India: Government and Political Challenges Chapter 9 Section 2

Indian Government World’s largest democracy Constitution (1950): –individual rights and social services Outlawed: Untouchability Healthcare Federal Union of States –28 states and 7 territories Parliamentary Democracy: #2a –Form of government in which power lies in the hands of the political party that wins the most seats in parliament –Prime Minister: leader of political party wins majority

Indian Government Federal System: #3 –power divided between central gov’t and state gov’t –Coalition: #2b Government in which several parties join to rule - issues –Secular: #2c Unrelated to religion, without official religion

Indian Government 3 Branches of Government #3 Parliament Two houses: #3 –Council of State: members are chosen by the state legislatures: Upper House – Rajya Sabha –House of the People: elected directly by the people – Lower House – Lok Sabha Council of Ministers – Cabinet – executive powers

Emblem of India Dr. Manmohan Singh Dr. Manmohan Singh Prime Minister 2011 INC

Political Parties Many political parties: federal and state level –Based caste, language, religion, region INC: dominated for years – party of independence BJP: Bharata Janata Party 1a –Stressed Hindu Traditions –Coalition of opposition to INC

Dividing and Unifying Forces #4 Divisions: –Caste system Compensatory discrimination: quota system - harijans/Dalit (p.207) –Cultural Diversity –Treatment of Sikhs and Separatism –Muslim-Hindu clashes –Modern nationality limited

Dividing and Unifying Forces #4 Bonds: –Commitment to Democracy –Millions of Indians share a common faith –Hindu traditions create important ties for the majority of Indians –Strong leaders

India’s Persecution of the Sikhs Punjab Operation Blue Star June 1984 was an Indian military operation, ordered by Indira Gandhi, then Prime Minister of India,[4] under the pretext of removing Sikh separatists from the Golden Temple in Amritsar. The activists, led by Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, were accused of amassing weapons in the Sikh temple.IndianIndira GandhiPrime Minister of India[4]SikhseparatistsGolden TempleAmritsarSant Jarnail Singh BhindranwaleSikh temple

Indian Leaders

Nehru Family

First Prime minister of India ( ) –Ally of Gandhi Goal: to create a modern industrialized secular nation #5 –casteless –Secular: without official religion –socialism Jawaharlal Nehru

Non-Alignment Movement

 Nehru’s daughter.  Prime Minister of India,  Continues Nehru’s policies.  Faced corruption charges & internal rebellion.  Assassinated in 1984 by Sikh assassin Indira Gandhi

 Indira’s son.  Prime Minister of India,  Liberalization of the Economy  Also faced rebellion.  Assassinated in 1991 while campaigning  Show Video Rajiv Gandhi

Kashmir

The first Indo-Pakistani war ended on New Year’s Day A cease-fire called for a plebiscite, or popular vote, to determine once and for all whether Kashmir (center) should be independent or part of India (left) or Pakistan (right).

But Indian and Pakistani troops remained in Kashmir on either side of the Line of Control (the barrier roughly corresponding to where the two sides had stopped fighting). With India and Pakistan now effectively governing all of Kashmir, it was practically impossible for the Kashmiri people to hold a free and fair plebiscite.

Kashmir Crisis