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Thursday, June 30, 2011

'Salt Satyagraha' among most influential protests

                              
'Salt Satyagraha' among most influential protests


New York: Mahatma Gandhi-led 'Salt Satyagraha' during India's independence struggle has been named among the 'Top 10 Most Influential Protests' in the world by the prestigious Time magazine.



In March 1930, Gandhi embarked on a 24-day march from Sabarmati Ashram near Ahmedabad to the small seaside town of Dandi to produce salt to protest against the British salt monopoly in colonial India.

The non-violent campaign triggered the wider Civil Disobedience Movement against British rule.

Known as the salt "satyagraha" -- a Sanskrit term loosely meaning "truth-force" -- it carried the emotional and moral weight to break British empire, the Time said.

The magazine said Britain's centuries-long rule over India was, in many ways, first and foremost a regime of monopolies over commodities like tea, textiles and even salt.

Under colonial law, Indians were forbidden to extract and sale their own salt, and instead were forced to pay the far costlier price of salt manufactured and imported from the UK.

That act -- for which more than 80,000 Indians would get arrested in the coming months -- sparked years of mass civil disobedience that came to define both the Indian independence struggle as well as Gandhi himself, the Time said.

The January 25 Egyptian revolution against the regime of Hosni Mubarak has also made it to the list.

After 30 years in the top spot, Mubarak received his first serious challenge on January 25, 2011 when more than one million protesters, fuelled by political unrest, massive unemployment and social media, assembled in Tahrir (Liberation) Square, the Time said.

The uprising was mainly a campaign of non-violent civil resistance, which featured a series of demonstrations, marches, acts of civil disobedience, and labour strikes.

Mubarak finally stepped down on February 11. The Tiananmen Square protests in China in 1989 is also on the list. There were a series of demonstrations in and near Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The movement used mainly non-violent methods and can be considered a case of civil resistance.

As crowds swelled to 100,000, similar gatherings across the country joined their pleas for change. Finally, on June 4, 1989, the government gave the green light for troops and tanks to open fire on the square.

The Boston Tea Party Civil Rights 1773; March on Washington, 1963; Stonewall Inn, 1969; Moratorium Against the Vietnam War, 1969; Muharram protests in Iran, 1978; People Power protests, 1986 and Purple Rain Protest in Cape Town 1989 are other movements that have been named in the list.

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

THE ANNA HAZARE
Anna Hazare's recent arrest and release has rightly generated a sense of outrage and violation amongst the people in India. Anna and his life's message, however, are larger and go beyond this particular issue that has captured media attention. Since 1975 under his leadership, Anna's village, Ralegan Siddhi, has been an evolving as an epitomisation of the Gandhian idiom of a self-sufficient village as an elementary unit of social organisation.  Also an important characterisitic of the economic and social transformation of Ralegan is that it has taken place based on the principle of self-help and is concomitant with ensuring social equity, an ideal that is happily at variance with the current fancy for "free market ideals" and "trickle-down economics".  Ralegan has been hailed as a model village, therefore, with characterisitic bureaucratic simplification attempts are being made to "replicate" the Ralegan miracle.  Inconsiderate, the Ralegan experience is extremely relevant for its central tenet, that with the right moral basis and with reasonable inputs, the collective genius of the people is capable of significantly addressing its own needs.
For many years now, Ralegan Siddhi has been a byword for model development. However amongst most people I know, there seems to be a general lack of understanding of what really happened in Ralegan and how it came about to be so. When I myself wanted to learn more about Anna Hazare and his role in Ralegan, I did not find any relevant information on the web. Therefore, this page is an attempt to fill this gap and, hopefully, in the future, serve as a clearing house for information on Anna Hazare, his life and its enduring message.
 

                Practice what you preach!

There is something we all learnt as kids. “Practice makes a man perfect”. But on the contrary we all are told that no body is perfect! Confused?

We all have something that is very strong in us. But in awe of earning success and fame, we forget that we are loosing our capability to perform good in the dimension we are good at. There are a large number of hobbies that we enjoy as school going kids. But once we are grown ups, we forget that we had a passion that we no longer pursue. This is strange! None of us realize till the time we see others doing the same.

I remember as a kid I was trained in classical music for 6 years. I loved learning music. But as I grew up, there came a phase when I was shy to tell people that I am trained in classical music. Now when I look back to that time, I regret of not nurturing my passion. But I also realize I am not the only one. I am sure most of us have been through this phase. Why don’t we make a choice of choosing something that we like to do as a hobby?

I have come across many people who do not pursue what they like. A friend of mine shared her similar experience, “I was a table tennis player and represented my school and college at state level. I enjoyed playing the game and won may competitions. After I completed my masters, my parents told me that there is no carrier in table tennis. So I gave the sport without putting second thoughts on the game I loved to play. Now I feel jealous looking at the scope of the game especially after Commonwealth Games.”
 Many students these days opt for sports quota if they are good in sports. I would want the students to pursue their other hobbies as well because you will love doing what you like as your hobby. Be a librarian if you like reading books. Study fine arts, if you are good at sketching. But practice what you preach. You will love doing it. Don't be bothered about what others will say. i might not have become a good singer, but I pursued one job of writing creatively and that is what I am proudly doing today.

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Prof Dr.M Maharajan's retirement turns in to an emotional Fairwell

For the school of Gandhian Thought and Development studies,31st march 2011 turned out to be an emotional day at Gandhian Department as Dr M Maharajan co-ordinator UGC SAP DRS phase II,took over the charge.An official retirement party was held in honour of professor Dr M Maharajan on thursday 31st march 2011.
           
                  The celebration held at the seminar hall,was attended by Pro-vice chancellor, public relations officer ,financial officer ,professor's of various departments non teaching staff and students of MG University .Prof Dr M Maharajan,ending a long and succesful career spanning more than two decades in school of Gandian Thought and Development studies.

                    


              

Saturday, April 9, 2011

NATIONAL SEMINAR CONDUCTED BY SGTDS ON GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT FROM MARCH 15 TO 17

The School of GandianThought and Development studies sucessfully conducted a three days of National seminar on Gender and Development,Rtd IAS officer and an activist Smt Lida Jacob inagurated the National Seminar and delivered a lecture on gender and development ,Dr D Irudayarajan Proffessor of CDS who was a strong critique of kerala model of development gave the key note address ,Our Director Prof Dr D Nirmala Devi presided over the function following that there were seven sessions of different topics of papers related to gender and development presented by scholars from different parts of kerala and Thamil nadu,Kerala's one and only women theatre Nireeksha presented a drama' The Troll ' which was puerly related to women issues,On 17th the final day of the seminar the students of MG university presented a very beautiful thought provoking drama 'kalithattu' ,The  Former Vice Chancellor of the MG university and The member of minority commision of indian government Prof Dr Syriac Thomas validated the three days of national seminar.