From Tryst to

Tendulkar: The History

of Independent India
Balaji Viswanathan

Copyright 2014 by Balaji Viswanathan

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may bereproduced,
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ISBN13:9781505756043
ISBN10:1505756049

FirstEdition

To Mahalakshmi (wife), VH
Viswanathan (dad), Sarada (mom)
and Harihararan (grandpa).
Without all their support this book would not
have been possible.

CONTENTS
Prelude......

Book of Struggle
Chapter 0: The Road to Freedom..

Chapter 1: Welding India.

16

Chapter 2: Making of the Indian Constitution....

37

Chapter 4: Ancient Enmities and Troubled Warriors.

66

Chapter 5: Fighting for Water in Troubled Land...

80

Chapter 7: Ocean of Tears....

108

Chapter 8: Political Calculus: Differentiation and Integration of

India's Forgotten Communities ...

113

Chapter 9: The First Female Dictator

122

Book of Dreams
Chapter 10: India's Tryst with the World..

138

Chapter 11: Hop, Skip and Jump: The Story of Indian Economy

155

Chapter 12: The Great Political Tamasha..

166

Chapter 13: From Bullock Carts to Mars..

185

Chapter 14: Rice, Cow and Zero: Ancient Indian Triumvirate

in new Revolutions....

196

Chapter 15: Bombay Dreams..

206

Chapter 16: Score Kya Hai? - The Story of Indian Sport..

213

Chapter 17: Into the Future.

223

References

234

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Koushtav Chakrabarty for designing the cover. Jacqueline Ruiz
for proofing the work. The whole community at Quora.com for
providing valuable ideas and support along the way.

Prelude
November 14, 2013
Mumbai, India
At about 4pm, India stopped working. A trillion dollar economy and a
billion Indians were waiting. It was the last they would see of one of the
greatest legends in Indian sporting history. It was the last of the
trademark Cricketing cover drives and hooks you can get a glimpse of.
Sachin Tendulkar could not contain his tears as he walked past the test
pitch for the last time. India could not contain its tears either.

India in Crisis Mode

Cricket is an English sport played in whites by whites, trying to kill their
idle time while ruling the vast empire. However, this sleepy sport has
become a quasi-religion in the subcontinent.
I was about six when Sachin Tendulkar first played for India. It was a
different time back then. You had to pay a bribe for everything: scooter,
telephone or even foreign exchange. The Indian economy was firmly
shut from outsiders and India was fast imploding in every sense.
India was in a state of deep unrest at that time. Prime Minister Rajiv
Gandhi squandered one of the most thumping electoral victories in
1984 to end up being in the opposition party when Sachin Tendulkar
took guard for the first time on November 16, 1989 in Karachi,
Pakistan.
The nation was deeply hurt by the adventures of the Indian
Peacekeeping force in Sri Lanka and the popular scams of the time buying Bofors guns from Sweden.
The landmark Shah Bano case which denied a Muslim woman of her
rights in a messy divorce, and the government's tweaking of laws to
placate the communal interests, kept India in a state of unrest. A
strange coalition of orthodox Hindus and feminists were aghast at the
government for its handling of the issue. To placate the orthodox
Hindus, Rajiv opened up the gates of the controversial Babri Masjid.
While internally it was chaotic, there were massive changes in the world
around India: the Berlin wall collapsed, students were shot in
1

Tiananmen Square, and the USSR pulled out of Afghanistan in the

same year of Sachin Tendulkar's debut. The fall of Communism and
India's allies along with that, hurt the Indian economy.

The Start of a New Era

Sachin didn't seem perturbed by any of this. In his first series in
International Cricket - played in India's arch rival Pakistan - Sachin
Tendulkar showed signs of becoming a future icon of India. He stood
bold against some of the best fast bowlers of all time. By 1991, he was
a rising star for India, fresh out of a great tour of India's former colonial
masters - England.
While Sachin was growing from strength to strength, India was growing
from weakness to weakness. The hodgepodge of right and left parties
that took over the power from Rajiv in 1989 were no better at handling
either the economy or the polity. The protests following the
recommendation for more affirmative action programs by the Mandal
Commission, kept the nation on edge.
Another war in the Middle East (a major oil exporter and a major source
of dollar remittances to India) started when Saddam Hussein's
misadventure in Kuwait skyrocketed prices. In parallel, India's most
important trading partner - Union of Soviet Socialist Republics - was no
longer a union, nor a soviet, nor a socialist. It had crumbled into a
network of 15 new nations.
By the summer of 1991 - India was practically bankrupt. The antiCongress alliance failed and India was back to the polling booths. The
new elections brought a slim majority to Congress. A sullen new Prime
Minister and his turbaned Finance Minister were taking charge of India.
One of the first jobs for the new Finance Minister was to take India's
gold reserves to London and get some precious dollars to pay for the
now unaffordable oil.
With nowhere to go, India finally opened up its economy, dramatically
reducing taxes and partly dismantling the "License Raj" - an era of
excessive government intrusion into the Indian economy. This freed up
India corporates and started a new era.
As Sachin Tendulkar started piling up runs and ratcheting centuries,
India began one of its fastest growth phases.

India Entering the IT World

2

While India was handing England its worst defeat on a cricket field in
February 1993, a quiet Indian software company attempted to enter the
hallowed floors of the Bombay Stock Exchange. It was selling its
shares for Rs.98/share (in the next few years this would multiply 2000x).
However, the IPO failed and Infosys had to enter the markets through a
side route. Even though the IPO failed, things looked quite rosy for
many fledgling Indian software companies. In the next decade, these
small players would become global players making India a top
destination for the global software and services trade.
The year of 1994 was especially great for Sachin as he proved his
abilities in the shorter form of Cricket. Incidentally, 1994 was also the
year of a huge bull run in Indian stock markets (although now we know
that it was quite manipulated). My dad was investing in a bunch of IPOs
(mostly bank/insurance IPOs) and it was quite exciting to see the gains.
In short, everyone at home was happy - some for Sachin and some for
the stocks. We watched almost every one of his centuries. We cheered
every one of his boundaries. We got angry every time he was unjustly
given out. We were in tears every time his dismissal brought the end of
Indias chances of victory. In short, Cricket in India was just a synonym
for Sachin's game. Some of the happiest times of my childhood were
correlated with Sachin's form.

Siamese Twins
At the time India exploded its landmark nuclear test in the summer of
1998, Sachin was at his peak, fighting one of the greatest matches in
Sharjah. In the spring of 1999, when India fought the last of its major
wars in the hills of Kargil in Kashmir, Sachin went through a chronic
back pain phase - scaring his supporters all over India.
India smiled when Sachin smiled. India winced when Sachin winced.
September 28, 2014
New York City, NY USA
The crowd of engineers, scientists, oncologists, professors, billionaires,
graduate researchers, postdocs, artists, and executives could not
contain the hope-laden tears as Prime Minister Narendra Modi finished
his speech. There was an exuberance and joy that was uncharacteristic
of this hard-nosed crowd. Sitting in the historic Madison Square
Garden, I could see the same passion with which people watched
Sachin's batting. The same way Sachin led his one man Cricket army,
3

Modi showed a glimpse of a one man political army with a lot of

potential.
A truly explosive 70 minutes of speech left the crowd stunned. It
infused a new sense of hope and passion among a populace that were
growing disenchanted with politics. It reminded this new generation of
the challenges that Nehru and his team faced on August 15, 1947. It
was as though we were transported back in time to the midnight hours
of August 14, 1947.

What this book is about

This book is not just about sports or politics; but about the story of
independent India. It is not just a story of politicians, but also of the
people who really made India. From Homi Bhaba to Abdul Kalam,
Padukone to Tendulkar, and from Nehru and Patel to Modi. This is a
story of hundreds of people who really made India what we know
today.
This is a book of not just events written in a laundry list, but about the
insights into the events. From the integration of Hyderabad to the Shah
Bano case - this is a train journey that will take you through Indian
history and halting at all important events that shaped the nation.
Welcome to the story of independent India!

Tryst with Destiny

Long
years
ago
we
made
a
tryst
with
destiny,
and
now
the
time
comes
when
we
shall
redeem
our
pledge,
not
wholly
or
in
full
measure,
but
very
substantially.
At
the
stroke
of
the
midnight
hour,
when
the
world
sleeps,
India
will
awake
to
life
and
freedom.
A
moment
comes,
which
comes
but
rarely
in
history,
when
we
step
out
from
the
old
to
the
new,
then
an
age
ends,
and
when
the
soul
of
a
nation,
long
suppressed,
finds
utterance

At
the
dawn
of
history
India
started
on
her
unending
quest,
and
trackless
centuries
which
are
filled
with
her
striving
and
the
grandeur
of
her
success
and
her
failures.
Through
good
and
ill
fortune
alike
she
has
never
lost
sight
of
that
quest
or
forgotten
the
ideals
which
gave
her
strength.
We
end
today
a
period
of
misfortunes
and
India
discovers
herself
again.
The
achievement
we
celebrate
today
is
but
a
step,
an
opening
of
opportunity,
to
the
greater
triumphs
and
achievements
that
await
us.
Are
we
brave
enough
and
wise
enough
to
grasp
this
opportunity
and
accept
the
challenge
of
the
future?
The
past
is
over
and
it
is
the
future
that
beckons
to
us
now.
The
appointed
day
has
come
-
the
day
appointed
by
destiny
-
and
India
stands
forth
again,
after
long
slumber
and
struggle,
awake,
vital,
free
and
independent.
The
past
clings
on
to
us
still
in
some
measure
and
we
have
to
do
much
before
we
redeem
the
pledges
we
have
so
often
taken
Yet
the
turning
point
is
past,
and
history
begins
anew
for
us,
the
history
which
we
shall
live
and
act
and
others
will
write
about.
It
is
a
fateful
moment
for
us
in
India,
for
all
Asia
and
for
the
world.
A
new
star
rises,
the
star
of
freedom
in
the
east,
a
new
hope
comes
into
being,
a
vision
long
cherished
materialises.
May
the
star
never
set
and
that
hope
never
be
betrayed!
We
have
hard
work
ahead.
There
is
no
resting
for
any
one
of
us
till
we
redeem
our
pledge
in
full,
till
we
make
all
the
people
of
India
what
destiny
intended
them
to
be.
-- Jawaharlal Nehru addressing the Parliament on the first hour of
freedom.

Chapter 0: The Road to Freedom

India
is
the
cradle
of
the
human
race,
the
birthplace
of
human
speech,
the
mother
of
history,
the
grandmother
of
legend,
and
the
great
grand
mother
of
tradition.
Our
most
valuable
and
most
astrictive
materials
in
the
history
of
man
are
treasured
up
in
India
only!
-- Mark Twain
If
there
is
one
place
on
the
face
of
earth
where
all
the
dreams
of
living
men
have
found
a
home
from
the
very
earliest
days
when
man
began
the
dream
of
existence,
it
is
India.
-- Romain Rolland
At the stroke of midnight on August 14, Britain finally left India. It was a
momentous occasion for India that was long awaited. It was a time to
live up to Romain Rollands words above. Nehru gave his landmark
speech in front of a packed audience at the Central Assembly, soon to
become the Parliament of India.
It was also a confusing period as the nation was partitioned to create
the new nation of Pakistan. There was blood all around the nation as
people were forced to move between the two nations, depending on
the religion they professed.
India didn't achieve freedom in one shot in the darkness of August 15,
1947. Rather, it was a long road of many small victories and big
disappointments.

Colonization of India
In 1453 AD, Ottoman Turks captured the city of Constantinople and
controlled a major trade route between Europe and Asia. To avoid
paying taxes to the Muslims, a number of Europeans started exploring
alternate routes to reach India. In this process of exploration, Columbus
and others discovered large portions of the Americas and Sub-saharan
Africa. Eventually, in 1498, Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama
discovered the route to India through the Cape of Good Hope.
In 1510, Portugal captured the major port of Goa in the western coast
of India. It was a key trading point that was strongly contested by the
Hindu kings of Vijayanagar and the Muslim kings of Bijapur Sultanate.
6

The conquest of Goa enabled Portugal to monopolize Indian trade

routes. 16 years later, Afghan king Babur captured Delhi and
established the Mughal Empire. Under the Mughals, India reached both
its economic heights as well as saw tensions between Hindus and
Muslims towards the later stages of the empire.
In 1588, England defeated the formidable Spanish Armada and
established itself as the biggest over over the seas. In 1612, the newly
established English East India Company defeated Portugal in the Battle
of Swally, near the city of Surat. In the same year, Sir Thomas Roe led a
mission to Mughal Emperor Jahangir's court. In return for European
rarities, Emperor Jahangir promised protection for English factories in
the city of Surat. In 1661, England got the key western port of Bombay
as dowry for the marriage of King Charles II of England and Princess
Catherine of Portugal. The establishment of trading posts in the
southern city of Madras (1639) and eastern city of Calcutta (1690) made
England as a dominant player in India.
In March 1707, the sixth Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb (grandson of
Jahangir) died at the age of 88. During the long reign, he ruled with an
iron-fist causing a lot of angst among the Hindu population. It is alleged
that over 60000 temples were destroyed during the Mughal rule. The
1679 imposition of Jizya tax on the Hindus and other non-Muslims
caused further pain and anger.
Thus, as soon as Aurangzeb died, a number of Hindu kings tried to
reestablish themselves. Through most of 18th century, there was a
power struggle among various Indian rulers who were all vying to be
the successors of the Mughals. The East India Company saw the
opportunity to become a major power both to protect its trading assets
from the new kings as well as the potential to expand trade.
In the mid 18th century, the company was presented with two major
mistakes by Indian monarchs. In 1757, in the Battle of Plassey, the
Bengal Nawab didnt cover his gunpowder during a brief afternoon
shower. This tactical mistake made his guns wet & misfire - scaring his
elephants - leading to the victory of the opponent. In 1761, the biggest
claimants to the Mughal throne - the Marathas - overextended
themselves and were defeated in the third Battle of Panipat by the
Afghan emperor Abhali. Their defeat combined with the defeat of
France in the European wars, eliminated the biggest challenge to the
East India Company. By the end of 18th century, the company
consolidated much of India.

Struggle for Freedom in the pre-Gandhi period

The takeover of the company provoked a lot of tensions, but the
response from the locals were very uncoordinated. This helped the
company put out the rebel movements in various parts of the country
quite easily.
However, in 1857, almost a century after it won the Battle of Plassey,
the company was posed its biggest existential challenge. A number of
monarchs joined hands after a mutiny broke among the soldiers in the
northern city of Meerut. While the rebellion was among the most
coordinated attacks on the Empire, the Company eventually won over
using the soldiers from various martial clans of India. However, the
British Crown under Queen Victoria realized that the company might
not be able to withstand further attacks and took direct control of India.
The vindictive actions by the Crown following the rebellion silenced
India for a few decades.
In 1885, a number of influential Indians came for a meeting in Bombay
under the leadership of a Scottish civil servant Allan Octavian Hume.
This created the Indian National Congress and consolidated various
small regional political outfits created by English educated Indians.
Within a few years, the movement grew more radical with some
members asking for independence from England. However, a sizable
chunk of the party was not ready for a full-fledged freedom movement.
In 1907, Indian Congress split into a Garam Dal (Hot faction) under Bal
Ganghadar Tilak and a Naram Dal (Moderate faction) under Gopal
Krishna Gokhale. The partition of Bengal in 1905, to reduce the
influence of Bengali Hindus in national affairs, formed the lightning rod
for the hot faction.
The entry of UK in the First World War in 1914 however changed the
dynamics of the equation. UK leaders promised India of self-rule after
the end of the war, in return for greater cooperation from Indian
leaders. Thus, leaders such as Tilak and the new entrant Mahatma
Gandhi (who just returned from a reform movement in South Africa)
helped in toning down the anti-colonial activities. The draconian
Defence of India Act 1915 made it hard to free espouse anti-colonial
sentiments. This brought a period of silence. Another big factor was the
massive Influenza epidemic of 1918 that infected nearly 500 million
people and killed as many as 100 million people all over the world - a
sizable chunk of them in India.
8

During this period of lull, in 1916 various factions of the Congress and
the newly formed Muslim League agreed to put down their differences
and form a unified response to the British. They hoped that the end of
war would bring out the promised reforms.

Government of India Act 1919

One of the first changes came at the end of the First World War, when
the Government of India Act 1919 provided a more direct role for
Indians to participate in the government. Although the legislative
councils created before that provided some role for India, the 1919 act
truly expanded that.
It created a bicameral legislature - with a Central Assembly directly
elected by the people and a Council of State elected by members of
provincial assemblies and also nominated by the Governor General.
This is a precursor to the present Indian parliament consisting of the
Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.
The Central Assembly would legislate laws that would then be
approved by the Council of State and eventually get the approval of the
Governor General, appointed by the British Parliament.
At the provincial level, there was a system of dyarchy - where the
provinces got the power to legislate items like agriculture, health,
education, etc., while the Viceroy/Governor General still had all powers
over Defense, Foreign Affairs, and Communications.
A lot of control was still with the Governor General, who was a nonIndian. Indians got some representation and some powers to legislate.
The voting rights were not universal, but restricted to those with
property or educational qualifications. Only 2% of India could vote. The
first elections were to be held in the winter of 1920.

Non-Cooperation Movement
However, Indians were promised much more autonomy and could not
digest an overbearing Governor General at the top. This
disappointment led Congress to intensify its struggle. Mahatma Gandhi
started the non-cooperation movement in 1920 and boycotted the
elections.
The non-cooperation movement brought mixed successes as it ended
9

in violence. Mahatma Gandhi and others were sent to jail for sedition.
After his release, Gandhi spent most of the 1920s building the base of
the Indian freedom movement in the society by emphasizing on
boycotting British textiles, fighting the menace of alcoholism in rural
India, and getting temple entry rights for India's lowest castes - Dalits.

Civil Disobedience Movement

As India's social base got strengthened, Mahatma Gandhi pushed for
the second major political movement. On December 31, 1929, on the
banks of River Ravi in northwest India, Jawaharlal Nehru unfurled the
tricolor Indian flag. On January 26, 1930, he declared Purna Swaraj or
complete independence.
To achieve this goal, Gandhi primarily looked to cut the British tax base
in India. Mahatma knew well that power needs money. By cutting the
money source, it was easy to cut the power. For years, he worked to
cut the British imports of textiles into India - a major source of
governments income. But, he wanted to take it further.
On March 12, 1930 Mahatma started the salt satyagraha - openly
flouting rules to make salt on the beaches of Dandi in western India.
Salt is essential to human existence and the exorbitant tax proved to be
a good folly for Mahatma to show how the British taxation was evil. A
full-fledged civil disobedience movement continued the process of
cutting off taxes to the British government.
Already reeling from the effects of the Great Depression, the British
government was practically bankrupt in the early 1930s and forced to
concede more autonomy to the Indians.

Government of India Act 1935

This is one of the longest bills ever to pass the British Parliament with
321 sections and 10 schedules. In some ways, it was a step ahead of
the 1919 Act and in some ways it was a step backward. In any case, it
had a huge impact on the Indian Constitution. Among many things, it
created a Federal Court at the top that eventually became the Supreme
Court of India. The Act also sought to build a federation among 11
provinces of British India and six big princely states. A national level
railway authority was created. It also significantly changed the map of
India - by separating Burma from India and also created new provinces:
Sindh and Orissa.
10

Most importantly, the act provided for an expanded role for the
provincial legislature. This time, the voting rights were extended to a
significant portion of the population (about 14%) and millions of Indians
excitedly voted. It was the first big election in modern India.
Elections were held in 1937 and Congress won all the provinces.
However, the Muslim League had already showed that it was capable
of winning 10% of the total seats and became the second biggest
political force in India.
This act formed the reference when India wrote its constitution.
However, the act still didn't please Congress enough. The freedom
struggle continued.

Cripps Mission, 1942

In 1939, Britain declared India as a belligerent in the Second World
War. India was once again forcibly drawn to a war that it had nothing to
do with. All the Congress ministers resigned.
The resignation of Congress leaders in 1939 created the political space
for the Muslim League that was completely routed in the 1937
elections. Britain sought for native support in India now that Congress
was opposed to a war. Jinnah saw a great opportunity in this and in
March 1940, at the Lahore resolution, he declared that the Muslim
League would push for a separate nation of Pakistan, torn from the
western and eastern sides of India.
Congress was baffled by this move, but didn't take this too seriously as
they believed they had control over all provinces of India.
In March 1942, Britain sent Sir Stafford Cripps to negotiate a deal with
the Indian leaders. Although privately he was prepared to accept a
dominion status for India with autonomy, publicly he didn't offer any
such solution. Instead, he offered a solution that promised autonomy
after the end of the war.

Quit India Movement

Mahatma Gandhi balked at this, calling it a "post-dated cheque"
(remembering what happened at the end of the previous war). In
August announced the next major freedom movement - Quit India. This
move sent the Congressional leaders to jail. The British government
11

also replaced its longest ruling Viceroy - Lord Linlithgow with Lord
Wavell, who was the Chief of the Indian Army. This was to send a
strong message to the Indians and bring India back under control.

Wavell Plan
As the Second World War was drawing to an end in the summer of
1945, the Viceroy Lord Wavell, decided to keep some of the promises
made by the Cripps Mission. His plan included having all Indians in the
Viceroy's Executive Council and an autonomy for India over all subjects
other than Defense and Foreign Affairs.
The Wavell Plan also provided both religions key powers in the
provinces they had a majority in and sought after a loose federation of
India. Congress, however, balked at the idea and the last opportunity to
avoid the partition was forgone.
As a part of the Wavell Plan, India's elections were held in December
1945 and January 1946. The results showed a huge division in India.
Unlike the 1937 elections, the Muslim League swept the separate seats
reserved for Muslims at the center and won two of the major provinces
- Bengal and Sindh. In Punjab, Congress escaped with a coalition
arrangement.

Cabinet Mission
In 1946, Britain started its negotiations with the Indian leaders. The
1945 elections were key as it was with these elected representatives
that Britain finally negotiated to keep India within her control. The
representatives didn't agree and India was to become free.
Now the question of how India should function. The cabinet mission
suggested grouping the Muslim majority provinces of Punjab, Sindh,
North-west Frontier Province (NWFP), and Bengal on one side and the
Hindu majority provinces of Madras, Bombay, Central Provinces,
Orissa, and United Provinces on the other side in a complex balancing
act. These provinces would control everything other than Defense,
Foreign Affairs, and Currency. The latter three would be left with a weak
Central body with equal representation of the Muslims and the Hindus.
Congress didn't agree to this as a grouping of provinces merely by
religion was the recipe to a civil war. Also, providing the Muslim League
control over half of India, while the Muslim population was less than a
12

fourth and even less supporting the League, was considered

preposterous by Congress. Britain then suggested a partition of India
that was rejected by Congress.

The Massacre in Rawalpindi

Jinnah was aghast that Congress didnt agree to either of the plans. He
held a nationwide strike termed the Direct Action Day to force the
Congress to accept the partition of India. On the 16th of August 1946,
the Direct Action Day commenced, and thousands of people were
killed in religious violence. It was especially severe in Bengal, where
many Hindus died in the carnage at Noakhali. Many Muslims died in
various revenge riots in the Central Provinces and Bihar.
Britain was completely unprepared to handle this carnage and sent
Lord Mountbatten in February 1947 as the last Viceroy of India with an
order to transfer power no later than 1948. The growing violence had
taken a big toll on Congress and its leaders. Immediately following the
Rawalpindi massacre (a major town in Punjab) that resulted in a huge
death toll of Hindus, Congress Working Committee agreed to a
partition on March 8. However, instead of providing the whole of
Punjab and Bengal as demanded by the Muslim League, it asked for a
partition of these two major provinces by religion.
On June 3, Mountbatten announced the plan at a crowded Press
meeting. It set the date of independence as August 15. The assemblies
of Punjab and Bengal were empowered to vote for a partition. The
partition of these provinces became the responsibility of cartographer
Sir Cyril Radcliffe who was given one month to decide which lands of
Punjab and Bengal would go to India and which to Pakistan. The fate of
Sindh would be decided by its assembly and NWFP would have a
referendum. The rest of the provinces would remain with India, as also
British India's UN seat.
Although NWFP had a Congress majority government, the referendum
choose to join it to Pakistan, amidst a cry of fraud that only 16% of the
people got voting rights. Sindh had expectedly voted to join Pakistan.

Three key factors that contributed to the

Pakistan movement
1. On April 1, 1936 Sindh became an independent province
separated out of Bombay. Until then, the Muslim League under
13

M.A. Jinnah didnt have a sufficient room to maneuver. He was

not able to gain majority in any of the provinces. The Muslim
majority Sindh province created among the first Muslim League
governments and commenced the process of formation of the
separate state of Pakistan.
2. After the failure of the Cripps Mission in 1942, Congress
started the final push for Independence - Quit India Movement.
This led to the arrest of the entire Congress leadership, while
Muslim League was spared as they didnt protest the British
rule. Using their freedom, they were able to significantly
influence peoples opinion.
3. In the provincial elections of 1946, Muslim League had a
surprisingly strong position in Punjab and emerged as the
largest party. It promised land reforms to poor farmers and cut
through the votes of the Unionist party. Although, Congress
eventually pulled together an alliance with other parties and
took over the government, the victory provided the much
needed boost for the Muslim League.

The Partition
On August 15, 1947 India became free. It was also mired by huge
tensions that were caused by the partition of Punjab and Bengal. These
provinces were never designed to be separated and thus it was really
messy. Indian Bengal (West Bengal) lost all the fertile jute lands to
Pakistan's Bengal (present day Bangladesh) while retaining all the mills
to process the jute. Mughal jewel of Lahore was given to Pakistan
despite it being surrounded by Hindus. Sikh Mecca of Amritsar was
given to India despite it being surrounded by Muslims.
The weak monsoons of 1947 had already inflated pain among the
farming community of Punjab and in the autumn of 1947, they decided
to take all this anger out on the other community. Many Hindus and
Muslims were caught on the wrong side and over 15 million were
forced to move. As many as a million might have perished in the
migration - among the largest in human history.

Mahatma fixes Bengal

Unlike the other leaders, the Mahatma didn't attend the independence
celebrations in Delhi. He spent most of the time leading up to the
partition in Bengal, where he feared the worst of the riots would
happen. The region was densely populated and saw the worst of the
14

Jinnah's Direct Action day.

However, in an extraordinary work, Gandhi was able to avoid a big
chunk of the violence in Bengal, while its counterpart, Punjab, burned.

Assassination of the Mahatma

After Gandhi put down part of the fire in the east, he turned his
attention to the center. In a bid to cool the prevailing bad blood and
build a better relationship with Pakistan, Gandhi sought various actions
that were thought to be minority appeasing by some Hindus. One of
them was the release of Pakistan's share of India's cash balance.
As all assets were divided between India and Pakistan, the cash
balance of British India was to be divided too. Pakistan's share of the
cash was determined at Rs. 75 crores (1 crore = 10 million) by an
Arbitration Tribunal. India released the first share of Rs. 20 crores, but
held back the remaining 55 crores due to Pakistan's invasion of
Kashmir. Gandhi held a fast to make Indian government pay its balance
so that the tension between the nations would go down, forcing Sardar
Patel to offer a resignation from his post as the Home Minister.
However, Mahatma's point was that he was fasting for the community
bonding than the mere cash balance and thus continued even after
Nehru's decision.
Various extremists also blamed Gandhi for both the partition and the
violence emanating from the partition. It is sadly ironic given that the
partition was forced on Congress and it was Gandhi who helped
reduce the violence.
On the 30th of January 1948, Gandhi was assassinated by an
extremist, Nathuram Godse while the former was proceeding to a
prayer meeting at the Birla house in Delhi. Although Gandhi survived
many earlier assassination attempts, this time the bullet was shot at
point blank range and he didn't survive the bullet wounds.
On that day in 1948, India had sunk to its lowest. Mired by the troubles
of partition and the first war with Pakistan over Kashmir, things looked
completely bleak. Some even predicted that India would break up, as
the key gel that was holding it together had snapped.
However, India would defy their predictions. The darkness of 1948
would give way to light.

15

Chapter 1: Welding India

India
is
a
geographical
term.
It
is
no
more
a
united
nation
than
the
equator.
-- Winston Churchill (1931)
I
can
inform
the
Security
Council
that
on
15
August
1947
the
suzerainty
of
the
Crown
in
the
United
Kingdom
over
Hyderabad,
and
all
other
Indian
States,
came
to
an
end.
None
of
the
powers
previously
exercised
by
the
Crown
was
transferred
to
the
Government
of
the
two
new
Dominions,
that
is,
India
and
Pakistan.
--- Sir Alexander Cadogan
The Permanent Representative of United Kingdom to the United
Nations told the UN that Indias various monarchs were free to choose
their destiny and could join India or Pakistan or declare independence
of their states.
Will
India
end
up
as
one
unit?
13th November 1947
Somnath Temple
Sardar Vallabhai Patel could not contain his tears. He was the iron man,
but even he was moved by the occasion. He was in front of the
legendary Somnath temple in Junagadh, now reduced to ruins. The
temple that had stood glorious for centuries was in shambles. In a
sense, Patel saw that the temple perfectly mirrored Indias condition.
Just four days ago, his military had entered the princely state of
Junagadh that housed Somnath and the famous Gir forest. The Nawab
of the state had already signed the instrument of accession to join
Pakistan, and it took a lot of boldness to capture the state back. It took
a lot of persuasion and a lot of military force, but it was worth it.
The Nawab, known for organizing elaborate weddings for his pet dogs,
had already fled three weeks ago. It was time for peace for the states
residents.
Patel asked the audience swarming around, whether they wanted to
join India. A thundering 'Yes' was showered. One job done, two more
to go!
16

On August 15, 1947 India was a free nation. However, it didn't end up
as a single unit. Muslims got a separate nation of their own. A number
of Indian monarchs (numbering more than a 500), who surrendered the
autonomy to the British crown centuries ago were looking to create
independent nations as the British suzerainty over the Indian
subcontinent didnt apply any more. Their regions comprised of nearly
a two-fifths of India and over 100 million people. They ruled their
nominally sovereign entities called the princely state and they had
various degrees of autonomy over their own kingdom. The treaties they
signed with the British would expire when Britain left India. Thus
technically these monarchs were all now free.
Just before the independence, on June 11, 1947, the princely state of
Travancore announced its intention to create a sovereign state,
independent of India. On June 12, the state of Hyderabad followed suit
and was setting up foreign missions in Europe and elsewhere. It was
going to be a big mess.
While most of the other princely states were quite small - barely more
than a few square kilometers - and locked deep inside India, some
were quite big. For instance, the Himalayan kingdom of Kashmir was
bigger than Austria, Switzerland and Hungary combined. The region of
Hyderabad was comparable to the size of whole of UK. The western
kingdom of Junagadh was about the size of Jamaica and the southern
kingdom of Travancore was about the size of Israel. All of these regions
had sizable populations, giving their monarchs a hope that they can
stake it alone.
Then there was the question of other colonial powers such as France
and Portugal, who still held a few colonies in the subcontinent and
planned to hold them. Portugal held the beach-studded province of
Goa & couple of small enclaves on the Western coast, while France
held a couple of coastal towns, mostly on the Eastern coast.
Together, this arrangement would have made India quite ungovernable
geographic mess without a defendable border. Indias new leaders had
a really big mess at their hands as Britain was handing over the keys to
India. If the demands of the different monarchs were met, the
subcontinent would end up as 500 nations. If the situation was
mismanaged, there was a potential for a brutal chaos and civil war one that was unequalled in the history of humanity.
Can the Indian leaders prevent the breakup of India?

17

The State of India just before independence

British India was comprised of 17 provinces directly ruled by the British
crown and 565 princely states ruled by Indian monarchs who agreed to
the paramountcy of the British crown. The princely states had varying
degrees of autonomy over their internal affairs, but had surrendered
sovereignty on defense and external affair.

Major provinces of India in 1947

1. Assam - Originally a part of Burma until 1826 and then became
a part of British territory of Bengal. This extreme northeast
territory forms the present Indian states of Assam, Meghalaya,
Mizoram and Nagaland.
2. Bengal - Among the oldest and largest provinces in India
whose conquest helped East India Company win over India.
This province was partitioned with the western half forming the
state of West Bengal in India and the eastern half forming the
present nation of Bangladesh (until 1971 it was a part of
Pakistan).
3. Bihar - This province in central India was originally a part of
Bengal and now forms the Indian states of Bihar and
Jharkhand.
4. Orissa - This province was a part of the province of Bihar and
Orissa until 1946. It forms the present day Indian east coast
state of Odisha.
5. Bombay - This western province was among the richest in India
and major center of commerce. This currently forms the
present Indian states of Maharashtra and Gujarat.
6. Central Provinces and Berar - This came primarily out of the
territories of Marathas in central India. It presently forms the
states of Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh and parts of western
Maharashtra.
7. Madras - The oldest British province in India that was
established as a Presidency in 1640. This southern province
forms the present Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh
and parts of Karnataka and Kerala.
8. North-west Frontier Province - This province bordering
Afghanistan was originally a part of Punjab and was separated
in 1901. It forms the present Pakistani province of Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa.
9. Punjab - This is one of the important provinces in northern
India. It was among the two provinces that were partitioned
18

[the other was Bengal]. The western half forms core of present
day Pakistan and the eastern half forms the present Indian
states of Punjab and Haryana.
10. Sind - This province was a part of Bombay and in 1936, it was
given a separate state. The separation of Sind from Bombay
was significant in Indian history as it paved the way for
Pakistan. The Pakistan movement first gained momentum in
this province and forms the eponymous province in the
southern part of Pakistan.
11. United Provinces - This was among the most populous
provinces of India and its present day incarnation of Uttar
Pradesh is the biggest state/province in the world by
population.
These 11 provinces had their elections in 1946 and the representatives
from these provincial elections decided the fate of partition of India and
later formed the Constituent Assembly that wrote Indias constitution. 7
of the 11 major provinces became entirely a part of India, while 2
became entirely a part of Pakistan. The other two were partitioned in
almost equal halves.

Minor provinces of India in 1947

1. Ajmer-Merwara - Originally part of Gwalior and Udaipur until
the mid 19th century. Currently forms the state of Rajasthan in
India.
2. Baluchistan - Forms the extreme western province of
Baluchistan in Pakistan now. It was ruled by the Khans of Kalat
until 1876. Although it forms close to 40% of Pakistans
present area, it has only a little more than 4% of its population.
3. Coorg - This was a small hilly province in southern India. It is
part of the present Indian state of Karnataka.
4. Delhi - This was originally a part of the Punjab province, but
was given a special status with the creation of the national
capital in 1911. Currently forms the National Capital Region
(NCR) of India.
5. Panth Piploda - This was the smallest province in British India
that had about 5000 people and 65 square kilometers of land.
Forms the present Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.
Other than Baluchistan all the others are a part of India now.

Major Princely states of India

19

There were 562 princely states. Here were the major ones:
1. Hyderabad - The largest and the most powerful of Indian
states. Forms a sizable part of south central India now. Ruled
by a Muslim ruler, who was among the richest in the world of
that time.
2. Jammu and Kashmir - The large Himalayan valley of Kashmir
were once ruled by the Punjabi Sikhs before the British bought
and sold to local Dogra rulers who ruled the neighboring
territories of Jammu and Ladakh. The Kashmir valley is
predominantly Muslim, although the territories of Jammu and
Ladakh along with the monarch were Hindu/Buddhist.
3. Mysore - One of the most progressive princely states of India.
The state had been a leader in technology and education.
Ruled by a Hindu monarch.
Smaller, but important ones were:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Junagadh
Jaisalmer
Jodhpur
Manipur
Sikkim
Travancore

Creation of Pakistan
As the freedom of India started appearing quite likely, a section of
Muslims started getting worried that they would end up as a minority in
a Hindu-majority nation. Nearly three-fourths of India was non-Muslim,
and most of the Congressional leadership was Hindu. Thus, the Muslim
League feared that the Hindus would take over most of the power in a
democratic setup.
Due to the activism of MA Jinnah, the leader of the Muslim League, in
the mid 1940s it was agreed that the Muslim-majority regions would be
split to form a separate state of Pakistan.
Jinnahs initial demand was to merge all the provinces with a slight
Muslim majority - Bengal, Punjab, Sindh, NWFP, and Balochistan along
with the key princely states of Jammu & Kashmir and Hyderabad - to
form the new nation of Pakistan.
Much to his chagrin, Congress agreed only to the separation of the
20

Muslim-dominated parts of Bengal and Punjab to form Pakistan,

instead of the whole province. Thereby, it was agreed to partition the
two crucial provinces of Punjab in western India and Bengal in eastern
India into two halves - a Hindu one and a Muslim one. The Muslim
halves in these two provinces joined with NWFP (the Pashtun province
adjoining Pakistan) and Sindh to form the new nation of Pakistan.
India tried a bit to keep the NWFP (now called the Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa) region out of Pakistan as the Congress party had won
the elections there in 1946. However, in a referendum held in 1947, the
province decided to join Pakistan. This cut India's access to its historic
neighbor, Afghanistan.
Now that the partition of the major provinces was settled, the question
shifted to the independence of the princely states. Some of these were
quite powerful and their monarchs were very ambitious.
The ones who proved to be the most troublesome were the monarchs
of Hyderabad, Jammu & Kashmir, Tripura, Manipur, Sikkim and
Junagadh. The monarchs of Travancore, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer and
Bhopal were not as vociferous but had bigger ambitions. These
princely states initially ganged up under the leadership of the Nawab of
Bhopal, Hamidullah Khan. The Nawab opened up dialogue with
Pakistan on the possibilities of joining his nation with Pakistan.
India needed a strong leadership to manage this confusion.

