Significance of Gandhi and Gandhism
Showing posts with label Gandhi Journal articles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gandhi Journal articles. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Saturday, November 3, 2012
Gandhi Journal Article - II
THAMBI NAIDU - 'Lion Like' Satyagrahi in South Africa
By E. S. Reddy
One of the first satyagrahis in the movement of 1906-14 in South Africa and a most loyal and courageous colleague of Gandhiji was Govindasamy Krishnasamy Thambi Naidoo. Apart from defying the law and going to jail many times, he made a crucial contribution in mobilising the Tamils in the Transvaal to participate in the satyagraha and the workers in Natal to strike for the abolition of an unjust tax which caused enormous suffering.
Thambi Naidoo was born in 1875 in Mauritius where his parents had migrated from Madras Presidency. According to his daughter, Thayanayagie (known as Thailema), his father was a prosperous fertilisers and cartage contractor in Mauritius.
Mumbai Sarvodaya Mandal - Gandhi Book Centre – Gandhi Research Foundation
299 Tardeo Road, Nana Chowk Mumbai 400 007 MH India
Tel. +91-22-2387 2061 / Email: info@mkgandhi.org Web: www.mkgandhi.org
299 Tardeo Road, Nana Chowk Mumbai 400 007 MH India
Tel. +91-22-2387 2061 / Email: info@mkgandhi.org Web: www.mkgandhi.org
Gandhi Journal Article - I
The relevance of Gandhian
Economics to Modern India
The
economic philosophy of Gandhi is written about, discussed and talked about.
However, when it comes to implementation, it is criticized for being
impractical and imaginary. For instance, the concept of trusteeship as
enunciated by Gandhi demands non-possession. It seeks individual to dispossess
his wealth and income beyond his requirements so that the economic welfare of
the less capable is realized. The principle of non-possession and trusteeship
is not realized practically because individuals are immensely attached to their
wealth in the ordinary course of life. Gandhi and even later day Gandhians have
not been able to find the root cause of attachment to wealth and its
accumulation overtime.
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Localization and Globalization - Gandhi Journal Article II
Localization and Globalization
(Paper read by Dr. Y. P Anand on 19 August under the ‘GANDHIRAMA 2012’ Programme (17 to 22 August, 2012)
organized by Indian Council of Philosophical Research (ICPR) at JNU, New Delhi)
organized by Indian Council of Philosophical Research (ICPR) at JNU, New Delhi)
Introduction
From early times, human beings have tended to conduct their numerous activities at varying levels of aggregation, such as at individual, family, community, country, or cross-country levels. ‘Globalization’ may be defined as the process of integration of communities/ nations/ countries through cross-country flows covering various economic, social, cultural and political aspects. Thus, ‘globalization’ has been an ongoing process from the very beginning of human civilization, its progress moving in tandem with the progress in technological means of communication and mobility, with the corresponding progress in travel, trade, social structures, and politico-economic processes, structures and controls. Imperialism, colonialism and the widening scale of wars were among the manifestations of growing ‘globalization’ during 17th to 20th centuries.
‘Globalization’ is not a value-neutral phenomenon. The post-World War II era of growing ‘globalization’, which has tended to reduce the earth to a ‘global village’, too has its distinct gainers and losers, its own peculiar characteristics of inequitable progress and exploitation, and it has significant social and ecological costs.
As a reaction such adverse impacts of the on-going globalization process, a counter-emphasis has been developing for ‘localization’ in diverse forms in different parts of the world. Here, ‘localization’, essentially means an economy of neighbourhood and self-reliance, particularly in respect of more basic needs, as a means to ensure freedom and to protect the rights and interests of local/ weaker sections and communities against exploitation by the globalizing forces, particularly the ‘free market’ economy. In the Indian context, the whole idea of ‘localization’ has been embodied in the comprehensive and well-known Gandhian concept of ‘Swadeshi’, which had been developing in India as a reaction to ‘global’ exploitation since the colonial rule itself. It denotes the ideology of whatever ‘localization’ would mean in its positive aspects, such as decentralization of economic controls and decisions, appropriate levels of self-reliance, concern for fulfilling basic needs of all, and protection of natural resources.
