Faculty Development Programme on Revisiting Gandhi Today: Questions of Caste, Class, Gender, Religion and Environment (September 17-23, 2019)

Home , Balmiki Prasad Singh, Dharampal, India House

Summary of all the sessions

Zakir Husain Delhi College (University of Delhi) in collaboration with Mahatma Hansraj Faculty Development Centre (MHRFDC), Hansraj College (University of Delhi) organised a One Week Faculty Development Programme On “Revisiting Gandhi Today: Questions of Caste, Class, Gender, Religion and Environment” from September 17-23, 2019.

The FDP was designed to deliberate upon

• Questions of Caste, Class, Gender, Religion and Environment from the Gandhian perspective and its contemporary significance.

• Gandhi’s legacy of Inclusiveness that underlines Gandhi’s philosophy.

• Gandhi’s idea of truth and non-violence and enduring commitment to social justice, normative economics, religious pluralism.

The FDP was inaugurated by lighting the lamp. The programme started with a brief introductory remark by Dr. Sanjeev Kumar, Coordinator of the FDP. Dr. Masroor Ahmed Beg, Principal of the college in his welcome speech pinpointed the need for such programmes with specific focus on the need of Gandhian values in today’s world. The inaugural address was delivered by Sri Balmiki Prasad Singh (Former Governor of Sikkim and distinguished scholar). The speaker emphasised on the urgent need to revisit and introspect the principles of Truth and Satyagraha set forth by Mahatma Gandhi.

As warned by Mahatma Gandhi, he pointed out that it is also necessary to be aware of the evils associated with machines. He shared the divergent views about Mahatma Gandhi’s attitude towards ‘machines’ and ‘modernization’, particularly the comments of Rabindranath Tagore, and Ernest Fritz Schumacher. The inauguration was followed four technical sessions held on each day from September 17-23, 2019 in which the eminent invited scholars spoke on the legacy of Gandhi and its continued relevance.

After the inaugural session (September 17, 2019) Professor Gudavarthy posed few questions to the audience to elaborate the current state of affairs, Indian Right and situate Gandhi by emphasizing on his methods of non-violence and Satyagraha. Session 3 rd was taken by Prof. Anand Kumar. He spoke on the theme Gandhi and his relevance on Nation Building. The

Faculty Development Programme on Revisiting Gandhi Today: Questions of Caste, Class, Gender, Religion and Environment (September 17-23, 2019)

Summary of all the sessions European thought for Nation does not supported by Gandhi. His vision for India was new and young as a integrated nation. Session 4 th was taken by Dr. Nishikant Kolge. He highlighted that behaviour of Gandhiji never reveal that he was a castist as he started Ashram and allowed people from untouchable community live in it with all rights.

On September 18, 2019, Prof. Chandrakala Padia had taken first session and she discussed about Mahatma Gandhi's imagination of the democracy fully encircled with non-violence exists in no nation of the world as up to now. Session 2 rd taken by Prof. Neera Chandhoke set the background to her talk on Gandhi and the question of political violence with a detailed discussion on the relationship between state and violence. She asserted that Thomas Hobbes was the first political philosopher who was confronted with the question of political violence because he was writing in the wake of the revolution of 1648. Session 3 rd was taken by Dr. Anupam Jha. Dr. Jha emphasized the need for making law in the society why law is important for the society?, why do we need the law?, what are the essential functions of law, etc. He underscored the point that if a law emanates from the society, it will become a good law, as it comes out of the need of the people. Session 4th was taken by Mr. Sopan Joshi. He explained Gandhiji's life was simple and yet impactful. Therefore Einstein had once stated that it will be hard for future generation to believe that such a human being lived on earth.

On September 19, 2019 first session was devoted for library and group discussions. Session 2rd was taken by Prof. Gita Dharampal. In her talk, Prof. Dharampal said modern society and science has witnessed colonialism and exploitation of masses because of development of technology. Social and economic justice is rampant in the society. Mahatma Gandhi was a major critique of modern industry based civilisation. Session 3 rd taken by Prof. Aakash Singh Rathore. Prof. Rathore spoke about the two great leaders Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar. Around whom the speaker brilliantly wove a comparative study. Session 4 th was taken by Prof. Anand Prakash. He described Gandhi’s experiment with Charkha, or the spinning wheel, transformed it into the symbol of Swadeshi (self-sufficiency) and Swaraj (self-rule). Gandhi also envisioned Charkha as a symbol of interdependence as it connected cotton growers, weavers, distributors, and customers so that he could propagate the message of a feeling of equal among all walks of people in India. For Gandhi, Khadi was the symbol of economic empowerment and simplicity of Indian people.

Faculty Development Programme on Revisiting Gandhi Today: Questions of Caste, Class, Gender, Religion and Environment (September 17-23, 2019)

Summary of all the sessions Prof. Bindu Puri took the 1 st and 2 nd sessions on September 20, 2019. During the first session, she focused on the Yam and Niyam, the base of the Satyagraha. She also explained the 5 Yam and 5 Niyam. The gist of the lecture is that we should control our Desire. We have to control our unwanted expectations. If it happens, it is the real freedom i.e. Swaraj. Swa means Self and Raj means Control. In the second session, she also described Gandhi’s experiment with diet, aparigraha are very relevant for today world. Pluralism and difference are the principles of modern world and we need to address these. Pluralism is the consequence of liberalism. In his essay Enlightenment, Kant argues that freedom is essential to be enlightened. The most important thing about Gandhian Legacy is about Ahimsa. Gandhi’s response is different from liberal tolerance and violent way of responding to the situation. Dr. Dilip Simeon focused on religion and politics where he highlighted Gandhi’s position on the relationship between religion and politics in the third session. He explained that for Gandhi religion is the source of ethic and philosophical wisdom. Prof Girishwar Misra took the 4 th session. He advocated autonomy of villages. He gave importance to cleanliness. He emphasized character building. He reiterated that education system which does not build character is futile

Dr. Chaitra Redkar took the first session on September 21, 2019. Dr. Chetra Redkar delivered a comprehensive lecture on J.C. Kumarappa and Gandhian Critique of Capitalism. In her lecture, she briefly discussed about Kumarappa’s life who was referred to as Gandhian Economist in the literature. In the second session, Prof. Moolakkattu started his lecture with the term Ecology, Environment and environmentalist, he mentioned Gandhi as radical environmentalist. In the third session, Prof. Ashok Acharya discussed the cosmopolitan vision of Gandhi and Kant. Also, he made distinction between cosmopolitanism of Gandhi and Kant. Dr. Gyan Prakash took the fourth session on September 21, 2019. In his talk with the reference to Gandhi’s thought ‘The Earth has enough for everyone’s need but not for everyone’s greed’. He gave stress that sustainable development is not a new concept and is ingrained in our history itself. Rabindranath Tagore in his literary work ‘Muktdhara’ had unveiled the environmental issues, Dr. Bhupen Hazarika in 1930’s by his song ‘Ganga bahati ho kyun’ described the plight of the great river due to its exploitation.

On the first session, September 23, 2019 of FDP 14, Prof. Sangit Ragi talked about convergences and divergence both in RSS and Gandhian world view. He explained how the

Faculty Development Programme on Revisiting Gandhi Today: Questions of Caste, Class, Gender, Religion and Environment (September 17-23, 2019)

Summary of all the sessions RSS has always admired Gandhi’s efforts to broaden the public support for Bharat’s freedom struggle through simple means like the charkha and satyagraha and considered this as his greatness. If one understands Gandhiji’s insistence on constructive programmes like gram swaraj, swadeshi, cow protection and the abolition of untouchability. In the second session, Dr. Ram Chandra Pradhan expressed that people often pose questions on Gandhi’s relations with Dr. Ambedkar, Bhagat Singh and Zinnah. The answer to these questions is that all these new leaders were not antagonistic to Gandhi’s views in politics except in the context time. According to Dr. Pradhan, both Gandhi and Ambedkar had mutual admiration for each other. In the third session, the eminent historian Prof. Sudhir Chandra spoke on the distinct role of Mahatma Gandhi in the last phase of 1948 towards bridging the communal divide in riot stricken streets of Calcutta and Noakhali.

The FDP concluded with the Valedictory session on September 23 in which Dr. Rama Devi, Principal, Hansraj College thanked Zakir Husain Delhi College for initiating the FDP on Mahatma Gandhi and being a valuable partner on this occasion. Dr. Harpreet Kaur, Principal, Mata Sundri College for Women who was the chief guest on this occasion spoke on the relevance of Mahatma in the twenty first century. The FDP concluded with the formal vote of thanks by Dr. Masroor Ahmed Beg, Principal, Zakir Husain Delhi College after a brief summarisation of the six day deliberations.

