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Self Study Materials

INDIA AFTER

INDEPENDANCE

From 1947 to 1964

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REHABILITATION AFTER PARTITION

The Independence of India also resulted in

its partition, and wasfollowed by a mass

migration of populations from the territory

now comprising Pakistan, especially West

Pakistan, to the Punjab and vice versa.

Lakhs of Hindus and Sikhs moved from

West Punjab to East Punjab, and almost a

similar number of Muslims travelled from

East Punjab and U.P. to West Pakistan.

This movement was one of the most

massive in history involving inevitable

hardships, miseries and also tragedies.

Communal feelings had been aroused and

accentuated, and regrettably human-beings

often behaved barbarously in those days.

As many as one million civilians died in the

accompanying riots and local level fighting.

By 1951 a major wave of migration was

over. It was estimated that about ten

million refugees crossed the frontier.

Many of the Hindus and Sikhs fleeing West

Punjab were directed by the government of

India to a refugee camp in Kurukshetra. A

vast city of tents had grown up on the

plain, to house waves of migrants,

sometimes up to 20,000 a day. The camp

was initially planned for 100,000 refugees,

but it came to accommodate three times

that number.

The camp sites were later converted into

permanent housing through extensive

building projects undertaken by the

Government of India from 1948 onwards.

The population of Delhi almost doubled

within 1 year. A number of housing

colonies in Delhi came up around this

period like Lajpat Nagar, Rajinder

Nagar, Nizamuddin East, Punjabi Bagh,

RehgarPura, Jangpura and Kingsway

Camp.

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Land left by Muslims in India were allotted

to the refugees from West Pakistan.

As against 2.7 million hectares abandoned

by Hindus and Sikhs in West Punjab, there

were only 1.9 million hectares left behind

by Muslims in East Punjab.

Each family of refugee farmers was given

an allotment of four hectares, regardless of

its holding in Pakistan. Loans were

advanced to buy seed and equipment.

While cultivation commenced on these

temporary plots, applications were invited

for permanent allotments. Each family was

asked to submit evidence of how much land

it had left behind.

To collect, collate, verify and act upon the

claims a Rehabilitation Secretariat was set

up in Jullundur. For the first ten acres of

any claim,a cut of 25 percent was

implemented – thus one got only 7.5 acres

instead of ten. For higher claims the cuts

were steeper: 30 per cent for 10–30 acres,

and on upwards, till those having in excess

of 500 acres were taxed at the rate of 95

percent.

Operations were led by the director

generalof rehabilitation, SardarTarlok

Singh, an ICS officer. By November 1949

the authorities had made 250,000

allotments of land.

Hindus fleeing from East Pakistan settled

across Eastern India and Northeastern

India, many ending up in neighboring

Indian states such as West Bengal, Assam,

and Tripura. Some migrants were sent to

the Andaman islands. Rehabilitation was

made more difficult by the fact that exodus

of Hindus from East Pakistan continued for

years.

A number of schemes such as the provision

of education, employment opportunities,

and easy loans to start businesses were

provided for the refugees at the all-India

level. Nilokheri-Faridabad project was one

of its kind.

INTEGRATION OF INDIAN STATES

At the time of Independence India

consisted of two regions – British India and

Princely states. There were more than 500

princely states, from Hyderabad with its

seventeen million population to states of

only few square miles in extent.

The British had renounced their treaty

rights and recommended them to join

either India or Pakistan. On June 27, 1947

SardarVallabhai Patel assumed the charge

of newly created States Department with

V P Menon as its secretary. With great

skill and diplomacy and using both

persuasion and pressure, Sardar Patel

succeeded in integrating hundreds of

princely states with Indian Union.

Instrument of Accession to Indian Union

had been signed by rulers of most states

before August 15 except Junagarh,

Hyderabad and Jammu & Kashmir.

Junagarh was small seaport state on the

state of Kathiawar with Hindu majority

population and ruled by Muslim Nawab.

