Gandhi and Nehru had very different ideas of development though both agreed, in their own ways, that the Swaraj meant moral, social and political regeneration of the country. While Gandhi was a traditionalist, Nehru was a Western in his beliefs.  Gandhi was older and compared to Nehru, had a commoner background, having braved the racial discrimination in South Africa. Nehru had an elitist background and had no personal experience of discrimination. Therefore, their visions were also different.

Gandhi in his development model emphasized among other things, self-reliance and self-sufficiency, swadeshi, liberation of the rural poor from all forms of oppression and deprivation and participation of the masses in nation building. He also described freedom as poor man''s Swaraj.

Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India into whose hands the steering wheel of the destiny of the nation was first entrusted, had an entirely different vision of new India. He wanted to modernise India as fast as possible and to catch up with the West in terms of economic development. Industrialisation was, for him, the key to India''s quick transformation. In his over enthusiasm to modernize India he rejected the Gandhian model and adopted the Western as he thought that the former was regressive and the latter scientific and modern.''

NEHRUVIAN DEVELOPMENT 

• Nehru''s model of development emerged as the driving force of the strategy of development adopted at the time of formulation of the Second Five Year Plan.
• Nehruvian model was based on long-term development strategy, which accorded greater preference to the long-term goals of development. The strategy, therefore emphasized:
  • High rate of saving so as lo boost investment to a higher level
  • It preferred a heavy industry bias to develop the industrial base of the economy
  • It opted for the protectionist path so as to safeguard infant industry.
  • It encouraged import substitution so as to achieve self-reliance
  • It aimed at enlargement of opportunities for the less privileged sections of the society.
• To achieve the objective of growth with social justice was thus the goal of Nehru''s model since it intended to foster a self-generating path of development with an assurance to the common man that poverty, unemployment, disease and ignorance will be removed.
• A much greater role was assigned to the State. The principal functions of the State in the economic sphere were the development of economic and social infrastructure.
• The economic infrastructure was concerned with enlargement of irrigation, power on industrial development and irrigation for agricultural development.
• By increasing social infrastructure in the form of education and health, the State intended to develop skilled manpower so that it could provide the necessary skills needed for the functioning of new industries. Thus, in the Nehruvian model the State controlled the commanding heights of the economy through the public sector.
• He favoured centralized planning as the route to rapid economic development and modernization. Nehru placed greater emphasis on autonomy at the national level, in the sense of the country becoming self-reliant with regard to basic materials, be it food, steel or technology. For Nehru socialism did not mean the state ownership of all the means of production. His emphasis was on social justice based on equity and better income distribution and programmes accelerating economic growth that would reduce disparities both economic and social. He saw a place for the private sector also in the process along with the public sector.
• The "commanding heights" approach adopted by Nehru is to be understood properly. What he wanted was to use the public sector enterprises to serve his overall economic policy and guide the direction of the economy. Thus, in the Nehruvian model the role of the public enterprises was focused as instrument of planning for rapid and guided industrialization."
• As pointed out by Arjun Sengupta, in the formulation of his development vision and strategy, Nehru was deeply influenced by the twin legacy of the Indian national movement viz., independence and evaluation of every programme in terms of how it would benefit the poor.

GANDHIAN DEVELOPMENT

• During the freedom struggle Mahatma Gandhi had highlighted the importance of promoting agricultural and allied activities like cottage and village industries for the emancipation of the rural population of our country.
• He emphasised the integration of agriculture and industry. Gandhi had reminded the other leaders a number of times that "India lives in her villages" and that by neglecting the villages India could not make any progress.
• Along with the political struggle Gandhiji had launched a comprehensive programme known as the Constructive Programmes for the economic upliftment of the rural people of our country. To him the focus of development is to provide the basic needs to all people.
• Gandhiji emphasised a self-reliant and village based economy. In the Gandhian economic system, the production system should be based on the ideal of progressive and regulated minimization of needs and not on that of multiplication of wants. The economy should be life-centered. This means that the socio-economic system should operate on the ethico- economic principle of optimum and not on the principle of maximization.
• Unless the spirit of swadeshi or self-reliance is revived, the traditional Indian econorny might exist for some more time without being heard and finally recede into oblivion over a period.
• This would spell doom for the rural poor, the economically and socially, backward classes and also for the oppressed and the marginalised sections. But the present developments in India positively call for the revival of the swadeshi spirit.
• Swadeshi is not a chauvinistic thought. It is really an alternative economic philosophy, idea. having global significance. 
• The Gandhian approach to development is based on an austere life that avoids overexploitation of high energy sources and over-burdening of the environment.
• Gandhiji was only against industrialism that uproots rural life and not against industrialization that subserves, and not subordinates, the traditional economy.
• What is needed is an ever expanding and never ascending oceanic or concentric/circle of self-sufficient and self-reliant face to face communities.
• The national lifestyle has to be oriented to preserve the ethos of the nation and not just to be lifeless imitations of others.

Despite the economic reforms of 1991, India still follows the Socialist principles of both Gandhi and Nehru seen in the forms of Public-Private Partnerships, State support to the weaker sections of society, strengthening the local governments, promotion of MSMEs and village industries etc. A good mix of both Gandhian and Nehruvian socialist ideals has ensured the development of fruits to reach all citizens.