HUM1021 ETHICS & VALUES

GANDHIAN VALUES:
TRUTH & NON-VIOLENCE

Dr. Ayesha Noor

Assistant Pprofessor (Sr.)
CBST, VIT
Global Terrorism
Growing Poverty

Uncontrolled Population Growth

Global Warming
730 established religions in the world
Depleting Energy Reserves

Global Economic Crisis

What does humanity need in such an environment?

196 countries 6800 – 6900 distinct languages in the world

7054721028 – world population

 Lets study the life of such a great leader and see what lessons could be learnt

But, Why Gandhi?

World prominence, helped achieve freedom and left a lasting

legacy for us all. Many of Gandhi’s core principles are remarkably
relevant in the realm of leadership competencies and self-
development
 The Life and Moral Values
Of
MAHATMA GANDHI
1869-1948

"Live as if you were to die tomorrow.

Learn as if you were to live forever"
 Bio-Data: M K Gandhi
Name : MOHANDAS KARAMCHAND GANDHI
Date of Birth : 2nd October 1869
Place of Birth : Porbandar, Gujarat
Date of Death : 30th January 1948.
Place of Death : New Delhi, India.
Father : Karamchand Gandhi
Mother : Putlibai
Wife : Kasturba
Sons : Harilal, Manilal, Ramdas, Devdas
 Early Life

Born at Porbandar, Kathiawad,

1 1869 Father: Karamchand Mother: Putlibai
2 1883 Married to Kasturba
Sailed from Bombay for England to
3 1891 study law
Attempting to Establish a Career in India: 1891-1893

His attempts at establishing a law

practice in Mumbai failed. Later,
after failing to secure a part-time
job as a high school teacher, he
ended up returning to Rajkot to
practice law.
April 1893, he accepted a year-long
contract from Dada Abdulla & Co.,
an Indian firm, to a post in the
Colony of Natal, South Africa, then
part of the British Empire
 Gandhi in South Africa: 1893- 1914
Gandhi while serving in
the Ambulance Corps
during the Boer War.
In South Africa, Gandhi faced
discrimination directed at Indians. He
was thrown off a train. Traveling farther
on by stagecoach he was beaten by a
driver for refusing to travel on the foot
board to make room for a European
passenger. These events were a turning
point in his life, awakening him to social
injustice and influencing his subsequent
social activism.
The South Africa
Years

Gandhi and his legal colleagues.

Gandhi and his South African friends.

Gandhi served in and lead an

Ambulance Corps Unit in both the
Boer War 1899-1892 and the Zulu War
of 1906. By supporting the British
government, Gandhi hoped to gain full
citizenship for Indians in South Africa,
a goal he did not achieve.
STRUGGLE FOR INDIAN INDEPENDENCE
(1915–1945)
 Returning to India in 1915

In 1915, Gandhi returned from South Africa to live

in India. He spoke at the conventions of the
Indian National Congress, but was primarily
introduced to Indian issues, politics and the
Indian people by Gopal Krishna Gokhale, a
respected leader of the Congress Party at the
time.
 Champaran ‘Satyagrah’
In 1917, in Champaran, a district in state of Bihar,
tens of thousands of landless contract laborers and
poor farmers were forced to grow indigo and other
cash crops instead of the food crops necessary for
their survival.
Gandhi proposed satyagraha - non-violence, mass civil
disobedience.
His main assault came as he was arrested by police on
the charge of creating unrest and was ordered to
leave the province. Hundreds of thousands of people
protested and rallied outside the jail, police stations
and courts demanding his release, which the court
unwillingly did.
 Gandhian Values:
Satyagraha
o ‘Satyagraha’ is a Sanskrit word
Satya = truth
Agraha = efforts or force
o There are different techniques of Satyagrahi:
 Fasting
 Non-cooperation
 Civil disobedience
o Satyagraha must be bound to truth and non-violence.
He should oppose the evil and not the evil doer.
 Kheda Satyagrah

The Bombay Presidency increased the taxes

in 1917-18 by 23%. In 1918, Gujarat as a
whole suffered a severe epidemic of
Plague and in Kheda alone around 17000
people lost their lives.
The revolt was against the taxes. The
government said that if the taxes are not
paid, the property would be seized.
 13 April 1919

In Punjab, the Jallianwala Bagh massacre

of civilians by British troops caused deep
trauma to the nation, leading to increased
public anger and acts of violence.
Gandhi criticized both the actions of the
British Raj and the retaliatory violence of
Indians. When he was arrested, he
continued his non-violent protest through
hunger strikes.
 Gandhi’s Tactics
Gandhi employed non-cooperation, non-violence and
peaceful resistance as his "weapons" in the struggle
against British.
What is non-cooperation?
A declaration of peaceful; and non-violent war against
the atrocities of the British government.
The Non-cooperation Movement meant active refusal to
abide by the laws and regulations passed by the
government
An appeal was made to all the Indians to surrender
their titles and to boycott of schools, to boycott the
law courts and councils, the boycott of foreign goods.
 1930:Gandhi leads civil disobedience

