Page 63 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - India

THE HIST OR Y OF INDIA  61

favoured Muslims. took place, in 1977, she was def eated, and
This so shocked the Congress party lost power for the first
and grieved time since Independence. By 1980, Indira
both communities and the Congress were back in power, but
that peace was a military action against Sikh terrorists
finally restored. holed up in the sacred Golden Temple led
As India’s first prime to her assassination by her Sikh guards in
minister, Jawaharlal 1984. Her son, Rajiv Gandhi, took over in a
Nehru laid the sympathy wave, and began liberalizing
foundations of a the economy. He was assassinated by a Sri
modern nation Lankan Tamil separatist during the 1991
state, with a election campaign, but economic reforms
democratic, encouraging private enterprise and
Nehru, with his daughter
Indira and grandson Rajiv secular polity, a foreign investment continued. Since 1996,
strong industrial a series of coalition governments have
base and a plan ned economy, with Non- been in power, with the Hindu nationalist
alignment as the keystone of its foreign Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerging as a
policy. In 1962, China invaded northeast major force to challenge the Congress.
India and then withdrew after inflicting a Significant progress has been made
humiliating defeat on the Indian army. in the years since Independence, though
This brought about much-needed unemployment and poverty continue
modernization of India’s military machine. to exist. The literacy rate has risen from
Nehru died in May 1964, and in 1966 his 18 per cent in 1951 to 74 per cent in 2011.
daughter Indira Gandhi became prime In urban areas, women can be seen
minister. She continued his pro-poor and working in all professions. From frequent
socialist policies, and in 1971, she stripped food shortages in the 1950s, India now
the Indian princes of their titles and has a food surplus, and its industrial base
abolished their privy purses. Later in has expanded to produce a wide range of
the same year, she aided East goods, from toys to aircraft. Economic
Pakistan in its struggle against reforms have flooded the market
West Pakistan, leading to the with consumer goods, and
formation of Bangladesh. But helped the rise of a prosperous
in 1975, perceiving a threat to middle class. In the field of
her power and popularity, information technology,
she declared a state of there has been a veritable
Emergency, under which revolution, with India
the press was censored now firmly established
and dissidents imprisoned. Rural women learning to read as a world leader in
When the general elections during a literacy campaign software development.

1998 Amartya Sen wins the 2004 Tsunami hits coastal Tamil Nadu
1965 Nobel Prize for Economics 1999 and the Andamans
War India-
with 1971 Birth of 1982 India sends scientific Pakistan 2010 India hosts the 19th
Pakistan Bangladesh team to Antarctica conflict
in Kargil Commonwealth Games in Delhi
1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020
1961 Goa 1975 Indira 1991 Rajiv Gandhi 2001 Gujarat 2016 Shuttler PV Sindhu becomes the first
liberated Gandhi declares assassinated earthquake Indian woman to win silver at the Rio Olympics
from Emergency 1992 Destruction of 2007 Pratibha Patil becomes
Portuguese 1971 Princes lose titles Babri Masjid leads to the first woman President 2013 Mars Orbiter Mission is
rule and privy purses communal riots of India successfully launched by ISRO

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