History of the Republic of India (1947–present): Difference between revisions

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#REDIRECT [[History of India (1947–present)]]
{{About|the history of the [[India|Republic of India]] established after 1950|the pre-establishment era of the state|History of India}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2023}}
{{Use Indian English|date=December 2019}}


[[File:PM Nehru addresses the nation from the Red Fort on 15 August 1947.jpg|thumb|339x339px|[[Jawaharlal Nehru]], the first prime minister of India, often regarded as the architect of modern India, addressing a newly independent India on 15 August 1947]]
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The '''history of independent India''' began when the country became an independent nation within the [[Commonwealth of Nations|British Commonwealth]] on 15 August 1947. Direct administration by the British, which began in 1858, affected a political and economic unification of the subcontinent. When British rule came to an end in 1947, the subcontinent was partitioned along religious lines into two separate countries—India, with a majority of [[Hindus]], and Pakistan, with a majority of [[Muslims]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/India |title=India {{!}} History, Map, Population, Economy, & Facts |website=Encyclopædia Britannica |language=en |access-date=2020-04-03 |archive-date=12 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150612010541/https://www.britannica.com/place/India |url-status=live }}</ref> Concurrently the Muslim-majority northwest and east of [[British Raj|British India]] was separated into the [[Dominion of Pakistan]], by the [[Partition of India]]. The partition led to a [[population transfer]] of more than 10 million people between India and Pakistan and the death of about one million people. [[Indian National Congress]] leader [[Jawaharlal Nehru]] became the first [[Prime Minister of India]], but the leader most associated with the [[Indian independence movement|independence struggle]], [[Mahatma Gandhi]], accepted no office. The [[Constitution of India|constitution adopted in 1950]] made India a democratic republic with [[Westminster system|Westminster style parliamentary system of government]], both at  federal and state level respectively.The  democracy has been sustained since then. India's sustained democratic freedoms are unique among the world's newly independent states.{{sfn|Metcalf|Metcalf|2006|p = 304}}
 
The nation has faced [[religious violence in India|religious violence]], [[Naxalite|naxalism]], [[Terrorism in India|terrorism]] and regional [[separatism|separatist]] insurgencies. India has unresolved territorial disputes with China which escalated into a war in [[1962 Sino-Indian War|1962]] and [[Nathu La and Cho La clashes|1967]], and with [[Pakistan]] which resulted in wars in [[Indo-Pakistani War of 1947|1947]], [[Indo-Pakistani War of 1965|1965]], [[Indo-Pakistani War of 1971|1971]] and [[Kargil War|1999]]. India was neutral in the [[Cold War in Asia|Cold War]], and was a leader in the [[Non-Aligned Movement]]. However, it [[Indo-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation|made a loose alliance]] with the [[Soviet Union]] from 1971, when Pakistan was allied with the United States and the People's Republic of China.
 
India is [[List of states with nuclear weapons|a nuclear-weapon state]], having conducted its first [[Operation Smiling Buddha|nuclear test]] in 1974, followed by [[Pokhran-II|another five tests]] in 1998. From the 1950s to the 1980s, India followed [[Socialist economics|socialist]]-inspired policies. The economy was influenced by [[Licence Raj|extensive regulation]], [[protectionism]] and public ownership, leading to pervasive [[Corruption in India|corruption]] and slow economic growth. Since 1991, [[economic liberalisation in India|India has pursued more economic liberalisation]]. Today, India is the [[List of countries by GDP (PPP)|third largest]] and one of the [[List of countries by real GDP growth rate|fastest-growing economies]] in the world.
 
From being a relatively struggling country in its formative years,<ref name="Fisher2018-8">{{citation|last=Fisher|first=Michael H.|title=An Environmental History of India: From Earliest Times to the Twenty-First Century|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kZVuDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA8|year=2018|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|isbn=978-1-107-11162-2|page=8|access-date=27 December 2019|archive-date=25 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200625100259/https://books.google.com/books?id=kZVuDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA8|url-status=live}}</ref> the Republic of India has emerged as a fast growing [[G20]] major economy.<ref name="MetcalfMetcalf2012-265">{{citation|last1=Metcalf|first1=Barbara D.|last2=Metcalf|first2=Thomas R.|title=A Concise History of Modern India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mjIfqyY7jlsC&pg=PA265|year=2012|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|isbn=978-1-107-02649-0|pages=265–266|access-date=27 December 2019|archive-date=14 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200214003433/https://books.google.com/books?id=mjIfqyY7jlsC|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=France, UK back India's bid for permanent UN Security Council seat|url=https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/france-uk-back-india-bid-for-permanent-un-security-council-seat-2299199-2022-11-19|publisher=India Today}}</ref> India has sometimes been referred to as a [[great power]] and a [[potential superpower]] given its large and growing economy, military and population.<ref name=Brzezinskiquote>''[https://archive.org/details/strategicvisiona0000brze Strategic Vision: America & the Crisis of Global Power]'' by [[Zbigniew Brzezinski]], pp. 43–45. Published 2012.</ref><ref name=MohanMalik>{{cite book|last1=Malik|first1=Mohan|title=China and India: Great Power Rivals|date=2011|publisher=FirstForumPress|location=United States|isbn=978-1935049418}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.dni.gov/nic/NIC_globaltrend2020_s2.html|title=NIC Global Trend|access-date=22 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120616160651/http://www.dni.gov/nic/NIC_globaltrend2020_s2.html|archive-date=16 June 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2005-01-13-long-view-usat_x.htm|title=USATODAY.com – Prediction: India, China will be economic giants|website=[[USA Today]]|access-date=11 September 2015|archive-date=29 June 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629104148/http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2005-01-13-long-view-usat_x.htm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.asia-studies.com/asia/Lowy/papers/India_webFINALsml.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200625100314/http://www.asia-studies.com/asia/Lowy/papers/India_webFINALsml.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=25 June 2020|title=Lowy Institute paper – The Next Economic Giant|access-date=22 December 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://msnbc.msn.com/id/11571348/site/newsweek/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060328182554/http://msnbc.msn.com/id/11571348/site/newsweek/|url-status=dead|archive-date=28 March 2006|title=India: Asia's Other Superpower Breaks Out – Newsweek: World News – MSNBC.com|date=28 March 2006|access-date=22 December 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=12 September 2022 |title=India is quietly laying claim to economic superpower status |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/12/india-is-quietly-laying-claim-to-economic-superpower-status |access-date=2022-10-25 |website=The Guardian |language=en}}</ref>
 
==1947–1950: Dominion of India==
{{Main|Dominion of India}}
 
Independent India's first years were marked with turbulent events—a massive exchange of population with Pakistan, the [[Indo-Pakistani War of 1947]] and the integration of over 500 [[princely state]]s to form a united nation.<ref>''The Indian Journal of Political Science'', Vol. 28, No. 4 (October–December 1967), pp. 236–241</ref> [[Vallabhbhai Patel]], [[Jawaharlal Nehru]] and [[Mahatma Gandhi]] also ensured that the constitution of independent India would be secular.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thehindu.com/2002/04/06/stories/2002040600081000.htm|archive-url=https://archive.today/20141119084106/http://www.thehindu.com/2002/04/06/stories/2002040600081000.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=19 November 2014|website=[[The Hindu]]|title=Patel vs. Gandhi?|access-date=15 August 2018}}</ref>[[File:The first Cabinet of independent India.jpg|right|250px|thumb|The first Cabinet of independent India{{efn|The first Cabinet of independent India (L to R sitting) [[B. R. Ambedkar]], [[Rafi Ahmed Kidwai]], [[Sardar Baldev Singh]], [[Maulana Abul Kalam Azad]], [[Jawaharlal Nehru]], [[Rajendra Prasad]], [[Sardar Patel]], [[John Mathai]], [[Jagjivan Ram]], [[Amrit Kaur]] and [[Syama Prasad Mukherjee]]. (L to R standing) Khurshed Lal, [[R. R. Diwakar]], [[Mohanlal Saksena]], [[N. Gopalaswami Ayyangar]], [[Narhar Vishnu Gadgil|N.V. Gadgil]], [[K. C. Neogy]], [[Jairamdas Daulatram]], [[K. Santhanam]], [[Satya Narayan Sinha]] and [[B. V. Keskar]]}}]]
 
===Partition of India===
{{Main|Partition of India}}
The partition of India was outlined in the [[Indian Independence Act 1947]]. It led to the dissolution of the [[British Raj]] in [[South Asia]] and the creation of two independent [[dominion]]s: [[Dominion of India|India]] and [[Dominion of Pakistan|Pakistan]].<ref name=fisher-partition>{{citation|last=Fisher|first=Michael H.|year=2018|title=An Environmental History of India: From Earliest Times to the Twenty-First Century|location=Cambridge and New York|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-1-107-11162-2 |lccn=2018021693|doi=10.1017/9781316276044|s2cid=134229667 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kZVuDwAAQBAJ|quote=The partition of South Asia that produced India and West and East Pakistan resulted from years of bitter negotiations and recriminations ... The departing British also decreed that the hundreds of princes, who ruled one-third of the subcontinent and a quarter of its population, became legally independent, their status to be settled later. Geographical location, personal and popular sentiment, and substantial pressure and incentives from the new governments led almost all princes eventually to merge their domains into either Pakistan or India.  ...  Each new government asserted its exclusive sovereignty within its borders, realigning all territories, animals, plants, minerals, and all other natural and human-made resources as either Pakistani or Indian property, to be used for its national development... Simultaneously, the central civil and military services and judiciary split roughly along religious 'communal' lines, even as they divided movable government assets according to a negotiated formula: 22.7 percent for Pakistan and 77.3 percent for India.|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name=khan-great-partition>{{citation|last=Khan|first=Yasmin|author-link=Yasmin Khan|title=The Great Partition: The Making of India and Pakistan|edition=2|location=New Haven and London|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-23032-1|year=2017|orig-year=2007|page=1|quote=South Asians learned that the British Indian empire would be partitioned on 3 June 1947. They heard about it on the radio, from relations and friends, by reading newspapers and, later, through government pamphlets. Among a population of almost four hundred million, where the vast majority live in the countryside, ploughing the land as landless peasants or sharecroppers, it is hardly surprising that many thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, did not hear the news for many weeks afterwards. For some, the butchery and forced relocation of the summer months of 1947 may have been the first that they knew about the creation of the two new states rising from the fragmentary and terminally weakened British empire in India}}</ref> The change of political borders notably included the division of two provinces of [[British Raj|British India]],{{efn|British India consisted of those regions of the British Raj, or the British Indian Empire, which were directly administered by Britain; other regions of nominal sovereignty that were indirectly ruled by Britain were called [[princely state]]s.}} [[Bengal Presidency|Bengal]] and [[Punjab Province (British India)|Punjab]].{{sfn|Talbot|Singh|2009|p={{page needed|date=November 2022}}|ps=: "When the British divided and quit India in August 1947, they not only partitioned the subcontinent with the emergence of the two nations of India and Pakistan but also the provinces of Punjab and Bengal. ... Indeed for many the Indian subcontinent's division in August 1947 is seen as a unique event which defies comparative historical and conceptual analysis"}} The majority [[Muslim]] districts in these provinces were awarded to Pakistan and the majority non-Muslim to India. The other assets that were divided included the [[British Indian Army]], the [[Royal Indian Navy]], the [[Royal Indian Air Force]], the [[Indian Civil Service]], the [[Rail transport in India#History|railways]], and the central treasury. Self-governing independent Pakistan and India legally came into existence at midnight on 14 and 15 August 1947 respectively.
The partition caused large-scale loss of life and an unprecedented migration between the two dominions.<ref name=chaterjee-washbrook>{{citation|last1=Chatterji|first1=Joya|last2=Washbrook|first2=David|chapter=Introduction: Concepts and Questions|title=Routledge Handbook of the South Asian Diaspora|editor1-last=Chatterji|editor1-first=Joya|editor2-last=Washbrook|editor2-first=David|location=London and New York|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-415-48010-9|year=2013|quote=[[Joya Chatterji]] describes how the partition of the British Indian empire into the new nation states of India and Pakistan produced new diaspora on a vast, and hitherto unprecedented, scale, but hints that the sheer magnitude of refugee movements in South Asia after 1947 must be understood in the context of pre-existing migratory flows within the partitioned regions (see also Chatterji 2013). She also demonstrates that the new national states of India and Pakistan were quickly drawn into trying to stem this migration. As they put into place laws designed to restrict the return of partition emigrants, this produced new dilemmas for both new nations in their treatment of 'overseas Indians'; and many of them lost their right to return to their places of origin in the subcontinent, and also their claims to full citizenship in host countries.}}</ref> Among refugees who survived, it solidified the belief that safety lay among co-religionists. In the instance of Pakistan, it made palpable a hitherto only-imagined refuge for the Muslims of British India.<ref name=metcalf&metcalt-partition>{{citation|last1=Metcalf|first1=Barbara D.|last2=Metcalf|first2=Thomas R.|year=2012|title=A Concise History of Modern India|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-1-107-02649-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mjIfqyY7jlsC|quote=The loss of life was immense, with estimates ranging from several hundred thousand up to a million. But, even for those who survived, fear generated a widespread perception that one could be safe only among the members of one's own community; and this in turn helped consolidate loyalties towards the state, whether India or Pakistan, in which one might find a secure haven. This was especially important for Pakistan, where the succour it offered to Muslims gave that state for the first time a visible territorial reality. Fear too drove forward a mass migration unparalleled in the history of South Asia. Within a period of some three or four months in late 1947 a number of Hindus and Sikhs estimated at some 5 million moved from West Punjab into India, while 5.5 million Muslims travelled in the opposite direction. The outcome, akin to what today is called 'ethnic cleansing', produced an Indian Punjab 60 per cent Hindu and 35 per cent Sikh, while the Pakistan Punjab became almost wholly Muslim. A similar, though less extensive, migration took place between east and west Bengal, though murderous attacks on fleeing refugees, with the attendant loss of life, were much less extensive in the eastern region. Even those who did not move, if of the wrong community, often found themselves treated as though they were the enemy. In Delhi itself, the city's Muslims, cowering in an old fort, were for several months after partition regarded with intense suspicion and hostility. Overall, partition uprooted some 12.5 million of undivided India's people.}}</ref> The migrations took place hastily and with little warning. It is thought that between 14 million and 18 million people moved, and perhaps more. [[Excess mortality]] during the period of the partition is usually estimated to have been around one million.<ref name=dyson-partition-demographics>{{citation|last=Dyson|first=Tim|title=A Population History of India: From the First Modern People to the Present Day|page=189|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3TRtDwAAQBAJ|year=2018|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-882905-8|quote=The sudden refugee flows related to Partition may at the time have been unsurpassed in modern world history. It is likely that at least 14–18 million people moved. Previous assessments of the mortality associated with Partition have varied between 200,000 and 1 million. The first figure, attributed to Mountbatten (the last Viceroy) smacks of a number that—conveniently from an official perspective—minimises the loss of life. However, the figure of 1 million may also be too low. The data, however, do not allow for a firmer judgement.}}</ref> The violent nature of the partition created an atmosphere of hostility and suspicion between India and Pakistan that affects [[Indo-Pakistani relations|their relationship]] to this day.
 
An estimated 3.5&nbsp;million<ref name="Encarta">[http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761560851_9/Pakistan.html Pakistan], Encarta. [https://web.archive.org/web/20091028203105/http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761560851_9/Pakistan.html Archived] 31 October 2009.</ref> [[Hindus]] and [[Sikhs]] living in [[Punjab, Pakistan|West Punjab]], [[Khyber Pakhtunkhwa|North-West Frontier Province]], [[Baluchistan (Chief Commissioner's Province)|Baluchistan]], [[East Bengal]] and [[History of Sindh|Sind]] migrated to India in fear of domination and suppression in Muslim Pakistan. Communal violence killed an estimated one million Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs, and gravely destabilised both dominions along their [[Punjab, India|Punjab]] and [[Bengal]] boundaries, and the cities of [[Calcutta]], Delhi and [[Lahore]]. The violence was stopped by early September owing to the co-operative efforts of both Indian and Pakistani leaders, and especially due to the efforts of [[Mohandas Gandhi]], the leader of the Indian freedom struggle, who undertook a ''fast-unto-death'' in Calcutta and later in Delhi to calm people and emphasise peace despite the threat to his life. Both governments constructed large relief camps for incoming and leaving refugees, and the [[Indian Army]] was mobilised to provide humanitarian assistance on a massive scale.
{{Rquote|right|"I find no parallel in history for a body of converts and their descendants claiming to be a nation apart from the parent stock."|[[Mahatma Gandhi]], [[opposition to the partition of India|opposing the division of India]] on the basis of religion in 1945.<ref name="Prasoon2010">{{cite book|author=Prof. Prasoon|title=My Letters.... M.K.Gandhi|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-qfEbNpv7ggC&pg=PA120|date=1 January 2010|publisher=Pustak Mahal|isbn=978-81-223-1109-9|pages=120|access-date=5 December 2017|archive-date=6 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191206143858/https://books.google.com/books?id=-qfEbNpv7ggC&pg=PA120|url-status=live}}</ref>}}
The [[assassination of Mahatma Gandhi|assassination of Mohandas Gandhi]] on 30 January 1948 was carried out by [[Nathuram Godse]], who held him responsible for partition and charged that Mohandas Gandhi was appeasing Muslims. More than one million people flooded the streets of Delhi to follow the procession to cremation grounds and pay their last respects.
 
In 1949, India recorded almost 1 million Hindu refugees into [[West Bengal]] and other states from [[East Pakistan]], owing to communal violence, intimidation, and repression from Muslim authorities. The plight of the refugees outraged Hindus and Indian nationalists, and the refugee population drained the resources of Indian states, who were unable to absorb them. While not ruling out war, Prime Minister Nehru and Sardar Patel invited [[Liaquat Ali Khan]] for talks in Delhi. Although many Indians termed this [[appeasement]], Nehru signed a pact with Liaquat Ali Khan that pledged both nations to the protection of minorities and creation of minority commissions. Although opposed to the principle, Patel decided to back this pact for the sake of peace, and played a critical role in garnering support from West Bengal and across India, and enforcing the provisions of the pact. Khan and Nehru also signed a trade agreement, and committed to resolving bilateral disputes through peaceful means. Steadily, hundreds of thousands of Hindus returned to East Pakistan, but the thaw in relations did not last long, primarily owing to the Kashmir dispute.
 
===Integration of princely states===
{{Main|Political integration of India}}
{{Infobox
| title = [[Political integration of India]]
| image =
{{image array|perrow=2|width=180|height=150
| image1 = Sardar patel (cropped).jpg|caption1=[[Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel]] as [[Minister of Home Affairs (India)|Minister for Home and States Affairs]] had the responsibility of welding the British Indian provinces and the princely states into a united India.
| image2 = Op Polo Surrender.jpg|caption2=[[General El Edroos]] (at right) offers his surrender of the [[Hyderabad State]] Forces to Major General (later General and Army Chief) [[Joyanto Nath Chaudhuri]] at [[Secunderabad]].
| image3 = Maharani kanchan prabhadevi.jpg|caption3=Queen [[Kanchan Prava Devi|Kanchan Prabha Devi]] of the [[Kingdom of Tripura]] signed the [[instrument of accession]] to India. She played a pivotal role in rehabilitating refugees and victims of the violence associated with the [[Partition of India]] in the state of [[Tripura]].
| image4 = Sheik Mohammed Abdullah.jpg|caption4=[[Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah]] (right), chosen to head the emergency interim government in Kashmir after [[Maharaja]] [[Hari Singh]] signed [[Instrument of Accession (Jammu and Kashmir)|Kashmir's Instrument of Accession to India]].
