Exhibition-cum-Sale of Gandhi Books at 50% discount on the occasion of 63rd Gandhi Death Anniversary

To commemorate Gandhi's 63^rd Death Anniversary, 300 books on & by Gandhi, Vinoba & Sarvodaya will be displayed & sale at 50% discount by Mumbai Sarvodaya Mandal & Gandhi Book Centre with the financial assistance of ‘Babulnath Mandir Charities’ from at specially erected Mandap at Hutatma Chowk 24^th to 29^th January, 2011 between          10.00 a.m. to 7.00 p.m. and at Gandhi Book Centre, Nana Chowk from 11.00 a.m. to 8.00 p.m. everyday.

Top-selling books, 'An Autobiography' of Mahatma Gandhi and a set of five important books, 'Selected Works of Mahatma Gandhi' will be available at Rs.30/- & Rs. 75/- respectively at the exhibition. Last year, Gandhi books of worth Rs. 3,10,000/- were sold within just 5 days.

In the present context of increasing violence, terrorism & crime, Autobiography and other books of Mahatma Gandhi are inspiring many people all over the world. Gandhiji has left indelible footprints on the sand of time. Even after 62 years of his departure from the world, his thoughts and deeds have not waned.

More than 2.5 Lakh copies of 'An Autobiography' of Mahatma Gandhi in twelve Indian languages are being sold every year. After reading Gandhi books, many people have decided to follow the path of Truth and Non-Violence and are striving to sustain morality by practicing peaceful conflict resolution which is the need of the hour.

Supreme Court: Do not drag case for yrs, follow Mahatma Gandhi and go for mediation or arbitration

Name those who stashed black cash: SC ‘Issue Beyond That Of Dodging I-T’ Dhananjay Mahapatra TNN  New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday demanded the identity of 18 Indians who had allegedly parked Rs 43.83 crore illegally in a German bank and criticized the government’s reluctance do so, saying the seriousness in tackling the black money issue went beyond income tax demands slapped on defaulters.      Solicitor general Gopal Subramaniam’s stand—government is not ready to divulge the names—forced a bench of Justices B Sudershan Reddy and S S Nijjar to counter: “Can you (government) claim privilege? What is the difficulty in disclosing the information.”      Faced with the court’s readiness to debate the validity of the government’s stand, Subramaniam sought time to consult the government on the issue. But he said the government was willing to show the status of the probe against individuals under the black money scanner. The solicitor general’s attempt to brand the illegal deposits as a mere tax issue evoked a sharp response. It said: “Issues involved in the case are serious and of larger dimension. It’s not only about tax avoidance.”      Petitioner and former law minister Ram Jethmalani had requested the highest court to direct the government recover an estimated Rs 70 lakh crore stashed illegally by Indians in foreign banks, especially in tax havens. Jethmalani’s counsel, senior advocate Anil Divan, accused the government of doing little on the alleged illegal transfer of huge sums from UBS Bank by Pune-based Hasan Ali Khan and his associate Kashinath Tapuria.      The Enforcement Directorate and the I-T department are investigating an alleged transaction of $8 billion in the name of Rheema Khan, wife of Hasan Ali Khan. The court asked Subramaniam to take instruction on Hasan and other individuals accused of dealing in black money being joined as parties to the pending parties. Supreme Court: Do not drag case for yrs, go for mediation or arbitration New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday asked advocates to follow Mahatma Gandhi and persuade their clients not to go in for litigation and instead resolve the disputes through arbitration and mediation. A few passages of Mahatma Gandhi’s book, ‘My Experiments With Truth’, on the futility of litigation impressed the bench.      A bench of Justices Markandey Katju and Gyan Sudha Mishra said court cases drag on for years ruining both parties. “Lawyers should advise their clients to try for mediation for resolving disputes, especially where family and business relationships are involved,” it said. The bench asked two brothers, B S Krishna Murthy and B S Nagaraj, to appear before the Bangalore mediation centre for settlement. http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=TOINEW&BaseHref=TOIM/2011/01/15&PageLabel=15& EntityId=Ar01501&ViewMode=HTML

‘Mahatma Gandhi is still relevant for understanding commons’

   Thursday, January 13, 2011

‘Mahatma Gandhi is still relevant for understanding commons’

Nobel Laureate and proponent of the polycentric approach to management of common pool resources Dr Elinor Ostrom on Wednesday said Mahatma Gandhi was “important and relevant” in understanding of commons. “

If we go into historical contexts and philosophy,” she said, “Gandhi is still important.”

The market economy of consumption for consumption’s sake is a key part of problem in the way we manage our commons, 77-year-old professor in ecological economics said in an interaction with media persons here on the sidelines of the 13th biennial conference of the International Association for the Study of Commons.

“We need to develop mechanism of communities and learn from the successful institutions that manage their commons,” she said.

“Officials got to learn from the hard work of the people all over,” she said, rejecting the theory that either the state or private players were best institutions to manage commons. There are communities, she elucidated, that have enhanced the commons - such as forests - they live in, so Gandhi still remains very important (in developing an understanding of our commons). Global climate change commons is extremely important, she said.

The risks are huge.

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_mahatma-gandhi-is-still-relevant-for-understanding-commons_1493841

Right turn after red signal...

Reformed criminals take their life to a new destination

Read full story

'Gandhiji changed my life'

11.12.2010

Gandhiji changed my life'
T.V. Sivanandan

Ex-convict Laxman Gole shares his experiences with Gulbarga prison inmates


Telling tale: Laxman Tukaram Gole spins a charkha to produce yarn during a demonstration to mark Human Rights Day at Gulbarga Central Prison on Friday.

GULBARGA: This is a story of the transformation of a man from a hardened criminal to an ambassador of Gandhian philosophy and principles.

