Question

Explain Gandhiji's idea of Swadeshi in economy

Answer 1

Heya...

Gandhi ji's idea of Swadeshi was..

They said that Britishers is strong because we r using their products which causes their earnings...

So we should use self made products means Swadeshi products by which our workers get employment and earnings and Britishers would loss their market in India....

Answer 2

Economic dimension of Swadeshi
Let us first look at the implications of swadeshi in the field of economics. Gandhi was convinced that the deep poverty prevailing among masses was mainly due to the ruinous departure from the path of swadeshi in the economic and industrial life. Gandhi advocated that one who follows the spirit of swadeshi should use only things that are produced by our immediate neighbours and serve those industries by making them efficient, and strengthen them in areas where they are found deficient. During the time of India's struggle for independence Gandhi realised that the economic salvation of India consists in encouraging and reviving indigenous industries. Gandhi found khadi as the necessary and most important corollary of the principle of swadeshi in its practical application to society. Khadi fulfils the kind of service envisaged in swadeshi. Gandhi himself asked the question:"What is the kind of service... the teeming millions of India most need at the present time, that can be easily understood and appreciated by all, that is easy to perform and will at the same time enable the crores of our semi-starved countrymen to live?'5 He found the answer, that it was universalising khadi or spinning wheel which fulfill these conditions. For him, khadi is the Sun of the village solar system. The various industries are the planets which can support khadi. Khadi mentality means decentralisation of production and distribution of the necessities of life. Gandhi advocated the concept of swadeshi in the spirit of universal love and service. A votary of swadeshi will give preference to local products even if they are of inferior grade or dearer in price than things manufactured elsewhere and try to remedy the defects of local manufacturers. Gandhi warned the votary of swadeshi against making it a fetish. "To reject foreign manufactures merely because they are foreign, and to go on wasting national time and money in the promotion in one's country of manufactures for which it is not suited, would be criminal folly, and a negation of the swadeshi spirit. A true votary of swadeshi will never harbour ill-will towards the foreigner: he will not be actuated by antagonism towards anybody on earth. Swadeshism is not a cult of hatred. It is a doctrine of selfless service that has its roots in the purest ahimsa, i.e. Love".6 In the swadeshi economic order there will be healthy exchange of products and not cut-throat competition through the play of market forces. Gandhi explains this ideal situation in the following words: "If we follow the swadeshi doctrine, it would be your duty and mine to find out neighbours who can supply our wants and to teach them to supply them where they do not know how to proceed, assuming that there are neighbours who are in want of healthy occupation. Then every village of India will almost be a self-supporting and selfcontained unit, exchanging only such necessary commodities with other villages where they are not locally producible."7 In such an economic system there will be an organic relationship between production, distribution and consumption.