India From Independence to Today

What was Indira Gandhi like?

- she was inexperienced in politics, but she showed determination - she embraced democratic socialism and a policy of neutrality in foreign affairs, but she was more active in promoting her objectives than her father

In 1947, when British colonial rule came to an end after being in power for about 2 centuries, what two new independent nations appeared?

1. India 2. Pakistan

What happened when Gandhi organized mass protests but in 1919 got out of hand and led to violence and British reprisals?

British troops killed 100s of unarmed protestors in the enclosed square in the city of Amritsar. He was also arrested for his role in the protests

What happened after the death of Nehru? Give an example of what happened after her son Rajiv Ghandhi came into the picture

Divisiveness increased and official corruption grew. Hindu militants at Ayodhya in Northern India demanded the destruction of a mosque built on the traditional site of King Rama's birthplace where a Hindu temple had previously existed. In 1992, Hindu demonstrators destroyed the mosque and erected a temporary temple at the site providing clashes between Hindus and Muslims.

True or false: India refused to consider Pakistan's claim to Kashmir, even though the majority were Muslim

True. Eventually, tension between the two countries persisted, erupting into war in 1965. In 1971, when riots against the Pakistani government broke out in East Pakistan, India intervened on the side of East Pakistan, which declared its independence as the new nation of Bangladesh.

What was West Pakistan like? What was East Pakistan like?

West Pakistan: perennially short of water and nourished crops. The people were especially diverse and included, among others, Pushtuns, Baluchis, and Punjabis. East Pakistan: Made up of marshly deltas of rivers

When did the BJP, under prime minister A.B. Vajpayee, ascend to power and played on HIndu sensibilities to build its political base?

When a coalition government formed under Congress leadership collapsed

what contributed to the ongoing issue of overpopulation? what is today's trend when it comes to population size?

a decline in the death rate, especially the rate of infant mortality gave way to the continued growth of the population; nevertheless, as a result of media popularization and better government programs, the trend today, even in poor rural villages is toward smaller families

What happened when Indira Gandhi was not reelected in the general election?

a minority government of procapitalist parties was formed, but within 2 yrs, Gandhi was back in power.

Who were the most vocal source of anticolonialist sentiment?

a new urban middle class of westernized intellectuals, many of whom wore western clothes, spoke western languages, and worked in occupations connected w/ the colonial regime

What did the new civilian government of Pakistan, which is composed of an uneasy coalition of several political parties, faced?

a number of challenges in coping with multitude of problems affecting the country today; poverty and illiteracy along with massive flooding of Indus River which killed 2000 people and left many homeless

What were primary themes of Nehru's foreign policy?

anticolonialism and antiracism

Why did Pakistan become the focus of international attention in September 2001? How was President Musharaf involved? How was the situation complicated?

because a coalition arrived in Afghanistan to overthrow the Taliban regime and destroy Al Qaeda's network; President Musharaf became involved because despite considerable support for the Taliban in the local population, he still pledge to help bring terrorists to justice; he also promised to return to his country to the secular principles espoused by Mohammed Ali Jannah; his situation was complicated by renewed tensions with India over Kashmir and in a series of clashes between Hindus and Muslims

why was the congress party able to retain its preeminent position in indian politics for 3 decades?

because it led the independence movement and had a mass overwhelming support; the party also avoided being identified as a party exclusively for the Hindu majority by including prominent non-Hindus among its leaders and favoring measures to protect minority groups such as Sikhs and Muslims from discrimination

In the 1800s, the government introduced a measure of self-government for the 1st time, but efforts were sabotaged by British officials. What did the slow pace of reform convince many Indians?

convinced many Indian nationalists that relying on British benevolence was futile

There was a division between which type of people?

division was between the this "new class" who admired Western culture/sometimes harbored a deep sense of contempt for traditional way vs. those who strongly resented foreigners

what is the current trend in number of children a woman gives birth to? where did this decline in birth rates start?

down from 6 to 3; it began among the educated and is gradually spreading throughout Indian society

Before the Sepoy Rebellion, India conciousness focused on the question of religious identity, but in the latter half of the 19th century it focused on what?

focused on national conciousness that was provoked by the conservative policies and racial arrogance of the British Colonial authorities.

