INDIA’S POST-INDEPENDENCE PATH OF RECONSTRUCTION COULD BE A GUIDE FOR WAR-TORNE NATIONS OF THE WORLD IN RECENT TIMES

 

INDIA’S POST-INDEPENDENCE PATH OF
RECONSTRUCTION COULD BE A GUIDE FOR WAR-TORNE NATIONS OF THE WORLD IN RECENT TIMES 


On 15th August 1947, India got its independence from the colonial rule of the British.

Britishers had entered India as traders, in sixteenth century, for doing business; however started ruling India forming the East India Company approximately around the year 1612 and continued the Company Rule until 1857 when the birth of Indian Freedom movement took place with the Revolution Against the British in the form of “Seepoy Mutiny" of 1857. In the year 1858 the British company rule of India was transferred to the Rule of the Crown of British Empire. 

The purpose for which the Britishers occupied and used India as a colony of their empire, was Business and Revenue Generation. Their purpose was not the Nation Building for India.

Thus, India had remained under the colonial British Rule for the years from 1612 to 1947, a very long stretch of period spreading over 335 years (almost three and half centuries).

India’s freedom struggle in various forms recorded in the history, for independence from the clutches of the British had spanned over 90years (almost a Century) from 1857 to 1947.

After going through three and half centuries of British Colonial Rule and a Century of Freedom Struggle, while India got Independence, the fate had not spared India of some misery at the same time, as India was divided to form two independent nations named as India and Pakistan; that resulted into a catastrophic bloodshed of Partition. Therefore, at the time of its independence in 1947, India was a badly ravaged and bruised Nation, requiring large scale efforts of “Nation Building”, “Reconstruction” and “Economic Consolidation”.

Post-Independence after 1947, India adopted a path for Nation Building, Reconstruction and Economic Consolidation, that has proved success enormously. This path had the following principal features :

1.             The Power to Rule the Country was bestowed in the hands of the most illustrious, brilliant and committed Sons/Daughters of the Soil continuously.

The Responsibility of the Power was initially given to the brilliant personalities like Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru as the First Prime Minister, Sardar Ballabh Bhai Patel as the Home Minister and Dr. Rajendra Prasad as the First President of India and other Great Leaders who had transitioned through the India’s Freedom Movement and who had the impeccable charisma to address and hold the huge Indian Population together in spite of the widespread and extensive diversities India had and has as on today. In subsequent periods over the timeline, all able sons and daughters of the soil have been placed at the helm of affairs of the nation to run and manage it in the most pragmatic manner keeping national interest as the supreme and above any other interest.


2.             A robust Constitution drafted by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, one of the most illustrious and committed sons of India, ensuring democratic rights and religious freedom of the people of India and binding a huge population together


3.             Non-Alignment stand and policies, before the whole world, while at that point of time, post word war-II ( after 1945 Word War-II), in spite of the fact, that the world was also a bi-polar combine, with a cold war between the two, while the erst-while Soviet Union was leading one pole, the USA was leading the other pole.


4.             As a Non-Aligned Nation by its own declared policy, India was able to develop friendship with almost all the nations of the world  including both the Super Powers then leading at both the said poles. As a result, every Nation of the World could accept India, extended all kinds of required assistance and co-operation to India without hesitation.

5.             The National Leadership was totally committed and focused to Nation Building, Reconstruction and Economic Consolidation. The National Leadership was able to dialogue, debate and convince the International Community to stand by India, in its efforts of Nation Building, Reconstruction and Economic Consolidation.


6.             The Economy was kept as a near closed economy with regulatory mechanism from 1947, for 44years until 1991, in order to allow internal and inclusive consolidation, to encourage and achieve self-sufficiency in basic needs such as foods and essentials and induce inclusive-progress within India to create inherent strength both in Agriculture and Industry for long term. Until mid 1980s, India had to do with only two locally produced Car Brands such as Ambassador ( by Hindustan Motors ) and Premier Padmini ( by Premier Automobiles ), while there were myriad car brands globally. It could do both Green Revolution (in Agriculture) and White Revolution ( Dairy Development ) in the mean while to reach milestones of greater heights in foods for feeding such a huge population touching a billion then. While the economy was kept a near closed economy for almost half a century until 1991 when it was first opened, in the intervening half century, India remained open and welcoming to all External Aids, Assistance and Co-operation from any corner of the world in any field, however no external management of the economy or external influence on the sovereignty of the Indian Nation was encouraged or allowed.


