India

1
India

• March 16

2
India Independence and Partition

• Indian National Congress formed, 1885.
• British massacre of unarmed protesters at
  Jallianwala Bagh, 1919.
• Nonviolent resistance to British rule, led by
  Mohandas Gandhi (assassinated 1948) and
  Jawaharlal Nehru, eventually brought about
  independence in 1947.
• Religious conflict led to the subcontinent's
  partition, and the creation of two separate
  states, India and Pakistan.
• The process of partition was violent (close to a
  million dead) and involved massive migrations of
  people (more than 10 million people).
• Since partition, India and Pakistan have engaged
  in repeated conflict and generally remained in a
  state of political tension.

3
India Independence and Partition

• East Pakistan became Bangladesh in 1971.
• India and Pakistan both have nuclear weapons.
• The disputed territory of Kashmir remains a
  flashpoint of conflict.

4
Independent India

• Led by Nehru, India followed a statist economic
  strategy, instituting a mixed economy (public and
  private ownership) with heavy state involvement
  and extensive protectionism against foreign
  imports and investment (import-substitution
  industrialization).
• Nehru encouraged the growth of the nonaligned
  movement of developing countries that sought to
  maintain their independence from the two Cold War
  superpowers.

5
The Worlds Largest Democracy

• India has maintained a democratic political
  system since 1947.
• Indian society has 14 major languages and is
  divided by religion and caste.
• Poverty and income equality remain a significant
  challenge for the democratic system.

6
Religious Divisions

• Vast majority of population is Hindu, over 80.
  Approximately 12 Muslim. Around 2 Sikh.
• Conflict between Sikh minority and the national
  government led to military invasion of the Golden
  Temple, the holiest Sikh shrine, in city of
  Amritsar, Punjab, 1984. Indira Gandhi
  assassinated. Widespread anti-Sikh violence.
• Major outbreaks of anti-Muslim violence in 1992
  and 2002.
• Mumbai terrorist attacks, 2008.

7
Maoist Insurgents (Naxalites)

• Since 1967 Maoist guerillas have been waging a
  war against the Indian government.
• Currently, they are active across a wide area of
  the country and the government considers them to
  be a major threat to national security.

8
Social Inequality

• Caste system the Indian constitution prohibits
  caste discrimination. Yet, Indian society is
  divided into various caste groupings.
• Scheduled castes (including Dalits or
  untouchables) and scheduled tribes continue to
  face discrimination particularly in rural areas.
• A reservation system (affirmative action) is used
  to advance lower caste members in higher
  education, public employment and political
  representation.

9
Social Inequality

• Child labour India has the worlds largest
  population of child labour and has failed to
  provide universal primary school education.
• Gender discrimination Indian society favors
  boys over girls, as evidenced by all social
  indicators, from lower female literacy and
  nutrition rates to lower survival of female
  versus male infants (Kohli and Basu 2009 171).

10
Economic Liberalization

• Since 1980, Indian governments have been
  liberalizing the economy, increasing the role of
  the private sector and embracing a pro-business,
  growth (rather than redistribution) strategy.
• After 1991, this tendency accelerated and
  involved opening up the Indian economy to foreign
  investment and foreign goods.

11
Political Economy of India

• Economic growth has averaged more than 7 since
  1997 (even growing 6.1 in 2009).
• Just over 50 of the work force is in agriculture
  but India has become a major exporter of software
  services and software workers.
• India has the 12th largest economy measured by
  nominal GDP (China is third). Measured using
  purchasing power parities (PPP), India has the
  4th largest economy (China is second).
• GDP/capita, however, India is 165th and China is
  127th.
• Source CIA - The World Fact Book.

12
Party Politics in India

• The Congress Party (Indian National Congress)
• is a centrist, secular party.
• dominated Indian politics over the period 1947-
  1989, being out of office only from 1977-80.
• It formed a minority government 1991-1996.
• Since 2004 (re-elected in 2009), the Congress
  Party has led a coalition government (United
  Progressive Alliance).

13
Congress Party dominance

• The Nehru-Gandhi dynasty
• Jawaharlal Nehru 1947-1964
• Indira Gandhi 1966-1977, 1980-1984
• Rajiv Gandhi 1984-1989
• Sonia Gandhi has been the president of the
  Congress Party since 1998 and an MP since 1999.
• Rahul Gandhi has been an MP since 2004.

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Party Politics in India

• Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Indian Peoples
  Party.
• is a conservative, Hindu nationalist party.
• formed the government briefly in 1996 and led a
  coalition government (National Democratic
  Alliance) from 1998 to 2004.

15
Party Politics

• Since 1989, the political system has become quite
  fragmented.
• The Congress Party lost its dominance.
• No single party has been able to win a majority
  government.
• The late 1990s were particularly unstable with
  elections in 1996, 98 and 99. After the 1996
  election, there were 3 PMs in two years.
• Since 1999, a new form of relative political
  stability has been created through the growth of
  multi-party coalition governments. Stable
  coalitions were formed after the 1999, 2004 and
  2009 elections.
• Manmohan Singh (who is a Sikh and a member of the
  upper house of Parliament), has been the PM since
  2004.
• There are over 30 parties with representation in
  the 543 seat Parliament.

16
Comparing Democracies

• India, South Africa and Mexico are all considered
  electoral democracies by Freedom House.
• India and Mexico receive a 2 for political rights
  and a 3 for civil liberties.
• South Africa receives a 2 for political rights
  and a 2 for civil liberties.
• All face difficulty of sustaining democracy (and
  encouraging economic development) amid
  significant inequality.