}}
}}
}}
In July 1946, [[Jawaharlal Nehru]] pointedly observed that no princely state could prevail militarily against the army of independent India.<ref name="books.google.co.in">{{Cite book|last1=Menon|first1=Shivshankar|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eaWWDwAAQBAJ|title=India and Asian Geopolitics: The Past, Present|date=20 April 2021|isbn=978-0-670-09129-4|publisher=Brookings Institution Press|pages=34}}</ref> In January 1947, Nehru said that independent India would not accept the [[divine right of kings]].<ref>Lumby, E. W. R. 1954. ''The Transfer of Power in India, 1945–1947''. London: [[George Allen and Unwin|George Allen & Unwin]]. p. 228</ref> In May 1947, he declared that any princely state which refused to join the [[Constituent Assembly of India|Constituent Assembly]] would be treated as an enemy state.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://pib.gov.in/newsite/printrelease.aspx?relid=172053|title=Sardar Patel – Man who United India|date=30 October 2017|first=Aaditya|last=Tiwari|website=pib.gov.in}}</ref> [[British India]] consisted of 17 provinces, which existed alongside 565 [[princely state]]s. The provinces were given to India or Pakistan, in two particular cases—[[Punjab Province (British India)|Punjab]] and [[Bengal]]—after being partitioned. The princes of the princely states, however, were given the right to either remain independent or accede to either dominion. Thus India's leaders were faced with the prospect of inheriting a fragmented nation with independent states and kingdoms dispersed across the mainland. Under the leadership of [[Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel]], the new Government of India employed political negotiations backed with the option (and, on several occasions, the use) of military action to ensure the primacy of the central government and of the Constitution then being drafted. Sardar Patel and [[V. P. Menon]] convinced the rulers of princely states contiguous to India to accede to India. Many rights and privileges of the rulers of the princely states, especially their personal estates and privy purses, were guaranteed to convince them to accede. Some of them were made [[Rajpramukh]] (governor) and Uprajpramukh (deputy governor) of the merged states. Many small princely states were merged to form viable administrative states such as [[Saurashtra (region)|Saurashra]], [[Patiala and East Punjab States Union|PEPSU]], [[Vindhya Pradesh]] and [[Madhya Bharat]]. Some princely states such as [[Tripura (princely state)|Tripura]] and [[Manipur (princely state)|Manipur]] acceded later in 1949.
There were three states that proved more difficult to integrate than others:
# [[Junagadh]] (Hindu-majority state with a Muslim Nawab)—a December 1947 [[plebiscite]] resulted in a 99% vote<ref name="RJ">{{cite book
|last = Gandhi
|first = Rajmohan
|author-link = Rajmohan Gandhi
|year = 1919
|title = Patel: A Life
|publisher = Navajivan
|location = India
|id = ASIN B0006EYQ0A
|page = 292
}}</ref> to merge with India, annulling the controversial accession to Pakistan, which was made by the [[Nawab]] against the wishes of the people of the state who were overwhelmingly [[Hindu]] and despite Junagadh not being contiguous with Pakistan.
# [[Hyderabad State|Hyderabad]] (Hindu-majority state with a Muslim nizam)—Patel ordered the Indian army to depose the government of the [[Nizam]], code-named [[Operation Polo]], after the failure of negotiations, which was done between 13 and 29 September 1948. It was incorporated as a state of India the next year.
# The state of [[Jammu and Kashmir (princely state)|Jammu and Kashmir]] (a Muslim-majority state with a Hindu king) in the far north of the subcontinent quickly became a source of controversy that erupted into the [[First Indo-Pakistani War]] which lasted from 1947 to 1949. Eventually, a United Nations-overseen ceasefire was agreed that left India in control of two-thirds of the contested region. [[Jawaharlal Nehru]] initially agreed to [[Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma|Mountbatten's]] proposal that a plebiscite be held in the entire state as soon as hostilities ceased, and a UN-sponsored cease-fire was agreed to by both parties on 1 January 1949. No statewide plebiscite was held, however, for in 1954, after Pakistan began to receive arms from the United States, Nehru withdrew his support. The Indian Constitution came into force in Kashmir on 26 January 1950 with special clauses for the state.
===Constitution===
{{Main|Constitution of India}}
The Constitution of India was adopted by the [[Constituent Assembly of India|Constituent Assembly]] on 26 November 1949 and became effective on 26 January 1950.<ref name="law_min_intro">{{cite web |url=http://indiacode.nic.in/coiweb/introd.htm |title=Introduction to Constitution of India |access-date=14 October 2008 |publisher=Ministry of Law and Justice of India |date=29 July 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141022161409/http://indiacode.nic.in/coiweb/introd.htm |archive-date=22 October 2014 |url-status=live }}</ref> The constitution replaced the [[Government of India Act 1935]] as the country's fundamental governing document, and the [[Dominion of India]] became the [[India|Republic of India]]. To ensure [[constitutional autochthony]], its framers repealed prior acts of the [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|British parliament]] in Article 395.<ref>{{cite news|last=Swaminathan|first=Shivprasad|title=India's benign constitutional revolution|journal=The Hindu: Opinion|date=26 January 2013|url=http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/indias-benign-constitutional-revolution/article4345212.ece|access-date=18 February 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130301174137/http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/indias-benign-constitutional-revolution/article4345212.ece|archive-date=1 March 2013|url-status=live}}</ref> The constitution declares India a [[sovereignty|sovereign]], [[Democratic socialism|socialist]], secular,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ncert.nic.in/html/pdf/schoolcurriculum/ncfsc/judge51_80.pdf#page=18|title=Aruna Roy & Ors. v. Union of India & Ors.|date=12 September 2002|publisher=Supreme Court of India|page=18/30|access-date=11 November 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160507005232/http://www.ncert.nic.in/html/pdf/schoolcurriculum/ncfsc/judge51_80.pdf#page=18|archive-date=7 May 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> and democratic republic, assures its citizens [[justice]], [[equality before the law|equality]], and [[liberty]], and endeavours to promote [[fraternity]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Preamble of the Constitution of India|url=http://lawmin.nic.in/olwing/coi/coi-english/Const.Pock%202Pg.Rom8Fsss%283%29.pdf|publisher=Ministry of Law & Justice|access-date=29 March 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171009180953/http://lawmin.nic.in/olwing/coi/coi-english/Const.Pock%202Pg.Rom8Fsss%283%29.pdf|archive-date=9 October 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref> Key features of the constitution were [[Universal suffrage]] for all adults,[[Westminster system|Westminster style parliamentary system of government]] at the federal and state level, and independent judiciary.<ref name="Atul Kohli">{{cite book |last=Atul |first=Kohli |author-link=Kohli |title=The Success of India's Democracy
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Io0NsnlRT6sC&q=suffrage+universal+india&pg=PA23 |location=Cambridge England |publisher=Cambridge University press |page=195 |isbn=0521-80144-3}}</ref> The also constitution required the [[Government of India|Union Government]] and the [[States and Territories of India]] to set ''reserved quotas or seats'', at particular percentage in  Education Admissions, Employments, Political Bodies, Promotions, etc., for "socially and educationally backward citizens."<ref>{{Cite web|title=Reservation Is About Adequate Representation, Not Poverty Eradication|url=https://thewire.in/law/supreme-court-bench-reservation|access-date=2020-12-19|website=The Wire}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Rajagopal|first=Krishnadas|date=2020-06-11|title=Right to reservation is not a fundamental right, observes SC judge as parties withdraw plea for quota|language=en-IN|work=The Hindu|url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/right-to-reservation-is-not-fundamental-right-observes-judge-as-tn-parties-withdraw-plea-for-obc-quota-in-medical-courses/article31807732.ece|access-date=2020-12-19|issn=0971-751X}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=reservation-in-india |date=3 March 2019 |url=https://www.clearias.com/reservation-in-india/}}</ref> The constitution has had [[List of amendments of the Constitution of India|more than 100 amendments]] since it was enacted.<ref name="amendments">{{cite web|url=http://indiacode.nic.in/coiweb/coifiles/amendment.htm|title=The Constitution (Amendment) Acts|work=India Code Information System|publisher=Ministry of Law, Government of India|access-date=9 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080427052233/http://indiacode.nic.in/coiweb/coifiles/amendment.htm|archive-date=27 April 2008|url-status=live}}</ref>
India celebrates its constitution on 26 January as [[Republic Day (India)|Republic Day]].<ref name="Hari Das">{{cite book|title=Political System of India|last=Das|first=Hari|publisher=Anmol Publications|year=2002|isbn=978-8174884961|edition=Reprint|location=New Delhi|pages=120}}</ref>
===Indo-Pakistani War of 1947–1948===
{{main|Indo-Pakistani War of 1947–1948}}
[[File:Indian soldiers fighting in 1947 war.jpg|left|200px|thumb|Indian soldiers during the [[Indo-Pakistani War of 1947]]]]
The Indo-Pakistani War of 1947–1948 was fought between [[Dominion of India|India]] and [[Dominion of Pakistan|Pakistan]] over the [[princely state]] of [[Kashmir and Jammu (princely state)|Kashmir and Jammu]] from 1947 to 1948. It was the first of four [[Indo-Pakistan Wars]] fought between the two [[Partition of India|newly independent nations]]. Pakistan precipitated the war a few weeks after independence by launching tribal ''lashkar'' (militia) from [[Waziristan]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.princeton.edu/~jns/publications/Understanding%20Support%20for%20Islamist%20Militancy.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140912114721/http://www.princeton.edu/~jns/publications/Understanding%20Support%20for%20Islamist%20Militancy.pdf |url-status=dead |title=Pakistan Covert Operations|archive-date=12 September 2014}}</ref> in an effort to secure Kashmir, the future of which hung in the balance. A  United Nations-mediated ceasefire took place on 5 January 1949.
Indian losses in the war totalled 1,104 killed and 3,154 wounded;<ref name="Kargil from Surprise to Victory">{{Cite book |title=Kargil from Surprise to Victory |last=Malik |first=V. P.  |publisher=HarperCollins Publishers India |year=2010 |isbn=9789350293133 |edition=paperback  |page=343}}</ref> Pakistani, about 6,000 killed and 14,000 wounded.<ref name="Honor and Glory">{{cite book |last=Singh |first=Maj Gen Jagjit |title=With Honour & Glory: Wars fought by India 1947–1999 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bljFNwAACAAJ |year=2000 |publisher=Lancer Publishers |isbn=978-81-7062-109-6 |pages=18–}}</ref>
Neutral assessments state [[India]] emerged victorious as it successfully defended the majority of the contested territory.<ref name=Kulke>{{Cite book |last1=Kulke |first1=Hermann |last2=Rothermund |first2=Dietmar |year=2004 |title=A History of India |publisher=Routledge |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TPVq3ykHyH4C |edition=Fourth |page=324 |isbn=978-0-415-32919-4 |quote="The Indian army defended Kashmir against Pakistani aggression."}}</ref><ref name=Wilcox>{{cite book |last=Wilcox |first=Wayne Ayres |title=Pakistan: The Consolidation of a Nation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=59y9OwAACAAJ |year=1963 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0-231-02589-8 |page=66 |quote="The war for states had not only ended in Indian military victory but had given its leaders enormous self-confidence and satisfaction over a job well done."}}</ref><ref name="New Zealand Defence Quarterly">{{cite book
|title=New Zealand Defence Quarterly, Issues 24–29
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fBcqAQAAIAAJ&q=invasion+1965
|year=1999
|publisher=New Zealand. Ministry of Defence
|quote="India won, and gained two-thirds of Kashmir, which it successfully held against another Pakistani invasion in 1965."
}}</ref><ref name="War bellies: the critical relationship between resolve and domestic audiences">{{cite book
|last1=Brozek
|first1=Jason
|title=War bellies: the critical relationship between resolve and domestic audiences
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TP9XiqMu_BoC&q=1947+first+kashmir+war+won+by+india+according+to+mids+classification&pg=PA142
|year=2008
|publisher=University of Wisconsin—Madison
|isbn=978-1-109-04475-1
|page=142 |quote="the 1947 First Kashmir (won by India, according to MIDS classification)"}}</ref><ref name="The Global Rise of Asian Transformation: Trends and Developments in Economic Growth Dynamics">{{cite book
|last1=Hoontrakul
|first1=Pongsak
|title=The Global Rise of Asian Transformation: Trends and Developments in Economic Growth Dynamics
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RrKYBgAAQBAJ&q=Indo-Pakistan+war+of+1947+victorious+India+defeated+Pakistan&pg=PA37
|year=2014
|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan
|edition=illustrated
|isbn=978-1-137-41235-5
|page=37
|quote="Victor: India, Defeated: Pakistan"
}}</ref>
==Governance and politics==
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-61849-0001, Indien, Otto Grotewohl bei Ministerpräsident Nehru cropped.jpg|thumb|200px|Jawaharlal Nehru, the [[List of Prime Ministers of India|first]] [[Prime Minister of India]]. He oversaw India's transition from a colony to a republic, while nurturing a plural, [[multi-party system]]. In foreign policy, he took a leading role in the [[Non-Aligned Movement]] while projecting India as a regional hegemon in South Asia.]]
India held its first national elections under the Constitution in [[1951–52 Indian general election|
1952]], where a turnout of over 60% was recorded. The [[Indian National Congress|National Congress Party]] won an overwhelming majority, and [[Jawaharlal Nehru]] began a second term as Prime Minister. President Prasad was also elected to a second term by the electoral college of the first [[Parliament of India]].<ref>{{Cite web | title=Lok Sabha Results 1951–52 | publisher=Election Commission of India | url=http://www.elections.in/parliamentary-constituencies/1951-election-results.html | access-date=23 December 2016 | archive-date=17 October 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161017221719/http://www.elections.in/parliamentary-constituencies/1951-election-results.html | url-status=live }}</ref>
===Nehru administration (1952–1964)===
Nehru can be regarded as the founder of the modern Indian state. Parekh attributes this to the national philosophy Nehru formulated for India. For him, modernisation was the national philosophy, with seven goals: national unity, parliamentary democracy, industrialisation, socialism, development of the scientific temper, and non-alignment. In Parekh's opinion, the philosophy and the policies that resulted from this benefited a large section of society such as public sector workers, industrial houses, and middle and upper peasantry. However, it failed to benefit or satisfy the urban and rural poor, the unemployed and the [[Hindu fundamentalist]]s.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Parekh |first=Bhiku |date=1991 |title=Nehru and the National Philosophy of India |journal=[[Economic and Political Weekly]] |volume=26 |issue=5–12 Jan 1991 |pages=35–48 |jstor=4397189}}</ref>
The death of Vallabhbhai Patel in 1950 left Nehru as the sole remaining iconic national leader, and soon the situation became such that Nehru could implement his vision for India  without hindrance.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5rtGvnMrCTQC&dq=The+death+of+Vallabhbhai+Patel+in+1950+left+Nehru+as+the+sole+remaining+iconic+national+leader&pg=PA506|title=Across The Himalayan Gap|date=1998|pages=506|publisher=Gyan Publishing House|editor=Tan Chung|isbn=81-212-0585-9}}</ref>
Nehru implemented economic policies based on [[Import substitution industrialization|import substitution industrialisation]] and advocated a [[mixed economy]] where the government-controlled [[public sector]] would co-exist with the [[private sector]].{{sfn|Ghose|1993|p=243}} He believed the establishment of basic and heavy industry was fundamental to the development and modernisation of the Indian economy. The government, therefore, directed investment primarily into key [[Public sector undertakings in India|public sector]] industries—steel, iron, coal, and power—promoting their development with subsidies and protectionist policies.{{sfn| Kopstein|2005|p=364}}
Nehru led the Congress to further election victories in 1957 and 1962. During his tenure, the Indian Parliament passed extensive reforms that increased the legal rights of women in Hindu society,<ref>{{Cite journal
| volume = 28
| issue = 1
| pages = 165–194
| last = Som
| first = Reba
| title = Jawaharlal Nehru and the Hindu Code: A Victory of Symbol over Substance?
| journal = Modern Asian Studies
| date = February 1994
| doi = 10.1017/S0026749X00011732
| jstor = 312925
| s2cid = 145393171
}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book
| publisher = SUNY Press
| page = 3
| isbn = 81-86706-49-6
| quote = The Hindu Code Bill was visualised by Ambedkar and Nehru as the flagship of modernisation and a radical revision of Hindu law ... it is widely regarded as dramatic benchmark legislation giving Hindu women equitable if not superior entitlements as legal subjects.
| last = Basu
| first = Srimati
| title = She Comes to Take Her Rights: Indian Women, Property, and Propriety
| year = 2005
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=mXgX8rrW6JsC&pg=PA3
| access-date = 17 May 2020
| archive-date = 20 October 2021
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211020194449/https://books.google.com/books?id=mXgX8rrW6JsC&pg=PA3
| url-status = live
}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book
| publisher = Routledge
| page = 328
| quote = One subject that particularly interested Nehru was the reform of Hindu law, particularly with regard to the rights of Hindu women...
| last = Kulke
| first = Hermann
| author2 = Dietmar Rothermund
| title = A History of India
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=TPVq3ykHyH4C&pg=PA328
| year = 2004
| isbn = 0-415-32919-1
| access-date = 17 May 2020
| archive-date = 2 September 2021
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210902054451/https://books.google.com/books?id=TPVq3ykHyH4C&pg=PA328
| url-status = live
}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book
|publisher    = [[Cambridge University Press]]
|page        = 115
|url          = https://books.google.com/books?id=hjilIrVt9hUC&pg=PA115
|isbn        = 0-521-65377-0
|last        = Forbes
|quote        = It is our birthright to demand equitable adjustment of Hindu law....
|first        = Geraldine
|author2      = Geraldine Hancock Forbes
|author3      = Gordon Johnson
|title        = Women in Modern India
|year        = 1999
|access-date  = 17 May 2020
|archive-date = 2 September 2021
|archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20210902054451/https://books.google.com/books?id=hjilIrVt9hUC&pg=PA115
|url-status  = live
}}</ref> and further legislated against caste discrimination and [[Dalit|untouchability]].{{CN|date=June 2023}} Nehru advocated a strong initiative to enroll India's children to complete primary education, and thousands of schools, colleges and institutions of advanced learning, such as the [[Indian Institutes of Technology]], were founded across the nation.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.iitkgp.ac.in/institute/history.php |title=Institute History |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070813213137/http://www.iitkgp.ac.in/institute/history.php |archive-date=13 August 2007 }}, Indian Institute of Technology</ref> Nehru advocated a socialist model for the [[economy of India]].After India achieved independence, a formal model of planning was adopted, and accordingly the [[Planning Commission (India)|Planning Commission]], reporting directly to the Prime Minister, was established in 1950, with Nehru as the chairman. The commission was tasked with formulating [[Five-Year Plans of India|Five-Year Plans]] for economic development which were shaped by the [[Five-year plans of the Soviet Union|Soviet model]] based on centralised and integrated national economic programs<ref>Sony Pellissery and Sam Geall "Five Year Plans" in Encyclopedia of Sustainability, Vol. 7 pp. 156–160</ref>—no taxation for Indian farmers, minimum wage and benefits for blue-collar workers, and the [[nationalisation]] of heavy industries such as steel, aviation, shipping, electricity, and mining. Village [[commons|common lands]] were seized, and an extensive public works and industrialisation campaign resulted in the construction of major dams, irrigation canals, roads, thermal and hydroelectric power stations, and many more.{{CN|date=June 2023}}
===States reorganisation===
{{Main|States Reorganisation Act, 1956}}
[[File:South Indian territories.svg|250px|right|thumb|[[South India]]n states prior to the States Reorganisation Act]]
[[Potti Sreeramulu]]'s ''fast-unto-death'', and consequent death for the demand of an [[Andhra State]] in 1952 sparked a major re-shaping of the Indian Union. Nehru appointed the States Re-organisation Commission, upon whose recommendations the States Reorganisation Act was passed in 1956. Old states were dissolved and new states created on the lines of shared linguistic and ethnic demographics. The separation of [[Kerala]] and the [[Telugu language|Telugu]]-speaking regions of [[Madras State]] enabled the creation of an exclusively [[Tamil language|Tamil]]-speaking state of [[Tamil Nadu]]. On 1 May 1960, the states of [[Maharashtra]] and [[Gujarat]] were created out of the bilingual [[Bombay State]], and on 1 November 1966, the larger [[East Punjab|Punjab]] state was divided into the smaller, [[Punjabi language|Punjabi]]-speaking [[Punjab, India|Punjab]] and [[Haryanvi language|Haryanvi]]-speaking [[Haryana]] states.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://indiacode.nic.in/coiweb/amend/amend7.htm |title=Seventh Amendment |website=Indiacode.nic.in |access-date=2011-11-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170501011646/http://indiacode.nic.in/coiweb/amend/amend7.htm |archive-date=1 May 2017 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
===Development of a multi-party system===
In pre-independence India, the main parties were the Congress and the Muslim league.There were also many other parties uch as the [[Hindu mahasabha]], [[Justice Party (India)|Justice party]], the [[Shiromani Akali Dal|Akali dal]], the [[Communist Party of India|Communist party]] etc. during this period with limited or regional appeal. With the eclipse of the Muslim league due to partition, the Congress party was able to dominate  Indian politics during the 1950s.This started breaking down during the 60s and 70s.This period saw formation of many new parties.These included  those founded by former congress leaders such as the Swatantra party, many Socialist leaning parties, and  the [[Bharatiya Jan Sangh]], the political arm of the Hindu nationalist [[RSS]].<ref>Swain, P. C. (2008). DYNAMICS OF THE INDIAN PARTY SYSTEM : THE EMERGENCE OF COMPETITIVE MULTI PARTY COALITIONS. The Indian Journal of Political Science, 69(1), 59–70. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41856392</ref>
====Swatantra Party====
{{Main|C. Rajagopalachari|Swatantra Party}}
On 4 June 1959, shortly after the Nagpur session of the Indian National Congress, [[C. Rajagopalachari]],<ref name="Guha2011">{{cite book|author=Ramachandra Guha|title=Makers of Modern India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rWxXqEp4eQsC|date=31 March 2011|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-05246-8|access-date=8 February 2020|archive-date=4 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210304200037/https://books.google.com/books?id=rWxXqEp4eQsC|url-status=live}}</ref> along with Murari Vaidya of the newly established Forum of Free Enterprise (FFE)<ref name="swatantraconservatismp66">{{harvnb|Erdman|2008|p=66}}</ref> and [[Minoo Masani]], a [[classical liberal]] and critic of socialist leaning Nehru, announced the formation of the new [[Swatantra Party]] at a meeting in Madras.<ref name="swatantraconservatismp65">{{harvnb|Erdman|2008|p=65}}</ref> Conceived by disgruntled heads of former princely states such as the Raja of Ramgarh, the Maharaja of Kalahandi and the Maharajadhiraja of Darbhanga, the party was conservative in character.<ref name="swatantraconservatismp74">{{harvnb|Erdman|2008|p=74}}</ref><ref name="swatantraconservatismp72">{{harvnb|Erdman|2008|p=72}}</ref> Later, [[N. G. Ranga]], [[K. M. Munshi]], [[Field marshal (India)|Field Marshal]] [[K. M. Cariappa]] and the Maharaja of Patiala joined the effort.<ref name="swatantraconservatismp72" /> Rajagopalachari, Masani and Ranga also tried but failed to involve [[Jayaprakash Narayan]] in the initiative.<ref name="swatantraconservatismp78">{{harvnb|Erdman|2008|p=78}}</ref>
In his short essay "Our Democracy", Rajagopalachari argued the necessity of a right-wing alternative to the Congress:  "since ... the Congress Party has swung to the Left, what is wanted is not an ultra or outer-Left [viz. the CPI or the Praja Socialist Party, PSP], but a strong and articulate Right."<ref name="swatantraconservatismp74" /> Rajagopalachari also said the opposition must: "operate not privately and behind the closed doors of the party meeting, but openly and periodically through the electorate."<ref name="swatantraconservatismp74" /> He outlined the goals of the Swatantra Party through twenty-one "fundamental principles" in the foundation document.<ref name="swatantraconservatismp188">{{harvnb|Erdman|2008|p=188}}</ref> The party stood for equality and opposed government control over the private sector.<ref name="swatantraconservatismp189">{{harvnb|Erdman|2008|p=189}}</ref><ref name="swatantraconservatismp190">{{harvnb|Erdman|2008|p=190}}</ref> Rajagopalachari sharply criticised the bureaucracy and coined the term "[[Licence Raj|licence-permit Raj]]" to describe Nehru's elaborate system of permissions and licences required for an individual to set up a private enterprise. Rajagopalachari's personality became a rallying point for the party.<ref name="swatantraconservatismp74" />
[[File:Cecil Beaton Photographs- Political and Military Personalities IB698.jpg|thumb|[[Gayatri Devi]], the Maharani of [[Jaipur]] and princess of [[Cooch Behar]], was a successful politician in the Swatantra Party.]]
