A Dialogue That Spreads Message of Swaraj and Links this to New Concerns

Swaraj Samvad

A recently organized national dialogue in Delhi called Swaraj Samvad linked the concept of Swaraj to current concerns particularly climate change. In the course of the dialogue several important messages and insights of very experienced activists and scholars were highlighted.

Starting this dialogue Khushali from Climate Rise Alliance informed that this dialogue was being organized jointly by Vaagdhara and the Climate Rise Alliance (CRA). The CRA is an alliance of various civil society groups, researchers and philanthropies which are striving to take forward the climate agenda in an India-focused way providing an alternative to a west-driven agenda. Vaagdhara is an organization working among tribal communities with special focus on inclusive growth, food security and community based swaraj approach.

          Jayesh Joshi, founder coordinator of Vaagdhara, stated that this dialogue Swaraj Samvad has the presence of people from all over India, from ‘Kashmir to Kanyakumari as he stated, with 450 registrations having taken place already on the morning of the first day and continuing. He said that strengthening swaraj requires struggles but in addition this also needs self-discipline and love for and commitment towards people whom you are trying to mobilize.

          Rajendra Singh who is famous for his water conservation work stated that the concept of water swaraj emphasizes that water needs for any region should be met as far as possible on the basis of water conservation and the best possible utilization of rainwater. Overall understanding of swaraj is based on any village or cluster of villages meeting as many of their needs as possible and practical on the basis of self-reliance, in turn based on self-respect. He said that in several contexts the present times are difficult or even hostile for achieving swaraj. Hence struggle is required but in addition deep love and concern for people is needed. His advice to youth is that they will succeed in having a close involvement with people if they have this deep relationship with people.   

           This was followed by the presentation of two senior development analysts. Biswaroop Banerjee said that he really liked the name of Swaraj Samvad for this dialogue because these are really the two sides of a single coin as it is only by having a continuing and sincere dialogue that anyone can be close to swaraj.  He said that several gains have been made already, such as constitutional provisions for gram pachayats and gram sabhas, but still more continuing efforts are needed. Struggles are needed, yes, but at the same time patience is also needed when you have to take people with you and try to create consensus.

          Reshma Anand expressed concern that while samvad or sincere dialogue is very important but we do not see enough of this. We have more meetings and less of samvad. She stated that once when she and her colleagues went to a remote village and listened to the story of three generations told by a villager this gave them a new understanding of strengths, perceptions and present needs of people.  We should not look at people merely in terms of being Labharthis or beneficiaries of any program, she said, and it is much more important and relevant to see them in terms of bhagedari or partnership. We should emphasize the role of women and youth groups more. Emerging successful models of closer youth mobilization must be integrated with swaraj efforts. Artificial power hierarchy should be avoided.

          Dr. S.K.Sharma, a senior scientist with a keen interest in ecologically protective farming, said that a matter of serious concern relates to the fact that several farming interventions and innovations introduced with a lot of hope are unable to sustain their promise and benefit for a long enough time. Instead of seeing sustained gains what we see more often is the introduction of a solution followed by new emerging problems, efforts to find a solution to these problems leading to more problems later on, and so on, this continuing to the extent that sustainability of science is in question here. Sometimes a chemical spray or pesticide is recommended but it is seen after some time that the problem of pests is still very much there or may even have increased. So he suggested that an integrated view should be taken of problems and issues and secondly what is very important to emphasize is the key role of the participation of the community for the sustainability of solutions.

          Krishna Prasad, who has been deeply involved in biodiversity conservation in Karnataka, has been giving particular attention in recent times to neglected foods of high potential. He said that the importance of this work has increased in times of climate change as rains can be very erratic and in case of crop failure the potential of hitherto neglected foods can be better utilized to fill in the nutrition gap. Several roots and tubers, millets and some less utilized fruits can be quite useful in this context. Efforts should be made to spread knowledge regarding the usefulness of these by and large neglected foods. Some of the forgotten but useful foods should be revived. Apart from foods, revival of indigenous cotton or desi kapas is also important.

          Nivedia Varshney from WHH said that several efforts are being made to emphasize the usefulness of neglected foods so that in fact these are sometimes also getting referred to now by an altogether different name of opportunity foods.

          Kavita Gandhi, country representative of Swiss Aid, emphasized the importance of agricultural biodiversity. The more the biodiversity, the stronger and higher will be climate change adaptation, she said. One of her organization’s projects along similar lines involves researching 11 less known crops and promoting 33 such crops or foods. While local consumption of this is emphasized, at the same time market development is also getting attention, she said. Festivals of seeds, food and biodiversity are also helpful. Cooking classes are being held. Local markets or haats are also tapped for taking these less known foods to more people. Seed banks have a very important role in the sustainability and self-reliance of such efforts. Emphasis on agro-ecology, traditional knowledge and self-reliance is important.