The Nawab decided to join Pakistan

despite the protests of people. After a few

weeks Indian troops occupied the state and

a plebiscite was conducted in February

1948 which overwhelmingly in favour of

joining India.

In Hyderabad, Nizam decided to remain

sovereign and refused accession to either

India or Pakistan. The lawless activities of

band of terrorists known as Razakars who

attacked against pro-Indian campaigners

further complicated the situation.

When repeated protests seemed to be of no

avail and the danger to people’s life and

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property continued, Government of India

initiated a police action known as

Operation Polo in 1948. Nizam was

surrendered and finally decided to accede

to India and people of the state ratified the

decision.

Kashmir Question

The ruler of Kashmir was Raja Hari Singh,

a Hindu while nearly three fourth of the

population was Muslim. He did not accede

either to India or Pakistan and decided to

stay independent.

On 22 October 1947, several Pathan

tribesmen with the unofficial support of

Pakistan invaded the state and rapidly

pushed towards Srinagar. In panic, Raja

Hari Singh appealed India for military

support.

Mountbatten told him that Indian troops

could not enter his state unless the

Instrument of Accession was signed. Raja

signed Instrument of Accession on 26th

October and Indian troops reached

Kashmir on 27th October and recaptured

many regions held by Pakistan.

Indian and Pakistani forces thus fought

their first war over Kashmir in 1947-48.

India referred the dispute to the United

Nations on 1 January. In a resolution

dated August 13, 1948, the UN asked

Pakistan to remove its troops, after which

India was also to withdraw the bulk of its

forces.

India, having taken the issue to the UN,

was confident of winning a plebiscite, since

the most influential Kashmiri mass leader,

Sheikh Abdullah, was firmly on its side.

An emergency government was formed on

October 30, 1948 with Sheikh Abdullah as

the Prime Minister.

Pakistan ignored the UN mandate and

continued fighting, holding on to the

portion of Kashmir under its control.

On January 1, 1949, a ceasefire was

agreed, with 65 per cent of the territory

under Indian control and the remainder

with Pakistan.

The ceasefire was intended to be temporary

but the Line of Control remains the de

facto border between the two countries.

The constituent Assembly of Jammu and

Kashmir ratified the accession to India in

1954. In November 1956, the constituent

assembly legalized the status of Jammu

and Kashmir as an integral Part of India.

THE MAKING OF INDIAN

CONSTITUTION

The Constituent Assembly met for the first

time in New Delhi on December 9, 1946 in

the Constitution Hall which is now known

as the Central Hall of the Parliament

House. Two hundred and seven

representatives, including nine women

were present.

The inaugural session began at 11 a.m.

with the introduction of Dr

Sachchidananda Sinha, the temporary

Chairman of the Assembly, by Acharya

Kripalani.

The Constituent Assembly took almost

three years (two years, eleven months and

seventeen days to be precise) to complete

its historic task of drafting the

Constitution of Independent India.

During this period, it held eleven sessions

covering a total of 165 days. Of these, 114

days were spent on the consideration of the

Draft Constitution.

The assembly has members chosen by the

members of the Provincial Legislative

Assemblies through an indirect election,

according to a scheme recommended by the

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Cabinet Mission. The arrangement was : (i)

292 members were elected through the

Provincial Legislative Assemblies; (ii) 93

members represented the Indian Princely

States and (iii) 4 members represented the

Chief Commissioner’s provinces. The total

membership of the Assembly thus was to

be 389.

As a result of the partition under the

Mountbatten Plan of June 3, 1947, a

separate Constituent Assembly was set up

for Pakistan and representatives of some

Provinces ceased to be members of the

Assembly. As a result, the membership of

the Assembly was reduced to 299.

On December 13, 1946 Jawaharlal Nehru

moved the Objectives Resolution. This

resolution was unanimously adopted by the

Constituent Assembly on January 22,

1947. Late in the evening of August 14,

1947 the Assembly met in the Constitution

Hall and at the stroke of midnight, took

over as the Legislative Assembly of an

Independence India.

