india after independance from 1947 to...
TRANSCRIPT
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Self Study Materials
INDIA AFTER
INDEPENDANCE
From 1947 to 1964
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REHABILITATION AFTER PARTITION
The Independence of India also resulted in
its partition, and wasfollowed by a mass
migration of populations from the territory
now comprising Pakistan, especially West
Pakistan, to the Punjab and vice versa.
Lakhs of Hindus and Sikhs moved from
West Punjab to East Punjab, and almost a
similar number of Muslims travelled from
East Punjab and U.P. to West Pakistan.
This movement was one of the most
massive in history involving inevitable
hardships, miseries and also tragedies.
Communal feelings had been aroused and
accentuated, and regrettably human-beings
often behaved barbarously in those days.
As many as one million civilians died in the
accompanying riots and local level fighting.
By 1951 a major wave of migration was
over. It was estimated that about ten
million refugees crossed the frontier.
Many of the Hindus and Sikhs fleeing West
Punjab were directed by the government of
India to a refugee camp in Kurukshetra. A
vast city of tents had grown up on the
plain, to house waves of migrants,
sometimes up to 20,000 a day. The camp
was initially planned for 100,000 refugees,
but it came to accommodate three times
that number.
The camp sites were later converted into
permanent housing through extensive
building projects undertaken by the
Government of India from 1948 onwards.
The population of Delhi almost doubled
within 1 year. A number of housing
colonies in Delhi came up around this
period like Lajpat Nagar, Rajinder
Nagar, Nizamuddin East, Punjabi Bagh,
RehgarPura, Jangpura and Kingsway
Camp.
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Land left by Muslims in India were allotted
to the refugees from West Pakistan.
As against 2.7 million hectares abandoned
by Hindus and Sikhs in West Punjab, there
were only 1.9 million hectares left behind
by Muslims in East Punjab.
Each family of refugee farmers was given
an allotment of four hectares, regardless of
its holding in Pakistan. Loans were
advanced to buy seed and equipment.
While cultivation commenced on these
temporary plots, applications were invited
for permanent allotments. Each family was
asked to submit evidence of how much land
it had left behind.
To collect, collate, verify and act upon the
claims a Rehabilitation Secretariat was set
up in Jullundur. For the first ten acres of
any claim,a cut of 25 percent was
implemented – thus one got only 7.5 acres
instead of ten. For higher claims the cuts
were steeper: 30 per cent for 10–30 acres,
and on upwards, till those having in excess
of 500 acres were taxed at the rate of 95
percent.
Operations were led by the director
generalof rehabilitation, SardarTarlok
Singh, an ICS officer. By November 1949
the authorities had made 250,000
allotments of land.
Hindus fleeing from East Pakistan settled
across Eastern India and Northeastern
India, many ending up in neighboring
Indian states such as West Bengal, Assam,
and Tripura. Some migrants were sent to
the Andaman islands. Rehabilitation was
made more difficult by the fact that exodus
of Hindus from East Pakistan continued for
years.
A number of schemes such as the provision
of education, employment opportunities,
and easy loans to start businesses were
provided for the refugees at the all-India
level. Nilokheri-Faridabad project was one
of its kind.
INTEGRATION OF INDIAN STATES
At the time of Independence India
consisted of two regions – British India and
Princely states. There were more than 500
princely states, from Hyderabad with its
seventeen million population to states of
only few square miles in extent.
The British had renounced their treaty
rights and recommended them to join
either India or Pakistan. On June 27, 1947
SardarVallabhai Patel assumed the charge
of newly created States Department with
V P Menon as its secretary. With great
skill and diplomacy and using both
persuasion and pressure, Sardar Patel
succeeded in integrating hundreds of
princely states with Indian Union.
Instrument of Accession to Indian Union
had been signed by rulers of most states
before August 15 except Junagarh,
Hyderabad and Jammu & Kashmir.
Junagarh was small seaport state on the
state of Kathiawar with Hindu majority
population and ruled by Muslim Nawab.
