Ramachandra Guha pens 'the most ambitious book' on Mahatma Gandhi

Ramachandra Guha pens 'the most ambitious book' on Mahatma Gandhi

Renowned historian and author of several bestselling books, including the highly acclaimed "India After Gandhi" and "Gandhi Before India", Ramachandra Guha has penned a new book on the father of the nation, which has just gone to the press and will be out in September.

Billed as the most definitive new biography of Gandhi, the upcoming book is titled "Gandhi: The years that changed the world (1914-1948)" and will be published by Penguin Random House India.

"This magnificent book," sources said, "will not only tell the story of Gandhi's life, from his departure from South Africa to his dramatic assassination in 1948, but also the history of our freedom movement and its many strands"... 

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INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE on Mahatma Gandhi's Vision and Contemporary Political Leadership in North East India

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE 

on Mahatma Gandhi's Vision and Contemporary Political Leadership in North East India

(October 5-6, 2018)

Organized by:

International Centre for Gandhian Studies University of Science and Technology, Meghalaya(USTM), India.

Venue:

USTM Campus, Khanapara, Ninth Mile, Meghalaya

October 2nd, 2018-19, marks the 150th Birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. His message of Non violence and peaceful co-existence is more relevant to the current situation now than ever before. Therefore, we at USTM decided to provide a common platform to international, national as well as our own scholars where we can review the teachings of Gandhi in modern context.

Under ICGS, a Gandhian centre for peace and conflict resolution, we propose to organise a two day International Conference on 5th and 6th October, 2018. Eminent Gandhian scholars and reputed academicians from across the globe will participate in the Conference. READ MORE...

On Frontier Gandhi's death anniversary, a reminder of how the Indian subcontinent has lost its way

On Frontier Gandhi's death anniversary, a reminder of how the Indian subcontinent has lost its way

Peace and communal amity that Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan toiled for all his life is a distant dream today.

Ajaz Ashraf

On the 30th death anniversary of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan today, it is apt to remember him as the man who challenged the subcontinent’s pet stereotypes. He was a Pakhtun or Pathan from the North West Frontier Province, now called Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where people are said to still subscribe to the code of revenge. Yet Frontier Gandhi, as Ghaffar Khan was popularly known, led a non-violent movement against the British in the province, his followers refusing to retaliate even as they were mowed down.

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Mahatma Gandhi Digital Museum Store

Mahatma Gandhi Digital Museum Store

The newly-inaugurated Mahatma Gandhi Digital Museum Store, courtesy Visual Quest India,
is a portal into the life of the Mahatma

Birad Rajaram Yajnik loves history despite his commerce, printing and technology background. “I didn’t know much about Gandhi until my professional life required it of me,” he explains, as he sits in his office at Visual Quest India surrounded by various trinkets from history.

Visual Quest India is a movement to reintroduce history through the ever-immersive means of tech, and Birad has led one part of the movement through his production of coffee table books, including MKG – Imaging Peace Truth and Ahimsa, a limited edition book on Gandhi’s life which includes letters and rare photographs acquired from various corners of the earth. Exactly 1869 copies of the book have been printed to coincide with the year of Gandhi’s birth.

So when time came around to bring another project to life, Birad conjured up the idea of using a bus; a mobile experience that will add a fast-paced and more engaging means to consume history. The planning took six weeks followed by arduous work to create the mobile store which was then inaugurated on December 20 at Bapu Ghat in Langar Houz, one of the few locations Gandhi’s ashes were sent to.

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MK Gandhi's most 'indelicate' gift for Queen Elizabeth

MK Gandhi's most 'indelicate' gift for Queen Elizabeth
(and other stories about Khadi)

Former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill had called him 'a seditious middle temple lawyer' posing as a 'half-naked fakir'.

