Sunday, April 20, 2014

Liquid Metal Batteries for Grid-Scale Storage

4/2/14
MIT
David Bradwell, Ambri

Aluminum smelting was the inspiration, self-segregating liquids - three layers of magnesium, antimony, salt
Self-heating at a cubic meter with 75% efficiency in and out ac to ac
Shipped cold and solid and then heated up to start operation
35 kWh at cubic meter scale
Price for battery storage now is about $1500 per kWh
Targeting 20 year lifespan 
Developing recycling process for end of life management with an overall toxicity of lead acid batteries
Has had at least one cell operating for a year continuously
Negligible fade rate over 1000s of cycles
Prototype commercial cell by 2015
Three cubic meter 200 kWh cell by 2016
Have to design manufacturing system themselves
Discharge speed designed for complete discharge in two hours
Costs planned to be competitive with pumped hydro
Hawaii will be a laboratory for storage as it is maxing out on the wind and solar the grid can take, as designed
The chemistry means the cells will always be two inches thick

Social Cost of Carbon in Federal Rulemaking

3/31/14
Harvard 
Elizabeth Kopits, National Center for Environmental Economics, EPA
Costs include
changes in agricultural production
energy demand
Human health 
Property damage from increase flood risks
Value of ecosystem services

Started estimating costs in 2009, used three assessment models - PAGE, DICE (Nordhaus), FUND.  These link physical impacts to economic damages
NB:  no integration between DOD estimates of climate change harm and EPA estimates

Mitigation scenario was 450 ppm CO2 or 550 ppm CO2e
Discount rate for shorter term are both 3 and 7% but longer estimates range from 2.5 to 3 to 5%
This is a global estimate not a strictly domestic model, with some reference to regional and domestic estimates, with the US gaining about 10% of the global benefit.
Costs by 2020 were originally estimated to range from $7 to $81 per ton of carbon
Latest estimate (2012) with updated impacts is from $12 to $128 (in 2007 dollars)
These estimates do not completely include damages from ocean acidification, sea ice loss, melting permafrost, forest dieback, changed ocean currents
Nor the possible benefits to agriculture from more carbon in the air
So far, catastrophic impacts are not adequately estimated in the economics.

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Green Energy for a Billion Poor

_Green Energy for a Billion Poor_ by Nancy Wimmer
MCRE Verlag, 2012
ISBN-13:  978-3943310009

Foreward by Mohammed Yunis:  We are looking forward to a breakthrough in expanding the outreach of renewable energy in the rural areas of Bangladesh.  We are exploring the possibility of creating a simple vehicle, which will carry these heavy electric car batteries around, powered by the batteries themselves.  With this, we will get _mobile batteries_ which can be driven to the spots where energy is needed at the specific time of the day or night.  It can irrigate agricultural fields, or run machines in a rural factory during daytime, provide electricity at home or marketplace during night, carry the agricultural produce from the field to the marketplace, and provide mobility to the owner of the mobile battery.

(18)  In June 1996, Grameen Shakti, which means _village energy_, was founded as the first renewable energy service company in Bangladesh.  As a rural business, it had to create a market for solar systems through improving the quality of village life.  Solar technology was expensive;  therefore its benefit to the rural population had to be substantial.

(20)  Grameen Shakti grew its solar business to such an extent that by 2010, it had reached more than half a million customers straight from these experiences and learned from scratch in the villages of Bangladesh.

(21)  In 1995, only 9 percent of its rural households were connected to the grid.

(39)  From the beginning, Shakti built its business to last.  The company started as a business, not a project, which makes a significant difference.  Projects tend to have  a limited lifetime and eventually vanish.  They tend to pursue short-term objectives and sometimes last only as long as their funding….

Starting small has advantages for an innovative company exploring new terrain:  Shakti could begin operations quickly, learn from its mistakes, change direction, and steadily improve…

Shakti has the advantage of the trusted brand name Grameen, which is well known in all of Bangladesh…

An unknown entrepreneur would thus be well advised to look for a partner organization with a trusted brand name.  And to take great care never to disappoint a trusting rural clientele….

Its business strategy chose a narrow focus and a clear target.  It concentrated on one technology only and on bringing down its price as much as possible

(40)  Although the company’s long-term objective was to serve millions of villagers, it expanded village operations slowly with a minimum of staff and low overhead until it better understood the rural energy market.  Shakti initially focused on reaching scale only in the solar market and would not introduce biogas technology for almost a decade.

Shakti engineers are not in a hurry when setting up a branch office.  Instead, they take time to understand their customers and gain the trust of the community.

(45)  By 2001, every solar system Shakti installed was equipped with a mobile phone charger.  “We have customers who buy solar systems just to charge mobile phones,” branch engineers told the head office.  “Income comes first.  The lamps are secondary.”

(46-47)  Shakti began experimenting with a micro-utility model in village bazaars whereby one shopkeeper buys a solar system and then shares the electricity it produces which neighboring shops on a fee-for-service basis.  This gives the owner of the solar system the advantage of added income and provides his neighbors cheap access to solar electricity.  But although Shakti’s management considered this a promising model to make solar power available to low-income customers, it had yet to work out a special financing and service model for micro-utility owners and to test it at different branches.

(60)  Shakti thus introduced deep cycle batteries with a five-year warranty in 1999.

(65)  No matter how refined the financing scheme, no matter how well it is adapted to village pocketbooks, branch staff would have to reckon with the highly refined art among villagers to find ways to pay less than is due.  Artful customers missed paying the last installment and apparently thought branch staff would not go after them for such a small amount of money.  Shakti responded by arranging a special ceremony to acknowledge those customers who had paid all their monthly installments.

Community officials and the school principal were invited to attend the celebration, and applauded when customers were presented with the Grameen Shakti certificate of solar home system ownership.  As a token of the company’s appreciation, senior managers presented the new solar owners with a large umbrella bearing the Grameen Shakti company logo.  The entire celebration ended with a group photo of the new solar owners under their Shakti umbrellas for the company calendar and brochures.

(70)  By 2000, Shakti reached the financial break-even a year ahead of schedule.  From the year 2000 onward, Shakti achieved a modest yearly profit.

(71)  What’s more, the price of kerosene and diesel has increased threefold since Shakti began operations in 1996…  A salient example is mobile telephony, which became available in all of Bangladesh’s 80,000 villages in only six years.

(78)  Why then is a revolving fund not more popular with donors?  “Because most donors still have the same idea:  we give to you and you give it away”, explains Prof. Yunus.  “Shakti received the revolving fund as a grant, but replenished it in a business way and got the money back again.  But many donors say ‘you can’t do this.  If we give you funding for solar systems, you have to give it away.  You can’t charge fees.’  But if you can sell your product to people like Shakti did, you can earn.  Then you have leverage and can do the same thing over and over again.  This is difficult for donors to understand, because their thinking is not market-oriented.  You have to demonstrate how a revolving fund can promote the growth of sustainable business."

(79-80)  On the contrary, they were learning the bedrock of rural business:  Village people know more than you think they do.  Take them seriously.   Teach them if needed.  And never displease a disgruntled customer.

