Tribal Self-Governance: A reality check

Tribal Self-Governance: A reality check

By
Achyut Das & Vidhya Das

THE DEMOCRACY IS THE BEST WHEN PEOPLE ARE THEMSELVES. ( Paulo Freire – Brazilian Educationist and Thinker)



Introduction:
Self-governance- what a radical world? Do we really think today, that the tribal communities are capable of self-governance? Gandhi saw each village in India as complete republic, independent of its neighbours for its own vital wants, and yet interdependent for many others, where dependence is a necessity. The government of the village would be conducted by the Panchayat annually elected by the adult villagers, male and female. These will have all the authority and jurisdiction required. A view of tribal communities helps us realise that the sense of autonomy, and independence preached by Mahatma Gandhi in his concept of Hind Swaraj, has been with tribal communities for long. They have sought to remain as independent republics, and asserted time and again their autonomy. Gandhi talks of being ready to defend ones village to death, as point of honour and duty. Tribal communities did just that. They lived in relative isolation of their volition, till the British began a process of colonisation, and persevered in their efforts to subdue them.

The resentment of the tribal people began with the introduction of a new system of land revenue and taxation of tribal products. There was a complete disruption of the basic economic and social order of tribal communities brought about by the police, the courts, and the influx of middlemen, moneylenders and missionaries into the relatively isolated and remote tribal regions. The outsider middlemen aided by the courts, increasingly took possession of tribal lands, and ensnared them in a web of debt. A complex system of extortion and oppression further aggravated the discontent among the tribal communities. Colonialism also transformed the relationship of tribal communities with their forests. Forests were an integral part of the living systems of tribal communities. The colonial government destroyed the tribal-forest relationship by restricting access to forests, and usurping forest lands and village commons.

Tribal communities had no modern armies to counter British impositions. However, they rose in revolt en mass and through out the tribal hinterland. Hundreds of such militant outbreaks were organised during the 19th Century. The Santhal Hool, was the most massive amongst these. The Santhals considered the Dikus – outsiders - and the British Officers morally corrupt, being given to stealing, lying and drunkenness. In June 1855, the Santhal leaders called an assembly of 6000 Santhals from 400 villages, and raised the banner of revolt. Sido and Kanhu, the principal leaders of the rebellion claimed that they had the blessings of God, and in a proclamation declared that ‘Thakur’ himself will fight the ‘Sahibs’. 60000 Santhals were mobilised into bands of 1500 to 2000, and rallying at the call of drums, they attacked the houses of the Zamindars and officials, and raided police stations, railway construction sights, the post carriers, and all other symbols of colonial repression. The Santhal insurrection had the support of a large number of non-tribal poor.

The British regime struck back with a major military campaign, mobilising several regiments, and declared martial law in the affected areas. The rebellion was crushed ruthlessly. More than 15000 Santhals were killed, and hundreds of villages destroyed. Sido was betrayed, captured and killed, and Kanhu was captured at the tail end of the rebellion, in February 1856. The Santhal Hul, the Gond and Kondh rebellion against the British exemplify the determination of tribal communities to rule themselves. In the agency tracts of Andhra Pradesh, Alluri Sitaram Raju lead the Koyas and Savaras in battle against the British, demanding initially full use of their forest lands, and eventually seeking to establish Swaraj for the whole of the agency area. The cruel suppression of these communities by the British has been recorded by its own officers.

