BOOK REVIEW

A CRITICAL APPRAISAL

‘I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good it does is only temporary
while the evil remains permanent’. As personified by the following quote, Mohandas
Karamchand Gandhi or Gandhiji was one of India’s most prominent freedom fighters during
India’s struggle for independence. Gandhi's vision of a nonviolent society inspired the
constructive programme. It arose from his understanding of the raw realities of our country at
the time, which he gained from his extensive travels across the country. These programmes
were not a random thought, but rather a well-thought-out and well-executed mental strategy.
Gandhi was a fervent believer that self-sufficient villages provide a solid foundation for a
just, egalitarian, and nonviolent social order, and that this belief may serve as a guiding
principle for all citizens, constructive workers, and policymakers in India. According to him,
the only way to rebuild the country is to rebuild the communities. He led such attempts in a
number of locations, including Champaran (1917), Sevagram (1920), and Wardha (1921).
(1938). With the passage of time, he envisioned and devised a comprehensive programme of
constructive work that comprised economic self-sufficiency, social equality, and a
decentralized political structure. The constructive programme might be renamed "building of
Poorna swaraj," or "full independence via truthful and nonviolent means."

We know all too well how difficult it is to achieve so-called independence through violent
and, as a result, inherently untruthful tactics. Complete independence achieved by truth and
nonviolence entails the independence of every unit, from the most humble to the most
powerful, regardless of race, color, or creed. This self-sufficiency is never exclusive. As a
result, it is completely consistent with both internal and external dependencies. Practice will
always fall short of theory, just as the drawn line would always fall short of Euclid's
theoretical line. As a result, true freedom will only be achieved to the extent that we practice
truth and nonviolence in our daily lives. Civil disobedience, whether mass or individual, is a
useful tool for constructive action and a viable alternative to violent revolution. Training is
required for both civil disobedience and armed revolt. Only the methods differ.

In either instance, action is taken only when the situation calls for it. Military insurrection
training entails studying how to wield weapons, maybe culminating in the use of the atomic
bomb. It refers to the Constructive Programme when it comes to civil disobedience. Workers
will never be on the lookout for civil resistance as a result. If a constructive effort is
attempted to be defeated, they will prepare themselves.Political pacts have been and may be
avoided, but true friendship with individuals cannot. Political agreements must be built on the
foundation of such altruistic and honest friendships. Similarly, the government can attack
centralized khadi, but no authority can overcome private khadi production and consumption.
The people must not be forced to make and use khadi; rather, it must be wisely and gladly
accepted as one of the components of the emancipation movement. This can only be done
with villages as units. Even in such programmes, pioneers may face obstacles. They have had
to go through the fire of suffering throughout the world. There is no Swaraj without suffering.
In violence, truth is the first and the greatest sufferer; in non-violence it is ever triumphant.
Moreover, men composing the Government are not to be regarded as enemies. To regard
them as such will be contrary to the non-violent spirit. Part we must, but as friends. If this
preliminary observation has gone home to the reader, he will find the constructive
programme to be full of deep interest. It should prove as absorbing as politics so-called and
platform oratory, and certainly more important and useful. According to him, life will not be
a pyramid with the apex sustained by the bottom, but an oceanic circle whose Centre will be
the individual, always ready to die for the village, the latter ready to die for the circle of
villages, until the whole becomes one life composed of individuals, never aggressive but
always humble, sharing the majesty of the oceanic circle of which they are integral units.
Gandhi thought that if the entire country followed this programme in its entirety, freedom
would come naturally without the need for civil disobedience. It can, in certain ways, serve as
a complete alternative for civil disobedience. "If we seek to achieve Swaraj via truth and
nonviolence, the only way is to build up gradually but steadily from the bottom upwards by
constructive work," he wrote in 1942. He devised the constructive programme in order to
instill inner strength in the masses, to promote internal growth, and to educate them on their
rights and responsibilities. Social, economic, and moral liberty were far more vital to Gandhi
than political liberty, which could only be obtained by constructive programmes. That was
why constructive activities were far superior to political work for Gandhi. He wrote in 1931,
“..my work of social reform was in no way less than or subordinate to political work’’. The
fact is that when he saw that to a certain extent his social work would be impossible without
the help of the political work, he took to the latter and only to the extent that it helped the
former. He therefore confessed that work of social reform or self-purification of this nature is
a hundred times dearer to him than what is called purely political work. In the constructive
programme there is no room for hypocrisy, compulsion and violence, and it does not provoke
violent feeling in the opponent which may be aroused by direct action. Moreover, “the greater
the cultivation of constructive non-violence, the less the need to offer civil- disobedience.”
Another key factor is the development of the Khadi and Village industries. "The proof of the
pudding is in the eating," as the saying goes, and this is especially true in these businesses.
Experience and the current well-being of various sections of our society, rather than foresight
and assumptions, can only show the true value of growth. While he believes that heavy
industries should be decentralized and that the A.I.S.A's ideals that every family with a plot
of land may grow cotton at least for family consumption are sound, there are certain
restrictions. The necessity to offer agricultural laborer’s and farmers their own incentive and
freedom is critical, and Khadi appears to be the common thread that binds them all together,
along with the many villagers, Muslims, harijans, and women participating in agriculture.
However, decentralization frequently results in the formation of a "lazy economy," in which
everyone is free to do whatever they want, and it does not, by itself, solve the problem of the
rich growing richer and the poor getting poorer. Although he agrees that all landowners must
plant some type of crop to survive, he also believe that land should be distributed evenly and
that the government should grant amnesty to all and ensure that the country does not become
a "Khadi oriented economy," as it has in India. Instead, they can provide ongoing assistance
to such vulnerable groups. Gandhi was clear that the education of citizens is a backbone of
any society. So he envisaged a new educational system for non-violent society of his dream
and experimented it for many years. Basic education should be connected with life and
should lead to the development of mind, body and soul. It was Gandhi’s unflinching faith that
there are abundant power and potentiality in children. The nature and surroundings of society
in which the children are born and brought up can itself be very educative for their life and
development. They can learn many things by dealing with practical work and by direct
experiences. Further more children and adults most certainly need to be ushered into realizing
the value of education and where it can take them. Although as Gandhi states Congressmen
do not give any relevance to that, and must be encouraged to do so to create effective youth
and adults for India. Gandhi also talks about how women should be given equal importance
and he has quite often enlisted their aid for Satyagraha movements. He believes that women
should be given greater importance and not merely tools of service and should be vital for the
nation building process. Women should encouraged to study, pursue their dreams and goals
and not be tied down by obligations of tradition of culture and marriage.