(80)  Shakti never lost money.  It understood that if managed well, the revolving fund could finance thousands of systems, since the company does not have to pay interest and has no cost of funds.

(85)  Within a decade after reaching break-even (2010), Shakti had evolved into a complex organization serving half the villages in Bangladesh….

Company Characteristics as of December 2010
Branch Offices   991
Regional and Divisional Offices   145
Villages served  ca.40,000
Solar Home Systems Installed since inception  539,504

(110)  ”In a rural service company like Shakti, you have to train everyone,” explains a senior manager, “the engineers, the technicians, the customers.  In a sense, we’re a training company.”

(113)  Divisional managers’ pick-up trucks, which are highly visible when driving through thousands of villages, bear Shakti’s motto in large letters on the side of the truck:  _Solar Power - Better Life - Better Income….

Shakti’s employees also enjoy _gratuity_ which is generous by Bangladeshi standards.  After having served the company for five years, staff members are eligible for voluntary retirement and entitled to a gratuity worth five times the amount of their last month’s (basic) salary.  Another popular option among employees is _earned leave_, the trading of time for money.  An employee receives three days earned leave for every month of service.  After a minimum of three years, an employee can cash in one month’s earned leave and get one month’s salary in return.

_Group life insurance_ was introduced in 2007, whereby Shakti pays a monthly premium for each staff member to an insurance company.  In case of death, the employee’s family receives prompt financial assistance according to salary and organizational status.  The _Staff Welfare Fund_ to provide financial assistance in case of accident or illness was established in 2008.

(114)  In 2007, Shakti was scaling up operations to install one million solar systems by 2015…  The following sections describe how Shakti developed into the largest off-grid rural solar energy provider in the world.

(123)  A solar home system package normally consists of a photovoltaic (PV) module, also called a solar panel, which generates electricity from sunlight;  a battery to store the electricity during the day;  and a charge controller to regulate the charging and discharging of the battery.  It feeds loads like lamps, TV, raids, mobile phone chargers, fans, and appliances.

(124)  Shakti waited almost a decade before introducing biogas technology.

(126)  In 2007, Shakti launched a program to market bio slurry under the brand name Grameen Shakti Jaibo Shar, Grameen Shakti Organic Fertilizer.

(128)  Of the three product types Shakti markets, Improved Cooking Stoves (ICS) are the most recent, but well on their way to becoming a flourishing business.  Though the technology is simple, the benefits for the rural population seem immense.

(130)  Business in rural areas seems straightforward.  Solar home systems, small biogas plants, and simple cooking stoves seem to teach a lesson:  practical low-tech products plus good service and customer financing are a sure recipe for good business.  Adapting technology to village life teaches a different lesson.

(138)  As a learning organization, Shakti cultivates teamwork, open discussion, and a spirit of inquiry.

(142)  One example is the solution found for the hundreds of defective solar panels that were accumulating at brach offices.  The panels couldn’t be resold, and storage was becoming a serious problem.  Audit teams wanted to know if they couldn’t be repaired and took up the matter with the technology department at the head office.  Combined action by audit teams, engineers, and battery specialists generated valuable synergetic effects that the company then used to benefit its customers.  Shakti launched a new project to set up battery charging stations with repaired solar panels at each of its branches and made the service free of charge for all its customers.

(149)  Mobile phones fundamentally changed and improved Shakti’s business.  All branch offices were equipped with mobile phones, and their numbers were published in the company’s brochures and product information leaflets.

(154)  He [Mr. Gazi who runs a small shop at a village market] can afford the solar system because he earns money using it.  In addition to selling groceries at the market, he is a small-scale energy service provider, a micro-utility, serving a clientele of three.  His solar system powers four lamps, but he uses only one to light his shop.  He rents the other three lamps to his neighbors, shop owners like himself.  All four benefit from solar electricity:  Mr. Gazi from the monthly rental fees and Shakti’s easy credit terms.

Shakti’s financial model for micro-utilities is simple and adaptable.  Micro-utility entrepreneurs need pay only 10 percent down, pay no service charge, and enjoy an extended repayment period of three and a half years.  In the case of Mr. Gazi, a branch engineer first calculated if the shop owner could make a profit after paying his monthly installment.  Shakti then provided one lamp for half price to help get him started.  He paid full price for the remaining three lamps and backed the expense by renting them to neighboring shop owners.  Branch staff provided training and maintenance free of cost and were close at hand when Mr. Gazi had problems.  Today, he has repaid his loan, owns the solar system, and enjoys additional income…. their [shop owners who are micro-utilities] monthly income from renting out lamps exceeds the amount of their monthly installments.

(157)  In 2005, Shakti launched the pilot phase of its biogas program for small farms and private households.  It hired civil engineers, trained masons, developed training programs, and constructed 450 biogas plants.  Shakti’s branches were challenged with creating a market for a new and expensive technology.  And what better way to raise the interest of potential biogas customers than with the prospects of earning money as owners of a micro-utility.

(158)  Hazera’s business [collecting chicken and cow dung from neighbors for her 6 m3 biogas plant that supplies nine small gas lines to local houses] depends on Shakti’s micro-utility model, which is fine-tuned to small scale entrepreneurs.  Financing is exactly tailored to Hazera’s business needs.  She can handle the technology because it is not too complicated.  Shakti engineers back her up with all services she needs:  installing gas lines, training, maintenance, and repair.  It’s the clever combination of all these components that gives Shakti its edge.

(159)  As a farmer, Khaledur understood the benefits of bio slurry for his land.  But as a businessman, he recognized a growing market for fertilizer that is not imported, which is key to Shakti’s marketing strategy for Jaibo Shar. Shakti counts on entrepreneurial farmers like Khaledur to market its organic fertilizer.  If marketed successfully, farmers profit from increased corp yield and an abundant supply of bio slurry at local markets and biogas owners benefit form a new source of income.  The fertilizer business further adds to the village economy, because the production, collection, and refinement of bio slurry create local jobs.

Whatever the product Shakti introduces, generating income for villagers is part of the package to spur economic growth.  Since introducing solar home systems in 1996, Shakti has trained and employed thousands of solar technicians and field assistants.  Shakti’s biogas program increased incomes for micro-utility entrepreneurs and created jobs for local masons.

(160-161)  The problems escalated as Shakti expanded;  during the six-month warranty period, the company was responsible for all repairs and had to replace the stove if it was defect[ive].  Shakti went back to the drawing board and came up with a stove made of concrete.  It could be prefabricated, mass produced, and quickly and easily installed - even by village women.  A branch manager explains how business with the new stove created new opportunities for village entrepreneurs.

“First we encourage women to apply for a job as a stove technician.  If accepted, they receive training and a tool-set, and start working for a basic monthly salary of 3,000 Taka as Shakti certified technicians.  Their starting salary is low to encourage them to become part-time entrepreneurs who find and serve new customers on their own.  They receive 50 Taka for each of the first ten cooking stoves they install per month, but 150 Taka for every additional stove.  That’s around 5,000 Taka a month for only twenty new customers.  This is the heart of Shakti’s new marketing strategy.  Women earn more if working on their own.  Shakti’s role is to help women technicians get started as stove entrepreneurs."

