Kochrab Ashram

• Prime Minister recently inaugurated the redeveloped Kochrab Ashram in Ahmedabad, Gujarat to mark the 94th anniversary of the Dandi March.
  • On 12th March 1930, Gandhiji started Salt Satyagraha March or Dandi March from Sabarmati Ashram to the coastal town of Dandi.
• The Prime Minister also revealed the master plan for the Rs 1,200 crore Gandhi Ashram Memorial and Precinct Development Project.

About the Ashram

• Kochrab Ashram holds significant historical importance as the first ashram established by Mahatma Gandhi upon his return to India from South Africa in 1915.
• On 20 May, 1915, Gandhi took residence in a dwelling located in the Kochrab hamlet, near Paldi, situated on the outskirts of Ahmedabad.
• The bungalow, generously provided by Jeevanlal Desai, a fellow lawyer and colleague, later became the Satyagraha Ashram under Gandhi.
• It is still preserved as a memorial and tourist place by deemed university Gujarat Vidyapith.
• Kochrab Ashram, where Gandhi stayed for two years, served as a communal living space promoting self-improvement, self-sufficiency, and community service.
• Gandhi drafted a set of rules and observances for the ashramites, later adopted as ashram observances.
  • About 25 men and women, associates of Gandhi in South Africa, including Maganlal Gandhi, became the initial members of the Ashram Community.
• The ashram also served as the starting point for Gandhi’s advocacy of khadi, equality for the poor, Hindi as the national language, self-reliance, and independence.