid.
Freelancers write - paid by being weighed with words. Students write to get a
pass or sometimes to get good marks. Children today find it difficult to write one sentence on their own. They need either their parents or their teachers (or more so the great grand daddy of information - google.com) for secure solace in times of 'calamity.'
Hence, writing, for the sake of writing, (like art for the
sake of art) has become a rarity in today’s fast-paced world. Although one
might argue that, in those days, not many inventions were there, and people did
not have much to do, and so they had the time to write, my question is,
today, technology has saved us a lotttt of time as far as transportation,
communication etc are concerned. What do we do, with the huge amount of time
thus saved? (a privilege which our ancestors did not have?) This is one other
reason, I admire these literary, philosophical giants of the past. Take the
case of our own Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, (the former President of India) an illustrious alumnus of MCC, who has a
way with words, and whose works have the aura that transcends time and touches hearts and minds alike, with its profound yet pragmatic philosophy, or J.K
whose views on education are simply path-breaking and astounding, to say the
least.
With this notion of mine that
kept me glued to JCK (Dr.J.C.Kumarappa), I thought of reproducing excerpts from
Section One of his book Economy of
Permanence, titled NATURE - the book that has inspired me of late. [I am
typing it out here, since I found to my utter disbelief and profound sadness that,
even the most effective search engines
fail to crawl these gems anywhere from the World Wide Web!]
‘Full many a gem of purest ray
serene’ from our great motherland like Dr. J.C.Kumarappa, are not remembered,
nor are they given celebrity status in the world arena, and hence the world
outside India, is under an illusion that the only economist from India is Amartya
Sen, and that too because he won the Nobel!
Ignominy to the core…!!!!!
Now, here’s to Chapter I of the
book:
 |
| Dr.J.C.Kumarappa with Bapuji (Photo Courtesy: dinodia.com) |
SECTION ONE
NATURE
There are certain things found in
Nature which apparently have no life and do not grow or increase, and so get
exhausted or consumed by being used.
The world possesses a certain
stock or reservoir of such materials as coal, petroleum, ores ore minerals like
iron, copper, gold, etc. These being available in fixed quantities, may be said
to be ‘transient’ while the current of overflowing water in a river or the constantly
growing timber of a forest may be considered ‘permanent’ as their stock is
inexhaustible in the service of man when only the flow or increase is taken
advantage of.
In animate life, the secret of
nature’s permanency lies in the cycle of life by which the various factors
function in close cooperation to maintain continuity of life. A grain of wheat
falls from the parent plant. A grain of wheat falls from the parent plant. It
gets buried in the earth, sends out roots into the soil and through them absorbs nutritive elements with the aid of moisture and the heat of the sun. It sprouts up into a plant by this process. The plant shoots out leaves which help to gather nourishment from the air and light, as the roots do from the soil. When some of these leaves 'die' they fall to the ground and are split up or decomposed into the various elements which the parent plant had absorbed from the soil, air, and light. This is again used to nourish the next generation of plants. The bees etc., while gathering the nectar and pollen from these plants for their own good, fertilize the flowers and the grains, that are formed in consequence, again become the source of life of the next generation of plants. When ready, this seed falls to the ground and comes to life with the help of the soil that has already been enriched by fallen leaves of the previous generation of plants. Thus a fresh cycle of life begins once again. In this manner, life in nature goes on, and as long as there is no break in this cycle, the work in nature continues endlessly, making nature permanent.
'Work' in nature consists in the effort put forth by the various factors - insentient and sentient - which cooperate to complete this cycle of life. If this cycle is broken, at any stage, at any time, consciously or unconsciously, violence results as a consequence of such a break. When violence intervenes in this way, growth or progress is stopped, ending finally in destruction and waste. Nature is unforgiving and ruthless. Therefore, self-interest and self-preservation demand complete non-violence, co-operation and submission to the ways of nature if we are to maintain permanency by non-interference with and by not short-circuiting the cycle of life.
