Indira Gandhi ( India's first women prime minister ) | Early life and career, Operation Blue star and assassination

Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (born Nehru) ( 19 November 1917 - 31 October 1984 ) was the Prime Minister of the Republic of India for three consecutive terms from 1966 to 1977 and then for the fourth term from 1980 until her political assassination in 1984. She was the first an so far the only woman Prime Minister of India.

Early life and career

Indira was born on 19 November 1917 into the politically influential Nehru family. Her father was Jawaharlal Nehru and her mother was Kamala Nehru . Indira received her surname "Gandhi" after her marriage to Feroze Gandhi. She was not related to Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi , either by blood or marriage. Her paternal grandfather, Motilal Nehru, was a prominent Indian nationalist leader. Her father, Jawaharlal Nehru, was a prominent figure in the Indian independence movement and served as the first Prime Minister of independent India.

After completing her schooling in 1934-35, Indira joined Visva-Bharati University at Shantiniketan , founded by Rabindranath Tagore. It was Rabindranath Tagore who gave her the name "Priyadarshini". She then went to England and sat for the entrance examination for Oxford University , but failed and after spending a few months at the Badminton School in Bristol , she passed the examination in 1937 and joined Somerville College, Oxford. During this time she often met Feroze Gandhi, whom she knew from Allahabad and who was studying at the London School of Economics. She finally married Feroze on 16 March 1942 in a private Adi Dharma Brahmo- Vedic ceremony at Anand Bhavan, Allahabad.

After returning to India from Oxford in 1941, she became involved in the Indian independence movement . In the 1950s, she served her father as an unofficial personal assistant during his tenure as India's first prime minister. After her father's death in 1964, she was appointed a Rajya Sabha member. She later became Minister of Information and Broadcasting in Lal Bahadur Shastri Is cabinet.

After the sudden death of Lal Bahadur Shastri, then Congress Party President K. Kamaraj was instrumental in making Indira Gandhi Prime Minister. Gandhi soon demonstrated an ability to win elections and to dominate opponents through her popularity. She introduced more leftist economic policies and boosted agricultural productivity. In a period of instability following a decisive victory in the Indo-Pak War of 1971, she imposed the Emergency in 1975. She and the Congress Party lost the general election for the first time in 1977. After returning to power in 1980, she was mostly involved in an escalating conflict with Punjab separatists , which eventually led to her political assassination by her own bodyguards in 1984.

Early Life

Indira was born on 19 November 1917 to Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and his wife Kamala Nehru. She was their only child. The Nehru family can trace its ancestry to Brahmins of Jammu and Kashmir and Delhi . Indira's paternal grandfather Motilal Nehru was a wealthy barrister from Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh . Jawaharlal Nehru was one of the most prominent members of the Indian National Congress in the past . Her father Motilal Nehru was a popular leader of the Indian freedom struggle . At the time of Indira's birth , Jawaharlal Nehru entered the freedom movement under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi.

Raised under the sole care of her mother, who was away from the Nehru family's household chores due to illness, Indira developed a detached personality along with strong protective instincts. Her grandfather and father's constant involvement in national politics also made it difficult for her to interact with peers. She had differences of opinion with her aunts (father's sisters), including Vijayalakshmi Pandit, and this continued in the political world as well.

Indira formed a group of young boys and girls, the Vanar Sena , which played a small but significant role in the Indian freedom struggle by circulating sensitive publications and banned material as well as leading protests and flag marches and helping Congress leaders . There is an often repeated story of her having smuggled out of her father's house, which was under police surveillance, an important document containing plans for a major revolutionary initiative in the early 1930s, in her schoolbag.

In 1936, her mother Kamala Nehru finally died after a long struggle with tuberculosis . Indira was 18 years old at the time and thus never experienced a stable family life in her childhood. She studied in leading Indian, European and British schools, such as Shantiniketan, Badminton School and Oxford.

While studying at Somerville College, University of Oxford , England in the late 1930s, she became a member of the London-based staunch pro-independence Indian League.

While in mainland Europe and Britain, she met Feroze Gandhi , a Parsi Congress worker, and eventually married him in a private Adi Dharma Brahmo-Vedic ceremony at Anand Bhavan, Allahabad on 16 March 1942 just before the start of the Quit India Movement, a fierce and vigorous national uprising launched by Mahatma Gandhi and the Congress Party. In September 1942, she was arrested by the British authorities and detained without charge. She was finally released on 13 May 1943 , after spending more than 243 days in prison. In 1944, she gave birth to Rajiv Gandhi with Feroze Gandhi and two years later, to Sanjay Gandhi.

During the Partition chaos of 1947, he helped organize refugee camps and provide medical care for millions of refugees from Pakistan. This was his first opportunity for major public service.

The Gandhis later settled in Allahabad, where Feroze worked for a Congress Party newspaper and an insurance company. Their marriage was initially smooth, but later when Indira moved to New Delhi to join her father , who was living alone in a high-stress environment at Teen Murti Bhavan during his prime ministership, she became his confidante, secretary and nurse. Her sons lived with her, but she eventually separated from Feroze permanently, although she continued to have the tag of being married.

When India's first general election approached in 1951, Indira was involved in campaign management for both her father and her husband, who were contesting from the Rae Bareli constituency. Feroze did not consult Nehru about his choice of candidate and, although he was elected, chose to live separately in Delhi. Feroze soon developed a reputation as a political fighter against corruption by exposing a major scandal in the nationalized insurance industry , which led to the resignation of one of Nehru's allies, the Finance Minister.

At the height of the tension, Indira separated from her husband. However, shortly after the by-election in 1958, Feroze suffered a heart attack, which dramatically healed their broken marriage. Her family remained close to her, accompanying her to her convalescence in Kashmir . But on 8 September 1960 , while Indira was away on a foreign tour with her father, Feroze died.

Indian National Congress President

During 1959 and 1960, Indira contested elections and was elected president of the Indian National Congress . Her tenure was uneventful. She served as her father's chief of staff.

Nehru died on 27 May 1964 and Indira contested elections at the instigation of the new Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri and immediately joined the government, being appointed Minister of Information and Broadcasting. When riots broke out in the non-Hindi speaking states of the south over the issue of Hindi becoming the national language, she went to Chennai . There she consulted with government officials, calmed the anger of community leaders and oversaw reconstruction efforts in the affected areas. Shastri and senior ministers were embarrassed by her lack of such efforts. Minister Gandhi's interventions were probably not directly aimed at Shastri's or her own political elevation. She reportedly lacked enthusiasm for the day-to-day running of the ministry but was a communication oriented and adept at the art of politics and image building.

When the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 was going on , Indira was present at the Srinagar border. Though the army warned that Pakistani infiltrators were rapidly approaching the city, she rejected offers to relocate herself to Jammu or Delhi and instead made rounds of the local government and welcomed the attention of the media. Lal Bahadur Shastri died a few hours after signing the Soviet-brokered peace agreement with Pakistan's Ayub Khan in Tashkent.

Then Congress Party President K. Kamaraj played a key role in making Indira Gandhi the Prime Minister after Shastri's sudden death.

Foreign and domestic policy and national security

By the time Mrs Gandhi became Prime Minister in 1966, the Congress was divided into two factions, the Socialists led by Mrs Gandhi and the Conservatives led by Morarji Desai . Morarji Desai used to call her "Gungi Gudiya". Internal problems emerged in the 1967 elections where the Congress lost almost 60 seats and won 297 seats in the 545-member Lok Sabha . She had to appoint Desai as the Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister of India. In 1969 , the Indian National Congress split after disagreements with Desai on several issues. She ruled for the next two years with the support of the Socialists and Communist parties. In July 1969, she nationalized banks. In 1971, to solve the Bangladeshi refugee problem, she declared war on Pakistan on behalf of East Pakistan, which was fighting for its independence. During the 1971 war, the US under President Richard Nixon sent its Seventh Fleet into the Bay of Bengal to warn India to stay away from East Pakistan, citing the possibility of a full-scale attack against West Pakistan , particularly over the issue of the territory of Kashmir. This move alienated India from the First World and Prime Minister Gandhi now swiftly reoriented a previously cautious national security and foreign policy. India and the Soviet Union had already signed a Treaty of Friendship and Mutual Assistance , which resulted in substantial political and military support for India's victory in the 1971 war.

Nuclear Program

But, in view of the nuclear threat from the People's Republic of China and the interest of the two major superpowers in meddling, Gandhi now had a national nuclear programme which she felt was not conducive to India's stability and security. She invited the new Pakistani President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto to a week-long Shimla Summit. With the talks nearing failure, the two heads of state eventually signed the Shimla Agreement , under which the two countries agreed to resolve the Kashmir dispute through dialogue and peaceful means.

Indira Gandhi was criticised by some critics for not making the Line of Control a permanent border, while some others believed that Pakistan-administered Kashmir should have been liberated from Pakistan while India held 93,000 Pakistani prisoners of war . However, the agreement averted immediate intervention by the United Nations or any third party and greatly reduced the likelihood of Pakistan launching a major offensive in the near future. By not demanding a complete surrender from Bhutto on a sensitive issue, she allowed Pakistan to stabilize and normalize.

