Swadeshi Jagaran Manch
Encyclopedia
The Swadeshi Jagaran Manch or SJM is an economic wing of Sangh Parivar
that again took the tool of Swadeshi advocated in India
before its independence to destabilize the British Empire
. SJM took to the promotion of Swadeshi (indigenous) industries and culture as a dote against LPG. It is usually recognised as a part of the Sangh Parivar
of Hindu nationalist
organizations. SJM came into existence on November 22, 1991 at Nagpur. Representatives of five national level organisations including Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh
(BMS), Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad
(ABVP), Bharatiya Kisan Sangh
(BKS), Akhil Bharatiya Grahak Panchayat (ABGP) and Sahkar Bharati took this decision in the presence of Shri Dattopant Thengdi, founder of BMS. For proper execution of movement a Central Committee was formed and Dr. M.G. Bokare (Ex Vice Chancellor, Nagpur University) was given the responsibility of convener. On 12 January 1992, the birth Anniversary of Swami Vivekananda
, the first massive campaign against the economic policy of India
n central government started. People from all walks of life with distinct ideologies came together on the SJM platform to fight against economic imperialism
. Subsequently literature on Swadeshi, intellectual property rights. General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
and economic imperialism of multinationals was published and distributed to popularize the cause of SJM. Later on many other organizations joined the forces for Swadeshi like Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram, Vidya Bharati
, Rashtra Sevika Samiti
, Bharatiya Sikshan Mandal etc. Today SJM has become an all-encompassing movement with more than 15 organizations associated with it.
The philosophy of Rastra Bandhu Dr. Rajiv Dixit
, an Indian scientist, orator and one of the leaders of the modern Swadeshi movement in India, is exactly the same as the ideology of Swadeshi Jagaran Manch
. He claimed that "liberalization
, privatization
and globalization
, the three evil faces staring at us today, have pushed us towards suicidal states".
The dramatic fall of world economy in 2009 has exposed the limitations of LPG economic philosophies making it imminent for the economist to look for corrections. SJM's effort to embarrass the economists and the concepts of the subject of economy subsequent to the fall of world economy had little success due to its inability to come out with practical alternative for the economic crisis.
s. But now it advocates Swadeshi as an alternate economic policy to the world that is keen on globalization
. While capitalism
solely rests on Market and State as the twin socioeconomic delivery systems, socialism
primarily rests on the State as the delivery system. In contrast, the Swadeshi thought relies on the social institutional order, besides Market and State, as the socioeconomic delivery system. This makes the Market and the State share the public space with family, community and society. Besides it warns the Market and State that go against the social institutional order of causing economic uncertainty thus making the social institutional order as the back bone for any order. In India this philosophy is politically projected as an alternative to Nehru's concept of socialism.
Family: The lowest sociocultural economic unit of society in the Swadeshi view is not the individual but the family. This single institution relieves the modern State of extraordinary welfare commitments like old age benefits and unemployment doles which work out to over half of the GDP in many Western countries, like USA and Germany. However Swadeshi has not come out with any solution for inefficient families that may be crumbling silently.
Community, Society: Swadeshi believes in the legitimacy of different social units. It believes that the unbridled and unbalanced individualism of the West is destructive of community living. The individual, for his free interplay, creative manifestation and progressive development, requires the mutually complementary and interactive relationship of the community.
Religion - Balancing the family, Society and the Individual: The Western notion of individual freedom, which fragments and compartmentalizes family, economy, culture and social values, is not acceptable to the Swadeshi approach. Individual freedom is tempered by the individual’s integration into the family and community. The State acts only to protect it from incursions. ‘Dharma’ sustains the whole framework and religion, particularly the Hindu
religion, provides support and linkage to community living.
The Role of the Market: The Western notion of a global market does not fit into the Swadeshi approach. The market has to be an instrument and not the master of the people. The smaller the size of the market, the better it is as an instrument. The Swadeshi approach is to limit the size of the market and not to eliminate the market as communism does. The Swadeshi global view is “let a thousand markets bloom - and not merge into one global market”.
