Know about Mahatma Gandhi, Gandhi Jayanti and International Day of Non-Violence

'Gandhi Jayanti' is celebrated every year to mark the birth anniversary of Gandhiji (Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, 'Bapu' or the 'Father of the Nation' in India. Gandhiji is a symbol of peace, non-violence and humanity. He was the protagonist of Peace.

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Mohand Das Karamchand Gandhi

Timeline of Mahatma Gandhi (Memories & special mentions of Mahatma Gandhi)↓↓↓

• 23rd August 1947 - "МАНАТМА GANDHI - The 20th Century Prophet" is the first documentary on Gandhiji made during his lifetime by A.K.Chettiar (1911-1983), a travelogue-writer, journalist and documentary filmmaker from Tamilnadu, decided to make a documentary on the life of Mahatma Gandhi in 1937. Over the next few years, he travelled nearly 1,00,000 miles and collected 50,000 feet of film footage. The footage had been shot by about a hundred different cameramen, over three decades, across four continents. In 1940, he edited this into a 12,000 feet documentary. It was released with Tamil commentary in Madras Presidency on August 23, 1940, and shortly after, with Telugu voice-over. On 14 August 1947, the film was screened at Regal Theatre in New Delhi in the presence of Dr Rajendra Prasad, the President. A few years later, he got the film re-edited in Hollywood, with commentary in English. It was screened at Du Pont Theatre in Washington on February 10, 1953, in the presence of President Eisenhower. A.K.Chettiar, later on, handed over the film to Gandhi Smarak Nidhi who applied for a Censor Certificate in 1959. This is the original copy of the film given to Gandhi Smarak Nidhi.
  
  
• 15th June 2007 - The United Nations has also declared October 2 as the International Day of Non-Violence. According to the UN General Assembly resolution of 15 June 2007, which established the commemoration, the International Day of Non Violence is an occasion to "disseminate the message of non-violence, including through education and public awareness". The resolution reaffirms "the universal relevance of the principle of non-violence" and the desire "to secure a culture of peace, tolerance, understanding and non-violence".

• 14th March 2015 - A historic bronze statue of Mahatma Gandhi was unveiled at Parliament Square, UK. The iconic bronze statue stands adjacent to iconic leaders like Britain's wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill and anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela. A galaxy of political leaders led by British Prime Minister David Cameron and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was joined by Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan and Mahatma Gandhi's grandson Gopalkrishna Gandhi at the ceremony to unveil the 9-foot statue of India's  "Father of the Nation". Gandhi is the first Indian and the only person never to have been in a public office to be honoured with a statue at the Square.

iconic bronze statue of Mahatma Gandhi at parliament square in the UK

The statue was unveiled jointly by Cameron and Jaitley as chants of "Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram", a popular bhajan that was Gandhi's favourite, reverberated in the air.

• 15th August 2015 - Google Doodle on India's 69th Independence Day. Google celebrated India's 69th Independence day on 15th August 2015 by sharing a Doodle on - Gandhi's Dandi March.

• 30th September 2018 - Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurates Mahatma Gandhi Museum in Rajkot. Alfred High school, Rajkot is also known as Mohandas Gandhi school. The school is considered one of the oldest schools in the country established in the year 1885. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi graduated from this school at the age of 18. After Independence in 1947, the school was renamed Mohandas Gandhi school. In the year 2017, the school was shut down and was later converted into a museum of Mahatma Gandhi. The museum got inaugurated by the Prime Minister of India. Shri Narendra Modi.

• 11th September 2019 - Lord Meghnad Desai on 11th September 2019 announced that the "Gandhi Statue Memorial Trust" will donate a sum of £100,000 as an endowment towards Mahatma Gandhi scholarships. In keeping with its mandate of spreading the message of  Mahatma Gandhi, the Chair of the UK-based "Gandhi Statue Memorial Trust", British Indian academic and peer, Lord Meghnad Desai, has announced that the Trust will donate a sum of £100,000 as an endowment towards Mahatma Gandhi scholarships to be set up at the London School of Economics. This is the seed money which then others would add to so that a large corpus could be built up in time. This would enable deserving Indian students to study at the London School of Economics (LSE). This endowment coincides with the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. LSE has a very strong India connection, which counts Dr B R Ambedkar - the architect of the Indian Constitution - among its many Indian alumni. Mahatma Gandhi delivered a well-attended lecture at the LSE in the Old Theatre of the university during his 1931 UK visit.

• 28th September 2019 - The National Film Archive of India (NFAI) has discovered 30 reels of unedited footage on Mahatma Gandhi ahead of his 150th birth anniversary. These reels having Gandhi's video were acquired from some private sources. The six-hour-long footage comprises rare visuals such as those of Gandhi’s last hours and death including close-ups of his body and blood-stained clothes, newspaper reports of the day, the procession to Raj Ghat and a special train carrying his ashes from Madras to Rameshwaram. One of the reels having, Gandhi and Kasturba seen engaged in various activities at Sevagram Ashram in Wardha. Another reel has the entire footage of Gandhi’s voyage to attend the Second Round Table Conference. These 35 mm celluloid footages, unedited and stock shots with title cards in between, were taken by prominent film studios like Paramount, Pathe, Warner, Universal, British Movietone, and Wadia Movietone.  

