CONTEMPORARY INDIA.   Term Paper ID:28562 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Discusses major internal forces & trends of India's polotical & social systems since 1947 independence. Developmental problems.... More...

20 Pages / 4500 Words 27 sources, 55 Citations, MLA Format $80.00 Return to List of Papers

Paper Abstract: Discusses major internal forces & trends of India's polotical & social systems since 1947 independence. Developmental problems. Paper Introduction: INDIA 2000 This research paper discusses the major internal forces and trends which have characterized the evolution of India's polity and society since independence (1947) and which suggest that India will eventually become a politically integrated, first world nation. The world's most populous democracy, India has maintained its political unity and made substantial strides toward developing its economy and modernizing its traditional social structure despite formidable obstacles. Especially noteworthy is the economic progress India has made in the past two decades to open up its economy and to make it more competitive in world markets, especially in the services sector. India's transition from elitist post-colonial politics to a more inclusive federal and electoral system has, however, been Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. Thus far, the Economist notedthat "recent evidence suggests that India's decade-old economic reformshave boosted growth without making much of a dent in poverty" (Indian 37). India has achieved substantial economic progress sinceIndependence, especially during the past 15 years, but the nation has adual economy, one part dynamic and expanding, the other mired in deeppoverty which has not been materially improved over the past half century.The British started India on the path to economic modernization, but theirinvestments in transportation, communication, education, health andagriculture were largely designed to further British interests. Leadership was provided by atiny elite which controlled the Congress Party which had led the movementfor independence. K. Fundamentalist pressureshave continued strong within the Sikh and Muslim minorities as well. India's Political Economy, 1947-1977. "A New Nuclear India?" India: A Mosaic, eds. India adhered to its import substitutionpolicy long after most East Asian nations had abandoned it with the resultthat much of Indian industry, especially the state-owned and managedsector, became uncompetitive in world markets. . However, the bulk of India's population, about 625 million orabout 74 percent of the total still live in more than 5 , villages andhamlets of less 5, people and more than two thirds of them depend onagriculture for their livelihood (Heitzman and Worden 87-88). 3. New York: Atlantic Monthly P, 2 .Kumar, Dharma (ed.). Mrs. Gandhi's austerity measures and firm leadership helped restoreorder, but her extra-legal regime became so unpopular that she ended theemergency and was forced from office, only to return to power before shewas assassinated by Sikh separatists. New York: Penguin, 1993.Buruma, Ian. Instability at the center has been accompanied by an increaseddevolution of power to state governments and an intensification ofcentrifugally-oriented interest-based politics. India faces serious health and related pollution problems in itsovercrowded cities. Nevertheless, sectarian riots and massacres betweenHindus and Muslims and since the 197 s, between Hindus and Sikhs haveperiodically erupted. "Fertility Control-Induced Politics of India." Social Change 24 (Nov.-Dec. New York: St. Martin's P, 1998.D'Monte, Darryl. While literacy has increased, in 1991 47.8 percent ofmen and 6 .6 percent of women were still illiterate. 131-148.Dewey, Paul, and Geofrrey McNicoll (eds.). Desaisummarized those circumstances as follows: economic growth, agricultural development and land reforms ran into problems, slowed, or stalled; the population soared, unemployment rose, prices spiraled, and peasant revolts broke out . According to Heitzman and Worden, "among the more importantdevelopments in contemporary India is the growing women's movement . The world's most populousdemocracy, India has maintained its political unity and made substantialstrides toward developing its economy and modernizing its traditionalsocial structure despite formidable obstacles. Crisis Years of the 197 s. The traditionally subordinate and downtrodden status of women inIndian society has made small gains in recent decades, thanks in part tothe organized efforts of Indian feminists, but India's male-dominatedpolitical and social structure remains largely intact. Religious objections, child marriage, the importance ofhaving children as a mainstay in case of illness or in old age, thesubjection of women, lack of education, superstition and tradition allproduced resistance. 