Political and Socio-Economic Trends in India Since Independence - Dr. Jyotindra M. Mehta
Book Review by Dilip Gaekwar (USA, 08/07/06)
(1) Title: Political and Socio-Economic Trends in India Since Independenceº
By: Dr. Jyotindra M. Mehta*
Forward By: P.J. Madan, Vice Chancellor, and 11th July 1980.
1st Edition, 1980, Rs. 4.50, Pgs 21.
Printed by: The M.S. University of Baroda Press, Near Palace Gate, Palace Road, Baroda-390 001.
Pub.: The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda.
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Some Highlights of Mehta’s Speechº :
- Lectures were delivered pm 11th and l2th December on1979.
- In his forward on Dr. Mehta’s lectures, VC, Mr. P.J Madan, wrote in the 2nd paragraph that, “Dr. Mehta was the Former Vice Chancellor of the M.S. University of Baroda. He was a member of the Central Advisory Board of Education, Indian National Commission for Co-operation with UNESCO and a member of the Governing Board of Sapru Centre of International Studies.
- Dr. Mehta wrote: “I accepted the invitation with great deal of trepidation when I thought of some of my predecessors like C.V. Raman, Sardar K.M. Pannikar, Dr. C.P. Ramaswami Ayer, Prof. Siddhanta and Dr. Birbal Sahahi who had lectured in this series. I realized my inadequacy to lectures in this series because I cannot claim their erudition and scholarship.
- “I am however deeply sensible of this honor because of personal reasons. In 1941 when Sir V.T. Krishnamachari was the Dewan of Baroda he asked me if I could deliver two lectures in this series, I was unable to accept the invitation as I was then the Commissioner of Education in the State and the heavy burden of routine official work made it impossible for me to accept the invitation. The invitation has now come after thirty eight years. It is therefore a matter of great personal gratification for me.”
- On page 14, author/speaker Mehta wrote: “K.D. Malaviya was openly charged with having received a bribe from Sirajjudin & Co. and he admitted the charge…… The general belief that there is corruption tends to spread corruption and the public thinks that nothing could be done without some kind of bribing. When Finance Minister C.D. Deshmukh made allegations about corruption among ministers and even asked for enquiry, Nehru could not to such commission but in 1964 under constant pressure a committee under Santhanam was appointed and it came out with its report admitting about the existence of corruption in the administration. …… Morarji’s son and Charan Singh’s family members………
- …….Since 1964 the power politics have vitiated our political life. Selfish men,
greedy of power have been largely responsible for the present situation”
- Page 15.” Mrs. Gandhi took away the Finance portfolio from Morarji Desai. She nationalized (Banks), life & general insurance in the country and started her campaign of ‘Garibi Hatao.' '….her radical program………………..her prophesy proved true”
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DILIP’S READING REVIEW º AND OBSERVATIONS:
Dr. Jyotindra Mehta had signed my diploma graduation in Mechanical Engineering during 1963.
In the same year, 1963, he had also taken initiative to invite U.S. Ambassador to India, Hon. John Kenneth Galbraith, to Baroda to inaugurated Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda (MSU), General Education center building in Baroda. This building was built with the help from the Ford Foundation grant. Naturally, I was interested to read Dr. Mehta’s books. Luckily I was able to get only this book!
The local libraries in the US are making money on Dr. Mehta’s books by charging the patrons! This book was an exception to escape such charge since it had only 21 pages!
Regarding Dr. Mehta’s comments on the Page 15, I observe, India had neither better choice as PM in Morarji (An ICS!) nor Gandhi (A non-graduate)!
Alexander Hamilton, the First Secretary of U.S. Treasury was successful in redeeming the debt¹ of U.S. war of independence within 120 days! It was his principal task delegated to him by his boss, George Washington, the first U.S. President and also a co-founder of the US like Hamilton.
Hamilton was a success story in the founding of a nation! He did not have an ICS qualification like Morarji! Morarji did not fight any combat battles like Hamilton!
Hamilton had ‘On the job training’ under experienced businessmen while he grew up in his native Caribbean islands before he came to N.Y.! His convictions led him to formulate U.S. Coast Guards² since he knew at first hand how the smugglers operate in the great Seas! Hamilton knew first hand how smugglers deprive income of a nation!
Morarji had no such experience at all! Initially Morarji had earned his reputation as an autocrat! His orders, “Shoot on site” to Bombay Police were responsible in killings of innocent 105 civilian subjects at the ‘Flora Fountain.’ These men were exercising their democratic rights of free speech regarding formation of Maharashtra as a state.
Later he turned into a Central Gov. Bureaucrat! Morarji did introduce a scheme called “Gold
Bonds” urging the nation to turn in Gold in return of a piece of paper did not appeal anyone! Instead of starting a scheme similar to U.S. Treasury Securities³ which any U.S. citizen can buy by loaning the money to the U.S. government. If U.S. has twelve Federal Reserve Banks to distribute such securities both via banks and other means directly to public then India could have had a dozen such reserve banks on its main land to issue debt instruments similar to US Bonds¹ and US notes (2 Year, 3 Year, 5 Year, 7 Year and 10 Year Notes).
Morarji as a finance Minister was a total failure since he had turned from autocrat into a bureaucrat. He did not estimate power of people’s psyche why they held Gold dear to their heart as their century old tradition for security to cope in any calamity! On the other hand Mrs. Gandhi had been proven as an autocrat whose actions are still haunting people with created monster of ‘Nationalized Banks” which does not yield any efficiency or any tangible results.
