Part – I
Chapter-1
The Goals of Independent India
At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and
freedom" – Jawaharlal Nehru.
Introduction
India's independence represented for its people the start of an era embedded with a new vision in 1947; the
country commenced its long march to overcome the colonial legacy of economic backwardness, gross
poverty, and illiteracy with a wide prevalence of diseases and stark social inequality. The transformation
process in creating a strong nation, "India," which would now march towards complete independence, was a
tedious task for the leadership. It was required to consciously maintain a balance while preserving the unity
and diversity of the nation.
What India Inherited – Post Independence
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India inherited a derailed and disturbed economy, which was infested with poverty to its very core.
India was distributed into numerous linguistic and ethnic fragments, and the people were divided.
Social misery and inequality, growing disparities of wealth were rampant.
There was massive unemployment and multiple social-economic problems were bound to undermine its
national unity.
The nation also faced the risk of turning into an authoritarian regime.
Inappropriate land laws and the existence of large-scale landlessness.
Caste oppression was rampant, and there was the fear of communalism in the society.
The Colonial Legacy
Colonialism led to India's complete and complex integration with the world capitalist system but in a
subservient position. The majority of India's social surplus or savings was appropriated by the colonial state,
which was spent carelessly by the British in meeting its expansion and luxuries in India.
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The drain of wealth and the unilateral transfer to Britain of social surplus and potential investable capital
by the British and their officials, foreign merchants through the excess of imports over exports.
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India got back no equivalent income or any economic, commercial, or material interests in any form.
Also, India's policies were determined in Britain to promote interest of the British economy and the
British capitalist ideas.
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An essential aspect of the underdevelopment of India was the denial of State support to industry and
agriculture. Colonialism became a constraint on India's agriculture and industrial development thereby
agriculture stagnated in most parts of the country and even deteriorated over the years.
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The colonial interest in agriculture was primarily confined to collecting land revenue. The British spent
very little on improving the facilities and aspects of agriculture.
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Similarly, landlords and moneylenders found rack renting of tenants and sharecroppers usually far more
profitable and safe than making a productive investment in the land they owned and controlled. All this
was not conducive to agricultural development.
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Nevertheless, due to the linkage with world markets and the development of roads and railways, a
significant portion of rural produce entered urban areas and world markets and prioritized the production
of commercial crops.
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When agriculture in the developed countries was getting modernized and revolutionized, there was a near
absence of change in the technological and production base of Indian agriculture. (1)
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An important aspect of India's economic backwardness was the state of its industry during the 19th
Century. There was a gruesome collapse of Indian handicraft and artisanal sectors, primarily because of
the competition from cheaper important manufacturers from Britain and the free trade policy imposed on
India.
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An essential aspect of India's industrial backwardness and economic dependence was the virtual absence
of capital goods and machine industries in the 1950s. India met about 90% of its needs of machine tools
through imports.
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The British capitalists also controlled many of the Indian-owned companies. It may also be added that
many of the adverse effects of foreign capital arose from the state's power of being under alien control.
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However, roads and railways unified the nation and made rapid transit of goods and services possible;
also, railway lines were laid primarily to link India's inland raw material producing areas with the ports of
export .
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The result of colonial underdevelopment was extreme poverty of the people, particularly the peasantry
and the artisans; in 1951, nearly 84% of people were illiterate. The rate of illiteracy was 92% among
women.
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Thus there was extremely low per capita income, abysmal standards of living, negligible industrial
development, low productivity, and semi-feudal agriculture.
The Colonial State
The British evolved a general education system based on English as the common language of higher
education for the entire nation. However, it had negative consequences as well – one, it created a vast gulf
between the educated and the masses. The emphasis on English prevented the better development of Indian
languages from spreading to the masses.
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A significant weakness of the colonial educational system was the neglect of mass education , scientific
and technical education.
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The national movement and its legacy, the Indian freedom struggle, was perhaps the most significant
mass movement in world history. As a form of struggle by Gandhi, Satyagraha was based on the active
participation of the people and the sympathy and support of the non-participating millions.
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The Indian national movement was genuinely committed to a polity based on representative democracy
and individual's civil liberties. From the very beginning, the movement was an idea of democracy and
institutions amongst the people who had struggled to introduce parliamentary institutions based on
popular elections.
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The Indian National Congress, since its inception in 1885, was an important political organ of the
National movement. It was organized on democratic lines. It relied upon discussion at all levels, as the
dominant mode, to form its policies and arrive at political decisions. Further, the resolution of
fundamental rights passed by the Karachi Congress Session in 1931 guaranteed the rights of Freedom of
Expression and Opinion through speech and Freedom of Press and its association.
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Thus, free India could begin with a democratic polity. The national movement had also contributed
firmly to the establishment of civil libertarian and democratic tradition among the Indian people.
Fig: 1.1.1: Jawahar Lal Nehru, India’s first prime minister addressing the constituent assembly
Credits: Bert Hardy Hulton Archive
What were the Basic Goals to be achieved?
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To preserve, consolidate and strengthen India's unity- was the most critical task.
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To establish representative democracy and a democratic rule based on a parliamentary form of
government.
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To build and protect the Nation and States as an instrument of development and social transformation.
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To make the Indian economy- free, self-reliant, and absolved of metropolitan interests and end the
domination of foreign capital.
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To draft and frame an independent constitution that would fulfil the aims and aspirations of a
multicultural & multilingual society and its people.
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To become an independent national economy, to build a democratic and civil libertarian society, foster
inclusive development, and set up a democratic political structure, all were necessary to promote national
integration and bring social change.
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To accommodate diverse social, economic, and regional interests, agricultural reforms, state planning,
and a robust public sector which would serve as the primary instrument for development.
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To accept and propagate a program of reforms such as compulsory and free primary education, lowering
of taxes on the poor and lower-middle-class, reduction of salt tax, and debt relief.
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To make Internationalism and independent foreign policy an essential aspect of the nation in true sense.
The Industrial and economic development of the nation
Industrial development was essential for rural development, for it alone could reduce population pressure
on land and help reduce rural and urban unemployment.
 With industrialization, the emphasis was on creating indigenous heavy capital goods or machine-making
sectors whose absence was seen as a cause both for economic dependence and underdevelopment.
 In parallel, for essential consumer goods, the nationalists advocated reliance on medium, small scale, and
cottage industries. Small scale and cottage industries were to be encouraged and protected as a part of the
development strategy of increasing employment.
 Indian nationalists were also opposed to the unrestricted entry of foreign capital because it replaced and
suppressed Indian capital, especially under conditions of foreign political domination; thus, according to
them, the real development could occur only through indigenous capital.
Conclusions
For India, the goal was to create an egalitarian society in which all citizens would have equal opportunities
and a civilized standard of life to attain this equal opportunity a reality.
From its early days, the Indian national movement was committed to secularism, which meant the separation
of religion from politics and the state.
The other aspects were to reinforce the ideas of the national movement, from which evolved the concept and
objective of unity in diversity and national integration.
Moreover, establishing and reinforcing the ideals of the nationalist movement was a commitment to India's
political and economic independence; making India a modern and economically developed nation.
The nation aimed to eradicate inequality and to build itself as a representative democracy with civil liberties,
secularism, and social welfare as its primary objectives.
Reference
[1] Chapter 6 – (The Initial Years) India since Independence- (Bipan Chandra)