Why is India a Third World Country?

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Before anyone takes offense to the term "Third World" being used in reference to India, let's talk about what exactly is a third world nation. Even though the term is usually used to refer to poor, non-industrialized countries, the term originated during Cold War. It was used to refer to nations that did not align with either US, Western Europe and their allies nor with the Communist Bloc (Soviet Union, China and their allies). Pandit Nehru instead was influenced by different things from both the First and Second World. The five year plans were inspired by Soviet Union's five year plans. However, he preferred Gandhiji's non- violence to their armed revolution. He also preferred Western ideas of electoral democracy over a single party rule (and freedom of press). While people may (rightly) have different opinions on Nehru's politics, the idea of choosing the best from a myriad options seems like a good idea to me. Third World doesn't seem so bad after all! Next time some ignorant person refers to India as a poor third world country, please enlighten them!

References:
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_World
India After Gandhi

Comments

Shreyas said…
Not so sure if the 5 year plans was a good thing for India. It lead to all the license raj in India...
November 18, 2014 at 5:10 PM
goldendekhane said…
Agreed! It did cause a lot of problems. So, interestingly, Nehru visited Russia before things went south there and was highly impressed by what he saw. He also went there wanting to be impressed. The fact that the Western leaders didn't warm up to him might have also been the reason, why he was more attracted towards Soviet Union policies (he received a very warm welcome there as opposed to USA). Also there is a big difference between a great theoretical idea or philosophy and its successful implementation. We also see the same difference in Ayn Rand's philosophy and idea of "pure" capitalism and the actual effects of capitalism that we are currently seeing in USA.
December 1, 2014 at 5:30 PM
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