India on the path of Development
Wednesday, August 4, 2021
India got freedom in 1947 because of our great freedom fighters. But the life immediately after that was not a cakewalk for the government and the people.
From 1947 India has developed so much to India we see today. Listing its developments will take pages so I am listing only some of the important developments.
After independence, Jawaharlal Nehru had a very big and hard task of developing India from the beginning. India was like a newborn. For an underdeveloped country, the main tasks, to begin with, were providing education for the population, improving agriculture, and bringing technology to the country.
So, Jawaharlal Nehru aimed to develop India as quickly as possible. He understood that the Indians were not ready for the industrial revolution as they needed higher education. So, he started providing education for the people. As he said, “Some people seem to think that education is not important as putting up a factory. I will sacrifice any number of factories but I will not sacrifice human beings and their education because it is the human beings who set up factories and produce the things we want.” Nehru set up many IITs, IIMs, AIIMS, and other institutions for higher education. He also laid the foundation of Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology (MNNIT), Allahabad, in 1961. He provided compulsory and free primary education to children. Nehru established the Lalit Kala Academy and the Sahitya Akademi and was the chairperson of both of them. He believed that art, culture, and all-around development were also a part of education.
Jawaharlal Nehru has done many developments in the agriculture field. When India became independent in 1947 more than 80% of the population depended on agriculture. The agricultural production at that time was very low about 50 million tonnes compared to the much larger population. Farming was mainly rain-fed because there were no irrigation methods. It was hard for the peasant communities to arrange food for a large community. There were as many as 50 intermediates between the peasants and the government and around four-fifth of the produce was taken from the peasants as tax which made them poorer. Seeing this situation Jawaharlal Nehru decided to develop agriculture in India. He said that “Everything else can wait but not agriculture.” When five-year development plans were initiated in 1950, agriculture was given priority and agriculture research was done. During the five-year development plan, nearly 44.6 percent of the allocation was kept for agriculture, community development, irrigation, and energy since he considered it as the budget for future operations and as a result an increase of the area under irrigation by 45 million acres and food production by 34 million metric tons.
The India we see today has also shown its progress in the medical field. India is known as the pharmacy of the world today because the Indian industries are developing cost-effective medicines and exporting them to many countries. The first medicinal industry in India was the government-based Hindustan Antibiotics Limited in 1954. This had a major impact on the development of India.
Subsequently, Lal Bahadur Shastri led to the Green Revolution and the White Revolution. The Green Revolution was started in 1966, which led to an increase in wheat production. The major milestones were producing a high-yielding and rust-resistant variety of wheat. The main cause of the Green Revolution was to overcome the difficulties arising from frequent famines, lack of finance, and low production of food due to the traditional agricultural practices.
The White Revolution also had a great impact on the development of agriculture in India. It was launched in India in January 1970 by the milkman of India Mr. Verghese Kurian who was also the chairman of the National Dairy Development Board and the founder of Amul with the support of the prevailing Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri. It mainly focused on the increase of milk production, getting rural incomes, providing fair prices for the consumers, and increasing the income of the farmers. Now, India is the largest milk producer in the world.
India has also developed technically. When Vikram Sarabhai was the chairman of the Indian National Committee for Space Research, in the 1960s had an image of using satellite technology for communication, remote-sensing, and weather prediction. The Indians did not believe him as they thought that India did not have the capability of making a satellite or a rocket. But within a decade, India not only developed such a capability but also succeeded in Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE) and launching the first Indian satellite Aryabhata from the Soviet Union and consecutively the INSAT and IRS satellites bringing communication to millions in the country. It also helped the farmers and millions of people by forecasting the weather. With this, Vikram Sarabhai achieved his dream of using satellites for education, health, and rural development.
One of the other major revolutions in the development of India was the C-DOT and Telecom revolution. The Telecom and communication services available in India were very costly because it was dependent on many foreign countries and the high cost of foreign exchange. Not only that the rural areas also had extremely poor connectivity. The first attempt was made in the 1960s by the Telecom Research Centre and around the same time, the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research developed the digital automatic electronic switch for the army. The efforts got a boost when the government established the Centre for development of telematics under the leadership of Sam Pitroda. The rural telephone exchange developed by the Indians could work in Harsh conditions. This technology help in ending the dependence on foreign countries for connectivity.
Now we are proud to say that India could supply Corona vaccines and medicines to the world during this pandemic situation.
Our Prime minister Narendra Modi is stressing the need for the ‘Make in India’ project. This will help to boost industries and the Indian economy. Now many foreign manufacturers also have started investing in India and starting their manufacturing units.
India had a very strong cultural background and had a strong base from the Vedic period itself in the field of Science, Medicine, and Astrology. But later the progress in these fields was limited because of the invasions and Western influences. They made Indians believe that the knowledge we got from our ancestors was unworthy and they stole this knowledge and patronized many of them. Now we have realized it and trying to learn what our ancestors discovered. We know the importance of Ayurveda, yoga, etc. Thanks to our government for encouraging these and helping to popularise throughout the world.
One of the major problems India facing is many educated people are migrating to foreign countries for jobs. We proudly say that many Indians like Sundar Pichai and Satya Nadella are holding key positions of establishments like Google and Microsoft etc. But we cannot forget that many famous doctors, engineers, scientists, and technical persons across the world are Indians. If all these persons were serving in India, India would have become a more progressed country. So, the government should think about this migration seriously and try to find a solution. The talented people should get recognition in our country and their financial security also to be taken care of. Many talented students are from a poor or middle-class backgrounds. They study with the help of loans etc. and are forced to find a job anywhere in the world to settle the loans. If talented students could get a good education without much expense and deserving job opportunities, they will surely love to stay in India and contribute their best to India’s progress.
India still is a developing country and we; the youth need to contribute to its development. We also should decide to work for India’s progress, if we get a good opportunity. We should not be greedy and should decide to serve in India itself if we get just enough money to lead a decent life.
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