Integral Humanism – An Indian perspective of Governance – Alok Tiwari
(Remembering the Proponent of the idea of Integral Humanism Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay on his Dirth Anniversary)
India is country with huge amount of economic , social , political , communal , ethnic and regional diversity. The problems pertaining to India when compared with the Western European countries are very different and as the problems pertaining to India are different , a different model of governance and policy formulation is required . As Mahatma Gandhi has talked about ‘Ramrajya’ in his book ‘Hind Swaraj’ in 1909 the development model needs to be indigenous and to establish a model of ‘Gramswaraj’ , it will be the villages or Rural parts of India which needs to be focussed . Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay by taking inspiration from the principle of ‘Sarvodaya’ i.e. Progress of all which is all inclusive and ‘Human Beings ‘as the central theme and for a country like India which has unique history , diversity and culture , Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay gives the concept of ‘Integral Humanism’ which can also be called as an Indian perspective of governance. It’s a development model with ‘Human Beings’ as the central theme and which is integral and sustainable in nature.
Indian thoughts has been greatly influenced by the western world and the reason is very obvious as some colonial powers like Britain , France , Portuguese controlled India while Portuguese were present even after 1947 . Thus as India was controlled by these colonial powers , the whole Industrial revolution which started in England in 18th century and later spread in other parts of Europe during the period from 16th-19th century . During the time of Industrial revolution the workers were exploited by the factory owner’s and later political philosophers from Europe like Karl Marx and Fredrick Engels started writing about the conditions of workers and asking them to unite and to overthrow the rule of ‘Bourgeois’ i.e. the Capitalist Class by the ‘Proletariats’ i.e. the working class in their book Communist Manifesto in 1848. From here the principles of socialism , communism came and they talked about having a Centralised planned Economy according to societal needs . However the problem is here the entire resource is placed under state control . However the problem with Socialism is it has a tendency of becoming ‘Totalitarianism’ and it ultimately affects the freedom of Individuals .The examples of Vladimir Lenin after the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution and Joseph Stalin after 1922 shows that Socialism is ‘Autocratic’ in nature . Russia , China , Cuba , Vietnam all these countries are Socialists however none of them run on Democratic principles with no elections and presence of only single party .
This ultimately proves that Socialist states ultimately become Dictatorial states . Along with Socialism , in the 18th century itself the Capitalist Ideology was also given by liberal thinkers like Adam Smith , David Ricardo , Milton Friedman who talked about having a free economic system with no barriers for the Capitalists and providing them opportunities of free trade & Individual property. However Democracy coming along with Capitalism led to huge exploitation . By the 1920s social democracy became the dominant political tendency, along with Communism, within the international socialist movement, representing a form of democratic socialism with the aim of achieving socialism peacefully.
Thus came the Concept of ‘Democratic Socialism’ . However , Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay while talking about Integral Humanism philosophy rejects Capitalism because here the core of philosophy is wealth and in case of Marxist Socialism he rejects it because the importance of an individual human beings is crushed and entire emphasis is on State . Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay says , “Between the wealth and the state comes the human being and thus as humans are the main resource or they are most important between wealth and state thus it is Humans who should be at the core of every policy formulation.”
Production , accumulation of capital , distribution of capital in case of Capitalism and social ownership of the means of production is the main focus in case of Socialism however the problem here is both the capitalists as well as the socialists have talked from Economic angle and even though socialist principle like ‘Welfare State’ are part of Indian Constitution mainly in part IV which has Directive Principles of State Policy from Article 36 – 51 but for the holistic development understanding the needs of what an Individual requires is most important and thus the philosophy of ‘Integral Humanism’ given by Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay which tries to relate with 4 attributes of Humankind i.e. ‘Dharma’ (For the formation of Economic and Political Policies ), ‘Artha’ ( For the satisfaction of Natural desires of man) , ‘Kama’ (Use of ethical codes while forming policies ) and he states that with the integration of all the three principles we can achieve ‘Moksha’ and can reach towards to ‘Integral Humanism’ or ‘Ekatma Manavvad’ . Also ethical and moral principles to politics are added by this philosophy .
Further the Integral Humanism talks about using Indigenous or Bharatiya Culture in Policy formulation .He talks about principles like ‘Sarvodaya’ i.e. all Inclusive growth and not restricting it to some handful citizens and this can be implemented at the time of distribution so only then the principle of ‘Antyoday’ i.e. making it available to person standing last in the Queue will come into effect . Further talking about human nature , Deendayal Upadhyay says Anger , Greed , Love and Sacrifice are part of Human nature. Body , Mind , Intelligence and Soul are the four ingredients of Individuals . The philosophies of Capitalism and Socialism due to their emphasis on wealth have treated them separately and thus they were not able to understand them however in India’s context a mutual relation is present between all the four ingredients and thus at the time of policy formulation , integration of all of them together and forming the policies can help us to achieve the desired objectives .
Their are different solutions to different problems and thus when concerned with the socio-economic problems pertaining to India are different and Deendayal Upadhyay Ji gives an example of during his four lectures delivered in Bombay between 22nd – 25th April 1965 wherein he says , ” Ayurveda states for the disease in each place remedy suitable to that place must be found “. And thus he states as problems of India are different from that of the western countries and thus an Indian solution which is based on Indian values like all inclusive , integrated and sustainable wherein the policies are formulated by making efforts so that it reaches to members of every section of society rather than just focussing on growth and development of few capitalists or concentrating the entire resources under state control and thus the philosophy of Integral Humanism which talks about spiritual development of an individual rather than just trying to accumulate material wealth can be a great alternative to the concepts like Capitalism and Socialism and it can be an Indian perspective of policy making and governance as the entire focus in this philosophy is on human beings and how their development in a shaped and channelized way can take place .
The holistic development of an individual residing in any region , state , country or in any part of the world can take place only when their are opportunities available for them economically , socially , politically and this can only happen when the country to which they belong along with policy makers focus on the people , if they focus on the needs of the people , this can happen only when the citizens of the country are given an opportunity to express themselves because it is ultimately the people who are most important and thus this philosophy which focuses on the people and their needs along with great focus on rebuilding the nation with central focus on ‘Rural India’ i.e. ‘The Real India’. This philosophy of ‘Ekatma Manavavad’ where ‘Manav’ i.e. Man is most important rather than Economic growth or control over resources gives it an edge to other philosophies. Integral Humanism tends to transform India not on western lines but by developing an indigenous model which is sustainable , renewable and replenishable . Integral Humanism tells to move forward along with looking back & learn from the oldest civilization which is present in your country which can greatly help in policy making , governance for achieving the desired ends.
“Independence can be meaningful only if it becomes an instrument of expression of our culture.”
