Page 199 - BEATS Secondary school

Thirdly, Gandhi ji spoke and believed in Sarvodaya which in its essence
focuses upon a socialist society, which wouldn’t work in the 21st century
because

A) It didn’t work earlier. From Russia to China to Latin-America.
Socialism hasn’t worked and cannot work simply because history tends
to repeat itself.

B) Everything has its price, not everyone can afford everything. Reducing
prices to level out all social classes would result in the community
quickly going broke. The simplest example of this is comparing how
economies have boomed upon moving from socialist regimes to
capitalism- take Russia, for example, their average incomes have
increased 250 per cent.

And finally, C) Socialist regimes claim that by taking control of all
private sectors, they will guarantee access to all. But all this results in
is corruption, incompetence and abuse of their own population. An
example of this is Brazil’s attempts at socialism. Not only were they
highly corrupt, but Brazil’s socialist government lead to the country’s
economy crumbling just last year.

This is where a mixed or free-market economy comes into play, This is
what most societies including India run on too, simply put, socialism
will not work in today’s day and age due to what we have already been
exposed too, and where we stand economically and politically.

In conclusion, a utopia would run upon Gandhi’s ji’s principles,
however, the society that we have built for us is not utopian. We are
undergoing a gradual shift of moral standards and the presence of
greed and hunger just leaves a larger mark upon our moral beings. We
have been told innumerable times that WE ARE THE FUTURE. It is time
we accept this, and the only way we can make a change in this world
is by understanding how it functions, and understanding what works
and doesn’t. I strongly believe, that to prosper in the world we live in,
Gandhi ji’s philosophies are irrelevant.

Thank you.

-Anushhka Thakur MYP 4