Gandhi Journal Article-III ( JULY 2017 ) - Relevance of Gandhi in modern times

Gandhi Journal Article-III ( JULY 2017 )

Relevance of Gandhi in modern times

By Rajen Baura 

Looking at the present state of affairs in India, the birthplace of Gandhi, one would probably surmise that Gandhism, whatever the term may mean, cannot have any relevance in this twenty-first century. Gandhi is rightly called the Father of the Nation because he single handedly stood up against the mighty British Empire, without any arms, and brought her independence. However, today, Gandhi is mostly forgotten and his relevance questioned even by his ardent devotees. Today Gandhi is remembered in India mostly on his birthday which is celebrated as a national holiday rather as a ritual.

As a matter of fact, India is not following any of Gandhi's teachings which are mostly confined to text books. In fact, since independence, the country has witnessed many violent communal riots in this multi communal country. Gandhi's message of ‘swabalambi’, self-sufficiency with home spun ‘khadi’ cloth is not used now a days even as a social slogan. Statistics show that the country is definitely not following ‘sarvodaya’, a broad Gandhian term meaning 'universal upliftment' or ‘progress of all’ reaching the masses and the downtrodden. On the contrary, India today has the unique distinction of being the only country in the world which has the richest man in the world while at the same time more than 30 per cent of its population lives in dire poverty.

The above shows that today, Gandhism is a very confused ‘ism’ in India. Today many politicians in India use the term merely as a slogan and the common man make Gandhi almost out of reach of the younger groups by making Gandhi an unwilling ‘avatara’. That may be one reason why the only photo we see of Gandhi in India is always that of an old man which brings the image of a very simple and pious man who was meek and mild like Jesus Christ. While Gandhi was not a simple man to say the least, the above does not gives the right image of Gandhi and does not bring any inspiration to the younger group, the group most relevant for Gandhi.

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Gandhi Journal Article-II ( JUNE 2017 ) - Gandhi, Ambedkar, and the Eradication of Untouchability

Gandhi Journal Article-II ( JUNE 2017 )

Gandhi, Ambedkar, and the Eradication of Untouchability

By Sudarshan Kapur 

Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869-1948) and Bhimjirao Ambedkar (1891-1956) are among the major makers of modern India. Their public careers began early Gandhi's in South Africa in the mid-1890s and Ambedkar's in western India in the early 1920s. They built on the work of nineteenth century and early twentieth century religious and social reformers such as Ram Mohun Roy (1772-1833), Mahadev Govind Ranade (1842-1901), Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902), Gopal Krishna Gokhale (1866-1915), Swami Dayananda (1824-1883), and Jotiba Phule (1827-1890). Each fought with rare persistence and exceptional vigor to rid India of oppression from within and without. Once they entered the public arena, there was no turning back for either of them. They maintained the momentum in their struggles for justice and equality until the very end of their lives. Gandhi and Ambedkar offered specific goals for and pathways to the creation of a just social order in India. They differed over objectives as well as the methods for achieving their ends. In their long public careers, both of them addressed a number of crucial social and political issues. How best to remove untouchability was a major issue over which the two had fundamental differences from late 1920s onward. 

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Gandhi Journal Article-I (June 2017) - The Mahatma as a Management Guru in the new millennium

Gandhi Journal Article-I ( JUNE 2017 )

The Mahatma as a Management Guru in the new millennium

By CA Dr. Varsha Ainapure 

Business leaders across the globe have discovered a new Management icon-Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of the Indian Nation. While leading the nation in the struggle for independence, Gandhi held a beacon to some management strategies which are critical in present day corporate world. (Pramar, 2008) The Mahatma is now being rediscovered as more than just a political leader who gained independence for the country. He is being looked upon as a master strategists and an exemplary leader whose ideas and strategies have great meaning for the corporate world, particularly in India.

Mahatma Gandhi was an ideal management guru. Truth and Non Violence were the two key components of his creed. (Devrajan, 2010) The Mahatma inspired the common man, an average Indian to follow his principles and led the masses to win the fight for independent India. Innovation and creativity, founded on moral authority flowing from his "inner voice" (his term for 'conscience'), constituted the bedrock of whatever campaign he embarked upon. No wonder, Albert Einstein exclaimed: "Generations to come will scarce believe that such a one as this ever in flesh and blood walked upon the earth."

