Corporate social responsibility: modern vis-à-vis Vedic approach

37 Pages·0.369 MB·English

by  A.K. Sharma, Balvir Talwar

Gandhiji on
Trusteeship
Management

An anthology of Gandhiji’s Thoughts on Trusteeship
Management

with

An experiment on the concept

by

Shri Vijay Merchant

Foreword by: Dr. P. B. Gajendragadkar

Published by:
Mr. N. H. Athreya, Hon. Secretary,
Indian Centre for Encouraging Excellence,
Court Chambers, Bombay-20 and
Printed by Shri D. D. Karkaria at
Leaders Press Pvt. Ltd., Mazagon, Bombay-10.
Gandhiji on Trusteeship Management

INTRODUCTION
Gandhiji uttered a caution as early as 1942: "I see coming the day of the rule of
the poor, whether that rule be through the force of arms or nonviolence," and
counselled trusteeship management as an effective alternative to class
Conflict.
Conscious as he was of the limitations of the capital class in the country, he
added: "It is perfectly possible for an individual to adopt this way of life
without having to wait for others to do so. And if an individual can observe a
certain rule of conduct, it follows that a group of individuals can do likewise. It
is necessary for me to emphasize the fact that no one need wait for anyone
else in order to adopt a right course. Men generally hesitate to make a
beginning if they feel that the objective cannot be had in its entirety. Such an
attitude of mind is in reality a bar to progress".
Shri Vijay Merchant is a leader in industry who has chosen to adopt this way of
life without waiting for others to do so. He calls it an experiment, though
virtually it has tremendous significance and could be a beacon for others.
Shri Merchant acts as he does out of a deep-seated conviction, not as a public
relations measure, for he seeks no returns save the satisfaction of having done
the right thing.
We at the Centre feel that his experiment can become a movement and if it
did, it would change the shape of things to come in industry so radically that
India could still assume leadership in an otherwise bedevilled world. We are
deeply obliged to Shri Vijay Merchant for acceding to our request to put his
thoughts on paper and communicate his experiment to others. The earnestness
of his feelings will be felt by anyone who reads his story.
We are grateful to Dr. P. B. Gajendragadkar for his valuable foreword to this
publication. It has far more than prefatory significance, since he has become a
rallying point for those who are groping for a more meaningful way of life.
Grateful acknowledgement is due to the Navajivan Trust for their permission to
reproduce excerpts from Gandhiji's writings.
Bombay, 1-6-1969 C. M. Shukla, President
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Gandhiji on Trusteeship Management

FOREWORD
I have great pleasure in accepting the invitation of the Indian Centre for
Encouraging Excellence to write a foreword to Vijay Merchant's account of his
Experiment in establishing harmonious relations between employer and
employees. In modern times, no country can be prosperous and strong unless it
is wedded to industry and technology. Productivity in all economic spheres of
life is the key to progress of any country, because it leads to the creation of
more opportunities for jobs, leads to prosperity and enables common men and
women of the community to enjoy life, liberty and happiness. On the ultimate
analysis, social stability and progress depend upon economic stability and
progress, and those in turn depend upon productivity.
Economic productivity necessarily postulates sincere and honest cooperation
between employers and employees. Industrial harmony, which creates an
atmosphere of responsiveness and thereby generates productivity-mindedness
amongst the employees, and makes employers conscious of their obligations to
their employees, is thus indispensable for the economic progress of the
country. The Experiment which Vijay has described in the present brochure is
an earnest endeavour made by a devoted social worker in the field of industrial
life. The words used by Vijay in describing his Experiment are simple and
direct; but the facts disclosed in the narration of the Experiment are eloquent
and full of ethos. That is why it gives me great pleasure to introduce the
present account of Vijay's Experiment to all progressive citizens and
particularly to citizens who are engaged in the task of evolving formulae and
solutions for ensuring industrial harmony in the economic life of our country.
Search for industrial harmony necessarily poses the question of social equality
and economic justice. The concept of social equality is not difficult to define
and the means to achieve social equality are also not difficult to determine.
But the concept of economic justice is somewhat difficult to define, and there
is a difference of opinion as to the means to attain it. Marx believed that
economic justice, in the true and full sense of the term, cannot be achieved
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without class conflict; and some trade union leaders genuinely believe that for
the healthy development of trade union movement, class conflicts are
inevitable and strikes and lock-outs are absolutely essential.
Gandhiji, on the other hand, took a radically different view. In regard to the
concept of economic justice, Gandhiji seems to share, in substance, the Marxist
view. "What exactly do you mean by economic equality?” Gandhiji was asked at
the Constructive Workers' Conference during his tour of Madras in 1946. His
reply was that economic equality of his conception did not mean that everyone
would literally have the same amount; it simply meant that everybody should
have enough for his or her needs. So the real meaning of economic equality,
said Gandhiji, was: "To each according to his need". Gandhiji also said that that
was the definition of Marx and he presumably saw no reason to differ from it.
Flowing from this concept of economic justice or equality, Gandhiji deduced
the theory of trusteeship. The great exponent of ahimsa and love that he was,
he did not tolerate the idea of the inevitability of class conflict and the
indispensability of strikes and lock-outs. He thought that if the employers and
industrialists treated themselves as trustees, the problem of evolving industrial
harmony and making economic justice a reality could be solved non-violently on
the strength of the doctrine of love.
Supposing India became a free country, said Gandhiji, "all the capitalists will
have an opportunity of becoming statutory trustees. But such a statute will not
be imposed from above. It will have to come from below. When the people
understand the implications of trusteeship and the atmosphere is ripe for it,
the people themselves, beginning with Gram Panchayats, will begin to
introduce such statutes. Such a thing coming from below is easy to swallow;
coming from above it is liable to prove a dead weight." Vijay essentially
believes in the philosophy of Gandhiji and the Gandhian approach to the
problem of industrial harmony.
The account given by Vijay in the present brochure in respect of his Experiment
shows that Vijay and Miss Kusum Bhatia, who has assisted Vijay in this noble
endeavor, are inspired by the spirit of social justice. Indeed, the account dis-
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closes the fact that Vijay's sense of ethics is fully alive. The Experiment covers
a wide field of efforts sincerely made to establish harmony between the
employer and his employees and to make both the employer and the employees
conscious that ultimately they are human beings and their relations must be
regulated as such. How unsophisticated common men are endowed with a sense
of ethics and morality is shown by the incident of the workman who wanted to
pay off all his debts before he died. How a complex and embarrassing social
and sociological problem can be tackled is shown by the example of a workman
who had undergone a sterilization operation and to his dismay found that his
wife had conceived. These are small incidents; but the spirit of social service
which is so eloquently disclosed in handling these small situations is truly
consistent with the Gandhian way of life. "We give", says Vijay, "because we
want to give; not because we expect any return." That is the spirit of the
Bhagwad Gita and it is that spirit which has inspired the whole of Vijay's
Experiment.
Vijay will not claim that this Experiment itself can achieve Gandhiji's dream of
trusteeship. Many more steps will have to be taken by those who believe in the
said theory and who want to achieve Gandhiji's dream through his doctrine of
ahimsa. But surely the Experiment is the first step in that direction and as such
it deserves to be appreciated by all progressive citizens. It is in this spirit of
warm appreciation of Vijay's Experiment that I have readily agreed to write this
foreword. The Indian Centre for Encouraging Excellence must be congratulated
on publishing this Experiment.
P. B. Gajendragadkar
Bombay, 18th March 1969

