India After Independence Flashcards
Challenges for newly independent India
When India became independent in August 1947 it faced a lot of challenges.
As a result of partition, 8 million refugees had come into the country from what was now Pakistan
These people had to be found homes and jobs
There was a problem of princely states, almost 500 of them, he ruled by a maharaja or nawab and each of home had to be persuaded to join the new nation
In the longer term, the new nation had to adopt a political system that would best serve the hopes and expectations of its population
India had to adopt a constitution and build a consensus on which ideals the constitution would be based
India was left with a colonial legacy, which had drain the country of its economic wealth and industries
It had impoverished the masses, agricultural lands were heavily burden and where concentrated in the hands of few
Making of the constitution
In the situation of challenges, the constituent assembly pondered and discuss the making of the constitution of India
The members of the constituent assembly were not elected on the basis of universal franchise
In 1945 to 46, provincial elections were held in India. The provincial legislature then selected the representatives to the constituent assembly
The constituent assembly that came into being was dominated by congress
The Congress swept the general seats in the provincial elections and the Muslim league captured most of the reserved Muslim seats
The Muslim league choose to Boycott the constituent assembly, pressing its demand for Pakistan with a separate constitution
Though the constituent assembly was dominated by congress, views of its members differed on critical issues
Some members were inspired by socialism, while others were defenders of landlordism. Somewhere close to communal parties, while others were assertively secular
The constituent assembly had 300 members, of which 6 members played particularly important roles
Three were representatives of the Congress, Nehru, Patel and Rajendra Prasad
And the other three were lawyers, Ambedkar, KM Munshi and Alladi krishnaswamy Aiyar from Madras
During the period of British rule, Ambedkar had been a political opponent of the Congress, but on the advice of Mahatma Gandhi, he was asked at independence to join the union cabinet as the law minister
BR Ambedkar served as the chairman of the drafting committee of the constitution.
He was given assistance by 2 civil servants, BN Rao, the constitutional advisor to the Government of India and the chief draughtsman, SN Banerjee.
Hansa Mehta from Bombay demanded social, economic and political justice for women in the constituent assembly
Jawaharlal Nehru moved the resolution proposing that the national flag of India be a horizontal tricolor of saffron, white and dark green in equal proportion with a wheel in navy blue at the centre
On 13 December 1946, Jawaharlal Nehru introduced the objectives resolution in the constituent assembly
The objective resolution outlined the defining ideas of the constitution of independence India
A provided the framework within which the work of the constitution-making was to proceed
The constitution of India was framed between December for 1946 and November 1949
During this time, its drafts we discussed clause by clause in the constituent assembly of India
In all, the constituent assembly held 11 sessions with sittings spread over 165 days
In between the sessions, the work of revising and refining the drafts were carried out by various committees and sub committees
The Indian constitution, which came into effect on 26 January 1950 was the longest in the world
At independence, India was deeply divided. A constitution was designed to keep the country together and to take it forward and necessarily to be an elaborate and carefully worked out and drafted document
The constitution was signed in December 1949 after 3 years of debate
One feature of the constitution was its adoption of the universal adult franchise. All Indians above the age of 21 would be allowed to vote in state and national elections
A second feature of the constitution was that it guaranteed equality before law to all its citizens regardless of their caste or religious affiliation
After a long debate, the constituent assembly also recommended that a certain percentage of seats in legislatures as well as jobs in the government be reserved for members of the lowest castes
The constitution stop to balance the power of the central government and States by providing three lists of subjects, the union list, the state list and the concurrent list
The constitution declares India a union with federal features
A major debate in the constituent assembly took place concerning language
Many members believed that the English language should leave India with the British rulers. According to them Hindi should take place of English