The Iron Man of India

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was one of the four famous London-educated
lawyers of India who changed the future of the subcontinent - the
others being Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Mohammad Ali
Jinnah. He was born in a poor farming family in Gujarat and was
instrumental in helping the freedom movement reach all parts of India.
In 1946, when Congress was busy choosing the President (who would
subsequently become the first Prime Minister of independent India),
Patel was the overwhelming favorite among the ranks. However, in
April 1946, Mahatma Gandhi put his weight behind Nehru due to a
number of reasons:
1. Nehru was a more charming and a less polarizing figure than
Patel. Gandhi thought that Nehru would be able to handle a
diverse democracy, especially if Patel was able to have his say
21

behind the scenes.

2. Nehru was 14 years younger than Patel and in much better
shape when it came to health. It was crucial to choose a new
leader who had the energy to rule India for a long time.
3. Nehru was a dreamer and Patel was a doer. Gandhi wanted
Indian government to have a dreamers face and a doers body.
24 years after independence, one of the major leaders of Indian
freedom movement, C. Rajagopalachari, would rue this decision:
When
the
independence
of
India
was
coming
close
upon
us
and
Gandhiji
was
the
silent
master
of
our
affairs,
he
had
come
to
the
decision
that
Jawaharlal,
who
among
the
Congress
leaders
was
the
most
familiar
with
foreign
affairs,
should
be
the
Prime
Minister
of
India,
although
he
knew
Vallabhbhai
would
be
the
best
administrator
among
them
all
Undoubtedly
it
would
have
been
better
if
Nehru
had
been
asked
to
be
the
Foreign
Minister
and
Patel
made
the
Prime
Minister.
I
too
fell
into
the
error
of
believing
that
Jawaharlal
was
the
more
enlightened
person
of
the
two
A
myth
had
grown
about
Patel
that
he
would
be
harsh
towards
Muslims.
This
was
a
wrong
notion
but
it
was
the
prevailing
prejudice.
-- C. Rajagopalachari (1971)
Thus, Nehru was made the Prime Minister and Patel took the second
most powerful post - the Home Minister - in charge of welding India.

The Art of Persuasion

For the most part, Patel was able to get the individual states signed up
through the power of persuasion. He was helped in large part by the
prevailing pro-Congress, pro-freedom sentiment that was sweeping
much of the nation. Nehru and Gandhi were very popular in every part
of India and thus many small rulers, especially the Hindu rulers, had no
hesitation in joining India.
Besides his persuasive powers, Patel was supported by two people:
1. Lord Mountbatten, the last Viceroy of India, was sympathetic to
Indias desire of integrating the princely states. He took interest
in keeping India as a viable nation, and for his actions he was
retained as the Governor General of India even after the British
22

left. Mountbatten was the cousin of the English King and had a
lot of influence over the various Nawabs and Maharajas.
2. Mountbatten had a very smart political advisor in VP Menon.
Menon had worked as a civil servant for over 30 years and had
a very good understanding of India and the various
bureaucratic processes that made it. Menon initially wanted to
quietly retire in 1947. However, Patel retained him to help the
process of the takeover.
The trio drafted two documents:
1. Standstill document - this allowed all administrative
relationships that the state held with the British crown to be
transferred to India.
2. Instrument of accession - this turned the suzerainty of the
state to India. The monarchs of the states still had autonomy
over the internal affairs and were immune to prosecution from
the courts in India.
With Mountbattens influence, Patels power and Menons knowledge
of the legality, the task of getting the states signed into India became
somewhat manageable.
Between June and August 1947, they got all but three of the Princely
states to sign the Instrument of Accession. Ultimately, India was able to
retain more than 550 of the 565 princely states, leaving only a dozen
odd princely states to join Pakistan.
However, the path to get to that point was quite rocky. How did they
manage?

Trouble at Travancore
The Maharajah of Travancore was not enthused by the secular outlook
of Congress. He was convinced by his Diwan (Prime Minister), Sir CP
Ramaswamy Aiyar, that a secular India was not a good place for a
Hindu Maharajah. On June 12, 1947, the Prime Minister announced
that Travancore would become an independent sovereign state. He
even had a plan to set up a trade agent in Pakistan.
Meanwhile, strong Communist currents started brewing in Travancore,
and Patel also planned a strong political action within the state to force
the hand of the Maharajah. The monarch had already been warned that
there would be a strong disturbance when the British exited India. It
23

was conveyed to him that without Indias support, Travancore would

not be able to withstand the social disturbance.
As though to make a point, an assassination attempt was made on Sir
CP on July 25 in Trivandrum. This disturbed the Maharajah a lot and he
didnt want to lose his control over his state. On July 27, the Maharajah
telegraphed the acceptance to Mountbatten. It was a significant thing
as Travancore had clout and its submission got other smaller rulers to
resign themselves to fate. Travancore forms a big part of the present
state of Kerala.

The Dance of Jodhpur and Jaisalmer

Jodhpur and Jaisalmer were two Hindu princely states that form
present-day Rajasthan. Along with Bikaner, they were among the
handful of princely states that stood on the borders of India and
Pakistan. The monarchs there historically had a very comfortable life
with the best of the worlds palaces, trains, and forts. They were not
going to be too comfortable in the ascetic land of Gandhi. Pakistan
promised them wine and women, while India admonished them to take
up social development.
Thus, Maharaja Hanwant Singh of Jodhpur took Maharajkumar of
Jaisalmer to meet Jinnah and explore joining Pakistan, despite their
states being almost completely Hindu. Jinnah was amused at this offer
and gave them a blank check - to write whatever terms they wanted.
Jinnah had nothing to lose and everything to gain in such an
arrangement. Just before the Maharajah of Jodhpur could sign the
paper in front of him, his Jaisalmer friend warned that the Maharajah
would not be able to side with Muslims if riots erupted in Pakistan. This
perturbed the Jodhpur Maharaja and he decided to postpone signing
the document.
The Jodhpur Maharaja faced strong resistance from the Hindu nobles
and commoners back home. Later, VP Menon took him to meet with
Mountbatten; the duo helped the Maharajah understand the reality and
also conveyed that they would not concede to any of his outlandish
demands. The Maharajah was so irritated that he came quite close to
taking the life of VP Menon.
After
a
few
minutes,
Lord
Mountbatten
went
out
of
the
room
and
the
Maharajah
whipped
out
a
revolver,
levelled
it
at
me
and
said:
'I
refuse
to
accept
your
dictation.'
I
told
him
that
he
was
making
a
very
serious
mistake
if
he
thought
that
by
killing
me,
or
threatening
to
kill
me,
he
24

would
get
the
accession
abrogated.
-- VP Menon
Eventually, both the Maharajas decided to sign the accession to India,
and their territories eventually formed present-day Rajasthan.

Warring over Junagadh

When India got independence on August 15, 1947 only three princely
states - Junagadh, Hyderabad, and Kashmir - were still undecided on
signing the instrument of accession. It was time for more serious
action.
Junagadhs Nawab was a man who spent heavily on weddings for his
dogs. He lived off his poor peasants. Junagadh, presently forming
southern Gujarat, was completely surrounded by Indian territories,
although unlike Hyderabad it had access to the sea. The distance
between its key town of Port Veraval and the then capital of Pakistan,
Karachi was under 300 miles. Thus, the Nawab tried to push his luck
for joining Pakistan, despite 80% of his population being Hindu.
The Nawab, Muhammad Mahabat Khan Rasul Khanji, invited the
Karachi politician Shah Nawaz Bhutto (the father of Pakistans first
elected Prime Minister, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, and grandfather of another
Pakistani Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto) to be a temporary Diwan of
his state.
Bhutto was a master in the art of deception and kept the Indians
thinking that Junagadh would join India, while making all arrangements
for joining the state of Pakistan. On the 15th of August, his government
suddenly announced that the state would be joining Pakistan:
After
anxious
consideration
and
the
careful
balancing
of
all
factors
the
government
of
the
State
has
decided
to
accede
to
Pakistan
and
hereby
announces
its
decision
to
that
effect.
The
State
is
confident
that
its
decision
will
be
welcomed
by
all
loyal
subjects
of
the
State
who
have
its
real
welfare
and
prosperity
at
heart.
This came as a shock to India. Patel was now prepared to use force.
Nehru, however, didnt want a war and wanted to give peace a chance.
The Indian government thus sent communication to Pakistan to decline
the accession stating that the province was not contiguous to Pakistan
and that it had primarily Hindu subjects. Pakistan, of course, didnt
25

reply. Why would they give up such an important territory?

India tried to convince Pakistan that the people of Junagadh should be
allowed to decide, but that was met with silence.
While all this was happening, two tiny states adjoining Junagadh,
hardly more than a few villages each, Marol and Babariawad, decided
to join India. The Khan of Marol tried to retract his accession (after
much pressure by Junagadh), but Mountbatten refused to take it back.
There was a massive legal confusion on who had the authority over
these territories and whether these accessions were legal. Junagadh
thus invaded these two provinces as the Nawab claimed these two
territories as his.
A
big
mistake!
This worked perfectly for Patel as Junagadh had now invaded two
territories that belonged to India, providing ample reason for India to
start a war. Nehru was still not ready. However, he agreed to send a
brigade of the Indian army to the region on September 24. He also
decided to start embargoes on the region by cutting food and other
essential supplies.
Mountbatten suggested taking this issue to the United Nations, but
Patel disagreed. Nehru stood by Patel on this.
Unrest started worsening in Junagadh, and over 100,000 Hindus fled
the region as refugees. Bhutto tried to get armies from Pakistan, but
Jinnah could offer none. The Nawab saw the writing on the wall and
fled the state on October 26 (he took all his wives, dogs, and money in
the treasury). The Arzi Hukumat, headed by Samaldas Gandhi, was
already putting pressure on joining India and quickly took control of
many key regions.
On November 9, 1947 Indias troops under Captain Harvey Jones
marched into Junagadh and took over the administration. It was then
found that Bhutto had already fled from the state the previous day.
On February 20, 1948, India held a plebiscite where the residents of
Junagadh were given a choice between India and Pakistan: 1,90,779
voted to join India. A whopping 91 voted to join Pakistan.
Junagadh
is
now
a
part
of
India.

26

The Curious Case of Kashmir

The ancient story of Kashmir is not much different from the rest of
ancient India and followed the same pattern. Until the 14th century,
various Hindu and Buddhist kingdoms ruled the region. From about
1350-1580 it came under Islamic rule through Turkic and Afghan rulers.
In this period, Islam spread through the region must faster than in the
rest of India as the rulers actively promoted it. Then like the rest of
India, the whole region came under the Mughal empire.
In the 18th century, as the Mughal empire disintegrated, the Kashmir
region came under the Sikhs. The Sikhs were defeated by the British,
and not knowing what to do with it, they sold the region of Kashmir for
Rs.75 lakhs (1 lakh = 100,000), a sum was equivalent to about 100K
pound sterlings at that exchange rate, to Gulab Singh (a Hindu chieftain
who was loyal to the British). The chieftain already ruled Jammu and
Ladakh, and Kashmir would complete his state. From 1846 until 1947,
the Dogra descendents of Gulab Singh ruled the state.
On the 23rd of September 1925, the last of the Maharajas, Hari Singh
took the throne. His territory bordered Tibet, Afghanistan, and Russian
Turkestan, besides what would become present day India and
Pakistan. The state had four parts: the Hindu-majority Jammu region,
the Muslim-majority regions of the Kashmir valley and Gilgit, and finally
the Buddhist-majority Ladakh region.
The Maharajah had no intention of joining either India or Pakistan and
believed that his states large size would let him stay independent. Both
India and Pakistan gave the Maharajah enough room and didnt
pressure him enough. Mountbatten, however, gave the Maharajah the
option to choose either of these countries by allegedly pressuring Sir
Cyril Radcliffe to award Gurdaspur district in Punjab (through which the
only road from Delhi to the states capital Srinagar passed) to India.
Without that sliver of land in Punjab, India would not have had a access
to Kashmir and it would have become a de facto Pakistani province.
VP Menon, who managed the integration process, mentions that India
decided to give enough time to Kashmir as she was already engaged in
the messy takeover of Junagadh and faced with the prospect of
fighting Hyderabad.
However, Jinnah was not prepared to wait too long. Although Kashmir
had entered into a standstill agreement with Pakistan (and not with
India) that provided for a temporary truce, Jinnah feared that India had
27

bigger plans. The road connecting Srinagar to Delhi was being

developed with a strong sense of urgency. Thus, Jinnah decided to
apply pressure by cutting off petrol supplies (the state was more
economically connected to Pakistan than India) and promoting border
raids.
Jinnah already had to deal with the restive Pathans from his NWFP
province who were pouring into his cities. The Pathans populating
Western Pakistan and Afghanistan were a feared group, known for their
guerilla warfare. All rulers of the region had trouble controlling them
[Britain failed, so did Soviet Union in 1980s and the US since 2001].
Jinnah then came up with an intelligent plan to kill two birds with one
stone by giving the Pathans a goal - capturing Kashmir.
Thus, began the invasion of Kashmir on October 22, 1947.
The Pathan warriors called the raiders had little problem in invading
vast portion of Kashmir. Most of the Muslim troops defected and
welcomed the raiders. On the 24th, they took over the Mahura
powerhouse, the only power source of the state, to plunge the state
into darkness literally and figuratively. It seemed very likely that the
takeover of Kashmir would be very swift and finished by the time of the
Eid festival (the most important religious holiday for Muslims worldwide)
- the 26th of October. However, fortune worked in favor of India.
1. By the 24th of October, it was clear to India that this was a
major invasion. Mountbatten had already received confidential
communication from his senior British officers in Pakistan. This
was passed across to the Maharajah who was desperate as he
knew his time was over. VP Menon flew to Jammu and got the
Maharajah to sign the instrument of accession on the 26th of
October - the date of Eid. Now, India had the legal authority to
send troops into Kashmir.
2. The invading troops were not quite disciplined and were
comprised of rag-tag groups put together in an ad-hoc
manner. These raiders were more interested in looting and
raping than quickly securing the capital of Srinagar. Given their
ease of victories, it seemed they would win and they took it
easy. Their looting of the towns on the way gave enough time
for India to get its act together.
3. Finally, it was the work of a brave commander - Brigadier
Rajinder Singh - who led the Maharajahs troops to confront
the invaders. With just 150 men, Brigadier Singh was able to
arrest the movement of the raiders enough to provide time for
28

India. [For his bravery, he was among the first recipients of the
Maha Vir Chakra - the second highest military honor in India.]
When the raiders finally arrived in Srinagar, they found an Indian army
unit already flown to the airport. The army units gave the raiders a
chase. This eventually precipitated in a major war between India and
Pakistan.
The war continued on for a year and there were many stories of bravery
on both sides. Major Somnath Sharma, Lance Naik Karam Singh, and
many other Jawans performed heroic acts that kept the morale up.
However, both nations were quite young and could not afford to keep
fighting for too long.
At the insistence of Mountbatten, Nehru took matters to the United
Nations Organization. In December 1948 a ceasefire was arranged by
the UN and the positions that both sides held that month - now called
the Line of Control (LoC) - had since then become the unofficial border
in Kashmir. India was able to retain most of the Kashmir valley, Jammu
and Ladakh - while Pakistan got almost all of the Gilgit region along
with a small part of the valley. China took over a chunk of Ladakh
[termed Aksai Chin] in that period and became more formalized after
the Sino-Indian war.
India considers Jammu & Kashmir very important, as most of the
historic invasions to India have come from the northwest. Since the
states borders are barely hours away from Delhi by road, it was India's
strategic interests at play there. Also, the sizable population of nonMuslims face a major risk if India decides to leave the state.

Operation Polo - War on Nizam

India
thinks
that
if
Pakistan
attacks
her,
Hyderabad
will
stab
her
in
the
back.
I
am
not
so
sure
we
would
not.
-- Laik Ali (Prime Minister of Hyderabad)
While Kashmir and Junagadh presented a headache, they were
superseded by a much bigger headache in the form of Hyderabad.
Hyderabad was smack in the middle of India and commanded a large
area of land - about the size of England and Scotland put together.
Eighty-five percent of the population was Hindu, but the Nizam among the richest persons in the world of his time - wanted to join
Pakistan.
29

Unlike Junagadh, Hyderabad was both big and powerful. Unlike

Kashmir, Hyderabad had an unfriendly monarch. The Nizam tried hard
to get into the UN and British Commonwealth, but Britain declined.
They didnt want to get into trouble with India by making governance
unviable in southern India. The government of Hyderabad was also
transferring money to Pakistan that was at that time fighting a war with
India over Kashmir.
While Hyderabads populace was predominantly Hindu, the army was
predominantly Muslim and aided by irregular mercenaries called the
Razakars. Together they started terrorizing the populace, and Patel felt
compelled to intervene. Junagadh and later Kashmir had taken out
Indias energy and thus the Hyderabad issue was in contention until
Mountbatten left.
On June 21 1948, Mountbatten was replaced by an Indian Governor
General - C. Rajagopalachari [Rajaji] - who was one of the top four of
Congress at the time of independence along with Nehru, Patel, and
Gandhi. He was more aggressive than Mountbatten in this regard and
had no issues understanding the need for Police Action (terming it a
military action would get more attention in the UN, and India sought to
avoid that).
India entered Hyderabad on September 13 1948, and in just four days,
the operation was done. On the 17th of September, Hyderabads Prime
Minister surrendered after massive casualties on his side. It was among
the most one-sided wars world had ever seen. Following the surrender,
there was a massive wave of communal violence (as retribution to the
acts of the Razakars) and to this day it remains a controversial topic in
India.
India was thus able to take over all three troublesome princely states:
Junagadh, Hyderabad and Kashmir.
A few other territories was won by mere luck. For instance, the Indian
Ocean islands of Lakshadweep was taken over by India by being first
to hoist the flag (by the time the Pakistan Navy reached these islands,
the Indians already had their flag up and Pakistan didnt consider it
worthy to fight this far from their home base).
In a matter of two years, these new territories were dissolved and
merged with other provinces. Patel and India had no intention of letting
these monarchs have autonomy over their territory.

30

Takeover of French Territories

Even after the exit of the British, both French and Portuguese
continued to maintain their tiny colonies in India. The French territories
were primarily in the south and centered around the key coastal town
of Pondicherry. The Indian government allowed the people to decide
their future, and in the elections held in 1948, people decided to keep
their autonomy.
However, in 1954, a key leader in the pro-French group switched sides
and allowed the process of merger to proceed. In May 1956, a treaty of
cession was signed by India, and it was ratified by France in 1962. For
France, their Indian colonies were neither big nor profitable and more
importantly France were involved in a major war in Vietnam/IndoChina.
The colonies were adjoining India and they knew India could take over
with little force. Thus, they didnt resist the takeover.

Operation Vijay: The Case of Goa

While the French proved a little easy, the Portuguese proved not as
amenable. Portugal was at the time ruled by a dictator - Antnio de
Oliveira Salazar - and he didnt desire giving up his tropical colony of
Goa to India. Goa was a key base for Portugal in the Indian Ocean and
was key to controlling their colonies in Africa. However, pressure was
mounting on Nehru to take over the Portuguese territory. Apart from
internal pressures, there was the external pressure from African
freedom movements who requested India to take over Goa and cut off
Portugal's presence in the Indian ocean.
There were tensions throughout the 1950s as India took over
Portuguese enclaves of Dadra and Nagar Haveli in 1954 and talks
broke down.
On December 18, 1961 the Indian Army entered Goa. The operation
was over in less than two days as Governor General Manuel Antnio
Vassalo e Silva realized the numerically superior position of India and
surrendered.
The issue was taken by Portugal to both UN and NATO. It was
fortuitous that both decided not to act on India. In the UN Security
Council, the Soviet Union vetoed any action on India. In case the of
NATO, the John F. Kennedy administration used a technicality to avoid
acting against India.
31

Here are a few reasons why they didnt act against India:
1. Distracted US administration: Nehru timed the aggression
within months of JFK taking over. The new administration was
still learning the ropes and was too busy focused on the
botched "Bay of Pigs" operation in Cuba. When India took the
administration by surprise, all the President could say was a
dignified "Oops!"
2. Colony or Province? There was an argument on whether Goa
was a province of Portugal or a mere colony. Given that the US
and Canada were colonies once, they were somewhat
sympathetic to India's cause in fighting a colonial power
despite Portugal's argument that Goa was a province. The US
didn't want NATO to be seen as siding with imperial powers
and lose political capital and credibility at a very critical time in
Cuba and Vietnam.
3. World opinion. Most of the world - from newly liberated
colonies in Africa, West Asia, and East Asia to the USSR and
Soviet bloc countries to even China - supported India. NATO's
targets are usually isolated countries that no longer have
friends (such as Milosevic's Serbia or Saddam's Iraq). India had
established itself as a leader of the third world, and it was
politically very expensive to act against India. This was
especially important as IndoChina (Vietnam) was starting to boil
and any action against India was bound to escalate tension
there. For most countries, Goa was too unimportant compared
to the action in other places.
4. British neutrality. Although Britain was a close friend of
Portugal, they also sympathized with the Indian cause and
decided to stay neutral. Canada, Australia and other
Commonwealth members of NATO were also eager to maintain
their relationship with India and were against a NATO action.
5. JFK bias. Although the Eisenhower administration (that ruled
the US until 1960) was more friendly to Portugal, the Kennedy
administration took over in 1961 was more liberal and more
sympathetic to India. Nehru timed his takeover of Goa well
(waiting for Eisenhower to leave office). It is questionable
whether India would have taken over Goa in 1961 if Nixon had
won against Kennedy.
6. UN Veto: Portugal and the US tried to use the UN for an action.
Thanks to the USSR's veto, the UN Security Council refused to
vote against India. This made things even more complicated.
7. Personality of Salazar. Salazar (dictator of Portugal) was not a
32

likable figure, and as an autocratic dictator he didn't have many

friends in the liberal-minded members of NATO.
8. Weakened administration. Although Adlai Stevenson II (US
ambassador to the UN) spoke eloquently against India, he had
little credibility even in the US. Even his own government did
not debrief him regarding the Bay of Pigs crisis and made him
appear stupid when talking about the subject in the General
Assembly. In short, India's enemies were quite weak at that
time and had no political capital to make a significant impact.

The Case of Sikkim

Sikkim was one of the three Himalayan kingdoms sandwiched between
India and China. However, unlike Nepal and Bhutan, Britain considered
Sikkim to be within the natural domain of India. In 1947, India tried to
take Sikkim through a popular vote. However, Sikkim didnt accept
Indias takeover and thus the Himalayan kingdom became a
protectorate of India [where India gets to have a say in her defense,
trade, and foreign policy].
In the late 1960s and early 70s, India was ruled by Nehrus daughter
Indira Gandhi, who took a much more aggressive stance on foreign
policy. India considered Sikkim too important to fall into Chinas sphere
of influence and sought ways to get the state into India. It is alleged
that people from the Nepali plains immigrated into Sikkim in large
numbers and historically these people were more pro-India.
In 1973, massive anti-government riots erupted in Gangtok, the capital
of Sikkim, and the Indian government sent its forces to help restore
order. In 1975, the elected Prime Minister of Sikkim was open to joining
India as a full state. A referendum was held on April 4 1975, and people
overwhelming decided to join India [although it is alleged that it was not
a fair vote given the presence of the Indian army].
On May 16 1975, Sikkim became an official state of India and the last
to do so.

Controversy over Arunachal Pradesh

Arunachal Pradesh is a state in the extreme north east of India. Both
India and China have claimed this territory for decades.
The ancient history of Arunachal is not clear. It borders Assam (a core
33

part of Indian civilizations) and has a few old temples. However, it is

also influenced by Tibetan, Burmese, and Bhutanese cultures.
In the 16th century, the most important heritage of the state - the
Tawang Monastery - was built. This is one of the most important sites
for the Tibetan Buddhists. The area is assumed to have been populated
by the Tibetans at that point.
In ancient times, Indian empires and Tibetan empires were in harmony
and the exact border was neither drawn nor enforced. But things would
soon change.

Modern History
Until 1912, the border between Tibet and India was not quite
delineated. Very few people lived there for it to matter. Neither the
Mughals nor the British were controlling the region. Even the Tibetans
were not that interested.
In short, both India and Tibet were somewhat confused where the
borders lay. Britain initially didn't bother as they found nothing of
importance there. Eventually, they discovered the Tawang Monastery
and it was time to draw the borders. In 1914, the representatives of
Tibet, China, and British India sat together to draw the borders. Before
going into that, I will give a brief introduction to Tibet.

Tibetan History
For a sizable chunk of history, Tibet was an independent region.
However, under the Yuan dynasty (circa 1200 AD) Tibet came under
China. Since then China has claimed Tibet under her rule. In the 18th
century, the Chinese grip was loosened as the Qing dynasty started
decaying. By about the 1860s, Tibet began to be recognized as a
separate country.
By 1913, the Qing dynasty would completely collapse in China and
Tibet would expel all of the remaining Chinese representatives from
Tibet.

Simla Convention of 1914

In 1914, Tibet was an independent, but weak country. British India
negotiated hard and got Tibet to accept that the region of Tawang and
the area south of it belonged to India. Everyone was happy except
34

China. The Chinese representative in the meeting withdrew from it, and
since then China has refused to accept the accord that resulted out of
the meeting.
After the meeting, the border was not fully enforced. Except for
Tawang, there was not much interesting going on in the state and it
was ignored by everyone.
In 1935, a British administrative office would go back to the convention
ruling and unearth the finding. Soon, India would start using the region
in her maps.

Who Does it Belong To?

China never recognized Tibet's independence nor the 1914 Simla
convention. In 1950, China would completely take over Tibet. Thus,
according to China, the Tawang region belongs to her. China especially
wanted to hold on to the monastery as that was a leading center of
Tibetan Buddhism in India.
According to India, most of the state had ancient Indian influence from
Assam, and in 1914 Tibetans signed an agreement to give the state to
India. Also, from an Indian perspective, keeping the Tawang monastery
within India was the best way to protect whatever remained of Tibetan
culture.
In 1962, India and China warred over the region, but the geography
clearly favoured India forcing China to pull back from Tawang. Since
then India has established complete control over the region. It is now a
full fledged state part of India.

Summary
India should be highly thankful to Patel, VP Menon, Nehru, and
Mountbatten for forging the modern India. It was a miracle that they
could do this without starting a civil war. A complete unification
seemed highly unlikely in the summer of 1947, but it was done. They
built a great platform for India to run a sustainable society.
Nehru's 1961 takeover of Goa was in sharp contrast to Suharto's
(Indonesian dictator) takeover of East Timor in 1975. Both Goa and
East Timor were Portuguese colonies taken over by the newly
independent nations of India and Indonesia. While Goans were
peacefully integrated with the rest of India, East Timorese fought hard
35

against Indonesia's occupation and finally got independence from

Indonesia in 2002.
Nehru might get justified criticism when it comes to economic policies
and some tactical mistakes, but he is one of the main heroes of this
chapter in Indian history. He not only helped capture the provinces, but
also helped integrate them in a peaceful manner.
The job was not fully done yet though. The instrument of accession
allowed India control only over defense, foreign policy, and currency of
the princely states it acquired. The princes still had a lot of power, were
practically immune to the Indian courts, and commanded a lot of
riches.
The princes were used to an obscenely rich life. Nawab of Junagadh Sir
Mahabat Khan owned 1,000 dogs. The Hyderabad Nizam owned a
collection of more than 50 Rolls Royces. There were extraordinarily
opulent weddings and magnificent palaces built at a time when the
nation was still reeling in famines.
How would India manage such a fractious group of monarchs - most of
whom didn't care about much more than their personal lives?
Could India afford to give them huge treasuries and a lavish lifestyle
while their populace was dying? Would free India keep up the promises
to these monarchs?
In short, what about the assurances of autonomy that India promised to
these 565 monarchs?

36

Chapter 2: Making of the Indian

Constitution
Fundamental
Rights
were
to
be
framed
amidst
the
carnage
of
Fundamental
Wrongs.
-- Granville Austin (historian of the Constitution)
No
Constitution
can
please
all
the
different
sections
of
any
country,
let
alone
a
country
like
India,
but,
the
overall
picture,
to
my
mind,
is
very
satisfactory
and
not
disappointing
.
I
have
great
faith
that
this
manmade
Constitution
will
succeed
if
men
will
be
genuine
and
generous
enough
in
the
working
of
the
Constitution.
-- Jaipal Singh (Member of the Constituent Assembly)
Sir,
I
see
in
this
Constitution
that
the
despotic
rule
has
come
to
an
end
for
ever
and
the
day
of
popular
rule
has
dawned.
-- Kaka Bhagwant Roy(Member of the Constituent Assembly)
December 9, 1946
Louisiana, Italy
In this village of northern Italy, was born a baby girl into a family of
masons. It would have been very surprising if the poor girl in the tiny
village had become a politician in that village. But, it is astonishing that
the girl, Edvige Antonia Albina Mino, became the most powerful leader
of a country that the family had not even thought about.
Around the hour Ms. Maino (later rechristened as Sonia Gandhi) was
born, an eclectic group of Indians met in the library of a grand building
in New Delhi. The 207 men and women there embarked on writing a
Constitution that would seal the fate of the future citizens of India.
There were conservatives, liberals, dreamers, cynics, Hindus, Muslims,
northerners, southerners, upper castes, lower castes, rich, poor,
capitalists, and communists. However, they were all visionaries in some
sense.
All the major luminaries of India's freedom struggle were assembled
there, except for the one - Mahatma Gandhi - who was busy dousing
religious fires in Bengal. But, again the Mahatma had little interest in
37

committees or paper work and even if he were in Delhi he might not

have attended the assembly.
In Mahatma's absence, the veteran freedom fighter Acharya J. B.
Kripalani called upon the oldest member of that room, the
parliamentarian from Bihar, Dr. Sachchidananda Sinha, to act as the
Interim President of the Assembly until a new one was elected. Two
days later the assembly would elect another Bihari parliamentarian, Dr.
Rajendra Prasad, as the President of the Constituent Assembly.
In the course of the next three years, they would debate to great
lengths on the merits of various democratic ideals from all over the
world - from ancient Athens to the world of post-Second World War.
With an expenditure of 3.4 crores (34 million rupees) they wrote the
longest Constitution in the world and disproved the notion that Asiatics
cannot rule themselves through a democratic process. Dr. Prasad later
went on to become the first President of India and the Constitution that
he helped write has stood the tumultuous 64 years of Indian history.

Why Do We Need a Constitution?

A Constitution defines the structure and scope of a government and
articulates the relationship of the people to its government. It provides
the rights and responsibilities of the citizens as well as a guideline for
the lawmakers to create the laws the citizens will follow.
Some countries do not have a well defined written constitution. The
UK, for instance, provides Parliament the full authority to create laws
and uses tradition to bring structure and order. Many other
commonwealth nations like Canada and New Zealand follow this
principle. Then there are countries like Israel that do not yet have a
codified constitution as an agreement on the provisions of the
constitution eluded consensus.
Before 1947, there were only a handful of countries that had a well
defined written constitution and the Indian framers primarily looked to
US and Irish constitutions for their inspiration. Until the enactment of
the Constitution, India was officially a Dominion of Britain and used the
Government Act of 1935 as the official law.
Mr. Basanta Kumar Das (Constituent Assembly member from West
Bengal) eloquently put this as:
Mr.
President,
Sir,
there
are
mainly
three
factors
which
have
given
our
38

Constitution
the
present
shape.
I
like
to
call
them
the
three
legs
of
this
Constitution,
viz.
(1)
The
experience
gained
through
the
working
of
Government
of
India
Act
of
1935.
(2)
The
needs
and
aspirations
of
the
people
who
have
become
free,
and
(3)
The
impact
of
events
occurring
in
the
country
and
abroad
and
of
those
that
may
be
expected
during
at
least
the
coming
10
years.
Sir,
the
Government
of
India
Act,
1935,
is
an
almost
perfect
mechanism
for
the
smooth
running
of
a
Police
State
and
is
worded
in
a
very
suitably
legalistic
language
standing
the
test
of
time.
The
Constitution
has
therefore,
done
well
to
draw
largely
from
that
document
so
far
as
its
administrative
side
is
concerned.
But
with
freedom
achieved,
the
State
has
to
pass
from
a
'Police
State'
to
a
'Welfare
State'
and
along
with
the
peace
and
security
of
the
country
the
full
growth
of
the
people
is
to
be
assured.

The Constituent Assembly

A Constituent Assembly is a key body that creates the Constitution of a
nation. Americans were among the first to create such an organized
process in creating a constitution and their constitutional convention
produced their first draft in 1787 (that still stands). The French followed
the American ideals and drafted their Constitution soon after the French
Revolution. But, that one didn't really last long.
The idea of a Constituent Assembly for India goes back to 1934 when a
radical Communist from Bengal, Manabendra Nath Roy, fervently
argued for it. Later in 1946, when the Cabinet Mission was sent to
discuss the independence terms with India - the final move to build a
constituent assembly for India came.
India's Constituent Assembly was elected by the legislators from the
provinces for which elections were held in 1946. Three hundred and
eighty-nine members were to be drawn from the various provinces and
princely states - 296 from British ruled provinces and 93 from the
princely states. However, the princely states had not conducted
elections and the Muslim League didn't participate in the Constituent
Assembly either. Thus, the inaugural session consisted of only 207
people.
39

Eventually, the Princely States nominated their representatives and the

Muslim League members who were not part of Pakistan joined the
Constituent Assembly too. This formed the first Parliament.
The Constituent Assembly then sought to create a Drafting Committee
that would get into the legal nitty gritties of the constitution. The articles
produced by the drafting committee would then be put to vote by the
main body.
There were seven key members of the Constituent Assembly who
played a key part:
1. Jawaharlal Nehru - the big dreamer and the Prime Minister who
sought to bring a Constitution that would encompass the
dreams of all sections of the society.
2. Vallabhai Patel - the home minister, who was instrumental in
backroom negotiations. Patel often had much more sway over
Congress than Nehru. His right wing slant gave some balance
to the assembly - many other leaders leaned left.
3. Rajendra Prasad - he was elected as the head of the
Constituent Assembly and later the first President of India. He
was a school teacher and a professor of economics. It was his
job to reconcile the various arguments that the different sides
brought.
4. BR Ambedkar - although he was politically opposed to
Congress, Nehru drafted him as a law minister and made him
the head of the Drafting Committee. Ambedkar brought a lot of
new perspectives as he was from the low castes [most in the
assembly were upper caste Hindus], educated in the US [most
of the Indian stalwarts were UK educated], anti-Congress, and
not from the Gangetic plains [many of the influencers were].
Nehru truly believed that Ambedkar's smartness and new
perspectives would make the Constitution much more relatable
to a vast chunk of the population.
5. Alladi Krishnaswami Aiyer - an eminent lawyer from Madras
who served as the Advocate General of the state. A key legal
luminary and a representative of the south.
6. KM Munshi - a lawyer from Gujarat who found the famed
Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan education trust. He was a key
representative of the conservative interests in the Constitution.
7. BN Rau - a constitutional expert, who served as a Prime
Minister of Jammu & Kashmir. He also helped write the
constitution of Burma. Rau was the ultimate constitutional
authority in the group and he intimately studied the various
40

Constitutions of the time.

Drafting Committee
The
first
task
of
this
Assembly
is
to
free
India
through
a
new
constitution,
to
feed
the
starving
people,
and
to
cloth
the
naked
masses,
and
to
give
every
Indian
the
fullest
opportunity
to
develop
himself
according
to
his
capacity.
-- Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru
The key members started creating the drafting committee which would
actually create the various schedules that would then be debated by
the broader assembly.
Iyer, Rau, Munshi, and Ambedkar became a part of the drafting
committee. They were assisted by TT Krishnamachari, an economist
from Madras who later served Nehru as his Finance Minister;
Gopalaswami Ayyangar, who served Jammu & Kashmir as its Prime
Minister; Muhammed Saadulah, a former Prime Minister of Assam who
represented North East India's interests; and Maadhav Rao, a Diwan of
Mysore who provided one of the key voices of the Princely States.
The drafting committee was fairly transparent in its transactions and
also asked the public to send their opinions and suggestions.
Feedback poured from all over the nation and the committee
deliberated on the key issues.

