POST INDEPENDENT INDIAN POLITY

?
Partition and Refugee problem
The partition of the country posed a big challenge to the new born nation. Communal riots broke out and continued with increasing intensity and ferocity in the Punjab, Sind and Delhi. Millions of men, women and children had to flee from one Dominion to the other leaving behind all their possessions. More than 5 million Hindus and Sikhs migrated to India. The problem of resettling the refugees and rehabilitating them occupied the attention of the Government in the first year of independence. Prompt measures were taken to afford relief to the sufferers, but murder, rape and arson continued unceasingly for several months. Mahatma Gandhi during this period of unprecedented crisis went about as the apostle of peace and non-violence in the areas worst affected by communal frenzy in Kolkata and other parts of Bengal. 18th January the fast was brought to a close by the effort of the peace committee of Delhi. Mahatma Gandhis efforts led to a gradual improvement in the situation, and Muslims found it possible to move about without fear. This infuriated some Hindu communalists who thought that Mahatma Gandhi was protecting the Muslims in India while in Pakistan Hindus and Sikhs were being killed or forced to flee the country. Attempts were made on the Mahatmas life, but he did not care. On 30th January 1948 a young man, Nathu Ram Vinayaka Godse, fired three shots at Mahatma Gandhi as he was going to his prayer meeting in the Birla House, and was killed. The long and fruitful Gandhian era (1919-1948) came to an end. Gandhis supreme sacrifice for communal amity, however, was not in vain. His martyrdom strengthened the forces that stood for communal harmony in India.

Martyrdom of Mahatma Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi was unhappy about the partition of the country and the communal riots that broke out following the partition. He went about as the apostle of peace and brotherhood of man. The magic presence of Mahatma Gandhi avoided bloodshed and established peace wherever he went. On Independence Day he was far away from Delhi, in Kolkata. When blood-stream flowed everywhere else, Kolkata remained comparatively calm. Mahatma Gandhi returned to Delhi when riots broke out there. In protest against the bloodshed Mahatma Gandhi started a fast on 13 January 1948. On

Integration of States
The Indian Independence Act of 1947 put an end to the paramountcy of the British Crown over the Native States. The lapse of paramountcy made the rulers of the Native states technically independent. They were now quite free to decide their own future. They could accede either to India or to Pakistan and could even remain independent, if they so desired. This was, perhaps, the most difficult problem confronted by free India. The credit of solving the problem goes entirely to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, who was in charge of the Ministry of States and V.P. Menon, the Seretary of the Ministry. Sardar Patel drafted

an Instrument of Accession. According to the Instrument, the Union Government was to control only defence, foreign policy and communication of the acceding State until the constitution of India was adopted. It guaranteed that it would not interfere in the domestic affairs of the States. He appealed to the sense of patriotissm of the Indian princes and requested them to accede to the Indian Union. As a result of the ceaseless efforts of Sardar Patel, all the States except Junagadh, Hyderabad, and Kashmir signed the Instrument of Accession. The Nawab of Junagadh, a small state on the coast of Kathiawar, wanted to accede to Pakistan. But his subject compelled him to hand over the State to the Government of India. Its merger to the Indian Union was ratified by a plebiscite. The Nizam of Hyderabad who declared himself independent was forced to accede to India as a result of an internal revolt and timely police action taken by Sardar Patel. The Maharaja of Kashmir who also delayed accession to India acceded to India in October 1947 when the Pathans and irregular forces of Pakistan invaded the State. When the difficult task of accession of the Indian princely States was accomplished, there started the more difficult task of their integration with the territories of the Indian Union. Most of them were too small to be administered as separate units. So they were merged with the adjoining provinces with the consent of their rulers. Many other States were grouped together to form unions of States like Patiala and East Punjab States Union (PEPSU) and Travancore=Kochin. In response to the demand for the reorganisation of the States on linguistic basis, the Government constituted the States Reorganization Commission consisting of Fazl Ali, Hridayanath Kunzru and Sardar K.M. Panikkar. On the basis of the Report of the Commission, the states were reorganized.

Indian Union was reorganized into 14 States of equal status and 6 territories under Central administration. The foreign pockets were also merged with the Indian Union in due course. In 1954, the French Government agreed to the defacto merger of the French settlements of Pondicherry, Karaikal, Mahe and Yenam into the Indian Union. The integration of Chandranagar, another French Settlement, into West Bengal had taken place earlier. These mergers had been effected through a friendly negotiated settlement. However, the integration of Portuguese pockets in India had to be effected differently as the Portuguese resisted all attempts to settle the issue peacefully. Dadra village was liberated by volunteers in 1954. Goa, Daman, Dui and Nagar Haveli continued under the Portuguese. When peaceful marches by Indian volunteers were brutally encountered, Indian army moved into Goa, Daman and Dui in 1961 and liberated them thus wiping away the last vestiges of imperialism in India. The subsequent period saw further reorganisation making the number of States 28 and that of Union Territories 6.

Panchsheel Agreement
Under the Sino-Indian Agreement of 1954, otherwise known as the Panchsheel, or the Five Principles agreement, India gave up all the extra-territorial rights and privileges it enjoyed in Tibet, which it had inherited from the British colonial legacy, formally recognising Tibet to be a region of China. The five points agreed upon were 1. Mutual respect for each others territorial integrity and sovereignty. 2. Mutual non-aggression 3. Mutual non-interference in each others internal affairs. 4. Equal and mutual benefit working relationship. 5. Peaceful co-existence.

By the agreement, it was recognized that six passes (Shipki La, Mana, Niti, Kungribinri, Darma and Lipu Lekh) were border passes and traders and pilgrims of both countries could travel by them. Chinas success in promoting these principles at the 1955 Bandung Conference helped China emerge from diplomatic isolation. Unfortunately, by the end of the 1950s. Chinas foreign policy stance became more militant, and the Chinese went back on this treaty within three months of its signing.

granting asylum to the Dalai Lama is what angered the Chinese and thus caused them to make territorial claims to the Aksai Chin area as retaliation. However, the Chinese feel that while Indias response to the Tibetan revolt was a catalyst to the war, the primary and direct cause of the war was the border dispute. Regardless of which view is correct, one thing will always hold true and that is that Indias response to the Tibetan revolt and its subsequent granting of asylum to the Dalai Lama was definitely a contributing factor in prompting the war.

Indo-China War
The 1962 Chinese invasion was termed by the Chinese as a Self-defence counter attack and justification for their behaviour was provided on the basis of the disputed areas being their own territory. The territorial dispute concerns the Aksai Chin area, which at that time was thought by India to be a part of its territory due to the delineation by the McMahon line. China, however, does not recognize the Sino-Indian border as having been delineated by the McMahon line and thus believes that it has claim to territory that surpasses the McMahon line, namely the Aksai Chin area. The 1962 Border War was clearly won by the Chinese, but they gained none of the territories they had so strongly claimed. China currently occupies the western sector of the Aksai Chin area and India controls the eastern sector but it is unlikely that either side will simply agree to give up the disputed areas that it now holds. China claims that the war was fought only to demonstratively assert its territorial claims. India, on the other hand, accuses China of an ungrateful betrayal. The causes of the 1962 Sino-India war differ depending upon which side one looks at. On the Indian side, the belief is that Indias reaction to the Tibetan revolt, and more specifically

Indo-Pakistan War of 1965

In September 1965 Pakistan unleashed a war against India presumably to establish her alleged rights over Kashmir. This war lasted only for 22 days and came to a close when the United Nations on 23rd September intervened in the quarrel to mediate between the two powers on the Indian subcontinent. Later, on the requests of Kosygen, the Soviet Prime Minister. Pakistan President Ayub Khan and Indian PM Lal Bahadur Sastri met at Tashkent and signed an agreement on 10th August 1966 containing proposals for the peaceful settlement of the problems that strained the relations between India and Pakistan.

Indo-Pakistan War of 1971

The situation created by the patriotic upheavel in East Bengal under the leadership of Sheik Mujibur Rahman against Pakistani military dictatorship in March 1971 and the civil war that followed led to the influx of ten million refugees into India. America and China gave active help to President Yahya Khan of Pakistan to crush the rebellion of the Bengalis. India was now forced to give support to the Bengalis in her own self-interest. The Government of India also entered into a treaty of mutual friendship and assistance with the Soviet Union on 9th August 1971 in a bold

move to meet the Pakistani-Chinese threat to Indias internal security. On 3rd December 1971, the Pakistani army launched large-scale air attacks on the airfields and cantonments of North India. This led to the outbreak of a full-fledged war between India and Pakistan. The Indian army advanced into the Pakistani territory in Sind. West Punjab and occupied Kashmir and captured more than 5600 square miles of Pakistan territory. Simultaniously, the Indian forces marched into East Bengal and inflicted a crushing defeat on the Pakistan soldiers fighting there. The Indian Air force and Indian Navy lent full support to the army in its campaigns. The fall of Dacca on 16th December 1971 marked the climax of the war in East Pakistan and the Pakistan Army there formally surrendered to the joint command of the Indian army and the Bangladesh militia (Mukti Bahani) on the same day. Even when the war commenced, India had recognised Bangladesh as a free sovereign state. With the formal surrender of the Pakistani army Dacca emerged as the free capital of a free country. The defeat of the Pakistan in the east led to the demoralisation of Pakistani soldiers in the western sector also. As India had achieved her objective in the eastern sector and was not interested in prolonging the conflict any further, India announced a unilateral cease-fire on 17th December 1971. Pakistan also stopped fighting soon after. Thus the 14-day war ended in a spectacular military victory for India. Within three months of the liberation of Bangladesh, the Indian army completely withdrew from that country.

Z.A. Bhutto as President came to power at Islamabad. President Bhutto and Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, following summit talks held at Shimla, signed an agreement between the two countries on 3rd July 1972. According to the Shimla Agreement the two countries decided to put an end to the conflict and confrontation that had hitherto marred their mutual relations and work for the promotion of peace on the subcontinent. India and Pakistan agreed to withdraw their respective forces to their side of the international border except in Jammu and Kashmir where the line of control resulting from the cease-fire of 17th December 1971 was to be respected. The question of repatriation of the Pakistani prisoners of war held in India was left unsettled by the agreement pending the recognition of Bangladesh by Pakistan. At the Delhi Conference of August 1973 the representatives of India and Pakistan came to a broad agreement on the question of the repatriation of war prisoners. However, the refusal of Pakistan to recognize Bangladesh as a free country delayed the process of reconciliation. Pakistan and Bangladesh recognized each other only in February 1974. In February 1978, Atal Behari Vajpayee, the External Affairs Minister of the Government of India, visited Pakistan. This was the first visit by an Indian Minister to that country after a lapse of twelve years. The visit was only a goodwill mission. Agreement had been reached in principle on wider economic relations and on greater and freer exchange of citizens and ideas. This represented a major step forward in political normalization. However, relations between the two countries continue to be strained.

The Shimla Agreement

In December 1971, following defeat at the hands of the Indian army, Yahya Khan, the military dictator of Pakistan, had fallen from power and a new civilian government with

Write notes on Kargil War

Kargil War was an armed conflict between India and Pakistan that took place between May and July 1999 in the Kargil district of

Kashmir. This is also known as Operation Vijay. The cause of the war was the infiltration of Pakistani soldiers and Kashmiri militants into Indian line of control. The Indian Army, later on supported by the Indian Air Force, recaptured a majority of the positions infiltrated by the Pakistani troops and militants. With international diplomatic opposition, the Pakistani forces withdrew from the remaining Indian positions. This was only the second direct ground war between any two countries after they had developed nuclear weapons. At the time of the war Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the PM of India and Parvez Musharaf was the President of Pakistan. Soon after the war the Atal Behari Vajpayee government set up an inquiry into its causes and to analyze perceived Indian intelligence failures. The high-powered committee was chaired by eminent strategic affairs analyst K. Subrahmanyam. The committee's final report led to a large-scale restructuring of Indian Intelligence. Casualties for both sides were heavy.

The Siachen glacier is the highest battleground on earth, where India and Pakistan have fought intermittently since April 13, 1984. Both countries maintain permanent military presence in the region at a height of over 6,000 metres (20,000 ft). Since September 2007, India has welcomed mountaineering and trekking expeditions to the forbidding glacial heights.The line between where Indian and Pakistani troops are presently holding onto their respective posts is being increasingly referred to as the Actual Ground Position Line. A cease fire went into effect in 2003. Even before then, every year more soldiers were killed because of severe weather than enemy firing.

General Elections and Government

The first general elections under the new Constitution were held in 1952, the second in 1957, third in 1962, the fourth in 1967, the fifth in 1971, the sixth in 1977, the seventh in 1980, the eighth in 1985, the ninth in 1989, tenth in 1991, the eleventh in 1996 and the twelfth in 1999, 13th in 1999, 14th in 2004 and 18th in 2009. In both the first and second general elections the Congress Party was voted to power in the Centre and the majority of States, Dr. Rajendra Prasad was elected President of India and Dr. S. Radhakrishnan was elected Vice-President after the first general elections. They were re-elected to those posts in 1957 after the second general elections. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru who was the leader of the Congress Party became the first Prime Minister of the Republic after the general elections of 1951-52 and continued as Prime Minister of India after second general elections also. In the third general elections held in 1962, the Congress Party was again voted to power. While Jawaharlal Nehru continued as Prime Minister. Dr. S. Radhakrishnan became President and Dr. Zakir Hussain, the Vice

Siachen Conflict
The Siachen Conflict, sometimes referred to as the Siachen War, is a military conflict between India and Pakistan over the disputed Siachen Glacier region in Kashmir. The conflict began in 1984 with India's successful Operation Meghdoot during which it wrested control of the Siachen Glacier from Pakistan and forced the Pakistanis to retreat west of the Saltoro Ridge. India has established control over all of the 70 kilometres (43 mi) long Siachen Glacier and all of its tributary glaciers, as well as the three main passes of the Saltoro Ridge immediately west of the glacierSia La, Bilafond La, and Gyong La. Pakistan controls the glacial valleys immediately west of the Saltoro Ridge. According to TIME magazine, India gained more than 1,000 square miles (3,000 km2) of territory because of its military operations in Siachen.

