Mahatma Gandhi’s greatest contribution to sustainable development was two-fold. One: his experiments in simple living and high thinking. He believed that with simple living the resources of the planet earth can sustain us comfortably and his famous saying that earth provides us enough for our needs but not for our greed is extremely apt today.
Two: his insistence on self-reliance and all inclusive growth of the society: SWARAJ and SARVODAYA. In Mahatma Gandhi’s concept of Swaraj, agriculture was the cornerstone of all development. He wanted policies that would help build up agriculture and production of goods essential for the people through a network of cottage industries that would generate employment for the people. Mahatma Gandhi’s model was not centralised mass production, but production by the masses. Mahatma Gandhi wrote about farmers;
“The farmer is the father of the world. But it is his....