(164)  In 2005, Shakti launched its boldest project yet.  It began decentralizing all production from its central factory in Dhaka to rural communities.  In future, all solar system accessories will be manufactured and repaired in village production units near Shakti’s branch offices.  the production units will also function as training centers for village technicians and thus advance energy entrepreneurship far beyond the micro-utility approach. 

(171)  Five years after launching the technology centers, they had turned into solar manufacturing hubs.  All production had been decentralized from the head office to forty-six technology centers.  They supplied solar system accessories to one thousand branches throughout rural Bangladesh.  Local production was vital to Shakti’s business, because by 2010, branches were installing 20,000 solar systems a month.  The demanding task of coordinating the logistics also had shifted from the head office to the field - more precisely to the divisional offices.

A divisional manager gives an example:  “If all sixty-one branches in my division set their monthly quota for a total of 2,000 systems, the technology centers have to supply them with 3,000 charge controllers and 7,500 lamps.  I calculate 1,000 of these charge controllers for replacement and repair;  solar home systems normally require from three to five lamps.  We also keep the branches supplied with 3,000 extra circuits for immediate replacement in addition to around 500 mobile phone chargers and 200 DC-DC converters a month.  All of this is coordinated from my office.  The rest is up to the GTC engineers."

(177)  The numbers speak for themselves:  forty-six technology centers and 3,000 women technicians trained within five years;  1,000 branches served with a continuous supply of solar accessories.

(178)  “Our young people leave the village for education and a job, but you bring knowledge and jobs to us,” the villagers tell the engineers.  Grameen Technology Centers have become part of the village not only by virtue of their name.  People see them as benefitting village life.

(184)  A World Bank study in Bangladesh found that having access to electricity impacted rural households significantly.  It increased household incomes by as much as 20 percent, resulting in a corresponding drop of the poverty rate of about 15 percent.  Findings also showed that study time for schoolchildren was up to 33 percent higher for those whose homes have electricity.  As in the rest of the developing world, many problems in rural Bangladesh are rooted in an energy problem.  Providing villagers with even modest amounts of electricity is impacting most every facet of village life.

(189)  Planned Product Installations in 2015 [cumulative]
Solar Home Systems  5 million
Improved Cooking Stoves  5 million
Biogas Plants  205,000

(193)  Mohammed Yunis:  A social business is thus defined as a non-loss, non-dividend company for solving a social problem.  And it must be sustainable;  otherwise it will have to shut down.  This was my problem when Shakti got so big.  A non-profit doesn’t have to be sustainable.  It can lose money and still continue.  So I solved the problem by creating a social business, Grameen Shakti Social Business, to be owned by Grameen Shakti.  So now we have an owner.

(194)  Mohammed Yunis:  So the legal form should be of a non-profit company, except owners cannot take profit.  The profit stays with the company.  Whoever is investing in this company cannot get any return on the investment.  This is a new concept.  As a social business, you don’t have to please your shareholders by generating a personal return on investment.  You want to focus completely on your social impact.  Social business devotes 100 percent of its profits to solving social problems.  This leads to long-term solutions.
NB:  Gandhi’s idea of trusteeship

(203)  http://www.grameen-shakti.org

(216)  Objectives of Grameen Shakti Social Business
Listed below is a selection of objectives taken from the Memorandum of Association of Grameen Shakti Social Business:

To acquire, develop, transfer and upgrade technologies in the alternate and renewable energy, energy management, environment and climate changes;  energy for health and education;  alternative fuels for transport, rural energy, water supply, women in development and related industrial an business spheres through appropriate means including importation.
To maximize benefit of the society rather than profit maximization.
To overcome poverty, or one of more problems (such as education, health, technology access, and environment) which threaten people and society;  not profit maximization with special emphasis on environment.
To carry on business with financial and economic sustainability being fully conscious of the environment.
Investors get back their investment amount only.  No dividend is given beyond investment money

Thursday, April 3, 2014

Gandhian Economics: A Humane Approach

_Gandhian Economics: A Humane Approach_ by Rashmi Sharma
New Delhi: Deep and Deep Publications, 1997
ISBN 81-7100-986-7

(xi) No one's gain should be anybody's loss, financial, physical, moral or spiritual. This is the first brick upon which the edifice of his entire economic philosophy stands.

(24) He was not a theorist; but was primarily an activist. He himself admitted "I am not built for academic writings. Action is my domain. What I understand according to my lights, to be my duty and what comes my way I do."

(26) The centre of his economic thought is man and not the material prosperity or scarcity. He aimed at the development, upliftment and enrichment of human life, rather than a higher standard of living with scant respect for human and social values.

(27) He says, "According to me the economic constitution of India, and for that matter of the world, should be such that no one under it should suffer form the want of food and clothing. In other words, everybody should be able to get sufficient work to enable him to make the two ends meet. And this ideal can be universally realized only if the means of production of the elementary necessaries of life remain in the control of the masses. They should be freely available to all as God's air and water are or ought to be... Their monopolisaton by any country, nation or group of persons would be unjust. The neglect of this simple principle is the cause of the destitution that we witness today not only in this unhappy land but in other parts of the world too."

All economic theories are meant for man. His well-being is the ultimate goal of all of them. Replying to Rabindranath Tagore he said, "To people famishing and idle, the only acceptable form in which God can dare appear is work and the promise of food as wages."

(30) In a speech at Muir College, Economic Society, Allahabad, he said, "By economic progress, I take it, we mean material advancement without limit, and by real progress we mean moral progress, which again is the same thing as progress of the permanent element in us. The subject may therefore be stated thus: Does not moral progress increase in the same proportion as material progress? I know that this is a wider proposition than the one before us. But I venture to think that we always mean the large one even when we lay down the smaller... I venture to think that the scriptures of the world are safer and sounder treatises on the laws of economics than many modern text books. He (Jesus) is himself the greatest economist of his time."

(30-31) "True economics," he argued, "never militates against the highest ethical standard, just as all true ethics to be worth its name must at the same time be also good economics. An economics that inculcates Mammon worship, and enables the strong to amass wealth at the expense of the weak, is the false and dismal science. It spells death. True economics, on the other hand, stands for social justice, it promotes the good of all equally including the weakest, and is indispensable for decent life."

(33) "It is good enough to talk of God whilst we are sitting here after a nice breakfast and looking forward to a nicer luncheon, but how am I to talk to God to the millions who have to go without two meals a day? To them God can only appear as bread and butter."

(35) Such an economist is propagating what king Yayati said long long ago. "Wants can never be satisfied by increasing them." Same as the belief of Gandhi.

(36) "We should not receive any single thing that we do not need," he wrote in "From Yerevada Mandir." "We are not always aware of our real needs and most of us improperly multiply our wants, and thus unconsciously make thieves of ourselves. If we devote, some thought to the subject, we shall find that we can get rid of quite a number of our wants. One who follows the observance of non-stealing will bring about a progressive reduction of his own wants. Much of the distressing poverty in this world has arisen out of breaches of the principles of non-stealing." The profound truth upon which this observance is based is that God never creates more than what is strictly needed for the moment. Therefore, who ever appropriates more than the minimum, that is really necessary for him, is guilty of theft.