1757-197 ). The more numerous members of lower castesoften believe that their new found political power may be diminished iftheir numbers are reduced. Efforts to raise agricultural productivity throughthe Green Revolution (the introduction of new high yield seed varieties andother advanced scientific techniques) and India's victory over Pakistan inthe 1971 war over East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) temporarily increased herpopularity but then a combination of circumstances led India into a seriousconstitutional crisis which finally led to her establishment of a state ofnational emergency or presidential dictatorship (1975-1977). Conclusion India at the turn of the milennium seems poised to join the ranks ofthe developed nations based on its progress since Independence. 2. What appears to be emergingis a dual economy, "a dynamic, modernizing India with major classcleavages" (Heitzman and Worden xxxix). Especially noteworthy is theeconomic progress India has made in the past two decades to open up itseconomy and to make it more competitive in world markets, especially in theservices sector. . "Reform Raj: India Regains Investors' Confidence." Wall Street Journal, 18 Feb. 2 , A 1 and A 12.Keay, John. Maintaining India's National Unity (1947-2 ). Paul Demey and Geoffrey McNicoll. India ismoving in the right direction but at a glacial pace by the standards of thedeveloped world. . India's heterogeneity is largely the result of its climate andgeography. India's cities are characterized by"congestion, noise, traffic jams, air pollution, and major shortages of keynecessities" (Heitzman and Worden 286). Silvers and Barbara Epstein. Political parties at the statelevel tended to represent differing linguistic, ethnic and religiousfactions, Tamil speakers in Tamil Nadu, Sikhs in Punjab, resurgent andmilitant Hindus in Maharashtra, etc. The current optimism concerning India's economic prospects stems fromthe relatively high per annum GDP growth rates of from 6 to 7.5 percentwhich have prevailed since the mid-199 s and which in turn were the directresult of various steps taken by the Indian government to liberalize theeconomy since the late 198 s, including reductions in tariffs, importlicenses and quotas (and in some taxes), privatization of state-ownedenterprises and the passage of legislation removing obstacles to domesticand foreign investment. The Great Population Spike and After Reflections on the 21st Century. Many urban upper class women were active in the independencemovement. . One million women wereelected to such posts, many of them illiterate. India has notmustered the political will to implement effective fertility control.India's traditionally hierarchical and rigid social structure has undergonesignificant change, as the history of the struggles of the lower castes andwomen for more equitable treatment illustrate, but it remains largelyintact, notwithstanding the inroads of modern technology and culture.Modernization itself has produced significant strains of political andsocial alienation, primarily among the urban dispossessed. In many sectors a yawning gap between central legislative intention and actual local implementation characterized the Nehru years (519). India'sflourishing private sector and emerging middle class co-exist withwidespread urban and rural poverty, flawed public infrastructure andgrossly inadequate social services. However,even if he is correct, population growth at or near current rates isplacing a huge burden on the nation's food supply, water resources andnatural environment. It has an outstanding system of colleges and universities,attendance at which has increased in from 36 , in 1947 to four millionin 199 -1991 (11 ). Heitzman and Worden said "the upper1 or 2 percent of the population includes some of the wealthiest people inthe world" and for the middle class "the end of the twentieth century is atime of relative prosperity" but for "the industrial working class" manyjobs are in jeopardy as the economy transitions toward its service base andgovernment employment stagnates (xl-xli). 1718-1763."Indian Poverty and the Numbers Game." Economist, 29 April 2 , pp. Despite theefforts of enlightened Moghul rulers such as Akbar the Great (r. More than 16 parties competed in the October 1999parliamentary elections (Stulegross 423). This has provokedresistance from the higher classes, fearful that the Dalits will deprivethem of scarce employment opportunities. By 199 , the number ofstates had grown from 12 in 1947 to 27. India's Deep Social and Economic Divide. 