Faculty Development Programme on Revisiting Gandhi Today: Questions of Caste, Class, Gender, Religion and Environment (September 17-23, 2019)

Summary of all the sessions 1. Date: September 17, 2019

INAUGURAL SESSION

Chief Guest: Shri B. P. Singh, Former Governor of Sikkim and Ex. Home Secretary

Welcome Address: Dr. Masroor Ahmed Beg, Principal, Zakir Husain Delhi College

Inaugural Address: Dr. Lokesh Chandra Mishra, Co-ordinator, Mahatma Hansraj Faculty Development Center, Hansraj College

Inaugural session of the Faculty Development Program (FDP) was held on September 17, 2019 in the auditorium. Dr. Sanjeev Kumar, Convener, introduced the theme of the FDP, i.e. “Revisiting Gandhi Today: Questions of Caste, Class, Gender, Religion and Environment”. Dr. Masroor Ahmed Beg, Principal, Zakir Husain Delhi College welcomed the invited speakers, guests and participants. He talked about the relevance of Gandhi today and how we can emulate him in our daily lives by adopting Gandhian methods and way of life. The Representative from Hansraj College, Dr. Lokesh Kumar introduced PanditMadan Mohan Malaviya National Mission on Teachers and Teaching (PMMMNMTT) and Mahatma Hansraj Faculty Development Centre (MHRFDC). He highlighted the objectives behind initiating and establishing such institutions and programs.

Honorable Balmiki Prasad Singh, a distinguished scholar, author, former Governor of Sikkim and Home Secretary delivered the inaugural address. He beautifully analysed Gandhi’s tryst with Satyagraha and its relevance today. He stressed upon the need for practicing Satyagraha, non-violence and yajna to deal with our contemporary problems of violence and hatred that is rampant in our society. He stressed the need for communal harmony if country wants to progress. Peaceful co-existence and respect for each other is the necessity.

He talked about the rise of terrorism and fundamentalism in recent times at the global level and the unprecedented challenges that we are faced with. Underlining the need to transcend age old peace mechanism and reconstruct our language of discourse, he mentioned the concept of Bahudha - an eternal reality or continuum, a dialogue of harmony, and peaceful living. Bahudha recognizes pluralism, facilitates exchange of views, and promotes understanding of the collective good. He underlined the importance of Bahudha as an

Faculty Development Programme on Revisiting Gandhi Today: Questions of Caste, Class, Gender, Religion and Environment (September 17-23, 2019)

Summary of all the sessions instrument of public policy for building a harmonious society and also highlighted the global imperatives of following such an approach.

Shri B. P. Singh stressed upon the need for democracy and peace in 21 st century at the national and global level. While harmony and peace are necessary for human progress, the forces that generate hatred, conflicts and wars have not given up their designs or destructive predilections. At the same time, there are elements of international society, which are making efforts to promote peace and harmony and tolerance, coupled with an inclusive democratic culture. He pointed out that there can’t be peace in the world unless the underlying causes like inequality within a country or among nations are ended. He brought into focus the Gandhian concept of Trusteeship to deal with poverty and inequality. He argued that there is no one in the world like Gandhi who would sacrifice his life to serve humanity. Most of today’s problems, he argued, can be fought with the Bahuda approach, which he translates from the Rig Veda as pluralism encompassing democracy, the rule of law, tolerance and more inclusive polity.

Dr. Dhiraj Kumar Singh offered vote of thanks. He profusely thanked Hansraj College and Zakir Husain Delhi College for facilitating the organization of this FDP. He also thanked Shri B. P. Singh for taking out time from his busy schedule and delivering the inaugural address.

Session II

Resource person: Ajay Gudavarthy

(Associate Professor, Centre for Political Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University)

Topic: Gandhi and the Indian Right

Report by: Dr. Md. Aftab Alam (Zakir Husain Delhi College)

Faculty Development Programme on Revisiting Gandhi Today: Questions of Caste, Class, Gender, Religion and Environment (September 17-23, 2019)

Summary of all the sessions

Dr. Md. Aftab Alam introduced the speaker to the audience and highlighted his role as one of the important public intellectuals of contemporary times in India. Prof. Ajay Gudavarthy spoke on the topic “Gandhi and the Indian Right”. He began with the Gandhian philosophy, his methods and analysis and argued that Gandhi is fairly complex thinker to understand. However, he categorically rejected the attempt by Indian Right to appropriate him selectively.

Professor Gudavarthy posed few questions to the audience to elaborate the current state of affairs, Indian Right and situate Gandhi by emphasizing on his methods of non-violence and Satyagraha. Do you realize that the divide between ‘Us’ and ‘Them’ has grown increasingly in Indian politics? Do you even wonder whether it will be repaired at all in the near future? Do you ever pause to reflect why emotions spill on the streets and why democratic institutions in India have become dysfunctional increasingly? Have you thought about why we get hurt easily and how this gets reflected in everyday politics?

Prof. Gudavarthy attempted to address some of these questions through an analysis of certain events. He didn’t merely raise questions regarding the rise of Indian Right, he took the job of a critique seriously by pointing out the many ways in which the Indian Right has offered numerous marginal as well as once-powerful but recently disempowered groups a fraternal space of recognition as Hindus. In a climate of generalized anxiety and rampant hatred, such people have been emboldened to seek vigilante justice by attacking Muslims as the safest enemy. He analysed the European Fascism and the politics of Hindutva. He unravelled the complex reality of contemporary India.

In his lecture, he argued that mere moral condemnation of the Right in India is not sufficient. He exhorted us to analyse its current ascendancy, and the corresponding stasis of the Left and Liberal forces, in bold and imaginative way. We need to engage with them and critique it accordingly. He pointed out that India has witnessed the rise of the Hindu Right as not just a political but also a cultural force like never before. This has been made possible by a series of tactical moves which has allowed for a consolidation of power with the traditional castes and classes.The Indian Right has managed to do this by exploiting and magnifying micro-level social conflicts that lie dormant in order to create a meta-level hierarchy and reinforce the hold of traditional power. It has led to a weakening of the resistance of lower end social

Faculty Development Programme on Revisiting Gandhi Today: Questions of Caste, Class, Gender, Religion and Environment (September 17-23, 2019)

Summary of all the sessions groups by fragmenting them and allowing intra-caste, intra-religious and intra-regional differences to articulate themselves in order to de-legitimise the resistance and mobility of vulnerable social groups that have so far benefited and accrued some social power. The Right negates the power of such groups in the name of justice and power to those even weaker and further neglected.

On violence in contemporary India, he emphasized that the normalization of violence is extremely disturbing. There is a need to understand the phenomenon of lynching that is taking place on everyday basis. He asserted that with silent consent for mob violence, society is outsourcing its guilt. In many instances, the people who perpetrate acts of violence actually become the silent recipients of collective gratitude. It is here that he foregrounded the significance of Gandhian method and principle of non-violence and Satyagraha in today’s times.

Session III

Resource person: Anand Kumar

(Professor, Academician, Thinker & Social Activist)

Topic: Gandhi and Nation Building

Report by: Dr. Gyanaranjan Swain (Ravenshaw University)

One of the Participant, Dr. Gyanaranjan Swain introduced Prof. Anand Kumar to the audience. He said Prof. Kumar is a well known speaker and is an authority on Gandhi. This was the third lecture programme after the post-lunch on the first day. The lecture was chaired by Dr. Sanjeev Kumar.

The third lecture of the Faculty Development Programme was delivered by Prof. Anand Kumar. He spoke on the theme Gandhi and Nation Building. In his speech, he argued that there is a misconception that Gandhi is an Universalist. Gandhi’s engagement with Nation begins with Hind Swaraj. The European idea of nation was problematic to Gandhi. But Gandhi’s vision of India as a nation was new and young idea. There are atleast seven debates

Faculty Development Programme on Revisiting Gandhi Today: Questions of Caste, Class, Gender, Religion and Environment (September 17-23, 2019)

Summary of all the sessions between Gandhi and his adversaries on how to rebuild India and to create a just India. Prof Kumar divided his lecture into three parts. First the idea of a nation, second, different discourses on Gandhi and nation building and third Gandhi and the quest for social justice.

There are four sides when we try to understand Gandhi’s idea of a nation. Politically speaking India has been moving towards unitary federalism. First, Gandhi gave importance to social questions. He raised the issue of Hindu-Muslim relations. He did not raise the issue of Communalism. Second question, he raised was the issue of untouchability. Third question he raised was anti-liqure movement in the society. Forth, Gandhi raised the question of women and its place in society. These four question are still now part of India’s nation building process. Gandhi argued that Kishan, Adivasis, Industrial workers and students need to be organised for nation building process. Still now, farmers are the strongest in terms of their number. But during election, they all get fragmented because of caste. India also had a glorious history in India’s Trade Union Movement. Adivasis have rejected the present model of development. Gandhi offered some programme of action for the youth of the county. In his vision of a nation, social questions were important. Gandhi also gave importance of Indian languages. Because of our fascination for English language, there is a huge division between English speaking and non English speaking people. Gandhi said Hindi should be our national language. A language can be a national language only if it is understood by all. We need a dedicated band of volunteers which are required for nation building process.

After working for 25 years, Gandhi concluded that Hindi should be the national language. South Indian states strongly resented the idea that Hindi should be our national language. Gandhi also said the capitalist class need to think about trusteeship. Gandhi created Ashrams to do his social experiments. Today also many ashrams are also involved in different constructive programmes. But unfortunately they are only limited to a type of work and they are not involved in a comprehensive idea of social transformation and nation building process.