On August 29, 1947, the Constituent

Assembly set up a Drafting Committee

under the Chairmanship or

Dr.B.R.Ambedkar to prepare a Draft

Constitution for India. While deliberating

upon the draft Constitution, the Assembly

moved, discussed and disposed off as many

as 2,473 amendments out of a total of 7,

635 that were tabled.

The Constitution of India was adopted on

November 26, 1949 and the members

appended their signatures to it on January

24, 1950. In all, 284 members actually

signed the Constitution.

The Constitution of India came into force

on January 26, 1950. On that day the

Assembly ceased to exist by transforming

itself into the Provisional Parliament of

India, until a new parliament was

constituted in 1952.

Salient features of our Constitution

The Constitution of India is the lengthiest

and most detailed compared to any

constitutions in the world.

It originally had 395 articles divided into

22 parts and 9 schedules. Now it have 395

articles, 22 parts and 12 schedules.

The Preamble proclaims that India is a

Sovereign, Socialist, Secular, Democratic

Republic.

There are 6 Fundamental Rights in the

Constitution which are guaranteed to all

citizens of India.

The Constitution contains a list of

Directive Principles of State Policy whose

observance by the state is deemed for

making essential for the welfare of people.

They are non-justiciable in nature.

It is federal in form but unitary in spirit.

Constitution provides for a parliamentary

system of government, both at center and

at states. President of India, like the crown

of England, exercise s his power through

the council of ministers headed by the

Prime Minister.

Indian constitution provides three tier

government. Originally, it was two tier i.e.

Centre and the State. But by 73rd and 74th

Amendment Act, 1992 three tier

government has been established. (Centre,

state & local self government).

PREAMBLE

Indian Constitution has a preamble which

gives an insight into the Philosophy of the

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Constitution. It is based on the Objectives

Resolution which was drafted and moved in

the Constituent Assembly by Jawaharlal

Nehru on 13 December 1946.

Preamble states that:

WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, having

solemnly resolved to constitute India into

a SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC and to secure

to all its citizens:

JUSTICE, social, economic and political;

LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief,

faith and worship;

EQUALITY of status and of opportunity;

and to promote among them all

FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the

individual and the unity and integrity of

the Nation;

IN OUR CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY

this twenty-sixth day of November, 1949,

do HEREBY ADOPT, ENACT AND

GIVE TO OURSELVESTHIS

CONSTITUTION.

THE DEMOGRAPHIC TRENDS

Demography is the systematic study of

population. Demographic data are

important for the planning and

implementation of state policies, specially

those for economic development and

general public welfare.

India is the second most populous country

in the world after China, with a total

population of 121 crores according to the

Census of 2011. The growth rate of India’s

population has not always been very high.

Between 1901-1951 the average annual

growth rate did not exceed 1.33%, a modest

rate of growth.

In fact between 1911 and 1921 there was a

negative rate of growth of – 0.03%. This

was because of the Influenza epidemic

during 1918 -19 which killed about 12.5

million persons or 5% of the total

population of the country.

The growth rate of population substantially

increased after independence from British

rule going up to 2.2% during 1961- 1981.

Since then although the annual growth

rate has decreased it remains one of the

highest in the developing world.

From the middle of the 19th century to the

middle of the 20th century, the dependency

in agriculture increased from fifty to

seventy-one percent.

The percentage of population engaged in

agriculture increased from 62.4 percent in

1901 to 69.6 percent in 1941. While overall

agricultural production per head fell by 14

percent between 1901 and 1939, the fall in

the per capita production of food gains was

over 24 percent.

Most of this decline occurred after 1918.

During this period the working force

engaged in occupations other than

agriculture fell from 43.9 million to 37.4

million or from 37.6 percent to 30.4 percent

of the total working force.

This justifies the growing dependency of

the people on agriculture during this entire

period. If we see the economy of other

countries we witness that there were other

opportunities, in various other sectors for

the increasing populations. They were not

at all dependent on agriculture sector only.

