Essay on Democratic Socialism in India

"Our basic aim is to create an ideal 'welfare state' on a socialistic pattern, a classless society in which none is exploited, where there is no class conflict, regional rivalry or groupism. Our object is to promote individual initiative and social and moral ori­entation of people. In short, we are to evolve an entirely new pattern of our social, cultural, ethical and economic outlook of our entire nation." —Pt. Nehru in his Presidential address to the A.I.C.C. Lahore in 1929.

Socialism is essentially a humanitarian ideal. It seeks to bridge the ever widening a gap between the rich and the poor by bringing about a better-ordering of the means of production and distribution. It is always sceptical of the welfare content of private ownership and, therefore, advocates collective ownership for the maximization of collective welfare. In India we speak of 'Democratic Socialism' believing in Evolutionary Socialism and the inevitability of a happy marriage between the 'collective spirit' and the individual spirit'. Like democracy, Socialism has also lost the sharp edge of its meanings; it is almost like a flute on which everybody can play his own tune.

The Indian approach to Socialism, as conceived by Gandhi and particularly by Nehru is India's distinct contribution to the world socialist movement. India does not believe in extremism, Capitalism and Communism. Between these two extreme forms of society, there must be a common ground acceptable to both the opposing groups.

India's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, was an M.A. in Agricultural Economics. He devoutly studied Karl Marx and Lenin, but he favored the socialism which co-existed with demo­cracy and capitalism, as in the U.S.A., the U.K. and the Scandina­vian countries. So, Nehru opted for 'Democratic Socialism'. Now what is 'Democratic Socialism’? For an answer to this question we should remember that the constitution of India has defined the social and economic goals of national policy. Now democracy champions the cause of free enterprise and individual liberty whereas socialism insists on state ownership of the means of production and distribution. In a bid to establish an equalitarian society with justice to all. Pandit Nehru evolved a compromise formula known as 'democratic socialism'.

Democratic socialism aims at following a middle course bet­ween one extreme of individualism-cum-capitalism and the other extreme of communism-cum-totalitarianism. However, it is no easy matter to pursue the middle path in a parliamentary democracy like India where there are numerous political parties and regional and parochial groups sufficient to disintegrate the unified national interests. Still we arc trying to reconcile the implications of both democracy and socialism, to evolve programmes which postulate state action in defined spheres of state activity for elimination of social and economic inequalities.

To ensure success for democratic socialism in India, there are certain requirements which must be followed provision of equal facilities to all sections of the people; prevention of concentration of economic power in a few hands through state regulation and legislation; elimination of monopolies and monopolistic trends in business, industrial or other organizations, progressive extension of the public sector in key industries and power generation and public control over significant areas of economic power; maximum utilization of technology for increasing production and lessening the burdens of manual labour. In the social sphere, the aim is the elimination of social inequalities through legislation and extensive state-implemented welfare activities.

India firmly believes that if Socialism stands for 'common welfare', every country of the world must become socialistic. India's path to the attainment of the goal of socialism is the thorny and precarious path of democracy, without invoking in our minds the horrors of a regimented totalitarian community.

The history of democratic socialism in India is, in a way, the history of the evolution of the principles of the Congress Party; to be more precise, it is the evolution of the socialistic thinking of one man, Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, India's 'Man of Destiny'. In the beginning, Nehru was deeply moved by Marxism. His passion for socialism originated from his intense desire to wipe out the tears of poverty and to establish a just and equitable socio-economic structure on Soviet pattern. But maturity with advancement of age made him increasingly incredulous of any creed or dogma. He felt that socia­lism had adapted itself to the changing condition in India.

It was in 1931 at Karachi session of the A.I.C.C. that under the Presidentship of Nehruji, the Congress Party took a positive step in the direction of introducing Socialism in India by resolving the nationalization of the key industries and other measures to lessen the gulf between the rich and the poor. However, it was Subhash Chandra Bose, who gave a concrete shape to Socialism in terms of economic development in his Presidential address at the Haripur Session. He instituted the National Planning Committee with Nehru as the head of the Committee. The struggle for freedom, the independence and the holocaust of partition gave a new urgency to the social and economic problems of the country. However, neither our constitution nor the Five-year-Plans make any explicit reference to the idea of Socialism. It was only towards the end of 1954 in the Avadi Congress that Socialism asserted itself in the official resolution of each Congress Session, for 'Socialistic Pattern of Society',

Ever since, India launched the Five-year plans, till his death in May 1964, Mr. Nehru was not tired of repeating that Socialism is the ultimate goal of India. Late Mr. Lai Bahadur Shastri also strove for it. No body can deny that the objectives of the democra­tic socialism are very noble and worth-pursuing, for they spring from a positive respect for law and recognition of human dignity. Democratic socialism presupposes that economic development and social amelioration should take place simultaneously within the frame work of national constitution.

