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7INDIA TODAY

You have learnt about the various streams of the freedommovement in India and the attainment of Independence fromBritish domination which had lasted for almost two centuries.The Indian freedom movement was different from those of othercountries. It was the greatest mass movement in the world. It wasthe history of a people who fought fearlessly against the brutalitiesimposed by the British rule. The replacement of the Union Jackby the Indian Tricolour on 15th August 1947 proclaimed thedemise of the British empire in India and the birth of a new nation.

India becomes independent

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In the meeting of the Constituent Assemblywhich met at the Central Hall of theParliament, Jawaharlal Nehru, who wassworn in as the first Prime Minister of India,spoke on the midnight of 14th August:"When the world sleeps, India will awaketo life and freedom".

But the dominant impulse in India underBritish rule was that of fear, pervasive,oppressing, strangling fear, fear of the army, thepolice, the widespread secret service; fear ofofficial class; fear of laws meant to suppress andof prison, fear of the land lord's agents, fear ofthe money lender, fear of unemployment andstarvation, which were always on the threshold.It was against this all-pervading fear thatGandhiji's quiet and determined voice wasraised: Be not afraid."

Jawaharlal Nehru: "Discovery of India"

Partition, RiotsThe attainment of Indian Independencebrought both happiness and sorrow.Happiness, because long years of foreignrule had ended. Sorrow, because it broughtpartition, bloodshed and massivemovements of refugees.

The country was divided into two: India andPakistan. What was the cause of partition?

During the period of freedom struggle itselfdifferences of opinion broke out in definingnationalism. Hindu Mahasabha claimed thatIndian nationalism was Hindu. The All IndiaMuslim League held that there was alsoMuslim nationalism. Both of them weredefining nationalism on the basis of religion.Based on the Two-Nation Theory thusemerged, the League demanded that thecountry should be divided into two. Itsleader Mohammed Ali Jinnah demandedthat a separate state of Pakistan should be

Jinnah and Gandhiji

created by dividing India into two. TheBritish policy of 'Divide and Rule' had a keyrole behind this demand.

The Indian National Congress opposed theTwo-Nation Theory. Undivided India wasits position.

In the Cabinet Mission Plan, Britain made itclear that as a prelude to the transfer ofpower an Interim Government should beformed and a Constituent Assembly shouldbe established. Accordingly, an InterimGovernment was formed in 1946 under thePrime Ministership of Jawaharlal Nehru.Muslim League refused to join the ministryand called for Direct Action. This wasfollowed by the outbreak of communal riotsin many parts of India. Muslim League laterjoined the ministry, but did not give up thedemand for Pakistan. The Congress insistedon undivided India. The Hindu Mahasabhademanded that India should be made aHindu state after granting Pakistan to theLeague. These arguments inflamed thecommunal riots. Congress feared thatfreedom which was at the doorsteps wouldbe lost because of the bickerings. It was ofthe opinion that the demand for a separatePakistan should never stand in the way of

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freedom and hence agreed to partition. ButGandhiji did not endorse this view. His wasa lone voice.

Lord Mountbatten reached India in February1947 as the new Viceroy. He finalised thescheme of partition after holding discussionswith the leaders of various political parties.This was known as the Mountbatten Plan.He submitted his proposals to the Britishgovernment. Accordingly a bill waspresented in the British Parliament and waspassed in June 1947. This was the Indian

Independence Act. The colonial relationshipbetween Britain and India which lasted forabout two centuries thus came to an end.

Sir Cyril Radcliff, a leading lawyer of theLondon Bar, was entrusted with the task ofpreparing a detailed map in accordance withthe partition plan. Provinces, districts andvillages were divided. The prosperousprovinces of Punjab and Bengal weredivided. East Bengal and West Punjabbecame parts of Pakistan.

Pakistan was formed as two parts on the east and west of India. Find out theposition of Pakistan in the Indian map of 1947. Which were the other provinces ofPakistan?

Transfer of Power and Partition took placeat the same time. Mohammadali Jinnah wassworn in as the new head of state of Pakistanon 14th August, 1947.

