System Mechanic - Clean, repair, protect, and speed up your PC!Jawaharlal Nehru
1889 - 1964
Jawaharlal Nehru, first Prime Minister of a free India in 1947, died May 27, 1964. He was 74.
Nehru was born November 14, 1889 in Kashmir. The son of a wealthy lawyer, his family sent him to England at age 16 to attend high school and college. He graduated from the University of Cambridge with a law degree.
Returning to India in 1912, he set up a law practice. In 1919, he became a member of the Indian National Congress headed by Mohandas Ghandi.
Nehru became increasingly involved in the effort to achieve Indian independence from Great Britain. From 1921 to 1945, British authorities imprisoned him nine times for his pro-independence sentiments and activities. Nehru believed more in active resistance than that of the passive resistance practiced by Ghandi.
In 1942 Ghandi stepped down as the leader of the Nationalists, with Nehru being named as his replacement. When the British agreed to begin withdrawing from India in 1946, Nehru began plans to form an interim government, and to stop a movement to establish separate Hindu and Muslim states. But he was unable to prevent the founding of the Muslim state of Pakistan.
In August 1947, India began its transition from colony to independent state when Nehru was elected prime minister of an interim Indian government. Full independence came in 1950 when the new republic of India was established with Nehru in charge.
Some of the more important actions which occurred during Nehru's tenure were his support of stopping North Korean aggression into South Korea in 1950, his opposition to British and French efforts to keep control of the Suez Canal, and a pro-active policy toward China in defending India's borders from any Chinese incursion.
Nehru remained India's first prime minister until his death in New Delhi on May 27, 1964.
