India is the world's largest democracy and, according to UN estimates, its population is expected to overtake China's in 2028 to become the world's most populous nation. Find out your sunsign's pick, Oatmeal mistakes to avoid while losing weight, US universities predict higher numbers from pent-up demand; Indian students hopeful of returning to campus this Fall, Sikh referees Bhupinder, Sunny Gill to make English Football League history, Cricketer Kapil Dev supports Indian American running for Rep nomination for Virginia LG position, Karnataka university exams will be conducted as scheduled: Dy CM, NEET PG admit card 2021 today at nbe.edu.in; exam on April 18, When Anu Malik was disappointed with Neha. In the north, it borders countries including Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and China. Most of the questions from Indian Politics on Parliament, State commission, Election commission, Fundamental rights, Public service commission, Constitution of India, and more. The status is reviewed periodically by the Election Commission of India (ECI). The nominal head of India’s republic, however, was a president, who was indirectly elected. The caste that one belongs to serves as a strong determinant of his or her voting pattern. Its maharaja was Hindu, but about three-fourths of its population was Muslim, and the region itself was contiguous to both new dominions, sitting like a crown atop South Asia. These principles were, ironically, articulated in a treaty with China over the Tibet region in 1954, when Nehru still hoped for Sino-Indian “brotherhood” and leadership of a “Third World” of nonviolent nations, recently independent of colonial rule, eager to save the world from Cold War superpower confrontation and nuclear annihilation. Ring in the new year with a Britannica Membership, India from the Paleolithic Period to the decline of the Indus civilization, The earliest agriculturalists and pastoralists, Neolithic agriculture in the Indus valley and Baluchistan, Extent and chronology of Early Harappan culture, Language and scripts, weights and measures, The Post-Urban Period in northwestern India, The late 2nd millennium and the reemergence of urbanism, Peninsular India in the aftermath of the Indus civilization (c. 2000–1000, The development of Indian civilization from c. 1500, Traditional approaches to Indian historiography, The beginning of the historical period, c. 500–150, North India under Muslim hegemony, c. 1200–1526, Taxation and distribution of revenue resources, The Muslim states of southern India, c. 1350–1680, Extension and consolidation of the empire, Central, provincial, and local government, Organization of the nobility and the army, The emperor, the nobility, and the provinces, The Afghan-Maratha struggle for northern India, Political and economic decentralization during the Mughal decline, The Afghan factor in northern India, 1747–72, Cultural aspects of the late precolonial order, India and European expansion, c. 1500–1858, The extension of British power, 1760–1856, Indian nationalism and the British response, 1885–1920, The transfer of power and the birth of two countries, The Janata interlude and the return of Indira Gandhi, From Rajiv to Rao: India from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s, V.P. The elected members of the Rajya Sabha serve 6-year terms, with one-third up for election every 2 years. Hyderabad [in Telangana] served as the capital of each state.) The dark cloud of partition, however, hovered for years in the aftermath of India’s independence, and India and Pakistan were left suspicious of one another’s incitements to border violence. Thisvolume is the result of the work of the Committee on State Politics in India, an informal group organized by the editor under the auspices of the Committee on South Asia of the Association for Asian Studies to further our understanding of political development in the states of This symposium represents a first effort to deal systematically with politics in the Indian states, and we are painfully aware of its … As modernity brought added comforts and pleasure to India’s urban elite, the gap between the larger industrial urban centres and the areas of extensive rural poverty became greater. After China had reasserted its authority over Tibet in 1950, it began appealing to India—but to no avail—for negotiations over the border. As a Fabian socialist, Nehru had great faith in economic planning and personally chaired his government’s Planning Commission. VIDHAN SABHA Governor elected by President of India VIDHAN PARISHAD 1. Ancient Indian History; Moden Indian History; World History; UPSC Exam; Login/Register; Our Publications . The politics in India is different from the politics in other government in the world. The social reformer Vinoba Bhave started a bhoodan (“gift of land”) movement, in which he walked from village to village and asked large landowners to “adopt” him as their son and to give him a portion of their property, which he would then distribute among the landless. Voter turnout was 84.81 percent in the 2016 Assembly election. Nehru initially agreed to Mountbatten’s proposal that a plebiscite be held in the entire state as soon as hostilities ceased, and a UN-sponsored cease-fire