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1966–1977 1980–1984
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The Domestic policy of the Indira Gandhi government was the domestic policy of India from 1966 to 1984 during the premiership of Indira Gandhi until her assassination in 1984. Designed to covers a wide range of areas, including to increased focus on developing national security, social welfare, economic and social affair, money and taxes.
Despite the provisions, control and regulations of Reserve Bank of India, most banks in India had continued to be owned and operated by private persons. [1] Businessmen who owned the banks were often accused of channeling the deposits into their own companies, and ignoring the priority sector. Furthermore, there was a great resentment against class banking in India, which had left the poor (the majority population) unbanked. [2] After becoming Prime Minister, Gandhi expressed the intention of nationalising the banks in a paper titled, "Stray thoughts on Bank Nationalisation" in order to alleviate poverty. [3] The paper received the overwhelming support of the public. [3] In 1969, Gandhi moved to nationalise fourteen major commercial banks. After the nationalisation of banks, the branches of the public sector banks in India rose to approximate 800 percent in deposits, and advances took a huge jump by 11,000 percent. [4] Nationalisation also resulted in a significant growth in the geographical coverage of banks; the number of bank branches rose from 8,200 to over 62,000, most of which were opened in the unbanked, rural areas. The nationalization drive not only helped to increase household savings, but it also provided considerable investments in the informal sector, in small and medium-sized enterprises, and in agriculture, and contributed significantly to regional development and to the expansion of India's industrial and agricultural base. [5] Jayaprakash Narayan, who became famous for leading the opposition to Gandhi in the 1970s, was solid in his praise for her bank nationalisations. [2]
Having been re-elected in 1971 on a nationalisation platform, Gandhi proceeded to nationalise the coal, steel, copper, refining, cotton textiles, and insurance industries. [6] Most of these nationalisations were made to protect employment and the interest of the organised labour. [6] The remaining private sector industries were placed under strict regulatory control. [6]
During the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, foreign-owned private oil companies had refused to supply fuel to the Indian Navy and Indian Air Force. In response, Gandhi nationalised oil companies in 1973. [7] After nationalisation the oil majors such as the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), the Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) and the Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) had to keep a minimum stock level of oil, to be supplied to the military when needed. [8]
In 1966, Gandhi accepted the demands of the Akalis to reorganize Punjab on linguistic lines. The Hindi-speaking southern half of Punjab became a separate state, Haryana, while the Pahari speaking hilly areas in the north east were joined to Himachal Pradesh. [9] In doing so, she had hoped to ward off the growing political conflict between Hindu and Sikh groups in the region. [9] However, a contentious issue that was considered unresolved by the Akalis was the status of Chandigarh, a prosperous city on the Punjab-Haryana border, which Gandhi declared a union territory to be shared as a capital by both the states. [10]
Victory over Pakistan in 1971 consolidated Indian power in Kashmir. Gandhi indicated that she would make no major concessions on Kashmir. The most prominent of the Kashmiri separatists, Sheikh Abdullah, had to recognize India's control over Kashmir in light of the new order in South Asia. The situation was normalized in the years following the war after Abdullah agreed to an accord with Gandhi, by giving up the demand for a plebiscite in return for a special autonomous status for Kashmir. In 1975, Gandhi declared the state of Jammu and Kashmir as a constituent unit of India. The Kashmir conflict remained largely peaceful if frozen under Gandhi's premiership. [11]
In 1972, Gandhi granted statehood to Meghalaya, Manipur and Tripura, while the North-East Frontier Agency was declared a union territory and renamed Arunachal Pradesh. The transition to statehood for these territories was successfully overseen by her administration. [12] This was followed by the annexation of Sikkim in 1975. [13]
The principle of equal pay for equal work for both men and women was enshrined in the Indian Constitution under the Gandhi administration. [14]
