Introduction.
India’s independence represented for its people the start of an epoch
that was imbued with a new vision. In 1947, the country commenced its long
march to overcome the colonial legacy of economic development, gross poverty, and
near total illiteracy, wide prevalence of disease and stark social inequality
and injustice. Starting off with a broad social consensus on the basic contours
of the India that was to be built-on the values of nationalism, secularism and
democracy and the goals of rapid economic development and radical social
change-was a great advantage.
The Basic Goals.
The
first and most important task was to preserve, consolidate and strengthen India’s
unity, to push forward the process of making of the Indian nation, and to build
up and protect the national state as an instrument of development and social
transformation. The social scene also called for rapid transformation, untouchability, polygamy, woman had no right
of inheritance, nor the right of divorce and the lack of education. The founders
of the Indian Republic had the farsightedness and the courage to commit
themselves to two major innovations of historical significance in
nation-building and social engineering: first to build a democratic and civil
libertarian society among an illiterate people and second, to undertake
economic development within a democratic political structure.
Political Leadership.
India’s
survival and growth as a nation and a democratic polity, as also the
achievement of the national objectives set by the freedom struggle depended on
the configuration and development of long-term socio economic and political
forces. But the quality, skill and approach of the political leaders would
inevitable role and the high quality of leadership was not confined only to the
congress party but it was a group activity of all denomination, like the
conservative Swatantra was headed by C. Rajagopalachari, the dissident
Congressmen by J. B. Kripalani, the Hindu communalists by Shyama Prasad
Mookerjee, the non-congress dalits by B. R. Ambedkar, the Socialists by Acharya
Narendra Dev and Jayaprakash Narayan, and communists by P. C. Joshy, Ajoy Ghosh
and E. M. S. Namboodiripad.
The
colonial legacy: India’s
colonial past was weighed heavily in her development since 1947. In the
economic sphere, as in others, British rule drastically transformed India. These
changes – in agriculture, industry, transport and communication, finance,
administration, education, and so on-were in themselves often positive, as for
example the development of railways. During this period per capita income of
agriculture were decreased. Also education, Handicraft business etc… were
deteriorated.
Evolution
of the Constitution: The
Constitution of India came into force on 26 January 1950. Since then the day is
celebrated as Republic Day. The Constitution of India lays down a set of rules
to which the ordinary laws of the country must confirm. It provides a framework
for a democratic and parliamentary form of government. It also includes a list
of fundamental Rights and Directive Principles.
The
Architecture of the Constititution: The Constitution supposed to have a basic structure which cannot be
altered. This was spelt out by the full bench of the Supreme Court in 1973 in
the Kesavananda Bharati judgment.
Consolidation
of India as a Nation: A major
problem, perhaps the most serious one that India has faced since 1947 has been
of national unity or consolidation of the nation.
·
Unity in
Diversity: The national movement
played a pivotal role in welding Indians together politically and emotionally
into a nation and integrating them into ‘a common framework of political
identity and loyalty.’
·
The Language
Problem: The language problem was
the most divisive issue in the first twenty years of independent India.
Consequently, linguistic identity has been a strong force in all societies. The
Indian Constitution recognizes sixteen major languages, including English and
Sanskrit. Hindi become the official language of India. There was a major
problem about official and linguistic language, was a gap between Hindi-knowing
and non-Hindi-knowing people. There Nehru’s approach was very interesting, in
parliament on 7 August 1959 he made a statement, ‘I would have English as an
alternative language as long as the people require it, and I would leave the decision
not to the Hindi-knowing people, but to the non-Hindi-knowing people.’ He also
told the people of south that ‘if they do not want to learn Hindi, let them not
learn Hindi.’ He assured it again in the parliament on 4 September 1959.
·
Then they
reorganized the states their own linguistic basis, eg. Kerala-Malayalam,
Tamilnadu-Tamil, Andhra-Telugu, etc…
·
The
preservation of the Tribal people’s rich social and cultural heritage lay at
the heart of government. Jawaharlal Nehru was the main influence in uplifting
and shaping tribals to the part of India.
The
years of Hope and Achievement, 1951-64
The
years from 1951-64 were those of maturity and achievement, also marked by high
hopes and aspirations, optimism and confidence. Democracy took a giant step
forward with the first general election held in 1951-52 over a four month
period, it was the biggest experiment in democracy anywhere in the world. Under
Nehru’s leadership the cabinet system evolved in a healthy manner and
functioned effectively.
The administrative structure: while retention of the
existing bureaucracy and the administrative structure was inevitable and
perhaps even sound under the circumstances.
Development
of Science and Technology: a major
achievement of the Nehru era was in the fields of scientific research and
technological education. He convinced that science and technology were crucial to
the solution of India’s problem.
Social
change: the vision of the
founding fathers of the Republic went beyond national integration and political
stability.
Education:
the founding fathers were fully aware of the need
for better and wider education as an instrument of social and economic
progress, equalization of opportunity and the building up of a democratic
society.
Community
Development Programme: Two
major programmes for rural uplift, namely the Community Development Programme
and Panchayat Raj were introduced in 1952 and 1959; their basic purpose was to
change the face of rural India, to improve the quality of life of the people.
Jawaharlal Nehru in Historical Perspective.