Trade relations were also normalised through many contacts that had been stalled for years.

In 1974, India successfully conducted an underground nuclear test near the desert village of Pokhran in Rajasthan , unofficially called the Smiling Buddha . India became the world's latest nuclear power by describing the test as being for peaceful purposes.

Green Revolution

In the 1960s, special innovative agricultural programmes and additional government support were implemented, eventually turning India's chronic food shortages into surplus production, primarily of wheat, rice, cotton and milk. Rather than relying on food aid from the United States - which had a president whom Mrs Gandhi disliked very much (the feeling was mutual: Nixon thought Indira was an "old witch”), the country became a food exporter. That achievement, along with the diversification of its commercial crop production, is known as the Green Revolution . At the same time, the White Revolution, brought about by increased milk production, helped to tackle malnutrition, especially among growing children. T-ood security', as the programme is known, was another source of support for Mrs Gandhi until 1975.

The Green Revolution, organised in the early 1960s, was the informal name for the Intensive Agricultural District Programme (IADP), which assured cheap grain in abundance for the urban masses on whose support Gandhi-indeed, all Indian politics-so deeply depended. The programme consisted of four phases:

1. seeds of new varieties

2. Recognition of the need for chemicalization of Indian agriculture, such as fertilizers, pesticides, weedicides, etc.

3. Commitment to national and international cooperative research to develop new and improve existing seed varieties

4. Scientific concept of development of agricultural institutions as land grant colleges.

The ten-year program eventually produced a tripling of wheat production and a smaller but significant increase in rice; while other cereals such as millet , chickpeas , and coarse cereals experienced little or no growth (adjusting for area and population growth)- yet these areas maintained relatively stable yields.

Victory in 1971 elections and second term (1971-1975)

Gandhi's government faced major difficulties after her landslide mandate of 1971. The internal structure of the Congress Party had become weakened as a result of its numerous splits, leaving it entirely dependent on her leadership for electoral fortunes. Gandhi's slogan in the run-up to 1971 was Garibi Hatao . This slogan, and the outline of the proposed Garibi Hatao program that came with it, were designed to give Gandhi an independent national support base among the rural and urban poor. This allowed her to ignore state and local governments dominated by the dominant rural castes and the urban business class. And, the poor, which had been voiceless in the past, gained at least a modicum of political value and political weight.

Programmes under Garibi Hatao , though locally administered, were financed, developed, supervised and staffed by New Delhi and the Indian National Congress party. "These programmes also gave the central political leadership ownership of the power to distribute new and vast resources across the country”. Ultimately, Garibi Hatao did little for the poor: only 4% of all funds allocated for economic development went to the three major poverty alleviation programmes, and almost none reached the "poorest of the poor". Thus, although the programme failed to reduce poverty, it achieved its goal of getting Gandhi elected.

tendency towards authoritarianism

Gandhi had already been accused of authoritarian behavior. Using her strong parliamentary majority, her ruling Indian National Congress amended the Constitution to alter the balance of power between the center and the states. She twice seized control of states governed by opposition parties by declaring them "lawless and anarchic" and imposing President's rule under Article 356 of the Constitution. In addition, the growing influence of Sanjay Gandhi , who had become Gandhi's closest political adviser in place of elected officials, was resented by P.N. Haksar , Gandhi's former advisor at the height of his power. Sensing his new inclination towards the use of authoritarian power, prominent figures and former freedom fighters such as Jayaprakash Narayan , Satyendra Narayan Sinha and Acharya Jivatram Kripalani toured throughout India campaigning actively against him and his government.

Corruption allegations and electoral malpractice verdict

On 12 June 1975 , the Allahabad High Court declared Indira Gandhi's election to the Lok Sabha void on the basis of alleged corruption charges in an election petition filed by Raj Narain (who had repeatedly contested and lost the Rae Bareli parliamentary constituency ). The court thus passed an order against her, barring her from resigning from Parliament and contesting elections for six years. One must be a member of either the Lok Sabha ( lower house of the Indian Parliament ) or the Rajya Sabha (upper house of the Parliament) to become Prime Minister. The decision thus effectively removed her from office.

When Gandhi appealed the decision, opposition parties and their supporters, eager to gain political capital, clamoured for his resignation. The strikes by numerous unions and protesters brought life to a standstill in several states. To strengthen the movement, Jayaprakash Narayan called on the police to disobey orders to fire on unarmed crowds. With public disillusionment with his government combined with difficult economic times, huge crowds of protesters surrounded the Parliament House and his residence in Delhi, demanding his resignation.

State of emergency (1975-1977)

Gandhi, in a move to restore order, ordered the arrest of most of the dissidents who were causing trouble. Subsequently, his cabinet and government recommended that President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed declare a state of emergency in view of the chaos and disorder that had spread following the Allahabad High Court's decision . Accordingly, Ahmed declared a state of emergency on 26 June 1975 under the provisions of Article 352 of the Constitution in view of the internal disorder.

Governance by decree/Order-based governance

Within a few months, President's rule was imposed in two opposition-ruled states, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu , bringing the entire country under direct central rule. The police were given the power to enforce curfews and indefinite detention of citizens, and all publications were placed under extensive censorship by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting . Inder Kumar Gujral , a would be prime minister, himself resigned as Minister for Information and Broadcasting in protest against Sanjay Gandhi's interference in his work . Eventually, the impending assembly elections were postponed indefinitely and all opposition-ruled state governments were removed, in violation of the constitutional provision for the dismissal of a state government on the recommendation of the governor of the concerned state.

Gandhi used the emergency provisions to obtain extraordinary powers for herself.

"Unlike her father Nehru, who preferred to deal with chief ministers strong in control of their legislative parties and state party organisations, Mrs. Gandhi set about removing every Congress chief minister who had an independent base and replacing them with ministers personally loyal to her, yet stability could not be maintained in the states.”

He is also alleged to have further proposed to President Ahmed to issue ordinances that would not require debate in Parliament and allow decree-based rule.

Simultaneously, Gandhils government launched a campaign to root out opposition and arrest and detain thousands of political activists; Sanjay was instrumental in the clearance of settlements around the Jama Masjid , under the supervision of Jag Mohan , later lieutenant governor of Delhi, which reportedly left thousands homeless and killed hundreds, thus creating communal bitterness in those parts of the country's capital; and a family planning programme involving forced sterilisation of thousands of men was introduced, which often had very poor implementation.

Election

To give voters another chance to approve that regime, Gandhi called elections in 1977. Gandhi may have grossly misjudged her popularity, judging by what the heavily censored press wrote about her. Whatever the reason, she lost badly to the Janata Dal . Led by her longtime rival Desai and under the spiritual guidance of Jayaprakash Narayan, the Janata Dal won the election, representing India's last chance to choose between "democracy and dictatorship." Both Indira and Sanjay Gandhi lost their seats and the Congress was reduced to 153 seats (compared to 350 in the previous Lok Sabha), of which 92 were from the South.

Removal, arrest and return

Desai became Prime Minister and Neelam Sanjiva Reddy, the government's choice of 1969, was made President of the Republic. Gandhi found herself jobless, incomeless and homeless until she won a by-election in 1978. The 1977 election campaign split the Congress Party: supporters such as Jagjivan Ram deserted her. The Congress (Gandhi) Party was now reduced to a much smaller group in Parliament, officially in opposition.

Unable to govern because of infighting among various coalition parties, the Janata government's home minister, Chowdhary Charan Singh, ordered the arrest of Indira Gandhi and Sanjay Gandhi on a number of charges, none of which were easy to prove in an Indian court. The arrests meant Indira was automatically expelled from Parliament. But this strategy backfired disastrously. Her arrest and prolonged trial earned her sympathy from many who had feared her as a dictator just two years earlier.

The Janata coalition was held together only by its hatred of Mrs Gandhi (or "that woman" as some called her). The government was mired in infighting over petty issues and Gandhi was able to use this situation to her advantage. She began making speeches again, skillfully apologising for "mistakes" made during the Emergency. In June 1979 Desai resigned and Charan Singh was appointed Prime Minister by Reddy after Mrs Gandhi promised that the Congress would support her government from outside.

After a short interval, they withdrew their initial support and President Reddy dissolved Parliament in the winter of 1979. In elections held the following January, the Congress was returned to power with a landslide majority.

Indira Gandhi was awarded the Lenin Peace Prize (1983 - 1984).