What are the things to be shared when a nationis divided into two?

• Military

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Moth-Eaten PakistanJinnah and Muslim League demanded that theprovinces of Punjab, Sind, Baluchistan, AfghanProvince, Kashmir and Bengal should beincluded in the newly created state of Pakistan.But they got only half each of Punjab andBengal. Kashmir was not given. A dissatisfiedJinnah quipped that what he got was a 'Moth-Eaten Pakistan'.

August 15Louis Mountbatten, a member of the Britishroyal family and an admiral of the Royal Navy,was the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of theAllied Forces constituted by Britain, France andAmerica in the East against Japan at the end ofSecond World War. Japan controlled the entirearea from the Hawaii island in the East to theBay of Bengal in the West. It was on 15th August1945 that Japan surrendered beforeMountbatten. It was a memorable day in hislife. Hence he chose 15 th August as theIndependence Day for India.

The Partition had created a division amongthe Indians who were living so far peacefullyand with a sense of unity. The people weredivided into Hindus and Muslims. Theirleaders incited religious feelings andprovoked communal riots. Tens ofthousands of people were slaughtered.Hindus and Sikhs fled from Pakistan andMuslims fled from India. Lakhs of refugeescrossed the borders of India and Pakistan. It

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was the greatest refugee migration in thehistory of the world. Lahore, Delhi andCalcutta reeled under communal riots.Insecurity and anarchy prevailed every-where. A freedom won by non-violence andtolerance ended up in violence and crime.

You know the story of Mahatma Gandhi whotoured the riot-ridden area to change thehearts of the rioting people and to assurepeople of peace. Gandhiji appealed to therioters not to murder any Muslim withinIndia. He went on to a fast unto death urgingthe Government to abide by conditions ofthe partition. The Hindu fundamentalistssaw him as an enemy because, when theHindus in Pakistan were being murdered,Gandhiji became the protector of theMuslims in India. These were the reasonsfor their murdering him.

Integration of StatesWhen the British left the country, there weremore than six hundred princely states inIndia. These states had surrendered theirsovereignty to the paramount powerthrough the treaties and agreements signedwith the East India Company and the Britishgovernment. As per the provisions of theIndian Independence Act, the treatiesbecame null and void and the native statesregained their sovereignty. TheIndependence Act offered two optionsbefore them - either to join India or Pakistanor to remain independent. After the Partitionthere were 555 states within the Indianunion. In all these states agitations weregoing on for the establishment of responsiblegovernment. It became inevitable for theGovernment to integrate these states withIndia. It was with this purpose that the States

Refugee Migration during Partition

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Department was created. It was under theDeputy Prime Minister, Sardar VallabhaiPatel, that this department was organised ofwhich V.P Menon, a Malayali, was theSecretary. Menon proposed a plan for the

integration of the native states. This wasknown as the 'V.P. Menon Plan'. Accordingto this, geographically contiguous stateswere merged with the former Britishprovinces. Geographically vast states wererecognised as such, e.g. Mysore, Hyderabad,Kashmir, etc. States which weregeographically small and where the peoplespoke the same language were mergedtogether to form union of states. Five suchunions were formed. They were MadhyaBharat, Rajastan, Saurashtra, Patiala andEast Punjab States Union(PEPSU) andTravancore-Cochin. Strategically importantstates were brought under the direct controlof the Central Government.

Sardar Vallabhai Patel

India in 1947

All the princely statesexcept three joined theIndian Union just beforeand after the Transfer ofPower as a result of thepopular agitations andthe persuasion ofGovernment of India.Each prince had to signan Instrument ofAccession. The chiefprovisions of theInstrument were that thenative state had tosurrender foreignaffairs, defence andcommunication to theGovernment of India.

But the states ofJunagarh, Hyderabadand Kashmir refused toaccede to the IndianUnion which led tomilitary action.

Locate the princely states from the Map.