Rajagopalachari's efforts to build an anti-Congress front led to a patch-up with his former adversary [[C. N. Annadurai]] of the [[Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam]].<ref name="wisestman_thehindu">{{cite news|title=The wisest man in India|url=http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/mag/2002/12/22/stories/2002122200650300.htm|first=Ramachandra|last=Guha|author-link=Ramachandra Guha|work=[[The Hindu]]|date=22 December 2002|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131208005403/http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/mag/2002/12/22/stories/2002122200650300.htm|archive-date=8 December 2013}}</ref> During the late 1950s and early 1960s, Annadurai grew close to Rajagopalachari and sought an alliance with the Swatantra Party for the [[1962 Madras Legislative Assembly election]]s. Although there were occasional electoral pacts between the Swatantra Party and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Rajagopalachari remained non-committal on a formal tie-up with the DMK due to its existing alliance with Communists whom he dreaded.<ref name="socialchangep111">{{cite book|title=Social change in modern India|page=111|first=Mysore Narasimhachar|last=Srinivas|publisher=Orient Blackswan|year=1995|isbn=978-8125004226}}</ref> The Swatantra Party contested 94 seats in the Madras state assembly elections and won six<ref name="1962electionresults">{{cite web|url=http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/StatisticalReports/SE_1962/StatRep_Madras_1962.pdf|title=Statistical Report on General Election 1962 to the Legislative Assembly of Madras|publisher=Election Commission of India|access-date=15 August 2010|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101007003737/http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/StatisticalReports/SE_1962/StatRep_Madras_1962.pdf|archive-date=7 October 2010}}</ref> as well as won 18 parliamentary seats in the [[1962 Indian general election|1962 Lok Sabha elections]].<ref name="1962elections">{{cite web|title=Statistical Report on General Elections 1962 to the Second Lok Sabha|url=http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/StatisticalReports/LS_1962/Vol_I_LS_62.pdf|publisher=Election Commission of India|access-date=15 August 2010|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141008202517/http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/StatisticalReports/LS_1962/Vol_I_LS_62.pdf|archive-date=8 October 2014}}</ref>
===Foreign policy and military conflicts===
{{See also|India and the Non-Aligned Movement|List of conflicts in Asia#Republic of India|Indo-Pakistani War of 1965}}
Nehru's foreign policy was the inspiration of the [[Non-Aligned Movement]], of which India was a co-founder. Nehru maintained friendly relations with both the United States and the [[Soviet Union]], and encouraged the People's Republic of China to join the global community of nations. In 1956, when the [[Suez Canal Company]] was seized by the Egyptian government, an international conference voted 18–4 to take action against Egypt. India was one of the four backers of Egypt, along with [[Indonesia]], [[Sri Lanka]], and the USSR. India had opposed the [[partition of Palestine]] and the 1956 invasion of the [[Sinai Peninsula|Sinai]] by Israel, the United Kingdom and France, but did not oppose the Chinese direct control over [[Tibet Autonomous Region|Tibet]],<ref name="Joes2006">{{cite book|author=Anthony James Joes|title=Resisting Rebellion: The History and Politics of Counterinsurgency|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=buHXFDFdeoQC&pg=PA82|date=18 August 2006|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|isbn=0-8131-9170-X|pages=82–|access-date=12 July 2017|archive-date=2 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210902054452/https://books.google.com/books?id=buHXFDFdeoQC&pg=PA82|url-status=live}}</ref> and the suppression of a pro-democracy movement in [[Hungary]] by the Soviet Union. Although Nehru disavowed nuclear ambitions for India, Canada and France aided India in the development of nuclear power stations for electricity. India also negotiated an agreement in 1960 with Pakistan on the just use of the waters of seven rivers shared by the countries. Nehru had visited Pakistan in 1953, but owing to political turmoil in Pakistan, no headway was made on the Kashmir dispute.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Robert Sherrod |title=Nehru: The Great Awakening| journal=The Saturday Evening Post| volume=236 |date=19 January 1963 |pages=60–67 |issue=2}}</ref>
India has fought a total of four [[Indo-Pakistani wars and conflicts|wars/military conflicts]] with its rival nation Pakistan, two in this period. In the [[Indo-Pakistani War of 1947]], fought over the disputed territory of [[Kashmir]], Pakistan captured one-third of Kashmir (which India claims as its territory), and India captured three-fifths (which Pakistan claims as its territory). In the [[Indo-Pakistani War of 1965]], India attacked Pakistan on all fronts by crossing the international border after attempts by Pakistani troops to infiltrate Indian-controlled Kashmir by crossing the de facto border between India and Pakistan in Kashmir.
In 1961, after continual petitions for a peaceful handover, India [[annexation of Goa|invaded and annexed]] the Portuguese colony of [[Goa]] on the west coast of India.<ref name="Major K C Praval">{{cite book |last=Praval |first=Major K.C. |title=Indian Army after Independence |year=2009 |publisher=Lancer |location=New Delhi |isbn=978-1-935501-10-7 |pages=214}}</ref>
In 1962 China and India engaged in the brief [[Sino-Indian War]] over the border in the [[Himalayas]]. The war was a complete rout for the Indians and led to a refocusing on arms build-up and an improvement in relations with the United States. China withdrew from disputed territory in the contested Chinese [[South Tibet]] and Indian [[North-East Frontier Agency]] that it crossed during the war. India disputes China's sovereignty over the smaller [[Aksai Chin]] territory that it controls on the western part of the Sino-Indian border.<ref name="Indo-China War of 1962">{{Cite web|url=https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/indo-prc_1962.htm|title=India – War with China|website=www.globalsecurity.org|access-date=20 October 2021|archive-date=13 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170713235919/http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/indo-prc_1962.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>
{{Gallery|align=center
|width=180|lines=4
|File:1965 war.jpg|Indian Army officers of the 4th Sikh Regiment captured a Police Station in [[Lahore, Pakistan]], after winning the [[Battle of Burki]], during the [[Indo-Pakistani War of 1965]].
|File:Canberra.pr9.takeoff.arp.jpg|The Indian Air Force used 20 small and lightweight Canberra bombers against the [[Portuguese Armed Forces|Portuguese forces]] during [[Operation Vijay (1961)|Operation Vijay]], which led to the Annexation of Goa.
|File:China India western border 88.jpg|Disputed areas in the western sector of the Sino-Indian border including [[Aksai Chin]], 1988 [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] map
}}
==1960s after Nehru==
[[File:Indira Gandhi in 1967.jpg|right|thumb|Nehru's daughter [[Indira Gandhi]] served as prime minister for three consecutive terms (1966–77) and a fourth term (1980–84).]]
Jawaharlal Nehru died on 27 May 1964, and [[Lal Bahadur Shastri]] succeeded him as Prime Minister. In 1965, India and Pakistan again [[Second Kashmir War|went to war over Kashmir]], but without any definitive outcome or alteration of the Kashmir boundary. The [[Tashkent Agreement]] was signed under the mediation of the Soviet government, but Shastri died on the night after the signing ceremony. A leadership election resulted in the elevation of [[Indira Gandhi]], Nehru's daughter who had been serving as Minister for Information and Broadcasting, as the third Prime Minister. She defeated right-wing leader [[Morarji Desai]]. The Congress Party won a reduced majority in the 1967 elections owing to widespread disenchantment over rising prices of commodities, unemployment, economic stagnation, and food crisis. Indira Gandhi had started on a rocky note after agreeing to a [[devaluation]] of the [[Indian rupee|rupee]], which created much hardship for Indian businesses and consumers, and the import of wheat from the United States fell through due to political disputes.<ref name="Kapila1">{{Cite book
|publisher    = Academic Foundation
|page        = 126
|url          = https://books.google.com/books?id=de66PkzcfusC&pg=PA126
|isbn        = 978-8171881055
|last        = Kapila
|first        = Raj
|author2      = Uma Kapila
|title        = Understanding India's Economic Reforms
|year        = 2004
|access-date  = 23 December 2016
|archive-date = 11 May 2016
|archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20160511124030/https://books.google.com/books?id=de66PkzcfusC&pg=PA126
|url-status  = live
}}</ref>
In 1967, India and China again engaged with each other in [[Nathu La and Cho La clashes|Sino-Indian War of 1967]] after the PLA soldiers opened fire on the Indian soldiers who were making a fence on the border in Nathu La. The Indian forces successfully repelled Chinese forces and the outcome saw Chinese defeat with their withdrawal from Sikkim.
Morarji Desai entered Gandhi's government as Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister, and with senior Congress politicians attempted to constrain Gandhi's authority. But following the counsel of her political advisor [[P. N. Haksar]], Gandhi resuscitated her popular appeal by a major shift towards socialist policies. She successfully ended the [[Privy Purse in India|Privy Purse]] guarantee for former Indian royalty, and waged a major offensive against party hierarchy over the nationalisation of India's banks. Although resisted by Desai and India's business community, the policy was popular with the masses. When Congress politicians attempted to oust Gandhi by suspending her Congress membership, Gandhi was empowered with a large exodus of members of parliament to her own Congress (R). The bastion of the Indian freedom struggle, the [[Indian National Congress]], had split in 1969. Gandhi continued to govern with a slim majority.<ref name="Rosser">{{Cite book
| publisher = MIT Press
| pages = 468–470
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=y3Mr6TgalqMC&pg=PA470
| isbn = 978-0262182348
| last = Rosser
| first = J. Barkley
| author2 = Marina V. Rosser
| title = Comparative Economics in Transforming the World Economy
| year = 2004
| access-date = 23 December 2016
| archive-date = 27 May 2016
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160527122604/https://books.google.com/books?id=y3Mr6TgalqMC&pg=PA470
| url-status = live
}}</ref>
==1970s==
[[File:INS Vikrant (R11) launches an Alize aircraft during Indo-Pakistani War of 1971.jpg|thumbnail|250px|Indian aircraft carrier {{INS|Vikrant|1961|6}} launches an [[Breguet Alizé|Alize aircraft]] during the [[Indo-Pakistani War of 1971]].]]
In 1971, Indira Gandhi and her Congress (R) were returned to power with a massively increased majority. The nationalisation of banks was carried out, and many other socialist economic and industrial policies enacted. India [[Indo-Pakistani War of 1971|intervened]] in the [[Bangladesh Liberation War|Bangladesh War of Independence]], a civil war taking place in Pakistan's [[East Bengal|Bengali]] half, after millions of refugees had fled the persecution of the Pakistani army. The clash resulted in the independence of East Pakistan, which became known as [[Bangladesh]], and Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's elevation to immense popularity. Relations with the United States grew strained, and India signed a 20-year treaty of friendship with the Soviet Union—breaking explicitly for the first time from non-alignment. In 1974, India tested [[India and weapons of mass destruction|its first nuclear weapon]] in the desert of [[Rajasthan]], near [[Pokhran]].
===Merger of Sikkim===
[[File:Vikramjit-Kakati-Rumtek.jpg|thumbnail|250px|left|[[Rumtek Monastery]] in Sikkim. Sikkim became the 22nd state of the Indian Union.]]
In 1973, anti-royalist riots took place in the [[Kingdom of Sikkim]]. In 1975, the Prime Minister of [[Sikkim]] appealed to the [[Indian Parliament]] for Sikkim to become a state of India. In April of that year, the [[Indian Army]] took over the city of [[Gangtok]] and disarmed the Chogyal's palace guards. Thereafter, [[1975 Sikkimese monarchy referendum|a referendum]] was held in which 97.5 percent of voters supported abolishing the monarchy, effectively approving union with India.
India is said to have stationed 20,000–40,000 troops in a country of only 200,000 during the referendum.<ref>{{citation |author=G. T. |title=Trouble in Sikkim |journal=Index on Censorship |publisher=Routledge |date=1 March 1975 |volume=4 |pages=68–69 |doi=10.1080/03064227508532403|s2cid=220927214 }}</ref> On 16 May 1975, Sikkim became the 22nd state of the Indian Union, and the monarchy was abolished.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://sikkim.gov.in/ASP/Miscc/aboutsikkim.htm |title=About Sikkim |publisher=Official website of the Government of Sikkim |access-date=15 June 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090525171423/http://www.sikkim.gov.in/asp/Miscc/aboutsikkim.htm |archive-date=25 May 2009 }}</ref> To enable the incorporation of the new state, the [[Parliament of India|Indian Parliament]] amended the [[Constitution of India|Indian Constitution]]. First, the [[List of amendments of the Constitution of India|35th Amendment]] laid down a set of conditions that made Sikkim an "Associate State", a special designation not used by any other state. A month later, the [[List of amendments of the Constitution of India|36th Amendment]] repealed the 35th Amendment, and made Sikkim a full state, adding its name to the [[Constitution of India#First Schedule|First Schedule]] of the Constitution.<ref>{{cite news | url = http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-03-15/india/28130281_1_constitution-amendment-bill-simple-majority-joint-session | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111121163129/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-03-15/india/28130281_1_constitution-amendment-bill-simple-majority-joint-session | url-status = dead | archive-date = 21 November 2011 | title = Constitution has been amended 94 times | date = 15 May 2010 | newspaper = [[The Times of India]] | access-date =16 May 2011 }}</ref>
===Formation of Northeastern states===
<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px">
Assam in 1950s.png|Assam till the 1950s: The new states of [[Nagaland]], Meghalaya and [[Mizoram]] formed in the 1960-70s. From [[Shillong]], the capital of Assam was shifted to [[Dispur]], now a part of [[Guwahati]]. After the [[Sino-Indian War]] in 1962, [[Arunachal Pradesh]] was also separated.
Hornbil Festival, Kohima 6.jpg|[[Hornbill Festival]], [[Kohima]], Nagaland. [[Nagaland]] became a state on 1 December 1963.
Paphal (Musée du Quai Branly) (4489839164).jpg|''[[Pakhangba]]'', a [[Heraldry|heraldic]] dragon of the Meithei tradition and an important emblem among Manipur state symbols. [[Manipur]] became a state on 21 January 1972.
Meghalaya Abode of the Clouds India Nature in Laitmawsiang Landscape.jpg|Meghalaya is mountainous, the most rain-soaked state of India. [[Meghalaya]] became a state on 21 January 1972.
Tripura State Museum Agartala Tripura India.jpg|[[Ujjayanta Palace]], which houses the Tripura State Museum. [[Tripura]] became a state on 21 January 1972.
Golden Pagoda Namsai Arunachal Pradesh.jpg|[[Golden Pagoda, Namsai]], Arunachal Pradesh, is one of the notable [[Buddhist temple]]s in India. [[Arunachal Pradesh]] became a state on 20 February 1987.
SHSS building.jpg|A school campus in Mizoram, which has one of the highest literacy rates in India. [[Mizoram]] became a state on 20 February 1987.
</gallery>
In the [[Northeast India]], the state of [[Assam]] was divided into several states beginning in 1970 within the borders of what was then Assam. In 1963, the Naga Hills district became the 16th state of India under the name of [[Nagaland]]. Part of [[Tuensang]] was added to Nagaland. In 1970, in response to the demands of the [[Khasi people|Khasi]], [[Jaintia people|Jaintia]] and [[Garo people]] of the [[Karbi-Meghalaya Plateau|Meghalaya Plateau]], the districts embracing the [[Khasi Hills]], [[Jaintia Hills]], and [[Garo Hills]] were formed into an autonomous state within Assam; in 1972 this became a separate state under the name of [[Meghalaya]]. In 1972, [[Arunachal Pradesh]] (the [[North-East Frontier Agency]]) and [[Mizoram]] (from the [[Mizo Hills]] in the south) were separated from Assam as union territories; both became states in 1986.<ref name="Bhattacharyya1995">{{cite book|author=Bhubaneswar Bhattacharyya|title=The troubled border: some facts about boundary disputes between Assam-Nagaland, Assam-Arunachal Pradesh, Assam-Meghalaya, and Assam-Mizoram|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sktuAAAAMAAJ|year=1995|publisher=Lawyer's Book Stall|isbn=9788173310997}}</ref>
===Green revolution and Operation Flood===
{{main|Green Revolution in India|Operation Flood}}
{{multiple image
| align    = right
| caption_align = center
| image1  = Punjab Monsoon.jpg
| width1  = 180
| caption1 = The state of [[Punjab, India|Punjab]] led India's [[Green Revolution]] and earned the distinction of being the country's bread basket.<ref>{{cite report |url=http://planningcommission.nic.in/plans/stateplan/sdr_pdf/shdr_pun04.pdf |title=Human Development Report 2004, Punjab |date=2004 |author=[[Government of Punjab, India|The Government of Punjab]] |access-date=9 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708073911/http://planningcommission.nic.in/plans/stateplan/sdr_pdf/shdr_pun04.pdf |archive-date=8 July 2011 |url-status=dead }} Section: "The Green Revolution", pp. 17–20.</ref>
| image2  = Amul Plant at Anand.jpg
| width2  = 272
| caption2 = [[Amul]] Dairy Plant at [[Anand, Gujarat]], was a highly successful co-operative started during [[Operation Flood]] in the 1970s.
