Brief introduction
The development consisting of harmony of the human being with self, family, society, and nature can be called 'harmonious development' ("शाश्वत विकास"). The obstacles that come in the way of the harmonious development of a nation can be called national challenges or national issues. Such national issues are often complex, multifaceted, and tenuous. To achieve harmonious development, we have to understand the complexity of these issues and find directions towards solutions. Coordinated and consistent efforts have to be made in these directions. To enable personal and societal behaviour towards harmonious development, it is necessary to design and create coherent and complementary structures. To achieve this, a holistic approach, comprehensive skills, and an integrative attitude are required. Samajik Shastra Adhyayan Kendra (SSAK) (सामाजिक शास्त्र अध्ययन केंद्र)is intended to inculcate, nurture, and develop these things. The interdisciplinary (multi-disciplinary or transdisciplinary) learning and study required for this will be enabled through the process of exposure, participation, training, taking challenges, and integration.
Work statement
To develop the holistic approach, comprehensive skills, and integrative attitude required for harmonious development (development with harmony of human being with self, family, society, and nature) in citizens through the study of social sciences and to create enabling structures and systems.
Priority directions and areas of work
Jnana Prabodhini's work is carried out in various directions. The work of SSAK will be done primarily in the direction of national integration, then in the direction of quality development for working as a team and conducting research. The root causes of various national issues can be categorised into a person’s disharmony with self, society, and nature. SSAK is working for harmonious development.
In order to lay the foundation of national unity, there is a need to strengthen awareness and understanding in society about the harmonious development of the country and national issues. There has to be a team of volunteers (karykartas) who can not only relate to the dream of harmonious development but also create awareness about it among youth and citizens. This team should be able to inspire, motivate, and develop abilities in them to achieve this futuristic dream. This team needs to be willing to study, make efforts, experiment, and learn from experiments.
To find solutions for harmonious development and for overcoming national issues, methods of interdisciplinary study and research have to be developed. Such methods have to be experimented with and theorised. This can be achieved by the combined efforts of youth and citizens who want to work on national issues and their organisations. It is a kind of teamwork.
For such a collective effort, an ideology of ‘Adhyatmik Rashtrayog’ that is compatible with the current era, inclusive, and connecting all will have to be formulated. Experiments based on this ideology will be realised for harmonious development and nation-building through dialogue in society.
Key national Issues: 1. Poverty and Inequality 2. Lack of national integration 3. Lack of harmonious development
Key areas of work: 1. Value-Based Economics; 2. Philosophy; 3. Evolution of Consciousness 4. Spaces of harmony between religions (economic and social dimensions) 5. Use of technology to solve national or social problems: application considering technology, human intelligence, and social conditions 6. Constitution: Building bridges between constitutional and cultural aspects of nationalism
Objectives
- Bringing conceptual clarity to the interrelationship between the study of social sciences, national issues, and harmonious development: To bring conceptual clarity to understanding the harmonious development of the country, the experiments conducted in that direction, and the obstacles to it. By clarifying them, we can find the key points in the process of studying and teaching social sciences from that point of view.
- Comprehensive study of national issues and creation of literature for carrying out dialogue on the same: To find out the direction of answers to some of the national issues, study in depth the various dimensions, their interrelationships, and viewpoints towards those issues.
- Study and synthesis of solutions to national issues: To study the efforts made by individuals and organisations working for harmonious development. To study their responses, characteristic approaches, and effective ways of working. Seeing the synergy between the ways they have taken for solutions, to synthesise and develop immediate and long-term solutions for these national issues.
- Connecting youth and creating awareness among them about harmonious development and national issues: Taking note of groups that should be involved in working towards harmonious development and reaching out to them through various channels. To make them aware of the national issues and various dimensions involved by bringing to their attention their connection with those issues and the required participation in the solutions.
- Capacity, skills, attitude, approach, and networking of youth for harmonious development: To inculcate in youth the necessary capacities, skills, approaches, and attitudes to understand the complexities of national issues and find solutions to them. To create structures and systems for the same. To continue working towards solutions by learning from each other by networking and organising youth who want to work on complex national issues.
- Formulation of an ideology that gives a perspective on harmonious development: To formulate ‘Adhyatmik Rashtrayog’ as an ideology that gives a perspective of harmonious development.
Ongoing and potential activities
- SSAK has ongoing research in the following areas, and has engaged four interns for research assistance in June 2024:
- Aspects of inequality and its implications
- AI and its implications for Indian economy
- Learning for India from major economies
- Financial literacy for disadvantaged groups
- Critical Thinking Course and Workshops
This course was developed under the guidance of Dr. Savita Kulkarni, who has done her PhD in Critical Thinking, and Dr. Deepak Gupte, along with Amol Phalke and Dr. Aditya Ponkshe. Critical Thinking is a 2-credit NEP compliant academic course for undergraduate and post-graduate students of any academic stream. This course was offered in Ranade Industrial and Economic Institute for the students of their Master of Arts in Mass Communication and Journalism (MAMCJ) program. A 15-hour workshop based on this content was also conducted for students of Disom Foundation (Assam), students of Jnana Prabodhini Institute of Psychology's Diploma in School Psychology program, members of Jnana Prabodhini's Youth Wing (युवक विभाग) add Leadership Development Center. This course will soon be offered in DES Pune University. - Other potential activities include study groups (e.g. for Economics called Arthashastra Katta); study tours; workshops or courses for developing competencies, skills, approaches, and attitudes; literature creation (magazines, articles, and booklets), lecture series, projects, etc.
Members
- Amol Phalke - Coordinator
- Subhashrao Deshpande - Mentor
- Ashutosh Barmukh
- Aditya Ponkshe
- Piyush Ozarde
- Amol Sugandhi
- Shashishekhar Chaugule
Interns during June-July 2024
- Sayali Patil
- Sahil Joshii
- Dhanashree Kandalgaonkar
- Chinmayi Masurkar
- Isha Rasal