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Junagarh was a petty native state in theSaurashtra coast. The Nawab declared hisdecision to accede the state to Pakistan. Junagarhwas situated deep inside the Indian territory,far away from Pakistan. The decision of theNawab provoked the people who wanted thestate to be merged with India. Pakistan declaredher readiness to accept Junagarh. This led topublic agitation. Fearing people's protest, theNawab fled the country. A provisionalgovernment was organised by the people. ShahNawaz Bhutto, the Diwan, appealed to Indiafor assistance. The Indian army moved toJunagarh. A plebiscite was held in February1948, according to which the state was mergedwith Indian Union. The Dewan's son ZulfikarAli Bhutto later became the Prime Minister ofPakistan.

Hyderabad was a wealthy state which wasbigger in size than great Britain. The Nizamdeclared Hyderabad an independent state. Thepeople revolted against this demandingresponsible government. From 1946 onwardsthe peasants under the leadership of theCommunist Party had begun to seize land fromtheir lords. The regime of Nizam depended uponthe landlords, Muslim nobility and the armedconstabulary called Razakars. Upon the Nizamdeclaring Hyderabad an independent state, the

Razakars began suppressing the popularagitation brutally. Under this circumstance theIndian Army marched to Hyderabad and anintimidated Nizam signed the Instrument ofAccession.

Kashmir was a native state which Jinnah haddesired to be part of Pakistan. The ruler, RajaHari Singh Bahadur, declared that Kashmirshould be an independent state. The NationalConference was an organisation led by SheikAbdullah which had been agitating for theestablishment of responsible government. AsPakistan was dissatisfied at not getting Kashmirand as the King proclaimed independence, thePathan tribes began to attack Jammu-Kashmirwith the connivance of Pakistan. Srinagar, thecapital city, was also under threat. Pushed to acorner, the Raja appealed to India for help andagreed to accede Kashmir to India. The Indianarmy reached Srinagar and the Pathan raiderswere repulsed. By that time a portion ofKashmir had already been occupied by Pakistan.Kashmir was acceded to India and a populargovernment was formed by Sheik Abdullah.India raised the Kashmir issue in the UNSecurity Council. On the advice of the U.N.Oceasefire was declared. The area conquered byPakistan is known in India as Pak-OccupiedKashmir.

You have studied the story of Travancore inKerala history which declared that shewould remain independent with anAmerican model constitution. Travancore

was forced to accede to the Indian union asa result of strong public agitation andwithout the interference of the centralgovernment.

"--- our hard earned freedom might disappear through the states' door."Explain the significance of this statement of Sardar Vallabhai Patel on theintegration of the princely states.

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Pondicherry and GoaBritain, France, Portugal and Holland werethe main European countries which hadcolonies in India. By the beginning of the 19thcentury the Dutch had transferred theirIndian territories to Britain. Britain left thecountry in 1947. But Pondicherry and Maheheld by France and Goa, Dadra and Nagarhaveli held by Portugal continued to beretained by those countries even after 1947.

Strong agitations were going on against theFrench and Portuguese in their Indianpossessions. There was strong publicresentment against those countries becausethey had retained the Indian provinces evenafter the British left the country. Henceagitations became intense after 1947. TheGovernment of India interfered andrequested France and Portugal to leaveIndia. France obliged and left the country in1954. Thus Pondicherry, Mahe, Yanam andKaraikal came under the directadministration of the central government.

But Portugal refused to leave. When politerequests became futile, the Government ofIndia sent the army to Goa. Portugal raisedthe issue in the U.N.O. Britain and Americasupported Portugal. Russia exercised vetoin favour of India in the Security Council.Portugal sent its army to Goa. But thePortuguese ships were denied entry throughthe Suez Canal by Egypt, which was friendlyto India. Left with no other option, thePortuguese left the country in 1961. Goa andother territories were taken over by theIndian Government.

Constitution and RepublicYou have already learnt about theConstituent Assembly. The IndianConstitution was unanimously adopted bythe Constituent Assembly on 26th

November 1949. India was declared aRepublic on 26th January, 1950.

