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GPSC (Gujarat)Stage 2: Main Examination
Gandhian Thought and Its Relevance
What the official syllabus says
GPSC Main Examination, Paper IV: General Studies-I, (B) Cultural Heritage.
- Gandhian thoughts and its relevance.
Topics in detail
Learn the main ideas with their sources and key writings, then be ready to apply them to present-day problems. Answers are stronger with concrete examples of where the ideas are used today.
Life and influences
- Porbandar and Rajkot; London; South Africa (1893 to 1914) and the birth of satyagraha
- Influences: the Bhagavad Gita, Jain ideas of ahimsa, Raychandbhai, Tolstoy, Ruskin's Unto This Last, Thoreau
- Writings and journals: Hind Swaraj (1909), the autobiography, Indian Opinion, Young India, Navajivan, Harijan
Core ideas
- Truth (satya) and non-violence (ahimsa)
- Satyagraha: methods, rules and limits
- Swaraj: self-rule of the individual and of the nation
- Swadeshi and khadi; critique of modern industrial civilisation
- Sarvodaya and antyodaya
- Trusteeship as an answer to inequality
- Gram swaraj, decentralisation and village self-sufficiency
- Nai Talim (basic education through work)
- Ends and means; the eleven vows of the ashram
- Removal of untouchability; communal harmony; equality of women
- Constructive programme
Relevance today
- Constitution: Directive Principles on village panchayats, cottage industries, prohibition and cow protection (Articles 40, 43, 47, 48); the 73rd Amendment
- Non-violent movements elsewhere: Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela
- Environment and sustainable consumption; simple living
- Conflict resolution, tolerance and inter-faith dialogue
- Ethics in public life and the 'talisman' for policy-makers
- Sanitation, khadi and village industries, skill-based education
Critiques and debates
- Ambedkar's critique on caste and the village
- Debates with Tagore, Nehru and the revolutionaries
- Relevance in a globalised, technological economy
Key writings
| Work | What it says |
|---|---|
| Hind Swaraj (1909) | Critique of modern civilisation; true swaraj |
| The Story of My Experiments with Truth | His life as a search for truth |
| Satyagraha in South Africa | Origins of satyagraha |
| Constructive Programme | Khadi, village industries, education, sanitation, harmony |
Gandhian institutions in Gujarat and India
- Sabarmati Ashram, Gujarat Vidyapith and the Navajivan Trust in Ahmedabad
- Khadi and Village Industries Commission, set up under a 1956 Act
- Constructive workers and Sarvodaya organisations; the Bhoodan movement of Vinoba Bhave
Gandhi's methods in practice
- Fasting, hartal, boycott and non-payment of taxes
- Padayatra and the use of symbols such as salt and the charkha
- Negotiation alongside struggle; respect for the opponent
- Constructive work as the base of political action
Overlaps
- Ethics and values: General Studies-IV.
- Gandhi's movements in Gujarat: Gujarat: Modern History and the Freedom Struggle.
- A frequent theme for the Essay.