Every year, as we celebrate our journey as a Republic, we renew our resolve to ensure that India’s forward march is imbued with a sense of justice at all levels of governance. That India’s voice is heard globally for the values of the Republic that it embraces. We also seek to ensure that our institutional mechanisms, which have served us all these years, stand firm and tall, and that central to our Republic’s march forward is to ensure that, unlike the privileged few, access to opportunities and resources is available to those deprived.
It is, therefore, a time both for celebration and reflection. Our Constitution provided a roadmap for achieving a just political system, but more fundamentally, social and economic equality. It is for this reason that the Directive Principles of State Policy seek to ensure that the community’s resources are not concentrated in a few hands.
The nation faced several crises in 1950. Only around 18 percent of India’s population was literate. The country was bereft of an industrial base. A large part of our population was below the poverty line. Social inequalities were all pervasive, and the colonial power had exploited our resources. The task was Herculean.
Our visionary Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru dreamt of a strong and resurgent India. He visualised the emergence of modern science and technology as the only way of altering the lives and outlook of our people. He realised that large-scale scientific and industrial projects would need trained manpower. Towards this, he established India’s first-ever Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Kharagpur in 1950. Four more IITs came up by 1961, one each in Bombay, Madras, Kanpur and Delhi. Today, the IITs are ranked among the top 200 universities in the world.
He established the Atomic Energy Commission in 1948 to institutionalise and expand scientific research in atomic physics, followed by the Atomic Energy Establishment, Trombay, in 1954, which was later renamed the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in 1967.
The need for an industrial research ecosystem led to the setting up of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, with a network of 22 ‘national laboratories’. Recognising the need for entrepreneurial managers, he established the Indian Institutes of Management. To set the pace for medical education and research, he founded the All India Institute of Medical Sciences. He established the Indian Space Research Organisation, the Defence Research and Development Organisation, the National Institute of Design, the Life Insurance Corporation, and the Indian Statistical Institute. To raise agricultural production, he conceived big dams and set up the Damodar Valley Project in West Bengal and the then Bihar, the Hirakud Project in Odisha, and the famous Bhakra Nangal Dam, which he called the ‘temple of modern India’.
Nehru knew that India lacked the skills and resources to build roads, buildings, bridges and dams. The private sector was non-existent. So, he took it upon himself to set up entities for indigenous production of steel, cement, paper, cables, heavy engineering and electrical goods, machine tools, railway wagons, cotton and textile, coal, oil, fertilisers and insecticides, tea, salt and a whole host of goods and materials to meet the demands of a nation, which was lagging in every aspect. That was the real ‘Make in India’ initiative of Nehru, as opposed to the present regime’s ‘Make in India’, which is more of a hollow slogan.
It is because of his futuristic policies and vision that India stands today in the comity of nations. The relentless vilification of Nehru today comes only from those who are dwarfed by his vision, commitment and sacrifices.
The institutional mechanisms that he put in place were sought to be strengthened by the successive governments. But it was only when the country faced the need to mortgage its gold reserves that the then Prime Minister, P V Narsimha Rao, with Manmohan Singh as the then Finance Minister, decided to open up the economy. Public sector investments, along with the Green Revolution, which contributed to our food security, and the legislation that brought about a paradigm shift in societal inequalities, served the country well. The opening of the economy led to the private sector playing a far more significant role than it had in the past.
However, there was a paradigm shift after 2014, resulting in outcomes of some concern. The institutional mechanisms of our Republic have been weakened. Pliant bureaucrats have helped decimate the independence of institutions, including the Election Commission, the institution of governors and others. The infiltration of ideology-inclined individuals has impacted the independence of our universities and, to some extent, our judiciary. Some laws in place have been amended and implemented in ways that target elected representatives, including chief ministers, in opposition-ruled states.
History shows that countries that have invested in human capital and research and development have dominated global politics. We have, for years, chosen to ignore this lesson of history. Only when the country has the economic heft is it in a position to effectively negotiate terms of engagement with other countries. Absent that, the result is for all to see. We watch in silence while US President Donald Trump imposes tariffs on us at rates higher than those imposed on any other country, impacting our key exports. We seem to have lost our leadership of the Global South. We have not been able to befriend our neighbours as we did in the past. Our rate of growth is below optimal, and massive underemployment and unemployment have caused social unrest in the country.
It is time to shift our emphasis. It is time for us to speak up. The Republic can only be strengthened if the judiciary stands up to the pressures of legislation that allows the misuse of power for political ends. The ultimate strength of any Republic lies in two essential institutional mechanisms: the media and the justice delivery system. If these institutions get stymied, the Republic will lose its lustre. This is what we must reflect upon on January 26, 2026.
Kapil Sibal | Senior lawyer and member of Rajya Sabha
(Views are personal)
(Tweets @KapilSibal)