Operation Blue Star and assassination

Gandhi's later years in Punjab were plagued by troubles. In September 1981, Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale Is separatist Sikh militant group became positioned inside the Harimandir Sahib complex , the holiest shrine in Sikhism. Despite the presence of thousands of civilians inside the Golden Temple complex, Gandhi ordered the army to enter the shrine in an attempt to flush out the militants. Accounts of military and civilian casualties vary. Official estimates are 89 soldiers, including four officers, and 492 militants; other accounts put the number at perhaps 500 or more soldiers and 3,000 other people, including many pilgrims, caught in the crossfire. While exact civilian casualty figures have been disputed, the timing and choice of method for the attack are also controversial. Two of Indira Gandhi's numerous bodyguards were Satwant Singh and Beant Singh, both Sikhs. On 31 October 1984 , he assassinated Indira Gandhi in the garden of the Prime Minister's residence at 1, Safdarjung Road, New Delhi, using his service weapon. She had passed through a small gate guarded by Satwant and Beant to give an interview to British actor Peter Ustinov while he was filming a documentary for Irish television. In the immediate aftermath of the incident, according to available information, Beant Singh fired three shots at her using his sidearm and Satwant Singh fired twenty-two rounds at her using a Sten carbine. Beant Singh was shot dead by his other bodyguards and Satwant Singh was shot and arrested.

Gandhi died on the way to the hospital in her official car, but was not declared dead for hours. She was brought to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences , where doctors operated on her. Official accounts of the time show 29 entry and exit wounds, and some accounts put the number at 31 bullets removed from her body. Her cremation took place on 3 November near Raj Ghat , and the site came to be known as Shakti Sthal . Following her death, communal unrest engulfed New Delhi as well as many other cities in India, including Kanpur, Asansol and Indore, and thousands of Sikhs were killed. Gandhi's friend and biographer Pupul Jayakar has further shed light on Indira's tensions and preconceptions about what might happen if Operation Blue Star was implemented.

Indian Rebellion of 1857 | Expansion of the East India Company in India

The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857-58 against the rule of the British East India Company , which acted as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 as a mutiny of sepoys of the company's army in the garrison town of Meerut , 40 miles (64 km) northeast of Delhi . It then escalated into other mutinies and civil rebellions, mainly in the upper Gangetic plain and central India, although incidents of rebellion also occurred in the north and east. The rebellion posed a military threat to British power in that region, and was only contained with the rebelsl defeat at Gwalior on 20 June 1858. On 1 November 1858, the British amnestied all rebels not involved in the killing, although they did not formally declare the end of hostilities until 8 July 1859.

The name of the rebellion is disputed and it has been described as the Sepoy Mutiny the Indian Mutiny , the Great Rebellion , the Revolt of 1857 and the First War of Independence.

Expansion of the East India Company in India

The East India Company, led by Robert Clive , won the Battle of Plassey in 1757. The treaty following the battle gave the British the right to duty-free trade in Bengal. The British gained full control over Bengal after winning the Battle of Buxar in 1764. Victory in these two wars greatly increased the power of the British and proved their military capability superior to the traditional Indian military capability. The company soon expanded its territories around its bases in Bombay and Madras; later, the Anglo-Mysore Wars (1766-1799) and the Anglo-Maratha Wars (1772-1818) led to the company's control over even more parts of India.

After the turn of the 19th century, Governor-General Wellesley initiated two decades of rapid expansion of Company territories. This was achieved either by subsidiary alliances between the Company and local rulers or by direct military annexation. Subsidiary alliances created princely states of Hindu maharajas and Muslim nawabs . In 1843 the East India Company took control of the Sindh region after a bitter war. The British extended their hand to the weakened Punjab after the death of Maharaja Ranjit Singh in 1839 and annexed the Punjab , the North-West Frontier Province and Kashmir in 1849 after the Second Anglo-Sikh War ; however, Kashmir was immediately sold to the Dogra dynasty of Jammu under the Treaty of Amritsar of 1846 and thus became a princely state. In 1853 Nana Saheb, the adopted son of Baji Rao, the last Maratha Peshwa , was stripped of his title and his annual allowance was stopped. Berar was annexed to the Company's state in 1854 and Awadh in 1856.

Reasons for the uprising

Various political, economic, religious, military and social reasons are given for the revolt of 1857

Ideological differences

Many historians believe that the general public at that time believed that the British wanted to convert them to Christianity by force or deception . This was not entirely wrong, some company officials were involved in the work of conversion. However, the company never approved religious conversion. The company was aware that religion could become a cause of rebellion in traditional Indian society. Earlier in the sixteenth century, one of the reasons for the fall of the Portuguese from India and Japan was that they had tried to force Christianity on the people.

Under Lord Dalhousie's Doctrine of Lapse, many states like Jhansi , Awadh , Satara, Nagpur and Sambalpur were annexed to the British Empire and their successors changed from kings to employees receiving pension from the British Empire. The royal families, landholders and armies found themselves unemployed and powerless. They were ready to take revenge for their humiliation and defeat at the hands of the British. In the eight years of Lord Dalhousie Is rule, an area of one million square miles was taken under the Company's control. Apart from this, many soldiers in the Bengal Army of the East India Company were recruited from Awadh, they could not remain untouched by the events taking place in Awadh . The jewellery of the royal family of Nagpur was auctioned in Calcutta , this incident was seen as an insult to the royal family.

Indians were also angry with the harsh rule of the Company which was expanding rapidly and spreading Western culture. The British outlawed many of the then prevalent customs of the Hindus and Muslims which were considered anti-social by the British. This included the banning of the practice of Sati . It is worth noting here that the Sikhs had stopped this long ago and Raja Rammohan Roy, a famous social reformer of Bengal , was campaigning for the abolition of this practice. These laws created anger among some sections of society, mainly in Bengal. The British abolished the practice of child marriage and also banned female foeticide . Thuggee was also abolished by the British but it is still doubtful whether the Thugs were a religious community or just a community of ordinary dacoits.

The British judicial system was considered unjust for Indians. In 1853, the British Prime Minister Lord Aberdeen opened the administrative service to Indians, but according to some enlightened Indians, this reform was not enough. The company officials had the right to appeal against Indians in many courts. The company also imposed heavy taxes on Indians, and in case of non-payment, their property was confiscated. The company's efforts at modernization were viewed with suspicion in traditional Indian society. People believed that the railway, which first started from Bombay , was a demon and would bring disaster on the people.

However, many historians also believe that these reforms have been exaggerated as the Company did not have the means to implement them and their impact away from Calcutta was negligible.

commercial purpose

One of the main reasons for the revolt of 1857 was the economic exploitation of Indians by the company. The company's policies had completely destroyed the traditional economy of India. Due to these policies, many farmers, artisans, workers and artists became poor. Along with them, the condition of the landlords and big farmers also worsened. In 1813, the company adopted a one-sided free trade policy under which British traders got complete freedom to import, Indian goods made with traditional technology could not stand in front of it and the Indian urban handicraft trade suffered unimaginable losses.

With the advent of railways , small scale industries in rural areas were also destroyed. Railway services gave British traders access to far flung villages. The textile industry (cotton and silk) suffered the most. Along with this, iron trade, utensils, glass, paper, metal, gun, ship and dyeing industries also suffered a lot. In the 18th and 19th centuries, Indian exports to Britain and Europe came to an end due to import duties and many restrictions. This situation became even worse due to the destruction of traditional industries and the lack of development of modern industries. The common people were left with no other means of livelihood except agriculture.

The condition of the farmers was also bad. In the beginning of British rule, the farmers were left at the mercy of the landlords, who increased the rent a lot and started exploiting the farmers through forced labour and other means. The company spent very little on agricultural improvement and most of the rent was used to meet the expenses of the company. In case of crop failure, the moneylenders used to give loans to the farmers at high interest and cheated the illiterate farmers in many ways. Due to land transfer being legal under the British legal system, the farmers had to lose their land as well. Due to these problems, discontent was prevalent in every section of the society.

Political Reasons

Between 1848 and 1858, Lord Dalhousie took control of many states under the law of Doctrine of Lapse. According to this principle, any state, region or area of British influence will come under the Company if the king of the region dies childless or the ruler proves to be incompetent in the eyes of the Company. Working on this principle, Lord Dalhousie and his successor Lord Canning annexed Satara, Nagpur , Jhansi , Awadh under the Company's rule. Due to the treaties and promises broken by the Company, the political credibility of the Company was also questioned. According to Lord Dalhousie's declaration in 1849, Bahadur Shah's successor will have to leave the historic Red Fort and go outside the city and Lord Canning's declaration in 1856 that Bahadur Shah Is successor will not be called king made the Mughals stand in rebellion against the Company.

Fear of soldiers

Sepoys were originally soldiers of Indian origin working in the company's Bengal army. Bombay, Madras and Bengal Presidency had their own separate armies and army chiefs. This army had more soldiers than the British army. In 1857, this army had 2,57,000 soldiers. Due to the presence of people from different regions in the armies of Bombay and Madras Presidency, these armies were diverse and people from any one region did not dominate them. But the soldiers recruited in the army of Bengal Presidency were mostly Gujjars from Awadh and the plains of Ganga. While Brahmins and Rajputs had supported the British. In the early years of the company, caste privileges and customs were given importance in the Bengal army. But after 1840, when a modern-loving government came to power in Calcutta, the fear of losing their caste spread among the soldiers. The sepoys in the army were forbidden to wear any insignia related to their caste or religion. In 1856, an order made it compulsory for all newly recruited sepoys to serve a period of service abroad. The sepoys gradually became dissatisfied with various aspects of army life. The army's pay was low. The Indian soldier's salary was a mere Rs. 7 per month. And after the conquest of Awadh and Punjab, the sepoy's allowance was also abolished. Rumours about the Enfield rifle further increased the sepoys' suspicions that the Company wanted to change their religion and caste.

enfield gun

The revolt started because of a gun. The soldiers were given Pattern 1853 Enfield muskets which were 0.577 caliber and were more powerful and accurate than the old Brown Bess which had been in use for many decades. The new musket had a modern system of firing (percussion cap) but the process of loading the musket was old. To load the new Enfield musket, the cartridge had to be opened by biting it with the teeth and the gunpowder filled in it had to be put into the barrel of the gun. The outer cover of the cartridge had grease which protected it from water seepage.

