Shri.P.V.N.R - The New India's Vasco da Gama

 

New India's Karma Yogi

Karma/ˈkɑːmə,ˈkəːmə/ , this is a noun according to English Dictionary. This word is taken from the Sanskrit language but here we are talking about the usage of another extended Sanskrit word “Karma Yogi”.  The best example of a  Karma Yogi is the role of a Mother. The mother works selflessly for the betterment of the family without expecting anything in return. Mother is Karma Yogi for the family.

The word  “Karma Yogi” also represents humbleness and surrender. Chogyam Trungpa a great Buddhist Philosopher says “We fall down and down until we touch the ground until we relate with the basic sanity of the earth. We become the lowest of the low, the smallest of the small, a grain of sand, perfectly simple, no expectations…” The people whom we can consider as Karma Yogis in the modern era are Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa, etc., 

Like it is the duty of family members to recognise the selfless efforts of Mother when it comes to home, it is the responsibility of the country-men to recognise the efforts of leaders who changed the pace and face of our country. Their strategies, decisions, ideas, and policies brought smiles on countless countrymen over the decades.

India was in a deep economic crisis back in 1991, IMF agreed to bail out India with an interim loan of $3.9 billion (a huge sum for India then). IMF asked the government of India to pledge its gold reserves and India ended up pledging 67 tonnes of Gold.  This represents the state of our country’s economy back then. On top of the Economic Crisis India also got other challenges like Unemployment, Terrorism in Punjab and Kashmir, Poverty, License Raj, Gold Smuggling,  etc.,

Post Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination,  Congress found deeply spiritual and ailing  Southern Scholarly Septuagenarian, Pamulaparthi Venkata Narasimha Rao to lead India and its grand old political party and then PV Occupied PM’s office on 21 June 1991 – 16 May 1996.

Few extraordinary beings are born to change Karma's millions, they come at different timelines. We can call P.V.Narasimha Rao as one of the gifted beings born to change the lives of millions. 

Shri P.V.Narasimha Rao can be referred  "Karma Yogi", 'Father of Indian Economic Reforms', “Modern day’s Chanakya” and also an “Education Reformer”.

It is so encouraging to see that India’s top political leaders across political parties and ideologies were humble enough to appreciate PV Narasimha Rao’s contribution to our country's growth. The leaders include our current Prime Minister Shri. Narendra Modi, Telangana CM Shri.KCR, AP top leaders Shri.Jaganmohan Reddy and Shri.Chandrababu Naidu, BJP MP Shri. Subramanya Swamy, etc., Ex-president and Missile man of India Shri.APJ Abdul Kalam portrayed Rao as a "patriotic statesman who believed that the nation is bigger than the political system". 

There are multiple articles that articulate PV's Midas touch on India's Economy in the short span of 5 years. Here I would like to present another dimension of him, as an Education Reformer. And also his thoughts to bring quality education to the poorer section of the country.

Many may not be knowing that PV was the first Chief Minister who started Residential Schools run by the State Government to provide quality education to meritorious rural kids which acted as a catalyst to unleash the innate potential of rural India in the coming decades in the year 1971. This led him to start “Andhra Pradesh Residential School” Sarvail in then Andhra Pradesh state and later it was expanded to all the districts of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh. Currently, Sarvali is part of Telangana State.   The success of the Residential schools made him think of enhancing this concept to the whole country and gave the idea of Navodaya Vidyalayas. First established in 1986, under the stewardship of Shri  P. V. Narasimha Rao. Since then Navodaya Schools have proven to be a silver lining in the arena of school education, Nava + Udaya which literally translates to a new dawn in English and these schools lived up to the name that was given to them by visionaries.

In 1986, Rao, as Human Resources Development Minister, personally formulated the National Policy on Education (NPE) 1986 on his newly-acquired word processor in just six months. However, he was unable to push for the required funds to implement the ambitious policy, which included the Navodaya schools.

Historically, quality education had been a luxury and entitlement for urban and wealthy families. The rural households remained underprivileged and struggled even to access good school education.  After four decades of an Independent India, the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi aspired to set up a network of schools in every district of India to provide not only quality education but also to ensure the holistic development of the students. These schools were named: Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNVs). JNVs were established in 1986 The motto of JNV is ‘Pragyan Brahma’ a Sanskrit phrase which in English means ‘Pure Knowledge is God’.  P V Narasimha Rao, a distinguished scholar himself conceptualised its design as the then Human Resource Development Minister.  

The first two schools were started in 1985-86 on an experimental basis and then got established across the country.  From the official website (https://navodaya.gov.in/) a total of 661 JNVs are sanctioned across all the states and regions between 1985- 2019. Of 636 functional JNVs (As of 30th September 2019) in the country, about 2,65,574 students enrolled and out of which 2,06,728 (~78%) are from rural areas. Performance-wise, in 2019, JNVs were the top-ranked C.B.S.E. schools by having a pass percentage of 98.57% and 96.62% in 10th and 12th grades respectively.