Debate 1: American vs. English vs. Swiss

One of the key debates was regarding the form of the government.
There were three primary alternatives before the framers of the
Constitution. The British Westminster system provided for the
supremacy of the Parliament and the elected executive would be
directly responsible to the Parliament. In the American system, there
would be a President directly elected by the people and there would be
a separate legislature elected in parallel to pass the laws. In the Swiss
system, there would be a direct democracy with the people directly
electing the ministers.
Firstly,
let
me
deal
with
the
form
of
Government.
Dr.
Ambedkar's
view
is
that
the
British
parliamentary
executive
is
preferable
to
the
American
non-parliamentary
executive
on
the
ground
that
the
former
is
more
41

responsible
though
less
stable,
while
the
latter
is
more
stable
but
less
responsible.
But
if
you
look
at
another
system
of
Government,
namely,
the
Swiss
form
of
Government,
where
the
elected
parliament
again
in
its
turn
elects
the
executive,
there
the
responsibility
is
emphasized.
Having
elected
its
executive,
it
leaves
the
executive
to
work
out
its
schemes
in
a
satisfactory
way
for
a
period
of
four
years
and
the
decisions
of
the
Parliament
are
binding
on
that
executive,
unlike
in
the
case
of
the
American
Presidential
executive.
Therefore,
if
we
want
both
stability
and
responsibility,
the
Swiss
system
of
executive
is
preferable.
-- Mahboob Ali Baig Sahib Bahadur(member from Madras)
Ambedkar had a good understanding of the American form of
government and he put his weight against it. He believed that an
American system could cause a rift between the legislature and the
President leading to less responsibility on the part of the President or a
perpetual chaos. Both seemed scary for the framers.
They eventually settled for the British-style system, the one they were
most comfortable with. However, a number of extra protections were
added.
The Constitution provided for a President, who is not directly elected
by the people, but through the representatives of various elected
bodies, a strong Supreme Court and an independent Election
Commission to provide the due checks on the Parliament. While the
Parliament is the supreme in Britain, in India the Supreme Court has the
power to interpret the Constitution and strike down certain laws.
In the landmark Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala case, the
Supreme Court of India ruled that the Parliament didnt have the right
to amend the basic structure of the Constitution. Article 141 makes the
Supreme Court the ultimate authority on land.

Debate 2: Hindi vs. English

The top political hierarchy - Gandhi, Nehru, Patel and Rajendra Prasad
wanted Hindustani or Hindi to be the common language that would
connect the people of India. They reasoned that a nation should speak
a common tongue and English was not accessible to a vast chunk of
the population. However, this was strongly opposed by TT
Krishnamachari, Madhav Rao, and other members of the southern
42

group.
We
disliked
the
English
language
in
the
past.
I
disliked
it
because
I
was
forced
to
learn
Shakespeare
and
Milton,
for
which
I
had
no
taste
at
all
[I]f
we
are
going
to
be
compelled
to
learn
Hindi
I
would
perhaps
not
be
able
to
do
it
because
of
my
age,
and
perhaps
I
would
not
be
willing
to
do
it
because
of
the
amount
of
constraint
you
put
on
me.

This
kind
of
intolerance
makes
us
fear..
Sir,
it
is
up
to
my
friends
in
U.
P.
to
have
a
whole-India;
it
is
up
to
them
to
have
a
Hindi-India.
The
choice
is
theirs
--TT Krishnamachari
The framers finally agreed to a 15-year timeline in which English would
be used alongside Hindi. At the end of the 15 years, Hindi would
become the sole official language. However, in 1965, when the
deadline ended, protests engulfed the nation and India terminated its
push for Hindi as the sole national language. I will cover this part in later
chapters.

Debate 3: Strong Centre vs. a Weak Federation

This was a very critical issue and among the most debated. India was
formed by a patchwork of diverse provinces and princely states. There
were two options - make a Unitary system - where the central
government had most of the powers, like most of Europe and Africa. Or
have a Federation - where there would be a central government and a
strong provincial government each with their own defined rights. How
powerful should the central government be?
In the meetings before independence, the assembly was leaning
towards a leaner central government that primarily handled defense,
foreign affairs, currency, and communication. The rest would be
handled by the states. This was what the British-led Cabinet Mission
suggested for India. The US was founded on such a federal structure.
India's diversity and vastness meant that a central government would
not be able to adequately handle the socioeconomic demands of all the
citizens living in every corner of the land.
However, the angst of the partition and the massive issue of
resettlement pushed the way for a stronger central government. In fact,
even in the US the government at the center had progressively taken
more power since 1787.
Brajeshwar Prasad of Bihar spoke of the worry in many people's minds
43

when he eloquently argued against federalism:

We
accepted
federalism
in
order
to
meet
the
challenge
of
the
TwoNations
theory
of
the
late
lamented
Mr.
Jinnah.
We
accepted
federalism
in
order
to
persuade
the
Indian
Princes
to
surrender
a
part
of
their
sovereignty.
Now
the
position
is
entirely
changed.
This
country,
Sir,
has
been
unfortunately
partitioned.
The
Princes
today
have
been
liquidated.
The
States
today
are
in
a
far
worse
position
than
the
Indian
Provinces.
Last
time
when
the
Constituent
Assembly
met
I
had
spoken
in
this
House
in
favour
of
a
unitary
State.
A unitary state had its appeal to many nationalists who wanted to build
a more homogenous Indian nation that will not be partitioned anymore.
In essence, national integration became an overarching principle.
Eventually, the framers settled for a federal system with a few unitary
features:
1. In Article 1 (1), Ambedkar explicitly called for India to be a
"Union of States" instead of a Federation.
2. While every state in the US has the right to have its own
constitution, in India only Jammu & Kashmir has that right
through a special provision.
3. There is no separate state citizenship other than the citizenship
of India.
4. Article 3 of the Constitution allows the addition and deletion of
states and the altering of the boundaries without permission of
the State legislature. This power was especially added after the
fifth amendment. This is a significant difference from other
federal systems like the US and Australia. This provision was
used to drastically change Indian provinces as we will see in
Chapter 3.
5. Articles 352, 356, and 360 allow for the declaration of
emergency that would temporarily change the federal system
to a more unitary system. Article 356 is especially contentious
as it allows Parliament to dismiss any state government at will.
This was often abused to meet narrow political needs.
Not everyone liked this arrangement:
The
Constitution
which
is
nearly
complete
has
made
the
Centre
too
strong
and
much
of
the
owners
of
the
Provinces
has
been
curtailed.
The
centre
has
become
the
great
king
and
the
provinces
its
dependencies.
44

-- K. M. Jedhe(Bombay)
That said, there are enough provisions for federalism, including a clear
delineation of Union and State subjects. For instance, only the state
legislatures are allowed to legislate in subjects like education and
property. In S.R. Bommai v. Union of India, the Supreme Court ruled
that federalism is an essential part of the Indian constitution.

Debate 4: Rights of the Minorities

Winston Churchill argued against giving independence to India citing
that India was dominated by a minority of upper caste Hindus and that
the rule of this group was no better than the rule of the British. While
Churchill's bias is well recognized, the Assembly didn't want to have a
serious questioning of India as a multicultural democracy.
The Fundamental rights provided strong provisions for freedom of
speech and religion. Then there was a question of special electorates
for women, Muslims, and the "Untouchables" [the bottom of the caste
system].
In the case of Muslims, the separate electorates reminded people of
partition and thus the Assembly stuck to the historical Congressional
stance that ruled against any religious reservation in legislatures or the
Parliament. In the same way, the female members of the Constituent
Assembly [a very unique sight in the history of constitution-making]
argued against any separate treatment of women. The Indian National
Congress had already elected two female party Presidents in the
decades before that and thus the women felt more secure.
However, when it came to the untouchables, everyone agreed with
Ambedkar. It was felt that their participation and development was
critical for India's growth. Thus, they were the only group to be given
reserved seats to be elected.

Debate 5: Common Civil Code

This was another heated debate - should India have a single law
governing all religions? After the various troubles related to religion, the
British government was careful not to interfere too much into the
religious aspects of Indians. Hindus, Muslims, and Christians were
given separate civil laws that affected things like marriage, divorce,
alimony, inheritance, etc.
45

The Constituent Assembly debated long on evolving a common civil

code.
Now
why
do
people
want
a
uniform
civil
code,
as
in
article
35?
Their
idea
evidently
is
to
secure
harmony
through
uniformity.
But
I
maintain
that
for
that
purpose
it
is
not
necessary
to
regiment
the
civil
law
of
the
people
including
the
personal
law.
Such
regimentation
will
bring
discontent
and
harmony
will
be
affected.
But
if
people
are
allowed
to
follow
their
own
personal
law
there
will
be
no
discontent
or
dissatisfaction.
Every
section
of
the
people,
being
free
to
follow
its
own
personal
law
will
not
really
come
in
conflict
with
others.
-- Mohamad Ismail Sahib (Madras)
Civil
Code,
as
has
been
pointed
out,
runs
into
every
department
of
civil
relations,
to
the
law
of
contracts,
to
the
law
of
property,
to
the
law
of
succession,
to
the
law
of
marriage
and
similar
matters.
How
can
there
be
any
objection
to
the
general
statement
here
that
the
States
shall
endeavour
to
secure
a
uniform
civil
code
throughout
the
territory
of
India?
--Alladi Krishnaswami Ayyar (Madras)
During
the
175
years
of
British
rule,
they
did
not
interfere
with
certain
fundamental
personal
laws...In
fact,
each
community,
each
religious
community
has
certain
religious
laws,
certain
civil
laws
inseparably
connected
with
religious
beliefs
and
practices.
I
believe
that
in
framing
a
uniform
draft
code
these
religious
laws
or
semi-religious
laws
should
be
kept
out
of
its
way.
--Naziruddin Ahmad(Bengal)
I
know
there
are
many
among
Hindus
who
do
not
like
a
uniform
Civil
Code,
because
they
take
the
same
view
as
the
honourable
Muslim
Members
who
spoke
last.
...
A
further
argument
has
been
advanced
that
the
enactment
of
a
Civil
Code
would
be
tyrannical
to
minorities.
Is
it
tyrannical?
Nowhere
in
advanced
Muslim
countries
the
personal
law
of
each
minority
has
been
recognised
as
so
sacrosanct
as
to
prevent
the
enactment
of
a
Civil
Code.
Take
for
instance
Turkey
or
Egypt.
No
minority
in
these
countries
is
permitted
to
have
such
rights.
But
I
go
further.
When
the
Shariat
Act
was
passed
or
when
certain
laws
were
passed
in
the
Central
Legislature
in
the
old
regime,
the
Khojas
and
Cutchi
Memons
were
highly
dissatisfied.

46

--KM Munshi(Bombay)
With no agreement in sight, they postponed it by 10 years by making a
non-enforcing Directive Principle. With severe opposition from the
religious right, the moderates had to cave in on this.
I
do
not
propose
to
touch
on
the
merits
of
the
question
as
to
whether
this
country
should
have
a
Civil
Code
or
it
should
not...
I
quite
realise
their
feelings
in
the
matter,
but
I
think
they
have
read
rather
too
much
into
article
35,
which
merely
proposes
that
the
State
shall
endeavour
to
secure
a
civil
code
for
the
citizens
of
the
country.
It
does
not
say
that
after
the
Code
is
framed
the
State
shall
enforce
it
upon
all
citizens
merely
because
they
are
citizens.
It
is
perfectly
possible
that
the
future
parliament
may
make
a
provision
by
way
of
making
a
beginning
that
the
Code
shall
apply
only
to
those
who
make
a
declaration
that
they
are
prepared
to
be
bound
by
it.
-- BR Ambedkar
Nehru was not happy retaining some of the backward religious laws.
Years later against the opposition of many of his own party men,
including Rajendra Prasad, he pushed the Hindu Code Bill. In a group
of four landmark legislations in 1956, Pandit Nehru enabled the
modernization of the Hindu religious code - allowing divorce, adoption,
alimony and an equitable inheritance to sons, daughters.
While the Hindu code was reformed, other religions were allowed to
keep the 19th century laws (substantially anti-women). Thus, Muslim
women had to put up with polygamy, unilateral divorce, and restriction
of access to alimony or inheritance.
The Muslim laws had especially been controversial as it allowed
polygamy and poor protection to women in matters such as alimony
and divorce. I will cover a detailed episode on this as a part of the Shah
Bano Case, in latter chapters.
In the Mary Sonia Zachariah case, Judge T. Ramakrishnan opined that:
Indian
women
of
all
religions
other
than
Christianity
are
entitled
to
get
divorced
on
the
grounds
of
cruelty
and/or
desertion
which
are
recognized
as
independent
grounds
for
divorce
under
the
respective
enactments
applicable
to
them.
For
Christians
who
are
governed
by
the
Act,
cruelty
and
desertion
are
not
by
themselves
independent
grounds
for
divorce.
47

This came to the front in 1995. A Christian woman was deserted by her
husband and the husband had a child out of his other affair. However,
the religious law didn't allow for divorce on this ground. In fact, the
poor woman was not even able to find her husband.
Eventually the Kerala court ruled that the law discriminated against
Christian women. There was some furor in the community, but
eventually it was accepted. The rights were further extended in 1997. A
Christian woman was arguing for her divorce stating that her husband
was impotent. Under Hindu laws and modern laws of the world that is
justification enough. However, under Christian personal laws it was not.
Thus, the High Court refused to nullify the marriage on that grounds,
although they were ok with applying laws on cruelty.
The judge, Chinnappa Reddy, was sympathetic and said:
It
was
just
the
other
day
that
a
Constitution
Bench
of
this
Court
had
to
emphasise
the
urgency
of
infusing
life
into
Art.
44
of
the
Constitution
which
provides
that
"The
State
shall
endeavour
to
secure
for
the
citizens
a
uniform
civil
code
throughout
the
territory
of
India."
The
present
case
is
yet
another
which
focuses
attention
on
the
immediate
and
compulsive
need
for
a
uniform
civil
code.

Debate 6: God vs. Secularism

Sir,
it
has
been
repeated
to
our
ears
that
ours
is
a
secular
State.
I
accepted
this
secularism
in
the
sense
that
our
State
shall
remain
unconcerned
with
religion,
and
I
thought
that
the
secular
State
of
partitioned
India
was
the
maximum
of
generosity
of
a
Hindu
dominated
territory
for
its
non-Hindu
population.
I
did
not
of
course
know
what
exactly
this
secularism
meant
and
how
far
the
State
intends
to
cover
the
life
and
manners
of
our
people.
Gradually
it
seems
to
me
that
our`secular
State'
is
a
slippery
phrase,
a
device
to
bypass
the
ancient
culture
of
the
land.
-- Lokanath Misra (Orissa)
Mr. Misra brought an important point. India's founding fathers were
intent on secularism, but for many it was not clear what it really meant.
Many nationalists thought India as a Hindu nation and they wanted
enough protection for the religion. There was a sharp debate on this.
This mainly concerned the Preamble that set the overall tone for the
rest of the document.
48

When
I
perused
the
Constitution,
I
was
left
with
the
feeling
that
there
was
a
void
in
it.
We
had
forgotten,
I
do
not
know
why,
to
invoke
the
grace
and
blessing
of
God.
-- HV Kamath (Central Provinces)
The move by Kamath to add an "In the name of God" in the preamble
was defeated somewhat more narrowly than expected (68 to 41). To
arrive at this compromise, it was also decided to drop "secular" in the
Preamble. Thus, the preamble would have neither secular nor God in it.
Another member, Brajeshwar Prasad, wanted to insert "socialist" into
the Preamble and that was also overwhelmingly rejected.
During the darkness of emergency in 1976 [covered in later chapters],
Indira Gandhi would insert both these words into the Preamble, through
the 42nd Amendment, that Indias founding fathers declined to include.
Overall, the Constitution maintained a strongly secular character and
the Supreme Court had ruled that Secularism is a core part of the
structure that cannot be altered.

Debate 7: The Special Status of Jammu &

Kashmir
You
wish
India
should
protect
your
borders,
she
should
build
roads
in
your
area,
she
should
supply
you
food
grains,
and
Kashmir
should
get
equal
status
as
India.
But
Government
of
India
should
have
only
limited
powers
and
Indian
people
should
have
no
rights
in
Kashmir.
To
give
consent
to
this
proposal,
would
be
a
treacherous
thing
against
the
interests
of
India
and
I,
as
the
Law
Minister
of
India,
will
never
do
it.
-- Babasaheb Ambedkar to Sheik Abdullah
In Chapter 1, we saw the history of Kashmir's accession into India and
the instrument of accession permitted a wide range of rights for the
state. In the the eagerness to get the state admitted, Congress didn't
think too much about those rights. These came before the Constituent
Assembly.
Article 370 of the Indian Constitution deals with the special status given
to the state of Jammu & Kashmir. It provides a fairly high degree of
autonomy to the state, enables the state to have its own constitution
(unique in an Indian context) which permits the state to give some
49

special privileges to its "permanent residents". One such special

privilege is that only a permanent resident can buy land in the state and
citizens from other Indian states face some restrictions.
The article was enacted with much displeasure to Sardar Patel and
Babasaheb Ambedkar. It is a very controversial topic as the region is
an international hotspot and the state is the only Muslim-majority state
in India.
In this issue, Nehru weighed the opinion of Gopalaswami Ayyangar - an
ex-Prime Minister of Kashmir more than others. Nehru was himself a
Kashmiri Pandit and together this duo was allegedly biased towards
Kashmir.
Gopalaswami
Ayyangar
has
been
especially
asked
to
help
in
Kashmir
matters.
Both
for
this
reason
and
because
of
his
intimate
knowledge
and
experience
of
Kashmir,
he
had
to
be
given
full
latitude.
I
really
do
not
know
where
the
States
Ministry
(Sardar
Patels
ministry)
comes
into
the
picture
except
that
it
should
be
kept
informed
for
[sic]
the
steps
taken.
-- Pandit Nehru to the Assembly
Ayyangar argued that Kashmir was not fully integrated, a third of the
state was still in occupation of Pakistan and the matter was with the
UN Security Council. Thus, he said there must be special provisions for
Kashmir as a stopgap until the state was ready for full integration.
Nehru was in the US at the time of framing Article 370 and fully left the
matter to Mr. Ayyangar while the constituent assembly was in an
uproar.
As originally envisaged, Article 370 gave Jammu & Kashmir complete
control over their destiny (except when it came to matters of defense
and diplomacy, where the Indian government had control).
Fundamental rights and duties, directive principles of the state policy,
and even the supremacy of the Indian Supreme Court didn't apply to
the state. The state had its own constitution and its own flag.
Along with Article 35A of the Indian Constitution, it allowed the state to
prefer the J&K "citizens" for:
Employment under the State Government;
Acquisition of immovable property in the State;
Settlement in the State; and
50

The right to scholarships and other forms of aid as the State

Government may provide.
However, since 1950, the Indian government slowly eroded on the
state's autonomy (giving Supreme Court jurisdiction over the state and
making most of the Union laws applicable to the state). Presently, most
institutions of the Government of India apply to the state as a result of
The Delhi Agreement, 1952. In 2002, the J&K High court has ruled that
daughters of the state would continue to be permanent residents even
after marrying people from outside the state (men always had this
right).
The key sticking point is that the citizens from other parts of India could
not easily migrate to Kashmir nor acquire land in the state. Only
"Permanent Residents" of the state could acquire property and other
Indians cannot become permanent residents.
The state prides itself in being unique this way and there is a claim that
such "uniqueness" breeds further separatism. However, others feel that
such a major change would breed further resentment and build more
separatism.

Directive Principles
In
the
Directive
Principles
of
State
Policy
we
have
said
that
although
they
may
not
be
enforceable
in
a
court
of
law,
they
are
nevertheless
fundamental
for
the
governance
of
this
country.
-- Ms. Purnima Banerji (UP)
There were many ideas that the Assembly proposed that the framers
didn't want to make mandatory for the government to implement. For
instance, Hindus wanted cow slaughter to be banned. Reformers
sought an equality of pay for both women and men and protection of
wildlife. Gandhians wanted the protection of cottage industries,
abolition of alcohol, and maintaining the village panchayats [local
councils].
Instead of debating endlessly on these, the framers tucked all these
into a "nice to have section" at the end that should theoretically guide
the Parliament in its law making. However, these didn't have legal
authority on the government.

The Constitution Comes to Power

51

We
are
to
begin
our
journey
on
the
26th
January
1950
when
we
will
resolve
ourselves
to
carry
out
the
Constitution
in
letter
and
spirit
for
the
good
of
the
people.
Equally
so
the
people
must
also
realise
their
duty
to
the
State
and
work
shoulder
to
shoulder
with
the
State.
The
provisions
contained
in
the
Fundamental
Rights
and
Directive
Principles
of
State
Policy
are
ample
evidences
for
the
guarantee
to
the
people.
Now
that
alien
rule
has
been
eliminated,
we
give
this
Constitution
to
ourselves.
-- Dr. V Subramaniam (Madras)
After three years of deliberations, the Assembly finally approved the
Constitution on the 26th of November 1949. The three years of effort
cost nearly Rs 3.4 crores (34 million). However, it came out with a very
satisfying result. Article 13 made the Constitution itself the ultimate
authority on land.
The leaders waited two months to properly bring the Constitution to the
public. They chose the day of January 26, 1950. It was on January 26,
1930 that Nehru first unfurled the Indian flag in Lahore demanding
Purna Swaraj (complete independence). Until 1947, January 26 was
celebrated as "independence day". To keep up with the significance of
the day, the constitution came to force on that day and it was now
called the Republic Day.
As of July 2014, the constitution has 448 articles, 25 parts, 12
schedules, and 120 amendments. The original 479 page calligraphic
edition signed by all the framers is preserved in a helium filled case by
Parliament.
The
Constitution
as
it
stands
today,
is
the
result
of
heated
discussion
and
long
debates
carried
over
thousands
of
amendments
moved
by
the
honourable
Members
of
this
House.
In
fact
there
is
not
a
single
word
in
the
Constitution
which
has
not
received
the
notice
of
some
Member
or
the
other.
I
can
go
to
the
length
of
stating
that
even
punctuations,
viz.,
comma,
semicolon,
and
full
stops,
have
received
due
notice.
-- Ram Chandra Gupta (UP)

Why Juries are not used in India? An endnote

on the Legal System
Although not directly related to the drafting of the Constitution, I would
also end this chapter with a brief overview of the Indian legal system.
52

India follows the Common Law system of Britain that enables the
courts to create laws while passing key judgments. In parallel, there
were also processes to codify the criminal laws more clearly. In 1860,
after much debate, colonial England decided to change India's laws
introducing the Indian Penal Code. It was essential as the Crown
wanted to have a reasonably fair system to calm the nation after the
revolt of 1857. The Indian penal code was then applied in a wide span
of land from Nigeria to Singapore.
In most countries following the common law, there is also a provision of
juries. These are people selected from the common public who hear
the various arguments and pronounce a defendant as guilty or not
guilty.
However, in the landmark KM Nanavati v State of Maharashtra case,
the court finally struck down the jury system.
On April 27, 1959 a popular naval commander shot dead his wifes
lover. The question before the court was whether the murder was
premeditated or not.
The public rallied in his support (given how conservative India was then)
and the jury decided it was not premeditated murder. Later, the
Supreme court found the jury to be too influenced by the media leading
them to make erroneous judgments. This case proved to be final straw
against the jury system in the young democracy.
While peoples opinions are to be respected, various thought leaders
worried about the fickleness of public opinion that can often make the
system hot-headed, unstable and vindictive. Whether outlawing the jury
system or adding even more checks on the Parliament, various thought
leaders sought to prevent the public from shooting themselves on the
foot.

53

Chapter 3: Reorganizing India

I
do
believe
that
we
should
hurry
up
with
the
reorganization
of
linguistic
provinces.
-- Mahatma Gandhi (October 10, 1947)
The
main
advantage
of
the
scheme
of
Linguistic
Provinces
which
appeals
to
me
quite
strongly
is
that
Linguistic
Provinces
would
make
democracy
work
better
than
it
would
in
mixed
Provinces.
-- BR Ambedkar (1948)
Our
great
provincial
languages
are
no
dialects
or
vernaculars,
as
the
ignorant
sometimes
call
them.
They
are
ancient
languages
with
a
rich
inheritance,
each
spoken
by
many
millions
of
people,
each
tied
up
inextricably
with
the
life
and
culture
and
ideas
of
the
masses
as
well
as
the
upper
classes.
-- Pandit Nehru (1937)
August 15, 2011
Hyderabad
I was visiting my relatives in Hyderabad. I have a large extended family
in the city. The movement to create a new state of Telangana was at its
peak as the activists moved for a final push.
It was a confusing time as it looked like Telangana might be ending
what Andhra Pradesh had started in 1953 - reorganizing India on the
lines of language. As India's 29th new state entered on June 2, 2014, it
is not clear whether that fear would hold.
India was a land of 1,600 languages. After Patel welded India it was a
hodgepodge of provinces that were organized not by language or
culture, but by the historic conveniences of its rulers.
Nehru had a vision of one India, speaking one language. In 1947, he
underestimated the people's passions towards their regional
languages, although in 1937 he exhibited a remarkable understanding
of the problem.
The remarkably prescient Mahatma Gandhi, however, begged to differ.
The Congressional party was built on communication through these
54

regional languages and if Mahatma Gandhi could unite India, while

writing primarily in Gujarati and English, there was no reason why India
could not be a single nation with dozens of regional languages. For
almost a decade, Nehru fought against a linguistic organization of
states, but in 1956 he relented.
The linguistic reorganization was one of the bold experiments and it
worked great. It strengthened India by enabling strong states and
weakening the many separatist movements (that wanted to separate
fearing India's imposition of one culture). It is extremely rare to see a
strong nation where each state spoke a different language. India pulled
off a miracle.

The provinces of India

At the time of independence India's first main task was to give some
order to the hodgepodge of the territories India inherited from the
British. It was a mammoth task as the British didn't directly rule a big
chunk of India.
However, India was incredibly lucky to have Vallabhai Patel. He
grouped the variety of territories into three buckets. These were the
three types of states that were recognized by our constitution in 1950:
1. Governor Ruled: Former provinces of British India - West
Bengal, Madras, Bombay, Central Provinces, United Provinces,
Orissa, and Punjab.
2. Rajpramukh Ruled: Groups of princely states united by Patel Hyderabad, Travancore, Kashmir, Saurashtra, Patiala, Mysore,
Madhya Bharat, and Rajasthan.
3. Chief Commissioner Ruled: Small territories that were in
between: Ajmer, Bhopal, Himachal, Coorg, Manipur, Tripura,
Bilaspur, Kutch, Delhi, and Vindhya Pradesh.
None of these states were formed on linguistic lines. Various leaders
starting from Mahatma Gandhi advocated a linguistic organization, but
after the death of Mahatma Gandhi his advice was lost in thin air.
However, 5 years after Mahatmas death, the goal of linguisticallyorganized states would materialize.

Part 1: Potti Sreeramulu Sets the Ball Rolling

You
will
observe
that
we
have
disturbed
the
hornets
nest
and
I
believe
55

most
of
us
are
likely
to
be
badly
stung.
-- Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (1953)
In 1947, the province of Madras was a sprawling one that included its
people speaking four different languages - Kannada, Telugu,
Malayalam, and Tamil. However, the political control mainly resided
with the Tamils - with two Tamil leaders, Kamaraj and Rajagopalachari
(Rajaji), having a national level influence.
The problem came to a fore in 1947 when Kamaraj forced T. Prakasam
(a Telugu speaker) to resign after he was elected as the Chief Minister
of Madras. Three Chief Ministers were changed from 1947-52 as
Kamaraj showed power to play politics. At that time the Madras
Congressional party was divided into four factions:
1. Rajaji's unit - this had a lot of support from Brahmins especially Tamil Brahmins.
2. Kamaraj's unit - this had a big control over Tamil Nadu's nonBrahmins.
3. T. Prakasam's unit - this had a big influence over the Telugu
group.
4. Pattabhi Sitaramayya's unit - this had a big influence over
Telugu Brahmins.
The non-Congressional parties, especially the Dravida Kazhagam, was
also split with Annadurai wrestling control over the movement by
forming a separate party of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK).
It was in this context that the state elections of 1951 were conducted.
With such a fractious split, no one was able to form a government. The
Congressional party finally brought Rajaji out of his retirement after he
had been in India's highest position of Governor General. Rajaji
successfully mended the differences in the coalition. However, many
Telugu people were still disturbed at the perceived dominance of
Tamils.
The Andhra movement was earlier subdued by the "JVP Committee"
comprised of Jawaharlal Nehru, Vallabhai Patel, and Pattabhi
Sitaramayya. Let down both by the central government as well as
Andhra Congress groups, some of the Andhra supporters were
frustrated.
In 1952 an ex-freedom fighter, Potti Sreeramulu, wanted to take the
56

Gandhian route. He was an engineer educated from the famous VJTI of

Bombay who came to the Gandhian movement after losing his wife and
only child during a failed delivery. He took part in various fasts to get
more rights for India's downtrodden Dalits.
On the 19th of October 1952, he would start his last fast in the city of
Madras. India's leadership didn't relent. On the 58th day of the fast,
Sreeramulu died. His death sparked wide riots. Within three days of his
death on the 19th of December, Nehru announced the creation of a
state for the Telugu people. The first linguistically organized state was
born.

Fight for Madras

After the Telugus got their state, the fight shifted to the ownership of
Madras - the largest city of the south. For centuries, Madras had
cultural influences of both the Tamils and Telugus. While the temples
that dot the city were primarily Tamil, many of the prominent citizens
since 17th century were Telugu. A proposal to partition the city along
the river Cooum was put to the table.
For both sides this was a crucial battle. Telugus rallied with the slogan Madras Manade. Tamils countered with a slogan - Madras Namade
(both meaning "Madras is ours" in their respective languages). Nehru
appointed the Wachoo Commission to decide on this and the
Commission favored an unequivocal inclusion of Madras in the Tamil
province - given the population demographics.
An agreement was offered that in return for Telugus dropping their fight
for Madras, the Tamil groups decided to drop the demand for Chittor
(with the famous temple of Tirupati). Finally, in October 1953, the new
state of Andhra Pradesh was formed with Kurnool as the capital.
The Pandora's box was now wide open. Soon, everyone else started to
ask for their own state based on their language.

Part 2: West and South Get Altered

Lathi
goli
khayenge,
phir
bhi
Bambai
layenge.
(We will eat bullets and sticks. But, we will still stick to Bombay.)
-- slogan of Maharashtra protesters fighting for Bombay.

57

Like the Andhrites, the Marathis have long fought for a separate state.
The powers of the Bombay Presidency primarily centered around the
Gujaratis. Gujaratis were rich, powerful, and better organized. Similar
demand came from elsewhere in India.
The central government commissioned a body of experts under the
State Reorganization Commission under the leadership of Fazal Ali. The
group traveled all over India taking over 15,000 written submissions
over a course of three years. In 1956, the modern states were formed
on linguistic lines through the landmark States Reorganization Act.
The main change was in the south and west.
1. The Kannada speaking parts of Bombay state, Madras state,
and Hyderabad state were merged to form Karnataka.
2. Andhra Pradesh was further enlarged with the addition of
Telugu-speaking parts of Hyderabad.
3. Madras and Travancore-Cochin provinces exchanged districts
to form the Malayalam-speaking Kerala and the Tamil-speaking
Madras state.
4. The Hindi-speaking parts of central India were united to create
Madhya Pradesh.
5. Marathi-speaking parts of Central Provinces and Hyderabad
were added to Bombay.
In the north, the princely states grouped under Patiala and East Punjab
States Union (PEPSU) merged with Punjab. Small Bengali speaking
parts of Bihar were merged with West Bengal. However, the
Commission refused to change the boundaries in the North East or give
a separate state for the Sikhs and Maharashtrians.

Fight for Bombay

In Maharashtra, there was a fight for Bombay similar to the Madras
fight. The city was almost evenly divided between the Gujaratis and
Marathis, while the surrounding areas were primarily Marathi. The
Commission had initially recommended for a joint ownership of the city.
However, violence erupted and the police fought with brutality. Nehru
didn't give in and neither did the protesters. On May 1, 1960 the Indian
government finally relented and the new states of Maharashtra and
Gujarat were created with Bombay going to Maharashtra.

Part 3: North and North East Get Altered

58

The partition of India left a lot of unfinished business. The Sikhs were
among the worst affected in the process and they yearned for a
separate state - the Punjabi Suba. In the state of Punjab, they were a
minority with just a third of the population. Similarly, in the North East, a
lot of dissimilar tribes were grouped into a single province of Assam
merely for administrative convenience. Both were to change.
Nehru was worried about the creation of states on religious grounds as
the wounds of the creation of Pakistan hurt him. Thus, he ignored the
activism of Master Tara Singh (a Sikh convert from Hinduism, who also
cofounded Vishwa Hindu Parishad) who was fighting for a Sikh majority
state.

Entry of Indira
On January 24, 1966, Indira Gandhi became the third Prime Minister of
India. She didn't carry the baggage and wounds of Nehru. In the just
concluded 1965 war with Pakistan, Sikhs were among the biggest
demographic groups in the Indian Army. Indira's government thus
wanted to reward the Sikhs and on November 1, 1966, the state of
Punjab was trifurcated.
1. The Sikhs got the state of Punjab with the holy city of Amritsar
at the center.
2. The Hindus speaking the Haryanvi dialects were grouped to
form the state of Haryana.
3. The Hindus speaking the Pahari dialects and hill tribes got the
state of Himachal Pradesh.

Northeast Reorganization 1971

Another war with Pakistan. This time the war was in the east (to split
Pakistan and create Bangladesh) and coincidentally the reorganization
was also in the east.
The state of Assam was divided into six units - with the creation of the
new states of Tripura, Meghalaya, and Manipur and union territory
status for Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh. Eventually, Mizoram and
Arunachal also became full states.

Part 4: Push for Smaller States

In 2000, the BJP government pushed for smaller states to address the
development problems in India's large interior states - Bihar, Uttar
59

Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh Chhattisgarh, Uttaranchal, and Jharkhand

were created out of larger states.
These states were carved without much issues and might have been
the reason for a faster growth of the region since 2000. BJP had always
sought for manageable governance units. Even after the division, the
state of Uttar Pradesh has more people than Russia, Canada, Australia,
and Kazakhstan - four of world's nine largest countries by area combined. Effective governance demands more manageable units than
this.

Part 5: Telangana Gets Created

On June 2, 2014, India had its 29th state (and the last new state at the
time of this writing) formed out of the Hyderabad Nizam's provinces in
Andhra Pradesh. For the activists of a United Andhra Pradesh, this was
a slap in the face of Potti Sriramulu. For the activists of Telangana, this
was a new beginning of their socioeconomic interests.
Since this was the most controversial of the state divisions (fought for
more than 50 years) I will get into some detail on the pros and cons.
Bad
1. Education. Andhra Pradesh suffers the most as their people are
already feeling the brunt of the backlash in Hyderabad. Close
to half of erstwhile AP's top engineering colleges are in
Telangana. Apart from losing these colleges, AP students have
now lost their domicile status in many of the private colleges.
For a few years there will be a backlash against their
admissions. Until new colleges are built in AP, there will be
increased hardships for students and their careers. Especially
for the Costas, higher education is a very important issue.
2. Water. I'm from the Kaveri delta and I can tell you what
happens if you are a victim of water disputes. The river that
once supported the great civilization of Cholas is quite dry and
a great region is blighted due to the water wars with Karnataka
after the Madras state was divided in the 1950s. I hope the
same doesn't happen to the Krishna/Godavari delta given that
Telangana now controls the water. As Telangana develops
more, dams will be built and water will start to get diverted out
of the delta.
3. Emotional battles. As AP starts moving to their fourth capital
since independence, emotions will run high. They have been
60

made strangers in their own capital. Hopefully, GOI presses

enough on the new Telangana government to treat all Indian
citizens the same.
4. Finances. People from all parts of AP put all their eggs in
Hyderabad and make the city generate half of the undivided
state's revenues. Now, when they lose Hyderabad there will be
strain on the state's finances that will curtail many development
projects.
Good
1. Better governance. Small states have in general been good for
India. The previous division of states (such as Punjab-Haryana,
UP-Uttarakhand, and Bihar-Jharkhand) have all been quite
successful. Telangana would be able to prioritize its own issues
(such as primary education and building an industrial base)
while Andhra could aim for rapid development in the services
and food sector given that it has a lot of developed districts.
2. Telangana has a historic opportunity. Millions of poor Indians
live in land locked states like Telangana. So far, their needs
have been ignored. Now they have water, engineering colleges,
revenue bases, and thus no longer have an excuse to not
develop.
3. Faster development. Telangana could now grow fast as they
now have the resources. Andhra could grow faster due to the
separation.
4. Well-rounded development. People from all parts of AP
invested too much in Hyderabad and too little in Guntur,
Rajahmundry, or Nellore. The painful lesson should make
everyone in India realize the need for more rounded
development instead of putting too much on our metros. The
Andhra people will move with a renewed vigor to develop a
new capital along with 10 tier-two cities and this will be good
for everyone in India.
5. Moving on. For decades, the state was mired in clashes and
disturbances. Now that the division is done everyone can move
back to focusing on developing top-notch states. Without the
Telangana region to hold them back, AP could move fast. In
the same way, Telangana could assure more development in
Nalgonda, Warangal, and Karimnagar.
6. Handling violence. AP would now be spared of dealing with all
the Naxals. Telangana could now make Naxals as the top
priority and deal with both peaceful and forceful terms. Some
of the Naxal problem is due to a lack of rural development and
61

this could partly be solved now.

