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Dear readers,
As this is the first newsletter of the New Year, the Desh Apnayen family wishes you
hope, laughter and happiness always. May we go on to achieve greatness
together!
We also wish that you had a wonderful Republic Day. It has been 69 years since
India’s Constitution came into power. While it may be a document on paper, our
Constitution is the keeper and protector of the rights, responsibilities and values
that shape us as a country. Millions around the world revere its chief architect - the
great Babasaheb Ambedkar.
Other leaders such as Sarojini Naidu, Purnima Banerjee and Vijaylakshmi Pandit
served on the Constituent Assembly as well. Find out more about the 15 female
architects of the Indian Republic through this much-needed project. Also watch
out for our next blog, where we take a deep dive into this.
This year, it was a star spangled a�air with Heads of State from all ASEAN
Countries serving as the chief guests.
Meanwhile, in this version of the newsletter, we have an important announcement
to make. Entries for the Desh Apnayen Awards 2018 are open! Read on below.
Looking forward to enthusiastic participation.
Aditi Mehta
Editor
Thank you for being our partners in promoting citizenship education and
ownership of our country among our youth. We are humbled and excited to
receive overwhelming support from our 250+ partner schools from across the
spectrum, elite to government aided institutions, in building a united and
accountable citizenry. It is highly inspiring to experience the leadership
demonstrated by our partner schools in making this a priority.
To celebrate our schools, their teachers and their leaders, the coveted Desh
Apnayen awards are back, and entries are open! These awards felicitate select
schools for their outstanding contribution towards imparting e�ective citizenship
education to their young minds.
We honour path-breaking partner schools and leaders each year, individuals who
ensure that the values of citizenship find a place in their time tables and culture.
This year, there are awards to be won in three categories:
1. Desh Apnayen School Award
2. Champion Teacher Award
3. Star Student Citizen Award
An internal panel of experts within Desh Apnayen Sahayog Foundation will select
schools and teachers on the basis of the best contributions. The judging criteria
is:
• The quality and number of citizenship club activities carried out by the school
• The social impact made on the students, their families and the community
• Contributions to the neighbourhood
• Contributions towards Desh Apnayen publications (blogs and newsletters)
The school will receive an application form via email, which they are required to
fill in and send to [email protected] or [email protected]
We look forward to your enthusiastic participation.
30th January was Martyr’s Day, the day we lost the Father of the Nation. We keep his spirit in our heart always. Let’s read some leadership lessons from the great man today, as taken from an article by Cindrella D’Mello. Mahatma Gandhi was a unique individual. If you read up some of Gandhiji's famous quotes what will strike you is an amazing and unnatural depth in leadership styles in management of a nation's mindset. The best demonstration of Gandhi's leadership is his worldwide influence. American civil rights leader, Martin Luther King Jr., the Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Archbishop Belo of East Timor, and countless other leaders have been deeply influenced by Gandhiji and his philosophy of non-violence.
Gandhiji's greatest legacy is the notoriety he achieved for advocating non-violence as a means of overcoming oppression. It is this belief that guides the actions of millions of average citizens who participate in civil society movements today across the globe. And therefore he is known as leader of leaders. Some of the leadership principles Gandhi used which influenced many people are as follows -
1) Leaders Should Be Examples for Others
During the thirties a woman came with her son to Sevagram wanting Gandhi to tell her son to stop eating sugar. Gandhi told them to come a week later. When they came, he told the boy to stop eating sugar because it was not good for him. He then joked with the boy, gave him a hug and sent him on his way. When the mother asked why he hadn't said that on their first visit, Gandhi smiled and said, “Last week, I too was eating sugar.”
2) Leaders Should Stand Up for What They Believe In Through Peaceful Means
Gandhi showed the world that you didn't have to have a title, or authority or a military to change the world and make a di�erence. All you needed to do was believe in yourself, and to act according to your highest values. He demonstrated that oppressed peoples should not put up with their condition. They should stand up for their rights, but they should do it in a peaceful manner. Hate does not overcome hate. He inspired Martin Luther King Jr in the United States, Nelson Mandela of South Africa, Benigno Aquino of the Philippines and many other social leaders.
3) Definite of Purpose
One of the main traits that Mahatma possessed was his ‘definite of purpose'. His vision and how he was to achieve this, was the guiding light for the choices that he made. His main goal was to set India free and to fight for the rights of the repressed, through the use of non-violent means.
4) Related To People
He made an e�ort to truly understand his people. He spoke from their point of view from what motivated them. It has been said that, when he spoke publicly to large audiences it was like he was speaking to you individually. He did not put himself on a pedestal and segregate himself from his people. He had great empathy. He was authentic and he was able to show them his vision and his belief because when he spoke he spoke from the heart.
5) Stop Blaming & Take Accountability
Gandhiji’s enlightenment started from the realization that no matter how his environment changed, if his mentality, attitude and internal mettle were still the same, he would never be able to break through the chain. And when he stopped blaming, the piece of filth clogging his visibility removed itself, allowing him to see the crux of his problem, himself again.
6) "Be quick, be brief, be gone!"
Personal meetings with Gandhi were very short, generally lasting a couple of minutes. However, in those minutes people felt that Gandhi made them feel as if they were the only person in the world that Gandhi would have liked to talk at that time.
Mostly, people wants to be inspired based on enthusiasm than fear; to be coached than to be drove; to look up to someone who helps to fix the breakdown than to fix the blame for the breakdown; and to have a leader that says “Let's go!” instead of “Go!”.
A good leader makes his people love to reach their goals by having laughter and fun at work from time to time. Gandhiji had this.
You can read the whole article, titled Leadership Lessons from Bapu, here - http://www.mkgandhi.org/articles/leadership-lessons-from-bapu.html. ‘
GANDHIJI ON LEADERSHIP
FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK
DESH APNAYEN NEWSLETTER29th Issue, January 2018
THE DESH APNAYEN AWARDS, 2018
DESHAPNAYEN.ORG © 2016 | PRIVACY POLICY
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