Book Review: Pawan Agarwal (Ed.), A Half-century of Indian Higher Education: Essays by Philip G. Altbach:

TLDR: In this article, the authors present a critical re-assessment of the Congress-dominated first few decades of India, in which the Nehru dynasty played a dominant and critical role.

Abstract: building a strong base of heavy industries, his ambitions to make India’s parliament the model parliament of Asia, his courage to chart the course of non-alignment in a bipolar world were remarkable. He laid foundations for a large number of institutions of scientific research, socio-economic studies, art, literature, theatre and culture. India’s scientific progress, especially the nuclear and space programme, owe a lot to Nehru. Second, many of the positions of the author are opinionated and heavily influenced by the views of others. His assessment of Nehru would have carried more weight had he used more archival materials and untrammeled documents in support of his arguments. This seems to be the main objective of the author, and to that extent he has done his job honestly. The questions raised in this book are bound to draw the attention of both Nehru’s followers and critics. The study fits into the wider current scenario of a critical re-assessment of the Congress-dominated first few decades of India, in which the Nehru dynasty, despite its flaws, played a dominant and critical role.