Gandhi's Constructive Program sought not only for India's political liberation but also for its
socioeconomic and cultural renewal. He saw it as a way to build a nonviolent community that
was self-reliant and self-sufficient in every way. To him, creative labor was an essential
component of the liberation movement. It served as "national ammunition" in the struggle
against tyrannical rulers, as well as a viable alternative to violent insurrection. Millions of
people would battle nonviolently for their rights to an independent nation, resulting in a
declaration of complete independence. It was also a tool for rebuilding society and helping
citizens to live up to their nonviolent and honest 'Swaraj.'

RELEVANT IDEALOGIES OF CONSTRUCTIVE PROGRAMME (Its Meaning and Place)

Gandhi's Constructive Work notions cannot be understood within the domain of

philanthropic or altruistic pursuits of a moralistic kind. Gandhi was vehemently opposed to
the sectarian religiosity-inspired philanthropy that was prevalent in India at the time. He was
also opposed to the individualistic act of "philanthropic demonstration," which he believed
served just egoistic aims. Feeding the poor, donating clothes and similar activities were not
Gandhi's idea of serving the poor.

Gandhi's Constructive Programme and its multifarious, multidimensional activities required a

lot of integrated public work. It was not like fragmented solitary work done for self-
satisfaction. With egoistic motives. It needed a thorough network of public activities and a
direct relation with masses to fulfil the task of Constructive Programme.

Gandhiji needed a thorough net work of public activities and a direct relation with masses to
fulfill the task of Constructive Programme. So under Gandhi's guidance Constructive Work
activity becomes a political activity in the sense that through it Gandhi tried to organically
integrate masses and leaders on such issues that, on the one hand, inspired anti-colonial
impulses in the shape of promoting Khadi and village industries on the other, it helped to
instil constructive political consciousness into the masses, making them aware of their own
shortcomings and inner weaknesses by exploiting which Colonial Rule had consolidated its
hold over them. In the end we would like to argue that Gandhi's had an evolutionary political
understanding and personally. From late 1930's onwards Gandhi had started feeling that his
Constructive Programme drives were being made stereotypes and static. So, a vigilant leader
as he was, he emphasized the dynamic and innovatory mechanism of Constructive
Programme.