Case 9.10: The wall of names

Difficulty: Hard
Syllabus point: 5: Gandhian ethics: purity of means and ends
Values and laws tested: Means and ends, truth, ahimsa (no coercion), human dignity; Hind Swaraj, chapter 16 (seed and tree); Article 21 (life and dignity)

Illustrative exampleThe wall of names

Meena is a Block Development Officer in a block of Rajasthan. The district's target is that all panchayats of the block be declared "free from open defecation" by the end of the month. In one panchayat eighty per cent of households have built toilets. Among the rest, some have not received an instalment of assistance, some are elderly people and widows with no one to build for them, and some are simply putting it off out of habit. An officer suggests, "Have those households' names written on the panchayat building wall, post a whistle patrol in the morning and warn that rations will be stopped. Everything will be built in a week." Another says, "Send the report that the panchayat is declared; we will see about the rest later." Meena knows the target is right for public health and women's safety. But she fears that toilets built under pressure will not be used. An elderly widow says she has trouble with both money and space.

Stakeholders: the remaining families, especially elderly widows and poor households (the weakest party), households that have already built toilets, the panchayat and sarpanch, women and children (who gain from sanitation), the seniors, Meena, the district health system.
Issue: meeting the target within the deadline against dignity, truth and a way without coercion. The end (sanitation) is right; the question is the means.
Options: A. A wall of names, a patrol and a warning on rations (the effect shows quickly; but it is humiliation and coercion, and threatening to stop an entitlement such as rations is improper; toilets may be abandoned once the pressure lifts). B. Send the declaration report before it is true (pressure from above eases; but the report is false and the real problem stays). C. Door-to-door dialogue and help: get the stuck instalments released, arrange a mason and space for the elderly and widows, sanitation volunteers in the panchayat, report the true position and ask above for extra time if needed (slow and hard; but the means are pure and the effect lasts).
Best: C. In Hind Swaraj, chapter 16, Gandhi says the means are the seed and the end the tree, with an inviolable connection between them. He saw sanitation as service, not something to be imposed. Article 21 carries dignity along with life.

Lesson

Action: Short term: a list of the stuck instalments and their payment, collective construction help for the elderly, no public display of names, a written request to the senior for the true position and for time. Long term: an independent check of actual use after the declaration, a rule that help goes first to weak families, volunteers and behaviour change at the panchayat level.

Practice Questions

Practice questionabout 100 words

(10 marks, 100 words) What should Meena do? Solve with the five-step card.

Model answer

The weakest stakeholders are the elderly and widows whose toilets are incomplete; the panchayat and seniors are involved too. The issue is the deadline against dignity and truth; the end is right, the means are in question. I have three routes: a wall of names with a warning on rations, a declaration before it is true, or an honest report with help. The first humiliates; the second is false. I choose the third, because for Gandhi the means are the seed and the end the tree, and Article 21 carries dignity. I would release instalments, help and report the truth. Long term: check use.

Practice questionabout 50 words

(5 marks, 50 words) Explain Gandhi's view on "if the end is good, any means will do" in this case.

Model answer

For Gandhi a pure end is not reached by impure means; a wall of names and a false report go against truth and non-violence, and a habit born of pressure does not last.

Practice questionabout 50 words

(5 marks, 50 words) Suggest a long-term arrangement to keep the purity of means in target-driven programmes.

Model answer

An independent check before and after declaration, help first for the weak, a ban on naming people and stopping entitlements, volunteers and dialogue.