Yet, Freedom has its costs, and for the indigenous people of this world it has been very dear indeed. The instances cited above are only some examples of how communities of peoples have asserted for their independence, and been forced into submission. But, when we come to more recent times, the great Mahatma’s understanding of the violence that is inherent in a centralised democracy becomes apparent. He said: “The State represents violence in a concentrated and organized form. The individual has a soul, but as the State is a soulless machine, it can never be weaned from violence to which it owes its very existence.” what we need to examine here is the way in which democratic governments deny people fundamental freedoms, and the cost to the people of asserting for it. But, perhaps, we need to first understand what could be the nature of this freedom we are talking about. Very simply put, basically, two stages of freedom could be thought of for a human being, the freedom from the basic constraints of meeting ones survival needs, and secondly, the freedom to do what one wants. Simplistically put, it is only when the former is fully met, that the second stage of freedom can be thought about. In society, however, these two forms of freedom are as intrinsically linked as the interrelationship between the different classes and groups of people. In present society, we find that one group of people has no need to even think of the first stage of freedom from want, as every need of theirs is satisfied from birth, and they are free to do what they want. And here is where responsible governance is called for in a complex and pluralistic society, as what one wants to do needs to be constrained by the fact that it should not impinge on the others freedom for similar and even identical pursuits. But, responsible governance is a myth in present day society, as the people in governance take it as their opportunity to engage in purely personal pursuits, regardless of the other.

Who Pays, Who Reaps:
And the costs of pursuit of such freedom are passed on to the tribals and dalits of the country. If one just looks back at recent history, one can realise what the costs have been to the ordinary people. 2nd March, 2001, Dewas, Madhya Pradesh, forest and police officials launched an attack on villagers in Mehndikheda and fifteen other tribal hamlets. They raided their houses, destroyed their rations, poured poisonous chemicals down their wells and grain stock, and shot dead 4 people. The reason: the tribal people of Dewas had organised to form Adivasi Morcha Sangathan and Adivasi Shakti Sangathan in order to resist exploitation by the forest department, corrupt government machinery and usurious moneylenders. These organisations had attracted hundreds of adivasis and were gaining political influence so that in the recently held panchayat elections a Sangathan member, Shri Nandu Ravat had won by more votes than his rival Congress and BJP opponents put together and been elected to the Zila Parishad. In the Bagli Mandi Committee another Sangathan member defeated both the Congress and BJP contenders to become President. Three sarpanches and many ward members also won with the backing of the Sangathans. All this created a lot of political tension and both the Congress and BJP were unhappy with the Sangathans. Both the District Collector and the SP were new to the area and had publicly announced in Udaynagar on 13th. February that they were going to totally destroy the Sangathans and leave no trace of them.

A Faded green flag flies atop the shaheed smarak (martyr's column) at Tapkara village in Ranchi district of Jharkhand State. The flag is changed every year on March 2, one was told, in memory of five persons killed that day in a police firing at that site in 1946 while they were demonstrating, along with many thousand Munda Adivasis of the region, for the formation of a separate Jharkhand State. 54 years into independence, 55 years after this event, history repeats itself in Tapkara village. Amrit Gudia, a retired military man, is brutally beaten up by police, when he questioned the removal of a 16 year old barricade put up by the Koel Karo Jan Sangathan protesting against the 2300 crore Koel Karo dam and hydro power project.
The following day, 5000 members assemble in peaceful unarmed protest against the destruction of their barricade and unprovoked and brutal attack on their fellow member. They wait several hours, and finally, the leaders start addressing the crowd, when lathi-charge and tear gassing begins. As the crowd begins to scatter, firing starts from inside the police station. People retaliate with stones. Many are shot at point blank range, 8 die on the spot.
February 3, the police once again opened fire on an unarmed assembly of around 5,000 Munda Adivasis, including children, women and men. According to eyewitness accounts, the police fired more than 150 rounds, killing five persons on the spot. Five others succumbed to their injuries in the following hours, bringing the toll to 10. As many as 12 of those who sustained bullet injuries were treated at the Rajendra Medical College and Hospital (RMCH) in Ranchi. Many other wounded were being treated locally. Eight persons from six villages were reported missing. The dead have been declared shaheeds of the Koel-Karo Jan Sangathan and buried next to the shaheed smarak. Thus 1946 and 2001 have become one in Tapk Ara chowk.
A half century later, an independent government, twice independent I guess, as Jahrkhand had just won its separate statehood a few months back, makes them re-live the repression of a brutal colonial regime, just a month before the anniversary of the repression!
Maikanch, 16th December 2000, two police vans of armed policemen, enter the village, and start abusing, and beating women. Deepai Jhodia falls unconscious under this assault, and women start wailing loudly, as her inert body is dragged to aside by the police. The men in the village This brings down the men, who had actually fled into the hills to hide from police attack. As the men came down, police opened fire, three men died. People had been protesting eviction by the Utkal Alumina project which would have affected more than 2000 families in Kashipur. The police and the political leaders were furious, as despite repeated attempts, and the formation of an all party committee to promote mining, they were not able to make inroads into the region. The UAIL had been pumping huge amounts of money to motivate the political leaders, and get the administration to toe their line. This was a desperate attempt by all these people to get the mining going one way or another.

