Born of a Leader :
"It was Cold freezing June and a young man well suited with wheat fair complex was travelling with a first class ticket to Pretoria. During those days Apartheid rule was prevalent in the country. On an complaint from his co-passenger he was thrown out of the train at St. Petersburg station by Rail Authorities for not shifting to lower class compartment. It was that movement he realized the struggle of people with more melanin pigment and the scar of Racial Discrimination. Left out in cold he was startled to move an inch on the station to reach out his suitcase which was thrown down in front of him. This incident provoked him to introspect himself and thus was born a Great Leader 'Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi' who became an inspiration for coming leaders like Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King and became the Father of the Nation called 'India'."
Today the world is facing many challenges than the past. At International level there are poverty, inequality, trade wars, rising unilateralism, nuclear proliferation, rising terrorism, climate changes etc. At National there are challenges like religious clashes, inequality, corruption etc. At Individual level there are challenges like spiritual poverty, rising consumerism, ethical deprivation etc. Thus the "world needs gandhi's idea more than ever today". There are many challenges in which we can take leaf out of gandhi's ideas and mitigate them. Here we will try to have a glimpse on his ideas and later on the relevance of them in today's world.
A Glimpse of his mind :
Gandhi's idea of 'Ahimsa' was inspired by the Vaishnavism and Jainism in Gujarat. He believed to win a battle nonviolence was best way forward. His idea of nonviolence became his tool to gain Independence for India. His idea of 'Satyagraha' was his lifestyle which he followed religiously. He never counted himself as a philosopher but still the people who follow him call themselves Gandhian & his set of concepts as Gandhism. He was one standing apart from others in the debate of means vs ends, for him both end and means were important which can be ascertained from his statement 'We have always control over means but not the end'. This was pragmatic and rational. For Gandhi learning is an ongoing process in this context he said 'Introspection and experiment played a major role in evolution'. Let us explore more of his ideas and their relevance today.
Relevance Today :
'Thomas Piketty' in his book 'Capitalist in 21st century' has spoken about the rising inequality between the have and have-nots. The idea of percolation of money to bottom of the society is plagued with 'Middle Income Trap' which hinder it from penetrating to bottom of the pyramid. Their is a rising 'Materialism' which is draining people towards 'Spiritual poverty'. In this regard he stated 'Live simply so that other can simply live'. He encouraged and promoted the idea of 'Trusteeship' where a wealthy take the resources for a decent living and remaining he uses it for public purposes which can help to alleviate poverty, tackle inequality and help others to access a decent living.
Today the world and particularly India according to recent Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) Report is facing a challenge of unemployability. Gandhi had a solution by promoting 'cottage industry' and 'Khadi-Chakra'. In book 'Gandhian Plan' by S.N Agarwal which emphasized on livestock rearing, diary products. Gandhi was not in favour of mechanisation which replaced an labour hand with nuts and bolts.
Socially also gandhian ideas holds relevance today. At world stage there challenges like 'Refugee Crisis' and migration which has led to the formation of multicultural society with various religions. In this context Gandhi's idea of religious tolerance come to rescue. Gandhi in this context opined that 'All the religion are different paths endeavouring towards same goal and that is peace'. In India there is a rising cases of mob lynchings like Pehlu Khan's Case etc shows the 'tolerance deprivation' & 'moral failure' of the society. Gandhi in his book 'Hind Swaraj' quoted 'Conviction of morality is basis of all things' which is an antidote to every individual to escape the trap of Intolerance which will curb the incidence of mob lynchings. Today rising Hateism is disrupting the social fabric with people killing for petty reasons. Gandhi emphasized on forgiveness he said "An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind".
'Samuel Huntington' a renowned political scientist in his book 'Clash of Civilisation' put forward an hypothesis which is becoming much true today. Samuel argued that post cold war their will be conflict of cultures and not countries. As seen today East alleges that western countries undermine 'Asian Values' and imposing an neo-imperialism on them. Gandhi was very pragmatic in his ideas, he never hesitated to change his idea if he felt it was necessary without changing the fundamental principle. Gandhi emphasized Eastern Values but he also said that an healthy mixture of both should ideal.
Today when their is rising questions on the Democracy as a form of government ? Gandhi's Ram Rajya was self sustaining villages with enough autonomy which can be reflected in 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendment Acts. It promoted decentralisation and implemented "Democracy by the people". But still there is a need to strengthen the provision & implementation for effective governance.
Today Education has changed drastically with coming of Information Technology. According to "Ronald Dore" the educational society is plagued with "Diploma Diseases" where an individual gathers more and more degree on which his educational qualifications are checked and not the skills. This is one of the reason there is rise unemployability. According to Mckinsey report only about 4% engineer's in our country are able to write good code. We can take a leaf out of Gandhi's "Nai Talim" in which he has not separated Knowledge and work. Their is a need to bridge the gap between the industry and academia.
Government approach towards Naxalism and rising insurgency should not be handled with guns which can only aggravate the situation. Gandhi's non-violence and his statement "Whenever you are confronted with an opponent conquer him by love". What I mean here is "Bullet can kill the Naxals but not Naxalism". To tackle Naxalism we should defeat its ideology with development programmes and bringing them to mainstream.
Today the world is in existential crisis with rising climate change. The withdrawal of USA from Paris Climate Change has only aggravated the situation. Here Gandhi's statement can be inspiration and guide to all countries "Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need but not greed". He also said that "we don't inherit our world from ancestors but borrow from our children".
THE END :
"The future depends on what we do today." It is the time we adapt gandhian ideas to face the challenges of world with collaboration and learn from the experience.
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