7.             Institutions for basic learning and higher learning with world standards were built all around the country in collaboration, support and assistance from all celebrated institutions globally, to produce a huge mass of Human Resources and Human Skills that came in handy for every human resource need of the nation without depending on external human resources. Establishment of IITs ( Indian Institute of Technology ), IIMs ( Indian Institute of Management ), IRMA (Institute of Rural Management Anand), AIIMS ( All India Institute of Medical Sciences ), IISC ( Indian Institute of Science ), and a host of other prominent Educational Institutions by public/private initiatives, Central Universities and Universities under command of the States to teach Agriculture, Engineering, Medical and Management Science along with Basic Sciences, Humanities and Commerce in world standard all around the country are the examples of the efforts that were put in foremost in this direction.


8.             Institutions for Managing the Economy and Governance in all fronts were not only created but encouraged by providing autonomy to such Institutions for advising and providing directions in management of the economy and governance of the nation. Establishment of the Planning Commission ( now re-crafted as NITI Ayog ) and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) are some of such prominent Institutions.


           9.                 Building Infrastructure by Public Sector and by public sector Institutional mechanisms was the priority and prudent approach. With a less forth coming and not so prepared private sector available then, the thrust was laid on, as the right approach then, to rely on public sector to build infrastructure for Agriculture, Industry and Common living in the nation. Building of Irrigation Dams all around the country, Steel Plants ( at Durgapur, Bhillai, Bokaro and Rourkela with international engineering assistance ) and other metallurgical Industries in the Public Sector, Hydro-Electricity, Thermal-Electricity and Petroleum Refinery Plants, Airports by Airport Authority of India, National Highways and State Highways, Defense Installations and Ordnance Factories, Public Sector Research Institutions such as BARC ( Bhabha Atomic Research Station) and ISRO ( Indian Space Research Organization ), Oil and Natural Gas Commission ( ONGC ), CSIR (Council of Scientific and Industrial Research), ICAR ( Indian Council of Agricultural Research ), ICMR ( Indian Council of Medical Research ) and, Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO), Indian Railways Board and National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) are some of the prominent examples but not exhaustive list to give citations to prove this point.


10.          Keeping the Finance and Banking areas of the Nation under appropriate regulation and control was an inevitable step then for consolidation of the economy. The Bank Nationalization in 1969 to create a large pool of Public Sector Banks and to bring in robust mechanism for Monetary Policy, Financial Outlays and Allocation of Scarce Resources  was a key area that India harboured very sincerely to build a strong financial system for the nation that has withstood many global setbacks and turbulence in the intervening period.


         11.              India attached greater thrust also on its National Sovereignty and Defense, to secure its boarders by spending a significant share out of the scarce resources to build its Defense System continuously and consciously and also by consciously keeping the Super Powers of the World in good friendship and at its easy access. That helped India keeping the inevitable irritations at the immediate neighbourhood at bay and also to face a few wars from the warring neighbours in the meanwhile.

             12.              India tried its best to be a friend to everyone around the globe, in all the continents of the world, by establishing its Diplomatic Missions in most of the Nations of the World and keeping political and diplomatic doors open for everyone but not being under the control of anyone. India is one of the countries that has an extensive net work of Diplomatic Missions as its Embassies, Consulates and High Commissions as one of the largest diplomatic network in the world and in largest ( one of the largest) number of nations across the globe in all continents.


  13.          Also as a large nation and having grown to become a large power in the world, India has never tried to intrude and infringe into the sovereignty of any other nation over the time line of history under any and all circumstances. It has never jumped into the band wagon of groups of power to get into the sovereign affairs of any other nation of the world. However, it has helped as a helping hand or it has taken a considerate and judicious stand to build and facilitate peace, whenever there has been a need around the globe.