The Nawab decided to join Pakistan
despite the protests of people. After a few
weeks Indian troops occupied the state and
a plebiscite was conducted in February
1948 which overwhelmingly in favour of
joining India.
In Hyderabad, Nizam decided to remain
sovereign and refused accession to either
India or Pakistan. The lawless activities of
band of terrorists known as Razakars who
attacked against pro-Indian campaigners
further complicated the situation.
When repeated protests seemed to be of no
avail and the danger to people’s life and
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property continued, Government of India
initiated a police action known as
Operation Polo in 1948. Nizam was
surrendered and finally decided to accede
to India and people of the state ratified the
decision.
Kashmir Question
The ruler of Kashmir was Raja Hari Singh,
a Hindu while nearly three fourth of the
population was Muslim. He did not accede
either to India or Pakistan and decided to
stay independent.
On 22 October 1947, several Pathan
tribesmen with the unofficial support of
Pakistan invaded the state and rapidly
pushed towards Srinagar. In panic, Raja
Hari Singh appealed India for military
support.
Mountbatten told him that Indian troops
could not enter his state unless the
Instrument of Accession was signed. Raja
signed Instrument of Accession on 26th
October and Indian troops reached
Kashmir on 27th October and recaptured
many regions held by Pakistan.
Indian and Pakistani forces thus fought
their first war over Kashmir in 1947-48.
India referred the dispute to the United
Nations on 1 January. In a resolution
dated August 13, 1948, the UN asked
Pakistan to remove its troops, after which
India was also to withdraw the bulk of its
forces.
India, having taken the issue to the UN,
was confident of winning a plebiscite, since
the most influential Kashmiri mass leader,
Sheikh Abdullah, was firmly on its side.
An emergency government was formed on
October 30, 1948 with Sheikh Abdullah as
the Prime Minister.
Pakistan ignored the UN mandate and
continued fighting, holding on to the
portion of Kashmir under its control.
On January 1, 1949, a ceasefire was
agreed, with 65 per cent of the territory
under Indian control and the remainder
with Pakistan.
The ceasefire was intended to be temporary
but the Line of Control remains the de
facto border between the two countries.
The constituent Assembly of Jammu and
Kashmir ratified the accession to India in
1954. In November 1956, the constituent
assembly legalized the status of Jammu
and Kashmir as an integral Part of India.
THE MAKING OF INDIAN
CONSTITUTION
The Constituent Assembly met for the first
time in New Delhi on December 9, 1946 in
the Constitution Hall which is now known
as the Central Hall of the Parliament
House. Two hundred and seven
representatives, including nine women
were present.
The inaugural session began at 11 a.m.
with the introduction of Dr
Sachchidananda Sinha, the temporary
Chairman of the Assembly, by Acharya
Kripalani.
The Constituent Assembly took almost
three years (two years, eleven months and
seventeen days to be precise) to complete
its historic task of drafting the
Constitution of Independent India.
During this period, it held eleven sessions
covering a total of 165 days. Of these, 114
days were spent on the consideration of the
Draft Constitution.
The assembly has members chosen by the
members of the Provincial Legislative
Assemblies through an indirect election,
according to a scheme recommended by the
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Cabinet Mission. The arrangement was : (i)
292 members were elected through the
Provincial Legislative Assemblies; (ii) 93
members represented the Indian Princely
States and (iii) 4 members represented the
Chief Commissioner’s provinces. The total
membership of the Assembly thus was to
be 389.
As a result of the partition under the
Mountbatten Plan of June 3, 1947, a
separate Constituent Assembly was set up
for Pakistan and representatives of some
Provinces ceased to be members of the
Assembly. As a result, the membership of
the Assembly was reduced to 299.
On December 13, 1946 Jawaharlal Nehru
moved the Objectives Resolution. This
resolution was unanimously adopted by the
Constituent Assembly on January 22,
1947. Late in the evening of August 14,
1947 the Assembly met in the Constitution
Hall and at the stroke of midnight, took
over as the Legislative Assembly of an
Independence India.
