influence on society. The legal, and practical, insistence on
equality for Moslems runs counter to that whole trend of history
which only ten years ago led to the partitioning of the sub-
continent. Yet it is evident that unless India really becomes a
secular state, in which a man's religion in no way affects his
political status, it will be impossible for the country to be united,
democratic, or modern.

The word "socialist," which is often on the lips of the Con-
gress party and of the prime minister, has led to a good deal
of misunderstanding abroad, and indeed reflects a muddle in
many Indians' minds. . . . Today the most hidebound captains
of industry in the Congress party, managers who would expel a
trade unionist from their factory, solemnly declare themselves in
favor of the "socialist pattern of society." What they seem to
mean by this is not public ownership of the means of production
but, first, a planned effort to increase production and, second, an
effort to smooth out the inequality between wealth and poverty.
For Nehru this egalitarianism is a consuming passion. . . .

Perhaps it is in his emphasis on scientific thought as the basis
for a new India that Nehru comes most sharply into conflict with
the old India. Most Indians just do not accept the relation of
scientific cause and effect. . . .

Perhaps it is because eighty per cent of India's food depends
on the God-given rains of the monsoon, which may fail or fall
out of season, that Indians refuse to equate individual effort with
results. Whatever the reason, Nehru has seen that this mentality
is a formidable barrier to India's entry into the modern world. . . .

Of course, being scientific means more to India's leaders than
just a state of mind. It means having machines instead of mass
manpower, veterinary care instead of herds of undernourished
diseased cattle, cars instead of bullock carts; it means, in fact,
making India an equal partner with its late imperial masters.

This, then, is the revolution planned by Nehru. In the first
ten years of independence enormous strides have been made, most
notably in the political sphere. What are the prospects for the
next ten years?

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