Nehruvian Vision of Sustainable Development for Tribals in India

Abstract

As the first Prime Minister of India, Nehru pursued a policy of rapid industrialisation and national development, largely equated with economic growth and surplus. He once said that dams are the temples of modern India and claimed that big dams would address India’s hunger and poverty. However, such development agenda also created much pain and suffering for the owners/users of land sacrificed in the public interest, mostly the indigenous people of India (Adivasis). This article critically analyses the impact of development policies on the Adivasi peoples of India, earlier and today. It argues specifically that Nehru’s well-sounding development concept of Panchsheel, the ‘Five Pillars of Tribal Development’, did not work for the Adivasis and largely ruined their own efforts to secure sustainable development.