Gandhi and Community: Walking together towards sustainable development

- By Rev. Fr. Jude Thaddeus Langeh, cmf*

A dictum goes that “if you want to walk fast, walk alone. If you want to walk far, walk together”. It is easy to think that working together slows one down because disagreements and discouragements from others will impede progress. On the contrary, working as a team, avails persons the opportunity to commune, to reflect, to look towards the same horizon and to think together. One has time to appreciate interculturality, fraternity, the sharing of goods and resources, especially peace, the fruit and sign of charity and justice that comes from the heart. That peace so precious and yet, so fragile between humans, between nations. On this note, unity constitutes one of humanity’s greatest strengths, especially in today’s fragmented world.

Modern society appears to promote a system of individualism whereby the concerns of few become more important than the welfare of many. The growth of individualistic cultures is a very great danger to our world today because such cultures prioritise independence and uniqueness over community values. While upholding the rights of the individual, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi helps us to see the world through the lenses of welfare for all. Consequently, he gives greater emphasis to interdependence, family relationships, community living and social conformity. Promoting welfare for all is the way we can attain sustainable development.¹

The United Nations has upheld the need for sustainable development to obtain welfare for all. In effect, the United Nations General Assembly in the year 2015 proposed to the world some “blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all”.² These have been called The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). They are 17 global goals addressing the common challenges we face, including those related to poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, peace, and justice. Long before defining the SDGs, Gandhi had preached, practised, and propagated them under the umbrella of welfare for all.

It is against this backdrop that this essay aims at presenting Mahatma Gandhi as the man who upheld the need to work together in a community as the leeway to obtaining sustainable development. In the first part, we shall delve into philosophy to show the need and importance of working together in our contemporary world. This will be followed by a presentation of Gandhi’s doctrine of Sarvadoya as propagating individual freedom and true independence (Swaraj), all in the bid to attain welfare for all or community welfare. Thirdly, trusteeship and the constructive program will be presented as being at the heart of Gandhi's community. He practised these in his village semi-monastic communities known as the Ashrams. The fourth part of our work shows that Gandhi was a prophet and messenger of the SDGs. These SDGs will be placed side by side Gandhi's wise words in his many documents to proof that Gandhi practised and promoted them long before the UN used them as taglines. Before delving into Gandhi's tenets, it is worth expounding on the importance of society for the human being.

1. Urgent need for working together in our society today

Great moralists and political analysts teach that individual rights are the backbone and bedrock of any free society. When talking of liberal democracy, there is growing advocacy of insisting on the moral right of the individuals to make their own choices free from any constraint in as much as they do not infringe into the rights of others. We now understand that our rights find their quintessence within a community, and there is a need to avoid impinging into the rights of others.We now understand why philosophers will insist that man is a social being who lives in society.³ Gandhi has always upheld the social welfare of the human person.⁴ However, it must be noticed that right from ancient times, thinkers like Aristotle present the state as the highest form of association; the most sovereign of all good; it is political- he koinonia politike - the communion of life in the form of state (city, state).⁵

Gandhians, as we will son show, accept with Aristotle that the state is a union of families and communities. For Aristotle, a family is an association established by nature for its supply of men’s everyday needs.⁶ Families give rise to households, households to villages. The village is a union of families of common descent. The union of villages gives rise to the state (a single community large enough to be nearly or quite self-sufficing).

Man is a being with others, and he is a being in relation. Heidegger, in his analysis of Dasein, will insist on the fact that “Dasein” is “Dasein – with (Mit-Dasein)”.⁷ On a more straightforward note, Aristotle will tell us that he who is unable to live in society, or who has no need of it because he is sufficient for himself, must be either a beast or a god.⁸ Even the National Geographic Television Channel shows us how animals tend to work together. This observation is a great brain teaser and clarion call for human beings to do the same. We are becoming more and more convinced of the fact that “united we stand and divided we fall”. Our traditional socialism quest fits well into this.Different cultures have developed different ways of insisting on the importance of working and serving together.