A compromise was made that Hindi would be the official language of India, English would be used in courts, services and communication between one state and another
The first general election was held between 1951 to 52 on the basis of universal adult franchise and those above 21 years were eligible to vote
Integration of the princely states
Indian independence Act of 1947 and the British paramountcy on India and the princely states where given the choice of either merging with India or Pakistan or remaining independent
On 15th June 1947, all India Congress committee decided that it will not accept independent of any province within the territory of India and it will neither allow any integral part of India to succeed from India
To resolve the issues of provinces, a department of Indian provinces was established on 5th July 1947
It was headed by the than home minister sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
By the time of 15th August 1947, the majority of states had merged into India, but only three states Junagadh, Hyderabad and Kashmir retained autonomy
Junagadh
The population of Junagadh was almost 7 lakhs and it had a Hindu majority population, but its ruler was a Muslim nawab, Mahawat Khan
On September 1947, dhanyvad announce the merger of Junagadh into Pakistan but the majority of population wanted to live in India
Due to the resistance of people in Junagadh, the nawab fled to Pakistan
A plebiscite (voting) was held in Junagadh, where the majority of people voted for merger with India
On 8 November 1947, the diwan of Junagadh, Shahnawaz Bhutto send a letter of integration into the Government of India
Kashmir
The Kashmir problem was different from that of the other princely States
The majority of population was Muslim but the ruler was a Hindu king
Kashmir decided neither to integrated with Pakistan nor with India and remain independent
But Pakistan attack Kashmir with the help of Tribes of mountain areas
To protect the territory of Kashmir, Raja Hari Singh requested the Indian military for help and integration with India
The Indian government accepted the request and on 26 October 1947 an army was sent to Kashmir
India approach the UNSC with regards to the Pakistan attack on Kashmir
Leading to a ceasefire, but the original status was not established
In the year 1954, the constituent assembly of Jammu and Kashmir confirmed its integration into India
Hyderabad
It was the biggest princely state in India
Surrounded from all sides by Indian territory
The nawab of Hyderabad was Miz Usman Ali Khan
The nawab wanted to integrate with Pakistan but the majority of population was Hindu
Hyderabad signed stands till agreement with India in November 1947 to retain the same status as it had before 15 August 1947
Hyderabad did not remain loyal with the agreement, and it had started building military strength and weaponising its army
By military action in September 1948, Hyderabad was integrated into India
Integration of European colonies
After India’s independence, the Portuguese and French colonies existed in India
Portuguese included Goa, Daman and Diu, dadra and Nagar haveli
French included Pondicherry, Karikal, yanam, Mahe and Chandra Nagar
In 1954, a treaty was signed between India and France, according to which all the French colonies were liberated by France
In 1961, Daman and diu + Goa where merged into the republic of India after attaining independence from Portuguese rule
Formation of states and linguistic problem
In the 1920s, the Indian National Congress had promise that once the country won independent each major linguistic group would have its own province
But after independence both pm Nehru and deputy pm Vallabhbhai Patel where against the creation of linguistic States
The Kannada, Malayalam and Marathi speakers had all looked forward to having their own state
However the strongest protect scheme from the Telugu speaking districts of the Madras presidency
When Nehru went to campaign there during the general elections of 1952, he was met with black flags and slogans demanding “we want Andhra”
In October 1952, a better than Gandhian named, Potti Sriramulu went on a hunger strike demanding the formation of the Andhra state to protect the interests of Telugu speakers
On 15 December 1952, after 58 days into his fast, he died
Thus, on 1st October 1953, the new state of Andhra came into existence, later called Andhra Pradesh
A state reorganisation Commission was set up with submitted it report in 1956 recommending the red drawing of district and provincial boundaries to form compact provinces of Assamese, Bengali, Odia, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Telugu speakers respectively
The Hindi speaking region of North India was broken up into several States
In 1960, the bilingual state of Bombay was divided into separate States for Marathi and Gujarati speakers
In 1966, the state of Punjab was also divided into Punjab and Haryana on linguistic basis. Punjab was for Punjabi language speakers who are mostly sikhs.
