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officially Republic of India (Hindi Bharat),
country, S LAND AND RESOURCES India may be divided into four main regions: the The Himalayan mountain system, about 160 to 320 km (about 100 to 200 mi) wide, extends about 2415 km (about 1500 mi) along the N and E margins of India. The Himalayas, the highest mountain system in the world, extend from SW Tibet (China) into what is now the disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Prominent peaks in this area include Nanda Devi (7817 m/25,645 ft) and Kamet (7756 m/25,447 ft). South and parallel to the Himalayas lies the N river-plains
region, a belt of flat, alluvial lowlands about 280 to 400 km (about
175 to 250 mi) in width. The region comprises the major part of
the vast plains area watered by the The central and W portions of the Indian plains region are watered by the Ganges R. and its tributaries, which drain the S slopes of the Himalayas; the region is known consequently as the Gangetic plain. The Assam region is watered by the Brahmaputra R. and its affluents, which rise on the N slopes of the Himalayas. The Brahmaputra R. crosses into Bangladesh N of the Khasi Hills. The Indus R. rises in Tibet, flows W through Jammu and Kashmir, and crosses into Pakistan. Because of the abundance of water and rich alluvial soil, the N plains region is the most fertile and densely populated area of the republic and was the cradle of Indian civilization. South of the plains region lies the Deccan, a vast, triangular tableland occupying most of peninsular India. The Deccan is a generally rocky and uneven plateau divided into natural regions by low mountain ranges and deep valleys. Elevations in the plateau region range generally from about 305 to 915 m (about 1000 to 3000 ft), although outcroppings as high as about 1220 m (about 4000 ft) occur. The Deccan Plateau is bordered on the E and W by the mountain systems known, respectively, as the Eastern Ghats and the Western Ghats. The Western Ghats, a bold escarpment overlooking the Arabian
Sea, have a general elevation of about 915 m (about 3000 ft). Between
the Eastern Ghats, which average about 460 m (about 1500 ft) in
elevation, and the Bay of Bengal is a narrow coastal plain, the Climate. Because of the peninsularity, unusual topography, and geographical
position of India, climatic conditions are widely diversified, on
both a seasonal and regional basis. The diversity ranges from tropical
to temperate zonal extremes, with the temperature extremes confined
largely to the slopes of the Himalayas. Except in the elevated regions,
the remainder of India has a uniformly tropical climate. Seasonal variations,
resulting from the SW and NE monsoons, profoundly influence such
climatic factors as temperature, humidity, and precipitation throughout
the subcontinent. For general purposes, the seasons of India may
be classified as rainy and dry. The rainy season, which extends
from June to November, is the season of the SW The cool season of the NE monsoon, extending from early in December through February, is usually accompanied by extremely dry weather, although severe storms, attended by slight precipitation on the N plains and heavy snowfalls in the Himalayas, sometimes traverse the country. The hot season, beginning about the middle of March and extending until the onset of the SW monsoon, reaches its most oppressive stage during May, when temperatures as high as 51.7° C (125° F) are commonly recorded in central India. In the vicinity of Calcutta, the mean annual temperature is about 26.1° C (about 79° F). The mean annual temperature in the W central coastal region of the peninsula is about 27.8° C (about 82° F). In the vicinity of the city of Madras temperatures range from about 24.4° to 33.3° C (about 76° to 92° F), with an annual mean of about 28.9° C (about 84° F). Natural Resources. India contains more than two-thirds of the entire area of the Indian subcontinent, including a major portion of the fertile Indo-Gangetic plain. Besides extensive cultivable regions, a comprehensive network of irrigation facilities, and valuable stands of timber, India has most of the known mineral deposits of the subcontinent. Plants and Animals. In the arid areas that adjoin Pakistan, the flora of India is sparse and largely herbaceous. Various thorny species, including representatives of the genera Capparis (caper) and Zizyphus (jujube) are common. Bamboo occurs in some areas, and among the few varieties of trees is the palm. The Gangetic plain, which has more abundant supplies of moisture, supports many types of plant life. Vegetation is especially luxuriant in the SE part of the plains region, where the mangrove and the sal, a hardwood timber tree, flourish. Many varieties of arctic flora are found on the higher slopes of the Himalayas. The lower levels of the chain support numerous families of subtropical plant life, notably the orchidaceae, and are densely forested. Coniferous species, including cedar and pine, predominate in the NW portion of the Himalayan region. To the E, slopes of the Himalayas abound with tropical and subtropical types of vegetation. An especially noteworthy genus is the Rhododendron. Among the predominant trees are the oak and magnolia. The Malabar Coast of the SW Indian peninsula and the slopes of the Western Ghats, areas of much rainfall, are thickly wooded. Evergreens, bamboo, and several varieties of valuable timber trees, including teak, predominate in this region. Extensive tracts of impenetrable jungle occur in the swampy lowlands and along the lower elevations of the Western Ghats. The vegetation of the peninsular plateau is less luxuriant, but thickets of bamboo, palm, and deciduous trees are found throughout the Deccan. The forests, plains, hills, and mountains of India are inhabited by a wide variety of animal life. The tiger and panther are found in some sections, and the Deccan has, in addition, the cheetah. Among other species of the cat family are the snow leopard, the jungle cat, and the clouded leopard. The elephant is common along the NE slopes of the Himalayas and in the remote forests of the Deccan. Other large quadrupeds indigenous to India include the rhinoceros, guar, black bear, wolf, jackal, dhole, wild buffalo, wild hog, and several species of ape, antelope, and deer. Various species of wild goat and sheep abound in the Himalayas and other mountainous areas. The ibex and the serow, which is related to the chamois, are also among the mountain fauna. The pygmy hog, bandicoot rat, and tree mouse are typical of the smaller quadrupeds. Venomous reptiles, notably the cobra, are especially numerous in India. Pythons abound but usefully consume destructive rodents. The reptilian fauna also includes the crocodile. Among noteworthy examples of the tropical birdlife of India are the parrot, peacock, kingfisher, and heron. The rivers and coastal waters of India teem with fish, including many edible varieties. POPULATION The diverse racial and cultural origins of the people of India
are bound intricately with the other peoples of the Indian subcontinent,
including the inhabitants of Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan,
and Sri Lanka. The exact origins of most Indian people are impossible
to determine because of the large variety of races and cultures
that have invaded and been assimilated into the subcontinent. Elements
of three major racial groups or subspecies, however—the
Caucasoid, the Australoid, and the Mongoloid—can be found
in present-day India (see Regional Classification. Approximately 7% of the total population belongs to more than 300 so-called scheduled tribes. These tribal or aboriginal groups are racially and culturally distinct from the mainstream of Indian population and also tend to vary considerably among themselves. In view of the enormously complicated racial and cultural classification of the peoples of India, it is helpful to describe them in the framework of three broad geographical divisions. Northern and eastern India. The people of the greater part of this region, which includes the states of Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, and Assam, are predominantly Caucasoid and resemble W Asians and Europeans in different ways and degrees. People with light brown skin are common in the W part of this region, particularly in Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir. Dark brown skins are common in the E part comprising Bihar, West Bengal, and Assam. The people of Punjab and Rajasthan are tall, and their eyes are usually brown; the hair is mostly straight or wavy and glossy black. Two major tribal groups exist, however, whose members differ considerably from the physical type described above. One group of tribes, represented by the Santal, Munda, Ho, and Oraon, living in the hilly areas of Jharkhand and West Bengal, have predominantly Australoid elements in their racial makeup, with a blending of minor Mongoloid elements. They have small heads, short stature, dark brown skin, and broad nasal roots and resemble the Cambodians. Another group of tribes represented by the Khasi, Garo, Mizo, Naga, Dafla, and Apa Tani, living in the hilly areas of Assam, Nagaland, and Arunachal Pradesh, have predominantly Mongoloid features. They are generally of short or medium stature. The Nagas closely resemble some American Indians in facial features, particularly in having reddish-brown complexions and high-bridged, convex noses. Most of the peoples in N and E India, except the tribal groups,
speak Indic or Indo-Aryan languages such as Assamese, Punjabi, Urdu,
Hindi, and Bengali (see Middle India. The nontribal population of middle India, which includes Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, part of Andhra Pradesh, and Orissa, have predominantly Caucasoid elements in their racial makeup, with some variations. The tribal groups of this region have mainly Australoid features and are distributed more widely than in the other regions of India. They live in closer contact with Hindu castes than in other regions and share some of their cultural features. Most of the nontribal groups in this region speak Indo-Aryan languages, except those in Andhra Pradesh, where the common speech is Telugu, a Dravidian language. A majority of the tribes speak languages of the Munda group; the rest speak Dravidian or Indo-Aryan languages. Most of the tribal population in this region also practice the slash-and-burn method of agriculture, and the Chenchu tribe of Andhra Pradesh represents one of the few hunting-gathering tribes. The Muslim influence is most marked in the area covered by the former state of Hyderabad, now part of Andhra Pradesh. Southern India. The Dravidian-speaking peoples of S India, comprising the
states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh, are
sometimes wrongly assumed to comprise a Dravidian race. In fact,
considerable variations in anthropological and genetic features
are apparent, not only between the tribal and nontribal groups but
also within the groups themselves. As in the case of middle India, the
nontribal groups have predominantly Caucasoid features, and the
tribal groups have predominantly Australoid features. The lower
castes among the Hindus, however, have many Australoid elements.
