Gandhian ideals still drive 90-year-old Gujarat Vidyapith

What exactly do you mean by problems? And how is Gandhi relevant?
Take global warming for example. What is the Copenhagen deal? Reduce carbon emissions through low-carbon technologies. Everyone is talking about investments in clean technologies. Besides this,they talk about lowering production. All this is about production. In all this debate,we forget that Gandhi told us we are only concerned about production and not consumption. If you can wash your clothes with your hands,why do you need a washing machine? If you can use natural light,why do you want a dinghy office and put all sorts of lights? Gandhi talked about two things: how to control your needs,and what your lifestyle is. The more you need,the more complex is your lifestyle. And with this,per capita energy requirement shoots up significantly. What are we teaching here? Control your needs. Regulate your needs. Make a detailed assessment if you really need something. Go back to villages. That’s where the idea of self-reliance emerges. So,Gujarat Vidyapith is relevant.

There are a number of premier,centrally-funded institutes in Ahmedabad. How does Gujarat Vidyapith compare,and how does it differ from them?
We have a number of premier institutes in Ahmedabad itself,but what are they up to? Who are they trying to support? Where do these management graduates from IIMs go? More than half,actually 70 per cent go to consumer industries,selling goods and services. What are they? Superior salesmen. The brain and cream of this country is going into management of commodities that must not have such a big place in our lives. This is a paradox in our society and we need to resolve it. Of course,you require good managers,but to manage what? Goods and services? All these centres of excellence are catering to one particular class. Which IIM graduate,barring a few exceptions,has gone and settled in villages and said “let me work for these problems because I have management skills”? So these centres of excellence are for whom? That is a question we should ask,which Gandhi had asked and which the Vidyapith has been asking. We are also trying to put back this component of hand—education in life skills. We are not so good in the head component. The level of research our students and teachers do is nothing comparable to the best in the world or the country. But we are good in the education of the heart. And we are working to bring back the hand component. So we are still relevant,although unfortunately we have very strong counter-forces.