E-Book - Mahatma Gandhi

249 Contextualising Gandhian Thoughtconcern substitutes cut-throat competition. There can be noequality, no justice, and therefore no peace if globalizationmeans license for the powerful to pursue greed and gobble upthe weak in the name of free competition and supranationalism.In the field of production, the removal of all restrictions,the invitation to multi-nationals and foreign companies to enterall, fields of production, including the production of consumeritems and articles that form part of the daily menu, the removalof or dilution of restriction on limits of equity participation,management , volume of profits and repatriation of profits etc.have exposed Indian manufacturers to unequal competition, andleft the choice of priorities in the hands of multi-nationals andforeign companies over which the Government has no or littlecontrol. The motive of capturing the market and maximisingprofit has substituted the motive of ending unemployment andpoverty, assuring adequate incomes, and ensuring access toessential consumer goods at prices that the lowest strata of thepopulation can afford.It is not the political power of an ImperialistGovernment that has brought about this situation,—but theeconomic power and 'conditionalities' of internationaleconomic and financial agencies,—multi-nationals andGovernmental consortia that determine the conditions on whichwe can get aid. We are compelled to go to them to seekfinancial and technological assistance and trade facilitiesbecause we have chosen to depend on their brand of technologyand copy their pattern of economic growth and development.In these circumstances, since many consumer goods andother commodities are manufactured in the country by multinationalcorporations or their subalterns or collaborators, aquestion arises about the attitude of the philosophy of Swadeshito foreign investments, foreign capital and foreign technology.