}}
India's population passed the 500 million mark in the early 1970s, but its long-standing food crisis was resolved with greatly improved agricultural productivity due to the [[Green Revolution in India|Green Revolution]]. The government sponsored modern agricultural implements, new varieties of generic seeds, and increased financial assistance to farmers that increased the yield of food crops such as wheat, rice and corn, as well as commercial crops like cotton, tea, tobacco and coffee.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://countrystudies.us/india/104.htm| title=The Green Revolution in India| work=U.S. Library of Congress (released in [[public domain]])| series=Library of Congress Country Studies| access-date=2007-10-06| archive-date=4 June 2011| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604094728/http://countrystudies.us/india/104.htm| url-status=live}}</ref> Increased agricultural productivity expanded across the states of the [[Indo-Gangetic Plain]] and the [[Punjab, India|Punjab]].
Under [[Operation Flood]], the government encouraged the production of milk, which increased greatly, and improved rearing of livestock across India. This enabled India to become self-sufficient in feeding its own population, ending two decades of food imports.<ref name="Katar">{{cite book |last=Singh |first=Katar |title=Rural Development: Principles, Policies and Management |year=1999 |pages=201 |publisher=SAGE |location=New Delhi |isbn=81-7036-773-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-wXsRWxpjPAC&pg=PA201 |access-date=23 December 2016 |archive-date=20 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211020194509/https://books.google.com/books?id=-wXsRWxpjPAC&pg=PA201 |url-status=live }}</ref>
===Bangladesh Liberation War===
{{Main|Indo-Pakistani War of 1971}}
[[File:1971 Instrument of Surrender.jpg|thumb|right|The Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 concluded with [[Lieutenant-General]] [[A. A. K. Niazi]], the commander of [[Pakistan Eastern Command]], signing the [[Pakistani Instrument of Surrender|instrument of surrender]] in [[Dhaka]] on 16 December 1971, in the presence of India's [[Jagjit Singh Aurora|Lt. Gen. Jagjit Singh Aurora]]. Standing immediately behind from left to right: Indian Navy [[Nilakanta Krishnan|Vice Admiral Krishnan]], Indian Air Force [[Hari Chand Dewan|Air Marshal Dewan]], Indian Army [[Sagat Singh|Lt Gen Sagat Singh]], [[J. F. R. Jacob|Maj Gen JFR Jacob]] (with Flt Lt Krishnamurthy peering over his shoulder). Veteran newscaster Surojit Sen of [[All India Radio]] is seen holding a microphone on the right.]]
The [[Indo-Pakistani War of 1971]] was the third in four wars fought between the two nations.The war was fought in December 1971 over the issue of Bangladesh. India decisively defeated [[Pakistani Instrument of Surrender|Pakistan]], resulting in the creation of [[Bangladesh]].
The crisis started with Punjabi dominated Pakistani army refusing to surrender power to the newly elected but mainly Bengali [[Awami League]] led by Shaikh Mujibur Rehman. [[Proclamation of Bangladeshi Independence]] in march of 1971 by Rehman led to widespread atrocities being committed by the Pakistani army against select groups.It is estimated that starting in March 1971, members of the Pakistani military and supporting pro-Pakistani Islamist militias [[1971 Bangladesh genocide|killed between 300,000 and 3,000,000]] civilians in Bangladesh.<ref name="Women and Climate Change in Bangladesh">{{cite book
|last1=Alston
|first1=Margaret
|title=Women and Climate Change in Bangladesh
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WMSgBgAAQBAJ&q=3%20million%20bangladeshi%20genocide%201971%20war&pg=PA40
|access-date=2016-03-08
|year=2015
|publisher=Routledge
|isbn=9781317684862
|page=40
|archive-date=13 October 2020
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201013134201/https://books.google.com/books?id=WMSgBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA40&q=3%20million%20bangladeshi%20genocide%201971%20war
|url-status=live
}}</ref><ref name="Plight and Fate of Women During and Following Genocide">{{cite book
|last1=Debnath
|first1=Angela
|year=2012
|orig-year=First published 2009
|chapter=The Bangladesh Genocide: The Plight of Women
|editor-last1=Totten
|editor-first1=Samuel
|editor-link=Samuel Totten
|title=Plight and Fate of Women During and Following Genocide
|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=crJ7ai7GJH0C&q=3%20million%20bangladeshi%20genocide%201971%20war&pg=PA55
|access-date=2016-03-08
|publisher=Transaction Publishers
|isbn=978-1-4128-4759-9
|page=55
|archive-date=15 October 2020
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201015061413/https://books.google.com/books?id=crJ7ai7GJH0C&pg=PA55&q=3%20million%20bangladeshi%20genocide%201971%20war
|url-status=live
}}</ref><ref name="Exploring Social Psychology 4E">{{cite book
|last=Myers
|first=David G.
|title=Exploring Social Psychology 4E
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X3fdaGkEy6MC&q=3%20million%20bangladeshi%20genocide%201971%20war&pg=PA269
|access-date=2016-03-08
|year=2004
|publisher=Tata McGraw-Hill Education
|isbn=9780070700628
|page=269
|archive-date=10 October 2020
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201010033319/https://books.google.com/books?id=X3fdaGkEy6MC&pg=PA269&q=3%20million%20bangladeshi%20genocide%201971%20war
|url-status=live
}}</ref><ref>Consulate (Dacca) Cable, Sitrep: [http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB79/BEBB6.pdf Army Terror Campaign Continues in Dacca; Evidence Military Faces Some Difficulties Elsewhere] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111221082405/http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB79/BEBB6.pdf |date=21 December 2011 }}, 31 March 1971, Confidential, 3 pp.</ref><ref name="kennedy">Kennedy, Senator Edward, "Crisis in South Asia&nbsp;– A report to the Subcommittee investigating the Problem of Refugees and Their Settlement, Submitted to U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee", 1 November 1971, U.S. Govt. Press, page 66. Sen. Kennedy wrote, "Field reports to the U.S. Government, countless eye-witness journalistic accounts, reports of International agencies such as World Bank and additional information available to the subcommittee document the reign of terror which grips East Bengal (East Pakistan). Hardest hit have been members of the Hindu community who have been robbed of their lands and shops, systematically slaughtered, and in some places, painted with yellow patches marked 'H'. All of this has been officially sanctioned, ordered and implemented under martial law from Islamabad."</ref>
During the conflict, members of the Pakistani military and supporting pro-Pakistani Islamist militias called the Razakars [[Rape during the Bangladesh Liberation War|raped between 200,000 and 400,000]] [[Bangladeshis|Bangladeshi]] women and girls in a systematic campaign of [[genocidal rape]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Sharlach |first=Lisa |year=2000 |title=Rape as Genocide: Bangladesh, the Former Yugoslavia, and Rwanda |journal=New Political Science |volume=22 |issue=1 |pages=92–93 |doi=10.1080/713687893 |s2cid=144966485}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Sharlach |first=Lisa |editor=Kent Worcester |editor-link=Kent Worcester |editor2=Sally A. Bermanzohn |editor3=Mark Ungar |year=2002 |chapter=State Rape: Sexual Violence as Genocide |title=Violence and Politics: Globalization's Paradox |publisher=Routledge |page=111 |isbn=978-0-415-93111-3}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Sajjad |first=Tazreena |year=2012 |orig-year=First published 2009 |chapter=The Post-Genocidal Period and its Impact on Women |editor1-last=Tottne |editor1-first=Samuel |editor1-link=Samuel Totten |title=Plight and Fate of Women During and Following Genocide |publisher=Transaction Publishers |page=225 |isbn=978-1-4128-4759-9}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Mookherjee |first=Nayanika |year=2012 |chapter=Mass rape and the inscription of gendered and racial domination during the Bangladesh War of 1971 |editor1=Raphaëlle Branche |editor2=Fabrice Virgili |title=Rape in Wartime |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |page=68 |isbn=978-0-230-36399-1}}</ref> The murders and rapes led to an estimated eight to ten million people to flee East Pakistan to seek refuge in India.<ref name="Rummel-8-2">Rummel, Rudolph J., [http://www.Hawaii.edu/powerkills/SOD.CHAP8.HTM "Statistics of Democide: Genocide and Mass Murder Since 1900"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160221160013/http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/SOD.CHAP8.HTM |date=21 February 2016 }}, {{ISBN|3-8258-4010-7}}, Chapter 8, [http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/SOD.TAB8.2.GIF Table 8.2 Pakistan Genocide in Bangladesh Estimates, Sources, and Calculations] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120204060822/http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/SOD.TAB8.2.GIF |date=4 February 2012 }}: lowest estimate 2 million claimed by Pakistan (reported by Aziz, Qutubuddin. ''Blood and tears'' Karachi: United Press of Pakistan, 1974. pp. 74, 226), some other sources used by Rummel suggest a figure of between 8 and 10 million with one (Johnson, B. L. C. ''Bangladesh''. New York: Barnes & Noble, 1975. pp. 73, 75) that "could have been" 12 million.</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.tbsnews.net/feature/panorama/1971-exodus-managing-astronomical-10-million-refugees-222751 | title=1971 Exodus: Managing an astronomical 10 million refugees | date=27 March 2021 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.governancenow.com/news/regular-story/how-india-responded-the-influx-10-million-refugees | title=How India responded to the influx of 10 million refugees | date=5 October 2015 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://bdnews24.com/opinion/1971/genocide-confusion-with-numbers | title=Genocide: Confusion with numbers }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.efsas.org/publications/study-papers/bangladesh%E2%80%99s-genocide-debate;-a-conscientious-research/ | title=Bangladesh's genocide debate; A conscientious research }}</ref>
Official de-jure war began with [[Pakistan Air Force|Pakistan airforce]]-affiliated [[Operation Chengiz Khan]], which consisted of preemptive aerial strikes on 11 [[List of Indian Air Force stations|Indian air stations]] resulting in minor damages and suspension of counter-air operations for mere few hours.<ref name=":9">{{Cite book |last=Haider |first=Sayed Sajad |title=Flight of the Falcon: Demolishing Myths of Indo Pak Wars 1965-1971 |publisher=Vanguard, Pakistan |year=2009 |isbn=978-9694025261 |language=en}}</ref> The strikes led to India declaring war on Pakistan, marking their entry into the war for East Pakistan's independence, on the side of [[Bangladesh Forces|Bengali nationalist forces]]. India's entry expanded the existing conflict with Indian and Pakistani forces engaging on both the eastern and western fronts.<ref name="time27Dec1971">{{cite magazine |title=India: Easy Victory, Uneasy Peace |url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,905593,00.html |url-access=subscription |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=27 December 1971 |access-date=24 April 2016 |archive-date=13 June 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170613153528/http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,905593,00.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Thirteen days into the war, India had achieved total superiority into the [[East Pakistan|East]] meanwhile it had sufficient superiority in the [[West Pakistan|West]], which resulted later in [[Pakistan Eastern Command|Eastern defence]] of [[Pakistan Armed Forces|Pakistan]] to sign an joint [[Instrument of Surrender (1971)|instrument of surrender]].<ref>Azhar, M. u. R., Masood, S., & Malek, N. M. (2018). Conflict and Development: A case study of East Pakistan Crisis, 1971. International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, 2(9).</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://sify.com/news/1971-war-i-will-give-you-30-minutes-news-columns-jmqlV0fcjja.html |title=1971 War: 'I will give you 30 minutes' |website=[[Sify]] |access-date=14 April 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101206145925/http://sify.com/news/1971-war-i-will-give-you-30-minutes-news-columns-jmqlV0fcjja.html |archive-date=6 December 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref> on 16 December 1971 in Dhaka, ending conflict officially and marking the [[Independence of Bangladesh|formation of East Pakistan]] as the new nation of [[Bangladesh]]. Approximately 93,000 Pakistani servicemen were [[Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 Prisoners of War Investigation|taken prisoner]] by the [[Indian Army]], which included 79,676 to 81,000 uniformed personnel of the Pakistan Armed Forces, including some Bengali soldiers who had remained loyal to Pakistan.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nuYcwYCcjpIC&q=many%20pakistani%20women%20prisoners%20of%20war%20in%201971&pg=PA216|title=Mainsprings of Indian and Pakistani Foreign Policies&nbsp;– S. M. Burke|year=1974|isbn=9780816607204|access-date=27 July 2012|last1=Burke|first1=S. M|archive-date=15 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201015010543/https://books.google.com/books?id=nuYcwYCcjpIC&pg=PA216&q=many%20pakistani%20women%20prisoners%20of%20war%20in%201971|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{cite journal |last=Bose |first=Sarmila |date=November 2011 |title=The question of genocide and the quest for justice in the 1971 war |url=http://www.politics.ox.ac.uk/materials/profile_materials/jgr%20vol%2013%20no%204%202011.pdf |journal=Journal of Genocide Research |volume=13 |issue=4 |page=398 |doi=10.1080/14623528.2011.625750 |s2cid=38668401 |access-date=27 March 2016 |archive-date=10 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171010075759/https://www.politics.ox.ac.uk/materials/profile_materials/jgr%20vol%2013%20no%204%202011.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> The remaining 10,324 to 12,500 [[Prisoner of war|prisoners]] were civilians, either family members of the military personnel or collaborators ([[Razakar (Pakistan)|Razakars]]).<ref name="The Daily Star">{{cite news |title=Jamaat claims denied by evidence |url=http://www.thedailystar.net/news-detail-25257 |work=THE DAILY STAR |date=28 February 2008 |access-date=10 March 2016 |archive-date=11 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170811144217/http://www.thedailystar.net/news-detail-25257 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Haqqani2005p87">{{cite book |last=Haqqani |first=Hussain |author-link=Hussain Haqqani |year=2005 |title=Pakistan: Between Mosque and Military |publisher=Carnegie Endowment for International Peace |page=87 |isbn=978-0-87003-214-1}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Burke|first=Samuel Martin|title=Mainsprings of Indian and Pakistani Foreign Policies|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dF3OSAAACAAJ|year=1974|publisher=University of Minnesota Press|isbn=978-0-8166-5714-8|page=216|access-date=15 September 2020|archive-date=30 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201030131935/https://books.google.com/books?id=dF3OSAAACAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref>
===Indian Emergency===
{{Main|Indian Emergency}}
====Prelude to the Emergency====
India in the first half of the  1970s faced high inflation caused by the [[1973 oil crisis]] which resulted in cost of oil imports to rise substantially, the cost of the Bangladesh war and the refugee resettlement, and food shortages caused by droughts in parts of the country.The economic and social problems caused by high inflation, as well as allegations of corruption against Indira Gandhi and her government, caused increasing political unrest across India during  1973–74. This included the [[1974 railway strike in India|Railway Strike in 1974]], the [[Naxalite–Maoist insurgency|Maoist Naxalite movement]], the [[Bihar Movement|Bihar student agitations]], the United Women's Anti- Price Rise Front in Maharashtra and the [[Navnirman Andolan|Nav Nirman movement]] in Gujarat.<ref>Political Economy of Indian Development in the 20th Century: India's Road to Freedom and GrowthG.S. Bhalla,The Indian Economic Journal 2001 48:3, 1-23</ref><ref>Prashad, V. (1996). Emergency Assessments. Social Scientist, 24(9/10), 36–68. https://doi.org/10.2307/3520142</ref>
[[Raj Narain]] was the [[Samyukta Socialist Party]] Candidate and  indira's opponent  in 1971 [[Lok Sabha]] elections from [[Raebareli (Lok Sabha constituency)|Rai Bareli]].Although he suffered a defeat from her in 1971 elections, he accused [[Indira Gandhi]] of corrupt electoral practices and filed an [[State of Uttar Pradesh v. Raj Narain|election petition]] against her. Four years later on 12 June 1975, the [[Allahabad]] High Court gave their verdict, and found Indira Gandhi guilty of misusing government machinery for election purposes.<ref name="B">{{cite book|title=320 Million Judges|author=G. G. Mirchandani|pages=236|publisher=Abhinav Publications|year=2003|isbn=81-7017-061-3}}</ref> Opposition parties conducted nationwide strikes and protests demanding her immediate resignation. Various political parties united under [[Jaya Prakash Narayan]] to resist what he termed Gandhi's dictatorship. Leading strikes across India that paralysed its economy and administration, Narayan even called for the Army to oust Gandhi.
====Declaration of the emergency====
On 25 June 1975, Gandhi advised President [[Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed]] to declare a [[state of emergency]] under the constitution, which allowed the central government to assume sweeping powers to defend law and order in the nation. Explaining the breakdown of law and order and threat to national security as her primary reasons, Gandhi suspended many [[civil liberties]] and postponed elections at national and state levels.<ref name="A">{{cite web|title=Indian Emergency of 1975-77|url=http://www.mtholyoke.edu/~ghosh20p/page1.html|publisher=Mount Holyoke College|access-date=2009-07-05|archive-date=19 May 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170519080200/http://www.mtholyoke.edu/~ghosh20p/page1.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="LOC">{{cite web|title=The Rise of Indira Gandhi|url=http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+in0029)|publisher=[[Library of Congress]] Country Studies|access-date=2009-06-27}}</ref> Non-Congress governments in Indian states were dismissed, and nearly 1,000 opposition political leaders and activists were imprisoned.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Malhotra|first=Inder|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wRxnDwAAQBAJ&q=indira+gandhi|title=Indira Gandhi: A Personal and Political Biography|date=1 February 2014|publisher=[[Hay House]], Inc.|isbn=978-93-84544-16-4|language=en}}</ref> Her government also introduced a contentious programme of compulsory birth control.<ref name="BBC India Profile and Timeline">{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-south-asia-12641776|title=India profile – Timeline|date=15 August 2018|access-date=15 August 2018|website=BBC|archive-date=15 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180815235818/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-south-asia-12641776|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="hindustantimes.com">{{cite web|url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/india/tragedy-at-turkman-gate-witnesses-recount-horror-of-emergency/story-UD6kxHbROYSBMlDbjQLYpJ.html|title=Tragedy at Turkman Gate: Witnesses recount horror of Emergency|date=28 June 2015 }}</ref><ref name="Tarlo 2000 266">{{cite book|editor-last1=Das|editor-first1=Veena|display-editors=etal|last=Tarlo|first=Emma|title=Violence and subjectivity|date=2000|publisher=University of California Press|location=Berkeley|isbn=9780520216082|page=266|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7KsEcQnb2VIC&dq=sultana&pg=PA242}}</ref><ref name="University of California Press">{{cite book|last1=Tarlo|first1=Emma|title=Unsettling memories : narratives of the emergency in Delhi|date=2001|publisher=University of California Press|location=Berkeley|isbn=9780520231221|pages=38–39, 143|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3IO1WB2H8UUC&dq=sultana&pg=PR5|access-date=13 February 2017}}</ref><ref name="Gwatkin, Davidson R 1979">Gwatkin, Davidson R. "Political will and family planning: the implications of India's emergency experience." Population and Development Review (1979): 29-59.</ref><ref name="India : a portrait">{{cite book|last1=French|first1=Patrick|title=India : a portrait|date=2011|publisher=Alfred A. Knopf|location=New York|isbn=978-0307272430|page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780307272430/page/43 43]|edition=1st U.S.|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780307272430|url-access=registration|quote=rukhsana sultana .|access-date=13 February 2017}}</ref> Strikes and public protests were outlawed in all forms.
====Life during the emergency====
India's economy benefited from an end to paralysing strikes and political disorder. India announced a 20-point programme which enhanced agricultural and industrial production, increasing national growth, productivity, and job growth. But many organs of government and many Congress politicians were accused of corruption and authoritarian conduct. Police officers were accused of arresting and torturing innocent people. Indira's then twentynine year old son, and unofficial political advisor, [[Sanjay Gandhi]], was accused of committing gross excesses—Sanjay was blamed for the Health Ministry carrying out forced [[vasectomies]] of men and [[sterilization (medicine)|sterilisation]] of women as a part of the initiative to control population growth, and for the demolition of slums in Delhi near the Turkmen Gate, which left hundreds of  people dead or injured, and many more displaced.<ref name="hindustantimes.com"/><ref name="Tarlo 2000 266"/><ref name="University of California Press"/><ref name="Gwatkin, Davidson R 1979"/><ref name="India : a portrait"/><ref>{{cite web |last1=Shah |first1=Justice |title=Shah Commission Report |url=https://archive.org/stream/ShahCommissionOfInquiryInterimReportII/Shah%20Commission%20of%20Inquiry-Interim%20Report-II#page/n133/mode/2up/search/turkman |website=archive.org |access-date=5 July 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Remembering the massacre at Turkman Gate: From a memoir of the Emergency |url=https://scroll.in/article/1005254/remembering-the-massacre-at-turkman-gate-from-a-memoir-of-the-emergency |website=scroll.in |access-date=4 May 2023}}</ref>
===Janata interlude===
{{Main|Janata Party}}
[[File:Morarji Desai 1978.jpg|thumb|[[Morarji Desai]], the first non-Congress Prime Minister of India, signing the "New Delhi" declaration during a visit by US President [[Jimmy Carter]].]]
