A Creative Re-Interpretation of Swadeshi

Mr. L.K. Advani speaking at the 81th Annual General Meeting of the Federation of the Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) has called for a new model of economic development that is a creative re-interpretation of Swadeshi. The full text of the speech can be found here.

Mr. Advani made five points to describe what he referred to as a creative reinterpretation.

1. Swadeshi means that national priorities must override policies that have benefited only a minority and largely excluded the majority in the nation’s progress. In other words, just as the centre of gravity of the world economy is shifted from the West to Asia, the centre of gravity of our national economy must shift from “India” to “Bharat” ? to agriculture, revitalization of our villages, small and medium enterprises, and unorganized and informal sector of the economy. Bharat includes not only the rural population but also the urban poor and middle-classes. Swadeshi does not believe in an antagonistic relationship between “India” and “Bharat”. The two are interdependent and integral parts of our nation.

2. Similarly, it sees no conflict between the public sector and private sector. There is no place for dogmatism in favour of or against either, since both have to be strengthened. In view of the recent global experience, the public sector needs to be further strengthened in the financial system and in core sectors like energy.

3. Swadeshi is not antithetical to cooperation with the international community, just as the concept of Swaraj was not. Nevertheless, its cornerstone is national pride and the belief that the India of our dreams has to be built only by our own genius, with our own efforts, and principally with our own natural and capital resources. India’s problems need Indian solutions.

4. Swadeshi wholeheartedly embraces the knowledge and products of modern science and technology. It holds, however, that our country should revive its own rich and diverse knowledge traditions and emerge as a major contributor to global scientific and technological progress, instead of remaining mere consumers of outside knowledge.

5. Swadeshi affirms that business and economy should serve as a means and not an end in themselves, and the higher possibilities of human progress should not be sacrificed at the altar of acquisitiveness, consumerism and environmental destruction.

While wiser minds will parse and critique this new direction Mr. Advani is advocating, here are some initial thoughts that come to mind.

#1 – The devil is in the details and it is imperative that we learn more on how these 5 attributes of “Swadeshi” translate to Government Policy, Role of the State and Freedom of the Private Sector.

#2 – It is also important to know what this means in terms of freedom of choice to consumers and protectionism.

#3 – It is absolutely important to know if in this re-interpretation of “Swadeshi” if centralised planning still has a role.

#4 – It cannot be understated that we must also have clarity on the question will the State make choices for the individual and communities to help achieve the goals of Swadeshi or will the State lay its faith on the wisdom and judgement of the people to make responsible choices

#5 Lastly as it seeks to revitalize inidgenous pools of Knowledge  and Intellectual Capital, does it see the State as the primary vehicle for development and delivery or does it see the State as an active agent that catalyczes the development of such pools of knowledge and Intellectual Capital within the private sector

It is in these questions that lies the difference on how exactly this reinterpretation of Swadeshi is different from

a hark back to the Nehruvian days where an all-knowing all-pervasive State made all the choices through Central Planning

as opposed to

a rejection of the laissez faire West which had the State see no active role for itself with all change left to the forces of market

Back in June 2008, when Offstumped had enunciated an Indian Model of Economic Development, Offstumped had spelled out that

One of the defining characteristics of the evolution of India has been the decentralized nature of cultural choices. There have been no overarching doctrines that demanded oaths of allegiance, no centralized diktats. So any Indian model of economic development has to be consistent with this defining characteristic of Dharma. To do so it must devolve to the local level all socio-economic choices.

Any creative re-interpretation of Swadeshi would incomplete without a clear enunciation of how the “Freedom to Choose” and the “Power to Decide” would be devolved to the lowest level of Government at the City, Town, Village and Taluk level.

So Offstumped calls upon Mr. Advani to make it clear that this “creative re-interpretation” of Swadeshi 

#1 does not mean the Central Government will legislate and codify all aspects of the “How” of economic activity.

#2 instead the role of the Central Government would be to first focus on the structure and processes that would empower “Local Governments” with the freedom to choose and decide on economic activity in their City, Town, Village, Taluk.

#3 The role of the Central Government will be limited to devising creative incentives and disincentives so Local Governments make the economic choices that ultimately serve “Swadeshi” goals.

In closing Offstumped would like to sugges to Mr. Advani that the ultimate goal of Swadeshi must be to create an Ownership Society that celebrates a Culture of Responsibility rather than a society that depends on the State by craving for a “maai baap” Culture of Entitlement. This cultural shift can only happen if Swadeshi in Gandhiji’s spirit becomes a movement for empowering Local Government.

Filed under: Dharmayudh-2009, Lok Sabha Polls 2008-2009, betrayal of aam admi, jeetega-bharat