Many more incidents continue to happen in the present day that underline the violent characteristic of today’s centralised state. The backlash that people had to face in Kalinganagar in Orissa, Nandigram and Singur in West Bengal have become symbols of the modern day civil strife caused by a state that has betrayed its people in favour of market forces. The struggle goes on elsewhere too, in Kakinada, Gudgaon, Maharashtra, Goa, to name only a few incidents, thousands of farmers have been protesting against SEZs, which will take up huge tracts of agricultural land. These zones with much more liberal labour, tax, and import laws will be subsidised by the Government for promoting investments. The corporates and the government have ganged up to repress these movements, and force farmers to give up their land resources. States like Orissa, Jharkhand, and Chhattisgarh have become veritable war zones between local communities and the state, as their underground mineral resources attract huge investments, and co-opt politicians and bureaucrats into offering up the whole region for sale. Industrialisation is paraded as the magical way out of the poverty of these BIMARU states, but, few people look at the reality of job loses, the increased impoverization of the already marginlaised communities of tribals and dalits, and the complex vulnerability of women and children, as they fight malnutrition, destitution, and homelessness with literally zero resources at their command.

That the decade and a half of globalisation has only lead to an overall worsening of the living conditions of the people of this country is ignored time and again. Several are the statistics that indicate that employment rates of the organised sector have been steadily going down in absolute numbers. More and more people are being pushed into the unorganised sector. A strange reflection of the colonial times maybe seen here, estimates indicate that over the years of British rule, the percentage of population dependent on agriculture increased from 60% (some estimates put it at less than this) in 1800 to 69%in 1901 to 75% in 1951, with the percentage of agricultural labourers to the total agricultural population increasing from 25% to 38% for the same period. Similar to this is the growth in the unorganised sector in India today. More and more people are being pushed out of jobs into uncertain and casual employment in the unorganised sector. While organised sector employment has declined, Agricultural employment is still growing even in percentage terms, and agriculture is still the highest employer at 70% of the workforce.

It is really high time, we seriously thought of ‘Retrieving Swaraj’. Not just as a pedantic engagement in the centenary year, but as a serious pursuit to establish fundamental rights of people in this country, help them confront the Goliath of a state that quite looses sight of its commitments to its people, once it has got their votes. Swaraj, Mahatma Gandhi argues dissolves the power of the state, and brings about an ‘enlightened anarchy’ in which each person will become his own ruler. Such were the anarchist collectives that formed in Spain in the 1930s. These Collectives brought in a new social order that dissolved the power of the state into numerous self-reliant units. They organized their own agricultural production, and took over factories, and converted churches into schools as warehouses as the need arose. The success, albeit brief, of these collectives at a time when fascism was raising its ominous head all over Europe offers us many lessons in true freedom. In India, every village functioned as a self-sustaining tiny republic. The village assembly consisting of all adult men and women constituted the supreme authority controlling all village resources, officials and decision-making. People enjoyed rights over land and/or its produce on tenure from the village government. This facilitated efficient use of environmental resources and curbed their exploitation. In the present day too, despite the years of colonial repression, communities have time and again expressed dissent and suffered much under the hands of state machineries for doing so.

