Errores y Omisiones

7/27/2019 Errores y Omisiones

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The History of the Controversy:

We received the following email on October 26, 2004:

Original Message -----From: Tridip Suhrud [[email protected]]

Sent: Tuesday, October 26, 2004 11:48 AM

Subject: Deletions and Revisions in the Revised Edition of the CWMG

Dear Friend,

We seek your time and patience for this rather long e mail. Kindly bear with us.

I on behalf of a group of independent scholars would like to bring to your notice the

Deletions and Omissions in the Revised Edition (2001) of the Collected Works of

Mahatma Gandhi (CWMG).

The CWMG was commissioned in February 1956. The control and direction of the serieswas vested in the Advisory Board, the original members of which were Shri Morarji

Desai (Chairman), Kakasaheb Kalelkar, Devdas Gandhi, Pyarelal Nayar, Maganbhai P

Desai, G Ramachandran, Shriman Narain, Jivanji P Desai and Shri P M Lad.

Following were the members of the Advisory Board as reconstituted in 1967. Shri

Morarji Desai (Chairman), Kakasaheb Kalelkar, R R Diwakar, Pyarelal Nayar,

Maganbhai P Desai, Ramdhari Sinha "Dinkar", Shri Shantilal H Shah, the Director,Publications Division, and the Chief Editor.

Shri Bhartan Kumarappa was appointed the first Chief Editor, after his death till October1959 Shri Jairamdas Doulatram worked as the Chief Editor after which Prof. K

Swaminathan assumed the Chief Editorship from February 1960 till the completion of the

project.He was assisted first by U R Rao and later by Prof. C N Patel who worked as theDeputy Editor (English).

After an extremely careful process of selection, verification and translation Vol. 1-90

were published. Vols. 91-97 were published as Supplementary Volumes while Volumes98-100 were indices. The CWMG is recognised the world over as the standard reference

work, largely due to the intellectual quality of the editorial precision that is evident.

The Last Volumes was published in 1994.

Subsequently, in 1998 decision was taken by the Ministry of Information andBroadcasting to not issue reprints of the CWMG as was the practice hitherto but to

prepare a Revised Edition, perhaps with a view to RECAST and RESTRUCTURE the

material and to bring Chronological sequence to the Supplementary Volumes.

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It has not been possible for us to ascertain what the nature of the Consultative Process

was or who were the members of the New Advisory Board. The Publisher's note to the

revised edition does not mention who was the Chief Editor or who were the members ofthe Reconstituted Advisory Board were.

The outcome of this Revised Edition was a CD-ROM Version (the so called e book) anda new print edition.

The Following is the evidence of incompetent and insensitive Editorial work that hasresulted in Omissions and Deletions.

The Original Edition (OE) carried a preface for each volume and also list of

Acknowledgements and Sources for each volume.

The Revised Edition (RE) in the process of inserting material for sake of chronology lost

sight of the Sources and Acknowledgements specific to each volume, hence a decision

was taken to have a combined list of Acknowledgements and Sources common for allVolumes. These appear in each volume and occupy 42 pages. That is in 100 volumes

4200 pages are printed which have no segregation or intellectual merit.

The Original had worked out a system of indices of persons and subjects. There were

4000 major entries with 9000 subentries under the various major entries. The Revisededition has done away with the entire classificatory system and subentries and

classifications have been dropped, making the entire index meaningless.

For example The entry on Action(s): has 16 subclasification, which bring out thephilosophical aspects of Action, such as ; ahimsa in thought, and faith, and freedom from

ego, and knowledge, and non-action, and predestination, and rebirth...selfless, and

without attachment. The Revised entry had no classification whatsoever, rendering ituseless. Same has happened to large numbers of entries like Transvaal, Rajkot, The Gita.

There have also been deletions from the indices itself. The Original had 324 entries underBhave,Vinoba. The revised edition has only 175 entries which is spread over two widely

separated sections in the index of names. The first entry is on p. 43 of vol 100 while the

next set of entries are on p. 349 of the same volumes. Why? Because for the editors

Bhave, (Acharya) Vinoba and Vinoba Bhave are two separate individuals!

Let's take the example of Khan Abdul Gafar Khan. The original had 382 entries under

that name. The new has lost distinction between Khan Abdul Gafar Khan and his elderbrother Dr. Khan Sahib. The Combined entries under these two names in the Revised

Edition are 115.