On August 29, 1947, the Constituent
Assembly set up a Drafting Committee
under the Chairmanship or
Dr.B.R.Ambedkar to prepare a Draft
Constitution for India. While deliberating
upon the draft Constitution, the Assembly
moved, discussed and disposed off as many
as 2,473 amendments out of a total of 7,
635 that were tabled.
The Constitution of India was adopted on
November 26, 1949 and the members
appended their signatures to it on January
24, 1950. In all, 284 members actually
signed the Constitution.
The Constitution of India came into force
on January 26, 1950. On that day the
Assembly ceased to exist by transforming
itself into the Provisional Parliament of
India, until a new parliament was
constituted in 1952.
Salient features of our Constitution
The Constitution of India is the lengthiest
and most detailed compared to any
constitutions in the world.
It originally had 395 articles divided into
22 parts and 9 schedules. Now it have 395
articles, 22 parts and 12 schedules.
The Preamble proclaims that India is a
Sovereign, Socialist, Secular, Democratic
Republic.
There are 6 Fundamental Rights in the
Constitution which are guaranteed to all
citizens of India.
The Constitution contains a list of
Directive Principles of State Policy whose
observance by the state is deemed for
making essential for the welfare of people.
They are non-justiciable in nature.
It is federal in form but unitary in spirit.
Constitution provides for a parliamentary
system of government, both at center and
at states. President of India, like the crown
of England, exercise s his power through
the council of ministers headed by the
Prime Minister.
Indian constitution provides three tier
government. Originally, it was two tier i.e.
Centre and the State. But by 73rd and 74th
Amendment Act, 1992 three tier
government has been established. (Centre,
state & local self government).
PREAMBLE
Indian Constitution has a preamble which
gives an insight into the Philosophy of the
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Constitution. It is based on the Objectives
Resolution which was drafted and moved in
the Constituent Assembly by Jawaharlal
Nehru on 13 December 1946.
Preamble states that:
WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, having
solemnly resolved to constitute India into
a SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC and to secure
to all its citizens:
JUSTICE, social, economic and political;
LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief,
faith and worship;
EQUALITY of status and of opportunity;
and to promote among them all
FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the
individual and the unity and integrity of
the Nation;
IN OUR CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY
this twenty-sixth day of November, 1949,
do HEREBY ADOPT, ENACT AND
GIVE TO OURSELVESTHIS
CONSTITUTION.
THE DEMOGRAPHIC TRENDS
Demography is the systematic study of
population. Demographic data are
important for the planning and
implementation of state policies, specially
those for economic development and
general public welfare.
India is the second most populous country
in the world after China, with a total
population of 121 crores according to the
Census of 2011. The growth rate of India’s
population has not always been very high.
Between 1901-1951 the average annual
growth rate did not exceed 1.33%, a modest
rate of growth.
In fact between 1911 and 1921 there was a
negative rate of growth of – 0.03%. This
was because of the Influenza epidemic
during 1918 -19 which killed about 12.5
million persons or 5% of the total
population of the country.
The growth rate of population substantially
increased after independence from British
rule going up to 2.2% during 1961- 1981.
Since then although the annual growth
rate has decreased it remains one of the
highest in the developing world.
From the middle of the 19th century to the
middle of the 20th century, the dependency
in agriculture increased from fifty to
seventy-one percent.
The percentage of population engaged in
agriculture increased from 62.4 percent in
1901 to 69.6 percent in 1941. While overall
agricultural production per head fell by 14
percent between 1901 and 1939, the fall in
the per capita production of food gains was
over 24 percent.
Most of this decline occurred after 1918.
During this period the working force
engaged in occupations other than
agriculture fell from 43.9 million to 37.4
million or from 37.6 percent to 30.4 percent
of the total working force.
This justifies the growing dependency of
the people on agriculture during this entire
period. If we see the economy of other
countries we witness that there were other
opportunities, in various other sectors for
the increasing populations. They were not
at all dependent on agriculture sector only.
