| |
Back
Gandhi's
Views
& Work For Village Development
Revival of Village Industries
In a nutshell, of the things we use,
we should restrict our purchases to the articles which villages manufacture.
Their manufactures may be crude. We must try to induce them to improve their
workmanship, and not dismiss them because foreign articles or even articles
produced in cities, that is, big factories, are superior. In other words, we
should evoke the artistic talent of the villager. In this manner shall we repay
somewhat the debt we owe to them. We need not be frightened by the thought
whether we shall ever succeed in such an effort. Within our own times we can
recall instances where we have not been baffled by the difficulty of our tasks
when we have known that they were essential for the nation’s progress. If,
therefore, we as individuals believe that revivification of India’s villages is
a necessity of our existence, if we believe that thereby only can we root out
untouchability and feel one with all, no matter to what community or religion
they may belong, we must mentally go back to the villages and treat them as our
pattern, instead of putting the city life before them for imitation. If this is
the correct attitude, then, naturally, we begin with ourselves and thus use,
say, handmade paper instead of mill-made, use village reed, wherever possible,
instead of the fountain pen or the penholder, ink made in the villages instead
of the big factories, etc. I can multiply instances of this nature. There is
hardly anything of daily use in the home which the villagers have not made
before and cannot make even now. If we perform the mental trick and fix our gaze
upon them, we immediately put millions of rupees into the pockets of the
villagers, whereas at the present moment we are exploiting the villagers without
making any return worth the name.
Hanjan,
30-11-1934.
|
|
 |