Even sentient creatures have to fall in line and function properly in their own sphere if they are to exist. An earthworm by its movements in the earth, loosens the soil allowing it to absorb air and water. When it feed on the earth containing vegetable matter, it thoroughly mixes the various constituent parts in its stomach and throws out a well prepared and fertilised soil-worm casts - from which plants can draw their own nutriment between soil, plant and animal life similar to the one where bees and butterflies fertilise the flowers of plants.
In return for such services or 'work' done, the worker unit gets its feed. In this way nature pays its wages honestly in the form of food and nourishment in return for every benefit received by her in obtaining cooperation and bringing about coordination of the manifold factors - inanimate and animate - in air, land and water.
The life in the vegetable kingdom is immobile. The seeds can only fall directly below, near the parent plant or tree. If all seeds fall and germinate around the parent plant it will create a suffocating congestion. It is necessary to broadcast the seed further afield. To do this, nature commandeers the services of birds, animals, etc. Here the mobile creature performs a special function. A bird may eat the fruit of a plant and pass out the seed, perhaps miles away. It does this co-ordinating work as a part of its own existence and not as an obligation to anybody. It eats to satisfy its own hunger. While performing its own primary function it fulfils its role in the cycle of life.
In this manner nature enlists and ensures the co-operation of all its units, each working for itself and in the process helping other units to get along their own too - the mobile helping the immobile, and the sentient the insentient. Thus all nature is dovetailed together in a common cause. Nothing exists for itself. When this works out harmoniously and violence does not break the chain, we have an economy of permanence.
II
WORK AND WAGES IN NATURE
'Work' in nature consists in the effort put forth by the various factors - insentient and sentient - which cooperate to complete this cycle of life. If this cycle is broken, at any stage, at any time, consciously or unconsciously, violence results as a consequence of such a break. When violence intervenes in this way, growth or progress is stopped, ending finally in destruction and waste. Nature is unforgiving and ruthless. Therefore, self-interest and self-preservation demand complete non-violence, co-operation and submission to the ways of nature if we are to maintain permanency by non-interference with and by not short-circuiting the cycle of life.
Even sentient creatures have to fall in line and function properly in their own sphere if they are to exist. An earthworm by its movements in the earth, loosens the soil allowing it to absorb air and water. When it feed on the earth containing vegetable matter, it thoroughly mixes the various constituent parts in its stomach and throws out a well prepared and fertilised soil-worm casts - from which plants can draw their own nutriment between soil, plant and animal life similar to the one where bees and butterflies fertilise the flowers of plants.
In return for such services or 'work' done, the worker unit gets its feed. In this way nature pays its wages honestly in the form of food and nourishment in return for every benefit received by her in obtaining cooperation and bringing about coordination of the manifold factors - inanimate and animate - in air, land and water.
The life in the vegetable kingdom is immobile. The seeds can only fall directly below, near the parent plant or tree. If all seeds fall and germinate around the parent plant it will create a suffocating congestion. It is necessary to broadcast the seed further afield. To do this, nature commandeers the services of birds, animals, etc. Here the mobile creature performs a special function. A bird may eat the fruit of a plant and pass out the seed, perhaps miles away. It does this co-ordinating work as a part of its own existence and not as an obligation to anybody. It eats to satisfy its own hunger. While performing its own primary function it fulfils its role in the cycle of life.
In this manner nature enlists and ensures the co-operation of all its units, each working for itself and in the process helping other units to get along their own too - the mobile helping the immobile, and the sentient the insentient. Thus all nature is dovetailed together in a common cause. Nothing exists for itself. When this works out harmoniously and violence does not break the chain, we have an economy of permanence.
III
TYPES OF ECONOMIES IN NATURE
This complete non-violent cooperation between the various units is not always present in all forms of life. Some units, instead of passing through the different stages in nature drawing their sustenance from the elements and insentient creatures, short-circuit the long process by preying on their fellow creatures. Here too, violence interposes with its accompaniment of destruction.
1. Parasitic Economy: Some plants live on others and become parasites. Often the host tree, or plant, dies in consequence of all the nourishment drawn by its roots not reaching its various parts, as it is robbed on the way by the parasitic growth....
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