India: Materializing the Vision of Bose?
Richi Simon
a
Department of Social Work, The Bhopal School of Social Sciences, Bhopal, India
Keywords: Bose, Development, India, Opinion.
Abstract: Development – a change from one state to another normally associated with positive movement is a holistic
concept. The idea of Bose regarding Self-reliant Bharat had a strong inclination towards industry, defence,
scientific temper and strong leadership. He valued non-discrimination and perceived the problems of poverty,
unemployment, discrimination, caste, class as some of the major problems that Independent India had to face.
This is true today. The present paper is an attempt to explore the opinions of the Indian residents regarding
the developed India as projected in the vision of Bose. 35 respondents were part of the study. Their selection
was done using convenience sampling. One-way ANOVA was used to examine the difference in the mean
scores across several population variables. The results show that the opinions regarding development vary
across the groups of majority and minority affiliation. However, the other independent variables of age,
gender, geographical community had no effect on the peoples’ perception regarding development. The present
study shows that though quantitatively India is showing development especially in the areas of defence and
industry, the problems like poverty, increasing gap between rich and poor, discrimination, unemployment and
underemployment hamper the holistic development of the country as visualized by Netaji Subhash Chandra
Bose. Thus, steps must be taken to improve the quality of life of all the residents of India, including the poorest
of the poor and the most vulnerable.
1 INTRODUCTION AND
LITERATURE REVIEW
India has remained in the clutches of the British for
around 200 years and Post-independence, the
governance of the country became a big challenge.
Many renowned freedom fighters have shed their
blood for the independence of the country and many
others had a big role in shaping the Independent India.
However, all great leaders had dreamt of the
Independent India, the ideal India. One such visionary
was Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.
Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose was a great freedom
fighter whose death has gained more popularity than
his work. ‘Netaji’ the title best suits him as he was a
true leader. His ideology differed from that of the
Father of the Nation – Mahatma Gandhi. Netaji
believed in egalitarianism and inclusive prosperity.
Bose envisioned financial and economic strength of
a
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4961-2609
India. In his opinion every citizen of free India should
have same rights and should deliver same duties. This
is where, he was a true socialist. He believed that
prosperity will prevail only if capital and power is
distributed and not limited in the hands of few. He
believed that the idea state of India will be where all
religions co-exist peacefully. He also affirmed that
youth are the country’s future and they must prioritize
nation over and above all, only then, the nation will
flourish (The Economic Times, 2022).
India to emerge as powerful nation in terms of
defence was another strong opinion of Bose.
Especially women also must be involved in combat
and leadership roles in the armed forces. This is
reflected in the reality today. Bose’s ideas were
towards freeing the country from foreign dominance,
aiming at a truly Atmanirbhar country. The measures
like Make in India and the PLI schemes are creating
a favourable ecosystem making India as the
manufacturing hub of Asia. However, this needs to be
Simon, R.
India: Materializing the Vision of Bose?.
DOI: 10.5220/0012499900003792
Paper published under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
In Proceedings of the 1st Pamir Transboundary Conference for Sustainable Societies (PAMIR 2023), pages 627-633
ISBN: 978-989-758-687-3
Proceedings Copyright © 2024 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda.
627

reflected in the rates of poverty, unemployment and
agricultural indebtedness as well. Netaji always felt
that labour rights must be protected and appropriate
support must be provided by the state by the means of
yojnas, social welfare schemes and other social sector
programmes. The vulnerables must be provided with
social security to absorb economic shocks (Dalmia,
2022).
Not just a socialist, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose was
also believed in authoritarianism. Authoritarianism as
a general set of attitudes includes dogmatism, a
preference for conformity, willingness to coercively
enforce behavioral standards, punitiveness toward
perceived enemies, and a strong concern with
hierarchy (Costello et al., 2022). According to Bose
the young men and women form the core human
energy which is needed to rise and rebel against the
forces somehow restraining us from attaining true
liberation (Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and
Economic Planning in India, n.d.).
The major initiatives of the present Indian
Government depicted in the PM India (Government
of India, n.d.) website are –
[1] Make In India – It is an impetus to manufacturing
in India and make India a Global Manufacturing Hub.
