Socialism - Root of India's Problems

Post Independence, India followed the policy of socialism, which meant that the economy would be closed to foreign participation, the public sector would provide the impetus to development, and private participation in the economy would be heavily regulated. The economy came to be known as a mixed economy, wherein the positives of both socialism and capitalism would be amalgamated. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, a keen student of Fabian Socialism, was greatly impressed by the USSR. Indeed, all of our founding fathers believed that socialism would deliver the Indian people from decades of suffering and poverty. This assertion proved terribly wrong. Instead of its stated intent to bring about all round development, it resulted in rampant corruption, inefficiency and arrogance of the bureaucrats and government agencies, which was borne of the knowledge that they wielded enormous power.
The Government and its agencies, instead of providing for the people, became the biggest roadblock to India's "tryst with destiny", to quote the great Pandit Nehru. Private individuals like the legendary Aditya Birla, left the country after being vexed at the nation's license raj policy, which would determine where the entrepreneur would build his factory, how many units he will build in the factory, the output of the factory and the price at which the entrepreneur would sell his goods in market. The result of such policies was the 3% average growth over decades and the near bankrupt economy of 1991.
It would be easy to blame our founding fathers for placing trust in idealistic policies, but those were simpler days and there was a great distrust of foreigners, given that the country tasted freedom after 200 years of bondage. Individuals in the present generation should understand that socialism is to blame for all our misfortunes, not individuals like the Mahatma, Sardar Patel or Nehru. It is because of the sacrifices of these great men that we are a free nation, something which the youth takes for granted. However, there were also a few positives. There are a few public sector companies like ONGC and BSNL, which have proved they can take on the best and come out victorious. The emphasis on industrialisation, although skewed heavily toward the public sector has led to today's scenario where reforms have resulted in rampant growth. These can best be described as a silver lining in a very gloomy setting. Liberalisation, a process initiated in 1991, has led to a scenario where India is poised to becoming one of the world's biggest economies in a few years.
On the contrary, except for a few companies, the public sector represents a very sick patient, only that they are being denied medication (privatisation) by organisations which claim to protect them (the Left). The communists still stick to their ineffective dogma, which will succeed only in Utopia. The economic disintegration of Russia after the fall of the USSR has shown that it is only on the surface that communist countries appear rich. China, one of the few communist countries, follows communism only for political means whilst for all practical purposes it is capitalist. It's amazing growth today can be attributed to the reforms initiated by Deng Xiaoping in the seventies. In India, the communists still pose a threat, and the unfortunate thing is that some people follow them without realising that they are responsible for the sorry state a majority of our countrymen are in. Naxalism is an example. Socialism is hypocrisy. Whilst claiming to deliver salvation, it will heap more misery of the people. It is time to turn to all out capitalism. That will make Vision 2020 a reality.