Shambhu Nath Tiwari
Modern world is equipped
with scientific and technological advancements. Gandhi's image now features in
advertising campaigns for everything from Apple computers to Mont Blanc pens.
When the film "Gandhi" swept the Oscars in 1983, posters for the film
proclaimed that "Gandhi's triaumph changed the world forever.
Mahatma Gandhi-led global change rests principally on the
American civil-rights leader Martin Luther King Jr, adopted Satyagraha as both
precept and method. In leading the struggle. To break down segregation in the
southern US, king used non-violence more effectively than anyone else outside
India. "Hate begets hate. Violence begets violence" He memorably
declared. "We must meet the forces of hate with soul force."
Martin Luther King Jr. avowed that "the Gandhian
method of non-violent resistance became the guiding force of our movement.
Christ furnished the spirit and motivation, while Mahatma Gandhi furnished the
method. During visit of India visit in Nov, 2010 Barak Obama told parliament
that were it not for Gandhi, he would not be standing there as America's
president. Mahatma Gandhi, as a moral being, may not be present among us, but
he has been constantly guiding as an inspiration, an illuminated light on almost
all the diversified issues that an individual, a society or the state may come
across. Gandhi need not be seen as an individual, but as a movement, a
phenomenon and a light removing darkness from each and every walk of life.
Wherever there is a struggle for survival, wherever there is injustice,
poverty, hunger illiteracy, inequality and darkness, Gandhiji showed a road to
light The greatest heritage he left is spiritual force that triumphed over the
roar of guns and the might of the aggressors. His spirituality was based upon
non-violence which promotes love and fearlessness.
Now a days the
world is be set with the war on terror, ethnic conflicts and economic
depression, more and more people across the world seem to be seeking solace in
Gandhi's non-violence and simplicity. So it comes as no surprise that, in
December 2005, a bust of Gandhi ji was installed at Belgrade in Serbia, a city
that was witnessed to horrendous blood-letting till few years ago. A few months
ago, a similar memorial for Gandhi ji had come up outside the Cypriot
Parliament House in Nicosia for its lawmakers to draw inspiration.
Whether it is the capital of strongman-ruled Kazakhstan
or the Mexican city of Guadalajara fighting a bloody war against the drugs
trade, Gandhi's life-size image is not felt to be out of place by its
inhabitants.
The installation of his statues in city council offices
public parks and universities shows that Mahatma Gandhi may have been a staunch
critic of the developed world and its consumerism but the weight of his moral
philosophy has not been lost on the First world. Houston, New York, Sydney,
Nothingham, Vancouver, Antwerp and Genoa are among cities that requested Gandhi
in stone or bronze in the past few years. All requests are made through the
local Indian diplomatic missions.
The statues and busts are sent by Indian council of
cultural Relations (ICCR), set up in 1950 by another Gandhian himself, Maulana
Abul Kalam Azad. (ICCR) Mandate is to
foster respect for Indian culture, in other countries and it's select group of
sculptors have been kept busy as the world continues to rediscover Gandhi six
decades after his death Slovenia was the latest entrant to the list when a life
size bronze statue of the Mahatma sitting in a Meditative posture was unveiled
at the Slovene Gradic Municipality earlier this year.
Mahatma Gandhi also dreamt of a world without wars, a
society without superstition, factories without forced labour, a non-violent,
non-exploiting social and economic order, education as an agent of change; As he put it: in the new
millennium there shall be enough for every body's need but not for everybody's
greed. Mahatma Gandhi has never been student of economics in any school,
college or university, yet he was an economist of the highest order. He
developed the doctrine of Trusteeship in the Tolstoy and the phoenix farm in
South Africa. It was a great success. Gandhiji often said that his idea of
"Trusteeship" would finish capitalism without finishing the capitalists.
Gandhiji opposed modern industrialisation on a mass scale
because it leads to many insoluble problems such as the exploitation of the
villagers, urbanisation,environmental pollution etc. Gandhiji opined that manufacturing
to be done in villages and by the villagers. This would keep the majority of
people of India fully employed; they would be able to meet their basic needs
and would remain self-reliant. Even modern machines could be used provided they
did not lead to unemployment and become the means of exploitation.