Gandhi questioned the continued existence of a privy purse for former rulers of princely states. She argued the case for abolition based on equal rights for all citizens and the need to reduce the government's revenue deficit. The nobility responded by rallying around the Jana Sangh and other right-wing parties that stood in opposition to Gandhi's attempts to abolish royal privileges. [15] The motion to abolish privy purses, and the official recognition of the titles, was originally brought before the Parliament in 1970. It was passed in the Lok Sabha but felt short of the two-thirds majority in the Rajya Sabha by a single vote. [16] Gandhi responded by having a Presidential proclamation issued; de-recognizing the princes; with this withdrawal of recognition, their claims to privy purses were also legally lost. [16] However, the proclamation was struck down by the Supreme Court of India. [16] In 1971, Gandhi again motioned to abolish the privy purse. This time, it was successfully passed as the 26th Amendment to the Constitution of India. [15] Many royals tried to protest the abolition of the privy purse, primarily through campaigns to contest seats in elections. They, however, received a final setback when many of them were defeated by huge margins.[ citation needed ]
Gandhi claimed that only "clear vision, iron will and the strictest discipline" can remove poverty. [15] She justified the imposition of the state of emergency in 1975 in the name of the socialist mission of the Congress. [15] Armed with the power to rule by decree and without constitutional constraints, Gandhi embarked on a massive redistribution program. [15] The provisions included rapid enforcement of land ceilings, housing for landless labourers, the abolition of bonded labour and a moratorium on the debts of the poor. [15] North India was at the centre of the reforms; millions of acres of land were acquired and redistributed. [15] The government was also successful in procuring houses for landless labourers; according to Frankel, three-fourths of the targeted four million houses was achieved in 1975 alone. [15] Nevertheless, others have disputed the success of the program and criticized Gandhi for not doing enough to reform land ownership. The political economist, Jyotindra Das Gupta, cryptically questioned "...whether or not the real supporters of land-holders were in jail or in power?" [15] Critics also accused Gandhi of choosing to "talk left and act right", referring to her concurrent pro-business decisions and endeavours. [15] Rosser wrote that "some have even seen the declaration of emergency rule in 1975 as a move to suppress dissent against Gandhi's policy shift to the right." [6] Regardless of the controversy over the nature of the reforms, the long-term effects of the social changes gave rise to prominence of middle-ranking farmers from intermediate and lower castes in North India. [15] The rise of these newly empowered social classes challenged the political establishment of the Hindi Belt in the years to come. [15]
Under the Constitution of India of 1950, Hindi was to have become the official national language by 1965. This was not acceptable to many non-Hindi speaking states, who wanted the continued use of English in government. In 1967, Gandhi made a constitutional amendment that guaranteed the de facto use of both Hindi and English as official languages. This established the official government policy of bilingualism in India and satisfied the non-Hindi speaking Indian states. [17] Gandhi thus put herself forward as a leader with a pan-Indian vision. [18] Nevertheless, critics alleged that her stance was actually meant to weaken the position of rival Congress leaders from the northern states such as Uttar Pradesh, where there had been strong, sometimes violent, pro-Hindi agitations. [17] Gandhi came out of the language conflicts with the strong support of the south Indian populace. [18]
In the late 1960s and 1970s, Gandhi had the Indian army crush militant Communist uprisings in the Indian state of West Bengal. [19] The communist insurgency in India was completely suppressed during the state of emergency. [20] [21] [22]
Gandhi considered the north-eastern regions important, because of its strategic situation. [23] In 1966, the Mizo uprising took place against the government of India and overran almost the whole of the Mizoram region. Gandhi ordered the Indian Army to launch massive retaliatory strikes in response. The rebellion was suppressed with the Indian Air Force even carrying out airstrikes in Aizawl; this remains the only instance of India carrying out an airstrike in its own civilian territory. [12] [24] The defeat of Pakistan in 1971 and the secession of East Pakistan as pro-India Bangladesh led to the collapse of the Mizo separatist movement. In 1972, after the less extremist Mizo leaders came to the negotiating table, Gandhi upgraded Mizoram to the status of a union territory. A small-scale insurgency by some militants continued into the late 1970s but was successfully dealt with by the government. [12] The Mizo conflict was definitively resolved during the administration of Gandhi's son Rajiv. Today, Mizoram is considered as one of the most peaceful states in the north-east. [25]
Responding to the insurgency in Nagaland, Gandhi "unleashed a powerful military offensive" in the 1970s. [26] Finally, a massive crackdown on the insurgents took place during the state of emergency ordered by Gandhi. The insurgents soon agreed to surrender and signed the Shillong Accord in 1975. [27] While the agreement was considered a victory for the Indian government and ended large-scale conflicts, [28] there has since been spurts of violence by rebel holdouts and ethnic conflict amongst the tribes. [28]
