By E Jayakrishnan, India Syndicate,
13/08/2010
Turning points of independent India
The China war
The India-Sino war in 1962 marked the end of India's age of innocence. Until then, inspired by the romance and vision of Nehru, India, its leader and its policies were marked by a romantic notion of the world around them - including the delusional hindi-chini-bhai-bhai syndrome. China's largely unprovoked invasion was not only a spear through Nehru's heart, but a stab in the back for India. It was a strategic and military reality check, as the Chinese steamrolled Indian defences and squatted on not an inconsiderable portion of Indian real estate. The invasion changed our transformed the national mindset on matters military/defence for ever. Never again - as the wars in 1965 showed - would India be caught as unprepared.
Bank nationalisation & "socialist pattern"
It was heralded as nothing short of a masterstroke by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Along with the abolition of privy-purses, and the recourse to a 'socialistic pattern of society", it was touted as the ultimate nod to the aspirations of the aam admi, keeping the capitalist sharks at bay. Unfortunately, that was absolute bunkum. It was an act of desperation of an embattled political leader, who had been pushed to a corner. All it helped do was keep India bound and stifle the enterprise and spirit of a whole generation while ushering in the license-quota-permit raj. The state pretended to know all; created a society of scarcity - and laid the seeds for two lost decades.
The Emergency
No one - surely not the constitution makers - could imagine that Nehru's' (the man singularly responsible for the flourishing of democracy in India) daughter could usher in 'emergency' - a recourse built into the Constitution to be used in the rarest of rare cases. But Nehru's daughter did; and the lesson was learnt that pious aspirations have to backed by stringent Constitutional safeguards and a vigorous civil society - so that never again will a person's personal ambitions ride roughshod over civil liberty, freedoms and the media. It can be argued that as a consequence, it would be difficult today if not impossible, that the unfortunate events that led to, and perpetuated, the emergency could be repeated.
Development of the "scientific temper"
Nehru has made a few blunders - none more than his China policy - but one think he has got right, and for which we reaping the dividends are his stress on science and technology. Developing a 'scientific temper' he called it; and, building a knowledge society. Whether in the field of space, or medicine, or missile technology, or the talent pool needed for India's success in outsourcing, the stress on science, education and institutions of knowledge has, and continues to serve as well.
Economic reforms
Churchill once said that America ultimately makes the right decision, but after exhausting all other options. The same, without dilution - can be said of India. After trying out various prescriptions - mixed-economy, "socialistic pattern", etc - under duress and with only a week's forex reserves in the kitty - India at last did the right thing. It launched economic reforms, spearheaded by the present Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. It unshackled, unbound India - and unleashed the latent Indian talent for enterprise and innovation. It gave the nation a second-life. And, look at the transformation. Without exaggerating the efficacy of reforms, it can safely be said that it has set in motion aspirations and dynamics that will ensure that India does once again fall back on empty slogans which result in empty stomachs.
India goes nuclear
In 1998, India set off five nuclear explosions in Pokhran and alarm bells ringing in world capitals. The Great powers promised to come down on India 'like ton of bricks' in the form of sanctions, and did. But India's new-found economic status and some responsible, restrained and brilliant diplomacy resulted in India acquiring a hitherto ungranted strategic status. Underlined by the growing economic clout of India, this profile of a 'responsible nuclear power', resulted in India being invited to the 'high tables' of the world - its concrete manifestation being the Indo-US Civilian Nuclear Agreement - a unthinkable until then, as India had not signed the NPT, the holy grail of the rarefied global nuclear club. While a 'superpower in the making' seems a stretch, an 'emerging power' seems adequate and deserved.
Source India Syndicate
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