What did Gandhi do when the British attempted to suppress dissent?

he called on his followers to refuse to obey British regulations. He began to manufacture his own clothes, now dressing in a simple dhoti and adopted the spinning wheel as a symbol of Indian resistance to imports of British textiles

What did Gandhi combine his anticolonial activities with?

he combined it with an appeal to the spiritual instincts of all Indians. Though he had born and raised a Hindu, his universalist approach to the idea of G-d transcended individual religion, albeit shaped by the historical themes of Hindu belief

What did Muhammad Ali Jinnah, leader of the Muslim League, demand after WW2 when battles between Hindus and Muslims broke out?

he demanded the creation of a separate state for each ethnic group

What did Sutan Sjahrir lament?

he lamented that many westernized intellectuals had more in common w/ their colonial rulers w/ the rural population in the villages

With did Rajiv Gandhi prove? With him, what did India begin to do?

he proved to be more receptive to foreign investment and a greater role for the private sector in the economy. With him India began to export more manufactured goods. State-run industries went into private hands.

What had Mahatma Gandhi warned about partition though?

he warned that partition would provoke "an orgy of blood", but he was now regarded as a figure of the past, and his views were ignored

Who was Gopal Gokhale?

he was a moderate nationalist who hoped that he could convince the British to bring about needed reforms in Indian society

What was Nehru convinced about? How did this differ from Gandhi?

he was convinced that to succeed, India must industrialize. Gandhi, on the other hand, was convinced that materialism was morally corrupting and that only simplicity and nonviolence (traditional Indian village + spinning wheel symbol) could save India and the world itself from self-destruction

why did communal divisions intensify? what did the militant hindu groups want?

hindu groups demanded a state that would cater to the hindu majority; some textbooks were rewritten to reflect a more hindu oriented vision of history including that the Indus Valley civilization was founded by Aryan peoples, the Hindu's ancestors

What was Gandhi's goal? What was his concern?

his goal was two-fold: to convert the British to his views while simultaneously strengthening the unity and sense of self-respect of his compatriots. He was particularly concerned about the plight of the millions of untouchables whom he called harjans or "children of G-d"

Even though the new class was eager to introduce Western ideas and institutions into their own societies, these intellectuals were dismayed at the gap between what?

ideal and reality, theory and practice. Equality in economic opportunity and social life was also noticeably lacking. Many of the indigenous population were relegated to low-lvl jobs and were paid less than the Europeans. Out of this mixture of hopes and resentments eventually came the 1st stirrings of modern nationalism in Asia and Africa. During the 1st quarter of the century, educated indigenous peoples began to organize political parties and movements seeking reforms on the end of foreign rule and the restoration of independence.

How did Pakistan respond to the destruction of the mosque in India in 1992?

in protest, rioters destroyed a number of hindu shrines in that country as well.

in theory, what did India become? how did this differentiate from reality?

in theory india became a full fledge democracy on the british parliament's remodel; in actuality, a number of distinctive characteristics made the system less than fully democratic in the Western's sense, but may have also enabled it to survive.

How did the economy change in the 1970s?

industrial growth slowed, the lack of modern infrastructure was a problem as was the rising price of oil, most of which had to be imported; the major economic weakness in india was agriculture

What did Indira Gandhi do with regards to overpopulation? how was this plan received?

instituted a program combining monetary rewards and compulsory sterilization; males who fathered too many kids had to undergo vasectomies; the plan received popular resistance and it was scaled back in the 70s

What was Bengaluru like?

it had become an important tech center, benefiting from low wages and the presence of skilled labor w/ proficiency in the English language

What did the 2008 terrorist attack in Mumbai do?

it left 200 dead and raised serious questions about the effectiveness of Indian security procedures. India charged the attack on Pakistan

What did the first stage of resistance to the West in Africa and Asia show to the colonizers?

it resulted in humiliation and failure which confirmed the Westerner's convictions that colonial peoples lacked both the strength and the know-how to create modern states and govern their own destinies. This is when the rise of nationalism began?