In English, there are many terms used to express the quest for working together. We hear of socialism – a political and economic theory of social organisation which advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole. Another essential concept is that of collaboration. It comes from the Latin Collaborare (Co and laborare) – work with. The verb, to collaborate, thus means “to work with someone else for a special purpose”.⁹ The noun “collaboration” entails “when two or more people work together to create or achieve the same thing”.¹⁰ Following same, the adjective collaborative means “involving two or more people working together for a special purpose”.¹¹ Hence, Echema explains that: Collaboration implies a “coming together of two people or groups that are different, but who for a common purpose must put aside their differences to achieve a common goal”.¹² It is necessary for all sectors of human life, be it social, civil or ecclesiastical. Sofield and Juliano define collaboration as the “identification, release and union of the gifts of all…persons”¹³

In French, we hear the word “le vivre ensemble”. It is a quite fashionable political slogan in France and in former French Colonies. They all seem to have something to say about “le vivre ensemble”. Amidst the political instability in Cameroon, for example, one is likely to hear different groups insisting on “le vivre ensemble". "Vivre ensemble", is not limited to living together. It entails good cohabitation and living peacefully with others in a pluralistic society. It goes a long way to insist on living together with other groups and communities in mutual respect and tolerance.

In Africa, amongst the many terms used, we can underline like Ujamaa. Ujamaa is a Swahili word which means ‘extended family’, ‘family hood’ ‘brotherhood’ or ‘socialism’. Julius Nyerere saw it as the way of stressing the fact that the security of every individual comes from belonging to a widely extended family. Ujamaa asserts the fundamental truth that a person becomes a person through the people or community. For Nyerere, Ujamaa:

seeks to disabuse the African of the imported bourgeois spirit with its accompanying capitalism, individualism, self-interest, and the race of material wealth. It seeks to implant in their place, such values as communalism, mutual help and cooperation, respect for the common man, social justice, equality, and selfless service to the nation-state.¹⁴

Other terms used in some African parlances include the Ubuntu¹⁵; the Harambee¹⁶ or the Igbo Kwenu.¹⁷ All these are in the bid to foster the spirit of ‘others’ or ‘community’ bringing units of families together, and promoting cohesion, love and service. The long and the short, as shown in the above analogies, is that working together is at the foundation of most societies. Consequently, working together is a challenge if we need a better world. We need to work in teams to realise joint projects. The African adage becomes more and more pertinent that “it takes a whole village to raise a child”.

Mahatma Gandhi joins the bandwagon of thinkers to insist on the social order and the need for seeking the common good of all. He is known for his doctrine of Satyagraha or Nonviolence: He insists that Nonviolence is a social virtue:

I hold that Nonviolence is not merely a personal virtue. It is also a social virtue to be cultivated like other virtues. Surely society is primarily regulated by the expression of Nonviolence in its mutual dealings. What I ask for is an extension of it on a larger, national and international scale.¹⁸

To elucidate the point, Gandhi insists on Sarvodaya – welfare for all which will be the Gandhian efforts to Working together, as shown below.

2. Gandhi and the welfare for all Doctrine (Sarvodaya)

Mahatma Gandhi was a great soul who distinguished himself in the realm of peace and humanism. He upheld the need for striving towards the welfare of the entire humanity. Gandhi on this note insisted: “Having throughout my life believed in the doctrine of universal good never have I taken up any activity be it sectional or national which is detrimental to the good of humanity as a whole”¹⁹ Over time, Gandhi will term this doctrine of the universal goal or universal good as Sarvadoya or welfare of all. Before delving into more explanation, it would be good to say that, Gandhi by no means wanted to devalue the place of the individual in society.

2.1. From Individual Freedom to Community Welfare

Gandhi has always insisted on the individual conviction in collective action. He never undermined the power and the rights of the individual. On this note Pankaj Mishra attests that “at every point, Gandhi still upends modern assumptions, insisting on the primacy of self-sacrifice over self-interest, individual obligations over individual rights, renunciation over consumption, and dying over killing. What were the sources of Gandhi’s relentlessly counterintuitive thought, and what makes it resonate in our time?”²⁰ In his own words, Gandhi talks about individual freedom versus community:

