An Architecture for a Socialist State The Architecture of
Socialism With a few brief exceptions, post-independence Indian
politics till the 1990s was dominated largely by the Congress
party, each time with a representative of the Nehru-Gandhi
family at the helm, who alone seemed to be able to guarantee a
certain unity. Principally backed by Nehru and his coterie of
advisers, India with its five-year plans embarked on a socialist
model of development that featured a top-heavy State with
minimal delegation of power to the regions or to district-level
representative bodies. This socialist-industrial model called
for massive State-controlled investment in heavy industry and
associated activities. While this model of governance may
possibly have been the only viable solution in a time when India
was struggling to become a cohesive political unit, it was also
subsequently criticized for encouraging and entrenching endemic
corruption and propagating a multi-layered bureaucracy that
continues to this day. The State,