57-72."India." Europa World Year Book Vol. Sources of Heterogeneity. "India's Vision-And the BJP's." Current History 99 (Dec. "Damsels in Distress." India: A Mosaic, eds. New York: New York Review of Books, 2 .Stulegross, David. The first greatassimilation was the Indo-Aryan fusion of about 1,5 -1, B.C. According to Keay, what followed was "a half century oferratic progress marked by internal discord and vicious encounters" (5 9).Except during the 1975-1977 national emergency discussed below, freeelections have been held and civil liberties were respected. Since an individual's socio-economic status and his legal rightswere a function of his caste which was determined at birth, the castesystem is profoundly antithetical to both political democracy, socialmobility and modernization. The majority of plots are less than one hectare,too small to permit much mechanization or increase in productivity. . India'sloses over one half of its annual crop of 1 , graduating computerscientists and engineers to the outside world, but it nevertheless has thesecond-largest (next to the United States) repository of such talent.India's comparative advantage is that transnational companies such asGeneral Electric and Airbus have discovered they can process theirbackoffice work more cheaply in India than elsewhere. In both the Hinduand Muslim religions, women are relegated to inferior economic, social andlegal status. Inpractice, the caste system has considerable vitality, but is undergoingchange. The optimistic view was recentlyexpressed by USAID which said "market reforms to open the economy greatlyimproved prospects for reducing the country's massive poverty" (1). Thedeath rate has continued to decline from 42.6 per 1 in 19 1 to 3 in1992 and the infant mortality rate from 232 in 19 1 to 93 in 1992(Chandrasekhar 64). BJP has a moderate face which emphasizes economicliberalization and a conservative social agenda. Although more than 3 percent of Indians speak Hindi, its officiallanguage, India has more than 17 officially recognized languages which arewidely spoken, including Telegu, Bengali, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu and Gujratiand hundreds of other languages and dialects (India 1718). "The Perils of Democracy." India: A Mosaic, eds. "Most modern urban centers in India are served by large,modern medical facilities, but these facilities usually cater to the middleclass and the wealthy" (India's Population 4-5). In the 199 s, Indiahas had four general elections, eight new Prime Ministers and twice thatnumber of coalitions. A compromise was reached under the constitutionunder which the practice of untouchability, the term applied to the lowestcaste, the Dalits or persons engaged in menial tasks related to bodilydecay and dirt, was made illegal as was discrimination based on caste.However, the lowest castes, called Scheduled Castes, were recognized andguaranteed one seventh of the seats in state and national legislatures. However, because of the population increase, the number oflicensed medical practitioners per 1 , individuals actually declined inthe 198 s (1 1). They said that "for large numbersof peasants and dwellers in urban slums, a way out of poverty remains aselusive as it had seemed for their grandparents at independence" (xli).Mistra offered some rough measures of their despair: 44 percent (more than4 million) lack a subsistence level standard of life, 64 million lackbasic sanitation and 226 million do not have access to safe drinking water(268). Variousestimates of Indian average annual GDP growth during the period 186 -1947placed it at less than 1.5 percent per annum, roughly equal to populationgrowth (Kumar 379). Cities such as Bombay and Calacutta have more than ten millions,most crowded into slums which have overwhelmed municipal sanitation, wastedisposal, water and power infrastructure. Umashankar. . India has onlh 46 physicians, 37 nurses and 4 midwivesfor every 1 , people, a figure which is decidedly low Third World level(India's population 6). Robert B. 2 5 est. I. Keay said "the shoddy goods and drab austerities of the Nehru agegave way to conspicuous expenditure on consumer durables, importedluxuries, and foreign travel" (53 ). India was in the immediate post-Independence period a very weaknation with a rudimentary economy and an archaic social structure. The Economist commented recently: "computers, telecoms and theInternet have become the rage in India, spawning instant millionaires, andenthusing politicians everywhere. India's recent prosperity hasgenerated an expanded and influential, affluent and relatively young middleclass. htm, 1-21)."When India Wires Up." Economist, 22 July 2 , pp. The Cambridge Economic History of India Vol. 19 195 233 285 485 1,269 1,699 (Rostow 25 and 29). 