Mahatma’s dream in a digital world

Rightly stating that India lives in her villages, Mahatma Gandhi preached the idea of Gram Swaraj. To him this meant that the village would be almost completely self-sufficient as far its daily needs were concerned. Gram Swaraj also implied a vibrant and sensitive self-governance mechanism, which would ensure equitable development for the whole village.

We have swayed a great distance from the first goal.

With increased attention to Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) since the release of the 14^th Finance Commission report, there have been earnest attempts at achieving the second goal, which is visible in some pockets. But can these concepts be feasible in the new age of our digital world?

Does village self-reliance apply today?

Economic self-reliance was originally applied to isolated villages that suffered from poor physical connectivity, as well as an information black-outs. Although for a large number of villages, these problems are less oppressive than before.

The main argument in favour of the self-reliant village was that when local demand was met by local supply, income and wealth remained in the village and more people got jobs. The main economic argument against it was that it would create a stagnancy in the use of technology and that it curbed consumer preference.

Is it possible in today’s highly connected digital world to achieve the minimum wealth depletion and the high level of village employment without curbing consumer choice? If that can be achieved, it could help make Gandhi’s dream of self-reliant villages more possible.

Villages can feed urban markets

I believe the Gandhian goal is possible by encouraging informed economic exchange in which the village caters to current market demands outside the village by using digital platforms and improved connectivity with wider India. In turn the village acquires what it needs without excessively curbing consumer choice. This is possible since, in the hugely expanded domestic market, there are large segments that crave for simple, natural, “homemade” produce. This market’s only expectation is good hygiene and visual appeal.

Numerous such examples are available in the market – the most recent being the attractively packed and branded N95 masks manufactured by self-help groups (SHGs) in several villages. Intermediation by imaginative social enterprises would be necessary, but we do have a huge pool of creative and digitally savvy youth throughout the country that could be tapped.

With the establishment of a very large number of women self-help groups and their associated federal organizations, the social infrastructure for this is very much in place. There have been numerous attempts to enable these women collectives to take an active interest in this and to get the local administration more responsive and useful.

Synergy can make villages self-reliant

The 14^th and the 15^th Finance Commissions have ensured that a Gram Panchayat would have access to funds to propel village development. But administrative bottlenecks in state administrations, which hinder such money flow to the village panchayats, need to be tackled and the capacity of its personnel improved to ensure that available resources will, in fact, be designed to serve the local people.

The structure and policies are in place. The greatest contestation occurs around resources, such as forests and minerals in the village geographies. The state wishes to appropriate and use such resources. Mendha Lekha – the village known for establishing its rights on the forest around it – provides a solution to this, but one may say this could come in the second stage.

However, save for the power orientation of the lower and middle rungs of state bureaucracy, there is virtually no really justified and logical opposition to using funds meant for the panchayat on actual local development.  Should consistent efforts at establishing the mutually supportive triad of women collectives, PRI and local administration be achieved, this dimension would also be addressed.

So, while we find the literal interpretation of Gram Swaraj may not be popular in the current context, the spirit of Gram Swaraj is both desired and feasible.

And Village Square is working towards this end.

Sanjiv Phansalkar is the director of the VikasAnvesh Foundation in Pune. He was earlier a faculty member at the Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA). Phansalkar is a fellow of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad. Views are personal.