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How government is promoting self-delusion, not self-reliance, in post-Covid India

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Prem Kumar
Prem KumarJun 11, 2020 | 13:49

How government is promoting self-delusion, not self-reliance, in post-Covid India

The resurgence of a new kind of feudalism, under the garb of economic nationalism, might lead to a socio-economic crisis.

In his fifth address to the nation on May 12, Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi exhorted us to strive towards achieving self-reliance (aatmanirbharta) in order to fight the raging pandemic. His idea of self-reliance is apparently distinct from that of self-sufficiency which stands on five pillars — economy, infrastructure, technology, demography and demands. Modi claimed that India has converted crisis into opportunity by giving the example of indigenous manufacturing of PPE kits. He urged the people to make the 21st century an ‘Indian Century’ by focusing on local manufacturing and by believing in the Indian maxim of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (the world is but one family). This was not the first time Mr Modi talked of self-reliance. His earlier ‘Make in India’ slogan is somewhat similar.

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This was not the first time Mr Modi talked of self-reliance. His earlier ‘Make in India’ slogan is somewhat similar. (Photo: Reuters)

There might be different ideas of self-reliance depending upon one’s vantage point. Politicians, economists, technocrats — all have their own vantage points to see the world. Being a student of the subject, my vantage point is certainly history. History is not a mere subject of curricular study. It is an understanding of historical situations, processes and phenomena that can be used to understand the present-day scenarios. When we look for the past manifestations of the idea of self-reliance, one remarkable historical event that strikes us the most is the Swadeshi Movement of 1905.

The Swadeshi, or nationalist movement, was the first successful self-reliance revolution of the pre-Gandhian phase. The movement started with the planned partition of Bengal by Lord Curzon in 1905. The Swadeshi Movement was primarily aimed at attaining economic independence from the British Empire. It adopted a strategy of boycotting foreign goods in order to hamper British economic interests on the one hand, and reviving domestic manufacturing, on the other. On August 7, 1905, a resolution on boycott was passed at Calcutta Town Hall. People not only boycotted the British items, but also celebrated the burning of clothes and picketing of shops, and socially boycotted the people who sold foreign goods. The demand for domestic goods increased manifold so that it gave great impetus to nascent Indian industries. The situation was well capitalised by Bombay and Ahmadabad-based textile mills. Several new mills, factories, insurance companies and banks were set up to achieve the goal of economic self-reliance. Bengal Institute of Technology was created, funds were raised, and students were sent to Japan for advanced learning. During the heyday of Swadeshi Movement, Rabindranath Tagore composed the song “Amar Sonar Bangla” (My Golden Bengal), 10 lines of which became the national anthem of Bangladesh after its independence from Pakistan in 1971. The success of the movement was deeply rooted in reasserting national dignity, self-respect and confidence in the socio-economic regeneration of the nation.

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Swadeshi Movement was primarily aimed at attaining economic independence from the British Empire. (Photo: Getty Images)

Self-reliance can also be understood as self-sufficiency in another kind of historical understanding. Left-leaning historians have characterised the early medieval period (c. 600-1200 AD) of Indian history as that of feudalism, distinguished by a self-sustaining rural economy based on a combination of agrarian and handicraft production. With the eclipse of Roman trade in the post-Gupta period (c. 6th century onwards), urban centres declined. A backward movement towards the village economy started leading to the emergence of a closed village economy. More and more areas were brought under the plough, more and more people mainly the lower orders — the Shudras — were exploited for agricultural expansion. More and more land grants gave rise to the intermediary class of landlords, leading to more taxes, forced labour, and oppression of the peasantry. Villages became self-sufficient and self-sufficiency became the essence of Indian feudalism.

Problematising the situation is a major concern of the historical method. These two historical epochs of self-reliance must be kept in mind in the process of becoming self-sufficient. The idea of Swadeshi has been harnessed well by Baba Ramdev to create a successful business model. But in the era of globalisation, achieving self-reliance would be as novel a target as fighting the novel Coronavirus. The toughest task would be to do away with the habitual dependence on foreign goods, especially when our markets are flooded with such manufactures ranging from sophisticated defence and communication technologies to mundane items of domestic use. If some trends seen today are to continue, the post-Covid economic situation in India would perhaps be quite different from the pre-Covid one. Villages are being repopulated, rather crowded, with the massive influx of unemployed labourers from cities. Initiatives are being undertaken to not only salvage but also revitalise MSMEs. Boycotting Chinese goods and technical applications is being loudly called for on the social media platforms, and even perhaps practised by some. Prima facie, the dynamics of socio-economic relations in the post-Covid situation, thus, would no longer remain the same. Land reforms are a distant dream though.

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The idea of Swadeshi has been harnessed well by Baba Ramdev to create a successful business model. (Photo: Reuters)

The resurgence of this new kind of feudalism under the garb of economic nationalism might even lead to a socio-economic crisis. How to tap and channelise the nation’s resources towards achieving self-reliance will be a great challenge for policymakers. Raising slogans and resorting to rhetoric is one thing, and strategising and acting on it, is another. In the post-independence era, a number of slogans were raised by successive governments and political class, but only a few could be realised. When Meiji Restoration took place in Japan in 1868, Meiji leaders raised the slogan Fukoku Kyohei (enrich the county, strengthen the army). This slogan and, more importantly, the programme of all-round modernisation accompanying it had such a transformative impact on that poor feudal country that it became a veritable world power in less than 40 years, taking on and even outpacing the West by the early 20th century.

For India, the first quarter of the 21st century is about to elapse, and about three-quarters of a century have already been expended in conjuring up and harping on the idea of self-reliance. It now remains to be seen whether the political, entrepreneurial and mercantile classes have the will, wherewithal and strategy to materialise this elusive dream.

Last updated: July 06, 2020 | 14:31
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