India: Government and
Political Challenges
Chapter 9 Section 2
Indian Government
• Federal System: #1
– power divided between central gov’t and state
gov’t
– In India Federal gov’t more powerful than
state gov’t
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: #2
– 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
• 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
President Pranab MUKHERJEE (since 22
July 2012
Dr. Manmohan Singh
Prime Minister 2004
INC
Political Parties
• Many political parties: federal and state level
– To represent the interests of different caste,
language, religious, or regional groups #4
• INC: dominated for years – party of
independence #5
• BJP: Bharata Janata Party #5
– Stressed Hindu Traditions
– Coalition of opposition to INC
– Coalition: #6
• If no party wins a majority of seats in parliament
• Government in which several parties join to rule - issues
Dividing Forces #7
• Divisions:
– Caste system
– Cultural Diversity
– Treatment of Sikhs and Separatism
– Muslim-Hindu clashes
– Modern nationality limited
Government Weakens the Caste System #8
• Obstacle to Modernization
• Outlawed Untouchability - Constitution
– Discrimination illegal
– Compensatory discrimination: quota system –
to help Harijans/Dalit (p.207)
• Set aside openings for Untouchables
– Government, public jobs, education
– Still not fully accepted - Why?
• gap between law and tradition
Unifying Forces #9
• Bonds:
– Commitment to Democracy
– Millions of Indians share a common faith
– Hindu traditions create important ties for the
majority of Indians
– Strong leaders
What force both divides and
unifies the people of India? #10
• Religion
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, 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.
Indian Leaders
Nehru Family
Jawaharlal Nehru
• First Prime minister of
India (1947-1964)
– Ally of Gandhi
• Goal: to create a
modern industrialized
secular nation #11
– casteless
– Secular: without
official religion
– socialism
Non-Alignment Movement
Indira Gandhi #11
 Nehru’s daughter.
 Prime Minister of
India, 1966-1984.
 Continues Nehru’s
policies.
 Faced corruption
charges & internal
rebellion.
 Assassinated in
1984 by Sikh
assassin
Rajiv Gandhi #11
 Indira’s son.
 Prime Minister of
India, 1984-1989.
 Liberalization of the
Economy
 Also faced rebellion.
 Assassinated in 1991
while campaigning
 Show Assassination Video
India-Pakistan Border Disputes
1971 India-Pakistan War
Mrs. Gandhi with her troops
2002 Military Statistics
Kashmir
The first Indo-Pakistani war ended on New Year’s Day 1949. 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
Indian Soldiers Patrol the India-Pakistan
Border in Pura, the Winter Capital of the
State of Jammu & Kashmir - 1998
Indian Soldiers Near the
Pakistani Border - 2001
A Pakistani Ranger at the IndianPakistani Joint Border Check Post
in Wagha, India - 2001
Anti-war Protestors in Karachi,
Pakistan - 2001
What title would you give this
political cartoon?
The India-Pakistan Arms Race
Heats Up in the Late 1990s
2002 Nuclear
Statistics
India’s Prithvi Missiles First
Tested in 1988
Supporters of former Indian Prime
Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee chant
nationalist slogans in support for his
nuclear policy - 1998
Former Indian Prime Minister, Atal Bihari
Vajpayee, displays a sword given to him
by Sikh youths in New Delhi to honor him
for making India a nuclear power - 1998
Right-wing Pakistani Activists
Burn Indian Flag to Protest
Indian Nuclear Tests - 1998
Hot Air Balloon Protesting India &
Pakistan’s nuclear testing - 1998
India Displays Nuclear Missiles
During “Republic Day,” - 2002
India Successfully Tested
Agni Missiles - 2002
Musharraf and Vajpayee at a
meeting on nuclear issues in Nepal
in 2002
Is this a possibility?