This booklet is now owned by the University of Rochester, N.Y., since it was provided to them by the Library of Congress (US) under, “Special Foreign Currency Program.” (PL 480 program under which India repays its debt of importing wheat from the US).
Rochester University a private US University is located in Rochester, N.Y.
It did not bother to buy the booklet but some learned U.S. faculty must be aware of the existence of the U.S. program to promote international understanding and ensured to get some free books from India!
India does not have a Central book monitoring system similar to ISBN number! It has borrowed the simple ISBN idea from the US! At present, in India the ISBN is being issued by a private foreign agency which receives a regular sum of money each year as the royalty for their “WORK” of issuing an ISBN numbers to India authors for India published books! Could any University take a lead in this issue? Can it monitor nationwide a unique numbering system which can be registered via India postal system?
Why India can not have its own unique book numbering system to monitor its own books / publications in Free and independent India? What is wrong with our Lawyers to ban this non-India private body which dominate Free and independent India? Why people are asleep?
British made sure to receive a free copy from all of the authors for books printed in India by India subjects. The British Law required the India authors to send a free copy to the British rulers of India since British in India was a “Police State” within India! British were traders to watch the ‘Native Indians and what they wrote!”
These observations and facts about it were known to Mr. Nehru who wrote his own 1st biography, ‘Toward Freedom’. He wrote it during his nine (9) years in the British jails in India. Nehru managed to smuggle the manuscript of it out of the country (India) via good efforts of Mr. Krishna Menon into N.Y. where he got it published under U.S. laws! This is how he advanced the cause of India’s freedom to American masses! Its 4th editions displayed its popularity in the US in 1942 (John Day Co., N.Y.) since it was read widely by the U.S. masses! The U.S. T.V. (In N.Y.) had constant coverage of India’s freedom struggle! It reminded U.S. citizens of their own past struggle within the 13 U.S. colonies during 1776! The British were infuriated by this T.V. coverage in its former U.S. colony! India became independent in 1947 which is now history! But Nehru’s utterances “My dear comrades” while giving speeches to the India masses during his public meetings in Allahabad before going to British jails! It, also, revealed his leanings toward the philosophy of Lenin of Communist Russia! This proved fatal to India when India was invaded by China in the north and India had no face to seek help from the West!
My next kin had to approach the British Library administration where he found the copy of the book on Marathi Poems written by my great grand father since his property had washed away in great floods of Mahad region in India. All of his personnel effects were gone in the floods! But we did get our great grand father’s book of poems, after some efforts, since there were no ‘Floods’ in the U.K. This protected great grand father’s literary work of his life.
The MSU printed 500 copies of this booklet in 1980 but it had failed to secure or write any statement about MSU Copy Right! Even the VC, P.J. Madan, (Originally from Punjab) was hired by the former princely state of Baroda, he too had failed to give such copy right related directives to his staff before its publication and distribution!
One wonders if all of the India universities own this booklet in their libraries! This booklet and its study by new generation are very vital for future of democracy and the study of Political Science within India’s major universities.
Baroda State’s Education Commissioner prior to India’s independence was Dr. Jyotindra Mehta. Possibly he was hired when my maternal uncle was the Education Minister of the Baroda State. My maternal uncle studied and got his Ph.D. from Columbia University in N.Y. He came to NY under the Baroda State scholarship along with Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar who wrote India’s constitution. During their studies in N.Y. they both were room mates!
With this background information, it is important that the MSU present administration do periodic promotion of its books within India in the key population centers. These efforts can be done by effective use of the present Commerce faculty of MSU and via various other methods to create great publicity for MSU mission in education and generate some income for the MSU. It is important to earn foreign exchange for India in addition to local currency income and without vital funds, changes at the M.S.U. will not happen because ‘Sky is great’! Therefore, it is evident that a proper direction from the top is very vital!
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Sources:
¹ http://www.sec.gov/news/speech/speecharchive/1998/spch218.htm
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
Chairman Arthur Levitt , At the Media Studies Center, New York, N.Y.
September 9, 1998,
“ History of U.S. Bond Market”
“There seems to be a common misconception that the bond market is somehow less important than the equity market. But history shows, if anything, that the opposite may be true. The bond market has played an important role in this country's development from the very first days of the republic. The New York Stock Exchange, in fact, originated in 1792 as a bond exchange. For the first time, securities issued by the new United States government could be readily bought and sold. Those first government bonds funded the debt of the American Revolution. Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton not only helped create a new money supply, but he also linked the interests of wealthy bondholders to the fate of the new country.”
² URL: http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/us^rvctr.html
In 1790 Alexander Hamilton formed the Revenue Cutter Service for the express purpose of enforcing the customs laws. In contrast, the other armed services are prohibited by law from conducting law enforcement activities, except as authorized by Congress on a limited basis. (Posse Comitatus Act)
Herbert R. Mann, 9 October 1999
³http://www.foundingfathers.info/federalistpapers/hamilton.htm
Federalist Papers Authored by Alexander Hamilton
FEDERALIST No. 50, Periodical Appeals to the People Considered (Hamilton or Madison) ... Alexander Hamilton and Federalist Papers books from Amazon.
www.foundingfathers.info/federalistpapers/hamilton.htm - 17k - Cached - Similar pages
