Letters to Chief Ministers, 1947-64

The 5th and final volume of Jawaharlal Nehru's "Letters to Chief Ministers" covers the years 1958 to his death in 1964.

These 91 letters aid understanding of momentous events.

The large scale aggression of China in 1962, with the events leading up to it and the spirited response of India under Nehru's leadership naturally occupy the centre of the stage.

Nehru, recognizing that India's development in all other fields had a direct bearing on resistance to China, stressed the urgency of land reforms, educational programmes, co-operative farming, panchayati raj and greater productivity in agriculture and industry.

So too in foreign affairs, it was shallow to abandon the established policy of non-alignment at the first threat of invasion.

These years when the country was threatened from without, and integration seemingly corroded from within, show Jawaharal Nehru in many ways at his best.