Evaluate the effectiveness of Nehru’s domestic policies in post-independence India.

Candidates will make an appraisal of the effectiveness of Nehru’s domestic policies in post-independence India, weighing up the strengths and limitations of these policies. The evaluation may extend beyond the timeframe but they must be clearly linked to the issue raised in the question. Candidates may evaluate the effectiveness of Nehru’s first three Five-Year Plans, especially successes such as an increase in national income after the first plan and the trebling of industrial output by 1965. Candidates may also examine the failures of the Nehru’s agricultural policies that led to a fall in food production and the subsequent need to import food from other countries. Other relevant impacts may be addressed, such as his effective promotion of secularism and republicanism in politics as well as the challenges he faced in raising women’s status, especially in rural areas. Candidates may also evaluate his educational policies that contributed to the expansion of higher education and increasing literacy but was less successful in providing universal primary school education. Candidates’ opinions or conclusions will be presented clearly and supported by appropriate evidence.