Gandhi's concept of Non-violence and his high moral standards are what today's leaders must emulate in order for organisations to have the advantage in the global market. His concept of a self- ruled society can be compared to a project-orientated organisation, where individual teams are self-governed and highly efficient.

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Gandhi Journal Article-II ( MAY 2017 ) : Gandhi on the role of women in freedom struggle

Gandhi Journal Article-II ( MAY 2017 )

Gandhi on the role of women in freedom struggle

By Mahima C Acttuthan

The Indian freedom struggle has conventionally been associated with the organized nationalist movement of Satyagraha, non-violence and its major advocates-Gandhi, Nehru and Patel. This perception of the movement has lent to it a monochromatic and patriarchal nature. The organised resistance against the British in fact finds history in the 1800's, when in its infancy pioneers were not only male leaders, but also rebel female leaders like the Rani of Jhansi. However, with the progression of the struggle into a more structured and coherent movement, the role of women and their nationalist contributions also changed. The change, however, cannot be viewed as a linear transformation. Instead, it is a layering or fragmentation that makes the role of women and femininity during the freedom struggle a more complex phenomenon. This can clearly be seen in Gandhi's views on the role of women, where they are encouraged to embody the virtues of the mythological Sita-Draupadi and dismiss the more "situationally" accurate Rani of Jhansi symbol. Thus, this report will attempt to analyze the multifaceted role of the woman freedom fighter in India by contrasting her militant and autonomous contributions to her more passive and "domestic" contributions during Satyagraha. This will be done by contrasting female militant and revolutionary tendencies, as seen in the contributions of the rebel leader Rani Lakshmni Bai, with the Gandhian theory on women's role and contributions during the Satyagraha movement and its subsequent effect on the work of the Gandhian prototype, Sarojini Naidu. However, in studying Naidu's work it is apparent that she tried to rebel from Gandhi's narrowly defined characterization of woman. It is thus conducive to mention that it is difficult to solely view the contributions of the freedom fighters in terms of labels, which in turn renders this complex persona of femininity during the period.

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Gandhi Journal Article-I ( MAY 2017 ) - What Champaran gave to Gandhi and India's freedom struggle

Gandhi Journal Article-I ( MAY 2017 )

What Champaran gave to Gandhi and India's freedom struggle

By Ramchandra Guha 

A hundred years ago on April 10, 1917, Mohandas K Gandhi arrived in the district of Champaran in North Bihar. He spent several months there, studying the problems of the peasantry, who had been forced by European planters to cultivate indigo against their will. Farmers who refused to meet this obligation had their land confiscated.

Through his interventions with the colonial State, Gandhi was able to get substantial concessions for the peasantry. Rents were radically reduced, and the compulsion to grow indigo replaced by a system of voluntary compliance. This was a major victory for the peasants, and a significant triumph for Gandhi himself, since it established his credibility as a leader within India (as distinct from South Africa).

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Gandhi Journal Article-II ( MARCH 2017 ) - The Power of Non-violence

Gandhi Journal Article-II ( MARCH 2017 )

The Power of Non-violence

By M.K. Gandhi

NON-VIOLENCE IN its dynamic condition means conscious suffering. It does not mean meek submission to the will of the evil-doer, but it means the pitting of one's whole soul against the will of the tyrant. Working under this law of our being, it is possible for a single individual to defy the whole might of an unjust empire to save his honour, his religion, his soul and lay the foundation for that empire's fall or its regeneration. (YI, 1-8-1920, p. 3)
 

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Gandhi Journal Article-I ( MARCH 2017 ) - Relevance of Gandhian principles in Agriculture

Gandhi Journal Article-I ( MARCH 2017 )

Relevance of Gandhian principles in Agriculture

By Balamurali Balaji 

Agriculture is the ancient, essential and the foremost important occupation in the world. Man began systematic cultivating of plants and crops thousands of years ago and produced food for the very basic need of life. In order to meet the needs of everyone, he ought to adopt various methods of cultivation, store grains and the produces, and enrich the ways of consuming the produces. He had to fight with the nature, the primary threat the agricultural farms face every day that includes sunlight, heat, rainfall, soil and other climatic conditions. As the methods of cultivation evolve, the risks also develop for the cultivators to obtain the effective yields as expected.