When Gandhi was in prison in 1921, the British passed the Government of India Act. What did this do?

it transformed the advisory Legislative Council into a bicameral parliament. With this, 9 million Indians were enfranchised, but such reforms were no longer enough for many members of the INC, who wanted to push aggressively for full independence. The British then exacerbated the situation by increasing the salt tax and prohibiting the Indian people from manufacturing or harvesting their own salt.

What did the breakup of the union do?

it undermined the fragile authority of the military regime that had ruled Pakistan since 1958 and led to its replacement by a civilian government under Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. But now religious tensions came to the fore, despite a new constitution that made a # of key concessions to conservative Muslims

Under British authority, India had been linked to what?

it was way more linked to the global capitalist economy. The experience brought only limited benefits to the local peoples; little industrial development took place, and the bulk profits went into the pockets of Western entrepreneurs

Why did most urban intellectuals have difficulty communicating w/ the teeming population in the countryside?

many of them did not understand such complicated and unfamiliar concepts as democracy and nationhood

what was the status of agriculture around Independence's times?

mechanization was almost unknown, fertilizers were rarely used and most farms were small and uneconomical because of the hindu tradition of dividing the land equally among all male children; as a result, the majority of the indian people lived in conditions of poverty

The BJP based its success on what?

on an aggressive program of privatization in the industrial and commercial sectors and made a major effect to promote the nation's small but growing technological base

What was the problem after Nehru's death?

party officials became complacent and all too easy fell prey to the temptations of corruption and pork barrel politics; the other problem was communalism; beneath the surface unity of the new republic laid old age ethnic, linguistic, and religious divisions; because of india's vast size and complex history, no national language had ever emerged

What happened in the eastern state of Orissa?

pitched battles broke out between Hindus and Christians over efforts by the latter to win converts to their faith

W/ Nehru's emergence, the independence movement embarked on 2 paths. What were they?

religious and secular, Indian and Western, traditional and modern

Growing political instability at the center was accompanied by what?

rising tensions between Hindus and Muslims

What did Indira Gandhi do to combat rural property?

she nationalized banks, provided loans to peasants, built low-cost housing, distributed land, and introduced electoral reforms to enfranchise the poor

What was another one of Indira Gandhi's concerns? What did she do?

she was also concerned by India's growing population. In an effort to curb the growth rate, she adopted a policy of enforced sterilization. This policy was unpopular and along w/ growing official corruption and her authoritarian tactics, it led to her defeat in general election. This was the 1st time that the Congress Party had failed to win a majority at the national lvl.

what did the new constitution of India call for?

social justice, liberty, equality of status and opportunity, and brotherhood; all citizens were guaranteed protection from discrimination on grounds of religious beliefs, race, caste, sex, or place of birth

What was Nehrus's answer to social and economic inequality?

socialism; he instituted a series of 5 year plans which led to the creation of a relatively large and reasonably efficient state-run manufacturing sector, centered on steel, vehicles and textiles; industrial production almost tripled and per capita rose by 50%

What happened as Musharaf sought to fend off challenges from radical muslim groups?

some of them allied with taliban forces in Afghanistan; secular opposition figures criticized the authoritarian nature of his regime

How did the so called "green revolution impact India?

starting in the 1960s, it helped reduce the severity of the population problem; the introduction of more products, disease resistant strains of rice and wheat doubled grain production but it also increased rural inequality; only wealthy farmers could purchase the fertilizer and millions fled to cities and lives in slums, working menial jobs or begging in the streets.

