The first steps of a new nation

In this story:
Building a government
Benevolent socialism, controlled capitalism
India's non-aligned policy: bouquets and brickbats
The Himalayan blunder

Freedom arrived at midnight for the new India. As August 14, 1947 drew to a close, Jawaharlal Nehru, the man about to become his country's first prime minister, uttered these words: "Long years ago, we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, while the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom...A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance...We have to build the noble mansion of free India where all her children may dwell."

The dream for an independent India is finally realized:
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Noble words, lofty ambitions. But, even as Nehru moved his listeners with those sentiments, he knew the mountains that lay ahead would be formidable and perhaps insurmountable. Consider the scenario at the time. A vast and poor country, economically in a shambles, unable to feed itself, its people overwhelmingly illiterate, torn by caste and religion, and — with a population already at 350 million — on the verge of becoming seriously overcrowded. Added to that was the formation of Pakistan, a chunk of the subcontinent that had broken away, shattering the dream of a unified India.

"At the stroke of the midnight hour, while the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom...A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance..." — India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru

Building a government

The dark clouds had a few silver linings, though. India was rich in raw materials and human resources. The British had left behind a solid railway system. The judiciary and legal system were generally well-run. The civil service was held in high regard. And, of course, there was the example of Britain's own parliamentary system of government for India to follow. Indian intellectuals and politicians alike admired that system, and eventually adopted it, with some modifications.

On January 26, 1950, India changed its status from a dominion in the British Commonwealth to a fully fledged republic, albeit still a member of the Commonwealth. In that same year, India's constitution was completed. It is a remarkable document, and remains in force today.

Reflecting the vision of Nehru and his colleagues, the document defined the new India as a "democratic socialist secular republic." Each of those adjectives is laden with significance, because they have helped shape India into what it is today, for better and for worse.

The democracy that modern India's founding fathers envisaged was one in which each citizen would have a say, by way of free speech, and via the ballot box. The secular nature of the fledgling nation would ensure that all religions and creeds were equal, despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of Indians were Hindu.

Benevolent socialism, controlled capitalism

The socialist aspect was harder to define and adhere to. Nehru's Congress party was too fractious even then to adopt an out and out socialist platform. Even during its most left-wing period, in the 1950s, the party included a vocal conservative faction. The prime minister himself was a Fabian, with his democratic socialist beliefs shaped by the policies he was exposed to during the 1920s and 30s. But Nehru had also seen the damage that Marxist-Communist policies had caused in the Soviet Union. Hence, he tried to wield a form of socialism in which the flow of capital would be controlled by the central government, in the national interest.

Nehru's vision of a vast public sector, idealistic though it was, ultimately gave rise to a host of problems. Red tape, inefficiency and corruption, long manifest in the system, became even more entrenched. State-owned industries, protected from competition, became complacent and churned out shoddy products. Scarce capital was wasted on propping up failures in the public sector. Bribery (referred to as "baksheesh") became a way to get around cumbersome bureaucracy at all levels.

India's non-aligned policy: bouquets and brickbats

For all his commitment to economic and social policymaking, perhaps Nehru's greatest passion lay in the realm of diplomacy and international policy. Along with President Nasser of Egypt and President Tito of Yugoslavia, Nehru in the 1950s helped found the Non Aligned Movement whose members vowed not to take sides in the Cold War.

Nehru saw the non-aligned philosophy as a force for peace, and the opportunity to inject the pacifist ideals of Mahatma Gandhi in situations of conflict. But to the United States and some of its allies, India appeared to be favoring Moscow over Washington.

Then there was the question of aid. India received food shipments from the United States, to help it through periods of drought and famine. But Washington was reluctant to provide technical and industrial assistance, prompting New Delhi to turn to Moscow. With the help of the Soviets, India built steelworks and other projects in the 1960s, and bought military hardware and warplanes from Moscow. These strong economic and military ties aroused further suspicion in the U.S., and soured relations between the world's two largest democracies.

The Himalayan blunder

However, Nehru's biggest foreign policy crisis — and blunder — arose not in his dealings with the West, but with India's giant neighbor to the northeast: China.

For years, both countries had wrangled over two border areas — one in the Aksai Chin plateau where Kashmir meets China, and the other in an equally remote, mountainous area north-east of India. Even as diplomats behind the scenes tried to settle the dispute, the Indian government's official slogan to describe Sino-Indian ties was "Hindi-Chini bhai-bhai" — "Indians and Chinese are brothers." The mask of rhetoric was ripped off in 1962, when the border dispute flared into full-scale war. Wave upon wave of Chinese troops crossed over India's north-east frontier. Indian troops were overwhelmed.

China soon withdrew its troops, having accomplished its objectives. India was humiliated, and its military was shaken to the core. Valuable resources had been diverted to boost the war effort, and that — coupled with two years of poor harvests — weakened the economy and jeopardized the third five-year plan. The alarming increase in population further aggravated the crisis, swiftly negating much of the economic gains that had been achieved until then.

Jawaharlal Nehru never recovered from what became known as "the Himalayan blunder." He died in May of 1964. His legacy remains a matter of debate to this very day. His admirers, and they are legion, point to his noble ideas, his undoubted love for India. His detractors instead highlight the dismal results many of his economic policies had — policies whose consequences haunt India to this very day.

NEXT: "The Great Divide"