The “Make in India” initiative is based on four pillars
- New Processes: The aim is to de-license and de-
regulate the industry during the entire life cycle of a
business; New Infrastructure: develop industrial
corridors and smart cities to provide infrastructure
based on state-of-the-art technology with modern
high-speed communication and integrated logistic
arrangements. Innovation and research activities are
supported through fast paced registration system and
accordingly infrastructure of Intellectual Property
Rights registration set-up has been upgraded; New
Sectors: ‘Make in India’ has identified 25 sectors in
manufacturing, infrastructure and service activities
and detailed information is being shared through
interactive web-portal and professionally developed
brochures; New Mindset: The Government will
partner industry in economic development of the
country. The approach will be that of a facilitator and
not regulator.
[2] Swachh Bharat Abhiyan – On 2nd October 2014,
Swachh Bharat Mission, the cleanliness campaign,
was launched throughout length and breadth of the
country as a national movement.
[3] NITI Aayog – Transforming India’s Development
Agenda –NITI Aayog (National Institution for
Transforming India) was set up in place of the
erstwhile Planning Commission, as a means to better
serve the needs and aspirations of the people of India.
[4] Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana - one of the
biggest financial inclusion initiatives in the world,
was announced by Prime Minister, Shri Narendra
Modi on 15th August 2014. The scheme ensures
access to a range of financial services like availability
of basic savings bank account, access to need based
credit, remittances facility, insurance and pension.
Guinness World Records certified that "Most bank
accounts opened in one week as part of the Financial
Inclusion Campaign is 18,096,130 and was achieved
by the Department of Financial Services,
Government of India."
After examining the views of Netaji Subhash Chandra
Bose and the major initiatives by the Government of
India, the question becomes as to whether these steps
really result in the opinion formation of the citizens
and if yes, then in which direction and up to what
magnitude? Allport (1935) described the basic
contours of opinion formation in his definition of
attitude as "a mental and neural state of readiness,
organized through experience, exerting a directive
and dynamic influence upon the individual's response
to all objects and situations with which it is related".
Bartels (2001) in his work details that an opinion
survey with several hundred randomly selected
respondents can provide a reasonably accurate
representation of the preferences and beliefs of
millions of ordinary citizens—public opinion.
There are 4 stages in the process of public opinion
formation - 1. The salience of some problem for a
number of people, 2. The discussion of the problem
resulting in increased salience, 3. The formulation of
alternative solutions and narrowing the alternatives,
4. Final mobilization of opinion to affect the
collective decision which further strengthens the
mobilized opinion (Katz, 1966). Hartley et al. (1955)
and Thurstone (1928) opine that opinions are "verbal
expressions of attitudes in concrete situations."
McNemar (1948) concludes that though No one has
ever seen an attitude; an attitude, however real to its
possessor, is an abstraction, the existence of which is
inferred from nonverbal overt behavior, or from
verbal or symbolic behavior. The term opinion is
frequently defined as the verbal expression of an
attitude.
The present article aims to examine the opinions of
the respondents and basically focuses on the
following objectives –
[1] To examine the opinions of Indian citizens
regarding materialization of Bose’s Vision of India
[2] To compare these opinions across gender
[3] To compare these opinions across urban and rural
communities
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[4] To present a view of the ideal India and ideal
Indian Governance
Also, the following hypotheses are formulated for
testing –
H1: Belongingness to a minority group affects
peoples’ perception regarding country’s
development.
H2: Gender affects peoples’ perception regarding
country’s development.
H3: Age affects peoples’ perception regarding
country’s development.
H4: Geographical location affects peoples’
perception regarding country’s development.
2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The study follows mixed method i.e., both qualitative
and quantitative methods were used in the study. The
sample comprises of 35 respondents who were
selected using convenience sampling. The self-
designed tool was administered to the participants
using Google Form. The tool comprised of 22 items
on Likert scale to measure participant opinion and 6
questions on nominal scale were for demographic
details. Moreover, 2 open ended questions were also
included in the tool. Cronbach’s alpha value was
examined to test the reliability and validity of the tool.
Table 1: Reliability Statistics
Cronbach's Al
p
ha N
.815 22
A general accepted rule is that Cronbach’s Alpha
value of 0.8 or greater a very good level (Ursachi et
al., 2015). Thus, the tool is reliable and valid. The
scale statistics are presented in Table 2
Table 2: Scale Statistics
X Var SD N
58.3143 94.987 9.74610 22
Further, the data was examined for normality which
is a condition for running ANOVA.
