Press release and Detailed Report:
Date: Sept 15, 2019
Gram Seva Sangh at a discourse on Sacred Economy held on Sunday, September 15 at Gandhi Bhavan has taken a resolution to launch a satyagraha through fasting from Oct 2, 2019.
We have resolved that legitimate demands of all sectors that we term as sacred will be placed before the government through the satyagraha. We invite all organizations, political parties and all social and religious leaders to join us in fasting. The satyagraha in Bengaluru will be held at Vallabh Niketan, next to Gandhi Bhavan and at other places in the country simultaneously.
Speaking at the event noted Theatre activist and Gram Seva Sangh mentor Prasanna said, “Today, the economic crisis is looking large. We say it is a good thing because we are being told to shift to a sacred economy until now. Today we have to talk about sacred economies and talk about labour and environment and its protection. We will have the largest peaceful movement India has ever had. Gandhi was killed by ignorance, we will revive him through action.”
Prathibha R from GATWU (Garments and Textile workers union) said that around 3 to 4 lakh women were toiling in the garment sector for measly wages for the last forty years “No government has ever bothered to address our wage issue in all these years. Now with the economic crisis looming we are in a more serious situation as we are unsure whether it is alright to seek a raise. So we go on once again adjusting poor wages to increasing cost of living. Nobody is going to bail us out.”
Mallesh of Grakoos (Grameena Kooli Karmikara Sanghatane) spoke about successive governments speak about empowerment of women, but none had ensured that they receive wages commensurate with their hardwork. Now children from villages are finally getting an education but there are no jobs. Even wages under MGNREGA are being held up and are not released for long periods of time, he said.
What is sacred economy?
All systems of production that give maximum number of jobs with minimum investment and minimum loss to the environment are sacred economies. This sataygraha is on behalf of handmade sectors and sectors such as garment making, anganwadi workers, municipal workers, small traders and vendors, small manufacturers and service sectors.
Sacred economies contribute 70 percent to the GDP. The collapse in the present economy can be made positive only if we strengthen the sacred economies.
Gram Seva Sangh is an organisation working towards restoring sacred economy and also bridging the urban-village divide.
The organisation has previously worked towards highlighting the struggle of handloom weavers and also brought national attention on removal of Goods and Services Tax (GST) on handmade products.
Detailed Report of Discourse is mentioned below:
Prasanna, Activist, Mentor of Gram Seva Sangh
What is sacred economy? It is an economy of sustenance. In the present context, there is a fissure between sacred and economic. We have relegated sacred to the kitchen and we have put economy in the public sphere. Free from all restrictions and beyond any restraint in the economic sphere. The way we are buying and consuming more is unprecedented. Fifty per cent of women are at home and the men are going out to earn. This is the economy we are pushing. We are all responsible for what is happening today. We have to bring these two together began after 70 years and save our people.
Sacred economy is an economy that practices harmony. It protects the jobs of people whether they are working people, village people or factory workers. It is our responsibility as well as the responsibility of the government, irregardless of the political party to protect their jobs.
Today we are going to go a step ahead and talk about labour .Anything that supports labour and environment is sacred.
Today the economic crisis is looming. News papers, media, politicians and ministers are all worried, but it is a good thing. God has sent this thing to tell us to shift to a sacred economy. Stop growing cities, manufacturing cars and bailing out banks. This is taxpayers money. It should be spent on the poor and those who need it. Today, the economic truth and the God’s truth say the same thing. Science and priests agree on the same thing.
This is going to be the largest peaceful sacred movement India has ever had. Gandhiji started this movement and was killed. Today we are going to take up where he left off finish it and then revive Gandhi through action.
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Ravi Kiran, Founder, Metaphor Racha
Lot of people have different ideas about what is sacred. I have been a khadi enthusiast for a while now. Both in terms of khadi as commodity and spirit. Sacred economy is what brings people together, has a healthy distribution of wealth and debunks the popular notion that endless production and reckless consumption can keep the economy moving and this is not true. The diversity of khadi is interdependency of the spinner, the weaver and others.
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Pavitra Muddaiah, Handloom activist
When you see success stories, that is what makes it sacred, because it is a holistic journey. Handloom offers us all the benefits, dignity, working at your own pace and at the same time not putting your hand out for a dole, but using your hands to empower yourself and have a respectable livelihood. That is something that is very important because today, dignity and pride is very important and that is the bedrock on which a craftsman or an artisan works for. Today I am training the second generation. They study engineering and MBA and when you show them the economic viability of our model and ask why they want to be an non entity in the city, they come back and it feels like a great achievement.