Learning for An Alternate Paradigm:
There is much to learn if one looks at the assertions of communities. In the tribal regions, a growing realisation of their attachment to land has brought tribal communities together to use existing laws and pressurise of better policies and legislations. In Koraput, one of the most underdeveloped and poverty stricken districts of the country today, Vinobha Bhave’s Bhoodan and Gram Dan movements gained the widest acceptance. Even today, villages do not have private land ownership. Much of the land is viewed as a collective asset. So we have the peculiar term: landless farmers, as even those without any record of rights have the right to cultivate community land, without any tenancy obligations. This is being fast overlaid by present day revenue legislations, and several are the displaced tribal families, who were once cultivators and self-sufficient. Now, they are homeless, and subjected to a life of being forced destitute, as even the compensation that their fellows got is denied to them, because of their stupid oversight in not bribing the revenue officials at the right time for a title deed.

It was a revelation when we first began our work in the tribal regions that many families had been bonded for generations. It was quite evident that the root cause of starvation in tribal areas was money lending and debt bondage. After proper analysis, it was decided to set up Community Grain Banks by saving a part of the harvest of Ragi and other millets. Each family has to contribute. They would store it at one place. During the lean period of monsoon months, the Community Grain Banks would be opened. Whoever would borrow grains from Grain Bank would repay with 25% interest to help the Grain Bank grow. Initially, the Grain Banks were too small and we had to give a matching contribution. The villagers came with various ideas to strengthen the Grain Bank. The whole community took up cultivation of some communal land and the harvest was added to the Grain Banks. The idea was to have a buffer stock so that in case there is a crop failure, there is enough savings. This idea caught the imagination of many tribal villages and hundred of Grain Banks were formed in far-flung areas. It was self-managed in terms of distribution, record keeping, addressing equity issues, conflict resolution etc. The management of the Grain Bank has been the responsibility of the village committee consisting of men and women. The Seven Member members are generally elected in a village meeting each year. The committee collects an equal amount of Grains from each family and distributes it as per the requirement of the family. The committee is also responsible for collection of the Grains. If one family is not able to repay during the year, an opportunity was given to repay next year. The committee was responsible for the functioning of the Grain Bank including proper storage. The decisions regarding the Grain Banks have been invariably democratic.

The following are some of the ways in which Grain Banks have benefited the tribals:

· The Community Grain Banks have strengthened the Food Security System in the Tribal Regions.
· There has been substantial reduction of money lending.
· There has been an incentive to grow more food.
· The growth of Community Grain Banks has led the tribals to look at their resources like land, water and forest and their management.
· The Grain Banks have been the foundation for a self-sustaining development and village level democracy.


If the village self-sufficiency in terms of Community Grain Banks is first step to Gram Swaraj, the tribals have shown subsequently that the governance of Natural Resources should be decided by them as part of their Gram Swaraj. Unfortunately, the Governance of Natural Resources like Land, Water, and Forest is controlled by the State by enacting various Laws and Policies which are not necessarily pro-tribal. In Kashipur Block of Rayagada District in Orissa, there have emerged two movements which have challenged the State Laws and Policies. The assertion is the Right over Natural Resources. These two movements are described in brief.
The Hill-broom Struggle


The Growing Commercial importance of non-timber forest produce (NTFP)/Minor Forest Produce has led the State Govt. to nationalize almost all the NTFP items which means that these can be sold only to Government Agencies. This has severely restricted access to the local forest dwelling communities, but has allowed the contractors and middlemen a backdoor entry through a system of lease and permits. This allows the contractors the monopolies over the entire forest divisions and in several instances over the entire state of a number of items of forest produce, allowing them to play havoc with the prices and even dictate to the Government the support prices to be offered to the Primary Collectors. The Tribal Development Co-operative Corporation (TDCC) which has the responsibility to protect the tribals and primary collectors invariably enters into deals with local traders and allows them to carry out the business of the items which it holds the lease. With Authority of the TDCC behind them, these traders loot and exploit the tribal communities for the NTFP items. In all this, the lease holders are ably assisted by the local forest department, who become usually dutiful when it comes to protecting the interest of the traders.

