Saran says that Mahatma Gandhi’s program of social transformation can be summarized as follows (Saran, 1969):

• Means and ends should be seen as parts of a whole which has a transcendental reference.

• The productive system should be based on the principle of optimal minimisation of needs (and not on that of multiplication of wants).

• The economy should be life-centred (and not one that is oriented to commodity-production). This means that the socio-economic system should operate on the principle of a metaphysically grounded optimum (and not on the principle of maximisation).

• Consequently, it is to be a non-exploitative economy based on simple and limited technology.

• Social and economic organization should be decentralized based on the principle of optimum autonomy.

• Truth and non-violence should form the foundation of the political order.

• Satyagraha (the determined pursuit of truth or the right path) should be the chief form of political vigilance and protest.

• Both the social and economic systems should be hierarchical, non-competitive and non-acquisitive, based on the principle of trusteeship. Ideally it should be a stateless society.