History of the

Republic of India

The history of the Republic of India

begins on 26 January 1950. The
country became an independent
nation within the British
Commonwealth on 15 August 1947.
Concurrently the Muslim-majority
northwest and east of 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
independence struggle, Mahatma
Gandhi, accepted no office. The new
constitution of 1950 made India a
democratic country.

The nation faced religious violence,

casteism, naxalism, terrorism and
regional separatist insurgencies,
especially in Jammu and Kashmir and
northeastern India. India has
unresolved territorial disputes with
China, which in 1962 escalated into
the Sino-Indian War, and with
Pakistan, which resulted in wars in
1947, 1965, 1971 and 1999. India was
neutral in the Cold War, but purchased
its military weapons from the Soviet
Union, while its arch-foe Pakistan was
closely tied to the United States and
the People's Republic of China.

India is a nuclear-weapon state,

having conducted its first nuclear test
in 1974, followed by another five tests
in 1998. From the 1950s to the 1980s,
India followed socialist-inspired
policies. The economy was influenced
by extensive regulation, protectionism
and public ownership, leading to
pervasive corruption and slow
economic growth. Beginning in 1991,
neoliberal economic reforms have
transformed India into the third
largest and one of the fastest-growing
economies in the world, though
corruption remains a pervasive
problem. Today, India is a major world
power with a prominent voice in
global affairs and is seeking a
permanent seat in the United Nations
Security Council. Many economists,
military analysts and think tanks
expect India to become a superpower
in the near future.

1947–1950: Dominion of
India

Dominion of India

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, N.V. Gadgil, K. C.
Neogy, Jairamdas Daulatram, K. Santhanam,
Satya Narayan Sinha and B. V. Keskar.

A group photo of people accused in Gandhi's

murder case. Standing: Shankar Kistaiya, Gopal
Godse, Madanlal Pahwa, Digambar Badge
(Approver). Sitting: Narayan Apte, Vinayak D.
Savarkar, Nathuram Godse, Vishnu Karkare.

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 states to form a united
nation. Credit for the political
integration of India is largely
attributed to Vallabhbhai Patel
(deputy Prime Minister of India at the
time),[1] who post-independence and
before the death of Mahatma Gandhi
teamed up with Jawaharlal Nehru and
the Mahatma to ensure that the
constitution of independent India
would be secular.[2]

Partition of India
“
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, opposing the division of
India on the basis of religion in 1944.[3]

An estimated 3.5 million[4] Hindus and

Sikhs living in West Punjab, North-
West Frontier Province, Baluchistan,
East Bengal and 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 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.

The assassination of Mohandas

Gandhi on 30 January 1948 was
carried out by Nathuram Vinayak
Godse, a Hindu nationalist, 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
Political integration of India

Sardar General El
Vallabhbhai Edroos (at
Patel as right) offers his
Minister for surrender of
Home and the Hyderabad
States Affairs State Forces to
had the Major General
responsibility (later General
of welding the and Army
British Indian Chief) Joyanto
provinces and Nath
the princely Chaudhuri at
states into a Secunderabad.
united India.

Queen Sheikh
Kanchan Mohammed
Prabha Devi of Abdullah
 the Kingdom of (right), chosen
Tripura signed to head the
the instrument emergency
of accession to interim
India. She government in
played a Kashmir after
pivotal role in Maharaja Hari
rehabilitating Singh signed
refugees and Kashmir's
victims of the Instrument of
violence Accession to
associated India.
with the
Partition of
India in the
state of
Tripura.

British India consisted of 17 provinces

and 562 princely states. The
provinces were given to India or
Pakistan, in some cases in particular
— Punjab and Bengal — after being
partitioned. The princes of the
princely states, however, were given
the right to either remain independent
or join either dominion. Thus India's
leaders were faced with the prospect
of inheriting a fragmented nation with
independent provinces 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
Saurashra, PEPSU, Vindhya Pradesh
and Madhya Bharat. Some princely
states such as Tripura and Manipur
acceded later in 1949.

