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Studying Mahatma Gandhi is not going to get you a job & Indian students know it

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Ahead of the Mahatma’s 150th birth anniversary in 2019, data shows dramatic reduction in students pursuing Gandhian studies. But scholars are unperturbed.

New Delhi: In the lead up to his 150th birth anniversary in 2019, the government of India is planning to celebrate Mahatma Gandhi in a never-before way, beginning on 2 October this year.

But how many Indians are actually still interested in learning about the Father of the Nation in the 21st century? Not many, new data has revealed.

The number of students enrolled in post-graduate programmes in Gandhian studies across India has declined to just 796 in 2017-18 from 3,840 in 2015-16, while the number of those pursuing an M.Phil. in the subject is at its lowest — 51. Additionally, only 69 Ph.Ds have been awarded across the country in all in the last four years.


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No university in India has a functional chair in the name of Mahatma Gandhi, according to the University Grants Commission. A UGC chair is established in the name of Nobel laureates, scientists and people of national importance to study their life and works. However, UGC told Parliament earlier this month: “Mahatma Gandhi chair has not been established in any university as no proposal was received by UGC from any university.”

Institutions are in crisis

Institutions that offer Gandhian studies in India are the Gujarat Vidyapith in Ahmedabad, the Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapeeth in Varanasi, the Panjab University in Chandigarh and the University of Kerala, among others. Outside India, universities like Cambridge and Oxford have Gandhian studies departments.

A senior official from the Gujarat Vidyapith said: “Students do not want to enroll themselves in Gandhian studies as a core discipline because of the lack of job opportunities. Only few who want to further pursue research or are academically inclined enroll in the subjects.”

Some institutions, like the Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya in Wardha, Maharashtra, have now started combining the subject with social work.

Outside institutions, Gandhian thought is flourishing

While universities offering Gandhian studies agree that there is fading interest in the subject, Gandhian scholars disagree. They say a lot of work is happening on Gandhi, but not in institutions meant for Gandhian studies, and not necessarily by Indian students or scholars.

Gandhian scholars are researching on contemporary issues like water crisis, communal conflict, and finding solutions to various contemporary problems through what Gandhi suggested. Even institutions like the IIMs and IITs have classes on “Gandhian Ethics in Management”. Recently, there is a renewed interest in studying Gandhi’s role in Partition as well.


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“It’s not that there is no interest in studying Gandhi or his works. Worldwide, a lot of people are doing a lot of creative work on Gandhi, but that does not necessarily come under Gandhian studies. That work could be in philosophy, sociology, politics and economics, because Gandhi’s thoughts exist across these subjects,” said a scholar who has worked extensively on the life and works of Gandhi, and has taught Gandhian studies, but did not wish to be identified.

The scholar criticised the way Gandhian studies courses have been designed and projected.

“People in India have not been able to decide whether reading Gandhi means studying his life or reading his biography. What is being taught in the name of Gandhian studies in India does not equip you for anything. Education should either equip you for higher education or the job market, but the courses in these institutions do neither,” the scholar said.


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The scholar added that there is a crisis within Gandhian institutions, not outside them. “The study is happening in institutes that are not meant for Gandhi studies. They are not the ones that are actually doing the work; work is happening in places like O.P. Jindal University, Ashoka University, JNU — where there is a strong social science department,” he added.

A. Annamalai, director of the National Gandhi Museum in New Delhi, agreed. “The number of students in formal Gandhian studies is declining because the subject is not linked to employment and our education system is such that everything is linked with employment. If you link it to employment, you will get more students,” he said, adding that there was no lack of interest in studying Gandhi, albeit not in the form of a degree.

Renewed interest among today’s young

Kumar Prashant, chairman of the Gandhi Peace Foundation, said there is, in fact, renewed interest in studying Gandhi among the youth of today. “With the whole theory of Partition and Gandhi’s role in it being discussed, a lot of youngsters are showing interest in reading about Gandhi. They ask a lot of questions, some against him and some pro him. At the Gandhi Peace Foundation only, last month, I had 10-15 youngsters who were researching on Gandhi,” he said.

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