Table 3: Tests of Normality
Kolmogorov-
Smirnov
a
Shapiro-Wilk
Statisti
c
df p
value
Statisti
c
df p
value
Su
m
.089 3
5
.200
*
.969 35 .419
*. This is a lower bound of the true significance.
a. Lilliefors Significance Correction
For a small sample size like the one in the study n
= 35, Shapiro-Wilk test is processed. As depicted in
Table 3, the p-value is .419, null hypothesis is
rejected and it can be concluded that the data comes
from a normal distribution (Ifham, 2019).
A normal distribution allows for running
parametric test. One-way ANOVA test was
performed to see how the means differed across the
different groups significantly. For the study, peoples’
perception regarding country’s development is taken
as the Dependent Variable and the Population
variables of religion, gender, region, and age are
taken as Independent Variables.
Figure 1: Conceptual Framework
3 DATA ANALYSIS AND
INTERPRETATION
Data was clubbed according to the various nominal
categories in the demographic details.
An analysis across the minority and majority
groups based on religion was performed and the
results are presented in Table 4.
H1: Belongingness to a minority group affects
peoples’ perception regarding country’s development
Table 4: Minority Group ANOVA
df Mean
S
q
uare
F p value
Between
Groups
1 416.484 4.886 .034
Within
Grou
p
s
33 85.244
Total 34
From table 4 it is observed that there is a significant
difference between the two groups – majority and
minority on peoples’ perception regarding country’s
development.
F (1,33) = 4.86, p = .034
India: Materializing the Vision of Bose?
629

As p<.05, therefore the null hypothesis is rejected.
H2: Gender affects peoples’ perception regarding
country’s development.
Table 5: Gender Group ANOVA
df Mean
Square
F p
value
Between
Grou
p
s
1 65.610 .684 .414
Within
Groups
33 95.877
Total 34
From table 5 it is observed that there is no significant
difference between the two groups based on gender
i.e, affiliation to the groups of males and females has
no effect on peoples’ perception regarding country’s
development.
F(1,33) = 0.684, p = .414
As p>.05, therefore the null hypothesis is
accepted.
H3: Age affects peoples’ perception regarding
country’s development.
Table 6: Age Group ANOVA
df Mean
Square
F p value
Between
Groups
2 96.430 1.016 .373
Within
Grou
p
s
32 94.896
Total 34
From table 6 it is observed that there is no significant
difference between the groups based on age bracket,
i.e, age has no effect on peoples’ perception regarding
country’s development.
F(2,32) = 1.016, p = .373
As p>.05, therefore the null hypothesis is
accepted.
H4: Geographical location affects peoples’
perception regarding country’s development.
Table 7: Geographical Community ANOVA
df Mean
Square
F p value
Between
Groups
1 1.376 .014 .906
Within
Grou
p
s
33 97.823
Total 34
From table 7 it is observed that there is no significant
difference between the groups based on area of
residence, i.e, affiliation to a particular geographical
community has no significant effect on peoples’
perception regarding country’s development.
F(1,33) =.014, p = .906
As p>.05, therefore the null hypothesis is
accepted.
Table 8: Summary Table
Hypothesi
s
Path
coefficient
s
F p-
valu
e
Hypothesi
s
Su
pp
orte
d
H1 Religion -
> Pe
r
4.88
6
.034 Yes
H2 Gender ->
Pe
r
.684 .414 No
H3 Age -> Per 1.01
6
.373 No
H4 Region ->
Pe
r
.014 .906 No
Out of the 35 responses received, percentage analysis
was carried on to understand the responses of the
participants.