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Father Alwyn Serao, Principal, Padua College, Mangaluru
If our villages are self sufficient, then our nation will be self sufficient is what Gandhiji felt.. Even though Mangaluru has seen the entry of big companies in the recent years, people are unhappy as not everyone is able to get jobs. Instead, if you become self sufficient and like Gandhiji said you will have everything you need and not your greed. We are putting forward this thinking through theatre. Those who are with us in the process of learning theatre change. And it’s a tremendous change. We cannot change all the audience, but we can change some of them. Theatre is very strong medium through which we can bring change.
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Leelavathi, Vice President, CITU and Anganwadi Workers Union
Anganwadi workers have been working for the last 35 years for very low wages. They are working for social upliftment by taking care of children from 3-6 years of age but are living under very difficult conditions. The governments speak of women empowerment in all sectors, but the decision to start kindergarten classes in government schools have placed our employment at risk,. Small scale industries have 60 percent women and anganwadis consist of only women . Women have contributed substantially to this nation, but there are no policies to help us eke out a decent living and government is busy bailing out corporations and banks.
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Venkatanathan, RBI Ex Employee and Gram Seva Sangh Mentor
The economy that we have pursued since Independence was initially good as it focussed on the needs of the country. But unfortunately, new liberal policies have been pushing us towards producing more and towards a market economy. All over the country, the focus is more towards mass production.
Today, there is need to prepare our future generations towards self sustainability. The economic crisis is so deep, Akshaya Patra served a notice to the NGO I work with, saying their donations have come down and they will not be able to supply food. It is not just us, but several other organizations they were stopping their supply to. You can imagine the impact of this crisis, unfortunately the government refuses to recognize this and is shifting their focus to something else.
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S Babu President, Bengaluru District Street Vendors Association
I have been a street vendor for the last 20 years and we have contributed immensely to the economy, but the government does not want to recognize us. We have invested in our small business without taking any help from the government. We might not be contributing directly, but we do so indirectly and yet the government refuses to create any facilities for us. Whether it is our sector or any other small sector, if we want to borrow money, then they dredge up hundreds of laws. This refusal to identify as contributors to the economy is hurting us and our businesses.
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Mallesh of Grakoos (Grameena Kooli Karmikara Sanghatane) spoke about successive governments speak about empowerment of women, but none had ensured that they receive wages commensurate with their hardwork. Now children from villages are finally getting an education but there are no jobs. Even wages under MGNREGA are being held up and are not released for long periods of time, he said.
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Gopi Krishna, Designer and Activist, working nomadic tribes and their craft
We must promote small scale cottage industries. In the social economic system that we had before, they were not focussed on how much tax should be levied on a product, but on the expenditure incurred in manufacturing it. The needs of a village, whatever products they required was manufactured in the village itself. There was no policy of wastage either. Raw material was used and any leftovers was passed on to someone else in the village who might use it. This system would also provided pride and dignity.
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Gayathri, Leading the Rainfed Farmers Organization ICRA
Today, there are two types of farming. One type depends on use of excess water, excess investment and over exploitation of soil. Another type protects the soil, relies on materials available at home to cultivate and vary their crops. Small farmers have stronger traditions in practicing sustainable agriculture. Their long standing practices allows them to live close to nature. The government is discouraging small farmers saying that their practices are not good and are best left to large land holding farmers who use machines to cultivate their land. Unlike large farmers who are dependent on machines, small farmers form groups and take care of all activities on the land themselves. The equipment they use are made by them. Their knowledge is so vast, they know how to protect seeds, how to protect their crops if rain fails and they are prepared for many contingencies.
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T B Dinesh, Founder of Crafter Space and Janastu
Sacred is the act of what is good for the community and how the community contributes. The creativity in all of us through education is a form of enslaving through textual education and we all become rakshasas and slaves of corporate industry. In the form of democratization of knowledge, we send our kids enthusiastically and emphatically, for an education which is all about distancing themselves from their neighbourhood. At a tribal conference I recently attended, the vigour in the communities was so high and they spoke in one voice that this was not the sort of education they wanted and what this education does to the whole tribal space. At Crafter Space, we are looking at what education technology and communication technology where we are now and what decentralization means in this context. Our education is important, but if this creates a wall between ‘us’ and ‘them,’ then we have to think about how to make this technology available to all. We are looking at how technology can be accessed by someone without being educated. After 500 years of textual education, we have distanced more people. So we are looking at available technology, what decentralization means and how can machines become smaller and available to all.
Gram Seva Sangh
Address: Flat #102, Shesha Nivas, 1st Block, 1st Main, Thyagarajanagar, Bengaluru-560028
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