What was Muhammad Ali Jinnah's vision of a democratic state?

that it would assume freedom of religion and equal treatment for all was opposed by those who advocated a state based on Islamic principles

what was the court's decision in 2010 with regards to the land where the mosque had been?

that the land be divided between hindu/muslims

What was Nehru's government's 1st problem?

the 1st problem they had to address was that the rulers of Hyderabad and Kashmir had both followed their own preferences rather than wishes of population. Nehru was determined to include both states within India. In 1948, Indian troops invaded Hyderabad and annexed the area. India was also able to seize most of Kashmir, but at the cost of creating an intractable problem that has poisoned relations w/ Pakistan to present day.

What did the dual character of the INC leadership bring together?

the 2 primary impulses behind the desire for independence: elite nationalism and the primal force of Indian traditionalism. But it portended trouble for the nation's new leadership in defining India's future path in the contemporary world

What happened as a result of the BJP's mistake?

the Congress Party returned to power at the head of a coalition government based on a commitment to maintain economic growth while carrying out reforms in rural areas, including public works projects, but sectarian strife between Hindus and Muslims, as well as pervasive official corruption, continued to bedevil the government

What happened when Rajiv Gandhi died?

the Congress party remained the leading party, but the powerful hold it had once had on Indian electorate was gone. New parties, such as the militantly Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) actively vied w/ Congress for control of the central/state government.

What party assumed governing responsibility under Jawaharlal Nehru?

the Indian National Congress, now renamed the Congress Party

What was one consequence of India's entry into the industrial age?

the emergence of a small, but vibrant technological sector that provides many important services to the world's advanced nations. India aint about that sharing caring life

What major event did nationalism and anticolonialism follow?

the end of World War 2

what did the government try to do to make up for the fact that landless laborers outnumbered land owners by almost 2 to 1? was this successful?

the government attempted to relieve the problem by redistributing land to the poor, limiting the size of landholdings and encouraging farmers to form voluntary cooperatives; no, all three programs ran into widespread opposition and overpopulation did not help

What happens as military elites continue to press their own agenda?

the sense of nationalism remains fragile

What have nationalist parties played on in order to force the cancellation of some contracts and the relocation of some foreign firms

the widespread fear of foreign economic influence

What did India adopt?

they adopted a political system on the British model - A # of political parties were adopted, but the Congress Party was central - Influenced by socialism - Patterned his economic policy roughly after the program of the British Labour Party - State took ownership of the major industries/resources, transportation, and utilities, while private enterprise was permitted at local lvl and retail lvls - farmland remained in private hands, but rural cooperatives were officially encouraged - government also sought to avoid excessive dependence on foreign investment and technological assistance. All businesses required to have majority Indian ownership.

Who are the Pushtuns?

they are a group organized on a tribal basis and have kinship ties with the majority population across the border of Afghanistan. Many are nomadic and cross the border on regular basis w/ their flocks.

What did Pakistani troops attempt to do when East Pakistan declared independence?

they attempted to restore central government authority in the capital Dhaka, but rebel forces supported by India went offensive, and the government bowed to the inevitable and recognized independent Bangladesh

In 1940, what did the Muslim League call for?

they called for the creation of a separate Muslim state of Pakistan "land of pure". As communal strife between Hindus and Muslims increased, many Indians came to realize w/ sorrow (and some British colonialists w/ satisfaction) that British rule was all that stood between peace and civil war.

What was the status of the Labour Party, which had long been critical of British colonial policies on both moral and economic grounds?

they came to power in Britain, and the new prime minister, Clement Attlee, announced that governing authority would be transferred to "responsible Indian hands" by June 1948

What did many in East Pakistan feel? What happened as a result?

they felt that the government, based in the west, ignored their needs. As a result, in 1952, riots erupted over the government's decision to adopt Urdu, a language derived from Hindi and used by Muslims in northern India, as the national language. Most East Pakistanis spoke Bengali, an unrelated language. Tensions persisted and in 1971, East Pakistan declared its independence and became Bangladesh

What was a fault of the BJP?

they had underestimated the discount of India's less affluent citizens and in 2004, a stunning defeat in national elections forced the Vajpayee government to resign.

