AND

CHAPTER 13

India

AFTER

Independence

INTRODUCTION ON 26 January 1950 the Constitution

of Independent India came into force and India became a democratic republic . DR Rajendra Prasad was elected the first president and DR Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, the first vice – president of India .

The first elections to the legislature were held in 1952 . The Congress won a majority at the centre and Jawaharlal Nehru was elected India’s first prime minister .

INDIAN DEMOCRACY

UNIVERSAL ADULT FRANCHISE SECULARISM EQUALITY BEFORE LAW TOWARDS SOCIAL EQUALITY DIVISION OF POWERS BETWEEN THE

CENTRE AND THE States OFFICIAL LANGUAGE

UNIVERSAL ADULT FRANCHISEOne of the most remarkable features

of Indian democracy is that from the very beginning the Constitution of India gave the citizens of the country universal adult franchise . This has enabled all the citizens of voting age to irrespective of caste , religion , wealth or sex . In many other democratic countries including UK and the USA , some sections of the population such as the poor and the women have got voting rights after long periods of struggle.

UNIVERSAL ADULT FRANCHISE

SECULARISMIndia is a country of many religions . India’s Constitution has accepted secularism as one of its basic principles . India does not have any religion . All religion group , including Hindus , Muslims , Christians , Buddhist , Jains , Sikhs , Bahais and Zoroastrians , have the same fundamental rights . One of these rights is the right to freedom of religion .

SECULARISM

EQUALITY BEFORE LAWAll Indian citizens have equal rights and have to obey the same laws , irrespective of their caste , religion , wealth , or sex . The Government gives equal opportunities in education , employment , the use of public places and so on , to all citizens regardless of caste , religion , wealth or sex . You have read earlier about the age-old social discrimination against the untouchables . In order to end this discrimination , untouchability has been declared illegal .

EQUALITY BEFORE LAW

TOWARDS SOCIAL EQUALITYIn India everyone has equal

rights , but not equal social status . Some sections of the population such as the untouchables have faced centuries of oppression . Denial of the benefits of education and health care has made them weaker than the more privileged sections of the society . Many tribal populations too have faced similar oppression , and are finding it hard to preserve their cultural identies . There are also great differences give rise to many injustices .

TOWARDS SOCIAL EQUALITY

Our Constitution seeks to remove inequalities and ensure social justice by giving some extra help and facilities to the weaker sections of society . For ex , the Constitution has listed formerly untouchable castes as Scheduled Castes (SCs) and the exploited tribes as Scheduled Tribes (STs) . These castes and tribes are given reservation in Government jobs and educational institutions , local self – Government bodies , etc ., to help them improve their social status and living conditions .

TOWARDS SOCIAL EQUALITY

Division Of Powers Between the centre and the StatesIndia is a union of States . In India we have Government at two levels – the centre and the States . India’s Constitution specifies the subjects on which laws can be made by the centre and the States . The subjects are placed in three lists – the union list , to be dealt with by the States ; and the concurrent list , to be dealt with by the centre and the States .

Division Of Powers between the centre and the States

OFFICIAL LANGUAGE India is a land of many languages .

India’s Constitution recognizes Hindi and English as the official languages of the union . English has been retained as an official language in keeping with the demands of States whose people are not Hindi speakers . Every Indian state is free to choose its own official language (s) , which may include Hindi , English , any of the 22 regional languages mentioned in the Constitution or any other language used in its territory .

OFFICIAL LANGUAGE

SUCCESSESOver the years , there have been regular

elections in India . The people have elected representatives of their choice to form the Government , and any Government that has failed to perform has ultimately been voted out of power . This shows that real power continues to be in the hands of the people , which is a requirement of democracy . One of the directive principles of our Constitution set the formation of panchayats as one of the goals of the Government . Now a law has been passed to make panchayats in rural area compulsory . These local self – Government bodies have taken democracy to the grass – roots level .

FAILURESDespite this success , Indian democracy

has its problem . One major problem is the use of vast sums of money to win elections . This has increased corruption . Another problem is that in some areas , a dominant caste or political group often forcibly prevents other castes or political groups from taking part in elections . And voters quite often vote only for candidates of their own caste . All this means that the best candidate does not necessarily win .

MAJOR PROBLEM AFTER INDEPENDENCEAfter gaining Independence , India faced

a number of problems . The communal violence at the time of Independence forced millions of people to cross over either India or Pakistan . The Indian Government was faced with the immediate task of giving shelter to those who came to India . Most of the them were temporarily settled in refugee camps until colonies were built to house them .