39-4 .----------------------- 24 Dugger said "in villages,panchayats have turned into training grounds for women who had beenexcluded from a role in village politics for millennia" (A 1 ). Heitzman and Worden defined this newclass as composed of "members of prosperous farming families, as well asthe primarily-urban based professional, administrative and business elites"(xvi). Works CitedBraudel, Ferdinand. 4. Desai said women writers depicted the plight of Indian women as a"portrait of a long-suffering creature who is dragged through life only byher sense of duty and self-sacrifice" (145). In the 195 s and 196 s, India under Pandit Nehru (1947-1964) greatlyexpanded the size and power of the central government in an effort toachieve rapid industrialization through state planning, a drive to enableIndia to achieve economic self-sufficiency by substituting domesticproduction for imports, and at the same time to tackle the problems ofrural poverty through government subsidies for irrigation, land reform, andvarious community development projects. The basic reasons for the accelerating rate of population growth weredeclines in death rates and infant mortality rates due to advances inmedical care and public health and related improvements in transportationand communications which lowered deaths due to famines and epidemics. Although thepercentage of children attending primary schools has doubled since 1951,most children in rural areas attend little or no school unless theirparents can afford to send them to private schools. Similarly, Heitzman and Worden said, "historically, India's educationhas been elitist" and geared to meet the needs of those who can afford it(1 5). Even, however, during this period,Keay pointed out that in matters like educational reform and the introduction of a 'ceiling' on the size of land holdings, the rights reserved to the states enabled them to delay and frustrate change. "Among Poor Villagers, Female Infanticide Still Flourishes in India." Wall Street Journal, 9 May 2 , A 1 and 1 12.Kaplan, Robert D. Nevertheless, familyplanning, although supported by most senior government officials, hasbecome something of a political football, especially at the state level.Many Hindus fear Muslims will use it to gain numerical dominance andMuslims have the reverse fear. Changing Nature of Indian Democracy(1985-2 ). from whichsprang eventually both Hinduism and Buddhism and which produced thedominant culture which has prevailed in northern India ever since. About 72 percentof the population is Indo-Aryan composed of many ethnic groups, about 25percent Dravidian and miscellaneous other tribes (Heitzman and Wordenxxvii). 1994): 42-53. In his review of India's history prior tothe British conquest, Braudel said "India is an amalgam of areas, and alsoof disparate experience, which never quite succeeded in forming a singlewhole" (237). "Lower Caste Women Turn Village Rule Upside Down." New York Times, 3 May 1999, A 1 and A 1 .Frankel, Francine. in numerous loosely allied andhighly diverse organizations" (29 ). India: A Mosaic. India's caste system is largely intact although the process ofmodernization is beginning to make significant inroads. and . Modern India's pluralistic society composed of manylinguistic, ethnic and religious elements was shaped over more than 4, years. Except in certain areas, such as on the large wheat farms in thePunjab and the sugar plantations, the dominant pattern in Indianagriculture is one of "small farms, of peasants cultivating their ancestrallands mainly by family labor . The centralgovernment used its limited powers to thwart many challenges to theintegrity of the state, sometimes by force as in Kashmir in 1948, andthrough a combination of force and compromise resisted various separatistand secessionist movements. "Population Pressures and Development." The Reader in Population and Development, eds. USAID Congressional Presentation FY 1997 India. . More recent estimates suggest that the percentage of the populationbelow the poverty line is about 33 million or about one third of thepopulation (Heitzman and Worden 3 1). Princeton: Princeton UP, 1978.Heitzman, James, and Robert L. Democratic government in India has been undergone changes sincethe 196 s which have broadened participation while at the same time raisingquestions about its stability. Thecentral government was powerless to prevent the mass slaughters of Hindusand Muslims that accompanied Partition and was beset with gigantic refugeeresettlement problems. The fortunes of Congresstemporarily revived under her son Rajiv before he was defeated in 1989 andassassinated by a Tamil terrorist in 1991, but India in the 199 s has beengoverned by an unwieldy set of coalition governments. 