INDIA after Independence_ Early Days of Nation Building through Institutional Arrangements

 

INDIA after Independence_ Early Days of Nation Building through Institutional Arrangements

This is a short account of setting up of institutions that played critical role in India’s nation building. 

As the first Prime Minister of India Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru laid the foundation of India as a modern nation and as one of the largest democracies of the world.

India’s first cabinet reflected the rich fabric of India’s diversity represented by such stalwarts with complementary talents, expertise and lingo-religious affiliations: Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, Rafi Ahmed Kidwai, Sardar Baldev Singh, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Sardar Patel, Dr. John Mathai, Rajkumari Amrit Kaur, Dr. S.P. Mukerjee, Khurshed Lal, R.R. Diwakar, Mohanlal Saxena, Gopalaswami Ayyangar, N.V. Gadgil, K.C. Neogi, Jairamdas Daulatram, K. Santhanam, Satya Narayan Sinha and Dr. B. V. Keskar. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee belonged to Hindu Mahasabha and Baldev Singh was of Panthic Party.  

Post-independence, Junagarh was made part of India in 1947 through plebiscite and Hyderabad in 1948 through army intervention. Goa was liberated in December 1961.

Process of industrialization was set in motion by establishing Indian Telephone Industry- ITI Ltd. and Damodar Valley Corporation in 1948.

Massive Dam development projects were taken up immediately after independence: Bhakra Nangal in North, Damodar Valley Project and Hirakund Dam in the East, and Nagarjunsagar Project in the South.

1950 could be remembered as a Happening Year for the Indian democracy. India declared itself as a Sovereign, Democratic and Republic state with the adoption of Constitution of India. Planning Commission was established in 1950 to oversee economic and social progress through the mechanism of five-year plans. Supreme Court of India and Election Commission were both formed in January 1950.

1950s also saw the formation of institutions like Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur in 1951, Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA) and Atomic Energy Establishment Trombay (AEET) in 1954 which later came to be known as Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI) in 1956 and Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) in 1958.

1950s was the making of Public Sector Enterprises like Indian Rare Earths Limited in 1950, Hindustan Shipyard and Bharat Petroleum in 1952, Hindustan Machine Tools- HMT Ltd. And National Research Development Corporation NRDC  in 1953, Hindustan Insecticides and Hindustan Antibiotics in 1954, National Small Industries Corporation NSIC in 1955, NLC India Ltd., State Trading Corporation of India STC and State Bank of India SBI in 1956, National Projects Construction Corporation Ltd., Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India ECGC and Central Warehousing Corporation of India CWC in 1957, NMDC and Heavy Engineering Corporation HEC  in 1958 and Indian Oil Corporation IOC, Oil India Limited OIL and Hindustan Salts Limited in 1959.

The trend continued in early 1960s with National Buildings Construction Corporation NBCC and Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers in 1960, Indian drugs & Pharmaceuticals IDPL, Fertilizers Corporation of India FCI and Shipping Corporation of India SCI in 1961, National Cooperative Development Corporation, MMTC, Kochi Refineries and Hindustan Aeronautical Ltd. HAL In 1963 and Bharat Earth Movers Limited, MSTC and Bharat Heavy Electricals BHEL in 1964.

On the Financial Institutions infrastructure front, we had developmental financial institutions DFIs like Industrial Finance Corporation of India IFCI in 1948 and Industrial Development Bank of India IDBI in 1964 in public sector and Industrial Credit & Investment Corporation of India ICICI, in 1956, in the private sector with the help of International Financial Corporation, Washington. State Financial Corporation SFC Act 1951 facilitated creation of state level development financial institutions like UPFC and MSFC etc. Life Insurance Corporation LIC, the biggest of all financial corporations of India, was set up in 1956 and Unit Trust of India was established in 1963.

Scientific Policy Resolution 1958 was a document of vision and intent running into seven paragraphs only unlike the lengthy document of Industrial Policy Resolution of 1956. Country’s first atomic reactor APSARA went critical in 1956 and India successfully tested its first rocket from Thumba in 1963. India made forays in atomic energy, space technology and ocean science amongst others.

National Institute of Virology, Pune was setup in 1952. All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) was setup in 1956, Maulana Azad Medical College in 1958, Govind Vallabh Pant Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research in 1961 along with many other public health institutions.

In the field of higher education IIT Kharagpur was established in 1951, IIT Bombay in 1958, IIT Madras and IIT Kanpur in 1959 and IIT Delhi in 1961, IIM Calcutta and IIM Ahmedabad in 1961. The government opened the first 6 Regional Engineering Colleges, now NITs, in 1960. There were 6 more by 1967. National Institute of Design was set-up in Ahmedabad in 1961. Indian Institute of Public Administration was setup in 1954. Birla Institute of Technology BIT Mesra, Ranchi was formed in 1955 and Thapar Institute of Engineering & Technology, a deemed-to-be University was setup in 1956.