What had the British instructed the rulers in the princely states to do?

they instructed them to choose which nation they would join, but problems arose in predominantly Hindu Hyderabad, where the governor was a Muslim, in a province of Jammu and Kashmir, where a Hindu prince ruled over a Muslim population. After independence was declared, the fight of millions of Hindus and Muslims across the borders led to violence and the deaths of more than a million people. One of the casualties was Gandhi, who was assassinated. The assassin, a Hindu militant, was apparently motivated by Gandhi's opposition to a strictly Hindu India.

At 1st, what did many of the Indian nationalists prefer?

they preferred reforms to revolution and believed that India needed modernization before it could handle independence

Who were the Baluchis?

they straddled the border w/ Iran, while the region of Punjab was divided between Pakistan and India at moment of independence

How did India involve themselves in foreign conflicts?

they took neutral stances. For example during the Cold War, they did not side with the Soviet Union or with the States. This neutrality put them at odds with the U.S. who at the time was trying to mobilize all nations against international communism. As addition to taking neutral stances, they also sought to provide leadership to all newly independent nations in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

The first Indian nationalists were what?

they were upper class and educated. Some of them trained in law and others were members of civil service

What happened when Nehru died in 1964? Who was his successor?

this aroused concern that Indian democracy was dependent on the Nehru mystique. When his successor died, the Congress leaders selected Nehru's daughter, Indira Gandhi.

How did state-run industries going into private hands help?

this helped with stimulating the growth of a prosperous middle class. Consumerism has soared and sales in tech had increased. Western imports were being replaced by new products manufactured in India w/ Indian brand names

True or false: the imminence of independence had no effect on communal strife?

true; as riots escalated, the British reluctantly accepted the inevitability of partition and declared that on August 15, 1947, 2 independent nations- Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan- would be established.

When Pakistan achieved independence, what was it like?

unlike India, it was based on religious conviction rather than historical or ethnic tradition. Physically, it consisted of two separate territories 2,000 miles apart

when did the internal division within the country's ruling class become painfully apparent?

when the Al qaeda's leader Osama BIn Laden was killed in a US raid; the terrorists had been secretly living in a villa in the military town of Abbott Abad, within two hours drive of national capital of Islamabad; many observers suspected that elements within the pakistani military were aware of his presence

At 1st, what did the leaders of nationalist movements focus on?

Economic interests or religion beliefs, not on the idea of nationhood. For example, Burma= the 1st expression of modern nationalism from students who protested against official persecution of the Buddhist religion and British failure to observe local customs in Buddhist temples. The students adopted the name "Thakin"- a polite term that means "lord" or "master" thereby emphasizing their demand for the right to rule themselves. Another Example= In Dutch Indies, Sarekat Islam (Islamic Association) began as a self-help society among Muslim merchants to fight domination of the local economy by Chinese interests. They eventually realized that Chinese merchants weren't the source of the problem, but the colonial presence. They transformed into a new organization, the Nationalist Party of Indonesia (PNI) that focused on national independence. Like the Thakins in Burma, this party would eventually lead the country to independence after WW 2.

during colonial period, what was the official language in India?

English but it was only used by educated elite and it represented a front to national pride; eventually India recognized 14 official languages making the parliament sometimes sound like the Tower of Babel

When Gandhi returned to India what did he immediately do?

He became active in the independence movement. Using his experience in South Africa, he set up a movement based on nonviolent resistance- the Hindi term was Satyagraha meaning "hold fast to the truth"- to try to force the British to improve the lot of poor and grant independence to India.

What did Mohandas Gandhi become aware of?

