Historical Background of India

Historical Background of India:

• The early modern period began in the 16th century when the Mughal Empire conquered the majority of the Indian subcontinent.
• The Mughals gradually declined in the early 18th century, allowing the Marathas, Sikhs, Mysoreans, Nizams, and Nawabs of Bengal to gain control of large areas of the Indian subcontinent.
• Large regions of India were gradually annexed by the East India Company, a chartered company acting as a sovereign power on behalf of the British government, from the mid-18th century to the mid-19th century.
• Dissatisfaction with Company rule in India sparked the Indian Rebellion of 1857, which shook parts of north and central India and resulted in the company's dissolution.
• Following the British Raj, India was directly ruled by the British Crown.
• Following World War I, the Indian National Congress, led by Mahatma Gandhi and known for nonviolence, launched a nationwide struggle for independence.
• Later, the All-India Muslim League would advocate for the formation of a separate Muslim-majority nation-state.
• In August 1947, the British Indian Empire was divided into the Dominion of India and the Dominion of Pakistan, with each gaining independence.
• More than 10 million people were transferred between India and Pakistan as a result of the partition, and approximately one million people died.
• Jawaharlal Nehru became India's first Prime Minister. The 1950 constitution established India as a democratic country, and this democracy has been maintained since then.
• Religious violence, Naxalism, terrorism, and regional separatist insurgencies have all bothered the country.
• India has unresolved territorial disputes with China, which erupted in the Sino-Indian War in 1962, and with Pakistan, which resulted in wars in 1947, 1965, 1971, and 1999.
• India was a leader in the Non-Aligned Movement and remained neutral during the Cold War. However, starting in 1971, when Pakistan was allied with the US and the People's Republic of China, it formed a loose alliance with the Soviet Union.
• India is a nuclear-weapons state, having conducted its first nuclear test in 1974 and five more in 1998.
• India followed socialist-inspired policies from the 1950s to the 1980s. Extensive regulation, protectionism, and public ownership all had an impact on the economy, resulting in widespread corruption and slow economic growth. Despite adhering to the Dirigisme economic system, India's economic liberalization since 1991 has transformed it into the world's third-largest and one of the fastest-growing economies. From a relatively impoverished country in its early years, the Republic of India has emerged as a fast-growing G20 major economy with high military spending and a bid for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council.
• Because of its large and growing economy, military, and population, India has been referred to as a great power and a potential superpower.