Trusteeship Gandhian Alternative for Peaceful Social Transformation

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About the Author Dr. Meenu Sharma is Assistant Professor of History in BDS School of Law, Meerut, U.P. She completed her higher education from C.C.S. University, Meerut. She has her interest in the Gandhian philosophy and studies.

She has credited several articles and research papers on diverse subjects ranging from economic empowerment of women, sustainable development and Gandhian thoughts, in national and international journals and seminars.

She is also member of Uttar Pradesh History Congress, Indian History Congress and Uttarakhand History and Cultural Association.

Preface The greatest flap of the present social relationships is a consistent tension between the two ideologies of capitalism and communism. This conflict is a natural offspring of the new trends that industrialisation and urbanisation have created.

Gandhian theory of trusteeship provides a salvation and a way to eradicate economic disparities, maladjustments between employers and employees and elimination of unjust distribution of wealth in a non- violent manner. The new generations have, with the spread of new education realised its powers and this has led to an ever present conflict between the being established and the established. The concept provides us a way to reach an adjustment without causing serious harm to the society. In trusteeship there is no room for serving the personal interest either of the owners or of the workers or even of the enterprise as a whole at the expense of the rest of the society.

Gandhi wanted the zamindars to act as trustees of their lands and allow its use to their tenants.

This idea was based upon the fact that India is an agricultural country where more than eighty percent of the population lives in villages. By providing land trusts, Gandhi was trying to solve one of the major economic problems of free India. In the social collective agricultural system, we find idea implemented. The success of this in certain countries shows that the concept is not impracticable at all. The failure of the system is often attributed to the lack of will of the people but a more sound reason seem to be the force that was being applied while putting into practice of this system.

The major objective of the trusteeship doctrine is the urge for justice and equality. These are, broadly speaking, the demands and desires of the modern layman. The revolutions that had erupted from time to time in different countries were motivated by the same objectives of justice and equality. The same has been the motive behind all the social, economic and political changes in the world. This proves beyond doubt its relevance to our times.

One of the first steps to achieve justice and equality is to eliminate the ever present troublesome element of class struggle in the society. Though the Gandhian concept of trusteeship does not seek to eliminate any particular class it provides us with an idea of how to narrow down the class gap. The practice of all the democratic nations has been to reduce the gap between the rich and the poor to a minimum. In India we find this motive behind our co-operative policies, the community development projects and the taxation policy that heavily taxes the upper class and gives some relief to the lower strata of society.

About the Gandhian concept of trusteeship we may say that before applying it we must consider a number of steps and conditions. Gandhi was not able to judge the practicability of this concept in his life time. Moreover the conditions which led to the origin and development of this concept were quite different from those of the present day. As we have seen Gandhian concept is highly practicable but needs to be qualified according to the changed conditions before its implementation in modern times.

The relevance of trusteeship can be understood if one reads the trusteeship formula with utmost care and attention, while thinking about trusteeship, it is necessary to make up one's mind about the other two alternatives, namely, free enterprise system based on self interest, and socialistic or communistic system with centralised state management having the pursuit of power as the paramount goal. If one believes in either of these two, trusteeship is irrelevant. But if one is clear about the failure of these two alternatives, the relevance of trusteeship as a possible alternative gets established.

Trusteeship stands for distributive justice, economic equality and radical change of structures, all of which are pressing needs of India today.