The concept of ‘swadeshi’ is not only an agenda for cooperation, sharing and concern within each community but also engenders development that grows outwards from each ‘local’ unit into a system of widening ‘concentric circles’, each circle giving strength to its inner circles and growing in harmony with its outer circles. Hence, the right course of ‘globalization’ can only proceed on the foundation of the Gandhian concept of ‘swadeshi’ as applied to the situations evolving in today’s world. This is the thesis of this Paper.
This Paper has three main parts. The first part gives salient features of the Gandhian concept of ‘Swadeshi’ relevant to the present process of ‘Globalization’. The second part discusses the Contemporary Approach of ‘Globalization’ and its essential deficits and shortcomings, and the third part gives why ‘Globalization with Swadeshi’ for a sustainable social-economic order, is the only right form for ‘Globalizaion’. The Paper ends with a brief ‘Conclusion’.
Friday, August 10, 2012
Gandhi Journal Article - III
What Mahatma Gandhi did to save
Bhagat Singh
Chander Pal Singh
Abstract
Gandhi's failure to secure commutation of Bhagat Singh's execution
has provided his critics a convenient weapon to attack him. He has been accused
of making half-hearted effort and even deception - for the alleged discrepancy
between his actual role and his public statements. This paper attempts to
establish that while following a consistent approach towards revolutionary
violence, Gandhi tried his best to save the lives of Bhagat Singh and his
colleagues till the last moment. The paper also discusses Gandhi's strategy to
focus on suspension rather than commutation of the death sentence.
Executions of
23RD MARCH 1931 marked the collapse of the hopes of millions of Indians who had
believed that Mahatma Gandhi would be able to save the lives of the three young
heroes - Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru. Gandhi's failure to stop the
executions provided a potent weapon in the hands of his opponents who used it
to malign him and charged him for disregarding the feelings of the entire
nation.
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
Gandhi Journal Article - II
The Atom Bomb
M. K.
Gandhi
There have been cataclysmic changes in the world. Do I still
adhere to my faith in truth and non-violence? Has not the atom bomb exploded
that faith? Not only has it not done so, but it has clearly demonstrated to me
that the twins constitute the mightiest force in the world. Before it the atom
bomb is of no effect. The two opposing forces are wholly different in kind, the
one moral and spiritual, the other physical and material. The one is infinitely
superior to the other which by its very nature has an end. The force of the
spirit is ever progressive and endless. Its full expression makes it
unconquerable in the world. In saying this I know that I have said nothing new.
I merely bear witness to the fact. What is more, the force resides in
everybody, man, woman and child, irrespective of the colour of the skin. Only,
in many it lies dormant. But it is capable of being awakened by judicious
training.
Mumbai
Sarvodaya Mandal - Gandhi Book Centre – Gandhi Research Foundation
299 Tardeo Road, Nana Chowk Mumbai 400 007 MH India
Tel. +91-22-2387 2061 / Email: info@mkgandhi.org Web: www.mkgandhi.org
299 Tardeo Road, Nana Chowk Mumbai 400 007 MH India
Tel. +91-22-2387 2061 / Email: info@mkgandhi.org Web: www.mkgandhi.org
Saturday, August 4, 2012
Gandhi Journal Article - I
GANDHI : Rethinking the possibility of Non-violence
Prof. Sudhir Chandra, Centre for Social Studies
…Gandhi’s
anguish was manifold. But it centred around his tragic discovery that the
freedom struggle led by him had not been the unique non-violent struggle that
he and the whole world had believed it to have been.
The
discovery forced itself upon him when the country erupted into savage violence
on the eve of Independence. Could decades of non-violence, Gandhi wondered,
have produced such savagery? ‘No,’ was his categorical answer. Whence, then,
had the savagery come? Gandhi came up with an answer that has left academic
wisdom as well as popular memory untouched. But it is an answer that
necessitates a radical re-examination of what Gandhi is believed to have
achieved and, consequently, of his potential as a continuing historical
presence. READ FULL ARTICLE…
Thursday, July 5, 2012
India After The Mahatma (Gandhi Journal Article - II )
India After The Mahatma
Director, PGSR, SNDT Women's University, Mumbai
Introduction
Mahatma Gandhi was a visionary who made an epoch making contribution
for socio, political, economic and cultural transformation of not only India
but also the world. His public life began with peaceful civil disobedience in the Indian
community's struggle against racism and for civil rights of non-white
population in South Africa. After his return from South
Africa to India, he organized all sections of society, from budding
industrialists, educated intelligential, women and children to poor farmers and
labourers to protest against oppressive British regime and widespread
discrimination. Assuming leadership of the Indian National Congress, Gandhi led
nationwide campaigns for the alleviation of poverty, for fight against
merciless taxation of poor peasants, for the liberation of women, for communal
harmony and democratic rights of ethnic groups, for an end to barbaric practice
of untouchability and caste
discrimination, and for the economic self-sufficiency of the nation, but above
all, for Swaraj (home
Rule) the independence of India from foreign domination.