I value individual freedom, but you must not forget that man is essentially a social being. He has risen to present status by learning to adjust his individualism to the requirements of social progress. Unrestricted individualism is the law of the beast of the jungle. We have learnt to strike the mean between individual freedom and social restraint. Willing submission to social control for the sake of the wellbeing of the whole society enriches both the individual and the society of which one is a member.²¹

It is thus understandable that individual rights cannot be alienated even in the doctrine of welfare for all. The right of the individual is at the basis of social welfare. On this note, Gandhi explains clearly that;

If individual liberty goes, then surely all is lost, for, if the individual ceases to count, what remains of society? Individual freedom alone can make a man voluntarily surrender himself entirely to the service of society. If it is wrested from him, he becomes automaton and society is ruined. No nation can be built on a denial of individual freedom. It is contrary to the very nature of man.²²

Gandhi, therefore, criticised the colonial domination which plunged Indians into the kind individualism which is not for the service of the community. He proposes a real swaraj (independence) from the British raj (colonialism) as a leeway to Sarvodaya as shown below.

2.2. Need for Swaraj to obtain Sarvodaya

The British raj had lumped the colonised Indians into many individualistic tendencies. There was thus an urgent need for Swaraj from this British raj. Gandhi aimed therefore at liberating Indians from the evil economic servitude to British imperialism, capitalism and exploitation. He aimed at attaining Indian economic progress and liberation from the bondage of poverty, unemployment economic deprivation and destitution. The British raj had brought about “greed, conflict, and suppression of the weak by the strong, whether under Capitalism or under Communism”.²³

Swaraj means self-control and could only be attained through a Philosophy of Welfare for all. On this note, Gandhi brought to the world an original concept and contribution, which has stood the test of time in the realm of Social Science and Politics - Sarvodaya. It is a Gujarati translation to John Ruskin’s Unto This Last. It means the uplift of all, the welfare of all, awakening and emancipation of all. Sarvodaya therefore,

represents the ideal social order, according to Gandhiji. Its basis is all-embracing love. So, it has room in it for all without exception – prince and peasant, Hindu and Muslim, touchable and untouchable, white and black, saint and sinner. No individual or group is to be suppressed, exploited or liquidated. All are to be equally members of this social order, all sharing in the produce of their labour, the strong protecting the weak and functioning as trustees for the weak, and each promoting the welfare of all.²⁴

Ravindra Kumar will simplify our understanding of Sarvodaya to mean “development, progress, and prosperity for everyone”.²⁵ The good thing about Sarvodaya, as opposed to socialism, is the place of the individual.As shown by Tarun Gogoi who opines that,

There is also a difference between Sarvodaya and socialism though both have faith in social equality. The former rests on truth and Nonviolence and aims at establishing a regime ensuring liberty, equality and justice through love and Nonviolence. Gandhi lays stress on the values of individual and social life that socialism strives to achieve and make the basis of a new civilisation.²⁶

Despite the place of the individual, Sarvodaya as a social philosophy aims at encouraging everyone to walk together. On this note, explaining the significance of Sarvodaya, Vinoba Bhave has written:

We do not want the rise of the few, not even of the many or for that matter the rise of the greatest number; we can be satisfied only with the good of one and all the high and the low, of the strong and weak the intelligent as well as dullard. Only then we will be satisfied. The word Sarvodaya expresses this lofty and all-embracing sentiments.²⁷

3. Trusteeship and Constructive Program at the Heart of Gandhi’s Community

Mahatma Gandhi teaches us that Collective action is an essential political and social driver. He formed communities known as Ashrams in which efforts were made to work together towards sustainable development. Trusteeship and Constructive programme are at the heart of Gandhi’s Community. For Gandhi, violence is inherent in our present economic, social and industrial systems. He, therefore, aims at bringing a change through the application of his concept of Trusteeship. Trusteeship according to Bader means “having faith and confidence in the process of taking responsibility for assets and social values and administering their rightful and creative usage for the benefit of others now and in the coming ages.²⁸

3.1 Trusteeship

Gandhi invites those people who consider themselves today as owners to act as trustees; that is, owners, not in their own right, but owners in the right of those whom they have exploited.²⁹ This principle seeks to destroy not the capitalists, but capitalism. Trusteeship provides a means of attaining an egalitarian society. The basis of this socialism is economic equality.