GB Pant University of Agriculture & Technology was established in 1960 in collaboration with few US Land-grant Universities.

All India Council of Technical Education was setup in 1945 and University Grants Commission in 1953. ICAR-Central Institute of Fisheries Education, a Deemed University was setup with UNDP assistance in 1960. The Punjab Agriculture University PAU Ludhiana was established in 1962 on Land Grant System of USA. Jawaharlal Krishi Vishwavidyalaya Jabalpur was established in 1964 through Joint Indo-American Team on Agriculture Research and Education. Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology, State Agricultural University was established in 1962.

Indian Council of Cultural Relations was established in 1950. National Council of Applied Economic Research, NCAER, is functional since 1956. National Council of Education, Research & Training, NCERT, was established in 1964.

For Nehru, modernization was the national philosophy with seven goals; national unity, parliamentary democracy, industrialization, socialism, development of scientific temperament and non-alignment as per Bhikhu Parekh.

Raising of financial resources required for nation building was a humungous task which historians and economists of Indian Economic History have not dwelt upon in detail. Nehru was a co-founder of Non-Aligned Movement along with Nasser, Tito and Sukarno. Keeping equal distance from both power blocks, namely, USA and USSR and being accepted as a third world leader gave tremendous advantage to Nehru which he leveraged to the fullest. India could get large amounts of money in the form of aids, grants and soft loans.

Rourkela Steel Plant was commissioned with German collaboration and Bhilai Steel Plant was commissioned with Soviet Union collaboration in 1959. Durgapur Steel Plant was set up with United Kingdom collaboration in 1962 and Bokaro Steel Plant was set up with Russian collaboration in 1964. Ford Foundation funded USD 2 million for the training of engineers working in these plants in America. Later US Government picked up the direct training cost and some 500 engineers got trained.

It was understood that new institutions to reflect the complexity of the economy and the society must be built, and that good models existed abroad suitable for replication in India. Nehru knew the importance of replicating world-class institutions in India. His 1949 visit to Massachusetts Institute of Technology ultimately led to setting up of 5 iconic IITs in India.

IIT Bombay was setup with Russian support, IIT Madras with German help, IIT Kanpur with US help and IIT Delhi with British support. IIM Ahmedabad and IIM Calcutta got necessary help and support from Ford Foundation of USA. Ford Foundation also helped Birlas in setting-up Birla Institute of Technology, BITS Pilani with multi-year collaboration with Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA in 1964.

Nehru had the ability to induct greatest of scientific minds of the times into nation-building. Vikram Sarabhai, Sir C V Raman, Homi J Bhabha, Satish Dhawan, S. S. Bhatnagar and many others were picked up to run the premium research institutions of the country and were given a free hand. Nehru helped setup the National Chemical Laboratory, the National Physical Laboratory, the Fuel Research Station, the Glass & Ceramics Research Institute and the National Metallurgical Laboratory under the stewardship of S. S. Bhatnagar.

Individuals like Vikram Sarabhai helped in setting up first IIMs, Gautam Sarabhai and Pupul Jaikar pushed for establishing NID at Ahmedabad.

Nehru trusted his colleagues like Maulana Abul Kalam, C.D. Deshmukh and later people like Humayun Kabir who helped in setting up many of the top Higher Education Institutions of India. C.D. Deshmukh, the then Finance Minister and Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission facilitated making of State Bank of India in 1955 and Life Insurance Corporation in 1956.

Paul Hoffman was appointed as the first President of Ford Foundation. He visited India at the behest of Vijay Lakshmi Pandit, Indian Ambassador to USA and met Pt. Nehru and C.D. Deshmukh in August 1951. India got very encouraging help and support from Ford Foundation in many areas of social and economic importance in early decades post-independence. More help came in the area of management and higher education. 

The Administrative Staff College of India created in 1957. It used Ford Foundation grant in early 1960s to introduce case study method of instruction and to develop an active consulting role with industry and government. Foundation’s funds financed collaboration, including staff training and library development between the Harvard Business School and IIM Ahmedabad and between the Sloan School of Management of MIT and IIM Calcutta. A set of grants by Ford Foundation to government of India helped in setting up and funding National Institute of Design NID in Ahmedabad. In 1953 experts led by a Swedish Expert were brought to help setup eventually NSIC.

Rockefeller Foundation, too, helped mainly in the areas of agriculture and population control. Rockefeller Foundation, starting 1954, provided support for higher yielding variety of corn, then for wheat and finally for rice in 1964-65 along with Indian Council of Agricultural research.

