The period of transformation: 1957-2007

After 200 years of suffering, slavery, barbarism.... Indians in the year 1947 broke-out to breathe the fresh air in Independent India.

India was not in all its glory after escaping the clutches of Colonial rule. Second World war wrought a large scale disruption of life, famine too was rampant and Industrialization was confined to a small privileged section. To add to the woes, Partition followed close behind. On the heels, came the responsibility of rehabilitating millions of refugees.

The violence was stopped by early September owing to the cooperative efforts of both Indian and Pakistani leaders, and especially due the efforts of Mahatma Gandhi, the leader of the Indian freedom struggle, who undertook a fast-unto-death in Calcutta and later in Delhi to calm people and emphasize peace despite threat to his life.

Though we have not forgotten the trauma of partition, we have not let this shadow the progress of our country. India today can take pride in its feudal form of governance that gives full scope to the development.

Nehru era

Under the leadership of Nehru, Congress won with thumping majority both 1957 and 1962 elections. Nehru's socialist model for the economy of India, no taxation for Indian farmers, minimum wage and benefits for blue-collar workers, and the nationalization of heavy industries has worked. With this major reforms India set forth on its journey of economic integration.

In Dec 1953, Jawaharlal Nehru appointed the States Re-organisation Commission to prepare for the creation of states along linguistic lines. The Act went into effect on Nov 1, 1956. It re-organised the state boundaries and dissolved states and union territories. It consisted of: Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Bombay state, Jammu and Kashmir, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Madras state, Mysore State, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal. Union territories were; Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Lakshwadeep, Pondicherry, Tripura and Manipur.

The separation of Kerala and the Telugu-speaking regions of Madras State enabled the creation of exclusively Tamil-speaking state of Tamil Nadu. On May 1, the states of Maharashtra and Gujarat were created out of Bombay State.

Nehru's foreign policy was the inspiration of the Non-Aligned Movement, of which India was a co-founder. Although Nehru disliked 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.

In 1961, India invaded and annexed the Portuguese colony of Goa on west coast of India. 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. While China withdrew from occupied lands in the northeast, it continues to occupy Aksai Chin in Kashmir. China disputes India's sovereignty over Arunachal Pradesh and until recently, Sikkim.

Kashmir had already become a bone of contention between India and Pakistan in 1947. Nehru's visit to Pakistan in 1953 to solve Kashmir issue bore no results. Anyways, this din't stop the Pakistani troops from infiltrating into India. Losing its cool, India launched a series of attacks on Pakistan from all fronts in 1965. The war ended with Indian forces gaining chunks of land all around except Punjab. USSR interfered and got the truce between the two nations at Tashkent agreement.

Indira Gandhi era

In 1971, Indira Gandhi and her Congress-R (owing to the split in Indian National Congress in 1969) returned to power with a massive majority. Under her, the nationalisation of banks was carried out and many other socialist economic and industrial policies enacted. She for some time carried out the economic integration which her father, former Prime minister Nehru had begun.

In 1971, third major war with Paksitan was fought. But, this time not on the issue of Kashmir issue. India intervened in what was then East Pakistan due to the exodus of refugees to India following West Paskistan military action. The clash resulted in the independence of East Pakistan, which is now Bangladesh.

This invariably elevated Indira Gandhi in the International arena. Wavering form the stand on Non-alignment, India for the first time signed a 20 years treaty of friendship with Soviet Union. India tested its first nuclear weapon in the desert of Rajasthan under Indira's regime.

India's population reached 500 million mark in 1970. India's long standing food crisis was resolved with improved agricultural productivity due to Green Revolution. Under Operation Flood, the Government encouraged the production of milk, which increased greatly and improved rearing of livestock across India.

Indira's carefully crafted plans for India did do well for some time but at one-point of time, her leadership hit an all time low. There was widespread economic and social problems. Allegations of corruption caused increasing political unrest across India. In 1974, the Allahabad High Court found Indira Gandhi guilty of misusing government machinery for election purposes. Opposition parties conducted nationwide strikes and protests demanding her immediate resignation. Various political parties united under Jaya Prakash Narayan to resist what he termed Indira's dictatorship. Leading strikes across India that paralyzed its economy and administration, Narayan even called for the Army to oust Indira Gandhi. In 1975, Mrs. 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, she suspended many civil liberties and postponed elections at national and state levels. Non-Congress governments in Indian states were dismissed, and opposition political leaders and activists imprisoned. Strikes and public protests were outlawed in all forms.

After the emergency fiasco, when India was still reeling under Indira-made disaster, she called for elections in 1977. Congress was swept out. Moraji 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.

This din't deter Indira for long...Indira Gandhi and her Congress (I) party were swept back into power with a large majority in January, 1980.

When Indian forces, undertaking Operation Bluestar, raided the hideout of Khalistan militants in the Golden Temple 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 incidents of abuse of civil liberties. On October 31, 1984, the Prime Minister's own Sikh bodyguard killed her, and communal violence erupted in Delhi and parts of Punjab, causing the deaths of thousands of people along with terrible pillage, arson and rape. Public opinion blamed Congress leaders for directing attacks on Sikhs in Delhi.

Rajiv Gandhi era

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. The Parliament was dissolved, and Rajiv led the Congress party to its largest majority in history (over 450 seats out of 545 possible), reaping a sympathy vote over his mother's assassination.

Rajiv Gandhi initiated a series of reforms - the license raj was loosened, and government restrictions on foreign currency, travel, foreign investment and imports decreased considerably. As Prime Minister, Rajiv broke from his mother's precedent to improve relations with the United States, which increased economic aid and scientific cooperation. Rajiv's encouragement of science and technology resulted in a major expansion of the telecommunications industry, India's space program and gave birth to the software industry and information technology sector.