All this notwithstanding, the people in the tribal hinterland have waged a longstanding battle for their rights over the minor forest produce. In this case, they have faced threats, violence, litigation, and much other harassment. On their sides, these communities have resisted individually, tried to horde the products collectively, written petitions, demanded rights, demonstrated and protested in the district and state capital. A few times, the Govt. has lent them a sympathetic year, but more often than not, they have been forced either by open hostilities or by sheer indifference of the Government to keep quite. The struggle had started at a village Mandibisi in Kashipur Block of Rayagada District in Orissa where the members of Mandibisi Mahila Mandal had asserted that they have the rights to collect hill-brooms and sale it when they realized that the hill-brooms collected by them and sold to the traders and TDCC are fetching prices three to four times more in the open market. Their stock was seized by the TDCC with the help of the Forest Department and Police and cases were lodged against the women. But this struggle in 1994 had the support of many other tribal groups. On 29th March, in solidarity with the women of Mandibisi Mahila Mandal and demanding rights over minor forest produce, thousands of people in 7 districts came out to the street and demonstrated in front of various collectorates, presenting a memorandum of demands, as a policy alternative on the NTFP. After initial hesitation by the Government, finally it was decided to change the policy on NTFP and leasing and marketing processes were liberalized. The leasing rights were given to Panchayat and one can freely process and market NTFP items.


Anti-Mining Struggle

Kashipur in Rayagada District of Orissa is endowed with very rich bauxite being part of East Coast deposits which is 70% of the country’s total deposit. The quality of the mineral is high-grade with low silica content. After the introduction of Liberalisation in early 90s, many investors have been attracted to start prospecting on bauxite in this area to have low cost production of high quality alumina. Kashipur has a number of small and big bauxite plateaus most notably among them are Baphlimali, Kodingamali. Sasbahumali. Sijimali etc. In 1992, INDAL entered into an agreement with Orissa Mining Corporation for the transfer of lease for the Baphlimali plateau and subsequently approached Government of Orissa for permission to set up 100 per cent Export Oriented Unit of Alumina Refinery plant. Other international players in the aluminium sector like Norsk Hydro of Norway, Alcan of Canada joined with Indal in equity participation and Utkal Alumina International Limited (UAIL) was formed. In 1993 Tisco also joined UAIL withdrew subsequently. Almost at the same time as UAIL, LARSEN & TOUBRO ( L&T) entered into partnership with ALCOA for a prospecting lease over Sijimali and Kutrumali deposits. The spectre of displacement and loss of land and livelihood was everywhere. Resolved not to submit to a fate thrust upon them by cold blooded market forces, the people began with petitions and appeals to the administration, rallies and road blocks as the state continued in its indifference. The most important issues raised were:

· Land Acquisition in the name of Public Purpose does not equate to Tribal Interest. The influx of non-tribals into the area will change the nature of the Scheduled Area defined by the Indian Constitution.
· The identity, culture and socio-economic environment of their indigenous culture will be affected,
· Due consultation with the affected population was totally absent.

