E-Book - Mahatma Gandhi

Ravindra Varma … 5Conferences including the UN. He was leader of theParliamentary Delegation to People's Republic of North Koreaand represented the Government of India in the 61st, 62 nd and63 rd Sessions of the International Labour Conferences. He hadthe honour of presiding over the 63 rd Session of ILO in Genevain 1979.Ravindra Varma played a leading role in the LokSangharsh Movement during the emergency (1975-77) anddirected the underground movement against the emergency bytravelling all over India and organising underground cells ofresistance. He was arrested in Bombay in February 1976 andwas detained in Thana jail until his release on February 24,1977. He served as Union Cabinet Minister for Labour andParliamentary Affairs from March 1977 to August 1979. Hewas also Chairman of the Second National Commission onLabour (1999-2002) constituted by the Government of India,New Delhi.His association with the Gandhian ConstructiveMovement dates back to the days of Mahatma Gandhi himself.He was associated with the All India Spinners' Association andAll India Village Industries' Association. After theassassination of Gandhi, some of his close associates felt theneed for an institution to undertake the scientific study andanalysis of Gandhian thought and methods for the benefit of theyounger generation. That resulted in founding of GandhiVichar Parishad at Wardha in the early 1950s. Kaka SahebKalelkar was its Chairman and Shankar Rao Deo and RavindraVarma were Secretaries. Later, in 1987, it was mainly throughthe effort of Ravindra Varma that the Institute of GandhianStudies or Gandhi Vichar Parishad was established at Wardha.It was mainly due to the work and vision of Ravindra Varmathat the Institute of Gandhian Studies achieved its present preeminenceboth nationally and internationally. He served as theChairman of the Institute from its inception till May 2000.