Jawaharlal nehru

An influential leader in the Indian independence movement and political heir of Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru became the nation’s first prime minister in 1947. Although faced with the challenge of uniting a vast population diverse in culture, language and religion, he successfully established various economic, social and educational reforms that earned him the respect and admiration of millions of Indians. His policies of non-alignment and Panchscheel—principles of peaceful coexistence—guided India’s international relations until the outbreak of the Sino-Indian War in 1962, which contributed to his declining health and subsequent death in 1964, ending his 17-years in office. His daughter, Indira Gandhi, and grandson, Rajiv Gandhi, later served as prime ministers. Jawaharlal Nehru: Early Life and Family Jawaharlal Nehru was born into an affluent Kashmiri Brahman family in Allahabad on November 14, 1889. Tutored at home until the age of 15, Nehru subsequently attended Harrow in England and, later, Trinity College, Cambridge. After studying law at London’s Inner Temple, he returned to India at the age of 22 where he practiced law with his father and prominent barrister, Motilal Nehru. Did you know? In 1949, after zookeepers had killed most of Tokyo’s wild animals to prevent them from escaping during World War II air raids, Nehru delighted Japanese children by presenting Ueno Zoo with an Indian elephant. In 1916, four years after his parents had made the suitable arrangemen...

(1889-1964) Who Was Jawaharlal Nehru? Jawaharlal Nehru joined the Indian National Congress and joined Indian Nationalist leader Early Life Nehru was born in Allahabad, India in 1889. His father was a renowned lawyer and one of Mahatma Gandhi's notable lieutenants. A series of English governesses and tutors educated Nehru at home until he was 16. He continued his education in England, first at the Harrow School and then at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he earned an honors degree in natural science. He later studied law at the Inner Temple in London before returning home to India in 1912 and practicing law for several years. Four years later, Nehru married Kamala Kaul; their only child, Indira Priyadarshini, was born in 1917. Like her father, Indira would later serve as prime minister of India under her married name: Entering Politics In 1919, while traveling on a train, Nehru overheard British Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer gloating over the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. The massacre, also known as the Massacre of Amritsar, was an incident in which 379 people were killed and at least 1,200 wounded when the British military stationed there continuously fired for ten minutes on a crowd of unarmed Indians. Upon hearing Dyer’s words, Nehru vowed to fight the British. The incident changed the course of his life. This period in Indian history was marked by a wave of nationalist activity and governmental repression. Nehru joined the Indian National Congress, one of India's two m...

The so-called ‘rationalisation’ of textbooks by the NCERT, which has been termed by one commentator as the ‘brutalisation’ of textbooks, has (among many other things) led to the dropping of a whole chapter on Darwin and the theory of evolution. In addition, chapters on the Industrial Revolution, protest movements, the Mughals, the periodic table in chemistry—to give only a few examples—have been omitted, in the name of ‘lightening the load’. The motivation, however, appears to emanate from a political agenda which is anti-science, communal and biased against critical thought. Here is the first part of an essay on Darwin and the triumph of science that Jawaharlal Nehru wrote for his daughter in 1933. *** "The scientists are the miracle-workers of today, and they have influence and honour. This was not so before the 19th century. In the earlier centuries a scientist’s life was a risky affair in Europe and sometimes ended at the stake. I have told you of how Giordano Bruno was burnt in Rome by the church. A few years later, in the 17th century, Galileo came very near the stake because he had stated that the earth went round the sun. He escaped being burnt for heresy because he apologised and withdrew his previous statements. In this way the church in Europe was always coming into conflict with science and trying to suppress new ideas. Organised religion, in Europe or elsewhere, has various dogmas attached to it which its followers are supposed to accept without doubt or quest...

The first prime minister of independent India, Jawaharlal Nehru was a follower of Mahatma Gandhi and had advocated for India’s release from British rule. Nehru’s political and social work helped create an independent India in 1947, and inspired Martin Luther King in his own struggle for the freedom of African Americans in the United States. During King’s 1959 India trip, which he called “one of the most concentrated and eye-opening experiences” of his life, he met with Nehru ( Papers 5:232). Nehru, the son of a wealthy barrister and politician, was born on 14 November 1889, in Allahabad, India. The eldest of three children, Nehru was home schooled until the age of 15, when he continued his education in England. He received a BA (1910) from Trinity College, Cambridge, and, after studying law at Inner Temple in London, Nehru was called to the bar in 1912, and returned to India to practice law. Following his return to India, Nehru joined Gandhi’s civil disobedience movement and, in 1923, became general secretary of the All-India Congress Committee. Nehru served as a source of inspiration for King during the Montgomery bus boycott. A year before the two men met, King inscribed a copy of his newly published book, Stride Toward Freedom, to Nehru with the words: “In appreciation for your genuine good-will, your broad humanitarian concern, and the inspiration that your great struggle for India gave to me and the 50,000 Negroes of Montgomery” (King, November 1958). King and Nehru m...

Jawaharlal Nehru, (born Nov. 14, 1889, Allahabad, India—died May 27, 1964, New Delhi), First prime minister of independent India (1947–64). Son of the independence advocate Motilal Nehru (1861–1931), Nehru was educated at home and in Britain and became a lawyer in 1912. More interested in politics than law, he was impressed by Related Article Summaries

Jawaharlal Nehru, June 1953 Nehru was an Indian nationalist leader and statesman who became the first prime minister of independent India in 1947. Jawaharlal Nehru was born in Allahabad, the son of a lawyer whose family was originally from Kashmir. He was educated in England, at Harrow School, and then at Trinity College, Cambridge. He studied law at the Inner Temple in London. He returned to India in 1912 and practised law for some years. In 1916, he married Kamala Kaul and the following year they had a daughter, Indira. In 1919, Nehru joined the Indian National Congress which was fighting for greater autonomy from the British. He was heavily influenced by the organisation's leader Mohandas Gandhi. During the 1920s and 1930s Nehru was repeatedly imprisoned by the British for civil disobedience. In 1928, he was elected president of the Congress. By the end of World War Two, Nehru was recognised as Gandhi's successor. He played a central role in the negotiations over Indian independence. He opposed the Muslim League's insistence on the division of India on the basis of religion. Louis Mountbatten, the last British viceroy, advocated the division as the fastest and most workable solution and Nehru reluctantly agreed. On 15 August 1947, Nehru became the first prime minister of independent India. He held the post until his death in 1964. He implemented moderate socialist economic reforms and committed India to a policy of industrialisation. Nehru also served as foreign ministe...