CHANAKYA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY

Rough draft for the partial fulfillment of SOCIOLOGY-II course

On

GANDHIAN PHILOSPHY AND ITS IMPACT ON INDIAN SOCIETY

Submitted To: -
Dr. Sangeet Kumar
Faculty of Sociology

Submitted by: -
VIVEK KUMAR
Roll no. 1575
st
1 year B.A., LL.B.(Hon

INTRODUCTION
What is Gandhi philosophy? It is the religious and social ideas adopted and developed by Gandhi, first during his
period in South Africa from 1893 to 1914, and later of course in India. These ideas have been further developed by
later "Gandhians", most notably, in India by, Vinoba Bhave and Jayaprakash Narayan. Outside of India some of the
work of, for example, Martin Luther King Jr. can also be viewed in this light. Understanding the universe to be an
organic whole, the philosophy exists on several planes - the spiritual or religious, moral, political, economic, social,
individual and collective. The spiritual or religious element, and God, is at its core. Human nature is regarded as
fundamentally virtuous. All individuals are believed to be capable of high moral development, and of reform.
The twin cardinal principles of Gandhi's thought are truth and nonviolence. It should be remembered that the English
word "truth" is an imperfect translation of the Sanskrit, "satya", and "nonviolence", an even more imperfect
translation of "ahimsa". Derived from "sat" - "that which exists" - "satya" contains a dimension of meaning not
usually associated by English speakers with the word "truth". There are other variations, too, which we need not go
into here. For Gandhi, truth is the relative truth of truthfulness in word and deed, and the absolute truth - the Ultimate
Reality. This ultimate truth is God (as God is also Truth) and morality - the moral laws and code - its basis. Ahimsa,
far from meaning mere peacefulness or the absence of overt violence, is understood by Gandhi to denote active love
- the pole opposite of violence, or "Himsa", in every sense. The ultimate station Gandhi assigns nonviolence stems
from two main points. First, if according to the Divine Reality all life is one, then all violence committed towards
another is violence towards oneself, towards the collective, whole self, and thus "self"-destructive and counter to the
universal law of life, which is love. Second, Gandhi believed that ahimsa is the most powerful What is Gandhian
force in existence. Had himsa been superior to ahimsa, humankind would long ago have succeeded in destroying
itself. The human race certainly could not have progressed as far as it has, even if universal justice remains far off the
horizon. From both viewpoints, nonviolence or love is regarded as the highest law of humankind.
Although there are elements of unity in Gandhi's thought, they are not reduced to a system. It is not a rigid, inflexible
doctrine, but a set of beliefs and principles which are applied differently according to the historical and social setting.
Therefore there can be no dogmatism, and inconsistency is not a sin. Interpretation of the principles underwent much
evolution during Gandhi's lifetime, and as a result many inconsistencies can be found in his writings, to which he
readily admitted. The reader of Gandhi's works published by Navajivan Trust will notice that many are prefaced with
the following quotation from an April 1933 edition of Harijan, one of Gandhi's journals. He states
straightforwardly: "I would like to say to the diligent reader of my writings and to others who are interested in them
that I am not at all concerned with appearing to be consistent. In my search after Truth I have discarded many ideas
and learnt many news things.... What I am concerned with is my readiness to obey the call of Truth, my God, from
moment to moment, and therefore, when anybody finds any inconsistency between any two writings of mine, if he
still has any faith in my sanity, he would do well to choose the later of the two on the same subject."
That there are inconsistencies in Gandhi's writings accords with the fact that the ideas are not a system. In coming to
grips with Gandhi's way of thinking it is most important to understand that the perception of truth undergoes an
ongoing process of refinement which is evolutionary in nature.
In Gandhi's thought the emphasis is not on idealism, but on practical idealism. It is rooted in the highest religious
idealism, but is thoroughly practical. One label (and almost the only one) Gandhi was happy to have pinned on him
was that of "practical idealist". The important principle of compromise is relevant here, as is the acknowledgement
that perfect truth and perfect nonviolence can never be attained while the spirit is embodied.
As alluded to above, Gandhian philosophy is certainly considered by Gandhians as a universal and timeless
philosophy, despite the fact that on the more superficial level it is set in the Indian social context. They hold that the
ideals of truth and nonviolence, which underpin the whole philosophy, are relevant to all humankind. (Recently some
have been suggesting that a distinction can be made between the core elements of Gandhi's thought and peripheral
elements which, depending on the particular element under consideration, may or may not have timeless relevance.)
Also, it can be universal despite being fundamentally religious, as its religious position stresses not so much the
Hindu interpretation of reality as the beliefs which are common to all major religions, and that commonality itself. It
holds all religions to be worthy of equal respect and in one sense to be equal. As all are creations of mortal and
imperfect human beings, no single religion can embody or reveal the whole or absolute truth.