          Gangabhai Paikra, a grassroots activist from Chattisgarh drew attention to serious fast emerging problems and disruptions at the level of communities. He said that the increasing dependence of tribal community members on markets and making purchases from markets has led to increasing problems. The purchases are much more than the income leading to indebtedness, stress and finally loss of land. There was at one time a lot of hope from PESA law but powerful interests did not want this to be implemented properly and so its rules were made quite weak leading to this not being implemented in the right spirit.

          Sreejan Datta expressed the hope that the climate change solutions being taken forward with the swaraj path will be much more successful and promising, while on the other hand the market oriented approach based on carbon credits etc. had generally failed to live up to expectations and had been unfair to communities. Communities should get a much higher share as it is mainly their efforts that are being relied upon for climate change mitigation.

          Dr. Narendra Gupta of Prayas organization expressed firm faith in the swaraj approach to health which emphasizes self-reliance and indigenous knowledge. He also informed that when villages committees for this were being set up he had insisted on a committee being set up for each revenue village and not just at panchayat level but despite such committees being approved hardly any actual progress for this was made and in fact most people are not even aware of these committees.

          Prof. Ritu Priya of Jawaharlal Nehru University stated that while several surveys and studies have confirmed the important role played by indigenous knowledge and traditional healers having wealth of such knowledge, passed on from one generation to another, their role has not received the attention this deserves. There is a serious concern as most of these healers are elderly, a wealth of traditional knowledge relevant particularly to local conditions may be lost when they die but still proper efforts to protect this knowledge base have not been made yet at the national level. Even when better recognition is given to Ayush, these traditional healers who may be functioning outside the formal system may not get the due attention as far as official recognition is concerned. They may even be identified as quacks which is highly unfair to them and to their knowledge and understanding.

          Sanjay Singh, Founder and coordinator of Parmarth emphasized the strengthening of local democracy and also the strengthening of people’s organizations as an integral part of Swaraj. He gave the example of volunteers known as Jal Saheis or friends of water conservation who are selected from within the community on the basis of their keenness for voluntary social work and even without receiving any salary or honorarium they have been associated with very important community efforts for water conservation, river rejuvenation and rural sanitation. They provide a great example of what can be done to strengthen community self-reliant efforts for achieving some of the most important challenges, he said.

          Gagan Sethi, founder Janvikas and Centre for Social Justice, emphasized the importance of such dialogues in times when there is a growing tendency to just proceed with one’s own views without showing consideration for diverse viewpoints. Instead of saying ‘I am because you are’ there is a deeply troubling trend to think on the basis of perhaps the reverse of this. It will be good if those in leadership roles in organizations can spend more time with the people in their villages. There should be a combination of struggles as well as constructive work in the course of our journey. There should be more unity, more of working together and sharing. Support is needed for several efforts likeSwaraj Shala and Swaraj Fund, but there should be no attempts to control or dictate so that the concept of swaraj grows among people in accordance with their needs and aspirations. A lot can be achieved if niti, nishtha and neeyat (policy, commitment and intentions) are clear and sincere.

          Anshu Gupta, Founder of Goonj, said that we need to be much more caring and concerned about dignity of hard working village people. They are treated as unskilled even when they are engaged in work of great skills almost every day of their life whether in farming or in artisan or in related work. How can someone who makes round wells from rectangular bricks be called unskilled? A certain amount of ignorance or arrogance is instead involved among those people who do not recognize the need of several people to learn in slower ways and different ways. Our efforts should be instead built on realizing the potential of all people in dignified ways with appreciation of all kinds of skills and abilities as well as different ways of learning.


          Jagadanand, co-founder of CYSD, stated that this conference has been a significant achievement on highly relevant issues and for this the organizers deserve a lot of thanks and credit. He said swaraj basically means control over means. He also admired Mahatma Gandhi’s understanding of this in terms of enhancing the capacity of people to resist authority if and when it is abused. He said that the various strengths of swaraj in areas of agro-ecology, health, soil, energy have received good coverage in this dialogue. A lot of this work has increasing relevance in terms of climate change mitigation and adaptation as well. Moving ahead, increasing emphasis should be on unity and working together.

Bharat Dogra is Honorary Convener, Campaign to Save Earth Now. His recent books include ‘Protecting Earth for Children’, ‘A Day in 2071’, ‘Man over Machine’ and ‘India’s Quest for Sustainable Farming and Healthy Food’.

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