Indira Gandhi's Congress Party called for general elections in 1977, only to suffer a humiliating electoral defeat at the hands of the [[Janata Party]], an [[wikt:amalgamation|amalgamation]] of opposition parties.<ref>M.R. Masani, "India's Second Revolution," ''Asian Affairs'' (1977) 5#1 pp 19–38.</ref> [[Morarji Desai]] became the first non-Congress Prime Minister of India. The Desai administration established tribunals to investigate Emergency-era abuses, and Indira and Sanjay Gandhi were arrested after a report from the [[Shah Commission]].{{sfn|Sen|2002|p=139}}
In 1979, the coalition crumbled and [[Charan Singh]] formed an interim government. The Janata Party had become intensely unpopular due to its internecine warfare, and a perceived lack of leadership on solving India's serious economic and social problems.
==1980s==
{{More citations needed section|date=January 2021}}
{{main|Operation Blue Star|Assassination of Indira Gandhi|1984 anti-Sikh riots|Bhopal disaster|Indian intervention in the Sri Lankan Civil War|Siachen conflict}}
[[File:Akal Takht and Harmandir Sahib, Amritsar, Punjab, India.jpg|thumb|300px|upright=1.2|[[Akal Takht]] and [[Harmandir Sahib]] (Golden Temple), was repaired by the Indian Government after [[Operation Blue Star]].<ref>{{cite thesis|last=Tatla|first=Darshan Singh|title=The politics of homeland : a study of the ethnic linkages and political mobilisation amongst Sikhs in Britain and North America|year=1993|publisher=[[University of Warwick]]|page=133|url=http://webcat.warwick.ac.uk/record=b1449488~S1|access-date=13 June 2018|archive-date=17 June 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190617193038/http://webcat.warwick.ac.uk/record%3Db1449488~S1|url-status=live}}</ref>]]
Indira Gandhi and her Congress Party splinter group, the [[Indian National Congress]] or simply "Congress(I)", were swept back into power with a large majority in January 1980.
But the rise of an insurgency in Punjab would jeopardise India's security. In [[Assam]], there were many incidents of communal violence between native villagers and refugees from Bangladesh, as well as settlers from other parts of India. When Indian forces, undertaking [[Operation Blue Star]], raided the hideout of self-rule pressing<ref name="BBC India Profile and Timeline"/> [[Khalistan]] militants in the [[Golden Temple]] — Sikhs’ most holy shrine – in [[Amritsar]], the inadvertent deaths of civilians and damage to the temple building inflamed tensions in the Sikh community across India. The Government used intensive police operations to crush militant operations, but it resulted in many claims of abuse of civil liberties. Northeast India was paralysed owing to the [[ULFA]]'s clash with Government forces.
On 31 October 1984, the Prime Minister's own Sikh bodyguards assassinated her, and [[1984 anti-Sikh riots]] erupted in Delhi and parts of Punjab, causing the deaths of thousands of Sikhs along with terrible pillage, arson, and rape. Senior members of the Congress Party have been implicated in stirring the violence against Sikhs. Government investigation has failed to date to discover the causes and punish the perpetrators, but public opinion blamed Congress leaders for directing attacks on Sikhs in Delhi.
===Rajiv Gandhi administration===
[[File:STS008-44-611.jpg|thumb|left|250px|[[INSAT]] system is the largest domestic communication system in the [[Asia Pacific]] Region. It is a series of multipurpose [[geo-stationary satellites]] launched by [[Indian Space Research Organisation|ISRO]] to satisfy the telecommunications, broadcasting, [[meteorology]], and [[search and rescue]] operations in India.]]
The Congress party chose [[Rajiv Gandhi]], Indira's older son, as the next Prime Minister. Rajiv had been elected to Parliament only in 1982, and at 40, was the youngest national political leader and Prime Minister ever. But his youth and inexperience were an asset in the eyes of citizens tired of the inefficacy and corruption of career politicians, and looking for newer policies and a fresh start to resolve the country's long-standing problems. The Parliament was dissolved, and Rajiv led the Congress party to its largest majority in history (over 415 seats out of 545 possible), reaping a sympathy vote over his mother's assassination.<ref>{{cite news | work=BBC News | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/29/newsid_3314000/3314987.stm | title=1984: Rajiv Gandhi wins landslide election victory | date=29 December 1984 | access-date=1 September 2013 | archive-date=23 October 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121023215109/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/29/newsid_3314000/3314987.stm | url-status=live }}</ref>
Rajiv Gandhi initiated a series of reforms: the [[Licence Raj]] was loosened, and government restrictions on foreign currency, travel, foreign investment, and imports decreased considerably. This allowed private businesses to use resources and produce commercial goods without government bureaucracy interfering, and the influx of foreign investment increased India's national reserves. As Prime Minister, Rajiv broke from his mother's precedent to improve relations with the United States, which increased economic aid and scientific co-operation. Rajiv's encouragement of science and technology resulted in a major expansion of the telecommunications industry and [[Indian Space Research Organisation|India's space programme]], and gave birth to the [[software industry]] and information technology sector.<ref name="princeton.edu">{{cite journal |last1=Aghion |first1=Philippe |last2=Burgess |first2=Robin |last3=Redding |first3=Stephen J |last4=Zilibotti |first4=Fabrizio |title=The Unequal Effects of Liberalization: Evidence from Dismantling the License Raj in India
|url=http://www.princeton.edu/~reddings/pubpapers/ABRZ_AER_Sept2008.pdf |journal=American Economic Review |date=1 August 2008 |volume=98 |issue=4 |pages=1397–1412 |doi=10.1257/aer.98.4.1397 |access-date=23 December 2016 |archive-date=1 March 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180301135358/http://www.princeton.edu/~reddings/pubpapers/ABRZ_AER_Sept2008.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref>
[[File:BHOPAL (231583728).jpg|thumb|upright|Victims of [[Bhopal disaster]] march demanding the extradition of American [[Warren Anderson (American businessman)|Warren Anderson]] from the United States]]
In December 1984, [[Bhopal disaster|gas leaked out]] at the [[Union Carbide]] pesticides plant in the central Indian city of [[Bhopal]]. Thousands were killed immediately, while many more subsequently died or were left disabled.<ref name="BBC India Profile and Timeline"/>
India in 1987 brokered an agreement with the Government of [[Sri Lanka]] and agreed to deploy troops for peacekeeping operation in Sri Lanka's ethnic conflict led by the [[LTTE]]. Rajiv sent Indian troops to enforce the agreement and disarm the [[Tamils|Tamil]] rebels, but the Indian Peace Keeping Force, as it was known, became entangled in outbreaks of violence, ultimately ending up fighting the Tamil rebels itself, and becoming a target of attack from Sri Lankan nationalists.<ref>{{cite book| author1=Satinder Sharma| author2=Indra Sharma| title=Rajiv Gandhi: An Annotated Bibliography, 1944–1982| publisher=University of Michigan| page=65}}</ref> [[V. P. Singh]] withdrew the IPKF in 1990, but thousands of Indian soldiers had died. Rajiv's departure from Socialist policies did not sit well with the masses, who did not benefit from the innovations. Unemployment was a serious problem, and India's burgeoning population added ever-increasing needs for diminishing resources.
Rajiv Gandhi's image as an honest politician (he was nicknamed "Mr. Clean" by the press) was shattered when the [[Bofors scandal]] broke, revealing that senior government officials had taken bribes over defence contracts by a Swedish guns producer.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/3458319.stm |title=Rajiv Gandhi cleared over bribery |work=BBC News |date=4 February 2004 |access-date=7 March 2010 |archive-date=6 February 2004 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040206102131/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/3458319.stm |url-status=live }}</ref>
===Janata Dal===
General elections in 1989 gave Rajiv's Congress a [[plurality (voting)|plurality]], much less than the majority which propelled him to power.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/elections-1989-congressi-faces-prospect-of-being-routed-in-bihar/1/324190.html| title=Elections 1989: Congress (I) faces prospect of being routed in Bihar| access-date=23 December 2016| archive-date=4 March 2016| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304134246/http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/elections-1989-congressi-faces-prospect-of-being-routed-in-bihar/1/324190.html| url-status=live}}</ref>
Power came instead to his former finance and defence minister, [[Vishwanath Pratap Singh|VP Singh]] of [[Janata Dal]]. Singh had been moved from the Finance ministry to the Defence ministry after he unearthed some scandals which made the Congress leadership uncomfortable. Singh then unearthed the [[Bofors scandal]], and was sacked from the party and office.<ref>{{cite news| title=The Bofors Story, 25 Years After: Interview with Sten Lindstrom |url=http://thehoot.org/web/home/story.php?storyid=5884 |access-date=4 March 2014 |newspaper=The Hoot |date=24 April 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120618134030/http://thehoot.org/web/home/story.php?storyid=5884 |archive-date=18 June 2012 }}</ref> Becoming a popular crusader for reform and clean government, Singh led the Janata Dal coalition to a majority. He was supported by BJP and the leftist parties from outside. Becoming Prime Minister, Singh made an important visit to the Golden Temple shrine, to heal the wounds of the past. He implemented the [[Mandal Commission]] report, to increase the quota in reservation for low-caste Hindus.<ref>{{cite web| title=Mandal vs Mandir| url=http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/mandal-vs-mandir/| website=Indianexpress.com| date=23 March 2015| access-date=23 December 2016| archive-date=26 December 2018| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181226123738/https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/mandal-vs-mandir/| url-status=live}}</ref> His government fell after Singh, along with Bihar's Chief Minister [[Lalu Prasad Yadav]]'s government, had [[L. K. Advani|Advani]] arrested in [[Samastipur]] and stopped his [[Ram Rath Yatra]], which was going to the Babri Masjid site in Ayodhya on 23 October 1990. [[Bharatiya Janata Party]] withdrew their support to Singh government, causing them to lose parliamentary vote of confidence on 7 November 1990.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/11/08/world/india-s-cabinet-falls-as-premier-loses-confidence-vote-by-142-346-and-quits.html | title=India's Cabinet Falls as Premier Loses Confidence Vote, by 142–346, and Quits | newspaper=The New York Times | date=8 November 1990 | access-date=11 December 2018 | archive-date=11 July 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180711200750/https://www.nytimes.com/1990/11/08/world/india-s-cabinet-falls-as-premier-loses-confidence-vote-by-142-346-and-quits.html | url-status=live }}</ref> [[Chandra Shekhar]] split to form the Janata Dal (Socialist), supported by Rajiv's Congress. This new government also collapsed in a matter of months, when Congress withdrew its support.
==1990s==
{{Main|1990s in India|Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi|Insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir|Bombay riots}}
[[File:Rajiv Gandhi Memorial bombsite.jpg|thumb|right|169px|The stone mosaic that stands at the exact location where Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated in [[Sriperumbudur]].]]
The then-Chief Minister of [[Jammu and Kashmir (state)|Jammu and Kashmir]] [[Farooq Abdullah]] (son of former Chief Minister [[Sheikh Abdullah]]) announced an alliance with the ruling Congress party for the elections of 1987. But, the elections were allegedly rigged in favour of him. This led to the rise of the armed extremist [[insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir]] composed, in part, of those who unfairly lost elections. India has constantly maintained the position of blaming Pakistan for supplying these groups with logistical support, arms, recruits and training.<ref>Aditya Sinha, ''Farooq Abdullah, Kashmir's Prodigal Son: A Biography'' (UBS Publishers' Distributors, 1996).</ref>
Militants in [[Kashmir]] reportedly tortured and killed local [[Kashmiri Pandits]], forcing them to leave Kashmir in large numbers.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.indiandefencereview.com/news/kashmiri-pandits-offered-three-choices-by-radical-islamists/| title=Kashmiri Pandits offered three choices by radical Islamists| access-date=29 March 2015| archive-date=7 April 2020| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200407021058/http://www.indiandefencereview.com/news/kashmiri-pandits-offered-three-choices-by-radical-islamists/| url-status=live}}</ref>{{Better source needed example|date=May 2023|reason=Nothing about killing. the cited source only talks about threats by Islamists, and inaction by the government and the army}} Around 90% of the Kashmiri Pandits left Kashmir during the 1990s, resulting in the [[ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri Hindus]].{{Citation needed|date=May 2023}}
On 21 May 1991, while former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi campaigned in [[Tamil Nadu]] on behalf of Congress (Indira), a [[Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam]] (LTTE) [[female suicide bomber]] assassinated him and many others by setting off the bomb in her belt by leaning forward while garlanding him. In the elections, Congress (Indira) won 244 parliamentary seats and put together a coalition, returning to power under the leadership of [[P.V. Narasimha Rao]]. This Congress-led government, which served a full five-year term, initiated a gradual process of economic liberalisation and reform, which has opened the [[economy of India|Indian economy]] to global trade and investment. India's domestic politics also took new shape, as traditional alignments by caste, creed, and ethnicity gave way to a plethora of small, regionally-based political parties.<ref>Neena Gopal, ''The Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi'' (Penguin Random House India, 2017).</ref>
But India was rocked by communal violence (see [[Bombay riots]]) between Hindus and Muslims that killed over 10,000 people, following the [[Babri Mosque]] demolition by Hindu extremists in the course of the [[Ram Janmabhoomi]] dispute in [[Ayodhya]] in December 1992.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Varshney|first=Ashutosh|title=Ethnic conflict and civic life: Hindus and Muslims in India|publisher=Yale University Press|year=2003|isbn=9780300100136|location=New Haven, Connecticut}}</ref> The final months of the Rao-led government in the spring of 1996 suffered the effects of several major political corruption scandals, which contributed to the worst electoral performance by the Congress Party in its history a that time as the Hindu nationalist [[Bharatiya Janata Party]] emerged as the largest single party.<ref>Ramachandra Guha, ''India After Gandhi'' (2011) pp 614, 663.</ref>
===Economic reforms===
{{Main|Economic liberalisation in India}}
{{See also|Indian Century}}
{{multiple image
| align = right
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| image1 =P V Narasimha Rao.png
| width1 = 125
| alt1 = P. V. Narasimha Rao
| link1 = P. V. Narasimha Rao
| caption1  = '''[[P. V. Narasimha Rao]]'''
| image2 = Manmohansingh04052007.jpg
| width2 = 100
| alt2 = Manmohan Singh
| link2 = Manmohan Singh
| caption2 = '''[[Manmohan Singh]]'''
| footer = [[Economic liberalisation in India]] was initiated in 1991 by Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao and his then-Finance Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh.<ref name="Reforming">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4120429.stm|title=Narasimha Rao – a Reforming PM|publisher=[[BBC News]]|date=23 December 2004|access-date=2 March 2007|archive-date=26 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181226123628/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4120429.stm|url-status=live}}</ref> Rao was often referred to as ''[[Chanakya]]'' for his ability to steer tough economic and political legislation through the parliament at a time when he headed a [[minority government]].<ref name="frontline">{{cite journal |url=http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/thscrip/print.pl?file=20050114008013000.htm&date=fl2201/&prd=fline& |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100130013320/http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl2201/stories/20050114008013000.htm |archive-date=2010-01-30 |title=Obituary: A scholar and a politician|author=V. Venkatesan |journal=Frontline |volume=22 |issue=1 |date=1–14 January 2005 |access-date=30 March 2010}}</ref><ref>[http://www.tlca.com/adults/obit-pvn.html PV Narasimha Rao Passes Away]. Retrieved 7 October 2007.  {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071101063203/http://www.tlca.com/adults/obit-pvn.html |date=1 November 2007 }}</ref>
}}
Under the [[P. V. Narasimha Rao#Economic reforms|policies]] initiated by the then Prime Minister [[P. V. Narasimha Rao]] and his then-Finance Minister Dr. [[Manmohan Singh]], India's economy expanded rapidly. The economic reforms were a reaction to an [[1991 Indian economic crisis|impending balance of payment crisis]]. The Rao administration initiated the [[privatisation]] of large, inefficient, and loss-inducing government corporations. The UF government had attempted a progressive budget that encouraged reforms, but the [[1997 Asian financial crisis]] and political instability created economic stagnation. The Vajpayee administration continued with privatisation, reduction of taxes, a sound [[fiscal policy]] aimed at reducing deficits and debts, and increased initiatives for public works. Cities like [[Bangalore]], [[Hyderabad]], [[Pune]], and [[Ahmedabad]] have risen in prominence and economic importance, becoming centres of rising industries and destinations for foreign investment and firms. Strategies like forming Special Economic Zones—tax amenities, good communications infrastructure, low regulation—to encourage industries has paid off in many parts of the country.<ref name="oecdindia2007">{{cite web|url=http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/17/52/39452196.pdf |title=Economic Survey of India 2007: Policy Brief |publisher=OECD |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606112149/http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/17/52/39452196.pdf |archive-date=6 June 2011 }}</ref>
A rising generation of well-educated and skilled professionals in scientific sectors of the industry began propelling the Indian economy, as the information technology industry took hold across India with the proliferation of computers. The new technologies increased the efficiency of activity in almost every type of industry, which also benefitted from the availability of skilled labor. Foreign investment and outsourcing of jobs to India's labor markets further enhanced India's economic growth. A large middle class has arisen across India, which has increased the demand, and thus the production of a wide array of [[consumer goods]]. Unemployment is steadily declining, and poverty has fallen to approximately 22%. Gross Domestic Product growth increased to beyond 7%. While serious challenges remain, India is enjoying a period of economic expansion that has propelled it to the forefront of the world economy, and has correspondingly increased its influence in political and diplomatic terms.{{sfn|Metcalf|Metcalf|2006|p = 304}}
===Era of coalitions===
[[File:Agni-II missile (Republic Day Parade 2004).jpeg|thumb|250px|Nuclear capable [[Agni-II|Agni-II ballistic missile]]. Since May 1998, India declared itself to be a full-fledged nuclear state.]]
The [[Bharatiya Janata Party]] (BJP) emerged from the May 1996 national elections as the single-largest party in the [[Lok Sabha]] but without enough strength to prove a majority on the floor of that Parliament. Under Prime Minister [[Atal Bihari Vajpayee]], the BJP coalition lasted in power 13 days. With all political parties wishing to avoid another round of elections, a 14-party coalition led by the [[Janata Dal]] emerged to form a government known as the United Front. A United Front government under former [[Chief Minister of Karnataka]] [[H. D. Deve Gowda]] lasted less than a year. The leader of the Congress Party withdrew support in March 1997. [[Inder Kumar Gujral]] replaced Deve Gowda as the consensus choice for Prime Minister of a 16-party United Front coalition.<ref>Shaila Seshia, "Divide and rule in Indian party politics: The rise of the Bharatiya Janata Party." ''Asian Survey'' 38.11 (1998): 1036–1050 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2645684 online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224201013/https://www.jstor.org/stable/2645684 |date=24 February 2021 }}.</ref>
In November 1997, the Congress Party again withdrew support for the United Front. New elections in February 1998 brought the BJP the largest number of seats in Parliament (182), but this fell far short of a majority. On 20 March 1998, the President inaugurated a BJP-led coalition government, with Vajpayee again serving as Prime Minister. On 11 and 13 May 1998, this government conducted a series of five underground nuclear weapons tests, known collectively as [[Pokhran-II]] — which caused Pakistan to conduct its own tests that same year.<ref>''CIA Factbook''. Retrieved 22 December 2011</ref> India's nuclear tests prompted President of the United States [[Bill Clinton]] and Japan to impose [[economic sanctions]] on India pursuant to the 1994 Nuclear Proliferation Prevention Act and led to widespread international condemnation.
