....Edited by Prof.Sebak Jana (Vidyasagar University)
Published by Dey Book Concern,kolkata,2017,Rs.600/-,HB,pp388+xxxii
The book contains 15 articles ,namely
1.Tagore's ideas on India's Rural Reconstruction:Some reflections.....Sib Ranjan Misra
2.Cooperatives as a tool for development,Rabindranath Tagore and Organisation of cooperatives in early 20th century Bengal....Dikshit Sinha
3.Rabindranath Tagore :AXiology and Nationalism...Sibaji Pratim Basu
4.Tagore and the future of an illusion.....ANUP DHAR AND ANJAN CHAKRABORTY
5.Swaraj,charkha and the dream of economic paradise:Debate between Rabindranath Tagore and Mahatma Gandhi..... .Joyjit Ghosh
6.Reflections of a creative genius:Rabindranath on hindu muslim relations in India..... Abdus Samad Gayen
7.Tagore's views on dharna artha kaarya:The concept if activating socioeconomic reforms for just living.....Udayan Narayana Singh
8.Towards an interpretation of social and political visions of Rabindranath Tagore and Sri Aurobindo.....Sanchita Karmakar and Asim K.Karmakar
9.Tagore,The Educator.....Pabitra Sarkar
10.Discipline at Santiniketan Brahmacharyaashram:Rabindranath Tagore,Education and Colonial Bengali Society...Gautam Chando Roy
11.Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore..An Activist.....Debesh Bhowmik
12.Rabindranath Tagore's Thoughts on education.....Keya Banerjee
13.Tagore's Love and concern for environment.....Sebak Kumar Jana
14.Human Development ,Library and Rabindranath Tagore......Subodh Gopal Nandy
15.Tagore's Humanistic Approach to religion....Jashobanta Roy
NOBEL
LAUREATE RABINDRANATH TAGORE IS AN ACTIVIST
Dr.Debesh
Bhowmik (Retired Principal)
(Associated
with International Institute for Development Studies,Kolkata)
Key
Words-Rural development,rural industialisation,environment,cooperative
movement,
JEL-B00,L60,Q10,Q50
I.Introduction
Rabindranath Tagore got Nobel Prize in literature in
1913.All know that he was a great poet. But all should know that the poet was
an activist. In every sense he was an activist not only in literature but also
in rural reconstruction or in integrated rural development through various
activities like setting up of cooperative bank,rural industries,rural health
and education,grain banks,mechanization in agriculture,expansion in marketing
and cooperatives, creating clean environment,reducing poverty and hunger so
forth and so on. In this context ,Tagore said himself that people’s poverty cannot
be ameliorated by writing poems but it needs practical works. We must come on
to do it physically and unitedly.
In this paper, we endeavour to study the Tagore’s
activities in various dimensions of mode of thinking as well as implementations
in social, political and economical spheres where Tagore worked ethically, morally,
patiently, socially and economically to attain above mentioned goals.
II.Economic
thought of Tagore
The economic thought of Rabindranath was originated
from his ethics of life through humanitarism as was envisaged from colonial
rule. His economic thoughts were influenced from the ideas of Raja Rammohan
Ray,Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay,Prem Chand Lal,Dada Bhai Naoroji,Gobinda
Ranade,Ramesh Chandra Dutta,Horace Plunkett ,Gavrilo Kojick, Dr.H.G. Timbers,Daniel
Hamilton,and Leonard K.Elmhirst.Although he was mostly indebted to his ancestors.
As a poet , his thought spread over nature along with man and his value of
labour , social depression, illiteracy and superstition which he observed from
the society harms human development. His literary appeal to people to integrate
national and western thoughts helped national movement as well as openness.
In 1920,about Rammohan Ray,he wrote, “Rammohan Roy
was the first great Indian in our age who had profound faith and large vision
to feel in his heart the unity of soul between the East and the West. I follow
him, though he is practically neglected by his countrymen.”
In literary works, he thought in this way,
“farmers are cultivating in the fields
Weavers are weaving cloths, fishermen through nets
………………..
The man who are neighbours of peasants’ life
Acquired close relationship by dint of words and
activities.
He who lives in earth nearby
I am eager to listen to the words of that poet.”
In the “Sonar Tori”, he described the economic
condition of the peasants ,helmsman, temple, housewife, vividly which is as
follows;
“In the golden fields farmers are cutting
Ripe paddy
Small boats are sailing
Helmsman are singing in boat
bells are ringing in far temple
Housewives going to river brinks
Housemen walking on rural paths
Coming towards village hats.”