MAJOR PROBLEM AFTER INDEPENDENCE

COLONIES OF INDIA AFTER INDEPENDENCE

MAJOR PROBLEM AFTER Independence

Though most of the princely States within British India has signed the Instrument of Accession and joined the Dominion of India by 15 august 1947 , the political status of Hyderabad , Junagadh and Kashmir still remained decided . There were also some small territories in India that still remained under French or Portuguese colonial rule . The Indian Government also had to adopt policies to meet the enormous challenges before the newborn country .

MAJOR PROBLEM AFTER INDEPENDENCE

INTEGRATION AND REORGANISATION OF STATE

The Maharaja of Kashmir signed the Instrument of Accession after Pakistani Invaders entered Kashmir in October 1947 . India then sent troops to drive out the Invaders . In 1948 , the people of Junagadh voted in favour of joining India . Later that year , Indian troops helped in the absorption of Hyderabad following a revolt in that state .

ABSORPTION OF KASHMIR ,JUNAGADH AND HYDERABAD

ABSORPTION OF KASHMIR

ABSORPTION OF HYDERABAD

CREATION OF ANDHRA In India there are many linguistic communities . A

linguistic community is a community whose members speak the same language . During the National Movement , several of India’s linguistic communities expressed the wish to have their own States in Independent India . At the time the congress agreed to fulfil their wish after India became Independent . But the communal violence caused by the religion – based partition of India at the time of Independence changed the views of many Congress leaders including Jawaharlal Nehru and Vallabhbhai Patel . They feared that division of the country along linguistic lines would lead to more violence . The linguistic communities however continued to demand their own States .

CREATION OF ANDHRA

CREATION OF ANDHRAThe strongest demand came from the Telugu – speaking people of the former presidency of Madras. When congress showed reluctance to meet their demand , they took to agitation . During his campaigns in the region before the 1952 elections , Jawaharlal Nehru was met by protesters holding black flags and shouting anti-congress slogans . In the elections of 1952 the Congress fared badly in the region . Around this time Potti Sriramulu a Gandhian leader campaigning for the creation of Telugu state went on a fast unto death . This caused widespread unrest . And when Sriramulu died on 15 December 1952 after fasting 58 days the situation went out of control . The Congress was forced to create Andhra it came into existence in October 1953 .

POTTI SRIRAMULU

POTTI SRIRAMULU FASTED TO DEATH FOR Telgu STATE

By the end of 1954 , French Colonial rule in Pondicherry , Chandannagar , Mahe , Karaikal and Yanam came to an end . These Territories were integrated with India .The Portuguese colonies in India were Goa , Daman , Diu , Dadra and Nagar Haveli . In 1954 Dadra and Nagar Haveli were liberated by Freedom Fighters . Indian troops liberated Goa , Daman and Diu from the Portuguese in 1961 .

ABSORPTION OF FRENCH AND PORTUGUESE COLONIES

REORGANISATION OF STATES

Soon after the creation of Andhra , the States Reorganisation Commission was set up to redefine the boundaries of India’s States . According to its suggestions , some new States were created in 1956 . These included Assamese , Bengali , Oriya , Kannada and Malayalam . The Telugu-Speaking regions of the Hyderabad state were added to Andhra which was renamed Andhra Pradesh . A few years later the Bombay state split into Marathi-speaking Maharashtra and Gujarati-speaking Gujarat . Later the Hindi-speaking areas of Punjab were made a separate state called Haryana . The Tamil-speaking state of Madras was given a new name – Tamil Nadu . Some of India’s States were created for tribal populations in different parts of country Meghalaya , Manipur , Nagaland , Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand .

INDIA IN 1953

INDIA IN 1975

INDIA IN 2009

CHANGES IN STATES

CHANGES IN STATES

PLANNED DEVELOPMENT At time of Independence , the

Indian economy suffered from various problems such as unequal development in different regions , low agricultural production , food scarcity , underdeveloped industries and communication facilities , and widespread poverty and illiteracy . Let us see what steps the newborn nation took to overcome these .

MIXED ECONOMY India adopted a mixed economy , in

which there is both government and private enterprise in service sectors , agricultural and industrial . Many of the basic and heavy industries are controlled by the government as they involve huge investments and do not always yield matching profits . Private companies are more active in consumer goods industries which produce vehicles , cosmetics ,detergents , etc. and usually fetch high profits .

MIXED ECONOMY

The Planning Commission of India was established in 1950 with the Prime Minister as its ex officio chairman . Hence Jawaharlal Nehru became the first president of Planning Commission . The Planning Commission defines the country’s economic goals and frames policies for the achievement of such goals . It takes stock of country’s resources . It also regulates the utilisation and distribution of the available resources so as to tackle problems such as poverty , unemployment , price rise , regional imbalances . The Planning Commision has been working through Five-Year Plans . These plans have laid emphasis mainly on developing basic and heavy industries .

