Mahatma Gandhi

• Intro: was a lawyer, a freedom fighter and one of the most defining personality of the twentieth century.

• Inspired by

1. 
   John Ruskin's unto this last
1. concept of Sarvodaya .
1. components of Sarvodaya: 
1. bread labour
2. land reforms
3. tursteeship: on the lines of Aristotle who proposed single ownership but common use. Acc to Marxist scholars trusteeship is to prevent any kind of revolution. It says capitalists should keep the amount for his needs and for running his industry but rest should be contributed for well being of the society. This is the basis of CSR. MN Roy projected Gandhi as the leader of bourgeoisie class. 
4. revival of cottage industries
2. Can be called as Gandhian socialism.

2.Rousseau and Edward carpenter on modernity 

3. G K Gokhale
   

who emphasized bringing ethics into politics( spiritualisation of politics).

4. 
   Henry David Thoreau on civil disobedience.

• On rights

1. Nishkama Karma
2. Rights are inherent in duties performed in embryonic sense- Bhagvat Geeta
3. rights and duties are neither anti-theoretical to each other nor independent to each other . They are inherent in each other.
4. hind swaraj : real rights are the result of the performance of the duty.
5. For western societies rights take precedence over duties. Whereas for developing societies it is the duty is the take precedence over rights (Asian values)
6. Supreme court said citizens are becoming selfish , ie they are happy to pluck the fruits of civilization, but unwilling to do their bit to water the tree.

• Satyagraha:- struggle for truth

1. attributed to Thoreau who gave concept of civil disobedience.
2. Ghosh in Indian context gave theory of passive resistance
3. no feeling of enmity. Fight against evil , not evil doer
4. Satyagrahi suffers rather than hurting the other to raise the consciousness of the other
5. ”if a person is my enemy, i must first introspect upon myself. My enemy is also a part of myself.”
6. Satyagraha movement was principle-centered and spiritually guided
7. Was never a coercive tactic
8. Satyagraha always highlighted moral principles.

• Critic of modern civilization-
• satanic, too much consumersim(one dimensional man by Herbet Marcuse)
• fascism and imperialism are manifestations of modernity gone out of control.
• Says at least 9 more earths needed if we follow west’s model of development. 

• Gandhi vs Ambedkar on social justice

1. Acc to Arundhati Roy, Gandhi's approach was spiritual that is why she addresses him as saint and Ambedkar's approach was clinical and she addressed him as doctor
2. Gandhi believed in appealing to upper caste Hindus. Laid foundation of harijan sevak sangh. Such approach was interpreted by Ambedkar as paternalistic. He wanted to raise their consciousness by dalit themselves.wanted dalits to become from class in itself to class for itself. He did not like the word harijan and preferred the word depressed classes. Supported affirmative action by state, political mobilization.
3. For Gandhi freedom from foreign rule was to be the first step but Ambedkar wanted resolution of dalit question first. 
4. Portrayed as antagonists but we can see a continuity. Where the task of Gandhi ends the task of Ambedkar begins.

• Trusteeship

1. Gandhi’s trusteeship is an alternative to communism and capitalism when people believed that communism was over and there was no alternative for capitalism. For Gandhi communism and capitalism both were based on violence.
2. For Gandhi if the wealthy is not ready to part with his wealth voluntarily , then Satyagraha is justified.
3. Trusteeship justifies the demand of communism: If laborer neither has any sense of stake in production process nor of ownership in the production unit , it would be an alienated lot in the entire production process.
4. Trusteeship is a component of welfare state model.
5. Stakeholder capitalism which involves the welfare of all stakeholders in a corporation has evolved from the concept of trusteeship
6. Trustees are under obligation due to the negative externalities of their industries on society and state.
7. Jaitirth Rao in his book “Economist Gandhi” - For Gandhi, all economic actions have to be judged on the basis of how they improve the welfare of all beings, not merely one’s own.
8. CSR, philanthropy by HNW individuals also is a part of trusteeship
9. SWARAJ, SARVODAYA, KHADI, SWADESHI, NAYEE TALIM
10. Said ahimsaparmodharma
11. Atmanirbhar bharat is intricately woven with Swadeshi.

• Gandhi and COVID 19:
• Talks of sustainable economic model that is against the mindless capitalism fueled globalization that has expanded the scope of the pandemic
• Self sufficient gram panchayts to evolve strategies to fight COVID at the ground level.
• Plight of migrants call for the owner class to become trustees rather than capitalists.

• On swaraj

1. true swaraj is when we are free from all our desires( inspired from ghosh+upanishad)
2. diff dimensions of swaraj:
1. political: PRI
2. social: ending communalism and untounchability
3. Economic: land reforms,khadi,cottage industry.
4. cultural: respecting every culture

• On nonviolence

1. It is the fundamental principle of Gandhi's philosophy which he later on described as his creed.
2. For him it was not just the -ve idea of not committing violence, but a positive idea of love and compassion
3. Non violence was a counter hegemony built by Gandhi against the justification of violence by British for civilising Indians.
4. Non violence is based on value of fraternity( feeling of brotherhood). for Gandhi “ my enemy is a part of myself. I have to take the responsibility for turning a person into my enemy, Hence i should correct myself first.”
5. Ahimsa must be practiced against animals and environment also
6. In the present age of violence the principle of non violence in the substance and spirit is the only hope for survival of life on this earth.
7. Non violence is most pure means in the pursuit of truth
8. He argues that non violence is not the resort of the weak, rather it is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind . It is mightier than the mightiest weapon of destruction devised by human.
9. non violence is the art of gaining victory over physical brute force by spiritual force.
10. Swaraj was useless at the sacrifice of truth and non-violence
11. 
     h violence and non violence but between non violence and non existence.

• Role in freedom struggle:

1. According to Prof Humayun Kabir, he was not a philosopher in a traditional terms but a man of action , a psychologist who understood mass psychology
2. Acc to Bipin Chandra Gandhi was one of the most successful mass leaders that national movement became multi class movements under him
3. Fighting British was not easy as they not only ruled by coercion but by manufacturing consent. Hence Gandhi tried to build counter hegemony

• Critics:

1. M n Roy due to his trusteeship model. Says it is to protect bourgeoisie.Said Gandhi was a weak and watery man looking for appointments with viceroy.
   
2. 
   
   
   Contemporary reolevance from Rajmohan Gandhi’s book- why Gandhi still matters:
• Post truth society and Gandhi’s emphasis on finding truth
• Religious hate and xenophobia. Gandhi talked of Hindu Muslim unity
• Idea of gram swaraj and w.o this we would continue to see rural distress and farmer suicides
• Blatant consumerism is depleting resources of earth before it could replenish them.
• Untouchability is still practiced. Dalits still oppressed across the country.

• conclusion: lines of Albert Einstein: generations to come, it may be, will scarce believe that such a one as this in flesh and blood walked upon this earth.