Bhoodan and Gramdan
Bhoodan Yajna is an all-encompassing reform movement that addresses all elements of life. Nowadays, everyone is only concerned with themselves. However, Bhoodan causes people to think and act in the exact opposite way that they do now; it drives them to glance around and shout, “I shall first think of my neighbour, and if he has no land, I must consider it my obligation to supply him with.” Land distribution is not the only concern in Bhoodan. Its true goal is to ethically restore the entire nation. This movement sought to better a lot of the countryside’s most marginalised and disadvantaged population: the landless.
Given the fact that India has 50 million landless farmers. Vinobaji set himself the goal of collecting land contributions totalling 50 million acres, with the goal of distributing one acre to each landless farmer household of five members. Each such household was supposed to end up with 5 acres. In Gandhian terms, he asked landowners to sympathise with the plight of the landless and to show solidarity by donating one-sixth of their estates to it. Given that India has over 300 million acres under cultivation, such donations, if given across the country, would total the required 50 million acres.
“Historically, the Bhoodan movement began with the dissolution of primitive communist society and the creation of class society, when exploitation and economic injustices occurred in the social world as a result of private ownership of the social means of production.” – Dr C. G. Shah
At every stage of human history, the ideology-like distribution of rich and poor has been discovered. This notion has captured the attention of a few good-hearted humanists. In a number of ways, they have attempted to reach the emotions of society’s wealthy folks. Gandhiji gave the goal a new shape in contemporary Indian history by incorporating it into sociopolitical and moral philosophy.
What do you understand by “Bhoodan” and “Gramdan”?
Vinoba Bhave’s Bhoodan and Gramdan campaigns attempted a “non-violent revolution” in India’s land reform programme. These integrated groups aimed to enact land reforms by encouraging the landed classes to voluntarily give up a portion of their land to the landless. Acharya Vinoba Bhave, an Indian religious icon, founded the Bhoodan movement. While studying Sanskrit in Varanasi, he became a fan of Mohandas K. Gandhi. Bhave broke British Wartime regulations in 1940, at Gandhiji’s request, and spent nearly five years in prison.
Following Gandhi’s death, Bhave was widely regarded as his heir. In 1951, he founded the Bhoodan Movement, or land-gift activism, since he was more interested in voluntary land reform than politics. He travelled hundreds of kilometres in order to collect land donations for redistribution to the landless. By 1969, it had gathered over 4 million acres (1.6 million hectares) of land for distribution.