How Rabindranath thinks for peasants was described
by Dr.Karunamay Mukhopadhyay-the Head of Economics Department as,
“No single aspect of the peasant’s life the poet
would ignore; his budget, his happiness, health, education, culture, mode of living, his attitude, even
his sense of beauty and joy,-the joy of creation, as the poet would call it.”(Mukherjee,1962)
He was an admirer of “Drain theory “ of Naroji, and Ramesh
Dutta’s “Economic History of India”. He was also loved the rural development
and urbanization theory of Ranade because Rabindranath thought complete
economic development of rural India where he read “Bangadesher Krishak” of
Bankim Chandra.
Rabindranath believed that the poverty of the rural
peasants can be eliminated by dint of increasing income and equal
redistribution of income. He read the
book “Reconstruction and Education in Rural India” of Premchand Lal and
commented as follows;
“Most of us who try to deal the poverty problem
think of nothing but a greater intensive effort of production, forgetting that
this only means a greater exhaustion of materials as well as of humanity. This
only means giving exaggerated opportunity for profit to a few, at the cost of
the many. It is food which nourishes, not money .It is fullness of life which
makes one happy, not fullness of purse. Multiplying materials intensifies the
inequality between those who have and those who have not, and this deals a
fatal wound to the social system, through which the whole body is eventually
bled to death.”
III.
Activity in Agricultural economics
Rabindranath always felt that Indian economy is
based on rural economics. Development of rural economics implies the
development of India.He believed that colonial rule destroyed the rural economy
through exploitation. He was observed the deprivation ,exploitation by landlord,
superstition, illiteracy and debt trap of poor peasants of India as well as of Bengal.
He wanted to reform tenancy system of peasants,to feed the farmers from debt
trap, to turn them into self reliance especially in education, health, crop
cultivation and culture. He said , “We have to take village law and order in
our hands. We have to teach, to preserve, to save the sons of the peasants, and
will make the development of the agriculture by ourselves. “In the tenancy
system, Rabindranath thought in other ways. He believed that if the peasants
are allowed to transfer the ownership of lands which would ultimately move to
the money lenders via loans and thus their sorrows will not end. On the other hand,
he wanted the farmers to be self reliance. Therefore, he said that the actual
ownership of land is of farmers not landlords. Without implementing cooperative
farming in cultivation, the agricultural development is not possible. Primitive
method of cultivation should be abandoned replacing new technology in
agriculture. As a landlord , he said, “I feel pity to see the poor tenants who
are helpless and innocent as children of god. They have no alternative if I do
not give them anything by myself.”(Tagore,1975).He did not accept socialist
system of land ownership and distribution of wealth ,yet as an activist he was
forced to say, “When I am unable to understand to anybody that our self relied
sector is agriculture. So in rural areas, some work programme should be started
immediately and now,I put my pen into the ear and I must to say that I myself
enter into this exercise now”. (Tagore,1947)
His drives are as follows.
1] In 1905,he set up “Patisar Agricultural Bank” to
relief the farmers from the aggravation from money lenders. At 12% interest
rate lending facilities were given from which many farmers were freed from debt
from money lenders ,some of which stop their businesses. Later he deposited his
Nobel Prize money. It lasts 22 years. Rabindranath himself collected money from
the performance of dance drama, songs, in every corner of India for saving this
bank. Ultimately, it turns into Viswa-Bharati Central Cooperative Bank in 1927
with the initiative of Rabindranath Tagore.
2] Rabindranath Tagore felt that without technological
improvement Indian agriculture would not be improved. He thought that in order
to resuscitate rural life, agriculture,which is the basic economic resources of
the people must be improved.He ,therefore,desired that Santosh and he must go
abroad to get technical training in agriculture and animal husbandry so that
after our return we could help him. Rathindranath used tractor at Patisar.He sent his son with
Santosh Majumder and Nagendranath Ganguli
to America (
Illionis
University) to learn agricultural degree. In 1909 Rabindranath with his son Rathindranath
set up agricultural farm near Silaidaha in a vested land where he used modern
equipments like tractor, thresher, seed, etc .Even they set up an agricultural
laboratory where soil tests were done. There they tried to use crop rotation
system of farming in the cash crops .And they tried to prepare manure by
earthing hilsa with calcium carbonate . There the farmers tried to learn
ploughing of cash crops like tamato, patato, sugarcane, Maize etc. They used 80
bighas of land for using new technology and farming in Silaidaha. Even before
establishing agricultural farm ,Rabindranath himself experimented ploughing of
Madras rice, American maize during 1899.He wrote to Jagadish Bose, “The
prospect of my farming is well. I brought seeds of American maize whose
saplings are growing speedily.I cropped Madras seeds of rice that will not
frustrate me”.Once D.L.Roy came there and advised Rabindranath to cultivate
patato. He sent the seeds of potatoes to Rabindranath and the poet usually
planted them. Although the Silaidaha farm faced a huge loss in patato but they
did not let loose of farming it. Even the poet encouraged the farmers to
cultivate grape,date-palm,cabbage,and banana etc . Rathindranath (1908),wrote, “
Please encourage them to grow in their homestead land, on the boundaries of the
fields and wherever possible pineapples, banana, date palm other fruit trees. Good
and strong fibers can be obtained from the leaves of pineapple. The fruit is
also easily marketable. Tapioca can be grown as hedges and tenants should be
taught how to extract food materials from its roots. It would be profitable if
they could be inducted to cultivate potatoes. Try again to sow the seeds of the
American maize which have been kept in the office”.
