Read the passage and answer the questions:
Charkha
What I object to, is the craze for machinery as such. The craze is for what they call labour-saving machinery. Men go on “saving labour”, till thousands are without work and thrown on the open streets to die of starvation. I want to save time and labour, not for a fraction of mankind, but for all; I want the concentration of wealth, not in the hands of few, but in the hands of all.
YOUNG INDIA, 13 NOVEMBER 1924
Khaddar does not seek to destroy all machinery but it does regulate its use and check its weedy growth. It uses machinery for the service of the poorest in their own cottages. The wheel is itself an exquisite piece of machinery.
YOUNG INDIA, 17 MARCH 1927
What are the views of the writer about the role of machines and the concentration of wealth?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Industrialisation should not result in the concentration of wealth in the hands of a few elites
The writer says: ‘I want the concentration of wealth, not in the hands of few, but in the hands of all.’ He wants time and labour saved for all of mankind, not for a fraction of it. Machinery that makes a few rich while thousands lose their work is what he rejects.
Option (1) Industrialisation should not result in the concentration of wealth in the hands of a few elites — Correct. It joins both parts of the question: the use of machines, and wealth that should not gather in a few hands.
Option (2) Humans should get employment and not machines — Incorrect. The writer does not ban machines. In the second extract he says that khaddar does not seek to destroy all machinery; it only regulates its use. The option also says nothing about wealth.
Option (3) Machines should not be employed to replace humans — Incorrect. This touches his fear of unemployment, but it leaves out the concentration of wealth, which the question asks about, and the passage praises the spinning wheel itself as ‘an exquisite piece of machinery’.
Option (4) Time and labor should be saved — Incorrect. He does want time and labour saved, but for all, not for a few; the option leaves out the point he is making.
NCERT: Themes in Indian History Part III — Chapter 11: Mahatma Gandhi and the Nationalist Movement (2026-27)
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