PSUS AND NATION BUILDING

In 1954, while Inaugurating the Bhakra Nangal dam, one of the ambitious projects included in the First Five Year Plan, Nehru christened it as a “temple of modern India.” Laying the foundation for the Nagarjuna Sagar Dam, he would repeat the same gesture and said, “When I lay the foundation stone here of Nagarjuna Sagar, to me it is a sacred ceremony…

This is the foundation of the temple of humanity in India, a symbol of new temples that we are building all over India.” Four years later, in another speech, Nehru would repeat, “The small irrigation projects, the small industries and the small plants for electric power will change the face of the country, far more than a dozen big projects in half a dozen places.”

Thus born ‘Modern Temples’ of Nehru.e Public Sector Undertakings(PSUs) which played a pivotal role in socio-economic transformation for industrializing and modernizing the newly independent nation and propelling it towards self-sufficiency.

‘The Nehru Era’ witnessed heavy national investment into the public sector with a primary focus on strengthening basic and heavy industries. The Industrial Policy Resolution of 1956 was the manifestation of India’s sharp turn towards socialism, the key goals of which were: the promotion of balanced regional development, generation of surpluses for development, and measures against the concentration of economic power in the hands of a few.

The economic policies of The Nehru Era reversed the hitherto decaying economy of India. India’s economy was showing truly encouraging signs which were growing at a rate of 4.09. it was also witnessing its per capita income rose for the first time in the century. It also successfully reversed the trend of declining agriculture that had been crippling the nation. Despite a substantial increase in population, ‘The Nehru Era’ had left an indelible mark in the socio-economic advancement of India and the PSUs had a major role to play in it.