India in 1987 brokered an agreement between the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE insurgency that had torn apart the island for over a decade. Rajiv sent Indian troops to enforce the agreement and disarm the Tamil rebels, but the Indian Peace Keeping Force entangled in outbreaks of violence - ultimately ending up fighting the Tamil rebels itself, and becoming a target of attack from Sri Lankan nationalists.

Rajiv Gandhi's image as an honest politician was shattered when the Bofors scandal broke, revealing that senior government officials had taken bribes over defence contracts.

On May 21, 1991, Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by a female suicide bomber from LTTE. She set off a bomb in her belt when garlanding him in Tamil Nadu.

Siachen War

The Siachen War between India and Pakistan took place in 1984. The area of the dispute was Siachen Glacier- the world's highest battlefield. The Glacier was under territorial dispute, but in the late 1970 and early 1980s, Pakistan began organizing several tourist expeditions. Irritated by this, India mounted Operation Meghdoot and captured the top of the Glacier by establishing a military base which it still maintains. As per record, India controls the top part of the Glacier and Pakistan is placed at the bottom of the Glacier.

Under VP Singh

VP Singh, the person behind unearthing Bofors Report, became the next Prime minister of India. Sacked by Congress from Party and Office, he became a popular crusader for clean government. Singh led the Janata Dal coalition to a majority. He was supported by BJP and the leftist parties from outside. He implemented the Mandal Commission report, to increase the quota in reservation for low caste Hindus. The BJP protested these implementations, and took its support back, following which he resigned. This new government also collapsed in a matter of months, when Congress withdrew its support.

Narsimha Rao Government

In the elections, Congress (I) won 213 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 5-year term, initiated a gradual process of economic liberalisation and reform, which has opened the 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.

But, India was rocked by communal violence between Hindus and Muslims that killed over 10,000 people, following the Babri Mosque demolition by Hindu mobs in the course of the Ram Janmabhoomi dispute in Ayodhya in 1992. 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.

The Era of three Prime Ministers'

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerged from 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 for 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, under the former Chief Minister of Karnataka, H.D. Deve Gowda. His government lasted less than a year. Inder Kumar Gujral replaced Deve Gowda as the consensus choice for Prime Minister of a 16-party United Front coalition.

Vajpayee's era

New elections in February 1998 brought BJP the largest number of seats in Parliament but this fell short of a majority. On March 20, 1998, the President inaugurated a BJP-led coalition government with Vajpayee again serving as Prime Minister.

On May 11 and 13, 1998, this government conducted a series of underground nuclear tests, prompting US President Clinton and Japan to impose economic sanctions on India pursuant to the 1994 Nuclear Proliferation Prevention Act.

In April 1999, the BJP-led coalition government fell apart, leading to fresh elections in September. In May and June of 1999, India discovered 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 infiltrators, who included Pakistani soldiers, and reclaimed important border posts in high-altitude warfare. In the same year, India's population exceeded 1 billion.

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. At this time some damming reports about intelligence failures which led to the Kargil war was making rounds. Allegations on Defence Minister George Fernandes taking bribes over the purchase of coffins for soldiers who died in the battle also rocked the country. The Tehelka scandal exposed the BJP party chief taking unaccounted contributions in return for promised favours, and the CBI chargesheeted senior BJP leaders for inciting the demolition of the Babri mosque.

In 2002, tensions increased over the Ram Janmabhoomi dispute when the Vishwa Hindu Parishad threatened to defy the Government, vowing to perform a religious ceremony on the disputed site. 59 Hindu activists were killed returning from the site when a train carriage was set ablaze a month later, in Godhra, Gujarat. This sparked off the 2002 Gujarat violence, leading to the deaths of thousands of Hindus and Muslims.

But throughout 2003, India's speedy economic progress, political stability and a rejuvenated peace initiative with Pakistan increased the Government's popularity. In January 2004 Vajpayee recommended early dissolution of the Lok Sabha and General elections.

Formation of Jharkhand, Uttarkhand and Chhattisgarh

The demand for a separate Jharkhand state can be traced back to early 1990, when Jaipal Singh, an India hockey captain and Olympian suggested the idea of a separate state consisting of the southern districts of Bihar. In August 2, 2002, the Parliament passed the Bihar Re-organisation Bill to create the state of Jharkhand, separating 18 districts out of Bihar to form Jharkhand state on 15 Nov, 2000. It became the 28th state of India.

Until 1998, Uttar Pradesh was commonly referred as Uttarkhand. Various political parties began agitating for separate statehood. In August 2006, India assented to the demand of the Uttarkhand state. Legislation to that effect was passed by the State Legislative Assembly in Oct, 2006. The bill was passed by Parliament and signed into law by the President in Dec, 2006. Now, Uttarkhand is a state in the Union of India.

Chhattisgarh was formed when the 16 Chhattisgari-speaking southeastern districts of Madhya Pradesh gained statehood on Nov 1, 2000. It is the 10th largest state of India by area.

Manmohan Singh regime

The Congress Party-led alliance won an upset victory in elections held in May 2004. Manmohan Singh became the Prime Minister, after the Congress President Sonia Gandhi declined to take the office. The Congress formed a coalition and enjoys the outside support of Left parties.

Under his regime, the four major cities of India have become centres of economic importance, rising industries and destination for FDI. Strategies like forming Special Economic Zones, good communications and infrastructure to encourage industries has paid off.

The information technology industry propelled by Late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi has made India, a stop-over for many MNCs. BPOs have enhanced India's economic growth. The Middle-class is getting richer. Unemployment is steadily declining, and poverty has fallen to app 27 pc.

GDP growth is beyond 7 pc. And economists have determined another good year ahead! With economy booming, diplomatic relations going great, there is no holding back India anymore! Transformation has been the name of the game!>