Thus he offered his doctrine of non-possession as an indictment of the doctrine of multiplication of wants, fueled by an insatiable propensity for superfluous or conspicuous consumption.

(36-37) "During the days of my education, I had read practically nothing outside textbooks and after I launched into active public life I had very little time for reading... However, I believe I have lost not much because of this enforced restraint. On the contrary, the limited reading may be said to have enabled me thoroughly to digest what I did read. Of these books, the one that brought about an instantaneous and practical transformation in my life was 'Unto This Last.' I translated it later into Gujarati, entitling it 'Sarvodaya'." He further listed three main lessons that he received from this book.

(i) That the good of [the] individual is contained in the good of all.
(ii) That a lawyer's work has the same value as a the barber's in as much as all have the same right of earning their livelihood from their work.
(iii) That a life of labour, i.e. the life of tiller of the soil and the handicraftsman, is [a] life worth living.

(39) Gandhi was of the definite opinion that property was trust. He divided property in two parts; gifts of nature and the product of social living. The gifts of nature include land, mines, natural resources, etc. The second part deals with the man-made property. He believed that all forms of property and human accomplishments were either the gift of nature or the product of social living. As such they belong not to the individual but to the society and therefore should be used for the good of all. Everything belongs to God and was from God, and therefore, it was for His people and not for a particular individual. When an individual had more than his proportionate portion, he becomes the trustee of that portion of God's people." At another place he says, "Supposing I have come by a fair amount of wealth - either by way of legacy, or by the means of trade and industry - I must know that all my wealth does not belong to me; and what belongs to me is the right of an honourable livelihood, no better than that enjoyed by millions of others. The rest of my wealth belongs to the community and must be used for the welfare of the community."

(40) "I would allow a man of talent to earn more. I would not cramp his talent. But the bulk of his greater earnings must be used for the good of the state, just as the income of all earning sons of the father go to the common family fund. They would have their earnings only as trustees... i.e. owners not in their own right but owners, in the right of those whom they have exploited. I will not dictate to them what commission to take, but ask them to take what is fair, e.g. I would ask a man who possesses Rs. 100 to take Rs. 50 and give the other Rs. 50 to the workers. But to him who possesses Rs. 100,000,000 I would perhaps say take one per cent for yourself, so you see that my commission would not be a fixed figure that would result in atrocious injustice."

(41-42) Swadeshi is another fundamental basis of Gandhi's economic philosophy. It defines the relation of the individual to his society and the larger world in terms of socially responsible economic behaviour. It is of great eternal and social significance also. Explaining his views on this, in the Missionary Conference in 1915, he said, "Swadeshi is that spirit within us which restricts us to the use and service of our immediate surroundings to the exclusion of the more remote. Thus, as for religion, in order to satisfy the requirements of the definition, I should serve it by purging it of its defects. In the domain of politics, I should make use of the indigenous institutions and serve them by curing them of their proved defects. In the domain of politics, I should make use of the indigenous institutions and serve them by curing them of their proved defects. In that of economics, I should use only those things that are produced by my immediate neighbours and serve those industries by making them efficient and complete where they might be found wanting." He further clarifies, "In your village you are bound to support your village barber to the exclusion of the finished barber who may come to you from Madras. If you find it necessary that your village barber should reach the attainments of the barber from Madras, you may train him to that. Send him to Madras by all means, if you wish, in order that he may learn his calling. Until you do that you are not justified in going to another barber. That is Swadeshi. So when we find that there are many things that one cannot get in India, we must try to do without them. We may have that frame of mind, you will find a great burden taken off your shoulders."

(43-44) "I think of Swadeshi not as a boycott movement undertaken by way of revenge. I conceive it as a religious principle to be followed by all. I am no economist but I have read some treatises which show that England could easily become a self-sustained country growing all the produce she needs... But India can not live by Lancashire or any other country before she is able to live by herself. And she can live for herself only if she produces and is helped to produce everything for her requirements within her border... Much of the deep poverty of the masses is due to the ruinous departure from Swadeshi in the economic and industrial life. If not an article of commerce had been brought from outside India, she would today be a land flowing with milk and honey."

(44) Sarvodaya is a generic name given to the non-violent social order which Gandhi aimed at. Sarvodaya stands for the emancipation, the uplift and elevation of all, and that all living beings are participants in or portions (amsa) of a super material reality. Hence the food of all living beings which necessarily implies the good of all humanity has to be positively fostered. He repudiates, therefore, the limited gospel of the greatest good of the greatest number.

(46) In Gandhian economics, social equilibrium is an optimum combination of material and moral progress through a progressive movement towards a non-violent society founded on non-exploitative, humanistic and egalitarian society.
NB: maximum versus optimum

(47) Gandhian economics, one can claim, produced just that - a set of welfare criteria for the attainment of a 'feasible social optimum according to some morally impelling welfare functions.'

(49) Gandhi, MK, _Constructive Programme: Its Meaning and Place_ (Ahmedabad, Navajivan Publishing House, 1991)

(57) "The ocean is composed of drops of water; each drop is an entirety, and yet it is a part of the whole; 'the one and the many'. In this ocean of life, we are little drops. My doctrine means that I must share the majority of life in the presence of God. The Sum-total of this life is God."

(58) Gandhi emphasized, "It has been my experience that I am always true from my point of view, and am often wrong from the point of my honest critics. I know that we are both right from our respective points of view. And this knowledge saves me from attributing motives to my opponents or critics." Continuing, he says, "The seven blind men who gave seven different descriptions of the elephant were all right from their respective points of view, and wrong from the point of view of the man who knew the elephant. I very much like this doctrine of the manyness of reality."
NB: Karl Popper and the Open Society

(61) Without self-effort no amount of social ordering will yield any result. As Gandhi says, "In the West, when they talk of amelioration of the lot of the masses, they talk of raising the standard of life... how can an outsider raise the standard when the standard is within everyone of us. We can only strive to increase man's opportunities of realising and fulfilling his duties and of getting nearer to God."

(63) What Gandhi wished to stress was that every act contains its own propaganda and needs no other.

(81) "I have always said that my ideal is that capital and labour should supplement and help each other. They should be a great family living in unity and harmony, capital not only looking to the material welfare of the labourers but their moral welfare also capitalists being trustees for the welfare of the labouring classes under them."

(84) I. Trusteeship provides a means of transforming the present capitalist order of society into an egalitarian one. It gives no quarter to capitalism, but gives the present owning a class a chance of reforming itself. It is based on the faith that human nature is never beyond redemption.

II. It does not recognize any right of ownership of private property except so far as it may be permitted by society for its own welfare.

III. It does not exclude legislative regulation of ownership and the use of wealth.

IV. Thus under state-regulated trusteeship, an individual will not be free to hold or use his weatlh for selfish satisfaction or in disregard of the interests of the society.

V. Just as it proposed to fix a decent minimum living wage, even so a limit should be fixed for a maximum income that would be allowed to any person in a society. The difference between such minimum and maximum incomes should be reasonable and equitable and variable from time to time so much so that the tendency would be towards obliteration of the difference.