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CHOICE BEFORE CAPITALISTS
They (zamindars and talukdars) must regard themselves, even as the Japanese
nobles did, as trustees holding their wealth for the good of their wards, the
ryots. Then they would take no more than a reasonable amount as commission
for their labours. At present there is no proportion between the wholly
unnecessary pomp and extravagance of the moneyed class and the squalid
surroundings and the grinding pauperism of the ryots in whose midst the former
are living. If only the capitalist class will read the signs of the times, revise
their notions of God-given right to all they possess, in an incredibly short space
of time the seven hundred thousand dung-heaps which today pass muster as
villages, can be turned into abodes of peace, health and comfort. I am
convinced that the capitalist, if he follows the Samurai of Japan, has nothing
really to lose and everything to gain. There is no other choice than between
voluntary surrender on the part of the capitalist of the superfluities and
consequent acquisition of the real happiness of all on the one hand, and on the
other the impending chaos into which, if the capitalist does not wake up
betimes, awakened but ignorant, famishing millions will plunge the country and
which, not even the armed force, that a powerful Government can bring into
play, can avert.
Young India, 5-12-1929

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CAPITAL AND LABOUR
At the request of Sheth Kasturbhai, the agent of the Raipur Manufacturing
Company, Gandhiji performed the opening ceremony of a crèche for the
benefit of the infants of the mill-hands working in the company's mills. The
building was erected at a cost of Rs. 25,000. Gandhiji in declaring the
institution open said:
"My connection with the labour of this place is not of yesterday. It is as old as
my first coming to this city, and so I make bold to tell you that you have not yet
done your part towards your labouring population. In some cases the labourers
have not been provided with even the primary amenities of life. There are
exceptions, however. Some mill-owners have made some effort in the
direction, and the present one is an instance in point.
In the West there is still a watertight division between the employer and the
employees. I know it is impertinent to talk of our ideal, while the curse of
untouchability still stalks through the land. But I should be untrue to myself and
be failing in my duty to you, if I did not place before you what I regard as the
highest ideal. The relation between mill-agents and mill-hands ought to be one
of father and children or as between blood- brothers. I have often heard the
mill-owners of Ahmedabad refer to themselves as 'masters' and their employees
as their 'servants'. Such loose talk should be out of fashion in a place like
Ahmedabad which prides itself on its love of religion and love of ahimsa. For
that attitude is a negation of ahimsa, inasmuch as our ideal demands that all
our power, all our wealth and all our brains should be devoted solely to the
welfare of those who, through their own ignorance and our false notions of
things, are styled labourers or 'servants'. What I expect of you therefore is that
you should hold all your riches as a trust to be used solely in the interest of
those who sweat for you, and to whose industry and labour you owe all your
position and prosperity. I want you to make your labourers co-partners of your
wealth. I do not mean to suggest that unless you legally bind yourselves to do
all that, there should be a labour insurrection. The only sanction that I can
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think of in this connection is of mutual love and regard as between father and
sons, not of law. If only you make it a rule to respect these mutual obligations
of love, there would be an end to all labour disputes. The workers would no
longer feel the need for organizing themselves into unions. Under the ideal
contemplated by me, there would be nothing left for our Anasuyabehns and
Shankarlals to do; their occupation would be gone. But that cannot happen
until there is a single mill hand who does not regard the mill in which he works
as his own, who complains of sweating and overwork, and who therefore nurses
in his breast nothing but ill-will towards his employers.
"And where is the difficulty?
"As our experience gradually broadens we are beginning to see more and more
clearly that the more we give to our workers, the more we stand to gain. From
the moment your men come to realize that the mills are there’s no less than
yours, they will begin to feel towards you as blood- brothers. There would be
no question of their acting against the common interest and the need for having
a heavy supervisory establishment over them.
"I do not wish to detract from the merit of these efforts of yours, but I ask you
