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Nehru’s India Part II Lecture 5 Prof Prerna Singh

Nehru’s India Part II Lecture 5 Prof Prerna Singh. The Constituent Assembly of India . Nehru’s India . Structure of the Indian State: Federalism Establishment of Democracy Routinization of Democracy Foreign Affairs Assessing Nehru Nehru’s Legacy .

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Nehru’s India Part II Lecture 5 Prof Prerna Singh

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  1. Nehru’s India Part II Lecture 5 Prof Prerna Singh

  2. The Constituent Assembly of India

  3. Nehru’s India • Structure of the Indian State: Federalism • Establishment of Democracy • Routinization of Democracy • Foreign Affairs • Assessing Nehru • Nehru’s Legacy

  4. Administrative divisions in British India

  5. Languages of India

  6. Link between Language & Nationalism… German Romanticism of the Late 18th-Early 19th Centuries Johann Gottfried Herder Wilhelm von Humboldt Johann Gottlieb Fichte Language is the “spiritual exhalation” of the nation “Its language is its spirit and its spirit is its language” “Has a nationality anything dearer than the speech of its fathers? … A nation without its own language ‘is an absurdity, a contradiction in terms” ” “Men are formed by language far more than language is formed by men”

  7. Agitation for Linguistic States in India 1950s- PottiSriramulu: Fast unto death for the creation of Andhra Pradesh

  8. Administrative divisions prior to 1956

  9. Agitation for Linguistic States in India 1950s- PottiSriramulu

  10. States Reorganization Commission

  11. States Reorganization Commission The States Reorganisation Commission held its first meeting on February 12, 1954.

  12. States Reorganization Commission • 1954-55: • visited 104 towns and cities • interviewed more than 9000 people • received over 150,000 written submissions The States Reorganisation Commission held its first meeting on February 12, 1954.

  13. States Reorganization Commission The States Reorganisation Commission held its first meeting on February 12, 1954.

  14. Linguistic Reorganization of Indian States

  15. “Rules” for States Reorganization: • No secessionist demand would be entertained. • No automatic granting of statehood on the basis of language – there needed to exist substantial popular demand. • Only demands for linguistic states. No other ethnic basis. Specially not religion.

  16. How States Strengthen… • through pressure, persuasion and at times, coercion • through concessions • Concession from position of power • Concession from position of vulnerability

  17. Establishment of Democracy

  18. Election Commission of India Elections in 12 months!! • 176 million Indians; • 85% cannot read or write; • Spread over 1 million square miles

  19. India circa 1950:Tasks before a New Democracy Design of Party Symbols, Ballot papers, Ballot Boxes for a mostly illiterate population Voter Registration Educating the Public

  20. Election Symbols: India

  21. India circa 1950:Tasks before a New Democracy Design of Party Symbols, Ballot papers, Ballot Boxes for a mostly illiterate population Voter Registration Educating the Public Polling Booths Polling Officers Security Voter Fraud Election Commissioners

  22. Afghanistan, Iraq, circa 2010:Tasks before a New Democracy Design of Party Symbols, Ballot papers, Ballot Boxes for a mostly illiterate population Voter Registration Educating the Public Polling Booths Polling Officers Security Voter Fraud Election Commissioners

  23. Election Symbols: India

  24. Election Symbols: Afghanistan, 2009

  25. Routinization of Democracy • Founding elections worked • Extent of Official Commitment • Extent of Popular Commitment • Turnout

  26. Nehru with Jackie Kennedy Foreign Affairs Nehru with Eisenhower

  27. Foreign Affairs • Nehru retained Foreign Affairs portfolio • Making India’s presence felt in the world • Independent Foreign Policy • Non-Aligned Movement

  28. Nehru with Tito and Nasser at Non-Aligned Movement Meeting, 1955 Foreign Affairs

  29. Foreign Affairs • Nehru retained Foreign Affairs portfolio • Making India’s presence felt in the world • Independent Foreign Policy • Non-Aligned Movement • Asian Resurgence

  30. Foreign Affairs • Nehru retained Foreign Affairs portfolio • Making India’s presence felt in the world • Independent Foreign Policy • Non-Aligned Movement • Asian Resurgence • Support people’s struggle across the world • “People of Africa deserve our special consideration for probably no other people in the world have suffered so much and have been exploited so much”.

  31. Foreign Affairs • Nehru retained Foreign Affairs portfolio • Making India’s presence felt in the world • Independent Foreign Policy • Non-Aligned Movement • Asian Resurgence • Support people’s struggle across the world • “People of Africa deserve our special consideration for probably no other people in the world have suffered so much and have been exploited so much”. • Tibet

  32. Assessing Nehru • Nehru as Architect of Modern India • State-led Economic Development • Focus on Industry, Science & Technology • Neglect of Agriculture • Focus on Higher Education • Neglect of Primary Education • Neglect of Social Development • India’s prominence in Global Politics • Greatest Failure: Defeat in Sino-Indian War • Domestic Implications: Guns over Butter

  33. Nehru’s Legacy • Established State at Core of Indian Society • Accommodated ethnic diversity and demands but crucially, without sacrificing a centralized national state. • Molded key institutions – legislative, executive, judiciary. • Establishment and Routinization of Democracy

  34. Nehru’s Legacy Great leader… But …too great?

  35. Nehru vs. Gandhi

  36. Nehru with daughter, Indira Gandhi and grandson, Rajiv Gandhi Nehru as human

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