Gandhi contributed and further carried out the vision of Jawaharlal Nehru, former Premier of India to develop the program. [29] [30] Gandhi authorized the development of nuclear weapons in 1967, in response to the Test No. 6 by People's Republic of China. Gandhi saw this test as Chinese nuclear intimidation, therefore, Gandhi promoted the views of Nehru to establish India's stability and security interests as independent from those of the nuclear superpowers. [31]
The program became fully mature in 1974, when Dr. Raja Ramanna reported to Gandhi that India had the ability to test its first nuclear weapon. Gandhi gave verbal authorisation of this test, and preparations were made in a long-constructed army base, the Indian Army Pokhran Test Range. [29] In 1974, India successfully conducted an underground nuclear test, unofficially code named as " Smiling Buddha ", near the desert village of Pokhran in Rajasthan. [32] As the world was quiet by this test, a vehement protest came forward from Pakistan. Great ire was raised in Pakistan and its Prime Minister, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, described this test as "Indian hegemony" to intimidate Pakistan. [33] In response to this Bhutto launched a massive campaign all over the Pakistan to make Pakistan a nuclear power. In these campaigns Bhutto asked the nation to get united and great slogans were raised such as hum ghaas aur pattay kha lay gay magar nuclear power ban k rhe gay (We will eat grass or leaves or even go hungry, but we will get nuclear power). Gandhi directed a letter to Bhutto and, later to the world, describing the test for peaceful purposes and India's commitment to develop its programme for industrial and scientific use. [34]
Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi was an Indian politician and stateswoman who served as the third prime minister of India from 1966 to 1977 and from 1980 until her assassination in 1984. She was India's first, and to date only, female prime minister and a central figure of the Indian National Congress. Gandhi was the daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of India, and the mother of Rajiv Gandhi, who succeeded her in office as the sixth Indian prime minister. Furthermore, Gandhi's cumulative tenure of 15 years and 350 days makes her the country's second-longest-serving prime minister after her father.
Operation Smiling Buddha or Operation Happy Krishna was the assigned code name of India's first successful nuclear bomb test on 18 May 1974. The bomb was detonated on the army base Pokhran Test Range (PTR), in Rajasthan, by the Indian Army under the supervision of several key Indian generals.
Since the Partition of British India in 1947 and subsequent creation of the dominions of India and Pakistan, the two countries have been involved in a number of wars, conflicts, and military standoffs. A long-running dispute over Kashmir and cross-border terrorism have been the predominant cause of conflict between the two states, with the exception of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, which occurred as a direct result of hostilities stemming from the Bangladesh Liberation War in erstwhile East Pakistan.
The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Empire in Asia and Africa. From the late 19th century, and especially after 1920, under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi, the Congress became the principal leader of the Indian independence movement. The Congress led India to independence from the United Kingdom, and significantly influenced other anti-colonial nationalist movements in the British Empire.
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was a Pakistani barrister and politician who served as the fourth President from 1971 to 1973, and later as the ninth Prime Minister of Pakistan from 1973 to 1977. His government drafted the Constitution of Pakistan in 1973, which remains in effect. He was the founder of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and served as its chairman until his execution. His daughter, Benazir Bhutto later led the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and was the 11th and 13th Prime Minister of Pakistan; his grandson, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is the current chairman of the PPP, and is serving as the Foreign Minister of Pakistan.
Durga Prasad Dhar, commonly known as D. P. Dhar (1918–1975), was a Kashmiri politician and an Indian diplomat, who is a considered a chief architect of the Indian intervention in the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War. Dhar was a close adviser and confidant of Indira Gandhi. He served as the Ambassador of India to the Soviet Union, and as a minister in the Government of Jammu and Kashmir as well as the Government of India.
Terrorism in India, according to the Home Ministry, poses a significant threat to the people of India. Compared to other countries, India faces a wide range of terror groups. Terrorism found in India includes Islamic terrorism, separatist terrorism, and left-wing terrorism India is one of the countries most impacted by terrorism.
The Pokhran-II tests were a series of five nuclear bomb test explosions conducted by India at the Indian Army's Pokhran Test Range in May 1998. It was the second instance of nuclear testing conducted by India; the first test, code-named Smiling Buddha, was conducted in May 1974.
