Development as Swaraj Towards a Sustainable and Equitable Future

"It is clear in this climate-risked times, local communities must have control over their natural resources for livelihood security. I would argue that the new paradigm of development has to be rooted on the principle of self-rule. Sumanas's unique childhood background and academic work provides us important insights into the why and how this can be done. This is a must read." - Sunita Narain, Centre for Science and Environment, Delhi

"This book very succinctly captures and brings back the central idea that was propagated by Gandhiji and Kumarappa to the fore. I strongly recommend the book as a stimulus for the development of an exploitation free social order, which is inherently sustainable and equitable." - Ela Gandhi, Phoenix Settlement Trust, Gandhi Development Trust, and Religions for Peace International, South Africa.

"Very interesting and important topic." - Noam Chomsky, MIT

"Sumanas offers a close, friendly and frank study of the concept of Swaraj and produced a pertinent reflection on development, the environment, and human dignity." - Rajmohan Gandhi, author of biographies and histories, including India After 1947 (2022)

"This book offers a courageous reinvigoration for today's crisis-ridden world. A refreshing vision of hope, written with inspiring clarity, that reasserts an indigenous Indian concept of development based on Swaraj." - Felix Padel, Centre for World Environment History, University of Sussex

"In times of increasing global inequality, deteriorating democratic institutions and escalating climate catastrophe, Sumanas recovers vital insights from Gandhi and Kumrappa's conception of Swaraj, an alternative paradigm of development. This book offers us a vision of how to surmount the violence inherent in prevailing systems of moral political economy." - Earl Gammon, Centre for Global Political Economy, University of Sussex

"Development as Swaraj, must be read as a corrective to the dominant development paradigm based on political centralisation and economic growth. One cannot contest Sumanas's argument for the critical need for the reassertion of a socio-political economic order, which couples progress with ethics." - Aruna Roy, Social Activist, and member of Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS)

"Ever since the National Planning Committee of 1938 sidelined the position represented in it by J.C.Kumarappa, Gandhian ideas about political economy receded into the background and were never given a serious run in India. In the small, but devoted, body of writing that still explores the great merit in those ideas, Sumanas Koulagi's new work is a very worthy addition. Drawing upon a scrutiny of the Khadi institutions in Karnataka, Koulagi presents an argument for integrating the notion of development with Gandhi's ideal of Swaraj, and deploys it skillfully to make fundamental criticisms of prevailing notions of development, including the seemingly well-intentioned ideas around the notion of 'sustainable' development. This is a very thoughtful book and a very necessary one." - Akeel Bilgrami, Columbia University

"Important and brilliant subject." - Robert Chambers, IDS, UK

"This book is a much-needed contribution towards the existing literature on swaraj and khadi. It is the combination of theory and practice that gives value to this account." - Uzramma Malkha, India

"Swaraj has resonance unequalled by any word in the Indian subcontinent. Sumanas Koulagi through insightful reading of Gandhi and J C Kumarappa has delved deep into the universe of Swaraj. His reading is deeply political and one that urges us to action. It is both a paean and a panacea to India." - Tridip Suhrud, Professor and Provost CEPT University, Ahmedabad

"I endorse and would strongly recommend that young Indian citizens read and digest the pulsating heartbeat of Sumanas Koulagi's vital book, Development as Swaraj as a way of preventing the impending tragedy of intergenerational colonisation that threatens to overwhelm and erode the gains of India's non-violent Independence movement. Not surprisingly, the author accurately hones in on 'the gradual disappearance of wilderness' as a key factor that has brought us to a near-breakdown of India's ecological and social structures, without which any hope of peace would be a chimera." - Bittu Sahgal, Sanctuary Asia