Decentralisation of economic policies are important for the balanced progress of society. In order to bring balanced progress in the society. There is a need for preparation of plan, strategies and afterwards its implementation in order to get the desired result. The plan and strategies are prepared focusing on the target area, intended object. So important is fixation of target and preparation of plan accordingly and execution of plan in order to achieve results. This subject is vast and its difficult to justify in a one article as what it is, however, the efforts are being made to write in simple words and in brief. Those who are interested in detailing must read Prout literature which is available in 21 volumes of books.
The economic activity in ancient times was in very limited sphere of the society and few persons were involved. The farm production used to be with the intention of self – consumption and surplus if any was collected by some people engaged in the activity of buying and selling (trading) of the commodities. Such persons had this as a profession as primary activity, buying from one place and selling at other place and were being benefitted by the arbitrage or to say that they will transport the goods from the surplus area to the deficit area and in return earn money.
In the other hand, there were artisans in the societies who were producing the articles / items which were used by others for farming or household usage. Such goods were sold in the local market in return of the farm produces directly from the farm producers or through traders in exchange of currency or precious metals as the case may be. Largely barter system was in practice.
After industrial revolution the items which were traditionally produced by the artisans got produced in the industry by supplementing human efforts with machines, in other words reducing the human involvement through machines. The industrialisation had many benefits like standardisation, mass production, quality assurance and reduction of time and cost to produce the articles etc. because of above the complexity of economics under gone tremendous change and currency / banking sector got prominence. Its impact was negative on the people involved with artisan activities like cobblers, weavers, blacksmiths, etc. The industrial advancement impacted largely artisans as their traditional skill and source of employment and livelihood was directly challenged by machines. This had direct impact on them. Their ratio of population in the society was around 20 to 30%. These people were forced to adopt the agriculture as a farm labourer or some of them as industry labourers. This load of additional persons on farming sector had negative impact on the economics of agriculture as the dependency of population increased to around 70 to 80% on farming. This was not sustainable. The farms started becoming uneconomical because of dependency of too many people on the limited land resources. The similar situation still continues. As per Prout socio-economic philosophy, the ideal distribution of population in the society is 30-40% on farming, 30% on agro and Agrico industries, 10% on businesses, 10% on administrative services (security army etc) and rest 10% for sundry jobs.
Due to industrialisation the economic activities have increased manifold and its impact on the society is devastating because of automation process adopted in industries and it continues till now. The installation of the automation process is a welcome step but we need to see as how it impacts the society. For any social or economic activities, the people are to be in focus or in the centre or it has to be seen that this benefits every strata of people in society.
After industrial revolution, the economic activities have been developed in the society centring everything on capital. This has resulted in the increase of capital money / surplus money in the hands of people who deployed capital. The capital concentrated in the hands of few. This accumulation of money in the hands of few has resulted disbalance in the society. Today the riches and poverty both are at extreme level in the society. In order to correct this social evil, there is a requirement of the decentralisation of economy so that the preparation of economic policies is democratised aiming it by the people, of the people and for the people. In other words, it may also be termed as democratisation of economics in which the person is in the centre not the capital money.
Everything in the society cannot be judged, justified on commercial consideration. The people may be considered equal in the eyes of constitution but it’s a fact that all are inequal. All the people are born with distinct special skills, level of intellect, physical force, psychic or spiritual potentialities.
The preparation of economic plan has to be with the intended target of benefiting people. The decentralisation of economy is to see that the wealth is spread across the society. Not necessarily the distribution of wealth would be on equitable basis but it must be rational. We need to understand that all the resources of the word is of the Almighty God and all his sons and daughters have equal right over it and they must get the equal opportunities to utilise it for its fullest capacity and certainly no one should be deprived of its minimum requirement of food, clothes, education, health and shelter so that he is in a position to spare his surplus time to utilise for the higher pursuits of life in the arena of psychic and spiritual realm. This will also enable him to use his psychic and spiritual potential for the good of society.