In sum, a vast network of institutions, in social, political and economic arenas, was laid out during 1948-1964 with the visionary leadership of Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru who heavily relied on his goodwill, contacts and canny ability to pick up the best brains and empower them to work. The already-existing institutions such as Reserve Bank of India and the Indian Army were respected and supported by the executive branch without any undue interference.  

Central Universities in India

 Central Universities in India

Post-independence India had a total of 20 Universities, 496 colleges and student enrolment of 2,00,000 during 1947-48. By 2018-19 the number of universities increased to 993 with 39,931 colleges and 3,74,00,000 enrolment.

Most rapid growth in numbers can be evidenced in the decade of 2000-2001 to 2010-2011, when the number of universities, number of colleges and enrolment more than doubled from 254 to 631, 10,152 to 32,974 and 86,00,000 to 2,75,00,000 respectively.

At present there are 548 General, 142 Technical, 63 Agriculture & Allied, 58 Medical, 23 Law, 13 Sanskrit and 9 Language Universities and rest 106 Universities are of other categories. 16 Universities are exclusively for women. In addition, there is 1 Central Open University, 14 State Open Universities and 1 State Private Open University. 367 universities are State Public Universities, 263 universities are State Private Universities and 123 universities are deemed-to-be universities.

 In addition to 40 Central Universities under Ministry of Education there are 5 Central Universities which are not under Ministry of Education, namely, South Asian University, Nalanda University, Central Agricultural University, Indian Maritime University and Rajiv Gandhi National Aviation University.

Of the 41 universities under Ministry of Education 9 are located in North East Region of India with North East Hill University (NEHU) being the first to be established in 1973 and Tripura University being last, established in 2007. Others include Manipur University in 1980, Rajiv Gandhi University in 1984, Assam University and Nagaland University in1989, Tezpur University in 1994, Mizoram University 2000, and Sikkim University in 2006.

Thirteen Universities were established by Central University Act 2009. These are Central University of Bihar, Central University of Gujarat, Central University of Haryana, Central University of Himachal Pradesh, Central University of Kashmir, Central University of Jharkhand, Central University of Karnataka, Central University of Kerala, Central University of Orissa, Central University of Punjab, Central University of Rajasthan, Central University of Tamilnadu and Central University of Jammu.

Of the remaining, one is National Open University i.e., Indira Gandhi National Open University set up in 1985, one is tribal university, Indira Gandhi National Tribal University in 2006-2007 and three are language universities. Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya which was set up in in 1997, Maulana Azad National Urdu University was set-up in 1998 and The English and Foreign Languages University was established in 2006-2007.

 

Oldest Universities of India include University of Calcutta, University of Mumbai and University of Madras, all set up in 1857, University of Panjab 1882, University of Allahabad 1887, Banaras Hindu University (BHU) and University of Mysore in 1916, Patna University 1917, Osmania University 1918, Aligarh Muslim University (AMU)  1920, Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapeeth, University of Lucknow and Visva-Bharti University in 1921, University of Delhi (DU) 1922, Nagpur University 1923, Andhra University 1926, Dr. B R Ambedkar University (AGRA)  1927, Annamalai University 1929 and University of Roorkee (IIT Roorkee) in 1949. BHU, AMU and DU were set-up as Central Universities.

University of Allahabad established in 1887 became Central University in 2005. Visva-Bharti established in 1921 became Central University in 1951. The other state universities, which got converted to central universities, include Guru Ghasidas Vishwavidyalaya 1983-2009, Dr. Hari Singh Gour Vishwavidyalaya (SAGAR University) 1946-2009 and Hemwatinandan Bahuguna Garhwal Vishwavidyalaya 1973-2009. Jamia Milia Islamia was established as a Deemed-to-be University in 1962 and was converted as a Central University in 1988.

Other Central Universities established post-independence include Jawaharlal Nehru University in 1969, University of Hyderabad in 1974, Pondicherry University in 1985, Baba Saheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University Lucknow in 1996

Central Universities & National Education Policy 2020

As per NEP 2020 there shall be only three type of universities which shall be multi-disciplinary:

1.Research Universities, predominantly engaged in Research and Post Graduate teaching,

2. Teaching Universities, predominantly engaged in Teaching but may do Research as well

3. Autonomous large degree granting Colleges, predominantly engaged in Under Graduate Teaching.

There shall be no specialized or affiliating universities.

Many, if not most, central universities are affiliating universities. Call will need to be taken by most affiliated colleges as well as the Central Universities as to whether affiliated colleges are big and strong enough to become independent degree granting autonomous college or become department of the university or to look for alternative routes like closure, merger or amalgamation etc. Similarly Central Universities which are not multi-disciplinary shall need to develop their Institute Development Plan for their future course of action. Universities like Banaras Hindu University and Aligarh Muslim University, being large residential universities shall be least affected, whereas affiliating universities like University of Delhi shall be most affected in terms of structure and composition due to the new Education Policy.