Gandhi famously led the civil disobedience movement against the salt tax
imposed by the British Administration with the 400 kilometer (250 miles) Dandi Salt
March in 1930. He masterminded the Quit India Movement in
1942.
I congratulate Shri M.D. Shah Mahila College of Arts & Commerce, Malad for
organizing a National Seminar on this important theme during the
centenary year of Gandhiji’s famous series of articles in Harijan written
during 1908 compiled as “Hind Swaraj” in which he gave his vision of future of
India and demanded “human face” for economic development, growth, science and
technology. READ FULL ARTICLE…
Monday, July 2, 2012
My Magical School
My
Magical School
Dr.
Abhay Bang
Translated by Arvind Gupta
Translated by Arvind Gupta
Until standard ninth I studied in a school which followed the tenets of Nai Taleem (Basic Education) as enunciated by Gandhiji. Out of these I actually spent four years in the Nai Taleem School located in the Sevagram Ashram in Wardha. Education should not be confined within the four walls of the classroom mugging up boring subjects away from Mother Nature. Gandhiji’s Nai Taleem strongly believed that children learnt best by doing socially useful work in the lap of nature. This is how children’s minds would develop and they would imbibe a variety of useful skills. To implement such a system of education, Rabindranath Tagore at the behest of Gandhiji sent two brilliant teachers to Sevagram. Mr. Aryanakam came all the way from Sri Lanka and Mrs. Asha Devi from Bengal. This duo combined Gandhi’s educational methodology with Tagore’s love for nature and the arts. My parents were involved with this educational experiment right from its onset. The school tried out many novel experiments in education. Here, I will attempt to recall some of them.
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Gandhi as a Scientist
Gandhi As a Scientist
Was Gandhi anti-Science and anti-machines? That he had a `retrograde' mentality and an opposed setup of mind, rejecting `modern progress', has been one of the biggest accusation against him of the intelligentia, policy makers and planners. As a result, the Gandhian thought and the way of life he suggested and advocated have found very little place or even any mention, whenever thinkers and planners sit together to look up and make the future road-maps for the nations and the society, both at the public and Government levels.
In fact, we often hear a statement in this connection, especially within India, that, yes Gandhi was great as a Saint, he was a Mahatma who moved the masses because he had a very superb understanding of the people, but he has had very little understanding on modern Economics, and actually no interest in Science, which are the real drivers and backbone of the modern world and the rapidly progressing societies today. The world is moving and changing today at a breathtaking pace and speed, and without science and technology there is no hope of keeping up with the competition, so how could Gandhi be relevant in such an arena and scenario when he only negatively thought on modern Science and development? This is the kind of sentiment and statement we often come across, if Gandhian elements are at all raised at any official meeting of planners and policy makers.
But is it really true that Gandhi was actually anti-science? What do the records and the writings, and his deeds and statements tell us on this? I have tried to examine and investigate the subject, trying to explore it in some detail. This talk was given at the Gujarati Sahitya Parishad, Ahmedabad, where I gave the first Kakasaheb Kalelkar Lecture, for the new lecture series that the Parishad initiated. Very useful discussions took place on the occasion on the subject, with noted Gandhian Shri Narayan Desai also presenting his views, comments and perspective, as available from his personal interactions with both Gandhi and Kakasaheb Kalelkar. In fact, he pointed out that Kakasaheb made Gandhi an astronomy fan, and they at times watched and observed the night sky together!
I sincerely hope, the thoughts and work presented here will be of some use to the Gandhian thinkers and workers, as well as it may be of interest to any intelligent person in general. I believe the subject to be of interest and relevance, because only after we understand Gandhi correctly in this connection, it may be at all possible to incorporate and include him in the dialogue when we think and talk of the road-map for our societies and the nation for the future ahead.
