Even as India marks the Martyrs’ Day on January 30, the death anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, Bihar State Gandhi Smarak Nidhi in Patna, a trust founded to promote Gandhian thoughts, is gasping for life for want of funds, according to people associated with it.
Bihar State Gandhi Smarak Nidhi is a part of the National Gandhi Smarak Nidhi, a public charitable trust set up after Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination in 1948. Its initial 24 trustees included Dr Rajendra Prasad, Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
After the National Gandhi Smarak Nidhi came into being, its units were set up in different states, including in Bihar in 1952. These units were to sustain themselves on donations.
“Initially, we used to undertake several kinds of activities, like publication of books, screening films and holding school level activities on Gandhi. But most of these activities have remained on hold for decades due to the severe financial constraints,” said Vinod Ranjan, who identified himself as the “minister” of the Bihar Gandhi Smarak Nidhi.
“In fact, no donation has been made to the Gandhi Smarak Nidhi in the last four decades. The financial support that it used to get from the National Gandhi Smarak Nidhi too stopped nearly a decade ago. The state unit used to get around ₹15,000 per annum from the head office. It’s expected to generate funds at the local level to sustain itself, but donations dried up in the 1980s,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}“In fact, no donation has been made to the Gandhi Smarak Nidhi in the last four decades. The financial support that it used to get from the National Gandhi Smarak Nidhi too stopped nearly a decade ago. The state unit used to get around ₹15,000 per annum from the head office. It’s expected to generate funds at the local level to sustain itself, but donations dried up in the 1980s,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}The Gandhi Smarak Nidhi building in Patna once used to be the centre of students’ activities during the JP movement in the 1970s, which threw up leaders like chief minister Nitish Kumar, former CM Lalu Prasad, former union minister late Ramvilas Paswan, to name a few.
“But no one makes any donations to the Gandhi Smarak Nidhi. We had to stop publication works due to fund crisis. We even stopped film screening,” Ranjan said.
Earlier, a team of Smarak Nidhi used to visit villages for screening of films on Gandhi. It had a good collection of films and a projector machine.
“But in 1980, the projector machine a developed technical snag. It couldn’t be repaired as we didn’t have fund. Since then, the machine and the film rolls have been lying here unused,” says Ranjan.
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