ONE BIRTHDAY TWO GREAT MEN!

October 2 is of great national importance as it marks the birthday of two imminent personalities whose contribution to India’s freedom struggle and later, to it’s progress is immense.

Yes! October 2, which is celebrated as ‘Gandhi Jayanti’ to remember Mahatma Gandhi on his birthday, is also the birthday of Lal Bahadur Shastri ji who was the second Prime Minster of free India.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BAPU!

The philosophy of ‘simple living high thinking’ was spoken about and practiced by one of the greatest personalities the world has known. And we know him as ‘Mahatma Gandhi’, ‘Bapu’ and also as ‘Father of the Nation.”

And what better day than October 2, his birthday, to revisit some of his principles that were path breaking and are relevant even today.

• Truth and Non-violence: The twin pillars of Gandhian thoughts. With God and morality being the ultimate truth  moral laws and code became the basis of Truth.  According to Gandhiji, non-violence was active love, the direct opposite of violence.
• Satyagraha: Practicing means Satyagraha refusing to submit to or to cooperate with anything perceived as wrong.  The word satyagraha means “holding onto truth” in Sanskrit and Hindi.
• Sarvodaya: Sarvodaya means ‘Universal Uplift’ or ‘Progress of All’, a term first coined by Mahatma Gandhi as the title of his translation of John Ruskin’s tract on political economy, “Unto This Last”.
• Swaraj: Although ‘Swaraj’ means ‘Self-Rule’, for Mahatma Gandhi, it was an integral revolution that encompasses all spheres of life.
• Trusteeship: A socio-economic philosophy where the rich people would be the trustees of trusts that looked after the welfare of the people in general.

• Swadeshi: It means ‘of one’s own country, but can be loosely translated  as ‘self-sufficiency’. It is the interdependence of community and self-sufficiency.

An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind.

-Mahatma Gandhi

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SHASTRIJI!

The man who supported the promotion of the ‘White Revolution’ for increasing milk production in the country, Lal Bahadur Shastriji was inner strength, humility and tolerance personified. He understood people's language and was a man of vision towards the country's progress. Let us know more about this great man and honour him on his birthday.

• Shastriji  used to easily cross the Ganga river, several times daily, with a bag and cloth on his head during his school days.
• In 1926, he got the title 'Shastri' in Kashi Vidyapeeth University as a mark of scholarly success.
• As a Transport Minister after independence, he introduced the provision of female drivers and conductors in public transportation.
• When he was a Home Minister, he introduced the first committee on Prevention of Corruption.
• As the Prime Minister, he stopped drawing his salary during the war between India and Pakistan in 1965, when the country was facing a food shortage.
• Shastriji coined the famous slogan 'Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan' during the 1965 India-Pakistan war to boost the morale of soldiers and the farmers in the backdrop of the crucial war and food paucity.
• He played a key role in the White Revolution to make India self-reliant in milk production. Lal Bahadur Shastri created the National Dairy Development Board and backed the Amul milk co-operative in Gujarat's Anand.
• Shastrjii also promoted the Green Revolution to boost demand and propel India's food production.        
• He raised his voice against the dowry system and caste system.
• He did not even own a car after becoming a Prime Minister.
• He was the first person to receive the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour, posthumously.

That loyalty to the country comes ahead of all other loyalties.
And this is absolute loyalty since one cannot weigh it in terms of what one receives.
-Lal Bahadur Shastri