Three different organizations Baphlimali Suraksha Parishad, Prakrutik Sampad Surakhya Parishad were formed to protest against mining activities. Later on more such organizations were formed to oppose L&T, Aditya Birla Group. All these people’s organizations had a steering group and had strategic linkages with the national movements like National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM), Narmada Bachao Andolan(NBA) and other National Groups. As the agitation gathered momentum, the corporate interests struck back. The backlash was through criminal and lumpen elements. This led obviously to a confrontation in many villages between the pro and ant-mining groups. Cases were registered but anti-mining people were arrested where pro-mining people were left untouched. The local NGOs and their functionaries were also attacked. But under the leadership of Prakrutik Sampad Surakshya Parishad (PSSP), the movement against UAIL gathered momentum and UAIL officials were not allowed to enter the area. The corporate exerted pressure on the Government to quell people’s protests. Neither the state nor the corporate even considered opening up channels of communication with the affected communities to convince them of the stated benefit of the mining. May be no actual benefits existed which would motivate people in support of mining. On the contrary, the State increased police presence in the area to intimidate the anti-mining people. A Police outpost was opened and indiscriminate arrests were made. Meanwhile, Kashipur anti-mining movement had drawn attention of many Human Rights Group and the Media. Global Campaigns were launched in Norway and Canada. Many human rights activists had visited Kashipur to show solidarity. Many Civil Society Organisations had also visited Kashipur to understand why there was a resistance to mining and industrialization. Gram Sabhas were held and spontaneous resolutions were passed opposing mining. An All Party Committee was formed by the initiative of the corporate to build up pressure and gate-crash into the mining area. In Dec, 2000, there was a confrontation between this All Party Committee and anti-mining people followed by a Police Firing killing three tribals and injuring many. This led to tremendous pressure on the MNCs like Norsk Hydro which led to its withdrawal from UAIL. The brutal Police firing was condemned by many and the Govt. had instituted a judicial Commission of Inquiry headed by Justice P K Mishra. In 2003 , Justice PK Mishra Commission Report was submitted in 2003 and was presented in the State Assembly in 2004. Though Report had indicted police for excesses, it had not suggested any clear action to be taken. Surprisingly, the Commission has recommended for the mining. In September, 2004, the District Collector had passed a resolution in the Palli Sabha by surrounding the village with 500 armed policemen. At gun-point , UAIL was about to start work. However, there was pressure on Alcan by Canadian Civil Society Organisations to withdraw from UAIL. It sold its share in 2007 giving HINDALCO Group full ownership of the UAIL. The large scale violation of human rights has been alarming. The violation of Panchayats’s Extensions to Scheduled Areas (PESA) has been there in all respects. The UAIL has finally resumed its activities with support of the state repression and disregard for people’s wishes.


As per the Provisions of the Panchayats, Extension to the Scheduled Areas Act of 1996,

ü Every village shall have a Gram Sabha consisting of persons whose names are included in the electoral rolls for the Panchayat at the village level;
ü Every Gram Sabha shall be competent to safeguard and preserve the traditions and customs of the people, their cultural identity, community resources and the customary mode of dispute resolution;
ü The Gram Sabha or the Panchayats at the appropriate level shall be consulted before making the acquisition of land in the Scheduled Areas for development projects and before re-settling or rehabilitating persons affected by such projects in the Scheduled Areas; the actual planning and implementation of the projects in the Scheduled Areas shall be coordinated at the State level;

In keeping with these provisions, and faced with the threats of eviction from their land, the people of Maikanch, Kucheipadar, Dongasil, Kodipari and Hadiguda Panchayats in Kashipur passed unanimous resolutions against any industrial or mining activities in the Panchayats, and against the eviction of families or people from their villages. The legitimacy of these resolutions was perceived as a huge threat by the government, which sent in armed police force, and in the presence of the District Collector forced Gram Sabha resolutions for mining and industrial development of the area in three villages.

The development of infrastructure and hydro power projects in Koraput has caused huge disruption to tribal communities. Blind and insensitive to the destruction of livelihoods of tribal communities, the government initiated catchment treatment plans in the upper reaches of power projects like Machkund, and upper Kolab through cashew and coffee plantations. Tribals who had been evicted from their lands with little or no compensations because of their more liberal and egalitarian land use traditions, were completely ignored in these activities, and the plantations handed over to private parties through tenders. A cashew development corporation was constituted by the Government for managing these plantations, which further marginalised tribal communities. A movement for assertion of their right to these lands, which they had been traditionally cultivating was begun by the tribals of Koraput, who demanded that these plantations should be handed back to the tribal communities. 5 years and more of persistent mass rallies, demonstrations, and petitions paid off, and in June, 2008, the government took a decision to hand over these lands to the tribal communities.