There were three states that proved

more difficult to integrate than others:

1. Junagadh (Hindu-majority state

with a Muslim nawab) – a December
1947 plebiscite resulted in a 99%
vote[5] 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.
2. 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 13–17 September
1948. It was incorporated as a state
of India the next year.
3. The area of Kashmir (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
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 Jan. 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

The Constituent Assembly adopted

the Constitution of India, drafted by a
committee headed by Dr. B. R.
Ambedkar, on 26 November 1949.
India became a sovereign democratic
republic after its constitution came
into effect on 26 January 1950. Dr.
Rajendra Prasad became the first
President of India. The three words
'socialist', 'secular' and 'integrity' were
added later with the 42nd Constitution
Amendment 1976.

Indo-Pakistani War of
1947–1948

Indian soldiers during the Indo-Pakistani War of

1947.

The Indo-Pakistani War of 1947–1948

was fought between India and
Pakistan over the princely state of
Kashmir and Jammu from 1947 to
1948. It was the first of four Indo-
Pakistan Wars fought between the
two newly independent nations.
Pakistan precipitated the war a few
weeks after independence by
launching tribal lashkar (militia) from
Waziristan,[6] in an effort to secure
Kashmir, the future of which hung in
the balance. The inconclusive result
of the war still affects the geopolitics
of both countries.

1950s and 1960s

Jawaharlal Nehru, the 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 1952, where
a turnout of over 60% was recorded.
The 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.[7]

Nehru administration
(1952–1964)

Prime Minister Nehru led the

Congress to major election victories
in 1957 and 1962. The Parliament
passed extensive reforms that
increased the legal rights of women in
Hindu society,[8][9][10][11] and further
legislated against caste
discrimination and untouchability.[12]
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.[13] Nehru
advocated a socialist model for the
economy of India — Five-Year Plans
were shaped by the Soviet model
based on centralised and integrated
national economic programs[14] — 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 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.[12]

States reorganisation
South Indian states prior to the States
Reorganisation Act.

Potti Sreeramulu's fast-unto-death,

and consequent death for the demand
of an Andhra State in 1953 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-speaking
regions of Madras State enabled the
creation of an exclusively 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 Punjab
state was divided into the smaller,
Punjabi-speaking Punjab and
Haryanvi-speaking Haryana states.[15]

Foreign policy and military

conflicts
 Military conflicts

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.
Meeting between the leaders of
Soviet, Pakistani, and Indian
militaries resulted in the Tashkent
Declaration.
The Indian Air Force used 20 small
and lightweight Canberra bombers
against the Portuguese forces during
Operation Vijay, which led to the
Annexation of Goa.
 Sino-Indian War resulted in a Chinese
victory. Aksai Chin comes under
exclusive Chinese control.

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 by Israel, the United Kingdom
and France, but did not oppose the
Chinese direct control over Tibet,[16]
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.[17]

India has fought a total of four

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 after attempts by Pakistani
troops to infiltrate Indian-controlled
Kashmir.

In 1961, after continual petitions for a

peaceful handover, India invaded and
annexed the Portuguese colony of
Goa on the west coast of India.[18]

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 what is to
China South Tibet, and to India part of
the North-East Frontier Agency that it
crossed during the war. Unrelated to
that war, India disputes China's
sovereignty over the smaller Aksai
Chin territory that it controls on the
western part of the Sino-Indian
border.[19]
Post-Nehru India

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 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 a food crisis. Indira Gandhi had
started on a rocky note after agreeing
to a devaluation of the 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.[20]

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 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.[21]

1970s

Indian aircraft carrier INS Vikrant launches an

Alize aircraft during the Indo-Pakistan 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 intervened in the
Bangladesh War of Independence, a
civil war taking place in Pakistan's
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 its first nuclear weapon in
the desert of Rajasthan, near Pokhran.