The Role of the State: Swadeshi approach sees the State as the primary instrument to protect the nation and its interests and a residuary instrument in respect of all intra-national matters. Its role is, as Bhishma
said in Shanti Parva in Mahabharata
, to protect the weak and to ensure that Dharma
is adhered to. The state must defend the wealth and honour of the nation. Ordinarily, and except in order to protect national interests against foreign interests, the State must not be a trader; but must ensure that trade and commerce conforms to Dharma. At the same time SJM is against the State that works on delivery through communities, particularly if the weaker communities are addressed as minorities.
Arrangement between individual, state, market and community/society/family: Swadeshi looks upon the individual, State, Market and the Dharmic collectivities namely, family, community, religion and society, as a means to sustain the ‘Vyavahar’ (material life) consistent with the total and integral object of individual and collective life, namely, the Purusharthas. In the Swadeshi approach, all these institutions are delivery mechanisms as much for socioeconomic purposes as for the higher purposes.
The essential ingredients of the Swadeshi thought may be summarised as follows:
Swadeshi means that which is natural and native to a country and society, but allows scope for assimilation of wholesome and beneficial elements from the outside. This applies to economics as well as politics; culture as well as technology.
It is the principle of preferring the neighborhood to the remote.
It commands need-based life, and rules out unlimited consumption as an end.
It renews and relies on family, community and society as socioeconomic delivery systems. It does not substitute these traditional institutions by the State and the Market.
It is not autarky; but a global alternative, which accepts only need-based trans nationalism.
Swadeshi restores economics to its earlier definition which even now the dictionary meaning of economy indicates, namely, practical human needs, frugality, savings, thrift etc. and seeks to remove the latter-day distortion of defining economics as multiplication of wants and efforts to satisfy them, powered by greed.
Stated in simple terms, Swadeshi rejects materialistic and imperialistic homogenization and aimless trans nationalism of the Western assumption. Swadeshi is a multidimensional thought, embracing civilisational, political and economic aspects of human life and presenting an integrated vision of life in harmony with nature.
To achieve these goals, the following objectives need to be fulfilled ensuring satisfaction of the basic needs of all people within 10 years. Food, clothing, housing, education, health, drinking water, energy and transport be recognized as basic needs. Involvement in meaningful and productive work is the only guarantee for achieving basic needs. Therefore, ensuring proper employment to all eligible hands should be the first objective of national planning. Ensuring fulfillment of this objective in the next decade. Building Bharat as a world power in the next 25 years. Ensuring that income-inequalities remain within reasonable limits. Ratio of income of top 20 per cent and bottom 20 per cent should not exceed 10:1.Generally promoting national self-confidence and national pride by qualitative change in education, sports, media programmes, and conduct of public men. For achieving these important indices of national strength, pride and self-respect, the nation has to evolve a broad national consensus cutting across all differences. Swadeshi means creation of national wealth and power.
It is a mistaken notion that the need-based approach of the Swadeshi philosophy is against creation of wealth. The Swadeshi thought is merely an injunction against unlimited consumption; it is a mandate for conservation and preservation of national assets and resources; it is an emphasis on personal and family savings, it is an injunction against wasteful and needless expenditure. The tradition of Swadeshi alone made India one of the richest and prosperous nations in the world. That is why Columbus and Vasco-de-Gama set out to search for India. India attracted barbaric invasions because of its well-known prosperity. But prosperity was considered a social and national asset - not merely a personal asset. Wealth was not the sole or even the most important index of social respect. India was wealthy, without making wealth the arbiter of social interaction. Swadeshi is not anti-wealth. It is all for augmenting wealth and power.
Sangh Parivar
The Sangh Parivar refers to the family of organisations of Hindu nationalists which have been started by members of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or are inspired by its ideas. The Sangh Parivar represents the Hindu nationalist movement. It includes the RSS and several dozen smaller...
that again took the tool of Swadeshi advocated in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
before its independence to destabilize the British Empire
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
. SJM took to the promotion of Swadeshi (indigenous) industries and culture as a dote against LPG. It is usually recognised as a part of the Sangh Parivar
Sangh Parivar
The Sangh Parivar refers to the family of organisations of Hindu nationalists which have been started by members of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or are inspired by its ideas. The Sangh Parivar represents the Hindu nationalist movement. It includes the RSS and several dozen smaller...
of Hindu nationalist
Hindu nationalism
Hindu nationalism has been collectively referred to as the expressions of social and political thought, based on the native spiritual and cultural traditions of historical India...
organizations. SJM came into existence on November 22, 1991 at Nagpur. Representatives of five national level organisations including Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh
Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh
The Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh is the largest central trade union organization in India. It was founded by Dattopantji Thengdi on July 23, 1955, which also happens to the birthday of Bal Gangadhar Tilak....
