1947-1966 History of India 1984-1991






India 1966-1984



Foreign Policy : In 1971 India fought the Third Indo-Pakistani War, which secured the independence of Bangladesh, the former East Pakistan. The same year, India and the USSR signed a military partnership (while nemesis Pakistan entered into a similar partnership with the PR China). In 1972, India and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) established diplomatic relations. In 1974 India undertook her first nuclear test explosion. In 1975 India annexed the tiny Himalayan state of Sikkim.

Domestic Policy : In 1966, PM Lal Bahadur Shastri died. In 1967 a unified opposition won elections in several states. The Congress Party split over succession, and Indira Gandhi, daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru, PM 1966-1977, took on leadership of the New Congress.
Indira Gandhi was found guilty of electoral malpractise in the 1975 elections; from 1975 to 1977 she ruled India under the state of emergency. The two states where the New Congress did not rule, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, were placed under the president's administration. Press censorship was introduced. During the emergency, reforms intended to improve the lot of the poor and the landless were introduced. Delhi slums were razed to the ground. In the 1977 elections her Congress Party suffered defeat. The new Janata administration under PM Morarji Desai suffered from internal dissent; In the 1980 elections Indira Gandhi returned to power. The policy of propagating birth control was abandoned.
In 1984 federal troops stormed the Golden Temple of Amritsar, where radical Sikhs pressing for home rule were holding out. In the event, about 600 persons died. Shortly afterwards, Indira Gandhi was assassinated by two of her own bodyguards - Sikhs.

Economic Policy : India's rice production increased from 45.6 million metric tons in 1966 to 87.5 million metric tons in 1984.
B.R. Mitchell has established a table showing the total values of exports and imports in aggregate current values. Imports exceeded exports throughout the period from 1966 to 1984 with the exception of 1972.
India continued to implement Five Year Plans. The state pursued a protectionist policy. The Oil Crisis of 1973 hit India's economy hard, as the country depended on oil imports. In 1977, Coca Cola was banned in India (readmitted in 1993).

Social History . In 1966, India's population was estimated at 493 million, by 1984 the figure reached 734.8 million.
The Indian administration, facing high population growth and lacking resources, propagated 'voluntary' birth control; in effect Indian citizens were often coerced into sterilization. Especially in the countryside, where having many sons was regarded social security, this policy alienated many voters. The policy practically was terminated with the electoral defeat of 1977.






EXTERNAL
FILES 		Timeline : India, from BBC News
Biography of Indira Gandhi, from Women's History Month
Biography of Morarji Desai, from Wikipedia
Population and People, from India Tour Info, has paragraph on India's birth control history
Attack on the Golden Temple - Amritsar 1984, background information, from sikh-history.com
Five Year Plans, from Planning Commission, Government of India
Article Five Year Plans of India, Republic of India, History of India : Independent India, Naxalite, from Wikipedia
Political Sources on the Net : India
Global History of Currencies : India, by Bryan Taylor
V.R. Krishna Iyer, Emergency - Darkest Hour in India's Judicial History, posted by Indian Express
The Indian Emergency of 1975-1977, from Asia Media
Article Janata Party, from Wikipedia
CASCON Case KAS : Kashmir 1947-, by L.P. Bloomfield, L. Moulton
India, from Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Vietnam
DOCUMENTS Unpublished Indian Official History of the 1971 War, from orbat
Historical Population Statistics : India, from Population Statistics, Univ. Utrecht
World Statesmen : India, by Ben Cahoon
REFERENCE IHS : International Historical Statistics : Africa, Asia & Oceania 1750-2000, edited by B.R. Mitchell, Basingstoke : Palgrave MacMillan 4th ed. 2003
Article : India, in : Britannica Book of the Year 1967 pp.407-410, 1968 pp.409-411, 1969 pp.402-404, 1970 pp.408-410, 1971 pp.388-391, 1972 pp.355-358, 1973 pp.353-356, 1974 pp.361-364, 1975 pp.380-383, 1976 pp.403-405, 1977 pp.402-404, 1978 pp.434-436, 1979 pp.426-428, 1980 pp.431-433, 1981 pp.430-432, 1982 pp.428-430, 1983 pp.423-426, 1984 pp.425-428 [G]
Paul R. Brass, The Politics of India since Independence, Cambridge : UP 1990 [G]
Valli Kanapathipillai, The Repatriation of Indian Tamil Plantation Workers from Sri Lanka to India, pp.326-330 in : Robin Cohen, The Cambridge Survey of World Migration, Cambridge : UP 1995, KMLA Lib.Sign. 304.809 C678c
Article : India, in : The Statesman's Year-Book 1970-1971 pp.326-388, 1975-1976 pp.331-397, 1976-1977 pp.332-398, 1978-1979 pp.599-665, 1979-1980 pp.603-671, 1980-1981 pp.601-669, 1981-1982 pp.604-672, 1983-1984 pp.609-675, 1984-1985 pp.610-677 [G]
Article : India, in : The World in Figures 1st ed. 1976 pp.168-170, 2nd ed. 1978 pp.168-170, 4th ed. 1984 pp.167-169 [G]
Article : India, in : Americana Annual 1967 pp.347-350, 1968 pp.340-344, 1969 pp.348-351, 1970 pp.350-354, 1971 pp.343-346, 1972 pp.336-341, 1973 pp.344-348, 1974 pp.290-293, 1976 pp.103, 289-292 [G]
Article : India, in : Yearbook on International Communist Affairs 1976 pp.279-287 (Robert H. Donaldson), 1980 pp.247-252 (Walter Andersen) [G]



This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted on May 23rd 2002, last revised on May 10th 2007

Click here to go Home
Click here to go to Information about KMLA, WHKMLA, the author and webmaster
Click here to go to Statistics









Impressum · Datenschutz