Interview number: 156

Interviewer: Shanker, Uma

Interview date: 1970-08-12

Length 462 minutes

Condition notes: Always struggling for volume, causing hiss in places; stereo channel imbalance (r.h. channel almost disappears for considerable periods)

U.N. Dhebar, Chief Minister of Saurashtra (’48-’54), President of the Indian National Congress (’55-’59), talks of leading the freedom struggle in Saurashtra, his contacts with national leaders before and after Independence, and gives lengthy observations on the social, economic and political scene in India during that time, especially the conflict between the need to alleviate poverty and the need to expand industry and the difficulty of balancing national and private sector industries.

Coverage notes: Saurashtra; Indian National Congress; Scheduled Tribes Commission; Khadi and Village Industries; trades unions; responsible government; feudalism; confederation; integration; Pax Britannica; “Jam Joot Rachna”; Sevak Sangh; Swatantra Party; Naxalites; Gandhian economics; poly-centralisation; Rajkot formula; Fazl-i-Ali; British India, Indian States; the British; land reforms; democratic socialism; Hindu/Muslim; suffrage; ’35 Act; ’57 elections; 1936-1970