Rumours

Another rumour that was circulating at the time was that the Company's rule had begun with the Battle of Plassey in 1757 and would end after 100 years in 1857. Chapatis and lotus flowers began to be distributed in many parts of India. These were signs of an impending revolt.

Beginning of the revolt

Tensions continued to rise with various incidents for several months before the actual uprising. On 26 February 1857 the 19th Bengal Native Infantry (BNI) regiment became concerned that the new cartridges they had been issued were wrapped in paper coated with cow and pig fat and had to be opened by mouth, which offended their religious sensibilities. Their colonel confronted them on the parade ground with artillery and cavalry support, but after some negotiation withdrew the artillery and cancelled the next morning's parade.

mangal pandey

On 29 March 1857 , at the Barrackpore parade ground near Calcutta , 29-year-old Mangal Pandey of the 34th BNI, angered by the East India Company's recent actions, declared that he would revolt against his commanders. Sergeant-Major James Hewson, informed of Pandey's behaviour, went to investigate, when Pandey fired at him. Hewson raised the alarm. When his adjutant, Lieutenant Henry Baugh, came out to investigate the disturbance, Pandey fired, but struck Baugh's horse instead.

General John Hearse came to the parade ground to investigate and later claimed that Mangal Pandey was in some sort of "religious frenzy". He ordered Jamadar Ishwari Prasad, the Indian commander of the Quarter Guard, to arrest Mangal Pandey, but the Jamadar refused. The Quarter Guard and the other soldiers present, except for a soldier named Sheikh Paltu, retreated from stopping or arresting Mangal Pandey. Sheikh Paltu prevented Pandey from continuing his attack.

Having failed to incite his comrades to open and active revolt, Mangal Pandey tried to take his own life by placing his gun on his chest and pulling the trigger with his toe. He only managed to injure himself. He was court-martialled on 6 April and hanged two days later. Jemadar Ishwari Prasad was sentenced to death and hanged on 21 April. The regiment was disbanded and stripped of its uniform as it was felt that it had ill feelings towards its superiors, especially after this incident. Sheikh Paltu was promoted to the rank of Havildar in the Bengal Army , but was killed shortly before the 34th BNI was dispersed.

Sepoys from other regiments thought these punishments were harsh. In the opinion of some historians, the display of humiliation during the formal disbandment helped spark the revolt. Disgruntled ex-sepoys returned home to Awadh seeking revenge.

Disturbances during April 1857

During April, there was unrest and fire in Agra , Allahabad and Ambala . Particularly at Ambala, which was a large military cantonment where many units had gathered for their annual gun practice, it was clear to General Anson, the commander-in-chief of the Bengal Army , that some sort of uprising over cartridges was imminent. Despite the objections of the civilian governor-general's staff, he agreed to suspend the practice of musketry and allow a new drill by which the soldiers would tear the cartridges with their fingers rather than their teeth. However, he issued no general order to make this standard practice throughout the Bengal Army and, instead of remaining at Ambala to minimize or quell potential trouble, he moved to the quiet hill station of Simla , where many of the higher officers spent the summer.

Although there was no open rebellion in Ambala , there was widespread arson in late April. Barrack buildings (especially those of the troops using Enfield cartridges) and bungalows of British officers were set on fire.

Meerut

At Meerut , a large military cantonment, 2,357 Indian sepoys and 2,038 British soldiers were stationed with 12 British-operated guns. The cantonment was one of the largest concentrations of British troops in India and was later cited as evidence that the original rebellion was a spontaneous outbreak rather than a pre-planned conspiracy.

Although the state of unrest within the Bengal Army was well known, on 24 April Lieutenant Colonel George Carmichael-Smith, the unsympathetic commanding officer of the 3rd Bengal Light Cavalry, which was composed mainly of Indian Muslims, ordered 90 of his men to parade and perform firing practice. All but five of the men on parade refused to take their cartridges. On 9 May, the remaining 85 men were court martialled, and most were sentenced to 10 years imprisonment with hard labour. Eleven comparatively young soldiers were given five years' imprisonment. The entire garrison was paraded and watched as the condemned men were stripped of their uniforms and placed in shackles. As they were led to prison, the condemned soldiers scolded their comrades for failing to support them.

The next day was Sunday. Some Indian soldiers warned off-duty junior British officers that the sepoys planned to release the imprisoned soldiers by force, but the senior officers who were informed of this took no action. There was also unrest in the town of Meerut, with angry protests in the bazaar and some buildings set on fire. In the evening, most of the British officers were preparing to attend church, while many British soldiers were off duty and went to the canteen or bazaar in Meerut. Indian troops led by the 3rd Cavalry mutinied. British junior officers who had earlier attempted to suppress the outbreak were killed by the mutineers. The quarters of British officers and civilians were attacked and four civilian men, eight women and eight children were killed. In the bazaar the mob attacked the off-duty soldiers. About 50 Indian civilians, some of them servants of officers, who tried to defend or hide their employers, were killed by the sepoys. While the actions of the sepoys in rescuing their 85 imprisoned comrades appear to have been spontaneous, some civilian rioting in the city was reportedly encouraged by the kotwal (local police commander) Dhan Singh Gurjar.

Some sepoys (particularly from the 1 lth Bengal Native Infantry) evacuated trusted British officers and women and children to safety before joining the rebellion. Some officers and their families fled to Rampur , where they found refuge with the Nawab.

British historian Philip Mason says it was inevitable that most of the sepoys and sowars from Meerut should have left for Delhi on the night of 10 May. It was a strong walled city only forty miles away, the ancient capital and current seat of the titular Mughal emperor and ultimately there were no British troops there, unlike Meerut. No attempt was made to pursue them.

Delhi

On the morning of 11 May, the first troops of the 3rd Cavalry arrived in Delhi . From beneath the windows of the king's room in the palace, they called on Bahadur Shah Zafar to receive them and lead them. He did nothing at this point, apparently treating the sepoys as ordinary petitioners, but others in the palace were quick to join the revolt. During the day, the revolt spread. British officers and their dependents, Indian Christians, and city shopkeepers were killed, some by the sepoys and some by the rioting mob.

Three battalion-sized regiments of Bengal Native Infantry were stationed in or near the city. Some troops immediately joined the rebellion, while others withdrew but also refused to obey orders to act against the rebels. At noon a massive explosion in the city was heard for several miles. Fearing that the armoury, which contained large stores of arms and ammunition, would fall into the hands of the rebels, the nine British ordnance officers present there opened fire on the sepoys, including men from their own guard. When resistance appeared hopeless, they blew up the armoury. Six of the nine officers survived, but the explosion killed many people in the streets and in the surrounding houses and other buildings. News of these events eventually inspired the sepoys stationed around Delhi to open revolt. The sepoys later succeeded in saving at least some arms from the armoury, and a magazine two miles (3 km) outside Delhi, containing up to 3,000 barrels of gunpowder, was captured without resistance.

Many fugitive British officers and civilians had gathered at the Flagstaff Tower on the Ridge, north of Delhi, where telegraph operators were sending reports of events to other British cantonments. When it became clear that the expected help from Meerut was not forthcoming, they boarded carts and headed for Karnal. Those who got separated from the main building or could not reach the Flagstaff Tower also set out for Karnal on foot . Some were helped by villagers along the way; others were killed.

The next day, Bahadur Shah held his first formal durbar for many years. It was attended by many excited sepoys. The king was alarmed by the turn of events, but eventually he accepted the sepoys' loyalty and agreed to lend his support to the rebellion. On 16 May, more than 50 British, who had been taken prisoner in the palace or found hiding in the city, were killed by some of the king's servants under a peepal tree in a courtyard outside the palace.

India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru Biography | Life, Writing and Publications.

Jawaharlal Nehru (November 14, 1889 - May 27, 1964) was the first Prime Minister of India and a central figure in Indian politics before and after independence. Under the tutelage of Mahatma Gandhi , he emerged as the paramount leader of the Indian independence movement and ruled India from its establishment as an independent nation in 1947 until his death in 1964. He is considered the architect of the modern Indian nation-state- a sovereign, socialist, secular, and democratic republic. He was also called Pandit Nehru due to his origins with the Kashmiri Pandit community, while Indian children know him as Chacha Nehru.

