Author: Jawaharlal Nehru
Translator(s)/ Editors(s): S Gopal
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Year: 1992
Language: English
Pages: 495
ISBN/UPC (if available): 0195630866
Description
During the twelve weeks from 16 August to 14 November 1949 covered in this volume, Jawaharlal Nehru, while aware of the dark patches on both the Indian and the world scenes, was confident that it was the bright spots of light which counted. As part of the effort to add to the light, he was keen that the country should take seriously to planning. Food was still a basic problem, and the Prime Minister wished India to become self-sufficient in this respect and stop the import of food grains.
Indeed, he wanted the target date to be brought forward by a year. The continuous wave of migrations from East Bengal not only caused concern in itself; it worried Nehru that it promoted the growth of narrow-mindedness and a mood of seeking retaliation. For the strengthening of national unity was still a prime consideration; and it was with this in mind that Nehru secured the retention of English as a link language until at least 1965.
On Kashmir, pressure by Britain and the United States to accept the vague proposal for arbitration put forward by the United Nations Commission was resisted. But the attitude of these powers on Kashmir did not cloud the almost emotional welcome given by the American peoples when Nehru visited the United States and Canada. This was in a sense the high watermark of Nehru’s activities during these weeks.
COMMENTS
“So the story of Jawaharlal Nehru is that of a man who evolved, who grew in storm and stress till he become the representative of much that was noble in his time. It is the story of a generous and gracious human being who summed up in himself the resurgence of the ‘third world’ as well as the humanism which transcends dogmas and is adapted to the contemporary context. His achievement, by its very nature and setting, was much greater than that of a Prime Minister. And it is with the conviction that the life of this man is of importance not only to scholars but to all, in India and elsewhere, who are interested in the valour and compassion of the human spirit that the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund has decided to publish a series of volumes consisting of all that is significant in what Jawaharlal Nehru spoke and wrote….the whole corpus should help to remind us of the quality and endeavour of one who was not only a leader of men and a lover of mankind, but a completely integrated human being.”
- Indira Gandhi
Contents
1. General Perspectives
2. The Economy
I. Planning
II. Devaluation
III. Industry
IV. River Valley Development
3. Food and Agriculture
I. Production, Prices and Controls
II. Food Import Programme
III. The Sugar Crisis
IV. Agrarian Reforms
4. Refugees and Rehabilitation
I. Refugees from East Bengal
II. The Evacuee Property
III. Nilokheri Scheme, Work Centres and Conscription
5. Constitutional Issues
I. General
II. The Choice of the President
6. Language and Linguistic Provinces
I. The National Language
II. East Punjab Language Question
III. Linguistic Provinces
7. Provincial Matters
I. The East Punjab
II. West Bengal
III. The United Provinces
8. Letters to the Premiers of Provinces
9. Jammu and Kashmir
10. Foreign Affairs
I. Bilateral Relations
ii. The Soviet Union
iii. Pakistan
iv. Nepal
v. China
vi. Indonesia
II. Portuguese Settlements
III. General
11. Education and Culture
12. In North America
I. On the Eve
II. The United States
ii. In Washington
iii. Remainder of the Visit
III. Canada
IV. On the Way Back
13. Miscellaneous