VI. Under Gandhian economic order the character of production will be determined by social necessity and not by personal whim or greed.

(84) All the persons-labourers, managerial staff and the owners will be equal share-holders in a trusteeship firm.


(100) Jai Narain, _Economic Thought of Mahatma Gandhi_, (New Delhi, Sehgal Publishers, 1991)

(113) That is why he advocated a need-based economy devoid of any exploitation. The policy must be tuned in favour of the rural classes, the production priorities must cater to the needs of these poor people and they must be provided adequate opportunities both for greater participation in economic activities and for enjoying extended opportunities to raise their income and social status. The slogan of Gandhi 'Back to Villages' has to be viewed in this context as he not only wanted to save millions of rural people from underwork, he sought to provide them self-employment opportunities at the village [level] only. This will exploit local talent and local raw material for better and cheap[er] production.
NB: Cottage industry, global/local crafts market through etsy, eBay, et cetera

(115) He argued, "I do visualise electricity, ship building, iron works, machine making and the like existing side by side with village handicrafts. Hitherto industrialization has been so planned as to destroy the village and village crafts. In the state of the future, it will subserve the villagers and their crafts."

(119) "Independence must begin at the bottom. Thus, every village will be a republic of panchayats having full powers. It follows, therefore, that every village has to be self-sustained and capable of managing its affairs even to the extent of defending itself against the whole world. It will be trained and prepared to perish in the attempt to defend itself against any onslaught from without. Thus, ultimately, it is the individual who is the unit. This does not exclude dependence on and willing help from the neighbours or from [the] world... In this structure composed of innumerable villages, there will be ever-winding, never-ascending circles. Life will not be a pyramid with the apex sustained by the bottom. But it will be an [o]ceanic circle whose centre will be the individual always ready to perish for the village, the latter ready to perish for the circle of villages, till at last the whole becomes one life composed of individuals never aggressive in their arrogance but ever humble, sharing the majesty of oceanic circle of which they are integral units. Therefore, the outermost circumference will not wield power to crush the inner circle but will give strength to all within and derive its own strength from it."

(133) To Gandhi, essential human requirements are food, shelter, clothing, health and individual freedom.

(134) ..."conservative subsistence farming could enable us to maintain out of our own resources all our population even with the present rate of increase for a good long time to come, provided we are prepared to forego for the time being some of the trimmings of progress and to put first things first." He accordingly made the proper disposal of night-soil by composting the foundation of his reconstruction schemes beginning with his Ashram. The erection of trench or pit latrines and scavenging was an essential part of the daily ashram routine and of the apprenticeship which every novice went through.

(134-135) The nature sets limits. It requires a person to contain himself within its capacity. Thus the emphasis is on self-control and limitations of wants. Mechanised industry knows no such limitation. Its law is one of progressive increase. Those who laid down the pattern of India;s ancient culture could not accept the notion that culture increases with the increase in the number of man's wants and their satisfaction.


Gandhi advocated a solution of this problem in the form of wantlessness, meaning thereby that let us voluntarily reduce our wars to a genuine level...

"The mind is a restless bird," observed Gandhi, "The more it gets the more it wants. and still remains unsatisfied... Our ancestors, therefore, set a limit to our indulgence... Our fore-fathers knew that, if we set our hearts after such things, we would become slaves and lose our moral fibre. They, therefore, after due deliberation decided that we should only do what we could with our hands and feet. They saw that our real happiness and health consisted in a proper use of our hands and feet." If we follow this it can conserve a lot of natural resources for us which will be sufficient for generations to come.

(140) To quote him, "The world will live in peace only when the individuals composing it make up their minds to do so." Human beings will have to realize that a way of life that rapidly depletes the power of earth instead of sustaining it piles up more insoluble problems for each succeeding generation can only be called violent. Man's urgent task is to follow a non-violent way of life in economics. It is a concept that needs to be widened out to combat not merely the violence of man against man, but also the violence of man in his dealing with living nature around him and with the limited and finite resources of the earth.

(144) Afterwards, as the political power of the [East India] company increased, they did not want to bring their ships empty from England to India but, instead, to load it with Cargo which would at least pay for the freight charges. It was on this account that the Company's Government here put an excise duty on salt manufactured in India. This enabled the British masters to fill their ships with British Salts and sell it profitably in India to cover the cost of the journey of their ships to India. This was the origin of the salt tax. That is why Gandhi called this tax sinful. It killed the flourishing salt industry of India.

(145) Gandhi thought that the only industry which could be universal was the textile industry. This was also the biggest item of import from England. It had made for prosperity not only of Manchester but also fo Great Britain. For centuries there had been a tradition in India of hand spinning and hand weaving. The former had been given up in many parts of the manufacture in Indian mills. But weaving was yet common in progressively wiped out in competition with Indigenous and foreign mill cloth. Gandhi considered spinning and weaving to be the industries which could best provide subsidiary work to the agricultural masses of India. Therefore, he worked for the revival of this industry. Gandhi also believed that if India could organise this industry so as to make the import of cloth from abroad superfluous, it would greatly add not only to its economic but also its social and political strength.
NB: Luddites, cottage industry, handcrafts

(147) What was meant by effective control? What industry could satisfy Gandhi as being Indian? "An Industry to be Indian must be demonstrably in the interest of the masses. It must be manned by Indians both skilled and unskilled. Its capital and machinery should be Indian and the labour employed should have a living wage and be comfortably housed, while the welfare of the children of the labourers should be guaranteed by the employers. This is the ideal definition.

(149-150) Gandhi defined Swadeshi as a principle which is broken when one professes to serve those who are more remote in preference to those who are near. A teaching that is shared by all mankind, states Gandhi, and one that is common to all religions alike, is that one must be kind and attentive to one's neighbours. The duty of helping one's neighbours is the core of the ethics of Swadeshi.

(153) Gandhi's doctrine that buying local products was a moral imperative had protectionist implications, but Gandhi had no particular allegiance to free trade. In response to an interviewer's comment that no country was free from foreign competition, Gandhi observed that on contrary each sovereign nation tried to protect its infant industries by bounties and tariffs and pointed to the sugar industry in Germany which had developed under a prohibitive tariff-wall. However, the exercise of ethical preference by consumer was, he claimed, a better solution because it was voluntary and hence was in correspondence with the principle of non-violence and was more likely to benefit the poor. Consumption behaviour that corresponded to the principle of ethical preferences, far from destroying the economic benefits flowing from foreign trade would conduce to the healthy growth of nations and so promote both material and moral progress.

(155) The test of Swadeshi was not the universality of the use of an article which goes under the name of Swadeshi but the universality of participation in the production or manufacturing of such articles. Judged by this test spinning had a potential unmatched by other contenders.

(156-158) I. An individual a la consumer, will reduce one's wants. In reducing one's wants, the utility function will depend upon the commodities that are, or can be produced locally by neighbours. In other words, one's utility function will not be made up of commodities imported in their entirety. In urban areas, particularly in developing countries, the utility functions of the affluent members of the society is entirely made up of important commodities. Such a utility function is unswadeshi since it denies the local producers the necessary means to produce commodities and thereby earn a livelihood for themselves.