Trusteeship helps to harness the use of wealth for service. Gandhi thus believed in Sarvodaya and proper use of wealth by trustees for a common cause of ‘progress of all.’ For him,

If wealth is inherited by legacy or means of trade, one should keep only enough means for an honourable livelihood, and the rest should be used for the welfare of the community at large. The rich should outgrow their greed and sense of possession to come to the level of a labourer, who earns the bread by the sweat of the brow. The rich have to be convinced by taking care of the welfare of the poor would lead to an ideal society based on Nonviolence or Ahimsa. If wealth is used for the service of humanity, there will be fewer conflicts and violence in the day to day living of men. Trusteeship implies social responsibility and welfare of the common man.³⁰

From the above citation, one can ascertain that Trusteeship finds a strong base on participatory democracy.³¹ It is a “fraternal partnership between all factors of production with the aim of achieving larger social benefit rather than working toward a narrow economic objective such as profit.”³² Trusteeship is the natural corollary to constructive action/programme.

3.2. Constructive programme

Satyagraha for Gandhi is effective if it aids his constructive effort. Gandhi’s real Satyagraha thus is constructive work”. The Constructive Programme gave “content to the Satyagraha framework and applied Gandhian principles in the Indian conscience”.³³ This program was the greatest means to economic development for a poor country like India. Mahatma Gandhi feels strongly that the constructive programme is another form of Satyagraha, which could bring about a nonviolent agrarian revolution. To win independence, Gandhi felt the only truthful and nonviolent way would be through constructive action. Gandhi, therefore, feels that the constructive programme may more otherwise and more fittingly be called “Construction of Poorna Swaraj or complete independence by the truthful and nonviolent means”.³⁴ It means getting involved in finding constructive solutions to problems. We usually leave our responsibilities on someone else's shoulders, usually the government's shoulders. Yet they have serious consequences.

The following are the various constructive programmes listed by Gandhi:

Unity of religious communities, Removal of untouchability, Prohibition, Khadi, Other Village Industries, Village Sanitation, News of Basic Sanitation, Adult Education, Upliftment of Women, Education in health Hygiene, Provincial Languages, Propagation of Rastra Basha (National Language), Promotion of Economic Equality, Kisans (peasants), Labour, Adivasis, Lepers, Students.³⁵

Despite all these, the question remains as to where Gandhi put into practice his constructive program. This forms the basis for the following section:

3.3. Ashrams

Gandhi put into practice all his efforts to community building in village communities known as the Ashram. Gandhi established Ashrams that served as laboratories where he and his colleagues experimented with the new way of life he provided. His ashrams were semi-monastic, and men and women lived in absolute vows. It was a place for equal social organisation and economy. In effect:

The ashrams provided economic and moral support as well as fostering the discipline and awareness necessary for their members to sustain grassroots civil disobedience. Gandhi saw the need in the tradition-bound, rigidly hierarchical Indian society, for a moral sanctionable to inspire people to help themselves. He believed ashramic life, based on mutuality, simplicity and hard work, would nurture an asceticism that could be channelled through positive action to reform society.³⁶

During his lifetime, Gandhi established four major ashrams: two in South Africa during the twenty-one years he lived and worked there, and two more in India upon his return to his home country in 1915.³⁷

Gandhi’s ashram concept is “based on the ideas of withdrawal and renewal as well as the communal asceticism common to both religions. Gandhi’s innovation was to imbue his activism with a similar asceticism. He believed that self-renunciation could be channelled through positive action to reform society and politics, without succumbing to the corrupting influence of power”.³⁸ In the Ashrams, Gandhi thought about and then sought to enact the concept of Sarvodaya, “universal welfare”, to enhance life. It was a practical way of bringing about sustainable development in a collective way.

4. Walking together towards sustainable development (Sarvodaya and Antyodaya)

As already said above, Gandhi vouched for the welfare of all through Sarvodaya. In the same vein, the UN defined the SDGs to fight for the sustainable development of all. The intent is to leave no one behind. Gandhi prophesied this when he insisted on “Sarvodaya” (welfare of all) which can be achieved through “Antyodaya” (upliftment of the weakest). For him, the progress of a society should be determined by the state of the most vulnerable and the weakest ones.³⁹ In effect, Gandhi brought the words “Sustainable Development” to the dictionary long ago, even though it appears more often in the contemporary UN parlance these days.

