In the last phase of his life, 1974-79, Jayaprakash Narayan ('JP'), co-leader with Vinoba Bhave of the Sarvodaya Movement, formulated and sought to implement a revised strategy for achieving a nonviolent revolution in India. The revision was prompted by the relative failure of the movement's campaign for Gramdan and by his fears that Mrs. Gandhi's regime was subverting Indian democracy. The various elements in JP's revised strategy are identified. His attempt to pursue the new strategy revealed its weaknesses and its fundamentally ambiguous character. It is suggested that this helps to explain why, despite some successes, the movement has so far failed to achieve its objectives.
Gandhi is best known for his sarvodaya movement where he talked of 'welfare for all'. His focus was on the deprived section of the countrymen who constituted a majority of India's population. Thus, the term was often referred to as antodaya, i.e., 'Rise to the last men'. Gandhi was not very particular about 'tribe', as to him, tribes were a part of rural communities who were exploited by the powerful class of people; thus, they required welfare measures. Gandhi's mission and vision towards tribes was mainly an outcome of his constant association with Thakkar Bapa, who had been well exposed to the exploitation and helpless misery of tribal life, especially of the Bhil people of Gujarat under the British rule. To Gandhi, tribal welfare and rural welfare were same. However, he believed that tribals were simple people. His interaction with the Zulu people in Africa exposed him to the bare truth of exploitation of the tribal people by the colonial rulers. To his idea, the tribes should be approached on the basis of non-violence, accepting the principles of a democratic society and the fundamental equality and unity of man. The process of social domination and political imposition should be avoided. Welfare measures should be taken up on the basis of understanding their society and culture. Gandhi's concept of Sarvodaya, i.e., welfare of all also had a purpose to bring the majority of Indians in the struggle for independence. He believed that India's independence cannot be achieved without participation of its rural masses that formed the majority of Indian population. Gandhi dreamt of a society with equity among all members in fundamental necessities of life including education. His dream is yet to be chased.
Gandhi led his life by example only by experiencing the truth and the spirit of self-belief. Basics of Gandhi's political ethos and philosophy took off in South Africa where the perception had shaped the mind and resolutions of Gandhi. The resonance of South African political safari directed the socio-economic-political destiny of India so decisively that swept the entire colonial world. Gandhi faced a series of racial discrimination in South Africa because of his colour of skin and heritage. Gandhi Ji amidst mass meeting held in Johannesburg, adopted the concept of "Satyagraha", an exercise to search the truth in a manner distinctively non-violence. Gandhi Ji landed on Indian soil in 1915. Gandhi Ji Sabarmati Ashram which became the center point of the pursuit of truth in character and Satyagraha. Gandhiji's first experiment with Satyagraha occurred in 1917 when he led a movement in Champaran district of Bihar. Gandhiji with Ballavbhai Patel led another successful mass movement at Kheda in Gujarat with victory for the distressed farmers. Different forms of Satyagraha had already made Gandhiji a mass leader with close connections to the masses and he was being referred to as Bapu. Gandhiji's call for a countrywide Bandh against the oppressive Rowlatt Act was a great success. Indian populace was prohibited from producing or selling salt independently, and instead, Indians were required to buy expensive, heavily taxed salt. Gandhiji in March–April 1930 took up a march on foot spanning over 385 km. from Sabarmati Ashram to the Arabian Sea coast city of Dandi garnered widespread support among the Indian populace and considerable worldwide attention as well. The Quit" India movement was launched in 1942 under the leadership of the Mahatma Gandhi which swept across every nook and corner of the country. This was probably the biggest ever mass movement of the people that took place in history.
In: Bulletin of peace proposals: to motivate research, to inspire future oriented thinking, to promote activities for peace, Band 21, Heft 3, S. 281-286
THIS ARTICLE EXAMINES THE SARVODAYA SHARAMADANA MOVEMENT IN SRI LANKA AS A FORCE FOR CHANGE. IT OUTLINES THE ORIGINS OF THE MOVEMENT, ITS SPIRITUAL IDEOLOGY, AND ITS PRACTICAL PROGRAMS. THE MOVEMENT SEEKS TO APPEAL TO PEOPLE OF ALL RELIGIONS AND SOCIAL POSITIONS AND HOPES TO FOSTER HARMONIOUS COOPERATION IN THE BETTERMENT OF SOCIAL CONDITIONS THROUGHOUT SRI LANKA. THE MOVEMENT IS EVIDENT IN OVER A THIRD OF SRI LANKA'S 23,000 VILLAGES.
IN GANDHI'S THEORY OF PEACE, HUMAN VALUES TAKE GREAT PROMINENCE. NONVIOLENCE (AHIMSA) & THE SEARCH FOR TRUTH (SATYAGRAHA) ARE A WAY OF LIFE NOT A TACTIC. THIS STRUGGLE EXCLUDES PHYSICAL VIOLENCE & CASTING THE OPPONENT IN THE ROLE OF ENEMY. WELFARE TO ALL (SARVODAYA) SEES PEACE AS INCOMPARTIBLE WITH EXPLOITATION OR INEQUALITY OF WEALTH. PEACE IS A CONTINUOUS REVOLUTIONARY PROCESS.