People in this region are generally darker in skin color than in
other regions, perhaps because of the hotter climate. The Brahmans,
also known as Brahmins, however, have much lighter complexions than
other castes (see The peoples of S India, both nontribal and tribal, speak one
of the following Dravidian languages: Telugu, Tamil, Tulu, Kannada
(Kanarese), and Malayalam. The state of Kerala is inhabited by a
considerable number of Thomas Christians, who claim apostolic origin
from Population Characteristics. India ranks second only to China among the world's most populous countries. Having crossed the 1-billion mark, the population reached 1,027,015,247 as reported in the 2001 census, and was estimated at 1,103,371,000 in 2005 (according to the United Nations medium-variant estimate). The population density in 2005 was about 336 persons per sq km (869 per sq mi). More than 70% of India's population live in rural areas. Political Divisions. India is a union of 28 states and 7 centrally administered territories;
the 3 newest states, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, and Uttaranchal, were
established in November 2000. By an election of 1975, the Himalayan
area of
Principal Cities. The largest city in India is Mumbai (formerly Bombay), which had a population of 16,368,084 (urban agglomeration) according to the 2001 census, and an estimated population of 18,196,000 in 2005. Kolkata (Calcutta) was India's second largest city (pop. 13,216,546) according to the 2001 census, but its estimated 2005 population of 14,277,000 was surpassed by Delhi's 15,048,000 (up from 12,791,458 in 2001). Among other cities with populations (urban agglomeration) of more than 1 million in 2005 were Ahmadabad (5,120,000) and Bangalore (6,462,000), major rail junctions; Hyderabad (6,115,000), famous for its handicrafts; the leather manufacturing city of Kanpur (3,018,000); the port of Chennai (Madras) (6,916,000); and three important industrial centers, Pune (4,409,000), Nagpur (2,350,000), and Bhopal (1,644,000). India's capital, New Delhi, is much smaller, with a population (2001 census) of 294,783. Language. Hindi is the national language and the primary language of
30 percent of the people. English has associate status and is widely
used especially for official purposes and in commercial contexts.
Fourteen other Religion. The majority of Indians (80.5% according to the 2001
census) are Hindus, with Muslims making up 13.4%. Christians
and Sikhs account for about 2% each, with Buddhists and
Jains making up most of the rest. See EDUCATION AND CULTURE Ancient India was a country of considerable educational development, with universities that attracted many foreign students. Asians, notably the Chinese, were especially attracted to Indian universities, because these institutions offered instruction in the teachings of Buddha. India also extended its educational influence by sending its university graduates to the Orient to teach. From the 13th century onward, however, first under Muslim control and later under British rule, the original contribution of the Indians waned, and application of newer educational methods was curtailed. Indian culture is primarily Hindu-oriented. Education. In the 20th century two Indians, Since gaining its independence from Great Britain in 1947,
India has sought to develop a modern, comprehensive school system;
the reports of the All-Indian commissions of 1953 and 1964 advocating educational
reform provided impetus for improvement. The problem of educating
the vast population, with its many social and religious complexities,
has remained difficult, however; funds that might otherwise have been
used for education have had to be utilized to combat the perennial
problems of poverty, food shortages, and overpopulation. The relics
of the ancient The school systems of the various states are under the direct control of the state governments, and the federal ministry of education assists the state systems, directs the systems of the centrally administered areas, provides financial help for the nation's institutions of higher learning, and discharges various other responsibilities. In the 1970s the predominant pattern of schooling in India included eight years of elementary education, three years of secondary education with a distinct vocational emphasis (so that completion of this segment might qualify for entry into a trade or profession), and, for those who pursued it, three years of university education leading to a degree. Implementation of a slightly modified pattern, consisting of ten years of elementary and high school, two of higher secondary education, and three of university began in the 1980s. According to recent estimates, only about 60% of the population age 15 or over are literate, that is, can read and write. Elementary and secondary schools. In the mid-1990s elementary schools in India had a total annual enrollment of more than 110 million pupils. Secondary schools enrolled about 59 million students. The ratio of students to teachers in primary school rose from 41 to 62 between 1970 and the mid-1990s. Universities and colleges. India had about 220 universities and more than 10,500 other institutions of higher education in the late 1990s. Total yearly enrollment in institutions of higher education was more than 7 million. Large institutions included Agra University (1927), the University of Bihar (1952), the University of Bombay (1857), the University of Burdwan (1960), the University of Calcutta (1857), the University of Delhi (1922), Guwahati University (1948), Gorakhpur University (1957), Gujarat University (1949; in Ahmadabad), Kanpur University (1966), the University of Kerala (1937; in Trivandrum), the University of Madras (1857), the University of Mysore (1916), the University of Pune (1949), and the University of Rajasthan (1947; in Jaipur). Culture. Many Hindu institutions, including the rigid caste system and its severe dietary proscriptions, still have wide-ranging effects on secular Indian society. Literature. Sanskrit, the ancient language of Hindu scriptures, was also
the medium for a vast body of religious and secular writing that
constitutes the core of classical Indian literature (see Art. The bulk of early classical painting and sculpture also belongs
to the mainstream of Hindu tradition, even when these artifacts
belong to traditions as disparate as the Dravidian of S India and
the Gupta era in the N. Islam, which was first brought to India
from Central Asia in the 12th century, provided India with some
of its most impressive architectural traditions; famous examples
and prototypes include the world-renowned Taj Mahal in Agra and
the Sher Shah mausoleum (c. 1540) in Sasaram, Bihar. See Music.
