Read the following excerpts carefully and answer the questions that follow:
Charkha
Mahatma Gandhi was profoundly critical of the modern age in which machines enslaved humans and displaced labour. He saw the charkha as a symbol of a human society that would not glorify machines and technology. The spinning wheel, moreover, could provide the poor with supplementary income and make them self-reliant.
What I object to, is the craze for machinery as such. The craze is for what they call labour-saving machinery. Men go on “saving labour”, till thousands are without work and thrown on the open streets to die of starvation. I want to save time and labour, not for a fraction of mankind, but for all; I want the concentration of wealth, not in the hands of few, but in the hands of all. Young India, 13 November 1924. Khaddar does not seek to destroy all machinery but it does regulate its use and check its weedy growth. It uses machinery for the service of the poorest in their own cottages. The wheel is itself an exquisite piece of machinery. Young India, 17 March 1927. Questions
(i) Why was Mahatma Gandhi critical of machines?
(ii) Why did Mahatma Gandhi give so much importance to Charkha (spinning wheel)?
(iii) In the views of Gandhiji, what would be the impact on the poor if the machines saved labour? How it will benefit the rich (capitalist)? Why was this solution not acceptable to Gandhiji?
(iv) According to Gandhiji, what is the relation between Khaddar and machinery?
(i) Mahatma Gandhi was critical of the machines because they enslaved human-beings and displaced labour.
(ii) Mahatma Gandhi gave much importance to Charkha (spinning-wheel). He considered Charkha as a symbol of self-reliant society. According to Gandhiji, Charkha diminished the glory of machines and technology. It signified manual labour. It also provided the poor with supplementary income.
(iii) Gandhiji was against the craze for machinery. He did not consider machines justified on the plea that they saved labour. He was critical of machines because they left thousands of people without work. They made many people die of starvation. Not only this, the machines will lead to the concentration of wealth in the hands of a few capitalists. In fact, Gandhi wanted that wealth should go in the hands of all. So the introduction of machines and technology was not acceptable to Gandhiji.
(iv) According to Gandhiji, Khaddar does not destroy any machinery. On the other hand, it regulates the use of machinery. It checks the weedy growth of machines. It encourages cottage industry. In other words, Gandhiji considered Charkha as a beautiful piece of machinery.