Nehru was elected by the Congress to become the first Prime Minister of independent India , although the question of leadership had been settled as early as 1941, when Gandhi acknowledged Nehru as his political heir and successor. As Prime Minister, he set out to realize India's dream. The Constitution of India was enacted in 1950, following which he launched an ambitious plan of economic, social and political reforms. Most importantly, he oversaw India's transformation from a colony to a republic, nurturing a pluralistic, multi-party democracy . In foreign policy, he played a leading role in the non-alignment movement, projecting India as a regional hegemon in South Asia.

Under Nehru's leadership, the Congress emerged as a dominant party, dominating national and state elections and winning consecutive elections in 1951, 1957, and 1962. Despite political crises in his final years and the Sino-Indian War of 1962, he remained popular among the people of India. In India, his birthday is celebrated as Children's Day.

Life

Jawaharlal Nehru was born on 14 November 1889 in Allahabad , British India . His father, Motilal Nehru (1861 - 1931), was a wealthy barrister who was a Kashmiri Pandit . Motilal Nehru belonged to the Saraswat Kaul Brahmin community, and was twice elected President of the Indian National Congress during the Indian independence movement. His mother, Swarup Rani Thussu (1868 - 1938), who belonged to a prominent Kashmiri Brahmin family settled in Lahore , was Motilal's second wife; his first wife had died in childbirth. Jawaharlal was the eldest of three children, the other two being girls. The elder sister, Vijaya Lakshmi , later became the first woman President of the United Nations General Assembly. The youngest sister, Krishna Hutheesing , became a notable author and wrote several books on her family.

Jawaharlal Nehru was educated in some of the best schools and universities in the world. He completed his schooling at Harrow and college education at Trinity College, Cambridge (London). He then completed his law degree from Cambridge University . He spent seven years in England , where he developed a rational approach to Fabian socialism and Irish nationalism.

Jawaharlal Nehru returned to India in 1912 and started practicing law. In 1916, he married Kamala Nehru . In 1917, Jawaharlal Nehru joined the Home Rule League . His real initiation into politics came two years later in 1919 when he came in contact with Mahatma Gandhi. At that time Mahatma Gandhi had launched a campaign against the Rowlatt Act . Nehru was particularly attracted to Mahatma Gandhi's active but peaceful, civil disobedience movement.

Nehru also adapted his family to the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi . Jawaharlal and Motilal Nehru renounced western clothes and expensive possessions. They now wore a khadi kurta and Gandhi cap. Jawaharlal Nehru took an active part in the Non-Cooperation Movement in 1920-1922 and was arrested for the first time during this period. He was released after a few months.

Jawaharlal Nehru was elected president of the Allahabad Municipal Corporation in 1924 and served as the city's chief executive for two years. He resigned in 1926, citing a lack of cooperation from British authorities.

From 1926 to 1928, Jawaharlal Nehru served as the general secretary of the All India Congress Committee. In 1928 - 1929, the annual session of the Congress was held under the presidency of Motilal Nehru. At that session, Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhas Chandra Bose supported the demand for complete political independence, while Motilal Nehru and other leaders supported the demand for dominion status within the British Empire. To resolve the issue, Gandhi took a middle path and said that Britain would be given two years to grant India dominion status and if this did not happen, the Congress would launch a national struggle for complete political independence. Nehru and Bose demanded that this time be reduced to one year. The British government did not respond.

In December 1929, the annual session of the Congress was held in Lahore where Jawaharlal Nehru was elected President of the Congress Party. During the same session, a resolution was also passed demanding IPurna Swaraj'. On 26 January 1930, Jawaharlal Nehru hoisted the flag of independent India in Lahore. Gandhiji also called for a civil disobedience movement in 1930. The movement was quite successful and forced the British government to accept the need for major political reforms.

When the British government promulgated the Constitution of India Act 1935 , the Congress Party decided to contest the elections. Nehru stayed out of the elections but campaigned vigorously for the party nationwide. Congress formed governments in almost every province and won the largest number of seats in the Central Assembly.

Nehru was elected President of the Congress in 1936 and 1937. He was arrested during the Quit India Movement in 1942 and released in 1945. He played an important role in the negotiations with the British government during the independence of India and Pakistan in 1947.

first prime minister of india

When India got independence in 1947, when the Congress voted for the future Prime Minister, Sardar Patel got the most votes. After him, Acharya Kriplani got the most votes. But on Gandhiji's insistence, Sardar Patel and Acharya Kriplani withdrew their names and Jawaharlal Nehru was made the Prime Minister.

In 1947, he became the first Prime Minister of independent India. The British had freed about 500 native princely states at once and the biggest challenge at that time was to bring them under one flag. He wisely faced every challenge that arose in the way of reorganizing India. Jawaharlal Nehru played an important role in the creation of modern India. He formed the Planning Commission, encouraged the development of science and technology and launched three consecutive five-year plans. Due to his policies, a new era of agriculture and industry began in the country. Nehru played a major role in the development of India's foreign policy.

Jawaharlal Nehru, along with Josip Broz Tito and Abdul Gamal Nasser, created a non-aligned movement to end colonialism in Asia and Africa. He played a mediator role in resolving other international problems like ending the Korean War , resolving the Suez Canal dispute and concluding the Congo Agreement. He also played an important role behind the scenes in resolving many other explosive issues like West Berlin, Austria and Laos. He was awarded the Bharat Ratna in the year 1955.

But Nehru could not improve India's relations with Pakistan and China. The Kashmir issue proved to be a stumbling block in reaching an agreement with Pakistan and the border dispute proved to be a stumbling block in friendship with China. Nehru also extended a hand of friendship towards China, but in 1962 China treacherously attacked. This was a big setback for Nehru. On 27 May 1964, Jawaharlal Nehru suffered a heart attack and died.

Writing and Publications

Apart from all the political controversies, Nehru ji was undoubtedly a great writer. After Lokmanya Tilak, he is recognized separately among the leaders who wrote extensively in the political field. The fields of both are different, but there is a good amount of coherence in the writings of both.

Nehru ji was a studious person by nature. He studied great texts. Despite all the political excitement, he used to take out time for self-study every day. As a result, the books written by him also give the natural impression of being the creation of a well-read person.

Nehruji has written many books systematically. He found a solution to the lack of time for writing during the hectic and struggling days of his political life by turning the long, monotonous days of jail into creative ones. Therefore, most of his books were written in jail itself. His writings reflect the combined form of the emotional heart of a writer and the inquisitive heart of a historian.

Under the pretext of writing a fictional letter to Indira Gandhi , he wrote chapter by chapter of world history. These letters were never actually sent, but this easily created a comprehensible and well-connected book like Glimpse of World History . Bharat Ki Khoj (Discovery of India) has created a different paradigm of popularity, based on which a great serial named Bharat Ek Khoj has also been made. Regarding his autobiography Meri Kahani (An Autobiography), the famous philosopher Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan believes that his autobiography, which describes the story of his life and struggle without any attempt to prove self-pity or moral superiority, is one of the most remarkable books of our times.

Apart from these books, Nehru ji gave innumerable lectures, wrote articles and letters. For their publication, the 'Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund' decided to publish a series of books. In this, except government letters, press releases etc., only the materials of permanent importance were selected and published. This series of books named Jawaharlal Nehru Vangmay was published in 15 volumes in English and in Hindi, Sasta Sahitya Mandal has published it in 11 volumes.

Published Books

1. Father's Letters to His Daughter - 1929

2. Glimpses of World History - (in two volumes) 1933

3. My Story (An Auto Biography) - 1936

4. The Discovery of India - 1945

5. away from politics

6. great men of history

7. Father of the Nation

8. Jawaharlal Nehru Literature (in 11 volumes)

Constitution of India | Constituent Assembly and Preamble of the Indian Constitution.

The Constitution of India is the supreme law of India which was passed by the Constituent Assembly on 26 November 1949 and came into effect from 26 January 1950. This day (26 November) has been declared as the Constitution Day of India. While 26 January is celebrated as Republic Day in India. The basic foundation of the Constitution of India is considered to be the Government of India Act 1935. The Constitution of India is the longest written constitution of any republican country in the world.

constituent Assembly

Elections were held for the Indian Constituent Assembly in July 1946. The first meeting of the Constituent Assembly was held in December 1946. Soon after this, the country was divided into two parts - India and Pakistan . The Constituent Assembly was also divided into two parts - the Constituent Assembly of India and the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan.

There were 299 members in the assembly that wrote the Indian Constitution and Dr. Rajendra Prasad was its president. The Constituent Assembly completed its work on 26 November 1949 and the Constitution came into force on 26 January 1950. In memory of this day, India celebrates 26 January as Republic Day every year. It took 2 years, 17 months and 78 days to completely prepare the Indian Constitution.