(BMS), Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad
Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad
Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad , is an all India student organization working in the field of education. ABVP was founded in 1948 and formally registered on 9 July 1949.-History:...
(ABVP), Bharatiya Kisan Sangh
Bharatiya Kisan Sangh
The Bharatiya Kisan Sangh is an Indian farmers' representative organization affiliated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. It is one of the well-known Sangh Parivar organization. The BKS was established by Dattopantji Thengdi on March 4, 1979 at Kota, Rajasthan. It has units in all states of...
(BKS), Akhil Bharatiya Grahak Panchayat (ABGP) and Sahkar Bharati took this decision in the presence of Shri Dattopant Thengdi, founder of BMS. For proper execution of movement a Central Committee was formed and Dr. M.G. Bokare (Ex Vice Chancellor, Nagpur University) was given the responsibility of convener. On 12 January 1992, the birth Anniversary of Swami Vivekananda
Swami Vivekananda
Swami Vivekananda , born Narendranath Dutta , was the chief disciple of the 19th century mystic Ramakrishna Paramahansa and the founder of the Ramakrishna Math and the Ramakrishna Mission...
, the first massive campaign against the economic policy of India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n central government started. People from all walks of life with distinct ideologies came together on the SJM platform to fight against economic imperialism
Economic imperialism
Economic imperialism in contemporary economics refers to economic analysis of seemingly non-economic aspects of life, such as crime, law, the family, prejudice, tastes, irrational behavior, politics, sociology,culture, religion, war, and science and research.Its emergence has been attributed...
. Subsequently literature on Swadeshi, intellectual property rights. General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade was negotiated during the UN Conference on Trade and Employment and was the outcome of the failure of negotiating governments to create the International Trade Organization . GATT was signed in 1947 and lasted until 1993, when it was replaced by the World...
and economic imperialism of multinationals was published and distributed to popularize the cause of SJM. Later on many other organizations joined the forces for Swadeshi like Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram, Vidya Bharati
Vidya Bharati
The Vidya Bharati are the network of schools and institutions of higher education run by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the largest Hindu nationalist organisation in India.Vidya Bharati...
, Rashtra Sevika Samiti
Rashtriya Sevika Samiti
The Rashtra Sevika Samiti is the women's wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. Although a part of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, its membership and leadership is restricted for women and its activities directed for the welfare of women.Present Pramukh Sanchalika:- Van...
, Bharatiya Sikshan Mandal etc. Today SJM has become an all-encompassing movement with more than 15 organizations associated with it.
The philosophy of Rastra Bandhu Dr. Rajiv Dixit
Rajiv Dixit
Rajiv Radheshyam Dixit was an Indian social activist. He started social movements in order to spread awareness on topics of Indian national interest through the Swadeshi Movement, Azadi Bachao Andolan, and various other works...
, an Indian scientist, orator and one of the leaders of the modern Swadeshi movement in India, is exactly the same as the ideology of Swadeshi Jagaran Manch
Swadeshi Jagaran Manch
The Swadeshi Jagaran Manch or SJM is an economic wing of Sangh Parivar that again took the tool of Swadeshi advocated in India before its independence to destabilize the British Empire. SJM took to the promotion of Swadeshi industries and culture as a dote against LPG. It is usually recognised as...
. He claimed that "liberalization
Liberalization
In general, liberalization refers to a relaxation of previous government restrictions, usually in areas of social or economic policy. In some contexts this process or concept is often, but not always, referred to as deregulation...
, privatization
Privatization
Privatization is the incidence or process of transferring ownership of a business, enterprise, agency or public service from the public sector to the private sector or to private non-profit organizations...
and globalization
Globalization
Globalization refers to the increasingly global relationships of culture, people and economic activity. Most often, it refers to economics: the global distribution of the production of goods and services, through reduction of barriers to international trade such as tariffs, export fees, and import...
