02/10/2020
October 2, 2020
Freedom Run, Plantation Drive, Film Festival among other events at JMI to celebrate Gandhi Jayanti
Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) organised a number of events today to celebrate 151st Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.
A Fit India Freedom Run was flagged off by the Registrar JMI and Chief Guest of the program Mr. A.P.Siddiqui (IPS) at Dr. M.A. Ansari Auditorium parking of the university along with Chief Proctor and guest of Honour of the event Prof. Waseem A. Khan, Prof. Mehtab Alam Khan, DSW and Prof. Iqtedar M. Khan. They participated also in the run along with students, teachers and non-teaching staff of the university while maintaining the social distancing norms in view of Covid-19.
After taking a round of the university campus and nearby areas Freedom Run culminated at Mujeeb Bagh Community Centre of the university where a tree plantation drive was carried out by the Registrar, JMI. Apart from the Registrar, DSW, Chief Proctor, Security Advisor, other teachers and officers of the university also planted a tree there.
Mr. Vimal Bhai, Convenor of National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM) delivered an online lecture on ‘Relevance of Gandhi in Contemporary India’ on Zoom, which was attended by students and employees of the university.
A Digital Poster Making Competition was also organised and participants were asked to submit their poster online. These events were jointly organised by the DSW office, NSS and NCC units of the university.
Three International Webinars on 'Gandhian Thoughts and Philosophy’ were also organised in the last one month where JMI collaborated with the University of Oxford, UK, Seoul National University, South Korea (ROK) and California State University, Sacramento, USA to disseminate Gandhian Thought and Philosophy in intellectual circles.
To pay tribute to Mahatma Gandhi AJK-MCRC, JMI hosted a Film Festival where films were screened and short interviews of film makers and film scholars were also shown between September 28- October 2, 2020. These activities were also uploaded on the official YouTube channel of the university:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZOGZZ8jpsnBUffIL-47UZw
Highlighting the abiding association of Gandhi ji with JMI, Vice Chancellor Prof. Najma Akhar said that Gandhi ji was one of those noble souls who had nurtured Jamia through difficult times. Faced with an economic crisis, when Jamia was on the verge of closing down forever, Gandhi ji said, ‘I will not let it close down, even if I have to go out begging from door to door.’
He is perhaps the only figure in the 20th century world whose profound and formative influence is palpable in every sphere of life – education, politics, religion, ethics, social institutions, business and commerce and so on. A man of cosmopolitan attitude, he believed in the doctrine of civil disobedience and passive resistance. He still remains as the symbol of courage, righteousness, justice, love and compassion, she added.
JMI was the foremost institution that implemented and promoted Gandhi ji’s Basic Education. JMI has been paying him its reverent homage through webinars on his life, thoughts and philosophy. Recently, ‘Jamia’, one of the major Urdu literary journals published by the university has brought out a special issue on Gandhi ji to commemorate his 150th birth anniversary. It contains articles contributed by the oriental and Arab scholars showcasing Gandhi ji’s stature, and relevance of his thoughts and philosophy across the globe.
