3. INTRODUCTION
ON 26 January 1950 the Constitution of
Independent India came into force and India
became a democratic republic . DR Rajendra
Prasad was elected the first president and DR
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, the first vice –
president of India .
The first elections to the legislature were held
in 1952 . The Congress won a majority at the
centre and Jawaharlal Nehru was elected
India’s first prime minister .
4. INDIANDEMOCRACY
UNIVERSAL ADULT FRANCHISE
SECULARISM
EQUALITY BEFORE LAW
TOWARDS SOCIAL EQUALITY
DIVISION OF POWERS BETWEEN THE
CENTRE AND THE States
OFFICIAL LANGUAGE
5. UNIVERSAL ADULT FRANCHISE
One of the most remarkable features of
Indian democracy is that from the very
beginning the Constitution of India gave the
citizens of the country universal adult
franchise . This has enabled all the citizens
of voting age to irrespective of caste ,
religion , wealth or sex . In many other
democratic countries including UK and the
USA , some sections of the population such
as the poor and the women have got voting
rights after long periods of struggle.
7. India is a country of many religions .
India’s Constitution has accepted
secularism as one of its basic
principles . India does not have any
religion . All religion group , including
Hindus , Muslims , Christians ,
Buddhist , Jains , Sikhs , Bahais and
Zoroastrians , have the same
fundamental rights . One of these
rights is the right to freedom of
religion .
8.
9. EQUALITY BEFORE LAW
All Indian citizens have equal rights
and have to obey the same laws ,
irrespective of their caste , religion ,
wealth , or sex . The Government
gives equal opportunities in education ,
employment , the use of public places
and so on , to all citizens regardless
of caste , religion , wealth or sex .
You have read earlier about the age-
old social discrimination against the
untouchables . In order to end this
11. TOWARDS SOCIAL EQUALITY
In India everyone has equal rights , but
not equal social status . Some sections
of the population such as the
untouchables have faced centuries of
oppression . Denial of the benefits of
education and health care has made
them weaker than the more privileged
sections of the society . Many tribal
populations too have faced similar
oppression , and are finding it hard to
preserve their cultural identies . There
12. TOWARDSSOCIALEQUALITY
Our Constitution seeks to remove
inequalities and ensure social justice by
giving some extra help and facilities to the
weaker sections of society . For ex , the
Constitution has listed formerly untouchable
castes as Scheduled Castes (SCs) and the
exploited tribes as Scheduled Tribes (STs) .
These castes and tribes are given
reservation in Government jobs and
educational institutions , local self –
Government bodies , etc ., to help them
14. Division Of Powers Between the centre
and the States
India is a union of States . In India we
have Government at two levels – the
centre and the States . India’s
Constitution specifies the subjects
on which laws can be made by the
centre and the States . The subjects
are placed in three lists – the union
list , to be dealt with by the States ;
and the concurrent list , to be dealt
with by the centre and the States .
16. India is a land of many languages . India’s
Constitution recognizes Hindi and English
as the official languages of the union .
English has been retained as an official
language in keeping with the demands of
States whose people are not Hindi
speakers . Every Indian state is free to
choose its own official language (s) ,
which may include Hindi , English , any
of the 22 regional languages mentioned
in the Constitution or any other
language used in its territory .
17.
18. SUCCESSES
Over the years , there have been regular elections in
India . The people have elected representatives of their
choice to form the Government , and any Government
that has failed to perform has ultimately been voted out
of power . This shows that real power continues to be in
the hands of the people , which is a requirement of
democracy . One of the directive principles of our
Constitution set the formation of panchayats as one of
the goals of the Government . Now a law has been
passed to make panchayats in rural area compulsory .
These local self – Government bodies have taken
democracy to the grass – roots level .
19. FAILURES
Despite this success , Indian democracy has its
problem . One major problem is the use of vast
sums of money to win elections . This has
increased corruption . Another problem is that in
some areas , a dominant caste or political group
often forcibly prevents other castes or political
groups from taking part in elections . And voters
quite often vote only for candidates of their own
caste . All this means that the best candidate
does not necessarily win .
20. MAJOR PROBLEM AFTER INDEPENDENCE
After gaining Independence , India faced a
number of problems . The communal
violence at the time of Independence forced
millions of people to cross over either India
or Pakistan . The Indian Government was
faced with the immediate task of giving
shelter to those who came to India . Most of
the them were temporarily settled in refugee
camps until colonies were built to house
them .