Today’s risks are different from what the farmers dealt in the yesteryears. Most of the risks are artificially created, and some are politically motivated. The government and the administration have been playing a double role of educating the farmers on appropriate methods of cultivation on one hand and denying the rights of the farmers in implementing those methods on the other.  Farmer’s profession has been highly politicized when it comes to accruing loans, grants, resources and lastly in selling the produces too.

The agricultural sector has gone in to the exorbitant state of horrified scenes that include farmer suicides, desiccated crops, and dried lands with no water. Deaths due to starvation and lack of nourished food are another tragic affair going on in the country.

What Gandhi can do in such critical situation? Do farmers become greedier? Or, do they have something learn from the teachings of Gandhi to sustain prevailing conditions that throw them out of their profession succumbing to natural and artificially created atmosphere in the field of agriculture? This article broadly explores the agricultural scenario and tries to answer these questions.

 

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Gandhi Journal Article-II ( January 2017 ) - MAHATMA GANDHI : A real friend

Gandhi Journal Article-II ( January 2017 ) 

MAHATMA GANDHI : A real friend

By The Earl Mountbatten of Burma 

In the course of my life I have had the good fortune to get to know many of the world's leaders and in my career to have served with many men of outstanding talent. In the long catalogue I recall only a few that I would describe without hesitation as truly great men. I have no hesitation however in placing Mahatma Gandhi in this very short list of the elect of our times.

I only came into contact with him at the end of his life at a point when, in political terms at any rate, his power was beginning to wane or at least he was withdrawing from the front line of responsibility. The unavoidable accent on parti­tion in the Transfer of Power meant a bitter frustration of his life-long aims and ideals—to him it appeared more as vivisec­tion than victory. In such circumstances of partial eclipse he might have left a blurred impression, or appear to have done so; but from the first encounter my wife and I were both aware that here was a unique personality, one whose authority transcended the normal bounds of human leadership; one who quickly became a real friend.
 

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Gandhi Journal Article-I ( January 2017 ) - Trusteeship

Gandhi Journal Article-I ( January 2017 ) 

Trusteeship

By Dhiru Mehta 

The business community hailed the economic policy of liberalization and globalization first enunciated by Manmohan Singh in 1991 as finance Minister of our country in the Government of P. V. Narasimha Rao. The same policy continued to guide the later governments. In the thinking on economic policy and matter there is no substantial difference between the different governments. Our country has practiced socialist economic policies for 40 years from 1951 to 1992. Since then the governments have been following policies of liberalization and globalization. At the advent of independence, the combined population of India then consisting of present India, Pakistan and Bangladesh was around 40 crores. Today the people living below poverty line in India alone are over 42 crores. It is reported that 1% of the population of the world would 99% of the resources of its wealth by 2016. The case of India is not much different. This clearly shows that neither socialism nor liberalization is the correct instruments for the economic growth and prosperity of this country. For solving countries economic problems one has to accept Gandhi’s economic solutions. Pandit Nehru realized it in his last days, which was too late for him to change the course. Advocates of present economic policy are getting highly intoxicated. The one of the idea of Gandhi’s economics was the concept of “Trusteeship”.

 

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Gandhi Journal Article-III ( December 2016 ) - Reborn in Riyadh

Gandhi Journal Article-III ( December 2016 ) 

Reborn in Riyadh

The reformation: Inmates at the rehabilitation centre in Thumamah

By Syed Nazakat/Riyadh & Jeddah 

He is an expert in plotting terror strikes. His first mission was to fight the US in Afghanistan and then help the cause of jihad (holy war) worldwide. But in Guantanamo Bay detention camp, Khaled Al-Bewardi was merely No. 68.

Al-Bewardi was 21 when he first heard about al Qaeda’s recruitment for Afghanistan in 2003. The jihadi videos about Palestine, Chechnya, Kashmir and Afghanistan convinced him to fight for the “oppressed Muslim”. In November 2003, he lied to his parents that he was off to camp in the desert with friends, a popular pastime of young Saudis. In truth, he, like hundreds of al Qaeda operatives, left for Pakistan.

At loose ends and casting about for a cause, one of his friends suggested that they go see Osama bin Laden, founder of al Qaeda. But before his group could reach Afghanistan and bin Laden, he was arrested in Karachi by a joint team of the US Central Intelligence Agency and Pakistan Special Forces. He was taken to Afghanistan and from there to Guantanamo Bay, a US enclave in Cuba.