4. 37-38."India's Population Overwhelms Its Healthcare Facilities." Ocular Surgery News, Sept. Dexter, TX: U of North Texas P, 1994.Desai, Anita. Emergence of a Prosperous Middle Class. Pai, and P. Studies showed that where educational levels of womenand per capita incomes were higher such as in the cities and in theprovince of Kerala, fertility rates declined. 8. Silvers and Barbara Epstein. When Prime Minister VishwamathSingh announced in 199 he supported the admission of more members ofBackward Classes to higher education, riots and self-immolations resulted. He said: "Devaluation [of the rupee] helped exporters, but farms producing for domestic consumption felt themselves excluded from the new wealth. . USAID estimated that in 1997 1.5 million were infected byHIV/AIDS, a figure which it estimates will rise to 5 million by 2 (7).Child malnutrition is a major national problem, especially in rural areas. The first feminist movements were founded in the 192 s and foughtbefore World War II for changes in the dowry, child marriage and purdahlaws. According to Heitzman and Worden, "in the mid-199 s health spendingamounted to 6 per cent of GDP one of the highest levels among developingnations" (1 ). India has recentlyattracted foreign direct investment, $2.7 billion in 1998, which is,however, still paltry compared with China which attracted $5 billion thatsame year (Many 72). A History of Civilizations. Kaplan suggests that muchof the BJP's radical appeal is to the uprooted poverty stricken andunemployed underclass which has been attracted to India's urban slums byeconomic development but which has been left on the outside and expressesits rage through religious fanaticism (WK 15). . Thatproposition needs further examination in relation to India's track recordin addressing the plight of its underclasses. India A Country Study. 2 (c. New York: New York Review of Books, 2 . Robert B. When faced with demands forgreater regional autonomy on linguistic or ethnic grounds, Nehru's andlater Mrs. Gandhi's governments occasionally redrew the map of the states,partitioning some and expanding the size of others. India's constitutioncalls for a secular state which recognizes and tolerates all religions butwhich favors none. The achievement and preservation of national unity throughdemocratic and peaceful means is perhaps the most fundamentalaccomplishment of post-Independence India. The greatest expansion has been in light manufacturing, such aselectronics, and in services, such as India's burgeoning computer softwareindustry. Life expectancy rose from 23 years in 1931 to 65 yearsin 1992 (65). Although the Congress Party continued to win most nationalelections and headed a coalition which was the longest tenured governmentin the 199 s (1991-1996), Mrs. Gandhi's new style of electoral politics andgovernance, the crisis of the 197 s and its aftermath, marked the passingof one party dominance of Indian government. India has failed to address effectively its monstrous demographicproblem. Washington, DC: GPO, 1996.Hilsenrath, Jon E. The rise to national leadership of IndiraGandhi (1967-1977 and 198 -1984) marked a fundamental change in the natureof Indian politics and democracy. The Reader in Population and Development. India remains the only majornation in the world where the number of men exceed women (by a 1 :9 ratio), a rough measure of the lower value society places on women (JordanA 1). Martin's P, 1998. . It had its origins in the belief that India should be governed inaccordance with the principles of hindutva or Hindu-ness. India spends 1 percent of its GDP oneducation, up from an average of 4.6 percent to 7.7 percent in the period1951-198 (1 5). India's industrial base, which is today the 1 th largest in theworld, was begun largely by the private sector under British rule andgreatly expanded during the years of central planning and state socialismunder Nehru and Mrs. Gandhi. India's central government is now led by a coalition headed by theBharatiya Janata Party or Indian People's Party (BJP). Since the 192 s, India's annual rate of population growth hasfairly consistently equalled or exceeded its rate of per capita incomegrowth. Some economists such as Rostow believe that India's rate ofpopulation growth will decline to manageable levels after 2 5 . .activists, scholars, and workers . Some estimates are that thisindustry will grow to a level of $5 billion by 2 8 (Karp A 12). The sustenance of largepopulations depended on the summer and fall