Gandhiji’s Vision of Grama Swaraj and the Kurichya Joint Farming System: The Development Experience and the Way Forward

Abstract

Grama Swaraj, the self-sufficient village republic, is intrinsic in the evolution of the concept of an Indian republic. The individual with absolute political and economic freedom is at the centre of Grama Swaraj. In such a republic, the economic freedom relies on a self-sustained production system and an understanding of real needs. Grama Swaraj, the core of Mahatma Gandhi’s political ideology, focuses on a self-sufficient conserver society different from the consumer society of the modern world. This paper examines the challenges encountered by the Kurichya joint families and their sustainable farming, in the context of the present-day governance system. It critically analyses the ways in which the government policies and programmes approach the sustainable production system of the adivasi agriculturalists and their natural resource management practises. This paper, which is part of the doctoral research undertaken among six Kurichya joint families in the Wayanad district, also attempts to analyse the social organisation and agrarian relations of Kurichya joint families