Britain’s Salt Acts prohibited Indians from

collecting or selling salt
Citizens were forced to buy the vital mineral from
the British, who, in addition to exercising a
monopoly over the manufacture and sale of
salt, also exerted a heavy salt tax.
On March 12, Gandhi set out from Sabarmati
with 78 followers on a 241-mile march to the
coastal town of Dandi on the Arabian Sea.
There, Gandhi and his supporters were to defy
British policy by making salt from seawater.
 Dateline of the fasts unto death

1. In 1918. For an increase in the wages of mill

workers in Ahmedabad. Lasted four days.
2. In 1932. For joint electorates for the entire
Hindu populace rather than separate
electorates for untouchables. Lasted six
days.
3. In 1947. For communal harmony. Lasted
four days.
4. In 1948. For communal harmony. Lasted six
days.
 Why did Gandhi Ji fast?

Non-violent method of protesting.

Weapon of Satyagraha

Fasting and Death-Fasting unto death is

the last and the most potent weapon in
the armoury of Satyagraha
Lesson 1: Continuous learning and improvement

Gandhi always told that if two of his sentences

contradicted each other, please accept the second
one and forget the first one. This reflects –
 learning and growth mindset
 anticipation of follower’s needs
 rigid consistency was NOT one of his traits
Lesson 2: Looking at each person just as a human being

“Be quick, be brief, be gone!” Personal

meetings with Gandhi were very short.
However Gandhi made people feel as if
they were the only person in the world that
Gandhi would have liked to talk at that
time
Lesson 3: Being an excellent listener

Gandhi was not a good orator, but people

followed him because he practiced the
principles of truth and non-violence in his life
first and proved that any ordinary man can
follow his path of truth and non-violence and
then inspired others to follow these principles
Lesson 4: Proactively identifying barriers to make sustainable change

Once a journalist asked Gandhi what was the

biggest problem that India faced? He expected
Gandhi to say slavery or British rule or pervasive
poverty. But Gandhi said it was “callousness of
intellectual” . Gandhi had a long term vision of
building a sustainable society and not just getting
independence
Lesson 5: Being the conscience keeper

Non cooperation was one of the key

political movements that Gandhi initiated.
Gandhi aborted the movement saying a key
tenet of the movement – non-violence,
was violated. He believed that the end did
not justify the means.
Lesson 6: Emphasis on self-awareness and discipline

As you grow in self awareness, you will

better understand why you feel what you
feel and why you behave as you behave.
Self discipline is the training of your mind
to control, perceived harmful, urges until a
satisfactory solution has been sought
Lesson 7: Balancing value-driven vision and execution efficiency

A leader with vision has a clear, vivid

picture of where to go, and a firm grip on
what success looks like and how to achieve
it. Leader must share the vision and act
upon it. He must communicate it clearly
and passionately.
Lesson 8: Emphasis on path and result

Mahatma Gandhi was a great leader. He

had chosen the path of non-violence for
himself and his followers.
Lesson 10: Be open-minded

Always keep things in perspective. Do not

dismiss other or anything- big or small-
without giving a try. We never know where
the next useful idea might come from.
Lesson 11: What I practice is what I preach

An enduring leader is not a superior person, but

only first among equals; first to abide by the moral
code of conduct; first to bear the brunt of change;
first to surrender privileges, and first to sacrifice
one’s life. A leader is elected, chosen to serve and
not installed to rule.
Lesson 12: Grass-root level contacts

A leader has to see that not many layers of

hierarchies are created between him or her
and the people at the lowest rung; and the
people’s voice does not go unheard and
doesn’t get distorted to the extent of even
belying the truth
Gandhian Management
Gandhian Philosophy

NON-VIOLENCE
TRUTH

LOVE
Gandhian Management
 When he initiated compromise between two opponents
– he was a mediator

When he applied his trident of truth, love and non-

violence
-he was an uncompromising autocrat

When he gave procedural details to accomplish a goal

-he was a bureaucrat

When he delegated power to his colleagues or juniors

- he was a trainer and developer.
 TO UNDERSTAND WHAT THE PRINCIPLES ARE

Following principles that Mahatma Gandhi followed

 Truth: learning from your own mistakes and conducting
experiments on yourself.

 Non-violence: non-resistance connected in a way to

religion..

 Vegetarianism: carved in the Hindu and Jain traditions

in India.

 Brahmacharya: spiritual and practical purity.

 Simplicity: giving up unnecessary spending.

 Faith: belief in Higher power and that all religions are

equal.