Independence and its Dilemmas:

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Independence and its Dilemmas

• Debates about Modernity in India during 1940s-60s

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Prior to 1947

• 1940s a decade of mass mobilization throughout S.
  Asia
• Congress and its theory of Swadesh, Swaraj,
  and Satyagraha
• Muslim League and constitutional approach for a
  Muslim nationnote variant readings of qaum
• New movementskisan sabhas, regional parties,
  many abandon non-violent principles
• Each party/movement had different agendas for the
  post-partition period

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Tensions within Congress

• Like most umbrella parties, Congress is an
  amalgamation of different groups with different
  agendas
• Gandhi represents an older generation of leaders,
  Jawaharlal, his mentee, a new generation with
  socialist leanings
• Gandhi outspoken in his critiques of mimicking
  European notions of modernity w/o questions.
• Questions social and human toll of
  industrialization
• Nehru more open to notions of a mixed approach
  b/w indigenous and western ideas

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Eclipse of Gandhian thinking after 1947

• Pressures created by violence of partitions moves
  new Indian govt. to favor a secular framework
• Gandhi assassinated in 1948 by Hindu fanatic,
  Nehru, then VP charts a new approach to
  development policy
• Pressures created by refugees
• Stresses of famine and endemic poverty
• Nehrus interest and contact with the scientific
  community in India
• Strong influence of Fabian socialism

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Nehrus developmental agenda

• New emphasis on State planning as a tool of
  developmental policy
• Creation and extension of IITs and Research
  Universities to foster Indian knowledge base
• Key investment in Engineering and Science
• Agrarian research for high-yield crops
• Govt. projects including dams, railways, bridges,
  clean drinking water, sanitation
• Focus on allocating central resources for managed
  regional growth
• Planned cities such as Chandigarh

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Differences w/ other post-colonial states

• Emphasis on building local knowledge/resources.
  Foreign collaboration/experts used initially but
  projects encourage setting up institutions
  locally
• Discourage foreign ownership or management of
  projects and infrastructure
• Outcome of anti-colonial attitudes and cold war
• Infrastructure becomes a state resource, not as
  much incentive to private businesses
• State becomes largest employer, also largest
  manager of upper-level educational institutions

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Bhakra Nangal Dam
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Rationale for Nehruvian Planning

• State only player in India with resources large
  enough to develop certain projects and industries
• Politicians not necessarily suited to
  developmental workplanning relegated to
  economists, experts, bureaucrats
• Without infrastructure, no hope of Indians
  achieving a better standard of life
• Solutions were needed sooner rather than later

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Problems with this approach

• Politics bound to seep into such efforts,
  bureaucrats and experts not immune to pressure
• Without stimulus to indigenous markets, economic
  growth remains slow
• Projects often overlook local problems and needs,
  prioritize only national ones
• Most projects and policies favor educated middle
  class rather than majority of poor citizens

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Why did projects favor middle class?

• More investment in higher-level education than
  primary schools
• Jobs created through new project create
  professional opportunities for upwardly-mobile
  professionals, only temporary manual jobs for day
  laborers
• Did not anticipate caste-regional-religious
  cronyism among top ranks
• Social change cannot be accomplished by
  legislative changes alonepolicy ignored the
  reluctance of elite to give up power

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Social power and resistance to change

• In 1950s govt. moves to abolish zamindari and
  give peasants rights to land
• Partially successful, but only for prosperous
  cultivators, not landless groups
• Land ceilings rule passed later to inhibit land
  hoarding
• Legal loopholes exploited by transferring
  property to other family members
• Caste discrimination continues to be a serious
  issue in rural areas, particularly in North

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Long-term impact-Educational policy

• A new class of highly-educated and well-qualified
  professionals emerge by the 1960s
• At the same time literacy levels for rural areas
  do not change as dramatically
• Concerns about brain drain in 1970s-80s
• New economy of 1990s creates new opportunities
  for educated, not for others

Scientist C. V. Raman
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Census Figures and Development

• Life expectancy was low
• 1941-51 32.5 for men, 31.7 for women
• By 1958 45.2 for men, 46.6 for women
• Literacy and job prospects were low (1951 census)
  (1930s figure in single digits)
• Overall 23.5 for Men, 7.6 for women
• Rural 19 for men, 4.9 for women
• Urban 45.1 for men, 12.3 for women
• Economy was primarily rural, and rural areas had
  lowest levels of literacy, health stats.

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Social indexes now

• Life expectancy
• Colonial (32) (India in 2002 68.6) (Pak-63.7)
  (US-77)
• Literacy
• Colonial-single figures
• 1951 23.5 men, 7.6 for Women
• 2002 64.8 avg.75.3 men, 53.7 for Women (India)
• Pakistan averages 48.7, much greater for men
  (63est.)
• Parliamentary elections in India
• 1952 46.6 1984 63.4 and counting