The ‘3-E’ Method

‘There are different ways of responding to the crises facing the society, depending on the level of consciousness of those working to overcome the crises, and of those who are victims of the crises.’ the Baba began the day’s discussion. He looked into the eyes of his beloved disciple and continued: ‘For example, let us take the crisis of poverty and hunger in India. More than 30% of the Indian population live below poverty line even today. They are not able to eat one nourishing meal a day.

‘The most emotionally appealing way of responding to this crisis of poverty and hunger is to feed the hungry…. Organize community feeding programmes, distribute food packets, dole out freebies…. This is the ‘charity’ approach. This appeals emotionally to the largest number of people. They will ‘donate’ food items, ‘sponsor’ meals, ‘contribute’ money…… 

‘The ‘charity’ approach appeals mostly to the donors, the rich and the ruling class whose selfishness, greed, injustice and corruption directly and indirectly contribute towards promoting the widespread poverty and hunger in India….

‘A better and more intelligent way of responding to the crisis of poverty and hunger is through education and development leading to employment and empowerment of the poor. ‘Instead of giving them fish everyday, teach them to fish’… This is an old dictum with much wisdom…. 

‘Education-Employment-Empowerment was the ‘3-E’ method developed and applied very effectively by Sri. Narayana Guru, the great saint of the Ezhava community in Kerala, a century ago for the upliftment of his very poor, illiterate, exploited and downtrodden community…. As a result, the Ezhava community in Kerala today has become a very powerful economic and political force.... This can be termed ‘developmental’ approach….

‘Now imagine a situation when many have learnt to fish, but the fish in the lakes, ponds, rivers and sea are limited or the area available for fishing is limited…. Then we will have to make rules and regulations to ensure that all who earn their livelihood from fishing get equal opportunities to fish and earn their living… Favoritism, partiality and corruption at this level will lead to organized agitations and revolts from those who feel deprived of their ‘rightful share’…… Here we will need a ‘legal’ approach….

‘All the above three approaches to crisis management - the charity approach, the developmental approach and the legal approach - are within the ‘system’ .... 

‘But there are times when the existing ‘system’ itself is unjust. For example, the ‘system’ that we discussed before can earmark a larger part of the fishing areas exclusively for the rich and privileged categories, or give ‘subsidies’ to certain special class of people. Imagine that their representatives are sitting in the Parliament and Assemblies in the country, making laws and rules for their benefit…. They can easily consolidate their position through laws, rules and regulations made by the decision-makers and law-givers who are their own people…. 

‘We know how to fish, we are in fact experts in catching fish… However, a situation can arise in which we want to catch fish but we are not allowed to catch fish as the catchment areas are under the legal ownership of the rich and the powerful who are also making the laws and ruling the country… The system itself has become unjust and exploitative in this case…. Such a crisis situation cannot be handled by the charity, developmental and legal approaches as discussed earlier. It calls for a systemic change. A systemic change calls for a ‘revolution’…. 

‘Have you understood this far, my son?’, the Baba asked Atma Prakash.

‘Yes, of course guruji.. This is precisely the analysis of the naxalites also.’ Atma Prakash replied.

Excerpts from ‘Integral Revolution’.