India’s History: from Colonialism to Present Day

1. India’s History: from Colonialism to Present Day Harrison Hite

2. Pre 1970’s: an opressed people and a savior • Laboring under the iron fist of the Raj, Indians were exploited by Britain • Mohandas K. Gandhi led the nation out from under the fist of the Raj via the nonviolent Swaraj (home rule) movement. • Jawaharlal Nehru took over as the first prime minister after India gained it’s independence, and moved towards industrializing the nation • In the late 60’s, his daughter Indira Gandhi (no relation to Mohandas) came to power

3. Analysis: the road to modernization • Jawaharlal Nehru was a stauch believer in industrialization, allowing India to jump forward as a nation from it’s traditional roots in order to become a player in the new world order right out of colonialism • He realized that in order to become fully free from the commonwealth, a goal which India eventually achieved, he needed to catapult his nation to prominence via education and technological reforms

4. The 70’s: A Green Revolution • In the 1970’s, the Indian government encouraged a green revolution in India in order to halt food shortages • The indian economy had been dependant on agricultural imports since the 1950’s, and the green revolution ended this dependence • The green revolution was in response to the continuing leash of British neocolonialism, the idea of India not being able to grow enough food to support it’s people was taken as a reason to justify outside “support”

5. Analysis: reasons behind the decisions • Up to this point in postcolonial Indian history, all of the modernizations that had been made, first by Nehru and subsequently by Indira, had been with the idea of destroying the remnants of neocolonialism in India • However, from this point forward, India was left alone in terms of colonial ambitions, therefore, this is the critical turning point from industrialism to avoid recolonization to industrialization to become a world power

6. Late 70’s and Early 80’s: the end of Indira Gandhi • Indira Gandhi, the ruler of India for most of the 1970’s, was defeated in the elections of ‘77 and was assassinated in the early 80’s • Indira’s oldest son Rajiv Gandhi came to power after his mother was assassinated • Rajiv started the real work of preparing India for globalization, by relaxing restrictions on foreign trade and expanding their production and use of modern technology

7. Analysis: Rajiv as a posthumously acknowledged national hero • Rajiv should receive the majority of the credit for India becoming a BRIICS nation as it is today, because the baseline work had been done to avoid recolonization by Nehru and Indira, but Rajiv Gandhi was the real hero in that, to use a metaphor, although his predecessors grew India to a size where it would not be eaten, Rajiv made the choice to grow India even further, to where it could join it’s former colonizers at the table, and no longer be a 2nd class nation

8. Late 80’s and early 90’s: the end of Rajiv Gandhi • Although Rajiv Gandhi made many modern reforms, not everyone in the nation favored his path towards modernity. Also, a political scandal showing him embezzling funds for his ministers was exposed to the public • He was assassinated by a suicide bomber in 1991 • A succession of political powers came to power during the 90’s, some of them experimenting with nuclear energy, prompting international pressure from the U.S. and other nations to halt their nuclear proliferation

9. Analysis: a final push against BRIICS • This is indeed a relevant topic beyond the borders of India, but it appears as if “the first world” is assumed to have good intentions when developing nuclear power, but should any previously 3rd world nation attempt to develop nuclear power in order to modernize, it is assumed that they secretly wish to develop nuclear weapons, therefore their nuclear programs are shut down via international efforts. Therefore, in reality, this justification is an underhanded manner of attempting to maintain the status quo, although there are times in which it is arguably necessary.

10. The 21st century: Economic liberalization • In the 21st century, the Indian economy expanded rapidly due to the aggressive policies adopted by the prime minister and his aides. • This caused the Indian’s GDP to grow rapidly, and prompted the “rise of the rest” theory promoted by major political figures around the globe, such as FareedZakaria.

11. Analysis: a permanent fixture, or too soon to tell? • India may be here to stay in the global economy, coming up to a level with previous nations, or it may be stopped in it’s tracks by rulers in the future who don’t have the countries‘ best interests at heart. However, it is too soon to tell what path India will take, because it is difficult to see reliably into the socioeconomic future

12. India’s Main Problem Moving Forward: Education An analysis of possible Solutions

13. The Problem: Education • Cons: • Positions are reserved in Universities for the “scheduled castes”, which denies more highly qualified people from attending Universities • Teachers are government employees, therefore they have tenure, and they slack off rather than teaching • Pros: • Indian students are willing to learn more readily than certain demographics in the U.S., because education more directly correlates to higher paying jobs in India than it does in the U.S.

14. Scheduled Education • Imagine if Harvard were required to admit the most “hood fabolus” students they could find, until a full 15% of their student body was “ghetto fine”. This is essentially what caste scheduling has done in India. 15% of the poorest, least educated students make up the student body of every Indian institution.

15. Tenure for Teachers • Since teachers are government Employees, it is extremely difficult for them to be fired, even if they are not working up to the standards that they pledge to. A teacher who never shows up to teach class is paid exactly the same and receives the same benefits as a teacher who actually does their job.

16. Higher Education • As higher education becomes more and more necessary, Indians need a solid foundation to be able to attend universities and graduate programs, especially if they wish to study abroad A medical School/research hospital in India, which doesn’t look comparable to what exists in the United States.

17. Possible Solutions • Create a hierarchy to enforce teacher truancy (this should in turn fix the 15% problem) • Make Indian Universities more attractive to Indian students, so that they may stay in the country to achieve their higher education