Politics of India

India

2nd most populous nation Population: over one billion Growing at 1.4% a year

A nation of diversity: languages Constitution lists 14 official “principal languages” English Hindi (30%)

A nation of diversity: religions Religions: –Hindu (~80%) –Muslim (~13%) –others (e.g. Buddhist 0.7%) all major religions in the world are present one of the major causes of conflict religion can become a political vehicle for social movement

Brief history One of the world’s oldest civilizations –5,000 years foreign incursions –Aryans, Arabs, Turks, Portugal, France, and Britain –from 1,500 B.C. to 19th Century A.D.

190 years of British colonial rule Informal colonial rule through the British East India Company (1750s-1850s) formal colonial rule after the Mutiny rebellion of 1857

British colonial rule economic impact –trade structure colonial institutions –state structure

Struggle for independence Indian National Congress was formed in 1885 non-violent resistance to colonial rule Mohandas Gandhi ( ) –transformed INC –unity within diversity –non-cooperation movement Nehru ( )

Independence & partition Division of the subcontinent (1947) –India –Pakistan

Independence & partition East Pakistan became Bangladesh in 1971

Republic of India Prime Minister Nehru ( ) His daughter (Indira Gandhi) as Prime Minister ( , )

Nehru’s legacies His grandson –Rajiv Gandhi –Prime Minister ( ) His granddaughter-in-law –Sonja Gandhi –Congress party president ( )

World’s largest democracy Resilient democratic institutions, processes, and legitimacy –except –Indira Gandhi declared national emergency politics in India is characterized by –governments of precarious coalitions –weakened political institutions –political activism along ethnic lines

Turnout % in General Elections

Economic development Under Prime Minister Nehru’s rule –private property and government guidance –powerful planning commission –government rules and regulations opportunities and incentives for corruption –self-sufficiency domestic sector was protected from foreign competition protected industries became inefficient

Economic development The “green revolution” in agriculture –new agricultural strategy in late 1960s –seeds, fertilizer, and irrigation –India became self-sufficient in food

Economic development state-led economic development –government-planned private economy –substantial industrial base

Economic liberalization Dissatisfaction with the relatively slow economic growth –dismantle controls over private sector –further integrate into global economy Financial crisis in early 1990s –emergency funds from IMF & World Bank –conditional on economic liberalization reduce government budget deficit selling government shares in public enterprises

Foreign direct investment

Economic liberalization Economic performance –average growth rate of 6% since 1990 –reducing poverty by about 10 percentage points –purchasing power parity GDP: $2.66 trillion

Economic liberalization India has large numbers of well-educated people skilled in the English language –India is a major exporter of software services and software workers

Economic liberalization Government has also been considering reducing workers’ legal protection unions and workers’ resistance and strikes –oppose changes to labor laws and privatization

Reduction of poverty percentage of people living in poverty has been cut in half since 1947 absolute number of poor people has been rising very few welfare programs