Fight for the Cities

Since the start of the civilization, cities have formed the core of culture.
In the past 300 years, India has not kept pace with the creation of
cities. Thus, there is always a big fight for the important cities. These
cities are the only connection to modernity for many regions.
Different linguistic groups tried to wrestle key cities from other linguistic
groups. Samyukta Maharashtra groups tried to get a hold of Bombay
that was mostly under the control of Gujarati merchants. Andhra
movements fought for the control of Madras. Telangana groups fought
to control Hyderabad. Punjab and Haryana fought hard for control of
Chandigarh.
Overall the lesson for India from these agitations is not to concentrate
too much power and revenue generation on a handful of cities. This
lopsided development has made states war for key cities (GujaratMaharashtra for Mumbai, Tamil Nadu-Andhra for Chennai, PunjabHaryana for Chandigarh, and now for Hyderabad). If AP had 10 other
equivalent cities, maybe they would not have been so vociferous nor
would Telangana have been so eager.
I will end the chapter by giving some background on the anti-Hindi riots
of Tamil Nadu.

Anti-Hindi Agitations of the South

It
would
be
absurd
to
make
Hindustani
the
medium
of
instruction
in
all
the
regions
and
it
is
still
more
absurd
to
use
English
for
this
purpose.
--Mahatma Gandhi
India's extreme corners were always somewhat an enigma to the
people close to the center. North Easterners are often derisively called
as chinki (corruption of the Hindi word for Chinese people). Chennai
(the capital of extreme south) is among the most hated cities in India.
Given how their histories developed, these states were usually more
proud of their independent lineage and this often rankles the other
Indians.
On the 26th of January 1965, India was to switch to Hindi as the sole
official language of the central government. When India was
62

formulated, Patel, Nehru, and many of the Constitution framers thought

of Hindi as the national language. English was supposed to be a
transitional language. In 1963, Nehru passed the Official Language Act
that provided some assurances that English would continue to stay
official. However, the language of the act was too ambiguous for the
southern politicians.
In 1963, Annadurai, the leader of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK),
launched a new round of agitations that reached a peak when an
activist, Chinnasamy, died of self-immolation in Trichy.
After Nehru died in 1964, things were getting worse. Shastri had to
back down after the 1965 agitations and finally in 1967 the Official
Languages Act was amended. Since then the regional languages have
received further protection. As a result of these protests, DMK was able
to capture power in Tamil Nadu for the first time and the national
parties never captured the state since then.

63

Long-Term Effects of the Agitation

1. English protected: India's Constitution stipulated the use of
English only for the first 15 years (until 1965). English was
designated as a transition language. But for the Tamils, English
would have ceased to be an official language of India after
1965 and would have curtailed our options in the global
market. The agitations kept English relevant in India.
2. End of TN Congress: The agitation was used by the Dravidian
parties to create a following and the protests weakened the
Congress in TN. In the elections after the 1965 agitations,
Congress lost power and has been declining since then. To this
day, India's national parties are unable to impact the state in a
big way. On the flip side, it has made it almost impossible for a
Tamil to become a Prime Minister.
3. Multicultural democracy: The absence of a national language
prevented the integration of different states into a common
national ethos and identity. However, it strengthened the
multicultural tolerance in India.
4. Protection of regional arts and diversity: While the film
industries and other cultural elements of states that accepted
Hindi got diminished, in states that didn't accept Hindi the
regional arts flourished. Thus, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh
have the biggest movie industries in India after Bollywood.
5. Hampered national movement of Tamils: While the English
acceptance helped the Indians get a wider range of service
jobs, it has also made the life of Tamils who want to migrate to
the rest of India hard.
6. Withdrawal of Brahmins from Tamil politics: The Dravidian
parties blamed Tamil Brahmins for bringing Hindi, despite the
fact that many of Brahmin leaders such as Radhakrishnan
opposing the Hindi imposition. Since the anti-Hindi agitations,
TamBrams have withdrawn from most political activities in
Tamil Nadu.

Has the Linguistic Organization Helped India?

1. Strengthened the union: Until the 1950s, many regions of India
- including Tamil region wanted to secede from India. The
extremists contended that they were never part of Indian
kingdoms for most of the history and the separatists in the
region wanted to get out of India. However, after getting a
separate state for Tamil people, the secession demands have
64

gone away as they have a good level of autonomy. Thus, the

Tamils are able to get the benefits of being in India, while still
maintaining the Tamil culture.
2. Maintained the diversity: Without the linguistic organization,
many of the regional languages could have died. Cultural
diversity is a key strength of India and the linguistic
organization has protected it.
3. Healthy competition: Although a lot of times the competition
turns unhealthy (e.g. the water wars between Karnataka and
Tamil Nadu that I will cover later) for the most part the
competition is healthy. There is a shadow growth war between
southern cities such as Bangalore, Chennai, and Hyderabad.
This competition pushes our politicians to care a tiny bit more
than the politicians in states that don't have a linguistic rivalry
(BIMARU states).
4. Better growth: There is some correlation between states with
high
linguistic
attachment
and
states
with
high
economic/human development.
On the surface, the linguistic organization seems to go against the "one
nation" rule. But, if you look deeper, the strength of our civilization lies
in the concept of "one destination, many paths".

65

Chapter 4: Ancient Enmities and

Troubled Warriors
September 30, 2010
I was in Ayodhya, a holy city in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. It
was really tense and I saw police forces from all parts of the state
brought in. I was traveling around India for a few weeks trying to
understand a little more about the culture. After I got out of the bus, I
took a rickshaw to take me around the place and let me understand the
trouble there. It was the day when the Allahabad High Court was to
pronounce its verdict on the historic dispute of the temple.
With no effort, I got to a small room in the basement where a key
religious leader was boasting about his part in bringing down the
mosque 18 years ago. He also took me around the campus where the
parts to create a temple were almost ready, just waiting to be
assembled. Locals told me that the temple would be ready to be built in
24 hours, if the court gives a go.
All eyes were on the High Court, 160 kilometers south. The court at
Allahabad had heard years of arguments on both sides. Amidst tense
moments, I tried to get to the controversial site that both Hindus and
Muslims claimed to be theirs. However, the police stopped me from
getting too close.
Eighteen years before that time, on December 6, 1992 independent
India faced its biggest challenge for its secularist credentials when a
mob of Hindu karsevaks (volunteers) demolished a 16th century
mosque at the place where I was heading to. That was followed by a
year of communal clashes and bomb blasts as both Hindus and
Muslims were at each other's throats. The most recent violent episode
was in 2002 a group of pilgrims returning from the temple were burnt
down in the state of Gujarat, sparking a major communal riot.

Hindu - Muslim Troubles

Ancient Trouble at Ayodhya
Lord Rama, the hero of the epic Ramayana, has an important place in
the Hindu faith. Devotees look up to him for inspiration and cherish his
66

ideal qualities - honesty, respect for elders, love for his wife,
monogamy, affection for his brothers, and a king who treated his
subjects in a just way. Scriptures say that he was born in the town of
Ayodhya, on the banks of the river Sarayu, 500 kilometers east of Delhi.
The town teems with temples dedicated to the various characters of
Ramayana. However, there is one key spot missing - the birthplace of
Ram. Many Hindus believe that the temple at the birthplace of Rama
was the one destroyed in 1527 by the Mughal king, Babur in the 16th
century and built a mosque over it. Various excavations by the
Archaeological Survey of India show that there was indeed a Hindu
temple and probably even a Buddhist place of worship at the site the
mosque once stood.
The fact that a Hindu temple was destroyed to build the Babri Masjid
was not an altogether surprising thing. Throughout India, many Hindu
and Buddhist structures were erased by various Muslim rulers to
propagate Islam. Various holy cities of Hinduism - Mathura, Varanasi,
and Somnath - are all witnesses to historical carnage.
Like in Jerusalem, now there are two religious groups who claimed
ownership of the site through historical links. The Hindus believed that
the site was the birthplace of Ram and for Muslims it was the place
where Babar built an important mosque.
The trouble came to the fore during the British rule and in 1853 (four
years before India's first war of independence) there was a major
religious riot near the site on the ownership. Six years later, the local
government erected fences around the site and allowed the Hindus to
use the outer court while letting the Muslims use the inner court. In a
Court verdict by Judge Chamier of Faizabad in 1886, the judge
prevented building a temple just outside the Masjid although he
sympathized with the claim.
I
visited
the
land
in
dispute
yesterday
in
the
presence
of
all
parties.
I
found
that
the
Masjid
built
by
Emperor
Babur
stands
on
the
border
of
Ayodhya,
that
is
to
say,
to
the
west
and
south
it
is
clear
of
habitations.It
is
most
unfortunate
that
a
Masjid
should
have
been
built
on
land
specially
held
sacred
by
the
Hindus,
but
as
that
event
occurred
356
years
ago,
it
is
too
late
now
to
agree
with
the
grievances.
-- Court verdict of Col. F.E.A. Chamier, District Judge, Faizabad (1886)

Trouble in Independent India

67

Britain imposed a status quo for decades and there was no major
incident for the next six decades. In December 1949, the controversy
rose again as a group of idols allegedly sneaked into the now decrepit
mosque in the dark of the night.
Hindu priests claimed superhuman intervention while the government
could not accept magic. Both the Muslims and Hindus fought and the
government decided to lock down the whole site. For years, the matter
was fought in the courts.
By mid 1970s, Hindu parties started to get stronger due to the
weakness of the center and by 1984 a movement to build the temple at
Ram Janmabhoomi (birth site of Ram) was formed.

The Specter of Shah Bano

When the 60-year old Shah Bano Begum filed a case for getting her
alimony in a local court, in April 1978, she didn't obviously know that
she would change Indian history. She was a mother of five who was
married to one Mohammed Ahmed Khan in 1932. Mr. Khan married
another woman 14 years after their marriage and in 1978 he deserted
his older wife. She was promised Rs.200/month for maintenance and
that was not held up. In November 1978, Khan divorced Bano through
the Islamic method of triple talaq (all you need to do is utter the word
thrice and you are divorced from your spouse).
India had different personal laws for different religions and the
government was loathe to change the personal laws of Muslims.
However, the lower court took a more sympathetic view of the poor
woman who had to support five kids and asked the man to pay a
meager sum. The High Court of Madhya Pradesh enhanced the sum in
a further appeal in July 1980. The court used the provisions of the
Section 125 of the Criminal Procedure Code that overrode the personal
laws of religions.
Various Muslim boards vigorously opposed the court's decision and
took the matter to the Supreme Court. On April 23, 1985, the Supreme
Court upheld the High Court's decision - Mr. Khan had to pay a
monthly maintenance to his wife and children. The court saw it as a
humanitarian case and also recommended the government bring a
Uniform Civil Code across the nation (applying the same set of civil
laws across the nation).
The Court's decision should not have been a shock for any rational
68

person. Of course, an old lady deserted by a husband would have the

sympathy. However, Muslim bodies took umbrage at this and believed
that the court was encroaching their liberties. They were not ready for
modernizing their laws and the government was very careful not to
upset the vote banks.
When Mr. Rajiv Gandhi came to power in 1984, he took a leaf out his
mother's book - of toying with laws to cut the teeth of the courts. In
August 1985, a Parliamentarian Gulam Mohammed Mahmood
Banathwala introduced a private member bill in the Parliament to
overrule the Court's judgment. Rajiv initially stood ground and voted to
defeat the bill. However, he started giving more importance to the
conservative Muslims. On the 22nd of November 1985, one of Rajiv
Gandhi's men - Z. A. Ansari launched a senseless three hour tirade
against the Supreme Court and judge Chandrachud. Famous judges all
over the nation reacted in anger.
Rajiv finally gave into the pressure, as he had little political experience.
The controversial Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act
of 1986 was enacted and the Supreme Court's judgment was nullified.
Muslim men were now free to divorce their wives at any time and just
pay 90 days worth of maintenance amount. Civil organizations were
aghast. Even many progressive Muslims were stunned. Arif Mohammad
Khan, a minister in Rajiv's party resigned.
While the Civil Society made a feeble protest, another group saw a
huge opening created out of this. The conservative Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP) was reduced to ashes in the 1984 elections and this was a
time for them to make a move. The conservative organizations and
women organizations made a strange coalition and protests were held.
The government was on the back foot and had to do something to
balance the favor they did to the Muslims. Rajiv made a smart political
calculation a couple of months before the bill was finally passed into a
law.

Opening the Gates at the Ayodhya

In January 1986, a petition was filed by a local journalist Umesh
Chandra Pandey to open the gates of the Mosque for worship. The
issue got the attention of Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and his close
advisor and cousin Arun Nehru. Both of them saw this as an
opportunity to assuage the Hindus.

69

The government gave a green signal to the local court and the court
allowed the opening of the gates on February 1, 1986.
Muslim lawyers fought on, but the government was firm. In 1988, a
Muslim parliamentarian Syed Shahabuddin got the government to ban
Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses in return for not taking a rally to
Ayodhya. The government once again gave way to pressure groups
and banned the book and triggered a controversy elsewhere.
To balance that, in November 1989 the government green signaled the
laying of the foundations close to the disputed mosque. The event,
organized by the right wing parties was attended by Home Minister
Buta Singh and others. Hindu groups believed that the long battle was
now coming to a grand finale.

BJP's Rise to the National Stage

BJP used the momentum generated by Ayodhya to get nationwide
attention. They got an unexpected help on this from a TV series on the
national television.
Just when the Ayodhya issue was climbing into the national scene,
veteran film director Ramanand Sagar brought out the epic TV rendition
of Ramayana in 1987.
The series featuring Arun Govil as Lord Ram was wildly popular among
the middle class kids and parents all over the nation. People allover
were glued to the television. While Ram has been always popular
among the masses, now the Lord was also firmly in front of the urban
middle class.
I was in kindergarten back then, but I have strong memories of the
show and how my whole family was attached to it. At school, the key
character Hanuman was our addition to Superman, He-Man, and
Spiderman TV series that also appeared on Sundays. By the time the
series ended in July 1988 (giving way to the equally popular series on
Mahabharata) India was in the spell of Rama.
Never
before
had
such
a
large
percentage
of
South
Asias
population
been
united
in
a
single
activity,
never
before
had
a
single
message
instantaneously
reached
so
enormous
[an]
audience.
-- Philip Lutgendorf (Ramayan: The Video)
Time for BJP to shift from the masses to the middle class, who were
70

ready to shift out of Nehruvian secularism. BJP became the party to

represent the middle class and Ram's virtues. In the 1989 elections,
they took 85 seats in the Parliament from a meager two seats in 1984.
The party head, Lal Krishna Advani, started his famous chariot ride
(Hindu epics are full of chariot battles) built atop his Toyota van. The
ride started from the holy city of Somnath in Gujarat on September 25,
1990 was to reach Ayodhya on October 30 and begin the construction
of the temple. Since Advani's support was crucial to the coalition
government at the center, not much was done to stop the ride sooner.
He was eventually stopped in Bihar.
Between October 30 and November 2nd, a whole group of karsevaks
(volunteers) and sadhus (religious men) gathered on the controversial
site. The state government of Uttar Pradesh under Mulayam Singh
panicked and police shot dead as many as 100 people in the ensuing
riots. There was a national wide press coverage and this action that got
him the title of "Mullah Mulayam" which he later regretted.
The events led to the irrevocable split between the VP Singh
government and BJP. With nowhere to go, VP Singh resigned a week
later on November 10. A lame duck government under the Janata
leader Chandrasekar was propped up by Congress until the elections
could elect a new government in 1991.

Events Leading to the Demotion of the Mosque

The BJP got further momentum and swept through the Uttar Pradesh
(UP) elections, winning 221 of the 425 seats. BJP hardliner, Kalyan
Singh, became the Chief Minister and he took a more kinder view of the
karsevaks. He acquired 2.77 acres of the land around the Mosque and
gave it on lease to the Ramjanmabhoomi trust.
In May 1991, a new Congress government was elected in the center
and this time the BJP was even stronger winning 120 seats (a 35-seat
improvement from 1989). The Prime Minister had a slender majority and
he could not afford to piss off any segment. He was also distracted by
the economic crisis [covered in a later chapter] and spent little energy
on defusing the growing tension in Uttar Pradesh.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Kalyan Singh, argued for turning over the
land around the Mosque to the Ramjanmabhoomi trust. He also
refused to take action on the pouring karsevaks into the state. Hindus
and Muslims held various rounds of talks throughout the year,
71

mediated by the Home Minister.

December 6, 1992 was set as the day for the volunteer action.

Babri Demolition
The volunteers/karsevaks had started grouping around the mosque
since morning. However, the state government refused to use
excessive force on the karsevaks. Soon one karsevak escaped the
police rope and put up a saffron flag atop the mosque. Taking the
signal, the mobs quickly got on to the mosque and started chipping
away the decrepit structure. Slowly the mosque started coming down.
At 2pm, the first of the domes collapsed and shortly after the rest of the
mosque was down.
There was a huge national shock following the demolition. Muslims
lamented the loss of their mosque. Some local Hindus were angry that
the structure they considered as a temple was destroyed. Many secular
Hindus were stunned about where the nation was heading to.

Aftermath
Riots immediately sparked all over the nation. Muslim mobs in Mumbai
hit the streets within hours of the demolition. Buses were torched and
shops were burnt down. Hindu mobs hit back and a vicious cycle of
violence crept all over the city. The next 40 days were the worst in the
history of this cosmopolitan city until that time.
By the time it was suppressed, over 575 Muslims and 275 Hindus mostly innocent bystanders on both sides - were slain. When people
thought things came back to normal, on March 12, 1993, the Mumbai
underworld headed by Dawood Ibrahim hit the city with the most
coordinated bomb terror attacks. To avenge the Muslim deaths, the
targets was primarily Hindu-dominated areas. Over 350 people were
dead in the bloodiest day of Mumbai history.
Other cities like Surat, Kanpur, Bangalore, Jaipur, Delhi, Bhopal, and
Calcutta were also equally hit. Both communities were in fear as the
extremists in both sides were quite adept in the art of terror.
The fear that followed the attacks pushed many more Hindus towards
the BJP and in 1996 BJP emerged as the single largest party in the
parliamentary elections.

72

2002 Gujarat Riots

For a few years following the dark periods of 1992-94, it appeared that
things were heading back to normal. However, in February 27, 2002,
the ghosts of Ayodhya would be brought back. A group of karsevaks
were traveling from Ayodhya by Sabarmati express heading to
Ahmedabad.
As the train waited in the railway station of Godhra in eastern Gujarat, a
group of miscreants allegedly threw petrol inside the train and set fire
to one of the coaches - S6. The train quickly caught fire and led to the
death of 59 people, including 29 women and 15 children. On February
11, 2011, the trial court finally delivered its judgement deciding that it
was a conspiracy and sentenced 31 people.
The news of the riots (magnified with multiple exaggerations) spread all
over Gujarat, in no time. Religious leaders spread the frenzy and age
old fears were brought up. The specter of partition (Gujarat as a border
state suffered in the process) was brought to the front by leaders.
Within 24 hours, the riots spread to the state capital of Ahmedabad and
other major cities in the state. Within three days, the communal riots
killed over 790 Muslims and 250 Hindus. The state government stood
still as some of the government functionaries allegedly were part of the
arson. Although the situation was brought to control in two days,
fingers were pointed at the Chief Minister, Narendra Modi.
Like in most riots in India, this is a disaster that could have been
controlled better with a stronger determination. Many lives were lost
needlessly. However, the Supreme Court-appointed Special
Investigation Team (SIT) ruled out any criminal intention on the part of
Mr. Modi.
In September 2010, the High Court gave a controversial decision to
divide contentious land in Ayodhya into three parts - one each for
Hindus, Muslims, and Nirmohi Akhara [a sect of Hindus]. All the parties
opposed the settlement and the Supreme Court is still handling the
case [as of 2014].
One of the most goriest chapters of Indian history seems to have ended
for now. However, old wounds could open any time.

Hindu - Sikh Troubles

73

The second episode in this sad chapter of ancient troubles happened in

the prosperous northern plains of Punjab.
In 1995, my parents took to me to Punjab and Kashmir. We spent time
visiting religious places as well as the border. I remember my dad
giving a huge sigh of relief about the end of violence in that state. The
1980s were one of the brutal periods for the Sikhs, easily the worst
since the violence of partition in 1947.
I wondered how this peaceful and entrepreneurial land became trapped
in the cycle of violence. To get there we need to see the controversial
episode of Bluestar.
Operation Bluestar was an Indian Army operation to flush out
rebels/terrorists/freedom fighters from the Sikhism's holiest shrine in
Amritsar. The June 1984 operation was among the most controversial
events in modern Indian history.

1. Khalistan Movement
Like in many states in India, there were a group of extremists in Punjab
who demanded a separate nation of Khalistan for the Sikhs. Given the
lack of support among the majority, the idea was dormant until the late
1970s. During the 1950s and 60s, the government at the center
completely reorganized India on linguistic lines to help release some
pressure and curtail demands of independence.
In 1966, a separate state for the Sikhs was formed (although close to
half of the population are non-Sikhs). Since then, the Congressional
party has been losing ground to the Sikh nationalist party of Akali Dal.

2. Indian Emergency (1975-77)

In 1975, India's Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declared a national
emergency, severely curtailing democracy. In 1977, there was a
massive wave against Indira Gandhi and her Congressional party. She
was overthrown from most of India. In Punjab, her staunch enemies Akali Dal - formed an alliance with the rebel Janata Dal to be a part of
the ruling coalition in Delhi.
Congress was furious and plotted a way to get back. In Punjab, Sanjay
Gandhi (Indira's son) and Zail Singh (later the Indian President) went
shopping for a Sikh religious leader who would undermine the religious
authority of the Akali Dal. They found a disturbed and irrelevant
74

religious leader, who would prove to be a curse on India.

3. Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale

Bhindranwale was a Sikh religious leader who advocated more
orthodox rules. He was discovered by Sanjay Gandhi and Zail Singh
and was brought to the center of the attention. In 1977, he was elected
to the leadership of a prestigious Sikh religious school with the blessing
of Congress.

4. Trouble with Nirankaris and Hindus

In the late 1970s, a series of clashes erupted among Sikhs, Nirankaris
(a reformist sect of Sikhs), and Hindus. In 1978, a group of Sikh youth
were killed. Justice was not meted out to them and the violators were
transferred to the courts in the neighboring Hindu state of Haryana
(where allegedly caste rules the most).
The injustice rallied the Sikhs behind Bhindranwale. Call for retribution
and revenge spread. The head of Nirankaris and Punjab's police DIG
were both murdered. Bhindranwale started proving to be a
Frankenstein.

5. Accumulation of Arms
In the period from 1978 to 1983, Bhindranwale created a strong armed
militia within the compounds of the Golden temple. Being a sacred
religious site, the Indian army and police could not interfere much.
Machine guns, rocket launchers, and deadly weapons were
accumulated under the militant leader.
Also, Bhindranwale himself had direct communication channels with
Indira Gandhi, leading the police and army to be very afraid of dealing
with him.
Even when the Indian soldiers were killed, the Indian army was very
careful to pick up the bodies.
Time Magazine reported on Nov 7, 1983:
These
days
it
more
closely
resembles
a
city
of
death.
Inside
the
temple
compound,
fierce
Sikh
warriors
wield
submachine
guns,
guarding
against
encroachment
by
government
security
forces.
Outside,
the
security
men
keep
a
nervous
vigil,
all
too
aware
that
the
bodies
of
75

murdered
comrades
often
turn
up
in
the
warren.

6. Operation Bluestar
By 1984, the proverbial shit had hit the fan. Things went out of control
in Punjab as Bhindranwale locked himself up in the sacred site while
the Akalis went on a rampage outside. Riots and strikes had brought
one of the richest Indian states down on its knees.
Indias friendly neighbor, Pakistan, started getting more involved and
fomenting more trouble. The rebels even put out their own currency.
There was a scary prospect of Punjab getting ripped from India.
Indira Gandhi is known for her often bold and reckless actions. She
would make her final major decision. Bhindranwale and his followers
would be smoked out of the temple - dead or alive.
The date of the action was chosen as June 3, 1984. Unfortunately, it
happened to be a holy day for the Sikhs (martyrdom day of one of their
10 gurus). The day brought thousands of innocent pilgrims to the site.
The army believed that the pilgrims would be used as human shields by
the terrorists.
The militants were made of ex-army men and thus were well trained.
They were led by the disgraced ex-Major General Shabeg Singh. Thus,
the opponents were no ordinary men.
The army started to ask for a surrender through a public address
system. The militants refused to give up. Without a response from the
militants, the army entered the holy shrine with tanks and guns. In the
next 24 hours, a brutal gun fight ensued.
Bhindranwale's followers were armed to the teeth and were on a
suicide mission. This increased the casualties and in all close to a 1,000
persons died - more than 136 were Indian army men. The leader, the
disgraced Major general and the whole team were killed. A complete
media blackout encircled the state of Punjab with curfews imposed.

7. Aftermath
The Bluestar is controversial for its human rights violations. According
to Brahma Chellaney - the only reporter for a foreign magazine in
Amritsar that time, there were dozens of Sikh militants who were tied
behind their backs before being shot. In the years following the
76

operation, many more thousands would perish in cities and the rural
heartland.
During the operation, a number of Sikh literature was destroyed and the
temple itself bore the brunt of armed attacks. Later, the Indian
government would repair the temple to its pre-1984 state.
Innocent boys were allegedly rounded up all over the state with the
ostensible reason of attacking terrorism. As a revenge, Prime Minister
Indira Gandhi was assassinated four months later. One of the Generals
who was in Bluestar - General Arun Shridhar Vaidya was assassinated
in 1986, further hardening India's stance towards Khalistan supporters.
Just like in the case of Hindu-Muslim violence, there was a vicious
cycle if of Hindu-Sikh violence that engulfed the region in the 1980s.
Few thousand Sikhs were mercilessly slaughtered in pogroms in
October-November 1984. In December 1991, Sikh terrorists massacred
a few hundred Hindus in Ludhiana by bombing three trains.
Let's switch to India's third biggest trouble.

3. Trouble in Kashmir
Until the late 1980s, the vale of Kashmir was among the most romantic
places on earth, sought after by rich tourists from all over India and
elsewhere. The state has a glorious tradition of living in harmony with
multiple religions. However, in the late 1980s everything changed.
Tens of thousands have perished in terrorism sponsored by Pakistan.
Since January 1990, hundreds of thousands of Hindu Pandits have
exited as refugees from the state have fled the state of Kashmir. The
once overflowing pipe of tourists have slowed down to a trickle,
bringing severe poverty and unemployment.

Horror of 1987
If there was a single worst year in the history of Independent India,
there would be a big fight between 1984 (worst pogrom in modern
Indian history) and 1987 (epic failures by the policy that disturbed the
nation), both during the time of Rajiv Gandhi. Rajiv is often understated,
but he would easily take the cake for the title of worst Prime Minister of
India.
In the same year he sent the Indian Army to its worst shame in Sri
77

Lanka (Indian Peace Keeping Force would be covered later) and got
embroiled in the Bofors scam (one of the most popular scams in
modern India), he aligned with the National Conference in Jammu &
Kashmir and allegedly rigged the assembly elections. That act changed
the future of the state.
After the takeover of the state in 1948, it didn't give too much worry for
India, compared to a few other states. Although the insurgency
problem was always there, things looked in control until the March of
1987.
In that month, fresh elections were held and the elections brought a lot
of youth in the process. Many insurgent groups participated in the
elections too under the Muslim United Front. The elections of 1977
were quite popular and an even better turnout was expected.
However, the crowds were disappointed by the final result. Congress
and the National Conference were accused of massive rigging and they
won the elections by a landslide. The insurgents who almost gave up
the arms and the youth who believed in the electoral process felt
betrayed.
In the meanwhile, Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) had a
change of strategy and felt that they had a opening in the state. It
helped foment the trouble and create violent Mujahideen groups.
One of the key first attacks was the kidnapping of Union Home Minister
Mufti Mohammad Sayeeds daughter. The government quickly caved in
and gave up the militants in jail [the incidents inspired the award
winning movie - Roja (1993)]. Partly as a result of the release, violence
spiked in the following year.
Exactly 10 years later, militants would hijack an Indian Airline flight from
Kathmandu and take it to Afghanistan. Plenty of dangerous terrorists
were exchanged for the passengers, and that again spiked the violence
in the following two years.
In 1995, foreign tourists were targeted and that pushed out tourism
from the heavenly state. Between 1997 and 2000 five massive episodes
of violence targeted the Kashmiri Pandits and Sikhs - in Sangrampora
(1997), Wandhama, Prankote, Champanari (1998), Amarnath &
Chittisingpura (2000), Raghunath temple, Jammu (2002), Nandimarg
(2003) and Doda (2006). Many local attacks have also started due to
Hindu-Muslim clashes elsewhere.
78

The spate of continued attacks on the Pandits has pushed out as many
as 700,000 people from the state. The humanitarian crisis among the
Hindu Pandits has also hardened the Hindu stand on both the state
and on fighting the insurgents. Thus, the state suffers from various
controversial laws that the Army argues as necessary to maintain the
order in the state and protect the minorities, while the political parties
criticized the alleged excesses of military power.
I'm glad that I'm finally able to end the saddest chapter of this book.
For decades, Hindus, Muslims, and other communities have killed each
other in spate of huge riots. It is time the state puts much more
emphasis on riot management and disaster control to quickly manage
such crisis of the future.

79

Chapter 5: Fighting for Water in

Troubled Land
December 1991
Kilvelur, Tamil Nadu
Things were tense around there as the whole region was gathered in a
massive human chain protest. People stood holding each others arms
in a chain that extended hundreds of kilometers long. They were
protesting against the neighboring government of Karnataka to
implement a tribunal recommendation.
My parents and I were living in the river Kaveri delta region in southern
India. It is among the most fertile lands in the country and supported
the Chola civilization that built extraordinary works of art. Having been
raised in various towns along the Kaveri river, I grew a special affection
for the river. It was a central part of the culture in every way and epics
were written with the river as the center.
For both the states of Karnataka, from where the river originates, and
Tamilnadu, where it runs for the most part, the river is critical. Until
1910, there was no major dispute between the two regions. However,
in 1910 a major dam was planned by Sir. M.Visvesvaraya of the Mysore
province. He planned to turn the village of Kannambadi into an
engineering marvel - the Krishna Raja Sagar dam. In 1924, the
Presidency of Madras and the state of Mysore agreed to an
arrangement that was to last 50 years.
As both sides started to dam the river, the water that came copious at
the delta reduced to a trickle. Since the beginning of the arrangement
in 1924, Tamil Nadu began massive irrigations that depended on the
water. The question since 1970s was what should be the fair allocation
of water between the states. In December 1991, after decades of handwringing, the Supreme Court of India ruled to release more water to
Tamil Nadu.
This caused an upsurge of patriotism on both sides and massive
violence marred the region. The human chain I was watching was one
of the protest mechanisms for the farmers to pressure the government
into action. As the population and economic development grew on both
sides, there was an increasing desperation to get whatever little water
running in the river.
80

India is spread around the Tropic Cancer and this zone is among the
driest zones in the world. Think of the Sahara, the southern desert in
the US and the Arabian peninsula. However, the monsoons and
Himalayas have made the Gangetic plains that should have been a
desert into the world's densest populated zones.</p> <p>For the 1,500
million people living in the subcontinent, the precious waters from the
Himalayan glaciers and those running off the monsoons in the Western
Ghats is a critical lifeline.

Fight over Indus

Indus is a major river system in South Asia and the only main water
source for Pakistan and Northwestern India. The sharing of its water is
the second biggest issue (after Kashmir) in the India-Pakistan
relationship . As water gets increasingly scarce in South Asia, this issue
is getting more important than ever.
India is the upstream country and has built a few dams along the rivers.
Pakistan feels threatened by some of the dams and disputed this. This
is a highly technical issue whose details are debated before
international organizations. Some of the disputes such as Baglihar Dam
and Kishanganga have been in India's favor, but the key issues are how
much India is allowed to draw the water down. The devil is in the
details and I'm not an expert in either irrigation engineering or
International law to see if India is violating the provisions or not.

Background
There are six main rivers that flow from India to Pakistan. These six
rivers form the Indus Water System that gave origin to Indian civilization
and her name. Over 300 million people depend on these waters in a
water scarce desert. Since India's partition in 1947, both water-short
countries were fighting for the scarce water resource.
In 1960, the World Bank brokered a water sharing agreement between
these warring nations:
The three northern rivers in - Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab were
awarded to Pakistan. India is allowed to construct projects that
don't store water (called the "run of the river" hydroelectric
projects).
The three southern rivers - Sutlej, Beas, and Ravi were
completely awarded to India.

81

Thorny Issues
1. Three rivers to India and three to Pakistan should sound fair
enough. But, it has also robbed the state of Jammu & Kashmir
of its key water resources (all the three rivers allocated to
Pakistan flow through this state). It essentially robbed Jammu &
Kashmir to help Punjab and Rajasthan (the bottom three rivers
benefit these two states). Thus Jammu & Kashmir is facing a
water shortage. The Indian Central government has to redress
a part of this grievance under pressure from the state
government.
2. India wants to exploit the hydroelectric power potential of the
rivers. This is allowed by the treaty. However, the treaty is 53
years old and dam engineering has significantly improved since
then. Earlier, they didn't know what to do with the silt that is
deposited by the river waters in the dam. Now, the state of
dam engineering requires you to "flush" out the silt from the
dam using stored water. While the 1960 treaty allows "run of
the river" projects that doesn't allow water to be stored, it is
antiquated and is not applicable in an era where you are
required to remove the silt with stored water.

The Key Dispute

As India wants to build more dams to tap the hydroelectric potential of
Indus, its water disputes with Pakistan is worsening. According to
India, the treaty allows India to draw power from the rivers and that
would mean storing some water to flush the silt that is accumulated in
the power projects. This was not originally an issue in 1960 as it was
not thought out.
According to Pakistan, the treaty doesn't allow India to store water and
"rob" Pakistan of its water. India is violating the treaty in their
perspective.
In short, we are dealing with an outdated treaty that has failed to keep
up with the developments in irrigation engineering. Both sides are
loathe to change the treaty (it takes decades to come to any kind of
agreement) and given that both countries are not talking enough with
each other, the broken treaty continues to exist as a sticking finger.

Fight over Ganga

82

If India and Pakistan are fighting over one holy river of the Indus, there
is an another holy river at dispute on India's eastern borders. The river
Ganga is considered the holiest in Hinduism. On the banks of Ganga,
evolved some of the major cities of the north - Varanasi, Gaya and
Patna.
In 1974, India built a major dam - the Farakka Barrage - just 17
kilometers before the Ganga is to enter the Bangladeshi border. India
needs the waters to flush the Kolkata harbor that was getting
submerged with silt. Bangladesh needs the water for irrigation.
After the barrage was built, India started negotiations with Bangladesh,
but the talks failed after Mujibur Rahman, founder of Bangladesh, was
assassinated and a military rule was established. After two decades of
fighting, a treaty was finally signed in 1996 after Mujibur's daughter,
Sheikh Hasina, came to power in Bangladesh.
Although the 1996 treaty eased some of the water disputes, Farakka
Barrage continues to be an emotive issue in Bangladesh and often
touches a nerve with India's neighbor.

Fight over Brahmaputra

Brahmaputra is the largest river in India by water flow. It merges with
the Ganga after it enters Bangladesh via Assam. Brahmaputra is the
lifeline for India's northeast. The river originates close to Indus near
Mansarovar in Tibet, China and runs over 1,000 kilometers along
Tibet's borders before entering India via the eastern state of Arunachal
Pradesh.
Historically, India never worried about the waters of the Brahmaputra
as China seemed so far away. However, as China is rapidly building
dams all over the region, India is concerned. To make matters worse,
there are no existing talks on water between these two countries. In the
coming decades, both nations have to take this dispute head on.

Interstate Disputes
The water disputes are not restricted to the international arena. There
are 14 major and nine minor interstate rivers in the country and
especially in the south there is a big dispute between the upstream and
the downstream territories. The Kaveri dispute at the top is one of the
dozen interstate disputes.
83

To manage the disputes, the Central government passed a series of

reforms in 1956 that included the Interstate River Water Disputes Act
(IRWD), which allowed for tribunals to resolve the disputes among the
states and the River Boards Act that created River Boards to manage
these interstate rivers. These were based on the Doctrine of Equitable
Apportionment practices that the US courts have ruled on various
matters.
Some of the major water sharing disputes:
1. Godavari and Krishna rivers - this involves the rights of Andhra
Pradesh vs. those of the upstream states like Karnataka,
Maharashtra, and Orissa.
2. Mullaperiyar Dam - This is a dispute on the access to the
Periyar river and the storage at Mullaperiyar Dam that is leased
by the state of Tamil Nadu from the state of Kerala.