monsoons, the rainfall fromwhich could only be effectively stored and utilized along the alluvialbanks of India's great rivers, such as the Indus, the Ganges and theBrahmaputra and their many tributaries. threw in their lot with peasant revolutionaries, and the nation was wracked by violent outbursts, widespread protests, and strikes that paralyzed institutions from the railways to the universities (138). The Indian Constitution provided for universal suffrage and bannedany form of discrimination, but Desai said "the social structure, with itstraditions, actually meant that women found themselves only on the margins,or in opposition to the general current" (137-138). In health and education, India has also made substantial stridesbut to become a first world society it must broaden considerably theirbenefits. Since independence India's Gross Domestic Product hasgrown to about $1.3 trillion or about 195 levels in real terms, which hasonly kept up with its population growth during that period. As widows, they were forbidden to remarry, often threw themselveson their husband's funeral pyre, the practice of sati, were forced to takethe veil (purdah) and otherwise condemned to a life of loneliness andpenury. Today, industry, services and other non-farm sources togetheraccount for about 75 per cent of India's GDP, agriculture only 25 percent(Many 72). India's overall economicperformance was hindered, according to Heitzman and Worden, by"inefficiency in public-sector firms, lack of entrepreneurial innovation,excessive bureaucracy," governmental deficits and technological decay(xxxiv). Indiadoes not appear to be at risk of imminent disintegration. New York: Oxford UP, 1998.Silvers, Robert B., and Barbara Epstein (eds.). Theresult is a largely inefficient agricultural sector, heavily subsidized bygovernment, and rife with substantial underemployment of people.Underemployment and unemployment combined remain very high. W. India has achieved self-sufficiency in food grains and otherwiseimproved its agricultural sector, but progress has been very uneven and itis still an open question whether this vast pool of underutilized andinefficient talent and resources will be a source of national strength orweakness. For electric power, India reliesprimarily on coal which produces one of the largest sources of greenhousegas emissions in the world. "A Nation's High Price For Success." New York Times, 19 March 2 , WK 15.Karp, Jonathan. As centers of civilizationdeveloped in these and other widely separated areas, further diversityresulted from invasions of nomadic peoples from Central and Western Asiadrawn by the wealth the Indian subcontinent created. A. . The basic instrument forliberation of women has been education, the growing belief, said Hirschman,that "only an educated daughter can secure that desirable addition to thefamily-an educated son-in-law with a job in the modern sector- and that alarge dowry on its own may no longer be sufficient" (46). They were considered an economic burden to their families,married off to whomever their dowries could attract in arranged marriages,condemned to humdrum lives in their husband's household where they enjoyedno rights and could look forward to little other than childbearing anddrudgery. (Internet: http://www.hsph. 7. BJP is dominated byHindus. 2 .Dugger, Celia W. 5. Worden (eds.). INDIA 2 This research paper discusses the major internal forces and trendswhich have characterized the evolution of India's polity and society sinceindependence (1947) and which suggest that India will eventually become apolitically integrated, first world nation. Keay said "withoutrecognising, exploiting and accommodating such divisions, British dominionin India would have been impossible to establish, let alone sustain" (464). "Demographic Fatigue in India." New Leader, July 2 . The successive western powers which came to India after the 15thcentury in search of fortune and power, took advantage of India's manydivisions. India's software exports have beengrowing by forty to fifty percent a year and were worth almost $4 billion"in 1998 and $5.7 billion in 1999 (When 4 ). In order to gain and consolidate power,she circumvented the machinations of the old Congress Party elite and madedeals with various electoral interest groups offering government patronagein exchange for votes. 