When Swadesi Becomes a Method In India, swadesi is often invoked as identity. Less often is it treated as method. The word has long been associated with symbolism - flags, slogans, declarations of origin. But in its original sense, swadesi was not about withdrawal from the world. It was about designing systems that made sense within local realities: economic, environmental, and social. That distinction matters more now than it did a century ago. India today combines unusual