Of course, no claim to completeness is made in this small study here. While I have tried to see certain segments of the Gandhian literature with the help of his `Collected Works', I am sure much more remains to be explored in this connection. I have the fond hope that this may inspire some others to possibly take up such an important task in a greater detail. We note that most of the quotations given here are taken from the CWMG (Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi).
Friday, May 11, 2012
Gender Perspective on Education and Peace
Gender Perspective on Education and Peace
Director,
PGSR, SNDT Women's University, Mumbai
Peace of course can have two faces, two forms- Public and
private. Peace in the community, go hand-in-hand with the peace in the family life.
Hence the need to deal with domestic violence and women’s grievances. There may
be an apparent stability and absence of conflict in situations of successful
intense repression-beating, abuses, psychological torture wherein all dissent
is brutally, immediately, and surgically suppressed. This is a condition in
which only one group (men, in-laws, bully neighbours) dominates, in which
women’s views and dignity is not allowed to exist. The other situation is
one in which democracy and human rights reach their pinnacle in each and every
core of the community and domestic lives. It is the condition in which there
are always avenues of settlement of differences and disputes without a
breakdown of the framework of mutual respect, recognition of the rights of the
other, and belief in good faith of the ‘adversary’. It is the condition in
which negotiations and persuasion are the methods of overcoming even major
digressions in points of view. It is a condition in which people have the right
to be different and where difference is not denied. It is also the state of
affairs in which difference is not a cause of hierarchy, where the other is not
the enemy or the lower or the higher being.
Relevance of Gandhi's views on Economic Development
Relevance of Gandhi's views on Economic Development
By
Gulabhai Jani
Translated
into English by Alaka Sharma
The
world economic order is in “crisis mode”. Well-known companies and banks of USA
are declaring themselves as bankrupt, one by one. It is feared that the economy
may slide down to the days of “Great Depression”. In this context, it is
worthwhile to have a look at the economic thoughts of M. K. Gandhi.
Gandhiji’s
economic thought is imbibed in his overall philosophy. His approach is holistic
and aims at the socio-economic reconstruction of society. Once, Gandhiji was asked
to write down the text of his economic thought, he refused, saying that his
framework is based on some basic principles which he applies to solve the day
to day practical problems. So it can’t be summarized in a few equations.
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Vinoba's Movement: An Overview
Vinoba's Movement: An Overview
By Kanti Shah
…‘Sarvodaya’, the word, was coined 100 years ago. In ancient
literature, this word might have been used in some context, but its use as a
definitive philosophy is only 100 years old.
This word took shape in Gandhi’s mind in 1904 when he read
Ruskin’s book ‘Unto This Last’, but the word took concrete shape in 1908 when
Gandhi translated the gist of this book in Gujarati. The translation is an
example of Gandhi’s literary acumen. The title of Ruskin’s book was taken from a
Biblical story ‘Unto This Last’, which means that even the last person should
get an equal share. In those days, the concept of ‘Greatest good of greatest
number’ was in vogue. But Gandhi said that Sarvodaya meant the rise of all, and
it was not merely the greatest good of the greatest number or of the last
person standing in the queue. From then on, the ideology of Sarvodaya got
firmly established in social discourses. The detailed explanation of the
meaning of Sarvodaya can be found in ‘Hind Swaraj’ that was written by Gandhi
in 1909. The overview that we are attempting here would be against this
background. READ MORE…
Relevance of Gandhi - A View From New York
Relevance of
Gandhi - A View From New York
By E S Reddy
…The civil rights movement led by the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther
King in the 1950s, as well as much of the resistance to the Vietnam war, were
inspired by Gandhi. Many hundreds of volunteers went through training in
nonviolence. The success of these movements demonstrated that active
nonviolence was not for Indians alone but can be practised by people of all
religions and racial origins in America. There was an explosion of interest in
Gandhi among activists, academics and other scholars. Numerous books and
articles are being published here since then, and they include some of the best
studies on Gandhi. They have dealt not merely with the philosophy of satyagraha
or the methods of nonviolence resistance but with the wide range of experiments
of Gandhi. More and more people began to study Gandhi, visit his ashrams in
India and practise aspects of his teachings.