The history of independent India began when the country became an independent nation within the British Commonwealth on 15 August 1947. Direct administration by the British, which began in 1858, affected a political and economic unification of the subcontinent. When British rule came to an end in 1947, the subcontinent was partitioned along religious lines into two separate countries—India, with a majority of Hindus, and Pakistan, with a majority of Muslims. 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 constitution adopted in 1950 made India a democratic country, and this democracy has been sustained since then. India's sustained democratic freedoms are unique among the world's newly independent states.
Gaj Singh, referred to as Bapji, is an Indian politician who served as a member of the Indian parliament and as Indian High Commissioner to Trinidad and Tobago. He became the titular Maharaja of Jodhpur in 1952.
The Indian National Congress was established when 72 delegates from all over the country met at Bombay in 1885. Prominent delegates included Dadabhai Naoroji, Surendranath Banerjee, Badruddin Tyabji, Pherozeshah Mehta W. C. Bonnerjee, S. Ramaswami Mudaliar, S. Subramania Iyer, and Romesh Chunder Dutt. The Englishman Allan Octavian Hume, a former British civil servant, was one of the founding members of the Indian National Congress.
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Karan Singh is an Indian politician and philosopher. He is the son of the last ruling Maharaja of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, Sir Hari Singh. He was the prince regent of Jammu and Kashmir until 1952. From 1952 to 1965 he was the Sadr-i-Riyasat (President) of the state of Jammu and Kashmir in the Republic of India. He is the chairperson trustee of the Dharmarth Trust of Jammu and Kashmir which maintains 175 temples in north India and works in other areas such as historical preservation.
The Indira–Sheikh Accord signed in 1975 between Kashmiri leader Sheikh Abdullah and then Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi, decided the terms under which Abdullah would reenter the politics of Kashmir. It allowed Abdullah to become Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir again after 22 years and enabled competitive politics in the State.
Sartaj Aziz is a Pakistani economist and a strategist, having previously served as the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission of Pakistan, member of the federal cabinet as the de facto Minister for Foreign Affairs, a Federal Senator as well as the National Security Advisor.
Secession in India typically refers to state secession, which is the withdrawal of one or more states from the Republic of India. Whereas, some have wanted a separate state, union territory or an autonomous administrative division within India. Many separatist movements exist with thousands of members, however, some have low local support and high voter participation in democratic elections. However, at the same time, demanding separate statehood within under the administration of Indian union from an existing state can lead to criminal charges under secession law in India. India is described as a ‘Union of States’ in Article 1 of the Indian constitution I.e indestructible nation of destructible states where a state or Union territory of India can't secede from India by any means.
Longri Ao (1906–1981), also known by name Longritangchetha, was an indigenenous Baptist missionary from the North-Eastern state of India, Nagaland. He was a missionary to the Konyak people and a peacemaker. He is known to have risked his life to restore peace in Nagaland, and to negotiate a ceasefire agreement between the Government of India and underground leaders fighting for Nagaland secession from India.
Gopalaswami Parthasarathy, often known simply as GP, was an Indian journalist, educationist, and diplomat who served as Permanent Representative to the United Nations from August 1965 to December 1968.
Bleed India with a Thousand Cuts is a military doctrine followed by the Pakistani military against India. It consists of waging covert war against India using insurgents at multiple locations. According to scholar Aparna Pande, this view was put forward in various studies by the Pakistani military, particularly in its Staff College, Quetta. Peter Chalk and Christine Fair cite the former director of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) explicating the strategy.
The foreign policy of the Indira Gandhi government was the foreign policy of India between 1967 and 1977 during the Indira Gandhi premiership. It included a focus on security, by fighting militants abroad and strengthening border defenses. On 30 October 1981 at the meeting organised to mark silver jubilee celebration of the School of International Studies, Gandhi said, "A country’s policy is shaped by many forces- its position on the map, and the countries which are its neighbours, the policies they adopt, and the actions they take, as well as its historical experiences in the aggregate and in terms of its particular success or traumas."
representatives of the underground organisations met the Governor of Nagaland, Shri L.P. Singh representing the Government of India, at Shillong on 10th and 11th November, 1975.
the historic "Shillong" signed at Shillong on November 11, 1975, by the Governor of Nagaland Mr. L.P Singh representing the Government of India and the underground leadership represented by Mr. Assa and Mr. Kevi Yalley
India's so-called Peaceful Nuclear Explosion (PNE) is tested and designed to intimidate and establish "Indian hegemony in the subcontinent", most particularly Pakistan...