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• 2nd October 2019 - PM Modi will declare the country open defecation-free (ODF). Prime Minister Modi declared the country open defecation-free (ODF) in the presence of over 20,000 village heads, on the occasion of the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi today on the 2nd of October 2019.

• 2nd October 2019 - A photo exhibition of statues of Mahatma Gandhi was inaugurated in Vijayawada. A photo exhibition of statues of Mahatma Gandhi erected worldwide, organised jointly by Photo India, Gandhi Kshetram (Avanigadda) and the Cultural Centre of Vijayawada & Amaravati (CCVA), was inaugurated by Dr Mandali Buddha Prasad, Chairman, Gandhi Kshetram, Avanigadda. After Inauguration Mandali said that the simple life that Gandhi led with sincere commitment won worldwide recognition and to commemorate such a great personality, many countries have erected statues of Mahatma Gandhi, depicting various phases of his life.

• 2nd October 2019 - Plogging On Gandhi Jayanti, To Cover 2.4 Lakh KM Distance. Students, teachers and parents of all the Kendriya Vidyalayas across the country will do 'Plogging' on the occasion of the 150th Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi on October 2. KVs will attempt for largest 'plogging' event in any part of the world on a single day by a single school Chain covering an estimated distance of 2.4 lakh KMs by all participants, according to an official release from Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS).

• 2nd October 2019 - Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the commemorative coins of ₹150 in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. Prime Minister Narendra Modi released a commemorative ₹150 coins on the occasion of Mahatma Gandhi's 150th birth anniversary. PM Modi launched the commemorative coin in Ahmedabad, Gujarat when he reached Sabarmati Riverfront for the 'Swachh Bharat Diwas' programme in the state. Besides PM Modi, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani was also present at the event.

₹150 coins were launched on the occasion of Mahatma Gandhi's 150th birth anniversary

• 2nd October 2019 - West Bengal Govt has set up a university dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi in Purba Medinipur district on the 150th Birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

Postage stamp launched on Mahatma Gandhi's 150th Birth Anniversary

• 2nd October 2019 - Indian Embassy partnered LaPoste of France in launching a postage stamp, with the image of Mahatma Gandhi to commemorate his 150th birth anniversary.

• 2nd October 2019 to 15th November 2019 - An exhibition on Mahatma Gandhi at the National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai. Mahatma Gandhi, "THEN. NOW. NEXT." is an exhibition curated by Lavina Baldota along with the National Gallery of Modern Art from October 2nd 2019 to November 15, 2019, at the National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai. Supported by the Ministry of Textiles, Ministry of Culture and KVIC, the exhibition highlights are Gaurang Shah's version of Raja Ravi Verma's paintings woven of pallus of Khadi Saris, a light installation on 'Ahimsa' by KLOVE and much more.

• 5th October 2019 - In a warm gesture, the Department of Posts, Sri Lanka, released a stamp and first-day cover to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

• 5th October 2019 - CBSE, Adobe Announce Creative Challenge Inspired By Mahatma Gandhi For Students. Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), along with Adobe, has launched a creativity challenge for all its affiliated schools. The creativity challenge has been conceptualized around Mahatma Gandhi and his principles with the motive to promote digital literacy and early creative skills development. The aim of the CBSE-Adobe Creativity Challenge is to honour Mahatma Gandhi and to encourage students 'to develop creative skills that are crucial for their long-term growth.'

• 2nd October 2019 - Kolkata House which hosted Mahatma Gandhi when India got Independence opened as a full-fledged museum. Rare photographs capturing Mahatma Gandhi’s 1947 stay at Beliaghata in Kolkata and articles used by him during the three-week period when he tried to douse the flames of communal violence being displayed at the house that hosted him and has now been developed as a full-fledged museum. In August and September of 1947, away from the celebration of Independence, Gandhi chose to be in Kolkata with some of his followers to calm the rioters down. He stayed in the building during his stay.

• 2019 - the U.K. to issue coin in honour of Mahatma Gandhi. The U.K. government has decided to issue a commemorative coin to mark the 150th birthday anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, said Britain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer Sajid Javid.
  
  
• 20th May 2023 - Mahatma Gandhi bust unveiled in Hiroshima by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 

Mahatma Gandhi bust unveiled in Hiroshima by Narendra Modi

• 2nd October 2023 - To commemorate Mahatma Gandhi's 154th birth anniversary, Chembrakanam Chitra Shilpakala Academy and Thrikaripur St. Paul's School jointly organized a four-day Chitra Shilpakala Camp, where 154 students from 17 schools created 154 clay sculptures of Gandhi. The exhibition of the sculptures was inaugurated on Monday October 2, by Kasaragod MP Rajmohan Unnithan. The academy, known for its eight years of free art education, collaborated with Kerala Lalitha Kala Akademi to conduct the event.