(1) AIMS AND OBJECTIVE OF THE PROJECT

 (i) THE RESEARCHERS AIM FOR MAKING THIS PROJECT IS TO STUDY THE CURRENT SCENARIO
OF THE IMPACT OF GANDHIS PHILOSPHY ON LIFE OF INDIANS
(ii) To study the different measures taken in field of development in field of inculcating and adopting
The gandhian philosophy in governance.
(iii) To find out the welfare measure taken for poorer section of society based on his philosophy.

(2) HYPOTHESIS

THE RESEARCHER HAS ASSUMED THAT,

(i) THE VIEWS OF GANDHI ARE NOT CONSIDERD RIGHT BY THE YOUNG GENERATION.

(II) THE MOST USEFUL WEAPON OF NONVIOLENCE AND SATYAGARAH ARE OF NO USE IN TODAYS
WORLD .

(3) RESEARCH QUESTION

(i) HOW GANDHIS PRINCIPLE AND PHILOSPHY IMPACT THE GOVERNANCE IN

INDIA ?

(ii) IS GANDHIS NAME AND PHILOSPHY BEING USED ONLY TO GAIN POLITICAL
MILEAGE?

(4) LIMITATION OF THE PROJECT

OWING TO THE LARGE NUMBER OF TOPICS THAT COULD BE INCLUDED IN THE PROJECT ,THE SCOPE
OF THIS RESEARCH PAPER IS EXCEEDINGLY VAST . H OWEVER IN THE INTEREST OF BREVITY AND DUE
TO CERTAIN RESTRICTIONS LIKE THAT OF AREA LIMITED TO B IHAR AND LIMITATION OF TIME
ETC, THE RESEARCHER WILL NOT BE ABLE TO DEAL WITH THE TOPIC IN GREAT DETAIL .

(B). REVIEW OF EXISTING LITERATURE

F OR THE PURPOSE OF RESEARCH THE RESEARCHER WILL VISIT CNLU LIBRARY AND REVIEW
VARIOUS SOURCES AVAILABLE
BOTH OF PRIMARY AND SECONDARY NATURE . DETAILED REVIEW OF LITERATURE WILL BE PROVIDED BY
THE RESEARCHER IN
THE FINAL DRAFT.

(C). RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

(i) SOURCES OF DATA

PRIMARY SOURCES FIELD WORK, STASTICAL DATA

SECONDARY SOURCES BOOKS ON GANDHI,EXPERIMENT WITH TRUTH , GANDHIS BIOGRAPHY , ARTICLES ON
GANDHIS PHILOSPHY , MAGAZINES ETC.
 (ii) METHOD OF DATA COLLECTION OF NON-DOCTRINAL NATURE

FOR THE PURPOSE OF RESEARCH , THE RESEARCHER WILL BE USING OBSERVATION,

QUESTIONNAIRE , AND INTERVIEW AS PROPOSED METHOD OF DATA COLLECTION .

(iii) TOOLS OF DATA COLLECTION

TOOLS OF DATA COLLECTION WILL INCLUDE OBSERVATION SCHEDULE , INTERVIEW SCHEDULE ,

NOTEPAD , PEN, PAPER , CAMERA ETC.

(iv) METHOD OF SAMPLING

RESEARCHER WILL USE PURPOSIVE AND CONVENIENT METHOD OF SAMPLING DUE TO PAUCITY OF
TIME AND VARIOUS LIMITATION OF RESEARCH .

(v) PILOT SURVEY

RESEARCHER WILL CONDUCT A PILOT SURVEY BEFORE GOING FOR FIELD WORK.

(D). TENTATIVE CHAPTERISATION

(i) INTRODUCTION - THIS CHAPTER WILL HAVE THE INTRODUCTION OF GANDHI HIS EARLY
LIFE ,EDUCATION ETC..

(ii) HISTORICAL BACKGROUND IN THIS CHAPTER HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF GANDHI AND

ITS IMPACT IN SHAPING HIS PHILOSPHY OR PRINCIPLE IN HIS LIFE.

(iii) How Gandhi philosophy led to the development of the underprivileged section of society.

(iv) PRESENT CONDITION I N THIS CHAPTER THE PRESENT CONDITION OF WHAT ROLE
GANDHIS PHILOSPHY HAS IN PRESENT TIMES ON BOTH PEOPLE AND GOVERNMENT .

(v) Field work & Data Analysis

.
(vi) CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION THIS CHAPTER WILL MAINLY DEAL WITH SOLUTION
RELATED TO HOW GANDHIS IDEAS COULD BE USED MORE EFFECTIVELY FOR THE WELL
BEING OF THE PEOPLE.