The Push for a National Water Grid

India gets 4,000 cubic kilometers of rain water every year. That is about
four million liters of water per person or about 10,000 liters of water per
person every day. In theory, this should be sufficient for drinking water,
agricultural, and industrial needs.
However, more than 80% of this rainfall is received in less than 20% of
the year. This leads to a significant water management issue.
Moreover, the water is very unevenly distributed in geography. A few
regions of North East and Western Ghats get a sizable chunk of this
rain. Without sizable reservoirs and canals, most of the water is wasted.
Floods in some regions and droughts in other regions wreak havoc in
parallel.
Thus, many have sought for a National Water Grid that would move the
water surpluses across the nation and also store the water during the
lean months. The plan involves moving the waters of Ganga further
west - to the drier parts of Gujarat and Rajasthan and interlinking the
peninsular rivers of Mahanadi, Godavari, and Cauvery. This would
move the water from water-heavy north and east to water scarce south
and west.
Key blockers for a national water grid:
1. Heavy investment requirement - moving dirt to produce
massive canals across the country requires heavy investment.
84

2. Displacement issue - India is densely populated and the

diversion would require moving people along some of the
dense population corridors.
3. Environmental issue - Building thousands of kilometers of
canals in a tropical region is bound to burden sensitive
ecological zones through salinity and waterlogging.
4. Impact fisheries - creating massive canals could move fish
away from some of the catchment places impacting existing
fishermen.
While the river linking has a strong support from the BJP that originally
mooted this idea, it is opposed by Congressional leaders such as Rahul
Gandhi. The grid has become a political issue and needs to deal with a
wide range of political rivalries in both state and central level.
With or without a national level river linking, India needs to find ways to
preserve and utilize the four quadrillion liters of water that falls in this
parched land.

85

Chapter 6: Fighting for Land in

Troubled Waters
May 1991
Kilvelur, India
It
was
the
best
of
times,
it
was
the
worst
of
times,
it
was
the
age
of
wisdom,
it
was
the
age
of
foolishness,
it
was
the
epoch
of
belief,
it
was
the
epoch
of
incredulity,
it
was
the
season
of
Light,
it
was
the
season
of
Darkness,
it
was
the
spring
of
hope,
it
was
the
winter
of
despair,
we
had
everything
before
us,
we
had
nothing
before
us.
-- Charles Dickens in "A Tale of Two Cities"
It was the summer holidays at school. I was seven years old and my
family was living in a small village 300 kilometers south of Chennai. It
was a period of huge change and it looked as though the world would
come crashing in front of us.
The US and Iraq were fighting a brutal war in the Middle East. The
Soviet Union was imploding. Indian economy was crumbling.
Yugoslavia disintegrated into multiple nations. A major civil war started
in Somalia. Japanese economy was starting a permanent recession.
Nelson Mandela was now free and apartheid in South Africa was
coming to an end with repeal of a controversial population registration
act. A Tim Berners-Lee was announcing the invention of "World Wide
Web" somewhere in Switzerland.
That summer of 1991 was among the most eventual times in human
history. I was blissfully unaware of most of these. However, my dad
was quite impacted by some of these things. He was managing a
government bank in that village and the bank was the center point of
about 50 surrounding villages. He was worried about the economy. He
was worried about his sister who was caught in the Middle East during
the war.
Before schools would reopen in June, my family wanted to take a quick
break on the island of Rameswaram - barely a few kilometers away
from Sri Lanka. We wanted to take the problems out of our head. The
island is known for its grand Shiva temple - considered among the
holiest in Hinduism for being the place where King Rama started his Sri
Lankan mission to get back his wife.
86

On the evening of May 21st, we reached the island and checked into a
nice hotel there. It was to be a nice fun run over the pristine beaches.
The next morning, we woke up to see the city completely changed;
shops were damaged, garbage was all over the streets, and people
were tense.
My father initially thought a cyclone had struck the island. He
approached the lone shopkeeper in the street who was still bold
enough to keep the shop open. The news he heard was shocking.
The prospective Indian Prime Minister - Rajiv Gandhi - had been
assassinated.
He was a charismatic leader who was loved by the people, even if his
political inexperience and poor policies had costed India dear during
his five-year reign from 1984 to 1989. His death was a huge shock.
More importantly, he was killed by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
(LTTE) - a terrorist organization with goals of splitting the Tamil parts of
Sri Lanka to form a separate Tamil nation. Until that time, plenty of
terrorists had used the island as their springboard to launch their
activities. Thus, the island bore the brunt of the government's fury and
was completely cut off from the rest of India.
The cause of Sri Lankan Tamils was always close to Tamil Nadu's
hearts. The village I grew up in was closer to Tamil towns in Sri Lanka
than the state capital of Chennai (then called Madras). We had a better
reception of Sri Lankan TV and radio channels than those from our
state capital. The classmates in my school group were dreaming of
joining the LTTE and liberating the Tamil lands from the clutches of the
Sinhalese.
A whole lot of these was playing in our minds. We were confused,
afraid, and hungry.
Before I continue, I will give a brief background to the trouble in Sri
Lanka.

The Sri Lankan Issue and How India Got

Involved
One of my friends was always focused on building weapons out of
simple things - catapults made out of tree branches and bicycle tire
87

tubes, small projectiles made out of tar balls, and so on. I never
understood then why he was such a lunatic.

Part 1: Demographics
There are four main ethnic groups here:
1. Sinhalese - who are predominantly Buddhist or Christian.
Seventy-four percent of Sri Lankans are Sinhalese. These
people are believed to have migrated from Bengal 2,500 years

ago.
2. Sri Lankan Tamils - who are predominantly Hindu. These
people have been there on the island since antiquity. According
to some people in TN, the Hindu character of Ravan was a
Tamil. They form about 15% of the population.
3. Indian Tamils - These are people who migrated from India
during the British era to work in the plantations. They are also
predominantly Hindu, although there are also sizable numbers
of Muslims and Christians here. These were the people worst
affected in the war. They form about 11% of the population.
4. Sri Lankan Moors - these are Tamil Muslims with some
influence of Arabic in their language. There is a dispute on how
they should be counted. Tamils want to count them as just
Tamils, as Tamil identity is not based on religion. However, a
few of the Moors believes in an Arabic ancestry and thus
wanted to carve a separate identity.

Part 2: India and Sri Lanka in Ancient History

In 3rd century BC, the Sinhalese were converted to Ashoka's Buddhism
(that originated around the Bihar/Bengal region). On the other hand, the
Tamils have always maintained close ties with the kingdoms of Tamil
Nadu, and hence Hinduism has been their main religion.
The Tamil kingdoms of south India, especially the Cholas, have always
88

fought the Lankans and have even invaded a few times. However,
Lankans were also allied with another Tamil kingdom called the
Pandyas (the arch rivals of Cholas). Both the Tamils and Sinhalese had
a lot of genetic influence from the Indian Tamils.
Since these native Tamil kingdoms fell in about the 13th century, Tamil
Nadu started having less of an influence over Sri Lanka.

Part 3: Lankan-Tamil Relationships

Things were normal for centuries. When Britain took over the island in
1815, they started their own "divide-and-rule" there. They brought
communal representations for each community.
Since the 19th century, the Sri Lankan Tamils became the most
progressive community among the major ethnic groups and quickly
climbed the ladders of civil service and governance. Even the highest
job in the colonial rule was held by a Tamil -Ponnambalam
Arunachalam. By 1948, when Sri Lanka got its independence, 60% of
all government jobs were held by the Lankan Tamils who constituted
less than 15% of the population. This brought plenty of resentment
among the Sinhalese who felt disenfranchised and in that year two
controversial acts were passed:
1. Ceylon Citizenship Act - Stripped the Tamils of Indian origin,
their citizenship.
2. Policy of standardization - Instituted policy minimums that
significantly reduced the Tamil involvement in education and
civil service.
Since the 1950s, the Sri Lankan government pushed an active form of
ethnic cleansing through the Sri Lankan state sponsored colonisation
schemes, which effectively meant the Sinhalese had to be distributed in
those areas that were Tamil strongholds.

Part 4: Violence Grips Tamils

In 1956, Sri Lanka passed the Sinhala Only Act that effectively made
Sinhalese as the official language, stripping Tamil of official recognition.
This was followed by a massive riot against the Tamils in 1958 when
Ceylon changed its official name to the Sanskritized Sri Lanka (from
Ramayana). The riots left 200 Tamils dead.
In 1974, during the International Tamil conference at Jaffna (capital of
89

Tamil Eelam), Sri Lankan soldiers used brutal force and led to the loss
of nine lives.
In the 1970s, Sri Lanka banned the import of magazines and
periodicals from Tamil Nadu. In 1981, the precious Jaffna Tamil library
(one of the biggest in Asia) was burnt. This broke the camel's back.

Part 5: Demand for Separate Tamil Land

By the 1970s, the Tamils had thrown their towel due to the events
above. Two different groups of separatists emerged:
Tamil United Liberation Front: who wanted to achieve autonomy
through peaceful means.
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam: who had no hesitation to use
violence and force.
In 1983, the worst of anti-Tamil pogroms happened - Black July. This
was reportedly provoked by the LTTE's first ambush, where they killed
13 SL soldiers - Four Four Bravo.

Part 6: Indian Involvement: Training the Tigers

As things started to get out of hand in Lanka, India was worried. There
was huge pressure from the Tamil Nadu parties for an intervention.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka started moving towards the US and Pakistan,
worrying India.
For India, these were the following considerations:
1. Sri Lanka was aligned with the US and Pakistan. India was at
that time aligned with the USSR (and it was rumored that the
USSR's KGB had a high level of control over Indian
bureaucracy. It was at the height of the Cold War (early 1980s),
and India had to break the US-SL nexus. LTTE proved an ideal
foil for India.
2. The brutality of pogroms in Sri Lanka was forcing droves of
refugees into India. Historically, Sri Lankan Tamils had a high
level of support in Tamil Nadu, and politicians including MG
Ramachandran and Karunanidhi put enormous pressure on the
Centre. Indira Gandhi needed one of these to shore up her
politics.

90

Thus, India started involving herself. In the 1970s and '80s, there were
camps all over TN that started training the tigers. It is rumored that
these were trained in the Arcot districts of TN where there are plenty of
forests.
Jain commission revealed that India trained five extremist organizations
using its intelligence agency - Research & Analysis Wing (RAW):
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF)

Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO)
Eelam Revolutionary Organisation of Students (EROS)
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)
People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE)

Each was given its own camps across Tamil Nadu, and some even
went to Libya, Syria and Lebanon to get trained. They learned the
deadly tactics of suicide bombing (LTTE was the world's most
advanced in this deadly skill).
In a short time, severe in-fighting among these groups emerged. In
1982, LTTE supremo Prabhakaran had a shootout against his rival Uma
Maheswaran in broad daylight in the middle of Chennai (Pondy Bazar).
Although the police arrested him, he was released immediately on bail
(allegedly due to the intervention of RAW).
Eventually, the other organizations either merged or were destroyed by
the LTTE.

Part 7: India's Volte-Face: Indian Peacekeeping Force (IPKF)

At the peak of the civil war in 1987, India dropped supplies in Jaffna
and foiled an attempt by the Sri Lankan army to win over the rebels.
And then on May 1987, Rajiv made an inexplicable move to cozy up
with the Lankans through the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord. Under the terms
of that accord, India was to deploy a peacekeeping mission. As though
to warn that the Sri Lankan government was untrustworthy, a Sri
Lankan soldier attempted to assassinate Rajiv when Rajiv was in
Colombo as an official guest. He is a successful politician in Sri Lanka
now.
A blind trust in the Sri Lankans cost India and Rajiv too dear. Just like
his grandfather he labored some grand visions of neighborhood
friendship only to appear foolish eventually. India was brutally bruised
in Ceylon by both the Lankans and Tamils.
91

Part 8: Frankenstein Turns Its Head

LTTE was furious at this about-turn by Rajiv, but the monster had
already been set loose. Prabhakaran was in a blind rage.
The IPKF was one of the worst shames for the Indian army in the past
two centuries. At my college, a couple of ex-military men who were a
part of the operation recounted the horror stories of the operation. They
told stories of getting lost in tropical jungles and getting shot by a
number of different players. However, the IPKF had no power to fight
back. By the time the operation ended in March 1990, close to 10K
Tamils and 1,200 Indian soldiers had died unnecessarily.
LTTE's sharpshooters and anti-tank mines were extremely good at
killing the Indian soldiers. The operation drew opposition from both the
Tamils and Sinhalese. However, Rajiv Gandhi was adamant in staying.
Meanwhile, Rajiv Gandhi lost the elections in December 1989. The
newly elected VP Singh government was not interested in continuing
Rajiv's war. The troops came home in the next four months. India's
Vietnam was over.

Planning Rajiv's Assassination

The LTTE had almost forgotten about Rajiv until a popular interview
with Rajiv Gandhi in the Sunday Magazine on August 1990. Rajiv
explained that he planned to restart the IPKF's mission. This shocked
the LTTE and it was then decided to prevent Rajiv Gandhi from coming
back to power.
In early 1991, Rajiv got the opportunity to get back to power as the
coalition of left and right parties collapsed. Rajiv earnestly began his
campaign, and it appeared likely that he would come back to power. In
his populist mold, India's J.F. Kennedy (with the same idealism, youth,
naivete, and charisma) decided to ignore security rules and began
taking risks in public rallies.
On May 21, 1991, he appeared at a rally in Sriperumbudur in the
outskirts of Madras. At about ten past 10pm, a suicide bomber named
Dhanu approached Rajiv and triggered the bomb.
Now back to the trouble in the island of Rameswaram. The island's
close proximity to Sri Lanka and LTTE (the terrorist organization
responsible for his death) meant it received great blows. The
92

mastermind of the plot was a Sri Lankan refugee living in the island
before the assassination. Given the Congress supporters' history of
randomly destroying anything close to the alleged cause whenever one
of their leaders died (1984 Indira's death vs. violence on Sikhs), it was
not totally unexpected.
Thus, we planned to leave the island ASAP. All buses and trains out of
the island (through a long bridge on the sea) were stopped. We were
completely trapped. There was no food given that the hotels and shops
were shut. Even the legendary temple at Rameswaram was mostly
closed.
It was a scary time and the only silver lining was that we still had a
place to stay. Luckily, we found the priest of the temple whose wife
was running a small canteen at their home. It is a common practice in
many holy towns for the families of poor priests to find any avenue to
make ends meet.
They were gracious enough to share whatever little stuff they could
make with limited grocery provisions. Food never tasted so good. After
about 4-5 days of this curfew life, the Indian government had a partial
opening of the railway line and got one train to take away the people
trapped there. Although we were initially apprehensive due to the riots,
we took a chance. We sat in the footboard of the train and it was a
totally different experience. There were around 10,000 people in a
single train (10-12 carriages).

Wars with Pakistan

Hindu
morale
would
not
stand
more
than
a
couple
of
hard
blows
at
the
right
time
and
place.
-- Gen. Ayub Khan of Pakistan (1965)
May 27, 1999
The summer vacation was coming to an end and the Cricket World Cup
was still on. Breaking all this was the news from India's borders with
Pakistan. Pakistan had shot down two IAF fighter jets and taken a flight
captain as a prisoner of war. A new war had begun.
Since the brutal partition in August 1947, India and Pakistan had fought
three wars. After the period of relative peace for about 28 years, a new
war beckoned Indian soldiers.
93

Most of the Indo-Pak disputes centered around Kashmir. When the

nation was partitioned, India's last Viceroy Lord Mountbatten allegedly
ensured that there would be road access to Kashmir from both India
and Pakistan, by providing a chunk of the district of Gurdaspur in
Punjab to India (only road access to the Kashmir valley from the rest of
India). Although the claim is unproven, it makes sense as the Viceroy
wanted to ensure the economic survival of the state as well as provide
it a choice between India and Pakistan. Most of the state of Kashmir
was taken over by India, and since then, Pakistan has been eyeing the
Indian part of Kashmir.

1948 War
The first war with Pakistan was over Kashmir. As we saw in Chapter 1,
Pakistan wanted to annex Kashmir and set off a year-long war with
India. At the end of it, both armies were exhausted, and the cease-fire
line (called the Line of Control, or LoC) at the end of the war is used to
this day as the unofficial border in Kashmir.
In August 1951, over the objections of the UN, India conducted polls to
elect a Constituent Assembly for Jammu & Kashmir. The Constituent
Assembly created a new Constitution for Kashmir and also ratified the
accession of the state to India. Since then India has considered the
state people's verdict as the official proof for the accessions
legitimacy. Pakistan didn't accept this.

1965 War
In 1965, a second war started after Pakistan started patrolling in India's
territorial claims in the Great Rann of Kutch (in Gujarat and 1,000
kilometers away from Kashmir). The Great Rann (Rann means desert in
Sanskrit) is among the world's largest salt marshes and is practically
barren. India had started controlling the territory in 1956. As Pakistan
started patrolling in India's claims in the first week of April 1965,
tensions started. In June, British Prime Minister Harold Wilson brokered
a peace deal that gave Pakistan 350 square miles of the Rann.
Buoyed by the success of this venture and emboldened by the defeat
of India in the 1962 Sino-Indian war, General Ayub Khan of Pakistan
started Operation Gibraltar that sent the Pakistan army to infiltrate
Jammu & Kashmir and foment extremists there. Nehru was already
dead and the General thought it was time to test India's strength under
the new leader. Also, the most famous political leader in Kashmir Sheikh Abdullah - had just visited Pakistan, and it was alleged that he
94

had talked about the growing unrest in the valley.

On August 5, 1965, days before the 18th independence celebrations of
both the nations, between 26,000 and 33,000 Pakistani soldiers
entered Kashmir. They hoped to get the local populace excited and get
them to rise against India.
The local population, instead of rising in revolution as Pakistan
expected, tipped off the Indian Army [the same happened in each war].
In the next month, both nations fiercely fought, with India taking over
1,800sq km of fertile Pakistani territory in Punjab and Kashmir and
Pakistan taking over 550sq km of desert in Gujarat and Rajasthan. India
lost 3,000 soldiers and Pakistan 3,800. A daring commando mission by
Pakistan failed miserably with most of the commandos ending up as
prisoners of war.
While India held advantage over land, Pakistan had a better success in
the air, with its US-bought aircraft. The Indian Air Force was forced to
keep several aircrafts in the east front to keep a possible Chinese
attack at bay and therefore was not able to sufficiently hit back
Pakistan's Air Force. The Indian Navy was also not very successful with
the sole aircraft carrier, INS Vikrant, locked up in Bombay harbor
fearing submarine attacks and the Pakistan Navy raiding the coastal
town of Dwarka.
Both nations claimed victory, but felt that they didn't have enough
munitions to go on. Pakistan was on the brink of defeat on land, having
also lost more territory, and thus was eager for a ceasefire. India had
already fought a war with China just three years before this and feared
a possible attack from the Red army. It was also weakened by massive
inflation and poor economic conditions. Moreover, its navy and air
force were both exposed to much superior weapons. Thus, India was
ready for ceasefire too. Both nations were pressured by the US and the
USSR to end their business.
India and Pakistan ceased fire on September 23, and both nations met
in Tashkent in the USSR then (currently a part of Uzbekistan) in January
1966. On the last day of the conference, the Indian Prime Minister
mysteriously died of a heart attack. Both nations went to the pre-war
borders.

1971 War
This was among the shortest decisive wars among major nations in
95

history. It led to the creation of Bangladesh out of East Pakistan.

In 1947, Pakistan was created with two halves - one to the west and
another to the east of India. The western half dominated by the
Punjabis held most of the power while the eastern half of Bengalis, had
little say in the matters of the nation.
Unlike the western half, the eastern half had a lot of Hindus. This was
because Mahatma Gandhi's peacemaking role in Bengal at the time of
partition led to reduced population exchange between West and East
Bengal. Many Muslims continued to live in West Bengal, and many
Hindus continued to live in East Bengal.
In November 1970, one of the worst cyclones in recorded history Cyclone Bhola - hit Bengal. Pakistan didn't respond enough to the
plight of the Bengalis, and thus the Bengali-led Awami league swept to
power in the national elections of December 1970. It was a shock for
everyone in West Pakistan. They didn't believe that the Bengalis would
rule over them.
General Yahya Khan - then-President of Pakistan - suspected the
Hindus of helping the Bengalis win and started a brutal campaign
codenamed Operation Searchlight on March 25, 1971. Lt. General
Tikka Khan (nicknamed the butcher of Bengal) was assigned the task of
getting rid of Hindus and began a massive pogrom that resulted in over
ten million Hindus fleeing to India. Nearly three million Bengalis (Hindus
and Muslims) died during the few months of pogrom, although
Pakistani reports quoted a much lower number.
On March 26, Mujibur Rahman, the leader of the Awami League,
declared independence of Bangladesh. The Indian Prime Minister,
Indira Gandhi, had also consolidated political power by then and was
willing to take a more active action in the crisis. On March 27, Indira put
her weight behind the people of East Pakistan and pledged to support
their cause for independence. India trained armed rebels under the
banner of the Mukti Bahini.
Operation Chenghiz Khan
West Pakistan was filled with the slogan Crush India. Inspired by
Israel's daring strike in 1967, Pakistan flew 50 planes to India in a preemptive strike focused on neutralizing India's defense infrastructure by
attacking 11 airfields in north India. The date was set as December 3,
1971. It was on a Friday evening when IAF controls were changing
96

hands.
This attack was caught by surprise and was forced to cover quickly
cover up key assets like the Taj Mahal.
However, Pakistan was no Israel and India was no Egypt. Like his
predecessors, Yahya Khan underestimated India and believed that
India would quickly give in. The Operation Chengiz Khan, named in a
vain attempt to add luck to the campaign, ended in a massive failure.
While many of the Indian airfields were damaged, they were also
repaired very quickly. However, Pakistan lost over 50 aircraft and that
was terribly damaging to its fledgling military.
The same day, both nations declared war. The war involved all three
branches of the military. The Indian navy attacked Karachi under
Operation Trident on December 4, while on December 9 the Pakistani
submarine PNS Hangor sank INS Khukri that resulted in close to 200
Indian casualties. Eventually, the Pakistani Navy suffered heavy
defeats, with more than a third of the force destroyed. On land, India
inflicted huge losses too with a 3:1 casualty rate.
Meanwhile, US President Nixon built a three-way alliance (US-PakChina) against India and the USSR and gave both political and military
help to Pakistan. He even asked Iran and Jordan to attack India in an
air battle. The US sent its navy under Task Force 74, but the fleet was
actively trailed by Russian nuclear submarines and frigates preventing it
from getting close to India. Nixon also asked China to attack, but the
Chinese felt that the Indian army was more prepared after the surprise
assault of 1962 and didn't want to risk troops. Thus, Pakistan faced a
humiliating defeat despite being a US ally.
On December 16, Pakistan surrendered. India had captured 90,000
prisoners of war and 14,000 square kilometers of Pakistani territory. Lt.
General Jagjit Singh Arora accepted the Pakistani surrender in the east.
Bangladesh won its independence.
In June 1972, India and Pakistan met in the hill station of Shimla to
discuss the peace terms. Although India won the war, it didn't push the
new civilian government under Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. India wanted the
Pakistani army to stay off the government and thus didn't want to
weaken Bhutto by imposing harsh terms. Instead of settling the
Kashmir issue for good, it was left unresolved. Indira missed the game
in 1972.

97

Operation Meghdoot of 1984

The Simla agreement brought peace for awhile. However, in the
agreement, there was confusion about the ownership of a glacier in
northern Kashmir. The glacier named Siachen was claimed by both the
nations, and to prove their claims, both sent mountaineering
expeditions. In 1984, Pakistan allowed a Japanese expedition to climb
the glacier. The glacier was closer to India's borders with China, and
thus India was quite sensitive to this report.
At
army
headquarters
in
Rawalpindi,
Pakistani
generals
decided
they
had
better
stake
a
claim
to
Siachen
before
India
did.
Islamabad
then
committed
an
intelligence
blunder,
according
to
a
now
retired
Pakistani
army
colonel.
"They
ordered
Arctic-weather
gear
from
a
London
outfitters
who
also
supplied
the
Indians,"
says
the
colonel.
"Once
the
Indians
got
wind
of
it,
they
ordered
300
outfitstwice
as
many
as
we
hadand
rushed
their
men
up
to
Siachen."
When
the
Pakistanis
hiked
up
to
the
glacier
in
1984,
they
found
that
a
300-man
Indian
battalion
was
already
there,
dug
into
the
highest
mountaintops.
-- TIME (Jul 4, 2005)
On April 13, 1984, just four days before Pakistan was planning its
operation, India sent 300 troops atop this glacier and captured over
2,300sq kilometers of territory. It was a major victory for India, but the
region still remains a battlezone. It is the world's highest and coldest
battlezone, claiming more deaths by frostbites than bullets.

1999 Kargil War

For over 15 years, the Pakistani army stayed quiet and content with
fomenting extremists in Kashmir. In May 1998, both India and Pakistan
became nuclear powers. Some thought this would finally end wars as
both nations couldn't face a Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) of
nuclear weapons. In February 1999, Prime Minister Vajpayee made a
landmark peace trip to Lahore in Pakistan, and Indian citizens felt a
surging spring of hope. Some even contemplated the reunification of
India and Pakistan.
While Vajpayee was traveling to Pakistan, a group of Pakistani soldiers
were moving into the frigid hills of Kashmir. The template was the same
as 1947 and 1965 - foment trouble and start a rebellion among
Kashmiris. The plan was inspired by India's takeover of Siachen. Given
the sudden rise of terrorism in the 1990s, Pakistan was emboldened.
98

On May 3, local sheep herders reported the intrusions in the Dras

sector of Kargil in Kashmir. In the next month, a deep conflict
developed as India started attacking the hills now occupied by
Pakistanis. The hills were very crucial in controlling the Indian highway
NH 1A that connected the eastern and western halves of Kashmir. On
July 4, India captured the pivotal Tiger Hills, and the images of beaming
Indian soldiers carrying the flag captured the nation's imagination [As
an aside, when I joined college some of the notebooks supplied by my
college had the capture of Tiger hills as the cover picture. People used
the image everywhere]. After the capture, India prepared for a
ceasefire, and on July 26, the war came to an end.
Meanwhile, Nawaz Sharif was reprimanded by the US in Washington
D.C., and unlike in previous wars, the US had categorically ruled to not
side with Pakistan. The G8 nations [world's largest economies] also
condemned Pakistan, and for the first time, the world was on India's
side in a war. The tide had turned.
India was engulfed in a wave of patriotism, and even the stock market
responded handsomely to the victory by surging 30% in the months
following the war to end bearish trends.
Israel helped India with tech during the war, and the US was
instrumental in bringing the war to an end. The war was thus pivotal in
India's relationship with both Israel and the US. India's bad relationship
with the rest of the world seemed to end.
Each time Pakistan sent its army into Kashmir, posing as ordinary men,
it expected the Kashmiris to revolt in large numbers and the "Hindus"
to give up too easily. However, each time it showed that the Kashmiris
have little attachment for Pakistan and that the Indians had no intention
of giving up Kashmir either.

2008 Mumbai Attacks

While Pakistan avoided fighting direct wars after the Kargil conflict, it
continued to foment terrorist acts on Indian soil. In 2001, its terrorists
attacked the Indian Parliament, and that incident threatened to bring a
nuclear war in South Asia. Luckily, cooler heads prevailed.
The gravest of Pakistan's terrorist attacks was in Mumbai on November
26, 2008. Eleven Pakistan-trained attackers landed in Mumbai and
brought a night of violence by attacking the Victoria Terminus railway
station, two five-star hotels, a cafe, a hospital and a Jewish centre. The
99

terrorists hijacked a small fishing trawler named Kuber and used that to
slip into the city.
The main battle was in the iconic Taj hotel, and the fight lasted for three
days and killed 100 hostages. The NSG and Marine Commandos finally
brought the crisis to an end by killing ten attackers and capturing one Ajmal Kasab, who was later hung after a brief court trial.
Like the attacks on New York (2001) and London (2005), this one
became etched in the memories of the world citizens. .

War with China

The
way
to
world
conquest
lies
through
Havana,
Accra,
and
Calcutta.
-- Mao Zedong
It was not a war, but a war. Neither side declared war. No air force or
navy were used. There was no termination of diplomatic relationships.
It was as though a war didn't exist. But, it existed.
India and China enjoyed a peaceful coexistence for over 5,000 years of
civilization. This was enabled by the massive Tibetan plateau that
prevented both civilizations from coming together - for good or bad
reasons. In October 1962, China would change this while the world was
engrossed in a brutal game of nuclear chicken between the US and the
USSR.
In a three-week border skirmish, China would hurt the Indian psyche
like no other war. For the only time in 200 years, India was on the losing
side of the war, fighting its only war with China.
Like the other Himalayan Kingdom of Kashmir, Tibet has been a source
of persistent trouble with China.
Sino Indian War = Mapping error + clueless Indian leadership +
belligerent China that was trying to prove something.
Formation of the People's Republic of China
Both China and India were great nations with a long history and after
the European colonization in 19th century, both were rebuilding in the
mid-20th century. But, both nations could not decide how far their
borders went as the nations waxed and waned at various times.
100

China's borders peaked under the reign of the Manchu Qing dynasty
and many Chinese still wanted their government to claim the territories
held by the Qing emperor then.
However, the Qing emperor had overextended himself by capturing
deep into territories that never really belonged to China in history. The
empire started to weaken and from the start of the 18th century to the
middle of the 20th century, China was in a perpetual state of civil war,
internal crisis, and later a war with Japan.
On October 1, 1949, Mao Zedong led his Communist Party into Beijing
and started a new chapter. He wanted to take China to its past glory.
His administration also wanted to regain many of the territories lost
after the implosion of the Qing empire.

Tibet Issue
Within a year of the PRC formation, Mao's troops stormed into the
nation of Tibet and took over. Although it was a part of the Qing
empire, Tibet historically didnt belong to Chinas empires. Thus, this
action shocked people around the world. India was aghast, but Nehru
made peace with China in 1954 and refused to intervene in Tibet.
During his visit to India in 1956 to mark Buddha's birthday, the 14th
Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso (the spiritual head of Tibet) asked for Nehru's
help in seeking asylum. Nehru refused, citing the 1954 peace treaty. In
March 1959 a major uprising began in Tibet, at the behest of the CIA,
after news was spread that the Chinese were abducting the major
leaders of Tibet. Fearing for his life, the Dalai Lama crossed into India
on March 30th.
India gave asylum to the Dalai Lama although Nehru didn't let the
leader make any public statements. China was however aghast and
wanted India to give up the leader. Nehru refused to give up and the
Chinese thought this was a backstab. Since then, the relationships
between the nations started worsening.
While it was independent, Tibet was used as a buffer state by Britain to
insulate India from Central and East Asia. Its borders with India were
not clearly demarcated and there were two major issues.
1. Aksai Chin in Kashmir (Western front) -- Johnson line
2. Arunachal Pradesh in North East India (Eastern Front) -McMahon line
101

Source of Contention
Western Front:
In 1834, the Sikh army took over Ladakh, a vassal state of Tibet.
Ladakh and Tibet had an uneasy relationship then. Around the same
time, the Qing empire had its eyes on Ladakh, while the Sikhs wanted
to push into Tibet. The Qings and Sikh fought a war in 1842. The war
resulted in a stalemate and the Sikhs held on to Ladakh. After the
defeat of the Sikhs in the 1846 Anglo-Sikh wars, the territory of Kashmir
along with Ladakh was passed to the British who then sold it off to a
Dogra prince of Jammu.
The genesis of the conflict lies in the Johnson line of mid-1865 that put
the map of Ladakh far into Xinjiang. This was by an overzealous civil
servant named WH Johnson. The Qing and Sikhs had not decided on
the boundary near Aksai Chin and since no one lived there, Johnson
took some liberty in this drawing. The Qing empire didn't control
Xinjiang at that time and thus was not able to officially protest. In 1878,
it took control of Xinjiang and asserted its claim over Aksai Chin.
In 1899, the British and Chinese agreed on the more feasible
Mccartney-Mcdonald line that put this region in China. After the end of
the Qing empire in 1911, the British and the Maharaja of Kashmir went
back to putting the disputed region in Kashmir by resorting to the
Johnson line. After its independence in 1947 and the takeover of
Kashmir, India used the Johnson line as the official border. Tibet was
an independent nation then.
China didn't recognize the validity of the Johnson line and started to
use the Mcdonald line. In 1956 it even built a road through the middle
of this region to connect Xinjiang and Tibet. For China, Aksai Chin was
important as the primary front for connecting these two semiautonomous regions. The geography didn't favor India and India didn't
even realize that a road was built.
Eastern Front:
On the eastern front, the story was tricky. Both China and India have a
claim over the land (Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim as it is known
internationally and Kham holdouts/Southern Tibet as they are known in
China) - although the geography and culture favor India's claim. India
considered the Himalayas as the natural boundary and it was also
defensible.
102

We have already seen the issue of Arunachal in Chapter 1. India had

the advantage of geography and culture and thus took it. However, in
Aksai Chin - a part of Kashmir but not really ruled by anyone - China
had the advantage of geography.
The trouble started to brew as Chinese forces killed nine Indian
policemen in Aksai China in 1959 and also took a prisoner in Longju.
Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai unofficially suggested trading Arunachal
Pradesh for Aksai Chin, but Nehru refused. China didn't take further
action as both the US and the USSR sided with India.
India began to make forward positions starting from 1961 and in that
year, China finally got assurance from the US that the Taiwanese would
not attack China. This allowed China to move its forces to Tibet and
they allegedly even used the Indian port of Calcutta to move some of
the non-military logistics.

Cuban Missile Crisis

The US and the USSR had strong enmity starting from the end of World
War II. The USSR wanted to spread a Communist revolution, while the
US reportedly wanted a world of free trade. Behind the sound bites
were two power-hungry nations that built a string of allies. Both were
evenly matched and had the deadliest of weapons.
In October 1962, the USSR brought the crisis close to the US by a
planned Soviet deployment of missiles in Cuba (merely miles off the US
state of Florida). This was in direct response to the US deploying
missiles in Turkey close to the border of the USSR.
The US considered invading Cuba and the USSR warned that an
invasion of Cuba would bring an attack from them. The world watched
in tension as these nuclear powers threatened to blow up the whole
world. The crisis started on October 14.

China Launches a Surprise Attack

As the world watched Cuba, China noticed a window of opportunity.
Mao already knew of the Soviet's plans and were thus preparing in
advance for this. People's Liberation Army (PLA) of China already had a
few engagements with the Indian Army near Arunachal Pradesh.
On October 20, six days after the start of the Cuban crisis, PLA
attacked Chip Chap Valley in the Aksai Chin and Nam Chu river in the
103

east.
Recently declassified CIA POLO documents show that besides hurting
India in a military sense, Mao also wanted to hurt the prestige of both
Nehru and Khrushchev (Russian premier) for backstabbing China.
In the eastern front, PLA reached as far as the outskirts of Tezpur
Assam, but pulled back as it was in the range of the Indian Air Force
from Calcutta and PLA had no air support. The Indian government had
already released prisoners from a local jail and destroyed currencies;
casualties were heavy on both sides, many resulting from the cold
weather.
As the Cuban crisis ended in the October, China started feeling
pressure and as their objective was achieved (locking their positions
and shaming Nehru) China announced a unilateral ceasefire on the 19th
of November. It was reported that the Kennedy administration even
considered the use of nuclear weapons against China in aid of India.
While UAE supported India, other non-aligned nations didn't fully
condemn China. This hurt India's pride. After the war, Pakistan and
China became closer.
Although India didn't lose a lot of territory and both sides lost heavily
(despite having the advantage of surprise China lost 722 soldiers
against Indias 1,380), the war brought a small internal crisis in India.
Nehru was blamed by President Radhakrishnan and the Defense
minister Krishna Menon was forced to resign. The war led to a
modernization of Indian troops and in the following decade, both China
and India tested nuclear weapons.
During the war, India broke its free ethos and interned many Chinese
Indians just like what the US did with Japanese Americans during the
Second World War. For years, those even remotely connected with
China were treated shabbily. That was the real defeat for India - to be
forced to be someone we are not.
In the end, India's loss was not in military terms, but in the national
psyche. The national pride was hurt and most Indians remember the
war, while very few Chinese or other parties still remember the conflict.
I will end this chapter with a current issue.

Can India afford to reduce the military budget?

