Nehrus achievement

The West was sceptical of India's continuance as a Nation-State in the comity of global Nations, and were eager to write obituary for
the newly independent nation. Nehru, with his statesmanship and a progressive and unified vision, prevented this by enabling India
to cement her place as a sovereign state.
Nehru can be considered to have given the biggest benefit to the nation as he established sound institutional machinery to ensure
and strengthen the rule of law and strict adherence to the constitution. Without democracy as the binding force and the safety valve,
India would have sunk into anarchy.
As the Prime Minister, he displayed enormous farsightedness and flexibility, and an inclusive vision and consensual approach to
plaguing issues. Thus the adoption of a secular constitution totally distancing the affairs of the State from the religious influences,
and the Reorganization of the states on linguistic lines proved to be masterstrokes, destroying secessionist sentiments.
While differences of culture and language threatened the unity of the new nation, Nehru established programs such as the National
Book Trust and the National Literary Academy which promoted the translation of regional literatures between languages. In pursuit
of a single, unified India, Nehru warned, "Integrate or perish."
By adopting a pragmatic and moderate economic stance, with India embarking on a planned development model without curbing
private ownership or enterprise, Nehru laid the road for the recovery and resurgence of the nation's devastated economy.
Adoption of Non Alignment was a geo-political masterstroke for India at the height of the raging Cold War. This not only prevented
India from becoming a pawn in the hands of either of the super powers but also helped her gain some international stature, and get
food from the US, and defence equipment from the USSR.
Nehru played a major role in shaping modern India's government and political culture along with sound foreign policy. He created a
system providing universal primary education. Nehru's education policy is also credited for the development of educational
institutions such as AIIMS, IIT and IIM. His birthday is celebrated as Childrens Day in India.
Rajni Kothari praised his shaping of institutions and procedure of democracies in a diverse and newly independent country. Nehru,
wrote Kothari,created an ideological consensus on the need to wed socialism with democracy.
Nehru for certain was not full of praises. Gandhian critics have argued that planned industrialization has fuelled both environmental
degradation and social conflict - outcomes that could have been avoided if India had instead followed a Gandhian approach to
economic development.
Nehru was widely criticised for his government's insufficient attention to defence during 1962 Sino-Indian War. The war also put an
end to Nehru's hopes that India and China would form a strong Asian Axis to counteract the increasing influence of the Cold War bloc
superpowers. Curiously, D. D. Koshami criticised Nehru for bringing capitalism to India in guise of socialism
To conclude, Ramachandra Guha writes, "[had] Nehru retired in 1958 he would be remembered as not just India's best prime minister,
but as one of the great statesmen of the modern world."