In the early months of 1999, Prime Minister Vajpayee made a historic bus trip to Pakistan and met with Pakistan's Prime Minister [[Nawaz Sharif]], signing the bilateral [[Lahore Declaration|Lahore peace declaration]].<ref name="BBC India Profile and Timeline"/>
In April 1999, the coalition government led by the [[Bharatiya Janata Party]] (BJP) fell apart, leading to fresh elections in September. In May and June 1999, India discovered an elaborate campaign of terrorist infiltration that resulted in the [[Kargil War]] in Kashmir, derailing a promising peace process that had begun only three months earlier when Prime Minister Vajpayee visited Pakistan, inaugurating the Delhi-Lahore bus service. Indian forces killed Pakistan-backed infiltrators and reclaimed important border posts in high-altitude warfare.<ref name="Edition.cnn.com">{{cite news |url=http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/05/13/india.bombs/index.html |title=Serial bomb blasts leave 60 dead in India |work=CNN|date=14 May 2008 |access-date=4 November 2008 |archive-date=6 December 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081206194743/http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/05/13/india.bombs/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
Soaring on popularity earned following the successful conclusion of the Kargil conflict, the [[National Democratic Alliance]]—a new coalition led by the BJP—gained a majority to form a government with Vajpayee as Prime Minister in October 1999. The end of the millennium was devastating to India, as a [[cyclone]] hit [[Odisha|Orissa]], killing at least 10,000.<ref name="BBC India Profile and Timeline"/>
==2000s ==
===Under Bharatiya Janata Party===
[[File:Ab vajpayee.jpg|thumb|[[Atal Bihari Vajpayee]] became the first non-Congress Prime Minister to complete a full term. His tenure saw rapid growth of infrastructure, improved diplomatic relationship with the United States, economic reforms, nuclear tests, several foreign policy and military victories.<ref name="Dass2004">{{cite book|author=Sujata K. Dass|title=Atal Bihari Vajpayee: Prime Minister of India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N8wnA7EtB0IC&pg=PA187|year=2004|publisher=Gyan Publishing House|isbn=978-81-7835-277-0|pages=187–|access-date=12 July 2017|archive-date=2 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210902054451/https://books.google.com/books?id=N8wnA7EtB0IC&pg=PA187|url-status=live}}</ref>]]
In May 2000, India's population exceeded 1&nbsp;billion. President of the United States [[Bill Clinton]] made a groundbreaking visit to India to improve ties between the two nations. In January, massive [[2001 Gujarat earthquake|earthquakes hit Gujarat state]], killing at least 30,000.
Prime Minister Vajpayee met with Pakistan's President [[Pervez Musharraf]] in the first summit between Pakistan and India in more than two years in the middle of 2001. But the meeting failed without a breakthrough or even a joint statement because of differences over Kashmir region.<ref name="BBC India Profile and Timeline"/>
Three new states — [[Chhattisgarh]], Jharkhand and [[Uttarakhand]] (originally Uttaranchal) — were formed in November 2000.
The National Democratic Alliance government's credibility was adversely affected by a number of political scandals (such as allegations that the Defence Minister [[George Fernandes]] took bribes) as well as reports of intelligence failures that led to the Kargil incursions going undetected, and the apparent failure of his talks with the Pakistani President.<ref name="BBC India Profile and Timeline"/><ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1326717/Defence-minister-resigns-in-Indian-bribery-scandal.html | location=London | work=The Daily Telegraph | first=Rahul | last=Bedi | title=Defence minister resigns in Indian bribery scandal | date=16 March 2001 | access-date=3 April 2018 | archive-date=16 October 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171016021950/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1326717/Defence-minister-resigns-in-Indian-bribery-scandal.html | url-status=live }}</ref> Following the [[September 11 attacks]], the United States lifted sanctions which it had imposed against India and Pakistan in 1998. The move was seen as a reward for their support for the [[War on Terror]]. The tensions of an imminent war between India and Pakistan again rose by the heavy Indian firing on Pakistani military posts along the [[Line of Control]] and the subsequent deadly [[2001 Indian Parliament attack|Indian Parliament attack]] and the [[2001–02 India–Pakistan standoff]].<ref name="BBC India Profile and Timeline"/>
In 2002, 59 Hindu pilgrims returning from Ayodhya were killed in a train fire in [[Godhra]], Gujarat. This sparked off the [[2002 Gujarat riots]], leading to the deaths of 790 Muslims and 254 Hindus and with 223 people reported missing.
[[File:Nh76.jpg|thumb|250px|left|Section of [[Golden Quadrilateral]] highway. The project was launched in 2001 by [[National Democratic Alliance (India)|NDA government]] led by Prime Minister [[Atal Bihari Vajpayee]].]]
Throughout 2003, India's speedy economic progress, political stability, and a rejuvenated peace initiative with Pakistan increased the government's popularity. India and Pakistan agreed to resume direct air links and to allow overflights, and a groundbreaking meeting was held between the Indian government and moderate Kashmir separatists.<ref name="BBC India Profile and Timeline"/> The [[Golden Quadrilateral]] project aimed to link India's corners with a network of modern highways.
===Congress rule returns===
In January 2004 Prime Minister Vajpayee recommended early dissolution of the [[Lok Sabha]] and general elections. an alliance led by the [[Indian National Congress|Congress Party]] called [[United Progressive Alliance]](UPA) won a surprise victory in [[2004 Indian general election|elections]] held in May 2004. [[Manmohan Singh]] became the Prime Minister, after the Congress President [[Sonia Gandhi]], the widow of former Prime Minister [[Rajiv Gandhi]], declined to take the office, to defuse the controversy about whether her foreign birth should be considered a disqualification for the Prime Minister's post. Apart from the Congress party, other members of UPA included Socialist and regional parties.The alliance had outside support of India's [[Communist Party of India|Communist parties]]. Manmohan Singh became the first [[Sikh]] and non-[[Hindu]] to hold India's most powerful office. Singh continued economic liberalisation, although the need for support from Indian Socialists and Communists forestalled further privatisation for some time.<ref name="newsweek.com">[http://www.newsweek.com/id/47261 India Rising – ''Newsweek'' and The Daily Beast] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090318194918/http://www.newsweek.com/id/47261 |date=18 March 2009 }}. Newsweek.com (5 March 2006). Retrieved on 12 July 2013.</ref><ref name="Giridharadas">{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/20/world/asia/20iht-india.html?_r=1 | work=The New York Times | first=Anand | last=Giridharadas | date=21 July 2005 | access-date=4 May 2010 | title=India welcomed as new sort of superpower | archive-date=3 May 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120503224620/http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/20/world/asia/20iht-india.html?_r=1 | url-status=live }}</ref>
By the end of 2004, India began to withdraw some of its troops from Kashmir. By the middle of the next year, the [[Srinagar–Muzaffarabad Bus]] service was inaugurated, the first in 60 years to operate between Indian-administered and Pakistani-administered Kashmirs. However, in May 2006, suspected Islamic extremist militants killed 35 Hindus in the worst attacks in Indian-administered Kashmir for several months.<ref name="BBC India Profile and Timeline"/>
The [[2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami]] devastated Indian coastlines and islands, killing an estimated 18,000 and displacing around 650,000. The tsunami was caused by a powerful undersea earthquake off the Indonesian coast. Natural disasters such as the [[Maharashtra floods of 2005|Mumbai floods]] (killing more than 1,000) and [[2005 Kashmir earthquake|Kashmir earthquake]] (killing 79,000) hit the subcontinent in the next year. In February 2006, the [[United Progressive Alliance]] government launched India's largest-ever rural jobs scheme, aimed at lifting around 60 million families out of poverty.<ref name="BBC India Profile and Timeline"/>
[[File:Bush & Singh in New Delhi.jpg|thumb|250px|U.S. President [[George W. Bush]] and India's Prime Minister [[Manmohan Singh]] exchange handshakes in New Delhi on 2 March 2006 vis-à-vis the [[India–United States Civil Nuclear Agreement]].]]
The United States and India signed a [[India–United States Civil Nuclear Agreement|major nuclear co-operation agreement]] during a visit by United States President [[George W. Bush]] in March 2006. According to the nuclear deal, the United States was to give India access to civilian nuclear technology while India agreed to greater scrutiny for its nuclear programme. Later, United States approved a controversial law allowing India to buy their nuclear reactors and fuel for the first time in 30 years. In July 2008, the United Progressive Alliance survived a [[2008 Lok Sabha vote of confidence|vote of confidence]] brought after left-wing parties withdrew their support over the nuclear deal. After the vote, several left-wing and regional parties formed a new alliance to oppose the government, saying it had been tainted by corruption. Within three months, following approval by the [[United States Congress|U.S. Congress]], George W. Bush signed into law a nuclear deal with India, which ended a three-decade ban on American nuclear trade with Delhi.<ref name="BBC India Profile and Timeline"/>
In 2007, India got its first female President as [[Pratibha Patil]] was sworn in. Long associated with the [[Nehru–Gandhi family]], Pratibha Patil was a low-profile governor of the state of [[Rajasthan]] before emerging as the favoured presidential candidate of [[Sonia Gandhi]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/6910097.stm|title=Profile: Pratibha Patil|date=21 July 2007|access-date=15 August 2018|website=BBC News|archive-date=5 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200905135009/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/6910097.stm|url-status=live}}</ref> In February, the infamous [[Samjhauta Express bombings]] took place, killing Pakistani civilians in [[Panipat]], Haryana. As of 2011, nobody had been charged for the crime, though it has been linked to [[Abhinav Bharat]], a shadowy Hindu fundamentalist group headed by a former Indian army officer.<ref name="OI">[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?266145 "The Mirror Explodes"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101129100253/http://outlookindia.com/article.aspx?266145 |date=29 November 2010 }} – ''Outlook'' – 19 July 2010</ref>
In 2008 October, India successfully launched its first mission to the Moon, the uncrewed [[lunar probe]] called ''[[Chandrayaan-1]]''. In the previous year, India had launched its first commercial [[space rocket]], carrying an Italian [[satellite]].<ref name="BBC India Profile and Timeline"/>
[[File:Taj_mahal_dedistorted.jpg|thumb|left|250px|A view of the [[Taj Mahal Palace Hotel]] with smoke during the [[2008 Mumbai attacks]]]]
In November 2008, [[2008 Mumbai attacks|Mumbai attacks]] took place. India blamed militants from Pakistan for the attacks and announced a "pause" in the ongoing peace process.<ref name="BBC India Profile and Timeline"/>
In July 2009, the [[Delhi High Court]] decriminalised consensual homosexual sex, re-interpreting the British Raj-era law, [[Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code]], as unconstitutional in regard to criminalising consensual sex between two homosexual adults or decriminalising such acts between adult heterosexuals or other consenting adults, that may be deemed unnatural.<ref name="CNNIBN">{{cite web| url=http://ibnlive.in.com/news/delhi-high-court-legalises-consensual-gay-sex/96148-3.html| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090705172824/http://ibnlive.in.com/news/delhi-high-court-legalises-consensual-gay-sex/96148-3.html| url-status=dead| archive-date=2009-07-05| title=Delhi High Court legalises consensual gay sex| publisher=[[CNN-IBN]]| access-date=2009-07-02}}</ref><ref name=BBC1>{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8129836.stm| title=Gay sex decriminalised in India| publisher=[[BBC]]| access-date=2009-07-02| date=2 July 2009| archive-date=3 July 2009| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090703011816/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8129836.stm| url-status=live}}</ref>
In the [[2009 Indian general election|Indian general election in 2009]], the [[United Progressive Alliance]] won a convincing and resounding 262 seats, with Congress alone winning 206 seats. However, the Congress-led government faced many allegations of corruption. Inflation rose to an all-time high, and the ever-increasing prices of food commodities caused widespread agitation.
[[File:Tawang Monastery (Tibetan Buddhist).jpg|thumb|250px|right|[[Tawang Monastery]] in Arunachal Pradesh, is the largest monastery in India and second largest in the world after the [[Potala Palace]] in [[Lhasa]], Tibet. It is one of the few monasteries of [[Tibetan Buddhism]] that have remained protected from [[Mao Zedong|Mao]]'s [[Cultural Revolution]] without any damage.{{Sfn|Richardson|1984|p=210}}]]
On 8 November 2009, in spite of strong protests by China, which claims the whole of [[Arunachal Pradesh]] as its own,<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6145866.stm "India and China row over border"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080215103833/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6145866.stm |date=15 February 2008 }}, BBC News, 14 November 2006. Retrieved 31 January 2007.</ref> the [[14th Dalai Lama]] visited [[Tawang Monastery]] in Arunachal Pradesh,
which was a monumental event to the people of the region, and the abbot of the monastery greeted him with much fanfare and adulation.<ref name=Majumdar>{{cite news|last=Majumdar|first=Sanjoy|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8351813.stm|title=Frontier town venerates Dalai Lama|date=10 November 2009|work=BBC News|access-date=6 August 2018|archive-date=6 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180806145743/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8351813.stm|url-status=live}}</ref>
21st-century India is facing the [[Naxalite–Maoist insurgency|Naxalite–Maoist rebels]], in the words of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, India's "greatest internal security challenge",<ref name="www.bbc.co.uk">{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-south-asia-12640645|title=Profile: India's Maoist rebels|date=4 March 2011|access-date=15 August 2018|website=BBC|archive-date=15 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180815203719/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-south-asia-12640645|url-status=live}}</ref> and other terrorist tensions (such as Islamist terrorist campaigns in and out of [[Insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir|Jammu & Kashmir]] and [[Insurgency in Northeast India|terrorism in India's Northeast]]).<ref name="www.bbc.co.uk"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/countries/india/index.html|title=India Assessment 2016|website=Satp.org|access-date=15 August 2018|archive-date=16 August 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130816230507/http://satp.org/satporgtp/countries/india/index.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Terrorism has increased in India, with bomb blasts in leading cities like [[Mumbai]], New Delhi, [[Jaipur]], [[Bangalore]], and [[Hyderabad]].<ref name="Edition.cnn.com"/> In the new millennium, India improved relations with many countries and foreign unions including the United States, the [[European Union]], Israel, and the People's Republic of China.<ref name="BBC India Profile and Timeline"/> The [[economy of India]] has grown at a very rapid pace. India was now being looked at as a [[potential superpower]].<ref name="newsweek.com"/><ref name="Giridharadas"/>
== 2010s ==
===Congress rule continues===
[[File:Commonwealth-Games-2010-Opening-Ceremony.jpg|thumb|left|250px|The [[2010 Commonwealth Games]] opening ceremony in [[Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium (Delhi)|Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium]] is one of the largest international [[multi-sport event]]s to be staged in Delhi and India.]]
The [[concerns and controversies over the 2010 Commonwealth Games]] rocked the country in 2010, raising questions about the credibility of the government followed by the [[2G spectrum case]] and [[Adarsh Housing Society scam]]. In mid-2011, [[Anna Hazare]], a prominent social activist, [[2011 Indian anti-corruption movement|staged a 12-day hunger strike]] in Delhi in protest at state corruption, after government proposals to tighten up [[The Lokpal Bill, 2011|anti-graft legislation]] fell short of his demands.<ref name="BBC India Profile and Timeline"/>
Despite all this, India showed great promise with a higher growth rate in gross domestic product.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.reuters.com/article/india-economy-official-idUSBMA00990620110610 | work=Reuters | first=Manoj | last=Kumar | title=India's FY11 growth could be revised up-govt official | date=10 June 2011 | access-date=5 July 2021 | archive-date=2 December 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181202055940/https://www.reuters.com/article/india-economy-official-idUSBMA00990620110610 | url-status=live }}</ref> In January 2011, India assumed a nonpermanent seat in the [[United Nations Security Council]] for the 2011–12 term. In 2004, India had launched an application for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, along with Brazil, Germany and Japan. In March, India overtook China to become the world's largest importer of arms.<ref name="BBC India Profile and Timeline"/>
The [[Telangana movement]] reached its peak in 2011–12, leading to formation of India's 29th state, [[Telangana]], in June 2014.
The [[2012 Delhi gang rape and murder]] case and subsequent protest by civil society resulted in [[Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013|changes in the laws]] related to rape and offences against women. In April 2013, the [[Saradha Group financial scandal]] was unearthed, caused by the collapse of a [[Ponzi scheme]] run by Saradha Group, a consortium of over 200 private companies in [[East India|Eastern India]], causing an estimated loss of INR 200–300&nbsp;billion (US$4–6&nbsp;billion) to over 1.7&nbsp;million depositors.<ref>{{cite news |author=PTI |url=http://www.thehindu.com/business/Industry/more-saradha-entities-under-sebi-scanner/article4650522.ece |title=More Saradha entities under SEBI scanner |work=The Hindu |date=24 April 2013 |access-date=25 April 2013 |archive-date=25 April 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130425235143/http://www.thehindu.com/business/Industry/more-saradha-entities-under-sebi-scanner/article4650522.ece |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="H1">{{cite news |url=http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/cheat-funds-again/article4654467.ece |title=Cheat funds, again |work=The Hindu |date=25 April 2013 |access-date=27 April 2013 |archive-date=27 April 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130427070336/http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/cheat-funds-again/article4654467.ece |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.livemint.com/Specials/TQWJ1auPZMCYnZqC4tK7VN/Saradha-raised-deposits-from-17-million-people-probe-finds.html |title=Saradha raised deposits from 1.7 mn people, probe finds |last=Dutta |first=Romita |date=20 June 2013 |work=LiveMint |access-date=19 August 2013 |archive-date=26 August 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130826140827/http://www.livemint.com/Specials/TQWJ1auPZMCYnZqC4tK7VN/Saradha-raised-deposits-from-17-million-people-probe-finds.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In December 2013, the [[Supreme Court of India]] overturned the Delhi High Court ruling on Sec 377, criminalising homosexual sex between consenting adults once again in the country.<ref name=1861_law>{{cite news |title=India's Supreme Court Restores an 1861 Law Banning Gay Sex |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/12/world/asia/court-restores-indias-ban-on-gay-sex.html |access-date=4 April 2014 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=11 December 2013 |first=Gardiner |last=Harris |archive-date=1 June 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140601101117/http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/12/world/asia/court-restores-indias-ban-on-gay-sex.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Shyamantha |first=Asokan |title=India's Supreme Court turns the clock back with gay sex ban |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-rights-gay-idUSBRE9BA05620131211 |access-date=11 December 2013 |newspaper=[[Reuters]] |date=11 December 2013 |archive-date=16 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131216040454/https://www.reuters.com/article/2013/12/11/us-india-rights-gay-idUSBRE9BA05620131211 |url-status=live }}</ref>
[[File:Ladakh Monastery.jpg|right|250px|thumb|[[2010 Ladakh floods]] damaged 71 towns and villages, including the main town in the area, [[Leh]], and nearby town of [[Thiksey]], where [[Thikse Monastery]] is located.<ref name="Hobley">Hobley, D.E.J., et al., 2012, Reconstruction of a major storm event from its geomorphic signature: The Ladakh floods, 6 August 2010, Geology, v. 40, p. 483-486, doi:10.1130/G32935.1</ref>]]
In August 2010, cloudbursts and the ensuing [[2010 Ladakh floods|flooding]] in the [[Ladakh]] region of North India resulted in the deaths of around 255 people, while affecting 9,000 people directly.<ref name="bbc20100806">{{cite web| url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-10889385| title=Flash floods kill dozens in India| date=6 August 2010| publisher=[[BBC]]| access-date=6 August 2010| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100806204400/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-10889385| archive-date= 6 August 2010 | url-status= live}}</ref> In June 2013, a [[2013 North India floods|multi-day cloudburst]] in Uttarakhand and other north Indian states caused devastating floods and landslides, with more than 5,700 people "presumed dead."<ref name="AP">{{cite news| url=http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57593939/india-raises-flood-death-toll-reaches-5700-as-all-missing-persons-now-presumed-dead/| title=India raises flood death toll to 5,700 as all missing persons now presumed dead| date=16 July 2013| access-date=16 July 2013| work=CBS News| archive-date=17 July 2013| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130717111417/http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57593939/india-raises-flood-death-toll-reaches-5700-as-all-missing-persons-now-presumed-dead/| url-status=live}}</ref> In September 2014, [[2014 India–Pakistan floods|floods]] in the state of [[Jammu and Kashmir (state)|Jammu and Kashmir]], following heavy rains due to [[Monsoon of South Asia|monsoon]] season, killed around 277 people and brought extensive damage to property.<ref name=HT1>{{cite news| url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/news-feed/floodfuryhitsjk/kashmir-cut-off-phones-down-roads-submerged/article1-1261607.aspx | archive-url=https://archive.today/20140909042958/http://www.hindustantimes.com/news-feed/floodfuryhitsjk/kashmir-cut-off-phones-down-roads-submerged/article1-1261607.aspx | url-status=dead | archive-date=9 September 2014 |title=Kashmir floods: Phones down, roads submerged; Toll touches 200, rescue ops on |newspaper=[[Hindustan Times]] |date=8 September 2014 |access-date=9 September 2014}}</ref> A further 280 people died in the neighbouring Pakistani regions, particularly in [[Pakistani Punjab]].<ref name=NYT>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/09/world/asia/hundreds-dead-in-flooding-in-india-and-pakistan.html?_r=0 |title=India and Pakistan Strain as Flooding Kills Hundreds |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=8 September 2014 |access-date=9 September 2014 |archive-date=10 September 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140910200028/http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/09/world/asia/hundreds-dead-in-flooding-in-india-and-pakistan.html?_r=0 |url-status=live }}</ref>
In August – September 2013, [[2013 Muzaffarnagar riots|clashes between Hindus and Muslims]] in [[Muzaffarnagar]], Uttar Pradesh, resulted in at least 62 deaths,<ref name="timesofindia.indiatimes.com">{{cite news |url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Government-releases-data-of-riot-victims-identifying-religion/articleshow/22998550.cms |title=Government releases data of riot victims identifying religion |newspaper=[[The Times of India]] |date=24 September 2013 |access-date=2014-07-11 |archive-date=6 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190706020925/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Government-releases-data-of-riot-victims-identifying-religion/articleshow/22998550.cms |url-status=live }}</ref> injured 93, and left more than 50,000 displaced.<ref>{{cite news |title=Troops deployed to quell deadly communal clashes between Hindus, Muslims in north India |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/troops-deployed-to-quell-deadly-communal-clashes-between-hindus-muslims-in-north-india/2013/09/08/66e33f48-1854-11e3-961c-f22d3aaf19ab_story.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130909081324/http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/troops-deployed-to-quell-deadly-communal-clashes-between-hindus-muslims-in-north-india/2013/09/08/66e33f48-1854-11e3-961c-f22d3aaf19ab_story.html |archive-date=9 September 2013 |agency=Associated Press |access-date=8 September 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="fp1">{{cite web |author=Adrija Bose |url=http://www.firstpost.com/india/ibn7-journalist-killed-in-up-communal-riots-army-clamps-curfew-1092877.html |title=Firstpost India: IBN7 journalist killed in UP communal riots, Army clamps curfew |work=Firstpost |date=8 September 2013 |access-date=2013-09-08 |archive-date=9 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130909075308/http://www.firstpost.com/india/ibn7-journalist-killed-in-up-communal-riots-army-clamps-curfew-1092877.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="hindu2">{{cite web |author=Ahmed Ali Fayyaz |url=http://www.indianexpress.com/news/9-killed-in-communal-riots-in-muzaffarnagar-curfew-clamped-army-deployed/1166053/ |title=9 killed in communal riots in Muzaffarnagar, curfew clamped, army deployed |work=The Indian Express |date=8 September 2013 |access-date=2013-09-08 |archive-date=8 January 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140108223227/http://www.indianexpress.com/news/9-killed-in-communal-riots-in-muzaffarnagar-curfew-clamped-army-deployed/1166053/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=htt>{{cite news|url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/UttarPradesh/Fresh-clashes-in-UP-s-Muzaffarnagar-leave-26-dead-Army-deployed-in-affected-areas/Article1-1118891.aspx |title=Fresh clashes in UPs Muzaffarnagar leave 26 dead, Army deployed in affected areas |work=The Hindustan Times |date=7 September 2013 |access-date=2013-09-08 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130909095145/http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/UttarPradesh/Fresh-clashes-in-UP-s-Muzaffarnagar-leave-26-dead-Army-deployed-in-affected-areas/Article1-1118891.aspx |archive-date=9 September 2013 }}</ref>
[[File:Mars Orbiter Mission - India - ArtistsConcept.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Artist's rendering of the [[Mars Orbiter Mission]] spacecraft]]
In November 2013, India launched its first interplanetary mission, the [[Mars Orbiter Mission]], popularly known as ''Mangalyaan'', to Mars and, was successful, so [[Indian Space Research Organisation|ISRO]] on 24 September 2014, became the fourth [[List of space agencies|space agency]] to reach Mars, after the [[Soviet space program]], [[NASA]], and the [[European Space Agency]].<ref>{{cite news |title=India Launches Mars Orbiter Mission |url=https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/india-launches-mars-orbiter-mission/story?id=20793860 |access-date=6 November 2013 |archive-date=22 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180722125855/https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/india-launches-mars-orbiter-mission/story?id=20793860 |url-status=live }}</ref> ISRO also became the first space agency and India the first country to reach Mars on its maiden attempt.
