Det danske Fredsakademi
Kronologi over fredssagen og international politik 26. Oktober 2004 / Time Line October 26, 2004
Version 3.510/26/2004
Parekh, Tina: Work on Mahatma, an experiment with errors
Times Mews Network
Ahmedabad: If you are researching on Gandhi and using the revised
version of the Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi (CWMG) as a
resource base, don't be surprised when you notice some important
entries on Gandhi's stay in South Africa from 1892-1915 missing.
Experts would tell you that this is among other omissions in the
new CWMG. The 100-volume series was revised by the I&B ministry
in 2001 during the NDA regime. There is also a CD version of the
revised series, which has similar lapses. However, the whole matter
has come to light only now. Gandhians have already demanded that
the revised CWMG and its CDs should be withdrawn. However, whether
the distortion is deliberate or out of pure incompetence is not
known. But the matter of concern for Gandhians and students is that
once the older version is out of circulation, the next generation
of researchers will have no authentic version to fall back on.
Also, with the old version tampered with, the references in close
to 10,000 books written on Gandhi may not now correspond with the
volumes of the revised version. "There are about 500 entries
missing in the revised version which is a sacrilege. The volumes in
circulation will have to be withdrawn.No amount of correction will
help," eminent Gandhian Chinubhai Vaidya asserts. Other distortions
include letters written by Gandhi to his friends where the content
has been swapped. For instance, in volume 74 on page 462-463, the
letter, which should have been addressed to Herman Kallenbach, has
been printed as Prabhu Dayal Vidyarthi and the letter for Vidyarthi
has been printed as Mathurdas Trikumji. The one meant for Trikumji
has been printed as Pyarelal, while the one that should have been
addressed to Pyarelal has been printed as Kallenbach. Also, an
important table on the Khadi workers is missing from volume 32 of
the revised series. The preface penned by the editor has been
removed from all volumes. A Gandhi expert Tridip Suhrud points out
that in the older version the first 90 volumes carried the main
content, supplementaries made up for volumes 91 to 97 and the last
three volumes contained indices. In the new version, the first 98
volumes have content with all supplementaries having been merged,
and just two volumes of indices. "This has resulted in a complete
mismatch of indices and content. Further, in volume 96 of the new
version, a portion on Gandhiji's draft will is missing."
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