Ganesh Shankara Vidyarthi was true well wisher of the down trodden, suffering, exploited and the poor. He could feel their pain as he himself had faced hardships. He would write about their woes and help them materially whenever possible.
His pen was able to pen the problems and state of the poor in moving words. He wrote an article captioned, ‘The misery of poor’ which is a typical specimen of his grassroot style—
‘‘It is a new trouble. Essential commodities of daily use are becoming costlier and costlier. The prices of grains, salt, oil, cloth etc. are going up and up, Other things are also becoming dearer but their price rise creates little problem.
The basic necessities like grains, salt, oil and cloth are things no one can do without. The constant rise in their prices means trouble for the common man. The people are really groaning.
In a number of villages in Bengal the incidents of loot and plunder took place. Those acts were not carried out by dacoits and robbers. The doers were ordinary civilised people. When they starve or have nothing to wear what shall they do? Infact those who raise accusing finger at the poor do not know their desperation.
Stealing and robbing is no good for those who have enough to eat and wear. But those who are hungry and naked sometimes snatch away things driven by self preservations instinct and they are given lordly advice of honesty by those who live in luxury which is sheer thuggery and arrogance of unforgivable type.
It is better for such sermonisers to keep their precious advice to themselves. Those who revel in luxury and indulge in nightly pleasures have no right to issue dry sermons to the starving poor. They say that they do so in the name of civilised behaviour but by keeping up their own vulgar life style they themselves murder the civilised manners.
We have strayed away from the main subject. Well…the loot and the plunder has taken birth in Bengal. The poor of Calcutta are desperate. The Indian Association has requested to the government that efforts must be made to bring down the prices of the essential commodities like cloth, oil, grains etc. Otherwise the poor will suffer and may go on rampage.
In Bombay the troubles of the poor have multiplied. The essentials are costly and the house rents are going up to make matters worse. The landlords see their chance here. They are issuing notices to the tenants to vacate the rooms and houses. When tenants plead for mercy the landlords slaps a hefty rent rise by one half or double.
A big reason of the price rise is the war. The wars consume essential goods and usurp the services of railways and ships in transporting those goods. The transport services for the domestic purposes become costly which gets passed on to the consumer. In such a situation the increase in the prices of coal, oil, salt, cloth and foodgrains is understandable to some extent. But why are rents going up? Are houses also being sent to the war zone? Or they were used to be brought in on railway trains and ships which can’t be done now due to war usurping those services!
The way prices are shooting up in Calcutta and Bombay the rest of the cities, towns and villages are also suffering the same way. The misery of the poor man is ever on the increase. This trouble started only since a few months ago and it is believed that for a much more time the this price problem will go an aggravating. Even after the end of the war the problem will continue to be there. There will be no respite.
The European countries are busy is making murder weapons. They have no time to manufacture or grow life preserving things. Even after war they will be all taken up in the task of repairing their homes while living on imported food grains and other commodities.
As long as the war drags on most of the people of India would be employed in manufacturing the war material and transporting them…the trains and the ships would be booked up for the war effort. Even after the war these services would be preoccupied with the job of transporting men in uniform, their luggage and machines back to their home bases. It is not going to help the people.
And there is no sign of the war ending. It may last for a year or drag for more time. For the expressing fears of the price rise lasting for more than an year is no panic spreading act. The situation will remain the same even can not be said confidently.
For the five or six months prices galloped at frightening pace and future holds no hope of the respite. The prospects are frightening. The poor will be in the miserable state. Those who are in power should be alert. The sermons of honesty won’t work. Quick preventive action and damage control is needed.
Some efforts in this respect are being made by Bengal government, Calcutta corporation, Bombay corporation and Bombay government. The other state governments and municipal committees must follow the example instead of remaining asleep.
The municipal committees can do a lot. The way has shown by the Delhi Municipal Committee. Every colony must have a fair price shop to sell salt, oil, cooking coal, coarse cloth etc. The poor must get essentials at the cost price at retail level.
The provincial government must act against satta speculators and hoarders. If profiteering is checked the commodities won’t be so dear. For checking it no trader should be allowed to stock essentials merely for the purpose of hoarding and fuelling up retail prices.
Those who are charitably disposed this is an opportunity to make good use of their money. They can arrange to sell the essential goods at the cost price to the poorer sections of the society and earn a huge public goodwill and credit for after life.
Some gentlemen say that we are panicky. Look at Europeans, how they are enduring all kinds of hardships including the shortage of good stuffs! To some extent it is true. Europeans also are in trouble But their troubles and our troubles are not similar. They themselves created the war situation. They knew it was coming. We did not until we were caught by surprise. They are rich and can endure. We are already very poor. Even a little more pressure can squeeze life out of us.
The poor Bengalis had looted some shops driven by desperation for survival. Now they are facing trials. It is no way to solve price spiral. They did something technically unlawful in desperate situation but those who are putting them on trial are not treating their acts as normal legal default. Special courts have been set up to try them as if they were dangerous outlaws who can destabilize the British Empire. What right have they got to perpetuate this monstrous injustice?
The special courts are meant to deal out special punishments. It is a travesty of justice. It should be removed. The administration and the rulers must be sympathetic to the plight of the poor people.”
Ganesh Shankara Vidyarthi not only presented illustrative portrayals of the problem but gave valuable suggestions and suggested sensible solutions.