After six years there, he was asked to leave his cell and board an aircraft. He thought he would be killed in the air. As he covered his head with his hands and prayed, the Saudi aircraft winged its way to Riyadh.

He disembarked in Thumamah, a former desert resort half an hour’s drive north of the Saudi Arabian capital. Though he did not realise it, he was at another of life’s crossroads. In Thumamah, he could use an indoor swimming pool and a gym, and eat in an air-conditioned dining hall with hundreds of other al Qaeda supporters. There was kasba (meat with rice) or the Najd region speciality, hashi (baby camel). In the evenings, they would paint or play football. On weekends, their wives would join them.

After few months at Thumamah, Khaled was released, with a monthly allowance of 3,000 Saudi riyals, a car and a job. “When I look back at the dark days of my life, it seems like a miracle that I am alive today,” said Khaled, the first reformed al Qaeda man to speak to the Indian media. “My life has suddenly changed for good.”

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Gandhi Journal Article-II ( December 2016 ) - Swadeshi: The greatest vow of this age

Gandhi Journal Article-II ( December 2016 ) 

Swadeshi: The greatest vow of this age

By Radha Bhatt 

Gandhi called swadeshi as swadeshi dharma. It was an integral part of his eleven vows. He described it as the greatest vow of the age. Therefore, to look at this revolutionary human value merely as an instrument to overcome the present state of economic crisis is not only unfair but also to lose its real strength.

In fact, economy is not so an important aspect of human existence as it is being made out today. Material achievement is nothing more than a means in the context of wholesome life of man. It can never become an end or the purpose of human existence. Therefore, any economic system which takes the creation of wealth as an end in itself could never achieve a solid foundation. We have to understand the intricacies of present worldwide economic crisis. We can easily see that the greatest weakness of the present thinking is that we have made consumerism as the primary aim of our life. A country like ours with its ancient culture had had an entirely different view of material wealth. For us the real wealth comprised of air, water, nature, land, ether etc. It meant that all those resources which were needed for the sustenance of human life actually constituted the real wealth. Unfortunately, today wealth is measured in terms of money which is printed on paper and used in exchange. It is eating into the vitals of rich heritage and prosperity of the world. Thus, the world economic crisis is unnecessarily being overemphasised.

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Gandhi Journal Article-I ( December 2016 ) - Mahatma Gandhi’s Leadership – Moral And Spiritual Foundations

Gandhi Journal Article-I ( December 2016 ) 

Mahatma Gandhi’s Leadership – Moral And Spiritual Foundations

By Y.P. Anand

Mahatma Gandhi is universally accepted as an exemplary model of ethical and moral life, with a rare blending of personal and public life, the principles and practices, the immediate and the eternal. He considered life to be an integrated whole, growing from ‘truth to truth’ every day in moral and spiritual status.

He believed in a single standard of conduct founded on dharma of truth and nonviolence. He successfully led nonviolent struggles against racial discrimination, colonial rule, economic and social exploitation and moral degradation. So long as these manifestations of violence remain, Gandhi will remain relevant. Gandhi was “a good man in a world where few resist the corroding influence of power, wealth and vanity”.¹
Among the vital messages of Gandhi’s leadership are: even one person can make a difference; strength comes not from physical capacity but from an indomitable will; given a just cause, nonviolence and capacity for self-suffering, and fearlessness, victory is certain; leadership by example is the one most effective. He asserted: “We only wish to serve our fellowmen wherever we may be….” (CWMG 54:233)
 

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Gandhi Journal Article-III ( November 2016 ) - Mahatma Gandhi and The Polaks

Gandhi Journal Article-III ( November 2016 ) 

Mahatma Gandhi and The Polaks

By Prabha Ravi Shankar 

South Africa was the crucible that forged Gandhi's identity as a political activist. it was an important prelude to his return to his motherland in 1915 where he dominated the national movement for more than two decades. Amongst the early and closest friends of Mahatma Gandhi in South Africa, now largely forgotten, were an English couple named Henry Polak and Millie Polak. Henry zoos a radical English Jew, Millie was a Christian feminist. Polak was Gandhi's closest political aide and fellow-seeker. Even after their return to England in 1916, the Polaks continued to take much interest in India's future and kept a close association with Gandhi until the latter's death in 1948. Despite his yeomen services to India and close relationship with Gandhi, there is no in-depth study on Gandhi and Polak. This paper is an attempt to fill this gap.