104

Why India needs to spend money on aircraft carriers and nuclear

submarines?
You have left your toddler at home alone and you are constantly
worried while at the office. You are worried whether the door is locked.
You are concerned if the stove is off. You are not able to focus on work
as you don't know if your son is safe at home or not. Then your mother
calls up and says she got home and is going to take care of your son.
You know she is responsible and will protect your son the best way.
Now, you can take your worries off and focus on the work. Maybe you
might be twice as productive now.
The same works for nations. When we are not sure of our borders and
when we are not sure whether our military can withstand various
attacks, we get paranoid and our economy goes down the drain. But, if
we are really assured that we have a strong military that can protect us
from a wide range of enemies, we can take off the worries and the
nation can go full speed on economy.
Switzerland, Singapore, Israel and US all have amazing militaries that
enabled them to historically grow much faster than their neighborhood.
Investors and entrepreneurs need this comfort before they can take the
risky ventures.
Defense decides destiny
In Indias 5000 year+ history, it has seen the follies of having weak
defense. We are in a terrible neighborhood and often was the target of
invasions.
Indus Valley Civilization probably ended because it didn't maintain a
strong army which could have protected a part of it from the natural
and man-made disasters. If the Nanda king got along with Puru,
Alexander would have never reached the banks of Indus. If the later
Gupta kings had not loosened up, they would have been able to
protect India's greatest civilization. If we had a strong defense in the
11th century, Nalanda University would not be under ruins now. If the
later Cholas after Rajendra had kept up, Tamil territory would not have
fallen so deep in the following centuries. Later, when the Mughals were
weakened, India was under colonial occupation.
On the other hand, whenever an Indian king got strong, India went to its
heights. Ashoka was a very strong ruler. Indian society reached its
peak. So was the period under Samudragupta, Raja Raja Chola,
105

Harsha Vardana and Akbar. Our greatest achievements came when our
kings and the armed forces were really strong.
When our gates are strongly protected, we could explore the greatness
of humanity. On the other hand, when outsiders are constantly jumping
into our home, we will have no time for building our achievements. If
you don't have a strong defense, you got nothing.

Why India needs to spend so much?

Look at India's massive threats.
1. Nuclear powers: India has 3 nuclear powers in its
neighborhood and two of them are hostile powers with which
India both borders & have fought wars with. Thus, we need a
credible nuclear triad [submarines, bombers, missiles] to
defend ourselves. Those are not cheap.
2. Exploding powers: The distance between Baghdad and
Amritsar is the same as the distance between Amritsar &
Kanyakumari. While the Middle East might appear far, it is
actually quite close. Thus, IS and all other crazy groups fighting
there are a direct threat to Indian interests. Afghanistan is
completely broken now that US is leaving it. Most of the
terrorists would spill into ours at some point. How would you
fight these threats at their source without having long range
aircraft?
3. Superpowers: India needs the aircraft carriers for a
counterattack. In the unlikely case of China circling India &
starting an attack on Indian soil [through Pakistan or another
neighbor], India needs to deliver the threat of its aircraft carrier
directly attacking China's shores. This threat of getting their
heart exposed would make the opponent withdraw. Without an
aircraft carrier, there is no way for India to take the battle to
China. No one dares mess with a nation that has multiple
aircraft carriers and sneaky submarines. Of course, India is
unlikely to be the nation that is starting the attack.
4. Pirates: Indian ocean is bounded by two piracy groups at the
Strait of Malacca and Horn of Africa. I will give you a better
map of how the pirates are encircling India & threaten trade in
India's ocean. How would you go and deliver an attack on
Somalia? You need really powerful blue water capabilities. In
fact, Raja Raja Chola was a pioneer in building anti-piracy
efforts to protect Chola empire's trade in Indian ocean. That
106

5.

6.

7.

8.

greatly helped Tamil Nadu. We need to do that at Indian scale.

Separatists: India has a had a never ending battle with lunatics
and fanatics who want to split India. The separatists of all 100+
groups fighting to split from India put together might be less
than 1 crore fighters. In other words, 99%+ of India are
peaceful and want to stay in India, while this troublesome 1%
threatens the sovereignty of our country. They range from
extortionist groups in Northeast who do kidnapping for a living
to Kashmiri terrorists exported from Afghanistan & Central Asia
to misguided communist/Maoist rebels in central India. India
needs advanced helicopters, intelligence agencies and spy
satellites keep them under control.
Natural disasters: Indian plate is increasingly weakening
leading to more earthquakes in India's center. The lower part of
the Himalayas are prone to brutal land slides. India's eastern
seaboard is very vulnerable to massive cyclones. Then there is
the threat of disease [remember Ebola]. Who can be relied on
to react to all this? Part of the defense budget is used for
disaster management.
Border threats: India has 15,000 kilometers of land borders
with countries such as China, Pakistan, Bangladesh &
Myanmar. [To put this in context, US with 3 times India's area
has well less than 10,000 km of land borders and most if it is
with a friendly Canada] With China, India still has an unresolved
border. With Pakistan, the problem is terrorism exports. With
Bangladesh the problem is illegal immigrants. With Myanmar,
there are problems with smuggling. India also has a 7500 km of
coastline. Thus, we need to spend a lot on BSF and Coast
guard, besides spending on border infrastructure to react
quick.
Responsibilities to the world: We are now among the world's
biggest economies and thus have to carry a lot of world's
weight. India is a responsible world citizen & is the among the
largest contributor of peacekeeping forces around the world.
This again costs a lot of money. Indian Army United Nations
peacekeeping missions From West Africa to Middle East, our
troops have been at the forefront of maintaining peace. This is
important both for India's economy as well as India's morality.

If you are an elephant, no animal dares to mess with you. If you are a
deer, you are always hunted.

107

Chapter 7: Ocean of Tears

Industrial Disasters
December 2, 1984
It was a typical winter night. The million-odd residents of this central
Indian town of Bhopal went to their sleep after their usual chores. With
no major history of earthquakes, storms, floods, or hurricanes, the
residents of Bhopal had no reason to believe that they wouldnt wake
up alive the next day.
Most of the poor residents didn't know what the 15-year old Union
Carbide factory in the edge of the town was making. Nor did they know
about the deadly methyl isocyanate compound kept in its large vats.
They had no reason to suspect that the reputed foreign company (now
owned by Dow Chemicals) would have such weak safety standards.
The company was making pesticides and it is assumed that pesticides
are designed to kill the pests, not humans.
The next morning, thousands wouldn't wake up. Many more thousands
could wake up, but could not see anything. And even more thousands
could no longer breathe properly. That night, 45 tons of the deadly
odorless gas spread around the city silently touching 500,000 residents
of the city. In the deadliest industrial disaster in human history, between
3,700 and 16,000 people died. Many more suffered crippling lifelong
consequences. For the following few years, many women gave birth to
dead kids.
The poor residents trusted the company and the government to make
sure that the stuff they produced wouldn't kill off the surrounding
people. There were 61 hazardous events in the prior four years that
affected many workers and even killing one with deadly gas. A good
company would have tightened its safeguards or tried to decommission
the plant. However, Union Carbide continued the production while also
reducing the maintenance work. It was a disaster waiting to happen.
But, the disaster was not over. Led by the worst Prime Minister in
independent India's history, the government fumbled unable to properly
handle the crisis and bring the guilty to justice. India's armed forces did
a heroic job in putting down further leaks and cleaning up around the
disaster site. However, the handling was poor in other places. There
108

were human carcasses all over city and many dead bodies were thrown
on the nearby Narmada river .
The company CEO, Warren Anderson, was arrested while visiting the
country on December 7. However, he was released on bail with enough
pressure from the top and he escaped India never to return. The
company settled for a $470 million fine in 1989 and the shares of the
company shot up, eventually merging with Dow Chemicals to form the
world's largest chemical company. Activists argued that the
government let off the company too easily, settling for a paltry sum
especially when the company later settled a much larger claim in Texas
for a much smaller Asbestos exposure.
While the Bhopal disaster was the single worst industrial disaster in
human history, there were also a few other industrial disasters involving
coal mines. There were two such incidents in the present Indian state
of Jharkhand (then a part of Bihar). The first one was in Dhanbad in
May 1965, when an explosion set a major fire and trapped 375 people.
The second was in December 1975, when a flooding caused the death
of 372 people in the nearby mine of Chasnala. Both these mining
incidents fall into the world's top 10 coal mining disasters. In all of the
cases, the safety infrastructure and regulatory enforcement of Indian
industries were called into question. But, not much changed on the
ground.

Transport Tragedies
December 24, 1999
It was the holiday season in India and middle class travelers were
making their short trips to Nepal and other neighboring nations. One
such group was returning from Kathmandu in the Indian Airlines flight
814. The flight departed from Kathmandu's Tribhuvan International
Airport. Captain Saran, who piloted the craft, was planning to be in
Delhi in time for Christmas Eve dinner.
However, the flight would not reach Delhi on time. Five armed hijackers
from Pakistan took the flight first to Amristar in the northern state of
Punjab. They killed one of the passengers and scared the government
into providing the fuel for their next adventure. The flight then took off
to Lahore, where they tried to land on a road. India and Pakistan had
just finished a major border war in Kargil and things were tense. The
plane left Lahore with some more fuel.
109

The flight was then taken to Kabul and then Kandahar, when
Afghanistan was ruled by the Talibans. However, both the airports were
found to be incapable of handling an Airbus A300 at night. The flight
then finally landed in Dubai. UAE negotiated the release of 25
passengers. On the morning of Christmas, the plane headed back to
Kandahar and this time it was surrounded by an army of helpful
Talibans.
The hijackers demanded $200 million without realizing that just one
person on that flight could have arranged for that in return for his safe
return. Aboard the flight was De La Rue Giori, the Swiss magnate who
controlled 90% of the world's currency printing business.
More importantly, the hijackers also demanded the release of some of
the deadliest Islamic terrorists languishing in Indian jails. Of the 35
terrorists they wanted released, three were absolutely lethal.
The year 1999 was a terrible year - bad for the economy and bad for
the army. It started with an invasion in Kargil and ended with a major
hijack. It was a harrowing time for all of India. We had just finished a
major war in our lifetime and now there was another tragedy. Already,
Pakistan had built long range missiles; Both nations had just gone fully
nuclear. Newspapers were full of different ideas, some of which were
inspired from Israel's activities. But others helpfully suggested that with
a whole bunch of Talibans surrounding the plane even Israel would
have negotiated. The Taliban made it clear that they would not let India
use force to bring the ordeal to an end.
TIME correspondent Maseeh Rahman reported that:
The
Taliban's
ruling
council
has
decreed
that
no
foreign
military
personnel
will
be
allowed
onto
Afghan
soil,
and
that
rules
out
a
commando
raid
to
take
out
the
hijackers.
After a seven-day ordeal, India finally secured the release of 177
passengers in return for giving up Maulana Masood Azhar (who then
founded the most violent terrorist organization - Jaish-e-Muhammad),
Ahmad Omar Sayeed Sheik (who murdered many Westerners in that
region including Daniel Pearl of The Wall Street Journal) and Mustaq
Ahmad Zargar (who trains terrorists in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir).
In 67 years since Independence, India has been through many such
ordeals by virtue of its dangerous environment, large size, and relatively
weak security infrastructure. A number of hijacks have taken place and
110

mostly involved the airports of the northern cities of Amritsar and

Srinagar while eventually heading to Lahore. Such incidents have
occurred in 1971, 1981, 1982, 1984, and 1993. Despite such a
disturbing frequency involving the same airports, security has not been
tightened until after the 1999 hijacks and the September 11 attacks in
the US.
While these hijacks didn't result in a lot of passenger casualties, the
1985 bombing of Air India flight 182 in the Montreal-Delhi route was
brutal - killing 329 people. Sikh terrorists, at the height of their power,
claimed vengeance for the attacks on their community in Delhi.

Natural Tragedies
December 26, 2004
It was my first year in the US as a student. I was holding the
Washington Post that had my home town right at the front. It was a
long time dream of mine to see my town in that prestigious newspaper.
But, this time it was for the wrong reasons. One of the biggest
tragedies in human history struck my town as well as plenty others in
the Indian Ocean.
I was in a state of panic as my parents were to visit the beach for a
concert at the nearby Music Academy. Luckily, they didn't get a ticket
to the concert. It was a brutal day, as a region grappled with a natural
disaster they had no clue of. A massive undersea earthquake attacked
Indonesia and the ripples sent the biggest tsunami ever recorded in
South Asia. India lost over 12,000 people and the coastal towns where I
studied in school were devastated.
Although the tsunami was a highly unusual event, the coastal belt is
known for its massive cyclones that brought unspeakable hardships.
This is one reason why you didn't sea Indian empires building massive
coastal cities or large navies. The Cholas built a naval empire, but ruled
from the inland as the ancient Tamil city of Poompuhar was destroyed
by the rough seas. The Kalingas and Pallavas all had to abandon their
coastal towns at some point.
Through a tragic coincidence, some of the biggest disasters in modern
Indian history have all happened in December. Some even use black
humor that the Hindu god of death, Yamaraj, wants to close the annual
accounts in a hasty way. There was sadness all around.
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December 27, 1975 - Chasnala Mining Disaster (India's biggest mining

disaster)
December 2, 1984 - Bhopal gas tragedy (world's worst industrial
disaster)
December 24, 1999 - IC 814 hijack (most tragic hijack incident for India)
December 26, 2004 - Indian Ocean Tsunami (world's most destructive
tsunami)
Despite the millions lost due to various disasters, it is sad that disaster
preparedness has never become a major national priority. India doesn't
have a single emergency number like 911 that can be called for any
disaster. It doesn't educate its citizens on the ways to react to different
disaster situations and it has not acquired major tools to extract people
out of the rubble.

112

Chapter 8: Political Calculus:

Differentiation and Integration of
India's Forgotten Communities
[Naxalbari
movement
is]
the
front
paw
of
of
the
revolutionary
armed
struggle
launched
by
the
Indian
people
under
the
guidance
of
Chairman
Mao
Tse
Tung.
-- Radio Peking Broadcast (June 28, 1967)
May 23, 1967
Naxalbari, West Bengal
The village police inspector was killed by the peasants and a major
unrest was all around the place. The newly elected Communist
government in the state tried to raise an alarm and bring massive police
force in. A diehard 49-year old local communist, Charu Mazumdar,
wrote a series of eight monographs [known as the historic eight
documents] detailing a revolution that was painstakingly smuggled into
China to get the support of the Red Army. These ideas were then
carried by his comrade, Kanu Sanyal, and spread all around the region.
It was to be the start of their Communist revolution, in the line of
various such movements in Russia, China, Cuba, and other places.
The Jhargaon village in India's northeast at first didnt appear to have
the potential to cause a major revolution in India. Revolutions often
start from the cities and this decrepit village was days away from any
major city. However, if you looked closer at the map, it seemed the
ideal place for any competitor of India to instigate major trouble.
The village, located in the Naxalbari region of West Bengal, is just a few
kilometers away from East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) with which India
fought a war just two years prior. It is about 50 kilometers from the
borders of Nepal, Bhutan, and Sikkim (at that time an independent
protectorate of India) and about 80 kilometers from the Chinese border
- which fought a major border war with India five years prior. There
were plenty of forests and mountains to hide and easy getaways
through any of the porous borders. It was perfect for any separatist
getting foreign help.
If an enemy of India wants to strangle India, it would be at this place.
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The "chicken neck" - as it is known locally - is the narrow corridor that

connects the seven states of India's northeast with the rest of India. If
this neck is choked, India's northeast would suffocate and probably
secede.

The Naxalbari Movement

About 60 villages of the tribal Santhals are located in this idyllic
Naxalbari region adjacent to India's tourist resort of Darjeeling. There
were about 1.2 million people at that time and most of the tribals were
hired by the landlords - jotedars - in a contract system named adhiar.
There was plenty of exploitation of the laborers by the well-connected
landlords.
This farmer pain was well amplified by the increasing trend of leftward
movement across the nation. In the 1967 elections, Congress
significantly lost its position due to the war between Indira and the
syndicate of major party warlords [we will see more on this in next
chapter]. As inflation and unemployment raged after the two wars [with
China and Pakistan] people increasingly became attracted to
communism. The Congressional party was overthrown in West Bengal.
For the first time, a Communist party led coalition took power in West
Bengal.
Although the ruling Communist Party - CPI(M) was initially instigating
the protestors, they got cold feet as the tribal militia used their bows
and arrows to announce a "liberated land". Police and paramilitary
were brought in. After a 52-day confrontation, the police broke the
uprising and arrested key leaders like Charu Mazumdar, Kanu Sanyal,
and Jagdu Santal.
While the 1967 movement was broken in the Naxalbari area, the
communist extremists [termed as Naxalites since then and officially
called CPI(Marxist Leninist)] spread over a vast position of central India.
Using forest cover and political inaction, they established themselves in
10 states from Bengal to Karnataka. States like Bihar, Orissa, Madhya
Pradesh, and Andhra Pradesh were especially affected.
Students from Calcutta's famous campuses like the Presidency College
were drawn in large numbers to provide muscle to the uprising. Poor
economic infrastructure and insufficient autonomy to the various tribals
provided fuel to the fire. This was then further aided by China and other
foreign elements.
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In 1971, Indira Gandhi provided a massive counterattack through

Operation Steeplechase that temporarily arrested the movement. In the
southern state of Andhra Pradesh, renewed action by the state
government also helped manage the problem a bit. However, the rise
to power of Maoist rebels in neighboring Nepal has strengthened the
movement in Central India since about 2000.
As of 2014, the Naxalite problem remains the biggest challenge to the
Indian government. Thousands of people die every year from the
violence and it has hindered development in a vast chunk of India's
interior. Since 2009, Operation Green Hunt by the Indian government
involving over 350,000 police and paramilitary forces have been
pursuing the extremists and the problem still remains.

The Seven Sisters

On June 8, 1980, a wave of tribes armed with bows and native knives
stormed into the village of Mandwi in the north eastern state of Tripura.
The tribals complained about the influx of Hindu Bengalis from
neighboring Bangladesh. Then they proceeded to execute one of the
largest massacres in Indian history. Over two days, the entire village men, women, and children were ruthlessly massacred. Children's
heads were spiked on sticks and there were skulls everywhere. The
massacre was yet another grim reminder of the violent struggle
between the tribes and settlers from the plains in the region. Twenty
years later, the same ethnic group was targeted in another massacre
near the same region. A grim reminder of the tension between the hill
tribes and the settlers from the plains.
The seven states of the Indian Northeast - Arunachal Pradesh, Assam,
Mizoram, Meghalaya, Manipur, Nagaland, and Tripura are some of the
most ignored states due to the geographic isolation and cultural
differences from the mainland. Except for Assam, the other states have
predominantly tribal languages speaking Tibeto-Burman and AustroAsiatic languages. They are connected to the rest of India through a
narrow Siliguri corridor of northern West Bengal via the Naxalbari
region mentioned earlier.
Until the 1970s, the states of the North East didn't have sufficient
autonomy. They were controlled either by a government from Assam or
through the representatives of the central government. Tribal autonomy
and migration are the key issues affecting this region.

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Treaty of Yandabo
Throughout most of history, the kingdoms in the intersection of the
Arakan mountains and the Himalayas - in India's northeast - were in
India's cultural sphere but not in the political sphere. Although the
people of the historic Kamarupa kingdom of Assam and the Manipuris
follow variants of Hinduism, for the most part India's major dynasties
didnt extend that far and were non-overlapping political entities.
In the early 19th century, that would change. The Konbaung Dynasty of
Burma was getting quite ambitious and captured the kingdoms of
Assam and Manipur, making use of internal tensions in Assam. This got
the Burmese kingdom a massive border with Bengal. In parallel, the
East India Company had consolidated the rest of India and built its
base around Bengal. The East India Company was both threatened by
the Burmese expansion and also wanted to get many resources further
east of Bengal to feed the growing industrial revolution in Britain.
Another factor was the French. The French had built a strong
relationship with Burma and Britain feared that the French would use
the Burmese ports to undercut British India. The conflicting interests
between East India Company and Burma, put them on a war course.
The First Anglo-Burmese War was fought between 1824 and 1826,
ending with a major defeat for the Burmese. At the village of Yandabo,
the Company put punitive sanctions on Burma and took over Assam
and Manipur. Eventually most of Assam and the other territories around
it were integrated with the rest of India.
As Britain found the plains of Assam suitable for tea plantations and
started building estates, they found themselves in conflict with various
hill peoples like the Nagas. To protect the commercial interests and to
fight tribal practices such as "headhunting", Britain started showing its
presence in the Naga and Mizo hills and eventually it became the
present states of Nagaland and Mizoram.
Later, British interests also brought Tripura and Sikkim as protectorates
of British India that eventually became integrated with modern India.

Present Issues
After the partition of India in 1947, the northeast region lost connection
with the port of Chittagong [in Bangladesh now] and became
disconnected with the rest of the world, but for the narrow Siliguri
116

corridor. This has affected their economic development and cultural

integration into the rest of India.
Also, the Tibeto-Burmese people of India's northeast often look alien to
some of the other Indians causing discrimination when they move to
other Indian cities for work. Thus, there have been many separatist
movements motivated both by economic and cultural pains.
Manipur
This was formerly a princely state with one of the longest running
monarchies in the world. The predominantly Hindu Vaishnavites of the
states coexisted along with the Naga tribes of the hills. However,
tensions started when the Nagas were converted to Christianity in the
late 19th century. Both groups are in a state of perpetual war and the
state's development often gets victimized through the heavy violence.
A local terrorist group - UNLF - has been attempting to secede the
state from India through a violent struggle.
Nagaland
Nagas belong to a fierce martial class that defeated the Japanese in
the Second World War and prevented the entry of Japan into the
subcontinent. The region was given statehood in 1963 and major truce
with the central government was secured in 1975. Since then the
situation is more manageable in the state.
Assam
This is the core of the northeast. One of the key issue for this region is
the unchecked illegal migration from the porous borders with
Bangladesh. Militants from the Bodo tribe - National Democratic Front
of Bodoland (NDFB) and socialist extremist fighters United Liberation
Front of Assam (ULFA) - are a key threat to the state in the region.
The situation in Mizoram, Meghalaya, and Arunachal Pradesh have
been much more peaceful than the rest.

Armed Forces Special Powers Act

One of the most controversial acts by the Indian government was
enacted on September 11, 1958. It was essentially a rehashing of a
British act enacted in the wake of the Quit India Movement of 1942. It
allowed armed forces very broad powers to tackle violence.
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It was enacted after an unofficial plebiscite in Nagaland in 1951 that

claimed that 99% of the Nagas wanted to be a free nation. The
government wanted a stronger response to the tribal disturbance and
didn't want the legal red tape to tie their arms. While the government
reasoned that its usage would be temporary, the act has stayed for
decades.
While it was temporarily used in Punjab (ended in early 1990s) and
Kashmir (since 1990), it is in states like Manipur where the people have
borne the full brunt of the act for a very long period. A local activist,
Irom Sharmila Chanu, has been working hard to bring public attention
to Manipur's plight.

Forgotten Tribals
There are over 120 million people in India who belong to various tribal
communities spread around the country. A lot of these people live
close to dense forests and hills, gradually pushed to a corner by the
people of the plains. The term Adivasi [indigenous groups] is used to
refer to these groups in recognition for their migration into India before
most other Indians.
These people are isolated from the rest of India due to a variety of
reasons:
1. They live in more geographically inaccessible regions - partly
because they tend to be more hunter gatherers and partly
because of staying safe from the more dominant empires of
India.
2. They are economically isolated as they are far from cities and
very few government programs are designed to help their
needs.
3. They are culturally isolated as they speak languages that are
distinct from the languages of the plains surrounding them.
They also have distinct religious and other cultural practices,
often incomprehensible to the rest of India.
Some of the major tribal groups:
1. Tribes of Andaman and Nicobar islands: The Andamans is a
chain of islands in the Bay of Bengal that hosted a lot of native
cultures. Some of these adivasi cultures are isolated from the
rest of humanity for tens of thousands of years. To prevent
them from contracting diseases and other afflictions that
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2.

3.

4.

5.

decimated the aborigines of Australia and native Americans,

the Indian government has strict control of the movement of
outsiders into these regions.
Munda and Santal people: These adivasis primarily inhabit the
Chota Nagpur plateau of eastern-central India. The region is
densely forested and also rich in many minerals - coal, bauxite
[aluminum], and iron ore. Naxalism is rampant in this region as
the tribals feel isolated and exploited.
Gond tribals: This is the largest tribal group in central India.
They are spread in a region stretching from Uttar Pradesh to
Telangana. Their plight is similar to that of the Munda and
Santal groups and often caught between the Maoist/Naxalite
separatism and India's security agencies.
Tribes of the northeast: As mentioned in the previous section,
India's northeast has a rich collection of native hill cultures who
are fiercely protective of their ways of life. Separatism is often
very strong among these tribals.
Himalayan peoples: These are a range of tribes that inhabit the
states of Jammu & Kashmir, Uttaranchal, and Himachal
Pradesh. Unlike the other groups mentioned above, they are
not as much discriminated by Indian society and thus there are
very few issues of separatism or Maoism there.

As Indian economy grows, the resource-rich regions of these people

get the attention of the rest of India who want to build their mines,
hydroelectric power plants, and roads in their lands. In some cases,
local government officials and entrepreneurs have misused the
gullibility of these people.

The Dalits
Unlike the tribals, the dalits are a group of suppressed people who
primarily lived in the plains along with the rest of India. These are a
group of 900 castes that are out of bounds of India's traditional Varna
system - grouping people into four categories of profession. They were
often given the worst of menial tasks - such as cleaning the toilet and
doing anything that castes Hindus traditionally considered impure.
Dalits often lived in isolated quarters of the same village that the caste
Hindus inhabited, but were often prevented from accessing the good
wells, ponds, temples, or even the main streets. Untouchability - the
act of upper caste Hindus not even coming in physical proximity with
these people - and various crimes, such as the rape of young dalit girls,
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were inflicted on these peoples.

After centuries of reform movements by Mahatma Gandhi and others,
part of the discrimination in the form of untouchability had ended. Since
independence, BR Ambedkar and a few other leaders in the community
have taken a stronger activist movement to forcefully get their rights.
Despite various actions by the government of India, interior rural
regions are still rife with discrimination and tensions between the dalits
and caste Hindus, especially in the lower rungs. However, in urban
regions untouchability has been mostly put out, although some
discrimination is still present when it comes to personal issues like
marriage.

Women
In December 2012, a woman later nicknamed Nirbaya [fearless] was
brutally gangraped in a private bus in Delhi. The incident shook the
nation's consciousness and brought to light some of the key issues
women face in India. In his address to the nation on August 15, 2014,
Prime Minister Modi put this issue at the top of his priority.
Although India's rape rate is much lower than most places in the world,
many of the social stats show that India is among the worst places to
be born a girl. The Prime Minister promises to fix the following issues.
1. Increasing rapes in the national capital: Violence against
women has been increasing and is one of the few crimes to
increase per-capita over time. However, some argue that the
increase in rape rates is actually an indicator that women are
coming out much more to report the issue and we are just
seeing the tip of the iceberg.
2. Murdering the female infant: In many states of India, some
parents abort their child once they realize it is female [sex
determination scans are illegal, but the law is often violated]. If
the baby escapes abortion and gets born, some parents kill
through deliberate murder or a lack of care. This has
manifested in an alarmingly low sex ratio - for every ten men in
India, there are only nine women.
3. Dowry: This is an ancient custom of property division where
daughters get the movable properties of the family (gold,
jewelry, cash) and sons get the immovable properties (land,
home). However, it has mushroomed into a brutal institution
that is leading to the deaths of tens of thousands of Indian
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brides from torture. Despite the government's efforts to outlaw

the practice, both in rural and urban India, the law execution is
often poor in this.
4. Participation in the workforce: India has among the lowest
female participation in the workforce. Female literacy is way
lower than males and families in rural India predominantly take
their daughters out of high school to get them married. For a
major economy, India has too few women in office, factories,
etc. This has hampered India's growth. In Gender Gap index,
India ranks at 105 (even Sri Lanka comes at 39). In human
development index India ranks at 134.

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Chapter 9: The First Female

Dictator
The
President
has
proclaimed
a
state
of
emergency.
This
is
nothing
to
panic
about.
-- Indira Gandhi on All India Radio (July 2, 1975)
She
[Indira]
listened
to
them
[my
views]
even
when
I
was
five
years
old.
-- Sanjay Gandhi
Politicians,
like
underwear,
should
be
changed
often,
and
for
the
same
reasons.
-- A popular American saying

The Indian middle class has always had a strange fantasy for
dictatorship. Controversial dictators like Hitler, Putin, and Mao have
strong fans among different factions of urban India. Many sections of
the middle class feel that India might have been better under a strong
leader.
This sentiment is echoed by this poem by the Vice Chairman of the
Delhi Development Authority, who lamented his inability to clean up the
capital city, plagued by bureaucratic red tape. He dreamt of the
creators of great cities like Paris and Washington D.C. and is sad that
he cannot emulate them.
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No
Haussmann
reborn
No
Lutyens
with
a
chance
Nor
Corbusier
with
Nehrus
arms
I
am
a
little
fellow
An
orphan
of
these
streets
-- Jagmohan (Vice Chairman of the Delhi Development Authority)
In 1975, the Indian middle class would finally get a chance to see what
a dictatorship was like. India elected the world's second ever female
Prime Minister and made her into the first female dictator. Indian
democracy faced its world test as Prime Minister Indira Gandhi
imposed emergency, taking the country towards a path of dictatorship.
The 1970s were the saddest time for many democracies all over the
world. Amidst high inflation, unemployment, and the Middle East crisis,
democracies across the world grappled with plenty of existential crises.
In the US, Nixon and Agnew were threatening the foundation of US
democracy by outright rigging and corruption. Both the President and
Vice President were forced to exit in a period of a couple of years.
Journalists all over the world penned the obvious end of Indian
democracy - a complete anomaly. Among the largest nations by
population, the USA was the only other democracy and it was an
anomaly in itself. And among the poorest nations, none was a
democracy. India was both poor and huge. It had no business being a
democracy, its detractors derisively wrote.
Mahatma Gandhi brought India's freedom movement to the fore with
his Satyagraha in Champaran in the eastern state of Bihar. Another
Gandhian, Jayaprakash Narayan, would attempt the same from the
same state. Will India survive as a democracy and escape the
marauding chaos that was enveloping it?

Rise of Indira Gandhi

For the first 20 years of free India, the Congress party ruled without
much competition. Nehru and Shastri had a lot of popularity and were
generally accepted as incorruptible men by all parties. However, the
death of Shastri brought a lot of power struggles.
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India no longer had a consensus candidate as the stalwarts of the

freedom movement were long gone or retired from politics. Nehru's
long reign (17 years at the top) was partly to blame. This is in sharp
contrast to George Washington's principled stand to give up his
presidency after eight years at the top. Washington's decision allowed
other freedom leaders such as Jefferson, Adams, Madison, and
Monroe to have a part in shaping the nation's destiny. Nehru's
reluctance to give up the throne meant that there was no viable
alternative left. Power went back to his family, like in the case of
monarchies.
Nehru groomed his only daughter, Indira, well and she acted as India's
official hostess in the absence of her mother (who passed away in
1936). However, Indira lacked the worldly experience of Nehru and did
not give the impression that she understood the world very well when
she took office for the first time.

Decay of 1967
In 1966, there was the first sign of power struggle. Morarji Desai, a
noted freedom fighter, was in line to become the third Prime Minister of
India after the unexpected death of Lal Bahadur Shastri in Tashkent.
However, powerful Congress bosses (called the "Syndicate") under the
leadership of the Tamil leader, Kamaraj, wanted a pliable leader, and
they chose the greenhorn daughter of Nehru. India became the second
democracy in the world to elect a woman Prime Minister.
By the early 1960s, Congress had started losing support in several
states, starting with Tamil Nadu and Kerala. In the 1967 election, Indira
Gandhi got a slender majority (winning 283 of the 520 seats). However,
the opposition was too divided to push their challenge much further.
This resulted in a period of anarchy, where Indira didn't have a
sufficient majority to command and the opposition didn't have a
sufficient power to push reforms through the Parliament.
The period of 1966 was also the worst for the Indian economy due to a
failed monsoon in the aftermath of two major wars. The rupee was
substantially devalued and there was stringent restrictions on imports.
Inflation soared and there were famines.
The combination of anarchy and the poor economy meant that there
was room for the separatists to grow. Since the war of 1962, China had
quietly started fomenting trouble in India. Within weeks of the 1967
elections, India's communist revolutionaries started their violent
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struggle from the village of Naxalbari in West Bengal as mentioned in

the previous chapter.
There were 700 incidents of communal violence between 1966 and
1968. Then there was the issue of state reorganization that was still
causing trouble all over the country. The new leader was paralyzed and
India was melting down.

India Turns Left

Indira had little in common with other Congress bosses and was
desperate to carve out some independence for herself. This is when an
old family friend - PN Haksar - turned up. Haksar, like Nehru and Indira,
was also a Kashmiri Pandit who settled in Allahabad. He was also a
lawyer and a colleague of VK Menon (Nehru's close confidante and
India's former Defense Minister). Indira trusted Haksar's views, given
his close similarity to her father, and made him the Principal Secretary.
Like Nehru, Haksar had a deep mistrust towards businessmen and
merchants. Some people attributed this to the traditional Brahminical
antipathy towards men of money. The Hindu caste system divided
people into four categories: Brahmins (priests and scholars), Kshatriyas
(kings and warriors), Vaishyas (merchants and businessmen), and
Shudras (farmers and laborers). Brahmins often cherished the socialist
movement due to a religious antipathy towards materialism, a
professional antipathy towards anything not to do with "scholarliness",
and a cultural antipathy towards commerce.
Although such caste stereotypes are conveniently put forth by casual
commentators, this observation is incorrect as equal numbers of
Brahmins supported capitalism too.
Morarji Desai grew up with the merchants of Bombay and had much
more respect towards entrepreneurs and men of business. Desai
wanted India to keep a safe distance from the communist ventures of
the Soviet Union and build a better ecosystem for business. He was
joined by the veteran freedom fighter, Rajaji, who created the
Swatantra party to champion the cause of free enterprise.

Bank Nationalization
To cut their popularity and appease the growing communist rebels
mushrooming all over India, Haksar steered Indira towards nationalizing
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all the banks. On July 19, 1969, Indira Gandhi nationalized 14 of India's
biggest banks with over 75% of the deposits. This populist move was
cheered by commoners all over India (commoners in all parts of the
world hate bankers) and stunned the market. Although her father,
Nehru, had nationalized the Imperial Bank in 1955 (becoming the State
Bank of India) even he never dreamt of enmasse nationalization of all
the major banks.
The move was made without consulting the then Finance Minister and
Deputy Prime Minister, Morarji Desai. Without any option, Desai
resigned from the government. The nationalization was made through
an ordinance prepared by a dismayed head of the Reserve Bank of
India, LK Jha, and the secretary in the Ministry of Finance, IG Patel.
The various banks were held by India's business houses and private
shareholders. The Tatas owned the Central Bank, the Birlas the UCO
bank, and the Thapar group the Oriental Bank of Commerce. In the
next two years, all the key industries - steel, copper, insurance, textiles,
and oil refining - were nationalized.
The bank nationalization was a part of the dark chapter in Indian
economy. Although the nationalization might have helped in spreading
India's bank into rural heartlands, it also weakened the professionalism
within the banks and made capital allocation much more political.
Indian businessmen were very afraid to grow or show successes in that
period as they feared that the government would take away their
property. This fear plagued the nation's market for decades and
stunted growth.
The government was taken to the court by a member of the Swatantra
party, Minoo Masani, and on February 9, 1970, the Supreme Court of
India ruled that the nationalization was invalid. Indira Gandhi countered
the court by passing a law in the Parliament, and thus begun the long
saga of Indira's war with the courts, culminating in the Emergency. In
1970, Indira also abolished the Privy Purses - the annual payment to
the royal houses who gave up their states in 1947. The Supreme Court
again overruled Indira's law.

Congress Split
With the exit of Morarji Desai, the core of Congress became unstable.
Then the Syndicate tried to push through its candidate - Sanjiva Reddy
- for the Presidential elections of 1969. However, Indira persisted with
126

VV Giri (who then became the President in August 1969). Haksar had
started to take Indira away from the old leadership and there was a
panic in the ranks. On November 11, 1969, S. Nijalingappa would take
a brave stand to expel Indira Gandhi from the party citing indiscipline.
However, her wave of nationalization already made her very popular
among the public. Indira was able to retain her post of Prime Minister
and took all the attention to the new Congress - first called the
Congress (R) and later the Congress (I) - the "I" standing for Indira.
Two hundred and twenty of the 283 Congress MPs joined Indira with a
slogan:
A
new
light
has
dawnedIndira
has
come.
The communists provided some external support so that the
government didn't fall due to the lack of majority (261 MPs were
needed).
After winning her party, Indira surprised everyone by calling for a
dissolution of the Parliament in December 1970 - more than a year
before the term of the Parliament ended. Indira wanted to capitalize on
the bank nationalization and the bountiful monsoon of 1970 to push out
her opponents. Indira also showed her political genius with the slogan
Garibi Hatao (remove poverty) by turning around the opposition slogan
(Indira Hatao). The fledgling Green Revolution (covered in a later
chapter) would also help her cause by substantially reducing hunger
before the elections of 1971.