Table 9: Percent Analysis
Items Stron
gly
Disag
ree
Disa
gree
Neutra
l
Agr
ee
Stro
ngly
Agr
ee
In my
opinion,
India is
moving
towards a
classless
societ
y
14.29 45.7
1
22.86 17.1
4
0.00
In my
opinion,
India is
moving
towards a
casteless
societ
y
8.57 60.0
0
8.57 20.0
0
2.86
In my
opinion, in
India,
today there
is no
discriminat
ion
48.57 37.1
4
2.86 11.4
3
0.00
In my
opinion,
India must
not tolerate
any kind of
discriminat
or
y
p
ractice
2.86 11.4
3
8.57 25.7
1
51.4
3
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In my
opinion, in
India, the
difference
between
the rich and
the poor is
reducin
g
40.00 37.1
4
8.57 11.4
3
2.86
In my
opinion,
India
suffers
from
p
overt
y
0.00 2.86 5.71
71.4
3
20.0
0
In my
opinion,
Indian
youth are
facing
numerous
livelihood
issues
0.00 0.00 5.71 54.2
9
40.0
0
In my
opinion, in
India,
women are
treated
equal to
men
8.57 68.5
7
11.43 11.4
3
0.00
Minorities
are ignored
in India
5.71 20.0
0
22.86 34.2
9
17.1
4
Oppression
of the weak
prevails in
India
0.00 17.1
4
37.14 22.8
6
22.8
6
Certain
specific
groups are
oppressed
in India
0.00 5.71 20.00 45.7
1
28.5
7
In my
opinion, in
India, only
the big
companies
are
flourishin
g
0.00 20.0
0
25.71 31.4
3
22.8
6
In my
opinion, in
India, the
small scale
industries
are
flourishing
2.86 28.5
7
34.29 34.2
9
0.00
In my
opinion, in
India,
startups are
flourishing
0.00 11.4
3
37.14 48.5
7
2.86
In my
opinion,
India has
strong
authority
fi
g
ures
2.86 11.4
3
40.00 34.2
9
11.4
3
In my
opinion,
the
decisions
of Indian
Governmen
t are
enforced as
undeniably
true
5.71 17.1
4
25.71 34.2
9
17.1
4
In my
opinion,
India today
has become
intolerant
towards
others
2.86 25.7
1
28.57 28.5
7
14.2
9
In my
opinion,
the
oppositions
against the
Governmen
t decisions
have to
face serious
consequenc
es
5.71 14.2
9
22.86 31.4
3
25.7
1
In my
opinion,
those
opposing
the
Governmen
t should be
strictly
p
unishe
d
34.29 22.8
6
17.14 22.8
6
2.86
In my
opinion,
India is
showing an
upward
trajectory
in
Industrial
Growth
2.86 11.4
3
40.00 42.8
6
2.86
In my
opinion,
India is
showing an
upward
trajectory
in defense
2.86 11.4
3
37.14 40.0
0
8.57
India: Materializing the Vision of Bose?
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In my
opinion,
India has
developed
a scientific
tem
p
e
r
2.86 8.57 37.14
45.7
1
5.71
The highest percentage of responses are highlighted
for a better clarity. The overall perception of the
masses regarding development in India is not very
promising. The areas of industry, defense and
scientific temper though are indicated as flourishing,
still there are several issues prevalent which the
respondents feel should be considered while
understanding development as perceived by Netaji
Subhash Chandra Bose. Discrimination, caste, class,
oppression of the weak, intolerance, poverty,
livelihood problems and rigidity of the Government
are some of the prime areas needing attention.
From the two open ended questions, the responses
present the ideal state of India and the ideal state of
Indian Governance, word clouds of the text were
generated using online software on
https://monkeylearn.com/ The results are presented
below –
Figure 2: Ideal India: Word Cloud
Ideas related to discrimination, caste, job, religion,
state, religion, reservation had the highest frequency.
Overall, upon running sentiment analysis on
https://www.danielsoper.com/, the following result
was obtained –
Figure 3: Ideal India: Sentiment Analysis
The descriptive responses on Ideal India had a
sentiment score of 66.0. This means that the overall
sentiment or tone of this text is quite positive /
enthusiastic.
The respondents describe ideal Indian governance to
fight against corruption, reduce the increasing cost,
harness youth potential and prospering public
institutions. This is shown in the word cloud below –
Figure 4: Ideal Indian Governance: Word Cloud
Upon running sentiment analysis on
https://www.danielsoper.com/, the following results
were obtained -
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Figure 5: Ideal Indian Governance: Sentiment Analysis
The descriptive responses on Ideal Indian
Governance had a sentiment score of 68.2. This
means that the overall sentiment or tone of this text is
quite positive / enthusiastic.
The above analysis, shows that the respondents have
positive sentiments towards the ideal state of the
Country and Indian Governance. They are hopeful
about the bright future of the country once the
pressing issues are addressed.
4 CONCLUSIONS
The findings of the study indicate that opinions are
personal subject matter and may or may not depend
over the projections made on media platforms. It was
found that affiliation to the majority and minority
groups had a statistically significant effect on the
general opinions formed about the country’s’
development. Overall, the vision of Bose is
accomplished to a lot extent when it comes to the
quantitative realization but there is a lot to be done to
improve the quality of life of the Indian citizens
particularly towards the prevailing social evils,
women empowerment and discrimination.
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