Pramod Kapoor

The most iconic image of Mohandas Gandhi shows him bare-chested, clad in a loincloth, and reading a newspaper while seated next to a spinning wheel or charkha. That picture, taken by legendary American photographer Margaret Bourke-White, was shot for the now defunct Time Life Magazine. It was taken in 1946, when Bourke-White arrived in Poona (now Pune), where Gandhi had been imprisoned by the British. Gandhi had taken up spinning to inspire fellow Indians to boycott British goods and buy local produce, including homespun cotton. The photograph went on to become an indelible image, the slain civil disobedience crusader with his most potent weapon.

Former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill had called Gandhi a “half-naked fakir”. He had disparagingly remarked: “Ít is alarming and also nauseating to see Mr Gandhi, a seditious middle temple lawyer, now posing as a fakir… striding half-naked up the steps of the Viceregal palace… to parley on equal terms with the representative of the king-emperor.” The statement was made in 1931, a decade after Gandhi discarded stitched clothes for the loincloth (dhoti) and shawls he sometimes spun himself. It was the year he was invited for tea with Queen Mary and King George V at Buckingham Palace during a visit to London. Dressed in his customary dhoti, a loincloth loosely draped over his naked torso and wearing homemade sandals, he must have been the oddest looking visitor to Buckingham Palace. When the meeting was over, he was walking out of the palace gates when a journalist asked if he thought he was wearing enough. Gandhi’s reply: “But the King was wearing enough for the both of us.”

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New Book Published: Mahatma on the Pitch - Gandhi and Cricket in India

Mahatma on the Pitch
Gandhi and Cricket in India

Written By: Kausik Bandyopadhyay

First Published : October, 2017

Price : Rs. 395/-

Published by : Rupa & Co.

About the Book:
 

Did Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi ever play cricket? Did cricket ever figure in the Gandhian world of thought? What were the views of the most important man in the history of India's freedom struggle on the game that dominates Indian national consciousness in the twenty-first century? Did he ever oppose the cause of cricket? Did cricket ever invoke Gandhi after his death?

These questions seem as remote as Gandhi's tryst with cricket! Mahatma on the Pitch tries to find answers to these apparently quirky questions by exploring the untold relationship between two of the most enduring phenomena of modern India: Mahatma Gandhi, arguably the greatest Indian icon of the twentieth century and Indian cricket, probably the most assertive Indian national emblem in the twenty-first-century world.

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Sabarmati Ashram: At home with the Mahatma

Sabarmati Ashram: At home with the Mahatma

More than being a memorial to the Father of the Nation, it is a place where the dreams of Gandhi still breathe

Serenity pervades the places associated with Mahatma Gandhi whether they be at Phoenix (Settlement) Ashram at Durban, South Africa, the Gandhi Ashram at Sabarmati, Ahmedabad, or the Rajghat Memorial, Delhi. Despite the hordes, the Mahatma seems to compel so much respect that even noisy tourists tend to unconsciously maintain a semblance of discipline.

Our guide at Sabarmati Ashram led us to the Gandhi Smarak Sangrahalay housed in the iconic building designed by Charles Correa. The museum inaugurated by Jawaharlal Nehru, has three spacious galleries - Gandhi in Ahmedabad, My Life Is My Message, and Painting Gallery. There is a library and archives here too. The museum houses thousands of items - rare personal effects, original letters and photocopies of his other letters, photos of Gandhi alone and with world leaders, and paintings of luminaries. Natural light and a cool breeze flow with ease through the corridors and rooms built to be as seamless as possible.

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On 75th anniversary of Quit India movement, Gandhi continues to inspire us

On 75th anniversary of Quit India movement, Gandhi continues to inspire us

- Jatin Desai

We will be commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Quit India Movement on August 9. It was the last mass agitation before India became Independent on August 15, 1947. A day before i.e. on August 14 India was divided and a new nation Pakistan came into existence. On August 8, at Mumbai’s Gowalia Tank, Mahatma Gandhi gave a call for ‘Do or Die’ in his speech. The call for Quit India galvanized the people of the country. British imperialists arrested thousands of Indians. Gowalia Tank is now called August Kranti Maidan. The month of August is significant as far as India’s Independence is concerned. On August 1, 1920, non-cooperation movement against imperialist Britain was launched. It was in the background of the Jalianwala Bagh massacre and Rowlatt Act.