Detlef Kantowsky: "Von Südasien lernen". Erfahrungen in Indien und Sri Lanka. Edition Qumran im Campus Verlag, Frankfurt am Main, New York 1985. 208 S., br., 26,- DM
Preface -- Civil society and good governance in a historical context -- Sarvodaya -- 'The largest development NGO' : an introduction -- Philosophy and performance at the height of the movement -- Fraud : the public commission's report -- Privatising foreign relations -- The broad picture -- Case studies -- NGOs and academia -- Colonising studies on Sri Lanka -- Social matrices for distortion -- Human rights -- Worthy and unworthy victims -- Painting a false picture -- Conclusion -- Emasculating truth and voluntariness -- Voluntariness and fitting reality into foreign funds -- Bibliography -- Glossary -- Index
In: Policy sciences: integrating knowledge and practice to advance human dignity ; the journal of the Society of Policy Scientists, Band 33, Heft 3-4, S. 355-374
Four religious associations are analyzed, focusing on how, as NGOs, their religious activities contribute to the creation of social capital. Two are Muslim groups in Indonesia & Pakistan and the other two are Buddhist movements in Thailand. All demonstrate different uses of social capital. The first Muslim group, the Nahdlatul Ulama (Revival of Islamic Scholars), tries to promote traditional Islam values based on human dignity. The other, the Jamaat-i-Islami (Gathering of Muslims), encourages obedience to an essentialized Islam. The first Buddhist group, Santi Asok (Peace without Suffering), seeks to build self-reliance, & the other, the Lanka Jathika Sarvodaya Shramadana Sangamaya (Sri Lankan Movement for the Awakening of All through Donation of Labor), seeks enlightenment through recognition of a society's interconnectedness. Each religion demonstrates how faith becomes a form of social capital & potentially, an effective force for social reform. 56 References. R. Larsen
SummaryOpportunities for social movements in developing countries to attain employment and income distribution objectives, are analysed. Special emphasis is given to the Sarvodaya Shramadana movement in Sri Lanka which is active mainly in rural areas.Employment effects usually imply a decrease of underemployment rather than of unemployment. The activities described may also result in higher incomes, both directly and indirecdy.Social movements are important in respect of distributional objectives, if only because they originate and operate within marginal population groups. Income generating activities tend to be neutral in relation to distributional objectives within their following while from an intersectoral point of view such measures will bring about positive income distribution effects.Giving more emphasis to purely economic objectives will facilitate an expansion of social movements. On the other hand, maintaining their identity will become more and more of a problem. A social movement thus has to be seen as undergoing continuous adjustment which may lead to other, more institutionalised types of self‐help organisations or to a total degeneration of the movement.RésuméDans cet article on analyse les possibilityés offertes par les mouvements sociaux comme instruments ?une politique de ľemploi et de la distribution des revenus dans les pays sous‐développés. Une attention particulière est portée sur le mouvement Sarvodaya Shramadana à Sri Lanka, dont ľactivité se joue principalement dans les zones rurales.Les effets sur ľemploi possibles consistent en général en une diminution du sous‐emploi plutôt qu'en la création de nouvelles places de travail. Les mesures décrites sont aussi ‐ en partie directe‐ment, en partie indirectement ‐ ?importance pour les revenus.Les mouvements sociaux sont ?importance pour la distribution, ne serai‐ce qu'en raison du fait qu'ils naissent et agissent àľintŕieur de groupes marginaux. Les mesures influencant le revenu tendent àêtce neutres au point de vue distribution entre les partisans du mouvement; elles jouent cependant dans le sens ?une amelioration de la distribution entre les secteurs.Une accentuation accrue de buts économiques facilite certes ľexpansion ?un mouvement social, mais rend de plus en plus problèmatique le maintien de son identityé. Le mouvement doit done être considéré comme soumis à un processus ?adaptation qui peut mener à?autres formes plus institutionalisées ?organisation, ou qui peut le laisser dégénérer jusqu'a ľinsignificance.ZusammenfassungEs werden die Möglichkeiten sozialer Bewegungen in Entwicklungs‐ländern zur Erreichung beschäftigungs‐ und einkommensverteilungs‐politischer Ziele untersucht. Dabei wird speziell auf die hauptsächlich im ländlichen Raum agierende Sarvodaya Shramadana Bewegung in Sri Lanka eingegangen.Die möglichen Beschäftigungseffekte bestehen überwiegend in einem Abbau vorhandener Unterbeschäftigung, weniger in der Schaffung neuer Arbeitsplätze. Die angeführten Maßnahmen sind teils direkt, teils indirekt auch einkommensrelevant.Verteilungsrelevanz kommt sozialen Bewegungen schon allein da‐durch zu, daß sie innerhalb marginaler Gruppen entstehen und wir‐ken. Innerhalb der Anhangerschaft wirken die einkommensrelevan‐ten Maßnahmen tendenziell verteilungsneutral, bei intersektoraler Betrachtung jedoch in Richtung Verbesserung der Einkommensver‐teilung.Eine stärkere Betonung ökonomischer Ziele erleichtert zwar die Expansion einer sozialen Bewegung, läßt aber die Wahrung der Identität immer stärker zum Problem werden. Die Bewegung muß so in einem Anpassungsprozeß gesehen werden, der in andere, stärker institutionalisierte Formen von Selbsthilfeorganisationen oder zur Degenerierung bis zur Bedeutungslosigkeit führen kann.
Cover -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Original Title Page -- Original Copyright Page -- Table of Contents -- Contributors -- Preface -- 1: Introduction: The External Dimension in Rural South Asia -- 2: The Plantation System and Village Structure in British Ceylon: Involution or Evolution? -- 3: Wage-Gathering: Socio-Economic Changes and the Case of the Food-Gatherer Naikens of South India -- 4: Economic Dislocation in Nineteenth-Century Eastern Uttar Pradesh: Some Implications of the Decline of Artisanal Industry in Colonial India -- 5: Rural Labour in the Bombay Textile Industry and the Articulation of Modes of Organization -- 6: The Role of the Broker in Rural India -- 7: Two Karnataka Villages and the Outside World: Internal Characteristics, Movement Linkages, and State of Development -- 8: 'Decentralized' Planning in a Centralized Economy: A Study of Sarvodaya Programmes in a Taluka -- 9: International Rice Research and the Problems of Rice Growing in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
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