IB History: Indian Democracy
Dalits
Untouchables
Mandal Commission
A government-appointed commission 1n 1978 after the "Emergency" to consider seat "reservations" and quotas to redress caste discrimination.
Mohammad Jinnah
Leader of the Muslim League; proponent of partition; First Prime Minister of Pakistan
Dalai Lama
the spiritual head of Tibetan Buddhism and, until the establishment of Chinese communist rule, the spiritual and temporal ruler of Tibet. Given asylum by India.
New Delhi
urban state that also serves as Capital of India
Mahatma
"Great Soul"; title given to Gandhi
Dalit Panthers
1970s advocacy group for the rights of untouchables
Rajendra Prasad
1st President of India (head of state; ceremonial) of 1952-62. An early supporter of Gandhi, he was chosen as the President of the Constituent Assembly of India charged with writing the new Constitution of the republic.
Akali Dal
A Sikh political party meaning "Army of the Immortals" who demanded more Sikh control in the Punjab region of India, led mass demostrations in the 1950s, and that drastically grew in the 1970's
Indian National Congress (INC)
A movement and political party founded in 1885 to demand greater Indian participation in government. Its membership was middle class, and its demands were modest until World War I. Led after 1920 by Mohandas K. Gandhi, appealing to the poor. Most powerful political party in Indian Republic still today.
civil disobedience
A nonviolent, public refusal to obey allegedly unjust laws.
Kashmir
A region of northern India and Pakistan over which several destructive wars have been fought
communalism
A term, usually associated with India, that placed an emphasis on religious rather than national identity. Promoted violence between Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs.
National Day of Prayer and Fasting
April 6, 1919 at the suggestion of Gandhi in protest of the Rowlatt Act, nearly the entire nation went on strike and ground the entire economy including transportation to a screeching halt.
Sunil Khilnani
Author of Ideas of India who argues that while Hindu nationalism, regionalism, immense poverty, conflicts with neighboring nations, and Indira Gandhi's autocratic tendencies, "the idea of India retains a remarkable tenacity" and democracy has persisted "against the grain" because of its "imaginative potency".
Raj
British rule after India came under the British crown during the reign of Queen Victoria; literally "rule"
Prime Minister of India
Chief Executive of the Government of India and head of the Council of Ministers (cabinet). Must be a member of the political party or coalition, having a majority in the Lok Sabha who elects him/her. The first Prime Minister of India was Jawaharlal Nehru.
Reginald Dyer
English general who banned all public meetings in Sikh holy city of Amritsar during a religious festival and then proceeded to massacre unarmed civilians in 1919
Muslim League
Founded in 1906 to better support demands of Muslims for separate electorates and legislative seats in Hindu-dominated India; represented division within Indian nationalist movement
President's Rule
In India, the government's power to remove elected state officials and replace them with appointees from Delhi.
Smiling Buddha
India's first nuclear weapons test conducted in 1974. India tested again in 1998. It has ~100 nuclear weapons.
E.M.S. Namboodiripad
Indian communist politician and theorist, who served as the first Chief Minister of Kerala, a state in Southwestern India
passive resistance
Nonviolent action or opposition to authority, often in accord with religious or moral beliefs
RTI activists
Organizers who have utilized the 2005 Right to Information Act to expose corruption among Indian politicians.
Government of India Act
Passed in 1935 by the british parliament, this provided local self government in india and limited democratic elections.
Lok Sabha
The lower house of parliament in India, where all major legislation must pass before becoming law.
Indo-Pakistani War of 1965
a culmination of skirmishes that took place between April 1965 and September 1965 between Pakistan and India over the Kashmir region.
Imperial Legislative Council of India
a legislature for British India from 1861 to 1947. Dissolved by the Indian Independence Act of 1947.
caste system
a set of rigid social categories that determined not only a person's occupation and economic potential, but also his or her position in society
Hindu Succession Act of 1956
gave women equality with men as heirs and property owners
Punjab
state in northwestern India with a largely Sikh population
Balkanization
The contentious political process by which a state may break up into smaller states often hostile to one another. Term first used to describe the southeastern peninsula of Europe after the post-WWI collapse of the Ottoman Empire and again in the breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s. .
