Mahatma Gandhi reduced to an acronym

[P. Uday Shankar]

The following news item in the Times of India dtd. 07 July 2010 has raised some thoughts in my mind which I wanted to share with you all:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/Green-Dandi-proje...

"Green Dandi project to be launched today-

Times of India

Himanshu Kaushik, TNN, Jul 7, 2010, 01.28am IST

AHMEDABAD: The Centre has embarked on yet another ambitious project to build a green memorial at Dandi to immortalise the salt march by Gandhi in 1930.

With an aim to rejuvenating Gandhi principles, a Rs 25-crore green project will be launched at Dandi on Wednesday to transform the area into an eco-friendly tourist destination.

Society of Integrated Coastal Management (SICOM), along with Gujarat Vidyapith and Gujarat Ecology Commission (GEC), will implement the unique project aimed at overall development and conservation of the environment of Dandi and its surrounding villages.

To celebrate 75 years of the Dandi march, the UPA government had announced a project to develop the 376-km Ahmedabad-Dandi route into the 'Heritage Road and Corridor' in 2005, work for which is on. The Centre allocated Rs 10 crore as corpus fund for this project.

The green project for Dandi called Green Action for National Dandi Heritage Initiative (GANDHI) will be executed by SICOM, an agency working under the Union ministry of environment and forests, in two years.

The project will be implemented by applying Gandhian principles for environment conservation and village development. Union minister of environment and forest Jairam Ramesh and Gopal Krishna Gandhi, chairman, Dandi Memorial Committee, will inaugurate it on Wednesday

E Balagurusamy, IFS, member secretary, GEC, said, "Various activities to be undertaken as part of the project include mangrove afforestation and bio-shield development, beach nourishment, conservation of coastal features and wetlands, harnessing and encouraging use of renewable energy sources such as solar and wind, conservation of water, waste management, transformation of target villages into carbon neutral areas, improvement in source of livelihood among others" (Courtesy TOI)

My comment:

The project would sound like a lofty idea for anyone, as there is a lot of green concept involved in it. I am not delving deep into the project.

What irked me was the naming of the project as GANDHI (Green Action for National Dandi Heritage Initiative).

I was just wondering how a teacher would be teaching this to his/her students. She would be treating the word GANDHI as an acronym and would be compelled to ask the students questions like "What is GANDHI?". A diametric deviation from what should be asked as "Who is Gandhi?".

This is what happens when you reduce a great person's name to a mere combination of pronouncable acronyms.

The Government that voiced its opinion against Mont Blanc for using the name Gandhi should have refrained from using the name GANDHI as an acronym for a Government project. A simple Mahatma Gandhi Green Action Project would have been a better way of naming the project.

In a land of Gandhis it is always important to mention the the word "Mahatma" also with Gandhi to do away with any lingering confusion in gullible minds.

There is a strong case for scrapping the acronym and renaming it.

Uday Shankar

Coimbatore

India