Similar is the case of Adajania, Sorabji, Shahpurji, a close associate of Gandhiji in South

Africa. The Original has 173 entries while the revised has 26 entries, again the entries are

dispersed.

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While recasting and rearranging matter in the Revised edition some very thoughtless

errors have been introduced. For example Vol. 74 of the Revised edition (ADDENDA).

See page 462, 463. The letter to Herman Kallenbach is printed under the title Letter toPrabhudayal Vidyarthi. Letter to Prabhudayal Vidyarthi is printed under Letter to

Mathurdas Trikamji, while letter to him is under Letter to Pyarelal and Letter to Pyarelal

under Letter to Herman Kallenbach.

We have been able to identify so far over 500 instances of deletion or misinformation in

the CD-Rom version and over 300 cases of deletion from the print version. For example26 letters and documents of Gandhiji from the South African years are missing from the

First Revised Edition. This also includes Gandhiji's DRAFT WILL AND TESTAMENT

(dated June 19, 1909). There are many such instances.

This clearly is unacceptable to any serious student of Life and Thought of Mahatma

Gandhi. This is also indicative of the callous and insensitive approach of the then I & B

ministry and the Publications Division.

Our Plea is simple: There is no need whatsoever to issue a Revised Edition of theCWMG. The Government must ensure that the Revised Edition and the CD-Rom Version

are withdrawn and the original CWMG is Re-printed. The GOI must also instituteprocesses whereby no revisions are introduced in the CWMG in the future. If new

material comes to light, the editors of the CWMG had introduced the practice of issuing

Supplementary Volumes. The same practice should be followed.

We hope that you will study this issue and voice your concerns and join us in appealing

to the authorities to re-instate the intellectual integrity of the CWMG.

Many Thanks

Tridip Suhrud on behalf of Friends of CWMG.

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List Of Missing Items

SerialNumber

Vol.No(old)

Vol. No.(revised)

Sr. NoAs PerOld

Vols.

Date Description

1 97 10 2 1909 Letter toChhaganlalGandhi

2 97 26 addenda 3

March 17,1922

Letter toMazharul Haq

3 97 26 45 March 18,1922

Letter toPrabhudasGandhi

4 97 26 46 April 2,

1923

Letter to Kashi

Gandhi5 97 26 47 April 8,

1923Letter toNarandasGandhi

6 97 56 209 August,28, 1932

Letter toNirmala Gandhi

7 97 80 330 April 22,1941


8 97 80 331 May 23,1941


9 91 21 addenda 14

November 18,1920

Letter toNarhari D.Parikh

10 91 21 addenda 15

November 18,1920

Letter toAnasuyabenSarabhai

11 91 22 addenda 16 February26, 1921 Letter toAnasuyabenSarabhai

12 91 27 addenda 21

April 8,1924

Letter toManilal Doctor

13 91 30 addenda 23

February21, 1925

Letter toRameshwardas

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Birla14 91 32 adden

da 25August14, 1925

Letter to G DBirla

15 91 36 adden

da 29

After

October10, 1926

A Talk

16 91 37 addenda 30

1926 Letter toHaribhauUpadhyaya

17 91 38 addenda 31

January24, 1927

Letter toMridulaSarabhai

18 91 42 addenda 38

BeforeAugust 1,

1928

A Letter

19 91 6 50 on orafterFebruary25, 1907

Letter toChhaganlalGandhi

20 91 6 51 February10, 1907


21 91 6 52 February

20, 1907

Letter to P.S.

