Nation Building In India

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Introduction: This paper begins with the deconstruction of the concept of “nation building” and how it differs from “national development” and “sate building”. The differences between these terms are reviewed by comparing previous scholarly works. We shall also look at how the notion of “nation building” in India has differed from its Western equivalent. The paper covers a period of seventeen post-independence years (1947-1964) due to the fact that these were the years of Jawaharlal Nehru’s tenure as Prime Minister. We begin by examining the ideologies which led to the construction of various media policies in India during the mentioned period. A notable feature of these ideologies was their construction based on the restrictive policies…show more content…
State building and Nation Building (Journal Article) This is an essay by Juan J. Linz, which discusses the processes involved in state and nation building from a historical and contemporary perspective. It explains the difficulties faced in making a nation out of a state and vice versa. 4. State and Society in India: Studies in Nation Building (Journal Article) This article is an analysis of the problems faced in the process of Nation building in India. The author, T.K. Oommen tries to reveal the causes of these problems; he states that dislocated conceptual polarizations are the originators of most conflicts. These polarizations juxtapose nation and state, nationalism of political and cultural kinds; and “Indianism” and “Localism” – which are mutually supporting and enhancing dimensions. The article suggests that most conflicts are not a threat to Indian polity but actually are just declarations of identity. There is further proposition that only religion based nation formations are hazardous for Indian polity, unlike language based nation building which accommodates cultural pluralism. The article asserts the safeguard of pluralism (in context of values, technology and culture) as the real purpose of nation…show more content…
Initially, the term was used to describe an integration of state and society. Gradually, it became inclusive of the role of citizenship, political participation, media and communication in the process of nation building. Much later, nation building began to be studied in the context of non Western countries. The concept of ‘nation building’ is a normative one and varies in meaning from person to person (or between branches of study). Since the turn of the millennium, the definition of nation building is closely associated with programs implemented in unstable ‘failed states’; or in economies which require support for the stability and development of civil society and government infrastructure. The concept assumes intentional activity for the purpose of building a given nation. It implies third-party intervention between the state and its civil society. However, this is a rather new definition of nation building which has evolved out of US military involvement in other countries post the Second World War, especially since the turn of the

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