badri wrote:
I am not trying to squarely blame Nehru for everything. I am just pointing out the fact that Nehru was too westfacing that he undermined the traditional knowledge of Indian farmers. Gandhiji, on the other hand was always blamed as being too traditional and old fashined. Gandhiji's ideals (even economic) will stand the test of time. Nehru was an ardent supporter of democratic ideals but sadly for development he only looked to the west forgetting the traditional knowledge. Remember, befor Britishers came, we were a flourishing economy and the credit must go to the micro level fiscal management that was prevalent. Gandhiji argued that we should go back to that minus the caste and other social evils. This would have meant that the large rural population would have got their problems addressed immediately and with the zeal that we had in early days of post independence any amount of social change and land reforms would have been achieved.Quote:
Can't hardly blame Nehru for it all, although I do remember studying about the Bhakra Nangal Dam and how it was the brainchild of Nehru and shows his vision etc!!!
Nehru concurred with the soviet socialist argument that rapid industrialization and modern agricultural practices of that time(which was consuming huge water and rejected later) were the only way to go ahead. His view was that as the country remained a socialist republic, the social ills would die a natural death and rural people who couldn't get employed in farmlands could easily find jobs in modern industries that can now be located anywhere because of the water availabilty due to huge dams. The only positive spinoff from this vision was the need government had for engineers en masse' which could only be satisfied by IITs and RECs and other private institutions.
Still I would have opted for Gandhian economics considering the state of country at that time. Even now, the rural India must choose to go the Gandhian way, which is nothing but the age old knowledge of rural India. It is a pity that other countries around the world have started to look upon Gandhian management as a serious tool of political, social and economic empowerment, while in our country we have neglected them totally, thus doing a great disservice to a noble soul. There is no use in simply chanting "vaishno Janate" on October 2nd.