[sustran] Gandhi Ji and Sustainable Transportation

[Asija, Navdeep]

Today India is celebrating 144th birth anniversary of its great leaders
Mahatma Gandhi, a visionary whose fundamental principles are applicable in
all walks of, including Sustainable Transport. On this occasion, I felt, I
must share my interpretation and complied wisdom about Gandhi Ji, his
Philosophy and its relevancy in the area of Sustainable Transport.

Gandhi Ji was strong supporter of cycling and walking, and perhaps he can
be credited to start advocacy of sustainable transport movement in the
country.  In his book “Hind Swaraj” he has given the principle of
sustainability ‘More from less for more'.  I am sharing few incidents and
his famous quotes about Gandhi Ji, which reflect his concern and vision for
a great cause;

Talking about Gandhi Ji daily routine, he walked almost 18 kms a day (he
averaged 15 kms during the Dandi march) - totaling almost 80,000 km during
his campaigns from 1913 to 1938. That is enough to walk around the world
twice over the equator. Gandhi Ji loved walking and often called it the
“prince of exercises”. As a student in London, he saved money by walking
couple of miles every day. In Johannesburg, South Africa he was the first
one who opposed and protested against a by-law which discriminated people
cycling on the streets. He wrote in the journal 'Indian Opinion' opposing a
move by the Johannesburg Town Council requiring every native, holding a
cycle permit and riding a cycle within the municipal area, to wear on his
left arm a numbered badge. Interestingly, two post independence by laws
like Delhi Municipal Act 1960 followed by Punjab Cycle Rickshaw Act 1976
for cycle rickshaw kept similar restrictions and licensing system which
remained applicable till 2013 and recently declared Unconstitutional by
Honorable Supreme Court of India. In 1915 when he moved to Ahmadabad and
daily he rode the bicycle from Gujarat Vidyapith to Sabarmati Ashram.

Gandhi Ji’s Salt march also mainly known as the Salt Satyagraha, began with
the Dandi March on 12 March 1930, and was an important part of the Indian
independence movement. As he continued on this 24-day, 240-mile (390 km)
march to produce salt without paying the tax, growing numbers of Indians
joined him along the way. When Gandhi broke the salt laws at 6:30 am on 6
April 1930, it sparked large scale acts of civil disobedience against the
British Raj salt laws by millions of Indians. He simply used tool of
“walking” in order to organize many Indian.

Few of his famous quotes he wrote in his letters to his friends about
walking and cycling “I hope you are careful about eating. You may use a
bicycle, but you should also walk daily”. After a small incident on bicycle
Gandhi ji wrote to his friend about bicycle maintenance, “The bicycle
incident yesterday was not a happy one. A carpenter will always keep his
tools ready for use. A typist will keep his typewriter in good repair and a
rider will keep his horse in good stead. Similarly a bicycle should always
be kept clean, oiled and ready for use. Otherwise don’t have a bicycle at
all”.

Mahatma Gandhi once wrote to his friend, “If, however, you are determined
to work in the city, you should stay in the city. You are not strong enough
to go to the city and return on bicycle”. Here Gandhi Ji talked about the
size of city and its human scale. Our present planning of the cities is on
Vehicle Scale and as a result, we travel more and distances from work to
home are increasing day by day. This quote of Gandhi ji reflects the
concern of better urban planning and where people should live. Today most
of our Indian cities are facing this problem.  His principal of ‘More from
Less for More' (MLM) is all about getting more (performance) from less
(resources) for more (people) and not just for more profit, “with a view to
create a more equitable society and sustainable future for the mankind is
very much desirable in our present day Urban Planning. His concept of
‘Swadeshi”, use of local goods and resources is very much applicable in
present day oil crisis of the country. “I must not serve my distant
neighbor at the expense of the nearest. It is never vindictive or punitive.
It is in no sense narrow, for I buy from every part of the world what is
needed for my growth. I refuse to buy from anybody anything, however nice
or beautiful, if it interferes with my growth or injures those whom Nature
has made my first care”. – Gandhi ji -Young India, March 12, 1925. Wish we
could have given thrust to local informal sector which is mainly “Non Motor
Transport”.

It is really sad to learn that none of the principal given by great Father
of nation being adopted in Transportation Policies. We blindly adopted all
western transportation system models to kill our cities without realizing
our strengths and weaknesses our own existing system. It is a high time and
we must act now in order to create a sustainable future for our present and
future generations whilst practicing the principles given by our grand
great Father of Nation Mahatma Gandhi.


Navdeep Asija
Founder, Ecocabs
contact at ecocabs.org



"The educated man must realize that he has more obligations than
privileges, more duties than rights. The educated man should be delighted
to serve, and not desire to dominate. For, service is the best way to use
one's skills, intelligence, strength and resources"



Blog:
http://navdeepasija.blogspot.in/2013/10/gandhi-ji-and-sustainable-transportation.html

Picture Courtesy:
http://plip.com/samantha/india/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/dsc06158.jpg