President. On the death of Jawaharlal Nehru on 27th May 1964, a caretaker Ministry under Gulzarilal Nanda assumed office. Meanwhile, the Congress Party elected Lal Bahadur Sastri as its new leader and Sastri was sworn in as Prime Minister on 9th June 1964. Lal Bahadur Sastri passed away at Tashkent on 11th January 1966. Gulzarilal Nanda became caretaker Prime Minister again until the Congress Party elected Smt. Indira Gandhi as leader and she assumed office as Prime Minister on 24th January 1966. The fourth general elections were held in 1967. The ruling Congress Party returned to power with a reduced majority. Indira Gandhi continued as Prime Minister while Dr. Zakir Hussain and V.V. Giri became President and Vice-President respectively. V.V. Giri was elected defeating the official candidate of the party, N. Sanjiva Reddi. This became possible only because Mrs. Gandhi declared support to Mr. Giri. This led to a split in the Congress Party. In the wake of the split in the Party, Mrs. Gandhi dissolved the Lok Sabha and appealed to the electorate for a fresh mandate for the implementation of her policies and programmes. In the fifth general elections held in February-March 1971, the Congress Party under the leadership of Mrs. Gandhi obtained a clear two-thirds majority. A new government was formed with Mrs. Gandhi as Prime Minister. In August 1974 Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed and B.D. Jatti were elected and sworn in as President and Vice-President respectively. On 25th June 1975, on the advice of Prime Minister Mrs. Gandhi, the President declared a state of emergency in the country. Fundamental rights were suspended and complete press censorship was introduced. All important leaders of opposition, including Jayaprakash Narayan and Morarji Desai, were arrested and detained. Agitations and demonstrations against the Government were put down by force. Strikes were banned in

industries. Discontent with the Government, however, increased although it could not be expressed as even peaceful protests were prohibited. In January 1977, Mrs. Gandhi announced that fresh general elections would be held to Parliament. The Congress (O), Swatantra Party, Jan Sangh, Bharatiya Lok Dal and the Socialist Party united and formed a new party called the Janata Party and opposed the Congress under Indira Gandhi. In the elections held in March 1977 the new party gained a majority in the Lok Sabha and formed a government headed by Morarji Desai as Prime Minister. In the fresh election held to the office of the President, N. Sanjiva Reddi sponsored by the Janata Party was elected in July 1977. The emergency has been revoked and civil liberties restored to the people. Morarji Desai resigned as Prime Minister on 15th July and Charan Singh became Prime Minister. In the general elections held in 1980 Congress Party headed by Indira Gandhi got two-thirds majority and she was sworn in as Prime Minister on 14th January 1980.On the termination of the term of N. Sanjiva Reddy, Giani Zail Singh was elected President. Indira Gandhi was assassinated by two of her own security guards at her residence in Delhi on 31st October 1984 and on the same day Rajiv Gandhi, General Secretary of the Congress (I) Party, was sworn in as Prime Minister. In the elections for the Lok Sabha held in 1985, Congress (I) swept the polls and Rajiv Gandhi was again sworn in as Prime Minister. In July 1987, R. Venketa Raman was elected as President. In the elections held for Lok Sabha in 1989 the Congress Party lost its majority and V.P. Singh, leader of Janata Dal, became Prime Minister (10th November 1990-6th March 1991) and thereafter Mr. Chandra Sekhar took over as Prime Minister. However, in the mid term poll held in June 1991 the Congress party came out as the largest party in the Lok Sabha. Rajiv Gandhi, President of

the Congress Party, was assassinated during the course of the election campaign. Mr. P.V. Narasimha Rao was sworn in as Prime Minister on 21st June 1991. One 25th July 1992, Dr. Sankar Dayal Sharma was sworn in as the ninth President of India when Dr. R. Venkata Raman completed his term as the eighth President and on 19th August 1992, K.R. Narayanan was elected as the ninth Vice President of India. In the General elections held in April-May 1996, no party having obtained a majority of seats in the Lok Sabha, the President invited Atal Bihari Vajpayee, leader of the party with the largest number of seats, to form the Government. Atal Bihari Vajpayee was sworn in as the Prime Minister on 16th May 1996. He resigned on 28 May 1996 before a vote of confidence was taken in Parliament knowing that he did not enjoy the support of the majority. Following this, Deve Gowda was sworn in as Prime Minister on 1st June 1996. After a period of 11 months Mr. Gowda tendered his resignation having been defeated in a vote of confidence taken on 21st April 1997. Following this Inder Kumar Gujral who was the Minister for External Affairs in the Deve Gowda ministry was sworn in as the Prime Minister of India on 21st April 1997. On 25th July 1997, K.R. Narayanan assumed office as the tenth President of India. Krishna Kant assumed office as the tenth Vice-President of India on 21st August 1997. Inder Kumar Gujral continued as PM until 18 March 1998 and on 19 March 1998 Atal Bihari Vajpayee took over as Prime Minister of India. On April 17, 1999, Vajpayee lost a confidence vote in the Lok Sabha and resigned. The main opposition party, the congress could not muster enough support to form a majority government with regional and left wing groups. On April 26, the then President of India K.R. Narayanan dissolved the Lok Sabha and called for early elections.

The BJP continued to rule as an interm administration until the polling. In the general election BJP led NDA (National Democratic Alliance) won the majority seat and Vajpayee was sworn in as the Prime Minister on October 13. On July 2002, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam was sworn in as the President. The BJP led NDA Government, headed by PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee completed five years of its rule in 2004 and the elections for the 14th Lok Sabha was held in four phases between April 20 and May 10, 2004. Congress led UPA government won the majority and Dr. Man Mohan Singh became the new Prime Minister. Pratibha Patil was sworn in as the 12th President of India on July 25, 2007. On completion of five years general election for the 15th Lok Sabha was held in 2009. Congress led UPA government won the majority and Mrs. Meira Kumar became the speaker and Manmohan Singh was re-elected the Prime Minister of India.

Official language of Indian Union

The official language of the Indian Union is Hindi with English as a secondary official language. States specify their own official language(s) through legislation. The section of the Constitution of India dealing with official languages deal not just with the languages used for the official purposes of the union, but also with the languages that are to be used for the official purposes of each state and union territory in the country, and the languages that are to be used for communication between the union and the states inter se. During the British Raj, English was used for most official purposes both at the federal level and in the various states. English continues to be used today, in combination with Hindi (at the central level and in some states) and other languages (at the state level). The legal framework governing the use of lan-

several states have adopted official languages guages for official purpose currently includes which are not so listed. Examples include the Constitution, the Official Languages Act, Kokborok in Tripura; Mizo in Mizoram; Khasi, 1963, Official Languages (Use for Official Garo, and Jaintia in Meghalaya; and French Purpose of the Union) Rules, 1976, and variin Puducherry. ous state laws, as well as rules and regulaThe Eighth Schedule to the Indian Constitions made by the central government and the tution contains a list of 22 scheduled lanstates. guages. At the time the constitution was enThe Indian constitution, in 1950, declared acted, inclusion in this list meant that the lanHindi in Devanagari script to be the official guage was entitled to representation on the language of the union.Unless Parliament deOfficial Languages Commission, and that the cided otherwise, the use of English for offilanguage would be one of the bases that would cial purposes was to cease 15 years after the be drawn upon to enrich Hindi, the official constitution came into effect, i.e., on 26 Janulanguage of the Union. ary 1965. Parliament enacted the Official Languages Act, 1963, which provided for the ? The State Reorganisation Act of 1956 continued use of English for official purposes The States Reorganisation Act of 1956 was along with Hindi, even after 1965. a major reform of the boundaries and Parliamentary business, according to the governance of India's states and territories. Constitution, may be conducted in either Hindi The act reorganised the boundaries of India's or English. states along linguistic lines, and amended the The constitution provides that all proceedIndian Constitution to replace the three types ings in the Supreme Court of India, the of states, known as Parts A, B, and C states, country's highest court and the High Courts, with a single type of state. shall be in English. Parliament has the power Part A states, which were the former govto alter this by law, but has not done so. ernors' provinces of British India, were ruled The Indian constitution does not specify by an elected governor and state legislature. the official languages to be used by the states The nine Part A states for the conduct of their official functions, and leaves each state free to, through its legislature, adopt Hindi National Bird of India or any lanbird of India. In innaeus), is the national (L tus guage used sta cri vo Pa , ck aco The Pe of its rich l Bird of India because na tio Na in its territhe red cla de s 1963, the peacock wa The criter ia for this ent in Indian traditions. tory as its em olv inv ry da en leg d an the country so it religious well-distributed within be official lanst mu d bir e Th ny. e. W hile choice were ma beauty, joy, grace and lov of l bo guage or lansym a s It l'. na could be truly 'natio Kumara Swamy, brother guages. The ck is the vehicle of Lord aco Pe the t tha ve lie be igious buildings as Hindus inted in many Islamic rel language need pa o als is ure fig its , sha ock King of Lord Gane ock Angel and the Peac eac P not be one of the , lak Me i ws Ta according to them, Peacock is known as those listed in is, and in Christianity, the zid Ye of ty die rt po im st the mo the Eighth is on. the symbol of Resurrecti Schedule, and

were Assam, West Bengal, Bihar, Bombay, Madhya Pradesh (formerly Central Provinces and Bihar), Madras, Orissa, Punjab, and Uttar Pradesh (formerly United Provinces). The eight Part B states were former princely states or groups of princely states, governed by a rajpramukh, who was often a former prince, and an elected legislature. The rajpramukh was appointed by the President of India. The Part B states were Hyderabad, Saurashtra, Mysore, Travancore-Cochin, Madhya Bharat, Vindhya Pradesh, Patiala and East Punjab States Union (PEPSU), and Rajasthan. The ten Part C states included both the former chief commissioners' provinces and princely states, and were governed by a chief commissioner. The chief commissioner was appointed by the President of India. The Part C states included Delhi, Kutch, Himachal Pradesh, Bilaspur, Coorg, Bhopal, Manipur, Ajmer-Merwara, and Tripura. Jammu and Kashmir had special status until 1957. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands was established as a union territory, ruled by a lieutenant governor appointed by the central government. In December 1953, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru appointed the States Reorganisation Commission to prepare for the creation of states on linguistic lines. This was headed by Justice Fazal Ali and the commission itself was also known as the Fazal Ali Commission and also consist of Kavalam Madhava Panikkar, and H.N. Kunzru. The efforts of this commission were overseen by Govind Ballabh Pant, who served as Home Minister from December 1954. The commission created a report in 1955 recommending the reorganisation of India's states. The States Reorganisation Act of 1956, which went into effect on 1 November, eliminated the distinction between part A, B, and C

states. It also reorganised the state boundaries and created or dissolved states and union territories. On 1 November 1956, India was divided into the following states and union territories: Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Bombay State, Jammu and Kashmir, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Madras State (The state was renamed Tamil Nadu in 1969.), Mysore State (The state was renamed Karnataka in 1973 ), Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Union territories Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Pondicherry, Delhi.

Dar Commission
Language created a great problem in postindependent era and continues to be one of the heavy weights on countrys political system. But when Constituent Assembly discussed the problem of national language for India, it found that the task was not easy. A Linguistic Provinces Commission was set up under the Government. In its report submitted in 1948, the Commission reported immediate formation of linguistic states was not desirable. In its opinion country was faced with such serious problems as economic instability and foreign aggression, etc. It also pointed out that even princely states have not been properly integrated and that the country was faced with many other serious problems than this one. The Commission also was of the view that for the country it will be difficult to bear economic and administrative cost of the new provinces.

Official Language Commission

The Constitution had provided for the establishment of Official Language Commission, five years after the commencement of the constitution. Accordingly a 21 member commission headed by B.G. Kher was set up in 1956. It submitted its report in 1956 which was made public in 1957.

PROCEDURE FOR CREATION OF NEW STATES

Parliament can form new States, alter the area, boundaries or name of the existing States by a law passed by a simple majority. No Bills for the formation of new States or alteration of the boundaries or names of the existing States shall be introduced in either House of the Parliament, except on the recommendation of the President. The President, before introducing the Bill in the Parliament, shall refer it to the concerned State Legislature for its opinion within a specified time limit. If the State Legislature does not give its opinion within the specified time limit, the time limit may be extended. The Bill may be introduced even if the opinion has not come. The Parliament is not bound to accept or act upon the views of the State legislature. It is not necessary to make fresh reference to the State Legislature every time on an amendment to the bill, proposed and accepted.

THE NEW STATES CREATED AFTER 1950

Andhra Pradesh: Created by the State of Andhra Pradesh Act, 1953 by carving out some areas from the State of Madras. Gujarat and Maharashtra : The State of Bombay was divided into two States i.e., Maharashtra and Gujarat by the Bombay (Reorganisation) Act, 1960. Kerala: Created by the State Reorganisation Act, 1956. It comprised Travancore and Cochin areas. Karnataka: Created from the Princely State of Mysore by the State Reorganisation Act, 1956. It has been renamed Karnataka in 1973. Nagaland: It was carved out from the State of Assam by the state of Nagaland Act, 1962. Haryana: It was carved out from the State of Punjab by the Punjab (Reorganisation) Act, 1966. Himachal Pradesh: The Union Territory of Himachal Pradesh was elevated to the status of State by the State of Himachal Pradesh Act, 1970. Meghalaya: First carved out as a sub-State within the State of Assam by 23rd Constitution Amendment, 1969. Later, in 1971, it received the status of a full-fledged State by the North-Eastern Areas (Reorganisation) Act, 1971. Manipur and Tripura: Both these States were elevated from the status of Union Territories by the North-Eastern Areas (Reorganisation) Act, 1971. Sikkim: Sikkim was given first the status of Associate State by the 35th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1974. It got the status of a full State in 1975 by the 36th Amendment Act, 1975. Mizoram: It was elevated to the status of a full State by the State of Mizoram act, 1986. Arunachal Pradesh: It received the status of a full State by the State of Arunachal Pradesh Act, 1986. Goa: Goa was separated from the Union Territory of Goa, Daman and Diu and was made a fullfledged State by the Goa, Daman and Diu Reorganisation Act, 1987. But Daman and Diu remained as Union Territory. Chhattisgarh: Formed by the Constitutional Amendment Act 2000 by dividing Madhya Pradesh on November 1, 2000. Uttaranchal: Formed by the Constitutional Amendment Act 2000 by dividing Uttar Pradesh on November 9, 2000. Jharkhand: Formed by the Constitutional Amendment Act 2000 by dividing Bihar on November 15, 2000.