To make this happen will not be easy as those who are more privileged with wealth and power shall not allow their power to diminish. In order to do this, we need to educate the people of their exploitation and their rights. The present system of democracy is also responsible for the economic exploitation of general people and concentration of funds on the hands of few. There is the unholy nexus between the politicians and corporates / capitalists which people have to understand.
The propounder of Prout (Progressive Utilisation Theory) Shri Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar has given a full blueprint as how the society can be saved from the economic sharks (capitalists) and a new system is developed for the overall well-being of humanity where all other beings shall also be able to coexist.
Some of the salient features of Prout are given below:
- The economy needs to be split into four branches with its distinct area of operations. First- peoples economy, second- general economy, third- psycho economy, fourth- commercial economy. Among the four branches of economy stated above people’s economy shall have priority over others. The people’s economy deals with issues concerning to five basic requirements of food, clothes, shelter, education and health.
- There is need to bring changes in the political system so that the candidates are elected by the popular votes only. Popular votes mean getting more than 50% votes is compulsory. The detailed process is not being given for the sake of keeping the article short.
- The party less democratic system needs to be developed and the elections are to be held on merits and the elected representatives shall choose their leaders or cabinet to govern the society.
- The jobs of Politicians should be limited to the framing of laws and their control over the executives on their day to day activities needs to be reduced. The executives are allowed to perform without the interference of politicians. The executives shall be responsible towards the constitution.
- The economic planning is to be prepared (block level, district level, central level) by the concerned people only by utilising the local resources and to cater the local requirements. The natural resources in its raw form shall not be allowed to be transported to other region and finished goods after meeting the local requirements shall be exported to other regions only.
- We need to have industrial policy in such a way that the wealth distribution across the society happens. The industries shall have categorisation, first key industries: the industries which are dependent on the natural resources and the production of which is the raw material for the other industries. Such industries should be termed as key industry and should be managed by the government only. The key industries shall be established only at the place where the raw material is available and transportation of it to other area shall be restricted. The middle level industries are those industries which are dependent on the raw Material from the key industries and such industries shall be managed by the system of cooperative. Such industries should also be established at the place where the raw material is available. The third level of industries can be termed as small or cottage industries or retail businesses which may be allowed to be managed by families / individuals. These industries can be owned by individuals but it will be seen that the person employed in such industry are not more than threshold limits of the requirement of persons and in case the requirement of persons increases, then those enterprise shall also be on cooperative basis.
- The capital of the region shall not be allowed to be transferred to other regions and the wealth creation shall be utilised for the local public benefits. The administrative and economic affairs shall be managed by the locals and no interreference whatsoever of outsiders shall be allowed until and unless the outsider has merged his interest with the locals.
The decentralisation of economic system in the country is the only way to bring cheers in the society and we all should make full efforts to educate the people and build opinion among the intelligentsia so that the present system is changed for the betterment of society.
Acarya Dileep
Pragatishil Braj Samaj
Interesting website, i read it but i still have a few questions. shoot me an email and we will talk more becasue i may have an interesting idea for you.
Your blog has the same post as another author but i like your better.
I must say, as a lot as I enjoyed reading what you had to say, I couldnt help but lose interest after a while. Its as if you had a wonderful grasp on the subject matter, but you forgot to include your readers. Perhaps you should think about this from far more than one angle. Or maybe you shouldnt generalise so considerably. Its better if you think about what others may have to say instead of just going for a gut reaction to the subject. Think about adjusting your own believed process and giving others who may read this the benefit of the doubt.
I have seen your reaction very late and therefore apologies for delay in response in a first place. I appreciate your concerns and genuinely would like to address the points. The article is aimed about the Prout concept of decentralisation of the economy which will address the present day issues of the masses. The Prout as a socio – economic philosophy is a vast subject in itself and currently available in 21 volumes in book named Prout in nutshell and therefore in a article of few pages all the concerns is difficult to bring.
However I appreciate your point of view and would like to know as which aspect of the general understanding should be given more emphasis in the article and would be more than happy to bring those aspects. Please help me by clearly mentioning the aspect which you would like me to elaborate or address.
I appreciate your concern and feel that your questions will help me to improve the thought process in order to make the audience to appreciate the article.