While in India the story was different
which was the main reason for its slow or
poor economy during this period .
ECONOMIC POLICES & PLANNING
Economic Policy after Independence
After independence, India under
Jawaharlal Nehru adopted a socialist
pattern of growth.
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It emphasised the role of public sector in
spearheading the economic development of
the country.
Industrial Policy of a country lays down
rules and procedures that would govern the
growth and pattern of industrial activity.
In India, Industrial Policies were launched
in 1948, 1956,1977,1980 and 1991.
The first Industrial policy was announced
in 6 April 1948.
The Industrial Policy Resolution of 1956 is
called the ‘Magna-carta’or ‘economic
constitution’ of Indian industrial
development.
The IPR 1956 was based upon the
Mahalanobis Model of growth. Government
adopted a socialistic pattern of growth and
emphasized on the growth of heavy
industries. IPR 1956 gave greater
importance to public sector.
IPR 1956 classified industries into 3
categories: Schedule A, B and C. Schedule
A which comprises of 17 most important
industries was reserved for public sector.
Indian National Congress, through Avadi
Congress Resolution (1955), reiterated its
commitment towards socialist mode of
development.
Steel, mining, machine tools,
telecommunication, insurance, power
plant and many other major sectors were
nationalised in 1950s.
Imperial bank of India was nationalized
and became State Bank of India.
Life insurance sector was nationalized by
the Life Insurance Corporation Act 1956.
All 245 life-insurance companies in India
at the time were merged to form LIC.
Economic Planning in India
Planning is the systematic and scientific
utilization of available resources to achieve
national goals. In other words, economic
planning is defined as “a continuous
process which involves decisions, or
choices, about alternative ways of using
available resources, with the aim of
achieving particular goals at some time in
the future”.
Since Independence, the Indian economy
has been premised on the concept of
planning. This has been carried through
the Five-Year Plans, developed, executed,
and monitored by the Planning
Commission.The concept of planning in
India is based on the Russian Model
initiated by Joseph Stalin.
The Planning Commission was constituted
on 15th March, 1950, by government of
India. With the Prime Minister as the ex-
officio Chairman, the commission has a
nominated Deputy Chairman, who holds
the rank of a Cabinet Minister.
Planning in India derives its objectives and
social promises from the Directive
Principles of State Policy, enshrined in the
constitution.
The best way to describe the overall aim of
Indian planning is “growth with Justice”
First Five Year Plan (1951-1956)
The First Five-year Plan was launched in
1951 which mainly focused in development
of the agricultural sector.
The total planned budget of Rs.2069 crore
was allocated to seven broad areas:
irrigation and energy (27.2%), agriculture
and community development (17.4%),
transport and communications (24%),
industry (8.4%), social services (16.64%),
land rehabilitation (4.1%), and for other
sectors and services (2.5%).
The most important feature of this phase
was active role of state in all economic
sectors. Such a role was justified at that
time because immediately after
independence, India was facing basic
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problems deficiency of capital and low
capacity to save.
The target growth rate was 2.1% annual
gross domestic product (GDP) growth; the
achieved growth rate was 3.6% the net
domestic product went up by 15%. The
monsoon was good and there were
relatively high crop yields, boosting
exchange reserves and the per capita
income, which increased by 8%. National
income increased more than the per capita
income due to rapid population growth.
Many irrigation projects were initiated
during this period, including the Bhakra
Dam and Hirakud Dam.
Second Five Year Plan (1956-1961)
The Second Plan, particularly in the
development of the public sector.
The plan followed the Mahalanobis model,
an economic development model developed
by the Indian statistician Prasanta
Chandra Mahalanobis in 1953.
The plan attempted to determine the
optimal allocation of investment between
productive sectors in order to maximise
long-run economic growth
The plan assumed a closed economy in
which the main trading activity would be
centred on importing capital goods.