To Governor,Transvaal

22 91 6 53 March 1,1907


23 91 19 230 March 23,1920

Telegram toMathurdas

Trikumji24 91 23 269 Before

June 30,1921

Letter toKunvarjiAnandajiKapadia

25 91 26 306 March 6,1922

Letter to S. A.Brelvi

26 91 26 308 AfterMarch 21,

Letter to BabaLakshmandas

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192227 91 26 309 Before

August24, 1923

A Note

28 91 27 310 February28, 1924 Message ToRomain Rolland29 91 27 311 March 4,

1924Letter to C.Vijayaraghavachariar

30 91 27 312 March 12,1924

Telegram toJawaharlalNehru

31 91 27 313 on orafter

March 13,1924

Letter ToRamdas Gandhi

32 91 27 314 March 17,1924

Letter ToRamdas Gandhi

33 91 27 315 March 24,1924

Letter toMahadev Desai

34 91 27 316 March 25,1924

Letter ToRadha Gandhi

35 91 38 554 January

23, 1927

Letter to

RamkrishnaChandiwala

36 91 38 555 January24, 1927


37 91 38 556 January31, 1927


38 91 38 557 February3, 1927

Letter toMotiramShaukiramAdwani

39 91 38 558 February6, 1927

Letter ToMotilal Roy

40 91 38 559 February7, 1927

Message toInternational

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CongressAgainstImperialism

41 91 40 614 After

November 25,1927

Letter to

AnasuyabenSarabhai

42 93 74 332 October10, 1938

Letter toMathurdas

Trikumji43 93 74 333 October

13, 1938Letter toPyarelal

44 93 74 374 January21, 1939

Letter toMathurdas

Trikumji45 95 26 43 March 5,

1922Letter To theEditor, TheSurvey, New

York46 95 26 44 Decembe

r 1922A Letter(Presumably toMadan MohanMalaviya)

47 95 27 45 March 31,1924

A Silence DayNote

48 95 27 46 BeforeApril 3,1924


49 95 32 53 August21, 1925

Letter To C.RamalingaReddy

50 95 32 54 on orbeforeAugust31, 1925

Letter toHaribhauUpadhyaya

51 95 32 55 AfterSeptember 23,1925

Fragment of aletter

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52 95 35 63 May 12,1926

Letter to AmyJacques Garvey

53 95 38 70 BeforeJanuary

10, 1927

Letter ToVasumati

Pandit54 95 38 71 January10, 1927

Letter ToVasumatiPandit

55 95 38 72 AfterFebruary2, 1927


56 95 38 73 AfterFebruary2, 1927


57 95 43 90 December 18,1928

Letter ToBenarsidasChaturvedi

58 95 45 94 March 23,1929

Letter ToPrabhavati

59 95 80 154 May 14,1941

Letter toVenkataswamiNaidu

60 95 84 163 August

27, 1944

Telegram to M.

A. Jinnah61 96 4 1 July 3,

1905Letter To MillieGraham Polak

62 96 9 2 September 19,1908

Letter toHermanKallenbach

63 96 9 3 February9, 1909


64 96 9 4 April 5,1909


65 96 9 5 June 19,1909

Draft Will andTestament

66 96 9 6 June 21,1909

Letter toHerman

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Kallenbach67 96 9 7 June 22,

1909Letter toHermanKallenbach

68 96 9 8 June 23,1909 Letter toHermanKallenbach

69 96 9 9 July 3,1909

A Letter

70 96 9 10 July 3,1909


71 96 9 11 July 7,1909

Letter toHerman

Kallenbach72 96 9 12 July 17,


73 96 9 13 July 21,1909


74 96 9 14 July 30,1909

Letter toHerman

Kallenbach75 96 10 15 August 7,


76 96 10 16 August12, 1909


77 96 10 17 August20, 1909


78 96 10 18 August28, 1909


79 96 10 19 August30, 1909


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80 96 10 20 September 10,1909


81 96 10 21 Septemb

er 17,1909

Letter to

HermanKallenbach82 96 10 22 Septemb

er 24,1909


83 97 10 23 October1, 1909


84 97 10 24 October27, 1909

Letter toHerman

Kallenbach85 97 10 25 Novembe

r 14,1909

Letter To MillieGraham Polak

86 97 10 26 November 15,1909

Letter To H S LPolak

87 97 22 286 January22, 1921


88 97 23 287 April 10,1921


89 97 24 290 September 29,1921


90 97 72 311 December 28,1937

Telegram toHermanKallenbach

91 97 74 319 January20, 1939


92 97 75 320 February5, 1939


93 97 75 321 March 2,1939

Telegram toAmrit Kaur

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94 97 75 322 March 8,1939


95 97 75 323 March/Ap

ril 1939

Notes to

HermanKallenbach96 97 75 324 March/

April1939

Note toHermanKallenbach

97 97 81 327 August30, 1941


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Errores y Omisiones