Gandhian philosophy: The sphere of influence in Higher Education.

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Gandhi was a hero and a great ambassador of the modern higher education. In his article titled ‘National Education’ published in Young India on September 1, 1921, he wrote that it might be true regarding other countries but in India where 80% of the population is occupied with agriculture and 10% of it with industries, it is an offence to make education merely literary. The great idea of the line is that education is much more than to gain literacy knowledge.

Gandhi always talked about India as an agrarian country. Most of the Indian industries are based on agriculture. Therefore, Gandhi wanted more and more self-financed agriculture colleges should be opened and they should be attached to related industries. Gandhi thus stressed the self-reliance of the country and advocated self-sufficiency of the colleges and universities. Mahatma Gandhi was never in favour of government aid to boost education. He, however, wanted the university's control over the colleges and that of the government over the universities.

Gandhi knew that rural India is very much prone to various natural disasters like floods, landslides, droughts, and cyclones and therefore he wanted the active participation of young men and women in the work of local rural community issues to build disaster resilience. To ignite the young people, he even edited himself a weekly journal in English, published from 1919 to 1931. In 1933 Gandhi started publishing a weekly newspaper, Harijan in English. Gandhi also published Harijan Bandhu in Gujarati and Harijan Sevak in Hindi. All three papers focused on Indian and global issues. These are in the course curriculum of various social and economic academic syllabi at the national and international levels.

The freedom struggle under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi revolved around the use of khadi fabrics and the dumping of foreign-made clothes. Mahatma Gandhi began promoting the spinning of khadi for rural self-employment and self-reliance in the 1920s in India, thus making khadi an integral part and an icon of the Swadeshi Movement. Actually, that was the first start-up program in India. On November 3,1930, he delivered a speech before the start of the famous Dandi March, in which he emphasized the exclusively nonviolent struggle to empower a self-sufficient India.

The major change in the panchayat system of India came in the form of the passage of the Panchayati Raj Act (73rd Amendment) in 1992. Domain features of this act are a) a 3-tier system of Panchayati Raj for all States having a population of over 20 lakhs; b) Holding panchayat elections regularly every 5 years; c) Reservation of seats for scheduled casts, scheduled Tribes, and women (not less than one-third of seats); d) Appointment of State Finance Commission to make recommendations as regards to the financial powers of the Panchayats.

No university in the country has established a Mahatma Gandhi chair despite the nod from the University Grants Commission (UGC), according to the HRD Ministry Officials. To enrich the academic resources of the university system, the UGC has formulated a scheme for the establishment of chairs in universities in the name of noble laureates, illustrious persons, and persons of eminence in areas of their outstanding contribution. However, as per the official statistics of the UCG, there are 419 students enrolled in the UG program in Gandhian studies for 2017-2018 while the number of students enrolled in PG, M Phil, and PhD was 796, 51, and 78 respectively.

A total of 17 PhD degrees were awarded during the session. The number of students who enrolled in the programs during 2016-2017 was UG (321), PG (746), M Phil (67) and Ph.D. (113). The number of PhD degrees awarded during the session was 38.

Under the present circumstances, we have not been able to incorporate his views in our system of higher education to the extent it ought to have been. However, the Department of Higher Education under the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development, has established an institution in his name which has set the curriculum for community engagement.

 
                   

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