News Brief
Resistance To Reforms Stems from Attachment To Nehruvian Legacy: Jaishankar
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday (14 December) criticised the 'Nehru development model', stating that it inevitably led to a 'Nehru foreign policy'.
He added that efforts are being made to "reform" its consequences both domestically and internationally.
Speaking at the virtual launch of the book The Nehru Development Model by former NITI Aayog vice chairman Arvind Panagariya, Jaishankar highlighted that the author suggests that Jawaharlal Nehru's choices set India on a "deterministic path."
"The model and its accompanying narrative permeated our politics, the bureaucracy, of course, the planning system, the judiciary, the public space, including the media, and most of all teaching," the Union minister said, news agency PTI reported.
He pointed out that nations like Russia and China, despite once promoting the economic ideas followed in Nehruvian era, now "unambiguously reject" them.
However, he noted that such beliefs continue to resonate among some influential groups in India even today.
"Certainly after 2014, there has been a vigorous effort towards course correction, but the author does assert with good reasons that it still remains an uphill task," he added.
In his address, the minister further said, "A Nehru development model inevitably produced a Nehru foreign policy. We seek to correct that abroad, just as we try to reform the consequences of the model at home."
In fact, the "resistance" to one is based on an "attachment" to the other, Jaishankar argued and said the two need to tackled as an "integral whole".
He began his address by quoting a famous line by an American policymaker on India's independence.
He emphasised the ideological push behind implementing a specific economic model post-independence, a belief system that, while modified periodically, remained largely unchanged.
Not just in general terms, but one particular paradigm that was centred around heavy industries. For that reason, the author actually characterised it as a 'Nehru Development Model', the minister said in his address.
The paradox, however, is that for more than three decades now, there's actually been a "national consensus that this development model eventually failed the country", he said.
He pointed out a persistent "reluctance" to boldly consider alternative approaches.
"As a result, we end up doing the reforms we must, rarely the reforms we should," the EAM said.
He acknowledged India's progress due to increased openness over the past 33 years but noted that today’s situation presents greater complexities.
"We live in an era of weaponised economics, one that throws up question as to what exactly we are exposing abroad and to whom," he said.
He stressed that modern economic priorities centre more on resilience, reliability, and trust than on openness alone.
Jaishankar advocated for a balanced approach, recommending openness tempered with caution.
On Atmanirbharta, he said that it should not be taken as a "synonym for protectionism". "It is actually a call to think and to act for ourselves, as much as it is to ensure national security," Mr Jaishankar said.