Jawaharlal Nehru can be justifiably
considered the architect of modern India. Nehru resisted all pressures and
refused to become the pawn of world superpowers, USA & Soviet Union. India’s
internal policies right or wrong developed outside the direct influence of the
superpowers, and India remained in full control of her internal as well as
external policies and also he successfully resisted penetration of India’s
political and economic structure and institutions by outside agencies.
Foreign National Unity.
Nehru succeeded in maintaining and strengthening the national unity
forged during the freedom struggle and in checking the disruptive forces,
consolidating the nation and independent state and promoting the psychological
integration of the Indian people. As per Nehru India was not yet a structured
nation but a nation-in-the-making. The Five year plans lay the concept of
national unity.
Nehru’s different perspectives.
·
Nurturing
Democracy and Parliamentary Government.
·
Building
Socialism.
·
Planning for
Economic Development.
·
Opposing
communalism.
·
Opposing
conservatism.
Political Parties, 1947-64: The
Congress.
India is virtually the only
post-colonial nation to sustain a system of parliamentary government for over
fifty years after independence. It is true that throughout the Nehru years
Congress was dominant politically and retained power at the centre and almost
all the states. But simultaneously, a multi-party system, like the Socialist
Party, the Communist Party, the Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party and the Bharatiya Jan
Sangh, were started in 1951-52.
Indian Economy, 1947-65 the Nehruvian
Legacy.
A meaningful appraisal of India’s
development experience after independence would have to place it both a
historical and comparative context. An extreme poverty, illiteracy, a ruined
agriculture and industry, the structural distortions created by colonialism in
the Indian economy and society made the future transition to self-sustained
growth much more difficult. So India needs an economic development.
Planning and Public Sector.
The Planning
Commission established five year plan on 15 March 1950, which laid the economic
foundation of India and Nehru himself as its chairperson. He played a key role
in this commission.
1. The first plan (1951-56): tried to complete projects
at hand and to meet the immediate crisis situation following the end of the
war.
2. The Second plan (1956-61): the celebrated
Nehru-Mahalanobis (Prof.P.C.Mahalanobis played a leading role in drafting the
second plan) strategy of development was put into practice.
3. The Third plan (1961-66): it was the continuation of
second plan and the basic element was the rapid development of heavy and
capital goods industries in India, mainly in the public sector.
Achievements.
The achievements and benefits of
first two Five Year Plans, which conceived in Nehru years, were to be felt in
the years following his death. The overall economy performed impressively
compared to the colonial period, its national income or Gross National Product
(GNP) grew at an average rate of about 4 per cent per annum.
Land Reforms: Ceiling and the Bhoodan
Movement.
Land Ceiling.
A major plank of the land reform effort in India was
the imposition of ceilings on the size of landholdings, with the objective of
making land distribution more equitable. The all India Kisan Sabha had
supported the demand for a maximum limit of 25acres per landholder in 1946. There
happened some weaknesses in Land Legislation that is the inequality of ceiling
limit, a large number of exemptions, etc… Finally the ceiling legislation
loosed its purpose.
The
Bhoodan Movement.
Bhoodan
was an attempt at land reform, at bringing about institutional changes in
agriculture, like land redistribution through a movement and not simply through
government legislation. Eminent Gandhian constructive worker, Acharya Vinoba
Bhave, drew upon Gandhian techniques and ideas such as constructive work and
trusteeship to launch this movement in the early fifties. Vinoba Bhave
organized an all-India federation of constructive workers, the Sarvodaya Samaj,
which was to take up the task of a non-violent social transformation in the country.
He and his followers were to do ‘Padayatra,’ walk on foot from village to
village to persuade the larger landowners to donate at least one-sixth of their
lands as bhoodan or ‘land-gift’ for distribution among the landless and the
land poor. The target was to get as donation 50million acres, which was
one-sixth of the 300million acres of cultivable land in India. The idea was that
each average family of five should give up one-sixth of their land accepting
the poor landless man as a member of the family.
White Revolution.
The Gandhian freedom fighter,
Tribhuvandas K. Patel, who patiently roamed the villages on foot to persuade
farmers to form milk cooperatives, became the first chairman of the union in
January 1947 and continued to be elected to this position for over 25 years.
Dr. Varghese Kurien (died on last month), the brilliant engineer from Kerala
and later the heart and soul of the white revolution in India, was the
celebrated and proud employee of the Kaira farmers, and the chief executive of
the union from 1950-73, though he has continued his close association with the
union till last month.
Green Revolution.
The initiatives, led by Norman
Borlaug, the "Father of the Green Revolution" credited with saving
over a billion people from starvation, involved the development of high-yielding varieties of cereal grains, expansion of
irrigation infrastructure, modernization of management techniques, distribution
of hybridized seeds, synthetic fertilizers,
and pesticides to farmers.[1]
Conclusion.
India is a
developing country, since 1947 (freedom from colonialism) India faced many kinds
of challenges for developments. Now India placed a good position in global map.
Struggles and sufferings of Indian people for her freedom movement are very
important to the history of India.
Web&Bibliography.
1. Chandra, Bipan, Aditya Mukherjee, Mridula Mukherjee.
India After Independence, New Delhi: VIKING Penguin Books India (p) Ltd, New
Delhi.
2.
Majumdar
Raychaudhari and Datta, An Advanced History of India, New York: Macmillan
St. Martins Press, New York, 1967.
5.
www.historyguide.com
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