From the Archive: In independent India - A struggle beyond freedom

The Constitution has further set before the nation an ideal of civil liberty and of equal opportunity to all.

During the three years of our Independence, the country has made progress in many directions and things have been done which, in the pre-independence days, were outside even the realm of schemes or plans. The expansion of education and medical facilities, building new plants, dams, irrigation canals, and roads, the opening of scientific laboratories and virgin soil brought under cultivation, these are some of the achievements of this period besides radical social legislation by the central and the state governments giving equal rights to all citizens with no distinction between men and women, high and low, rich and poor.

The Constitution has further set before the nation an ideal of civil liberty and of equal opportunity to all. The achievement of these objectives is the most difficult task that has ever devolved on any country in the very early stages of its freedom, but we are struggling on in pursuit of a great ideal for which we have lived and fought for so long.

Gandhiji, through the Congress organisation under whose auspices we have grown up, set that ideal before us. We are yet very far indeed from realising it; we have made only a humble beginning. We might, as is only natural, make mistakes and have to retrace our steps if the conditions so demand in order to serve better. Even if we fail or falter, the laudable ideal will ever remain before us as a beacon light to lead us to individual, social, political, and may I also add spiritual progress.

But Independence has brought in its wake several problems which weigh heavily upon us. These are many, and they deserve our consideration, but in this article I shall deal with only two — food and cloth. Their production, if tackled properly, may well pave the way for further progress. Serious thought has been given to the first, but the latter has not received the same attention. I do not propose to elaborate on the various aspects of the problem of food production, but I would like to emphasise here how we should get on with the actual work to achieve a definite result within a prescribed time. We have got sound schemes and ample funds placed at the disposal of the departments concerned. Top priority has also been given to it. Let me enumerate below some of the essential points in regard to this problem: (i) The productive capacity of the existing land under cultivation to increase; save crops from drought and damage as far as possible. (ii) Culturable and virgin soil to be brought under cultivation. (iii) Government to provide necessary means and resources as an aid to implement the above. (iv) Cultivators to put their best on their own initiative without waiting for government help (v) Agency to supervise and execute the scheme. A complete survey of each and every village should be the first and most essential part of our scheme.

All this should be done with military precision. An army of land workers should not remain merely a slogan. Every cultivator should be made to feel that he is a soldier of that army and should report at the village panchayat how he is faring with the work allotted to him. If we are in right earnest and prepared to work hard, we can succeed in reducing our imports of foodgrains considerably.

Let us now consider the question of cloth. It may not be considered as important as food; yet it will be unwise to minimise its importance. It is needless to emphasise that if we can manage food and cloth for ourselves, there is bound to be economic stability. Mills must produce the quota allotted to them. If they do not cooperate, they should be dealt with firmly and, if necessary, new legislation enacted to deal with them. Labour will also have to bear its share of responsibility and strikes should be eliminated. Khadi should be given the utmost encouragement and the people encouraged to use it even if it is somewhat costly. Government should also patronise it fully. Khadi has great prospects if it receives due encouragement from the government as well as the people.

We have got a large population, of which a big percentage has no work or insufficient work. We can provide them with work in the smaller industries. We should not simply try to copy the West as our conditions are different from them. Either we go in for rapid industrialisation through State or private agency or, if that is not possible, and I fear it is not, we must try to speed up our production through small scale and village industries. If we want to make people work-minded, engender a creative spirit and teach them the dignity of labour, the easiest solution is to go in for small-scale industries.

The threat of a world war stares us in the face. It may or may not come but the present tension is bound to have its repercussions. There will be a tendency in various countries to keep in reserve agricultural products and other essential commodities and we might not be able to import in future as easily as we could do before. War, or no war, we must produce enough cereals and enough cloth to feed and clothe our people.

Lal Bahadur Shastri is India’s second prime minister