II. Not only will the consumer redesign his or her utility function such that it is made up of commodities produced, or producible, in the neighbourhood, but also the consumer will make an effort to obtain these commodities from the neighbourhood itself. In other words, the consumer will prefer the commodities produced by the immediate neighbour to the commodities produced by a distant neighbour except when either the immediate neighbour does not produce these goods from a distant neighbour.

III. The consumer will cooperate with the producer neighbour in the process of improving the efficiency of production. This translates into the idea that the utility function not only contains the commodities produced in the neighbourhood but also a variable reflecting cooperation with the producer. In this sense the consumer and producer do not generate antagonistic relationships; such as in the dictum that consumer is sovereign and the producer the willing slave. On the contrary, the consumer and the producer are jointly involved in a cooperative effort.

IV. Translated in economic language swadeshi involves two shifts: an upward sift in the demand curve and a downward shift in the cost curve for a commodity producer in the neighbourhood/locality. Both these shifts take place simultaneously. The effect of these two shifts is obvious. It ensures that the production of the needed good producible in the neighbourhood is profitable and hence feasible. Swadeshi, thus, is opposite to the trend in the last fifty years where the demand curve has been shifting downwards and the cost curve upwards. This was exactly the policy of British colonialism in India. The people were encouraged to consume goods produced in England and high taxes were levied on the producer in India of competing goods. Neo-colonialism is also operating through this mechanism. As a result of these two movements, the village industries have become uneconomic and eventually have gone out of production.

(168) Yet as long as Khadi is produced by labour which would otherwise do nothing at all, it is, for the economy as a whole, the cheapest cloth of all - a fact very much appreciated by the father of the nation and which we are ignoring. We will have to pay a very heavy price for it.

(174) If the estimates of community and voluntary services are included in the calculations of GNP, India would rank much higher. But economists are uncomfortable with consideration of family and community sentiments and pay no regard to culture, craftsmanship and tradition. An underlying objective of the present Western-oriented model of economic enrichment, hidden from even some local enthusiasts, seems to eradicate all values that can not be exploited monetarily.

(181) But in this scheme of things the accent is not on antyodaya (the welfare of the lowliest and the lost).

(189) Actually he believed that a blind pursuit of economic abundance through accumulation, competition and technological innovation would lead to economic aggression, exploitation and violence in the society. This led him to denounce the conventional economics.

(1 90) His economics did not accept Robbins neutrality to normative and moral values, nor did it agree with Adam Smith's emphasis on wealth nor did it accept the Marxian concept of class conflict. He cherished a new value, ie the human value on which he based his economic approach.

(191) He wanted to elevate modern economic philosophy from is materialistic base to a higher spiritual plane where human actions were motivated by social objectives rather than individualistic and self-considerations.

(201) Kumarappa, JC, _Economy of Permanence_, Varanasi, Sarva Seva Sangh Prakashan, 1984

(204) Sethi, JD, _International Economic Disorder: A Theory of Economic Darwinism and a Gandhian Solution_, New Delhi, Vikas Publishing House Pvy Ltd, 1992

More notes on books about Gandhian economics:

Sarvodaya, Swaraj, and Swadeshi
http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com/2014/04/sarvodaya-swaraj-and-swadeshi.html

Foundations of Gandhian Economics
http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com/2014/04/foundations-of-gandhian-economics.html

Gandhi’s Economic Thought
http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com/2014/04/gandhis-economic-thought.html

Inclusive Economics:  Gandhian Method and Contemporary Policy
http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com/2014/04/inclusive-economics-gandhian-method-and.html

Essays in Gandhian Economics
http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com/2014/04/essays-in-gandhian-economics.html

Economy of Permanence
http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com/2014/04/economy-of-permanence.html

Economy of Permanence

_Economy of Permanence_ by J C Kumarappa
Varanasi:  Sarva-Seva-Sangh-Prakashan, 1997

(19-24)  Parasitic Economy:  Leading type - a robber who murders a child for its ornaments.
1. Selfishness motivated by greed.
2. Intention:  benefiting himself regardless of any injury his actions may cause to others.
3. Harming, if not destroying, the source of benefit.
4. Emphasis wholly on one's own rights.
5. Absence of recognition of one's duties.
6. Absence of altruistic values.
7. Productive of violence.
Chief Test:  Destruction of source of benefit.

Predatory Economy:  Leading type - a pickpocket who robs his victim without making him aware of his loss.
1. Selfishness motivated by desires.
2. Intent on his own benefit and attempts to attain it, if possible without much harm to his victim.
3. Emphasis wholly on rights.
4. Little or no recognition of one's duties.
5. Absence of altruistic values.
6. Productive of violence.
Chief Test: Benefit without contribution.

Economy of Enterprise:  Leading type - an agriculturist ploughs the land, manures and irrigates it, sows selected seeds, watches over the crop and then reaps and enjoys his harvest.
1. Motivated by enlightened self-interest and ambition.
2. His sense of self -respect demands his contributing his personal labour, thought and effort, taking only the benefit so occasioned.
3. Venturesomeness and a willingness to take risks.
4. A desire to benefit co-workers, and others too, if possible.
5. An attempt at a balance of rights of all.
6. An increasing recognition of duties to others.
7. Based on sense of justice and fairplay.
8. May occasion violence.
Chief Test:  Benefit and contribution correlated, with a readiness to take risk.

Economy of Gregation: Leading type - a member of joint family working for the good of the family as a whole.  A village punchayat or a Co-operative Sciety working for the group it represents.
1. Motivated not by individual self-interest but by the common interests of the group.
2. Submission to the will of group leading perhaps to even self-abnegation and sacrifice of personal interests.
3. Emphasis on the duties to the group.
4. One's contribution being regarded more important than one's share of benefit.
5. Based on altruisitic values.
6. May lead to violence to those outside the group.
Chief Test: Benefit to the group rather than to individual member.

Economy of Service: Leading type - a relief worker.
1. Motivated by the good of others even if the work be seemingly detrimental to self-interest.
2. Pressing forward to perform one's duties unconscious of one's rights.
3. Based on love and deep desire to serve without reward.
4. Brings non-violence and peace and makes for permanence.
Chief Test: Contribution without regard to any benefit received by the worker.
NB:  Service as its own reward, you buy happiness by giving away money

(49)  We are often led away by low money prices ignoring the great gashes in our economic and social organization made by such short sighted choice of ours.  The goods produced by our own neighbours have values which are not represented in the money price.  The money value is most often the least important of all considerations, although frequently, it is the sole factor that affects our decision.

(64) House of Social Innovations:  This House belongs to the Economy of Gregation.  Hence the deciding criterion  at every stage will be "what is good for society in general?"  And not any consideration of personal benefit to any individual or to any special persons.  It is needless to point out that money values will have hardly any place here.  Long range consideration will prevail over short range policies.

(65)  Proper planning of life is imperative.  To be successful the objective of the plan recommended must be universal and be in complete alignment with the eternal order of things.  It should not be a convenient attempt (such as the one we voiced in the last House) to foist standardized methods of life on others, with the purpose of disposing of the products of centralized factories, nor should it be such as to kill individual expressions of personality.   

