Revisiting Jawaharlal Nehru’s India on his 126th birth anniversary

In 1947, skepticism of India’s survival was pervasive. Winston Churchill for instance, argued that “in handing over the Government of India to these so-called political classes, we are handing over to men of straw, of whom, in a few years, no trace will remain”. The reason he was proved wrong was largely because of the tremendous foresight that Nehru and the Congress displayed. As early as 1937, Nehru had already begun to conceptualise the implementation of the Congress’ idea of India. At his instance, the then Congress President, Subhas Chandra Bose, set up the National Planning Committee in December 1938. The committee, which was chaired by Jawaharlal Nehru and comprised of scientists, industrialists, economists, workers & farmers, politicians etc., had 29 sub-committees including ‘Manufacturing & Industries’, ‘Labour’, ‘Currency & Banking’, ‘Crops: Planning & Production’, ‘Power & Fuel’, ‘General Education, Technical Education and Development Research’, ‘Rural & Cottage Industries’, ‘Industrial Finance’, ‘Land Policy, Agricultural labour and Insurance’, ‘National Housing’ etc. These committees crafted a holistic and visionary development path for India, which the Congress subsequently implemented in office.

[topic-post limit=5 showtext=”Express Blogs”] Under Nehru’s stewardship, an extensive institutional architecture, which laid the foundations for a self reliant India was set up. For instance, to ensure that a fledgling nation has skilled engineers, Nehru established five IITs by the 1960s (today there are 19 functioning IITs). Recognising the need for entrepreneurial managers, Nehru instituted the IIMs (India boasts of 19 IIMs today). He founded the AIIMS to set the pace for medical education and research in Southeast Asia (today India has seven functioning AIIMS with 10 more proposed). Similarly, because of Nehru’s personal initiatives, institutions like the LIC, NIDs, ISI, DRDO, IRSO, CSIR, the Planning Commission, numerous industries under the Industrial Policy (including steel and fertiliser plants, dams etc.) were established. Unarguably, it is because of these that India is what, and where it is today.

When the British left India in 1947, they left it one of the poorest nations in the world. Because of colonial exploitation, the average standard of living in India had stagnated since about 1890, and nearly two in three Indians lived in poverty. Despite these formidable challenges, India made substantial strides forward. Consider these:

1. In 1950, India’s GDP was 2.3%. By 2010, this had risen to 8.9%.
2. Producing just 50.8 million tonnes, India was a net importer of food grains in 1950. By 2012, India produced a record 257.44 million tonnes of food grains (and is a net exporter).
3. The number of schools in India increased from 7,416 in 1950 to 3.9 lakh schools in 2013. Consequently, the literacy rate has jumped from 18.3% to 74.04%.
4. Similarly, the number of higher educational institutions increased from 35 universities and 700 colleges in 1950 to 700 universities and 35,000 colleges in 2012. Consequently, while only 1 lakh students had access to higher education then, over 25 million have access to higher education today.
5. From the 1362 MW installed power capacity in 1947, India today boasts of 2.33 lakh MW.
6. As compared to the 4 lakh kms of roads in 1950, India boasts of 46.9 lakh kms of roads today.
7. Finally, India’s exports in 1950 amounted to only US$ 1269 million. By 2012, it had jumped to US$ 3.04 lakh million.

Largely due to the gobblesian propaganda employed by the BJP (“Congress has done nothing in the last 60 years”), the foundations of the republic forged by Nehru are now repeatedly disparaged. This myopically undermines the fact that it is largely because of Nehru that India is today not just a nation, but also an idea that serves as a beacon of inspiration amidst the chaos of the middle east, eastern Europe, South Asia etc. It would therefore do the BJP well to gauge Nehru on facts, rather than venal fabrications. Meanwhile, India must pay heed to Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s exhortation that we must “rededicate ourselves to his (Nehru) and its (Nehru’s India) ideals…These are testing times, but we must dedicate ourselves to his great aim, so that India can become strong, capable and prosperous…”