The Economy of Permanence: A Quest for a Social Order Based on Non-violence (स्थायी अर्थतन्त्र)

Economy of Permanence
social solidarity. When we achieve this and we shall have travelled a long way
on the road to Swaraj through self-sufficiency.
Here again we have to bear in mind that our plan concerns not merely a few
people but every citizen in this country. The plan that we propose, if it is to be
a satisfactory plan, must touch every living person in India. A broad-based plan
like that, in a poverty-stricken country as ours, where finance is not available,
cannot be based on the presumption that capital is available. Hence, any plan
based on the availability of capital is out of court in India, and any plan that
leaves out the primary need of supplying food is also out of court, and any plan
that omits to take note of the factor of Indian labour wealth cannot be a proper
plan for India. The Western plans are material centred. That is to say, they
want to exploit all resources. To what end? That they were not sure of. Tables
and chairs do not satisfy our primary needs.
If it is to be a plan for India, the plan must centre round the farmer first and
then grow out of it for the whole country. It may be that ultimately we may not
bt as rich as England or America but we will have sufficient food. England was
on the brink of starvation five years ago.
Therefore, self-sufficiency in food and clothing should be one of the prime
features in any plan for India. If every village cannot be self-sufficient in food
and clothing, it is no use having Swaraj. We want to assure to everybody
enough food and clothing. And unless we do that, it is no plan for our country.
The Tata-Birla Plan and others of its ilk require thousands, and thousands of
crores of rupees to get them going. For this plan we do not require much money
because we are not working on a thing which we have not got. We are only
rechannelling the people's activity, we are only showing them the right way, we
are only regulating their natural activities, and thereby we control the
activities of millions of people into desirable lines.
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