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Though Charanya, Paraskara, Bharadvaja, Brihaspati and Sukra have been some of the ancient political thinkers of India, Manu, the father of mankind and Kautilya, the learned author of the Arthashastra, had been the path breakers. According to Manu, God created a king for the protection of the whole creation. However, Kautilya departs from the myth of the divine right of the king.
The advent of the British Raj and the freedom movement ushered in new thinking. Patriotism and nationalism formed the core of the political ideas and practices of Indian leaders. After Independence, the desire has been to bring about social, economic and political democracy. Eminent Indians: Political Thinkers and Administratorsbrings to focus the lives and contributions of some of these distinguished Indians. In addition to Kautilya, Jawaharlal Nehru was the architect of independent India and laid the edifice of socio-economic planning, and development in science and technology. Babasaheb Ambedkar, among other things, was a social scientist and the chief architect of the constitution of India. C.N. Annadurai, the founder of DMK, laid the foundation of regionalism, which has now paved the way for the coalition form of government both at the state and national levels. V.K. Krishna Menon had been the spokesman of India’s freedom movement in Europe and a link with radical movements of other countries. Indira Gandhi, the first woman prime minister of India, transformed the structure of Indian politics by placing the issue of poverty in the forefront of national debate. V.V. Giri, a great freedom fighter and an active participant in the working class movement, had been the president of India. K.R. Narayanan, the tenth president of India, combined professional diplomacy with intellectualism in dealing with foreign policy problems. Atal Bihari Vajpayee successfully headed a non-congress multi-party government as the thirteenth prime minister of India.ISBN - 9788129111074
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Pages : 110
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