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

Economy of Permanence

not shirk the routine labour and discipline involved in manufacturing such
metal. They took work as nature meant it to be. Hence we have this monument
declaring that fact to us today.
One would associate the idea of wealth and comfort with the industry of mining
gold. But this system of relegating drudgery to one class and appropriating
pleasure by another has made the district of the most famous gold mines in
India one of the poorest localities. The farmer of that district has been reduced
to such a wretched condition financially that he is driven to maintain a 'dual
purpose cow', i.e., a cow yields a few drops of milk at one time and when dry is
used to plough the land !
While on a visit there I was taken down the shaft of one of the deepest mines,
about 7000 ft. There in darkness made visible by small Davy's lamps men
worked in tunnels, blasting the rock, in dust, in dirt and danger from morning
till evening for a pittance that hardly helped to keep the wolf from the door.
The strain of this labour was so great that men were completely done up when
brought up into the fresh air and light. This district contributes the greatest
revenue from liquor to the State. Is it a wonder that after the nerves of the
miners had been strained to this extent they should find refuge in the oblivion
provided by merciful alcohol? Venereal diseases are also rampant among such
miners. Wherever the nervous system is overwrought it is but to be expected
that it will naturally rush for relaxation made available in wine and women.
This is a pathological condition of the human constitution. At the end of my
visit, when the manager of the mine asked if I could suggest any social welfare
work that he can introduce for the betterment of the conditions of life of the
miners I gave him these two alternatives-1. The best welfare work will be to
restore the dignity of work and labour by closing down such a mine, or in the
alternative, 2. To provide more liquor shops to enable the men to drown their
miseries. It is needless to say that these shocked the manager, and that neither
of them were found acceptable as the company was one which paid the
heaviest dividends. Money and gold were much more to them than human
beings.

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