was agreed to by both parties on January 1, 1949. Susan Bayly. This article provides an overview of the political situation in India, in which the reactionary BJP-led government of Narendra Modi has turned the COVID-19 crisis into an unprecedented disaster. The nawab of Junagadh and the nizam of Hyderabad were both Muslims, though most of their subjects were Hindus, and both states were surrounded, on land, by India. State Legislature or State Assemblies headed by CM elected by the people of that state elected by MLAs, standing graduates, governor etc. Prior to partition, princes were given the option of joining the new dominion of India within which their territory lay, and, thanks to the vigorous lobbying of Mountbatten and Patel, most of the princes agreed to do so, accepting handsome pensions (so-called “privy purses”) as rewards for relinquishing sovereignty. Source: Election Commission of India. The landless and unemployed lower half of India’s fast-growing population remained inadequately fed, ill-housed, and illiterate. His modesty and simplicity, moreover, appealed to most Indians. of seats in every state. Collectively, they cover the many strategies that businesses have used to exert their newfound power in recent times and organize the book around a few central concerns. India’s “police action” of integrating Portuguese Goa into the union by force in 1961 represented another fall from the high ground of nonviolence in foreign affairs, which Nehru so often claimed for India in his speeches to the UN and elsewhere. Nehru thus appointed the States Reorganisation Commission to redesign India’s internal map, which led to a major redrawing of administrative boundaries, especially in southern India, by the States Reorganization Act, passed in 1956. During his premiership, Nehru tried hard to identify the country’s foreign policy with anti-colonialism and anti-racism. Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. The phenomenon of caste has probably aroused more controversy than any other aspect of Indian life and thought. For the Third Five-Year Plan (1961–66), launched during Nehru’s era, an Aid India Consortium of the major Western powers and Japan provided some $5 billion in capital and credits, and, as a result, India’s annual iron output rose to nearly 25 million tons by the plan’s end, with about three times that amount of coal produced and almost 40 billion kilowatt-hours of electric power generated. The ruling coalition is expected to stay in power until the end of its term in 2024. By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. Junagadh, however, faced Pakistan on the Arabian Sea, and when its nawab followed Jinnah’s lead in opting to join that Muslim nation, India’s army moved in and took control of the territory. India’s First Five-Year Plan was launched in 1951, and most of its funds were spent on rebuilding war-shattered railroads and on irrigation schemes and canals. (Andhra Pradesh itself was divided in 2014, with the northern, Telugu-speaking portion being split off to become the new state of Telangana. China and India, however, had not resolved a dispute over several areas of their border, most notably the section demarcating a barren plateau in Ladakh—most of which was called Aksai Chin, which was claimed by India as part of Jammu and Kashmir state but never properly surveyed—and the section bordered on the north by the McMahon Line, which stretched from Bhutan to Burma (Myanmar) and extended to the crest of the Great Himalayas. & Politics Page 8 Provisions The Act provided for the establishment of an all India Federation comprising British Indian provinces and Indians states in case of the Indian states accession to the Federation was voluntary. India has a multi-party system with recognition accorded to national, state and district level parties. He also tried to promote India’s role as the peacemaker, which was seen as an extension of the policies of Gandhi and as deeply rooted in the indigenous religious traditions of Buddhism, Jainism, and Hinduism. Get all the latest news on Indian Politics, News on Top Politicians in India, Current affairs, Elections, Political News, Current Affairs politics and more on Times of India The princely state of Jammu and Kashmir triggered the first undeclared war with Pakistan, which began a little more than two months after independence. This Sino-Indian dispute was exacerbated in the late 1950s after India discovered a road across Aksai Chin built by the Chinese to link its autonomous region of Xinjiang with Tibet. You must login to keep earning daily check-in points, * TimesPoints expire in 1 year from the day of credit, Copyright © 2021 Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All rights reserved. Politics in India take place within the framework of a federal Westminster-style Parliamentary democratic constitutional republic. Politics of India Political Institutions & Parties Slideshare uses cookies to improve functionality and performance, and to provide you with relevant advertising. The Council of Ministers is responsible to the Lok Sabha. The legislatures of the states and union territories elect 238 members to the Rajya Sabha, and the president appoints another 12, who are experts in