7/27/2019 Errores y Omisiones
1/11
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.
1
7/27/2019 Errores y Omisiones
2/11
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.
2
7/27/2019 Errores y Omisiones
3/11
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.
3
7/27/2019 Errores y Omisiones
4/11
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
Letter toPrabhudasGandhi
8 97 80 331 May 23,1941
Letter toPrabhudasGandhi
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
4
7/27/2019 Errores y Omisiones
5/11
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
Letter toChhaganlalGandhi
21 91 6 52 February
20, 1907
Letter to P.S.
To Governor,Transvaal
22 91 6 53 March 1,1907
Letter toChhaganlalGandhi
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
5
7/27/2019 Errores y Omisiones
6/11
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
Letter toAnasuyabenSarabhai
37 91 38 556 January31, 1927
Letter toAnasuyabenSarabhai
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
6
7/27/2019 Errores y Omisiones
7/11
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
Letter toAnasuyabenSarabhai
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
7
7/27/2019 Errores y Omisiones
8/11
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
Letter ToVasumatiPandit
56 95 38 73 AfterFebruary2, 1927
Letter ToVasumatiPandit
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
Letter toHermanKallenbach
64 96 9 4 April 5,1909
Letter toHermanKallenbach
65 96 9 5 June 19,1909
Draft Will andTestament
66 96 9 6 June 21,1909
Letter toHerman
8
7/27/2019 Errores y Omisiones
9/11
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
Letter toHermanKallenbach
71 96 9 11 July 7,1909
Letter toHerman
Kallenbach72 96 9 12 July 17,
1909Letter toHermanKallenbach
73 96 9 13 July 21,1909
Letter toHermanKallenbach
74 96 9 14 July 30,1909
Letter toHerman
Kallenbach75 96 10 15 August 7,
1909Letter toHermanKallenbach
76 96 10 16 August12, 1909
Letter toHermanKallenbach
77 96 10 17 August20, 1909
Letter toHermanKallenbach
78 96 10 18 August28, 1909
Letter toHermanKallenbach
79 96 10 19 August30, 1909
Letter toHermanKallenbach
9
7/27/2019 Errores y Omisiones
10/11
80 96 10 20 September 10,1909
Letter toHermanKallenbach
81 96 10 21 Septemb
er 17,1909
Letter to
HermanKallenbach82 96 10 22 Septemb
er 24,1909
Letter toHermanKallenbach
83 97 10 23 October1, 1909
Letter toHermanKallenbach
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
Letter To H S LPolak
88 97 23 287 April 10,1921
Letter toHermanKallenbach
89 97 24 290 September 29,1921
Letter toHermanKallenbach
90 97 72 311 December 28,1937
Telegram toHermanKallenbach
91 97 74 319 January20, 1939
Letter toHermanKallenbach
92 97 75 320 February5, 1939
Letter To H S LPolak
93 97 75 321 March 2,1939
Telegram toAmrit Kaur
10
7/27/2019 Errores y Omisiones
11/11
94 97 75 322 March 8,1939
Letter toHermanKallenbach
95 97 75 323 March/Ap
ril 1939
Notes to
HermanKallenbach96 97 75 324 March/
April1939
Note toHermanKallenbach
97 97 81 327 August30, 1941
Letter To H S LPolak
11