Fathered the Naxal red corridors of the North East – abject failure of Nehruvian Socialism

Large swathes of tribal and other areas remained ignored, neglected and ungoverned during the Nehruvian era and later, leading ultimately to the problems in the Northeast and the huge Naxal-infested red corridor cutting across sections of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, and Bihar.

Further, it was not just tribal areas that were neglected and ungoverned. There were vast swathes of countryside and small towns in UP, Bihar and many other states that were, and remain, hopeless, depressing, lawless, dangerous ‘Omkaralands’. What is the root cause? Dirty politics, colonial babudom and misgovernance.

In fact, wherever there has been the Indian government outreach into these areas, it has been more to exploit and make money than to serve and provide services. Further, Nehruvian socialism meant economic stagnation, and no surplus to enable deployment of resources or investments in the so-called ungoverned areas, nor policies to encourage private investments for infrastructure in those areas. And, whatever little funds were deployed were siphoned off by the Nehruvian- socialistic babudom.