Thirty-one-year-old Laxman Tukaram Gole spent nearly seven years in different jails in Maharashtra, facing charges ranging from assault, attempt to murder and extortion. However, after coming under Mahatma Gandhi's spell, he became an apostle of truth and non-violence. He has now taken it upon himself to transform the lives of inmates in jails across the country.

I completed my last jail term from Nasik prison after being booked under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act on extortion charges. It was there that I came across My Experiments With Truth, the autobiography of Mahatma Gandhi given by Bombay Sarvodaya Mandal, that changed the course of my life, said Mr. Gole, who was in Gulbarga to speak to the inmates of Gulbarga Central Prison and share his experiences with them.

In a chat with The Hindu, Mr. Gole said that he was drawn to the world of crime at the age of 17 when he stabbed a local goonda during a petty quarrel. That was the beginning of my journey into the world of crime. I was abandoned by my parents after several failed attempts to reform me, he added.

Change
But all this changed after I read the autobiography of Mahatma Gandhi. His honesty in accepting his follies and apologising for them moved me. I decided to follow Gandhian principles from that day, he said.

Mr. Gole said that he took an oath that he would only speak the truth from then on. The greatest challenge to my resolve came when I was produced before a judge in a court in Nasik. I confessed to my crime. The judge informed that I could be sentenced for upto seven years for the charges I faced. But I stuck to my resolve and told the judge that I wanted to serve the jail term.

After completing four years of the term, I came out and took up the task of going around prisons throughout the country and sharing my experiences with the inmates in an effort to change their lives too. Mr. Gole has already visited the high-security Tihar Jail and all jails in Maharashtra. He is visiting Karnataka for the first time.

Courtesy: http://hindu.com/2010/12/11/stories/2010121152680300.htm

Relevance of Gandhi (Review of the book - Timeless Inspirator - Reliving Gandhi)

Timeless Inspirator - Reliving Gandhi : Conceptualized and Edited by Raghunath Malshekar

Published by SAKAL for Gandhi National Memorial Society, Pune, India

Price - Rs. 490/-.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Relevance of Mahatma Gandhi
R. Devarajan

How relevant is Mahatma Gandhi in the 21st century? As many as 46 eminent Indians from various fields were asked this question by Raghunath Mashelkar, the internationally acclaimed scientist, and their responses are presented in this book. Mashelkar himself has this to say about it: “… not just a mere collection of thoughts. Collectively, it is the road map, or the way of life; it is the anchor for a youngster in search of inspiration.” “Gandhian Engineering” is a concept enunciated by Mashelkar in a talk he delivered in Australia in April 2008. More recently, in July 2010, it was further refined and redefined as “Gandhian Innovation,” and published in the Harward Business Review as an article, authored jointly by him and C.K. Prahalad. The crux of it is how to generate “more, from less, for more people”.

The galaxy of contributors is as varied as it is distinguished. To mention a few of them: Amjad Ali Khan, Anil Kakodkar, Gopalkrishna Gandhi, Narayana Murthy, Kiran Bedi, M.S. Swaminathan, Mallika Sarabhai, Rahul Bajaj, Sachin Tendulkar, Sam Pitroda, and Sunil Gavaskar.

Every article has one aphorism or another pronounced by Gandhiji. Here is a sample: “Each of us must be the change we wish to see in this world”; “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind”; “The future depends on what we do in the present”; “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed”; and “Truth alone will endure, all the rest will be swept away before the tide of time.”



Valid teachings
More than ever before, Gandhiji's teachings are valid today, when people are trying to find solutions to the rampant greed, widespread violence, and runaway consumptive style of living. Anu Aga, one of India's foremost women achievers, says that while, in the name of retaliation, violence and hatred are being perpetrated today Gandhiji's gospel of non-violence makes immense sense.

It was the unique non-violent movement under his leadership that earned for India freedom from the colonial rule. In spearheading the campaign against the alien rule, Gandhiji adopted the innovative techniques of civil disobedience and social transformation, which had several exemplary features.

The Gandhian technique of mobilising people has been successfully employed by many oppressed societies around the world under the leadership of people like Martin Luther King in the United States, Nelson Mandela in South Africa, and now Aung Saan Sun Kyi in Myanmar, which is an eloquent testimony to the continuing relevance of Mahatma Gandhi.

In India, economic development has been mostly confined to the urban conglomerates. In the process, the rural India that comprises 700 million people has been given short shrift. Gandhiji's philosophy of inclusive growth is fundamental to the building of a resurgent rural India. He believed in “production by the masses” rather than in mass production, a distinctive feature of the industrial revolution. It is surprising, even paradoxical, that these days Gandhian philosophy should find increasing expression through the most modern technology! Now, it is possible to establish small-scale and medium-scale factories in smaller towns and remote corners of the country, thanks to the phenomenal innovations in communication and information technologies. New technologies have brought in widespread and low-cost electronic connectivity that enables instantaneous contact between industrial units and the sellers and consumers of their products. Location and logistics are no more a limitation or constraint for industrial development.

To quote Sam Pitroda, “While the twenty-first century has been defined by globalisation, free markets, privatisation, liberalisation… it has also been marked by violence, extremism, inequity, poverty, and disparity. Amidst all this, if one poses the question of relevance of Gandhiji to our age, one is struck by an astounding need for him for our times. Gandhiji's ideals… and leadership hold an extremely relevant moral and social mirror to our society.” Thus, the Gandhian model and the modern economy seem to be getting closer to each other. True to its title, the book will inspire social scientists, wherever they may be, for all times to come. Gandhiji did not belong to an era, or an age. He belongs to the humanity for eternity.

Courtesy: The Hindu, dt. 07.12.2010
http://www.thehindu.com/arts/books/article937457.ece