PLANNING COMMISION

PLANNING COMMISION

These plans also build huge dams and power plants to improve irrigation and power generation , promoting commercially useful plantations and improving railways , roadways , waterways and airways . The emphasis on heavy industrialisation and the building of large dams has been criticised by many on the ground that it will damage environment and cause ecological imbalance in the long run . Among the earliest critics were J C Kumarappa himself a member of the Planning Commission and Madeleine Slade known in India as Mira Behn . Staunch belivers in Gandhiji’s ideas they campaigned for small and less expensive irrigation systems the use of organic manure and the preservation of natural forests with large varieties of trees .

PLANNING COMMISION

DAMS BUILT AFTER PLANNING COMMISSION

INDIA’S FOREIGN POLICYThe principles , goals , compulsions and strategies that govern a country’s relation with other countries together contitute the country’s foreign policy .

INDIA’S FOREIGN POLICYThe Second World War ended in 1945 . As the

was drawing to a close an international organisation called the United Nations (UN) was formed to preserve international peace and understanding. This however could not ensure good relations between the USA and the USSR-the two nation which had emerged as superpowers after the wars . The mutual relationship between these two nations was marked by deep suspicion and mistrust due to the great difference in their political ideologies . Each of the superpowers entered into alliances with friendly nations to form a powerful military bloc of its own .

BACKGROUND OF INDIA’S FOREIGN POLICY

INDIA’S FOREIGN POLICYThe between 1945 and 1991 was a period of

underlying hostility known as the Cold War between the two military blocs. During this period every small conflict threatened to blow up into major war . It was in this situation that Indian and many other countries of Asia , Africa and Latin America became free . Driven by the need to preserve their sovereignty and to make economic progress many nations were align themselves with one bloc or the other . They had to take part in all conflicts involving the bloc . So they had spend large amounts of their limited resources on military preparedness . This hampered their development . Newly independent India too faced this danger .

NONALIGNMENT Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was also the

foreign minister of India and architect of India’s foreign policy . He chose the policy of nonalignment for India . Under this policy a country does not commit itself to any bloc but adopts an independent foreign policy . Jawaharlal Nehru laid the foundations of Nonaligned movement with the support of Gamal Adbel Nasser of Egypt , Sukarona of Indonesia , Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana and Josip Broz Tito of Yugoslavia in 1961 . It was attended by the representatives of 25 countries . By the 1990s tha NAM had more than hundred members .

NONALIGNMENT Nonalignment is often understood to be neutrality

or noninvolvement in world affairs . Such views are incorrect . Nonalignment favours active involvement in world affairs to promote understanding and to prevent war it also encourages mutual cooperation among nation to overcome problems such as poverty , illiteracy and overpopulation

INDIA’S RELATION WITH NEIGHBOURING COUNTRIES India shares land borders with Pakistan ,

Afghanistan , China , Nepal , Bhutan , Bangladesh and Myanmar . The island countries of Sri Lanka and the Maldives situated in the Indian Ocean are also India’s neighbours . India’s relation with its neighbours have generally been harmonious . Differences have occasionally cropped up over global issues such as border definition and water sharing . Most of these have been sorted out through bilateral negotiations .

INDIA’S RELATION WITH NEIGHBOURING COUNTRIES

INDIA’S RELATION WITH NEIGHBOURING COUNTRIES

India , Pakistan , Bangladesh , Nepal , Sri Lanka , Bhutan and the Maldives formed the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation . The heads of the founder countries met at Dhaka IN 1985 . The SAARC has its permanent secretariat at Kathmandu , Afghanistan is also a member of SAARC . The SAARC promotes mutual friendship and cooperation , collective reliance and better communication among members . It also promotes economic growth , social progress and scientific and cultural development in South Asia . Besides it seeks to check border terrorism and smuggling . As the largest and most advanced member of the SAARC India actively promotes the economic progress of its neighbours .

INDIA AND SAARC

INDIA AND SAARC

WAGAH CHECKPOINT AT INDO-PAK BORDER

LOOKING AT THE FUTURE After Independence India has emerged as a

stable democracy that participates actively in world affairs . It is making great progress in the fields of information technology , space and nuclear technology and human resource development . India has set an example for less advanced countries that are trying to make progress . Terrorism however remains a threat to India’s peace . And problems arising from economic and social disparity continue . In many parts of the country some people are still treated as untouchables . There is a wide gap between the rich and the poor . And although women have proved their merit in various spheres they are still subjected to gender bias and domestic violence.

LOOKING AT THE FUTURE

THANK YOUDIVYA VIDYADHARAN

VIII - EROLL NO. 12