Mahatma Gandhi addressed the Congress session on August 8 and gave a call for ‘Do or Die’. He said, “There is a mantra, short one that I give you. You imprint it on your heart and let every breath of yours give an expression to it. The mantra is do or die.”

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Generations will remember Bhilare Guruji for saving Mahatma Gandhi in 1944 - The facts behind

Generations will remember Bhilare Guruji for saving Mahatma Gandhi in 1944

(The facts behind)

Generations will remember Bhilare Guruji for saving Mahatma Gandhi in Panchgani in 1944. Mahatma Gandhi and several other leaders were arrested after All India Congress Committee passed the Quit India resolution post mid-night of August 8, 1942. Gandhiji was released from the Aga Khan Palace Prison on May 6, 1944. He had contracted malaria and went to Panchgani for rest on the advice of his physician. His wife Kasturba and secretary Mahadev Desai died in the Aga Khan Palace. It was in July 1944 that Nathuram Godse tried to attack Mahatma with a dagger. At that time there was no Pakistan and so no question of giving Rs 55 crore to Pakistan.

Bhilare Guruji passed away on July 19, 2017 at the age of 98 in his village Bhilar in Satara district. He was a young boy when Gandhiji was resting in Dilkhush Bungalow in Panchgani. Bhilare Guruji and other youths were looking after Gandhiji. One day a group of 18 to 20 people came from Poona (now Pune) in a bus and held a day-long demonstration against Gandhiji. When Gandhiji came to know about the protest he invited the leader of the group Nathuram Godse for a discussion. Godse refused to meet him.

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Gandhi Journal Article-I ( JULY 2017 ) - Mohan to Mahatma journey through Champaran

Gandhi Journal Article-I ( JULY 2017 )

Mohan to Mahatma  journey through Champaran

By Ansuman Tripathy 

He had arrived in India two years before and following the advice of guru Gokhale had travelled the length and breadth of the country to see, feel and comprehend the miseries of his people before plunging into public service. He was deeply moved by the poverty, hunger, disease, superstitions, evil caste system and all other financial, moral and social maladies that had encased his countrymen and encompassed his country. He had taken a secret vow to eradicate the maladies as best as he could, of course, under the rule of the union jack. Freedom of his country was not at the wildest of his dreams then.

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Sabarmati Ashram completes 100 years

Sabarmati Ashram completes 100 years

A GRAND celebration was held on Saturday, June 17, 1917, on the centenary of Sabarmati Ashram founded by Mahatma Gandhi. Mahatma’s grandson Gopalkrishna Gandhi, who attended the celebration, said at a time when the country is divided on the lines of religion and caste, Gandhi’s ideas have a special significance.

Two new permanent exhibition galleries on Gandhi’s life - My Life is My Message Gallery and Charkha Gallery - were opened at the Ashram on this occasion. Also, there was a tree plantation programme. Gandhi established the Ashram on June 17, 1917. As he became the leader of the freedom struggle, the Ashram virtually became the movement’s headquarters. It was also from here on 12 March 1930 that Gandhi launched the famous Dandi march and vowed not to return to the Ashram till India gets freedom.

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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-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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Kasturba Gandhi, the larger than life shadow of Mahatma Gandhi

Kasturba Gandhi, the larger than life shadow of Mahatma Gandhi

(April 11,  1869 - February 22, 1944)

Mohan Das Karamchand Gandhi's evolution from a lawyer, to becoming the face of India's non-violent struggle for independence as the Mahatma has been written about at great length. In this journey of a man who is regarded as the father of the nation, an integral companion was his wife, Kasturba Gandhi.

Kasturba Gandhi's name is often lost in the face of Gandhi's leadership but she was his pillar of support, the first individual who was a part of him like none other. If he could convince her to give up her notions of caste and untouchability, he could convince others of the same. She was perhaps the only person who could disagree with him and point out to him his mistakes. She was his companion, his wife, his caretaker and later in life his representative too.