Gandhi believed in sustainable development which is not limited to an individual. In his bid to encourage sustainable development, he encourages people to live in a simple way so others may simply live. On another note, he insists that nature can meet the human need, but not human greed. Development is the key if we want to “meet people’s need and improve the quality of life”.⁴⁰ Development is not limited to the “growth of gross national product, or with the rise in personal incomes, or with industrialisation, or technological advance, or with social modernisation”.⁴¹ These are all narrow views of development. In this kind of narrow view, there is a rise in capitalism and industrialisation. The rich get richer while the poor get poorer. The effect is noticeably clear:

...billions of people are looking for their foothold in the world economy. The poor are struggling to find the food, safe water, health care, and shelter they need for mere survival. Those just above the poverty line are looking for improved prosperity and a brighter future for their children. Those in the high-income world are hoping that technological advances will offer them and their families even higher levels of wellbeing. It seems that the super-rich also jostle for their place in the world’s rankings of richest people.⁴²

Development, however, should expand real freedoms that people enjoy, and it should be sustainable. On this note, development:

“requires the removal of major sources of unfreedom: poverty as well as tyranny, poor economic opportunities as well as systematic social deprivation, neglect of public facilities as well as intolerance or over activity of repressive states. Despite unprecedented increases in overall opulence, the contemporary world denies elementary freedoms to vast numbers – perhaps even the majority of – people.⁴³

4.1. Sustainable Development Goals: leave no one behind

Sustainable development has become the buzzword of the United Nations, which had its first real expressions in the Brundtland Commission of 1987.⁴⁴ Sustainable Development refers to creating a style of economic growth, which is sustainable within the context of the planet’s ecosystem and human society. The concept is a synthesis of economic and ecological ideas. It is the collection of concepts, ecological, economic, social and political, that have been put together to address what is perceived by many to be a world of environmental crises. Sustainable development as Gro Harlem Brundtland has it “is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”⁴⁵

As already presented above, Gandhi’s intent in his development program is Antyodaya or the upliftment of the weakest in society.This comprises people who are furthest from the frontiers of development, are to be brought up to the level of the others for “real development”. He spoke about “the weakest and the most vulnerable” – not only about the most income-poor people.⁴⁶ This essentially echoes the concept of “multidimensional poverty,” which stems from not only low-income but also from life cycle issues, social stigma, locational disadvantages, gender disparity and other similar sources of risks. The new global agenda has identified the fight against poverty as numero uno of the SDGs. One of the Gandhiji’s powerful statements reflects similar thought where he says, “Poverty is the worst form of violence.”⁴⁷ The emphasis is on the dignity of the individual:

In committing to the realisation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, Member States recognised that the dignity of the individual is fundamental and that the Agenda’s Goals and targets should be met for all nations and people and for all segments of society. Furthermore, they endeavoured to reach first those who are furthest behind.⁴⁸

On this note, the aim is to “address all vulnerable groups – including children, youth, persons with disabilities, people living with HIV, older persons, indigenous peoples, refugees, internally displaced persons and migrants – as specified in the 2030 Agenda”.⁴⁹ Long before these goals, Gandhi had already evoked these. Malik explains that:

Gandhi’s vision is represented by the approach of frugal, sustainable society. It is the economic vision of a decentralised community of post-industrial age. The emphasis is on personal self-sufficiency and voluntary frugality. It links human beings intimately with nature and puts faith in decentralised commune life where needs and wants are reduced to bare minimum and the concept of work will significantly change. It is a vision of self-reliance, self-help, decentralisation, labour intensive, localised and small-scale in terms of technology. Qualitative goals of a satisfying and meaningful life are seen as more important than quantitative values.⁵⁰

4.2. Gandhi as the harbinger of the UN SDGs

Gandhi is an acclaimed visionary of the SDGs. In the year 2016, the United Nations launched the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a plan of action and road map for people, planet and prosperity. With the 17 goals and 169 targets, the UN aims at solving problems of hunger, poverty, health, education, gender, climate change etc. Gandhi has always practised the SDGs, though not using the same terms as defined by the UN SGDs.He always insists that Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need but not any man’s greed. His philosophy is always based on giving sustainable living to all. His philosophy of Trusteeship and Constructive Programs portray his social mindedness. He clamoured for a holistic living of all and value-based life. He called for Satya (truth) and ahimsa (Nonviolence) as a way of making the society good for al. His Satyagraha is a practical way of combating social and environmental threats to the welfare of all.

