(UNI SPECIAL)Bharat DograNew Delhi, April 20 -- It was over five decades back in 1972 that hundreds of dacoits, or baagis as they are called locally, voluntarily surrendered in the Chambal valley of central India as part of a wider and inspirational social initiative for significant, beneficial, and durable social change achieved by non-violence. These, along with earlier and subsequent surrenders-totalling more than 600 dacoits-were inspired by Mahatma Gandhi's philosophy of achieving social reform, and even transformative change, through non-violence.
While the most well-known surrenders-where dacoits laid down their arms before portraits of Mahatma Gandhi and in the presence of leaders like Vinoba Bhave and Jayaprakash Narayan-captured ...