Synopsis "Nehru's India Essays on the Maker of a Nation"
Nehru's influence stretched beyond the Freedom Movement and the political andbureaucratic boundaries of prime ministerhood. A man of letters, it was Nehruwho initiated the setting up of the Sahitya Akademi devoted to literature, theNational School of Drama and the National Institute of Design; just as, in the fieldof technology and business management, he established the Indian Institutes ofTechnology and the Indian Institutes of Management across the country. He wasequally the force behind the setting up of dams and factories, which he regardedas the temples of modern India.Today, the four key dimensions of Indian nationhood, as conceived andimplemented by Nehru-democracy, secularism, socialism and non-alignment-have altered to a point where they have changed almost beyond recognition oreven abandoned altogether. As the debate continues between Nehru's supporterswho believe in his enduring contribution, and his detractors who attempt to denyit, the definitive word, perhaps, comes from Nayantara Sahgal, who says in herIntroduction, 'No Nehru, no modern India. The ground we stand on was laid inNehru's time.'This volume brings together an examination of the different aspects of Nehru'spersonality and his legacy by some of our foremost thinkers, writers and activists: Mani Shankar Aiyar, Kumar Ketkar, Aditya and Mridula Mukherjee, Shiv Visvanathan, Rakesh Batabyal, Gopalkrishna Gandhi, HartoshBal, Aakar Patel, Kiran Nagarkar, Purushottam Agrawal, SyedaHameed, Ramachandra Guha, Neera Chandhoke and ShabnamHashmi.