Hydroelectric power projects and five steel
plants at Bhilai, Durgapur, and Rourkela
were established. Coal production was
increased
The total amount allocated under the
Second Five-Year Plan in India was
Rs.48 billion. This amount was allocated
among various sectors: power and
irrigation, social services, communications
and transport, and miscellaneous.
The target growth rate was 4.5% and the
actual growth rate was 4.27%.
Third Five Year Plan (1961-1966)
The Third Five-year Plan stressed
agriculture and improvement in the
production of wheat, but the brief Sino-
Indian War of 1962 exposed weaknesses in
the economy and shifted the focus towards
the defence industry and the Indian Army.
In 1965-1966, India fought a War with
Pakistan. There was also a severe drought
in 1965. The war led to inflation and the
priority was shifted to price stabilization
The target growth rate was 5.6%, but the
actual growth rate was 2.4%.
Due to miserable failure of the Third Plan
the government was forced to declare “plan
holidays” (from 1966-67, 1967-68, and
1968-69).
Gains of Three Five Year Plan
Our national income at 1960-61 prices
increased from Rs. 10,240 Crores in 1950-
51 to Rs. 14,500 Crores in 1960-61.
Due to an increase in population, there was
no significant rise in the per-capita income.
However, the per-capita income at 1960-61
prices was Rs. 284 in 1950-51 and Rs. 330
in 1960-61.
Food grains production increased from 52
million tons in 1950-51 to 76 million tons in
1960-61. The per capita consumption of
food increased from 1,800 calories per day
in 1950-51 to 2,100 calories in 1960-61.
LINGUISTIC REORGANIZATION
After Independence, the demand for the
reorganization of states on linguistic basis
was raised from different regions. The
Constitution Assembly appointed S.K.Dhar
Commission in November, 1947 to study
the issue of reorganization of States of
linguistic basis.
The commission in its report, submitted in
1948, recommended against the
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organization of states purely on linguistic
basis. Instead, the commission suggested
the following criteria along with language –
Geographical contiguity, Financial Self-
reliance, Administrative viability and
Potential for development.
The Congress, in its Jaipur session in 1948,
appointed a three member committee to
consider the recommendations of Dhar
Commission. The Committee is popularly
known as JVP Committee after the name
of its three members Jawaharlal Nehru,
Vallabhai Patel, and Pattabhi
Sitarammaiah.
The committee rejected language as the
basis of reorganization of states. It
suggested that the security, unity and
economic prosperity of the nation as the
criteria of reorganization. The Congress
Working Committee accepted its
recommendation in 1949.
On 19 October 1952, a popular freedom
fighter, Potti Sriramalu, undertook a fast
unto death over the demand for a separate
Andhra and expired after fifty-eight days.
His death was followed by three days of
violence all over Andhra.
The government immediately gave in and
conceded the demand for a separate state
of Andhra, which finally came into
existence in October 1953.
This incident led to appointment of the
States Reorganization Commission in 1953
which was headed by Fazal Ali. The other
members of the commission were Hriday
Nath Kunzru and K M Panikkar.
The SRC submitted its report in October
1955. While laying down that due
consideration should be given to
administrative and economic factors, it
recognized for the most part of the
linguistic principle and recommended
redrawing of state boundaries on the basis.
The States Reorganization Act was passed
by parliament in November 1956. It
provided for fourteen States and six Union
Territory.
The states were: Andhra
Pradesh,Assam,Bihar, Maharashtra,
Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Madhya
Pradesh, Bhopal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu,
Karnataka, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan,
Uttar Pradesh: West Bengal:
Union territories were:Himachal
Pradesh, Andaman and Nicobar Islands,
Delhi, Laccadive, Minicoy and Amindivi
Islands, Madras, Manipur, Tripura
The Bombay Reorganization Act 1960,
partitioned the State of Bombay to form
the new State of Gujarat and to name the
residue of Bombay as Maharashtra
The State of Nagaland Act 1962 formed the
State of Nagaland.
In 1966, Punjab State was divided into two
parts, Punjab and Haryana.The hilly areas
of Punjab were added to Himachal
Pradesh, which itself was constituted as on
independent state on January 25, 1971.
