Hello , this is a page where you'd find some interesting piece of information on a Machine Contest announced by Gandhiji sometime in 1929. With a renewed interest in Gandhi thanks to Munnabhai, (Lage Raho Munnabhai!) I think this would serve well to attract attention.

Gandhiji is generally considered possibly the worst critic of the Western Civilisation. In fact, in his most famous work, other than the Autobiography - the Hind Swaraj or the Home Rule (click here) you'd find that he criticises Railways as an evil, and later in the 1920s - he asks one to burn the mill goods - all acts of anti-technology and some may even call Luddite work. But may be some re-look is necessary in light of this bit of information. Take a look!

In 1929, Gandhiji announced a Machine Contest with a prize money of 7700 Pounds - wherein he was looking for engineers who could come up with a machine that would take in as input - raw cotton and produce yarn as output. His thought was to break the backbone of English Textile Industry which flourised thanks to Indian Raw Cotton. He wanted Indians to make the yarn and in turn make home grown clothing as good as the Mill clothes from England, and the West.

You may take a look at the English Translation of the Hindi Announcement of Gandhiji's Machine Contest(click here) here.

But before doing that, here is the context in which this came up:

Mr. Navjyoti Singh, a Research Scientist at NISTADS (National Institute of Science Technology and Developmental Studies) who I met recently has shown me this Machine Contest information and given me the following background about the contest: `

"Gandhiji's idea of such a machine turned up because he found that his notion of Charkhas was not being taken positively by most people in the country. His understanding of the Economics of the World was very sharp - well, he was a bania from Gujarat! He noticed that it was the textile industry and the spinning mill of the Europe which broke the backbone of Indian economy. To get it back to its lost glory, there was a need to produce yarn from cotton at a pace which is at least on par with the spinning mills of England. He hoped that if he can get the masses support in the direction of using Charkhas - he could effectively stop the looting of Indian economy by the foreign mills. But, the idea of Charkhas was not a popular one amongst the men in the country. He went to farmers all over the country to encourage them to use charkhas. Most, at least out of respect for Gandhiji did begin using Charkhas but gave up quickly. The Charkha with a single spindle that Gandhiji used was one which required a lot of effort for little output. That;s when Gandhiji asked the farmers to ask their wives use Charkhas. That's why you see women playing a major role in Charkha Movement - if I may call it so. That's when the farmers told Gandhiji, that the women were equally involved in producing raw cotton. They were tied up too. Gandhiji was certainly frustrated at the inertia amongst the people. The force of modern technology (if not science) and the comforts they brought with them have been flashed in well through the English education to Indians that they could not muster courage to say NO to it. It was the dominant religion of that time.

To counter this situation, there was a requirement of beating the technological efficiency of the English, with an indigenous technology which is nature-friendly and suits Indian conditions then, (and possibly even today! - a matter for discussion) and as well is good at giving the expected output. It is in this context that he announced this contest. 7700 Pounds in those days was a huge amount. At the end of the contest time, he received a number of machines, but none of them satisfying all the criterion cited. Gandhiji's frustration remained."

He concluded saying: At that point of time, in 1930s, the technology was not well developed to realise a machine of the kind that Gandhiji has asked for. But today, in my opinion, it is possible, and we need to study our Agriculture practices and meet farmers to assess the requirements to see if such a technology is relevant - or develop new technologies that suit the requirements of today. Either way this kind of a survey that Gandhiji conducted to come up with a proposal for a machine with certain specifications is a worthy idea to explore for enthusiasts.


Mahatma Gandhi's Announcement of Machine Design Contest
Dated 24th July 1929.
One Lakh Rupees OR 7700 Pounds Prize!

Akhila Bharatiya Charkhaa Sangh Workers' Samiti has decided to organise this Contest for inventors and engineers all over the world that if they could come up with a Charkha or a Samyukta Yantra which - for making the thread and cloth , that satisfies the following criterion - shall be awarded a Prize money of 1 Lakh Rupees or 7700 pounds.

The Criterion:

1. Charkha must be light-weighted, easy to move, and it should be in such a way so as to be operated using either hand or one's leg - in a natural way in the rural cottages of India.

2. Charkha must be in such a way that a lady shall be able to work with it for 8 hours at a stretch without great effort put in.

3. Either Charkhas must have a build to accommodate the use of a puni (used to make handspun cloth)or along with the charkha there must be a way to handspun cloth.

4. On working with the charkha for 8 hours at a continuous stretch - it should result in 12 to 20 numbers of 16000 feet (1 gaj?) yarn.

5. The machine should be so designed such that it costs no more than Rs. 150 in producing it in India only.

6. The machine should be strong and well-made and with time-to-time servicing it should be capable of running for at least 20 years without any stopping. Servicing of the machine should not cost much and every year not more than 5% of the cost of the machine that year shall be needed for servicing.

7. All those taking part in this contest, may - with their own input costs and expenses send their machines to Sabarmati Ashram before or not later than 30th October, 1930. In case the machines satisfy the criterion mentioned - then the inventor/designer can patent it on his name to protect their rights on them.But, if they wish to become eligible to win the prize money of the contest, then the designer shall have to transfer the rights of the patent to Indian Charkha Sangh Council.

8. The Judges for the Contest shall be Khadi Pratishtan's Sri Satish Chandra Das Gupta, Bardoli Swarajya Ashram's Technical Director Sri Lakshmidas Purushottam and Tiruchengonduu Gandhi Ashram's Director Sri Chakravarthy Rajagopalachari. In case there is no consensus amongst the judges on the winner - Gandhiji's decision shall be the final one. In case of Gandhiji's absence Akhil Bharat Charkha Sangh Mantri Sri Shankar Laal Banker shall be the final decision-maker.

All questions and queries may be addressed to Mantri, Akhil Bharat Charkha Sangh, Mirzapur, Ahmedabad.

Dated: 24th July 1929. Shankarlal Banker.