Brief History

The Gandhi Vichar Parishad has its roots in the early fifties, when some close associates of Gandhi decided, shortly after his death, that there was a need for an Institution which would undertake the scientific study and analysis of Gandhian Thought and methods for the benefit of the younger generation. The founding members included such eminent Gandhian scholars as Kaka Saheb Kalelkar, Shri J. C. Kumarappa, Shri K.G. Mashruwala, Shri Shankar Rao Deo, Shri G. Ramachandran, Shri S. N. Agarawal and Shri Satish Chandra Dasgupta. Kaka Saheb Kalelkar was its first Chairman, and Shri Shankar Rao Deo and Shri Ravindra Varma were Secretaries. The Bajaj family was happy to offer one of its buildings in the premises of Bajawadi at Wardha for Gandhi Vichar Parishad in 1951-52. In 1955, the Gandhi Vichar Parishad was shifted to Delhi. The march of history and the demands of organization caused the Parishad to be merged into the Gandhi Smark Nidhi as the Tatva Prachar Vibhag (Ideology Dissemination Department). It was revived and revitalised in the late Eighties by the Jamnalal Bajaj Foundation. That was the beginning of the new Gandhi Vichar Parishad or Institute of Gandhian Studies at Wardha. The Institute of Gandhian Studies or Gandhi Vichar Parishad in its present form was established at Wardha on October 7, 1987. Late Shri Ravindra Varma, freedom fighter, Gandhian activist and well known scholar was the founder Chairman of this Institute. The establishment of the Institute was the result of vision and work of Shri Ravindra Varma along with the active interest and full support of Shri Ramkrishna Bajaj, the then Chairman of the Jamnalal Bajaj Foundation. Initially the Institute started its activities within the Campus of Mahatma Gandhi,s Ashram at Sevagram. In the course of time, it has been moved to its new campus at Gopuri. During the last two decades, the Institute has succeeded in establishing a high reputation for the variety of the courses of studies it offers, and for uniqueness and excellence. It is now acclaimed as an outstanding institution by the academic community, thinkers, activists, trade unionists, organisations of youth and students, Gandhian workers and traditional organisations engaged in Gandhian work. These years also marked the extension of the activities of the institute from the regional/national level to the International plane. The international programmes and courses organized by the Institute have opened up new vistas and area of activities. They created new expectations and wider acceptance of the credibility and competence of the Institute. Many foreign institutions expect the Institute to run training programmes required for non-violent action and take up pioneering efforts in the field of peace, reconciliation and harmony.

About Us

The Institute of Gandhian Studies (Gandhi Vichar Parishad) is an educational and public charitable institution that has been set-up as one of the commemorative projects of the Jamnalal Bajaj Centenary Year. It was established to create and offer facilities to study the life, thought and methods of Gandhi, and to learn lessons that can be of value in addressing the problems of the present. The objectives of the Institute identify the growing relevance of Gandhi and the need for providing opportunities for the study and application of his thoughts and methods. More than six decades have passed since Gandhi fell to the bullets of an assassin. But every year in these decades has only heightened the global awareness of the dimensions and the meaning of his message. A very real threat to survival is threatening humanity to look for alternative to the paths that have led it to the brink of extinction. Violence and war seem to have become counter-productive as instruments for settling differences or resolving conflicts. Giant strides in science and technology have no doubt added to the knowledge and power at the disposal of man, but not to peace of mind in the individual or harmony in society, nor to the liquidation of want and poverty, illness and ignorance. Sophistication in technology has not led to freedom, but have focused attention on the potential for increasing disparities; for centralization and concentration of power, the danger of divorcing the processes of production from the personality and creativity of the individual human being; the profligate and thoughtless depletion of non-replaceable natural resources, causing irreparable damage to and imbalance in the eco-system, in turn posing a threat to the survival of man and the natural and social ethos of the planet. The relentless pursuit of material goals has led to a grave crisis in the psyche of the individual and society. These threats to its very existence have made humanity commence a search for: New means for the resolution of conflicts and differences in opinion and outlook. Values that will promote individual liberty and progress while strengthening the forces of cohesion. A new blend of the spirit of science and the role that man has inherited consequent on his entry into realms that give him access to the power of the spirit. A new technology that will no longer result in alienation, robotization, dehumanization and exploitation, but enable man to exercise his creative talents and achieve liberty and equality. A new era in which government will rest on the principles of self-government, and humanity will out-grow narrow loyalties that can place a question mark before the survival of man Many thinkers and activists, in the world today, have begun to turn to the life, thoughts and methods of Mahatma Gandhi to look for solutions that can take humanity in this direction. Many countries have witnessed popular movements for freedom, equality and peace, which drew inspiration from the life and methods of Gandhi. Activists and thinkers of the younger generation in the world are looking to the alternative path that Gandhi showed, in the belief that his message and testament are of crucial significance to the survival of mankind. Of all the influences that contributed to the making of the personality of Shri Jamnalal Bajaj none was greater than his close association with Gandhi, and his implicit faith in the epochal significance of Gandhi’s life, message and the concept of Trusteeship. He asked Gandhi to consider him as the Mahatma’s fifth son, thereby accepting a share of the responsibility for preserving and transmitting the heritage of Gandhian thought to succeeding generations. The establishment of the Institute was thus a fitting memorial to the life and work of Shri Jamnalal Bajaj in his Birth Centenary Year.