See Libraries and museums. India has more than 60,000 libraries, including more than 1000 specialized ones attached to various government departments. The National Library, in Calcutta, is one of three that receive all books and magazines published in India. Outstanding among several hundred public libraries is that of Delhi. India's more than 350 museums include a number containing important historical and archaeological collections, such as the Government Museum and National Art Gallery, Madras; the National Museum, New Delhi; Sarnath Museum, Varanasi; and the Indian Museum, Calcutta. Vadodara, Madras, Kozhikode, and New Delhi have museums containing outstanding collections of medieval and modern art. ECONOMY Long one of the world's poorest countries, India has made economic progress in recent years. The nation has a mixed economy, which includes a wide range of modern industries and services and modern agriculture, as well as traditional village farming and handicrafts. Successive five-year plans, in force since 1951, achieved economic growth rates averaging 3.6% annually during 1965–80 and 5.2% during 1980–92. By the early 1990s, the country still had a gross national product of only about $300 per capita. But from the mid 1990s through early 2000s, annual economic growth was higher, averaging more than 7%. Computer software services became increasingly important to the country's economy by the late 1990s, benefitting from a large workforce of skilled personnel familiar with English. In 2005, India achieved an estimated gross domestic product of $3.6 trillion, this amounted to about $3,300 per capita. The huge, expanding population continued to stretch India's resources to the limit. India's foreign debt had ballooned from $20.6 billion in 1980 to $77 billion in 1992 and about $125 billion in 2005. With the country facing a financial crisis, the government introduced a major reform program, including devaluation of the currency, tariff and tax reductions, and liberalization of foreign investment rules. The 2005 estimated budget included $111.2 billion in revenues and $135.8 billion in expenditures. Agriculture. About 60% of the workforce is engaged in farming, which generates about 20% of the value of the country's annual domestic product. Most farms are very small. In terms of area sown the leading crop is rice, the staple foodstuff of a large section of the Indian population. Wheat ranks next in importance to rice, and India is also among the world's leading producers of sugarcane, tea, cotton, and jute. Other important crops include vegetables, melons, sorghum, millet, corn, barley, chickpeas, bananas, mangoes, rubber, coffee, linseed, peanuts, and various spices. The raising of livestock, particularly cattle, buffalo, horses, and mules, is a central feature of the agricultural economy. In the early 2000s India had about 185 million head of cattle, more than any other country in the world. These animals, like buffalo, horses, and mules, are utilized in India almost exclusively as beasts of burden, mainly because meat consumption, owing to religious or social scruples, is not permitted among the Hindus. As a result of such factors as inadequate pasturage and water supplies, the breeds of cattle are generally inferior. The buffalo are largely employed in the deltaic regions. In the dry regions of Punjab and Rajasthan camels are the principal beasts of burden. Sheep and goats are raised mainly for wool. Forestry and Fishing. The forestlands in India cover about 23% of the total land area. Commercial forestry is largely restricted to the N highlands, Assam, and the regions bordering on the Himalayas. By-products such as charcoal, fruits and nuts, fibers, oils, gums, and resins are among the most valuable commodities. The annual timber harvest was 279.8 million cu m (9.9 billion cu ft) in the early 1990s; more than 90% of the wood was used for fuel. Although largely undeveloped on a national scale, fishing remains vital in certain regions, such as the Ganges delta in Bengal and along the SW coast. The government has encouraged deep-sea fishing by constructing processing plants and underwriting oceangoing fleets and vessels. In the early 2000s the country's annual fish catch totaled some 6 million metric tons. Mining. India ranks among the world leaders in the production of iron ore, coal, and bauxite and produces significant amounts of manganese, mica, ilmenite, copper, petroleum, asbestos, chromium, graphite, phosphate rock, zinc, gold, and diamonds. Annual production figures in the early 1990s included iron ore (53.7 million metric tons), coal (247.3 million), bauxite (5 million), manganese (1.8 million), and zinc concentrates (181,000). Annual petroleum production in 2005 amounted to an estimated 785,000 barrels per day; the output of natural gas was estimated (2003) at about 27 billion cu m. Manufacturing. The weaving of cotton fabrics, most used domestically, is the leading manufacturing industry of India. The yearly output of cotton cloth was about 13 billion m (about 42 billion ft). The manufacture of jute products (about 1 million metric tons annually) is also important. The iron-and-steel industry was greatly expanded in the 1950s, and by the early 1990s finished steel production had climbed to over 12 million metric tons annually. Other important industries include carpet weaving, tea processing, rice processing, cotton ginning, flour milling, printing, petroleum refining, sugar refining, and the manufacture of lumber, woolen and silk goods, leather, electrical and electronic equipment, motor vehicles, diesel engines, chemicals, tile and bricks, linseed and other vegetable oils, paper, iron, aluminum, brass, tobacco products, and railroad equipment. Renowned high-quality handmade products include wood carvings, pottery, and brass, copper, and silver objects. Energy. About three-quarters of India's electricity is produced in thermal facilities using coal or petroleum products. Of the remainder, most is generated by hydroelectric facilities, with a small amount produced in nuclear power plants, including ones at Kota and near Mumbai (Bombay). In 2003 the annual output of electricity was about 557 billion kwh. Currency and Banking. The rupee, India's basic monetary unit, is divided into 100 paisa (43.97 rupees equal U.S.$1; Sept. 2005). The Reserve Bank of India, founded in 1935 and nationalized in 1949, operates as the central bank and sole bank of issue. Moneylending practices in rural India have led to widespread indebtedness. Credit societies and cooperative banks have thus become increasingly important. Trade. Because India is largely dependent on foreign purchases for various commodities, including manufactured goods, raw materials, and foodstuffs, its import trade is extensive. Exports of indigenous products also are considerable, but an unfavorable balance of trade is a traditional feature of the Indian economy. The U.S. in the early 2000s received about 18% of India's exports and supplied about 6% of its imports. Other countries maintaining large-scale commercial relations with India included China, United Arab Emirates, Belgium, Singapore, United Kingdom, Switzerland, and Germany. Among the chief products imported into the country are petroleum, machinery, transport equipment, precious and semiprecious stones, chemicals, and metals. India's major exports include clothing, precious and semiprecious stones (especially diamonds), chemicals, sugar, tea, jute manufactures, textile yarns and fabrics, leather goods, iron and steel, jewelry, metal ores, and software services and technology. The country's imports cost some $113 billion (2005 est.), while its exports earned about $76 billion. Transportation. India has a broad network of railroad lines, all of which are publicly controlled. The total length of operated railroad track was about 63,200 km (39,300 mi) in the early 2000s. Three different gauges of track were in use. There were about 3,850,000 km (2,390,000 mi) of roads. The major Indian ports, including Kolkata (Calcutta), Mumbai (Bombay), and Chennai (Madras), are reached by cargo carriers and passenger liners traveling to all parts of the world. A network of Indian-operated air routes connects the country's major cities and towns. International connections are maintained by Air India, Indian Airlines, and foreign air-transport services. Communications. India has a modern postal system, an extensive telegraph network, and
a telephone system that served more than 67 million lines in 2005.
Outside the major cities, however, only a small percentage of households
have telephones. The country had about 69 million cellular telephone subscribers in
2006, and more than 50 million The government-owned All India Radio, established in 1936, operates a network reaching around the country. Programs are broadcast in over 20 languages and some 150 dialects. Doodarshan, the Indian National Television Network, reaches some 70 million receivers. Newspapers circulate to some 20 million people. The Times of India and the Indian Express are among the influential English-language dailies. GOVERNMENT The Republic of India is governed according to the provisions of a constitution adopted in 1949, which incorporates various features of the constitutional systems of Great Britain, the U.S., and other Western democracies. By the terms of Indian organic law, which proclaims the state a sovereign democratic republic, the government is federal in its structure and republican in character. Like the U.S., India is a union of states, but its government is more highly centralized than that of the U.S., and the rights of the states and territories are rigidly limited. Executive. The chief executive and head of state of India is the president. The role of president in government is largely nominal and ceremonial, however, for actual executive power resides in a council of ministers responsible to the parliament. The president is elected for a 5-year term by an electoral college consisting of the elected members of the national and state legislatures, and is eligible for successive terms. Balloting in the electoral college is a complicated process, members having a voting strength proportional to the population of their constituencies. The council of ministers, or cabinet, is headed by a prime minister. Each of its members is the head of an administrative department of the central government. In most important respects the Indian cabinet system is identical to that of Great Britain. Legislature. The constitution vests national legislative power in India in a bicameral parliament. The House of the People, or Lok Sabha, consists of 543 directly elected members, plus another two members appointed to represent the Anglo-Indian community. The Council of States, or Rajya Sabha, has 245 members. Members of the House of the People normally serve for five years, the statutory limit for the duration of the house, but the house may be dissolved upon defeat of major legislation proposed by the executive branch. Members of the Council of States are elected by the elected members of the state legislative assemblies, except for a maximum of 12 who are appointed by the president. The council is a permanent body; the terms of one-third of the members of the council expire biennially. Judiciary. Judicial authority is exercised through a system of national courts administering the laws of the republic and the states. Judges are appointees of the executive branch of the government, but their independence is guaranteed by a variety of safeguards. Noteworthy among them is a provision requiring a two-thirds vote of the national legislature to effect removal from office. At the apex of the judicial system is a supreme court, consisting of up to 25 members. Next are the high courts and subordinate courts in each state. Local Government. The form of India's 28 state governments is generally modeled after that of the central government. Each state is headed by a governor who is appointed to a 5-year term by the national president. States are subdivided into districts, blocks, and villages. Large cities are governed by corporations led by a mayor. Political Parties. The Indian National Congress (later the Congress party), founded
