PrinciplesMahatma Gandhi described Swadeshi as "a call to the consumer to be aware of the violence he is causing by supporting those industries that result in poverty and harm to workers and to humans and other creatures[1]." Gandhi recognised that alienation and exploitation often occur when production and consumption are divorced from their social and cultural context, and that local enterprise is a way to avoid these problems. "Swadeshi is that spirit in us which requires us to serve our immediate neighbours before others, and to use things produced in our neighbourhood in preference to those more remote. So doing, we serve humanity to the best of our capacity. We cannot serve humanity by neglecting our neighbours[2]". OriginsThe word Swadeshi derives from Sanskrit and is a Sandhi or conjunction of two Sanskrit words. Swa means Self or Own and Desh means Country. If the French language can be used as an analogue, the word Swadeshi is the adjectival form of "of one's own country". The Opposite of Swadeshi in Sanskrit is Videshi or "not of one's country". Another Example of Sandhi or Conjunction in Sanskrit is Swaraj. Swa is Self and Raj is Rule. pig Influences
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