The Commission recommended that Hindi should be increasingly used for official purposes in place of English, but felt that it should not be possible to say whether this language shall be in a position to replace English by 1965, as provided in the constitution. The Commission was of the view that in future English should be taught in secondary schools principally as a language of comprehension and not as a literary language, except where it was taken voluntarily. Its other recommendations were. i English should be continued as an alternate medium for competitive examinations for All India Services and in the courts of law.

develop their own language and culture. The government accepted the demand and created Andhra Pradesh. But this was beginning of the pressure of language on the politics and this heavy weight began to exert more and more pressures on Indian politics.

Formation of Chhattisgarh State

Demand for recognition of Chhattisgarh as a separate state was first raised in the early twenties by the Raipur Congress unit in 1924, at the meeting of the Raipur district Congress. A similar demand was brought up after independence, in the Nagpur Assembly of the state, which was then called Madhya Bharat. All these events fuelled the movement for a new state in the history of Chhattisgarh. A State Reorganization Committee was set up in 1954. A demand for a separate state of Chhattisgarh was also brought up in this committee. But the demand was later rejected by the commission. The first institutional and governmental initiative for the formation of Chhattisgarh was taken by the Congress Government of the region, in 1994. Both the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) made unified and constructive efforts for the formation of a separate state. In 1998, the Union Government led by BJP, drafted a bill for the formation of Chhattisgarh, constituting the sixteen districts of Madhya Pradesh. This bill was sent to the Madhya Pradesh assembly for approval and was eventually approved with certain alterations. Then Union Government fell and after elections, the National Democratic Alliance redrafted the Separate Chhattisgarh Bill, which was eventually sent to the Madhya Pradesh legislative assembly for approval. After a unanimous approval there, the bill was tabled in and approved by the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. The then President of India gave his approval to the Madhya Pradesh Reorganization Act 2000 on 25th August 2000.

ii Hindi should be made compulsory for recruitment to All India Services. iii At the time of change over entire Statute Book of the country should be in Hindi. iv Regional language may be retained for judicial and administrative purposes in the state. But in inter-state communications the channel should be in Hindi. v Primary education should be in a language of the region, but at the secondary stage instruction in Hindi should be made compulsory. vi A National Academy of Language should be set up, perferably at Hyderabad for the development of 14 languages of India, as specified in the constitution.

Creation of Andhra Pradesh

The Constitution has provided for the promotion of languages but from the very beginning language began to put pressure on politics. In several states, almost from the very beginning agitation started that states should be created on lingual basis. In 1952, Sriramula went on fast unto death for pressing his demand for the creation of a separate state of Andhra where Telugu speaking people could

1st November 2000 was the historical day when Chhattisgarh was carved out from Madhya Pradesh. Chhattisgarh is generally perceived as a tribal dominated state. Chattisgarh state consists of 18 districts. Chhattisgarh is primarily a rural state with only 20% of population residing in urban areas.

Formation of Uttarakhand State

The first ever agitation for the hill state was organized in 1957 under the leadership of erstwhile ruler of Tehri Manvendra Shah but it took almost 14 years to assume shape of a common cause of the people of the region. Uttarakhand Rajya Parishad, formed in 1973 took up the cause and became a platform for struggle. The movement produced a political party, namely Uttarakhand Kranti Dal in July 1979 under the chairmanship of former vice-chancellor of Kumaun University. As far the state assembly was concerned, it passed a government-sponsored motion demanding Uttarakhand state, on 12th August 1991, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav government came up with a resolution to the same effect, and the state assembly adopted it on 24th August 1994. Three years later, on 24th April 1997 the state assembly passed yet another government motion urging the center to do the needful for creating a hill state. The central government headed by the BJP, came up with a constitutional amendment bill, in 1994 and through the President of India, urged the state assembly to give its opinion on various provisions of the bill. The state assembly, in turn, passed a resolution offering as many as 26 amendments to the central draft bill including the one to bar Haridwar becoming part of the new state and almost usurping a number of proprietarily rights over the irrigation and power projects and major natural resources.

In 2000, the government headed by Atal Behari Vajpayee once again sent the Uttar Pradesh reformation bill-2000 for the formation of Uttaranchal. The Central Government presented the bill in the Lok Sabha on 27th July 2000, the bill was passed in the Lok Sabha on the 1st August 2000 and on 10th August 2000 in the Rajya Sabha. On 28th August 2000 it received the sanction of the President. In January 2007, the name of the state was officially changed from Uttaranchal, its interim name, to Uttarakhand. Uttaranchal emerged as the 27th state of India on 9th November 2000. Surjeet Singh Barnala was appointed as the Governor of the newly formed state comprising of 13 Districts, while Mr. Nityanand Swami was appointed as the First Chief Minister of the state.

Formation of Jharkhand State

The demand for Jharkhand was put forth as early as 1928. When their repeated requests were not heeded by the Government of India in 1988, they organised massive rallies and also economic blockade in Jharkhand areas. They even prevented the outward movement of commodities. Due to the repeated agitations and demand, Jharkhand state was formed on 15th November 2000 as the 28th state. Jharkhand state was formed by carving out 18 districts of Bihar, but the dream of Greater Jharkhand still remain unfulfilled. Tribal dominated districts of Mayarbhanj, Keonjhar, Sundargarh and Deogarh of Orissa state and Purulia, Bankura, and Midnapore districts of West Bengal and the districts of Jashpur, Surguja, Koriya of Chhattisgarh state are still not part of Jharkhand. Jharkhand has 24 districts. Jharkhand is the leading producer of mineral wealth in the country. Babulal Marandi of BJP was sworn in as its first Chief Minister. Jharkhand is one of the thirteen states in which the Naxalite rebels have considerable

influence. Jharkhand Mukti Morcha is a state political party in Jharkhand.

Kaveri River Water Dispute

The sharing of waters of the river Kaveri had been the bone of contention of a serious conflict between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. There were two controversial agreements regarding the sharing of Kaveri river water one signed in 1892 and another in 1924, between the Madras Presidency and the Princely State of Mysore. Disputes have occurred since 1807, but British influence mediated tensions for several decades. An agreement was arrived at in 1924 and a couple of minor agreements were also signed in 1929 and 1933. The 1924 agreement was set to lapse after a run of 50 years. By the late 1960s, both states and the Central government began to realize the gravity of the situation as the 50 year run of the 1924 agreement was soon coming to an end. Negotiations were started in right earnest and discussions continued for almost 10 years. In 1976, after a series of discussions between the two states and the Central government chaired by Jagjeevan Ram, the then Irrigation Minister, a final draft was prepared. This draft was accepted by all states and the Government also made an announcement to that effect in Parliament. The Tamil Nadu government now rejected the draft agreement and started insisting that the 1924 agreement had only provided for an extension and not a review. It began insisting that status quo be restored and everyone go back to the agreements of 1892 and 1924. Later Tamil Nadu withdrew its case demanding the constitution of a tribunal and the two states started negotiating again. The Supreme Court then directed the government headed by Prime Minister V. P. Singh to constitute a tribunal and refer all disputes to it. A three man tribunal was thus constituted on 2 June 1990. The Tribunal

passed an interim Order on June 25, 1991. But this was not acceptable by Karnataka and several problems arose in both states. As a result in 1996, the Government of India appointed three member expert team headed by Jawaharlal Nehru University Vice Chancellor Prof. Y.K. Alagh, to visit both the states and gave his report. Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao, after holding talks with both the Chief Minister gave his verdict. The Kauveri Water Disputes Tribunal announced its final verdict on 5 February 2007. In its verdict, the tribunal allocated 419 billion ft (12 km) of water annually to Tamil Nadu and 270 billion ft (7.6 km) to Karnataka; 30 billion ft (0.8 km) of Kaveri river water to Kerala and 7 billion ft (0.2 km) to Puducherry. The dispute however, seems far from over with all four states deciding to file review petitions seeking clarifications and possible renegotiation of the order.

Krishna River Water Dispute Tribunal

Disputes arose between the states of Karnataka, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh over sharing of the water of Krishna river. The Government of India constituted the Krishna Waters Disputes Tribunal in 1969 under the Inter State Water Disputes Act of 1956. This was headed by R. S Bachawat a former judge of the Supreme Court. The Bachawat commission went over the matter in detail and gave its final award in 1973. The government took another three years to publish the award. While the Tribunal had in its earlier report detailed two schemes, Scheme A and Scheme B, the final award only included Scheme A and Scheme B was left out. Scheme A pertained to the division of the available waters based on 75% dependability, while Scheme B recommended ways to share the surplus waters. The KWDT in its Scheme A award outlined the exact share

of each state - Maharashtra (560 TMC), Karnataka (700 TMC), Andhra Pradesh (800 TMC). The tribunal in its report, under Scheme B, has determined that the surplus water available in the river basin totaled 330 TMC. It was decided that this would be divided among the riparian states of Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh in the ratio of 25%, 50% and 25% respectively. The KWDT provided for a review of its award after 31 May, 2000. However no such review was taken up for more than 3 years after that. In Sep 2003, the second KWDT, KWDTII was constituted by the Govt of India following requests by all three states. This tribunal has started its proceedings from 2007. The second Krishna Water Dispute Tribunal gave its verdict on December 31st,2010. The allocation of available water was done according to 65% dependability, considering the records of flow of water for past 47 years. According to KWDT II, Andhra Pradesh got 1001 TMC ft of water, Karnataka 911 and Maharashtra 666. It also imposed certain restrictions on each state in keeping with the dependable flows of the rivers on which the allocations have been made.

Mullaperiyar Dam Dispute

Mullaperiyar Dam is constructed over the headwaters of the Periyar River in Kerala. It is operated by the Government of Tamil Nadu according to a 999-year lease agreement made during erstwhile British colonial rule. On 29 October 1886 a lease indenture for 999 years was made between Maharaja of Travancore and Secretary of State for India for Periyar irrigation works. By another agreement in 1970, Tamil Nadu was also permitted to generate power. The pact was revalidated in 1970 by Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The government of Tamil

Nadu has proposed an increase in the storage level of the dam from the currently maintained 136 feet (41 m) to 142 feet (43 m). The Kerala government has opposed this move, citing safety concerns for the more than hundred year old bridge and especially for the thickly populated districts downstream. In 1979, safety concerns were raised by Kerala Government after a minor earthquake, after which a few leaks were detected in the Mullaperiyar dam. A state agency had reported that the structure would not withstand an earthquake above magnitude 6 on the Richter scale. The then Tamil Nadu government lowered the storage level to the current 136 feet (from 142.2 feet) at the request of the Kerala Government to carry out safety repairs. In 2006, the Supreme Court of India has allowed for the storage level to be raised to 142 feet (43 m). However, the Kerala Government promulgated a new "Dam Safety Act" against increasing the storage level of the dam, which has not been objected by the Supreme Court. Tamil Nadu challenged it on various grounds. The Court advised the States to settle the matter amicably. the Supreme Court constituted a Constitution bench to hear the case considering its wide ramifications. Kerala did not object giving water to Tamil Nadu. Their main cause of objection is the dams safety as it is as old as 110 years. No masonry dam may survive for 999 years so a new dam may replace the existing one in near future. In September 2009, the Ministry of Environment and Forests of Government of India granted environmental clearance to Kerala for conducting survey for new dam downstream. Tamil Nadu approached Supreme court for a stay order against the clearance; however, the plea was rejected. Consequently, the survey was started in October, 2009. On 18 February 2010, the Supreme Court

decided to constitute a five-member empowered committee to study all the issues of Mullaperiyar Dam and seek a report from it within six months. The Bench in its draft order said Tamil Nadu and Kerala would have the option to nominate a member each, who could be either a retired judge or a technical expert. The five-member committee will be headed by former Chief Justice of India A. S. Anand to go into all issues relating to the dam's safety and the storage level. On 8 March 2010, in a fresh twist to the Mullaperiyar Dam row, Tamil Nadu told the Supreme Court that it was not interested in adjudicating the dispute with Kerala before the special empowered committee appointed by the apex court for settling the inter-State issue. Supreme Court refused to accept Tamil Nadu's request. SC also criticized the Union Government on its reluctance in funding the empowered committee.

Political parties in India

A political party may conveniently be defined as a body of men who have united for promoting by their collective efforts, upon some principles to which they have all agreed. Political party system in India has its own background. The origin of the system can be traced back to 1885 when Indian National Congress was founded. It discussed national political and economic issues though at the initial stages its aim was not to capture political power. Its aim was to get certain political reforms from foreign masters. In India political parties can be placed under various categories. i. All India political parties or National Parties All India political parties have been officially defined as those national parties with broad-based national support and able to win atleast six percent of valid votes polled in any four or more States at the general elections to the Lok Sabha or to the Legislative Assembly

and in addition win at least four seats in the Lok Sabha from any State or States. ii. Regional Parties The second group consists of regional parties, which clearly represent sub-regional nationalism based upon the common language, culture and history of a region. These parties try to aggregate regional interests regardless of the caste and religious affiliations of their members. Their power base and voting strength are confined to a particular geographic area. The following are the best known regional parties: DMK and ADMK (Tamil Nadu); Telugu Desam (Andhra Pradesh), the National Conference (Jammu & Kashmir), and Assam Gana Parishad (Assam). iii. Commercial Parties The third group includes those parties and organisations that are exclusive in their membership; that is, they accept as members only those inhabitants of a particular religious or ethnic community. The following parties fall into this category : Muslim League (Kerala) and Akali Dal (Punjab). Ad hoc Parties The last group of parties consists of those organised around powerful persons or local and state issues. Such parties may not survive very long; some may appear only for a short period and then disappear completely or merge into other parties. The Bangla Congress, The Kerala, Congress; the BKD of Charan Singh are some examples of such ad hoc parties.