(66)  The normal working of this body and mind cannot be altered or designed afresh by ignorant man.  Hence, it will be futile for any mortal individual to attempt to change the course of life as he wishes it.  All that can be done is to co-operate with nature and arrange to maintain the environment in such a form as wiell guarantee its working at its best.  This stage or norm is set by nature and man's part is to study and understand nature's requirements and pay heed to it.  If there be any departure from nature's norm, it will lead to social maladjustments.

(67)  A planner should rather [be] like a gardener.  He first prepares the soil, sows the seed and waters it and having done his part he stands aside.  The plant of its own nature, drawing the nutriment supplied by the conditioned soil, grows and brings forth flowers.  

(68)  The condition and environment for the full growth of the faculties of man that have to be ensured are the primary end of planning.  Every individual has to have enough wholesome and balanced food, sufficient clothing to protect the body from changes in weather, adequate housing accommodation, full opportunities for training the mind and body for life, clean surroundings to safeguard health and ample facilities for human intercourse, economic production and exchange.  Such then are the planners' objectives.  Beyond these all other accomplishments should be left to the initiative of the people themselves.

(69)  The planned life is only to ensure that each person gets his minimum human needs at least.  Over and above that, every individual must have as much scope as possible for the individual sense of values to makes its presence felt.

(70)  The House of Sublimation: In the Economy Service, to which section the House of Sublimation belongs, personal rights fade away yielding place to duties that assume the regulation of life.  Freewill is used to control the animal side of man and his selfish bodily inclinations directing his activities rationally into certain well chosen channels.  The scale of values is designed to measure the welfare of others rather than ones own pleasure.  Hence the perspective is a long range one, as the immediate personal gain is not the desired end. 

(71)  The ones in this House [of Sublimation in the Economy of Service], therefore are volunteer guinea pigs and scientific experts rolled into one.
NB:  As we all are.  Fuller's Guinea Pig ¿¿¿¿¿¿If we feel in our own selves the needs of others, and if we are endowed with creative faculties, we should be able to devise ways and means of solving those difficulties.  One belonging to this House [of Sublimation] will suffer or live vicariously in the lives of others.  H=e will be more sensitive of the feeling of others and their surroundings than to his own.  He will weep with those who do weep and rejoice with those who do rejoice.  His scale of values will be altruistic.  He will not be conscious of his own rights.  He will sublimate his fatherhood into protecting and supporting those who are helpless, friendless, accepting the whole family as his own.

(83)  The trend in modern life is to follow fashions by increasing the complexity competitively while lowering the human standard in so doing.

(104)  Life when it is allowed to run its natural course is resourceful enough to provide for itself all it needs without any further conscious effort on our part.

(105)  To give out one more example of faithful work well done, there is a steel pillar near the Kutub Mimar at Delhi bearing an ancient inscription.  This pillar has stood in the open exposed to sun and rain, heat and cold for centuries on end, yet, there not a speck of rust on it.

(114)  Any plan to answer our purpose and to lead to the achievement of the Economy of Permanence will have to be centred on the function of work, and be founded on the capacity and the nature of the human being for whom the work is intended.

(115)  Unfortunately, most of the plans that are brought out at present are product-centred with a certain amount of attention paid to wages.  As in Germany and Russia, such plans will no doubt produce quick results, but they will not be lasting and in time will generate violence, as they do not follow the way of Permanence

(120)  In the gregarious stage, as we have seen, there can be two kinds, the pack-type which represents the right-centred economy and the herd-type which represents the duty-centred economy.

As man evolves, his consciousness of duties enlarges and he becomes more and more aware, not of the benefits he gets by being a member of society, but of the duties he is to perform towards the well-being of that society.  In the final stage he reaches the service economy in which he realizes himself in the service of others.

In this part of the book we shall consider not the gregation of the pack-type but man working together for the common good of mankind.

(121-122)  In this second part we shall see how man should act as a group in production as well as distribution.  Here there are three forms in which man may be said to work as a group.  (1)  In production he works individually, though in certain processes he may have to combine with others similarly paced.  This part of man's work along with his neighbours, considers not only his interest, but also theirs and in the long run his larger interests.  (2)  Then man works jointly, in a group of similar interests, this we call co-operative effort, which is the second type of work in gregation.  (3)  Then comes the third type where the short range work having been assigned to individuals and co-operative bodies, the purely long range work is taken up by a body of selfless individuals who perform their duties purely with a view to benefit society at large..  Such a group we call the State. At the present time it is difficult to point out anywhere in the world where the State is composed of the type of individuals who would be qualified to undertake this responsibility.  The present forms of States are largely failing in their duty towards the common man.

(127)  The well-being of a nation does not consist merely in the output of material production.  This production is important only in so far as it enables the people to meet their wants.  In the first instance, therefore, we must proceed to organize the people to produce goods to satisfy their own needs, in regard to food materials to afford them an adequate diet, clothing to protect them against the weather and proper shelter;  then we should arrange for their physical, mental and moral welfare by making available medical aid, education and other social amenities.  Before these elementary needs are fully met, it would be folly to aim at producing goods for the export market.

(128)  Apart from the mere satisfaction of the physical needs of the people we should aim at inculcating the spirit of self-help, mutual aid, and a consciousness of social solidarity.  When we achieve this and we shall have travelled a long way on the road to Swaraj through self-sufficiency.

(136)  Superficially a rupee appears to be a rupee, but in practice it is not so.  A rupee in the hands of a poor man may mean 4 or 5 days' food provisions, whereas in the hands of a millionaire it may represent the value of a cigar.  Thus, when a rupee passes from the hands of a poor man into the hands of a millionaire it loses its value considerably;  conversely, money when it goes from the rich to the poor enhances in value.  Hence we have got to see that in our economy we prevent money going into the hands where it will lose its value and this is what the multi-purpose co-operative society should attempt to do.

(138)  Banks as a rule are holders of money.  How they use their advantageous position will determine the part they play in commerce and industry.  Where a bank uses its power for strengthening its own position as an institution, and if the position of its customers deteriorates as a consequence, such a bank cannot be said to fulfil its purpose in the economic organization.  This is as regards money as a medium of exchange.

(138-139)  Money as Storage of Purchasing Power:
Again, as regards its comparative imperishability, the right use of this quality in money is to afford storage of purchasing power to the people…. multi-purpose co-operative societies can help [in reducing credit fluctuations in agricultural communities] by restricting the spread of money economy, thus limiting the chances of fluctuation and speculation and by rendering reasonable banking services based not he security of commodities as will prevent the farmer having to dispose of his whole stock at a time….

Co-operation:
… Co-operation implies the elimination of competition and working in a kind of partnership resulting in advantages to all.  Its basic requirement is an identity of interest of parties to the enterprise.  There can be no exploitation in co-operation.
NB:  My experiences in co-operative and other collective or communal ventures is that some people engage in self-exploitation especially within these situations.

…. Their [co-operatives] legitimate sphere would be to bring local village spinners and weavers into a living touch with one another.  They have to bring about co-operation all along the line- raw material produced with artisan and then with the consumer.  The co-operative societies should be the link binding all parties together - like a silver wire that holds the pearls together.