3] In 1922,Rabindranath set up Sriniketan where he
established “Surul farm” which is christened as Department of Agriculture,Santiniketan,later
on.In Surul farm, livestock farming was introduced. Agricultural research was
done here, he himself experimented to produce Chinese nuts, rice and chilly. Leonard
K.Elmhurst-who was an agricultural economist and was the President of
International Conference of Agricultural Economics and British Society of
Agricultural Economics and British Royal Society of Forestry and was the
founder of Indian Society of Agricultural Economics-advised Rabindranath to
improve the fertility of the soil by using manures like potassium, nitrogen, iron,
calcium, sulphur, phosphorous, and magnesium etc.Premchand Lal wrote, “Special
emphasis is laid upon the selection of seeds, rotation of crops, green
manuring, preservation of manure –,and the use of improved implements which are
quite within the reach of the peasants.”(Lal,1932). He visited “Krishi Bhawan”
of Russia where farmers are trained in farming with technical training how to
increase agricultural productivity through modern technology and he was
influenced by those Krishi Bhawans which were set up consisting of some
villages throughout the country. He implemented those training processes in
Sriniketan where variety of cash crops like tamato,patatoe,sugarcane,bit,carrot,cotton
plant, pulses,
cauliflower, sayabin,maize,pine apple,banana,guava,papaw, were cultivated and
even some spices were produced experimentally. In 1922 ,jute,and millet were
cultivated in the farm of Sriniketan. Through crop rotation ,protection of soil
erosion and dryness of the soil were maintained.
4] In 1928,
Fishery education and training was introduced in Ballavpur and Sukhsayar where
a south Indian expert started with bee keeping to bring out honey.In 1933,dairy
farm and goatery which were preceded by poultry ,started in 1924 in Sriniketan.
All these novelty of actions in agricultural development spread over the
nearest villages and even in Birbhum and other districts.
5] To aim at expansion of agricultural marketing of
agri-outputs, he introduced village fairs. In 1905 at Shilaidaha, the name of
fair was “Katyani Mela” where songs of baul, kirtan,tarja, panchali were
arranged along with selling of agri-products and handicrafts. In 1907,he also
introduced “Rajrajeswari Mela” where Jagadindranath Roy of Maharaja of Natore
and Achariya Jagdish Chandra Basu were present.
6]Rabindranath had strong vision in the sense that
he introduced the “Grain Bank” to meet up emergency food crisis in times famine
and other natural disasters so that poor farmers can take grains in terms of
loan by which they can maintain livelihood and concentrate in other activities
in agriculture. Now ,it is transformed into FCI by which public distribution
system is maintained.
7] He was the pioneer of thinking and implementing
to keep rural statistics that can cover population,education,health,gender
dimensions,shelter,agricultural statistics including production of various
crops and agri-business etc, during various time periods.(Tagore,1962).On the
recommendation of Tagore,Bhupesh Ray-the officer of Shilaidaha started to
collect data on socio-economic surveys with help of the youths. This activities of Tagore was
taken from Russian agricultural statistics collection methods.Kalimohan Ghosh
had collected agricultural statistics at Shantiniketan by that method.He
published book on statistics of Ballavpur in 1926 and book on statistics of Roypur
in 1933.(Chatterjee,1934). “The survey of two villages has been completed by
Babu Kalimohan Ghosh,superintendent of the Institute and the information has been published in the
two booklets. They are full of interesting information and well worth a perusal.”-said Sukumar Chattopadhyay. Later on ,national
level surveys were conducted in 1934 and 1939 respectively by Dr.Hasim Amir
Ali on “Three villages economic studies
on rice” and by Dr.Sudhir Chandra Sen on “Economics of paddy
cultivation,irrigation problems of West Bengal, rural marketing in Bolpur
Bazar” which were assets of statistics on rural economy of Shantiniketan that
helped in future studies on pre-colonial agriculture.
