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Gandhigiri

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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WOTD – 2 October 2022

Etymology

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Gandhigiri is named after Mahatma Gandhi (photographed c. late 1930s).

Borrowed from Bombay Hindi गांधीगिरी (gāndhīgirī), from Hindi गांधी (gāndhī) (the surname of the Indian lawyer and anti-colonial nationalist Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948) who used non-violent resistance to lead the successful campaign for India’s independence from British rule) + -गिरी (-girī, “suffix meaning ‘the act of; doing’”). The Hindi word was coined in the movie Lage Raho Munna Bhai (Keep Going, Munna Bhai, 2006), in which it was used by the lead character who is a gangster in contrast to dadagiri (“gang rule; intimidating behaviour”).[1]

Pronunciation

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Noun

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Gandhigiri (uncountable)

  1. (India) The practice of Gandhism (“the philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi, encompassing tenets such as non-violent activism”), often expressed through unorthodox forms of activism such as depositing flowers or planting trees. [from 2006]
    Antonym: dadagiri
    • 2006 September 26, Mridula Chunduri, “Gandhigiri, a cool way to live”, in The Times of India‎[1], Mumbai, Maharashtra: The Times Group, →OCLC, archived from the original on 24 April 2022:
      "Gandhigiri showed us a way of judging a person's character and this is a tip [I] have been using in office and social gatherings ever since I saw the movie," Shweta [Polanki] says. […] "My impressions of Gandhi have changed post-Gandhigiri. Though I may not implement all that is said in the precise way it was preached by Gandhi, but the message is there at the back of my mind," says Archana Satnani, a bank executive.
    • 2008 August 27, “Nagpur barbers split hair over SC [scheduled caste] status”, in The Times of India‎[2], Mumbai, Maharashtra: The Times Group, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2 May 2022:
      Politicians in the state can keep their hair on. They may soon face Gandhigiri with a startling twist. Maharashtra's barber community has decided not to give them a haircut or a shave because they have not done anything about the barbers' demand for scheduled caste status.
    • 2015 May 27, Nisha Nambiar, “Mulshi becomes first taluka in Pune to shun open defecation”, in The Indian Express‎[3], Mumbai, Maharashtra: Indian Express, →OCLC, archived from the original on 19 August 2021:
      Day-long gram sabhas, hoardings to name and shame those who do not use toilets and even Gandhigiri a la Munnabhai to present flowers to those unwilling to mend their ways have worked for Pune district's Mulshi taluka, the first block in the district to completely shun the practice of open defecation.
    • 2017, Shweta Marathe, Abhay Shukla, “When People Wake Up the Anganwadi—Community Monitoring and Action in Maharashtra is Making Child Nutrition Services Accountable and Effective”, in Devaki Nambiar, Arundati Muralidharan, editors, The Social Determinants of Health in India: Concepts, Processes, and Indicators, Singapore: Springer Nature, →DOI, →ISBN, page 181:
      In fact, during one of the community meetings regarding CBMA, it came to light that they were not even aware of the working hours of the Anganwadi! […] The local monitoring committee members decided to tackle this in a unique manner, by adopting a peaceful Gandhigiri approach. All they did was that one of them turned up every day when the Anganwadi opened, equipped with a register to note the time of opening of the Anganwadi and the reason for the delay. […] [F]inally the ploy worked and the AWW started coming to the Anganwadi punctually, providing services for the entire required period.
    • 2020, Saurabh Agarwal, Dabung Girl & Children’s Revolution: Superhero Comic Book for Kids, Mumbai, Maharashtra: Deeper Learning Innovations, →ISBN, pages 12 and 13:
      [page 12] Gandhigiri means … to make someone realize their mistake with love and affection so that they can do the right thing […] [page 13] We will win this battle with Gandhigiri […] Yes, even I was about to say the same thing
    • 2021 July, R. Iyer, J. P. Shukla, A. Verma, “Community Leave No One Behind: Lessons from a Pilot”, in Sanitation Learning Hub Learning Brief‎[4], number 10, Brighton, East Sussex: Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, →DOI, →ISBN, archived from the original on 2 October 2022, page 4, column 1:
      The mapping, Gandhigiri, and follow-up processes within CLNOB are a form of participatory monitoring whereby community and village members themselves identify the various barriers to sustained toilet use. The Nigrani Samiti – a vigilance committee formed during the mapping process – consisted of village and community members who practise Gandhigiri. They routinely followed up and visited households to encourage them to sustain safe sanitation practices through affirmative, encouraging conversations.

Translations

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References

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  1. ^ Krista Van Fleit (2018) “Mao and Gandhi in the Fight against Corruption: Popular Film and Social Change in China and India”, in Aaron Han Joon Magnan-Park, Gina Marchetti, and See Kam Tan, editors, The Palgrave Handbook of Asian Cinema (Palgrave Handbooks), London: Palgrave Macmillan, →DOI, →ISBN, page 296: “Munna [Bhai] is a gangster who has fallen in love with a radio DJ named Jhanvi, […] Gandhigiri is a philosophy Munna invents on air and which is a play on words that contrasts Gandhi’s teachings of nonviolence with the way of a gangster, or dadagiri.”

Further reading

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