Coalition politics in India

Coalition, as employed in political sense, commonly denotes a co-operative arrangement under which distinct poitical parties, or at all events members of such parties unite to form a government or Ministry. But it does not mean that once the parties form a coalition they completely merge their identity. All the Parties continue to maintain

their identity. As soon as any of the coalition partner finds it difficult to pull on well with other partner(s) that leaves the coalition. The first coalition was formed on March 24, 1977 March 28. Second Coalition - January 14, 1980 Third coalition government - December 2, 1989 - November 10, 1990). Fourth November 11, 1990 - July 21, 1991. Fifth June 1, 1996 - April 20, 1997 Sixth April 21, 1997 - March 19, 1998. Seventh - March 19, 1998 - Oct.10, 1999 Eighth - October 11, 1999 to 2000 was formed on July 28, 1979. The Ninth Congress led coalition was formed in May 2004 for the 14th Lok Sabha elections between Congress and Left Front, DMK and other non-NDA parties.

To impart political enlightment to the

public.

To offer constructive criticism. To support policies and programmes

which are beneficial to the public. In a democracy the role of opposition party equally important and responsible as that of ruling party. Opposition can contribute much to the efficient and successful working of democracy.

Bhoodan Movement
The Bhoodan Movement was a voluntary land reform movement in India started by Acharya Vinoba Bhave in 1951. It was started at Pochampally village of Andhra Pradesh. Vinobha Bhave organised an all-India federation of constructive workers, the Sarvodaya Samaj, which was to take up the task of a non-violent social transformation in the country. He and his followers walked on foot from village to village to persuade the larger landowners to donate atleast one-sixth of their lands as bhoodan or land-gift for

Role of Opposition Parties

The party or alliance of parties who get majority seats in election shall come into power. That party or alliance of parties who fail to attain majority of seats in the election are destined to perform the role of opposition. The important duties and responsibilities of the opposition are To oppose the and State Party National Party order by the ts made in the despotic tendencies en dm en am e d as per According to th l party is define ca ti li of the ruling party. po al on ti ission, na Election Comm To criticise the al protocol. e states the constitution in favour of mor s te vo drawbacks in admi d li va e t 6% of th Secure at leas Assembly elections. nistration and expr from one in Lok Sabha or the Lok Sabha in s ess them before the at se ur fo t win atleas public. Also it has to . ast three or more states ected from atle el e To oppose the ar ho w ha in Lok Sab misdeeds of the rulers 2% of seats . different states and generate public State Party opinion against them. e state; or valid vote in th the state; or To evolve substitute Polls 6% of ery 30 seats in ev r fo at se y bl m politicies and strategies the state. Win one asse ery 25 seats in ev of at se ha in the real of gover One Lok Sab nance.

distribution among the landless. Jayaprakash Narayan foremost leaders in politics withdrew from active politics to join the Bhoodan Movement in 1953. Vinoba received the first donation of land on 18th April 1951 in the village of Pochampalli in the Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh. In less than three months he had covered about 200 villages and received 12,200 acres as donation. In the initial years the movement achieved a considerable degree of success, receiving over four million acres of land as donation by March 1956. After this the movement lost momentum and very little new land was received as donation. Meanwhile, towards the end of 1955; the movement took a new form, that of Gramdan or donation of village, The first village to come under gramdan was Mangroth in Hamirpur district of Uttar Pradesh. It took more than three years to get another village in gift. The second and third gramdans took place in Orissa and the movement started spreading the emphasis on securing villages in gift. By the end of 1960, there were more than four and half thousand Gramdan villages. This was indeed a very remarkable achievement for a constructive work movement. The Gramdan idea did not prove popular in the non-tribal areas. By the sixties the enthusiasm for the movement began to wane. The programme however appeared to drag on indefinitely, essentially forgotten.

Emergency in India
The President can declare three types of emergencies: National emergency, State emergency, Financial emergency. There were three periods during which a state of emergency was deemed to have existed in independent India. 1. Emergency was declared between 26th October 1962 to 10 January 1968 during the India-China war.

2. Emergency was originally proclaimed during the Indo Pakistan war, and later extended along with the third proclamation between 3rd December 1971 to 1977 "the security of India" having been declared "threatened by external aggression". 3. Emergency was declared under controversial circumstances of political instability under the Indira Gandhi's prime ministership between 26th June 1975 to 21st March 1977 "the security of India" having been declared "threatened by internal disturbances". Third emergency prolonged for 21 months from 1975 to 1977. Indian President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, declared a state of emergency upon advice by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, under Article 352 of the Constitution of India. It is one of the most controversial times in the history of independent India. Raj Narain, who had been defeated in parliamentary election by Indira Gandhi, lodged cases of election fraud and use of state machinery for election purposes against Mrs. Indira Gandhi in the Allahabad High Court. On 12 June 1975, Allahabad High Court found the Prime Minister guilty on the charge of misuse of government machinery for her election campaign. The court declared her election null and void and unseated her from her seat in the Lok Sabha. The court also banned her from contesting any election for an additional six years. Demand was made by opposition parties about her resignation. Serious law and order situation was created. The Gandhian socialist Jayaprakash Narayan had been agitating in Bihar for a change in provincial government, and increasingly sought to direct popular action

against the Central Government through satyagrahas. Narayan and his supporters sought to unify students, peasants, and labour organisations on a common platform. Siddhartha Shankar Ray, the West Bengal chief minister, proposed to Mrs Gandhi to impose internal emergency. As the constitution requires, President approved the continuation of Emergency over every six-month period until Indira Gandhis decision to hold elections in 1977. Elections for the Parliament and state governments were postponed. Invoking article 352 of the Indian Constitution, Indira granted herself extraordinary powers and launched a massive crackdown on civil liberties and political opposition. The Government used police forces across the country to arrest thousands of protestors and strike leaders. J.P. Narayan, Raj Narain, Morarji Desai, Charan Singh, Jivatram Kripalani, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Satyendra Narayan Sinha and other protest leaders were immediately arrested. Organizations such as the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, along with some opposition political parties were banned. Numerous Communist leaders were arrested along with many others involved with the party. According to Amnesty International, 140,000 people had been arrested without trial during the twenty months of Indira Gandhi's Emergency. Of them, 40,000 had come from India's two percent Sikh minority. On January 23, 1977, Indira Gandhi called fresh elections for March and released all political prisoners. The Emergency officially ended on March 23, 1977. In the Lok Sabha elections, held in February, Indira and Sanjay both lost their Lok Sabha seats, as did most of their loyal followers. The Congress was reduced to just 153 seats, 92 of which were

from four of the southern states. The Janata Party's 295 seats (of a total 542) gave it only a slim majority. Morarji Desai became the first non-Congress Prime Minister of India.

Agrarian Struggles since Independence

The years since independence have seen agrarian struggles of enormous variety, ranging from the legendary Telangana peasant movement and the PEPSU tenants movement which continued from the pre-independence years, to the Naxalite or Maoist movement in the late sixties and the new farmers movements of the eighties. In anticipation of independence and the accompanying changes in agrarian relations, the period between the end 1945-47 witnessed a sharp increase in agrarian struggles all over the country. Telangana Peasant struggle The peasants in the Telangana region of Hyderabad state suffered extreme feudal oppression at the hands of the Jagirdars and Deshmukhs. The peasants organised themselves against this. This was the basis of Telangana peasant struggle. By 1947-48 they could establish a firm base in the Nalgonda, Warangal and Khammam districts. Landlords fled to the towns, leaving their field free.The lands seized from landlords and the barren lands of the government were distributed to the peasants . This led to an encounter between the peasants and Indian army. The government was quick to respond to the issues raised by the movement. The Jagirdari Abolition Regulation was laid down in 1949 itself, and the Hyderabad Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act was passed in 1950. Over 6,00,000 tenants covering over one-quarter of the cultivated area were declared protected tenants with a right to purchase the land on easy terms. Land ceilings were also introduced in the mid-fifties.

It was also found that land reforms were much better implemented due to the high level of political consciousness of the peasants. Landlords who returned after the movement collapsed were not able to go back to old ways. They often agreed to sell land at low rates, were subject to pressure for higher wages, did not try very hard to recover peasants own lands or waste lands, but only the surplus lands. The movement had broken the back of landlordism in Telangana. Patiala Muzara Movement At the time of Indias independence the peasants of Patiala, the largest princely state in Punjab were in the midst of a struggle. After independence Patiala joined the Indian Union. Even after that there was no progress in the condition of peasants. The land lords organized armed gangs against them. The peasants also organized their own armed wing to counter this move. Finally this led to clashes with the police. An Agrarian Reforms Enquiry Committee was set up to make recommendations and, till such time as the legislation could be enacted, the PEPSU (Patiala and East Punjab States Union) Tenancy (Temporary Provision) Act was promulgated in January 1952 which protected tenants against eviction. The President issued the PEPSU Occupancy Tenants (Vesting of Proprietary Rights) Act 1953. Under this act, occupancy tenants could become owners of their land by paying compensation amounting to twelve times the land revenue, an amount which was none to large. This legislation was obviously found acceptable by the tenants, and no further resistance was reported. Naxalbari peasant uprising Naxalbari became famous for being the site of a left-wing poor peasants uprising in 1967, which began with the "land to tiller" slogan. The "Naxalbari" incident was triggered on

25 May 1967 at Bengai Jote village in Naxalbari when the police opened fire on a group of villagers who were demanding their right to the crops at a particular piece of land. The term Naxalites comes from Naxalbari, a small village in West Bengal, where a section of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM) led by Charu Majumdar, Kanu Sanyal and Jangal Santhal initiated a violent uprising in 1967. On May 18, 1967, the Siliguri Kishan Sabha, of which Jangal was the president, declared their readiness to adopt armed struggle to redistribute land to the landless. On May 24, when a police team arrived to arrest the peasant leaders, it was ambushed by a group of tribals led by Jangal Santhal, and a police inspector was killed in a hail of arrows. This event encouraged many Santhal tribals and other poor people to join the movement and to start attacking local landlords. Charu Majumdar, inspired by the doctrines of Mao Zedong, provided ideological leadership for the Naxalbari movement, advocating that Indian peasants and lower class tribals overthrow the government and upper classes by force. During the 1970s, the movement was fragmented into disputing factions. By 1980, the peasant movement was over and most of its activists and leaders including Jangal Santhal were in Jail. Srikakulam Srikakulam is situated in the north-eastern Andhra Pradesh.The girijan population of the Srikakulam district was subjected to various forms of brutal exploitation. The girijans rose in revolts on may occasions against this exploitation and violence by the landlords and their henchmen. They organised movements called Girijan Sanghams and Mahila Sanghams. These Movements se-

cured many gains, including restoration of land illegally taken over by non-tribal money lenders and landlords, wage increase, better prices for forest produce, reduction of debts and free access to forests for timber for construction of houses and other daily needs. They also prevented the sahukars taking the foodgrains outside. The movement assumed the character of mass upsurge. The landlords got alarmed. On 31st October 1967 while the Taluk girijan conference was being held in the village Levidi, the landlords and their hired goons attacked the delegates injuring many of them including women. As the local people rushed to the rescue of the delegates the landlords opened firing killing Koranna and Manganna and severely injuring many others. The martyrdom of these two raised the anti-feudal struggle of the girijan people to a new height. By the mid 1970s the Srikakulam uprising had moved up the Godavari valley into the plains of Telangana . Peasant struggles were organized under the leadership of radical left and Rytu coolie sanghams (peasant and agricultural labour organisations) struggled against social oppression and feudal practices, for a hike in wages and for land. Social boycott against the landlords was the popular form of struggle. A massive police operation was launched in which 1400 were arrested. On 10th July 1970, V. Satyanarayana and Adibhatla Kailasam, the two major leaders were killed and that brought the movement to an end. The revolutionary movement of Srikakulam girijans is a saga of heroic struggle and self sacrifice against feudal exploitation.

interventions. The movement is against statism. Freeing the economy will not only take care of farmers themselves but ensure prosperity for the Nation. New farmers movement arose after 1980 in various states almost simultaneously. The basic understanding on which the movements rested is that the government maintains agricultural prices at an artificially low level in order to provide cheap food and raw materials to urban areas, and the consequent disparity in prices results in farmers paying high prices for industrial goods needed as inputs into agriculture and receiving low returns for their produce. As a result, farmers are exploited by urban interests, and are victims of internal colonialism. They need not pay back loans or charges for infrastructure costs as they have already paid too much and are in fact net creditors. These new farmers movements especially in the eighties, have focused mainly on demanding remunerative prices for agricultural produce, and lowering or elimination of government dues such as canal water charges, electricity charges, interest rates and principal of loans, etc. The movement touched a vital chord among peasants by drawing attention to the neglect and backwardness of rural areas.

Notes on Non-Alignment Movement

Non-Alignment is the main principle of Indias foreign policy. It is a policy of not aligning with any state or group of states, but being friendly and just to everyone. The NonAligned Movement (NAM) is an intergovernmental organization founded in Belgrade in 1961 It was largely the brainchild of Yugoslavia's President, Josip Broz Tito, India's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, Egypt's second President, Gamal Abdel Nasser, Ghana's first

New Farmers Movement

The New Farmers Movement has developed during last twenty years. It has been fighting for freeing the economy of all state

president Kwame Nkrumah, and Indonesia's first President, Sukarno. The purpose of the organisation is to ensure "the national independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and security of non-aligned countries" in their "struggle against imperialism, colonialism, neocolonialism, racism, and all forms of foreign aggression, occupation, domination, interference or hegemony as well as against great power and bloc politics." They represent nearly two-thirds of the United Nations's members and 55% of the world population, particularly countries considered to be developing or part of the Third World. A significant milestone in the development of the Non-Aligned Movement was the 1955 Bandung Conference, a conference of Asian and African states hosted by Indonesian president Sukarno, who gave a significant contribution to promote this movement Since the end of the Cold War and the formal end of colonialism, the Non-Aligned Movement has been forced to redefine itself and reinvent its purpose in the current world system. The movement continues to see a role for itself, as in its view, the worlds poorest nations remain exploited and marginalised, no longer by opposing superpowers, but rather in a uni-polar world, and it is Western hegemony and neo-colonialism that the movement has really re-aligned itself against.