And yet anybody who closely analyses the pronouncements in Socialism in India, including those of Nehru, would surely be confounded by a sense of unreality and vagueness, of ambivalence and evasiveness which surround them. In other words Nehru's democratic socialism is not based on a strong foundation. The idea of socialism hi India, the Socialism of the Nehru era, has emerged as a rather weak and hollow reed that may not withstand the prevailing strong winds, and into which any one can blow any kind of music. A great discomforting feature is that the in equality of wealth and economic power has tended to increase. Conditions of economic monopoly still exist; there is continued prevalence of the socio-economic evils of bureaucratic corruption and administrative incompetence the prevailing tone of social behavior is unmistakably that of private profit and acquisitiveness.

The co-operative movement, with its democratic basis, can play a vital role in the realization of democratic socialism, which provides for an orderly transition from a capitalistic to a socialistic economy. In our Plans, the Co-operative Movement is accorded a prominent place in rural economy where the traditional agricultural economy of zamindars and money-lenders and conventional me­thods of agriculture has transformed into the new technology oriented methods and facilities of agricultural credit, marketing, processing of commodities and distributions and sale of food grains.

In fine, the implementation of democratic socialism should conform to Indian values and traditions of life. Our approach should be cautious, very cautious. The Bhubaneswar Congress resolution sums up the Congress ideal of Democratic Socialism which should be the effort of every Indian national to fructify, ''………. a society wherein poverty, disease, and ignorance shall be eliminated wherein property and privilege in any form occupy If strictly limited place, wherein all citizens have equal Opportunities and wherein ethical and spiritual values contribute to the enrich­ment of the individual and community life".

Essay on India Needs More Work, Less Talk

"Those who can do something, do it, those who cannot, simply talk about it."

Much in the spirit of Goethe's dictum 'life is action, not contemplation'. Late Jawaharlal Nehru coined the slogan 'Aaram Haram Hal' because he knew the typical Indian's penchant for inactivity, or worse, substituting 'talk' in place of 'work'. Whether his slogan had the desired effect or not can be seen from the fact that after twenty seven years of independence, India still is not fully self-sufficient in food grains despite its being a predominantly agricultural country.

That a country like India needs more work and less talk is beyond doubt. But the people and their leaders cannot be expected to turn into eager beavers overnight. It is a slow process which needs a lot of time and coaxing. But before any vital breakthrough in this field is achieved, one has to understand the basic causes of the Indian's apathy to work. One has also to understand why the leaders and the politicians did perpetually talk. Only then can a rational approach be adopted replacing the age-old habit of empty talk.

The most important aspect of this problem is the common man's gospel of stagnation. It derives its essential character from excessive religiosity. It can be summed up in a few words: that man's greatest destiny is to achieve 'Moksha' which means freedom from the circle of life arid death. This further presupposes a progress from action to inaction. The common man who neither reads scriptures nor has the power of critical analysis developed within him, easily surrenders this initiative and adopts a life of inaction. There are countless people in this country who just lie low, waiting for something to happen and also waiting for someone to give their food and succor. They believe that since they are also God's creatures, the Almighty Himself would provide them the various means of subsistence. Such people indulge in even greater self-deception.

When renunciation is the greatest ideal to be pursued for spiritual development, when life itself is looked upon as a product of our past sins; when all happiness is considered finding a place in the other world, heaven; when money is the cause of sins and evils, no one is expected to exert himself Little wonder, our contribution to material prosperity is so small.

This disastrous drift towards salvation has to stop before the country harnesses itself to more productive work. Happiness, people have to be told, stems from action, not inaction. That the greatest of thinkers (not spiritualists) have recommended work as unfailing antidote to unhappiness. 'Work is worship' is an old but meaning­ful maxim.