in 1885, led India in the struggle for independence and provided
the country's prime ministers until 1977. In 1969 a group
of Congress members left the party to form the small Indian National
Congress-Organization, known as Congress-O, the nation's
first officially recognized opposition party. In early 1977 the
Congress-O joined with three other parties, Bharatiya Jana Sangh,
Bharatiya Lok Dal, and the Socialist party, to form the Janata party,
which won about half of the seats in the House of the People in March elections and
then achieved a solid majority by merging with the Congress for
Democracy. The Congress party split again in 1978, when Health and Welfare. Overall life expectancy at birth was about 65 years in the
early 2000s, compared with 32 years in 1941. The infant mortality
rate fell from over 150 to about 55 per 1000 live births between
the mid-1960s and early 2000s. Despite vigorous government efforts and
progress in the areas of preventive medicine, sanitation, and nutrition,
health conditions remain marginal. Epidemics of smallpox, cholera,
dysentery, and elephantiasis no longer are common, and progress
has been made in combating malaria and plague and controlling smallpox
and tuberculosis. In the early 1990s some 365,000 physicians were functioning in addition to herb doctors and unregistered practitioners. The country was served by about 650,000 hospital beds. Much of the rural population lacked ready access to professional services. Social-welfare programs have been particularly in evidence in such areas as family planning, various kinds of emergency relief, and the care for Dalits (formerly called Harijans, or Untouchables), who come from the lowest rank of Indian society and are protected by law, but who are still subject to much harassment. Workers' compensation is provided by law. Defense. All branches of the armed services of India are made up solely of volunteers. In the early 1990s the strength of the regular army was 1,100,000 persons. The navy comprised 55,000 personnel. Air force strength was 110,000, with more than 700 combat aircraft. International Organizations. In addition to its membership in the Commonwealth of Nations,
India is a member of the HISTORY The following account of the history of India is necessarily
limited in scope; only the highlights and major turning points of
Indian history are stressed. For supplementary information regarding
Indian history and civilization, see Prehistory. Because the Indians of remote antiquity left no written records of their social, cultural, and political activities, historians are obliged to rely almost exclusively on archaeological discoveries for an understanding of the earliest civilization on the subcontinent. Evidence indicates that, possibly during the Neolithic period of the Stone Age, the aboriginal inhabitants of the subcontinent were dispersed and partially assimilated by invading Dravidian tribes, who probably came from the west. On the basis of archaeological discoveries in the Indus Valley, the civilization subsequently developed by the Dravidians equaled and possibly surpassed in splendor the civilizations of ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt. About the middle of the 3d millennium bc, Dravidian India was subjected to the first of a sustained series of invasions by tribes of the Indo-European linguistic stock. These tribes, of uncertain racial origin but usually referred to as Indo-Aryans, entered the subcontinent through the mountain passes along the northwestern frontier and gradually occupied most of the territory north of the Vindhya Range and west of the Yamuna River. Many Dravidians fled to the north and into the Indian Peninsula, regions where the Dravidian linguistic stock is still significant. The remnants of the Dravidian people and, in the view of some authorities, much of their culture, were absorbed by the Indo-Aryans. Vedic Period. Indo-Aryan political history is surrounded by obscurity for
many centuries after the conquest of the Dravidians, but the In 327 bc The Maurya Dynasty. Macedonian overlordship in India was destroyed in 321 bc when
a native leader named An extensive section of western India was occupied in about
100 bc by invading Sakas ( Gupta Empire. In 320 a Magadha raja named Chandragupta I (r. 320–30?), who had completed the conquest of neighboring territories, founded a new imperial regime and the Gupta dynasty. His grandson Chandragupta II (r. 375?–413) vastly expanded the realm, subjugating all of the subcontinent north of the Narmada River. Under the rulers of the Gupta dynasty, which reigned for 215 years, Indian culture reached new heights. The period was one of sustained peace, steady economic advance, and intellectual accomplishment, particularly in art, music, and literature. Equally important, Hinduism, which had long been in a state of decline, experienced a robust renaissance through absorption of some features of Buddhism. Toward the close of the 5th century, Hunnish invaders, often
referred to as the White Huns, pushed into India from Central Asia.
The Gupta Empire broke up under the blows of these marauders, whose
supremacy went unchallenged for nearly a century. Foreign military
reverses, notably at the hands of the Turks about 565, finally undermined
the Hunnish power in India. Among the contemporary descendants of
the Muslim and Mongol Invasions. As the prolonged period of internal strife in India drew to
a close, a new power, solidly united under The internal turmoil increased after Tughluq's death;
in 1398, when the Mongol conqueror The Mughal Empire.
In the half century following the death of Aurangzeb, the
Mughal Empire ceased to exist as an effective state. The political
chaos of the period was marked by a rapid decline of centralized
authority, by the creation of numerous petty kingdoms and principalities
by Muslim and Hindu adventurers, and by the formation of large independent
states by the governors of the imperial provinces. Among the first
of the large independent states to emerge was Hyderabad, established
in 1712. The tottering Mughal regime suffered a disastrous blow in
1739 when the Persian king Portuguese and Dutch Colonialism. Because of Muslim control of the trade arteries between the
Mediterranean and India, various European monarchs had begun to
dream of a new route to the Far East long before Babur founded the
Mughal dynasty. The Portuguese devoted remarkable zeal and initiative
to the search for such a route, and in 1497–98 Growing French and British Rivalry. During the first half of the 18th century the French, who
had begun to operate in India about 1675, emerged as a serious threat
to the growing power and prosperity of the English East India Co.
The friction between France and Great Britain reached an acute stage in
1746, when a French fleet seized Madras. This action, a phase of
the War of the East India Co. As a result of its victories, the Armed resistance. In the pursuit of their objectives, the British relied primarily on superior military power, but bribery, extortion, and political manipulation of the native chieftains were frequently and successfully employed. Disunity among the various Indian kingdoms and principalities paved the way for eventual British subjugation of the entire subcontinent and contiguous regions, notably Burma. At sporadic intervals, individual Indian states and groups of states fiercely, but vainly, resisted the exploitation, brutality, and territorial seizures by the company. The chief centers of armed resistance to British rule included, at various times, the Maratha Confederacy, Mysore, Sind, and Punjab. In 1845 the Sikhs of Punjab attacked British positions, starting a war that proved costly to both sides. The Sikhs were defeated in 1846 but two years later they again engaged the British in sanguinary fighting. In one battle, fought at Chilianwala, the Sikhs inflicted nearly 2500 casualties on the British. The latter won a decisive victory on Feb. 21, 1849, however, and the Sikhs capitulated. Dalhousie's impact. Annexation of Punjab by the East India Co. followed. During the next few years James Andrew Broun Ramsay, 10th earl of Dalhousie (1812–60), then governor-general of the company in India, annexed, on the death of the native rulers, Satara, Jaipur, Sambalpur, Jhansi, and Nagpur. Dalhousie's annexationist policy engendered profound hostility among the Indian nobility and peoples. In many material respects India benefited from various improvements and reforms introduced by Dalhousie's administration. Railroads, bridges, roads, and irrigation systems were constructed; telegraph and postal services were established; and restrictions were imposed on suttee, slave trading, and other ancient practices. These innovations and reforms, however, aroused little enthusiasm among the Indian people, many of whom regarded the modernization of their country with both fear and distrust. In 1856 Dalhousie annexed Oudh, an act that added immeasurably to the widespread discontent. Sepoy Mutiny. As the unrest in India mounted, a large-scale conspiratorial movement spread among the sepoys, the native troops employed by the English East India Co. A general uprising, known as the Sepoy Mutiny, began at Meerut, a town near Delhi, on May 10, 1857. Rallying around the banner of Bahadur Shah II (1768?–1862), titular emperor of the moribund Mughal Empire, the mutineers quickly occupied Delhi and other strategic centers, massacred hundreds of Europeans, and, on June 30, laid siege to the British residency at Lucknow. The city was relieved in November and reinforcements of British troops and loyal sepoys were rushed to the disaffected areas. Fighting continued throughout the remainder of 1857 and into 1859 but by June 1858 the chief rebel strongholds had fallen. In the same year, the judicial authorities of the East India Co. convicted Bahadur Shah II on charges of rebellion and sentenced him to life imprisonment, thus closing the final chapter of Mughal history. As one major result of the Sepoy Mutiny, the British Parliament in 1858 enacted legislation, termed the Act for the Better Government of India, which transferred the administration of India from the East India Co. to the British crown. British India and Rising Nationalism. Many of the abuses prevalent in India during the rule of the
East India Co. were eradicated or modified after the British government
assumed control of Indian affairs. Important fiscal, governmental,
juridical, educational, and social reforms were instituted and the
system of public works inaugurated by Dalhousie was vastly extended.
The British government had inherited numerous difficult problems,
including the impoverished condition of the masses of the Indian people,
popular resentment over the country's colonial status,
and a growing spirit of nationalism. Frequent disastrous famines,
beginning with the Orissa famine of 1866, which took the lives of
1,500,000 persons, contributed substantially to political unrest.