JNV has the concept of  ‘student migration policy’. Students of Grade Nine would go to a JNV of a different state and get exposure to a different society and culture. These schools were so successful that most of the then students are serving country as bureaucrats, athletes, civil servants, doctors, engineers, scientists, etc.,  you name a field, there is a Shining Navodayan.

Shri P V Narasimha Rao the man who shaped India in the post cold war era after the collapse of the soviet union, partially dismantled socialism because he understood very well that socialism breeds populism but not prosperity. Many leaders realised this but the success of PVNR lies not only in realising it but also successfully implementing it and changed the fate of India for good. By the time he demitted office, India had healthy forex reserves and was growing at 7.5 percent. 

Most of us visualise P.V Narsimha Rao as a frail old man, but he was a firebrand activist in his youth engaging in guerrilla type insurgency to topple the Nizam of Hyderabad. According to one source, while the rest of India was celebrating Independence from British Rule on 15th August 1947, PV was hiding in a forest to escape the Nizam’s soldiers. The angry young man subsequently rose to become Prime Minister of the world’s largest democracy

PV is a polyglot, aside from his mother tongue, Telugu, he had excellent command over several other languages – nine Indian languages (Marathi, Hindi, Oriya, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Sanskrit, Tamil, and Telugu) and six foreign (English, French, Arabic, Spanish, German and Persian). PV.’s political career was shaped by his involvement in India’s struggle for independence from British colonial rule.

Rao had been selected as PM for his unquestioning loyalty to the Nehru - Gandhi Family. But after he took an oath, the so-called man of inaction became a man of destiny. As PM, he introduced revolutionary reforms but didn't consult with Smt. Sonia Gandhi or keep her informed as a result in later years the entire credit for economic reforms was given to Shri. Manmohan Singh, who became PM in 2004. His contribution, in terms of pulling the country back from the brink and shaping its rise during the critical period of India, was forgotten. Sadly, even Manmohan Singh failed to acknowledge it.  He did everything for the betterment of the nation silently without much buzz but his Silence is so freaking loud and clear which broke so many old barriers for industrialisation like the abolition of License Raj. The Licence Raj was a result of the post-Independence government's decision to have a planned economy where all aspects of the economy are controlled by the state and licenses are given to a select few. Up to 91 government agencies had to be satisfied before private companies could produce something and, if granted, the government would regulate production.

Thanks to PV’s close friendship with then Opposition leader Shri.Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and made him represent India in a crucial UN meeting at Geneva during PV’s prime ministership. This great relationship made India conduct the Nuclear Tests successfully when Vajpayee became India’s PM in later years.

His magnanimity of reforms was so huge that it created a new section called  “Upper Middle Class”. Millions of Families were the beneficiaries of the reforms and got added into the “Upper Middle Class” section. All these members turned as the country's new wealth creators as Taxpayers

His few other achievements in Making India  Prosper are as follows:

• 1995, PV suggested that the Mid Day Meal Scheme be implemented across the country. This led to the birth of the National Programme for Nutrition Support to Primary Education. The program aims to increase school enrolment, attendance, and retention while eradicating malnutrition and empowering women through employment.
• Energized the National Nuclear security and Ballistic missiles program, which ultimately resulted in the 1998 Pokhran nuclear tests
• The rupee was made convertible on a trade account
• Dismantled import controls, lowered customs duties, and Streamlining procedures for FDI approvals, and in at least 35 industries
• Dropped tax rates and Broke public sector monopolies
• Launched the Look East foreign policy, which brought India closer to ASEAN to increase economic interaction with South East Asia in trade, investment, science and technology, tourism, etc.
• Rao's government introduced the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA), India's first anti-terrorism legislation, and directed the Indian Army to eliminate the infiltrators from Pakistan

Surprisingly on top of knowing multiple languages, he also knows computer programming. He is a technological enthusiast. Rao was applauded by many for using modern technology and resources to organise major relief operations to assuage the stricken people, and for schemes of economic reconstruction when thousands of people killed and lakhs of people got displaced because of the earthquake in Latur, Maharashtra in 1993.

PVNR transformed India in those five years, from its economy and government assistance plans to, as we will see, international strategy and national security. All the while he managed a restless party, yearly state elections, a hostile Parliament, and a largely apathetic public. There are few reformers in world history who achieved so much with so little.

I wish and pray that govt of India will recognise this political genius and a reformer in its true sense and honor Shri “Pamulaparthi Venkata Narasimha Rao” with “BHARAT RATNA” as soon as possible.

VANDE MATARAM