The famous philosopher, Bertrand Russel says, "The habit of viewing life as a whole is an essential part both of wisdom and of morality, and is one of the things which ought to be encouraged in education. Consistent purpose is an indispensable condition of a happy life. And consistent purpose embodies itself mainly in work".

A positive attitude to work, linking it with happiness and as a powerful means to produce wealth is absolutely essential to put India on the onward march, and to free her from the crippling impact of poisonous, pseudo-spiritual theories. The nation needs less and less of religiosity and more of constructive effort in all walks of life. It needs more and liberal doses of modern thought which act as power­ful incentives of productive effort.

India needs more work. Therefore, it is essential seriously to review the holiday-structure of the country. At present, our holidays are far too numerous and frequent. We have a large variety of holi­days. Any excuse is good enough for a holiday. Even a tennis or a cricket match is a ground enough to bring the official work in a State to a halt. Death of a politician is another excuse. Judging from our penchant for holidays, we are a nation on a perpetual holiday. The dead in our country are honored at the cost of the living. The death of an important personage is invariably condoled by closing down of all offices, industrial establishments and schools, colleges, universities. The entire nation comes to a grinding halt. We lose the man and hundreds of crores of rupees in the bargain.

Most Indians have no idea how to spend holidays. The impor­tance of freshening the mind and to get rid of the week’s stress and strain, is virtually unknown to the multitudes of people. They fail to use holidays to change the pace of life. Holidays in the names of great heroes or leaders are an utter waste, as none has them in mind when the day is spent in irritating or unproductive rituals and chores. The entire holiday structure needs to be re-examined to avoid to useless talk, and to divert the national energy to useful pro­ductive work.

There is much talk of Indians imitating the West But one thing which we should imitate to our great advantage is the habit of hard work of the American and the German, even of the Japanese. They are rich because of their hard work. India is a rich country inhabited by the poor. It simply means we have rich resour­ces which remain unexploited because of our proverbial sloth and indolence.

India has to step out of its ruts of stagnation, apathy and the deep-seated habit of substituting talk in place of work. That is the crying need of the hour.

Essay on India and the New World Order

In the New World Order, USA is no more the sole power like in the past Cold War period, but several other powers are also emerging with vital stakes in world affairs. India’s response to this World War is striking in terms of its changing profile of relationship not only with neighbors but also with major powers and in international and regional international institutions.

India’s increasing global influence has been driven by rapid economic growth. The most significant shift in its foreign policy over the past two decades has been rapprochement with the United States. Several factors explain the greater warmth towards Washington:

1. The collapse of the Soviet Union and the relative weakness of Russia since then;

2. Growing economic ties between the US and India particularly in the IT industries.

3. The rise of China.

The thickening of the closeness led to the nuclear demand between the Governments of Manmohan Singh and George W Bush. This deal was followed by a number of civil nuclear cooperation between India and other countries.

In case of India’s relation with China, a new power game is underway on which both must seek to be as friendly as possible. This pushes both sides to take diplomatic measures to solve their issues of concern besides their border dispute. China’s encirclement strategy’, in terms of its growing relations with India’s immediate neighbours like Sri Lanka, Nepal, Mayanmar, Bangladesh and Pakistan, is a new concern for India.

The counter these concerns, India are to make efforts to build close relations with Japan, Australia and Singapore. They explain India’s charm offensive in South-East Asia, intended to prevent Chinese domination of the region. They also account for India’s ambition in Africa as was reflected in the recently concluded India-Africa Summit in Addis Ababa.

India’s relationship with Russia is much less important than during the Cold War years. India-Russia continues to share military relations in terms of arms sell. Trade relations are hindered by the lack of an overland trade route as Pakistan does not allow transit. Politically, a relation between the two remains quite good. Russia is considered as a potential element in their strategy for preventing Chinese dominance of Asia.

India’s relations with European Union (EU) mainly focus on trade and investment relationship. EU is also considered as a strategic partner on several issues, such as reform of the UNSC and the India-US nuclear deal.

India’s relations with countries and institutions clearly reflect as a determined pledge to carve a niche for itself in the New World Order.