4th Debate Championship

Thanks for starting the debate competition. I will put forth my views

With all my respects to the land of India and to Shri. Mahatma Gandhi, I will start the debate with my comments:

The whole life of Mr. Gandhi is a literature and a literature is never a waste. There is no person living on the earth, from whom you cant not learn anything. Shri. Gandhi left behind many ideologies and principles, which he showed through his own work. To summarise, Gandhiji's principles revolved around Truth and Non-violence and his ideologies were Sarvodaya and Satyagrah. So I will talk on each principle and Ideology separately:

Truth: Noone can deny that Truth is the highest moral principle of life. But it would be injustice to the great history of India, if we credit Shri. Gandhi for this principle. I genuinely believe that Shri. Gandhi is not the originator of the principle and hence even if it has the weight in today's world, he should not get the credit for the same. The principle of truth has been followed since ages from Shri. Ram, Udhishthir and many others, who have carried the principle from generations to generations.

Focussing on the relevance of the principle today, Truth is always relevant but the definition of truth seems to have changed in the modern day world. Today the world is run by either constitution or the rulers (in few parts). Hence the truth is what can be proved in the constitution or what is ruled by the ruler. So truth has become anything that can be proved. Hence the truth has as much relevance to today's world as much it can be proved.

Non-violence: The term Ahimsa was first introduced by Late Samrat. Asoka and it was taken to new generations by Mahatma Gandhi through his struggle for freedom. Though Samrat Asoka introduced the term, he never extended it to 'no self defense'. Mahatma Gandhi extended the term to 'No Self Defense' and there was a reason for this. India has been an agrarian country and was very poor to afford the arms to counter the attacks of British. Shri. Gandhi brought this concept to keep the moral of the people high for freedom fighting even without support of the arms. The only unconvincing factor for most of the Indians was the Principle of 'No Self defense'

Focussing on the relevance in today's world, We are seeing so much of divisions in the society based on cast, religion, colour and boundaries. To introduce Ahimsa in this society, we have to unite all people and remove the boundaries. The Principle that is relevant today's world is just Peace, which is a part of Ahimsa and can be achieved. But today we are self sufficient and hence if we someone attacks us, we can't just keep saying peace. We have to save our people first and then after the wars, the peace process can start again.

Sarvodaya: 'Sarvodaya' was the ideology introduced by Shri Gandhi meaning the welfare of all without exception. In other words "The good of each individual in society consists in his efforts to achieve the good of all." A Society is always described by its people and their culture. Ex: If you talk of USA, mind thinks Rich society, You go to Middle East, mind thinks of Oil wells, You go to South Africa, mind thinks of street robbery, You go to South Asia, mind thinks of Terrorism. So Each society has been known with the characterstics, which a handful of people possess. But if all the people think of welfare of all, the whole society will be known in one style. But with all the diversified people and selfish motive, it does not look as reality. It is relevant as far as a small section can use the Ideology.

Satyagrah: Defined most narrowly, it is a technique or tool of nonviolent action. This is one concept used widely during the freedom fighting struggle of India. The Ideology was derived by Mahatma Gandhi to fight against the injustice of the British Government. This Ideology is still relevant and is widely used in India to protest, as we have seen recently in case of demonstrations again reservation laws. But Satyagrah has its own limitations, as to the time it takes for achievement. In today's fast paced world, the ideology holds good but not perfect and hence we need to improvise on the ideology to get quicker results for justice and removal of exploitation. Also Satyagrah can be used only on Micro scale i.e. limited to a specific area, country. But talking of relevance to today's world, the tool can not be used on international level, where only talks and wars are the two ways.

Conclusion: Though the Principles and Ideologies can not be completely refuted, the face, definition of this Principles and Ideologies have to be changed to fix it in the modern society.

Thanks for starting the competition;

Jessica Lal and the re-opening of her case

The protests against the quota issue at AIIMS

The protests against the verdict of the Priyadarshini Matto mureder case

These and many more incidents are all protests, yet, one very important point must be highlited in the following cases..

THESE PROTESTS WERE PEACEFUL

Now, lets take a look at another case;

The traders strinking in New Delhi against the sealing: The protests were not only violent, but they were useless too. Reason? The high court had already ruled that sealing must go on. The traders neither gained nething by such a protest, and they also caused a great number of problems for the general public. I myself was held up in school till SIX in the EVENING because of these worthless protests...perhaps if they had been a little more peaceful in nature,these protests would actually hav yeilded some results.

Living in an age war,crime and terrorism, the word PEACE seems long forgotten cropping up occassionaly in debates like these..but,isn't it a fact that everyone wants PEACE? Yes, Mahatma Gandhi changed the face of this nation with his ideologies of non-violence, but the truth is, these ideologies can work EVEN TODAY.

Why was the movie, Lage raho Munnabhai such a hit?Maybe it was made well, good dialogues, acting, but the real reason behind the success of this movie can be attributed to the fact that it touched an issue burning in everyones minds, but people were just not ready to come out with it.

Cases like the re-opening of the Jessica Lal murder case, justice delivered in the Priyadarshini Matto case and the peaceful protests against quota which evoked great sympathy because it was the POLICE which used unnecessary violent steps to curb a peaceful student protest all show that Bapu lives in everyone's minds and hearts till this day and his philosophies are as ideal and relevant in todays society as they were about 59-60 years ago.

Here goes mine!

Well...I believe that The gandhain Philosphy is still relevant in today's world!

Let's take the example of Saddam Hussain-He played with people's life.He was a cruel human being.He believed only and only in Destruction.So many times,His country men and women told him to stop it!..He was being the Ravand of the Ramayan.Believing only and only in Destruction,he conqured nothing good.What happened to him...A shocking punsihment for his deeds,A life sentence!

Was this right?Abosuletely right.This is the way to end the volience in my opinion.The person whom we called volience did anything,good to people!So there can be only 1 thing done...non voilence!

The citiznes of iraq were very much happy because the "evil got his punishment",Which means that they all wished for peace,justice and ofcourse non-volience.

Again.The same happened with his children!

Yep,there r destructions in this world...but also I believe there r ending soon...The peace process persiod will take a longet time.The end of saddam hussain gives us a light that there r chances that our world will dawn the peace on us!

Another one can be- lawyers!

I myself have seen mannnny lawyers who fight for truth  and justice not for money!These lawyers can be called god send people to give the innocent ones justice.Many of the lawyers I have seen do not believe in money,luxury..They believe in truth and justice.One day,I asked one lawyer,That"Many of the lawyers just save their clients because of the good amount of money they get?But u seem more interested in giving justice.That laywer said that We can get money only by going to the road of truth and justice.Being famous on the short cut way..we will not bring you immense fame.These money will only be "chand din ki chandani phir andheri raat.Money will not be a freind with you,if you chase behind it!I was struck..!Hats off to the lawyer who said like this!

Munnabhai!

After seeing Munnabhai,may of the people have truly changed.There were discounts on cinema tickets,books and other commodities after seeing that movie.That movie brought a big change in this materialistic world.Clubs of gandhiji,have made a huge impact on many of the people who may have done bad deeds in the past!I myself have seen in news where that movie brought a vast change in the society!

So,what I believe is YES!Gandhain ideology is still relevant today!In this 21st century!

Hi First of all I am going to introduce myself. My name is Amna and I think Principles of Gandhian philosophy are not relevant today. There are many reasons why I think that..

* Why did so many people die in Iraq??

Is killing peace keeping or nonviolence.. I don't think so, because so many innocent people died in Iraq. Like the way US Soldiers attacked Iraq n they were bombing there. You know what you all watch biased news which works for USA and obviously they don't want people to know the truth. How come they only say how many soldiers died how about the people the soldiers killed they must be in millions? And lots of people who are happy Saddam died ask yourself "Why are you happy"? There will be just more violence in the world by killing people. And like I said wait till they hang him and see the reaction in Iraq. The only reason they don't want the soldiers to come back to USA is because they don't want people to see that they lost and came back. The only reason they attacked it was for oil and power. And like they said it was for so called "Nuclear Weapons" and did they find any. NO. How can a poor country afford that?

* Why do people still kill people?

Like when you turn on the news the only thing you mostly hear is "An 7 year girl was found murdered… he is kidnapped.. A bomb blast killed 80 people.."

Here r sum examples:

Noida kidnapping may be an inside job, say police

Gallows for child killer

Dalit marchers turn violent, two injured

For Diyafah u were saying sumthing abt lawyers right.. Remember in LGMB one of the things he said was Lawyers arent gud for peace keeping..

This is all for now.. I will be back to add.

Neither Gandhiji nor his followers ever claimed that the principle of truth has been originated by Gandhiji.But its an undeniable fact that just like Sri Ram, Udhishtir , Sathya Harishchandra and the other great people, Bapu based his life on the principles of truth.

To say that truth has no relevance to the todays world is like saying that oxygen is not what we should be breathing in the present world.Truth is as much relevant as God is to the present world.Just because some people argue against the presence of God, doesn't mean God doesnt exist.

To say that the meaning of the truth is decided by the constitution and the rulers of the world, is to say that what Saddam Hussain and Hitler did is truth.Truth is imniscient.It has no shape or form and hence cannot be changed by the mere humans.In the very words of Gandhiji himself-"Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is truth"

Again all the Gandhian principles were not INVENTED by him.Its just that he based his life one those principles and hence to the modern world they became more popular is Gandhian principles.Its just a matter of relatability.

I want to question the 'unconvincing' part of 'No self defense'.Its the people who resort to criticism of Non-violence, that make 'no self-defense' look like a means adopted by cowards.Again to quote his own words"It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than to put on the cloak of non-violence to cover impotence"

So according to you, how are we to save our people first?Is it by resorting to attacks and other offensive means?Then can you assure PEACE?Ever thought of counter-attacks?With violence you are giving green signal to those who are just waiting to push that trigger in, of the nuclear weapons.So where does the PEACE figure after that?

An eye for eye will only make the world blind.Only the principle of non-violence will lead to the ultimate PEACE of the world.PERIOD.

"Unity in diversity".Yes, that's the manthra for the present day world.Though we all are so different from eachother in terms of religion,economy,color,cast and creed, we still connect with eachother at the very basic level.And that common thread which connects us is nothing but the urge of the human being to be do good.Even though there are exceptions of this, but the majority of the human beings relate to the words 'humanity', 'morality',' truth','honesty' and the other basic values.

According to Gandhiji, as long as there are people who trust in the core values of humanity, there is no danger to the world.Its just that we need to see the relevance and incorporate it.Its the calling for the human beings to see the utmost neccessity of trying to evade differences and work for a common cause of equality of all the beings.

He says"You must not lose faith in humanity.Humanity is like an ocean; if a few drops of ocean are dirty, the ocean doesn't become dirty"

Talks at the international level?About what?I heard they talk about restoring peace, dont they?

Sathyagraha came into existence long before it was given a name.It all started in South Africa when Gandhiji used the truth as his weapon.Later Gandhiji coined in the word, so as to relate to the common folk of India and make it a weapon against British.

Sathya=Truth. Agraha=Firmness..Sathyagraha means truth displayed firmly, without compromise.

And it can indeed be incorporated at macro levels.What better example than its success in the massive India?