Himalayan Times (1957)

July U, 1967

SaVCO

of a "Taluk" or eight
hundred villages and ha-
mlet's within three months.
Land gifla are now re-
placed by the gift of en
tire villages and apon will
be. raplaoed by the gift
of whole Taluks, and
Swami Adigalar who has
48 ashrams in Ram Nad
district is working to get'
the whole of Ram Nad
(aigbt or tea Taluks) as
a gift.

Last October, how-
ever, Vinoba decided that
the people were not giving
enough, so he intensified'
bia austerities, walking
nine er ten miles twice a
day early in the morning
and in the burning heat
of the afternoon sun

A fortnight later he
fell ill. The strain was
too great But a little
later village gifts started
flowing in. Now not a
single Hay passes without
the gift of some village.
Vinoba has already recei-
ved over 2,000 and,
through these gifts, he
hopes to establish Gram
Raja or village republics,
making each village or
group of villages as self
sufficient as possible th-
rough the production of
their own food, clothes
and handicrafta. The Pan-
ohayat or elected members
of the village unanimously
settle all legal social or
economio matters.

"Ihere should be no
concentration of power in

regional or national cen-
tres" aaya Vinoba. ' Every
village should be allowed
to develop the initiative
and the power to plan
and act. The central
authorities cannot plan
well for our numberless
villages It is simply im-
possible. The villagers
are like the gems that
give lustre to a necklace",
sa\s Vinoba "The State
is the thread stringing
them together. So the
power of the state should
ba a« invisible as the
thread of a necklace".

In a village where
all- the land owners have
renounced their preroga-
tives the land is redis-
tributed by the "Pancha-
y»t" They see to it that
the difference between the
holding" is not too great
and no one is left without
land—if there is not
enough land to go round,
then the landless villagers
are employed in the cot-
tage industries. No one
has the right to sell or
mortgage his land and
evervone has to work on
it

' I want each village
to become like a big fa-
mily", says Vinoba. A
villager muBt no longer
say 'my land, my sons,
my daughters', but 'our
land our sons, our daugb.
ters\ Every thing must
be a joint responsibility.
Education, marriage of
the girls in the village,

loan tor seeds etc. must
be a family affair, the.
concern of the whole vil-
lage. Therein lies the
revolution.

'All land belongs to
God'-*, says Vinoba. "Land
like air, sun and water
is a free gift from God".
Vinoba started - with the
land bacause it is easy
for geople to understand
and accept land as a gift
which no man can claim
to possess and because
eighty percent of India's
population is ruler. But
once the villagera accept
his ideas and base their
social order on them the
factors of inequality in
the cities will adjust them-
selves too. Already a new
mental outlook has been
created in which people
are aoeepting the principle
that all men should hold
their talents and their
wealth as gifts to be sha-
red with all. 'Unless the
existing social order, which
is based upon inequality
strife and conflict, is re-
placed by one founded on
equality and mutual co-
operation there can, be no
salvation for mankind*
says Vinoba.

Solution Through Love
It is interesting to
note that, since May ]967*
Vinoba has been working
in Kerala, India'a southern-
most State, whieh reoently
elected a communist go-
vernment. After a long
( Continued on pag« lftf