Overview

• India observes October 2 as a national holiday for Mahatma Gandhi’s birth, and the United Nations recognises it as the International Day of Non-Violence, adopted in 2007.
• Commemorations include wreath-laying at Raj Ghat in New Delhi and school and college programmes highlighting Gandhi’s values of truth, ahimsa and service.
• The Permanent Mission of India to the UN has organised a special event in New York to mark the global observance.
• Tushar Gandhi, the Mahatma’s great-grandson, began a ‘Samvidhan Satyagraha’ foot march from Deekshabhoomi in Nagpur earlier this week.
• Public participation spans speeches, quizzes and social-media messages, and this year’s observance aligns with Dussehra on the national calendar.