Whatever socialist perspective these political leaders had was as a result of years of deliberation done to imagine a nation, a nation where each individual had a dignified life. India was still facing extreme inequality(socially & economically) due to a system of zamindars , middlemen created over centuries of British rule. Having a capitalistic model at this juncture in Indian history would've been detrimental to the ideals that emerged during the freedom struggle. Although it had many drawbacks the motive to have socialistic ideals was as a result of public opinion.
Yes now India has moved way ahead of its social division patterns and what it needs is a re-balance in the economic sphere.
Socialism is only good in theory and never has succeeded anywhere in the world.Then leaders looked upon capitalism only in the angle of profit and greed, but reality is it drives innovation, drives down prices because of competition and rises the standard of living substantially, whereas without any incentive in a government controlled market led to very low standard of living. This is illustrated by the fact that GDP grew on average 2 percent between 1947 and 1991, but started growing in 6 percent once the barriers were removed in 90s and double digits in 21st century.
right point but the question is why did the leaders looked at capitalism in the perspective of profit and greed? It was based on bad precedents created in european countries. Definitely there is greater consensus on capitalistic model now since it is experimented in most countries and yielded great results. Also nobody follows extreme socialism anymore (even the countries that started it).
Good article.
Whatever socialist perspective these political leaders had was as a result of years of deliberation done to imagine a nation, a nation where each individual had a dignified life. India was still facing extreme inequality(socially & economically) due to a system of zamindars , middlemen created over centuries of British rule. Having a capitalistic model at this juncture in Indian history would've been detrimental to the ideals that emerged during the freedom struggle. Although it had many drawbacks the motive to have socialistic ideals was as a result of public opinion.
Yes now India has moved way ahead of its social division patterns and what it needs is a re-balance in the economic sphere.
Socialism is only good in theory and never has succeeded anywhere in the world.Then leaders looked upon capitalism only in the angle of profit and greed, but reality is it drives innovation, drives down prices because of competition and rises the standard of living substantially, whereas without any incentive in a government controlled market led to very low standard of living. This is illustrated by the fact that GDP grew on average 2 percent between 1947 and 1991, but started growing in 6 percent once the barriers were removed in 90s and double digits in 21st century.
right point but the question is why did the leaders looked at capitalism in the perspective of profit and greed? It was based on bad precedents created in european countries. Definitely there is greater consensus on capitalistic model now since it is experimented in most countries and yielded great results. Also nobody follows extreme socialism anymore (even the countries that started it).