ATMANIRBHARTA: A FIZZER. A BURP.

 

The National Handloom Day is observed on August 07 annually since 2015, to commemorate the Swadeshi Movement which was launched on this day in 1905 in Calcutta Town Hall to protest against the partition of Bengal by the British government. This year marks the one hundred and fifteen years of the Swadeshi Movement. 

To revive the Indian economy, the ‘Atmanirbharta’ fizzer was embraced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his May 12 lockdown address to the nation. The textile sector which is finely self-reliant enough has indubiously its roots set deep in the domestic markets. Though we get to see that there’s an increase in the textile and clothing imports by India, the worrying part is the decline in the exports of cotton yarn and cotton fabric. 

The Wheel That Spun A Direction: A Brief History

Charkha, which in English is called as Spinning wheel, is quite ubiquitous and has its essence and inclusion in literature, politics, art and in various areas and cultures in the world. Having its significance from the very ancient times, it has a rich though disputed history. It has been regarded strongly as a political symbol in South Asia. The industries of India which were majorly focused during the British rule were namely; textiles and iron and steel. Needless to mention that these industries were crucial for the industrial revolution in the modern world.

James Mill, a  Scottish historian, political theorist, and philosopher who wrote a massive three-volume work ‘The History of British India’, thought that all Asian countries and societies were at a pathetically lower level of civilisation than Europe. He felt the British rule could civilise India. Sooner the British came to conquer the country and subjugated the local nawabs and rajas. By the late eighteenth century, the English East India Company bought goods in India at lower prices and exported them to England and Europe, thus making huge profits through such sales. In India, textiles have evolved over a period of more than thousand years. The history of textiles dates back to the era when the Indian subcontinent did business with the Balkans, Kabuls and European. 

By the 1830s British cotton clothes flooded Indian markets, thus affected the weavers and spinners in India. Numerous women all across India who made a living spinning yarn on ‘takli’ and ‘charkha’ (Takli and Charkha: The thread was spun on the Charkha and rolled on Takli) were left jobless. Since there were several types of clothes -such as the traditional woven patterned clothes or embroidered and intricate bordered clothes or the coarse clothes  -could not be supplied by machines, handloom weaving did not come to an absolute end in India. The development of textile industries in Britain affected textile producers in India in several ways. Thousands of weavers and spinners were rendered jobless.

Of the many weavers and spinners who lost their livelihood, some switched to become agricultural labourers, some migrated to other cities and other countries in search of work. Some of the handloom weavers found work in the cotton mills that were established in Bombay, Ahmedabad, Sholapur, Nagpur and Kanpur.

Mahatma Gandhiji had said, ‘The revival of the cottage industry, and not the cottage industries, will remove the growing poverty. When once we have revived one industry, all other industries will follow…’

The very first cotton mill in India was set up as a spinning mill in Bombay (1854). Since it was close to the regur (black soil) acreage of Western India where cotton was grown, they could get supplies of raw materials with ease as a result.

In Ahmedabad, it was in 1861 that the first mill was started. Mills came up in other cities too, thereafter. With the growth of these cotton mills, the demand for labourers also increased. Many poor peasants, agricultural labourers, artisans moved to the cities to work in the mills.

How did Charkha become a political symbol?

The partition of Bengal came into effect on October 16, 1905, which was announced by Lord Curzon, the then Viceroy of India, on July 20, 1905, stating reduction of old province of Bengal in size by creating a new province of East Bengal (present day Bangladesh). The salient reason for the divide of Bengal was to destroy the political influence of the educated middle class people of Bengal. A divisive approach was also set up -communal gulf between Hindus and Muslims. To oppose the British decision to divide Bengal, a nation movement was led. Gandhiji urged people to boycott imported textiles and use hand-spun and hand-woven clothes. The ‘Boycott and Swadeshi Movement’ had its genesis.

On August 07, 1905, the Indian National Congress adopted a resolution to boycott British goods at a meeting of the INC held in Calcutta. Bonfire of foreign goods was launched on a large scale in all the major cities. 

It was started as a measure for the development of Indian industry. Militant nationalism spearheaded by the trio of Lal-Bal-Pal (Lala Lajpat Rai, Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Bipin Chandra Pal) and Aurobindo Ghosh was however, in favour of extending the movement to the rest of India and carrying it beyond the programme of just Swadeshi and Boycott of goods to the full-fledged political mass struggle.

Khadi or Khaddar gradually became a symbol of nationalism. The Charkha was put at the centre of the tricolour flag of the Provisional Government of Free India. Khadi, according to Gandhiji, is a symbol of unity it Indian humanity, of its economic freedom and equality and, therefore, ultimately, in the poetic expression of Jawaharlal Nehru, ‘the livery of India’s freedom’.

The Atmanirbharta Fizzer!

If we really talk about rebooting India’s economic growth by way of Atmanirbharta, the internal key factors which led to idleness of India’s textiles exports such as trade policies and agreements, import duties and foreign investments, et cetera should be contemplated rightly.

From the above you will know that I am not an economist. I am recalling that we have been taught about the SWOT analysis in standard twelfth of our Business Studies class. SWOT (which stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis is a study undertaken by an organization to identify its internal strengths and weaknesses, as well as its external opportunities and threats. Although it was taught in our Business Studies class, I think this analysis we should undertake in our everyday life as well. Else the Atmanirbharta -which is actually a good idea- without proper planning and lack of preparedness, would turn into an existential crisis for millions, err…

On this August 07, 2020, Swadeshi Movement has completed its one hundred and fifteen years. We have immense time with ourselves to contemplate on what exactly made the Swadeshi movement successful in that era and why Atmanirbharta needs a revisit.

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