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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-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-I ( November 2016 ) : Gandhi and South Africa

Gandhi Journal Article-I ( November 2016 ) 

Some of Gandhi's Early Views on Africans Were Racist. But That Was Before He Became Mahatma

By E S Reddy 

Gandhi with the leaders of the non-violent resistance movement in South Africa

The recent agitation at the University of Legon in Ghana for the removal of a statue of Mahatma Gandhi was provoked by a few statements made by the young Gandhi soon after he arrived in South Africa in 1893, long before he came to know the Africans. These statements, plucked from the Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi – published by the Indian government without any attempts at contextualising or annotating them – completely distort what his life represents.

Gandhi said, “My life is my message”. His life shows how an ordinary human being who has many weaknesses can rise to great heights by shedding his early prejudices and by adhering to love and non-violence instead of hate and greed. This message should be an encouragement for the youth.

Gandhi practiced what he preached. He conquered fear and defied the racist regime in South Africa and in imperialist Britain. He went to prison five times in South Africa and nine times in India during his struggle against racism and colonialism. He was incorruptible and forsook consumerism, which had become a menace to progress. He espoused dignity of labour and the need to protect the environment. He became a symbol of peace and non-violence and his appeal is universal.

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New Book Published: Trusteeship : A Path Less Travelled

Trusteeship : A Path Less Travelled

Edited By: Siby Joseph, Bharat Mahodaya, Ram Chandra Pradhan
First Published : 2016

Price : Rs. 400/-
Published by : Institute of Gandhian Studies

Gopuri, Wardha 442001, MS, India.

About the Book:
 

This volume is a collection of selected papers discussed in the seminar on Trusteeship organised by Institute of Gandhian Studies, Wardha in February 2015 as a part of the celebration of 125th Birth Anniversary of Jamnalal Bajaj. It carries a foreword written by Ramjee Singh, a noted Gandhian scholar and former Vice Chancellor of Jain Vishva Bharati Institute, Ladnun, Rajasthan. It contains fifteen articles on trusteeship and related areas combining both theoretical and practical aspects.
 

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Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi presented with first copy of new book on Mahatma's life in 1,300 colour photos

Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi presented with first copy of new book on Mahatma's life in 1,300 colour photos

"MAHATMA Gandhi's Life in Colour" - The definite photo biography of Mahatma Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi's Life in Colour, the coffee table book by GandhiServe India is released by The Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi on October 2 on the occasion of 147th Gandhi birth anniversary. The book contains four-colour pictures reflecting various phases of Gandhi's life. About the book he said: "Excellent collection - excellent publication"! He wrote in the first copy of the book: "By means of photographs you are bringing the life of Mahatma Gandhi to the masses for which you deserve congratulations!"

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Surrendered Naxals pass test on Gandhian principles

Surrendered Naxals pass test on Gandhian principles

The whole exercise is to help them drift away from path of violence

A total of 55 surrendered Naxals who had dozens of murder and arson cases registered against them have fared very well in an exam on Gandhi’s life and principles conducted by Gadchiroli police.
In an effort to reform prisoners, the Maharashtra jail authorities conduct classes on Gandhian philosophy with the help of NGOs in most prisons. After these classes, it holds the Gandhi Peace Exams to gauge the prisoners’ understanding of the philosophy. The exercise would help them in drifting away from violence.

Speaking on the endeavour, Additional Director General of Police (ADGP), Special Operations, Bipin Bihari said the surrendered Naxals were given lectures on Gandhian philosophy and an exam on the same was conducted in the month of August.

“Naxalites are waging a war against the state and we are trying to stimulate an ideology which shuns violence and preaches non-violence,” Bihari told The Indian Express.

“In order to draw the cadre to the Naxal fold, they are made to believe that armed revolution is the most effective solution. However, by introducing the Gandhian philosophy we are trying to instill the idea that demands could be met through non-violent means or ‘ahimsa’ (non-violence) which Gandhi preached and practised,” Bihari added.

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