Nanaji Deshmukh: An Epitome of Indian Social Work

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The book has made a modest attempt to present the contributions made by Nanaji Deshmukh in the field of social work and rural development. The unique Chitrakoot model of Nanaji Deshmukh and his initiatives in the fields of community development, health care, education, agriculture, environment and sustainable development have been lucidly discussed in the book.

The Indian concept and meaning of Sewa and the importance of theory of integral humanism in social work offer a new worldview to develop universal humanism, accomplish social cohesiveness, bring harmony in the society, and to ensure holistic development through community participation. This book provides a scope for developing an indigenous social work approaches and intervention strategies.

The book will be extremely useful to the students, teachers, researchers in the discipline of social work, rural development, sociology and other allied social science disciplines as well as to the practitioners and policy-makers working in the field of social reconstruction and rural development.

Dr. Bishnu Mohan Dash, Assistant Professor (Senior Scale), Department of Social Work, Bhim Rao Ambedkar College (University of Delhi), engaged in promoting Bharatiyakaran of Social Work Education in India.

Dr. Mithilesh Kumar, Assistant Professor, and Coordinator (Teaching) in Mahatma Gandhi Fuji Guruji Centre for Social Work, Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya, Wardha, Maharashtra.

The book "Nanaji Deshmukh: An Epitome of Indian Social Work" is a compilation of chapters which discusses the contribution of Nanaji Deshmukh towards rural reconstruction. The book categorically presents the multifaceted roles of Nanaji Deshmukh as Rashtra Rishi, Great Social architect, Great social activist, politician, a social entrepreneur and an educationist. The book has presented the Nanaji Deshmukh's Chitrakoot model of social work and rural development, and his various contributions for the betterment of the whole society. Keeping in mind his various contributions to Indian society and particularly his model of social work, rural development, education, health care, community development, Nanaji has truly institutionalized volunteerism and professionalism in social work in India and deserves to be regarded as father of Indian Social Work.

In the introductory chapter "Nanaji Deshmukh: An Epitome of Indian Social Work, Shri Mukul Kanitkar has clearly presented justifications for declaring the birth anniversary of Nanaji Deshmukh as 'Bharatiya Samaj Karya Diwas. He mentioned that Nanaji Deshmukh has institutionalized professionalism in social work in India. Prof. Siddegowda and Dr. Krishna have highlighted the Volunteerism initiative to serve the underprivileged around him and in his motherland by writing the novel chapter of rural self-reliance through his independent initiative of Chitrakoot experimental model that ushered in new sun rise into several darkened rural livelihoods and heralded India on world map as that of the contributions of Johannesburg Hero. Dr. Dash in his chapter Social Work Practice: The Nanaji Way' highlighted that Nanaji's Chitrakoot model of development is an important viable scheme to be replicated all over the rural areas of India to ensure sustainable community development. In Nanaji model of development, he has placed greater emphasis on mobilizing people at the grassroots level and ensured their active participation in the development process. His model of development emphasized on community participation, integrated services for holistic development in the fields of education, health, agriculture, etc. In her Chapter, Prof. Sehgal discusses the contribution of Nanaji Deshmukh in rural development. His contribution to rural reconstruction is unprecedented and has no parallel, hence needs an in-depth study by social work research scholars as a basis for developing indigenous innovative social work approaches and intervention strategies. He was a true champion of the rights of the weak and poor, especially of the rural and backward Bharat and it is our proud privilege to have his body of work, to draw inspiration from. Mithilesh Kumar and Rajan Prakash in their chapter "Integral Humanism as the Guiding Principle of Social Work" highlight that in a time when social work is using compartmentalised worldview of the system, integral humanism offers the path of universal humanism and brings out harmony and functionalism in the society. If the Social Work has to strengthen its root in the academic world this must be included in the curriculum with a broad emphasis on the perspective explained by Deendayal. Nanaji Deshmukh experimented with this worldview in Gonda and Chitrakoot and showed that it is not only theoretical but can be applied in the field too. New professionals can connect with the local examples more than that of unknown and alien society having no relevance in Indian society. This will also help the profession to get back its mission with a humanitarian nature of service; with the creation of self-reliant, self-sustained, self-fulfilling society.

Social Work has an ancient history in the Indian tradition. On examining the vital elements of Indian society as found in the old scriptures of India, we find that social work is embedded in the life in India from the outset. When I talk of the 'Bhartiyakaran' of Social Work, then it does not mean Indigenisation or Indianisation. Being indigenous is different from being classic and Indianisation is related with a geographical jurisdiction. Bhartiyakaran is not localization. If Bhartiyakaran is understood to mean that the spatiality is to be amplified, then this interpretation is not correct. Instead, it is the effort and the enterprise to develop, invent and revive the lost methodology of community social work by understanding the true nature of Indian society and the eternal interrelationship between society and individual.

From that perspective, what is social work? Is social work a charity or a profession? Or a profession in which the charity is embedded, or a charity in which a profession and charity are reciprocal? The way Europe determined the nature of society after the Renaissance or Industrial Revolution, it is clear that it assumed that society is an enterprise and if society is an enterprise, then the actions of society are based on the intent of profit. Europe assumed that society is the outcome of a contract where individuals created it to protect their interests. In both ways, it is believed as an artificial construction. Construction is always based on intelligence. Is Indian society really like this?

The concept of society in India was neither based on contract nor based on purpose. It is neither based on utility nor a God-made creation. Indian society is neither based on utility nor based on purpose. The principles of the origin of society which Europe had built up in its dogmatics, and out of which the USA adopted the principle of purposefulness as the basis for the profession of social work is not useful in the context of Indian society. Indeed, over time, what began as an applied form of sociology and finally as an academic discipline, utterly independent of sociology, came to play a central role in all professional studies and this is the period when the Bhartiyakaran came to the foreground.

From the Indian tradition, what is society? Society is not dependent on the state. Society is not controlled and regulated even by the individual. It is controlled and regulated by Dharma. Indian sociology is the study of Dharmashastra. It is not the study of theology. Therefore, it cannot be understood by theology, and it was the biggest mistake of Indian society to understand it as theological studies. Due to which the original form of social work could not emerge, till independence. It did not appear before Gandhi that social work can have a theoretical background from the Indian point of view. It is a different matter that Swami Vivekananda presented all the theoretical grounds on which the social work later evolved and appeared in the form of Swadeshi movement in Bengal.

In the Indian context, Social Work is neither charity nor profession but its nature of human being, i.e. Dharma or Moral Code of Conduct of human being. When we want to reconstruct some norms for social work, without understanding these contexts, and build a society based on those norms, then there is a difficulty. Like state governments, many of the efforts made for social welfare proved to be unsuccessful because the social values were not in conformity with the social values of the groups for which they had strived. Without understanding social values and without understanding the foundation of the society, all the hard work that goes on does not go in the right direction.

**Contents and Sample Pages**