According to the Indian Independence ActJawaharlal Nehru was sworn in as the firstPrime Minister of independent India on 15th

August, 1947. In response to the request ofJawaharlal Nehru, Lord Mountbatten becamethe first Governor General of free India. WhenIndia was declared a Republic, the office of theGovernor General was abolished and in its placethe President became the head of the state.

At the time of Independence, LordMountbatten was the Governor General. Hewas succeeded by C. Rajagopalachary as theGovernor General. When the Constitutionwas adopted and India became a Republic,elections were to be held to the offices of thePresident, Vice President, the PrimeMinister and the members of the Cabinet aswell as the Parliament. For this rules andregulations were framed. The first generalelection was held in 1952. The leader of themajority party was to become the PrimeMinister. Accordingly, Jawaharlal Nehruwas elected leader of the CongressParliamentary Party and Prime Minister. Theleader of Communist Party of India, A. K.Gopalan, was elected as leader of the groupof opposition parties. Dr. Rajendra Prasadwas elected President andDr. S.Radhakrishnan, the Vice-President.

Constituent Assembly

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State ReorganisationFrom the very beginning Independent Indiahad to face several problems. War withPakistan over the Kashmir issue, Hindu-Muslim communal riots, refugee problem,integration of the princely states, foodshortage, etc. were the issues which theGovernment had to face. Theinterim Government formed in1946 under Jawaharlal Nehru triedto solve these problems in rightearnest.

You have already seen theintegration of princely states ofdifferent sizes into the Indianunion. What were the problemsfaced by the people of theseprincely states? People speakingthe same language and followingthe same way of life happened tobe in different statesadministratively. Take the case ofMalayalis as an example. Thepeople of Travancore and Cochinwere under one rule while thepeople of Malabar were under theGovernment of Madras. But thepeople were speaking their mothertongue, Malayalam.

This was a problem to be solved by thegovernment of Nehru. What should be thecriteria for state reorganisation? TheGovernment considered several factors suchas geographical extent, population, etc. Thisissue was a subject of discussion even beforethe attainment of Independence. Whennationalism was defined on the basis ofreligion, linguistic identity was raised as acounter-argument. The people who followa particular religion might be speakingdifferent languages. The people who speakthe same language might be followingdifferent religions. Since language was astrong unifying force as an instrument ofcommunication and cultural formation, theargument was vehemently put forward evenbefore Independence that language shouldbe the criterion for state reorganisation. But

Dr. Rajendra prasad Jawaharlal Nehru

India - States and Languages

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this argument was not accepted by politicalleaders like Jinnah. However, this argumentgained currency after Independence. PottiSriramalu, a veteran freedom fighter,became a martyr by observing fast for therealisation of Andhra Pradesh as the state ofthe Telugu speaking people. Thus theCentral Government was forced toreorganise the state of Andhra Pradesh. TheState Reorganisation Commission wasconstituted by the Central Government tofind out a solution to this problem. JusticeFazl Ali, Sardar K.M. Panikkar andHridayanath Kunsru were the members ofthe Commission. The Commission whichbegan its function in 1953 submitted itsreport to the Government in 1955 aftercollecting evidence and its detailed study.The Bill framed on the basis of therecommendations of the Commission waspassed by the Parliament in 1956 and it cameinto force on 1st November. Fourteenlinguistic states and six centrallyadministered Union Territories were formedaccordingly. The Commission

recommended that the state of Bombaywhere people speak both Marathi andGujarati, and Punjab where the people speakPunjabi and Haryanvi need not be divided.

But consequent to popular agitationBombay was divided into Maharashtra andGujarat respectively in 1961. Punjab andHaryana were separated in 1969. There wereseveral tribal states in northeastern part ofIndia. These states shared boundary withChina and Myanmar. They were reorganisedas the North Eastern Frontier Agency(NEFA) and placed under the direct controlof the Central Government. Manipur andNagaland were also declared as UnionTerritories. Assam was the only territorywhich enjoyed the status of statehood. Thepeoples of the North-East started theiragitation for statehood.

Even while the linguistic principle of statereorganisation was in force, some more stateslike Utharanchal, Jharkhand and Chattisgarhwere formed under regional pressures.