Annexation of Sikkim

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, a
referendum was held in which 97.5
per cent 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.[22] On 16 May 1975,
Sikkim became the 22nd state of the
Indian Union, and the monarchy was
abolished.[23] To enable the
incorporation of the new state, the
Indian Parliament amended the Indian
Constitution. First, the 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 36th
Amendment repealed the 35th
Amendment, and made Sikkim a full
state, adding its name to the First
Schedule of the Constitution.[24]
Formation of Northeastern
states
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
war in 1962, Arunachal Pradesh was
also separated.
Hornbill Festival, Kohima, Nagaland.
Nagaland became a state in 1
December 1963.
Pakhangba, a heraldic dragon of the
Meithei tradition and an important
emblem among Manipur state
symbols. Manipur became a state in
21 January 1972.
Meghalaya is mountainous, the most
rain soaked state of India. Meghalaya
became a state in 21 January 1972.
Ujjayanta Palace, which houses the
Tripura State Museum. Tripura
became a state in 21 January 1972.
Golden Pagoda, Namsai, Arunachal
Pradesh, is one of the notable
Buddhist temples in India. Arunachal
Pradesh became a state in 20
February 1987.
 A school campus in Mizoram, which
has one of the highest literacy rates
in India. Mizoram became a state in
20 February 1987.

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, Jaintia and Garo people of the
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.[25]

Green revolution and

Operation Flood

The state of Punjab led India's Green Revolution

and earned the distinction of being the country's
bread basket.[26]

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. 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.[27] Increased agricultural
productivity expanded across the
states of the Indo-Gangetic Plain and
the 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.[28]

Indo-Pakistan War of 1971

The Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 concluded with

The Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 concluded with
Lieutenant-General A. A. K. Niazi, the
commander of Pakistan Eastern Command,
signing the instrument of surrender in Dhaka on

16 Dec 1971, in the presence of India's Lt. Gen.

Jagjit Singh Aurora. Standing immediately
behind from left to right: Indian Navy Vice
Admiral Krishnan, Indian Air Force Air Marshal
Dewan, Indian Army Lt Gen Sagat Singh, 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. In this war, fought
over the issue of self rule in East
Pakistan, India decisively defeated
Pakistan, resulting in the creation of
Bangladesh.

Indian Emergency

Economic and social problems, as

well as allegations of corruption,
caused increasing political unrest
across India, culminating in the Bihar
Movement. 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 Gandhi's dictatorship. Leading
strikes across India that paralysed its
economy and administration, Narayan
even called for the Army to oust
Gandhi. In 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.
Non-Congress governments in Indian
states were dismissed, and nearly
1,000 opposition political leaders and
activists were imprisoned and a
programme of compulsory birth
control introduced.[29] Strikes and
public protests were outlawed in all
forms.

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 son and political
advisor, Sanjay Gandhi, was accused
of committing gross excesses -
Sanjay was blamed for the Health
Ministry carrying out forced
vasectomies of men and 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 thousands
of people dead and many more
displaced.

Janata interlude

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
amalgamation of opposition
parties.[30] 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.[31]

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

Akal Takht and Harmandir Sahib (Golden

Temple), was repaired by the Indian Government
after Operation Blue Star.[32]

Indira Gandhi and her Congress Party

splinter group, the Indian National
Congress or simply "Congress", 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[29] 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
INSAT system is the largest domestic
communication system in the Asia Pacific
Region. It is a series of multipurpose geo-
stationary satellites launched by 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.[33]

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 India's space
programme, and gave birth to the
software industry and information
technology sector.[34]

Victims of Bhopal disaster march demanding

the extradition of American Warren Anderson
from the United States.

In December 1984, 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.[29]

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 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.[35] 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.[36]

Janata Dal

General elections in 1989 gave Rajiv's

Congress a plurality, a far cry from the
majority which propelled him to
power.[37]

Power came instead to his former

finance and defence minister, 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.[38]
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.[39] His government fell after
Singh, along with Bihar's Chief
Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav's
government, had 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.[40] 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

The stone mosaic that stands at the exact

location where Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated
in Sriperumbudur.