8] Rabindranath synthesized literary appeal and culture with rural agriculture
through natural expression that can affect villagers and farmers intensively so
that cultivation along with their live style might be synchronished towards
national interest. In 1928 ,15 July Rabindranath introduced “Hallakarshan”
ceremony where he himself involved in ploughing
which was accompanied with hymns, recitation, dance and songs. Elmhurst,
Pandit Bidhusekhar Shastri, Nandala Basu were present there and helped
Rabindranath in every sphere.About Hallakarshan ,he wrote, “How valuable is the
agricultural education was known from Ramayan by the Aryans. Sita was glorified
by the line of Hallakarshan and Ram
turns the plots of Ahalyabhumi into cultivable. Once upon a time, this
Hallakarshan joined north and south by breaking the father of forest.”
9] In 1923, a
Primary School for Girls was established in Sriniketan to enhance their status
in the society through education. By 1939, there were night classes for
children and adults unable to attend schools. There was a mobile library-the
first of its kind in Bengal [still in operation in many districts of Bengal
(especially Birbhum) and different states as well]. An early form of distance
education was initiated through Lok-Siksha Samsad (Peoples Education Council,
1937), a society which organized study at homes and examinations for persons
who could not attend school. A special education section was added later to
handle some other educational areas. The Lok-Siksha-Samsad
was included under this section; so was training centre for primary
school teachers, called Siksha Charcha
Bhavan. In training primary teachers, the centre supplemented the
government curriculum with music, agriculture, sanitation, scouting and
craft-training to create a more holistic approach.
10] The Village Boys and Girls Scout (Brati Balak Organization) was initiated by the poet in 1922. The basic objectives of the programme were to develop the Second Line of Leadership among the children of the villages. The broad objectives of the programme were: (a) to develop the spirit of community services; (b) to undertake physical exercise; (c) to develop active leadership; (d) to develop an awareness of natural equilibrium and environment education.
10] The Village Boys and Girls Scout (Brati Balak Organization) was initiated by the poet in 1922. The basic objectives of the programme were to develop the Second Line of Leadership among the children of the villages. The broad objectives of the programme were: (a) to develop the spirit of community services; (b) to undertake physical exercise; (c) to develop active leadership; (d) to develop an awareness of natural equilibrium and environment education.
IV.
Activity in Industrialisation
Economic thoughts of Rabindranath on industrial
development lie not only on rural industrial expansion but also on the
development of large scale industries. First of all, he tried to start rural
industries like handicrafts for which he established “Shilpa Bhawan” in 1922
where printing of cloths, book binding, batik, lac works were started with the
guidance of Pratima Devi . Rathindranath added tannery in to it. In 1928, pottery,weaving,and
crafts were introduced in it.In 1951,ViswaBharati renamed it into “Shilpasadan”
.Rabindranath Tagore wanted to expand rural cottage industries so that rural
wealth may increase but he liked to create manufacturing industries when he
said, “To save the nation is to open industries but it is not started because
of the interest of national and foreign monopolists and money lenders. They own
our industries……”. Even he was opposed
on monopoly expansion in India. But he was not on the same opinion on Gandhian
thought of industries with the Charka. For this ,he had to confront with
several criticism from important personalities in India. On the other hand, he
was interested to produce consumption goods for poor with the help of improved
and modern technology. He sent Manindra Chandra Sen to Japan to learn use of
modern technology for weaving.10 power looms and some preparatory machines were
purchased from Japan from which production of clothes had been started in 1936.In
1937,11 handlooms,5 Swidil weaver machines,and 10 handlooms ran at Shriniketan
where several trained youths worked there and it was spread over 36
villages.The weavers collected cottons from Shriniketan .They weaved with
certain designs and qualities and marketed throughout India. For expansion of
tanning, Pratima Devi brought some designs of technology from Italy. In Shriniketan,shoes,bag,suitcase,book
binding were produced in the tannery industry including leather handicraft
which includes leather moneybag, handbags of women, belts which had a great
market outside India.
******IX.
Conclusion
Rabindranath is not only a poet of Nobel Laureate
but also he was a philosopher and economic thinker in real sense because all of
his economic thoughts were implemented in Shantiniketan, Shriniketan, Shilaidaha
and other nearest villages .He wished that his villages would be self-reliance
in every respect from which efforts for freedom could be raised from the
exploited farmers against the colonial emperor during the course of national
freedom movement in India. His integrated rural development approach is a
continuous process of conflict between rich and poor, continuous integration
between east and west, old and new, culture and education, and education and
livelihood as well as continuous conflict between self reliance and
independent.
His views pertaining to eco-ethical
human living and sustainable rural development scattered in various works
throughout his life and we made an attempt to assemble them to bring out his
economic vision.
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