On the foothills of Himalayas in the norththere were three independent states. Theywere Nepal, Bhutan and Sikkim. Theirforeign policy was regulated by India.

Honouring the desire of the people ofSikkim, their Parliament passed a resolutionby which the state merged with India in 1976.

Prepare a table showing the present states in India and the languages spoken in them.

While the concept of religious nationalism wasstrongly raised in the 1940's, three booksformulating the linguistic concept waspublished during this time. Nutan Bengal byBhavani Sen put forward the idea that theprovince of Bengal inhabited by the peoplespeaking Bengali, Bihari, Oriya, Assamia, etc.was to be reorganised on the basis of language.That the Telugu-speaking people, spread overMadras, Bombay, Hyderabad and Orissa, were

to be organised under a separate state, was thedemand raised by P. Sundarayya in his bookVisalandhra. The demand in the book byE.M.S Namboodirippad, OnnekalkodiMalyilikal, was that the Malayalam-speakingpeople of the princely states of Travancore andCochin and the District of Malabar which waspart of the Madras Presidency should be part ofa separate state.

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Economy

Even while the freedom struggle was goingon, discussions were held to decide thefuture economic structure of India. Nehruwas very much attracted by the amazingachievements of Soviet Union following aplanned economy and Five Year Plans. Youknow about the formation of the CongressSocialist Party by Nehru and his friends whowere attracted towards socialism. Nehrustood for a planned economy on the Sovietmodel. The meeting of the Congress atKarachi in 1931 adopted such a resolution.It gave emphasis on the development ofindustry and agriculture. However, Gandhijistood for the development of rural economy.

Private entrepreneurs had started industriesfrom the beginning of the 20th century. Theseindustries were started at a time when theSwadeshi Movement raised the slogan ofboycott of foreign goods. Economic sectorslike iron and steel industry, textile industry,coal mining, commerce, banking, etc. beganto develop under private entrepreneurship.Industrialists like Tata, Birla, Singhania andDalmia had become financially strong evenbefore Independence. They were strongenough to compete with foreignmonopolists. They were the advocates offree trade. But the economic crisis of 1929convinced them that public sector should bestrengthened. They declared that the age offree trade was over. They published theirscheme for the future economic

development of India known as the 'BombayPlan' in the 1940's. M. N. Roy, the founder ofRadical Humanism, put forward the'People’s Plan'.

The Government of free India hadformulated its economic plan by taking intoconsideration all the above mentionedproposals. The Planning Commission wasconstituted with the Prime Minister as theChairman. Eminent economists andscientists working in foreign countries wereinvited to India to participate in the processof development.

India decided to be a mixed economy. It wasa synthesis of Capitalism and Socialism. Itgave preference to the development of thepublic sector. Heavy industries, mining ofminerals and oil, railways and airways,manufacture of military equipments, etc.were brought under public sector. Foreignaid was accepted in heavy industry sector.Iron and steel industries were started atBhilai with Soviet aid, at Rourkela withBritish aid, at Bokaro with German aid.Private investors were encouraged. BeforeIndependence there were only a handful ofprivate entrepreneurs. They were facing stiffcompetition with British industrialists. Butthese private investors were given allencouragement by the Government of freeIndia. Their number increased and theiractivities were extended to other sectorsalso.

Is the industrial growth of India satisfactory? Discuss.

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Five Year PlansIt was in 1951 that Five Year Plans werestarted in India. Agriculture was givenpriority in the First Five Year Plan and, inthe Second Plan which began in 1956,industrial development was given priority.Agricultural development was necessary insolving the problem of food shortage. Theonly way to achieve it was that more landshould be brought under cultivation. Thefirst step towards this direction was theintroduction of land legislations. Peasantsshould be provided with land. Differenttypes of land lordism such as Zamindari,Jagirdari, Jotedari, Mahalwari, etc. wereprevailing in many states. ThoughZamindari was abolished by the CentralGovernment in 1948 itself, the state

governments were not ready to implementit. The landlords who were not interested incultivating the land left their land waste.Food production could not be increasedbecause of the failure in implementingcomprehensive land legislation.