22. MAJOR PROBLEM AFTER Independence
Though most of the princely States within
British India has signed the Instrument of
Accession and joined the Dominion of India
by 15 august 1947 , the political status of
Hyderabad , Junagadh and Kashmir still
remained decided . There were also some
small territories in India that still remained
under French or Portuguese colonial rule .
The Indian Government also had to adopt
policies to meet the enormous challenges
before the newborn country .
24. The Maharaja of Kashmir signed the
Instrument of Accession after Pakistani
Invaders entered Kashmir in October 1947
. India then sent troops to drive out the
Invaders . In 1948 , the people of
Junagadh voted in favour of joining India .
Later that year , Indian troops helped in
the absorption of Hyderabad following a
revolt in that state .
ABSORPTIONOFKASHMIR,JUNAGADHANDHYDERABAD
25.
26.
27. CREATION OF ANDHRA
In India there are many linguistic communities . A
linguistic community is a community whose members
speak the same language . During the National
Movement , several of India’s linguistic communities
expressed the wish to have their own States in
Independent India . At the time the congress agreed to
fulfil their wish after India became Independent . But the
communal violence caused by the religion – based
partition of India at the time of Independence changed
the views of many Congress leaders including Jawaharlal
Nehru and Vallabhbhai Patel . They feared that division
of the country along linguistic lines would lead to more
violence . The linguistic communities however continued
to demand their own States .
29. CREATION OF ANDHRA
The strongest demand came from the Telugu – speaking
people of the former presidency of Madras. When
congress showed reluctance to meet their demand , they
took to agitation . During his campaigns in the region
before the 1952 elections , Jawaharlal Nehru was met by
protesters holding black flags and shouting anti-
congress slogans . In the elections of 1952 the Congress
fared badly in the region . Around this time Potti
Sriramulu a Gandhian leader campaigning for the
creation of Telugu state went on a fast unto death . This
caused widespread unrest . And when Sriramulu died on
15 December 1952 after fasting 58 days the situation
went out of control . The Congress was forced to create
Andhra it came into existence in October 1953 .
31. By the end of 1954 , French Colonial rule in
Pondicherry , Chandannagar , Mahe , Karaikal
andYanam came to an end .TheseTerritories were
integrated with India .
The Portuguese colonies in India were Goa , Daman
, Diu , Dadra and Nagar Haveli . In 1954 Dadra and
Nagar Haveli were liberated by Freedom Fighters .
Indian troops liberated Goa , Daman and Diu from
the Portuguese in 1961 .
ABSORPTION OF FRENCH AND
PORTUGUESE COLONIES
32.
33. Soon after the creation of Andhra , the States
Reorganisation Commission was set up to redefine the
boundaries of India’s States . According to its suggestions ,
some new States were created in 1956 . These included
Assamese , Bengali , Oriya , Kannada and Malayalam . The
Telugu-Speaking regions of the Hyderabad state were added
to Andhra which was renamed Andhra Pradesh . A few
years later the Bombay state split into Marathi-speaking
Maharashtra and Gujarati-speaking Gujarat . Later the
Hindi-speaking areas of Punjab were made a separate state
called Haryana . The Tamil-speaking state of Madras was
given a new name – Tamil Nadu . Some of India’s States
were created for tribal populations in different parts of
country Meghalaya , Manipur , Nagaland , Jharkhand,
Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand .
34.
35.
36.
37.
38.
39. At time of Independence , the Indian
economy suffered from various
problems such as unequal
development in different regions , low
agricultural production , food scarcity ,
underdeveloped industries and
communication facilities , and
widespread poverty and illiteracy . Let
us see what steps the newborn nation
took to overcome these .
40. India adopted a mixed economy , in which
there is both government and private
enterprise in service sectors , agricultural
and industrial . Many of the basic and
heavy industries are controlled by the
government as they involve huge
investments and do not always yield
matching profits . Private companies are
more active in consumer goods industries
which produce vehicles , cosmetics
,detergents , etc. and usually fetch high
profits .
41.
42. The Planning Commission of India was established in
1950 with the Prime Minister as its ex officio chairman
. Hence Jawaharlal Nehru became the first president of
Planning Commission . The Planning Commission
defines the country’s economic goals and frames
policies for the achievement of such goals . It takes
stock of country’s resources . It also regulates the
utilisation and distribution of the available resources so
as to tackle problems such as poverty , unemployment
, price rise , regional imbalances . The Planning
Commision has been working through Five-Year Plans .