, the three evil faces staring at us today, have pushed us towards suicidal states".
The dramatic fall of world economy in 2009 has exposed the limitations of LPG economic philosophies making it imminent for the economist to look for corrections. SJM's effort to embarrass the economists and the concepts of the subject of economy subsequent to the fall of world economy had little success due to its inability to come out with practical alternative for the economic crisis.
Organization
SJM is basically a mass-movement and therefore its organizational setup has been developed accordingly. Disregarding the traditional organizational form it is based on convener committee format for wider appeal and acceptability. SJM has its organization spread all over the country and has active branches in all the districts of each and every state. SJM has 3 National Level Committees, which takes decisions to carry out the movement.Philosophy
The SJM had India centric philosophy and was known as an organization strongly against multinational corporationMultinational corporation
A multi national corporation or enterprise , is a corporation or an enterprise that manages production or delivers services in more than one country. It can also be referred to as an international corporation...
s. But now it advocates Swadeshi as an alternate economic policy to the world that is keen on globalization
Globalization
Globalization refers to the increasingly global relationships of culture, people and economic activity. Most often, it refers to economics: the global distribution of the production of goods and services, through reduction of barriers to international trade such as tariffs, export fees, and import...
. While capitalism
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
solely rests on Market and State as the twin socioeconomic delivery systems, socialism
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
primarily rests on the State as the delivery system. In contrast, the Swadeshi thought relies on the social institutional order, besides Market and State, as the socioeconomic delivery system. This makes the Market and the State share the public space with family, community and society. Besides it warns the Market and State that go against the social institutional order of causing economic uncertainty thus making the social institutional order as the back bone for any order. In India this philosophy is politically projected as an alternative to Nehru's concept of socialism.
Family: The lowest sociocultural economic unit of society in the Swadeshi view is not the individual but the family. This single institution relieves the modern State of extraordinary welfare commitments like old age benefits and unemployment doles which work out to over half of the GDP in many Western countries, like USA and Germany. However Swadeshi has not come out with any solution for inefficient families that may be crumbling silently.
Community, Society: Swadeshi believes in the legitimacy of different social units. It believes that the unbridled and unbalanced individualism of the West is destructive of community living. The individual, for his free interplay, creative manifestation and progressive development, requires the mutually complementary and interactive relationship of the community.
Religion - Balancing the family, Society and the Individual: The Western notion of individual freedom, which fragments and compartmentalizes family, economy, culture and social values, is not acceptable to the Swadeshi approach. Individual freedom is tempered by the individual’s integration into the family and community. The State acts only to protect it from incursions. ‘Dharma’ sustains the whole framework and religion, particularly the Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
religion, provides support and linkage to community living.
The Role of the Market: The Western notion of a global market does not fit into the Swadeshi approach. The market has to be an instrument and not the master of the people. The smaller the size of the market, the better it is as an instrument. The Swadeshi approach is to limit the size of the market and not to eliminate the market as communism does. The Swadeshi global view is “let a thousand markets bloom - and not merge into one global market”.
The Role of the State: Swadeshi approach sees the State as the primary instrument to protect the nation and its interests and a residuary instrument in respect of all intra-national matters. Its role is, as Bhishma
Bhishma
Bhishma or Bheeshma or Devavrata or 'Bhishma Pitamah' was the eighth son of Kuru King Shantanu who was blessed with wish-long life and had sworn to serve the ruling Kuru king. He was one of the most prominent characters of the great Indian epic, the Mahabharata. He was the grand uncle of both the...
said in Shanti Parva in Mahabharata
Mahabharata
The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India and Nepal, the other being the Ramayana. The epic is part of itihasa....
, to protect the weak and to ensure that Dharma
Dharma
Dharma means Law or Natural Law and is a concept of central importance in Indian philosophy and religion. In the context of Hinduism, it refers to one's personal obligations, calling and duties, and a Hindu's dharma is affected by the person's age, caste, class, occupation, and gender...
is adhered to. The state must defend the wealth and honour of the nation. Ordinarily, and except in order to protect national interests against foreign interests, the State must not be a trader; but must ensure that trade and commerce conforms to Dharma. At the same time SJM is against the State that works on delivery through communities, particularly if the weaker communities are addressed as minorities.
