With our Nation’s 77th Independence Day dawning upon us, it is important to look back upon our journey as a country united in values and take forward these values that will hold true in the future and benefit us the same way us as they have in the past.
The cardinal value that fuelled the fight for our country’s freedom from our oppressors’ rule was Self-Reliance, which was part of the multi-pronged approach of the Quit India movement.
Sustainability may seem like the hub word now, but when we dig a little deeper, we discover that the principles of sustainable living have been around for much longer, synonymous with our country’s fight for freedom as Self Reliance.
The essence of sustainability is deeply rooted in self-reliance and self-sufficiency. It is indeed an unperceived gift from our country’s freedom fighters to realize that it was not just an indispensable tool to break the chains of subjugation but also a salient instrument to utilize going forward in the realm of achieving sustainability and our battle against climate change.
The same movement that drove our countryโs freedom fight, to finally overthrow the rule that bound and deprived us for over a century will act as a beacon to lead the way to a more sustainable and earthy-friendly, promising future, for us and many generations to come.
Self-reliance and self-sufficiency in simple terms means to not be dependent or, in better terms, IN-dependent of external factors or aid, to make and consume only what that can and is locally produced and to focus on your needs, not greed.
The common phrase heard at climate-change protests around the world, the ideal notion of every humanโs mindset to โthink global, act localโ can be said to have its roots buried deep in the self-reliance notion of sustainability.
As advocated by our most eminent freedom fighters, a country can be independent only by being self-sufficient and it begins from the local level of production as well as consumption at the village level, the same may be said about sustainability, by forming closed knit, self sufficient communities that do not depend on foreign input for basic necessities, and most things beyond necessity is a result of greed. Indian villages, Indian towns and cities have produced and supplied all that has been needed. India became impoverished when our cities became foreign markets and the villages began to be hollowed out by following suit, we were being stripped of our diverse and vibrant culture.
Sustainability would include achieving self-sufficiency through crafts for livelihoods including agriculture. By placing an extensive emphasis on weaving and spinning and on all other types of crafts which were the traditional occupation of the villagers and tribal communities, we must follow suit of our past and encourage the craftsman economy, which is slowly dying out due to industrialization and subsequent globalization. Machines and technology have helped us advance our progress at an unprecedented pace, but if left unchecked, it is bound to be our own undoing.
The fact that most jobs that are beneficial to humankind development and for creation of livelihoods are being taken over by technology and machinery, we are digging our own grave by exponentially increasing our dependence on an external factor than relying on our own skill development and intrinsic knowledge systems.
The best-case scenario is not necessarily regress to the times without internet and all the knowledge ready to us in less than a secondโs wait, at our fingertips, or the fact that the average life expectancy of a human being has increased due to the advancement in medical science. Neither is it justified to continue on the path we are on right now, with mindless consumption rampaging through our whole world and causing more harm than good.
The ideal situation would be to utilize the access we have at our fingertips to sustainably preserve and nurture ancient and traditional practices that have been honed for many centuries and protect them from going extinct and being lost forever.
Some of the scenarios where we can blend the modern and traditional, keeping in lieu with self-reliance and sustainability would be such as:
Villages becoming the epicentral small-holding units of production, where workers will not be replaced by machines, but rather the labour will be facilitated, to provide ideal results and better, safer working conditions for the workers. As a result, the micro-economy of the artisans and the dying traditional handicrafts will be well-protected, and help them thrive again, with the potential to create a world market. If this idea is followed better than before, we may be able avoid the situation where the migrant laborers had to bear the crisis which they had raised during the pandemic.
It is highly crucial to revive livelihood in agriculture and allied activities such as agro-based and other non- agricultural activities. As a mostly agrarian country, we must take pride in agricultural practices and do whatever in our power to support the backbone of our free-nation, the humble farmer. Without farmers, we would literally perish, every time we sit down to eat a meal, we must give thanks to all those who have worked hard to put the food in our plate. We must make conscious efforts to seek out and support local farmers for our daily needs as compared to putting more money in large faceless chain super-markets, that are more concerned with profits then farmer welfare.
Ideally, bringing self-sufficiency in electricity through renewable sources and in water conservation and preservation through its own sources, science and technology services will have to be heavily invested in and taken to the villages which will result in development differences and disparities between villages and cities to significantly reduce. The sustainable development of villages will in reduce migration from villages which will in turn result in reduction in pollution and over-depletion of resources, that is currently choking cities.
An end to a toxic cycle is the best step forward in sustainability and that can be achieved by self-reliance, which is in a way, a new kind of freedom our country and our world deserves!