Write notes on Bodoland

Bodoland is an area in the north bank of Brahmaputra river in the State of Assam by the foothills of Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh and inhabited predominantly by Bodo language speaking ethnic group. Bodos are also ethnocentric or nationalist society. Cultural assimilation with Assamese was not productive. In brief, before the British Raj, Bodo-kachari Kingdom may have included a vast area extending far and beyond Assam, a small province in the North-East

India. Following Indian independence, the Bodos were given opportunity to take advantage of scheduled tribe (ST) status. Tribal belts and blocks were gradually being acquired by rich landlords or new immigrants through illegal means. Moreover, Bodos had little or no access to economic aid that were given by the central government. There were hardly any roads that connected Bodo dominated area to the main cities of Assam. Since Independence, there have been regular demand for seperate Bodoland by several organisations in which some demanded seperate Statehood within the Indian Union while other demand soverein Bodoland for the Bodo People in Assam. The official Bodoland Movement for an independent state of Bodoland started on March 2, 1987 under the leadership of All Bodo Students' Union (ABSU). The National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) was one such organisation. Bodoland Territorial Council under the Sixth Schedule of the constitution was established on February 10, 2003 after the conclusion of Memo-randum of Settlement with Bodo Liberation Tiger Force (BLTF) which laid down their weapons on December 6, 2003 and its chief Hagrama Mohilary was sworn in as the Chief Executive Member of the Interim BTC on December 7, 2003. Extension of Sixth Schedule provision to Bodoland was the first instance of covering non-hilly tribal area under it.

Land reforms after Independence

During colonialism, Indias traditional landuse and landownership patterns were changed to ease the acquisition of land at low prices by British entrepreneurs for mines, plantations, and other enterprises. the introduction of the land tax under the

Permanent Settlement Act 1793, the British popularized the zamindari system. India at independence inherited a semifeudal agrarian system. The ownership and control of land was highly concentrated in the hands of a small group of landlords and intermediaries, whose main intention was to extract maximum rent, either in cash or in kind, from tenants. Agricultural productivity suffered, and the oppression of tenants resulted in a progressive deterioration of their well-being. Land policy in India has undergone broadly four phases since Independence. 1. The first and longest phase (1950 - 72) consisted of land reforms that included three major efforts: abolition of the intermediaries, tenancy reform, and the redistribution of land using land ceilings. The abolition of intermediaries was relatively successful, but tenancy reform and land ceilings met with less success. 2. The second phase (1972 - 85) shifted attention to bringing uncultivated land under cultivation. 3. The third phase (1985 - 95) increased attention towards water and soil conservation through the Watershed Development, Drought-Prone Area Development (DPAP) and Desert-Area Development Programmes (DADP). A central government Waste land Development Agency was established to focus on wasteland and degraded land. Some of the land policy from this phase continued beyond its final year. 4. The fourth and current phase of policy (1995 onwards) centres on debates about the necessity to continue with land legislation and efforts to improve land revenue administration and, in particular, clarity in land records. Within a year or two of independence Zamindar abolition bills or land tenure legisla-

tion were introduced in a number of provinces. the zamindars in various parts of the country challenged the constitutionality of the law permitting zamindari abolition. The Government responded to this by getting constitutional amendments passed. The 1st Amendment in 1951 and the 4th Amendment in 1955 were aimed at further. strengthening the hands of the state legislatures for implementing zamindari abolition, making the question of violation of any fundamental right or insufficiency of compensation not permissible in the courts. A major difficulty in implementing the zamindari abolition acts, passed in most provinces by 1956, was the absence of adequate land records. Nevertheles by the end of the fifties the process of land reform involving abolition of intermediaries can be said to have been completed. The abolition of zamindari meant that about twenty million erstwhile tenants now became landowners. The second major plank of the land reforms was concerned with tenancy legislation. The political and economic conditions in different parts of India were so varied that the nature of tenancy legislation passed by the different states and the manner of their implementation also varied a great deal. Tenancy reforms had three basic objectives. First, to guarantee security of tenure to tenants who had cultivated a piece of land continuously for a fixed number of years. Second, to seek the reduction of rents paid by tenants to a fair level. The third objective was that the tenant gain the right to acquire ownership of the lands he cultivated subject to certain restrictions. The first objective of tenancy legislation in India, that of providing security of tenure to all tenants met with only limited success. There were large number of tenants who remained unprotected. The second major objective of tenancy legislation that of reducing

rents to a fair level was almost impossible to achieve. The third objective of tenancy legislation in India, i.e., the acquisition of ownership rights to tenants was also achieved only partially. Land is subject to state control in India and the relationship between production and land tenure varies from state to state, the national policy recommendations resulted in differing tenancy reform laws in each state. Tenancy is completely prohibited in some states but completely free in others. Punjab and Haryana have not prohibited tenancy whereas Karnataka has a nearcomplete ban on tenancy. Some states, such as Maharashtra and Orissa, chose to provide different tenancy reform regimes for different areas within the state. Land Ceilings A major plank of the land reform effort in India was the imposition of ceilings on the size of the landholdings, with the objective of making land distribution more equitable. A committee the Congress Agrarian Reform Committee chaired by J.C. Kumarappa was formed. The committee submitted its report in July 1949. It recommended a ceiling on land holding which was to be three times the size of an economic holding. (An economy holding being defined as that which would give a reasonable standard of living to the cultivator and provide full employment to a family of normal size and at least to a pair of bullocks). Despite the early statements of intentions and recommendations, not much progress on the question of ceilings occured in the initial years after independence. In the meantime, opposition to ceilings was building up in large parts of the country. In the Nagpur Congress held in January 1959 a resolution was passed stating that in order to remove uncertainity regarding land reforms and give stability to the farmer, ceilings should be

fixed on existing and future holdings and legislation to this effect should be completed in all states by the end of 1959 and the land declared above ceiling limits was to vests in the panchayats. It was the state which had to formulate and implement the ceilings legislation. The state legislatures showed no haste in implementing the Nagpur Resolution. The ceilings issue thus dragged on and most states passed the legislation only by the end of 1961. The ceiling laws in most states had certain major shortcomings. First, in a situation where more than 70% of land holdings in India were under five acres, the ceiling fixed on existing holdings by the states were very high. Second a large number of exemptions of the ceiling limits were permitted by most states following the second plan recommendations that certain categories of land could be exempted from ceilings. These were tea, coffee and rubber plantations, orchards, specialized farms engaged in cattle breeding, dairying, wool raising etc. However the exemptions were often carried to absurd limits in many states. Finally the long delay in bringing in ceiling legislation to a large extent defeated its purpose. The large landowners had enough time to either sell their excess lands, or make malafide transfers in the name of relatives and even make benami transfers. Further, the landowners also resorted to mass eviction of tenants, resuming their lands atleast upto the ceiling limit, and claiming, often falsely, to have shifted to progressive farming under their direct supervision. Thus by the time the ceiling legislations were in place, there were barely and holdings left above the ceiling and consequently little surplus land became available for redistribution. Mid sixties saw a widespread land grab movement by landless in many parts of the country under the leadership of the Commu-

nist and Socialist parties. The total amount of land seized was not very significant and most of it was government wasteland, but not distributed. The movement was not a success. But on the whole, the movement had a significant symbolic effect. The nations attention was drawn dramatically to the agrarian question. It was in this context that the Land Reform Implementation Committee of the National Development Council met in June 1964 and made sustained efforts to put pressure on the chief ministers to plug the loopholes in the land reform legislations and implement them effectively. In August 1971, the committee made a series of recommendations including a substantial reduction in the ceiling limits, and withdrawn of exemptions. In July 1972, new guidelines were formed. In order to avoid the resistance of the ceiling laws, the government passed in Parliament the 34th Amendment in August 1974, getting most of the revised ceiling laws included in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution. So that they could not be challenged on constitutional grounds. Thus, there was a distinct improvement after 1972. Yet, the total area declared surplus that could be distributed among the landless constituted only about 2% of the cultivated area. An important impact of the ceiling laws, and perhaps in the long run the most critical one, was that it killed the land market and prevented an increasing concentration in land holdings through de-peasantisation. Also, though the opportunity to acquire large areas of surplus lands for redistribution was missed because of defective and delayed ceiling laws, in the long run the high population growth and the rapid subdivision of large holdings over several generations led automatically to little land remaining over the ceiling limits.

LAND REFORMS Two centrally sponsored schemes viz; i. Computerisation of land records (CLR) ii. Strengthening of Revenue Administration and Updating of Land Records (SRA & ULR) are administered by Land Reforms Division in the Department of Land Resources. Computerisation of land reforms The Centrally Sponsored Scheme on Computerisation of Land Records (CLR) was started in 1988-89 with 100% financial assistance on a pilot project basis in eight districts viz. Rangareddy (AP), Sonitpur (Assam), Singhbhum (Jharkhand), Gandhinagar (Gujarat), Morena (MP), Wardha (Maharashtra), Mayurbhang (Orissa) and Dungarpur (Rajasthan) to remove the problems inherent in the manual systems of maintenance and updating of land records and to meet the requirements of various groups of users. It was decided that efforts should be made to computerise CORE DATA contained in land records, so as to assist development planning and to make records accessible to peoples/planners and administrators. A decision has been taken during 1997-98 for operation of the Scheme at the tehsil/taluk level for facilitating delivery of computerised land records to users and public at large. Under this programme, funds are released to the State Government for data entry work, setting up of computer centres at tehsil level, sub-division level. District Land Records Data Centre and Monitoring Cell at state headquarters and imparting training to revenue officials on application software and computer technology. Strengthening of Revenue Administration and Updating of Land Records With a view to assisting States/UTs in the task of updating of land records, a Centrally

Sponsored Scheme for Strengthening of Revenue Administration and Updating of Land Records (SRA & ULR) was started in 1987. Initially, the Scheme was approved for the States of Bihar and Orissa in 1987-88 and extended to other States/UTs, during 198990. The Scheme is being implemented by state governments through their revenue/land reforms departments. It is financed by the Centre and the State on 50:50 funds sharing basis. However, union Territories are provided full central assistance. Under this scheme, financial assistance is given for purchase of modern survey equipment like Global Positioning System (GPS), EDM, Total stations, Theodolites, Work Stations, Aerial Survey, Office equipment like photocopiers, laminating machines, binding machines etc. It has been proposed to integrate and enhance the two centrally sponsored schemes, namely, Computerisation of Land Records (CLR), and Strengthening of Revenue Administration and Updating of Land Records (SRA&ULR), in the shape of the National Land Records Modernization Programme (NLRMP). The NLRMP is concerned not merely with computerization, updating and maintenance of land records and validation of titles, but also a programme that will add value and provide a comprehensive tool for development planning wherever location-specific information is required. Ushering in the system of conclusive titles in the country shall be the ultimate goal of the programme, for which all the required activities shall be undertaken in a systematic, ladder-like manner, and the primary activities shall converge in the district, and all districts in th country are proposed to be covered under the programme by the 12th plan period, beginning with1-2 district per State/UT this year.

Mandal Commission
The Mandal Commission in India was established in 1979 by the Janata Party government under Prime Minister Morarji Desai. It was headed by Bindheshwari Prasad Mandal to consider the question of seat reservations and quotas for people to redress caste discrimination, and used eleven social, economic, and educational indicators to determine "backwardness." In 1980, the commission recommended that Other Backward.Classes and Scheduled Castes and Tribes should be given exclusive access to a certain portion of government jobs and slots in public universities, and recommended changes to these quotas, increasing them by 27% to 49.5%. All the recommendations of the report are not yet implemented. The recommendation of reservations for OBC's in government services was implemented in 1993. The recommendation of reservations in Higher educational institutes was implemented in 2008. Prime Minister V.P. Singh in 1990 decided to implement the recommendations of the Mandal Commission. This decision led to widespread protests in the country especially North India.

Ayodhya Issue
The Ayodhya dispute is centred on a plot of land in the city of Ayodhya, located in Faizabad district, Uttar Pradesh. The main issues revolve around access to a site traditionally regarded as the birthplace of the Hindu God Rama, the history and location of the Babri Mosque at the site, and whether a previous Hindu temple was demolished or modified to create the mosque. The Babri Mosque was destroyed by hardline Hindu activists which turned into a riot on December 6, 1992. On 16 December 1992, the Liberhan Commission was set up by the Government

Right to Information
The Right to Information Act, 2005 has been enacted with a view to empower the citizens, promote transparency and accountability in the working of the Government, contain corruption and make the democracy work for people in real sense. The Act gives all the citizens the right to seek information held by any authority or body or institution of self government established or constituted by or under the Constitution; or by any other law made by the Parliament or a State Legislature; or by notification issued or order made by the Central Government or a State Government. Bodies owned, controlled or substantially financed by the Central Government or a State Government and non-Government organisations substantially financed by the Central Government or a State Government also fall within the definition of public authority. The right includes inspection of work, documents and records; taking notes; extracts or certified copies of documents or records; Taking certified samples of material held by the public authority or held under the control of the public authority. It also includes information relating to any private body which can be accessed by the public authority under any law for the time being in force. There are some categories of information which each public authority is required to publish suo moto. The procedure for seeking information under the Act is very simple. Whoever wants any information from any office of the Government has to simply make a request to the Public Information Officer of the office. The request has to merely indicate the information sought and the address at which the information is required. The request can be sent either by post or submitted in person. It can be made in Hindi or English or in the official language of the area and can also be sent through e-mail. If the applicant does not get the information within 30 days or the applicant is not satisfied with the reply given to him, he can make an appeal within 30 days to the appellate authority appointed by the authority who is an officer superior to the Public Information Officer. The appellate authority has to decide the appeal within 30 days of the receipt of appeal. If the applicant is not satisfied even with the decision of the appellate authority, he can file a second appeal with the Central Information Commission or the State Information Commission, as the case may be within 90 days. The Central Information Commission entertains appeals in respect of offices, financial institutions, public sector undertakings, etc. under the Central Government and the Union Territories and a State Information Commission deals with the appeals pertaining to offices, financial institutions, public sector undertakings, etc under the concerned State Government. The Right to Information Act has converted the prevailing culture of secrecy into culture of openness and transparency in the working of the Government. It will go a long way in strengthening our democratic institutions, empowering the public, removing corruption and greater involvement of citizens in the development of the nation.

