DHNS
Mangalore, Nov 2: “Usage of some readymade words such as ‘patriotic’, ‘voice of the poor’ etc can not define Gandhi as he stands for the history of the country and defines our culture,” said Mangalore University Gandhi Study Centre Director Dr P L Dharma.
Addressing the 138th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi on Tuesday at Badriya College, Dr Dharma said that Gandhi cannot be compared to anybody but Gandhi himself.
“Gandhi stood for simplicity but as one tries to understand Gandhi, he gets more and more complex. While romanticism can be attached to Nehru, Gandhi stands personified for Indian society,” he added.
Gandhiji saw that primary education was a key to solve all problems and reiterating the dream of Gandhiji, Dharma said that systematization and organization of primary education can bring about drastic change in the society as it is the right time to tap the young minds and shape them as good citizens.
Addressing the gathering on the topic ‘Gandhiji and society today,’ Dr Shivaram Karanth Pre University College (Sullia) Kannada Department Head Dr Narendra Rai Derla said that today’s society stands for all that Gandhiji opposed during his lifetime.
“Gandhiji supported traditional agriculture where the farmer was self dependent. He knew the techniques and the technology well. But with modern agriculture invading India the farmer has become a foreigner in his own terrain,” he added and said that according to Gandhiji modernization kills agriculture but much against this belief, India is the biggest buyers of insecticides and pesticides from different countries.
He said that Gandhiji had always emphasized on the need to be in contact with the land. But unfortunately today owing to mechanization and modernization, we are drifting away from the land, which has led to degradation of moral values.
The programme was inaugurated by Kannada Sahithya Parishat district president Pradeep Kumar Kalkura said that Gandhian philosophies are being brushed aside due to globalization and modernization.
Badriya Institutions President B Ahmed Haji Moideen presided over the programme.