Description

Ahimsa: Non-violence is a holistic theory and practice that refuses hostility and violence in order to attain goals or determine clashes in a positive way. This evolving perspective of personal and social empowerment is not about denying anger but channeling the energy behind anger into other strategies that are powerful and respectful of others. It is a fact that we live in a world with conflicts, war, torture, ethno-cultural rivalries and violence. Against those problems there is a slow but growing recognition of the value of non-violence to solve them. S.K. Ghosh in his essay Politics and Violence says: "We live in times of terrorism, communal fury, riotous mobs provoked to action on the slightest irritation, real or imaginary. The over-politicisation, the escalating lawlessness, the contagious violence, the insurrectionary trends and the deepening chaos are serious enough t lead the country into an abyss of disorder and anarchy."1 It is an unfortunate trend that an atmosphere of violence has been gaining ground in the body politics of our society. The proportion of violence encouraged, if not instigated by politicians, 1 Ghosh, S.K., Politics of Violence (Dawn of a dangerous era), p.7.