Seven debates are connected with Gandhi. First, Gandhi had debate with Jinnah on the question of religion and politics can they go together. Second, Gandhi had debate with Savarkar. Who is a Hindu? Gandhi called himself a Sanatani Hindu. Third, Gandhi had debate with Communists with regard to violence and non-violence. Forth, Gandhi had debate

Faculty Development Programme on Revisiting Gandhi Today: Questions of Caste, Class, Gender, Religion and Environment (September 17-23, 2019)

Summary of all the sessions with Birla on the question of trusteeship. Fifth, Gandhi had debate with Jawaharlal Nehru. Nehru favoured modernism and use of machines. He requested Gandhi to revisit his ideas. Gandhi requested Nehru to publish his interactions with Nehru public. Gandhi had debate on caste with Ambedkar. Finally Gandhi had debate with socialists. He objected their ideas. First, Hindu and Muslim issues are ignored in socialist’s analysis. Socialists also did not speak about untouchability. Third, the need is production by the masses and not production for the masses. Forth, socialists did not address the issue of property rights and the need to think about maintaining a very ordinary life. These are the creative challenges for the intellectuals today. The biggest problem was that Gandhi was declared as Mahatma. Second, Gandhi was declared as the father of India. Third, Gandhi was killed by Nathuram without any debate. Today’s biggest challenge is how to create a non-violent and just nation.

After the lecture, the floor was open for discussion by the participants. Lot of questions were raised and Prof. Kumar delightfully addressed all the queries and questions. After the discussion, Dr. Sanjeev Kumar facilitated Prof. Kumar with a memento. The lecture ended with a vote of thanks by Dr. Gyanaranjan Swain.

Session IV

Resource Person: Dr. Nishikant Kolge (Associate Professor, Centre For the Study of Developing Societies, CSDS)

Topic: Gandhi and Caste

Report by: Dr. Satyendra Kumar Thakur (Zakir Husain Delhi College)

Session was started his session with questions regarding whether Gandhi was castist or abolisher of cast system?

Primary and secondary data say Gandhi was a castist but this is not absolute fact about Gandhiji. There are two group of scholars one say Gandhi tried to abolish caste system but say Gandhi wanted to Gandhi wanted to protect caste system in India. Literature, experiences, perceptions, discussion with Ambedkar announcing Nehru as his heir and making him Prime minister of Independent India in place of Sardar Patel, who was given

Faculty Development Programme on Revisiting Gandhi Today: Questions of Caste, Class, Gender, Religion and Environment (September 17-23, 2019)

Summary of all the sessions maximum votes to be Prime Minister Gandhi is perceived as leader who wanted to protect upper caste superiority.

Practice of Gandhiji never reveal that he was a castist as he started Ashram and allowed people from untouchable community live in it with all rights as people from upper caste enjoying in the ashram, even he argued with his elder sister; who nurtured him like mother after death of his mother as well he scolded and asked his wife Mam Kasturba Gandhi to leave ashram if she does not like these practice.

He was above any kind of discrimination in his practice whether it was relating to caste, religion, race ,and food, in responding to food enquiry by one of his English man , he said even i am a vegetarian i may offer beef to you if you want it , He also injected poison to Calf to kill, when it was suffering from severe pain , so he was a practical person in place of orthodox religious person.

He also supported inter-caste marriage, inter religion marriage, so I may summarise it that Gandhi was against of any kind of discrimination, like caste, class, religion, food extra.

2. Date: September 18, 2019

Sessions I

Resource Person: Chandrakala Padia

(Department of Political Science, Banaras Hindu University & former Chairperson, Indian Institute of Advanced Study,Shimla)

Title: Revisiting Gandhi: Search for a New Democratic Order

Report by: Hari Mohan Meena (Hansraj College)

The session started by Prof. Chandrakala about revisiting Gandhi and the his view over Indian democracy, Gandhi’s view of connecting rights to duties cannot be undervalued. Rather, his ideas are important and worth consideration. They seem essential for the prosperity and success of people’s government. His views regarding rights of citizens, besides proving their merit as per the standards set through various contemporary and modern

Faculty Development Programme on Revisiting Gandhi Today: Questions of Caste, Class, Gender, Religion and Environment (September 17-23, 2019)

Summary of all the sessions concepts related to them, are connected with morality. As democracy of Gandhi’s imagination is not possible without high morality, therefore, morality occupies the central place in it. Moreover, morality develops a sense of responsibility in human beings on the strength of which they go forward to protect, respect and honour the rights of each other. Even in democracy many times we observe great lack in protecting and honouring the rights of citizens. More care for rights of self and less for others is noticed. Consequently, state of violation of human rights emerges time and again. For, undoubtedly, democracy suffers; its way gets obstructed; Professor Chandrakala describe to mahatma gandhi’s view on Mahatma Gandhi's imagination of the democracy -fully encircled with non-violence -exists in no nation of the world as up to now. Democracy of his imagination happens to be one, which does not have any provision of punishment and even an organization like ‘State' happens to be obsolete in it. This is because Mahatma Gandhi holds, “State is symbolical of centralized and organized violence.” As non-violence is connected with human soul.

Professor Chandrakala explained very nicely about mahatma Gandhi that he has implemented the New Democratic order in Indian peoples with satyagraha, peaceful protest and non violence and how speak against British rule, her valuable lesson improved to all participants for revisiting Gandhi; according to Professor Chandrakala Mahatma gandhi want to improve self social transformation and then transform others peoples about our society. Professor Chandrakala gave important facts and examples about the Gandhian thinking; and after all she gave all answers of the questions which raised by participants, and every body has cognized and delicious by the speaker , at last our eminent speaker professor Chandrakala got a honour by coordinator of programme with a memorabilia, and this session was convincing with vote of thanks.

Session II

Resource Person: Neera Chandhoke

(Eminent Political Scientist & Former Head, Department of Political Science,

University of Delhi)

Title: Gandhi: Negotiating Violence

Faculty Development Programme on Revisiting Gandhi Today: Questions of Caste, Class, Gender, Religion and Environment (September 17-23, 2019)

Summary of all the sessions Report by: Praveen K Priyadarshi and Sanjay Kumar (Zakir Husain Delhi College (Evening))

Professor Neera Chandhoke set the background to her talk on Gandhi and the question of political violence with a detailed discussion on the relationship between state and violence. She asserted that Thomas Hobbes was the first political philosopher who was confronted with the question of political violence because he was writing in the wake of the revolution of 1648. The question was, why members of a society should follow rules rather than resorting to violence. Hobbes’ answer came in the form of his concept of the social contract. It is through social contract, he argued, that the people surrender their political autonomy to the state, which also has the monopoly over legitimate violence.

However, by the beginning of the 20th Century it was apparent that violence can coexist not only with the state, it can continue to exist even within a democratic state, argued Professor Chandhoke. Gandhi was confronted with the question of violence in this background. There were two more historical contexts in which Gandhi had to come up with a systematic response to the use of violence as a social and political instrument. First, following 1857 revolt, the brutality of retribution carried out by the British. This retribution made many Indians feel that retaliatory violence against the British was not unjustified. This argument made Gandhi uncomfortable. Second, a more immediate factor was the debates he had with India House Radicals, of which Savarkar was the leader. Madan Lal Dhingra, one of the members of the group also resorted to an assassination. These developments alarmed Gandhi. His response finally emerged in the form of his book Hind Swaraj. Gandhi argued that violence, as a method of politics is unjustified as well as self-defeating. It is unjustified because the act of violence is premised on the assertion that its perpetrator knows the ultimate truth. Gandhi argued that knowing that truth is nearly impossible, that quest to truth is a life long exercise. It is also subject to repeated revisions. Claim to final truth is unattainable, which makes violence unjustified. Further, violence is also self-defeating because the act of violence is a theatre in which common people are invited as audience, not as participants, not as the co-writers of their shared history. Gandhi asserted that this runs contrary to the most political ideals which humanity should seek to pursue.

Faculty Development Programme on Revisiting Gandhi Today: Questions of Caste, Class, Gender, Religion and Environment (September 17-23, 2019)

Summary of all the sessions Professor Chandhoke’s presentation evoked tremendous interest among the participants and it was followed by a lively discussion. The session came to an end with a vote of thanks to the speaker.

Session III

Resource Person: Dr. Anupam Jha

(Associate Professor, Campus Law Centre-II, Faculty of Law, University of Delhi, Delhi)

Title: Gandhij and Development Of Environmental Law

Report by: Dr. Rajeev Kamal Kumar (Division of Sociology & Social Anthropology,

(A N Sinha Institute of Social Studies, Patna)

The post lunch session (III) started with a formal introduction of the speaker Dr. Anupam Jha by the undersigned. Dr. Jha has completed LLM and Ph.D. in law from Faculty of Law, Delhi University and teaching as Lecturer, Law Center-II, Faculty of Law, University of Delhi from August 2003 till date. His main areas of interest are International Criminal Law, Law on Human Trafficking, International Terrorism and Law, Law on Renewable and Nuclear Energy. He has won awards and presented papers in national and international conferences. He has published a number of papers in the leading journals of law and edited volumes.

At the outset of his presentation on the topic “Gandhiji and Development of Environmental Law” Dr Jha emphasized the need for making law in the society- why law is important for the society?, why do we need the law?, what are the essential functions of law, etc. He underscored the point that if a law emanates from the society, it will become a good law, as it comes out of the need of the people. So first and foremost criteria of making any law are that a law should be from the society’s needs and not superimposed without any valid reason. He also mentioned about a few debates, such as modern life style and ecology, environment and

Faculty Development Programme on Revisiting Gandhi Today: Questions of Caste, Class, Gender, Religion and Environment (September 17-23, 2019)

Summary of all the sessions standard of living, etc. New laws are required with time due to change in life style and living standards of the people.