He became aware of the racial prejudice and exploitation experienced by Indians living in the territory and tried to organize them to protect their interests

What did Gandhi, who by this time was no released from prison, do in response to the salt tax and prohibition of Indian people manufacturing their own salt?

He returned to his earlier policy of civil disobedience by openly joining several dozen supporters in a 240 mile walk to the sea, where he picked up a lump of salt and urged Indians to ignore the law

Who succeeded Benazir Bhutto as president of Pakistan?

Her husband, Asif Ali Zardari

Who succeeded Indira Gandhi? What was he like?

Her son, Rajiv Gandhi, who was persuaded to take her place as prime minister. He lacked the strong ideological and political convictions of his mother and grandfather and allowed a greater role for private enterprise.

What was Rajiv Gandhi's government like?

His government was criticized for cronyism, inefficiency, corruption, and insensitivity to the poor. He sought to play a role in regional affairs, mediating a dispute between the government in Sri Lanka and Tamil Rebels (known as the Elam Tigers) who were ethnically related to the majority population in Southern India. The decision cost him his life.

What happened as a result of Indian nationalist impatience with relying on the British?

In 1885, a small group of Indians, w/ some British participation, met in Bombay to form the Indian National Congress. They hoped to speak for all India. They did not demand immediate independence. They also difficulty reconciling religious differences within its ranks. The stated goal for the INC was to seek self-determination for all Indians regardless of class or religious affiliation, but many of its leaders were Hindu and reflected Hindu concerns. The separate Muslim League was created

Who is Manmohan Singh?

India's prime minister since 2004 who has lamented what he calls "an assault on India's composite culture"

What was the most dangerous situation that Indira Gandhi was involved in?

It was in Punjab where militant Sikhs were demanding autonomy or even independence from India. Gandhi did not shrink from a confrontation and attacked Sikh rebels hiding in their Golden Temple in the city of Amritsar. The incident aroused widespread anger among the Sikh community, and in 1984, Sikh members of Gandhi's personal bodyguard assassinated her.

Who became a new figure that entered the movement in the 1930s?

Jawaharlal Nehru. He was an educated person in law in Great Britain and a brahmin by birth. He personified the new Anglo-Indian politician: secular, rational, upper-class, and intellectual. He was everything Gandhi was not.

After Zia was killed in a plane crash what happened?

Pakistanis elected Benazir Bhutto. She was a supporter of secularism and was educated in the US. She was removed from power by military regime in 1990 on charged of incompetence and corruption. She was reelected in 1993 and attempted to crack down on opposition forces, but was removed again. Her successor soon came under fire for the same reason and in 1999 was ousted by a military coup led by General Pervaiz Musharaf who promised to restore political stability and honest government.

What happened in 2003?

Relations began to improve as both sides promised to seek a peaceful solution to the Kashmir dispute

What happened In 1977, when a new military government under General Zia Ul Ha'q came to power with a commitment to make Pakistan a true Islamic state?

Shari'a became the basis for social behavior and for legal system

What problem did Indira Gandhi now face when she was brought back to power?

She now faced new challenges in the rise of religious strife

What happened when Benazir Bhutto returned from exile to present herself for presidential elections?

She was assassinated, leading to widespread suspicions of official involvement

What was the answer over such questions as whether independence or modernization should be their primary objective?

The answer depended on how the colonial regime was perceived. If it was viewed as a source of needed reforms in a traditional society, a gradualist approach made sense. But if it was seen as a impediment of change, the 1st priority, in the minds of many, was to bring it to an end.

True or false: Women became very active in the fight for independence?

True, they accounted for 20,000 of the people arrested and jailed for taking part in demonstrations. A lot of women marched, picketed foreign shops, and promoted the spinning and wearing of homemade clothes. They promoted a number of reforms including education, introduction of birth control devices, abolition of child marriage, and universal suffrage. In 1929, the Sarda Act raised the minimum age of marriage to 14.