Need for storing grains in villages and Mahatma Gandhi

[Prof. Dr. Yogendra Yadav]

Prof. Dr. Yogendra Yadav

Senior Gandhian Scholar, Professor, Editor and Linguist

Gandhi International Study and Research Institute, Jalgaon, Maharashtra, India

Contact No. – 09404955338, 09415777229

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Need for storing grains in villages and Mahatma Gandhi  

 

Shri Vaikunth Lallubhai Mehta writes to say that in view of general decontrol it is imperative that there should be sufficient grain stocked in the hands, if possible of the village panchayats, not for profiteering, but as an insurance against scarcity by whatever cause induced. His original letter is in Gujarati which I have reproduced and dealt with in the Gujarati columns. Here has been given the pith of his argument. I have always held that whatever may be said in favour of cash payment of taxes, its introduction injured the nation to the extent that the system of stocking grain in the villages was disturbed. The conservation of grain in the villages is needed for the reason already mentioned. The condition always must be that the growers and dealers must not be greedy or unscrupulous. When this simple honesty becomes common, the consumer cannot be cheated. There is no question of high or low prices when a nation’s economics are put on a sound basis and when all parties have an income commensurate with the expenditure required for the necessaries of life. 1 

Under the present trading system the grain produced in the villages is being sent out. Therefore in many parts of the country the villages are left with no stocks of grain. As a result the poor have to face hardships and there is a steep rise in prices during the monsoon. To save the poor from such a plight, it is desirable that some grain should be stocked in villages under the care of the Panch, and only the surplus should be sent out. With this end in view Shri Achyut Rao Patwardhan and I had prepared a scheme four years ago. Shri Kumarappa has also acknowledged the need for such a scheme in his plan. If the scheme meets with your approval, under the present changed circumstances you may kindly recommend it to the Provincial Governments and the villagers. I think the suggestion has something in it. Such stocks are necessary in the economic conditions of the country. Ever since the system of collecting revenue in cash was introduced, the stocks of grain in the villages have diminished. I shall not go into the merits or demerits of the cash revenue system; but I do believe the country could have been saved from the present difficult situation if we had continued to stock grain in the villages. Now that the controls are being removed no one will suffer any hardship if the grain is stocked as suggested by Vaikunthbhai and if the villagers and the traders become honest. If the farmers and the traders get a fair margin of profit there can be no high prices for the working class and other people in the cities. What really matters is that necessaries of life should be within the reach of every one. There can then be no question of high or low prices. 2

 

 References: 

1. Harijan, 28-12-1947
2. Harijanbandhu, 28-12-1947