of India to probe the circumstances that led to the demolition of the Babri Mosque. The Liberhan Commission submitted its report almost 17 years after it began its inquiry. Its contents were not made public. A subsequent land title case was lodged in the Allahabad High Court, the verdict of which was pronounced on September 30, 2010. In the landmark hearing, the three judges of The Allahabad High Court ruled that the 2.77 acres (1.12 ha) of Ayodhya land be divided into 3 parts, with 1/3 going to the Ram Lalla or Infant Lord Rama represented by the Hindu Maha Sabha for the construction of the Ram temple, 1/3 going to the Islamic Sunni Waqf Board and the remaining 1/3 going to a Hindu religious denomination Nirmohi Akhara. While the three-judge bench was not unanimous that the disputed structure was constructed after demolition of a temple, it did agree that a temple or a temple structure predated the mosque at the same site. The excavations by the Archaeological Survey of India were heavily used as evidence by the court that the predating structure was a massive Hindu religious building. The Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha and Sunni Wakf Board moved to the Supreme Court of India, challenging Allahabad High Courts verdict.

lasted until 29 November, killing 164 people and wounding at least 308. Eight of the attacks occurred in South Mumbai: at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, the Oberoi Trident, the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower, Leopold Cafe, Cama Hospital (a women and children's hospital), Nariman House, the Metro Cinema, and a lane behind the Times of India building and St. Xavier's College. There was also an explosion at Mazagaon, in Mumbai's port area, and in a taxi at Vile Parle. Ajmal Kasab, the only attacker who was captured alive, disclosed that the attackers were members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Pakistan-based militant organisation. Pakistan's Information Minister Sherry Rehman officially accepted Ajmal Kasab's nationality as Pakistani. 15 policemen and two NSG commandos were killed, including the following officers Mumbai Anti-Terrorism Squad Chief Hemant Karkare, Additional Commissioner of Police: Ashok Kamte, Encounter specialist: Vijay Salaskar, Senior inspector Shashank Shinde, NSG Commando, Major Sandeep Unni krishnan and Hawaldar Gajendra Singh. A trial court on 6 May 2010 sentenced Ajmal Kasab to death on five counts.

Tehelka Scam
On 13 March 2001, Operation Westend, a sting operation conducted by a team of journalists from the investigative journal Tehelka, exposed the corruption within the then ruling coalition, the National Democratic Alliance, headed by Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Tehelkas reporters infiltrated the Indian government, bribed army officers, gave money to the president of the ruling party and the defence ministers close colleague right in the defence ministers residence. The scandal caused uproar all over India and George Fernandes was forced to resign from his post

Mumbai attack (26/11)

The 2008 Mumbai attacks (26/11) were more than 10 co-ordinated shooting and bombing attacks across Mumbai, by Islamic terrorists who invaded from Pakistani seawaters. According to investigations, the attackers traveled by sea from Karachi, Pakistan, across the Arabian Sea, hijacked the Indian fishing trawler 'Kuber', killing the crew of four, and then forced the captain to sail to Mumbai. After killing the captain, the attackers entered Mumbai on a rubber dinghy. The attack took place on 26 November 2008 and

as a Defence Minister. Operation Westend was a sting operation aimed at sensationalizing the corruption underlying India's large defence contracts. He was subsequently cleared by the one man commission headed by retired Justice Phukan. He was reinstated later. Tehelka was accused of fabricating allegations and carrying out a biased and motivated campaign carried out at the behest of the political foes of George Fernandes.

Punjab, Golden Temple Issue

Operation Blue Star (3 6 June 1984) was an Indian military operation, ordered by Indira Gandhi, then Prime Minister of India, for removing Sikh separatists from the Golden Temple in Amritsar. The activists, led by Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, were accused of amassing weapons in the Sikh temple. The military assault led to an uproar amongst Sikhs worldwide and the increased tension following the action led to assaults on members of the Sikh community within

India. The army withdrew from the Golden Temple later in 1984 under pressure from Sikh demands. Four months after the operation, on 31 October 1984, Indira Gandhi was assassinated by two of her Sikh bodyguards in what is viewed as an act of vengeance. Following her assassination, more than 5000 Sikhs were killed in anti-Sikh pogroms. The first Operation Black Thunder took place on 30 April 1986. About 300 National Security Guards commandos stormed the Golden Temple along with 700 Border Security Force troops and captured about 300 separatists. Operation Black Thunder II (sometimes just referred to as Operation Black Thunder) began on 9 May 1988 in Amritsar and ended with the surrender of the militants on 18 May. This operation was described as a severe setback to the Khalistan movement. The goal of the Khalistan movement is to create a Sikh homeland.

2G Spectrum Scam
The 2G spectrum scam involved allegations of underpricing of 2G spectrum Telecom Ministry of India, resulting in loss to the exchequer and illegal manipulation of the spectrum allocation process to favour a few select companies. According to a report submitted by the Comptroller and Auditor General based on money collected from 3G licenses, the loss to the exchequer due to underpricing of 2G spectrum was 176,379 crore (US$39.16 billion). The issuing of the 2G licenses occurred in 2008, but the scam came to public notice when the Supreme Court of India took Subramaniam Swamy's complaints on record. On 27 November 2010 Subramanian Swamy filed a case before the Special Court for Corruption Cases in connection with the charges of irregularities in 2G spectrum allocation. A. Raja (Telecommunication Minister), Kanimozhi Karunanidhi (Rajyasabha MP), P.J. Thomas, Anil Ambani, Vinod Goenka, Rathan Tata, Nira Radia etc were involved in this scam. Nira Radia, a former airline entrepreneur turned corporate lobbyist whose conversations with politicians and corporate entities were recorded by the government authorities. The contents were later leaked by unknown parties creating the Nira Radia tapes controversy. On November 14, 2010, A. Raja, Minister for Telecommunication resigned from his cabinet post, over the 2G spectrum allocation scandal. Later Raja was arrested by CBI.

Operation Cocoon
'Operation Cocoon' ended with the killing of Indias most wanted criminal Veerappan and three others in the forests near Dharmapuri. India's most notorious fugitive, Veerappan, carried a $33,000 reward on his head and was wanted by the police in connection with 120 murders. Veerappan began his career in crime as an ivory poacher and killed his first elephant when he was only 14. Since then, popular legend says he has killed about 2,000 elephants. From elephant poaching, Veerappan graduated to sandalwood smuggling, kidnapping and murder. He operated mainly in the forests bordering the southern states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. His victims included senior forest and police officials, a minister and many villagers, who he suspected of being informers. He kidnapped ministers and film stars and businessmen for huge ransoms. There were at least a few thousand policemen and paramilitary forces after him. He eluded them for 20 years to be finally killed on October 18, 2004.

Notes on Anti Defection Bill

The Constitution (97th Amendment) is also known as an amendment to Anti-Defection Law. This amendment added the Tenth Schedule to the constitution which contained the provisions regarding the disqualification of members of the parliament or state legislatures in the event of defection. Tenth Schedule, also known as the Anti-Defection Act was included in the Constitution in 1985 by the Rajiv Gandhi ministry and sets the provisions for disqualification of elected members on the grounds of defection to another political party. Further Constitution (Ninety First Amendment) act of 2003 brought certain changes in the 1985 Anti-defection Law.

This amendment deleted paragraph 3 of the Tenth Schedule. Deleting this paragraph allowed one-third of the legislature party to split without attracting provisions of the existing ant defection law. The Constitution (Ninety First Amendment) debarred the defectors from holding any public office as a minister or any other remunerative post till the end of the current term or till fresh elections are held. At the same time, the Constitution (Ninety First Amendment) 2003 also sought to check defection by restricting the size of Council of Ministers 15% of the Lok Sabha & Assembly members. The 97th amendment bill sought to reduce the size of the ministerial council to 10% of the members. In other words, after this amendment, the size of the Council of Ministers cannot be more than 10 per cent of respective strengths of Parliament and State legislatures. This amendment was carried out during NDA Government's regime and based upon recommendations made by Dinesh Goswami Committee, Law Commission of India and the National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution (NCRWC).

Write notes on Bofors Scam

The Bofors scandal was a major corruption scandal in India in the 1980s; the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and several others were accused of receiving kickbacks from Bofors AB for winning a bid to supply India's 155 mm field howitzer. This directly led to the defeat of Gandhi's ruling Indian National Congress party in the November 1989 general elections. It has been speculated that the scale of the scandal was to the tune of Rs. 400 million. The case came to light during Vishwanath Pratap Singh's tenure as defence minister. The name of the middleman associated with the

scandal was Ottavio Quattrocchi, an Italian businessman who represented the petrochemicals firm Snamprogetti. Quattrocchi was reportedly close to the family of Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and emerged as a powerful broker in the 1980s between big businesses and the Indian government. In 1997, the Swiss banks released some 500 documents after years of legal battle and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed a case against Quattrocchi, Win Chadha, also naming Rajiv Gandhi, the defence secretary S. K. Bhatnagar and a number of others. While the case was being investigated, Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated on May 21, 1991. A Delhi court discharged Quattrocchi from the case, as there was no credible evidence against him, on 4 March 2011.

Write notes on Sarkaria Commission On March 24, the Central Govt. appointed Sarkaria Commission to examine the Centre - State relations. The Commission will examine and review the working of the existing arrangements between the Union and States in regard to powers, functions and responsibilities in all spheres and recommend such changes or other measures as may be appropriate. The Commission was headed by Justice Rajinder Singh Sarkaria, a retired judge of the Supreme Court of India. The other two members of the committee were Shri B.Sivaraman and Dr.S.R.Sen. The Commission submitted its final 1600page report in 1988. The final report contained 247 specific recommendations.

Write notes on Assam Accord

On Aug. 15, the Rajiv Govt: signed an accord with the leaders of All Assam Students Union (AASU) and the Assam Gana Sangram Parishad AGSP or Assam Peoples Struggle Council. The main provision were :1. All those foreigners who entered Assam between 1951 and 1961 were to be given full citizenship including the right to vote. 2. Those who had done so after 1971 were to be deported. 3. The entrants between 1961 and 1971 were to be denied voting rights for ten years but would enjoy all other rights of citizenship. Plus an economic package including a second oil refinery, a paper mill and an institute of technology. Dissolved the existing Assam Assembly ; fresh election were held in Dec. 1985. The Assam Gana Parishad headed by Prafulla Mahanta, an AASU leader, formed a Govt. and he became the youngest chief Minister in India, at the age of 33.

The Shah Bano Case The Supreme Court, in the Civil action, had sanctioned a maintenance payment to a divorced Muslim woman, Shah Banoo, beyond the period specified by Muslim Law. Court decided to award the 62 year old divorce a sum of 500 rupees a month from her former husband. The case created considerable debate and controversy about the extent of having different civil codes for different religions, especially for Muslims in India. This one projected the creation of a common civil code. Rajiv Gandhi, after consultation with prominent Muslim leaders, backed the Muslim women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Bill to exclude Muslim women from the provision of Indian Law under which Shah Bhanoo award had been made. In Feb. 1986, the Govt. adopted this after introducing it as a private members bill. The Shah Bano case generated tremendous debate in India.

Accession of Kashmir to India - 1947

The Instrument of Accession is a legal document executed by Maharaja Hari Singh, ruler of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, on 26 October 1947. By executing this document under the provisions of the Indian Independence Act, 1947, Maharaja Hari Singh agreed to accede to the Dominion of India on condition that the state retain its own constitution and autonomy in all matters except defence, currency and foreign affairs. As a consequence of this conditional accession, Article 370 was incorporated into the Constitution of India, to grant special

autonomous status to the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Governor-General of India, Lord Mountbatten accepted the accession with a remark, it is my Government's wish that as soon as law and order have been restored in Kashmir and her soil cleared of the invader the question of the State's accession should be settled by a reference to the people. Lord Mountbattens remark and the offer made by the Government of India to conduct a plebiscite or referendum to determine the future status of Kashmir led to a dispute between India and Pakistan regarding the legality of the accession of Kashmir to India.

Jan Lokpall Bill (Citizen's ombudsman Bill)

The Jan Lokpal Bill (Citizen's ombudsman Bill) is a draft anti-corruption bill drawn up by prominent civil society activists. Itv seeks the appointment of a Jan Lokpal, an independent body that would investigate corruption cases. The investigation must be completed within a year and envisages trial in the case getting over in the next one year. It was drafted by Justice Santosh Hegde (former Supreme Court Judge and present Lokayukta of Karnataka), Shanti Bhushan, Prashant Bhushan (Supreme Court Lawyers) and Arvind Kejriwal (RTI activist), former chief election commissioner J. M. Lyngdoh. The draft Bill envisages a system where a corrupt person found guilty would go to jail within two years of the complaint being made and his ill-gotten wealth being confiscated. It also seeks power to the Jan Lokpal to prosecute politicians and bureaucrats without government permission. The first Lokpal Bill was passed in the 4th Lok Sabha in 1969 but failed in the Rajya Sabha. Subsequent Lokpal bills were introduced in 1971, 1977, 1985, 1989, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2005 and 2008 but all failed to pass. Following the four day Anna Hazare fasting struggle, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh stated that the Lokpal Bill would be introduced in the 2011 monsoon session of parliament. Anna Hazare is an Indian social activist hailing from Maharashtra. In the early 2000s Hazare led a movement in Maharashtra state which forced the state government to pass a stronger Maharashtra Right to Information Act. This Act was later considered as the base document for the Right to Information Act 2005 (RTI), enacted by the Union Government. On 5 April 2011 Hazare initiated a movement for passing a stronger anti-corruption Lokpal (ombudsman) bill in the Indian Parliament. Hazare began a fast unto death from 5 April 2011 at Jantar Mantar in Delhi to press for the demand to form a joint committee of the representatives of the Government and the civil society to draft a new bill with stronger penal actions and more independence to the Lokpal and Lokayuktas. On 8 April 2011 the Government of India accepted all demands of the movement. Pranab Mukherjee will be the Chairman of the draft committee while Shanti Bhushan will be the cochairman. On the morning of 9 April 2011 Hazare ended his 98-hour hunger strike.

