Nehruvian Socialism - A Facebook post by India History
Courtesy India History page on fb
Nehruvian socialism was known for emasculating all entrepreneurship in India. As a result, the handful of monied families of India at the time of independence continued to dominate the economy for the next five decades. No new entrepreneurship was allowed. No new schools or colleges were allowed on the excuse of allowing only the best. Indians were even disallowed contact with the outside world. An Indian travelling abroad could only take $20. Anything more, it was argued, would deplete the treasury of Nehruvian India.
India, which had the largest manufacturing base in all of Asia and Africa, quickly became a basket case. Its huge agricultural classes were reduced to penury, unable to feed even themselves.
Those decades were the lost decades. All the gains instituted by India’s contact with Britain were lost, as also all the spirit that Indians possessed. Instead, Indians began to spend an inordinate amount of energy in breast beating and blaming colonialism for their plight. One of the lasting results of Nehruvian socialism was the strong suspicion that Indians have, even today, of any entrepreneur.
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