When was pandit jawaharlal nehru born

He took keen interest in the Sinn Fein Movement in Ireland. In India, he was inevitably drawn into the struggle for independence. In he had his first meeting with Mahatma Gandhi and felt immensely inspired by him. He was twice imprisoned in connection with the Non-Cooperation Movement of In , Pt. Nehru was elected President of the Lahore Session of the Indian National Congress, where complete independence for the country was adopted as the goal.

He was imprisoned several times during in connection with the Salt Satyagraha and other movements launched by the Congress. On October 31, , Pt. He was released along with the other leaders in December A socialist at heart, he signed the Panchsheel Agreement between China and India that was to serve as the five guiding principles of the relationship between these two sovereign nations.

An underprepared Indian army took on waves of Chinese soldiers, fought valiantly and paid a heavy price. Nehru's meticulous nurturing of India's democracy during its troubled birth and childhood stands out. Scholars are convinced that democracies cannot be established at low levels of income.

Thus, India's democratic longevity is unique. It is perhaps due to the country having a popular anti-colonial movement. More importantly, Nehru, though all-powerful, did not fritter away pre-independence legitimacy.

In fact, he strengthened it to the last root and set the agenda for inclusive growth. Nehru understood and practiced it. During the seventeen years he was the Prime Minister, Nehru strode the Indian political stage like a colossus. But he never imposed his political will and always had an ear for what others had to say. Though not in favour of linguistic states, he adhered to popular wishes. He did not choose chief ministers, but allowed the party organisation at the state-levels to elect their leaders.

When courts challenged his land reform programmes, instead of being critical of the judges, he chose to undertake constitutional amendments. A liberal and a true democrat at heart, Nehru wanted a healthy political debate. In , during free India's first general elections, nearly million voted. As three-fourths of citizens were illiterate, candidates were given symbols such as bicycles, lanterns, lamps, animals, flowers and symbols of everyday usage. It was a six-month process where those deputed for election work rode camels, took boats and even trekked to remote corners.

The general elections in and deepened the legitimacy of the electoral process on the Indian consciousness. Nehru spent four to five hours every night dictating replies. And "there were the years when the Prime Minister was Today, citizens gleefully point to the Indian democracy's various weaknesses, but the very edifice of democracy and the freedom we enjoy as a sovereign democratic republic would not have been possible without Nehru's unwavering commitment to such institutions.

It is an enduring legacy. Otherwise, power would not have touched all sections of people and made ours a broad-based democracy.

Nehru's greatest contribution was the clear establishment of a vision to lift India from the 18th to the 21st century. It spoke of the impoverishment inflicted on India by the imperialists. So the leaders who inherited the mantle of leadership had to tackle centuries of neglect. But, aided in their leadership was a vision. For example, when Nehru was making his first trip to America as the prime minister, some members of his cabinet suggested that he ask that country for food to tackle shortages at home.

We have to sort this problem ourselves. The Bhakra-Nangal multipurpose river valley project on the Sutlej, India's first and one of the biggest dams in the world was flagged off in Nehru, while inaugurating the completed project, describes it as the "greatest and holiest" of India's modern shrines. Nehru and most of his contemporaries believed that only large-scale industrialisation could really change the economy and enable India to be a player on the world stage as well as helping its own citizens.

He took keen interest in the Sinn Fein Movement in Ireland. In India, he was inevitably drawn into the struggle for independence. In he had his first meeting with Mahatma Gandhi and felt immensely inspired by him. He was twice imprisoned in connection with the Non-Cooperation Movement of He also attended the tenth anniversary celebrations of the October Socialist Revolution in Moscow in Earlier, in , at the Madras Congress, Nehru had been instrumental in committing the Congress to the goal of Independence.

While leading a procession against the Simon commission, he was lathi-charged in Lucknow in In , Pt. Nehru was elected President of the Lahore Session of the Indian National Congress, where complete independence for the country was adopted as the goal.

He was imprisoned several times during in connection with the Salt Satyagraha and other movements launched by the Congress. After release, he flew to Switzerland to see his ailing wife and visited London in February-March,