Uttar Pradesh
largest state of India by population adjacent to New Dehli and including city of Agra, home of the Taj Mahal
swadeshi
literally "self-reliance," a boycott of british goods to make English make concessions for Indians
Rowlatt Act (1919)
placed severe restrictions on key Indian civil rights
secularism
the view that religion should be completely separated from government and public education.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
"Indian People's Party". A conservative Hindu-based political party in India which often has been reluctant to compromise with Muslim and Sikh interests. This has slowed efforts by some to seek common approaches to development challenges.
B.R. Ambedkar
(Baba) was a philosopher, politician, and leader of the Dalits. He played a major role in the formation of the Indian Constitution. He was well-educated and had a law degree from Colombia. He converted to Buddhism before dying which led to revival of Buddhism in India. Led movement of Hindu untouchables and led 500,000 dalits to convert to Buddhism in 1956.
Lord Mountbatten
- The last British viceroy of India who was in charge of speeding up the process of partition in India. (and whose wife may have cheated with Nehru)
Sino-Indian War
1962, Himalayan border dispute, tensions over China's Tibet policy and India's asylum to the Dalai Lama, border disputes erupted into war 10/10/62 at same time as Cuban Missile Crisis; later US gave Indian U2 intelligence, Soviets gave MIG fighters, China victorious 11/20/62, furious with Soviets
Vallabhbhai Patel
1st Deputy Prime Minister of India. Called the "Iron Man of India" and the "Unifier of India" because of his role in making sure, with the threat of military force, that all 575 of the self-governing princely states acceded to the newly independent India.
Bahadur Shastri
2nd Prime Minister of India whose own unexpected death gave way to Indira Gandhi's rise to the position. He was PM during the Indo-Pakistan War of 1965
Constitution of India
Adopted on January 26, 1950 advocating a "trinity" of Justice, Liberty, and Equality
neocolonialism
Also called economic imperialism, this is the domination of newly independent countries by industrialized nations and international business interests that causes colonial-style economies to continue.
East India Company
An English company formed in 1600 to develop trade with the new British colonies in India and southeastern Asia.
untouchables
An Indian social class that emerged below the Sudras and whose members performed the most unclean and polluting work.
Bipan Chandra
Author of India After Independence. argued that Nehru was a visionary leader but didn't succeed in putting his ideas into practice (i.e. failed education system which only reached a few, failure to fight communalism / sectarianism, and land reforms that left inequality in rural India.)
Indo-Pakistani War of 1971
Conflict that resulted in the creation of Bangladesh, formerly East Pakistan, and established India as the dominant power in Southern Asia.
Indira Gandhi
Daughter of Nehru who served as prime minister of India from 1966 to 1977 and again from 1980 to 1984 when she was assassinated by two of her won bodyguards who were Sikh nationalists. She was known for her intransigent leadership and declaration of emergency during which civil liberties were curtailed including freedom of the press. She presided over the war with Pakistan, the creation of Bangladesh, and the formation of Indian nuclear power in 1974.
Jawaharlal Nehru
Indian statesman. He succeeded Mohandas K. Gandhi as leader of the Indian National Congress. He negotiated the end of British colonial rule in India and became India's first prime minister (1947-1964).
Rajiv Gandhi
Indira's son (nehru's grandson) and was prime minister of india 1985-1989. Had some reform of economy and gov't but also faced rebellion and was assassinated by Tamil Tigers.
Mohandas Gandhi
Leader of the Indian independence movement and advocate of nonviolent resistance. After being educated as a lawyer in England, he returned to India and became leader of the Indian National Congress in 1920. Considered "Father of modern India"
Hindus
Majority religious group in India; Minority in Pakistan
Muslims
Minority religious group in India; Majority in Pakistan
Community Development Programme
Proposal by Nehru in 1952 to promote improvements in all aspects of rural life such as agricultural methods, communication, health and education. While stressing self-reliance, the program may have increased reliance on and expectations of government, according to historian Bipan Chandra.
