Mahatma Gandhi's idea of trusteeship is a pragmatic model of development that aims to attain economic equality in society. This idea is an alternative to communism and capitalism and is based on nonviolence and inclusivity. Trusteeship seeks to resolve the conflict between labour and capital by emphasizing on equitable distribution of work and wages, giving equal importance to manual and mental labour, promoting people to labour for their own bread, creating a society in which all the people are entitled only to as much wealth as required to satisfy their needs and have time for leisure. Trusteeship replaces competition with cooperation by promoting wealthy people to voluntarily abdicate their wealth for the underprivileged. It aims to transform self-interested individuals to work for group-interest. This idea is relevant for the present times when inequality is widening the gap between rich and poor, and weakening the prospects of inclusive development. Trusteeship is a workable solution that can ensure sustainable progress in contemporary times.

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The growth trajectory of Indian Sociology in the past few decades is unsurpassed. From being treated as a ‘residual category’ and a subordinate disciple, it is now a well-developed and self-sustaining discipline. There are various demands placed on sociology after Independence which explicitly contributed to its development. But this development of Indian sociology is not free from certain dominations: (1) Domination of popular trends in sociology produced by western scholars, (2) Domination of certain sections in India, (3) Domination of State and Identity Politics. These domains of domination are significantly hindering the development of Indian sociology in an inclusive manner and degrading the efficacy of the knowledge produced in this field. The only way forward for Indian sociology is to develop indigenous sociological traditions, concepts, and methods to explain the social reality of India, to recognize the diverse trends of sociological knowledge being produced and promote civility, reason, and reflexivity among diverse perspectives of sociological knowledge.

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