Brief Introduction

The Indian Constitution at present has only 470 articles and 12 schedules and is divided into 25 parts. At the time of its creation, the original Constitution had 395 articles divided into 22 parts and only 8 schedules. The Constitution provides for a parliamentary form of government whose structure is federal except for some exceptions . The constitutional head of the central executive is the President . According to Article 79 of the Constitution of India, the Council of the Union Parliament consists of the President and two Houses headed by the Prime Minister of the States . The President will discharge his functions in accordance with the advice of this Council of Ministers. Thus the real executive power is vested in the Council of Ministers headed by the Prime Minister who is currently Narendra Modi. The Council of Ministers is collectively responsible to the House of the People (Lok Sabha). Every state has a Legislative Assembly . Uttar Pradesh , Bihar , Maharashtra , Karnataka , Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have an upper house called the Legislative Council . The Governor is the head of the state. Each state shall have a Governor and the executive power of the state shall be vested in him. The Council of Ministers, headed by the Chief Minister , advises the Governor in the discharge of his executive functions. The Council of Ministers of the State is answerable to the Legislative Assembly of the State.

The distribution of legislative powers between the Parliament and the state legislatures has been done in the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution. And the rights of the governments to levy duties and taxes are mentioned in this schedule. There are three lists under this. Union List, State List and Concurrent List. Residual powers are vested in the Parliament. Centrally administered territories are called Union Territories.

Parts of the Indian Constitution

The Indian Constitution is divided into 22 parts and it has 395 articles and 12 schedules.

History

After the end of the Second World War , in July 1945, Britain announced its new policy regarding India and sent a Cabinet Mission to India for the formation of the Constituent Assembly of India which had 3 ministers. After India became independent on 15 August 1947, the Constituent Assembly was announced and it started its work from 9 December 1947. The members of the Constituent Assembly were elected by the elected members of the assemblies of the states of India. Jawaharlal Nehru , Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar , Dr. Rajendra Prasad , Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel , Maulana Abul Kalam Azad etc. were the prominent members of this assembly. This Constituent Assembly discussed for a total of 114 days in 2 years, 11 months and 18 days. A total of 12 sessions were held in the Constituent Assembly and on the last day 284 members signed it and 166 days of meetings were held to make the Constitution. Press and public had freedom to participate in its meetings. All 389 members of the Constituent Assembly played an important role in the making of the Constitution of India. The Constitution was passed by the Assembly on 26 November 1949 and it was implemented on 26 January 1950. The Government of India Act 1935 has the greatest influence in this Constitution. About 250 articles in it have been taken from this Act.

Structure of the Indian Constitution

The following are the parts of the Indian Constitution at present:

• a preamble ,

• 25 parts containing 470 articles

• 12 schedules,

• 5 appendixes

• 105 amendments.

(So far 127 Constitution Amendment Bills have been introduced in the Parliament, out of which 105 Constitution Amendment Bills have been passed and have taken the form of Constitution Amendment Act. The 124th Constitution Amendment Bill was passed in the Parliament on 9 January 2019 by a special majority on Article368 (Constitutional Amendment) , under which the economically weaker general category was given admission in educational institutions. On 8 August 201 6, the Parliament passed the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and made the 101 st Constitution Amendment.)

Schedules

There were originally eight schedules in the original Constitution of India but at present there are twelve schedules in the Indian Constitution . The Ninth Schedule was added to the Constitution by the First Constitutional Amendment 1951, the 10th Schedule by the 52nd Constitutional Amendment 1985, the 1 lth Schedule by the 73rd Constitutional Amendment 1992 and the 12th Schedule by the 74th Constitutional Amendment 1992.

First Schedule - (Articles 1 and 4)- Description of States and Union Territories.

Second Schedule - [Articles 59(3), 65(3), 75(6), 97, 125, 148(3), 158(3), 164(5), 186 and 221] - Salaries and allowances of principal officers.

• Part-A: Salaries and allowances of the President and Governors,

• Part-B: Salaries and allowances of the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of Lok Sabha and Legislative Assembly, Chairman and Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha and Legislative Council,

• Part-C: Salaries and allowances of the judges of the Supreme Court,

• Part-D : Salary and Allowances of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India.

Third Schedule- [Articles 75(4), 99, 124(6), 148(2), 164(3), 188 and 219] - Contains the forms of oath and affirmation to be made by members of legislature, ministers, President, Vice-President, judges, etc.

Fourth Schedule - [Articles 4(1), 80(2)] - Allocation of seats in the Rajya Sabha from the States and Union Territories.

Fifth Schedule - [Article 244(1)] - Provisions relating to the administration and control of the Scheduled Areas and the Scheduled Tribes.

Sixth Schedule - [Articles 244(2), 275(1)] - Provisions for the administration of tribal areas in the States of Assam , Meghalaya , Tripura and Mizoram.

Seventh Schedule - [Article 246] - Deals with distribution of subjects- List-I Union List, List-2 State List, List-3 Concurrent List.

Eighth Schedule - [Articles 344(1), 351] - Languages - Mention of 22 languages.

Ninth Schedule - [Article 31 B] - Validation of certain Land Reforms Acts. Added by the First Constitutional Amendment (1951).

Tenth Schedule - [Articles 102(2), 191 (2)] - Provisions regarding defection and grounds for change inserted by 52nd Constitutional Amendment (1985).

Eleventh Schedule - [Article 243C] - This schedule relating to Panchayati Raj/Zilla Panchayat was added to the Constitution by the 73rd Constitutional Amendment (1992).

Twelfth Schedule - It describes municipalities; this schedule was added to the Constitution by the 74th Constitutional Amendment (1993).

baseline characteristics

The Constitution Drafting Committee and the Supreme Court have considered the Indian Constitution to be a federal constitution , but there is disagreement among scholars. American scholars call it a I pseudo-federal constitution although Eastern constitutionalists say that the American Constitution cannot be the only federal constitution. The constitution being federal depends on the federal features contained in it, but the Honorable Supreme Court has considered it to be completely federal.

According to the Preamble of the Indian Constitution, India is a sovereign , socialist , secular , democratic republic.

Sovereignty

The word sovereignty means to be supreme or independent. India is a sovereign nation completely free from the control of any foreign or internal power . It is governed by a free government directly elected by the people and this government rules the people by making laws.

Socialist

The word socialist was added to the preamble of the Constitution by the 42nd Amendment Act in 1976. It ensures social and economic equality for all its citizens. It gives equal status and opportunity to all without any discrimination on the basis of caste , colour , race , sex, religion or language . The government will prevent the accumulation of wealth in the hands of only a few people and will try to provide a good standard of living to all citizens.

India has adopted a mixed economic model. The government has made many laws like the Abolition of Untouchability, Zamindari Act, Equal Pay Act and Child Labor Prohibition Act etc. to achieve the goal of socialism.

Secular

The word secular was added to the preamble by the 42nd Amendment Act of the Constitution in 1976. It ensures equality of all religions and religious tolerance. India has no official religion. It neither promotes any religion nor discriminates against any. It respects all religions and treats them equally. Every person has the right to worship, follow and propagate any religion of his choice. All citizens, whatever their religious beliefs, are equal in the eyes of the law. No religious instruction is imposed in government or government-aided schools.

Democratic

India is a free country, freedom to vote from any place, special seats have been reserved for scheduled social groups and scheduled tribes in the Parliament. A certain proportion of seats are reserved for women candidates in local body elections. A bill is pending to reserve one-third seats for women in all elections. However, it is not certain how it will be implemented. The Election Commission of India is an independent body and it is always ready to conduct free and fair elections.

Unlike monarchies, where the head of state is appointed on a hereditary basis for life or until abdication, the head of a republic is elected by the people directly or indirectly for a fixed term. The President of India is elected by an electoral college for a term of five years.

Division of power

This is the most important feature of the Indian Constitution, the powers of the state are divided between the central and state governments. Both the powers are not subordinate to each other, they arise and are controlled by the Constitution.

The political meaning of separation of powers is that the legislature, executive and judiciary, with their respective powers, shall be separate and independent from each other.

supremacy of the constitution

The provisions of the Constitution are equally binding on the Union and State governments. The articles dividing power between the Centre and the States are given below:

1. Articles 54,55,73,162,241.

2. Part-5 Legal relations between Supreme Court , High Court , State and Centre.

3. Any list under Article 7.

4. Representation of states in Parliament.

5. Power to amend the Constitution Article 368 Parliament cannot amend these articles alone it needs the consent of the states as well.

Other articles not related to division of powers:

1. The written constitution will necessarily be in written form because a clear description of the division of powers is necessary in it. Hence, the union will definitely have a written constitution.

2. Rigidity of the Constitution means that both the State and the Centre will participate in amending the Constitution.

3. Jurisdiction of Courts - This means that the Centre and State will rely on an impartial and independent authority to interpret the law.

Established by law:

1. The courts will supervise the division of powers between the Union and the States.

2. The courts will be the final interpreters of the Constitution. In India this power lies with the Supreme Court.

These five conditions are essential to make a constitution federal. In India, all these five features are present in the constitution, hence it is federal. But the Indian constitution also has some differentiating features:

Preamble to the Constitution

To express the objectives of the Constitution, a preamble is usually presented before it. The preamble of the Indian Constitution is influenced by the American Constitution and is considered the best in the world. The essence, expectations, objectives, goals and philosophy of the Indian Constitution are revealed in the name of the preamble. The preamble declares that the Constitution derives its power directly from the people, that is why it begins with the sentence We the people of India' . In the case of Kehar Singh vs Union of India, it was said that the Constituent Assembly does not directly represent the Indian people, hence the Constitution cannot get special favor of the law, but the court rejected it and considered the Constitution as supreme, on which no question can be raised.