India claims that the accession is unconditional and final. This event is celebrated on Accession Day, which is held annually on October 26.

Liberation of Goa - 1961

The 1961 Indian annexation of Goa or Liberation of Goa was an action by India's armed forces that ended Portuguese rule in its Indian enclaves in 1961. This action known as Operation Vijay ending 451 years of Portuguese colonial rule in Goa. In India, the action was seen as a liberation of historically Indian territory. At the time of British India's independence in 1947, Portuguese India included a number of enclaves on India's western coast, including Goa proper, as well as the coastal enclaves of Daman (Port: Damo) and Diu, and the enclaves of Dadra and Nagar Haveli.. The territories of Portuguese India were sometimes referred to collectively as Goa. Portugal lost the last two enclaves in 1954, and finally the remaining three in December 1961, when they were occupied by India (although Portugal only recognized the annexation in 1975, after the Carnation Revolution and the fall of the Estado Novo regime).

resulted in a variety of sanctions against India by a number of major states. At the same time, Pakistan conducted two nuclear test under the codename Chagai-I on May 28th and Chagai-II on May 30. The Scientific Adviser to the PM Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam (Later President) and R. Chidambaram (Head of the Dept. of Atomic Energy) were the project chief co-ordinators for this operation.

The Securities Scam - 1992

In April 1992, there was a shortfall in the Government Securities held by the State Bank of India. In almost a month, investigations find out involving misappropriation of funds to the tune of over Rs. 3500 crores. The scam engulfed top executives of large nationalized banks, foreign banks and financial institutions, brokers, bureaucrats and politicians. The functioning of the money market and the stock market was thrown in disarray. The tainted shares were worthless as they could not be sold. This created a panic among investors and brokers and led to a prolonged closure of the stock exchanges along with a precipitous drop in the price of shares. In less than 2 months following the discovery of the scam, the stock prices dropped by over 40%, wiping out market value to the tune of Rs. 100,000 crores. The scam was in essence a diversion of funds from the banking system to brokers for financing their operations in the stock market. The Indian Stock Broker Harshad Shantilal Mehta is alleged to have engineered the rise in the BSE stock exchange in 1992. Exploiting several loopholes in the banking system, Metha and his associates bought shares heavily , triggering a rise in the Sensex. When the scheme was exposed, banks started demanding their money back, causing the collapse. He was later charged with 72 criminal offenses, and more than 600 civil

Pokhran Nuclear Test

On 18 May 1974 India exploded its first nuclear device code named Smiling Buddha. After the 1974 test, India decided to stop its testing as a temporary measure. In 1995, Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao decided to carry out further tests. But the plans were halted. On Buddha Jayanti, 11 May 1998, Operation Shakti was carried out. Shakti was the codename for Pokhran-II. Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the Prime Minister at that time. Pokharan-II refers to test explosions of five nuclear devices, three on 11 May and two on 13 May 1998, conducted by India at the Pokhran test range. These nuclear tests

action suits were filed against him. Mehta died in 2002 with many litigations still pending against him. The cost of finance in the informal money market which finances stock market operations was about twice that of the formal market in which banks lend to each other against government securities. The difference in the cost of finance in the two markets could not be attributed to the difference in the level of risk. The phenomenon of high interest rates in badla finance was mainly due to artificial segmentation of the markets.Therefore there were enormous profits to be had for anybody who could find a way of breaching the artificial wall separating the two markets and arbitrage between them. That in essence was what the scam was all about.

Indian Government initially accused Lashkar-e-Toiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed to be involved in this attack. In December 2002, four JeM members were caught by Indian authorities and put on trial. All four were found guilty of playing various roles in the incident, although the fourth, Afsan Guru/Navjot Sandhu, wife of Shaukat Hussain Guru (one of the accused) was found guilty of a minor charge of concealing knowledge of conspiracy. Mohammad Afzal Guru, also known as Afzal Guru, was the only accused to be awarded the death penalty for the incident.

U.S.-India Civil Nuclear Agreement

The 123 Agreement signed between the United States of America and the Republic of India is known as the U.S.-India Civil Nuclear Cooperation or Indo-US nuclear deal. The framework for this agreement was made by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and then U.S. President George W. Bush in July 18, 2005. India agreed to separate its civil and military nuclear facilities and to place all its civil nuclear facilities under International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards and, in exchange, the United States agreed to work toward full civil nuclear cooperation with India. On August 1, 2008, the IAEA approved the safeguards agreement with India, after which the United States approached the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) to grant a waiver to India to commence civilian nuclear trade. The 45-nation NSG granted the waiver to India on September 6, 2008 allowing it to access civilian nuclear technology and fuel from other countries. The implementation of this waiver made India the only known country with nuclear weapons which is not a party to the Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT) but is still allowed to carry out nuclear commerce with the rest of the world.

Militant Attack on Indian Parliament 2001

The 2001 Indian Parliament attack was a high-profile attack by terrorist against the Parliament of India in New Delhi. The attack led to the death of a dozen people (5 terrorists, 6 police and 1 civilian) and this increased tensions between India and Pakistan and the 2001-2002 India-Pakistan standoff. The 20012002 IndiaPakistan standoff was a military standoff between India and Pakistan that resulted in the massing of troops on either side of the International Border (IB) and along the Line of Control (LoC) in the region of Kashmir. On 13 December 2001, five gunmen infiltrated the Parliament House in a car. While both the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha had been adjourned forty minutes prior to the incident, many Members of Parliament and government officials such as Home Minister LK Advani and Minister of State (Defence) Harin Pathak were believed to have still been in the building at the time of the attack.

The US House of Representatives passed the bill on 28 September 2008. Two days later, India and France inked a similar nuclear pact making France the first country to have such an agreement with India. On October 1, 2008 the US Senate also approved the civilian nuclear agreement allowing India to purchase nuclear fuel and technology from the United States. U.S. President, George W. Bush, signed the legislation on the Indo-US nuclear deal, approved by the U.S. Congress, into law, now called the United States-India Nuclear Cooperation Approval and Non-proliferation Enhancement Act, on October 8, 2008. The agreement was signed by then Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and his counterpart then Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, on 10 October. The Indo-US civilian nuclear agreement was met with stiff opposition by some political parties. The Indian Government survived a

vote of confidence by 275-256 after the Left Front withdrew their support to the government over this dispute.

Terrorism in India
Since its independence in 1947, India has been facing the problem of insurgency and terrorism in different parts of the country. terrorism has been taken to mean an armed violent movement directed against government as well as non-government targets, involving pre-meditated attacks with arms, ammunition and explosives against civilians, and resorting to intimidation tactics such as hostage-taking and hijacking, but not seeking territorial control. India has faced exclusively terrorist movements in Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir bordering Pakistan, and part insurgentterrorist movements in the northeast, bordering Myanmar and Bangladesh; in Bihar, bordering Nepal; and in certain interior states

Women's Reservation Bill

The Women's Reservation Bill has been a political raw nerve for nearly a decade now. It has always triggered heated debates in Parliament and outside. The proposed legislation to reserve 33.3 percent seats in Parliament and state legislatures for women was drafted first by the H D Deve Gowda-led United Front government. The Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha on September 12, 1996. Though it has been introduced in Parliament several times since then, the Bill could not be passed because of lack of political consensus. If the Bill is passed, one-third of the total available seats would be reserved for women in national, state, or local governments. It would lead to gender equality in Parliament, resulting in the empowerment of women as a whole. Increased political participation of women will help them fight the abuse, discrimination, and inequality they suffer from. 33.3 per cent seats in panchayat elections have been reserved for women already. The experience of women's reservation at the panchayat level has been very encouraging. A million women are being elected to the panchayats in the country every five years. This is the largest mobilisation of women in public life in the world. The Bill had been referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Law and Justice, and Personnel, which gave its report in December 2009. The central government cleared the Bill on February 25, 2010. For such a bill to pass, the Constitution has laid out an elaborate procedure. It was passed in the Rajya Sabha. So, even if the Rajya Sabha passed the bill its real impact will be felt only when it passes through the Lok Sabha.

like Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa that do not have international borders. The causes for the various insurgent/ terrorist movements include Political causes: This is seen essentially in Assam and Tripura. The political factors that led to insurgency-cum-terrorism included the failure of the government to control large-scale illegal immigration of Muslims from Bangladesh, to fulfil the demand of economic benefits for the sons and daughters of the soil, etc. Economic causes: Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Bihar are prime examples. The economic factors include the absence of land reforms, rural unemployment, exploitation of landless labourers by land owners, etc. Ethnic causes: Mainly seen in Nagaland, Mizoram and Manipur due to feelings of ethnic separateness. Religious causes: Punjab before 1995 and in J&K since 1989. India has also faced terrorism of an ephemeral nature, which sprang suddenly due religious anger against either the government or the majority Hindu community or both and petered out subsequently. Examples of this would be the simultaneous explosions in Mumbai on March 12, 1993, which killed about 250 civilians, and the simultaneous explosions in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, in February 1998. Tamil Nadu has also faced the fallout of terrorism promoted by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in Sri Lanka in the form of attacks by LTTE elements on its political rivals living in the state and in the assassination of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi in May 1991. In Punjab, some Sikh elements belonging to different organisations took to terrorism to demand the creation of an independent state called Khalistan for the Sikhs. In J&K,

Muslims belonging to different organisations took to terrorism for conflicting objectives. Some, such as the Jammu & Kashmir Liberation Front, want independence for the state, including all the territory presently part of India, Pakistan and China. Others, such as the Hizbul Mujahideen, want India's J&K state to be merged with Pakistan. There have also been sporadic acts of religious terrorism in other parts of India. The maximum number of terrorist incidents and deaths of innocent civilians have occurred due to religious terrorism. Religious terrorist organisations have their main external sanctuaries in Pakistan and Bangladesh, while non-religious terrorist organisations look to Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar.

Commonwealth Scam
The Central Vigilance Commission, involved in probing the alleged corruption in various Commonwealth Games 2010 -related projects, has found discrepancies in tenders and alleged misappropriation amounting to about Rs 8,000 crore. Several discrepancies in tenders for Games-related projects:

Large sums of money have allegedly been

paid to non-existent parties.

The execution of many contracts has been

deliberately delayed.

The money paid for many Games related

projects are abnormally high.

It has also detected widespread bungling

in the purchase of equipment for the Games. The day after the conclusion of the Commonwealth Games, the Indian Government announced the formation of a special committee to probe the allegations of corruption and mismanagement against the Organizing Committee. The probe committee

led by former Comptroller and Auditor General of India VK Shungloo. This probe will be in addition to the Central Bureau of Investigation, Enforcement Directorate, and Central Vigilance Commission investigations already underway. Suresh Kalmadi, MP, ex-Union minister and controversial chief of the Organising Committee (OC) of Commonwealth Games, was arrested on charges of corruption and criminal conspiracy by CBI on 26th April 2011. A day after his arrest on corruption charges, Suresh Kalmadi's 15-year tenure as the Indian Olympic Association president came to an abrupt end after he was sacked from the post.

The allegation was that the apartments in the building were allocated to bureaucrats, politicians and army personnel who had nothing to do with Kargil War. The society is also alleged to have violated the Indian environment ministry rules. It had led to resignation of the then Chief Minister, Ashok Chavan. Several inquiries have been ordered by the army and the Government to probe into the irregularities.

Satyam Scandal
Satyam Systems, a global IT company based in India, was added to a notorious list of companies involved in fraudulent financial activities. Satyam's CEO, Ramalingam Raju, took responsibility for broad accounting improprieties that overstated the company's revenues and profits and reported a cash holding of approximately $1.04 billion that simply did not exist. Satyam Computer Services Limited was founded in 1987 which is one of the top 10 industrial firms based in India.

Adarsh Housing Society scam

The Adarsh Housing Society is a cooperative society for the war widows and veterans of the Kargil War. The Adarsh society high-rise was constructed in the posh Colaba locality of Mumbai, which is considered a sensitive coastal area by the Indian Defence forces and houses of various Indian Defense establishments.

National Litigation Policy

The Centre has formulated a National Litigation Policy to reduce the cases pending in various courts in India under the National Legal Mission to reduce average pendency time from 15 years to 3 years. The National Litigation Policy is based on the recognition that Government and its various agencies are the pre-dominant litigants in courts and Tribunals in the country. Its aim is to transform Government into an efficient and responsible litigant. This policy is also based on the recognition that it is the responsibility of the Government to protect the rights of citizens, to respect fundamental rights and those in charge of the conduct of Government litigation should never forget this basic principle. The purpose underlying this policy is also to reduce Government litigation in courts so that valuable court time would be spent in resolving other pending cases. There will be Empowered Committees to monitor the implementation of this Policy and accountability. The Empowered Committee at the National level shall be chaired by the Attorney General for India and such other members not exceeding six in number as may be nominated by the Ministry of Law with an Additional Secretary to be the Member Secretary.

The Satyam Computer Services scandal was publicly announced on 7 January 2009, when Chairman Ramalinga Raju confessed that Satyam's accounts had been falsified. Satyam's shares fell to 11.50 rupees on 10 January 2009, their lowest level since March 1998, compared to a high of 544 rupees in 2008. Founder of Satyam Computers Ramalinga Raju resigned from the Satyam board after admitting to cheating six million shareholders. He was arrested on charges including cheating, embezzlement and insider trading. On 5 February 2009, the six-member board appointed by the Government of India named A. S. Murthy as the new CEO of the firm with immediate effect. On 13th April 2009, via a formal public auction process, a 46% stake in Satyam was purchased by Mahindra & Mahindra owned company Tech Mahindra. Satyam Computers was renamed as "Mahindra Satyam".