As he moves forward with his presentations, he outlined the contribution of Gandhi in evolving the need for environmental law. He said Gandhi was one of the first thinkers who talked about the environment. There was no parallel thinker, at least in contemporary India who talked so much on the issue. Much earlier Gandhi in 1929 has also suggested that ‘the earth has enough for everyone's need, but not enough for everyone's greed. Mother earth can fulfill the needs of everybody, but not the greed. He further mentioned the speech of our former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in Stockholm, where she borrowing the idea from M K Gandhi and emphasized the need for removal of poverty. Poverty is a greater polluter of the environment.

Gandhi has also talked about the role of women in environment conservation and said that women are traditional conservators and in the process of evolution as well men were the hunters; while women were gatherers. He talked about biomass and renewable energy for the use of human society. He also mentioned about the recent initiatives of the Government in launching a number of schemes and programmes and all these programs are inspired by the Gandhi’s thoughts. To name a few programmes launched by the central Govt. are MGNAREGA, Pradhan Mantri UjjawalaYojana, Lohiya Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, etc. He also cited Gandhi’s Talisman of benefitting the poorest of the poor, where he famously said that “whenever you are in doubt and when the self becomes too much with you, apply the following test: Recall the face of the poorest and weakest man you may have seen and ask yourself, if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him, will he gain anything from it……….”.

The speaker also cited various examples and case studies to illustrate his talk. He used the power point presentation and other AV technologies to put forth his contention before the audience. The participants found his talk very enriching, his presentation of facts, procedure and examples were very illustrative and understandable in thebest academicals environment. Dr. Jha’s presentation was so illustrious that it generated a debate towards the end of the session.

Faculty Development Programme on Revisiting Gandhi Today: Questions of Caste, Class, Gender, Religion and Environment (September 17-23, 2019)

Summary of all the sessions At the end of the lecture, a vote of thank was proposed by Dr. Rajeev Kamal Kumar, one of the participants of the FDP. The speaker was also felicitated by the coordinators of the FDP by presenting a memento to him.

Session IV

Resource Person: Mr. Sopan Joshi

(Eminent Gandhian and Writer)

Title: पराये को अपनाने का गाँधी का योग

Report by: Dr. Pradyumna Sethy (Kirorimal College) & Dr. Santosh Kumar (Saheeed Bhagat Singh College)

Gandhiji's life is simple and yet impactful. Therefore Einstein had once stated that it will be hard for future generation to believe that such a human being lived on earth.

It would be apt to describe Gandhiji's early life before being MAHATMA. He was a very shy child, hesitant to interact with friends and teachers. Still he managed to get through his school education. After the death of his father, he was advised to study law abroad to carry forward his father's legacy. He returned back to India after completing his studies from London and then started to practice the legal advocacy at Bombay where he struggled to establish himself as an advocate.

Realisation of women power:--

Sonia Schwerin (6 June 1888 – 6 January 1956) was a South African best known for her work with Mohandas Gandhi while he was living in South Africa. She used to ride a bicycle to visit Gandhi in the jail. The brave act of this lady impressed Gandhiji to persuade Kasturba ji to join the movement.

Faculty Development Programme on Revisiting Gandhi Today: Questions of Caste, Class, Gender, Religion and Environment (September 17-23, 2019)

Summary of all the sessions POLYGLOT GANDHI:-

Gandhiji could speak ten languages to interact with people from different parts of the country.

Physical assault:-

In September In September 1906, Gandhi organised the first Satyagraha campaign to protest against the Transvaal Asiatic ordinance that was constituted against the local Indians. Again in June 1907, he held Satyagraha against the Black Act. 7, Gandhi organised the first Satyagraha campaign to protest against the Transvaal Asiatic ordinance that was constituted against the local Indians. Again in June 1907, he held Satyagraha against the Black Act. 7.

During one of assaults, he was rescued by the white lady . This incident made Gandhi realise that this movement cannot be against race(white). The movement has to be against injustice.

Uncompromising Gandhiji:--

Although Gandhiji went through very bad phase of his life, but he didn't compromise on the values. Gandhiji's multifarious and dynamic personality was based on truth and nothing but the truth. Non – violence was another intrinsic element of this philosophy.

3. Date: September 19, 2019

Session I

Title: Library and Group Discussion

Session II

Resource Person: Gita Dharampal

(Professor and Dean of Research Gandhi Research Foundation, Jalgaon)

Faculty Development Programme on Revisiting Gandhi Today: Questions of Caste, Class, Gender, Religion and Environment (September 17-23, 2019)

Summary of all the sessions Title: Gandhi's Satyagraha: Its Significance and Relevance for Solving Modern

Predicaments

Report by: Dr. Asis Kumar Senapati (Ravenshaw University)

Dr. Asis Senapati introduced the speaker. In his introduction, Dr. Senapati briefed the participants about her scholarly achievements. In her speech, Prof. Dharampal said modern society and science has witnessed colonialism and exploitation of masses because of development of technology. Social and economic justice is rampant in the society. Mahatma Gandhi was a major critique of modern industry based civilisation. Condemnation of racism, rejection of political violence was some of his major criticisms. Gandhi’s campaign for Satyagraha was to empower the politically disadvantaged. 9/11 of 2001 and 9/11 of 2006 stand each other as opposite of each other. 9/11 of 2001 created a sense of insecurity, and created more room for authoritarianism in the world.

“The story of South Africa forms an extraordinary illustration of a contest which was won by a policy of doing no wrong, committing no violence, but simply enduring all the punishment the other side could inflict until they became weary and ashamed of punishing. A battle of the unaided human should against overwhelming material force, and it ends by the units of the material force usually deserting their own banners and coming round to the side of the soul” Gilbert Murray, January 1918

The historical and cultural implications of satyagraha are embedded in the cultural psyche. Satyagraha is not static and is dynamic and as a transformative force it is capable of solving modern problems. The idea of Satyagraha is rooted in the idea of Tapasya, Yagna and Sadhana. According to Gandhi, “I have merely given expression to the thoughts that were dormant within the hearts of the Indian People”. In Satyagraha Gandhi was toying with old Indian ideas of truth and non-violence. He estimated it as more powerful than violence. He was influenced by his upbringing, particularly his father’s moral courage, his wife’s dedication and will power to take hardship. Gandhi was fully aware of traditional practice of using non-violence as a means of political resistance. Real Swaraj is possible where

Faculty Development Programme on Revisiting Gandhi Today: Questions of Caste, Class, Gender, Religion and Environment (September 17-23, 2019)

Summary of all the sessions Satyagraha becomes the principle of resistance. Satyagraha was transformed from a moral right into a political strategy which can be used against exploitation. That is why Gandhi asserted that real Home Rule is possible only we follow the principles of Satyagraha.

Gandhi was able to revive to this old age tradition of Satyagraha. It was Gandhi’s close association with Gujurati Muslims and Tamil Muslims which inspired Gandhi to protest against injustice in South Africa. His throwing away from the train was described by Gandhi as the most creative night of his life. Gandhi’s efforts were to convince the whites apprehension that Asians would overthrow the South Africans. It was also a fight against the cultural prejudices that were practiced in South Africa at that point of time. Indeed the Islamic influence on Satyagraha as a political strategy is something not discussed much. Satyagraha: Active striving towards the attainment of truth. Jihad in Arabic means ‘Jaahidu’ which means “Struggle with one’s own conscience”, its inner, deeper meaning does not imply waging a physical war. In anarchical traits of Gandhi’s Satyagraha is always apprehended by the political establishment. “Mr. Gandhi is contending for principle which he regards as essential…….. there are few of us who would sacrifice everything in order to secure a theoretical and unavailable right. It is impossible not to admire the man, for it is evident that he recognizes no court of appeal except that his own conscience”. Lord Amptill, Former Governor of Madrass Presidency to General Smuts, August 10, 1909

Gandhi returned with his wife, Kasturba, to India after 21 years in South Africa. Within a short time of his arrival a dramatic change took place among the Indian People. Gandhi’s Satyagraha was deeply embedded in the cultural practices. Gandhi said “Let it be remembered that violence is the keystone of the Government edifice. Since violence is its sheet-anchor and its final refuse, it has rendered itself almost immune from violence on our side by having prepared itself to frustrate all violent effort by the people. We therefore co- operate with the Government in the most active manner when we resort to violence. Any violence on our part must be a token of our stupidity, ignorance and impotent rage. To exercise restraint under the gravest provocation is the truest mark of soldiership. The vireiest tyro in the art of war knows that he must avoid the ambushes of his adversary. And very provocation is a dangerous ambush into which we must resolutely refuse to walk.” Gandhi’s Satyagraha was able to demolish the non-legitimacy of British rule and hegemony. It weakened their conscience which was evident from some of the cartoons published by

Faculty Development Programme on Revisiting Gandhi Today: Questions of Caste, Class, Gender, Religion and Environment (September 17-23, 2019)

Summary of all the sessions western cartoons published around that time. For example, in one of the cartoons, Lord Willingdon is in a dilemma because after imprisoning Gandhi in Yeragada Jail, he found thousands of Gandhi behind him. The cartoon was by famous cartoonist Shankar.

With his satyagraha Campaign, he questioned conventional views and opened up new opportunities for discussing on the idea of justice and inequality. We should be inspired by Gandhi’s views of Satyagraha and its transformative potential to makes changes in the world.

After the lecture, the floor was open for discussion. Many participants asked questions like how to use techniques of satyagraha to the problems of terrorism. Many participants expressed their happiness on seeing the many unseen cartoons for describing Gandhian ideas like Satyagraha.