While in India the story was different

which was the main reason for its slow or

poor economy during this period .

ECONOMIC POLICES & PLANNING

Economic Policy after Independence

After independence, India under

Jawaharlal Nehru adopted a socialist

pattern of growth.

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It emphasised the role of public sector in

spearheading the economic development of

the country.

Industrial Policy of a country lays down

rules and procedures that would govern the

growth and pattern of industrial activity.

In India, Industrial Policies were launched

in 1948, 1956,1977,1980 and 1991.

The first Industrial policy was announced

in 6 April 1948.

The Industrial Policy Resolution of 1956 is

called the ‘Magna-carta’or ‘economic

constitution’ of Indian industrial

development.

The IPR 1956 was based upon the

Mahalanobis Model of growth. Government

adopted a socialistic pattern of growth and

emphasized on the growth of heavy

industries. IPR 1956 gave greater

importance to public sector.

IPR 1956 classified industries into 3

categories: Schedule A, B and C. Schedule

A which comprises of 17 most important

industries was reserved for public sector.

Indian National Congress, through Avadi

Congress Resolution (1955), reiterated its

commitment towards socialist mode of

development.

Steel, mining, machine tools,

telecommunication, insurance, power

plant and many other major sectors were

nationalised in 1950s.

Imperial bank of India was nationalized

and became State Bank of India.

Life insurance sector was nationalized by

the Life Insurance Corporation Act 1956.

All 245 life-insurance companies in India

at the time were merged to form LIC.

Economic Planning in India

Planning is the systematic and scientific

utilization of available resources to achieve

national goals. In other words, economic

planning is defined as “a continuous

process which involves decisions, or

choices, about alternative ways of using

available resources, with the aim of

achieving particular goals at some time in

the future”.

Since Independence, the Indian economy

has been premised on the concept of

planning. This has been carried through

the Five-Year Plans, developed, executed,

and monitored by the Planning

Commission.The concept of planning in

India is based on the Russian Model

initiated by Joseph Stalin.

The Planning Commission was constituted

on 15th March, 1950, by government of

India. With the Prime Minister as the ex-

officio Chairman, the commission has a

nominated Deputy Chairman, who holds

the rank of a Cabinet Minister.

Planning in India derives its objectives and

social promises from the Directive

Principles of State Policy, enshrined in the

constitution.

The best way to describe the overall aim of

Indian planning is “growth with Justice”

First Five Year Plan (1951-1956)

The First Five-year Plan was launched in

1951 which mainly focused in development

of the agricultural sector.

The total planned budget of Rs.2069 crore

was allocated to seven broad areas:

irrigation and energy (27.2%), agriculture

and community development (17.4%),

transport and communications (24%),

industry (8.4%), social services (16.64%),

land rehabilitation (4.1%), and for other

sectors and services (2.5%).

The most important feature of this phase

was active role of state in all economic

sectors. Such a role was justified at that

time because immediately after

independence, India was facing basic

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problems deficiency of capital and low

capacity to save.

The target growth rate was 2.1% annual

gross domestic product (GDP) growth; the

achieved growth rate was 3.6% the net

domestic product went up by 15%. The

monsoon was good and there were

relatively high crop yields, boosting

exchange reserves and the per capita

income, which increased by 8%. National

income increased more than the per capita

income due to rapid population growth.

Many irrigation projects were initiated

during this period, including the Bhakra

Dam and Hirakud Dam.

Second Five Year Plan (1956-1961)

The Second Plan, particularly in the

development of the public sector.

The plan followed the Mahalanobis model,

an economic development model developed

by the Indian statistician Prasanta

Chandra Mahalanobis in 1953.

The plan attempted to determine the

optimal allocation of investment between

productive sectors in order to maximise

long-run economic growth

The plan assumed a closed economy in

which the main trading activity would be

centred on importing capital goods.