The then-Chief Minister of 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.

Militants in Kashmir allegedly tortured

and killed local Kashmiri Pandits,
forcing them to leave Kashmir in large
numbers.[41] Around 90% of the
Kashmiri Pandits left Kashmir during
the 1990s, resulting in the ethnic
cleansing of Kashmiri Hindus; A
phrase only ever used by Indian
media.

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 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 (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
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 as the Hindu nationalist
Bharatiya Janata Party emerged as
the largest single party.

Economic reforms
 P. V. Narasimha Rao

Manmohan Singh

Economic liberalisation in India was initiated in

1991 by Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao
and his then-Finance Minister Dr. Manmohan
Singh.[42] 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.[43][44]
Under the policies initiated by late
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
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.[45]
A rising generation of well-educated
and skilled professionals in scientific
sectors of 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 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.[46]

Era of coalitions
Nuclear capable 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.

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.[47] 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
peace declaration.[29]

Indian Army soldiers after winning a battle

Indian Army soldiers after winning a battle
during the Kargil War.

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.[48]

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
Orissa, killing at least 10,000.[29]

2000s
Under Bharatiya Janata
Party

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.[49]
In 2000 May, India's population
exceeded 1 billion. President of the
United States Bill Clinton made a
groundbreaking visit to India to
improve ties between the two nations.
In January, massive 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.[29]

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.[29][50] Following the 11
September 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
Indian Parliament attack and the
2001–02 India–Pakistan standoff.[29]

In 2002, 59 Hindu pilgrims returning

from Ayodhya were killed in a train fire
in Godhra, Gujarat. This sparked off
the 2002 Gujarat violence, leading to
the deaths of 790 Muslims and 254
Hindus and with 223 people reported
missing.

Section of Golden Quadrilateral highway. The

project was launched in 2001 by 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.[29] 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. The Congress
Party-led alliance won a surprise
victory in elections held in May 2004.
Manmohan Singh became the Prime
Minister, after the Congress President
Sonia Gandhi (born Antonia Edvige
Albina Maino), the widow of former
Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, declined
to take the office, in order to defuse
the controversy about whether her
foreign birth should be considered a
disqualification for the Prime
Minister's post. The Congress formed
a coalition called the United
Progressive Alliance with Socialist
and regional parties, and enjoyed the
outside support of India's 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.[51][52]

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.[29]

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 Mumbai
floods (killing more than 1,000) and
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.[29]

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
vis the India–United States Civil Nuclear
Agreement.

The United States and India signed a

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 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 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.[29]

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.[53] 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.[54]
In 2008 October, India successfully
launched its first mission to the
Moon, the unmanned lunar probe
called Chandrayaan-1. In the previous
year, India had launched its first
commercial space rocket, carrying an
Italian satellite.[29]

A view of the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel with

smoke during the 2008 Mumbai attack.

In November 2008, Mumbai attacks

took place. India blamed militants
from Pakistan for the attacks and
announced a "pause" in the ongoing
peace process.[29]

In July 2009, the Delhi High Court

decriminalised consensual
homosexual sex, declaring the British
Raj-era law, Section 377 of the Indian
Penal Code, as unconstitutional.[55][56]

In the 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.

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's Cultural Revolution without any
damage.[57]

In 8 November 2009, in spite of strong

protests by China, which claims the
whole of Arunachal Pradesh as its
own,[58] 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.[59]

21st-century India is facing the

Naxalite-Maoist rebels, in the words
of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,
India's "greatest internal security
challenge",[60] and other terrorist
tensions (such as Islamist terrorist
campaigns in and out of Jammu &
Kashmir and terrorism in India's
Northeast).[60][61] Terrorism has
increased in India, with bomb blasts in
leading cities like Mumbai, New Delhi,
Jaipur, Bangalore, and Hyderabad.[48]
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.[29] The
economy of India has grown at a very
rapid pace. India is now being looked
at as a potential superpower.[51][52]

