SOME REFLECTIONS ON THE BHOODAN MOVEMENT
J.C. Kumarappa
(From: “Vicarious Living,” Kumarappa Publications, Madras, 1959)
As we know, when Bapu focused the attention of the nation on village industries as the best means of serving the interests of the peasantry, he picked out the Charkha as the central symbol, and created the Akhil Bharat Charkha Sangh or the All-India Spinners’ Association, and this Association went deep into the problem of cloth production from the cultivation of cotton to the weaving of cloth. When I first arrived in Sabarmati Ashram, the Charkha Sangh had just been started, and I have a vivid recollection of the zest with which the problems of Khadi production were being studied. Bapu would allow nothing to be passed untested. No mere theorizing or propaganda were allowed. Everyone had to learn carding and spinning and become as expert as possible. Many took up weaving too, and the preliminary stages of cotton growing, picking and ginning were also dealt with. Great attention was paid to and progress made in the improvement of methods, and Bapu went into every matter with meticulous, detailed care. He himself became a carder and spinner and made himself familiar with all the aspects of the Khadi problem.
Become Ploughmen: Now that land has been made the focal point why do we not hear more about the problems connected with the utilization of land? Should there not be an Akhil Bharat Hal Sangh or an All-India Ploughmen’s Association? Should not the Bhoodanists become ploughmen, just as the followers of Bapu become spinners? Of course, it is more arduous to plough and sow and reap, but the land problem is more difficult, more complicated, and more vast than the Khadi problem, and it is for that very reason that the Bhoodanists should go deep into the problem not merely as moralists and propagandists, but as realists like Bapu. The preaching social worker type, which is now spreading everywhere, would then decrease, and the pucca constructive worker of the old type would reappear. It is a crying need.
I once asked Bapu why he did not include agriculture in his programme. Straight came the reply, “I don’t know enough about it myself, and I do not like to take up things, with which I am not thoroughly conversant. You can see how with Khadi I have insisted on mastering the various processes myself, and have expected others to do the same.”
I think we must concede that if Bapu had made the land problem his central activity we should have had an army of workers trained in the field, and along with the practical training in the practice, they would have been well-grounded in the theory also. The whole of India would have been worked up to the problems of shallow ploughing versus deep ploughing, of organic manures versus artificial manures, of crop rotation, harvesting methods, and the like.
If the Bhoodanists were to call a halt to their land collections, and began to look into these vital matters, they could not but help realise that they are dabbling with a subject they know very little about. One really has not the moral right to beg lands from cultivators and redistribute them amongst landless peasants unless one is conversant with land and its intricate problems.
To return to the Hal Sangh suggestion, people may argue that ploughing is not like spinning which everyone can do, and it certainly is not open to women. All men could plough if they tried (barring the aged and the infirm), and in the same way all women could reap. It is work in the field that matters, and there is plenty of work of all sorts to suit both sexes and all ages.
Careful Analysis: My idea of handling the land problem according to Bapu’s methods would be first to get a correct over-all picture of the land tenure with a careful analysis of the different types of landlords and tenants, along with an equally careful analysis of the different types of land, the potentialities of the different soils, the way they need to be handled and the acreage required in each case to ensure an economic holding. Then to train an army of workers, both men and women, as suggested above, and in no case to take up more work than could be efficiently handled.
Having gathered the necessary knowledge, and prepared the necessary workers, it is a moot point as to whether Bapu would then have proceeded to beg any and every kind of land from all and sundry. But my object in writing this article is not to suggest that since the Bhoodan collections are there, and completely outweigh both the strength and knowledge of the workers, it surely is time to call a halt. It is good to recollect how Bapu handled his constructive work, as it may help to show more clearly what is lacking in Bhoodan. I have here briefly recalled my own recollections, and I would appeal to others to do likewise in their own minds and then think things over.