Mahatma Gandhi considered the prevailing
industrialisation as a disease. 'Let us not be deceived by catchwords and
phrases; he admonished. Modern machines' are in no way indispensable for the
permanent welfare of human race. Gandhiji was not against machinery as such; he
was against industrialism, i.e. industrial and mechanical mentality. "Industrialisation is, I am
afraid, going to be curse for mankind. Exploitation of one nation by another
can not go on for all time. Industrialism depends entirely on your capacity to
exploit India, when it begins to exploit other nation- as it must if it becomes
industrialised- will be a curse for other nations, a menace for the
world".
Education:-Gandhiji's purpose of education
is to establish a non-violent, non-exploiting social order and all other
purposes are sub-servient to it. Education, he said, was not mere literacy; it
was an all-round development of mind, body and soul. It was craft-oriented
where hand played a vital role. He called it a 'thinking hand' which has more
than anything else guided the evolution of man and society and therefore, the
whole education of man be imparted through the medium of basic handicraft. Only
such an education can realise the goals of freedom, equality and brotherhood.
Mahatma Gandhi viewed that the education system in India
is needed to enable the learners to provide themselves system, though their own
efforts, mean for a healthy, decent cultural existence and train not only their
intellect but also their physical and spiritual faculties. Gandhian way of the
"thinking hand" was that what men and women do with their hands in
order to live, conditions their thinking and behaviour and entire outlook more
than what they are tought by words of mouth.
Adult education:
Adult education under Gandhian scheme of Nai Taleem will be given orally especially
in the mother tongue. The National literacy mission embibed the Gandhian
concept of mobilization and voluntarism but the broader aspect of Gandhian
education has yet to be implemented. Gandhian secularism was not religious
illiteracy or religion against science. According to Gandhi adult education
should aim at scientific temper which should remove superstition, blind
acceptance of things and situations.
Ideas on the Economy:-
Mahatma Gandhi's economic thought revolves around the following normative
ideas:-
(i) Economic process must work towards equality and
non-exploitation,
(ii) It must be consistent with full employment,
(iii)It must provide low priced consumer goods which
satisfy the needs of the people,
(iv) All those industries with sophisticated
technology must be in the pubic sector.
(v) No mass production without equal distribution.
Two cardinal principles in Gandhian economic philosophy
are the promotion of equality together with social justice. For this purpose
the three principles which he prescribed are:-
(a) Economic policies to be pursued on need base and not on
the want base,
(b) Inequality arises with irrational
desires to have more than what one wants,
(c) In technologically advanced countries,
people do not consume goods in the same proportion they produce; labour intense
technologies are to be preferred to the capital intensive ones.
Mahatma Gandhi's "Swadeshi" (use of things produced
locally) was the bed-rock of freedom. The mission of his life was to make India
a self-reliant and self-sufficient. Before British rule, India used to export
30 lakh rupees worth of hand woven cloth every year. During British rule all
exports came to a halt and, as in a reverse process, India spent 60 crore
rupees every year to buy British export. The Indian weavers lost their
occupation, become tillers of soil and were totally impoverished. A viceroy was
appalled at this situation and remarked that the bones of cotton weavers are
preaching the plains of India. "The misery hardly finds a parallel in the
history of commerce". Gandhiji decided to stop the import of alien cloths.
He decided to revive hand weaving.
According to Mahatma Gandhi Charkha stood for dignity of
labour, mutual co-operation, its music soothes the ears as against the noise of
the mill. Charkha he said was like the sun around which all village handicrafts
revolved. Besides it was a wheel of freedom.
Theory of
Trusteeship- The original contribution of Mahatma Gandhi in the field of economics is
the concept of trusteeship. Ghandhiji often said that his idea of
"Trusteeship" would finish capitalism without finishing the
capitalists. Gandhiji wanted the basic needs of all including animals to be met
satisfactory. But at the same time, he wanted people to have incentives to
remain economically active and produce more. This naturally would lead to some
people having more than what they need. They would be rich but there would be no
poor because the basic needs of all would be satisfied.
