Page:Fischer - A Week with Gandhi.pdf/65

 I said. “He needs city goods, and he must sell his produce in other parts of the country and abroad. The village needs electricity and irrigation. No single village could build a hydro-electric power station or an irrigation system like the Sukkhur barrage in Sind.”

“And that has been a big disappointment,” Gandhi interjected. “It has put the whole Province in debt.”

“I know,” I said, “but it has brought much new land under cultivation, and it is a boon to the people.”

“I realize,” Gandhi said, shaking his head, “that despite my views there will be a central government administration. However, I do not believe in the accepted Western form of democracy with its universal voting for parliamentary representatives.”

I was eager to pursue this discussion. “What would you have India do?” I asked.

“There are seven hundred thousand villages in India. Each would be organized according to the will of its citizens, all of them voting. Then there would be seven hundred thousand votes and not four hundred million. Each village, in other words, would have one vote. The villages would elect their district administrations, and the district administrations would elect the provincial ad-