(153)  India was originally a republic of villages, and each village was a self-governing unit.  It has developed certain ideas of state based on the types of personalities commonly found in society.

(154)  We cannot have dictatorship in economics and at the same time, democracy in politics.  Such claims to democracy are merely smoke-screens.  Democracy in economics must be based on decentralized production in villages on individual basis.

Of course, irrigation, roads and such large projects will have to be undertaken and for that purpose you must select from society people who have a long range view.  Therefore all ministers and all government officials should be persons with long range view.  If they talk in terms of money, 'will it pay'?, then they are not people of the right sort to hold the present responsible posts.  In the long view 'will it pay?' will not be the criterion.  'Does it answer the purpose of the people' is the question that should be asked.  Government is not a commercial institution;  it is not an institution for making money or producing bureaucrats.  Government is there to serve the people.  If it serves the needs of the people it does not matter what such service costs.  It has got to be rendered.  That is the fundamental principle that we have got to remember.  Here is the big difference between private economy and public finance in this that public finance takes a long range view.  While planning for democracy, every citizen is to be made conscious of the part he has to play in the whole scheme.

(156)  If you have built these mud huts for the villagers at a cost of Rs. 250/- each you must build huts for yourself at a cost of Rs. 125/-, if you want to serve the villagers.  If you do that they will come and listen to you as they would realise you have no 'self' in you.  That is the secret of it.  Ours is not a barbarian country.  We have got a culture of values not based on money.  We have got our 'Brahmanical standards.'

(157)  First of all, in a poverty stricken land, every one must have food and clothing.  That is why we should approach the problem from an agricultural point of view.  It is not a question of harnessing the patriotism of the people.  It is a question of harnessing every man.  Ultimately we have to solve the problem of food and clothing to every one....

We want to build a world power.  If so we must start with this cultural value, and we must plan the villages upwards.  That is the only way of solving not only our own problems but those of the whole world.

(158)  Government Opposition:  Democratic government based on representatives requires an opposition to direct its working.  The water in a river is kept to its course by the banks.  If the banks are of rock it is best.  If not the banks get eroded and the river silts and shifts its course.  Hence there can be no competition between the banks and the water for the bed of the river.

Similarly the director and the directed cannot be competitors.  There should be co-operation and not competition.

As the waters of a river are kept in their course best by its rocky banks, so also the Government of a country has to be directed by forces which lie outside the official sector of the Government.

(158-159)  The composition of the cabinet itself reflects the structure of imperialism in the economic field.  Centralised industries need to gather the raw materials from the four corners of the world and send back their finished products to markets in the uttermost parts of the glove.  This necessitates wide-spread use of money and transport and control of political power.  To achieve this Foreign Affairs, Finance and Army, Navy and Air Force become essentials.  Hence these have secured coveted status in the British Cabinet.

(163)  It may be said that such industries, as are run by government, are very often wasteful.  We must condone a certain amount of waste.  Concentration of wealth is much more wasteful.  All these wars are the result of concentration of wealth and power consequent on centralisation of industries.  Look at the huge amount of wealth that has been wasted during the last few years.

(176)  Of late there has been a good deal of discussion as to the line which true education should take.  Gandhiji suggests education should be made self-supporting.  He writes "By education I mean an all-round drawing out of the best in child and man - body, mind and spirit.  Literacy is not the end of education nor even the beginning.   It is only one of the means whereby man and woman can be educated.  Literacy in itself is not education.  I would therefore, begin with the child's education by teaching it a useful handicraft enabling it to produce from the moment it begins its training.  Thus every school can be made self-supporting, the condition being that the State takes over the manufactures of these schools…."

(186)  The following details of group cleanliness are indicated:
(a) Suitable and cheap drains, even if only open ones, and their periodical cleaning and disinfecting with indigenous materials.
(b) Use of drainage water for kitchen gardens and fruit trees and flushing latrines.
(c) Collection of all rubbish and its conversion into manure.
(d) Keeping village wells, paths, tanks and open places clean and uncontaminated.
(e) The making and maintaining of small gardens for the village public, children's playground and clean little open spaces.

(186-191)
Health:  1.  Village dietetics… Villages must be taught the nutritive values of different articles of food which are or can be produced in the villages.  Every family should understand the meaning of a balanced diet and how to get it under village conditions...
2. Drinking water...
3. Preventive measures - Preventive measures against disease should be emphasized more than curative measures…
4.  Ordinary ailments and cheap remedies - ...Natural methods and cheap remedies with suitable village herbs and drugs should be emphasized…
5. Recreations and exercises
Housing… 
Village Organization… 1.  The village panchayat - There will have to be a village panchayat for each village or a group of villages…
2.  Multi-purpose Co-operative Societies - Just as the panchayat is the instrument of political and administrative organization, the Multi-purpose Co-operative Society is the instrument for the economic organization of the village.  The Multi-purpose Co-operative Society will deal with the following items:
1. The obtaining and storage of the food produce of the village.
2.  The processing of food articles.
3.  The balanced distribution of local products and of such imports as are necessary.
4.  The stocking and supply of the instruments for agricultural operations, village industries, etc.
5.  The stocking and supply of raw materials like cotton, wood, metal, etc., for local industries.
6.  The marketing of finished products.
7.  Arranging for the change of surplus village produce for necessary materials and goods from outside.
8.  The organization of important village industries as inter-related co=operative units, so that, as far as possible profits and benefits are equitably shared by the village community as a whole… The object is that there should be no unemployment or under-employment.
9.  Up-to-date technicians and those with artistic training should be made available to village artisans to help and improve their work…
10.  … one fully trained trained Co-operative Inspector for each area….

(191-193)
3.  Gram Seva Sanghas - The question may be raised where is the place for a Gram Seva Sangha, where a panchayat and a Multi-pirpose Co-operative Society are together organizing village life.  It should not be forgotten that the village panchayat and the Multi-purpose Co-operative Society will be run only by a few elected people whereas all the adults who have elected them will have only a waiting and watching program me unless they are also harnessed to constructive work under the various headings of village reconstruction. The Gram Seva Sanghas will be non-official voluntary bodies which would organize all such work as will help the panchayat and the Multi-purpose Co-operative Society to fulfill their task.  Rural development officers and village development officers and others should help in organizing, strengthening and utilizing the Gram Seva Sanghas which should be autonomous bodies with their own constitution, rules and funds.  Government may give grants to these Gram Seva Sanghas, but without fettering their autonomy.  The Gram Seva Sanghas will organize bodies of voluntary meetings and festival, for the protection of life and property in the village and for various services on such occasions as the prevalence of epidemics or floods or similar emergencies.  Inf act for every full-time paid Worker under Government, Panchayat or Multi-purpose Society there will have to be humorous nonofficial voluntary servants of the village from the village trained for such work by the Gram Seva Sanghas.

Note - We have dealt with Village Panchayats, Multi-purpose Co-operative Societies and Gram Seva Sanghas as the three instruments of village organization.  But the ultimate aim of village organization is village self-sufficiency in food and clothing and other major needs of village life as also self-reliance and self-dependence as far as possible as the foundation of village life and all this to be achieved on democratic and peaceful lines.