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Gandhi Journal Article-II ( November 2016 ) - Gandhi's concept of Trusteeship

Gandhi Journal Article-II ( November 2016 ) 

Gandhi's concept of Trusteeship

By C.S. Dharmadhikari 

Today the word ‘management’ has acquired a magical implication. Presently, the wind of globalization is blowing at a high speed. Hence, new dimensions are being added to the concept of management almost on a daily basis. This is the age of experts and specialists. Consequently,  in the field of management, technological innovation is giving a new momentum to an efficient and dexterous functioning. Thus, like in many other fields, different departments and sub-departments are being founded endlessly. Financial marketing, human resource management, and similar other areas are emerging as its important branches. Not only that, even the idea of micro-specialisation and super specialisation is fast emerging in the arena of management studies.

.....Gandhi rejected such a perspective on man and his nature in his scheme of things. He had greater faith in self-regulations than all the external controls put together. Besides, he was also a great votary of cultural and spiritual tradition and its major ethics. He accepted and promoted one of the major spiritual values of Indian tradition: Man is not a fallen being as he has not committed any ‘original sin.’ Rather he carries a speck of divinity in his persona. Hence certain godly tendencies are very much inherent in his personality. It is on account of self-forgetfulness that certain ungodly tendencies get attached to his thought and action. Hence, one has to get rid of the veil of avidya to know and feel his true self. Once that is achieved, he comes into his true form. It was such  a perspective which made Gandhi a trusting person. He always believed in the basic goodness of man and his capacity to move towards perfection by overcoming some of his apparent weaknesses. To that end, he presented his ekadash vrata to be imbibed and followed. It was from such a perspective that he looked at the entire question of management of men and material in our times. He did not believe in reward and punishment being the basic principle behind human action, as it is based on the heart-wrenching feeling of fear and greed.

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Gandhi Journal Article-III ( October 2016 ) - Relevance of Mahatma Gandhi in Canada

Gandhi Journal Article-III ( October 2016 ) 

Relevance of Mahatma Gandhi in Canada

By Dr. Neeta Khandpekar 

Gandhi's legacy is significant for both of them owing to have faced problems of separatism and secession in specific areas. Canada's accord of 1992 (though failed) was an act of political courage, an experiment at once educative and conciliatory which is perhaps the only way of fusing a multicultural society into a nation. Even today we read news headlines like "IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF THE MAHATMA, GLOBAL MAHATMA". And in fact Martin Luther King Jr, Dalai Lama, Aung San Suu Kyi, Nelson Mandela, Adolfo Perez Esquivel were inspired by Gandhiji's philosophy and practice and have been awarded the Nobel Prize across the world. Gandhi is now a global icon and a mystical figure rolled into one. In the twentieth century Non-violence has achieved many successes. The American Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's led by Martin Luther King Jr. culminated in political rights for African-Americans. Communism collapsed in Eastern Europe when confronted with non-violent resistance, led by forces like Solidarity in Poland and Charter 77 in Czechoslovakia. In 1986, a massive show of people's power toppled Ferdinand Marcos's dictatorship in the Philippines. The armies refused to fire on the people after being convinced by them-Photographs of girls offering roses to men manning the tanks are still etched in memory - to support the pro-democracy movement. Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu played a major role in South Africa's relatively peaceful transition from apartheid to a democracy that granted blacks political rights. Esquivel an Argentinean was the founder of Peace and Justice, a pan-Latin American civil rights movement in the 1970s that adopted non-violence as its credo at a time when the continent was gripped by violent conflict. This paper will focus on twenty first century issues especially in Canada and its solutions in Gandhian thought.

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Gandhi Journal Article-II ( October 2016 ) - Skill Development in India - The Gandhian Perspective

Gandhi Journal Article-II ( October 2016 ) 

Skill Development in India - The Gandhian Perspective

By Dr. Y.P. Anand 

One of the primary ‘missions’ for taking India forward being pursued at present on a national scale is ‘Skill India’ or making Indians, especially its upcoming youth, much more skilled in the various crafts, trades, industries and professions.

It would act as an ideal inspiration for both the propagators and the students of ‘Skill India’ mission to know that Mahatma Gandhi, all through his long public life (1893 till 30 January, 1948) invariably insisted on use of better and higher skills for working in whichever task or field he happened to be concerned with at any time. He believed in a constant and continuous learning process including experimentation, keeping the ideal as the goal but also knowing that human beings must always keep improving and rising in their skills but can never attain absolute perfection. Hence, he also called himself a ‘practical idealist’, going from ‘truth to truth’. He himself practiced the pursuit of skill in whatever he did even more than he told others to do.

