UN General Assembly
1957

83. When we became an independent country, without being addicted to any ideology, we took over in our own minds the political and the economic consequences of independence. There is so much said in these halls about, colonial rule, national independence, the sovereignty of nations, the much abused words "self-determination of peoples" and so on. But none of these has any meaning to the masses of the people of any country unless they are translated into terms of political facilities to express themselves, autonomy — swaraj, as we could call it in our country — satisfaction of hunger, provision of shelter, proper sanitation and organization of leisure. These are the social minima that must obtain in our civilized age. 84. We in our country took the plunge six or seven years ago when we not only accepted but proclaimed and embodied in our Constitution and political life the idea that the independence of our country must be the independence of all the peoples. What the West then regarded as an experiment is now part of our national life.