The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : "Gandhi promoted republican understanding of development"

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 19, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

"Gandhi promoted republican understanding of development"

Special Correspondent

Gandhians are an endangered species today, says Upendra Baxi

FOUNDER'S DAY: Professor Upendra Baxi, University of Warwick, U.K. delivering a lecture at MIDS in Chennai on Tuesday. — Photo:R. Ragu

CHENNAI: Mahatma Gandhi promoted a truly republican and deeply communitarian understanding of development, said Upendra Baxi, Professor of Law in Development, University of Warwick, U.K., on Tuesday.

Delivering the founder's day lecture on "Taking development as largesse and as a human right: Does it make any difference?" at the Madras Institute of Development Studies (MIDS) here, he said that for Mahatma Gandhi, development was related to justice, which according to him was defined through peaceful, non-violent struggles of the suffering people.

It was the sufferings of the just that changed the world. There were only a few Gandhians today, and they were an endangered species.

Collective self-governance

The country was fortunate to have Gandhi who regarded as toxic the western liberal political institutions, processes and principles and suggested in their place the institution of communitarian collective self-governance based on fraternity and non-injurious exercise of freedom and rights.

Gandhi emphasised the notion of citizen as a being who knew both how best to rule and how to be ruled.

Prof. Baxi said the idea of right to development was a United Nations notion, which said development meant that human beings should be subjects of development.

Right to development

The Declaration on the Right to Development globalises in some profound ways Mahatma Gandhi's message.

The right to development accrues both to nations and to individuals who made up nations.

He said the right to development still remained insufficiently geared to combat the notion of development as political largesse.

One had to note how dominant and overwhelming remained the rhetoric of political largesse in international and inter-governmental development assistance and aid policies.

M. Anandakrishnan, Chairperson, and Padmini Swaminathan, Director, MIDS, were among those who spoke.

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