The Samiti organised a dialogue on “Launch of Non Killing India & One Crore Non Violent Family” in Gandhi Darshan on December 18, 2019. The discussion was chaired by Prof. N Radhakrishnan, Member Gandhi: 150 Committee, Government of India. The other participants at the discussion included Dr. Anoop Swarup, Shri Govindnathan Nair, Dr. Y P Anand, Du. Gurudutt, Prof. Sanjeev, Prof. Ramesh Kumar, Shri Yatish MIshra, Dr. Vedabhyas Kundu, students and youth.
Mooting the discussing, Prof. Radhakrishnan said, “We must give revive Mahatma Gandhi’s idea of young soldiers of peace, whom Gandhiji called the ‘Shanti Sainiks’ as a gift to Gandhiji’s 150th birth anniversary. Saying that “Violence travels fast and non-violence travels at a snail’s pace”, Prof Radhakrishnan called for taking this concept to the families, where the approach should be based on individual acceptance, and thereby we could reach to one crore families”.
Dr. Y P Anand while quoting how Mahatma Gandhi defined ‘Ahimsa’ referred to the indirect or structural violence in the society that needs to be addressed, to begin what he called as the basic right of a child to be educated. He said that one needs to have a clear definition of ‘non-killing’ and that it must also address structural killing or structural disparities, where there’s killing slowly by degrees. He stressed that the bottom lines in terms of Education, health and sanitation be clearly drawn to take this initiative further”.
Others like Dr. Anoop Swarup stressed on Gandhiji’s concept of dialogue and reconciliation to bring down inequalities; Dr.Gurudutt spoke on the concept of ‘fraternity’ or ‘brotherhood’ to take this step further. Prof. Ramesh Kumar suggested that this initiative be coordinated with the UGC.
Prof Sanjeev suggested that there is an urgent need to address the whole issue of psychological violence and to start moral education in schools which Ms. Mansi reiterated. Dr. Vedabhyas informed the initiative of GSDS in Manipur and informed that state governments are interested to take up sessions on non-violent communication in different schools.
Dr. Anand suggested that as India is a melting pot of cultures, the Gandhian ethics can form the basis of moral education.