The Relevance of Antyodaya in a Post-Pandemic Era

 

The Relevance of Antyodaya in a Post-Pandemic Era

 

Discussion on antyodaya is very important in any post epidemic or post pandemic situation and COVID-19 is no exception since it has hit almost all spheres of life and livelihood. COVID-19 is almost a shock treatment to the human society to make us realize that we've gone a long way in a wrong direction.  And moreover this situation also to tells us that the last person in the society is still suffering and is waiting for justice. This turmoil is not only particular to India but to the whole world cutting across geographical and political boundaries.  But when comparing India to other countries one could say that India is somewhat lucky not because of the mere modern medical or scientific or technological developments but because of the strong community ties that one still lingers on to.

In countries like India, we are somewhat lucky that we've a community to go back to, but imagine countries and cultures where communities are no more available there to support the fellow human being! In a rush for individual freedom and individual space we have destroyed communities in many countries. Even in India, we are in the process of destroying communities and villages in the name of development i.e., building cities.  Is this a development true in its sense?  Is it life furthering and life preserving? COVID-19 is asking us to rethink about our approach. I'm personally interested in this idea of 'antyodaya' because it is only through ‘antyodaya’ we can travel to 'sarvodaya' and achieve 'jai jagat'. If we achieve antyodaya, it is easy to achieve the other two. I'm only surprised why the Indian planners and thinkers have so much difficulty to understand this simple philosophy. I'm also surprised on how the thinkers and planners could understand and appreciate the idea of globalisation, marketisation, mechanisation and privatisation, while they miserably failed to understand antyodaya,sarvodaya and jai jagat. I strongly feel that the political leadership in every country should follow the direction of antyodaya, which will eradicate poverty and promote justice and peace. If you look at the dictionary meaning of politics, you'll understand that it is all about the art of organizing the society. But, rather than looking at politics as an art in organizing society, we've used it for capturing and abusing power.  For example, Anil Kapoor, head of the department of Asian studies, based in Pennsylvania, in an interview to an Indian newspaper, speaks about non-delivery of justice, due to insensitivity to the poor and their suffering. He says that it is of no use starting new departments and constructing new buildings, what is missing is the human sensitivity towards the poor and marginalized. COVID-19 has demonstrated the suffering of millions of poor people who are walking thousands of Kilometers to reach their homes. We need to respond to their call before it is too late. Gandhiji has given a complete direction that we can take if we want to address this problem. Let me put them into seven simple points:

 

1.    Gandhi speaks about the last man/woman. According to him, all our programmes and planning should focus on the last person in the society. In a family, the weakest will get our attention. In the same way, in society, the weakest should receive our attention. I'm told that Swami Vivekananda went a step ahead. In a discussion with the farmers from Punjab, he says, "As long as there is a dog hungry, my spirituality is to find food for that dog". This is the level of sensitivity that we need to develop among the planners, thinkers and implementers.

2.    Gandhi says, "What can be done by hand, should be done by hand. What can be done in a village, should be done in a village and what can be done in a small industry should be done in a small industry". According to him, big industry should do only things that is beyond hand,village and small industry. There is no reason why cloth, soap and many other items need to be made by big industries while millions of hands are without work.

3.    Gandhi speaks about production by masses and not to promote mass production. In order to make things cheaper, we are largely depending on machines and we produce so much that we dump our products in the market. Only people with money can buy it. If we promote production by masses, then everyone will have a decent job and will feel dignified. Specially in country like India where we have huge unemployment, we need to adopt a production method that provides everyone dignity and food.

4.    Gandhi speaks about greed and need. According to him, a greed based development model will destroy the nature due to accumulation of wealth in the hands of few. He speaks about a model that will take care of human needs with respect for nature.

5.    In one conversation, Gandhi is asking the Britishers to get-off from his back. That means get-off from the back of India. People who are on your back, are forcing you to bend, are behaving as if they're helping you. If you look at any country, you can find that the poor people, the working class, carry a heavy burden of the state on their backs. All officials need comforts, they need their salary and pension and all that is at the expense of the poor people of the country. How long can we continue to hold on to a system of this height.

6.    Finally, Gandhi is speaking about self-sufficient,self-governed villagers, uniting into a nation called India. Here he is defining a development model that is bottom up. He doesn't subscribe to the idea of a capital city controlling all the wealth and power, while the people at the bottom are suffering. This model needs to change. COVID 19 as well as Gandhi's 150th year can be used for a paradigm shift. 

 

What is very unfortunate is that we are not learning any lesson from this pandemic.Instead of learning lessons, we have become greedier and profit oriented even at the cost of annihilation.  We continue to run business as usual. We are also progressively diluting all our labour laws, environmental laws, land laws because there is demand for land by companies. We are also giving away coal blocks to private companies that will further displace people living in those areas. There is a deep problem that we are not listening to the call by the nature or the call given by Gandhi. I believe antyodaya can never come from the top. Sarvodaya and jai jagat will also never come from the top. So we have the responsibility to promote a sensible and committed leadership from the bottom. This leadership should respect the dignity oflabour and also learn the art of non-violent struggle for justice. Such leadership and organized communities should become a national force. Such an organized national force can create enough pressure for a shift in national policies. What is demanded at the moment is a bottom up process of mobilization and that too, a mobilization with the understanding of non-violence. Such national mobilizations can come together to address anti-people global policies promoted by World Bank, IMF and WTO.Like Gandhi, who could identify the potential of a revolution in a charkha(spinning wheel), we should also understand the revolutionary possibilities among the poor people through very powerful nonviolent methods.Nonviolence has more or less remained only as a method to protest but this is time to promote a nonviolent model of development, economy,governance and politics. I'm sure hundreds and thousands of like-minded people can come together to promote the agenda of antyodaya.