India, March 14 -- "These days, the greatest temple, mosque, or gurdwara is the place where a person works for the welfare of humanity. What place could be greater than this-this Bhakra-Nangal?"

These powerful words were spoken by Jawaharlal Nehru at the inauguration of the Nangal Canal Project in July 1954. They captured the optimism and determination of a young nation struggling to rise from the shadows of nearly two centuries of colonial rule. For a newly independent India, development was not merely a policy-it was a mission, almost a form of nation-building faith. The decades that followed witnessed the construction of colossal dams, the expansion of heavy industries, the establishment of national institutes of excellence, and the p...