2010s
The 2010 Commonwealth Games opening
ceremony in Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium is one of
the largest international multi-sport events 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,
staged a 12-day hunger strike in Delhi
in protest at state corruption, after
government proposals to tighten up
anti-graft legislation fell short of his
demands.[29]

Despite all this, India showed great

promise with a higher growth rate in
gross domestic product.[62] 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.[29]

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 case and

subsequent protest by civil society
resulted in 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 Eastern India,
causing an estimated loss of INR
200–300 billion (US$4–6 billion) to
over 1.7 million
depositors.[63][64][65][66] 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.[67][68]

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.[69]

In August 2010, cloudbursts and the

ensuing flooding in the Ladakh region
of North India resulted in the deaths
of around 255 people, while affecting
9,000 people directly.[70] In June 2013,
a multi-day cloudburst in Uttarakhand
and other north Indian states caused
devastating floods and landslides,
with more than 5,700 people
"presumed dead."[71] In September
2014, floods in the state of Jammu
and Kashmir, following heavy rains
due to monsoon season, killed around
277 people and brought extensive
damage to property.[72] A further 280
people died in the neighbouring
Pakistani regions, particularly in
Pakistani Punjab.[73]

In August - September 2013, clashes

between Hindus and Muslims in
Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh,
resulted in at least 62 deaths,[74]
injured 93, and left more than 50,000
displaced.[75][76][77][78]

Artist's rendering of the Mars Orbiter Mission

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 ISRO on 24 September
2014, became the fourth space
agency to reach Mars, after the Soviet
space program, NASA, and the
European Space Agency.[79] 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, Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP), since its
foundation in 1980 won elections, and
after a defeat in 2004 remained one
of the leading forces against the
coalition government of the Congress
Party. The 16th national general
election, held in early 2014, saw a
dramatic victory of the BJP; it gained
an absolute majority and formed a
government under the premiership of
Narendra Modi, a BJP leader and till
then the Chief Minister of Gujarat. 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 Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.
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.
10th President of Israel Reuven Rivlin
and Chief of General Staff of the Israel
Defense Forces Gadi Eizenkot with PM
Modi, the first Indian Prime Minister to
visit Israel.
 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 speech.[80]

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)

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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)
Dalmia, Vasudha and Rashmi
Sadana (editors) (2012). The
Cambridge Companion to Modern
Indian Culture . Cambridge
University Press.
Dixit, Jyotindra Nath (2004). Makers
of India's foreign policy: Raja Ram
Mohun Roy to Yashwant Sinha .
HarperCollins.
Frank, Katherine (2002). Indira: The
Life of Indira Nehru Gandhi .
Houghton Mifflin.
ISBN 9780395730973.
Ghosh, Anjali (2009). India's Foreign
Policy . 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)
Guha, Ramachandra (2011). India
After Gandhi: The History of the
World's Largest Democracy . Pan
Macmillan. ISBN 9780330540209.
excerpt and text search
Guha, Ramachandra. Makers of
Modern India (2011) excerpt and
text search
Jain, B. M. (2009). Global Power:
India's Foreign Policy, 1947-2006 .
Lexington Books.
ISBN 9780739121450.
Kapila, Uma (2009). Indian Economy
Since Independence . Academic
Foundation. p. 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) excerpt and text
search
Mansingh, Surjit. The A to Z of India
(The A to Z Guide Series) (2010)
 Nilekani, Nandan; and Thomas L.
Friedman (2010). Imagining India:
The Idea of a Renewed Nation .
Penguin. ISBN 9781101024546.
Panagariya, Arvind (2010). India:
The Emerging Giant . Oxford
University Press.
ISBN 9780198042990.
Tomlinson, B.R. The Economy of
Modern India 1860–1970 (1996)
excerpt and text search
Zachariah, Benjamin. Nehru
(Routledge Historical Biographies)
(2004) 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
[1] BBC India profile

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