In 1876 the British government, then headed by Political ferment. In the closing years of the 19th century and during the first decade
of the 20th century, the social and political ferment in India spread
widely. Occidental political doctrines and methods were introduced
by Hindus who had studied in British and American universities. Under
the stimulus of vigorous propaganda campaigns in the native press,
mass meetings, and secret political organizations, Indian nationalism
began to threaten seriously the British position in India. A number
of associations, dedicated to the struggle against British rule,
had been created in the decades following the Sepoy Mutiny. Of these,
the most influential was the Indian National Congress, founded in
1885. This organization, which enlisted the support of many prominent
Hindus and Muslims, gradually heightened the political consciousness
of the masses and accelerated the trend toward national unification.
On the cultural level, the celebrated poet and educator The Indian National Congress drew inspiration and encouragement
from the Japanese victory in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–5,
a practical demonstration of the latent power of the Oriental peoples.
Hostile manifestations against British rule became more and more
frequent, particularly in Bengal. The more radical nationalists
resorted to assassination, bombings, and other acts of Repressive measures. Condemning most of the nationalist activities as seditious, the British government adopted a special criminal code to deal with the situation. Among other measures, this code provided for trial without jury for persons accused of treason and for deportation or summary imprisonment for agitators. These repressive steps were followed in 1909 by the India Councils Act, which introduced a limited degree of self-government in India. Dissatisfied with this concession to Indian demands for independence, the nationalist movement continued to gain headway. A new and disruptive current had meanwhile been introduced into the movement for national unification with the formation in 1906 of the Muslim League. Established with the encouragement of the British government and supported primarily by those Muslims who, for reasons of self-interest, loyalty to Great Britain, or Muslim nationalism, were hostile to the objectives of the Indian National Congress, the league succeeded in diverting significant numbers of the Indian Muslim youth and intelligentsia from the independence struggle. Many outstanding Muslims, however, including the influential journalist Abul Kalam Azad (1888–1958), registered disapproval of league policy, resigned from the organization, and joined the Indian National Congress. Joint campaign. Following the outbreak of World War I, large numbers of the Indian people, including both Hindus and Muslims, rallied to the British cause. More than 1.2 million Indians participated in the British war effort, giving valiant and loyal service in all theaters of the conflict. The nationalist movement, generally quiescent during the first two years of the war, resumed the campaign for fundamental political reforms in the fall of 1916. The campaign was initiated by a joint declaration of minimum demands by the Indian National Congress and by the Muslim League, which had been forced to abandon its pro-British policy after Turkey, a Muslim country, entered the war on the side of the Central Powers. There followed a policy of pronouncement from the British government in August 1917, promising an increase of “. . . the association of Indians in every branch of the administration and the gradual development of self-governing institutions . . . in India. . . .” Gandhi's Protest Movement. Political strife became intense in India after World War I.
In reply to the upsurge of nationalist activity, the British government
obtained passage of legislation, known as the Rowlatt Acts, which
suspended civil rights and provided for martial law in areas disturbed
by riots and uprisings. Passage of the Rowlatt Acts precipitated
a wave of violence and disorder in many parts of India. In this
period of turmoil, In consequence of the Amritsar massacre, the anti-British movement in India reached new levels of intensity. The outstanding feature of this stage of the struggle was the Gandhian policy of noncooperation instituted in 1920. Among other things, the policy called for the boycott of British commodities, courts, and educational institutions; for noncooperation in political life; and for the renunciation of British titles held by Indians. The noncooperation movement was often attended by violence, despite admonitions by Gandhi against the use of force. Combined with parliamentary methods of struggle, the movement proved to be a remarkably effective weapon in the fight for Indian freedom. In the view of British officialdom, the activities engaged in by Gandhi constituted sedition, and the Indian leader was periodically imprisoned or interned in the course of the next two decades. Gandhi, known among the Indian people as Mahatma (Skt., “great-souled”), figured decisively in Indian political history. Increasing Internal Dissension. Between 1922, the year of the initial imprisonment of Gandhi for sedition, and 1942, when he was placed in custody for the last time, the fight for Indian independence was marked by serious setbacks, including the renewal of dissension between Muslims and Hindus, and by many victories. Civil disobedience. The tide of Indian nationalism, having acquired momentum steadily since Gandhi was first arrested, attained a climactic stage in the spring of 1930. On March 12 of that year, following British rejection of demands for dominion status for India, Gandhi announced that he would lead a mass violation of the government salt monopoly. The violation was accomplished, after a long march to the Gulf of Khambhât, by boiling seawater to produce salt. Similar actions occurred throughout India, and on May 5 Gandhi was again jailed by the British authorities. Riots and demonstrations developed immediately in Calcutta, Delhi, and other centers. Trains were stoned, telegraph wires were cut, and various government officials were assassinated. Striving to cope with these and later disorders, the government carried out wholesale arrests, and by November about 27,000 Indian nationalists had been sentenced to prison terms. Hindu-Muslim schism. Finally, in March 1931, the British government arranged a
truce with Gandhi, who had been released in the preceding January
along with Government of India Act. In 1935, following a series of conferences in London between British and Indian leaders, legislation known as the Government of India Act received the approval of the British Parliament. The legislation provided for the establishment of autonomous legislative bodies in the provinces of British India, for the creation of a central government representative of the provinces and princely states, and for the protection of Muslim minorities. In addition, the act provided for a bicameral national legislature and an executive arm under the control of the British government. Largely influenced by Gandhi, the Indian people approved the measure, which became operative on April 1, 1937, although many members of the Indian National Congress continued to insist on full independence for India. On the provincial level few difficulties developed in the
application of the Government of India Act. The plan for federation
proved unworkable for a variety of reasons, however, including the
reluctance of the Indian princes to cooperate with the radicals
of the Indian National Congress, reciprocal hostility on the part of
the latter, and Muslim claims that the Hindus would have excessive
influence in the national legislature. As an alternative, the Muslim
League, then headed by Wartime Agitation. On the outbreak of World War II the viceroy of India, Victor Alexander John Hope (1887–1952), marquess of Linlithgow, declared war on Germany in the name of India. This step, taken in accordance with the constitution of 1937 but without consulting Indian leaders, alienated Gandhi and important sections of the Indian National Congress. Influential groups of the National Congress, supporting Gandhi's position, intensified the campaign for immediate self-government, naming self-government as their price for cooperation in the war effort. At the end of October 1939 the ministries of eight provinces resigned in protest against the adamant attitude of the British. The civil disobedience campaign was resumed by the National Congress in October 1940. Meanwhile the Muslim League, many of the princely states, and certain members of the Indian National Congress had endorsed the British war effort. The subsequent contributions of India to the struggle against the Axis powers were extensive. Indian troops at home and on the fronts numbered about 1.5 million before the termination of hostilities and Indian expenditures totaled approximately $12 billion. In December 1941 the British authorities in India released
the various Congress leaders who had been placed under arrest in
1940. A new wave of anti-British agitation followed, and in March
1942 the government of Great Britain dispatched Sir The civil disobedience movement was again resumed in August 1942. Gandhi, Nehru, and thousands of their supporters were rounded up and imprisoned, and the National Congress was outlawed. Encouraged by Indian disunity and with the help of Bose, who had organized a “provisional Indian government” in Burma, the Japanese promptly intensified military operations along the Burmese-Indian frontier. The Japanese invasion of India began along a 322-km (200-mi) front in March 1944. After a number of initial successes, the invaders were gradually forced back into Burma by Anglo-Indian troops. The British government released Gandhi from jail on May 6, 1944. In the meantime the Indian leader had modified most of his views regarding the nature of the war and the Cripps program, and in September 1944 he and the Muslim leader Jinnah began discussions on mutual differences. Primarily because of Jinnah's insistence on demarcation of the Pakistani frontiers prior to the formation of an interim government, the discussions ended in failure. Interim Government. In June 1945 India became a charter member of the UN. In the
same month Nehru was released from jail, and shortly thereafter
the British government issued a white paper on the Indian question.