The other methods adopted to improve foodproduction were the mechanisation ofagriculture, use of high-yielding hybridseeds, chemical fertilisers, pesticides, etc.Mechanical ploughs, harvesters andthreshers were also introduced. Agriculturalresearch institutes were established for thedevelopment of high-yielding varieties ofseeds. Agricultural colleges wereestablished to produce agriculturalscientists.

Prepare a chart showing the year of commencement of each Five Year Planand the priority given to various sectors of economy.

BhoodanThe landlords, who owned thousands of acresof land, were not ready to distribute land amongthe peasants. This led to a series of peasantrevolts in many states. About three thousandvillages were liberated and distributed amonglandless cultivators through armed struggle inthe Telengana region of Hyderabad. AcharyaVinoba Bhave, a follower of Gandhiji, stated thatthere was no need for armed struggle andappealed to the landlords to donate landvoluntarily. He obtained land as donation fromthe landlords of Andhra Pradesh. This wasknown as the Bhoodan movement. In otherstates also the landlords similarly surrenderedtheir land.

Even before Independence, fertilizerfactories had been started by the Governmentof India and by some princely states. Youknow about the FACT started by theGovernment of Travancore to produce the

fertilizer, ammonium sulphate. The CentralGovernment had started a fertilizer factoryat Sindri in Bihar.

Agriculture in India depended mainly onrain. During drought years the land had tobe laid fallow. Food production could beimproved only if dams were constructedacross rivers. Huge reservoirs wereconstructed in many states. The BhakraNangal across the Sutlej in Punjab, theHirakud across Mahanadi and DamodarValley Project in the river Damodar inOrissa, etc. were the important irrigationprojects.

As a result of the investment of huge amountof capital in agricultural sector for irrigation,agricultural machines, fertilizers, pesticides,hybrid of seeds, etc., agricultural productionincreased. This came to be known as GreenRevolution.

You know about the White Revolution whichimproved animal husbandry and milkproduction.

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Organise a discussion on the changes introduced in the agricultural sectorthrough Green Revolution and White Revolution.

Scientific ResearchProgress of scientific research is aprecondition of agricultural and industrialdevelopment. The research institutionsstarted during the British period weremodernised and several new institutes werestarted. The Tata Institute of FundamentalResearch was founded in Bombay in 1945to conduct research in basic sciences. Laterit was enlarged.

Under the Chairmanship of the PrimeMinister the Council of Scientific andIndustrial Research was constituted toadvise and fund scientific research. In 1947the first National Physical Laboratory wasfounded. Later seventeen more laboratorieswere founded to carry on research in science.

The Atomic Energy Commission was startedin 1948 with a view to utilising atomicenergy for purposes of development. Theeminent atomic scientist, Homi J. Bhabha,was appointed as the Chairman of theCommission. The atomic energy generationcentre was founded at Trombay in 1956. Itwas the first in Asia. It was followed by thestarting of several nuclear power stations indifferent parts of the country. Atomic energywas used solely for peaceful purposesduring the time of Nehru. But in 1974, whenIndira Gandhi was the Prime Minister, a

Nuclear device was exploded at Pokhran inRajasthan. India thus acquired the potentialto manufacture nuclear weapons.

It was during the time of Nehru that Indiastarted research in space science. In 1962Indian Space Research Organisation wasfounded. The first rocket launching centrewas founded at Thumba near Trivandrum(Thumba Equatorial Rocket LaunchingStation-TERLS). India has at present thecapacity to conduct advanced space researchand launch satellites. The ISRO is doingcommendable work in this direction. Youare already aware of the ChandrayanMission. Space research has now acquiredthe ability to explore oil resources,telecommunication and meteorologicalexploration.

Chandrayan Mission

List the major satellites launched by India.

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Progress of EducationThe British in India had started educationalinstitutions from primary to university levelbut did not take any steps for theirdevelopment. Several educationcommissions were appointed to recommendreforms with regard to various stages ofeducation and the subjects to be taught ateach stage. The most important of them wasthe Sargeant Commission of 1945. Sir JohnSargeant, who was the Chairman of CentralAdvisory Board of Education, was theChairman of the Commission. The mainrecommendations of the commission wereaccepted by the Government of India afterIndependence.