whether any well-to-do man would care to send his children to a crèche like
this. Our endeavour should be to bring about a state of things under which
there would be no occasion for a mill-hand's baby to be torn from the mother,
and where a factory-hand's child would receive the same opportunities for
education that our own children have".
Young India, 5-12-1929

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SO-CALLED INCONSISTENCIES
I have some very persistent correspondents who put posers before me. Here is a
specimen letter from one such correspondent:
Whenever economic troubles arise and whenever questions have been put to
you on the economic relations of capital and labour, you have put forth the
theory of trusteeship which has always puzzled me. You want the rich to hold
all their property in trust for the poor and expend it for their benefit. If I ask
you whether this is possible, you will tell me that my question arises from a
belief in the essential selfishness of human nature and that your theory is based
on the essential goodness of human nature. However, in the political sphere,
you do not hold such views without, at the same time, losing your faith in the
fundamental goodness of human nature. The British claim the same trusteeship
for their domination of India. But you have lost faith in the British Empire long
ago, and today there is no greater enemy to it than you. Is it consistent to have
one law for the political world and another for the economic world? Or do you
mean to say that you have not lost faith in capitalism and capitalists just as you
have lost faith in British Imperialism and the British? For, your trusteeship
theory sounds very much like the Divine Right theory of kings which has been
exploded long ago. When one man, who was allowed to hold political power in
trust for all the others and who derived it from them, misused it, people
revolted against it and democracy was born. Similarly, now when a few, who
ought to hold the economic power in trust for the others from whom they
derive it, use it for their own self-aggrandizement and to the detriment of the
rest, the inevitable result is the deprivation of the few of the means of
economic power by the many, i.e. the birth of Socialism.
Hitherto violence was the only recognized means to attain anything good or
bad. When violence is employed even with a view to achieve good, it brings evil
in its train and compromises the good achieved. Now I take it that your definite
contribution to the world lies in your having successfully demonstrated the
efficacy of another means namely nonviolence which is superior to violence and
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does not poison human relations. Therefore, my fondest hope is that you should
fight and end the present economic order non-violently and help to create a
new one.
I see no inconsistency in my treatment of capitalism or imperialism. My
correspondent has been led into a confusion of thought. I have not talked or
thought of what Kings, Imperialists or Capitalists claim and have claimed. I
have talked and written of how capital may be treated. And then, it is one
thing to make a claim, and another to live up to it. Not everyone like me (say)
who claims to be a servant of the people becomes that by the mere assertion.
And yet all would appreciate persons like me, if we were found to be living up
to our claim. Similarly would all rejoice if a capitalist were to divest himself of
exploded long ago. When one man, who was allowed to hold political power in
trust for all the others and who derived it from them, misused it, people
revolted against it and democracy was born. Similarly, now when a few, who
ought to hold the economic power in trust for the others from whom they
derive it, use it for their own self-aggrandizement and to the detriment of the
rest, the inevitable result is the deprivation of the few of the means of
economic power by the many, i.e. the birth of Socialism.
Hitherto violence was the only recognized means to attain anything good or
bad. When violence is employed even with a view to achieve good, it brings evil
in its train and compromises the good achieved. Now I take it that your definite
contribution to the world lies in your having successfully demonstrated the
efficacy of another means namely nonviolence which is superior to violence and
does not poison human relations. Therefore, my fondest hope is that you should
fight and end the present economic order non-violently and help to create a
new one.
I see no inconsistency in my treatment of capitalism or imperialism. My
correspondent has been led into a confusion of thought. I have not talked or
thought of what Kings, Imperialists or Capitalists claim and have claimed. I
have talked and written of how capital may be treated. And then, it is one
thing to make a claim, and another to live up to it. Not everyone like me (say)
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