Court vs. the Government

We have already seen that the Supreme Court struck down Indira's
move to nationalize the banks and cut the privy purses. The court also
threw cold water on her move to take private property. In the landmark
Golaknath case, the courts ruled that the government could not take
away fundamental rights - rights to property and the right to practice
any profession.
In the fifth national elections held in March 1971, Indira Gandhi won
with a thumping two-thirds majority. Her populist moves helped her win
the socialists in droves. This gave her the sufficient majority to deal with
India's courts. She took the route of constitutional amendments.
Through the 24th Amendment, Indira enabled the Parliament's rights to
127

dilute fundamental rights. Through the 25th Amendment, she allowed

the state to restrict property rights and take over private property (bank
nationalization). Through the 26th Amendment, the Privy Purse was
abolished.
Although a few items like the abolishing the Privy Purse was a part of
legitimate policy, the blatant misuse of constitutional amendments to
push policies shocked the courts and the observers of democracy.
Indira saw the courts not as a critical pillar of democracy, but as a
nuisance in her path. The Supreme Court was kept further in check by
the politically motivated nomination of Justice A.N. Ray to the post of
Chief Justice of India.

Worsening Economy and Overall Order

While Indira came on the back of a good monsoon, the period of 197375 saw a huge crisis all over the world. During the 1973 war in the
Middle East, the Arab nations imposed an oil embargo that shot up the
price of oil from $10 to about $60 in a period of months. This was a
spectacular shock that sent economies around the world reeling. For a
poor country relying on imports for the most part, this was especially a
disaster.
Opposition parties were also getting increasingly strong as the old
timers were vexed with the growing corruption and nepotism within
Indira's Congress. With no one to check her, Indira hand-appointed all
the key posts in India.
On the 18th of March 1974, a bunch of student groups under the
banner of Chhatra Sangharsh Samiti rioted in the state of Bihar. This
brought in the veteran leader Jayaprakash (JP) Narayan to the center of
the struggle. He was hugely respected and was a supporter of Indira
Gandhi during the 1969 struggle. JP usually stayed out of governance,
but was always an activist at heart - modeling himself after Mahatma
Gandhi. He now called for a "total revolution".
In May 1974, India exploded its first nuclear weapon in the deserts of
Pokhran in Rajasthan [we will see this in detail in a later chapter]. This
helped India buy some time and distract her opponents. While the
middle class came behind her, the opposition party under JP was not
easily distracted.
On November 4, 1974, JP was manhandled by a group of charging
policemen in Patna. A picture of a veteran Gandhian thrown around by
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lathi-wielding policemen reminded many Indians of the freedom

struggle. This caused further unrest all around India. In January 1975, a
key aide of Indira, LN Mishra, was assassinated in JP's home state of
Bihar, and Indira put the blame on the opposition. This caused further
acrimony and distrust between the parties.
In April 1975, Indiras old foe, Morarji Desai, took a Gandhian fast to
end the President's rule in the state of Gujarat. Indira relented and
elections were announced in Gujarat.

Allahabad Court Drops the Bombshell

On June 22, 1975, the Allahabad High Court gave the final blow. It
ruled that the election of Indira Gandhi from the Rae Bareilly
constituency in Uttar Pradesh, was invalid based on the case filed by
the losing candidate Raj Narain. Justice Sinha found the Prime Minister
guilty of misconduct, and this was a shock for a country used to
principle politics at the top.
The verdict was made on somewhat flimsy grounds - such as the use
of a slightly elevated podium and a couple of government servants.
More serious charges of corruption and misuse of state machinery
were dismissed by the court. The opposition hailed the victory despite
the circumstances. Indira was also now ineligible to contest in elections
for six years, although the court allowed her to be the Prime Minister in
the interim.
On June 23, Justice V.R. Iyer of the Supreme Court issued a stay on
the High Court's order, but didn't allow the Prime Minister to cast a
vote in the Parliament. Senior party members and reputed journalists
urged the Prime Minister to step down until the Supreme Court could
deliver its ruling. There were plenty in the party who could run the
government in her absence. Senior lawyers also opined that the two
minor charges that the Allahabad Court indicted were unlikely to hold
water in the highest court.
Indira was confused and felt besieged on all sides. There was chaos all
over the nation that threatened her legitimacy. The Opposition was
getting stronger by the day. The economic situation had dramatically
worsened. Then, the courts were breathing fire for much of the previous
decade.
This time she listened to the counsel of her tweenage son, Sanjay
Gandhi. Sanjay had very little world experience and little respect for
129

democracy. However, Indira had a strong respect for her young son. In
a period of complete confusion, she would give up and let her son get
the best of her. Sanjay, joined by the West Bengal Chief Minister, S.S.
Ray, and a weak President in Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, helped Indira take
the extreme step.

Emergency Declared
On the 26th of June, four days from the deliverance of the Allahabad
verdict, Indira Gandhi declared a national emergency. The Constitution
provides this extreme step in case of huge external troubles like wars.
However, Indira Gandhi invoked it in the name of internal disturbance.
Within a year, JP and 110,000 other leaders and journalists were
arrested without trial. Democracy was suspended and there was
censorship everywhere. To keep the news from spreading fast,
electricity to all major presses were cut.
Governments of all major states ruled by the Opposition parties were
dismissed [Indian Parliament has the power to dismiss any state
government through a simple majority]. Amendment 39 of 1975 allowed
an Indian Prime Minister to ignore the courts. Thus, the Allahabad High
Court order was rendered invalid.
However, the most controversial element of the emergency was the
42nd Amendment of the Constitution.

42nd Amendment
This Amendment provided the government with the following powers:
1. The Parliament could amend any part of the Constitution
without restriction.
2. The Supreme Court could be approached only for the rarest
issues.
3. The Central Government could use the military for curbing
internal violence.
4. The Prime Minister and her office were above the court.
It also altered the Preamble to include the words secular and socialist.
Thus, India officially became a "SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC," and this is a legacy of Indira that India
continues to carry as of 2014.
130

Initial Reaction
While Indira caused a massive alarm among the Opposition and the
press, the rest of India carried on as if nothing happened. In fact, when
I talk to my grandfather about the episode, he mentions more positives
than negatives. He is not alone. Many famed writers like Khushwant
Singh were openly in support of the emergency.
India's middle class had a secret love for dictatorship, and Indira's
sudden takeover pleased many managers, executives, and other
members of the middle class. Amidst the initial shock and the massive
arrests, chaos lessened and even inflation was brought down.
Attendance in government offices shot up and punctuality was
achieved.
TIME Magazine came out with a highly supportive headline:
INDIA:
The
Emergency:
A
Needed
Shock
Indians
will
long
debate
whether
Mrs.
Gandhi
was
justified
in
proclaiming
the
emergency,
but
the
Prime
Minister
has
won
widespread
support
for
seizing
a
rare
opportunity
to
ram
through
a
score
of
social
reforms.
-- TIME (Oct 27, 1975)
However, the Indian press and bureaucrats were much angrier. They
were unnecessarily hindered and feared for the future of India.
The course for the Prime Minister, until the Supreme Court pronounces
its final verdict, admits of no ambiguity. She must resign forthwith in the
nation's and her own interest.
--- Indian Express
I am angry. Mrs. Gandhi has used a hammer to kill a fly.
-- An Indian Foreign Officer speaks to TIME (July 7, 1975)
Indian Express ran a blank editorial on June 26, 1975 in defiance.

131

Times of India ran an obituary to bypass censorship.

D.E.M.
O'Cracy
beloved
husband
of
T.Ruth,
father
of
L.I.Bertie,
brother
of
Faith,
Hope
and
Justica
expired
on
26
June
Overall, people didn't rise up as much as the opposition expected. A
good monsoon meant that even the poorest were relatively happy, and
Indira might have felt that things were under control.
132

Euphoria Fades to Face Reality

Sanjay Gandhi started his five-point plan that he believed would take
India to the next stage. He was impressed by Malthusian writings (on
how overpopulation was going to spell doom for India) and put out his
key agenda on five pillars:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Forcible family planning

Fighting dowry
Forcible clearing of slums
Afforestation
Literacy

If you remove the forced part, all his moves were laudable ones.
However, as he began to force things through a corrupt and nepotistic
administration, things started exploding.
Bulldozers recklessly moved into slums and smashed away the houses
of the poor. Muslims (among others) in various parts of Uttar Pradesh
were forcibly sterilized. TIME issue of April 4, 1977, reported that
between April 1976 and January 1977 an alarming 7.8 million people
were "sterilized", or deprived of their reproductive potency with an
intrusive surgery. Several young, unmarried men were victims of this.
All key positions around the nation were handpicked by Sanjay. All key
media - radio, television, and newspapers - carried Sanjay Gandhi's
praises every day.
As all kinds of opposition were silenced, people took to violent means.
The government did whatever it could to violate human rights and fill up
the prisons. Both the public and international media's mood drastically
changed from the spring of 1976.

Fading Hope in India

...The
submission
of
an
independent
judiciary
to
an
absolutist
government
is
virtually
the
last
step
in
the
destruction
of
a
democratic
society....
-- New York Times (April 30, 1976)
As the Emergency dragged on, Indira's friends - both in India and
abroad - deserted her. Her loyalists like the respected veteran Jagjivan
Ram were forced to defect. Other daughters of freedom fighters, like
133

Maniben Patel, daughter of Sardar Vallabhai Patel, took the route of

Satyagraha. Indira's own aunt, Ms. Vijayalakshmi Pandit, who had once
served as the President of the UN General Assembly, opposed Indira's
policies. Indira was deserted by her own friends.
Ian Jack of Sunday Times wrote a powerful headline:
With
Friend
Like
Son
Sanjay,
Gandhi
Doesn't
Need
Enemies.
-- Montreal Gazette (March 10, 1977)

Ending the Emergency

On January 18, 1977, Indira had a change of heart and called for new
elections. No one really knows what exactly triggered this change. It
might be a combination of losing friends in India and abroad, getting
chastised by people she loved, or craving for love from the common
people. There was also intense pressure by Quakers and other
mediators who served as India's bridges to the West for a long time.

On March 23, 1977, all political leaders were freed and the darkest
chapter in Indian history came to an end. Many believe that the quick
end (in 21 months) proved that India couldn't be ruled without a
democracy. Indira had unlimited power, but in that two year period, she
was not able to improve the country in a substantial way. It might have
dawned on her that what prevented India from growing was not the
opposition or various institutions. Finally, it was also likely that Indira
134

underestimated the common people's yearning for a change. By

silencing all media and opposition, she got out of touch with her
subjects.
Elections were held in March, and expectedly, Ms. Indira Gandhi was
voted out. For the first time, India would elect a party other than the
Congress. Congress was completely wiped out of north and central
India, although the south (where Sanjay Gandhi's effects weren't felt
that much) gave some solace to the Congress.

Legacy:
1. It was a testimony to the strength of Indian democracy that this
dark episode ended in 21 months. Indira's inability to rule
without Indian democratic institutions is a strong sign that
democracy is indispensable for a highly multi-cultural nation
like India.
2. The "second freedom movement" generated a new round of
principled leaders (like Atal Bihari Vajpayee) who would then
lead India. Without the Emergency, it might have been hard to
identify many of the leaders. As an unintended consequence,
the Emergency paved way for a more active opposition.
3. The fact that both Indira Gandhi and her son Sanjay Gandhi
lost their own parliamentary elections is a reminder of the
power of the ballot. Even the poorest had no hesitation in
pulling the rug under the most powerful Indians. Contrary to
what many outsiders believed, the poor in India were very
comfortable with the democratic processes.
4. The fact that the public didn't raise up for the constitutional
violation but only for forced family planning is a sobering
realization for any lover of democratic India. Had Sanjay
Gandhi avoided his controversial move, people might not have
hated him this much. This might inspire a future dictator who
could be more careful with these elements while destroying the
core institutions of democracy.
5. People's memories are short and Indians are too quick to
forgive. Indira's excesses were forgotten in two years and she
was back to power in 1980.
Indian
democracy
workedand
with
a
vengeance.
-- A US State Department Official talking to TIME (Apr 4, 1977)

135

Book of Dreams
The Forest Man
In the Northeastern corner of India lies the river island of Majuli,
surrounded by the river Brahmaputra. One of the biggest river islands in
the world, Majuli used to be a home to a wide varieties of endangered
species until human actions started lead to a massive erosion that
threatened the survival of the island and the precious ecosystem
contained therein.
In a major flood in 1979, plenty of snakes were washed ashore. The
sight of the dead reptiles moved one man. He wept on the sight of
seeing so many dead creatures that died in the hot sun without any tree
cover. He took upon a massive task in his hands. He decided to
reforest the whole island.
Working tireless for 35 years, this man, Jadhav Payeng, has now
created a 1400 acre forest. For the threatened species of the island, he
is the protector.
The Mountain Man
In 1959, a man in eastern India lost his wife on the way to a hospital.
She was injured trying to cross a treacherous hill to bring him water. A
hill stood between that man Dashrath Manjhi and modern civilization.
The villagers could not get access to modern facilities due to the curse
of geography.
But, for a determined man even a big hill is no big impediment. He
started slowly chiseling away the hill. Grain by grain, he broke the
Gehlour hills and has now created a pathway 360 feet long and 30 feet
wide that allows vehicles to reach his village. One man has built a
whole road. With his feat, he has reduced the distance between two
remote groups of villages in Bihar, Atri and Wazirganj by about 55 km.
It is the unsung individuals like Dashrath Manjhi and Jadhav Payeng
who make India run and who provide a hope to a population of 1.25
billion. They have not waited for the governments and other
organizations to help them, rather they literally created a path
themselves. It is these people who help India forget the gory past and
get them see a ray of life.

136

It is people like them who make Indians dream.

137

Chapter 10: India's Tryst with the

World
The
State
shall
endeavour
to
-
(a)
promote
international
peace
and
security;
(b)
maintain
just
and
honourable
relations
between
nations;
(c)
foster
respect
for
international
law
and
treaty
obligations
in
the
dealings
of
organised
peoples
with
one
another;
and
(d)
encourage
settlement
of
international
disputes
by
arbitration.
-- Article 51 of the Indian Constitution
Unlike most others, the Indian Constitution makes it an explicit directive
for the Indian government to push for international peace and
encourage better relations between nations. Although it is a directive
policy, not enforceable in a court of law, it gives away the intention of
India's founding fathers. They wanted India to play an active role in
helping promote world peace. For the most part, India has stayed true
to this directive policy.
India's freedom movement was a popular struggle around the world
and given the gracious way in which it won freedom, India was always
bound to have a healthy relationship with the rest of the world.
However, India never lived up to its full potential and often fumbled with
diplomacy.

Key Determinants of India's Foreign Policy

1. Geography: India is situated right in the center of South Asia,
South East Asia, Central Asia, and West Asia. Through the
Indian Ocean passes the world's most precious cargo, such as
oil to China and Asia's exports to Europe and Africa. Its
geographic proximity to superpowers such as the Soviet Union
(later Russia) and China meant that the nation had to focus on
building adequate deterrence. This has always often run
contrary to its idealistic foreign policy intentions of having a
nuclear weapon free world.
2. Economic policies: Indian leaders grew up in a socialist (of the
Fabian type) Britain. They were also deeply inspired by
communist revolutions happening around them - such as the
Russian revolution. Thus, the early foreign policy was much
more biased towards Communist nations. In the West, India
138

was sometimes seen as a client state of the Soviet Union.

3. Historical and Cultural Factors: India's occupation by the
British Empire had left a huge scar on the freedom fighters and
thus a key element of foreign policy was to root out colonialism
in the rest of the world. While India was against colonialism, the
top leaders of the freedom movement were all educated in
Britain and thus had a natural affinity towards the Anglophone
nations. India's spiritual past often came in its relations with
East and Southeast Asia [the Pancha-Sila policy with China
was based on Buddha's five principles].

Foreign Policy Under Different Prime Ministers

Nehruvian Era
Nehru took personal responsibility for foreign affairs, just like he did
before independence. He appointed his sister, Vijayalakshmi Pandit as
India's main diplomat to the UN. In 1953, Ms.Pandit became the first
woman president of the UN General Assembly.
Some of the key elements of Nehru policy:
1. Maintaining cordial relations with the UK: India surprised the
world by retaining Lord Mountbatten, the last Viceroy of India,
even after Independence. It was an indication of the relative
smooth transition. India decided to be a part of the British
Commonwealth despite having its own head of state. Nehru
made sure that India and the UK were in good terms despite
the freedom struggle.
2. Panchsheel policy with China: As soon as Mao took over
China in 1949 after the Communist revolution, India recognized
the new government and argued on its side in various
International fora. The five principles that Nehru made as the
core of his foreign policy with China, held good for a decade,
before the growing trouble in Tibet swallowed it.
3. Active role in developing world: Nehru wanted India to take a
lead role in the new organization - Non-Aligned Movement
(NAM) that he co-founded with the leaders of Egypt and
Yugoslavia. It was to reduce the tensions surrounding the Cold
War between the US and the USSR and build a strong
community of developing nations. The active role that he took
in criticizing the West in its intervention in Suez and Palestine
and the Soviet in its intervention in Hungary, irritated the major
139

powers and often turned India's external relationships frosty.

Nehru built a strong image for India in the world arena, although his
idealistic advice to the rest of the world was sometimes seen as
hypocritical given India's realpolitik dealings in Kashmir, Hyderabad,
Goa, and the Northeast frontier. He helped push colonialism out of
Africa and at the 1955 Bandung Conference of Afro-Asian nations,
which India helped organize, he tried to build further connections for
India.

Shastri's Era
India's second Prime Minister, Lal Bahadur Shastri, had a very short
tenure of about 19 months, due to his premature death. A lot of the era
was focused on defense build up leading up to the war with Pakistan.
He is held in a very high regard in India for successfully repelling
Pakistan's aggression. His remaining time was spent on handling
refugee problems in Burma and Sri Lanka - India's neighbors who were
driving out a large number of Indian settlers due to change in regimes.

Indira's Era
India's third Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, was much more assertive
and less tied to the idealisms of the founding fathers. She successfully
took India nuclear by detonating a nuclear device in 1974. She helped
break Pakistan into two - forming the new nation of Bangladesh. She
also helped arm the Tamil rebels of Sri Lanka after its government went
back on the promises it made to Shastri.
In Southeast Asia, India was on the side of the USSR and supported
Viet Cong in its struggle against the US. That made India's relationship
with the US-leaning region tough. Indira's period was the lowest point
of Indo-US relationships and a high point for Indo-Russian relationship.
In the Middle East, she opened secret channels with Israel through her
lieutenant (and later Prime Minister) Narasimha Rao, although overtly
she was against Israel. Although India had maintained a good
relationship with the Middle East (the region used Indian rupee as their
official currency 6 decades ago) the 1971 war with Pakistan brought
some trouble in the region. Pakistan portrayed India's help to the
Bangladeshi cause as anti-Islamic and was able to convince the
orthodox monarchies in the middle east to accept its side. However,
India's traditional friendships with more moderate nations like Iran and
Egypt prevented that region from taking an action against India.
140

Rajiv's Era
Indira's son, Rajiv, placed key importance on restoring ties with the
major powers. He made a visit to the US within months of coming to
the office. However, Ronald Reagan, the President at the time, was still
very focused on defeating India's top friend, the Soviet Union. He also
made a landmark visit to China, the first for an Indian Prime Minister
since Nehru's visit in 1954.
Rajiv's key parts of foreign policy came in the islands of the south. He
helped Maldives resist a coup orchestrated by the Tamil rebels.
Operation Cactus authorized by Rajiv was decisive in getting the
people's rule back to Maldives. However, in Sri Lanka he made a
controversial decision to send the Indian Peacekeeping Force (IPKF).
As we saw in earlier chapters, that was a colossal failure and defined
Rajiv's era.

Narasimha Rao's Era

Rao came at a time when the Communist world was collapsing. The
Soviet Union collapsed and that left India confused. This forced India to
open itself to the West both in economic and foreign policies. The
ignored relationship with European Countries was now paid attention
to.
Narasimha Rao also opened up to America's top ally - Israel. In 1992,
one year into his Premiership, he established a full diplomatic
relationship with Israel. This proved very critical during India's war with
Pakistan in 1999. Another key change came in relationships with South
East Asia and East Asia.
Rao was among the best Indian Prime Ministers when it came to
foreign policy. A lot of present thrust is a relic of his era.

Gujral Era
Although his reign as foreign minister and Prime Minister combined
lasted for less than two years, IK Gujral left a strong impact on India's
foreign policy. The Gujral doctrine stressed on the more prudent "neighbours first policy". The doctrine let the Prime Minister make
friendly measures with neighbors without expecting something directly
in return.
Key things achieved in that period:
141

1.
2.
3.
4.

Water sharing agreements with Bangladesh

Cooling down border dispute with China
Expanding people to people contact with Pakistan
A landmark visit to Nepal to build roads with a key neighbor

One key criticism of India's foreign policy during such third front parties
is that realpolitik takes a hit. For instance, India's intelligence agency
RAW's efforts was reportedly impeded in Morarji Desai and IK Gujral
regimes.

Vajpayee Era
In this era, a game of cat and mouse was played by Pakistan. India and
Pakistan tested their nuclear weapons in 1998 as soon as Vajpayee
came to power. The increased tensions was cooled by a landmark visit
to Pakistan by PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee in February 1999. However, that
trust was broken when it was found in May that Pakistan's army was
invading the hills in Kargil in Kashmir, starting a brief war. The truce
after the war didn't last long as Pakistan went through yet another
coup. In 2001, Pakistan-funded terrorists attacked the Indian
Parliament building yet again taking the two countries close to a war.
The biggest victory for Vajpayee came with US President Bill Clinton's
visit in 2000. That ended a long era of acrimonious relationships
between the two democracies. Clinton ended the sanctions on India
and Vajpayee took India much closer to the US in economic, foreign,
and military policies. The relationship with Israel also flowered a lot
more.

Manmohan Era
Manmohan Singh, for the most part, continued Vajpayee's policies. He
improved relationships with the US and also started building key
relationships with China, Japan, and Europe. It was in his period that
India reached a critical mass and was getting flirtations from powers all
over the world.
A key alliance that started this time was BRICS - Brazil, Russia, India,
China, and South Africa - the five big stars of the developing world that
accounted for half of the world population and a big chunk of new
economic growth.

Modi Era
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Its been only a couple of months since Modi started at the time of this
publication. Modi seems to blend Gujral's doctrine that stressed the
"Neighbors first policy" with Vajpayee's realpolitik with the West. Like
Nehru, he seems quite adept and comfortable when dealing with
foreign leaders. Already there are indications of Japan becoming a key
ally in energy.
In September 2014, Modi held meetings with the leaders of the worlds
top manufacturing powers - US, China, and Japan. Modi has been
trying to pursue foreign policy with a primary eye on growing the
domestic strength in manufacturing.

Relations with Key Countries

Relationship with the US
The India-US relationship was always a love-hate one where both sides
often fumbled in understanding the other side. In 1947, both sides
started right with the right rhetoric (democracies, freedom, liberation)
but things often became worse when faced with reality.
1. Kashmir issue. The US and the UK tried to mediate on the Kashmir
issue, but India didn't want it, fearing what the final verdict would look
like. This caused the first friction. TIME Magazine reported the Western
world view of how Pakistan is the law abiding party here: The
commission's final gesture, an arbitration proposal backed by the US
and Britain, had been accepted by Pakistan and rejected by India.
Abdullah's delegates passed a resolution denouncing the "arbitration
offer sponsored by President Truman and Prime Minister Attlee as "yet
another device to deny freedom to the people of Kashmir."
2. China issue. The US wanted India to not recognize Mao Zedong's
revolution. India lost no time in recognizing the legitimacy of the
People's Republic of China [the West pretended that it didn't exist and
dealt only with the rebel government in Taiwan]. India strongly argued
for providing China's permanent seat to Mao's government and not to
the rebel Chiang-kai Shek's government. This irritated the Americans.
However, India acted as the middleman between the US and China
during the Korean war, helping both sides bring the war to an end.
3. Joining the Western bloc: As the Soviet Union became the biggest
challenge for the US, the government there started an "Us. vs Them"
campaign. India was forced to pick sides but didn't. Indias neighbour
143

Pakistan had no such compunctions and they did join the Western bloc
in 1954 through Southeast Asia Treaty Organization and Central Treaty
Organization. Although Pakistan tried hard to use these two treaties to
bring the West to war with India, the US refused. However, the
relationship was scary for India and India had no option but to look to
the Soviets.
4. Soviet Vetoes: As Pakistan entered the Western bloc, the group
started ganging up on India in the Security council. During such
occasions, India needed the Soviet veto.
5. Nixon and Kissinger: Until the late 60s, the US was not as much
against the Indians. Democrats like Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson
kept a more healthy relationship. However, the entry of Nixon would
change this India-US relationship to a very hostile one with Nixon
almost bringing a war on India. In the Bangladeshi war of
independence, the US fought hard to avoid a partition of its ally
Pakistan, going very much against the self-determination of the
Bengalis. He even instigated his new friend China to start a front on
India.
6. Afghanistan: The nixing of Nixon brought some respite to India.
However, under Reagan a new war started in Afghanistan. Americans
sought to drive away Soviet influence and used Pakistan to train
Mujahideen - Islamic terrorists. India ended up on the wrong side and
eventually ended with the highly anti-India Talibans coming to take
power.
In short, the India-US relationship became a victim of a big geopolitical
game played through Pakistan as the pawn. For a long time, India tried
hard to dehyphenate the relationship [making the US see India beyond
the lens of Pakistan]. Let's see how it goes. Modi will be here in four
weeks and I'm attending his speech at Madison Square garden. Let us
see how he approaches the Indo-US relationships.

Relationship with Soviet Union/Russia

For the first six years post-independence, India didn't really have a
strong relationship with the Soviet Union. Stalin was too headstrong to
see India as a strong ally. Nehru was also paying more attention to the
West and was not impressed with the Soviet Union's lack of help in
Kashmir.
However, in 1949 India's future President S. Radhakrishnan was sent
144

as an ambassador to Moscow and he helped build the relationship

between these two countries. The death of Stalin in 1953 drastically
altered the relationship. A combination of factors helped here.
1. Nikita Khrushchev, Stalin's successor, was much more
sympathetic to India's interests.
2. The formation of US-Pak treaties left India with no alternative.
3. The relationship of both the USSR and India with China was
getting worse.
Nehru made a key visit in 1955 and that helped cement this relationship
and it proved to be an all-weather relationship for India. During Indira's
time, the Soviet relationship proved very important, especially in the
1971 war. However, Rajiv Gandhi's and Narasimha Rao's time saw
India moving a little away from the Soviet Union that was disintegrating
to form Russia and various central asian republics.
However, since the start of the Manmohan era, Russia had started to
get back into its importance as India finds Russia's energy and defense
cooperation very important.

Relationship with Pakistan

The relationship with Pakistan is among the thorniest one. The violence
around the time of partition in 1947, the still undecided nature of
Kashmir and the three full scale wars that were fought between the
countries all add to the tensions.
There were many treaties and meetings between the countries to sort
out their issues. But, each of them failed to bring long-lasting peace.
1. Karachi Agreement (1949): This was at the conclusion of the
first Indo-Pak war and done at the behest of the UN. The
countries agreed to a cease-fire line in Kashmir. The line runs
between the parts of Kashmir administered by Pakistan and
India.
2. Tashkent Declaration (1966): This agreement was brokered by
the USSR and held in Tashkent (now in Uzbekistan). The
agreement brought truce after the 1965 war. At the end of the
agreement, Indian Prime Minister Shastri mysteriously died,
adding to plenty of conspiracy theories.
3. Simla Agreement (1972): This paved the way for the
recognition of Bangladesh (previously called East Pakistan). It
added some formal recognition to the 1949 cease-fire line in
145

Kashmir (now called the Line of Control) between the two

countries. This was followed up by the Delhi Agreement in 1973
where India allowed the return of Pakistani Prisoners of War
(PoW).
4. Non-Nuclear Aggression Agreement (1988): In 1981, Israeli Air
Force made a surprise attack on Iraqs nuclear facilities and
crippled the nations nuclear program. Pakistan was quite
worried after this and in 1998, Prime Minister Bhutto invited her
counterpart Rajiv Gandhi to Islamabad. They both agreed on a
treaty whereby neither nation would aid the destruction of the
others nuclear facilities.
5. Lahore Declaration (1999): Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee
made a historic journey to Pakistan, a few months after the two
countries went nuclear. For a while there was euphoria. With
weeks after this agreement, Pakistans army staged intrusion
into Kashmir causing yet another war in the summer of 1999.
6. Agra Summit (2001): Yet another time, there was a meeting
between the two countries after a long period of lobbying by
UN and other powers. Vajpayee invited President Pervez
Musharraf to Agra. Within months of the agreement, there was
a major terrorist attack on Indian Parliament and the two
nations yet again went back to high tensions.
Key issues that hamper relationships:
1. Kashmir: Both nations have a claim on Kashmir. Although the
monarch of Kashmir had officially acceded to India, Pakistan
didnt accept the accession. Both nations see the others
occupation of a part of Kashmir as illegal.
2. Indus water: Water is among the most scarce commodities in
the dry South Asia. Both countries often fight to makes the
best utilization of the waters of Indus river that they both share.
3. World powers: Pakistan was often a playground for world
powers. US used the region for its proxy war against the Soviet
Union and the war in Afghanistan. Pakistan is also close to
China. India, for the most part, remained on the opposite side USSR - or part of no side at all.
4. Terrorism: From Indias side, the key issue is one of terrorism.
Since the late 1980s, Pakistan has been exporting terrorism to
India and has been unable to contain its support for the
insurgents.
When I was about 11 years old, my parents took me to the Wagah
146

border near Amritsar. There is a daily event at the Indo-Pak border that
allowed people from both sides to get the glimpse of each other. We
looked similar and still there was a big obstacle between us. Outside of
India, I have met plenty of people from Pakistan and find that as people
we have always got together well. We have even watch Indo-Pak
cricket matches together. There is no reason why India and Pakistan
cant have a peaceful relationship.

Relationship with China

For thousands of years, civilizations in India and China had little contact
of each other and those contacts were always positive. Things changed
in 1950, when the Peoples Republic of China annexed Tibet. This
brought the two civilizations too close to each other.
In 1962, India and China fought a border war. Since then, the
relationship has often grown tense.
Key issues
1. Unresolved borders - India and China are yet to decide their
borders in Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh.
2. Support for Pakistan - Since 1962, China has been having an
increasingly strong cooperation with Pakistan and this often
worries Indian strategists.
3. Trade imbalance - Since 1970s, China grew much faster than
India and thus exports to India more than it imports from it.
Also, Indias exports to China is more of raw materials than
finished products. This adds some concern for Indian
economists.
Relationship with Bangladesh
As a student, my friends and I once had a long journey to Bangladesh
capital of Dhaka crossing many rivers and traveling in small buses. It
took 4 days for us to complete the journey and we made great friends
there. The country looked practically the same as India, but still there
was such a barrier between the two countries.
India and Bangladesh started off well. India helped Bangladesh get
independence from Pakistan in 1972. However, things started going
downhill due to a range of thorny issues.
1. Sharing of Ganga waters: After the 1975 opening of Farakka
147

Barrage in West Bengal to divert Ganga water to the port of

Calcutta, tensions between both countries rose. India needed
the water diversion to prevent the critical Calcutta (now
Kolkata) port from getting silted up. Bangladesh fears that its
key water source is in danger.
2. Illegal immigration: Due to the differences in economic
development, many Bangladeshis cross the porous borders to
find jobs in India. This has led to plenty of tensions in
Northeastern India.
India needs the help of either Myanmar or Bangladesh [preferably both]
to fully tap Northeast Indias potential.
1. Ports - The nearest port for the Northeast is Kolkata. Kolkata is 1500
km from the northeastern cities of Aizawl and Agartala. Not just the
distance, the route passes through multiple states and through a lot of
mountains. Imagine dragging a heavy machinery through this long,
narrow road. This makes trade and manufacturing very hard in the
Northeast. Every product that is either produced in Northeast or
needed in northeast has to be carried through that one road through
Siliguri. On the other hand, Chittagong port is only 200km from the
state of Tripura and passes through the mostly flat land. A major
Bangladesh railway junction Akhaura is just 10 km from Agartala.
2. Migration - Major cities in India's northeast are quite close to the
rural hinterland of Bangladesh. For many rural Banglas, it is easy to find
jobs in these cities than in Dhaka or Chittagong. Thus, there is a
massive migration that is rapidly impacting the demographics of the
Northeast. Many tribes feel marginalized in their own territory. India
needs Bangladeshi government's help to arrest the endless flow of
migrants.
3. Separatism - Tripura alone shares 850 km of border with
Bangladesh. Other states like Mizoram share long borders too [a total
of 4000+ km of shared borders between Northeast India and
Bangladesh]. Given the long and unpatrolled borders, the separatists
and troublemakers in this region easily escape to Bangladesh. It is hard
to fight the separatism as long as the separatists have such an easy
escape hatch. India needs Bangladesh's help in patrolling the borders
and also bring the fugitives to justice.
4. Food movement - Eastern side of Bangladesh is quite fertile and
produces a lot of rice. This can be easily be moved to Tripura, Mizoram
and Manipur rather than dragging the food from West Bengal through
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the Siliguri corridor or air lifting them.

5. Plains and hills - Tripura, West Bengal and Bangladesh are all plains,
while the routes between Tripura and West Bengal through Meghalaya
are major hills.
6. Risk of Chicken neck - Currently the Siliguri corridor remains the only
link between the Northeast and the rest of India. Any problem there terrorist attacks, natural disasters, etc. - would completely screw the 7
states of North east. Bangladesh help would reduce that risk
substantially.
Why a deal with Bangladesh would help?
1. It will enable the easy movement of people and goods to
Northeast from the rest of the world. Imagine cutting through
Bangladesh to reach Tripura or Mizoram at lightning speed.
2. It will generate a lot of employment through new industries in
the northeast. The region will get prosperous.
3. A prosperous region would have little reasons to fight for
separatism. India's national security would improve.
4. Bangladesh would get prosperous too with this trade and many
of their locals would have a lesser need to jump across to
India. That would reduce migration & again improve India's
security.
What kind of deals India is looking at?
1. A train link to Akhaura. The distance between Akhaura [in
Bangladesh] and Agartala [Tripura's capital] is just 10 km.
Linking them with a new line to enable deep links between the
two railway systems.
2. Improving the 70 km road between Tripura's town of Sabroom
and the Chittagong port. Chittagong is a major international
port and this road can enable movement of goods in 1 hour.
3. Bus between Agartala and Kolkata through Bangladesh. This
could cut the travel time from about 40 hours to about 4 hours.

Relationship with Myanmar

My maternal grandfather and his father spent time there as traders.
There was a long relationship between the two countries and traders
from various parts of India, especially the south and northeast made a
good life traveling to Burma.
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The same points for Bangladesh also apply here. India has a had a long
relationship with Burma. There are even many Tamil temples in Burma.
Besides, it is deeply connected with Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland and
Arunachal. Major cities like Imphal and Kohima are less than 30
minutes away from the Burma border.
What India is doing with Myanmar?
1. Build plenty of new roads to reach Southeast Asia - Thailand,
Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia, etc.
2. Provide a way for the people of restive Manipur and Nagaland
to new economic avenues. Manipur especially has a lot to
benefit as it currently depends too much on the road through
Nagaland through which all its supplies from rest of India
come.
3. Pull Myanmar little out of China's reach. India and Myanmar
share much more cultural aspects.
4. Increase trade and that will also make Myanmar prosperous. A
prosperous neighbor is always a good thing.

Relationship with Israel

India has historically not supported Israel when a Nehru family member
was around. Nehru was terribly against Israel and joined the Arabs in
condemning the UN resolution. However, whenever a Nehru family
member was not around the Indian government made quick moves
towards Israel.
Until the 1990s, India was quite anti-Israel. The first change came via
the more pragmatic Narasimha Rao who wanted Israel's help in
growing the economy and technology. Then, the Kargil war came that
changed India's foreign policy.
1. During the 1999 Kargil war with Pakistan, Israel helped India
with defense technology and the ruling right wingers loved that.
A few news sources in India in May 1998 that claimed that
Israel was ready to strike Pakistan's nuclear facilities [before it
went nuclear] if India gave a go and supported Israel in its
conflicts. None of India's Arab friends really came forward to
help India in a moment of crisis. India moved closer to both
Israel and the US due to their help in ending the crisis.
2. India is tech hungry and Israel has plenty of tech. For a poor
country with a weak agricultural infrastructure, India has plenty
to gain in terms of tech transfers and capital equipment sales.
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3. Israel sympathizes with India on Kashmir and India realizes that

it cannot go too harsh on Israel as it would give more
momentum to Kashmir extremists.
4. India historically feared Arab nations due to oil supplies and
Indian workers there. However, as oil gets traded in global
markets freely and Indian workers are more indispensable for
Arab economies, Indian government no longer prioritizes about
those issues.