===2014 – Return of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Government===
The [[Hindutva]] movement advocating [[Hindu nationalism]] originated in the 1920s and has remained a strong political force in India. The major party of the religious right since the 1950s had been the [[Bharatiya Jana Sangh]]. The Jana Sangh joined the Janata party in 1977 but when that party fell apart in a short period of three years, the erstwhile members of Jana Sangh in 1980 formed the [[Bharatiya Janata Party]] (BJP). The BJP grew its support base in the following decades and is now the most dominant political party in India. In September 2013 the [[Chief Minister]] of [[Gujarat]], [[Narendra Modi]], was named the [[BJP]]'s candidate for prime minister ahead of the [[2014 Indian general election|2014 Lok Sabha election]].<ref name="Chhibber"/><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/bjp-announces-modi-as-prime-ministerial-candidate/article5124375.ece|title=BJP announces Modi as prime ministerial candidate|work=[[The Hindu]]|date=14 September 2013 |location=Chennai, India |first=B. Muralidhar |last=Reddy |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131017133715/http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/bjp-announces-modi-as-prime-ministerial-candidate/article5124375.ece |archive-date=17 October 2013}}</ref> Several BJP leaders initially expressed opposition to Modi's candidature,<ref name="Jaffrelot 2015">{{cite journal|last1=Jaffrelot|first1=Christophe|author-link=Christophe Jaffrelot|year=2015|title=The Modi-centric BJP 2014 election campaign: new techniques and old tactics|url=https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/the-modicentric-bjp-2014-election-campaign-new-techniques-and-old-tactics(04c598b8-4a4b-49ae-a08b-e4863265a717).html|journal=Contemporary South Asia|volume=23|issue=2|pages=151–166|doi=10.1080/09584935.2015.1027662|via=|s2cid=142912068}}</ref> including BJP founding member [[L. K. Advani]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Advani-grabs-lifeline-meekly-withdraws-resignation/articleshow/20546245.cms?referral=PM|title=Advani grabs lifeline, meekly withdraws resignation|work=[[The Times of India]]|date=12 June 2013|access-date=15 August 2013|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141013054344/http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Advani-grabs-lifeline-meekly-withdraws-resignation/articleshow/20546245.cms?referral=PM|archive-date=13 October 2014}}</ref> Contrary to the strategies used by the party during previous elections, Modi played the dominant role in the BJP's presidential style election campaign.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Srivastava|first1=Ritesh K.|title=Election 2009 dissected: How parties cut the vote pie|url=http://zeenews.india.com/home/election-2009-dissected-how-parties-cut-the-vote-pie_532875.html|work=[[Zee News]]|date=30 August 2011|access-date=4 June 2014|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140606222425/http://zeenews.india.com/home/election-2009-dissected-how-parties-cut-the-vote-pie_532875.html|archive-date=6 June 2014}}</ref><ref name="T&NM 2015">{{cite journal|last1=Chakravartty|first1=Paula|last2=Roy|first2=Srirupa|year=2015|title=Mr. Modi Goes to Delhi: Mediated Populism and the 2014 Indian Elections|url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1527476415573957|journal=Television & New Media|volume=16|issue=4|pages=311–322|doi=10.1177/1527476415573957|via=|s2cid=145151089}}</ref><ref name="Chhibber">{{cite journal|last1=Chhibber|first1=Pradeep K.|last2=Ostermann|first2=Susan L.|year=2014|title=The BJP's Fragile Mandate: Modi and Vote Mobilizers in the 2014 General Elections|url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2321023014551870|journal=[[Studies in Indian Politics]]|volume=2|issue=2|pages=137–151|doi=10.1177/2321023014551870|issn=0958-4935|via=|s2cid=155080682}}</ref><ref name="Chacko">{{cite journal|last1=Chacko|first1=Priya|last2=Mayer|first2=Peter|title=The 'Modi lahar [wave]' in the 2014 Indian national election: A critical realignment?|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10361146.2014.937392|journal=Australian Journal of Political Science|year=2014|volume=49|issue=3|pages=518–528|doi=10.1080/10361146.2014.937392|s2cid=154806289}}</ref><ref name="Srivastava">{{cite journal|last1=Srivastava|first1=Sanjay|s2cid=145367170|title=Modi-Masculinity: Media, Manhood, and "Traditions" in a Time of Consumerism|journal=Television & New Media|date=April 2015|volume=16|issue=4|doi=10.1177/1527476415575498|pages=331–338}}</ref><ref name="Jaffrelot 2015"/><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Narayan|first1=Badri|date=17 May 2014|title=Modi's Modus Operandi in the 2014 Elections|url=https://www.epw.in/journal/2014/20/commentary/modis-modus-operandi-2014-elections.html|journal=[[Economic & Political Weekly]]|volume=49|issue=20|pages=12–14}}</ref><ref name="Basu 2014">{{cite journal|last1=Basu|first1=Dipankar|last2=Misra|first2=Kartik|date=June 2014|title=BJP's Demographic Dividend in the 2014 General Elections: An Empirical Analysis|url=https://www.econstor.eu/handle/10419/105783|journal=Economics Department Working Paper Series Via EconStor|volume=|pages=}}</ref> The 16th national general election, held in early 2014, saw a huge victory for the BJP led [[National Democratic Alliance|NDA]]; the alliance gained an absolute majority and [[First Modi ministry|formed a government]] under the premiership of Modi. The Modi government's sweeping mandate and popularity helped the BJP win several state assembly elections in India. The Modi government implemented several initiatives and campaigns to increase manufacturing and infrastructure – notably — [[Make in India]], [[Digital India]] and the [[Swachh Bharat Mission]].
The BJP government introduced the [[Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019|Citizenship Amendment Act]] in 2019, sparking widespread [[Citizenship Amendment Act protests|protests]].<ref>{{Cite news|last=Victor|first=Daniel|date=17 December 2019|title=Why People Are Protesting in India|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/17/world/asia/india-protests-citizenship-muslims.html|access-date=2021-06-24|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=25 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210625004316/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/17/world/asia/india-protests-citizenship-muslims.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
<gallery class="center" widths="260px" heights="240px">
Narendra Modi launches Make in India.jpg|Prime Minister Modi at the launch of the ''[[Make in India]]'' programme which was meant to encourage companies to manufacture their products in India and also increase their investment.
Narendra Modi visit to Israel, July 2017 (8563).jpg|10th [[President of Israel]] [[Reuven Rivlin]] and [[Chief of General Staff (Israel)|Chief of General Staff]] of the [[Israel Defense Forces]] [[Gadi Eizenkot]] with PM Modi, the first [[Indian Prime Minister]] to visit Israel.
GSLV Mk III Lift Off 1.jpg|[[Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III]] is intended as a launch vehicle for crewed missions under the [[Indian Human Spaceflight Programme]] announced in Prime Minister Modi's 2018 [[Independence Day of India|Independence Day]] speech.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Kumar|first1=Chetan|title=India to launch first manned space mission by 2022: PM Modi |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/india-to-launch-first-manned-space-mission-by-2022-pm-modi/articleshow/65410373.cms|work=The Times of India|date=15 August 2018|access-date=2 December 2018|archive-date=20 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181220093716/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/india-to-launch-first-manned-space-mission-by-2022-pm-modi/articleshow/65410373.cms|url-status=live}}</ref>
</gallery>
== 2020s ==
[[File:COVID-19_vaccination_queue_01052021.jpg|thumb|[[COVID-19 vaccine|COVID-19 vaccination]] queue in [[Nagpur]], 1 May 2021]]
In February 2020, [[2020 Delhi riots|riots broke out]] in Delhi.<ref>{{Cite news|date=27 August 2020|title=Delhi 2020 religious riots: Amnesty International accuses police of rights abuses|language=en-GB|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-53891354|access-date=2021-06-24|archive-date=1 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210501170443/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-53891354|url-status=live}}</ref> The [[Citizenship Amendment Act protests|Citizenship Amendment Act]] protests have been described as an instigating factor.<ref>{{Cite news|last1=Trivedi|first1=Saurabh|last2=Bhandari|first2=Hemani|date=24 February 2020|title=Policeman among 5 killed in Delhi violence over CAA|language=en-IN|work=The Hindu|url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/pro-anti-caa-groups-clash-in-northeast-delhis-maujpur/article30901937.ece|access-date=2021-06-24|issn=0971-751X|archive-date=26 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200226230850/https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/pro-anti-caa-groups-clash-in-northeast-delhis-maujpur/article30901937.ece|url-status=live}}</ref> Tensions escalated on the Indo-China border after aggressive skirmishes between Indian and Chinese troops beginning on 5 May 2020.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://theprint.in/defence/chinese-troops-challenge-india-at-multiple-locations-in-eastern-ladakh-standoff-continues/428304/ | title=Chinese troops challenge India at multiple locations in eastern Ladakh, standoff continues | date=24 May 2020 }}</ref> The [[Rama Janmabhoomi]] temple construction officially started after a Bhoomi Poojan (Hindu ground breaking)  ceremony by Prime minister Modi on 5 August 2020.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/ayodhya-ram-temple-will-be-161-feet-tall-an-increase-by-20-feet-2267315|title=Ayodhya's Ram Temple Will Be 161-Foot Tall, An Increase Of 20 Feet|website=NDTV.com|access-date=25 August 2021|archive-date=25 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210825071325/https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/ayodhya-ram-temple-will-be-161-feet-tall-an-increase-by-20-feet-2267315|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/after-bhoomi-poojan-at-ayodhya-rss-mohan-bhagwat-says-we-have-fulfilled-our-resolve/story-kqQsI65xMwDKXkCkijqkBP.html|title=After bhoomi poojan at Ayodhya, RSS' Mohan Bhagwat says we have fulfilled our resolve|date=5 August 2020|website=Hindustan Times|access-date=25 August 2021|archive-date=25 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210825071324/https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/after-bhoomi-poojan-at-ayodhya-rss-mohan-bhagwat-says-we-have-fulfilled-our-resolve/story-kqQsI65xMwDKXkCkijqkBP.html|url-status=live}}</ref> [[2020 Indian agriculture acts|Farm reform laws]] which subsequently became quite controversial  were passed with less than three hours of debate in either house in September 2020.<ref>{{cite web |title=Indian Farmers' Protest 2020–2021: History, Progress, Current State of Unions — Transcontinental Times |url=https://www.transcontinentaltimes.com/indian-farmers-protest-2020-2022/ |website=www.transcontinentaltimes.com |date=21 November 2022}}</ref>
After a year long [[2020–2021 Indian farmers' protest|protests by farmers]], Prime minister Modi in November 2021 repealed the laws in three minutes in the [[Lok Sabha]] and nine minutes in the [[Rajya Sabha]] without debate.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Manoj |first1=C.G. |title=In speeches, PM called for 'quality debates'; in House, Govt pushed 15 Bills in under 10 mins last session |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/india/pm-modi-quality-debates-parliament-govt-pushed-15-bills-winter-session-7648106/ |access-date=13 December 2021 |work=The Indian Express |agency=Indian Express |issue=November 30, 2021 |publisher=Living Media India Limited |date=2021}}</ref>
=== COVID-19 pandemic ===
{{Main|COVID-19 pandemic in India}}
The [[COVID-19 pandemic in India]] began on 30 January 2020, when the first case was reported in [[Thrissur]].<ref>{{Cite news|last=Narasimhan|first=T. E.|date=30 January 2020|title=India's first coronavirus case: Kerala student in Wuhan tested positive|work=Business Standard India|url=https://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/india-s-first-coronavirus-case-kerala-student-in-wuhan-tested-positive-120013001782_1.html|access-date=2021-06-24|archive-date=11 March 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200311040438/https://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/india-s-first-coronavirus-case-kerala-student-in-wuhan-tested-positive-120013001782_1.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Two months later in March 2020, prime minister Modi imposed a [[COVID-19 lockdown in India|complete lockdown]] in the country at four hours notice to stop the spread of [[COVID-19]]. This led to millions losing their jobs and many lost their lives. The Indian economy also shrunk in percentage terms by double digit numbers. In September 2020, India's health minister [[Harsh Vardhan (Delhi politician)|Harsh Vardhan]] stated that the country planned to approve and begin distribution of a vaccine by the first quarter of 2021.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/covid-vaccine-likely-by-early-2021-for-old-high-risk-first-harsh-vardhan/articleshow/78091084.cms|title=Coronavirus vaccine India: Expect Covid-19 vaccine by early next year, will take first shot if any trust deficit, Harsh Vardhan &#124; India News – Times of India|website=The Times of India|date=13 September 2020 |access-date=20 October 2021|archive-date=11 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210111142601/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/covid-vaccine-likely-by-early-2021-for-old-high-risk-first-harsh-vardhan/articleshow/78091084.cms|url-status=live}}</ref> Vaccination against COVID-19 started in India on 16 January 2021. By early April 2021, second wave of infections took hold in the country with destructive consequences.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/05/india/india-second-wave-covid-intl-hnk/index.html|title=India reports new record of 103,558 daily Covid cases, as second wave and new lockdowns hit|author=Jessie Yeung, Vedika Sud and Esha Mitra|website=CNN|date=5 April 2021 |access-date=25 August 2021|archive-date=16 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211016101853/https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/05/india/india-second-wave-covid-intl-hnk/index.html|url-status=live}}</ref> According to Christopher Clary, assistant professor of political science at the State University of New York, technocratic competence had been entirely missing from government's  response to the second wave of the [[COVID-19 pandemic in India]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Alluri |first1=Aparna |title=India's Covid crisis delivers a blow to brand Modi |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-56970569 |access-date=13 May 2021 |work=BBC |agency=BBC |issue=May 8, 2021 |date=2021}}</ref> The second wave placed a major strain on the healthcare system,<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://indianexpress.com/photos/india-news/covid-19-holi-celebrations-7250394/ |title=Despite surge in cases, Covid guidelines flouted during Holi celebrations |date=29 March 2021 |newspaper=The Indian Express |access-date=25 August 2021 |archive-date=22 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210822145922/https://indianexpress.com/photos/india-news/covid-19-holi-celebrations-7250394/ |url-status=live }}</ref> including shortage of liquid [[oxygen|medical oxygen]]. The number of new cases had begun to steadily drop by late-May and vaccination gained momentum again. India administered 1&nbsp;billion doses of COVID-19 vaccine on 21 October 2021.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/pm-modi-to-meet-7-vaccine-manufacturers-after-india-crosses-1-billion-doses-mark-101634968091693.html | title=PM Modi to meet 7 vaccine manufacturers as India crosses 1 billion doses mark | date=23 October 2021 }}</ref> Although official number of Covid related deaths in India during the pandemic is less than half a million, [[excess mortality]] rates for all causes has been  estimated at between 3 and 5 million deaths.<ref>Banaji, M., & Gupta, A. (2022). Estimates of pandemic excess mortality in India based on civil registration data. PLOS Global Public Health, 2(12), e0000803.[https://journals.plos.org/globalpublichealth/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgph.0000803]</ref>
=== Post COVID India ===
[[File:Oath taking Ceremony VP India.jpg|thumb|337x337px|Current [[Vice President of India|Vice President]] <small>(left)</small>, [[President of India|President]] <small>(middle)</small> and [[Prime Minister of India]]]]
On 25 July 2022, [[Droupadi Murmu]] was sworn in as India's new president, becoming India's first tribal president. Although largely ceremonial post, Murmu's election as tribal woman was historic.<ref>{{cite news |title=Droupadi Murmu: India's first tribal president takes oath |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-61892776 |work=BBC News |date=25 July 2022}}</ref> India celebrated 75 years of its independence from the [[British Empire]] on 15 August 2022.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://zeenews.india.com/photos/india/independence-day-2022-students-across-india-celebrate-azadi-ka-amrit-mahotsav-2497324 | title=Independence Day 2022– Students across India celebrate Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav }}</ref> In April 2023, India surpassed [[China]] to become the most populous country on the earth with a population of over 1.425 billion.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-65322706 | title=Most populous nation- Should India rejoice or panic? }}</ref> India was selected as the  host for the  [[G20 summit|2023 G20 New Delhi summit]] in International Exhibition Convention Centre, [[Pragati Maidan]], New Delhi from 9 to 10 September 2023.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.firstpost.com/world/india-to-host-g20-summit-in-2023-year-after-2022-meeting-in-indonesia-groupings-declaration-9042481.html | title=India to host G20 Summit in 2023, year after 2022 meeting in Indonesia: Grouping's declaration-World News , Firstpost | date=23 November 2020 }}</ref>
==Economy==
The economic history of the India since 1947 can be divided into two epochs:
1.1947-91 which saw heavy government involvement in the economy, and a slow growth rate in GDP
2.1991–present which saw deregulation and a rapid growth in GDP, and reduction in poverty.