The table which follows shows the SDGs defined by the United Nations on one side and the SDGs foretold by Gandhi on the other hand.

The above table portrays Gandhi as a true harbinger and prophet of the UN SDGs. He foretold and practised the SDGs even before the UN defined them. It is on this note that Himanshu Sekhar Panigrahi would insist:

Gandhi’s comprehensive and all-encompassing vision for society relates favourably with the social dynamics of the sustainable development approach. He has advocated for dignified life, consisting of a healthy body, a balanced mind and an evolved soul, for all human beings. Goal-1 (ending poverty in all its forms) and Goal-2 (ending hunger, achieving food security and improving nutrition) of SDGs are the essential pre-condition for dignified life. Gandhi has always campaigned and served for poverty alleviation through his alternative development model of "Swadeshi” (self-reliance) and “Swaraj" (local self-governance). Reducing social inequality (SDG-10) by promoting social inclusion (SDG-16) and gender balancing (SDG-5) has always remained his prime intent as these provide enabling ambience for sustainable development. He has worked consistently for bringing poor and indigenous people into the social mainstream and has advocated for the preservation of their culture. In his social reform initiative, Gandhi has always acted for abolishing superstition. He has advised and acted for promotion of literacy and education among all members of society (SDG-4).⁵⁴

In effect, one can comfortably call Gandhi a visionary who practised and advocated for the SDGs even before the United Nations made it their Buzzword in contemporary time. Gandhi’s special touch, therefore, is not only to foster the SDGs but to always insist that we must work together for unity and love.

Conclusion

The great soul, Mahatma Gandhi, was able to combine his spiritual and political leadership qualities to encourage humanity of the need to walk together in all spheres of life. While insisting on the fundamental rights of the individual, he never failed to uphold community interest. On this note, Gandhi insists: "I value individual freedom, but you must not forget that Man is essentially a social being…we have to learn to strike the mean between individual freedom and social restraint”.⁵⁵

He was able to wage absolute resistance to poverty through great community actions. He never worked alone. On the political field, his Satyagraha was a community movement. He led great campaigns of civil disobedience with many people to work towards political independence: That was not enough for him at all. True independence consisted of working with community actions to eradicate poverty, uphold the rights of women, eliminate the caste system, uphold justice and build religious and ethnic harmony. In this case, the individual is encouraged to use his talents to alleviate the suffering lives as Gandhi puts it:

Every individual must have the fullest liberty to use his talents consistently with equal use by his neighbours, but no one is entitled to the arbitrary use of the gains from the talents. He is part of the nation or, say the social structure surrounding him. Therefore, he can use his talents not for self only but for the social structure of which he is but a part on whose sufferance he lives.⁵⁶

Gandhi is known as a very great leader: His pervading image in the world is that of a great political revolutionary or that of a superman who brought about the change in the whole world. The other side of Gandhi we want to show here is that Gandhi did not do it all alone. He worked with people; he worked with a team. Gandhi worked with a community.In prison, he remained in the community. His concept of Sarvodaya is all about community living and welfare for all. On the political level, it is independence. However, political independence would not suffice for Gandhi. True independence is holistic, there is need for Swaraj, but the real Swaraj is obtained through Sarvodaya or welfare for all.

Gandhi remains an advocate of Sustainable Development through working together as a community many years before the UN defined the 17 sustainable Development Goals. His action is universal and can be applied not only to India, but to the whole world. He began in South Africa and was able to use his Satyagraha to attain independence in India. Sustainable development is the way to ensure economic development that would not endanger the ability of future generations to enjoy the fruits of the earth. The exposition of Gandhi’s Trusteeship, constructive programs, community living in ashrams has gone a long way to show Gandhi as a prophet who foretold what the United Nations have today as SDGs.