Arrangement between individual, state, market and community/society/family: Swadeshi looks upon the individual, State, Market and the Dharmic collectivities namely, family, community, religion and society, as a means to sustain the ‘Vyavahar’ (material life) consistent with the total and integral object of individual and collective life, namely, the Purusharthas. In the Swadeshi approach, all these institutions are delivery mechanisms as much for socioeconomic purposes as for the higher purposes.
Swadeshi Life is based on Dharma
Swadeshi believes that, mere rule of law is inadequate to lay the ground for social interactions. A higher order of life has been in practice in India; all non-official community and social transactions take place on this higher principle of life called dharma, even today. ‘Dharma’ - an ancient Indian concept, which has no English equivalent - means ‘that which sustains’. In its wider sense, it implies the nourishment of all aspects of life - individual social global. Swadharma forms the very core of Swadeshi; Swadeshi is the living tradition of India. Though buried under the veneer of the superficial West-centric Indian exterior it is still the largest sustaining force and the core of Indian society, economy and polity.The essential ingredients of the Swadeshi thought may be summarised as follows:
Swadeshi means that which is natural and native to a country and society, but allows scope for assimilation of wholesome and beneficial elements from the outside. This applies to economics as well as politics; culture as well as technology.
It is the principle of preferring the neighborhood to the remote.
It commands need-based life, and rules out unlimited consumption as an end.
It renews and relies on family, community and society as socioeconomic delivery systems. It does not substitute these traditional institutions by the State and the Market.
It is not autarky; but a global alternative, which accepts only need-based trans nationalism.
Swadeshi restores economics to its earlier definition which even now the dictionary meaning of economy indicates, namely, practical human needs, frugality, savings, thrift etc. and seeks to remove the latter-day distortion of defining economics as multiplication of wants and efforts to satisfy them, powered by greed.
Stated in simple terms, Swadeshi rejects materialistic and imperialistic homogenization and aimless trans nationalism of the Western assumption. Swadeshi is a multidimensional thought, embracing civilisational, political and economic aspects of human life and presenting an integrated vision of life in harmony with nature.
Goal & Objectives
- Creation of a just world order based on integral and holistic life vision.
- Ensuring national security, unity and integrity.
- Building a self-reliant Bharat(india) - Nourishment of Bharatiya cultural values.
- Preservation of natural wealth.
- Balanced development of all regions and the society as a whole.
To achieve these goals, the following objectives need to be fulfilled ensuring satisfaction of the basic needs of all people within 10 years. Food, clothing, housing, education, health, drinking water, energy and transport be recognized as basic needs. Involvement in meaningful and productive work is the only guarantee for achieving basic needs. Therefore, ensuring proper employment to all eligible hands should be the first objective of national planning. Ensuring fulfillment of this objective in the next decade. Building Bharat as a world power in the next 25 years. Ensuring that income-inequalities remain within reasonable limits. Ratio of income of top 20 per cent and bottom 20 per cent should not exceed 10:1.Generally promoting national self-confidence and national pride by qualitative change in education, sports, media programmes, and conduct of public men. For achieving these important indices of national strength, pride and self-respect, the nation has to evolve a broad national consensus cutting across all differences. Swadeshi means creation of national wealth and power.
It is a mistaken notion that the need-based approach of the Swadeshi philosophy is against creation of wealth. The Swadeshi thought is merely an injunction against unlimited consumption; it is a mandate for conservation and preservation of national assets and resources; it is an emphasis on personal and family savings, it is an injunction against wasteful and needless expenditure. The tradition of Swadeshi alone made India one of the richest and prosperous nations in the world. That is why Columbus and Vasco-de-Gama set out to search for India. India attracted barbaric invasions because of its well-known prosperity. But prosperity was considered a social and national asset - not merely a personal asset. Wealth was not the sole or even the most important index of social respect. India was wealthy, without making wealth the arbiter of social interaction. Swadeshi is not anti-wealth. It is all for augmenting wealth and power.