Gandhian Philosophy, Environmental Philosophy, Environmental Protection

1. GANDHIAN IDEOLOGY ON ENVIRONMENT
Dastgir Alam
Department of Economics
Aligarh Muslim University
Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh

2. GANDHIAN IDEOLOGY ON ENVIRONMENT
 Contemporary Environmental Movement
• 1970 - The first environmental event to draw attention to
environmental degradation
• 1972 - At the Stockholm Conference, a report as 'Limits
to Growth‘
• 1980 - The Brandt Commission published its 'North -
South; A Programme For Survival‘
• 1983 - The work started by the- World Commission for
Environment and Development
• 1987 - The publication of the report titled 'Our Common
Future' by Brundtland Commission

3. CONTEMPORARY ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENT
• 1992 - The Earth Summit at Rio de Janeiro produced a
number of agreements including 'Rio Declaration' on
environment and development, the 'Framework
Convention on Climate Change‘
• 1997 - The Kyoto Protocol to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions by 5.2% by 2012 relative to 1990 level.
• 2006 - 'The Living Planet' report says the lifestyle
followed by the western societies disturbed the balance
of the planet earth.
• 2007-08 - The Human Development Report 2007 - 08 on
the theme Fighting Climate Change

4. GANDHIAN IDEOLOGY ON ENVIRONMENT
“The Earth has enough resources for our
need but not for our greed.”
– M.K. Gandhi
World's early environmentalist in vision and practice

5. GANDHIAN IDEOLOGY ON ENVIRONMENT
 His seminal work, Hind Swaraj, written more than hundred
years ago in 1909 warned of the dangers the world is
facing today in the form of environmental destruction and
the threat to the planet.
 His emphasis on production by the masses instead of
mass production is another view that has very strong
implication for environmental protection.
 Indian Opinion on May 5, 1906: “Nowadays, there is an
increasing appreciation among enlightened men of the
need for open air.”

6. GANDHIAN IDEOLOGY ON ENVIRONMENT
 “I need no inspiration other than Nature's. She has never
failed me as yet. She mystifies me, bewilders me, sends
me to ecstasies.”
– Mahatma Gandhi
 The Gandhian idea of non-violence: No arms, missiles,
bombs leading to less carbon emmssion
 High consumerism and generation of waste: the rate of
depletion of resources has increased tremendously, and
secondly, the presence of toxicity in air, water and soil has
increased.
 Edward Thomson once remarked to Gandhi that wildlife
was rapidly declining in India, to which Gandhi replied with
sarcasm, “Wildlife is decreasing in the jungles, but
increasing in the towns.”

7. GANDHIAN IDEOLOGY ON ENVIRONMENT
 visualized 'Swaraj' at the individual level, 'Gram Samaj' at
Local level and 'Sarvodaya' at global level
 His trusteeship concept is for Sarvodaya. Every member
of the society is the trustee of the wealth generated out of
the collective efforts of all
 In Hind Swaraj 1909, he talked about the dangers of
unplanned and reckless industrialization
 Hind Swaraj became the manifesto of sustainable
development after the first 'Satyagraha'. For eight years
(1906-1914) it became a movement against the
exploitations of the modern western civilization

8. GANDHIAN IDEOLOGY ON ENVIRONMENT
 Dandi Yatra of 1930
Gandhi followed an unprecedented method of asserting
right of common man over natural resources, of which,
salt is most basic and primary one with broader objective
of freeing the world from the monstrous greed of
materialism
 Minimizing the wants is the way shown by Bapu. During
Dandi March, somebody brought oranges for Bapu on
Motorcycle. Bapu declined the offer of oranges, saying
that when you can walk, avoid the motorcycle.

9. GANDHIAN IDEOLOGY ON ENVIRONMENT
 During the independence struggle at Kathiawar
region in Gujarat, drought was experienced.
Knowing that afforestation on a large scale can be
an effective step to face water crisis, Gandhi asked
for plantation of trees
 At a prayer meeting in Delhi in 1947, he suggested
that water harvesting has to be practiced for
irrigational purposes to avoid famines and food
shortages. Surprisingly the same was suggested by
the M. S. Swaminathan committee in 2006.

10. GANDHIAN IDEOLOGY ON ENVIRONMENT
 Ram Rajya: supreme importance to moral values and
gives primacy to moral values over material conditions.
 -“sovereignty of the people based on moral authority”.
 Village as an independent unit
 Industrialization
 Mechanization
 Inter-regional trade if needed

11. GANDHIAN IDEOLOGY ON ENVIRONMENT
THANKS