14.          India has always respected the Democratic Rights of its people at the highest level, and deviations as and when has surfaced, it has been corrected with sincere and bold efforts.

 

I have tried to illustrate with some broader and macro examples above, but it is not the exhaustive list to demonstrate the path India has taken for Reconstruction and Consolidation post-independence since 1947, it can be depicted and described in volumes.

 

What I am trying to say here is, there is a wealth of learning available from the case of India regarding the path it took as a very large nation and how it could Reconstruct and Consolidate as a sovereign nation in its post-independence era.

 

A number of nations around the world, in recent times, whether in Central Asia or West Asia, Africa and Latin America have been in situations as India was in 1947 when it got independence out of the British,  may be due to several and various reasons and they need Reconstruction and Consolidation for coming up as robust Sovereigns globally with a mass of its people peacefully carrying on their life journey maintaining their democratic rights. For them, it may be worthwhile to look at the path that India took its post-independence, to take greater positive clues from the said path, as a Guide Model for their own Reconstruction and Consolidation at the Contemporary times.



About the Author : Dr. Nimain Charan  Biswal is a B.Sc.(Agri. Science and Technology), M.B.A. and Ph.D.(Management Area ) by qualifications and he has 35+ years of work experience in both  industrial and development sectors in diversified fields of social importance. He has been educated at Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT)-Bhubaneswar, Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA) and Gujarat University (with Resource Support of IIM-Ahmedabad). Dr.Biswal is further educated at IIM-Calcutta, XLRI-Jamshedpur, Apple Computer Industries and Spar Inc., USA. He has worked for reputed National and International Organisations in Senior/Top Management Capacities. He is a management expert covering extensive areas from management in agriculture, industrial management, development management to management of public systems. He is a prominent professional of India and known Internationally as well. He lives at Mumbai in India.

Comments

  1. Arkadiy KuznetsovSeptember 3, 2021 at 8:56 PM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. Arkadiy KuznetsovSeptember 3, 2021 at 8:59 PM

    Thanks Dr. Nimain for invitation to read the article!

    Once discussing situation in one of the richest with natural resources country in the Middle East (I don't call the country name due to my ethical principle) my colleagues and I touched a topic about a development in the future of this country. We got a hot dispute because our points of view divided into two parts. I was a sceptic in that conversation. Finally, I asked my friends: What is the difference between that country and India? I commented the both countries are located in the same part of world and have more or less the same territories and India doesn't have natural resources like another country but India has bigger population several folds. Everyone agreed with the answer: India is the wise country and sweet home for many people. India was and will be at all the times.

    This is an objective article about a good country. My respect to India and people of India!

    Best regards,
    Arkadiy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dr NIMAIN CHARAN BISWALSeptember 3, 2021 at 9:10 PM

      Thanks a lot. I am grateful for comments and feed back. Regards- Nimain

      Delete
  3. Dr. Chloe SchwenkeSeptember 6, 2021 at 10:34 PM

    Thanks for this thought-provoking blog. It is appropriate to consider these important accomplishments in India's development; they are not trivial.
    Still, the blog feels unbalanced. While there are many noteworthy accomplishments, India still has a great deal of long-overdue work to move on with. Despite the Constitution's commitment to end the caste system, and the deep discriminations built into that ancient cultural institution, the government of India has done very little to make any measurable progress in eliminating casteism in India, and the plight of the Dalits remains unacceptable by any standard of universal human dignity. So too, the way that the Adivasi peoples have been and continue to be treated, and how they have been displaced from their traditional lands, is not justifiable. India also has enormous problems in honoring and respecting women and girls as equally dignified human beings - indeed, India is among the most patriarchal countries in the world, and shows only very slow progress in changing that. Finally, the current focus by the BJP on creating a Hindu state is doing enormous damage to the rights and safety of religious minority populations, especially Muslims and Christians.
    So, while there is much to applaud, a more honest and balanced assessment of India's progress would take stock of these and similar concerns.
    Respectfully,
    Chloe Schwenke

    ReplyDelete

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