December 22, 2020
The Individual is a Mobile Institution and has to continuously introspect: Laxmi Dass
“Organisations should be flexible. Every individual has to be independent in their functioning. This was the message of Mahatma Gandhi and Acharya Vinoba Bhawe who had laid impetus on individual development of the workers for their overall growth”, said Shri Laxmi Dass. He further added, “Every organization has to be self-dependent organization, with faith in the God. They have to realize that they have a greater role towards the welfare of the society and have to depend on the established norms”.
Shri Laxmi Dass, Vice President Harijan Sevak Sangh and Executive Member GSDS was addressing a webinar while delivering the fourth Anupam Lecture series on the theme “Sansthain Narayan Parayan Bane” (Organisations must be oriented towards the greater common good) in Gandhi Darshan on December 22, 2020.
Addressing journalists, social thinkers, academicians and youth in the webinar, Shri Laxmi Dass said that many volunteer organisations have devoted their entire framework towards serving the society in areas of rural development, women empowerment, children and others. They have reached the interior parts of the country to serve the needy. “The role of these voluntary organisations is exemplary. Even where governments could not reach, there are many such organisations and people who have reached these most underdeveloped places and have worked towards providing education, health and dignity to those people. This is what Mahatma Gandhi and Acharya Vinoba Bhave had envisioned when they spoke of the greater common good which organisations have to work for”.
Shri Laxmi Dass nevertheless lamented that there have been many instances where many such organisations have come under the scanner in charges of misutilisation of resources and funding from government or other private and public sources, and said that there are equally many others who have taken the initiative to serve the poor and the needy.
Saying that he would prefer to call such non-governmental organisations as voluntary organisations (VOs), Shri Laxmi Dass said, “Mahatma Gandhi did not make any NGOs. Neither the soul of voluntary organisations was created by the NGOS. By labeling them as NGOs, the spirit of volunteerism took a back seat and that it affected what he called the swayam sevi prayas”.
He added, “The thought behind the idea of such voluntary effort is that it is intended towards the welfare of the society. For, the welfare of the society cannot be seen. It is an ongoing process and this process continues”.
He stressed for a framework of a society where no need occurs for one to exploit the others. “There is a need to self introspect which we rarely do. Vyakti bhi sanstha ho sakti hai (The individual is a mobile institution), which like Mahatma Gandhi, Vinoba Bhawe and others have led the entire nation by their selfless sacrifice and service towards the common good and who were not associated with any organization themselves. We need to do individual audit every evening”, he concluded.
Earlier Director GSDS, Shri Dipanker Shri Gyan, while delivering the welcome address said that the subject of the fourth Anupam Mishra lecture is a tribute to Mahatma Gandhi and his disciple Acharya Vinoba Bhave, whose 125th birth anniversary we are celebrating. He said that the subject is of prime importance today, given the changing dimensions of the organisations, where we often forget the common good.
Shri Basant while proposing the vote of thanks, asked people to reflect the last will and testament of Mahatma Gandhi.