Bangalore Jan 1, 2013: Senior RSS Functionary Dr.
Bajranglal Gupta delivered this years lecture on Guruji Golwalkar, as a
part of Noor Ahmed Ali memorial annual lecture programme in Bangalore on
last Sunday 30 December 2012 at Mythic Society, Bangalore.
The lecture series had its focus on the economic values specified by
Second Sarasanghachalak of RSS MS Golwalkar, who popularly was known as
Guruji. The highlight of the gathering was an enlightening session by
Dr. Bajranglal Gupta, who spoke of the necessity of having an indigenous
concept of economics, reiterated by Guruji himself.
Dr.
Bajranglal Gupta spoke on the high price paid by humanity at large for
the model of development the world chose to adopt soon after the
Industrial Revolution. Enumerating his views expressed ‘New Paradigm of
Development’, which he stated has been in line with Guruji Golwalkar’s
thoughts on economics, Dr. Gupta stated that a whole lot of ills like
environmental contamination, global warming, toxicity in food products
etc have resulted from unbridled exploitation of natural resources,
equation of material prosperity with happiness etc, which are the result
of Western notions of linear progress.
“When you analyze the present day growth model, the Western model, we
realize it is flawed. Guruji himself stated that it is never suited for
the Indian society. This model has contributed nothing but fuel
dissatisfaction, creating turbulence in the normal biological cycle, and
encroaching the sanctity of family bonds. This has in turn adversely
affected the social structure of Bharat. So the earlier we abandon this
flawed concept of development and replace it with a healthier notion,
the better for us. Guruji was once confronted with a question on the
model of development he preferred: the communist or capitalist, to which
he replied that the Bharatiya values of life and society has the
capacity to mould its own model,” said Dr. Gupta, citing the collapse of
the USSR as an example of how flawed the Western concept is.
According
to him, Bharat, as a nation, should adopt a specific path for economic
growth and development. This, he has termed as ‘Sumangalam’ based on the
very principles of a strong model of development specified by Guruji
Golwalkar.
“Sumangalam
means a sustainable, well cultured concept related to standard of life
catering to multitude of dimensions: economic, cultural, political,
social, environmental etc. This stands starkly contradictory to the
Western concept which is one-dimensional- based on material richness.
Guruji stressed on a development model that would cater to expansion of
shareer, buddhi, mann and aatma, which would create the paripoorna
maanav or complete man. This is a holistic view, where each concept and
its development are well connected. This remains diametrically opposite
to the view of man propounded from an economists’ point of view, that he
is solely guided by the principles of wealth.”
“The concept of Sumangalam is akin to the concept of Dharma,or
ethics. It flows on the same lines propagated by Gandhi that there lies
no distinction between economics and ethics: Economics that hurts the
moral well-being of an individual or a nation is immoral, and therefore
sinful,” said Dr. Gupta, quoting Dr VKRV Rao about an ideal economist
blending economics into ethics.
Dr. Gupta spoke on the long term goals of ‘Sumangalam’:
- On the same lines stated by Guruji about the goal of life being ‘Purushartha’, the core theme of Sumangalam is gross social happiness. The first important factor it will cater to would be provision of food for all. Food according to Dr. Gupta is symbolic and meant that which caters to all basic necessities of all human beings.
- Health for all: This includes physical, mental and emotional health. Here the Bharatiya values score over the Western concept where stress is laid solely on physical and mental well being, with the emotional factor never in the forefront. However, the Bharatiya concept has recognized the relation between the three aspects, where the well being of each facet is vital for the healthy function of the other.
- Education for all: The right education which will be imparted for all will include inculcation of sanskaar.
- Employment for all: Contrary to the Western approach of increasing growth rate for increasing employment rate, Sumangalam emphasizes on generating employment for youth in order to generate growth rate.
The implementation of the concept of Sumangalam is
an easy task. On the lines prescribed by Guruji, “Technology has to be
made environment friendly. There should be no centralized economic
structures. The ideal way to go ahead would be to have decentralized
self reliant units consisting of 10-12 villages. Another vital factor is
a cooperative life style, where there is no competition. Competition is
unhealthy and benefits only a certain section of society, a certain
strata, which will not yield substantial development- all this, under a
moral leadership.”
The vote of thanks was delivered by Professor Shastri. The welcome note
was delivered by Dr. Mumtaz Ali Khan, Minister for Haj, Wakf and
Minority Welfare. In his address of greeting, Dr Khan said that it was a
privilege and pleasure to read and know about Guruji Golwalkar. “The
opposition to the various contributions made by him is therefore,
unbiased. If we understand his thoughts and ideas on economics and
compare them with the dealings of present day political system, we are
left disheartened. Our country and the world may have produced a number
of economists, who have won laurels with the Nobel Prize. But their
contributions have hardly been of worth for the common man.”
The lecture was dedicated to the memory of Noor Ahmed Ali Khan,
son of Prof Mumtaz Ali Khan, who died in an accident few years ago.
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