The higher education commission was thefirst of its kind appointed by theGovernment of India in 1948. Dr. S.Radhakrishnan was the Chairman of thisCommission. It was on the advice of thisCommission that the University GrantsCommission was founded later.

In 1952 the Lakshmanaswami MudaliyarCommission was appointed to study aboutthe secondary education. But acomprehensive study of the education sectorwas made by the Kothari Commission of1964.

There is tremendous increase in the numberof schools, colleges and universities.However, all children under a particular agegroup could not be given education by thegovernments of various states. You knowabout the Right to Education to childrenbetween ages of six and fourteen. It isincluded as part of the Fundamental Rights.

The Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA) is the agencyfounded with a view to universaliseprimary education. The RashtriyaMadhyamik Siksha Abhiyan (RMSA) is theagency founded to universalise secondaryand higher secondary education.

There are several agencies like the NCERT, NCTE and the UGC at thecentral level to supervise and implement educational reforms. Prepare achart on the educational agencies functioning in Kerala.

Foreign PolicyYou know about India's foreign policy andabout the Non-Alignment Movement.Jawaharlal Nehru played a key role inshaping India's foreign policy. He was oneof the founding leaders of the Non-Alignment Movement.

The Panchasheel principles were developedas the basis of the bilateral relations betweenIndia and China. But later it was recognisedas a guiding principle by the world at large.

You know about the war that India waged

in 1948 with Pakistan over the Kashmirissue. But still no solution to this problemhas been found. India had to wage anotherwar with Pakistan in 1965 over a boundarydispute. That problem ended with thesigning of the Tashkent Treaty under themediation of Soviet Union.

In Pakistan, where military rule was in force,agitations were going on for the protectionof democracy. As a result, East Pakistanbecame a separate state known asBangladesh. This led to another war between

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India and Pakistan. The war broke out inDecember 1971 and the two nations signedan agreement at Simla. AccordinglyPakistan was forced to recogniseBangladesh as an independent nation.

Kashmir still remains as a burning issuebetween India and Pakistan. In 1998 thearmies of the two countries waged a war atKargil.

Though the principles of Panchasheel wereadopted by India and China, border disputearose between the two countries. For a longtime the relation between the two countriesremained strained. It led to war a betweenthe countries (1962). But the two countrieshave been successful in establishing cordialrelations over the last one decade.

India has always tried to maintain goodrelations with her neighbours. India initiatedmeasures for solving the Tamil ethnic issuein Sri Lanka. The policy of India is that asolution to the Tamil problem should befound out within the framework of the SriLankan constitution.

Architects of Non-Aligned Movement -A Poster

When Democracy FacedChallengesJawaharlal Nehru, who led IndependentIndia for two decades and laid thefoundation of her development, passedaway on 27th May 1964. He was succeededby Lal Bahadur Sastri and later IndiraGandhi as Prime Ministers. Differences ofopinion broke out within the rulingCongress party. The Congress could scoreonly a thin majority in the Lok Sabhaelections in 1967. Besides, in nine states non-Congress ministries were formed. ThusCongress was becoming weak.

It was in this context that two important billswere presented in Parliament by IndiraGandhi in 1969. The first bill was related tothe abolition of Privy Purse given to theformer rulers of the princely states. Thesecond bill proposed the nationalisation ofScheduled Banks. Both these bills wereopposed by a section of the Congress. Allthe opposition parties except the Leftopposed the bills. The bills could not bepassed.

Difference of opinion became grave withinthe Congress and it came to be split into two.The faction which quarrelled with IndiraGandhi came to be known as Organisation

What changes can you see in the foreign policy of India today compared to theearly years after Independence?

