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Politics of India

Politics of India. India. Republic of India. A federal republic with a parliamentary system of government capital: New Delhi. 2nd most populous nation. Population: over one billion Growing at 1.5% a year. Population in 2005. A nation of diversity: languages.

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Politics of India

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  1. Politics of India

  2. India

  3. Republic of India • A federal republic with a parliamentary system of government • capital: New Delhi

  4. 2nd most populous nation • Population: over one billion • Growing at 1.5% a year

  5. Population in 2005

  6. A nation of diversity: languages • Constitution lists 14 official “principal languages” • English • Hindi (30%)

  7. A nation of diversity: religions • Religions: • Hindu (~81%) • Muslim (~12%) • others (e.g. Buddhist 0.7%) • all major religions in the world are present • one of the major causes of conflict • religion can become a political vehicle for social movement

  8. Brief history • One of the world’s oldest civilizations • 5,000 years • foreign incursions • Aryans, Arabs, Turks, Portugal, France, and Britain • from 1,500 B.C. to 19th Century A.D.

  9. 190 years of British colonial rule • Informal colonial rule through the British East India Company (1750s-1850s) • formal colonial rule after the Mutiny rebellion of 1857

  10. Struggle for independence • Indian National Congress was formed in 1885 • non-violent resistance to colonial rule • Mohandas Gandhi (1869-1948) • transformed INC • unity within diversity • non-cooperation movement • Nehru (1889-1964)

  11. Independence & partition • Division of the subcontinent (1947) • India • Pakistan

  12. Republic of India • Prime Minister Nehru (1947-1964) • His daughter (Indira Gandhi) as Prime Minister (1966-1977, 1980-1984)

  13. Nehru’s legacies • His grandson • Rajiv Gandhi • Prime Minister (1984-1989) • His granddaughter-in-law • Sonja Gandhi • Congress party president (1999 - )

  14. World’s largest democracy • Resilient democratic institutions, processes, and legitimacy • except 1975-1977 • Indira Gandhi declared national emergency • politics in India is characterized by • governments of precarious coalitions • weakened political institutions • political activism along ethnic lines

  15. Turnout % in General Elections

  16. A federal system • 28 states and 6 centrally administered Union Territories • 2 states are partially claimed by Pakistan and China

  17. Federal system • Relatively centralized • federal government controls the most essential government functions • defense • foreign policy • taxation • public expenditures • economic (industrial) planning

  18. The legislature • Parliamentary system of government • the executive authority is responsible to the Parliament

  19. The legislature • bicameral Parliament • Rajya Sabha (Council of States) • Lok Sabha (House of the People)

  20. Elections to Lok Sabha • Vote share of 3 major political parties

  21. Prime Minister • Leader of the majority party leader in Lok Sabha becomes the prime minister • prime minister nominates a cabinet • members of Parliament in the ruling coalition • Council of Ministers • effective power is concentrated in the office of the prime minister • where most of the important policies originate

  22. Prime Ministers of India • 38 years in the Nehru-Gandhi family • more and more rapid turnover

  23. Economic development • Under Prime Minister Nehru’s rule • private property and government guidance • powerful planning commission • government rules and regulations • opportunities and incentives for corruption • self-sufficiency • domestic sector was protected from foreign competition • protected industries became inefficient

  24. Economic development • The “green revolution” in agriculture • new agricultural strategy in late 1960s • seeds, fertilizer, and irrigation • India became self-sufficient in food

  25. Economic development • state-led economic development • government-planned private economy • substantial industrial base

  26. Economic liberalization • Dissatisfaction with the relatively slow economic growth • dismantle controls over private sector • further integrate into global economy • Financial crisis in early 1990s • emergency funds from IMF & World Bank • conditional on economic liberalization • reduce government budget deficit • selling government shares in public enterprises

  27. Foreign direct investment

  28. Economic liberalization • Economic performance • average growth rate of 6% since 1990 • reducing poverty by about 10 percentage points • purchasing power parity GDP: $3 trillion

  29. Economic liberalization • India has large numbers of well-educated people skilled in the English language • India is a major exporter of software services and software workers

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