Preamble of the Constitution:

We, the people of India, to constitute India into a sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic and to all its citizens .

To secure social, economic and political justice, freedom of thought, expression, belief, religion and worship, equality of dignity and opportunity, and To promote among them all the fraternity assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the nation With firm resolve, in this our Constituent Assembly on this 26th November 7949 (Mitti Margshirsha Shukla Saptami, Samvat two thousand six Vikrami) do hereby We adopt, enact and give ourselves to this Constitution.

Preamble of the Constitution The Preamble presented by Jawaharlal Nehru in the Constituent Assembly on 13 December 1946 is also called the Preamble.

• K.M. Munshi has named the preamble as 'Political Horoscope'

• The words socialism, secularism and integrity were added to the Preamble of the Indian Constitution by the 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1976.

Constitution Part 3 and 4: Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles of State Policy

Parts 3 and 4 together are called the 'soul and consciousness of the Constitution' because for any independent nation, fundamental rights and directive principles play an important role in the building of the nation. Directive Principles are the latest elements of democratic constitutional development. They were first implemented in the Constitution of Ireland . These are the elements that have evolved along with the development of the Constitution. The function of these elements is to establish a welfare state. In this part of the Indian Constitution, the form of the Directive Principles has been determined, the difference between Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles has been explained and the importance of Directive Principles has been explained.

East India Company in India | History, Formation, Early voyages to the East Indies, Foothold in India.

The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region , initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia), and later with East Asia . The company gained control of large parts of the Indian subcontinent and Hong Kong . At its peak, the company was the largest corporation in the world by various measures and had its own armed forces in the form of the company's three presidency armies, totaling about 260,000 soldiers, twice the size of the British Army at certain times.

Originally chartered as the "Governor and Company of Merchants of London Trading into the East-Indies," the company rose to account for half of the world's trade during the mid-1700s and early 1800s, particularly in basic commodities including cotton , silk indigo dye , sugar , salt , spices , saltpetre , tea , gemstones , and later opium . The company also initiated the beginnings of the British Raj in the Indian subcontinent.

The company eventually came to rule large areas of the Indian subcontinent, exercising military power and assuming administrative functions. Company-ruled areas in the region gradually expanded after the Battle of Plassey in 1757 and by 1858 most of modern India, Pakistan and Bangladesh was either ruled by the company or princely states closely tied to it by treaty. Following the Sepoy Rebellion of 1857 , the Government of India Act 1858 led to the British Crown assuming direct control of present-day Bangladesh, Pakistan and India in the form of the new British Indian Empire.

The company subsequently experienced recurring problems with its finances, despite frequent government intervention. The company was dissolved in 1874 under the terms of the East India Stock Dividend Redemption Act enacted one year earlier, as the Government of India Act had by then rendered it vestigial, powerless, and obsolete. The official government machinery of the British Empire had assumed its governmental functions and absorbed its armies.

History

Origins

In 1577, Francis Drake set out on an expedition from England to plunder Spanish settlements in South America in search of gold and silver. Sailing in the Golden Hind he achieved this, and then sailed across the Pacific Ocean in 1579, known then only to the Spanish and Portuguese. Drake eventually sailed into the East Indies and came across the Moluccas , also known as the Spice Islands, and met Sultan Babullah . In exchange for linen, gold, and silver, the English obtained a large haul of exotic spices, including cloves and nutmeg. Drake returned to England in 1580 and became a hero; his circumnavigation raised an enormous amount of money for England's coffers, and investors received a return of some 5,000 percent. Thus started an important element in the eastern design during the late sixteenth century.

Soon after the Spanish Armada Is defeat in 1588, the captured Spanish and Portuguese ships and cargoes enabled English voyagers to travel the globe in search of riches. London merchants presented a petition to Elizabeth I for permission to sail to the Indian Ocean. The aim was to deliver a decisive blow to the Spanish and Portuguese monopoly of far-eastern trade. Elizabeth granted her permission and in 1591, James Lancaster in the Bonaventure with two other ships, financed by the Levant Company, sailed from England around the Cape of Good Hope to the Arabian Sea ,becoming the first English expedition to reach India that way. Having sailed around Cape Comorin to the Malay Peninsula , they preyed on Spanish and Portuguese ships there before returning to England in 1594.

The biggest prize that galvanized English trade was the seizure of a large Portuguese carrack , the Madre de Deus , by Walter Raleigh and the Earl of Cumberland at the Battle of Flores on 13 August 1592. When she was brought in to Dartmouth she was the largest vessel ever seen in England and she carried chests of jewels, pearls, gold, silver coins, ambergris , cloth, tapestries, pepper, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, benjamin (a highly aromatic balsamic resin used for perfumes and medicines), red dye, cochineal and ebony. Equally valuable was the ship's rutter (mariner's handbook) containing vital information on the China , India, and Japan trade routes.

In 1596, three more English ships sailed east but all were lost at sea. A year later however saw the arrival of Ralph Fitch , an adventurer merchant who, with his companions, had made a remarkable nine year overland journey to Mesopotamia , the Persian Gulf , the Indian Ocean, India and Southeast Asia. Fitch was consulted on Indian affairs and gave even more valuable information to Lancaster.

Formation

In 1599, a group of prominent merchants and explorers met to discuss a potential East Indies venture under a royal charter. Besides Fitch the group included Stephen Soame , then Lord Mayor of London ; Thomas Smythe , a powerful London politician and administrator; Richard Hakluyt , writer and proponent of English colonization of the Americas ; and several other sea-farers who had served with Drake and Raleigh.

On 22 September, the group stated their intention "to venture in the pretended voyage to the East Indies (the which it may please the Lord to prosper)" and to themselves invest £30,1 33 (over in today's money). Two days later, the "Adventurers" reconvened and resolved to apply to the Queen for support of the project. Although their first attempt had not been completely successful, they sought the Queen's unofficial approval to continue. They bought ships for the venture and increased their investment to £68,373.

They convened again a year later, on 31 December 1600, and this time they succeeded; the Queen responded favorably to a petition by George, Earl of Cumberland and 218 others, including James Lancaster, Sir John Harte , Sir John Spencer (both of whom had been Lord Mayor of London ), the adventurer Edward Michelborne , the nobleman William Cavendish and other aldermen and citizens. She granted her charter to their corporation named Governor and Company of Merchants of London trading into the East Indies For a period of fifteen years, the charter awarded the company a monopoly on English trade with all countries east of the Cape of Good Hope and west of the Straits of Magellan. Any traders there without a license from the company were liable to forfeiture of their ships and cargo (half of which would go to the Crown and half to the company), as well as imprisonment at the "royal pleasure".

The charter named Thomas Smythe as the first governor of the company, and 24 directors (including James Lancaster) or "committees", who made up a Court of Directors. They, in turn, reported to a Court of Proprietors, who appointed them. Ten committees reported to the Court of Directors. By tradition, business was initially transacted at the Nags Head Inn, opposite St Botolph's church in Bishopsgate , before moving to East India House on Leadenhall Street.

Early voyages to the East Indies

Sir James Lancaster commanded the first East India Company voyage in 1601 aboard Red Dragon. The following year, whilst sailing in the Malacca Straits , Lancaster took the rich 1,200 ton Portuguese carrack Sao Thome carrying pepper and spices. The booty enabled the voyagers to set up two " factories " (trading posts)- one at Bantam on Java and another in the Moluccas (Spice Islands) before leaving. On return to England in 1603, they learned of Elizabeth's death, but Lancaster was knighted by the new king, James I , on account of the voyage’s success. By this time, the war with Spain had ended but the company had profitably breached the Spanish-Portuguese duopoly; new horizons opened for the English.

In March 1604, Sir Henry Middleton commanded the company's second voyage .General William Keeling , a captain during the second voyage, led the third voyage aboard Red Dragon from 1607 to 1610 along with Hector under Captain William Hawkins and Consent under Captain David Middleton.

Early in 1608, Alexander Sharpeigh was made captain of the company's Ascension , and general or commander of the fourth voyage. Thereafter two ships, Ascension and Union (captained by Richard Rowles), sailed from Woolwich on 14 March 1608. This expedition was lost.

Initially, the company struggled in the spice trade because of competition from the Dutch East India Company . This rivalry led to military skirmishes, with each company establishing fortified trading posts, fleets, and alliances with local rulers. The Dutch, better financed and supported by their government, gained the upper hand by establishing a stronghold in the spice islands (now Indonesia enforcing a near- monopoly through aggressive policies that eventually drove the EIC to seek trade opportunities in India instead. The English company opened a factory (trading post) in Bantam on Java on its first voyage, and imports of pepper from Java remained an important part of the company's trade for twenty years.

English traders frequently fought their Dutch and Portuguese counterparts in the Indian Ocean. The company achieved a major victory over the Portuguese in the Battle of Swally in 1612, at Suvali in Surat . The company decided to explore the feasibility of a foothold in mainland India, with official sanction from both Britain and the Mughal Empire , and requested that the Crown launch a diplomatic mission.

Foothold in India

Company ships docked at Surat in Gujarat in 1608. The company's first Indian factory was established in 1611 at Masulipatnam on the Andhra Coast of the Bay of Bengal , and its second in 1615 at Surat. The high profits reported by the company after landing in India initially prompted James I to grant subsidiary licenses to other trading companies in England. However, in 1609, he renewed the East India Company's charter for an indefinite period, with the proviso that its privileges would be annulled if trade was unprofitable for three consecutive years.

In 1615, James I instructed Sir Thomas Roe to visit the Mughal Emperor Nur-ud-din Salim Jahangir (1605 - 1627) to arrange for a commercial treaty that would give the company exclusive rights to reside and establish factories in Surat and other areas. In return, the company offered to provide the Emperor with goods and rarities from the European market. This mission was highly successful, and Jahangir sent a letter to James through Sir Thomas Roe:

Upon which assurance of your royal love I have given my general command to all the kingdoms and ports of my dominions to receive all the merchants of the English nation as the subjects of my friend; that in what place soever they choose to live, they may have free liberty without any restraint; and at what port soever they shall arrive, that neither Portugal nor any other shall dare to molest their quiet; and in what city soever they shall have residence, I have commanded all my governors and captains to give them freedom answerable to their own desires; to sell, buy, and to transport into their country at their pleasure. For confirmation of our love and friendship, I desire your Majesty to command your merchants to bring in their ships of all sorts of rarities and rich goods fit for my palace; and that you will be pleased to send me your royal letters by every opportunity, that I may rejoice in your health and prosperous affairs; that our friendship may be interchanged and eternal.

-Nuruddin Salim Jahangir, Letter to James I.

Expansion in present day South Asia

The company, which benefited from the imperial patronage, soon expanded its commercial trading operations. It eclipsed the Portuguese Estado da India , which had established bases in Goa , Chittagong , and Bombay ; Portugal later ceded Bombay to England as part of the dowry of Catherine of Braganza on her marriage to King Charles II . The East India Company also launched a joint attack with the Dutch United East India Company (VOC) on Portuguese and Spanish ships off the coast of China that helped secure EIC ports in China, independently attacking the Portuguese in the Persian Gulf Residencies primarily for political reasons. The company established trading posts in Surat (1619) and Madras (1639). By 1647, the company had 23 factories and settlements in India, and 90 employees. Many of the major factories became some of the most populated and commercially influential cities in Bengal, including the walled forts of Fort William in Bengal, Fort St George in Madras, and Bombay Castle.

The first century of the Company, despite its original profits coming primarily from piracy in the Spice Islands between competing European powers and their companies, saw the East India Company change focus after suffering a major setback in 1623 when their factory in Amboyna in the Moluccas was attacked by the Dutch. This compelled the company to formally abandon their efforts in the Spice Islands, and turn their attention to Bengal where, by this time, they were making steady, if less exciting, profits. After gaining the indifferent patronage of the Mughal Empire , whose cities were Ithe megacities of their timel and whose wealth was unmatched outside of Asia in the 17th century, the Company's first century in the Mughal-ruled areas was spent cultivating their relationship with the Mughal Dynasty, and conducting peaceful trade at great profit. At first it should be said the EIC was drawn into the Mughal system, acting as a kind of vassal to Mughal authority in present-day Bangladesh: it was from this position that the Company would ultimately outplay and outmanoeuvre all competing powers in the region, to eventually use that very system to hold power itself. What started as trading posts on undesirable land were developed into sprawling factory complexes with hundreds of workers sending exotic goods to England and managing protected points to export English finished goods to local merchants. The Company's initial rise in Bengal and successes generally came at the expense of competing European powers through the art of currying favors and well-placed bribes, as the Company was matched at every step with French expansion in the region (whose equivalent company carried substantial royal support). Throughout the entire century the company only resorted to force against the Mughals once, with terrible consequences. The Anglo-Mughal war (1686 - 1690) was a complete defeat, ending when the EIC effectively swore fealty to the Mughals to get their factories back.

The East India Company's fortunes changed for the better in 1707 when Bengal and other regions under Mughal rule fell into anarchy after the death of the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb. A series of large-scale rebellions, and the collapse of the Mughal taxation system led to the effective independence of virtually all of the pre-1707 Mughal fiefs and holdings, with their capital Delhi routinely under the control of Maratha, Afghan, or usurper generals' armies. The EIC was able to take advantage of this chaos, slowly assuming direct control of the province of Bengal , and fighting numerous wars against the French for control of the east coast of the subcontinent. The Company's position in the Mughal court as it fell apart made it possible to sponsor various powerful people on the subcontinent as they individually contended with others, steadily amassing more land and power in India to themselves.

In the 18th Century, the primary source of the Company's profits in Bengal became taxation in conquered and controlled provinces, as the factories became fortresses and administrative hubs for networks of tax collectors that expanded into enormous cities. The Mughal Empire was the richest in the world in 1700, and the East India Company tried to strip it bare for a century thereafter. Dalrymple calls it "the single largest transfer of wealth until the Nazis." What was in the 17th century the production capital of the world for textiles was forced to become a market for British-made textiles. Statues, jewels, and various other valuables were moved from the palaces of Bengal to the townhouses of the English countryside. Bengal in particular suffered the worst of Company tax farming, highlighted by the Great Bengal famine of 1770.

The primary tool of expansion for the company was the Sepoy. The Sepoys were raised locally with European training and equipment, who changed warfare in present-day South Asia. Mounted forces and their superior mobility had been king on the region's battlefields for a thousand years, with cannon so well integrated that the Mughals fought with cannon mounted on elephants; all were no match to line infantry with decent discipline supported with field cannon. Repeatedly, a few thousand company sepoys fought vastly larger Mughal forces numerically and came out victorious. Afghan, Mughal and Maratha factions started creating their own European-style forces, often with French equipment, as the chaos intensified and the stakes were raised. Ultimately, the company won out, generally through as much diplomacy and state-craft as through fraud and deception. The gradual rise of the East India Company within the Mughal network culminated in the Second Anglo-Maratha War , in which the Company successfully ousted the Maratha, the Empire's official protectors, at the high water point in their rise to power, and installed a young Mughal Prince as Emperor, with the Company as the de jure protectors of the Empire from their position of direct control in Bengal. This relationship was repeatedly strained as the Company continued its expansion and exploitation, however it lasted in some form until 1858, when the last Mughal Emperor was exiled as the Company was disbanded and its assets were taken over by the British Crown.

In 1634 the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan extended his hospitality to English traders to Bengal , the richest region of the empire, and in 1717 customs duties were completely waived for the English in Bengal. By then, the Company's mainstay businesses were in cotton, silk, opium, indigo dye , saltpetre and tea. Meanwhile, the Dutch, the Company's most aggressive competitors, had expanded their monopoly of the spice trade in the Straits of Malacca by ousting the Portuguese in 1640 - 1641. With reduced Portuguese and Spanish influence in the region, the EIC and VOC entered a period of intense competition, resulting in the Anglo-Dutch wars of the 17th and 18th centuries. The British were also interested in trans-Himalayan trade routes, as they would create access to untapped markets for British manufactured goods in Tibet and China. This economic interest was showcased by the Anglo Nepalese war (1814 - 1816).

Expansion across Asia

Within the first two decades of the 17th century, the Dutch East India Company or Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie , (VOC) was the wealthiest commercial operation in the world with 50,000 employees worldwide and a private fleet of 200 ships. It specialized in the spice trade and gave its shareholders 40% annual dividend.

The British East India Company was fiercely competitive with the Dutch and French throughout the 17th and 18th centuries over spices from the Spice Islands . Some spices, at the time, could only be found on these islands, such as nutmeg and cloves; and they could bring profits as high as 400 percent from one voyage.

The tension was so high between the Dutch and the British East Indies Trading Companies that it escalated into at least four Anglo-Dutch wars: 1652-1654, 1665-1667, 1672-1674 and 1780-1784.

Competition arose in 1635 when Charles I granted a trading license to Sir William Courteen , which permitted the rival Courteen association to trade with the east at any location in which the EIC had no presence.

In an act aimed at strengthening the power of the EIC, King Charles II granted the EIC (in a series of five acts around 1670) the rights to autonomous territorial acquisitions, to mint money, to command fortresses and troops and form alliances, to make war and peace, and to exercise both civil and criminal jurisdiction over the acquired areas.

In 1689, a Mughal fleet commanded by Sidi Yaqub attacked Bombay. After a year of resistance the EIC surrendered in 1690, and the company sent envoys to Aurangzeb Is camp to plead for a pardon. The company's envoys had to prostrate themselves before the emperor, pay a large indemnity, and promise better behavior in the future. The emperor withdrew his troops, and the company subsequently re-established itself in Bombay and set up a new base in Calcutta.