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Congress. Parliament was dissolved beforethe expiry of its term in 1971 February andfresh elections were declared. The Congressunder Indira Gandhi came back with athumping majority. The Privy PurseAbolition Bill and the Bank Nationalism Billwere again presented in the Parliament andpassed. Insurance companies and mineswere also nationalised. The Constitution wasamended and right to property wasremoved from the list of FundamentalRights. All these measures enhanced theimage of Government among people. In theelections held to certain states the Congresscame out victorious. Thus both at the Centreand in the states the same party came topower.

But very soon the people becamedisenchanted. The country was affected bysoaring prices and food shortage. Fuel priceincreased. Strikes and labour unrest becamewidespread. In 1974 the railway employeesstruck work for long days demanding wagehike. The police in Uttar Pradesh struckwork. Several persons died in theconfrontation with the army which was sentto suppress the strike. Labour strikes wereorganised against the Congress-ledGovernments of Gujarat and Bihar. Theseagitations were given leadership byJayaPrakash Narayan, who was a colleagueof Nehru and a socialist leader. He appealedto the people to revolt against the prevailingorder. This was known as Total Revolution.

It was in this context that the Allahabad HighCourt set aside the election of Indira Gandhi.The opposition demanded her resignation.Students and workers joined the strike. Inorder to face this situation, Emergency wasdeclared by the President on 26th June 1975.

People were denied the right to organise andconduct meetings. Strict censorship wasimposed on the press. Leaders of oppositionparties and political workers wereimprisoned. A new enactment was made forthis purpose. This was the Maintenance ofInternal Security Act (MISA). All democraticrights were denied. Elections were not heldeven after the expiry of the term of the LokSabha and state legislatures. It was a timewhen Indian democracy faced the greatestchallenge in its history.

In 1977 Emergency was relaxed and thepolitical prisoners were released. Followingthis, elections were held to the Lok Sabhaand to seven state legislatures. Someopposition parties merged together andformed a new political party titled JanataParty and contested elections against theCongress. Congress lost the elections. A newministry was formed under the PrimeMinistership of Morarji Desai, the leader ofthe Janata Party. Thus democracy wasrestored. This was the first experiment incoalition government at the Centre. But verysoon this ministry resigned. The federatingpolitical parties seceded from Janata Party.

What was the circumstance which led to the formation of coalition ministriesin India ?

JayaPrakash Narayan

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Policy DeviationYou have understood about the variouspolicies adopted by Nehru to strengthen theIndian economy. When Indira Gandhi wasthe Prime Minister, banks, insurancecompanies and mines were nationalised. Butafter 1991 there was a deviation from thesepolicies. The collapse of Soviet Union at theinternational level and the disappearance ofthe Socialist bloc influenced India’s domesticand foreign policies. When the blocsdisappeared, the Non-Aligned Movementbecame weak. India began to cooperate with

the imperialist bloc headed by America.India did not get assistance from Russia asin the previous years.

Investment of private capital increased in thepublic sector undertakings. Many were soldto the private sector. Foreign capital waswelcomed to India. The previous restrictionswere abolished.

These policies came to be known asLiberalisation. It is part of the policy ofglobalisation which stood for the freeexchange of capital, commodities andservices.

Activities

Discuss how the liberalisation policies differ from the economic policies adopted byIndia during the early years of Independence.

• Was Independent India able to overcome the challenges facedby her in the initial years? Prepare a seminar paper.

• How many of the ideas raised in the slogans of the freedomstruggle could be implemented by Independent India?Prepare a report.

• Agitations are going on in various parts of the country forthe formation of the new states. Prepare a report enquiringwhether formation of new states is inevitable by collectingand analysing the news and pictures of such agitations.

• Compare the political maps of 1956 and of the present andidentify the position of present states in the map of 1956.Mark also the languages of the states.

• Prepare a pictorial representation of the achievements made by India in the followingsectors.

1. Agriculture

2. Industry3. Science & technology4. Education

• Prepare a note on why January 26th is being celebrated as Republic Day.• Prepare a Table showing in which all states were people speaking Tamil, Telugu and

Kannada spread.• Prepare a chart on the agricultural research institutes functioning in Kerala under the

ownership of central and state governments.• Did India experiment any nuclear device after 1974? Prepare a report.