Haryana was for the rest who spoke Haryanvi or Hindi
Tribal integration and national consolidation
Tribals in India are a heterogeneous community and they were gradually integrated in India
Manipur was a monarchy at the time of independence and it was merged into India in September 1949
In 1969, Meghalaya was made another state within Assam and later a full state in 1972
Nagaland came into being with India in 1963 after a violent rebellion with Dr. Imkongliba accepting the Indian offer of a separate state
Mizoram became a full state in 1987 with Laldenga as its first CM after years of insurgency
In the case of Jharkhand, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and Shibu Soren led the demand and got statehood in the year 2000
Development and planning
In 1950, the government set of the planning Commission to help designed an execute suitable policies for economic development
A mixed economy model was adopted in which both the state and the private sector played roles in increasing production and generating jobs
In 1956, the second five year plan focused strongly on the development of heavy industries like steel and on the building of large dams
Focus was also put on science and higher education
The Indian council of scientific research and the Indian institute of technology were established
The atomic energy commission under Homi Jahangir Bhabha for development of nuclear energy was set up in 1948
Rural upliftment was done by two programs: community development in 1952 and panchayati Raj in 1959.
Banking sector reforms
After independence the government of India made many banking sector reforms
On 1st April 1949, the RBI was nationalized
On 1st July 1955 the Imperial Bank was nationalised and made the State Bank of India
The Government of India made banking one of the branches of social sector reforms and expanded services into social sector
Foreign policy
India game freedom soon after the World War 2
The UN formed in 1945 was at its infancy
The 1950s and 60s saw the emergence of the cold war, that is conflicts between the USA and the USSR with both countries creating military alliances
Prime minister Nehru who was also the foreign minister of the newly independence India developed free India’s foreign policy in this context
Non alignment form the bedrock of the this foreign policy
It was led by statesmen from Egypt, yugoslavia, Indonesia, Ghana and India
The NAM urge country is not to join either of the two major alliances
But this policy of staying away from alliances was not a matter of remaining isolated or neutral
Non aligned countries like India played an active role in mediating between the American and Soviet alliances
They tried to prevent war by often taking a humanitarian and moral stand against war
The panchsheel agreement was signed between India and China in 1954 over the issue of Tibet
Panchsheel agreement
The panchsheel or five principles of peaceful coexistence was first formally signed on 29th April 1954 between India and China
The agreement was signed between the then prime minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru and China’s first prime minister Chou En Lai
The main points of panchsheel agreement were;
Peaceful coexistence
Mutual respect for each other’s territorial integrity and sovereignty
Mutual non interference
Mutual non aggression
Equality and mutual benefits
Non alignment movement
The first prime minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru with Nkrumah from Ghana, nasser from Egypt, sukarno from Indonesia and Tito from Yugoslavia (now Serbia) had a meeting of non aligned nations in New York in October 1960
This 5 comprise the core leadership of the non aligned movement
Free India’s foreign policy reflected all these concerns in the period immediately after independence
Apart from these factors at the global level India had its own share of concerns
As a nation born in the backdrop of the world wars, India decided to conduct its foreign relations with an aim to respect the sovereignty of all Nations and to achieve security through the maintenance of peace
This aim is derived from the directive principles of State policy
Just as both internal and external factors guy the behaviour of an individual or a family, both domestic and international environment influence the foreign policy of a nation
Since independence, cold war was just beginning and the world was getting divided into these two camps
The foreign policy of a nation reflex the interplay of domestic and external factors. Therefore the noble ideas that inspired India’s struggle for freedom influenced the making of its foreign policy
Bandung conference:
The Afro Asian Conference held in the Indonesian city of bandung in 1955 is commonly known as the bandung conference
It marked the Zenith of India’s engagement with the newly independent Asian and African countries
The bandung conference later lead to the establishment of the non alignment movement
The first summit of the NAM was held in Belgrade in September 1961
Nehru was a co-founder of the NAM
PL 480 agreement
In the year 1959, the president of America, Dwight D Eisenhower visited India
After he visited the year 1960 he made a 4 year PL 480 agreements between both countries
According to which the USA will fill the food demand in India by exporting food grains
In the year 1964 The USA health India to overcome heavy food shortage in India by exporting huge amounts of food grains to India
This agreement also impacted India negatively as India became dependent on USA for food scarcity
During the year 1965 USA stopped supply of food grains to India as an effect of the India Pakistan war
This event made the government realise that it had to become self sufficient in food production