=== Pre-liberalisation period (1947–1991) ===
{{Main|Licence Raj}}
Indian [[economic policy]] after independence was influenced by the colonial experience, which was seen as exploitative by Indian leaders exposed to British social democracy and the planned [[economy of the Soviet Union]].<ref name="AtIndependence">{{Harvnb|Datt|Sundharam|2009|p=179}}</ref> Domestic policy tended towards protectionism, with a strong emphasis on [[import substitution industrialisation]], [[economic interventionism]], a large government-run [[public sector]], [[Regulation (socio-legal concept)|business regulation]], and [[central planning]],<ref>{{Harvnb|Panagariya|2008|pp=31–32}}</ref> while trade and foreign investment policies were relatively liberal.<ref>{{Harvnb|Panagariya|2008|p=24}}</ref> [[Five-Year Plans of India]] resembled central planning in the [[Soviet Union]]. Steel, mining, machine tools, telecommunications, insurance, and power plants, among other industries, were effectively nationalised in the mid-1950s.<ref name="staley">{{cite magazine|url=http://www.reason.com/news/show/36682.html|title=The Rise and Fall of Indian Socialism: Why India embraced economic reform|first=Sam|last=Staley|magazine=[[Reason (magazine)|Reason]]|year=2006|access-date=17 January 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090114053740/http://reason.com/news/show/36682.html|archive-date=14 January 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref> The Indian economy of this period is characterised as [[Dirigisme|Dirigism]].<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{cite web|last=Mazumdar|first=Surajit|year=2012|title=Industrialization, Dirigisme and Capitalists: Indian Big Business from Independence to Liberalization|url=https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/93158/|access-date=4 September 2020|website=mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de|language=en}}</ref>
[[File:GDP per capita of India (1820 to present).png|thumb|350px|Change in per capita GDP of India, 1820–2015. Figures are inflation-adjusted to 1990 International Geary-Khamis dollars.<ref>Data Source: Tables of Prof. Angus Maddison (2010). The per capita GDP over various years and population data can be downloaded in a spreadsheet from here [http://www.ggdc.net/maddison/oriindex.htm].</ref><ref>The 2015 estimate is retrieved from the [[International Monetary Fund]].</ref>]]
Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of India, along with the statistician [[Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis]], formulated and oversaw economic policy during the initial years of the country's independence. They expected favourable outcomes from their strategy, involving the rapid development of [[heavy industry]] by both public and [[private sector]]s, and based on direct and indirect state intervention, rather than the more extreme [[Economy of the Soviet Union|Soviet-style]] central command system.<ref>{{cite book|title=India Unbound|first=Gurcharan|last=Das|publisher=Anchor Books|year=2002|isbn=978-0-385-72074-8|pages=167–174}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Datt|Sundharam|2009|pp=185–187}}</ref><ref name="Cameron-1">{{Cite journal|author1=Cameron, John|author2=Ndhlovu, P Tidings|title=Cultural Influences on Economic Thought in India: Resistance to diffusion of neo-classical economics and the principles of Hinduism|journal=Economic Issues|volume=6|issue=2|date=September 2001|url=http://www.economicissues.org/archive/pdfs/5v6p2.PDF|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060823161225/http://www.economicissues.org/archive/pdfs/5v6p2.PDF|archive-date=23 August 2006|access-date=17 January 2011}}</ref> The policy of concentrating simultaneously on capital- and technology-intensive heavy industry and subsidising manual, low-skill [[cottage industries]] was criticised by economist [[Milton Friedman]], who thought it would waste capital and labour, and retard the development of small manufacturers.<ref name="milton-1">{{cite web|title=Milton Friedman on the Nehru/Mahalanobis Plan|url=http://www.indiapolicy.org/debate/Notes/fried_opinion.html|publisher=India Policy Institute|date=22 September 1998|first=Subroto|last=Roy| access-date = 16 July 2005}}</ref>
Since 1965, the use of [[hybrid seed|high-yielding varieties of seeds]], increased [[fertilisers]] and improved [[irrigation]] facilities collectively contributed to the [[Green Revolution in India]], which improved the condition of agriculture by increasing crop productivity, improving crop patterns and strengthening forward and backward linkages between agriculture and industry.<ref>{{Harvnb|Datt|Sundharam|2009|pp=504–506}}</ref> However, it has also been criticised as an unsustainable effort, resulting in the growth of capitalistic farming, ignoring institutional reforms and widening income disparities.<ref>{{Harvnb|Datt|Sundharam|2009|p=507}}</ref>
In 1984, [[Rajiv Gandhi]] promised economic liberalization, he made [[V. P. Singh]] the finance minister, who tried to reduce tax evasion and tax receipts rose due to this crackdown although taxes were lowered. This process lost its momentum during the later tenure of Mr. Gandhi as his government was marred by scandals.
=== Post-liberalisation period (since 1991) ===
{{Main|Economic liberalisation in India|Economic development in India}}
{{multiple image
| align = right
| image1 = Visit of Narasimha Rao, Indian Minister for Foreign Affairs, to the CEC (cropped)(2).jpg
| width1 = 130
| alt1 = P. V. Narasimha Rao
| caption1 = [[P. V. Narasimha Rao]]
| image2 = Manmohansingh04052007.jpg
| width2 = 100
| alt2 = Manmohan Singh
| caption2 = [[Manmohan Singh]]
| footer = [[Economic liberalisation in India]] was initiated in 1991 by Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao and his then-Finance Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh.
}}
The collapse of the Soviet Union, which was India's major trading partner, and the [[Gulf War]], which caused a spike in oil prices, resulted in a major balance-of-payments crisis for India, which found itself facing the prospect of defaulting on its loans.<ref name="Ghosh">{{cite web|last=Ghosh |first=Arunabha |title=India's pathway through economic crisis(which makes failer of mixed economy) |work=GEG Working Paper 2004/06 |publisher=Global Economic Governance Programme |date=1 June 2004 |url=http://www.globaleconomicgovernance.org/wp-content/uploads/Ghosh%20-%20India.pdf |access-date=12 December 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111112080531/http://www.globaleconomicgovernance.org/wp-content/uploads/Ghosh%20-%20India.pdf |archive-date=12 November 2011 }}</ref> India asked for a $1.8&nbsp;billion bailout loan from the [[International Monetary Fund]] (IMF), which in return demanded de-regulation.{{sfn|Task Force Report|2006|p=7}}
In response, the [[P. V. Narasimha Rao|Narasimha Rao]] government, including Finance Minister [[Manmohan Singh]], initiated [[Economic liberalisation in India|economic reforms]] in 1991. The reforms did away with the [[Licence Raj]], reduced tariffs and interest rates and ended many public monopolies, allowing automatic approval of [[foreign direct investment]] in many sectors.{{sfn|Task Force Report|2006|pp=7–8}} Since then, the overall thrust of liberalisation has remained unchanged ince 1991, although no government  tried to take on powerful lobbies such as trade unions and farmers, on contentious issues such as reforming labour laws and reducing [[agricultural subsidy|agricultural subsidies]].<ref name="Gandhi-1">{{cite news|title=That old Gandhi magic|date= 27 November 1997|newspaper=The Economist|url=http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=107076|access-date=17 January 2011}}</ref> By the turn of the 21st century, India had progressed towards a free-market economy, with a substantial reduction in state control of the economy and increased financial liberalisation.<ref>{{Harvnb|Kumar|2005|p=1037}}</ref> This has been accompanied by increases in life expectancy, literacy rates, and food security, although urban residents have benefited more than rural residents.{{sfn|Task Force Report|2006|pp=17–20}}
[[File:India GDP without labels.PNG|thumb|upright=1.5|right|GDP grows exponentially, almost doubling every five years.]]
[[File:India Annual GDP Growth Rate - World Bank.png|thumb|upright=1.5|Indian GDP growth rate from 1985 to 2016 in red, compared to that of China in green]]
In the second decade of this century, Economy of India rose from ninth-largest to the fifth-largest economy in the world by nominal GDP by surpassing UK, [[France]], [[Italy]] and [[Brazil]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Where does India stand in the list of world's largest economies?|website=[[Times Now]]|url=https://www.timesnownews.com/business-economy/economy/article/where-does-india-stand-in-the-list-of-world-s-largest-economies/573015|access-date=17 June 2022}}</ref> The economy had started to slow down in the second term of Manmohan Singh's tenure but started a recovery in 2013–14 when the GDP growth rate accelerated to 6.4% from the previous year's 5.5%. The acceleration continued through 2014–15 and 2015–16 with growth rates of 7.5% and 8.0% respectively in the early early years under Narendra Modi's first term.However the growth rate subsequently decelerated, to 7.1% and 6.6% in 2016–17 and 2017–18 respectively,<ref>{{cite web|title=PRESS NOTE ON SECOND ADVANCE ESTIMATES OF NATIONAL INCOME 2017–18|url=http://mospi.nic.in/sites/default/files/press_release/nad_pr_2eni_28feb18_0.pdf|website=Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation|access-date=26 May 2018|ref=Mospi2018}}</ref> partly because of the disruptive effects of [[2016 Indian banknote demonetisation]] and the [[Goods and Services Tax (India)]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Demonetisation, GST impact: IMF lowers India's 2017 growth forecast to 6.7%|url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/business-news/demonetisation-gst-impact-imf-lowers-india-s-2017-growth-forecast-to-6-7/story-UeJfgfJKPJOvbzo5kRexDM.html|access-date=26 May 2018|work=Hindustan Times|date=10 October 2017|ref=HTgrowth}}</ref>
==== COVID-19 pandemic and aftermath (2020–present) ====
During the [[COVID-19 pandemic in India|COVID-19 pandemic]], numerous [[rating agencies]] downgraded India's GDP predictions for FY21 to negative figures,<ref name=":49">{{Cite news|date=21 May 2020|title=A Bigger Hit on the Economy?|page=1|work=The Economic Times (ET Graphics)|url=https://epaper.timesgroup.com/|url-access=subscription|access-date=21 May 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Noronha|first=Gaurav|date=2 May 2020|title=India's GDP to see 5% contraction in FY21, says Icra|work=The Economic Times|url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/indicators/indias-gdp-to-see-5-contraction-in-fy21-says-icra/articleshow/75847028.cms|access-date=21 May 2020}}</ref> signalling a recession in India, the most severe since 1979.<ref>{{cite web|title=Goldman Sachs: India's economy will shrink 45% this quarter and suffer a brutal recession this year|url=https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/goldman-sachs-indias-economy-will-shrink-45-this-quarter-and-suffer-a-brutal-recession-this-year/articleshow/75807045.cms|last=Nagarajan|first=Shalini|date=21 May 2020|website=Business Insider|access-date=21 May 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Goldman report most damning|url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/goldman-on-economic-package-for-coronavirus-lockdown-narendra-modis-steps-smaller-than-upas/cid/1774089|date=19 May 2020|website=The Daily Telegraph|language=en|access-date=21 May 2020}}</ref> The Indian Economy contracted by 6.6 percent which was lower than the estimated 7.3 percent decline.<ref>{{cite news |title=Indian economy contracts by 6.6 pc in 2020-21 |url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/indicators/indian-economy-contracts-by-6-6-pc-in-2020-21/articleshow/89248879.cms |access-date=3 September 2022 |work=The Economic Times |agency=Press Trust of India |date=31 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220131130834/https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/indicators/indian-economy-contracts-by-6-6-pc-in-2020-21/articleshow/89248879.cms |archive-date=31 January 2022}}</ref> In 2022, the ratings agency [[Fitch Ratings]] upgraded India's outlook to stable similar to [[S&P Global Ratings]] and [[Moody's Investors Service]]'s outlooks.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Dhasmana |first1=Indivjal |last2=Choudhury |first2=Shrimi |title=Moody's upgrades India's rating outlook to 'stable' from 'negative' |url=https://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/moody-s-changes-india-s-rating-outlook-to-stable-from-negative-121100501141_1.html |access-date=3 September 2022 |work=Business Standard |date=6 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220816021754/https://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/moody-s-changes-india-s-rating-outlook-to-stable-from-negative-121100501141_1.html |archive-date=16 August 2022}}</ref> In the first quarter of financial year 2022–2023, the Indian economy grew by 13.5%.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Dhoot |first1=Vikas |title=India's GDP grows at 13.5% in April–June quarter |url=https://www.thehindu.com/business/Economy/indias-gdp-grows-at-135-in-april-june-quarter/article65833826.ece |access-date=3 September 2022 |work=The Hindu |date=31 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220903054834/https://www.thehindu.com/business/Economy/indias-gdp-grows-at-135-in-april-june-quarter/article65833826.ece |archive-date=3 September 2022}}</ref>
==See also==
* [[Economic history of India]]
* [[Economy of India]]
* [[Military history of India]]
* [[Outline of ancient India]]
* [[Politics of India]]
* [[The Emergency (India)]]
* [[India (disambiguation)]]
*[[Licence Raj]]
== Notes ==
{{notelist}}
==References==
{{Reflist}}
===Works cited===
{{refbegin|2}}
* {{cite book |last1=Datt |first1=Ruddar |last2=Sundharam |first2=K.P.M. |title=Indian Economy |year=2009 |publisher=S. Chand Group |location=New Delhi |isbn=978-81-219-0298-4}}
* {{cite book |title=The Swatantra Party and Indian Conservatism |year=2008 |orig-date=1967 |publisher=[[Harvard University]] |first=Howard Loyd |last=Erdman |isbn=978-0-521-04980-1}}
* {{Cite book |last=Ghose |first=Sankar |title=Jawaharlal Nehru |publisher=Allied Publishers |year=1993 |isbn=978-81-7023-369-5}}
* {{Cite book |last=Kopstein |first=Jeffrey |title=Comparative Politics: Interests, Identities, and Institutions in a Changing Global Order |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2005 |isbn=978-1-139-44604-4}}
* {{cite book |last=Kumar |first=Dharma |title=The Cambridge Economic History of India, Volume II : c. 1757–2003 |publisher=Orient Longman |location=New Delhi |year=2005 |isbn=978-81-250-2710-2}}
* {{cite book |last1=Metcalf |first1=Barbara D. |last2=Metcalf |first2=Thomas R. |title=A Concise History of India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jGCBNTDv7acC |year=2006 |edition=2nd |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-68225-1}}
* {{cite book |last=Panagariya |first=Arvind |author-link=Arvind Panagariya |title=India: The Emerging Giant |url=https://archive.org/details/indiaemerginggia00pana_483 |url-access=limited |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-19-531503-5}}
* {{citation |last=Richardson |first=Hugh E. |title=Tibet and its History |edition=Second |publisher=Shambala |location=Boulder/London |date=1984 |isbn=9780877737896 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=45QizQEACAAJ}}
* {{cite book |last=Sen |first=Sankar |author1-link=Sankar Sen (police officer) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cCo4OlbeDY8C&pg=PA135 |title=Tryst with law enforcement and human rights: four decades in Indian police |publisher=APH Publishing |year=2002 |isbn=978-81-7648-340-7}}
* {{citation |last1=Talbot |first1=Ian |last2=Singh |first2=Gurharpal |title=The Partition of India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=utKmPQAACAAJ |year=2009 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-85661-4 |access-date=15 November 2015}}
*{{cite web |ref={{harvid|Task Force Report|2006}} |url=http://harrisschool.uchicago.edu/News/press-releases/IPP%20Economic%20Reform%20in%20India.pdf |publisher=University of Chicago |page=32 |title=Economic reforms in India: Task force report |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090207125338/http://harrisschool.uchicago.edu/News/press-releases/IPP%20Economic%20Reform%20in%20India.pdf |archive-date=7 February 2009}}
{{refend}}
==Further reading==
* [[Bipan Chandra]], Mridula Mukherjee and Aditya Mukherjee. "India Since Independence"
* Bates, Crispin, and Subho Basu. ''The Politics of Modern India since Independence'' (Routledge/Edinburgh South Asian Studies Series) (2011)
* Brass, Paul R. ''The Politics of India since Independence'' (1980)
* {{cite book|editor1=Vasudha Dalmia |editor2=Rashmi Sadana |title=The Cambridge Companion to Modern Indian Culture|year=2012|publisher=Cambridge University Press|url=http://www.cambridge.org/aus/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9780521516259&ss=exc}}
* Datt, Ruddar; Sundharam, K.P.M. ''Indian Economy'' (2009) New Delhi. 978-81-219-0298-4 
* {{cite book|author=Dixit, Jyotindra Nath |title=Makers of India's foreign policy: Raja Ram Mohun Roy to Yashwant Sinha|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DRduAAAAMAAJ|year=2004|publisher=HarperCollins|isbn=9788172235925}}
* {{cite book|author=Frank, Katherine |title=Indira: The Life of Indira Nehru Gandhi|url=https://archive.org/details/indiralifeofindi00fran|url-access=registration |year=2002|publisher=Houghton Mifflin|isbn=9780395730973}}
* {{cite book|author=Ghosh, Anjali |title=India's Foreign Policy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y32u4JMroQgC&pg=PA1|year=2009|publisher=Pearson Education India|isbn=9788131710258}}
* Gopal, Sarvepalli. ''Jawaharlal Nehru: A Biography, Volume Two, 1947-1956'' (1979); ''Jawaharlal Nehru: A Biography: 1956-64 Vol 3'' (1985)
* {{cite book|author=Guha|title=India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy|first=Ramachandra|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8FKepYC6wzwC|year=2011|publisher=Pan Macmillan|isbn=9780330540209<!--|author-link=Ramachandra Guha-->}} [https://www.amazon.com/India-After-Gandhi-Ramachandra-Guha/dp/B001DW2OBW/  excerpt and text search]
* Guha, Ramachandra. ''Makers of Modern India'' (2011) [https://www.amazon.com/Makers-Modern-India-Ramachandra-Guha/dp/0674052463/  excerpt and text search]
* {{cite book|author= Jain, B. M.|title=Global Power: India's Foreign Policy, 1947–2006|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_dqg3bEhcYMC|year=2009|publisher=Lexington Books|isbn= 9780739121450}}
* {{cite book|author=Kapila, Uma|title=Indian Economy Since Independence|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F5gaFunH_PAC&pg=PA52|year=2009|publisher=Academic Foundation|page=854|isbn=9788171887088}}
* McCartney, Matthew. ''India – The Political Economy of Growth, Stagnation and the State, 1951–2007'' (2009); ''Political Economy, Growth and Liberalisation in India, 1991-2008'' (2009) [https://www.amazon.com/Political-Economy-Growth-Liberalisation-1991-2008/dp/0415493358/  excerpt and text search]
* Mansingh, Surjit. ''The A to Z of India'' (The A to Z Guide Series) (2010)
* {{cite book|author1=Nilekani, Nandan |author2=and Thomas L. Friedman|title=Imagining India: The Idea of a Renewed Nation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u2oSMI2P_HkC&pg=PT412|year=2010|publisher=Penguin|isbn=9781101024546}}
* {{cite book|author=Panagariya, Arvind |title=India: The Emerging Giant|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6eO1-yP7o4MC|year=2008|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn= 978-0-19-531503-5}}
* Saravanan, Velayutham. ''Environmental History of Modern India: Land, Population, Technology and Development'' (Bloomsbury Publishing India, 2022) [http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=58163 online review]
* Talbot, Ian; Singh, Gurharpal (2009), The Partition of India, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-85661-4
* Tomlinson, B.R. ''The Economy of Modern India 1860–1970'' (1996) [https://www.amazon.com/Economy-Modern-1860-1970-Cambridge-History/dp/0521589398/ excerpt and text search]
* Zachariah, Benjamin. ''Nehru'' (Routledge Historical Biographies) (2004) [https://www.amazon.com/Routledge-Historical-Biographies-Benjamin-Zachariah/dp/041525017X/  excerpt and text search]
===Primary sources===
* Appadorai A., ed. ''Select Documents on India's Foreign Policy and Relations'' (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1982)
==External links==
* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-12557384 India country profile] BBC India profile
{{History of South Asia}}
{{India topics}}
{{Indian Independence Movement}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:History of India (1947-present)}}
[[Category:History of the Republic of India| ]]
[[Category:History of India|*]]

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