Uniting India
Archive for March, 2011
Salt Satyagraha, the Dandi March on March 12, 1930
Mar 12th
The Salt March to the remote sea side village of Dandi, about 320 km from Ahmedabad, and the civil disobedience campaign it launched was the greatest non violent battle by the history’s greatest non violent campaigner Mahatma Gandhi. Mahatma himself saw this as the quintessence of his philosophy in action.
The Salt March is about a battle by an astute political campaigner to free his Country from the yoke of British colonialism. Here we have the skinny, scantily dressed 61- year-old Mahatma armed with nothing but a bamboo staff marching to the sea with a handful of followers, mostly young, in an attempt to liberate India.
The Salt March can be clearly visualized as Gandhi and his followers leaving his ashram on the banks of the Sabarmati river on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on March 12, 1930 and breaking the British salt laws about three weeks later at the seaside hamlet of Dandi. This launched a mass struggle that filled the prisons and shook the foundations of the British Empire.
But the Salt March was more than a mass political action. Gandhi saw the march as a pilgrimage, as a living sermon. It was not merely about throwing out the mighty British Empire More >
Fight Against Poverty
Mar 12th
Poverty in India is real and a very complex issue. In the year 2000 it was estimated that 26% of India’s population was living below their national poverty line. This is an improvement from the 1950’s figure of over 50% living in poverty but there are still well over 250 million people for whom poverty is a way of life in India.
Children in particular are badly affected by poverty. Problems such as malnutrition, child labour and high mortality rates are very real issues faced in their day to day life in the case of those affected badly by poverty. More than 40% of the world’s malnourished children are found in India although India contains lesser than 20 % of the World’s child population. Girls are more often affected badly than boys as gender inequality is also a fact of life in India.
Child labour is a significant problem in India where it is estimated that between 75 to 90 million children under 14 are working to earn bread and butter for their families some times and contribute to the family income most of the time. The jobs they perform are often difficult, mean and low-paying. They need their wages to help More >
How Can We Promote National Integrity (Oneness) Among Indians?
Mar 11th
Indian leaders were faced with the stupendous task of national integration and economic development with lot of regionalism developing after independence resulting in the creation of regional leaders. Different States were formed on the basis of Language in 1956. Andhra Pradesh was the first State to form on these lines in spite of the Telangana people having their own doubts about coexistence within the State. The condition became so worst that states like J&K, Punjab and Tamil Nadu even demanded separate Countries merely on the basis of language.
Formation of small States is necessary for proper governance, development and also to meet the grievances of people of certain regions such as Telengana, Bundelkhand Harit Pradesh, Purvanchal and Gorkha Land demanding the formation of these small States. These people claim that their regions are neglected badly because of large states.
So, users, what do you think should be done for inculcating National Unity among Indians in such a scenario???
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