Maharashtra SSC Sarvodaya Vichar Grade key terms

Gandhi's term, drawn from Ruskin, for the welfare and upliftment of all people without exception, including the weakest and poorest. It treats the good of every individual as inseparable from the good of society.

The principle of beginning social effort with the last and least privileged person. Progress is measured by how far the weakest member of society has advanced, not by averages or the rise of the strongest.

Gandhi's method of pursuing truth through non-violent resistance, combining firm insistence on a just demand with refusal to injure the opponent. It relies on self-suffering, discipline, and appeal to the opponent's conscience rather than coercion.

Non-violence in thought, word, and deed. In Gandhian thought it is a positive force of love and goodwill, not merely the absence of physical harm, and it extends to avoiding exploitation and unnecessary injury to any living being.

Voluntary self-suffering or disciplined austerity accepted by a satyagrahi to strengthen resolve and touch the opponent's conscience. In Satyagraha it is a chosen cost borne by the resister, never suffering imposed on others.

The deliberate, open, and peaceful breaking of an unjust law or order, with willingness to accept the legal penalty. In Gandhian practice it is used only after dialogue fails and requires strict non-violence and public honesty.

Gandhi's programme of withdrawing cooperation from an unjust system, for example by boycotting foreign cloth, courts, schools, and titles. It aims to weaken the system through peaceful refusal rather than through confrontation or violence.

Gandhi's positive social work plan for building a self-reliant, just society from the grassroots. Items include khadi, village sanitation, communal unity, removal of untouchability, basic education, and women's upliftment, meant to prepare and sustain non-violent action.

The land-gift movement launched by Vinoba Bhave in 1951, in which landowners were persuaded to donate part of their land voluntarily to the landless. It relied on moral appeal and personal persuasion rather than legal compulsion.

The later phase of Vinoba Bhave's land movement in which an entire village's land was voluntarily surrendered to the village community, with ownership vested collectively and decisions taken by consensus. It aimed at village self-rule and economic equality.

Gandhi's vision of village self-government, in which each village is a largely self-sufficient, self-governing republic managing its own affairs. It rests on participatory decision-making, local production, and mutual responsibility rather than centralised control.

Self-rule, understood by Gandhi not only as political independence but as self-control and self-reliance of individuals and communities. It includes moral discipline, economic self-sufficiency, and freedom from exploitation of any kind.

The principle of prioritising locally produced goods and services and supporting one's own community's economy. In Gandhian practice it meant hand-spun cloth, local crafts, and reducing dependence on imported or exploitative industrial production.

Hand-spun and hand-woven cloth promoted by Gandhi as a symbol of self-reliance and dignity of labour. It became a central constructive activity providing rural employment and an alternative to mill-made and imported cloth.

The spinning wheel that Gandhi made the emblem of India's self-reliance and non-violent economic reconstruction. Spinning was presented as a daily discipline linking personal simplicity, rural employment, and national self-respect.

Gandhi's scheme of Basic Education, in which learning is integrated with productive handicraft work and the development of character. It stressed education through the mother tongue, manual labour, and practical skills tied to community life.

A constructive programme item urging villagers to build and use toilets, keep water sources clean, and dispose of waste hygienically. Gandhi linked cleanliness to self-respect and insisted that freedom required basic public health discipline.

The campaign against caste-based discrimination, which Gandhi treated as a moral and religious duty and a core constructive programme item. It involved temple entry, shared wells and dining, and public condemnation of the practice.

An organisation founded in 1932 to work for the welfare of so-called untouchables, promoting education, temple entry, and access to public facilities. Its name used the term 'Harijan', favoured by Gandhi, for those oppressed by caste.

Gandhi's economic doctrine that owners of wealth should regard themselves as trustees holding property for the benefit of society, especially the poor. It rejects both violent expropriation and unchecked acquisitiveness, appealing to moral responsibility.

Non-possession or limiting one's wants and holdings to what is genuinely needed. In Gandhian and Sarvodaya thought it counters greed and inequality and supports simplicity, sharing, and ecological restraint.

Gandhi's principle that every able person should earn their food through their own physical labour. It affirms the dignity of manual work and opposes systems where some live on the labour of others.

The conviction that all work, including cleaning and manual labour, carries equal moral worth and should not be treated as degrading. Gandhi linked it to the removal of caste prejudice and to self-reliant community life.

A Gandhian thinker and social reformer, regarded as Gandhi's spiritual successor, who launched the Bhoodan movement in 1951. He wrote and spoke extensively on Sarvodaya, village self-rule, and non-violent social change.

The social order envisioned by the Sarvodaya movement, marked by equality, non-exploitation, decentralised production, and voluntary sharing. It is presented as an alternative to both capitalist and state-socialist models.

A plan of economic development prepared under Vinoba Bhave's inspiration in the 1950s, emphasising agriculture, village and cottage industries, and self-reliant local economies. It was offered as a people-centred alternative to heavy industrial planning.

An interpretive phrase summarising the Sarvodaya and Antyodaya priority of designing policy around the poorest and most marginalised. It asks whether a decision helps the weakest before asking whether it raises aggregate output.

India's system of elected local self-government at village, block, and district levels, drawing on traditional village councils. Gandhian thought influenced it as a route to decentralised, participatory Gram Swaraj.

The self-managing body of villagers that Sarvodaya sees as the basic unit of social and economic life. It is expected to share land and resources, settle disputes by consensus, and organise local production and welfare.

The broad Gandhian effort to improve rural life through sanitation, education, health care, cooperatives, and local industry. It treats the village, not the city, as the centre of India's social reconstruction.

The promotion of a common simple language, Hindustani, written in either script, as a means of national unity and communication with ordinary people. It was a constructive programme item aimed at bridging regional and communal divides.

The constructive programme item of building trust and cooperation among religious communities, especially Hindus and Muslims. Gandhi treated communal harmony as essential to freedom and to any non-violent society.

A form of self-purification and moral pressure used by Gandhi and Vinoba Bhave, undertaken to change hearts rather than to coerce. It is understood as an appeal to conscience and requires great restraint and discipline.

The general practice of opposing injustice through peaceful means such as strikes, boycotts, and civil disobedience. It seeks to defeat unjust policies without harming opponents, aiming at conversion and reconciliation.

A book by John Ruskin that deeply influenced Gandhi, who paraphrased it as 'Sarvodaya'. Its themes include the worth of every person, the dignity of labour, and the idea that true wealth lies in right living.

Gandhi's 1909 text arguing that true freedom requires moral and economic self-rule, not merely a change of rulers. It criticises industrial civilisation and defends village self-reliance and non-violence.

The broader Indian movement, including Ambedkar's work, against caste-based discrimination and for equal rights and dignity. Studying it helps candidates compare Gandhian moral persuasion with legal and political approaches to caste injustice.

A socialist leader who joined Vinoba Bhave's Bhoodan campaign and later led the movement for total revolution. He connects Sarvodaya thought with post-independence movements against corruption and authoritarianism.

A contemporary reading of Sarvodaya economics that favours local production, low transport dependence, and ecological limits on consumption. It links Gandhi's swadeshi and aparigraha ideas to current debates on climate and inequality.

A model in which citizens directly take part in decisions affecting their lives, rather than only voting periodically. Sarvodaya links it to Gram Swaraj and consensus-based village governance.