1. Month long Gandhi Fest for Rural Development, Agriculture and Education under the aegis of Kerala Gandhi Smarak Nidhi

A month-long Gandhi Utsav and Khadi Fest, perhaps first of its kind in India since the Gandhi Centenary in 1969, with focus on Agriculture, Rural Development, Youth and Education,  which the Kerala Gandhi Smarak Nidhi organised in Trivandrum from 12the December to 10th January as part of its yearlong Diamond Jubilee celebrations. NCRI has supported this event.
The Kerala Gandhi Smarak Nidhi, as is well known, has been playing a significant role in leading the Kerala state through innovative and productive activities all these years besides sensitizing the youth along Gandhian lines and promoting harmony in areas of conflicts.
The formal inauguration of the Diamond Jubilee Celebration was held on 21st Aug 2010 when Sri. TKA Nair, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister of India declared open the yearlong celebrations at a seminar on“Kerala Development-Gandhian Perspectives”. Among those who were present at this function were P.Gopinathan Nair, P.Viswambharan ( Ex.MP), K.C.Shasidhar ( Chief General Manager, NABARD), Dr.G.C.Gopala Pillai, K.Viswanathan , Adv.K.Ayyappan Pillai, Mohan Raju. The thirty day Gandhi Utsav and khadi Fest was a sequel to this.
There were nine venues for the Festival on the premises of the Gandhi Bhavan which soon acquired the characteristics of a major village Festival. The Khadi fest was held at the new building block on the southern side of the main building while the Book Exhibition was held on the front portico of the Gandhi Bhavan. Discussions were held in the J.P Hall and in the mini halls in the annexe while students competitions were held at three venues on the grounds (in the Mathrubhumi hall, open air theatre and in the Museum hall). Films were shown in the front ground while demonstration of Naturopathy, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Ikeda exhibition, pottery, Khadi weaving and spinning were on the foreground.

Highlights of this first-ever Gandhi Utsav:

1. Seminars / Discussions / Meeting / Dialogues / Presentations on contemporary issues 2) National Conferences  3) Training and demonstration sessions 4) Workshops 5)   Face-to-face with those who have seen Gandhi 6) Exhibitions 7) New initiatives  8) Special programmes for children and youth 9) Competitions for students 10)  Films / video presentations / poetry recitals / visualisations 11) 150th birth anniversary of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore 12) New initiatives

Gandhi’s grand-daughter, Tara Gandhi Bhattacharjee who spent two days at the festival was a star attraction particularly to the youth and children. She interacted freely with three segments of the audience: Gandhian Constuctive Workers, Young Students and children. This was followed by a session on those who have had the privilege to have either seen or worked with Gandhi. Senior Gandhians like Sri. Choolur Bhaskaran Nair, Adv. Aiyyappan Pillai, and a host of freedom fighters led this session. They narrated the lessons they learnt and the inspiration they drew from Gandhi.

The curtain came down with the valedictory address by the Governor of Maharashtra, Sri K.Sankara Narayanan, who exhorted the young and old to make earnest efforts to creatively reinterpret Gandhi in the context of the emerging challenges. He further stated Gandhi demonstrated convincingly that with courage, conviction and hope we can be winners and there is no reason for us to lose hope.

GITAM University, Visakhapatnam conducted a National Seminar on “Containing Violence: Measures for Resolution” from  29th to 31st January, 2011.

This seminar on “Containing Violence: Measures for Resolution” is an attempt to explore the area of conflict resolution focusing on the means of containing violence both at the societal as well as structural levels.
The seminar was inaugurated on 29th January, 2011 by Prof. Shanta Sinha, Chairperson, National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, New Delhi. Also present during the inaugural function were Prof. K. Ramakrishna Rao, Chairman, Indian Council of Philosophical Research, New Delhi, who presided over the inaugural function and Prof. Max Velmans, Goldsmiths, University of London, was the Guest of Honour. Prof. Rao mentioned the need to encourage academic learning that can relate philosophy to life. He mentioned that philosophy does not encourage renunciation of life but deals with life itself.
The valedictory function of the seminar was graced by Dr. Jai Prakash Narayan, President, Lok Satta Party, as Chief Guest, and Prof. R.Subhash Sharma, Dean, Indian Business Academy and Shri P. Murali Mohan, Chief Vigilance Officer, Port Trust, as guests of honour.

Dr. Jaiprakash Narayan  at the valedictory function	Prof. Subhash Sharma speaking at the Seminar

Round Table:
Chair: Professor J.P.S. Oberoi, University of Delhi
The Chair spoke about the three important words popularized by Gandhiji — Swaraj, Swadeshi and Satyagraha.
Speaker 1 : Daniel Drache, York University, Canada
The speaker made an attempt at looking at Gandhi from an outsider’s perspective. The speaker looked at Gandhiji’s legacy today in India and outside India.
Speaker 2: Rita Kothari, MICA, Ahmadabad
The speaker began talking about Gandhi as a communicator and said that he was a straight forward and covert communicator.She also spoke about Gandhi’s writings and the impact they would have on the people of India.
Speaker 3 : Sri. Bishnu Mohapatra,Former Professor, JNU
The speaker spoke that Gandhi is a simple enough person to understand and read at the beginning. But, as you delve deeper, he becomes more and more complex and difficult to understand.
Wrapping up, the chair remarked that one should always put one-self in the other person’s shoes, practice and then propagate. That’s what Gandhi stood for. Politics and affairs of the civil society and state were not what Gandhi stood for. He used politics as an instrument of creating heaven on earth. If one sacrifices with a clear conscience, one will definitely do some good to the society. Purity of means should be given first priority.

1. Sri.Yerramilli Narayana Murthy College, Narsapur, West Godavari district, Andhra Pradesh, conducted a national seminar on “The role of HRD in improving good governance” on 29th March, 2011.

1. March 8, 2011, is celebrated throughout the world as women’s day and this year it happens to be 100th year and so specially significant. Swaadhyaya Ashram and Gandhi Smarak Nidhi, Punjab,Haryana & Himachal Pradesh conducted an awareness rally on the International Women’s Day. The rally started from the campus of Swaadhyaya Ashram, Pattikalyan. National level school students and teachers have participated in the rally spotting the banners on female infanticide, gender ratio and gender bias towards women.

Sri. Ashok Kumar Sharan, Secretary, Swaadhyaya Ashram, Dr. Swathanthra Jain, Trustee, Gandhi Smarak Nidhi, Smt. Kantha Devi,incharge, Balkalyan Kendra, Sri. Subhash Choukkar, Sri. Satpal and other dignitaries spoke on the above mentioned topics.

Sri. Ashok Kumar Sharan Secretary,Swaadyaya Ashram with other participants

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