The Swadeshi (Hindi: स्वदेशी) movement, part of the Indian independence movement, was a successful economic strategy to remove the British Empire from power and improve economic conditions in India through following principles of swadeshi (self-sufficiency). Strategies of the swadeshi movement involved boycotting British products and the revival of domestic-made products and production techniques. Swadeshi, as a strategy, was a key focus of Mahatma Gandhi who described it as the soul of Swaraj (self rule).

Principles

Mahatma Gandhi described Swadeshi as "a call to the consumer to be aware of the violence he is causing by supporting those industries that result in poverty, harm to workers and to humans and other creatures."

Gandhi recognised that alienation and exploitation often occur when production and consumption are divorced from their social and cultural context, and that local enterprise is a way to avoid these problems. "Swadeshi is that spirit in us which requires us to serve our immediate neighbours before others, and to use things produced in our neighbourhood in preference to those more remote. So doing, we serve humanity to the best of our capacity. We cannot serve humanity by neglecting our neighbours".

Origins

The word Swadeshi derives from Sanskrit and is a Sandhi or conjunction of two Sanskrit words. Swa means Self or Own and Desh means Country. If the French language can be used as an analogue, the word Swadeshi is the adjectival form of "of ones own country". The Opposite of Swadeshi in Sanskrit is ViDeshi or "not of ones country". Another Example of Sandhi or Conjunction in Sanskrit is SwaRaj. Swa is Self and Raj is Rule.

History

• Reintroduction of the spinning wheel and production of Khadi

Influences

• Leo Tolstoy, the Russian author and pacifist, corresponded with Gandhi on the subject of nonviolence
• E. F. Schumacher, author of Small is Beautiful, was influenced by Gandhi's concept of Swadeshi when he wrote his article on Buddhist Economics
• Satish Kumar, editor of Resurgence magazine, has promoted the concept of Swadeshi in his writing and teaching, including a section in his book "You Are, Therefore I Am" (2002).

References

See also

• Indian independence movement
• Swaraj
• Sarvodaya
• Hindu Mela

External links

• http://www.squat.net/caravan/ICC-en/Krrs-en/ghandi-econ-en.htm
• http://www.wildewildeweb.com/gandhi/swadeshi.html