History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c96.s2.55

v7.c96.s2.55

But he will say a few words. The mass of people cannot be kept at a high level of self-sacrifice, great ideals and hard work for long. A dynamic and revered leader like Buddha may succeed for a time in securing this. But, when he passes away, there is gradually a relapse into conditions worse than what they were before. For the vast majority of people anywhere private gain is the chief motive for hard work and not mere requests or sermons. If that motive is abolished, then the majority will not work hard at all, though a few individuals of high ideals and moral character may work as hard as before. Or there will have to be a dictatorship, coercion and fear of being liquidated In the absence of these, production will be enormously reduced and there will be no improvement in standards of living. Russia and China are not under a Parliamentary democracy and they can therefore make people work without trammels, but in countries like U. K., U. S. A, even Japan the appeal of the motive of private gain is the chief factor Even in Russia incentives have to be held out for extra work and it is admitted that even after forty years of totalitarian rule, there are great inequalities of income, since the wages of an Academician and an average worker are in the ratio of 62:1, and (apart from academicians) the wages of high-placed executives and common men are in the ratio of 20:1 and there are no ceilings on income.²⁶⁴⁶ Shri Vinoba Bhave placed his target about Bhūmidāna at fifty million acres but he got only about five million acres, half of which are not arable. Now the emphasis has shifted to 'Sarvodaya'. Shri Jayaprakash Narayan, who was first a Marxist out and out, then joined the P. S. Party, is now advocating the principles of 'Sarvodaya' in²⁶⁴⁷ 'Towards a new society' published by Mr. Prabhakar Padhye for the Congress for cultural freedom (New Delhi, 1958). Sarvodaya planning seems to be based on the assumption that a radical change in human behaviour and attitude to work and property will take place on a large scale without coercion. There is hardly any basis for any such assumption at present. The Prime Minister himself admits (vide p 240 of Prof V. K. R. V. Rao's paper in 'Changing India') that adequate motives and inducements have to be provided. The Indian Government more than any other purely democratic country in the world has extended the scope of public administration to embark on the production and distribution of economic goods while keeping at the same time full Parliamentary democracy. Gandhiji also called upon the millionaires to hold their vast fortunes in trusteeship One should like to know the names of even a dozen millionaires in India that dealt with their wealth like trustees even in Gandhiji's lifetime.