Session III

Resource Person: Prof. Aakash Singh Rathore

(Visiting professor of Philosophy at Jawaharlal Nehru University)

Title: Gandhi's Experiments and Ambedkar's Experiences

Report by: Dr. Gulgoona Jamal (Zakir Husain Delhi College)

The session started with a formal introduction of Prof. Aakash Singh Rathore who is an eminent political scientist and a philosopher of international repute. He has taught in several universities, like Jawaharlal Nehru University, University of Delhi, Universities of Rutgers, Pennsylvania, Toronto, Humboldt, Berlin, LUISS-Rome and O.P. Jindal University. He has to his credit several books and articles in reputed journals.

Prof. Rathore spoke about the two great leaders Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar around whom the speaker brilliantly wove a comparative study. While listening about Gandhi’s experiments and Ambedkar’s experiences, the audience can see that the speaker could put the perspectives of the two great men (each holding his own) without belittling either. Gandhiji tried to fight the evil of casteism by opening his heart and his ashrams for the Dalits, as he believed that Poorn Swaraj could not be attained without

Faculty Development Programme on Revisiting Gandhi Today: Questions of Caste, Class, Gender, Religion and Environment (September 17-23, 2019)

Summary of all the sessions emancipation of the Dalits and others at the periphery of society. But he was dismayed with the stiff resistance from society and even from his family. Ambedkar on the other hand having experienced casteism throughout his life called for “Satyagraha” against this evil at ‘Mahaar’, Maharashtra and asked for support from Gandhiji. To his utter chagrin, Gandhiji refused to support his movement as he said that Satyagraha was a weapon against the outside oppressors and not for fellow countrymen, thus, prompting Dr. Ambedkar to question Gandhiji about what he did for eradicating casteism.

Perhaps, Gandhiji having realized the pincer grip of casteism on the Indian society felt it unwise to open another battle front at the home turf while one front against the Britishers was already open. Since, the Indians had unified to a great extent on the front against British, opening another front that pitted fellow countrymen against each other would have weakened the resistance against British rule. Gandhiji might have proposed to take up the contentious issue of caste in Independent India, however, fate had decided otherwise.

Session IV

Resource Person: Prof. Anand Prakash

(Head Department of Psychology, & Dean, Humanities and Social sciences,

University of Delhi)

Title: Gandhi ke Dainik Upayok kee Vastuen: Ek Manovaigyaanik Sameeksha

Report by: Roshan Varghese V. (Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi)

There have been a lot of discussions on the socio-economic and political thought of Mahatma Gandhi, but little has been deliberated upon a significant element that helped Gandhi in mobilizing and empowering people. It is none other than the psychological element, which was the theme elaborated by Prof. Anand Prakash (Department of Psychology, Delhi University) in a talk on the topic of "Daily Use Items of Gandhi: A Psychological Analysis".

According to Prof. Anand Prakash, Gandhi successfully employed psychological element in setting the mindset of the rural masses that eventually led to Indian independence. Objects

Faculty Development Programme on Revisiting Gandhi Today: Questions of Caste, Class, Gender, Religion and Environment (September 17-23, 2019)

Summary of all the sessions and symbols used by Gandhi had a profound influence on the people in India ever since he immersed in the freedom movement. During the time of freedom movement, the overwhelming majority of people in India were illiterate and they were not in a position to comprehend the highly intellectual discourses on the political terms such as freedom, self- rule, self-reliance, etc. Therefore, in order to connect with people and pitch them against the British Raj , Gandhi chose certain objects that were easily available in India and then he imparted them particular meanings seemed to be appealing to people. According to Prof. Anand Prakash, Gandhi successfully made objects of daily use of common people as a symbol of national importance and eventually, Gandhi himself became a global icon who everyone can relate to.

Gandhi’s experiment with Charkha , or the spinning wheel, transformed it into the symbol of Swadeshi (self-sufficiency) and Swaraj (self-rule). Gandhi also envisioned Charkha as a symbol of interdependence as it connected cotton growers, weavers, distributors, and customers so that he could propagate the message of a feeling of oneness among all walks of people in India. For Gandhi, Khadi was the symbol of economic empowerment and simplicity of Indian people.

Gandhi was a critic of the slogan, “End Justifies Means”, and staunchly believed that end and means are convertible terms and both should be oriented towards truth and nonviolence. He introduced toppi (Gandhi Cap) as the symbol of truth and nonviolence, and throughout the freedom movement, he taught his disciples about how to be a true Satyagrahi . The enduring impact of Gandhi is very much in our psyche, as we cannot see the spectacles of Gandhi without conceiving the idea of Swachchata (Cleanliness). In this manner, Gandhi had imparted special meanings to the objects of everyday use in life and popularized them that played a major role in unifying and empowering people.

It is interesting to learn how Gandhi himself made compatible with common people in India. It was through regular fasting and shaping a skinny body, wearing nothing but a loincloth, and sitting on bare-floor Gandhi conveyed a message to the people that he was one among them. Possessions of a person define his/her character. Personal belongings of Gandhi were his spectacles, stick, spinning wheel, and sandals showed that he was a humble man who led a simple life. While stating “My life is my message" Gandhi

Faculty Development Programme on Revisiting Gandhi Today: Questions of Caste, Class, Gender, Religion and Environment (September 17-23, 2019)

Summary of all the sessions appealed to the people who loved them very much to emulate his examples of simplicity, truth and nonviolence in their day to day life. In such a manner Mahatma Gandhi became a global icon of the ideals that he stood for.

4. Date: September 20, 2019

Sessions I & II

Resource Person: Prof. Bindu Puri

(Chairperson ,Centre for Philosophy, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal

Nehru University)

Title: Session 1: Philosophical Continuities between Tradition and Modernity Gandhi on the Yama/Niyam Swaraj and Satyagraha

Session 2: Negotiating differences in a Gandhian way: ahimsa love

compassion and the gift of fearlessness

Session I Report by : Dr. Gajanan A. Aghalte and Dr. Ravindra S. Matte (Lokmanya Tilak College, Wani, Dist.: Yavatmal)

Prof. Bindu Puri from philosophy department of JNU, Delhi was the only speaker who got the chance of two adjacent lectures and sufficiently more time to share her ideas among the participants. Hence I have taken a chance to express intermediate expectations on behalf of the participant faculty and speaker for making fruitful and constructive discussion. After that, I have requested Prof. Bindu Puri for sharing

During the session, she focused on the Yam and Niyam, the base of the Satyagraha. She also explain the 5 Yam and 5 Niyam. The gist of the lecture is that we should control our Desire. We have to control our unwanted expectations. If it happens, it is the real freedom i.e. Swaraj. Swa means Self and Raj means Control. Our body should do only those work that we

Faculty Development Programme on Revisiting Gandhi Today: Questions of Caste, Class, Gender, Religion and Environment (September 17-23, 2019)

Summary of all the sessions want for the Welfare of others. In this way she enlighten us for Negotiating differences in a Gandhian way. The session ended with vote of thanks by Dr. Ravindra S. Matte.

Session II Report by : Dr. Debapriya Parida (Hinjilicut Science College Berhampur University, Odisha)

Gandhi’s experiment with diet, aparigraha are very relevant for today world. Pluralism and difference are the principles of modern world and we need to address these, we need Gandhian principles. Pluralism is the consequence of liberalism. In his essay Enlightenment, Kant argues that freedom is essential to be enlightened. The most important thing about Gandhian Legacy is about Ahimsa. Gandhi’s response is different from liberal tolerance and violent way of responding to the situation. The lecture is divided into three parts. First, Ahimsa, love, compassion, second, Ahimsa and Satya and to tolerate and honor and Gandhi’s position on this and how liberals respond to this.

Gandhi’s alternative was Ahimsa and love and compassion. For Gandhi, Ahimsa means Swabhab and Kinship, Satya. Gandhi was no stranger to conflict. Gandhi encountered three kinds of conflicts. They are Racial, colonial and religious. Gandhi used to convey his understanding and owning himself. In 1926, Gandhi spoke about Swabhab. Gandhi was worried about obligation for others. We need to treat others as part of our own family. Ahimsa should be followed when we meet a stranger or thief. Gandhi means non-passionate ways of love and affection. Brahmacharya was central to Gandhi’s life. Gandhi derived inspiration from Patanjali. He deserves in the presence of love. Patanjali inspired him to define love as transformative. Jain religion’s idea about compassion inspired Gandhi. Abhayadan is one of the pre-requisites of religion. Feeling compassionate towards others involves empathy. Gift of fearlessness. Forget and forgive are the two distinctive features of Gandhi’s idea of fearlessness. The way to do passive resistance is full of active love. So Gandhi says, humility is central to human character. Gandhi also spoke about egolessness and how it connected with Swaraj. Self rule is a state of moral self rule. Gift of fearlessness is the ability to forget and ability to forgive. Resistance must have full of love and compassion. Positive resistance is the act of love.

