Contribution of jawaharlal nehru to modern india

If the growth of the communal Hindu forces and the communal Muslim forces in India has been checked to a large extent , if the growth of communism has been arrested in India, if firm foundations for industrial expansions and development in India have laid properly, if India has been greeted by the whole world today as an merging world leader, if it has been demonstrated that even a country like India with good enough poverty and illiteracy could stabilize democracy, we have to recognize that it was Nehru’s stewardship during the first few years after independence that contributed towards this happy situation.

In the light of these new trends Indians were prompted to review their own tradition, analyse causes for their defeat in the past and rediscover their own true values in history.

We are now reaping dividends of our investments in democracy, mixed economy, secularism and science, thanks to the bold optimism and wise planning of Jawaharlal Nehru, the real architect of modern India.

It was Nehru who evolved free India’s foreign policy. The policy had three distinct features: not getting involved in the Cold War between the United States and Soviet Union; treating the socialist world led by the Soviet Union as India’s friends; and pursuing an independent foreign policy of anti-imperialism and consoli-dating the unity of the Third World countries, most of which, like India, had just thrown off the yoke of foreign rule.

Later, Nehru’s daughter Indira Gandhi, as the Prime Minister, included the words ‘socialist’ and ‘secular’ in the Preamble to the Constitution of India. Now all these are in the danger of being undone.

Indira Gandhi also pushed through several Acts in Parliament to prevent unequal competi-tion by big monopolies, to protect jobs of workers and arbitrary closure of industrial enterprises by the owners. The Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Act, the Industries (Development and Regulation) Act, the Industrial Disputes Act, etc., were passed.

Jawaharlal Nehru has left his indelible footmarks on the sands of time.