The Middle Path: Jawaharlal Nehru’s Democratic Socialism and Its Impact on Post-Independence Indian Society

  • Unique Paper ID: 195270
  • Volume: 12
  • Issue: 10
  • PageNo: 7745-7749
  • Abstract:
  • This paper examines the political and economic philosophy of India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, specifically focusing on his unique brand of "Democratic Socialism." Inheriting a nation fractured by partition, crippled by colonial deindustrialization, and plagued by mass poverty, Nehru rejected both the unbridled capitalism of the West and the authoritarian communism of the Soviet Bloc. Instead, he formulated a "Mixed Economy" model. This research explores the intellectual foundations of Nehruvian socialism, its institutionalization through the Planning Commission and Five-Year Plans, and its application in both agrarian reforms and heavy industrialization. By analyzing the socio-economic impacts and subsequent critiques—such as the rise of the "License Raj"—this paper argues that while Nehru’s socialist vision failed to eradicate poverty entirely, it successfully laid the foundational infrastructure and democratic resilience necessary for modern India's survival and subsequent growth.

Copyright & License

Copyright © 2026 Authors retain the copyright of this article. This article is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

BibTeX

@article{195270,
        author = {Ritu Sharma},
        title = {The Middle Path: Jawaharlal Nehru’s Democratic Socialism and Its Impact on Post-Independence Indian Society},
        journal = {International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology},
        year = {2026},
        volume = {12},
        number = {10},
        pages = {7745-7749},
        issn = {2349-6002},
        url = {https://ijirt.org/article?manuscript=195270},
        abstract = {This paper examines the political and economic philosophy of India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, specifically focusing on his unique brand of "Democratic Socialism." Inheriting a nation fractured by partition, crippled by colonial deindustrialization, and plagued by mass poverty, Nehru rejected both the unbridled capitalism of the West and the authoritarian communism of the Soviet Bloc. Instead, he formulated a "Mixed Economy" model. This research explores the intellectual foundations of Nehruvian socialism, its institutionalization through the Planning Commission and Five-Year Plans, and its application in both agrarian reforms and heavy industrialization. By analyzing the socio-economic impacts and subsequent critiques—such as the rise of the "License Raj"—this paper argues that while Nehru’s socialist vision failed to eradicate poverty entirely, it successfully laid the foundational infrastructure and democratic resilience necessary for modern India's survival and subsequent growth.},
        keywords = {Jawaharlal Nehru, Democratic Socialism, Mixed Economy, Five-Year Plans, Post-Independence India, Fabian Socialism, Mahalanobis Model.},
        month = {March},
        }

Cite This Article

Sharma, R. (2026). The Middle Path: Jawaharlal Nehru’s Democratic Socialism and Its Impact on Post-Independence Indian Society. International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology (IJIRT), 12(10), 7745–7749.

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