It would be wrong, however, to exaggerate the influence of
Gandhi in America. If we look for “Gandhians”, there are but a few. But
hundreds of thousands of Americans have derived inspiration from the life and
thought of Gandhi while attached to their own faiths and traditions. That is as
it should be. READ MORE…
Gandhian Approach to Peace and Non-violence
Gandhian Approach to Peace and
Non-violence
By Siby K Joseph
Dean of Studies and
Research,
Institute of Gandhian
Studies, Wardha, India.
…For Gandhi, non-violence was a creed or an article of faith. He
subscribed to non-violence on the basis of a deep faith in it. His complete
adherence to non-violence was based on principles rather than opportunism or
purely based on cost benefit considerations, although he was not unaware of its
strategic value. For Gandhi, it was not a weapon of expediency. It was a
spiritual weapon and he successfully employed it at the mundane level. He made
it clear that it is not a weapon of the weak and the coward. The application of
this principle needs greater courage and moral strength. He believed that
Ahimsa or Love has a universal application and it can be employed in one’s own
family, society and the world at the larger level. Through the technique of
non-violence a seeker or Truth tries to convert his opponent by the force of
moral character and self suffering. A practitioner of non-violence has to
undergo suffering to penetrate into the heart of the opponent. Gandhi looked
upon self-less suffering as the law of human beings and war as the law of
jungle. How you can avoid pain and suffering is based on a utilitarian
thinking, which is the basis of the much of the liberal thinking of the West.
Suffering for a worthy cause in non-Western cultures is often seen as
liberative, even if it emerged as the result of the application of violence
against an oppressor. The redemptive character of self-suffering was emphasized
by Gandhi and a constituted a key element of his Satyagraha technique. Gandhi’s
commitment to Non-violence evolved also from a careful reading of history and
its interpretation. He came to the conclusion that it is Non-violence that has
sustained the world so far and will sustain it in future too. READ MORE…
Monday, February 13, 2012
Peace Approach : From Gandhi to Galtung and beyond
Peace Approach : From Gandhi to Galtung and beyond
By Dr. Anupama Kaushik
Associate Professor in Political Science, Banasthali University,
Rajasthan, India.
Peace can be defined as a two sided
concept. On the one hand it implies absence of violence and on the other the
presence of positive, harmonious, cooperative relationships. These two aspects
are referred to as negative and positive peace. Johan Galtung clarifies that
peace research is based on the assumption that peace is as consensual a value
as health…..
……The people who established peace studies in the west- Johan
Galtung and Kenneth Boulding were admirers of Gandhi.13 However
in west peace studies have taken a very different path to that of Gandhi.
Probably the reason was that Gandhian peace demands a great deal of sacrifice
from the practitioner. He calls it satyagraha i.e. ‘adherence to truth’ and
truth and non violence are the main planks of satyagraha. A person who resolves
to adhere to truth cannot remain silent at the sight of violence which is
negative of truth. Truth functions in form of non violence or love. While the
lover of truth ought to oppose violence such an opposition would mean ‘fight
the evil’ while ‘love the evil doer’. It is a dynamic soul force based on the
concept of self- suffering. As there are many forms of injustices there are
many forms of satyagaha too such as- non cooperation, civil disobedience,
fasting, hijrat, hartal, picketing, boycott, and renunciation of titles,
honours and positions.
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Non-violence : A Force for Radical Change
Non-violence : A Force for Radical
Change
By Narayan Desai
Chancellor,
Gujarat Vidyapith, Ahmedabad, India (the University founded by Mahatma Gandhi)
The days that have been chosen for this international Congress on
Peace and Non-violence are more significant than probably what we think about
it. 30th January is the death anniversary of Gandhi. But I consider 29th
January also to be important. It was on this day, Gandhi mentioned about his
own death. It seems that he foresaw his death. During the year 1947 he repeated
the vision thrice. He said to his grand-niece one day before his death. ‘If I
die of any common disease, please announce to the world that Gandhi was not a
Mahatma. But if I would be going for my prayers, and somebody comes and shoots
at me, and I receive the bullets on my open chest, and have the name of God on
my lips without having any ill will or hatred in my heart, then tell the world
that I was an humble servant of God’. He was also foreseeing and describing
which was going happen the next day. READ MORE…
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