Hydroelectric power projects and five steel

plants at Bhilai, Durgapur, and Rourkela

were established. Coal production was

increased

The total amount allocated under the

Second Five-Year Plan in India was

Rs.48 billion. This amount was allocated

among various sectors: power and

irrigation, social services, communications

and transport, and miscellaneous.

The target growth rate was 4.5% and the

actual growth rate was 4.27%.

Third Five Year Plan (1961-1966)

The Third Five-year Plan stressed

agriculture and improvement in the

production of wheat, but the brief Sino-

Indian War of 1962 exposed weaknesses in

the economy and shifted the focus towards

the defence industry and the Indian Army.

In 1965-1966, India fought a War with

Pakistan. There was also a severe drought

in 1965. The war led to inflation and the

priority was shifted to price stabilization

The target growth rate was 5.6%, but the

actual growth rate was 2.4%.

Due to miserable failure of the Third Plan

the government was forced to declare “plan

holidays” (from 1966-67, 1967-68, and

1968-69).

Gains of Three Five Year Plan

Our national income at 1960-61 prices

increased from Rs. 10,240 Crores in 1950-

51 to Rs. 14,500 Crores in 1960-61.

Due to an increase in population, there was

no significant rise in the per-capita income.

However, the per-capita income at 1960-61

prices was Rs. 284 in 1950-51 and Rs. 330

in 1960-61.

Food grains production increased from 52

million tons in 1950-51 to 76 million tons in

1960-61. The per capita consumption of

food increased from 1,800 calories per day

in 1950-51 to 2,100 calories in 1960-61.

LINGUISTIC REORGANIZATION

After Independence, the demand for the

reorganization of states on linguistic basis

was raised from different regions. The

Constitution Assembly appointed S.K.Dhar

Commission in November, 1947 to study

the issue of reorganization of States of

linguistic basis.

The commission in its report, submitted in

1948, recommended against the

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organization of states purely on linguistic

basis. Instead, the commission suggested

the following criteria along with language –

Geographical contiguity, Financial Self-

reliance, Administrative viability and

Potential for development.

The Congress, in its Jaipur session in 1948,

appointed a three member committee to

consider the recommendations of Dhar

Commission. The Committee is popularly

known as JVP Committee after the name

of its three members Jawaharlal Nehru,

Vallabhai Patel, and Pattabhi

Sitarammaiah.

The committee rejected language as the

basis of reorganization of states. It

suggested that the security, unity and

economic prosperity of the nation as the

criteria of reorganization. The Congress

Working Committee accepted its

recommendation in 1949.

On 19 October 1952, a popular freedom

fighter, Potti Sriramalu, undertook a fast

unto death over the demand for a separate

Andhra and expired after fifty-eight days.

His death was followed by three days of

violence all over Andhra.

The government immediately gave in and

conceded the demand for a separate state

of Andhra, which finally came into

existence in October 1953.

This incident led to appointment of the

States Reorganization Commission in 1953

which was headed by Fazal Ali. The other

members of the commission were Hriday

Nath Kunzru and K M Panikkar.

The SRC submitted its report in October

1955. While laying down that due

consideration should be given to

administrative and economic factors, it

recognized for the most part of the

linguistic principle and recommended

redrawing of state boundaries on the basis.

The States Reorganization Act was passed

by parliament in November 1956. It

provided for fourteen States and six Union

Territory.

The states were: Andhra

Pradesh,Assam,Bihar, Maharashtra,

Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Madhya

Pradesh, Bhopal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu,

Karnataka, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan,

Uttar Pradesh: West Bengal:

Union territories were:Himachal

Pradesh, Andaman and Nicobar Islands,

Delhi, Laccadive, Minicoy and Amindivi

Islands, Madras, Manipur, Tripura

The Bombay Reorganization Act 1960,

partitioned the State of Bombay to form

the new State of Gujarat and to name the

residue of Bombay as Maharashtra

The State of Nagaland Act 1962 formed the

State of Nagaland.

In 1966, Punjab State was divided into two

parts, Punjab and Haryana.The hilly areas

of Punjab were added to Himachal

Pradesh, which itself was constituted as on

independent state on January 25, 1971.