7 -72.Mistra, Pankey. Silvers and Barbara Epstein. The British ultimately prevailed and through various meansincluding a century of warfare imposed until 1947 political unity on thesubcontinent which was ruptured by Partition. However,its recent economic prosperity and broadened democratic participation donot guarantee that its enormous developmental problems can be overcome atany time in the foreseeable future. The Nehru government's family planning programs of the 195 s and196 s which primarily emphasized voluntary sexual abstinence and use of therhythm method had virtually no effect on the fertility rate. harvard.edu/Organizations/healthnet/SAsia/suchana/ 7 2/ panandiker_etc.html, 1-13).Rostow, W. Yields are no longer increased as they had during the Green Revolution, and the impact of new irrigation in one area was offset by the falling water table in another" (531). From the left, Mistra argued that "India's poor have borne the bruntof the food price rises that were partly caused by exposing the economy tothe chaotic fluctuations of supply and demand in international markets"(269). The government inherited a well-trained army andpolice and fairly efficient civil service. An interesting development is that in 1993 the central Parliamentadopted a constitutional amendment setting aside one third of the seats onelected village councils or panchayats for women. Mistra said the BJP's rightwing and its para-military armies represent "a widespread, and almostvisceral, distrust and resentment of Muslims [which] has long existed amonglarge sections of even the educated Hindu population" (255). India hasbecome a net agricultural exporter, including the largest sugar exportindustry in the world. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1983."Many Obstacles Still Ahead." Economist, 4 March 2 , pp. 1556-16 5)to promote the assimilation of Hindus and Muslims, the Hindu-Muslim divideremains a fundamental fact of Indian history. During the post-colonial period, most major Asian and other Third World nations have optedfor authoritarian forms of government as indispensable for maintaininginternal unity and order. (Internet: http://www.usaid.gov/pubs/cp97/countries/in. Gandhi gave the program much higher priority, made available modernbirth control techniques and devices and pushed through legislation whichlegalized abortions. Therewere great Hindu Empires, such as the Guptar Dynasty (32 -53 A.D.), butIndia for most of its history up until the time of the Muslim Conquest andthe Moghul Empire (13th-18th century) was politically divided. India A History. In rural areas, many tropical diseases such as malaria,pneumonic plaugue, trachoma, goiter and diarrheal illnesses remain aconstant threat. Few, if any nations,have attempted to govern democratically a nation with such a diverse andpotentially divided population. Nevertheless, substantialefforts went into land reform, which alleviated the worst abuses of thetraditional absentee landlord and oppressive tax system in rural areas andcombatting rural poverty by raising the productivity and output ofagriculture through techniques such as irrigation and various communitydevelopment projects. India's transition from elitist post-colonialpolitics to a more inclusive federal and electoral system has, however,been accompanied by considerable instability and the growth of narrowinterest-based constituencies and intolerant nationalism. by pairs of bullocks"(Heitzman and Worden 388). India, which had little previous experience inself-government, followed the British example and established a democraticrepublic under a federal constitution in which powers over internal affairswere shared between the central and state governments. The stresses and strains ofmodernization will be lessened only by a more effective effort to limitpopulation growth and lessen the misery of the great majority of its peoplewhich have been on the margins of recent progress. Despite substantial expenditures, India's health system barelytouches the life of most people beyond the eradication of certain diseasessuch as smallpox and tuberculosis and progress in controlling largeepidemics. There is nothing new aboutgreat extremes of wealth and poverty in India. Heitzman and Worden said "in the 199 sthe central government has seemed far more willing than previously to grantdemands for regional political entities within the states" (228). A less attractive development has been the increase in the power andinfluence of extremist religious-based nationalism. A few statistics will illustrate thatreality. Contemporary issues include: sati,dowry murder and suicide, female feticide, child marriage, childprostitution, domestic violence, polygamy, sexual harassment and bettereducational and employment opportunities. On the right, conservatives argued that the continuation ofgovernment subsidies for fertilizers, power and irrigation werecontributing to large public deficits and hindering the overallcompetitiveness of the Indian economy in global markets. Students and urban intellectuals . It hasorganized the burnings of Islamic mosques, Christian churches and massacresof tribal minorities. India's Abortion Experiment 1972-1992. According to Heitzman and Worden, "inequalities amongthe castes are considered by the Hindu faithful to be part of the divinelyordained natural order and are expressed in terms of purity and pollution"(268). 