''Navajivan Trust'' is a

publishing house Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

based in Ahmedabad,

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. It was founded by

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

in 1929
and has published more than 800 titles in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

Gujarati Gujarati may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Gujarat, a state of India * Gujarati people, the major ethnic group of Gujarat * Gujarati language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them * Gujarati languages, the Western Indo-Aryan sub ...

Hindi Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

and other languages to date. Earlier, ''Navajivan'' referred to a weekly newspaper published by Gandhi, in

, from 1919 (September 7) to 1931, from Ahmedabad.

Objective

The word Navajivan means "a new life" in Hindi, Gujarati and other

Indo-Aryan languages The Indo-Aryan languages (or sometimes Indic languages) are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. As of the early 21st century, they have more than 800 million speakers, primarily ...

. As stated in its declaration at the time of its inception, the objective of Navajivan Trust was to propagate peaceful means for the attainment of ''Hind Swaraj'' ( Swaraj for India) by educating the people through cultivated and enlightened workers and to serve India in this pure manner. For the fulfilment of this object to conduct the Navajivan (to provide a new life), through it to carry on propaganda for peaceful attainment of Swaraj; and particularly: * to propagate the spinning wheel and

khadi Khadi (, ), derived from khaddar, is a hand-spun and woven natural fibre cloth promoted by Mahatma Gandhi as ''swadeshi'' (self-sufficiency) for the freedom struggle of the Indian subcontinent, and the term is used throughout India, Pakistan ...

; * to propagate for the removal of

untouchability Untouchability is a form of social institution that legitimises and enforces practices that are discriminatory, humiliating, exclusionary and exploitative against people belonging to certain social groups. Although comparable forms of discrimin ...

; * to propagate unity between the Hindus and the Mussalmans (

Muslims Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

) and the various communities who have settled in India; * to present before the people constructive ways for protecting the cow by propagating for starting and managing tanneries, dairies and such other establishments; * to propagate ways for the advancement of women such as: :1. Opposition to child marriage :2. Propagation of the idea of widow-remarriage in a restrained manner :3. Education for women; * to break the unnatural glamour the English language has gained in the eyes of the people all over the country and to propagate for the establishment of Hindi or Hindustani in its place; * to propagate by the publication of journals and books such other ways as would conduce to the religious, social, economic and political advancement of the people; * not to take advertisements in the newspapers conducted by the Institution and in pamphlets, books etc. published by it; nor to accept in the printing press of the Institution such work for printing as-is against the aims and objects of the Institution; * to publish a statement of the activities of the Institution and its accounts within three months after the end of the administrative year; * always insist on carrying on all the activities of the Institution based on self-reliance. Navajivan Trust was to propagate by the publication of journals and books the activities Gandhi had started for the religious, social, economic and political advancement of the people. It was to carry on all the activities based on self-reliance. For self-reliance, the press might undertake printing of such writings which are not contrary to the objectives of the Trust. It is to the credit of the devoted trustees of the Navajivan Trust that they have strictly observed the objectives of the Trust even at the cost of profitable printing work going past them. Similarly, no advertisement is taken in weeklies, papers or books published by the Trust. The objective of self-reliance has also been observed strictly as, so far, no grant or donation has been accepted by the Trust.

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Publishing companies of India Mahatma Gandhi Publishing companies established in 1929 1929 establishments in India