The Assam Reorganization (Meghalaya)

Act 1969 created an autonomous sub-State

named Meghalaya within the State of

Assam.

Himachal Pradesh was upgraded from the

status of a Union Territory to that of a

State by the Himachal Pradesh Act 1970.

The North-Eastern (Reorganization) Act

1971 similarly brought up Manipur.

Tripura and Meghalaya into the category of

States, and added Mizoram and Arunahcal

Pradesh to the list of Union Territories.

In 1975 Sikkim was admitted to the Indian

Union as the 22nd State (36th Amendment

Act, 1975)

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Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh became

the 23rd and 24th States in 1987. Goa

became the 25th in 1987.

Chhattisgarh and Uttaranchal were made

26th and 27th State of India on November 1,

2000 and November 9, 2000 from Madhya

Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh respectively

after passing of reorganization bill for both

state respectively by both the house of

Parliament.

Jharkhand was carved out as 28th State of

India from Bihar after Bihar

Reorganization Bill was passed by

Parliament.

Telangana was carved out from Andhra

Pradesh to form 29th State on 2nd June

2014

At present the Union of India consists of 29

States and 7 union territories.

FOREIGN POLICY INITIATIVES

India’s foreign policy after independence

bore the firm stamp of Jawaharlal Nehru,

the first prime minister of India. He

nurtured it, gave it flesh and blood and

shaped it in a myriad ways.

Under his guidance India became the first

state to have pursued a policy that was

new in the history of international

relations: the policy of Non-Alignment.

After the Second world war, the world was

divided into two hostile power blocs; one

led by United States and the other by

USSR. India decided to join neither of

these blocs. India did not join Baghdad

Pact, the Manila Treaty, SEATO or

CENTO.

Nehru saw the non-alignment philosophy

as a force for peace and an opportunity to

inject pacifist ideals of Mahatma Gandhi in

situations of Conflict.

At the same time this policy of non-

alignment benefitted India in several ways.

India signed many arms deals with USSR

in 1960s and on the other hand India

adopted the Green Revolution technology

for agricultural development which was

backed by USA.

USSR from 1955, always gave full support

to Indian position over many issues

ranging from Kashmir dispute to

Integration of Goa.

Another hallmark of India’s foreign policy

has been cooperation with Asian countries.

It was Nehru who called the First Asian

Relations conference in New Delhi in 1947,

where the principles of foreign policy of

independent India were proclaimed

Representatives of 29 countries attended

this Conference. The Conference helped to

strengthen the solidarity of all Asian

countries.

In 1949, he called another important

Conference in New Delhi which brought

together the Asian nations on the burning

question of Indonesian freedom.

Nehru also participated in the Afro-Asian

Conference held in 1955 in Bandung and

popularized the policy of non-alignment

there. The agenda of these conferences was

the respect for human rights and self-

determination, economic and cultural

cooperation and the promotion of world

peace and cooperation.

India initially maintained warm relation

with China despite there was a serious

territorial dispute over McMahon line

(India-China border) and Aksai Chin

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Plateau. Even as diplomats behind scenes

tried to settle the disputes, Indian

Government official slogan to describe its

relation with china was “Hindi ChiniBhai

Bhai”

India signed a treaty with China on April

29, 1954 which enunciated the principles

governing relation between India and

China that came to be known as

Panchasheel or the Five Principles of

Peaceful Co-existence:

1. Mutual respect of each other’s territorial

integrity and sovereignty.

2. Mutual non-aggression

3. Mutual non-interference in each other’s

internal affairs,

4. Equality and mutual benefit and

5. Peaceful co-existence

Nehru’s foreign policy suffered a serious set

back in 1962, when border dispute flared

into a full-scale war. The ill-prepared India

troops were easily overpowered by Chinese

army. The war ended when the Chinese

declared a ceasefire on 20 November 1962,

and simultaneously announced its

withdrawal from the disputed area.