Faculty Development Programme on Revisiting Gandhi Today: Questions of Caste, Class, Gender, Religion and Environment (September 17-23, 2019)

Summary of all the sessions Gandhi argued that to arrive at truth, we need to be involved in the act of Ahimsa. Gandhi argued that when faced with hostility, we need to be courageous enough to suffer pain. Instead of giving pain to others, for Gandhi, means and ends are same. When Gandhi was confronted with lot of ideas in India House in London, Gandhi wrote Hind Swaraj as a reaction to the kind of ideologies he encountered. Ahimsa according to Gandhi is complete Egolessness. We have to defer (Respect) for other people’s opinion. Then only we can achieve non-violence. Liberalism argues that we have to respect to other people’s opinion because in the interest of securing a just and peaceful society, we need to move in that direction. Liberal arguments are position of uncertainty or scepticism towards truth. According to Mill, people must tolerate because we might be wrong and conflict arises due to the believe of own faith. Locke in 1667, religious arguments are speculative or private affair. Liberals do believe in religion but their level of tolerance is high. But Gandhi argues that reason cannot be external to the human beings. We need to respect and defer the other views because they are part of human understanding. Gandhi is more Kantian in that sense.

Liberal arguments cannot be applied to religion. Mill argues that tolerance is justified that human beings can sometimes be wrong. But religious arguments do not go in that direction. Faithful people. Locke argues that religious arguments are purely speculative in nature. Religion is a private affair. It has no consequence for Individual’s relationship with public. Gandhi was not interested in these arguments. His views on religion and morality was integral to human beings. Human beings derive their presence and inspiration from religion. So religion according to Gandhi is very much public. So Gandhi’s public life is deeply spiritual. We need to derive moral sensibilities from religious discourses.

Session III

Resource Person: Dr. Dilip Simeon

(Labour historian and Public intellectual)

Title: Satyagraha: compass for an ideological age

Faculty Development Programme on Revisiting Gandhi Today: Questions of Caste, Class, Gender, Religion and Environment (September 17-23, 2019)

Summary of all the sessions Report by : Dr. Ram Singh Purty (Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, New Delhi)

The session started with a formal introduction of the speaker Dr. Dilip Simeon. He is a well known historian and peace activist. In 1974, he joined the History Department of Ramjas College, where he taught until 1994. He is presently the chairperson of the Aman Charitable Trust, which works to understand and reduce violent social conflict.

The speaker divided his talk into three different parts. In the first section, he focused on religion and politics where he highlighted Gandhi’s position on the relationship between religion and politics. He explained that for Gandhi religion is the source of ethic and philosophical wisdom. He went on comparing Gandhi’s view with the present government views on religion and politics. He described the advantages and disadvantages of any particular religion as civil religion. In the second section of his talk, he explained Gandhi’s view on communalism. He discussed how the politicians played a villainous role in creating serious communal situations in India. He says politics was at the root of painful division of India in 1947 in the name of a particular religious community. Even after the division, several riots have taken place in which the involvement of political parties or their supporters have been noticed. He warned that these practices are still continued and the country is bearing heavy loss because of it. In the last section, he discussed Gandhi’s view on caste He explains that Gandhi’s views on the caste system can be understood by exploring his personal practices and by studying how community life was organized in Gandhi’s ashrams, since the way of life in these ashrams reflects his philosophy of life.

At the end the speaker displayed few books on Gandhi’s view on religion and caste written by various authors followed by conclusion of the session with vote of thanks and felicitation to the speaker Dr. Dilip Simeon by the participant Dr. Devyani Muley.

Session IV

Resource Person: Prof. Girishwar Misra

(Ex Vice Chancellor, Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi

Vishwavidyalaya,Wardha (Mahaaraashtra) & Ex Head, Dept of Psychology, University of Delhi)

Faculty Development Programme on Revisiting Gandhi Today: Questions of Caste, Class, Gender, Religion and Environment (September 17-23, 2019)

Summary of all the sessions Title: Gandhi ka Bharat

Report by : Nisha Jaiswal & Mrs. Deepak Kalia (Zakir Husain Delhi College)

Prof Girishwar Misra Ex Vice Chancellor of Indira Gandhi Antarashtriya Hindi Viswawidayalaya was the speaker of the session on the topic “Gandhik ka Bharat”. He spoke on Gandhi’s Bharat based on Satya, Ahimsa, Asteya, Aparigrah ,Brahamcharya, Swablamaban and Self control. The picture of such a Bharat is mentioned in his book Hind Swaraj. Prof Misra also explained how Gandhi ji was inspired by “SrimadBhagawadgita”. Nishkam karma yoga is the keypoint of his thought. He also explained that meaning of swaraj asself control.

He emphasized the importance of physical work . He himself used to walk almost 18 kms everyday. For him all religions were equally important. Prayers of all religions were held in his ashram everyday. He didn’t want to follow the western model of development. For him development of villages was important. He advocated autonomy of villages. He gave importance to cleanliness. He emphasized character building. He reiterated that education system which does not build character is futile. He himself kept changing himself for the better throughout his life. In fact, he used to say that if you find contradiction in two statements made by me, consider the later one as correct.

Gandhi ji emphasized the importance of nature and its conservation. He said that the nature has enough for everybody’s need but not for their greed thus emphasizing on minimalistic living.

Prof. Misra presented “Gandhi ka Bharat”in a very interesting, simple and lucid language. It was indeed a very inspiring ad mesmerising talk.

5. Date: September 21, 2019

Session I

Resource Person: Dr. Chaitra Redkar

(Associate Professor , Department of Political Science , SNDT Women’s

Faculty Development Programme on Revisiting Gandhi Today: Questions of Caste, Class, Gender, Religion and Environment (September 17-23, 2019)

Summary of all the sessions University, Mumbai)

Title: J. C. Kumarappa and Gandhian Critique of Capitalism

Report by : Dr. Bharti (Shyam Lal College(Evening)) & Dr. Jeetendra Aggarwal (Shivaji College)

Dr. Chetra Redkar delivered a comprehensive lecture on J.C. Kumarappa and Gandhian Critique of Capitalism.The first part of her lecture briefly discussed aboutKumarappa’s lifewho was referred to as Gandhian Economist in the literature. He was born in the year 1892 and passed away in 1960. She cited the importance of the year 1960 in the sense that Kumarappa was there and very active in writing even after Gandhi’s assassination in 1948. But when we talk about Gandhian economics and Gandhism, we hardly remember this name. On his birth centenary year in 1992, Prof. Ram Chandra Guha came up with an interesting article for Green Gandhi where he mentions about J.C. Kumarappa. After that J.C. Kumarrapa was presented as Green Gandhian by many scholars.

The following important questions were raised by the speaker regarding J.C. Kumarappa:

(a) Why Kumarappa remained in the dark for such a long time though he was there till 1960? (b) Why in 1960 also, nobody mentions about him? (c) Why in the later period about 30 years after his death in 1960, no one mention about this personality?

Prof.Chetra did extensive research to answer the above questions along with the contribution made by J.C. Kumarappa. Kumarappa was Chartered Accountant by training. He got his degree from Britain and returned to Mumbai in 1920’s and started his firm called `Cornelius & Davar. Again, in 1928, he went to the United States to pursue his higher studies,where he enrolled himself as a student of M.A. economics and simultaneously did a course in business administration. His thesis, "Public Finance and our (Indian) Poverty" changed him from an European loyalist to a committed Indian nationalist. He returned to India in 1929 to continue his auditing work. In the meantime, he was looking for a chance to publish the story of how the British were exploiting India through their taxation policy.

Faculty Development Programme on Revisiting Gandhi Today: Questions of Caste, Class, Gender, Religion and Environment (September 17-23, 2019)

Summary of all the sessions Prof. Chaitra described the story of historical meeting of J.C. Kumarrapa with Gandhiji in a very articulate manner. After knowing the exceptional capabilities of J.C. Kumarappa, Gandhi ji assigned him the work of conducted an economic survey at a village of Gujarat. The survey became a classic, under the title, 'A Survey of Matar Taluka in Kheda District'.After getting influenced by Mahatma Gandhi, he left his lucrative practice in Mumbai and joined Gujarat Vidyapith as Professor of economics in 1930’s, the time when Gandhi had started his Salt Satyagraha . The Gandhi went on to assigning him lots of such studies regarding public finance, taxation patterns etc. In 1930’s, Gandhi wanted to start his experiment in rural industrialization. J.C. Kumarappa was appointed as the organising secretary of All India Village Industries Association (AIVIA). He was the one who actually laid the foundation stone of Gandhian economics. From the year 1935-36, the entire activity of AIVIA was planned by J.C. Kumarappa. He developed various experiments of rural technologies, and helped others to reorganise village industries all over the country. There he edited a monthly journal, ''Gram UdyogPatrika" and wrote a book, '' Why the village movement?'' for AIVIA. He also conducted surveys for central provinces where he collected information about the rural industries which existed in the pre-British period. There were two thick volumes of the reports that he submitted to the Govt. of Central Provinces. He was also the part of National Planning Committee. He was associated with number of Congress led organisations as wellas Gandhian organisations throughout that period starting from the year 1930 to 1948.

What happens after the year 1948 is something which is very interesting and crucial, when we actually want to understand Gandhi and Gandhism. There were multiple interpretations of Gandhian ideas which came after the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. Leaders like Vinobha Bhave, Virender Majumdar, Shankar Rao Deshmukh, J.C. Kumarrapa who were trying to interpret ideas of Mahatma Gandhi according to the new challenges that had emerged immediately after the independence.