Administrative Reforms in India

The Administrative Reforms Commission or ARC is the committee appointed by the Government of India for giving recommen dations for reviewing the public administration system of India. The first ARC was established on 5 January 1966. The first Administrative Reforms Commission was Chaired by Morarji Desai, and later on by K.Hanumanthaiah. The Second Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) was constituted on 31.08,2005, as a Commission of Inquiry, under the Chairmanship of Veerappa Moily. The Commission was instituted for ensuring the highest standards of efficiency and integrity in the public services, and for making public administration a fit instrument for carrying out the social and economic policies of the Government and achieving social and economic goals of development.

The Commission excluded the admini stration of defence, railways, external affairs, security and intelligence work,and educational administration. Recommendations of the ARC-1 was placed before the parliament in November 1977. The first ARC recommended for the setting up of lokpal in 1966. The Second ARC was setup as a committee of inquiry to prepare a detailed blueprint for revamping the public administration system. The second Administrative Reforms Commission was Chaired by Veerappa Moiley who later resigned in April 2009. V. Ramachandran is the present chairman. The Commission was given the mandate to suggest measures to achieve a proactive, responsive, accountable, sustainable and efficient administration for the country at all levels of the government. The Commission was asked to, inter alia, consider the following : (i) Organisational structure of the Government of India (ii) Ethics in governance (iii) Refurbishing of Personnel Administration (iv) Strengthening of Financial Management Systems (v) Steps to ensure effective administration at the State level (vi) Steps to ensure effective District Administration (vii) Local Self-Government/ Panchayati Raj Institutions (viii) Social Capital, Trust and Participative public service delivery (ix) Citizen-centric administration (x) Promoting e-governance (xi) Issues of Federal Polity (xii) Crisis Management (xiii) Public Order. The Commission excluded the detailed examination of administration of defence, railways, external affairs, security and intelligence, Centre-state relations, judicial reforms etc. The commission has presented the following 15 Reports to the Government for consideration. The Government constituted a

Group of Ministers (GoM) on 30 March 2007 under the Chairmanship of the then External Affairs Minister to consider the recommendations of the Second A.R.C. and to review the pace of implementation of the recommendations as well as to provide guidance to the concerned Ministries/ Departments in implementing the decisions.

Distribution of net proceeds of taxes

between Centre and the States, to be divided as per their respective contributions to the taxes.

Determine factors governing Grants-in Aid

to the states and the magnitude of the same.

Work with the State Finance Commissions

and suggest measures to augment the Consolidated Fund of the States so as to provide additional resources to Panchayats and Municipalities in the state. The 13th Finance Commission Report table in Parliament on 25th February, 2010. Present chairman of 13th Finance Commission is Dr Vijay Kelkar.

Finance Commission of India

The Finance Commission of India came into existence in 1951. It was established under Article 280 of the Indian Constitution of India by the President of India. It was formed to define the financial relations between the centre and the state. The Finance Commission Act of 1951 states the terms of qualification, appointment and disqualification, the term, eligibility and powers of the Finance Commission. As per the Constitution, the commission is appointed every five years and consists of a chairman and four other members. Functions of the Finance Commission can be explicitly stated as:

Kalelkar Commission
Adhering to Article 340, the First Backward Classes Commission was set up by a presidential order on January 29, 1953. This is the First Backward Classes Commission under the chairmanship of Kaka Kalelkar. The commission submitted its report on 30 March 1955. It had prepared a list of 2,399 backward castes or communities for the entire

Delimitation Commission
Delimitation commission or Boundary commission of India is a Commission established by Government of India under the provisions of the Delimitation Commission Act. The main task of the commission is to redraw the boundaries of the various assembly and Lok Sabha constituencies based on a recent census. However, the number of SC and ST seats in a state are changed in accordance with the census. The Commission is a powerful body whose orders cannot be challenged in a court of law. The orders are laid before the Lok Sabha and the respective State Legislative Assemblies. However, modifications are not permitted. Delimitation commissions have been set up four times in the past - In 1952, 1963, 1973 and 2002 under Delimitation Commission acts of 1952, 1962, 1972 and 2002. The recent delimitation commission was set up on 12 July 2002 after the 2001 census with Justice Kuldeep Singh, a retired Judge of the Supreme Court of India as its Chairperson. The recommendations of the delimitation commission was approved by the President, Pratibha Patil on 19 February 2008. The assembly elections in Karnataka which were conducted in three phases in May 2008 is the first one to use the new boundaries as drawn by the 2002 delimitation commission.

country and of which 837 had been classified as the most backward. But this report was partly rejected by the Central Government on the ground that it had not applied any objective tests for identifying the Backward Class. Thus there was a need of second backward classes Commission.

visit any jail or other institution under the

control of the State Government, where persons are detained or lodged for purposes of treatment, reformation or protection, for the study of the living conditions of the inmates and make recommendations review the safeguards provided by or under the Constitution or any law for the time being in force for the protection of human rights and recommend measures for their effective implementation review the factors, including acts of terrorism that inhibit the enjoyment of human rights and recommend appropriate remedial measures study treaties and other international instruments on human rights and make recommendations for their effective implementation undertake and promote research in the field of human rights spread literacy among various sections of society and promote awareness of the safeguards available for the protection of these rights through publications, the media, seminars and other available means encourage the efforts of NGOs and institutions working in the field of human rights such other function as it may consider it necessary for the protection of human rights. take suo motto action, if required in a case if the victim is not in a position to access a court. The Chairperson and members of the NHRC are appointed by the President of India. The NHRC consists of a Chairperson who has been a Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India. One Member who is, or has been, a Judge of the Supreme Court of India

Khosla Commission
A one-man commission headed by Justice G.D. Khosla established in July 1970 to reinvestigate the circumstances surrounding the supposed death of Subhas Chandra Bose. The commission reached the same conclusions as Shah Nawaz Committee. The commission sat for four years and submitted Report. However, the conclusions of these two reports have since been criticised as incorrect and questionable.

National Knowledge Commission

On 13 June, 2005 , the Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh, constituted the National Knowledge Commission, as a thinktank charged with considering possible policy that might sharpen India's comparative advantage in the knowledge-intensive service sectors. The Commission was to recommend reform of the education sector, research labs, and intellectual property legislation; as well as consider whether the Government could itself upgrade its use of the latest techniques to make its workings more transparent.

National Human Rights Commission

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) of India is an autonomous statutory body established on 12 October 1993, under the provisions of The Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993. NHRC performs the following functions: proactively or reactively inquire into violations of human rights or negligence in the prevention of such violation by a public servant

 One Member who is, or has been, the Chief

Justice of a High Court

Two Members to be appointed from

among persons having knowledge of, or practical experience in, matters relating to human rights. In addition to this, the Chairpersons of the National Commission for Minorities, the National Commission for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, and the National Commission for Women, serve as ex officio members.

It organized workshops/consultations, constituted expert committees on economic empowerment of women, conducted workshops/seminars for gender awareness and took up publicity campaign against female foeticide, violence against women, etc. in order to generate awareness in the society against these social evils.

Central Vigilance Commission

Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) is an apex Indian governmental body created in 1964 to address governmental corruption. It was set up by the Government of India on the recommendations of the Committee on Prevention of Corruption, headed by Shri K. Santhanam. Nittoor Srinivasa Rau was the first Chief Vigilance Commissioner of India. The CVC is not an investigating agency, and it either gets the investigation done through the CBI or through the Departmental Chief Vigilance Officers. The only investigation carried out by the CVC is that of examining Civil Works of the Government which is done through the Chief Technical Officer. The objective of CVC is to monitor all vigilance activity under the Central Government of India, and advising various authorities in central Government organizations in planning, executing, reviewing and reforming their vigilance work.

National Commission for Women

The National Commission for Women (NCW) is a statutory body for women established in 1992 by Government of India, as defined in the 1990 National Commission for Women Act. National Commission for Women is the apex national level organization of India with the mandate of protecting and promoting the interests of women. The objective of the NCW is to represent the rights of women in India. The subjects of their campaigns have included dowry, politics, religion, equal representation for women in jobs, and the exploitation of women for labor, police abuses against women etc. Functions of NCW:

review the Constitutional and Legal

safeguards for women ; recommend remedial legislative measures; facilitate redressal of grievances and advise the Government on all policy matters affecting women. It took up the issue of child marriage, sponsored legal awareness programmes, Parivarik Mahila Lok Adalats and reviewed laws such as Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961, PNDT Act 1994, Indian Penal Code 1860 and the National Commission for Women Act, 1990 to make them more stringent and effective.

Telangana movement
The politicians of the Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh have been demanding the creation of Telangana state by bifurcating the state of Andhra Pradesh. Telanganas K Chandrasekhar Rao fought general elections of 2004 in Andhra Pradesh alongwith the Congress and extended co-operation to it on the condition that Telangana State would be formed. But the promise of the Congress could not be fulfilled owing to several factors. Eventually K Chandra Sekhar Rao quit the

Union Cabinet in protest against the Congresss attitude for the formation of Telangana. Even Several months after the 2009 election no step was taken in the direction of the formation of Telangana. This forced the Telangana Rashtra Samiti Chief K Chandrasekhar Rao to resort to prolonged hunger strike. When the condition of Mr. Rao began to deteriorate the Congress issued a statement on December 9, 2009, expressing its willingness to set in motion the process of formation of Telangana State. Mr. Rao broke his fast. Agitations were sparked off in the coastal Andhra and Rayalseema regions in favour of a united Andhra Pradesh. A spate of resignations of MLAs and MPs followed. There was violence all over Andhra Pradesh till a meeting of the representatives of Andhra Pradesh was called in New Delhi to sort out the issue. The opposition against bifurcation of the state of Andhra Pradesh being most powerful and stringent, the Home Minister P Chidamabaram issued a statement on December 23 for holding wide ranging consultations on statehood. This statement put the issue of the formation of Telangana in deep freeze. This made the Telangana into political turmoil. On December 24 itself 63 MLAs belonging to different parties submitted their resignations to the Speaker and 13 MPs threatened to quit. The Telangana Joint Action Committee came into action observing bandh and other violent activities. As a result a committee headed by Justice B.N. Srikrishna was formed on February 3, 2010 to look into the demand of statehood for Telangana. The Srikrishna Committee had submitted its report to Union Home Minister Mr. P. Chidamabaram in New Delhi on December 30, 2010. Six solutions presented

by Srikrishna Committee are as follows: 1. Status quo 2. Bifurcation of the State into Seemandhra and Telangana, with Hyderabad as a Union Territory, and the two states developing their own capitals in due course. The committee found this option not practicable. 3. Bifurcation of State into Rayala-Telangana and coastal Andhra regions, with Hyderabad being an integral part of RayalaTelangana. The committee believes that this option may not offer a resolution which would be acceptable to people of all three regions. 4. Bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh into Seemandhra and Telangana, with an enlarged Hyderabad Metropolis as a separate Union Territory. This Union Territory would have geographical linkage and contiguity via Nalgonda district in the southeast to district Guntur in coastal Andhra and via Mahboobnagar district in the south to Kurnool district in Rayalaseema. While there are some positives to this option, the committee felt it may be difficult to reach a political consensus in making this solution acceptable to all. 5. Bifurcation of the State into Telangana and Seemandhra as per existing boundaries, with Hyderabad as the capital of Telangana and Seemandhra to have a new capital. The Committee felt that this is the second best option. The Committee is of the view that given the long history of the demand for a separate Telangana, the highly-charged emotions, and the likelihood of continued agitation if the demand is not met, consideration has to be given to this option. The committee felt that the continuing demand for a separate Telangana has some merit and is not entirely unjustified. Separation is recommended only in case it is unavoidable and if this decision can be reached amicably amongst all the three regions.

6. Keeping the State united by simultaneously providing certain definite constitutional and statutory measures for socio-economic development and political empowerment of Telangana region through the creation of a statutorily-empowered Telangana Regional Council. The Committee considers that unity is in the best interest of all three regions of the state as internal partitions would not be conducive to providing sustainable solutions to the issues at hand.

Economic liberalisation in India

The economic liberalisation in India refers to ongoing economic reforms in India that started in 1991. Till 1991 India had a import protection policy wherein trade with the rest of the world was limited to exports. Foreign investment was very difficult to come into India due to a bureaucratic framework. After the start of the economic liberalization, India started getting huge capital inflows and it has emerged as the 2nd fastest growing country in the world. After Independence in 1947, India adhered to socialist policies. In the 1980s, Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi initiated some reforms. In 1991, after India sold 67 tons of gold to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the government of P. V. Narasimha Rao and his finance minister Manmohan Singh started breakthrough reforms. India started having balance of payments problems since 1985, and by the end of 1990, it was in a serious economic crisis. The government was close to default, its central bank had refused new credit and foreign exchange reserves had reduced to the point that India could barely finance three weeks worth of imports. A Balance of Payments crisis in 1991 pushed the country to near bankruptcy. The caretaker government in India headed by Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar, and Finance Minister Yashwant Sinhas immediate response

was to secure an emergency loan of $2.2 billion from the International Monetary Fund by pledging 67 tons of India's gold reserves as collateral. National sentiments were outraged and there was public outcry when its was learned that the government had pledged the country's entire gold reserves against the loan. The Rupee devalued and economic reforms were forced upon India. P.V. Narasimha Rao took over as Prime Minister in June and Man Mohan Singh became the Finance Minister. The Narasimha Rao government ushered in several reforms that are collectively termed as liberalisation in the Indian media. Controls started to be dismantled, tariffs, duties and taxes progressively lowered, state monopolies broken, the economy was opened to trade and investment, private sector enterprise and competition were encouraged and globalisation was slowly embraced. The new neo-liberal policies included opening for international trade and investment, deregulation, initiation of privatization, tax reforms, and inflation-controlling measures. The main objective of the government was to transform the economic system from socialism to capitalism so as to achieve high economic growth and industrialize the nation for the well-being of Indian citizens. The impact of these reforms may be gauged from the fact that total foreign investment (including foreign direct investment, portfolio investment, and investment raised on international capital markets) in India grew. As of 2009, about 300 million people equivalent to the entire population of the United Stateshave escaped extreme poverty. The fruits of liberalisation reached their peak in 2007, when India recorded its highest GDP growth rate of 9%.With this, India became the second fastest growing major economy in the world, next only to China.