Previous Year Question

Trusteeship is a central idea in Gandhian economic thought. It holds that a person possessing wealth or resources beyond legitimate personal needs should not regard himself as their absolute owner, but rather as a trustee on behalf of society, using the surplus for wider social welfare.

The purpose of the principle was not merely redistribution of wealth but the non-violent and ethical reduction of economic inequality. Gandhi sought to address conflict between capital and labour through social responsibility and moral obligation rather than violent class conflict.

Under Trusteeship, private possession may exist, but wealth is expected to serve a social purpose. After meeting legitimate personal needs, surplus resources are to be viewed as something held in trust for society.

Gandhian economics also emphasised economic equality, Swadeshi, decentralised production, village industries, full employment, basic human needs and the integration of ethics with economics. However, among the options in this question, Trusteeship is the distinctive principle associated with Gandhian economic thought.

Competition is more characteristic of conventional market economics, while State Control suggests a centrally controlled economic structure. Gandhi instead emphasised ethics, decentralisation and Trusteeship.