The proposals closely resembled those of the Cripps program. Another deadlock
developed and during the second half of 1945 a new wave of anti-British
riots and outbursts swept over India. Three representatives of the
British government, including Cripps, made another attempt to negotiate
an agreement with Indian leaders in the spring of 1946. Although
the Muslim League temporarily withdrew its demands for the partition
of India along religious lines, insuperable differences developed
with respect to the character of an interim government. The negotiations
were fruitless, and in June the British viceroy By the end of 1946 the Indian political situation verged on
anarchy. The British Prime Minister Indian Independence Act. Under the provisions of this enactment, termed the Indian
Independence Act, which became effective on Aug. 15, 1947, India
and Pakistan were established as independent dominions of the Commonwealth
of Nations, with the right to withdraw from or remain within the
Commonwealth. The Indian government, by the terms of a declaration
issued jointly by the then eight members of the Commonwealth on
April 28, 1949, elected to retain its membership. For the subsequent history
of Pakistan, see The new states of India and Pakistan were created along religious lines. Areas inhabited predominantly by Hindus were allocated to India and those with a predominantly Muslim population were allocated to Pakistan. Because the overwhelming majority of the people of the Indian subcontinent are Hindus, partition resulted in the inclusion within the Union of India, as the country was then named, of most of the 562 princely states in existence prior to Aug. 15, 1947, as well as the majority of the British provinces and parts of 3 of the remaining provinces. By the terms of the Indian Independence Act, governmental authority in the Union was vested in the Constituent Assembly, originally an all-India body created for the purpose of drafting a constitution for the entire nation. The All-India Constituent Assembly, which held its first session in December 1946, was boycotted by the delegates of the Muslim League, the major political organization of Muslim nationalists; the remaining delegates, who were chiefly representative of the Indian National Congress, the corresponding Hindu organization, formed the Constituent Assembly of the Indian Union. After the transfer of power from the British government, the Constituent Assembly assigned executive responsibility to a cabinet, with Nehru as prime minister. Mountbatten became governor-general of the new dominion. Continued Hindu-Muslim-Sikh Antagonisms. The termination of British rule in India was greeted enthusiastically by Indians of every religious faith and political persuasion. On Aug. 15, 1947, officially designated Indian Independence Day, celebration ceremonies were held in all parts of the subcontinent and in Indian communities abroad. These ceremonies took place, however, against an ominous background of Hindu-Muslim and Sikh-Muslim antagonisms, which were particularly acute in regions equally or almost equally shared by members of the different faiths. Population shifts. In anticipation of border disputes in such regions, notably Bengal and Punjab, a boundary commission with a neutral (British) chairperson was established prior to partition. The recommendations of this commission occasioned little active disagreement with respect to the division of Bengal. In that region, largely because of Gandhi's moderating influence, little communal strife developed. In the Punjab, however, where the line of demarcation brought nearly 2 million Sikhs, traditionally anti-Muslim, under the jurisdiction of Pakistan, the decisions of the boundary commission precipitated bitter fighting. A mass exodus of Muslims from Union territory into Pakistan and of Sikhs and Hindus from Pakistan into Union territory took place. In the course of the initial migrations, which involved more than 4 million persons in the month of September 1947 alone, convoys of refugees were frequently attacked and massacred by fanatical partisans. Coreligionists of the victims resorted to reprisals against minorities in other sections of the Union and Pakistan. Indian and Pakistani authorities brought the strife under control during October, but the shift of populations in the Punjab and other border areas continued until the end of the year. Relations between the two states grew worse in October when the Indian armed forces surrounded Junagadh, a princely state on the Kathiawar Peninsula. This action was taken because the nawab of the state, which had a large majority of Hindus, had previously announced that he would affiliate with Pakistan. The Indian military authorities subsequently assumed control of the state, pending a plebiscite. War in Kashmir. Kashmir, a princely state inhabited predominantly by Muslims, became the next major source of friction between India and Pakistan. Here, the situation was the exact opposite of that in Junagadh. On Oct. 24, 1947, Muslim insurgents, supported by invading coreligionists from the North-West Frontier Province, proclaimed establishment of a “Provisional Government of Kashmir.” Three days later the Hindu leader Hari Singh, maharaja of Kashmir (1895–1961), announced the accession of Kashmir to the Union of India. Approving the maharaja's decision and promising a plebiscite after the restoration of peace, the Indian government immediately dispatched troops to Srinagar, the capital of Kashmir and the major objective of the insurgents. Hostilities quickly attained serious proportions, and at New Year 1948 the Indian government filed a formal complaint with the UN Security Council, accusing Pakistan of giving help to the Muslim insurgents. Despite repeated attempts by the Security Council to obtain
a truce in the troubled area, fighting continued throughout 1948.
The peacemaking efforts of the Security Council finally met with
success at New Year 1949, when both India and Pakistan accepted
proposals for a plebiscite, under the auspices of the UN, on the
political future of Kashmir. Cease-fire orders were issued by the
two governments on the same day. Among other things, the UN plan
provided for the withdrawal of combat troops from the state, for
the return of refugees desirous of participating in the plebiscite,
and for a free and impartial vote under the direction of a “personality
of high international standing.” In March UN Secretary-General Meanwhile both the Union of India and Pakistan had suffered the loss of outstanding leaders and the Indian government had become embroiled in a dispute with the nizam of Hyderabad, Mir Osman Ali Khan Bahadur (1886–1967). Gandhi was assassinated by a Hindu fanatic on Jan. 30, 1948, and Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, died the following September. The tension between the Indian government and Hyderabad, inhabited preponderantly by Hindus, resulted from the reluctance of the nizam, a Muslim, to bring his state into the Union. Protracted negotiations for a peaceful solution of the dispute ended in failure and on September 17 Indian forces occupied Hyderabad, the capital city, ending the nizam's resistance. The ruler subsequently signed instruments of accession making Hyderabad part of the Union of India. Although India and Pakistan agreed (July 1949) on a line demarcating their respective zones of occupation in Kashmir, the two nations were unable to reconcile basic differences on the terms of the proposed plebiscite. The deadlock was primarily due to Indian insistence that Pakistani troops be withdrawn from the disputed territory before the plebiscite and to Pakistan's refusal to withdraw its troops unless the Indians also withdrew theirs. First Years as a Republic. The Indian Constituent Assembly approved a republican constitution
for the Union on Nov. 26, 1949. Comprising a preamble, 395 articles,
and 8 schedules, the document proved to be more voluminous than
any body of organic law in existence. One of the constitution's features
is a clause outlawing untouchability, the ancient practice of caste
that condemned about 40 million Hindus to social and economic degradation.
The Gandhi disciple and All-India Congress leader Nonalignment. During its first year as a republic India figured increasingly
in international affairs, especially in deliberations and activities
of the UN. Nehru's government, adhering to policies developed
in the prerepublican period, maintained a generally neutral position
with respect to the so-called cold war, the mounting ideological
and political struggle between the Soviet bloc of states and the Western
democracies. Indian determination to avoid entanglement with either
of these powers became increasingly apparent following the outbreak
of the Foreign aid. Outstanding among domestic events during the first year of republican
rule was a series of natural disasters, notably an extended drought
in southern India and severe earthquakes and floods in Assam. About
6 million tons of grain and other foodstuffs were lost, according
to an official estimate made in November. During the resultant famine,
large sections of the population were forced to subsist on a daily
ration of 57 g (2 oz) of rice. India appealed to the U.S. in December
1950 for $200 million worth of food. In February 1951 U.S.
President Domestic policies. The following month Nehru announced that the government must encourage birth control in order to cope with the problem of a rapidly growing population and a food supply rendered inadequate by rudimentary agricultural methods and frequent natural disasters. Shortly afterward the government promulgated a five-year national development plan providing for expenditures of $3.8 billion, largely on irrigation and hydroelectric projects. The results of the first general elections in the Indian Republic were announced March 1, 1952. Based on universal suffrage, the balloting had begun in October 1951 and ended in February 1952. The Indian National Congress, the party in power, won 364 of 489 contested seats in the national legislature and was victorious in all but 2 of the constituent states. In May the newly constituted electoral college elected President Prasad to the presidency for a full 5-year term. International Affairs. In June 1952 India, which had boycotted the 1951 Japanese peace conference, signed a bilateral peace treaty with Japan. Among the provisions was a waiver of all reparations claims. During September the Indian government accepted famine-relief food shipments from the People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union but only after both countries agreed to Indian stipulations against possible “political strings.” Korea and Kashmir. India figures significantly in international developments during
1953. An Indian general was named to chair the Neutral Nations Repatriation
Commission provided for by the Korean armistice agreement of July
27. In this position, he perpetuated the Indian policy of neutrality,
provoking accusations of partiality from both the UN and Communist
commands. The issue of Indian participation in the projected Korean
peace conference was decided in August when the UN General Assembly
voted down a British-backed resolution inviting India to the conference.
