Ten giant achievements of Pandit Nehru:

Ten giant achievements of Pandit Nehru:
1) Did not crib or complain, but started building
The British had left behind a hollow husk of an economy. Nehru did not complain, but started rebuilding urgently, with a positive attitude. He wanted a New India rid of deathly shackles of past. No global power was willing to help. He had no economy worth the name, no FDI, no FPI, nothing. But instead of crying, he worked.
(many conservatives and reactionaries hate Nehru for this)
2) Abolished Zamindari system
Both Netaji Bose and Nehru had committed in 1935-36 to eliminate zamindari from India. Nehru fulfilled the promise in 1951, leading to many legal cases, and hence the first amendment to the Constitution, and creation of the Ninth Schedule. But he went ahead knowing well the kind of enemies he had made.
(many rich hate Nehru precisely for this)
3) Established the Atomic Energy Commission
Nehru set up the AEC in 1948 itself, and started the journey of nuclear and space establishments of India, from which ISRO emerged finally. Nehru was the key in getting both Dr Vikram Sarabhai and Dr Homo J Bhabha into leading roles. He wanted India to be a scientifically strong nation, not dependent on the West.
(unscientific minds hate him for all this)
4) Established the Planning Commission
To give a structured boost to Indian economic planning, in a time India was ravaged by 200 years of colonialism, Nehru set up the Planning Commission in 1950. You may not know this, but the richest industrialists of India (Tatas, Birlas et al) had requested in the Bombay Plan that government take charge of the economy!
(pure extractive capitalists hate Nehru for socialism)
5) Launched the first Five-Year Plan (and more)
It was one thing to make the Planning Commission, another to get it to work systematically. Nehru pushed through the first, second and third FYPs. Unfortunately, not all outcomes were good. But none can doubt his sincerity and ambition in industrialising India.
(those who don't appreciate accountability, dislike this approach)
6) Conducted the first general elections via universal adult suffrage
India had no adult citizen listing at all, when the British left. Nehru could have easily postponed the first general elections to some future unknown date. But he, and Sardar Patel (who died in 1950), ordered the bureaucracy to build a comprehensive list of all adults in India, who would then vote. Nehru went about actually getting the ECI conduct excellent elections, and won 3 of them resoundingly. Those who abuse Nehru today, their grandparents voted Nehru into power not once, not twice, but thrice. They knew what the man was, and his calibre.
(autocrats hate Nehru for laying the seeds of a strong democracy, when a group wanted theocracy!)
7) Father of of non-alignment policy and NAM
The world was in the grip of a Cold War, since 1948. India was badly stuck - which camp to join, the US or the USSR? Nehru took the lead and ensured that Indian foreign policy was totally non-aligned, and along with 4 other leaders of the world, created the Non Aligned Movement of global south. Remember: Indian economy was not $3 tr back then, nor was India even moderately prosperous. It was sheer personal grit that pulled this through.
(In 2023, the present govt. is now indirectly talking of how non-alignment is a good thing after all!)
� Launched the massive statistical machine of India
The National Sample Survey (NSSO) was set up by Nehru in 1950 to conduct large-scale physical sample surveys throughout India. The country started collecting actual, authentic data of every possible kind, from the remotest corners. In no time, the world noticed, and Americans remarked it is unbelievable how a poor nation is able to build such a remarkable statistical machinery so fast!
(From 2014 onwards, the same machine has been defanged and weakened systematically. Census 2021 is nowhere to be seen!)
9) Launched the Small Saving Scheme culture
Nehru believed that small savings were an important source of capital for the government and that they could help to promote economic development. He introduced a number of small savings schemes, including the Post Office Savings Bank, the National Savings Certificate, and the Public Provident Fund. These schemes were designed to encourage people to save money and to make it easier for them to access financial services. The small savings scheme has been a success in India. It has helped to mobilize a large pool of savings, which has been used to finance a variety of government programmes.
(Since 2015, Modi government has borrowed trillions of rupees from this pool, to fund its own fiscal deficit!)
10) Genuinely established democracy when he could have declared himself a dictator
Patel was gone in 1950, Netaji in 1945. Nehruji was
the tallest leader around. People of India loved him for his contribution to freedom struggle. Nehru could have easily not conducted any elections for decades, and none could question. Instead, the great democrat Nehru established a robust democracy in India, even as Pakistan and SE Asian countries (most) failed to do it, and turned autocratic. Those who abuse Nehru in 2023 must remember had he decided so in 1950s, you would be worshipping his statue in your home today. Not kidding.
(abusing Nehru is the meanest act of intellectual depravity devoid of all historic facts).
So today, let us rededicate ourselves to truth, to democracy, to rejection of autocracy and kingly attitudes, and remember the sacrifice with which we became a Republic.
It's tough, but let's do it.
Long live Nehruvian legacy of secularism, fraternity, international brotherhood and progress through science.
Jai Hind