Kumarappa worked for the Planning Commission of India and the Indian National Congress to develop national policies for agriculture and rural development. He also visited communist countries like China, Russia and East European countries to study their rural economic systems . This association with communist organisations and his efforts to incorporate some of the Mao’s ideas in to the Gandhism, it was found that there is

Faculty Development Programme on Revisiting Gandhi Today: Questions of Caste, Class, Gender, Religion and Environment (September 17-23, 2019)

Summary of all the sessions disgreement among the Gandhian circles, because they don’t want communism to influence Gandhism. He also organised World Peace Convention at Wardha.

As a result, Kumarrapa was sidelined and marginalised by the later Gandhians. For any researcher, Kumarrapa provides very interesting standpoint. He was insider as well outsider. He was insider being part of the Gandhian movement. Gandhi always supported Kumarappa whenever there is a difference of opinion with other Gandhians.

The remaining part of the lecture was focused on his approach to Gandhism and what he was trying to do with Gandhian philosophy. In the writings of Kumarappa, analysis of Indian economy in the pre-British period was highlighted. He describes this phase as a pre-capitalist phase i.e. there was no prevalence of money economy. Though we had international trade (20 %) before pre-British period, our local markets were quite stable. To analyse this phenomena, he provides some data that in this phase the local markets were not connected with international trade. Local markets were flourishing with Barter system.The village industries such as spinning, weaving, carpentry, blacksmithy, pottery etc. flourished according to the needs of the people. Money was used only whenever and wherever necessary. In those days village economy was self-sufficient, self-reliant and decentralized in production and distribution. The money was used for international trade and not so much for the domestic market. Therefore there is some kind of stability and the autonomy which the local markets were enjoying. All this international trade we actually put throughwas with the cottage industries. We didn’t have mechanized industries over here. Despite having hand made production, we were able to produce in surplus. So, if the economy is organised in this way, where the handmade industries, small scale industries, rural industries are given primacy in the entire economy, it is not impossible that we won’t be able to generate surplus. The entire charge that goes against Gandhian economic ideathat this is the economics of poverty. What Gandhibasically tried to do that is to glorify poverty. In Kumarappa, we find that he diffuse that argument by citing that we had that much of share in the international market because rural industry is producing in surplus. But that didn’t affect our local markets because we have delink with international markets. So he comes with critique of money economy. Actually when money comes in the center stage of economic activities, the value of the commodity becomes deceptive.

Faculty Development Programme on Revisiting Gandhi Today: Questions of Caste, Class, Gender, Religion and Environment (September 17-23, 2019)

Summary of all the sessions Dr. Chaitra raised very interesting question out of the above discussion that whether we can reduce the dominance of money economy ? Of course we can’t move back to Barter system, but when money comes in to the center stage of the economy and when the integration of market is considered as the only way for modernisation or economic development, here is a trained economist (J.C. Kummarappa) who is telling us that there is something wrong in this. Because it is affecting the way we look at value of anything that we are using, selling and manufacturing. So, the interesting thing that we find in Kumarappa is that he is a critique of money economy.

Since independence in 1947, we are progressing due to our constant efforts such as Five Year Plans. We follow a polity of development and growth to become a developed nation. We are following the path of developed nations. The transport/large-scale industries, science and technology etc. are developing. We have commercialized every field of our life. Money has become the dominating and deciding factor. The results are urbanization, mechanization, industrialization, consumerism and centralization. We have accepted the policies of globalization, liberalization and privatization. We are able to compete with many countries in the field of science and technology. Our technological human resources are excellent when compared with many developing nations. But there is another side of the development. That may be called the dark side of modern economic development. We have many growing problems such as ever increasing unemployment, deep rooted poverty, powerful and potential black money and corrupt political system. Our villages are slowly but steadily exploited and destroyed.Out of the total population, majority are living in rural areas. In spite of all our efforts, most of our villages are not having basic amenities, medical facilities, education, electricity, drinking water, communication and transport facilities. It is against this background that we look upon Kumarappa for guidance to overcome the problems.

Kumarappa has been a Gandhian visionary and he has always been thinking for the establishment of Indian society which will be sustainable in the future. Decentralization of production and distribution is the only means to have 'Economy of Permanence.' Now it is our responsibility to think about the dynamic ideas of J.C. Kumarappa and try to implement them.

Faculty Development Programme on Revisiting Gandhi Today: Questions of Caste, Class, Gender, Religion and Environment (September 17-23, 2019)

Summary of all the sessions

Session II

Resource Person: Prof. John Moolakkattu

(Department of International Relations & Politics, Central University of Kerala)

Title: Gandhi and Environment

Report by : Dr. Devayani Muley and Dr. Savindra Kumar (Zakir Husain Delhi College)

September 21, 2019 second session started with welcoming Prof. Moolakkattu, by Dr. Devayani Muley. Prof. Moolakkattu, delivered an excellent lecture covering an important topic namely Gandhi and Environment which we have tried to summarize in the following points.

Prof. Moolakkattu started his lecture with the term Ecology, Environment and environmentalist, he mentioned Gandhi as radical environmentalist. Industrialization has unlimited growth but with limited resources. For sustainability, agranian economy is about conserving resources, and the concept is to value the resources. He explained why humans have a limit and beyond which we cannot grow by giving an example of a book entitled “Small is Beautiful: A Study of Economics as if People Mattered ” one of the most influential book after world war II written by E. F. Schumacher. He also explained nicely why quality of life is more important than quantity of life. Prof. Moolakkattu discussed that even though term like environment, ecology, and sustainable development were absent from Gandhi life but his lifestyle is actually had all these. He also mentioned that Gandhiji condemn modern civilization, industrialization, and urbanization in his book “ Hind Swaraj” which he wrote during his Journey from London to South Africa by using only ship’s stationary. Gandhi’s thought of “ Need vs Greed” was also discussed during the lecture. He beautifully explained the same Gandhian idealogy for optimum, reuse and recovery.

● Prof. Moolakkattu also put some light on various environment related movement which were influenced by Gandhian ideology. e.g. Chilika lake movement, Silent Valley movement etc. He also emphasized the impact of Gandhi’s life on many

Faculty Development Programme on Revisiting Gandhi Today: Questions of Caste, Class, Gender, Religion and Environment (September 17-23, 2019)

Summary of all the sessions other active environmentalist such as Sundarlal Bahuguna, Chandiprashad Bhatt, Gaura Devi, Meera Ban, Baba Aamte and Megha Patekar. After this Gandhi’s view on Gram Panchayat, Gram Sabha, District and block panchayat were also discussed in detailed. Gandhiji was a strong supporter of the point that locality should be control by local people and by local resources. Gandhi was a true naturalist and he had a very soft corner for domestic animal. However, he never gets fascinated about wild animal. Gandhiji had fear of snake and ghost but he never felt sea sickness. During the lecture Prof. Moolakkattu mentioned that Gandhiji was follower of simplicity, vegetarian, recycling, naturopathy but he was neutral on Forest satyagraha. Gandhiji never through anything outside his Aashram. Gandhiji personified the cow as a symbol of ecology. Gandhiji lived in low cost mud house to promote simplicity. Gandhiji was totally against misuse and overuse of resources by European countries. Many times Gandhiji had only uncooked food so that he can set an example to free women from the kitchen. Gandhiji was also against Monkey or street dog feeding, selling of liquor and mercy killing. Prof. Moolakkattu also put some light on Gandhi’s thinking about practical botany, role of Himalayas in climatic control in north India. He also mentioned importance of good sanitation in the environment by giving example of cat’s covering of her excreta by soil. Gandhiji always belived that tribal communities of India are natural environmentalist. In last Prof. Moolakkattu marked Gandhiji had passion for humans and humanity and ecological sensitivity.

After the lecture there a long session of discussion in which Prof. Moolakkattu very calmly tried to answer all the queries of audience. Session was ended with vote of thanks by Dr. Devayani Muley and felicitation by Dr. Savindra Kumar and great round of applause.

Session III

Resource Person: Prof. Ashok Acharya

(Department of Political Science, University of Delhi & Director Centre for

Ethis, Politics and Global Affairs, New Delhi)

Title: Gandhi, Kant and the Cosmopolitan Vision

Faculty Development Programme on Revisiting Gandhi Today: Questions of Caste, Class, Gender, Religion and Environment (September 17-23, 2019)

Summary of all the sessions

Report by : Vivek Ratna (Dyal Singh College) and Bhupender (Zakir Husain Delhi College)

Prof. Ashok Acharya presented on the topic "Gandhi, Kant and the Cosmopolitan Vision". In his presentation he outlined the cosmopolitan vision of Gandhi and Kant. And also, he made distinction between cosmopolitanism of Gandhi and Kant. According to Prof Acharya, derived from cosmos, the cosmos or the universe, cosmopolitanism from the beginning had a global remit. The claim of universalism has however to be much more than the western notion of 'universality' which means we need to engage with its plural origins. Cosmopolitans, inspired by Kant, share the conviction that, given the fundamental moral equality of persons, the egalitarian principles liberal adopt to assess domestic distributions of liberties, opportunities, and economic goods should apply to the the world at large. Whereas Gandhi's thought was against the colonial backdrop. Gandhi's nationalism was nationalism with a humanist face. Gandhi was critique of western modernity and modern state. But at the same time he was ready to accept all good things from all over the civilizations of the world. Gandhi's inter-civilization discourse to tame violence and the cosmopolitan conversations was remarkable.

Religion and politics are intimately blended in Gandhi. For Gandhi, religion was the realization of truth before anything else and politics was a way to live in and for this truth. Gandhi's ethical imperative brings him closer to Kant, or places him somewhat within the Kantian tradition if political philosophy.