Subsequently, the U.S. secretary of state, Indochina. The prime ministers of India, Pakistan, Burma, Indonesia,
and Sri Lanka conferred in Sri Lanka from April 28 to May 2, 1954.
Among other actions, the leaders adopted a declaration of support
for the Geneva Conference on Far Eastern Affairs, then about to
convene. (The conference was called, in the face of an imminent
French defeat, to discuss an end to the war in Indochina.) Nehru
held a series of meetings late in June with Premier Bandung conference. India participated in the Asian-African Conference, a meeting
in April 1955 of 22 Asian and 7 African states, held in Bandung,
Indonesia. In June Nehru spent two weeks in the USSR. At the conclusion
of the visit he and Soviet Premier Indian-Portuguese relations had worsened steadily in 1954 because of insistent demands by Indian nationalists that Portugal vacate Goa and the rest of Portuguese India. In August 1955 Portuguese security forces fired on a group of Indian demonstrators that crossed the Goan border. India then severed diplomatic ties with Portugal. Suez and Hungary. In July 1956 Nehru conferred with President Internal Affairs. On Jan. 26, 1957, India declared the state of Kashmir to be an integral part of the Indian Republic, following decisions to that effect by the Kashmir Constituent Assembly. Protest riots and burnings of effigies of Nehru subsequently took place in Pakistan, which lodged a vigorous complaint in the UN. In national elections held in February and March 1957 the Congress party won 366 of 494 seats in the lower house of parliament; the Communists won 29 seats to become the largest opposition party and also gained control of the state of Kerala. Prime Minister Nehru and President Prasad retained their positions. In March a decimal system of currency was introduced. In Kerala efforts to increase government control of private schools aroused mass opposition, manifested by frequent antigovernment demonstrations during 1958. To uphold law and order, Prasad took over the functions of the Kerala government in July 1959. Legislative elections in the state in February 1960 resulted in substantial gains for the anti-Communist parties. In May 1960 the state of Bombay was divided into the states of Maharashtra and Gujarat. To placate rebellious Naga tribes, Nehru announced that a new state of Nagaland, populated predominantly by the tribes, would be created out of the state of Assam. Subsequently elements of the Sikh population agitated for creation of a separate Sikh state out of part of the Punjab. The matter was settled in 1966 by the formation of the new state of Haryana. The third Indian 5-year plan of economic development was inaugurated in April 1961; its cost was estimated at $24.36 billion and its objective was to increase the average annual per capita income from $69.30 to $80.85. A long-range goal was to make India independent of foreign aid by 1976. In August the U.S. disclosed that to date it had committed $4 billion to India. Clashes with Neighbors. During the Tibetan revolt in March 1959 some 9000 Tibetan refugees sought political asylum in India; thereafter, several border clashes occurred between Chinese and Indian troops and, in August, Indian territory was penetrated by Chinese troops. A conference to settle the dispute, in April 1960, attended by Nehru and Zhou Enlai, ended in a deadlock. Following charges of Portuguese aggression, Indian forces on Dec. 18, 1961, invaded and annexed the remaining Portuguese enclaves on the subcontinent: Goa, Daman, and Diu. The next day a resolution was brought before the UN Security Council condemning India as an aggressor; it failed to be adopted because of a Soviet veto. During 1962 the border dispute between China and India grew increasingly tense. Early in the year both countries added outposts along the contested frontier territory in the Great Himalayas, and in October the Chinese attacked and overran Indian outposts on both western and eastern parts of the border. The Indians, ill prepared and particularly ill equipped for high-altitude fighting, were unable to halt the Chinese advance, which ended when Beijing unilaterally announced a cease-fire in late November. The crisis precipitated a drastic overhaul of Indian defenses, and Defense Minister V. K. Krishna Menon (1896–1974), a powerful neutralist, was ousted from the government at the end of October 1962. On May 27, 1964, Nehru, who had served as prime minister since
India attained its independence, died. He was succeeded by Indira Gandhi Comes to Power. A few hours after signing the agreement in Tashkent, Uzbekistan,
Shastri died of a heart attack. Nehru's daughter In 1969 Prime Minister Gandhi faced a revolt by the conservative wing of the Congress party but won an impressive victory when, with her support, the former vice-president, Varahagiri Venkata Giri (1894–1980), defeated the official Congress candidate for president. A breakaway group, the Congress-Organization, known as Congress-O, emerged, and consolidating her strength, Gandhi and her faction, called the New Congress party, won a major victory in the elections of March 1971. Later that month, civil war erupted in Pakistan as the national government, dominated by West Pakistanis, moved to suppress Bengali efforts to achieve autonomy for East Pakistan. As millions of Bengali refugees streamed across the border into India, relations between India and Pakistan worsened. In December India invaded East Pakistan, compelled the surrender of Pakistani forces there, and recognized the new nation of Bangladesh. Most of the Bengali refugees were subsequently repatriated. Economic conditions in India worsened during the mid-1970s.
As unemployment mounted, food riots broke out, and accusations of
government corruption intensified. To world surprise, India exploded
its first nuclear device on May 18, 1974. A parliamentary effort
to topple the Gandhi government was turned back in July, and in
the following month Gandhi was convicted in June 1975 of corrupt practices during the 1971 election campaign. Faced with the loss of her parliamentary seat, she had a national state of emergency declared. She centralized power in her own hands and implemented strong measures to foster economic development and lower the national birth rate. Increasingly, she relied on her son, Sanjay Gandhi (1946–80). Political opposition was quelled by large-scale imprisonments and press censorship. Janata Government. In early 1977, Gandhi called a general election, hoping to show
popular support. Instead, she lost her seat in parliament and the
Congress party failed to secure a majority in the legislature for
the first time since 1952. The Janata party, a coalition formed
to oppose Gandhi, won about half the seats in parliament and its
head, Indira Gandhi Returns. In 1979, the Janata government had lost its parliamentary majority and Desai resigned; elections in January 1980 resulted in a major victory for Gandhi, who resumed the office of prime minister However, disaster struck in June when Sanjay Gandhi, who had emerged from the elections as a major political force, died in a plane crash; his seat in parliament was taken by his brother, Rajiv Gandhi (1944–91). To appease Sikhs demanding autonomy for Punjab, where they are a majority, Indira Gandhi supported the presidential candidacy of Zail Singh (1916–94), who in July 1982 became India's first Sikh chief of state. Agitation continued, however; in October 1983 Gandhi brought Punjab under president's rule, giving police emergency powers. The center of Sikh resistance was the religion's holiest shrine, the Golden Temple at Amritsar. On June 2, 1984, the temple was sealed off by Indian troops, who then occupied the shrine, killing hundreds of Sikhs and seizing caches of ammunition. The troops withdrew by the end of the month, but hostility among Sikh nationalists persisted. On Oct. 31, 1984, Indira Gandhi was assassinated by two Sikh members of her security guard. Days of rioting followed, and at least 1000 Sikhs were killed by Hindu mobs. Indira Gandhi's son, Rajiv Gandhi, was sworn in as prime minister hours after her death. He faced a new crisis on December 3, when a leak of methyl isocyanate gas from a Union Carbide pesticide plant at Bhopal, in central India, resulted in the deaths of nearly 4000 people and the illness of more than 20,000 others. (A lawsuit settled in 1989 provided a total of $470 million in compensation to victims.) With his leadership reaffirmed by parliamentary elections in December 1984, Gandhi responded to unrest among the Sikhs by agreeing to expand the boundaries of Punjab. Early in 1987 Indian troops were sent to Sri Lanka to help suppress a rebellion by Tamil guerrillas. A peace agreement was signed in July, but violent clashes continued. The election of Ramaswami Venkataraman (1910– ) as president the same month seemed to consolidate Gandhi's position, but allegations of corruption and mismanagement weakened his party, and he appeared unable to deal effectively with separatist pressures in Punjab and Kashmir. In the elections of November 1989, Congress-I lost its parliamentary majority, and Vishwanath Pratap Singh (1931– ), leader of the Janata Dal party, became prime minister. Rise of the BJP. In 1990 a split within Singh's own party led to the collapse of his minority government; he was succeeded by his chief rival, Chandra Shekhar (1927– ), whose government stepped down in March 1991, paving the way for new elections. During the campaign for re-election, Rajiv Gandhi was killed by a Tamil suicide bomber. Outraged voters gave Congress-I a plurality in parliament, and P. V. Narasimha Rao (1921–2004), a former foreign minister and a Gandhi supporter, became prime minister. In December 1992 Hindu fundamentalists wrecked a mosque in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, and some 3000 people throughout India were killed in the ensuing violence. In September 1993 a devastating earthquake shook central India near Hyderabad, killing 9700 people and destroying dozens of villages. The return of Congress-I was not to be permanent. A wide-ranging bribery and corruption scandal led to the resignations of several cabinet ministers in the mid-1990s and Rao suffered a humiliating defeat in the legislative elections of May 1996. A Hindu nationalist group, the Bharatiya Janata party (BJP), emerged as the largest single party in parliament. Its leader, Atal Bihari Vajpayee (1924– ), at this point held power only briefly, unable to form a viable coalition; the chief minister of Karnataka, H. D. Deve Gowda (1933– ), a politician of lower-caste rural background little known outside south India, was then designated prime minister, heading a fragile 13-party government. India, a known nuclear power, voted in September 1996 against the UN's Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, the first global treaty calling for a halt to all nuclear testing. When Deve Gowda's coalition collapsed in April 1997, Inder Kumar Gujral (1919– ) was sworn in as the nation's fourth prime minister in less than a year. In July, as India prepared to celebrate its 50th anniversary of independence, the nation's first Dalit president, Kocheril Raman Narayanan (1920–2005), took office; formerly called Untouchables, the Dalits (“oppressed people”) come from the lowest rank of Indian society. In December, after yet another government crisis, the lower house of parliament was dissolved and Gujral was named to head a caretaker cabinet.