The Assam Reorganization (Meghalaya)
Act 1969 created an autonomous sub-State
named Meghalaya within the State of
Assam.
Himachal Pradesh was upgraded from the
status of a Union Territory to that of a
State by the Himachal Pradesh Act 1970.
The North-Eastern (Reorganization) Act
1971 similarly brought up Manipur.
Tripura and Meghalaya into the category of
States, and added Mizoram and Arunahcal
Pradesh to the list of Union Territories.
In 1975 Sikkim was admitted to the Indian
Union as the 22nd State (36th Amendment
Act, 1975)
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Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh became
the 23rd and 24th States in 1987. Goa
became the 25th in 1987.
Chhattisgarh and Uttaranchal were made
26th and 27th State of India on November 1,
2000 and November 9, 2000 from Madhya
Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh respectively
after passing of reorganization bill for both
state respectively by both the house of
Parliament.
Jharkhand was carved out as 28th State of
India from Bihar after Bihar
Reorganization Bill was passed by
Parliament.
Telangana was carved out from Andhra
Pradesh to form 29th State on 2nd June
2014
At present the Union of India consists of 29
States and 7 union territories.
FOREIGN POLICY INITIATIVES
India’s foreign policy after independence
bore the firm stamp of Jawaharlal Nehru,
the first prime minister of India. He
nurtured it, gave it flesh and blood and
shaped it in a myriad ways.
Under his guidance India became the first
state to have pursued a policy that was
new in the history of international
relations: the policy of Non-Alignment.
After the Second world war, the world was
divided into two hostile power blocs; one
led by United States and the other by
USSR. India decided to join neither of
these blocs. India did not join Baghdad
Pact, the Manila Treaty, SEATO or
CENTO.
Nehru saw the non-alignment philosophy
as a force for peace and an opportunity to
inject pacifist ideals of Mahatma Gandhi in
situations of Conflict.
At the same time this policy of non-
alignment benefitted India in several ways.
India signed many arms deals with USSR
in 1960s and on the other hand India
adopted the Green Revolution technology
for agricultural development which was
backed by USA.
USSR from 1955, always gave full support
to Indian position over many issues
ranging from Kashmir dispute to
Integration of Goa.
Another hallmark of India’s foreign policy
has been cooperation with Asian countries.
It was Nehru who called the First Asian
Relations conference in New Delhi in 1947,
where the principles of foreign policy of
independent India were proclaimed
Representatives of 29 countries attended
this Conference. The Conference helped to
strengthen the solidarity of all Asian
countries.
In 1949, he called another important
Conference in New Delhi which brought
together the Asian nations on the burning
question of Indonesian freedom.
Nehru also participated in the Afro-Asian
Conference held in 1955 in Bandung and
popularized the policy of non-alignment
there. The agenda of these conferences was
the respect for human rights and self-
determination, economic and cultural
cooperation and the promotion of world
peace and cooperation.
India initially maintained warm relation
with China despite there was a serious
territorial dispute over McMahon line
(India-China border) and Aksai Chin
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Plateau. Even as diplomats behind scenes
tried to settle the disputes, Indian
Government official slogan to describe its
relation with china was “Hindi ChiniBhai
Bhai”
India signed a treaty with China on April
29, 1954 which enunciated the principles
governing relation between India and
China that came to be known as
Panchasheel or the Five Principles of
Peaceful Co-existence:
1. Mutual respect of each other’s territorial
integrity and sovereignty.
2. Mutual non-aggression
3. Mutual non-interference in each other’s
internal affairs,
4. Equality and mutual benefit and
5. Peaceful co-existence
Nehru’s foreign policy suffered a serious set
back in 1962, when border dispute flared
into a full-scale war. The ill-prepared India
troops were easily overpowered by Chinese
army. The war ended when the Chinese
declared a ceasefire on 20 November 1962,
and simultaneously announced its
withdrawal from the disputed area.