Question

Read the following source carefully and answer the questions that follow:

Mahatma Gandhi was profoundly critical of the modern age in which machines enslaved humans and displaced labour. He saw the charkha as a symbol of a human society that would not glorify machines and technology. The spinning wheel, moreover, could provide the poor with supplementary income and make them self-reliant. What I object to, is the craze for machinery as such. The craze is for what they call labour-saving machinery. Men go on “saving labour”, till thousands are without work and thrown on the open streets to die of starvation. I want to save time and labour, not for a fraction of mankind, but for all; I want the concentration of wealth, not in the hands of few, but in the hands of all. YOUNG INDIA, 13 NOVEMBER 1924 Khaddar does not seek to destroy all machinery but it does regulate its use and check its weedy growth. It uses machinery for the service of the poorest in their own cottages. The wheel is itself an exquisite piece of machinery. YOUNG INDIA, 17 MARCH 1927

1. Why was Gandhiji critical of machines?
2. Why was wheel considered as an exquisite piece of machinery?
3. How did Gandhiji glorify charkha?

Answer 1

1. Because he thought that machines were displacing labor and enslaving people in the contemporary era, Mahatma Gandhi was critical of them. He took issue with the trend toward labor-saving equipment, which left thousands of people jobless and impoverished. Gandhi opposed the concentration of wealth in the hands of a select few and aimed to save time and labor for all of humanity, not just a select few.
2. The wheel more especially, the charkha, or spinning wheel was regarded as a beautiful piece of equipment since it represented a human culture that did not exalt technology and machines. Gandhi thought that the charkha could help the impoverished become self-sufficient by giving them additional income. Additionally, he regarded the wheel as a way to control industrial use and stop its unbridled expansion. Furthermore, the charkha was regarded as a lovely and effective instrument for spinning cloth.
3. 1. By endorsing the charkha as a representation of independence, equality, and nonviolence, Mahatma Gandhi elevated it. He believed that the charkha could empower the underprivileged and give them more revenue.
   2. Gandhi promoted the employment of the charkha to control the use of equipment and stop a small number of people from holding all the riches.
   3. He thought that people may improve both their own well-being and the welfare of society at large by spinning their own khadi.