Kerala
Southwestern Indian state governed by Communists; famous for its high rates of literacy, low rates of fertility, and low population growth
Nehru's 5 year plans
The first from 1951-56 focused on increasing agricultural production; the second from 1956-61 emphasized large scale industrial development; and the third from 1961-66 aimed to make India self-sufficient in basic foodstuffs. All three aimed at decreasing unemployment. Overall, agriculture grew by 25% in the first and another 20% in the second. Industrial production more than doubled in 15 years.
Sepoy Rebellion
The revolt of Indian soldiers in 1857 against certain practices that violated religious customs; also known as the Sepoy Mutiny.
Rajya Sabha
The upper house of India's Federal Parliament; the indirectly elected Council of States.
Dowry
a gift of money or property paid at the time of marriage, either by the bride's parents to her husband
Indian Independence Act
an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that partitioned British India into the two new independent dominions of India and Pakistan in 1947.
Amritsar Massacre
an incident in 1919 in which British troops fired on an unarmed crowd of Indian nationalists killing hundreds
Ramachandra Guha
author of India After Gandhi who argues that the "axes of conflict" in post-colonial Indian society are religion, language, caste, class, and gender.
partition
divide into parts, as in India and Pakistan
Hindu Marriage Act 1955
gave women equality with men in regards to marriage, divorce, and other related matters
Supreme Court of India
independent judicial branch of the new Indian republic.
Bombay riots
large scale protests in 1992-93 by Muslims after the demolition of a 16th Century mosque by Hindus. Violence resulted in over 700 deaths.
Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto
leader of Pakistan during the 1970s who played an integral part in the nation's development of a "Muslim Bomb" (nuclear program) in competition with Indira Gandhi's India
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)
militaristic right wing Hindu organization which opposed creation of a secular India. Ghandi's assassin was a member. Nehru banned the group and arrested many of its leaders afterwards.
Brahmans
one of the varnas in the Hindu caste system; the priestly class (in charge of the religious ceremonies that were so important in Indian society)
Salt march
passive resistance campaign of Mohandas Gandhi where many Indians protested the British tax on salt by marching to the sea to make their own salt.
non-alliance
policy adopted by India and other developing countries that were unwilling to take sides between the West and the Soviet bloc in the Cold War. They declared themselves to be the "Third World," not allied to either the First World (the West) or the Second World (the Soviet Bloc)
Homespun Movement
protest in India lead by Ghandi, against British goods; Indians stopped wearing clothes made from British cloth and started making their own
Quit India Campaign
refused Indian political support to Britain's efforts in World War II until independence was granted; British jailed hundreds of Congress leaders.
Sheik Mohammed Abdullah
self-styled "lion of Kashmir"; intermittent
ethnic cleansing
the expulsion of a population from a certain area; the forced displacement of an ethnic or religious minority. The term was first used to refer to the events in the civil wars in Yugoslavia in the 1990s.
President of India
the head of state of India and the commander-in-chief of the Indian Armed Forces. The President is referred to as the first citizen of India. Although vested with these powers by the Constitution of India, the position is largely a ceremonial one and executive powers are de facto exercised by the Prime Minister. Elected by the Electoral College, including members of both houses of Parliament, the President serves a 5 year term. The first President from 1952-62 was Rajendra Prasad.
viceroy
the highest official in the British colonial administration, who ruled India on behalf of the monarch. Although there was a great deal of status, material comfort, and wealth attached to the position, he had limited power to influence policy, which was decided by the British Government in London and implemented by the Secretary of State for India.
Reservations System
the proportional system through which lower castes and tribals are allocated jobs and educational positions in government employment
Constitutent Assembly of India
was elected to write the Constitution of India. Following India's independence from Great Britain in 1947, its members served as the nation's first Parliament.