science or the arts. Various programs designed to reduce rural poverty were tried, many ostensibly in emulation of Gandhi’s sarvodaya (rural “uplift”) philosophy, which advocated community sharing of all resources for the people’s mutual benefit and enhancement of peasant life. Like most foreign policies, India’s was, in fact, based first of all on its government’s perceptions of national interest and on security considerations. The ruling class is tearing up labour protections and stoking sectarian violence, while rewarding its big business cronies. The Lok Sabha consists of 545 member… The Ford Foundation, an American philanthropic organization, began a community development and rural extension program in the early 1950s that encouraged young Indian college students and technical experts to focus their skills and knowledge on village problems. The war was a blow to Nehru’s most-cherished principles and ideals, though India soon secured its northern defenses as a result of swift and extensive American and British military support, including the dispatch of U.S. bombers to the world’s highest border. Nehru served as his own foreign minister and throughout his life remained the chief architect of India’s foreign policy. Though it appeared that Nehru had been grooming her as his successor, he had denied any such intention, and his party instead chose Lal Bahadur Shastri as India’s second prime minister. Read more ← Previous; Recent Posts. The invasion triggered India’s first undeclared war with Pakistan and led at once to the maharaja’s decision to opt for accession to India. India’s 14% minority, the Muslims, are seen as an object of appeasement, a vote bank, rather than as the socially, economically and politically deprived group placed just above the scheduled castes and below the other backward castes in a groupwise ranking of human development. PSIR 2A: Comparative & International Politics; PSIR 2B: India and the World; International Relations Current Affairs; Topic-Wise Answer Writing Program [TAWP] History . India is the world’s largest democracy in terms of citizenry. The foundation of the Indian National Congress in 1885 as an all India, secular political party, is widely regarded as a key turning point in formalising opposition to the Raj. During that same decade, however, India’s population grew from about 360 million to 440 million, which eliminated real economic benefits for all but large landowners and the wealthiest and best-educated quarter of India’s urban population. The results were mixed, as many poor or small farmers were unable to afford the seeds or the risks involved in the new technology. Other political parties that wish to contest local, state or national elections are required to be registered by the Election Commission of India. At his death on May 27, 1964, Nehru’s only child and closest confidante, Indira Gandhi, was with him. Maharaja Hari Singh tried at first to remain independent, but in October 1947 Pashtun (Pathan) tribesmen from the North-West Frontier of Pakistan invaded Kashmir in trucks, heading toward Srinagar. Harry S. Truman at the start of Nehru's visit to the United States in October 1949; Nehru's daughter, Indira, who later served as prime minister, is on the right. India’s foreign policy, defined by Nehru as nonaligned, was based on Five Principles (Panch Shila): mutual respect for other nations’ territorial integrity and sovereignty; nonaggression; noninterference in internal affairs; equality and mutual benefit; and peaceful coexistence. India, a land that was brought together by different leaders who believed in the power of unity and politics plays important role in nation-building and elevating the living conditions of its people. Their entry into politics was gradual, first as allies of country powers, then as their virtual directors, and only finally as masters. The tension was further heightened when in 1959 India granted asylum to the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s spiritual leader. Narasimha Rao, The BJP becomes the largest party in the Lok Sabha, BJP reelection bids and tensions in Kashmir, Addressing COVID-19 and its economic impact, Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, and Harry S. Truman. Explore Ebooks; Buy on Amazon; Buy in stores (Pune only) Search for: The Rise & Fall of Napolean Bonaparte. Long separated from her husband—Feroze Gandhi, by then deceased—Indira had moved into Teen Murti Bhavan, the prime minister’s mansion, with her two sons, Rajiv and Sanjay. India’s first two presidents were Hindu Brahmans, Rajendra Prasad and Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, the latter a distinguished Sanskrit scholar who had lectured at the University of Oxford. India - India - Political effects: At first the British were only one group of foreign traders among several, fortunate to find in the Mughals a firm government ready to foster trade. The scheduled tribes come at the bottom of the heap, of course. Nehru, however, refused to agree to a separate Sikh state, as he feared that such a concession to the Sikhs, who were both a religious and a linguistic group, might open the door to further “Pakistan-style” fragmentation. 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