These plans have laid emphasis mainly on developing
basic and heavy industries .
43.
44. These plans also build huge dams and power plants to
improve irrigation and power generation , promoting
commercially useful plantations and improving railways
, roadways , waterways and airways . The emphasis on
heavy industrialisation and the building of large dams
has been criticised by many on the ground that it will
damage environment and cause ecological imbalance in
the long run . Among the earliest critics were J C
Kumarappa himself a member of the Planning
Commission and Madeleine Slade known in India as
Mira Behn . Staunch belivers in Gandhiji’s ideas they
campaigned for small and less expensive irrigation
systems the use of organic manure and the preservation
of natural forests with large varieties of trees .
45.
46. INDIA’S FOREIGN POLICY
The principles , goals , compulsions and
strategies that govern a country’s relation
with other countries together contitute the
country’s foreign policy .
47. INDIA’S FOREIGN POLICY
The Second World War ended in 1945 . As the was
drawing to a close an international organisation
called the United Nations (UN) was formed to preserve
international peace and understanding. This however
could not ensure good relations between the USA and
the USSR-the two nation which had emerged as
superpowers after the wars . The mutual relationship
between these two nations was marked by deep
suspicion and mistrust due to the great difference in
their political ideologies . Each of the superpowers
entered into alliances with friendly nations to form a
powerful military bloc of its own .
49. INDIA’S FOREIGN POLICY
The between 1945 and 1991 was a period of underlying
hostility known as the Cold War between the two
military blocs. During this period every small conflict
threatened to blow up into major war . It was in this
situation that Indian and many other countries of Asia ,
Africa and Latin America became free . Driven by the
need to preserve their sovereignty and to make
economic progress many nations were align themselves
with one bloc or the other . They had to take part in all
conflicts involving the bloc . So they had spend large
amounts of their limited resources on military
preparedness . This hampered their development .
Newly independent India too faced this danger .
50. NONALIGNMENT
Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was also the foreign
minister of India and architect of India’s foreign policy .
He chose the policy of nonalignment for India . Under
this policy a country does not commit itself to any bloc
but adopts an independent foreign policy . Jawaharlal
Nehru laid the foundations of Nonaligned movement
with the support of Gamal Adbel Nasser of Egypt ,
Sukarona of Indonesia , Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana and
Josip Broz Tito of Yugoslavia in 1961 . It was attended by
the representatives of 25 countries . By the 1990s tha
NAM had more than hundred members .
51. NONALIGNMENT
Nonalignment is often understood to be neutrality
or noninvolvement in world affairs . Such views are
incorrect . Nonalignment favours active
involvement in world affairs to promote
understanding and to prevent war it also
encourages mutual cooperation among nation to
overcome problems such as poverty , illiteracy and
overpopulation
52. INDIA’SRELATIONWITHNEIGHBOURING
COUNTRIES
India shares land borders with Pakistan ,
Afghanistan , China , Nepal , Bhutan ,
Bangladesh and Myanmar . The island countries
of Sri Lanka and the Maldives situated in the
Indian Ocean are also India’s neighbours .
India’s relation with its neighbours have
generally been harmonious . Differences have
occasionally cropped up over global issues such
as border definition and water sharing . Most of
these have been sorted out through bilateral
negotiations .
55. India , Pakistan , Bangladesh , Nepal , Sri Lanka , Bhutan
and the Maldives formed the South Asian Association for
Regional Cooperation . The heads of the founder
countries met at Dhaka IN 1985 . The SAARC has its
permanent secretariat at Kathmandu , Afghanistan is
also a member of SAARC . The SAARC promotes mutual
friendship and cooperation , collective reliance and
better communication among members . It also
promotes economic growth , social progress and
scientific and cultural development in South Asia .
Besides it seeks to check border terrorism and
smuggling . As the largest and most advanced member
of the SAARC India actively promotes the economic
progress of its neighbours .
58. LOOKINGATTHEFUTURE
After Independence India has emerged as a stable
democracy that participates actively in world affairs .
It is making great progress in the fields of information
technology , space and nuclear technology and
human resource development . India has set an
example for less advanced countries that are trying to
make progress . Terrorism however remains a threat
to India’s peace . And problems arising from
economic and social disparity continue . In many
parts of the country some people are still treated as
untouchables . There is a wide gap between the rich
and the poor . And although women have proved their
merit in various spheres they are still subjected to
gender bias and domestic violence.