225-273.Panandiker, V. will squeeze high-caste Hindus out ofovercrowded government jobs, fears that Muslims enjoy unfair privileges, orby being 'backward,' keep India poor" (27). In the 195 s and 196 s, greater priority under India's Five YearPlans was given to achieving industrial growth than in raising agriculturalproductivity, then among the lowest in East Asia. New York: St. Thisdevolution and decentralization of power can lead either toward furtherfragmentation of national unity or, conversely, increase the attachment ofdissident minorities to the whole, depending on the balance achieved. Panandiker and Umashankar argue that fertilitycontrol has become the victim of contemporary Indian electoral politics atthe state level (12). 5 percent other (Heitzman and Worden xxvii). Nevertheless, Frankel pointed out that "thepersistent and deepening dualism between the still limited modernindustrial sector and the vast rural hinterland [where] a minority ofprosperous farmers is swamped by growing numbers of marginal cultivatorsand landless laborers who have the greatest difficulty even meeting theirminimum consumption needs" (xi). 1999): 422-432.US AID. According toBuruma, "BJP politics plays on high-caste Hindu fears and frustrations:fears that lower castes . New York: New York Review of Books, 2 . 1997 (Internet: http://www slackinc.com/eye/osne/1997 9/indiapop.htm, 1-8).Jordan, Miriam. Great improvements have been made inagriculture but underemployment and low productivity in rural areas andunemployment in the cities continue to retard development. According to Heitzmanand Worden, the general pattern is "underfinanced and underequippedmunicipal and village schools" (1 7). Alarmed by the1971 census which reported a 2.25 percent annual rate of population growth,Mrs. According to D'Monte, popular reaction againstmeasures sponsored by her younger son Sanjay, including the use of policeto promote involuntary as well as voluntary sterilizations in the mid-197 s"dealt a blow to the family planning movement it has never been able torecover from" (2 ). India's religious composition is 82 percent Hindu, 12.1 percentMuslim, 2.3 percent Christian, 1.9 percent Sikh, .8 percent Buddhist, .4percent Jainist and . Robert B. Traditional Hindusociety was organized along rigidly hierarchical lines, a key feature ofwhich was the castes. Very rapid urbanization has accompanied industrialexpansion. They estimate its size as 15-25 percent of the total population andincreasing rapidly. Per capitaincome is still quite low, $43 at the end of 1998 (Hilsenrath A 21). The acceleration in that rate can be seen from the following chart: India's Population (in millions) 175 18 185 19 195 2 est. Through governmental 'affirmative action,' some Dalits, who areoverwhelmingly to be found in rural areas among the very poor, have takenadvantage of educational opportunities and organized themselves politicallyto wield greater power, especially at the state level. London: Europa Publications, 1999. According toKeay, agricultural development has been stagnant in the 199 s. The British initiated modest reforms, the legalization of theremarriage of widows in 1856, the first admission of women to governmentschools in 186 s and efforts to discourage child marriage in the 188 s and189 s. India's record in this area is not good. The number of medicalcolleges has increased from 2 in 1947 to 15 in 199 (Chandrasekhar 65).The problem is the lack of adequate medical facilities in rural areas andfor the urban poor. India has an excellent medical care system for those whocan afford it. . New York: New York Review of Books, 2 . Across its vast Indo-Gangetic plain, human habitation has beendependent on the level of the water table. India's Heritage of Diversity and Political Fragmentation 1. 3-32.Chandrasekhar, S. . Severe droughts in 1965-1966 and 1971 and rising food prices prompteda shift in emphasis toward raising farm output which through the GreenRevolution, a massive effort involving substantial foreign aid andtechnical assistance, eventually resulted in India becoming self-sufficientin food grains (principally wheat and rice) by the early 199 s. "India's Growth Rate May Surpass China's for First Time Since 199 ." Wall Street Journal, 26 April 1999, A 21.Hirschman, Albert O. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.