Nehru S India Essays On The Maker Of A Nation

Nehru's influence stretched beyond the Freedom Movement and the political and bureaucratic boundaries of prime ministerhood. A man of letters, it was Nehru who initiated the setting up of the Sahitya Akademi devoted to literature, the National School of Drama and the National Institute of Design; just as, in the field of technology and business management, he established the Indian Institutes of Technology and the Indian Institutes of Management across the country. He was equally the force behind the setting up of dams and factories, which he regarded as the temples of modern India. Today, the four key dimensions of Indian nationhood, as conceived and implemented by Nehru-democracy, secularism, socialism and non-alignment- have altered to a point where they have changed almost beyond recognition or even abandoned altogether. As the debate continues between Nehru's supporters who believe in his enduring contribution, and his detractors who attempt to deny it, the definitive word, perhaps, comes from Nayantara Sahgal, who says in her Introduction, 'No Nehru, no modern India. The ground we stand on was laid in Nehru's time.' This volume brings together an examination of the different aspects of Nehru's personality and his legacy by some of our foremost thinkers, writers and activists: Mani Shankar Aiyar, Kumar Ketkar, Aditya and Mridula Mukherjee, Shiv Visvanathan, Rakesh Batabyal, Gopalkrishna Gandhi, Hartosh Bal, Aakar Patel, Kiran Nagarkar, Purushottam Agrawal, Syeda Hameed, Ramachandra Guha, Neera Chandhoke and Shabnam Hashmi.

The book has two sections. Articles that are grouped in the first section present a coherent analysis of some of the events that shaped Nehru as a great statesman. Each article presented sums up the intellectual thinking that surrounded in an altogether different way. Further, those articles which are presented in the second section relate to the thought making process in India. Here, the author analyses the impact of various ideologies like the western liberalism, opposition to fascism and militarism, the impact of Russian Revolution of 1917, etc., that nurtured and affected Indian mind. Lastly, the author laments the functioning of Rumpites vis-a-vis that of Gandhian ideals and Nehruvean norms.Quite a few writers like the Laskian ones can recreate great minds and can see the nation making process in a wholesome manner.Salient featuresThe book?presents an analysis on Nehruvean thoughts.?presents a contemporary picture of national politics and modern political communities.?gives a clear picture of contemporary Indian thought making processes.?speaks not only to the political activists and intellectuals but also to almost all social scientists and general readers.?is of great value to those who want to know as how Nehru shaped himself as a great statesman.?is very useful to the students and teachers of Political Science and Modern Indian History.

About the Book : - Written by Nayantara Sahgal, prize-winning novelist and political commentator, Jawaharlal Nehru presents an intimate view of the influences, encounters and defining historical moments that forged the vision of India s first prime minister. Drawing from the Nehru and the Vijayalakshmi Pandit Papers, and from Nehru s letters to Sahgal, his niece, this book combines history with personal recollections to show how Nehru helped navigate India s transition from a colony to an influential, modern nation. Discussing the significant issue of independent India s foreign policy characterized by the non-alignment principle and the establishment of relations with the United States, Britain, the Soviet Union and China Sahgal reveals much about Nehru s political astuteness, realism and aversion to rigid economic doctrines, as well as the profound impact India s non-aligned policy had on the world of the time. Perceptive, original and stimulating, Jawaharlal Nehru draws much-needed attention back to the man and his unmatched ability to engineer a consensus among seemingly irreconcilable sides. About the Author : - Nayantara Sahgal is the author of nine novels, five non-fiction works and wide-ranging literary and political commentary. She has received the Sahitya Akademi Award, the Sinclair Prize and the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Eurasia. She is a Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and has held fellowships in the United States at the Bunting Institute, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and the National Humanities Center. A resident of Dehradun, she has been awarded the Doon Ratna, and has also received the Distinguished Alumna Award from Wellesley College, Massachusetts, in 2003 and from Woodstock School, Mussoorie, in 2004.