Notes and References:

1. For more details, it is good to read “The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi (Electronic Book), New Delhi, Publications Division Government of India, 1999, 98 volumes”.
2. Bebbington, Jan, and Jeffrey Unerman. "Achieving the United Nations sustainable development goals." Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal 2018; See also, https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/
3. The Great Philosopher Aristotle, will give these details in his Politics. For him, Man is by nature a social animal; an individual who is unsocial naturally and not accidentally is either beneath our notice or more than human. Society is something that precedes the individual. Cf: Aristotle, Politics, Book 1, section 1253a, in Aristotle in 23 Volumes, Vol. 21, translated by H. Rackham. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1944.
4. Cf. Chitra Desai, “Gandhi's Concept of Social Welfare”, in by Pam Rajput, Usha Thakkar, R. Srinivasan, Pushpanjali: Essays on Gandhism Themes, Delhi, Devika Publications, 1999.
5. Sparknotes
6. Aristotle, Politics, Translated by Benjamin Jowett, Politics by Aristotle – Book I
7. cf. Mahon O’Brien, “Leaping Ahead of Heidegger: Subjectivity and Intersubjectivity in Being and Time”, in International Journal of Philosophical Studies, Volume 22, 2014 - Issue 4.
8. Cf: Aristotle, Politics, Book 1, section 1253a, in Aristotle in 23 Volumes, Vol. 21, translated by H. Rackham. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1944.
9. collaborating
10. collaboration
11. collaborative
12. Austin Echema, Priests and Laity Collaboration in the Postmodern Church, Owerri, Assumpta Press, 2011, 25.
13. Loughlan Sofield and Carrol Juliano, Collaborative Ministry, Skills and guidelines, Notre Dame, Ave Maria Press, 1987, 11.
14. J. D. Okoh, “Julius Nyerere’s Philosophy of Ujamaa: A Model for Emergent African Nations” in Academia, Vol. 1, no. 1, June 2003, 36.
15. The ancient Ubuntu philosophy of South Africa recognises the humanity of a person through their interpersonal relationships.
16. A term that originated among natives, specifically Swahili porters of East Africa and the word Harambee traditionally means “let us pull together”.
17. The phrase “Igbo kwenu" is used by the Igbo Tribe in Nigeria, West Africa. It most literally means, "We the Igbo people stand together in agreement and collective will." It does not end there… It is also a shortened form of a longer phrase, "Igbo kwere na ihe ha kwuru” which means roughly, “The Igbo believe in what they have agreed upon to think, say, and do."
18. M. K. Gandhi, Harijan, 7-1-1939; in Bharatan Kumarappa, Sarvodaya, Ahmedabad, Navajivan Publishing House, 2012, 55.
19. M. K. Gandhi, Harijan, 13-02-1937.
20. Pankaj Mishra, Gandhi for the Post-Truth Age, the icon’s legacy is no longer secure, but he anticipated much about our current political moment, October 15, 2018.
21. M. K. Gandhi, Harijan 27-5-39, in Bharatan Kumarappa, Sarvodaya, 55.
22. M. K. Gandhi, Harijan, 1-2-42, The individual is Supreme
23. Kumarappa, Sarvodaya, iii.
24. Kumarappa, Sarvodaya, iii.
25. Ravindra Kumar, Resolving Conflict the Gandhian way, Meerut, World Peace Movement Trust, 2011, 138.
26. Tarun Gogoi, “Socio-Political Philosophy of M. K. Gandhi: An Analysis”, in International Journal of Research in Social Sciences, Vol. 8 Issue 2, February 2018, 350.
27. Gandhi’s Social Philosophy and Trusteeship
28. Godric Bader, “Gandhi On Trusteeship: A Transforming Ethic” in, World Business Academy Perspectives, Barret Korhler Publishers, Vol. 9, No 41, 1995, iii.
29. Cf. M. K. Gandhi, Young India, 26-11-1931, The Gospel Of Trusteeship
30. Siby K. Joseph, Bharat Mahodaya, Ram Chandra Pradhan (editors), Trusteeship: A Path Less Travelled, Wardha, Institute of Gandhian Studies, 2016, 115-116.
