The Caravan – August 2019

I

n theyearsthatfollowedIndia’s

independence,JawaharlalNehru,

the first PrimeMinisterof the na-

tion,soughttoestablisha robust

foundationfor the developmentof a

flourishingmodernnationwitha strong

economy.To realizethis vision,he set

theballrollingwiththeintroductionof

India’sfirst ‘FiveYearPlan.’Inaugurat-

ing the BhakraNangaldamin 1954—one

of the ambitiousprojectsincludedin the

FirstFive YearPlan—Nehruchristenedit

a “templeof modernIndia.”He would

laterrepeatthegesturewhilelaying

the foundationfor the NagarjunaSagar

Dam,saying“WhenI lay the founda-

tion stonehereof NagarjunaSagar,to

me it is a sacredceremony...This is the

foundationof the templeof humanity

in India,a symbolof new templesthat

we are buildingall overIndia.”There-

after,in anotherspeech,fouryears

later,Nehruwouldstatethat,“Thesmall

irrigationprojects,the smallindustries

and the smallplantsfor electricpower

willchangethefaceofthecountry,far

morethana dozenbig projectsin half a

dozenplaces.”

Nehruwasn’tmerelyoverstating

an affinityfor culturalsymbolswhile

referringtotheseinfrastructural

developmentsas ‘temples.’Instead,

he was referringspecificallyto India’s

PublicSectorUndertakings(PSUs)—a

newarrayofstateenterprises,which

weretobeanintegralpartofhisvision

for India’sfuture.In the initialyearsof

nationbuilding,PublicSectorUnder-

takingswereestablishedtousherin a

rapidsocio-economictransformation

for industrialisingand modernisingthe

newlyindependentnationandpropel-

• A MARKETING INITIATIVE•

PILLARS

OF THE

NATI O N

PSUS AND NATION

BUILDING