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Young World
WORLD OF SCIENCE
Nehru’s dreams
DR. T. V. PADMA
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Nehru launched programmes to promote science and industry.
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Photo: E. Lakshmi Narayanan.
Improved agriculture: More water.
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, had a dream of modern India with strong centres of science, technology and medicine. He, with many Indian scientists, launched a concerted programme for the promotion of science and industry in the country. He launched three successful five year plans which led to a sizable growth in agricultural and industrial production.
Post independence
There were very few Indian industries in the private sector, post-independence because indigenous industries were destroyed under the British regime. Nehru’s Government started public sector undertakings to produce basic materials like iron and steel. Huge dams were constructed for promotion of agriculture. Hydro-electric power stations were set up. This resulted in a tremendous increase in industrial production and the production of food grains, although we now know that dams and large projects dohave detrimental effects as well.
Nehru evinced great interest in education. Schools were started all over India, especially in the rural areas. He launched initiatives to provide free milk and meals to the children.
Nehru formulated a policy to foster and sustain scientific research. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research was expanded. Another contribution was the setting up of centres of excellence in the fields of engineering,medicine and management — the Indian Institutes of Technology, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences and the Institutes of Management. Nehru, with Homi Bhabha, set up the departments of Atomic Energy and Science and Technology.
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