Government of India, Ministry of Education could initiate and expedite this structural change process well in time so that the emerging guidelines and learnings become useful for state universities; government and private both.

 

 

 

CORPORATION

 

CORPORATION

The word ‘Corporation’ immediately makes one think of Municipal Corporation or a Business Corporation. And, of course, not to miss out on BBC - British Broadcasting Corporation which may be neither of the two.

A corporation is an organization, authorized by the state, to act as a single entity and recognized, in law for certain purposes. The idea of an independent identity of the entity is to give it longevity, transparency, accountability and legality whether by way of legal process of establishing it or by registering such entity with an appropriate authority.

Early corporations and companies were incorporated through The Charter of the monarch, King or Queen. Like British East India Company in 1600 and British Broadcasting Corporation first as British Broadcasting Company in 1922 and later as British Broadcasting Corporation in 1927. Magna Carta was the first Royal Charter in 1215.Royal Charter continues to be used to establish organisations such as municipalities, universities and societies. Some of the earliest universities in Europe and America were established through Charters.

In the USA the word corporation by default implies business entity.

The Greater Chennai Corporation, previously Madras Corporation, established in 1688, is the oldest surviving municipal corporation in India and the second oldest surviving corporation in the world. Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, Bombay Municipal Corporation earlier, is the richest municipal corporation in India. Municipal Corporations in India, also called Urban Local Bodies, represent the third level of governance. More recently the municipal corporations have issued Bonds, listed in the stock market, in order to enhance their source of finance.

Post-Independence three Development Financial Institutions, namely, Industrial Finance Corporation of India (IFCI) Industrial Credit & Investment Corporation of India (ICICI) and Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI) were set-up in 1948, 1955 & 1964 respectively. IFCI and IDBI were set up by acts of Parliament of India whereas ICICI was registered as a Public Limited Company under Companies Act.  ICICI and IDBI, through the process of reverse merger became ICICI Bank and IDBI Bank respectively. Industrial Finance Corporation of India (IFCI), on the other hand, became a Non-Banking Finance Company and the name changed to IFCI Ltd.

In the private sector Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) was incorporated as a Public Limited Company in 1977 after ICICI was formed as a company in 1955.

Indian Tourism Development Corporation was set-up in 1966 in the public sector. Number of other public sector corporations were set-up in 1980s by various government departments as companies with an intention to raise money from the market. This included Power Finance Corporation in 1986, Indian Railway Finance Corporation in 1986, Container Corporation of India in 1988 and Tourism Finance Corporation of India in 1989, Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation was set-up in 1999.All these companies were registered under Companies Act 1956.

With the passage of time, use of the word “Corporation”, whether in the context of governance or in the case of corporate world, has continuously declined during the last two or three decades in India. Urban Local Bodies derive their names from vernacular now and company is a word most commonly used in India as it enables such entities to raise the funds from market.

 

At the Age of 50

 

At the Age of 50

At the age of 50 one is neither young nor old.     

At the age of 50 physiological, psychological and even philosophical changes start taking place which a person is not oblivious of.

These changes quite often are different for men and women partially because of physical, social and economic conditions.

Men at 50 in most cases are done with their career unless they are in business where they may be at the peak of their performance. Men become careless with their health and fitness. Unfortunately, the damage is done to the health of men mostly in their 50s but gets noticed in early sixties.

Women in 50s are more stable in terms of maturity. Their health conditions are also affected quite often due to menopause but generally not as much as is the case with men. In terms of career women are more cool as compared to men.

One may observe, at least in India, woman gets stronger and stronger from the age of 50 whereas man generally gets weaker and weaker in 50s 60s and 70s. Lady is in the ascendent and man on decline. Lady is in control of house, home, children, family and social context. Man, willingly or unwillingly, mostly automatically, gives control and command to the lady of the house.

Career wise it is late in the day to take mid life retirement, as social responsibilities and economic burden increases. It is also difficult to make career changes at that age unless a person is in the category of CXO.

At the age of 50 or in 50s, especially early 50s one should rejig, reinvent and reorient one’s life and priorities. Many office goers soon after their retirement die of heart attack due to depression and sense of emptiness as they did not plan their post retirement activities when they were in 50s - busy in their daily routine. Men, in employment, should discover and rediscover their interests and hobbies and start working on them. Men in business, if not consider passing on the baton, may like to give major chunk of decision making to next gen. Women tend to think and work inwardly, paying more attention to family matters as that is the time to become grandmother. Women in career may think and work laterally in exploring opportunities where their interest, experience and knowledge and skills are served.

To sum up, one needs to be careful at this age with regard to one’s health, priorities and interests by applying oneself in good time.

Vinay K Nangia

vinaynangia.com