Throw light on the significance of the thoughts of Mahatma Gandhi in the present times.

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Ghissu Editorial · Accepted Answer

Gandhi's thoughts remain significant today as a compass for inclusive, decentralised, ethical and sustainable development, from Antyodaya and Gram Swaraj to trusteeship and satyagraha. His village republics gained constitutional force through the 73rd Amendment (1992), and the UN marks his birthday as the International Day of Non-Violence.

**Introduction**

The UN's declaration of 2 October as the International Day of Non-Violence (2007) shows that Gandhi's ideas have outlived the freedom struggle. His thought was a design for a just individual, village, nation and world, and each layer speaks to present problems.

**Gandhian Ideas in Today's Governance and Economy**

SKETCH: concentric | Gandhi's Oceanic Circle
- Humanity: non-violence
- Nation: Sarvodaya
- Village: Gram Swaraj
- Individual: self-rule

1. **Antyodaya and the Talisman**: Recalling the face of the poorest before any decision is the moral basis of last-mile targeting, from the Antyodaya Anna Yojana (2000) to the Aspirational Districts Programme (2018).
2. **Gram Swaraj**: Self-governing villages, a Directive Principle in Article 40, gained constitutional force through the 73rd Amendment (1992) and its three-tier panchayats.
3. **Trusteeship**: Holding wealth in trust for society anticipates mandatory CSR under Section 135 of the Companies Act, 2013.

**Gandhian Ideas for Today's Social and Global Crises**

1. **Satyagraha**: Non-violent resistance inspired Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela and remains the template for peaceful protest and dialogue.
2. **Need, not greed**: His warning that the earth cannot meet every man's greed underpins sustainable consumption, echoed in Mission LiFE (2022).
3. **Sarva Dharma Samabhava**: Equal respect for all faiths, defended by his last fast in January 1948, answers communal polarisation.
4. **Purity of means**: His Seven Social Sins (1925), such as commerce without morality, remain a charter for ethics in public life.

**Conclusion**

Gandhi is not beyond critique: Ambedkar called the village a sink of localism, and a modern economy cannot run on the charkha alone. Yet as a compass for inclusive, decentralised and peaceful development, his thought remains India's most usable inheritance.

Throw light on the significance of the thoughts of Mahatma Gandhi in the present times.

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