About
Jawaharlal Nehru ( NAY-roo or NERR-oo, Hindi: [dʒəˌʋaːɦəɾˈlaːl ˈneːɦɾuː] ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian statesman who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20th century. Nehru was second only to Mahatma Gandhi in leading the Indian nationalist movement in the 1930s and 1940s, and upon independence from Britain in 1947 served as India's first prime minister until his death in 1964. A secular humanist and social democrat, Nehru championed parliamentary democracy, secularism, science and technology, influencing India's arc as a modern nation. In international affairs, he kept India out of the two blocs of the Cold War and was a founder of the Non-Aligned Movement. Nehru was also a prolific author in English, and his works including An Autobiography (1936) and The Discovery of India (1946) have been read and deliberated upon around the world.