31. Participatory democracy is a process of collective decision making that combines elements from both direct and representative democracy: Citizens have the power to decide on policy proposals and politicians assume the role of policy implementation. Cf. Enriqueta Aragonès and Santiago Sánchez-Pagés, “A theory of participatory democracy based on the real case of Porto Alegre” in European Economic Review, Volume 53, Issue 1, January 2009, Pages 56-72.
32. Jai Dev Sethi, The Awakening, Journal, Sevak Sangh (ed.), Vol. 1, No. 2, Nov. 1978, 2.
33. Joan Valerie Bondurant, Conquest of Violence, The Gandhian Philosophy of Conflict, Los Angeles; University of California Press, 1965, 172.
34. M. K. Gandhi, Constructive Programme, Its Meaning and Place, Ahmedabad, The Navajivan Trust, 1991, 7.
35. Jude Thaddeus Langeh, Africa Needs Gandhi, The Relevance of Gandhi’s Doctrine of Nonviolence (e-book), Yaounde, Claretian Publicactions, 53.
36. Mark Thomson, Gandhi and His Ashrams, Mumbai, Popular Prakashan Pvt. Ltd, 1993, 5.
37. Cf. Karline McLain, “Gandhi's Ashrams: Residential Experiments for Universal Well-Being in South Africa and India” in Utopian Studies, Vol. 30, No. 3 (2019), 462-485.
38. Mark Thomson, Gandhi and His Ashrams, 37.
39. Cf. Gandhian Values : Sustainable Development Goals-Zero Hunger During a visit to the Child Protection Centre in Libreville, The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s also remarked that “Society Judged by Treatment of Its Weakest, Most Vulnerable Members”. Society Judged by Treatment of Its Weakest, Most Vulnerable Members, Secretary-General Says at Child Protection Centre in Libreville
40. Sarok Malik, “Relevance of Gandhian Perspective on Sustainable Development”, in Gandhi Today, New Delhi, Serials Publications, 2010, 106.
41. Amartya Sen, Development as Freedom, New York, Anchor Books, 1999, 3.
42. Jeffery D. Sachs, The Age of Sustainable Development, New York, Columbia University Press, 2015, 1-2.
43. Sen, Development as Freedom, 3-4.
44. Redclift, Michael. "Sustainable development (1987–2005): an oxymoron comes of age." Sustainable development 13.4 (2005): 212-227.
45. Gro Harlem Brundtland and World Commission on Environment and Development, Our Common Future: Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development 1987, 41
46. cf. Debapriya Bhattacharya, “Mahatma Gandhi and the Sustainable Development Goals”, In The Daily Star Wednesday, July 29, 2020.
47. For more information, read Shodhganga
48. Leaving no one behind
49. Leaving no one behind
50. Sarok Malik, “Relevance of Gandhian Perspective on Sustainable Development”, in Gandhi Today, New Delhi, Serials Publications, 2010, 107-108.
51. Quotes from Gandhi are gotten from the article “Mahatma Gandhi and Sustainability by Telangana Jagruthi International Youth Leadership Conference.
52. Mahatma Gandhi, Young India, 10-4-1930, in R. K. Prabhu and U. R. Rao, The Mind of Mahatma Gandhi, Ahmedabad, Navajivan Publishing House, 2010, 291.
53. Mahatma Gandhi Harijan, 7-7-1946, in R. K. Prabhu and U. R. Rao, The Mind of Mahatma Gandhi, 2010, 448.
54. Himanshu Sekhar Panigrahi, "Relevance of Gandhism in the Efforts towards Realisation of SDGs" in India CSR Network, February 14, 2019.
55. M. K. Gandhi, Harijan, 27-5-1939, in Sarvodaya, Ahmedabad, Navajivan Publishing House, 2012, 55.
56. M. K. Gandhi, Harijan, 2-8-1942. The Gospel Of Freedom

* Jude Thaddeus Langeh has been a keen disciple and researcher on Gandhi since the year 2000. His articles and numerous writings have gained him a world recognition. He is the holder of the Shantidoot Award. He lectures at the African Institute of Consecrated Life Abuja, Nigeria. Email: jlbasebang@yahoo.com