Kerala Plus Two Gandhian Studies (DHSE) flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Satyagraha

Gandhi's method of non-violent resistance meaning 'holding fast to truth'; it seeks to convert the opponent through self-suffering, moral appeal and discipline rather than coercion or violence.

Ahimsa

Non-violence in thought, word and deed; for Gandhi it is active love and non-injury, not passive abstention, and it is the indispensable means to realise truth.

Champaran Satyagraha

Gandhi's first Indian satyagraha in 1917, supporting indigo cultivators in Bihar against oppressive planter demands; it led to an official inquiry and the Champaran Agrarian Act of 1918.

Dandi March

The 1930 Salt Satyagraha in which Gandhi walked about 240 miles from Sabarmati to Dandi and broke the salt law on 6 April 1930, launching civil disobedience.

Hind Swaraj

Gandhi's 1909 book, written as a dialogue, criticising modern industrial civilisation and advocating swaraj based on self-rule, village life, and moral regeneration.

Sarvodaya

Literally 'uplift of all'; Gandhi's term for the welfare of every person, derived from his 1908 paraphrase of Ruskin's Unto This Last, opposed to utilitarian majority benefit.

Trusteeship

Gandhi's doctrine that owners hold surplus wealth in trust for society; property is legitimate only as stewardship, with consumption limited to genuine needs.

Constructive Programme

Gandhi's 1941 list of 18 items, including communal unity, removal of untouchability, khadi, village sanitation and basic education, to build non-violent self-reliant society.

Nai Talim

Gandhi's Wardha scheme of basic education (1937): craft-centred, self-financing, mother-tongue instruction, free and compulsory for seven years, linking learning to productive work.

Vaikom Satyagraha

A 1924-25 non-violent campaign in Kerala for the right of avarnas to use the road near the Vaikom temple; Gandhi supported it and visited Kerala in 1925.

K. Kelappan

Kerala Gandhian leader known as Kerala Gandhi; led the Vaikom Satyagraha and the Guruvayur Satyagraha (1931-32) for temple entry and social reform.

Guruvayur Satyagraha

A 1931-32 non-violent temple-entry campaign in Kerala led by K. Kelappan with Gandhi's support, demanding access for all Hindus to the Guruvayur temple.

Chauri Chaura

A February 1922 incident in which a mob burned a police station; Gandhi withdrew the Non-Cooperation Movement, calling the call for mass disobedience a Himalayan miscalculation.

Poona Pact

The 1932 agreement between Gandhi and Ambedkar replacing separate electorates for Depressed Classes with reserved seats within the general electorate.

Quit India Movement

Launched 8 August 1942 with Gandhi's 'Do or Die' slogan, demanding immediate British withdrawal; the leadership was arrested and the movement became widespread and often violent.

Seven Social Sins

Gandhi's list including wealth without work, pleasure without conscience, knowledge without character, commerce without morality, science without humanity, worship without sacrifice and politics without principle.

Swadeshi

Gandhi's principle of using locally produced goods and village industries, symbolised by khadi, to build economic self-reliance and reduce dependence on foreign cloth.

Aparigraha

Non-possession or non-acquisitiveness, a Gandhian vow and Jain-derived principle limiting consumption and supporting simple living and ecological restraint.

Gram Swaraj

Gandhi's vision of self-governing, self-sufficient village republics as the foundation of Indian swaraj, with decentralised economic and political life.

Antodaya

Gandhi's principle of uplift of the last and weakest person, a guiding idea in sarvodaya and inclusive development, later used by Vinoba Bhave.

Bhoodan Movement

Vinoba Bhave's 1951 land-gift campaign, a Gandhian application of trusteeship and sarvodaya in which landowners donated land to the landless.

Gandhi-Irwin Pact

The March 1931 agreement between Gandhi and Viceroy Irwin: civil disobedience suspended, political prisoners released, and Gandhi attended the Second Round Table Conference.

Purna Swaraj

The demand for complete independence adopted at the Lahore Congress session in December 1929, followed by the independence pledge on 26 January 1930.

Rowlatt Act

The 1919 law permitting detention without trial; opposition to it triggered Gandhi's Rowlatt Satyagraha and the Jallianwala Bagh massacre at Amritsar on 13 April 1919.

Gandhi's Environmental Warning

Gandhi's statement that the earth satisfies every person's need but not every person's greed, a foundational principle of Gandhian ecological and sustainable-development thought.

Chipko Movement

A 1973 Indian forest-protection movement in Uttarakhand in which villagers hugged trees to prevent felling; it drew on Gandhian non-violent and environmental ideas.

Non-violent Conflict Resolution

Gandhi's approach of resolving conflict through negotiation, arbitration, conversion and self-suffering rather than coercion, aimed at durable and just peace.

Martin Luther King Jr.

American civil-rights leader who adopted Gandhian satyagraha and non-violence, applying them in the Montgomery bus boycott and the 1963 March on Washington.

Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Samiti

An Indian institution promoting Gandhian studies, research and peace education, associated with Gandhi Smriti in New Delhi.

Sarvodaya Shramadana

A Sri Lankan Gandhian movement founded by A. T. Ariyaratne, combining voluntary labour and community development with sarvodaya ideals.

Narmada Bachao Andolan

An Indian movement against large-dam displacement that invoked Gandhian critiques of industrial development and non-violent protest.

Gandhian Decentralisation

The application of Gandhian swaraj and village self-rule to local governance, reflected in panchayati raj reforms and the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments.