2.15 Post-independence consolidation notes

1. 2.15.1Partition aftermath: refugees, rehabilitation and Gandhi's assassination

   Partition displaced millions and cost lives on a huge scale; the young Indian state had to resettle refugees, restore trust between communities and, within six months of independence, absorb the murder of Mahatma Gandhi.

   Standard · 7 min · Full course
2. 2.15.2Integration of princely states: Patel, V.P. Menon and the Instrument of Accession

   In 1947-49 Sardar Patel and V.P. Menon persuaded or pressed nearly 560 princely states to accede to India, then merged and regrouped them, and the privy purses that sweetened the deal were abolished in 1971.

   Standard · 7 min · Full course
3. 2.15.3Junagadh, Hyderabad and Kashmir

   Three states did not accede by 15 August 1947; Junagadh and Hyderabad were absorbed in 1947-48 and Kashmir acceded after a tribal invasion, which led to the first India-Pakistan war.

   Standard · 7 min · Full course
4. 2.15.4French and Portuguese enclaves: Pondicherry and Goa

   France left its Indian enclaves by negotiation (1949-62), while Portugal refused and was removed by military action in Goa, Daman and Diu in December 1961.

   Standard · 6 min · Full course
5. 2.15.5Language politics after 1947: linguistic states and the official language agitation

   After independence India resisted linguistic states, gave way when Potti Sriramulu died fasting for Andhra in 1952, redrew the map in 1956 and then settled the Hindi-English question in 1963-67.

   Standard · 7 min · Full course
6. 2.15.6Nehru era: planning, non-alignment and nation-building

   Under Nehru (1947-64) India chose parliamentary democracy, a mixed economy led by the public sector and planning, and an independent foreign policy of non-alignment.

   Standard · 7 min · Full course
7. 2.15.7Wars of 1947-48, 1962, 1965 and 1971

   India fought Pakistan in 1947-48, 1965 and 1971 and China in 1962; the first three confirmed its borders in Kashmir and created Bangladesh, and the 1962 defeat reshaped defence and politics.

   Standard · 6 min · Full course
8. 2.15.8Emergency 1975-77 and the Janata government

   Faced with an adverse court verdict and a mass movement, Indira Gandhi had a national Emergency declared on 25 June 1975; it ended in March 1977 when the voters threw her out and the Janata Party formed the first non-Congress government at the Centre.

   Standard · 7 min · Full course
9. 2.15.9Movements after 1947: Naxalbari, the JP movement, Assam and Punjab

   From the late 1960s to the 1980s, peasant revolt in Naxalbari, a mass student movement under JP, and regional agitations in Assam and Punjab tested the Indian state; the Assam, Punjab and Mizo accords of 1985-86 settled several of them.

   Standard · 8 min · Full course

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