Today, the entire tribal population is facing displacement, migration, food and nutritional insecurities. There is loss of livelihood. Keeping this in mind, the community should embark upon a micro-plan based on the principles of Gram Swaraj which has social, Economic and environmental sustainability inbuilt into it. Decentralised Planning is an expression of Decentralised Democracy which can be termed as Gram Swaraj. This is the only way the tribals can save themselves from hunger, displacement, marginalisation, identity crisis and eventual extinction. Will the State and the Civil Society take note of this?

Law Abiding Panchayats, Unlawful Administration?
In keeping with the PESA Act which states:
While endowing Panchayats in the Scheduled Areas with such powers and authority as may be necessary to enable them to function as institutions of self-government, a State Legislature shall ensure that the Panchayats at the appropriate level and the Gram Sabha are endowed specifically with-
(i) the power to enforce prohibition or to regulate or restrict the sale and consumption of any intoxicant;

The Mandibisi Gram Panchayat has repeatedly passed Gram Sabha resolutions, lead by the women in the Panchayat, banning the Liquor Bhati which is creating havoc in the area. The excise department and the police have been sending threat messages to the Sarpanch, trying to get him to sign on a letter allowing the Liquor Bhati to continue.
Today, Governance in Tribal regions is crashing like a house of cards. All welfare schemes are controlled by vested business interests, with the concerned Ministries only ensuring that they get their kick-backs, employment guarantees are a mockery of the needs of the poor, who still take to distress migration, trusting employees in a far off Never land, rather than the governments and administrative machineries of their own districts and states. Governments on the other hand promise bottled water for drinking, and talk of fortified foods, when farmers are tasked so hard that they do not have the will to live, and seek to sell their entire villages.

Is it because the people are incapable of governing themselves, or is it because the democracy in this country has been converted into a democracy, which actively destroys and disrupts all efforts of local communities to establish systems of self-governance?

The Utopia of a Mahatma:
Self-governance was a dream initiated by the great Mahatma, in his ideas of ‘Gram Swaraj’, and subsequently in his classic ‘Hind Swaraj. Gandhi’s starting point was the individual. “The first step to SWARAJ lies in the individual. The great truth: ‘As with the individual so with the universe’, is applicable here as elsewhere”. What applies to the individual can be extended to groups of increasing size up to the whole world community.

Thus Swaraj was above all about individual autonomy, involving self-respect, self-discipline and maturity. Such individuals would resolve differences themselves without resort to external coercion, such as the judicial system. So Gandhi appealed for individual Indians to free themselves mentally and through character development; if this transformation occurred then political freedom would come automatically.

Gandhi saw each village in India as complete republics, independent of its neighbours for its own vital wants, and yet interdependent for many others, where dependence is a necessity. The government of the village would be conducted by the Panchayat annually elected by the adult villagers, male and female. These will have all the authority and jurisdiction required. A view of tribal communities helps us realise that the sense of autonomy, and independence preached by the Swaraj movement has been with tribal communities for long. They have sought to remain as independent republics, and asserted time and again their autonomy. Gandhi talks of being ready to defend ones village to death, as point of honour and duty. Gandhiji had a dream, but it was a dream he worked hard to realise, to the extent he could. It would be best perhaps to conclude with his own words, which call out to each and every one of us:
………………Do not consider this Swaraj to be like a Dream. There is no idea of sitting still. The Swaraj that I wish to picture is such that, once we have realized it, we shall endeavour to the end of our life-time to persuade others to do likewise.


Achyut Das & Vidhya Das,
Agragamee, Kashipur – 765015,
Dist. Rayagada, Orissa
India e-mail: agragamee@satyam.net.in