To conclude, Gandhi's cosmopolitanism has uniqueness. Unlike many contemporary cosmopolitans, he would be wary of cross-cultural adventures, and his cosmopolitanism was rooted in a cultural societal setting. In fact, Gandhi's cosmopolitan vision was aimed at aspiring toward alternative norm-setting toward alternative norm setting with a global reach.

Faculty Development Programme on Revisiting Gandhi Today: Questions of Caste, Class, Gender, Religion and Environment (September 17-23, 2019)

Summary of all the sessions Session IV

Resource Person: Dr. Gyan Prakash

(Department of Environmental Studies, University of Delhi)

Title: Environmental Sustainability

Report by : Dr. Tabassum Jehan & Dr. Sunil Kumar (Zakir Husain Delhi College)

The session started with a formal introduction of the speaker Dr. Gyan Prakash Sharma. He is Professor in Department of Environmental Studies, University of Delhi. He has his early education in Allahabad University and did his Ph.D. from Banaras Hindu University. His main area of research includes ecology of invasive species and habitat fragmentation.

Dr. Gyan Prakash started his talk with reference to Gandhi’s thought ‘The Earth has enough for everyone’s need but not for everyone’s greed’. This in true essence is being sustainable. He gave stress that sustainable development is not a new concept and is ingrained in our history itself. Time and again great visionary persons have warned us against such exploitative use of resources. Rabindranath Tagore in his literary work ‘Muktdhara’ had unveiled the environmental issues, Dr. Bhupen Hazarika in 1930’s by his song ‘Ganga bahati ho kyun’ described the plight of the great river due to its unthoughtful exploitation. But still we continued to use the resources so rampantly that now we face grave affects. In the mad rush of development, we forgot that development always comes at a cost. For example, Metro construction in Delhi has no doubt made commuting much easier but in the areas of metro construction, water level has gone drastically down and they are facing severe water crisis. Due to our drastically changed lifestyle in last 100 years, we have changed the state of environment drastically. The levels of pollution, CO 2 content in the atmosphere and average global temperatures have gone up significantly. He beautifully related our traditional practices and believes to sustainability. He emphasized that it is high time that we plan everything sustainably and Re-Think!!

Faculty Development Programme on Revisiting Gandhi Today: Questions of Caste, Class, Gender, Religion and Environment (September 17-23, 2019)

Summary of all the sessions 6. Date: September 23, 2019

Session I

Resource Person: Prof. Sangit Ragi

(Department of Political Science, University of Delhi)

Title: Gandhi and RSS

Report by : Dr. Maneesha Roy (Gargi College) & Yasir Ashraf (Bharathiar University Coimbatore)

In his illuminating and thought provoking lecture on Gandhi and RSS, Prof. Ragi has tried to connect the dots that have been left by mainstream historians particularly of the left. Prof. Ragi claimed thatit is indeed ironic that those whose actions and policies are in direct opposition to the Mahatma’s life and legacy, who rely on falsehood and violence as a political weapon, seek to use his name insincerely for narrow political gains.

Like with most aspects of the Sangh, when it comes to the RSS’s relationship with Gandhiji people often make presumptions without the requisite examination of historical facts. Even so-called scholars rarely attempt a holistic study of the subject. He claimed that no one has read the original works of Guru Golwalkar, He emphasised that people allege that RSS wants to convert India into a Hindu Rastra, however, the RSS’S response is an emphatic NO. RSS asserts that India IS A HINDU RASHTRA. It was Savarkar of Hindu MahaSabha who wanted India to be a theocratic Hindu state not the RSS. Prof. Ragi emphasises the need for careful examination of the material available on Gandhi’s relationship with the Sangh.

Talking about the convergences and divergence both in RSS and Gandhian world view, he explained how the RSS has always admired Gandhi’s efforts to broaden the public support for Bharat’s freedom struggle through simple means like the charkha and satyagraha and considered this as his greatness. If one understands Gandhiji’s insistence on constructive programmes like gram swaraj, swadeshi, cow protection and the abolition of untouchability, his affinity and perseverance for the eternal Hindu thought is undeniable.

Faculty Development Programme on Revisiting Gandhi Today: Questions of Caste, Class, Gender, Religion and Environment (September 17-23, 2019)

Summary of all the sessions He says RSS clearly defines the principles of Indian Nationalism, that says a) India is an ancient nation, b) India is a Hindu Rashtra) ours is a chosen divine land. RSS’s theory of nationalism has a resemble with personality theory of nationalism, that says every nation has an unique personality which RSS called “chitti”. It further expels that nation’s not merely a geopolitical unit but a divine mother “bhartamata” like durga as invoked by Bankim. For Gandhi too this understanding of India as an ancient civilization with its own civilizational ethos was underscored. Both Gandhi and RSS reject the western territorial notion of nationalism. They both were against religious conversion. Gandhi’s response to Christian missionaries attempt at conversions in a spiritual manner. The RSS on the other hand confronts them directly and response to political Islam and political Christianity.

On the issue of cow protection there was a convergence too, both RSS and Gandhi want state protection for the cow. RSS wants Hindu consolidation. He also claimed that the Sangh has kept Gandhiji’s ideals alive through its work on rural development, organic farming, cow conservation and protection, social equality and harmony, imparting education in one’s own language and swadeshi economy and simple lifestyle and shall continue to do so. That is more than can be said for those who talk about Gandhi only during election campaigns.

This year is the 150th birth anniversary of Gandhiji andwe humbly pay tribute to his memory.

Session II

Resource Person: Dr. Ram Chandra Pradhan

(Institute of Gandhian Studies, Wardha)

Title: Swaraj in the light of Gandhi’s Life and work

Report by : Report by: Dr. Sailesh Kumar (Ramjas College) & Chandan Kumar (Patlipura University)

One of the participants Dr. Shailesh Kumar Diwakar introduced Prof. Ramachandra Pradhan. The speaker acquainted the participants on several research problems with Gandhian ideas. There are many camps based on Gandhian some oppose Gandhi and some support. There are

Faculty Development Programme on Revisiting Gandhi Today: Questions of Caste, Class, Gender, Religion and Environment (September 17-23, 2019)

Summary of all the sessions several problems in the research on Gandhi one of such are self plagiarism. A researcher need to break it. We need to discuss how to spread Gandhian principles across the society beyond its boundary. There are many western scholars who also have discussed the idea of self. The Gandhian concept of self is different from western idea of the self. Indian notion of self is based on five thousand years of tradition.

Dr. Pradhan expressed that people often pose questions on Gandhi’s relations with Dr. Ambedkar, Bhagat Singh and Zinnah. The answer to this questions is that all these new leaders were not antagonistic to Gandhis views in politics except in the context time. Gandhi was instrumental in making Ambedkar as the chairman of the Constitution drafting committee. According to Prof. Pradhan, both Gandhi and Ambedkar has mutual admiration for each other. Even Ambedkar spoke about salt tax creating a fund in the name of Gandhi for social reconstruction. Similarly, research needs to be done what Gandhi did with Bhagat Singh and his destiny with hanging. Appropriate research needs to be done on this issue. Even Subhas Chandra Bose wrote a letter to Gandhi on the death of Kasturba which everyone needs to read. Another question comes to our mind, what role did Gandhi play in partition? Why Gandhi choose Nehru as his political heir. Why most of Gandhi’s disciples rejected Gandhi’s ideas. Prof. Pradhan urges the young scholars to do research on these emerging themes.

Gandhi’s views on Swaraj need specific attention. It is a bundle of contradiction. We need to do research on this. Prof. Ramachandra Pradhan argues that we need to look at the context before we examine any specific idea. Gandhi spoke about two swaraj. Inner Swaraj and outer Swaraj. While in South Africa, Gandhi raised many theological questions. In 1906, Gandhi encountered with the idea of satyagraha. Without attaining inner Swaraj, no one can attain political swaraj. He wrote a small write up on who is Ram? Ram is a mere name. Ram Rajya means a society free from exploitation, grass root governance and decentralised economic model. Hence Gandhi’s Swaraj encompassed many ideas which he spoke from time to time. Gandhi made it explicitly clear what Poorna Swaraj means. We need to focus on the basic needs of the human beings. Swaraj needs to focus on this aspect of a human being.. Gandhi was also opposed Avatarbad or incarnation of God.

Faculty Development Programme on Revisiting Gandhi Today: Questions of Caste, Class, Gender, Religion and Environment (September 17-23, 2019)

Summary of all the sessions After the session, participants asked many questions like why Nehru was made the interim prime minister? Dr. Pradhan replied: Gandhi wanted Jinnah to be the Prime Minister of India. But Congress did not agree with such a proposal Prof. Pradhan replied the several such uncomfortable questions in History of Gandhian thought.

Finally, Dr. Praveen Priyadarshi felicitated the guest with a shawl and a memento.

VALEDICTORY SESSION

Resource Person: Prof. Sudhir Chandra

(Eminent Intellectual and Social Scientist)

Title: Gandhi and Partition

Welcome Address: Dr. Masroor Ahmed Beg, Principal, Zakir Husain Delhi College

Chief Guest: Dr. Harpreet Kaur, Principal, Mata Sundri College for Women, University of Delhi

Guest of Honor: Dr. Rama, Chairman, Mahatma Hansraj Faculty Development Center, Hansraj College, University of Delhi