Gandhian idea of trusteeship was born during the train
journey from Johannesburg to St Martizburg on the night of 7th June 1893 while
reading Raskin's 'Unto this last.' The book changed the economic vision of
'Coolie Barrister' who was thrown out of the 1st class compartment
along with bag and baggage. The incident changed the destinies of half of the
people of the world. Gandhi said there should be minimum wage and ceiling on
maximum the capitalist's property. Minimum has no meaning unless there is a
ceiling on maximum. All economists today agree that trusteeship is the
practical solution of the present day malpractices in property and
maldistribution of wealth. Empowerment of Women:-Mahatma Gandhi
always fought for the women's rights and equality. To him, women are the
incantation of Ahinsa. To call women a weaker sex is a libel, it is man's
injustice to women. He said 'If I were born a women I would against man's
cruelty to women. Mahatma Gandhi was the person firstly started feminist
movement in India. Mahatma Gandhi believed in the equality of sex. He drew the
Indian women in the freedom struggle.He gave a clarion call to all Indian women
and save the national honour.
Satya, Stayagraha And Ahimsa:-
According to Gandhiji, truth is what the inner self
experiences at any point of time, it is an answer to one's conscience; it is
what responds to one's moral self. He was convinced that knowledge alone leads
a person to the truth while ignorance takes one away from the truth.
Satyagraha means urge for satya or truth. Satyagraha is
not merely the insistence on truth; it is in fact, holding on the truth through
ways which are moral and non-violent; it is not the imposition of one's will
over others but it is appealing to will over others but it is appealing to the
reasoning of the opponent; it is not coercion but is persuation. For Gandhiji a
satyagrahi is always truthful, morally imbued, non-violent and a person without
any malice; he is one who is devoted to the service of all.
According to Gandhiji, Ahimsa was not mere concept but it
was an article of faith, a condition of existence, a cultural necessity. He has
goodwill even for plants and animals and insects. He often said that
non-violence meant for the bold and the brave, not for the cowards and the weak
non-violence is meant for the strong of mind and the stout of heart. Non
violence is neither passive nor passiveness, it is active, it is dynamic. It
implies conscious suffering. Non-violence was mightier than any sword. Violence
is going to be the greatest challenge of the 21st century and there in lays the
relevance of Gandhi.
Today, the violence is growing in the various parts of
the world. Gandhi and Gandhian philosophy of truth and non violence is most
relevant in dealing with this problem. Gandhi is relevant wherever there is
struggle for freedom, wherever their is oppression. The greatest tribute to
Gandhi was paid by UNESCO when it adopted in its preamble the Gandhian though that
since wars begins in the minds of men. It is in the minds of men that the
defenses of peace must be constructed. If the 19th century belonged
to Carlyle and Ruskin and the twentieth to Russel and Huxley, the 21st
century belongs to Gandhi alone, for he said that if there was choice between
cowardice and violence he would choose the latter because non-violence is not
for the cowardly or the weak. It is the weapon of strong.
In conclusion we can say that Mahatma Gandhi is relevant
where there is struggle for freedom, wherever there is injustice, poverty,
hunger, inequality. His greatest legacy is that he made India fearless and
brought back its vanished valour. His greatest heritage is the spiritual force,
those triumphs over the roar of guns and might of the aggressors. Eye for an
eye, he said would make the world blind. So lastly we can say that Gandhism is
the only alternative to save the misguided man and the war-weary world.
REFERENCES :-
1. M.K. Gandhi : Young India, 11 September, 1924.
2. Speeches and Writings of Mahatma Gandhi, G.A. Natesan and Co.,
Madras, P. 346.
3. M.K. Gandhi. From Yeravda Mandir, Navajivan Press, Ahmedabad, 1935, P. 43.
5. M.K. Gandhi: Harijan, 9 may, 1936.
6. M.K. Gandhi, My Experiments with Truth, Navjivan Press, Ahmedabad,
1929, vol11,P.592.
Dr. Shambhu Nath Tiwari
Associate Professor Dept. of Political Science
G.D. Binani
P.G. College, Mirzapur.