Vajpayee in power. Elections in February 1998 resulted in another victory for the BJP, and Vajpayee, its leader, became prime minister, heading a new coalition government. In May, India conducted a series of underground nuclear weapons tests; in response, the U.S. and Japan imposed limited economic sanctions, and Pakistan conducted its own series of nuclear weapons tests. A cyclone in June left more than 1000 people dead in Gujarat state in western India. By September, flooding in northern and eastern India had claimed some 1500 lives and forced millions of people from their homes. In May 1999 Indian forces unleashed an air assault against Muslim guerrillas who, with Pakistani military assistance, had infiltrated the Kargil region of Kashmir; the fighting subsided after Pakistan, under pressure from the U.S., agreed in July to withdraw. Meanwhile, Vajpayee's coalition had fallen apart earlier in the year, but the Congress-I party, led by Rajiv Gandhi's widow, the Italian-born Sonia Gandhi (1946– ), was unable to form a government, so new elections were scheduled. They resulted in a majority for an alliance led by Vajpayee and the BJP, and a stinging setback for the Congress-I party. More than 9800 people died when a cyclone struck the state of Orissa, east India, in October 1999. A powerful earthquake in northwestern Gujarat in January 2001 claimed nearly 30,000 lives. Vajpayee continued privatization reforms and promotion of a free market economy initiated by governments preceding him, and led India through a period of steady growth, as it emerged as a leading nation in information technology. External and internal conflict. India, which has been the target of terrorism by Islamic extremists
both in Kashmir and elsewhere, was quick to express its support
for the U.S. after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, on the On Dec. 13, 2001, a group of 5 men attacked the Indian Parliament; 14 people were killed, including the terrorists. India blamed the attack on two militant groups it said were backed by Pakistan. Though initially denying the claim, Pakistan froze the assets of the two groups and arrested a few dozen members; the same groups were among five extremist organizations banned by Pakistan in early 2002. The Pakistani actions brought an easing of tensions with India, but more than a million Indian and Pakistani troops continued to face each other across a “line of control” that had divided Kashmir since the early 1970s. Ethnic clashes in Gujarat in early 2002 claimed more than 700 lives. The mob violence began on February 27 when Muslims in the town of Godhra set fire to a train carrying Hindu nationalists from Ayodhya, where they hoped to build a temple on the site where militants had destroyed a mosque in 1992. In retaliation for the train attack, which killed 59 people, Hindus went on a rampage in Ahmadabad and elsewhere, massacring hundreds of Muslims and leaving another 60,000 homeless. Bellicose rhetoric from Indian and Pakistani leaders resumed, and worries that conflict might escalate into nuclear war were heightened in May 2002, after Muslim militants killed 34 people, many of them women and children, at an army base near Jammu. India expelled Pakistan's ambassador, Pakistan conducted a series of missile tests, and Vajpayee proclaimed to Indian troops in Kashmir that the time had come for “decisive battle.” The U.S. sent several top national security officials to the subcontinent in an attempt to mediate the dispute, and tensions did ease. In January 2002, Agni, India's nuclear-capable ballistic missile, was successfully tested, and in July P.J. Abdul Kalam (1931– ), a scientist who had helped develop India's missile program, was elected as India's third Muslim head of state. The following year saw several breakthroughs: a cross-border trade agreement with China, India's positive response matching Pakistan's declaration of a Kashmir cease-fire, and the re-establishment of direct air links between India and Pakistan. Vajpayee called for early elections in May 2004, counting on favorable results, but he was defeated and resigned as prime minister and BJP leader. Congress Party Returns. The 2004 elections returned the Congress party and its allies to power; Mammon Singh (1932– ) was named as prime minister, after party president Sonia Gandhi declined the post. A Sikh born in West Punjab, Singh was India's first non-Hindu prime minister. A Cambridge-educated economist and former Central Bank governor and finance minister, he concluded agreements initiated by Vajpayee's government with China and Pakistan and campaigned for a permanent seat for India on the UN Security Council. More than 16,000 people in India were killed or said to be missing as a result of an Indian Ocean tsunami on Dec. 26, 2004, that devastated communities in the southern part of the subcontinent and in India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands. In March 2006, India and the U.S. reached a tentative nuclear
agreement during a visit by President
For further information on this topic, see the Bibliography, sections
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ENCYCLOPEDIA:
INDIAN ART AND ARCHITECTURE,
The art of India must be understood and judged in the context of the ideological, aesthetic, and ritual assumptions and needs of the Indian civilization. These two religions with their various offshoots were dominant in India until Islam became powerful from the 13th to the 18th century. . . .
This Day in History: 09/16/1932 - Gandhi Begins Fast
Video
1:00 min
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This Day In History: 01/26/1788 - Austrailia Day
Video
1:00 min
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Gandhi on His Religious Beliefs
Video
0:16 min
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Bhopal-Union Carbide Disaster
Video
0:51 min
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Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Denounces the United Nations
Video
1:14 min
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This Day in History: 09/16/1932 - Gandhi Begins Fast
1:00 min
On this day in 1932, in his cell at Yerovda Jail near Bombay, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi begins a hunger strike in protest of the British government's decision to separate India's electoral system by caste.
On this day in 1932, in his cell at Yerovda Jail near Bombay, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi begins a hunger strike in protest of the British government's decision to separate India's electoral system by caste.
This Day In History: 01/26/1788 - Austrailia Day
1:00 min
This Day in History, January 26th. Australia Day celebrates the founding of Australia led by Captain Arthur Phillip, the curtain goes up on the Phantom of the Opera and Condoleezza Rice is named the first woman Secretary of State on January 26th.
This Day in History, January 26th. Australia Day celebrates the founding of Australia led by Captain Arthur Phillip, the curtain goes up on the Phantom of the Opera and Condoleezza Rice is named the first woman Secretary of State on January 26th.
Gandhi on His Religious Beliefs
0:16 min
Mohandas Gandhi, born in Porbandar, India, on October 2, 1869, was as an important a spiritual leader in India as he was political pioneer. Educated in England, Gandhi was influenced by Western thought, but he also drew significant inspiration from h
Mohandas Gandhi, born in Porbandar, India, on October 2, 1869, was as an important a spiritual leader in India as he was political pioneer. Educated in England, Gandhi was influenced by Western thought, but he also drew significant inspiration from h
Bhopal-Union Carbide Disaster
0:51 min
In the early morning hours of December 3, 1984, a pesticide plant located in Bhopal, India leaked a toxic cloud of methyl isocyanate into the air.
In the early morning hours of December 3, 1984, a pesticide plant located in Bhopal, India leaked a toxic cloud of methyl isocyanate into the air.
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Denounces the United Nations
1:14 min
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the elected leader of West Pakistan, left the United Nations meeting in disgust after pleading West Pakistan's case with them. The Security Council, however, supported Bangladesh's independence and called for a cease-fire.
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the elected leader of West Pakistan, left the United Nations meeting in disgust after pleading West Pakistan's case with them. The Security Council, however, supported Bangladesh's independence and called for a cease-fire.
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