In this paper an attempt has been made to give a summarized presentation of the multi-faceted Gandhian perspective on the critical role, application and development of varied skills in the numerous fields with which he was involved. Though his interest in the promotion of skills related to nearly any major activity he came across was sustained throughout, his longest and deepest engagement remained with the promotion of the skills required in the propagation of khadi (particularly that of hand-spinning) and other village industries. The promotion of khadi and other village industries was an essential part of his lifelong struggle for India’s freedom from foreign rule as well as for removal of poverty and economic morass into which India had sunk.

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Gandhi Journal Article-I ( October 2016 ) - Fighting for Peace: The Gandhian Way

Gandhi Journal Article-I ( October 2016 ) 

Fighting for Peace: The Gandhian Way

By Asha Gupta 

Peace does not imply simply ‘absence of war’. Rather, it implies justice, equity and ‘freedom from fear’. Gandhi, one of the apostles of peace, not only propagated peace at the world level but also understood fully. Since all plans of wars begin in the human mind, it becomes absolutely necessary to make it the abode of peace. Without inner peace and growth of spirituality at the individual level, there can’t be any peace and tranquility at the global level. For this to happen, individuals and civil societies would have to play a proactive role.

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Gandhi Journal Article-III ( September 2016 ) - Thanatos, Terror and Tolerance: An Analysis of Terror Management Theory and a Possible Contribution by Gandhi

Gandhi Journal Article-III ( September 2016 )

Thanatos, Terror and Tolerance: An Analysis of Terror Management Theory and a Possible Contribution by Gandhi

By Kuruvilla Pandikattu SJ and Gini George 

Gandhian description of Swaraj as the "abandonment of the fear of death" is the point of departure of this article. Following the cultural anthropologist Ernest Becker, the relationship between death, terror and our ability to tolerate others who live or think differently from us is discussed. For this purpose, the Terror Management Theory of Death as elaborated by scholars in the last thirty years is examined closely. Besides outlining some of the main insights of Terror Management Theory (TMT), the paper highlights the challenge that Gandhi offers to it through his life and death. In spite of the terror that is caused by the awareness of our own death (Thanatos) and the corresponding tendency towards intolerance, there are some people, like Gandhi, who can look directly at death and still practise tolerance.

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Gandhi Journal Article-II ( September 2016 )

Kabir and Gandhi as Apostles of Human Unity Transcending Religion and Caste-based Distinctions

By Saral Jhingran
 

Kabir asserted the basic unity of all human beings not on the basis of some spiritual hypothesis of God's immanence in every heart, but on a very rational and scientific basis. Shorn of conventional man-made distinctions, basically, all human beings are the same, according to him. He derives a morality of compassion and non-violence from his basic thesis of unity of all living beings. The paper argues that Kabir's vision of the essential unity of all human beings can provide an idealistic foundation to all our efforts at both the resolution of mutual conflicts and restoring dignity to the downtrodden. The Mahatma's interpretation of the same vision gives us two messages which can contribute to realizing the above goals. They are: sincere religious toleration of and respect for other faiths on the basis of a frank acknowledgement of the possible faults of our own religion; and the need to see the 'Divine' in the hearts of the 'dumb millions', which must in turn lead us to the service of those millions as the only way to realize the 'Divine' in our hearts.

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Gandhi Journal Article-I ( September 2016 ) - Decentralized Political Order: The Gandhian Perspective

Gandhi Journal Article-I ( September 2016 ) 

Decentralized Political Order: The Gandhian Perspective

By  Ramashray Roy 

This paper discusses the rationale of local democracy by looking at the democratic discourse surrounding the usefulness and limits of the representative form. Stalwarts like Jefferson called for the creation of ‘elementary republics’ by dividing counties into wards. Such intimate communities are not only a more reliable means of addressing public problems, but also avenues of the inner growth of the citizens in self-responsibility. This means reversing the pyramid of authority and power. The Gandhian scheme of decentralized political order is more than a technical  device; it is, at one and the same time, an institutional strategy for facilitating and sustaining spiritual regeneration of human existence in the backdrop of a simple economy based on limitation  of wants.

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