Relationship with Afghanistan

There is a very strong historical connection that runs for thousands of
years. Throughout Indian history, major emperors of India ruled
Afghanistan and vice versa. Since the start of the 20th century,
Afghanistan became a toy in the great game played between Russia
and Britain to influence India.
The short-lived Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, formed under the
influence of the Soviet Union, had become India's friend. The rebels
who were created to fight this new republic and the Soviet influence
thus became anti-India and pro-Pakistan.
Until the arrival of Talibans (essentially Pakistan's protege), India
enjoyed a strong relationship with Afghanistan. A lot of Afghan leaders,
including the current President Karzai studied in India.
India was also close friends with the Northern Alliance that helped
topple the Talibans in the aftermath of 2001. Since 2001, India has
helped Afghanistan substantially in its reconstruction.
In a Gallup poll done in 2010, the majority of Afghans preferred Indians
over both Americans and Pakistanis. Afghanistan stands at #3 when it
comes to aid receipts from India.

Relationship with Nepal

In my trip to Nepal for researching material for this book, I once saw a
big banner that portrayed India as a big python that was engulfing the
nation of Nepal. As I traveled the rural country in local buses, I often
sensed a cold relationship towards Indians. However, I also found
many other Nepalis quite friendly towards India. Nepal as a country is
quite divided in its relationship with India.
The people of plains are more favorable to India than the people in the
151

Himalayan districts. Again the religious divide is also visible with the
Hindus a little more pro-India than Buddhists. Then there are also
economic divide - with the fast rising Nepali businessmen/middle class
a little more pro-India than the Maoists who recently took power. There
is a complex socioeconomic dynamics at play in the love-hate
relationship between the countries.
Part of this is a failure of India to assure the smaller neighbor that their
security and sovereignty would not be compromised. Other than Nehru
and Gujral, most Indian Prime Ministers ignored the state and often
could be accused of taking it for granted. However, things seems to be
changing under Modis regime with the following issues brought to the
center.
1. Power and Water: Nepal has a lot of water and electricity
potential, and India is hungry for both. In fact, Nepal has the
world's second highest hydroelectric power potential and sits
right next to India's most populated states.
2. Geopolitics: Nepal is critical for India to keep China out of
South Asia. It is not an accident that Modi visits Bhutan and
Nepal among his first three official visits since becoming a
Prime Minister. Both nations sit between India and China and
do a very important job of giving India a buffer. Indian Prime
Ministers often took our neighbors for granted and that has
allowed India's rivals to set up shop all around India. If your
neighbors are not friendly, you will have a terrible time with
your security. By charming Bhutan and Nepal, India gets to be
the leader in South Asia.
3. External Security: China wants to build roads and railways
within Nepal and that is dangerous for India, as China could
instantly move supplies to Indian borders in a war. If China
builds infrastructure in Nepal, that would put Chinese forces
much more closer to Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. India doesn't
want that.
4. Internal Security: Communist terrorists (Naxalites/Maoists) are
becoming a huge problem for India. Because of the Naxalites,
the development projects for 100 million (10 crore) people are
blocked. The Naxalites mainly use Nepal as the springboard,
along with a bit of China and Bangladesh. Modi wants to first
close the Nepal route and eventually deal with Bangladesh and
China.
5. It's business: Nepal gets all these loans to buy infrastructure,
machinery, cement, and vehicles from India. Other than India
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and China, they don't have any other neighbors to do business

with. That benefits a lot of Indian businesses.

4. What Modi Might Do in Foreign Policy?

1. Modi is expected to look east, especially Japan. This is an
Indian government policy initiative that first started 20 years
ago, but has not been followed up much. As a Chief Minister of
Gujarat, Modi developed close links with China, Japan, and
other Asian countries. Modi idolizes China and Japan.
Japanese Premier Abe and Modi share a lot of similar views on
the West, culture, economy, etc. For Japan and the rest of the
East and Southeast Asia, he is going to be the most friendly
Indian Prime Minister they have ever had.
2. More emphasis on Israel. Like Japan, Israel cultivated a
relationship with Modi when he was a pariah in the world. Israel
already has plenty of investments in Gujarat. Israel and India
would get along quite well as Modi carries no historical
baggage like Congress did.
3. More closer to Russia than the US. Modi shares some qualities
with Putin. For instance, both leaders care less about what the
leaders in the West think of them. Although Putin's communism
(or whatever model you want to call that) is not going to sit well
with Modi's capitalism, together they are going to step on the
gas to collaborate on a massive scale.
4. Modi's play on South Asia will be interesting. Modi had a tough
stand on India's neighbors during the campaign. He said he
had little patience for the illegal immigrants from Bangladesh,
Communist rebels from Nepal, or the terrorists from Pakistan.
However, this tough campaign has also given him plenty of
room to negotiate. He has already invited the leaders of South
Asia to his swearing ceremony - a historic move. Now, he is
looking to make Bangladesh (and not the US/Europe) as his
first stop.
5. New perspective on Indo-Sri Lankan relationships. For
decades, Indian foreign policy on Sri Lanka was controlled by
the leaders in Tamil Nadu. For the first time in Indian history,
there are not going to be any Dravidian sympathizers in the
cabinet. That is going to make things different. Without the
need to please the Dravidian parties (although you have that
Vaiko guy - who is practically powerless), Modi might take a
bolder move in Sri Lanka.
6. Australia will benefit among developed nations. Modi is
153

7.

8.

9.

10.

expected to pay lesser emphasis on the US and Europe than

some of his predecessors. However, one developed nation that
might benefit is Australia which has had a relationship with
Modi since 13 years ago. Australia could even be India's
mediator in dealing with the West.
Modi will be a cautious friend for China. Modi loves China and
he is going to focus a lot on building trade links with China.
However, unlike the Prime Ministers of the past, China is going
to see an Indian leader who is no-nonsense. He is not going to
give much room and compete a lot for Asian leadership, but at
the same time is not going to be unreasonable. I'm hoping the
Sino-Indian border issues to get resolved in his reign.
African relations are going to improve. Modi is going to give
China a chase in Africa. The African leaders will now have a
new alternative besides China and the West. Indian businesses
are already very active in Africa and Modi is going to push them
even more.
Obama - Modi is going to be a frosty relationship. Obama is a
terrible President from an Indo-US relationship perspective. He
has destroyed everything that Bush and Clinton had built and
gives little importance to India. Modi is far right than anyone
Obama would have encountered from India. Modi is not that
hot on the US either. Thus, Modi might until 2016 and hope to
rebuild the relationship when a Republican takes up the reins.
Republicans are already learning a lot about Modi. That said,
Modi is going to make a lot of friendships with US businesses.
Modi is very pragmatic about this.
Not clear of what or how he will work with the UK. While the
Congressional party historically had close relationships with the
UK, Modi might not care that much about the history. British
liberal media had been doing a very vicious propaganda
against both Modi and India in the past couple of years (like the
racist comments during India's MARS mission) and that has
poisoned the climate a bit. That said, Britain has a large Indian
diaspora and has traditionally been a launchpad for Indian
Multinationals. Thus, Modi might work with the businesses
while ignoring the government.

154

Chapter 11: Hop, Skip and Jump:

The Story of Indian Economy
No
power
on
earth
can
stop
an
idea
whose
time
has
come.
-- Victor Hugo
July 1991
Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao was in a sullen mood. He was in
fresh, white dhoti and looked at the three visitors to his residence. The
bald, boring, 70-year old man was unlike any hero.
Before him, there were only six years where India was not ruled by a
direct descendent of Nehru. He didn't have a lot of power in the party.
His Finance Minister was the first ever non-political finance minister,
chosen solely for academic merit. Together they were administering
one of the most closed, major economies in the world.
The three visitors - Finance Minister Manmohan Singh, Commerce
Minister P Chidambaram and Commerce Secretary Montek Singh looked tired, but really insisted on getting the job done. They asked for
the Prime Minister's ok in relaxing the chains that were put by various
Indian governments of the past. None of them had any political
experience and they turned to Rao, like kittens turn to their mother.
Rao had just sworn in two weeks before, following the elections of
1991. He grew up in Congress mold, under the shadows of Jawaharlal
Nehru and Indira Gandhi, without much opportunity to speak. He was
not a reformer at heart. But, he was a pragmatist. He was not a Deng
Xiaoping or Margaret Thatcher. But, he knew what he should do.
With a polite nod, he said "Yes". Just as he finished, monsoons
brought the long awaited rains. And thus began India's saga of
liberalization. Not with a bang, but with a whimper.
How Did India Get Into this Position?</p> <p>It was the worst summer
for India. Just before the new Prime Minister was sworn-in, the
caretaker government had to take a big chunk of India's official gold
reserves to London to get an interim loan from the IMF India needed to
buy the essential reserves.

155

The Reserve Bank of India had to airlift 47 tons of gold to the Bank of
England and another 20 tons of gold to Union Bank of Switzerland to
get an interim loan.
In Indian villages, mothers pledged their ceremonial gold chain as the
last resort to usurious moneylenders. Mother India was in the same
position.
A combination of factors came attacking at the same time:
1. Loss of Soviet Union as the key trading partner: Most countries in
the world depend on the global economy for a wide variety of things.
India depends on West Asia for our oil, South Africa for its gold, the US
for our technology, South east Asia for vegetable oil, etc. To buy these
items from the world market, India needs US dollars - the global
currency of trade. The only way to earn dollars is by selling enough of
our stuff in the global economy (exports).
Since the 1960s, India depended on the Soviet Union for our exports as we failed to develop good economic relationships with the US and
Western Europe. It was a good going for a while (India and the Soviets)
until the proverbial sh*t started to hit the fan. In the late 1980s, the
Soviet Union started to crack and by 1991 they were split into 15
nations (Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, etc). Now, India had a major
problem because our primary buyer was in turmoil. Exports were down
significantly.
2. Oil shock from the gulf war: Meanwhile, there was this guy Saddam
Hussein, who had his misadventure into Kuwait in 1990. This led the
US to war with Iraq in early 1991. Oil fields started to burn and ships
found it hard to reach the Persian gulf. Iraq and Kuwait were our big
suppliers of oil. The war led to destruction of Indias oil imports and
prices shot up substantially - doubling in a few months.
3. Domestic Trouble: In the late 1980s India's political system was
imploding. Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was involved in a series of
troubles - Bofors scandal, IPKF misadventure, Shah Bano case that
eventually led to his ousting in 1989. What followed were two more
terrible leaders who were as unstable as they were incompetent. This
had a huge effect on the Indian economy that was totally forgotten in
the political crisis. In 1991, this stop-gap government crashed. Until
Narasimha Rao was sworn as Prime Minister in 1991, the Indian
economy was left in gross neglect.

156

Thus, 1991 was the year of perfect storm. This triple crisis brought
India on its knees. On the one end, Indias primary buyer was gone. On
the other hand, its primary sellers were in war. In the middle, its
production was effectively stopped by political crisis. India was running
out of dollars to buy essential items like crude oil and food from the rest
of the world. This is termed a Balance of Payments Crisis - meaning
India was not able to balance its accounts - exports were significantly
less than imports.
On that eventful night in July 1991, Indian leaders had no choice but to
turn volte-face on Nehruvian economics and Indira Gandhi's
nationalization drives.
On July 24, 1991, the Finance Minister announced the landmark
budget. I was an eight-year-old in a small village, 2,000 kilometers from
the Indian capital. However, I could sense people's excitement.
Everyone was glued to their television sets. It was more tense than a
hypothetical World Cup cricket final between India and Pakistan.
History was being made, just as Nehru's.
A new India was born. It was messy, ugly, and little. But, it held a lot of
promise!
I
do
not
minimise
the
difficulties
that
lie
ahead
on
the
long
and
arduous
journey
on
which
we
have
embarked.
But
as
Victor
Hugo
once
said,
"no
power
on
earth
can
stop
an
idea
whose
time
has
come".
I
suggest
to
this
august
House
that
the
emergence
of
India
as
a
major
economic
power
in
the
world
happens
to
be
one
such
idea.
Let
the
whole
world
hear
it
loud
and
clear.
India
is
now
wide
awake.
We
shall
prevail.
We
shall
overcome.
Budget Speech, July 24, 1991
1. Companies were allowed to issue stocks and set prices
without the government's approval. Thereby heralding the rise
of the Bombay Stock Exchange as a serious institution in
charge of helping companies raise money from the public.
2. India did away with many of the import restrictions. Until 1991,
it imposed a 400% customs duty on many products. Industries
had to beg to get an essential ingredient imported. By 1991,
the duties on many products were reduced substantially. This
brought new growth in our industries.
3. Import licensing was abolished. Until 1991, you needed a
license to import anything and this license was very hard to
157

get.
4. The government did away with the production, licensing in
many industries. Until 1991, you needed government's
permission in what to produce and how much to produce. In
one stroke, the restriction was removed in many industries.
5. Manmohan abolished gold smuggling (a key feature of 1970s &
80s era Bollywood movies) in one go. He effectively allowed
Indian expats to bring back five kilos of gold with them with no
duty. Now, very few had a reason to smuggle gold and
electronics.
6. Singh and Rao allowed foreign investors to come. Until then
India was living in the paranoia of the East India company.
Many sectors were opened for foreign investment and
collaboration. Now, companies like Coke and Microsoft could
come in. Suddenly, the Bombay Stock Exchange found a life.
7. The government started selling some of its businesses to the
private. This brought cash and a new round of efficiency.

Immediate Euphoria
One of the biggest credits that the Prime Minister should be given is in
his assembly of a star team. His team had little experience in politics,
but lots in economics and finance. The team was shielded and
shepherded by the expert tactician, Rao. The Prime Minister protected
his team from external attacks and let them create India's destiny.
1. Communications were opened up. Star TV entered India and
suddenly the Dish revolution caught on to India in no time. We
found a new way to see the world, besides what Doordarshan
gave us.
2. New airlines came up. Until that time we had only Indian
Airlines serving the local routes. In 1992, Jet Airways and other
private airlines came up. Some of these new airlines (like the
East West airlines, Damania, Modiluft) were very good in
customer service. In three years from then, they would all be
gone though.
3. Stock market freed up. In those times, people used to say
"there is only one thing you must always do in the stock
market. Buy Reliance." IPO (called the initial issue back then)
fever caught on. Suddenly, my parents and all my friends'
parents started playing this new game. I found a new interest in
this new kind of sports scores. The year 1994 was the peak
(when Harshad Mehta ruled the market).
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4. Indian entrepreneurs began to dream. People found new ways

to deal with the world. One of my uncles got on the cover of
Fortune about the rise of Indian executives.
5. Real estate shot up. In the early 1990s, real estate started
getting giddy. The market peaked around 1995.
Narasimha Rao was an unlikely hero; but he was a hero!

Mothers and Stocks

Maybe the winds of optimisim caught my dad's bosses too. Just as
India was changing, my childhood life was also drastically changing. In
the summer of 1993, my family moved from a tiny village in the deep
south to the national capital. It was a massive shift for me. New
language, new culture, new attitudes.
I had never seen so many cars and computers. My neighbor's dad was
talking about computer programming and I had no idea that we could
buy computers at home. I had touched the computer only once before
- in my primary school in 1989 - and at that time it was tightly
protected. We touched as though we would touch an idol in a Hindu
temple - too sacred, too powerful, too enigmatic.
I dreamed of sitting in front of it someday. But, had to wait two more
years to start programming in that gizmo. We didn't even have the
resources to buy even a typewriter and my school was quite poor too.
More than the money, it was the pure optimism that was infectious. At
about 10, I got quite interested in the stock market. Sachin and stocks
seemed to excite the most.
I helped my father invest in the new IPOs of that time - Oriental Bank of
Commerce and an another company that I'm having trouble recalling.
Some of the investments we did were souring. The mutual funds that
my dad's bank forced him to buy - Ind Ratna and Ind Jyoti - went to
their heights.
It was a time, the neighborhood aunties would all be busy chatting
about the stock market and what to buy. Reliance was a stock that my
mom dreamed of buying someday. Some of my father's friends made
100x returns in some of their investments.

The Bubble Burst

159

By 1994, India's drive for liberalization started dipping. As mentioned

earlier, the liberalization didn't come out of a very enthusiastic public
display, but came more out of a sullen Prime Minister's pragmatism. As
the economy grew, the pressure was no more.
Pragmatism is not a good replacement for a full-blooded positive push.
Rao was still a socialist at heart and took care not to hurt the
sentiments of Nehruvian loyalists. The ministers carefully kept the
Nehruvian language and worked at the corners. But, they could only go
so far.
As the pressure from the Prime Minister reduced, the bureaucratic
monkey was back on the trees. Indian stock markets and real estate
markets collapsed. A number of scams were unearthed.
A number of non-banking financial instruments that mushroomed in the
1992-94 timeframe had disappeared and bam went all the investor
money with it. I still remember all the crazy investment schemes on
primetime TV that promised extraordinary interest rates (40% and
above). They asked their gullible investors to invest into their teak
farms, car dealerships, and so on.

1996 Elections
It was a surprise that Rao was able to survive five years with his slim
majority. But, he did. What he didn't do was to tout the heroic things he
did in 1991-93. The socialist in him took an apologetic tone to his
liberalization policies. It was like apologizing for saving a million lives.
He literally changed the lives of millions of poor people. I could see it
right in front of me in my village.
But, the Prime Minister didn't. And that was the tragedy. In the 1996
elections, economic reform was no longer talked about. The
government was on the defensive.
My dad and I were anxiously rooting for the right-wing BJP in the 1996
elections and I even convinced my grandad (a die-hard Congress
supporter since Mahatma's times) to vote the same. We were
expecting a restart of the engine. However, Vajpayee's government
didn't last long.
At that time, my school was quite good at organizing debate contests
among students. One of the topics was on the importance of
economics. I was furious - should the importance of economics even
160

be a question. In any case, that was the prevailing attitude in India.

Dream Budget 1997

On February 28, 1997, my dad called me to view the budget. I stopped
the Cricket game I was playing on the streets in the twilight and joined
my dad. It was another historic budget.
Finance Minister P Chidambaram announced a slew of measures to
jumpstart the ailing Indian economy. The Asian economic crisis was
already taking a toll on India. The reform processes were slowed down.
The baby of 1991 still remained a baby. It refused to grow up and join
school.
Chidambaram's budget drastically cut down the tax rates and enabled
trade and investments to flow. The policies arrested the slide and
prevented India from getting on to the Asian Financial Crisis.
In this note, I also want to mention the works of the Reserve Bank of
India - one of the most respected institutions in India. The bank was
always led by incorruptible, honorable men and while the bank could
be accused of excessive conservatism, they can never be accused of
recklessness. In the past 20 years, they helped India survive many
financial crises around the world.

India Shining
In 1999, Vajpayee would finally get a shot at running a stable
government. In the next five years, he would bring further reforms, such
as new highways connecting the major cities of India - the Golden
Quadrilateral - a major highway system connection the 4 major
metropolitan centers of India.
In 2004, Vajpayee looked all but
campaigned on his record of
managers probably overdid the
people off. Out of nowhere, the
race.

certain of winning the elections. He

economic reforms. However, his
jubilation and that ticked the poor
opposition Congress party won the

In its first iteration (2004-09) it did well in continuing the reforms of BJP.
However, just like 1991-96, the government started slowly decaying
over time. In the second term, 2009-14 they were hit by a slew of
massive scandals (on allocating telecom spectrum and coal fields) that
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wrecked them just like it did in 1996.

This time, BJP had a much better answer than it had in 1996. Before
we get on to Modi, I will briefly walk you through the economic history
of the rupee.

Rupee's History
There were a few major events that changed the currency rates. Rupee
has a long history dating back to the 6th century BC when Indian kings
were issuing coins for trade - among the first in the world to do so. In
the classic treatise of Arthasastra (3rd century BC) Chanakya mentions
of Rupyarupa (silver coins) and the ways to govern it.
In 1540, the Afghan king Sher Shah Suri brought a great degree of
standardization by introducing 178 gram silver coins called the
Rupiyah. This was then followed by the Maratha empire and later by
the East India Company.
The standard spread to the rest of Asia, and by the 20th century, Indian
Rupee became the most important currency in Asia. The Indian rupee
was the official currency of Dubai, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Kenya,
Mauritius, Bahrain, Qatar and a few other countries.
However, after the Independence and end of colonization in the rest of
Asia and Africa, the rupee's importance diminished. The protectionist
attitudes of Indian governments didn't help either. Rs 1 equaled USD
$0.33 in 1947. In 2014, it equaled $0.016 - falling over 20 times in the
past 67 years. Here is how it happened.
1. June 4, 1966. First major devaluation. For the first two
decades, India had almost a constant peg against the dollar at
Rs.4.75/$. Then things changed in 1966. India had just fought
two major wars (with China and Pakistan) and had three prime
ministers in three years (Nehru, Shastri, and Indira) after 17
years of one man rule. Then a major drought shook the
country. Perfect storm. With nowhere to go and no more
dollars, the Indian government announced a 57% depreciation
of the rupee overnight from Rs.4.75/$ to Rs.7.5/$.
2. 1980s inflation. From 1966 to 1980, the rupee stayed constant.
However, the energy crisis in the late 1970s and gold's
skyrocketing prices in early 1980s left India with no place to go
(oil and gold were historically Indias primary imports). Indian
rupee started to slowly decline. From about 7.85/$ in 1980
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3.

4.

5.

6.

7.
8.

9.

rupee reached about 17/$ by 1991.

1991 crisis. In July 1991, India hit another major crisis. It was
the biggest event in modern Indian economic history. Overnight
the rupee was devalued by another 50% from about 17/$ to
about 25/$.
1993 liberalization. In 1993, Indian finance minister Manmohan
Singh let the rupee float a little freely. Translation: the rupee
was allowed to be traded by traders without a forced peg such
as the one kept by China. Rupee value started to slide as the
government was no longer controlling the prices fully and
started to reflect the reality. From about 27/$ it slid to Rs.35/$
by 1997.
1997 Asian financial crisis. One of the biggest events in East
Asia as economies such as Thailand and Indonesia collapsed.
Panic was all over the place. From about Rs. 35/$, rupee went
down to Rs.39/$ as investors were quitting Asia enmasse.
Pokhran-II 1998. Indian Prime Minister announced the nuclear
testing. US, Japan and other countries immediately imposed
sanctions on India, limiting investments. In just a couple of
months, the rupee sank to Rs.43/$. Then the rupee started
moving sideways and the lowest point was reached in 2002 at
Rs.48/$ (when BSE was its lowest and real estate was listless).
Good times (2000-07). The rupee started recovering its losses
and started moving up and reached about 39/$ by 2007. Then
the shit hit the fan.
Financial crisis of 200708. The financial crisis caused
investors to quit all emerging markets, including India and
pushed the rupee from 39/$ to Rs.51/$ by March 2009. In the
next two years, the rupee recovered most of the loss due to
economic optimism and rebound in US markets.
European sovereign-debt crisis. By the fall of 2011, the world
noticed another financial crisis. This time in Greece, Spain, and
other places. Just like other times, investors started pulling out.
Another reason was that the Indian government's budget
positions were getting worse (due to profligate overspending).
Indian rupee sunk from Rs. 44/$ in August 2011 to about 56/$
by June 2012.

As the fate of the rupee danced around, Indian entrepreneurs

sometimes danced in joy and other times writhed in pain. No story of
Indian economy would be complete without the story of its
entrepreneurs.

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There are many Indian Entrepreneurs worth noting. One of the icons is
Mr. Dhirubhai Ambani - founder of Reliance Industries.

Story of Dhirubhai Ambani

Good entrepreneurs usually have a family background in business.
Great entrepreneurs usually have none and start from scratch. Bill
Gates is the son of a lawyer. Zuckerberg is the son of a dentist. Larry
Page's parents are professors. Look up most great entrepreneurs in
history - Larry Ellison, Thomas Edison, Steve Jobs, Henry Ford, George
Soros, Jeff Bezos - they were all first generation entrepreneurs who
grew from practically nothing.
Dhirubhai Ambani is an Indian icon who did that way. He is a little more
special than the American entrepreneurs above as the old world relies
on connections and lineage a lot, lot more than the new world.
Dhirubhai started out as a trader importing polyester fabric and
exporting spices. The small dowry he got and experience he acquired
working in the Middle East, helped him a bit to get started.
Trading was not a sexy thing those days. Only uneducated people and
very rich kids without much drive were dabbling in there. There was not
enough competition for someone as smart and as fierce as Dhirubhai.
Once he mastered polyester trading, he moved upstream to start
producing fabric and downstream to directly brand this fabric to
customers.
His apparel brand - Vimal - created a sensation in the 1970/80s. Vimal
brought in top fashion designers to build the aesthetic appeal, focused
a lot on fabric quality, made really sexy promotions and got a whole
bunch of top models and cricketers to endorse.
Then he expanded the polyester business and started producing the
things needed to make the polyester (as India's import rules were quite
harsh) such as petrochemicals.
Besides the product innovation, he also utilized the financial markets to
the full extent. His company went to IPO in 1977 (when India's stock
markets were very small) and really used the power of common
investors. When I was young, my parents would always be chatting
about how everyone should own Reliance stock - it took stock markets
to the masses.

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Dhirubhai had the dream to break in a market with too much

connections, the persistence to stay through the Indian government's
moronic policies, the innovative ability (both in product and finance)
and finally the luck (from the dowry to being at a time when the Indian
economy was exploding).
Just as Dhirubhai was shaking up business, a fellow Gujarati had
started shaking up Indian politics.

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Chapter 12: The Great Political

Tamasha
May 16th 2014
None of us at home could sleep that night. Although we were living in
Boston, we felt the sense of excitement that was spreading in India. By
the end of the day, history was made. Modi became the first Prime
Minister in 26 years to have a decisive majority.
It was a sense of victory. Historian Patrick French did a research on
Indian MPs of the Parliament elected in 2009 and found it was sliding
into hereditary. It was depressing.
Every MP in the Lok Sabha or the lower house of the Indian
parliament under the age of 30 had inherited a seat.
More than two thirds of the 66 MPs aged 40 or under are
hereditary MPs.
Every Congress MP under the age of 35 was a hereditary MP.
Nearly 40% of the 66 ministers who are members of the Lok
Sabha were hereditary members.
Nearly 70% of the women MPs have family connections.
In 2014, the situation changed significantly from the past. It was quite a
break from the past as Modi, the "conservative", appealed to
modernity, while Rahul Gandhi, the "progressive", was stuck in the
past. In this chapter let us look at some lessons from history-defining
elections.

1. A Brief Introduction to Indian Political Parties

Broad ideology:
Since the French revolution, political parties across the world are
categorized into left and right. Originally it used to mean the seating
arrangement in Estates General of France (people who sat on the right
supported monarchy and people on the left sympathized with the
revolutionaries).
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Left: Parties that support communism/socialism. Sometimes they have

a progressive outlook towards science and social values, but have a
huge suspicion on businesses. They want government's involvement in
businesses and economy, but not as often on the society (civil
liberties). CPI and CPI (M) kind of lefties, although they don't believe
that much in civil liberties.
Right: Parties that are conservative and believe in the traditional values.
They believe in religion, businesses, and capitalism. They want
government's involvement in society, but not businesses. BJP is on the
right.
No major ideology: This encompasses all the rest of Indian parties.
Usually they are anti-business and thus bucketed into the "center-left"
category meaning they are a confused lot who sometimes side to the
left. Congress falls in it.
Size and Spread: In India, if a party has a sizable presence in four or
more states, it is considered a national party. There are officially six of
them in India as of 2014: Congress, BJP, Communist Party of India
(CPI), Marxist Communist Party (CPI M), Bahujan Samaj party, and
Nationalist Congress party. Although there are six official national ones,
only two are considered truly national: Congress and the BJP.
Beyond the six national parties, there are a few hundred regional
parties. These parties primarily appeal to their own region/language.
For instance, DMK/AIADMK believe in Tamil superiority and Trinamool
Congress does the same for Bengalis. Regional parties are in general,
far more corrupt than the national ones.

Major Parties
Congress Party: A center-left party that was founded by legendary men
and women in 1885. To compensate for the positives of the great
leaders of the past, the party has elected Ms. Sonia Gandhi. On a more
serious note, Congress is dominated by people closely associated with
past leaders (sons, grandsons, in-laws, assistants, chamchas).
Positives: The party has a better record in avoiding caste-politics and is
slightly neutral when it comes to religion.
Bharatiya Janata Party: An offshoot of RSS (a right wing social unit),
BJP is a party that rose to power in the 1980s to represent the middle
class and conservative Hindus. Somewhere they lost the way and have
become a confused lot, torn between pro-business units and pro167

Hindutva units. Many of their new crop of leaders are clean and agile
(such as a CMs of Goa and Chhattisgarh). Given its conservative
stance on a few issues, it is the party that Indian media loves to bash
the most. Disparagingly called the Brahmin-Baniya Party, although the
party has recently brought more of other castes. Positives: The party
has a good development record and tries to avoid regional fightings.
Communists: They are traditionally dominant in the states of Kerala,
West Bengal, and Tripura. Mainly backed by worker unions, student
organizations, and confused elites. They are typically anti-business and
anti-West. Positives: Arguably they are pro-environment and worker
rights.

2. Defining elections
1951 Elections
This was the first national election with the new Constitution. Nehru
was virtually unopposed as his primary rival, Patel, passed away the
previous year. The elections were held over a very long period - about
five months from October 1951 to February 1952. Very few parties had
energy to campaign over such a long period.
A range of socialist parties sprung up that started tapping on the
general socialist/communist mindset of the world back then. However,
these parties were competing against each other and effectively split
the votes. Nehru steamrolled the other parties and formed the
government.
An interesting thing about the first three elections is that they had
multiple seats for some of the constituencies. One constituency in West
Bengal even had three seats.

1967 Elections
Nehru had easily won the 1957 and 1962 elections. However, plenty of
things happened between 1962-1967. Nehru died in 1964, followed by
Shastri who died in 1966. In a span of two years, India had three Prime
Ministers. As we saw in Chapter 9, there was a big internal power
struggle. Indira Gandhi was able to finally prevail over and bring the
increasingly left-turning party members back to the fold.

1977 Elections
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For the first 30 years, the Congress party had a relatively smooth
sailing. Some external commentators even wondered if India is a real
democracy as a single party was totally dominating the center.
However, as we saw in Chapter 9, Indira Gandhi declared emergency in
1975 and brought a range of repressive measures. It was time to see if
India was a real democracy or not.
And we did see. An anti-Indira alliance led by Morarji Desai swept
through almost all of north India, winning 345 of the 542 seats. Indira
Gandhi and her son Sanjay Gandhi could not even get elected in their
own, safe seats. It was Indian democracy working with a vengeance.
For the first time in decades, India would see a new party dominate the
national politics. Unfortunately, this euphoria didn't last enough. The
coalition fell apart under its own weight, letting Indira come back in
1980. Since then, Janata Dal was constantly creating new parties.

1989 Elections
Indiras death in 1984 led to a huge sympathy wave that brought Rajiv
Gandhi with an unprecedented majority that even his mother and
grandfather could not achieve. However, in just five years Rajiv would
throw it all away.
Bofors gun scandal, botching up of Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF),
and the rising religious tensions following the Shah Bano case and
rising frenzy around the Babri Masjid issue all took care to submerge
Rajiv's government.
The 1989 elections had many elements of the 1977 elections. Yet
again, the socialists and the nationalists came together to form a
coalition. Yet again, the coalition would collapse in two years.
Interestingly, when such a coalition was formed in 1996, it again
collapsed in two years. If you are forming a socialist coalition, two years
is an unlucky interval.

1999 Elections
The decade following 1989 was a test of coalitions and political horse
trading. Uttar Pradesh leader Mayawati boldly predicted that the
Vajpayee government that took power in 1998 would not last more than
13 months, referring to his previous government in 1996 that could just
last 13 days. Mayawati was right and she was helped in the assertion
by some erratic decision making by the Tamil leader, Jayalalitha.
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By September 1999 things however changed. In the previous year,

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee boldly took India as a nuclear
power by testing nuclear weapons in the desert sands of Pokhran in
Western India. He also could claim victory over Pakistan in the
mountains of Kargil in Jammu & Kashmir.
Indian people were relatively impressed with Vajpayee's achievements
and were in any case tired of constant coalition tamasha. Vajpayee led
the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) to 270 seats among 542 seat
Parliament. Congress was given the worst drubbing in India's
democratic history. Although Vajpayee lost some votes overall, he got
16 more seats than he won in 1998. Still one short of the required count
and was saved by Telugu Desam party.
With a much better showing, Vajpayee was able to run a government
for the entire term of five years. The coalition partners were more stable
this time and they also sensed that they cannot afford to keep
spending money on elections every few months.

2004 Elections
After a long time, a government was able to complete the entire term
and also end on a relatively high note. The economy was growing and
there was a real improvement in the ground. However, BJP got too
carried away by such a strength.
They went on a political campaign termed "India Shining" that
portrayed India's growing economy. Unlike the more depressing
slogans centered on poverty, scandals, corruption and violence, the
elections made a significant shift focusing predominantly on optimism.
The party was practically confident of winning again gaining confidence
by all the poll surveys.
However, the celebration was too soon - both for the economy and for
the party. The economic growth had still not reached 90% of the
populace and for many Indians the campaign looked like a slap in the
face. The overconfidence also cost the party significantly.
Out of nowhere Sonia Gandhi took Congress to victory. There was a
minor controversy about whether the Italian born person should
become the Prime Minister of India. Finally, she brought her deputy
Manmohan Singh as the Prime Minister.

2014 Elections
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After 10 years of rule, anti-incumbancy was bound to attack. Congress

party that had won quite comfortably in 2009 had gotten itself mired in
a range of scandals ranging from the auction of telecom spectrum to
coal mines. The leadership was also weakened with Manmohan Singh
stepping down and his replacement Rahul Gandhi appeared
undercooked to lead either the nation or the party.
BJP's candidate Narendra Modi sensed this opportunity and brought
an invincible campaign that brought the full power of technology and
social media to the core. His opponents were left clutching outdated
microphones and outdated campaign manifestos.

3. Key Trends in Indian elections

Right from the first elections in 1951-52, there was the first sign of a
strong socialism - with the 3 top socialist/communist parties winning
nearly 20% of the total votes. The same trend continued for the next
two elections - 1957 & 1962. Congress won about 45% in each
elections and communist groups won 20%.

The revolution of 1967:

Until 1967, Congress had a near total control over in both state and
national politics. While the Praja Socialist party took power in Kerala in
1954, Congress still dominated most of India. However, the death of
Nehru and Shastri would loosen the grip of Congress. It would happen
from many causes.
One reason is that Indira Gandhi called early elections for the Lok
Sabha and thus separated the electoral synchronization between the
centre and state. Until then, the elections both at the nation and at the
regional level were conducted at the same time. This gave more room
for national issues. However, by removing this relationship, it allowed
much more parochial and caste wise issues to affect the regional level.
We are still seeing some of the effects now.
In 1965, the Indian Constitution's protection for English was to end. The
Constitution framers negotiated for 15 years of parallel usage of English
& Hindi and that 15 years from the enactment of the constitution was to
end (1950-65). Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri initially hesitated to
continue the protection and that engulfed South India.
Out of nowhere, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam under CN Annadurai
took power in 1967, fully leveraging the anti-Hindi agitations. Since
171

then, Congress and national parties of India were never able to win in
Tamil Nadu.
In the same year, Congress also lost grip on West Bengal. The lack of
speed in land reforms brought out a big communist unrest (Naxalbari
revolution) and also broke up Congress in the state to form the Bangla
Congress which formed a government with the Communists. With a
decade after that, Congress would be completely bundled away from
the state.
In 1967, Punjab had Akali Dal taking power. In Uttar Pradesh, Charan
Singh led Bharatiya Kranti Dal took power. As a result of all the regional
parties arising in various parts of India, Indira Gandhi barely managed a
majority in 1967 winning only 283 seats.

Breakup of Congress & Left Shift

Congress was already breaking in 1967 and there were huge
differences between the left wing and the right wing of the party. The
establishment under Kamaraj initially threw out Indira, but with the
power of the rising left wing Indira came back to power under her new
party Indian National Congress (R).
Since Indira had the support of the socialists and need to pander to
them, she brought a variety of leftie moves such as nationalizing all the
banks & a closer cooperation with the Soviet Union. Panic set among
Indian industrialists and for two decades the Indian private sector
would not recover. Indira won a thumping victory in 1971.

Emergency period
Indira seemed to get a hang of things with a resounding victory over
Pakistan in 1971, bursting the Pokhran bomb and supporting the green
revolution. However, her past karma caught up with her.
The Allahabad High Court nullified the election of Indira Gandhi over a
trifling issue (of having a slightly high rostrum during a rally) and
prevented her from standing in elections for a while.
The lady got angry and put India through a very bleak state that got the
outsiders to assume that the democracy was over. Fortunately, it was
not.
In 1977 elections happened and Indira was voted out. India got out of
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Congress for the first time. The hodgepodge of left and right won 345
of the 543 seats. Before they could celebrate, their internal rivalries got
the best of them and the coalition collapsed.
Indira was back.

Age of Coalitions
After Rajiv absolutely screwed both India and his party in the 1989
elections, a hodgepodge of left and right came to power. The new
government brought the OBC politics to the table and signals the rise
of a new political power center. The controversy created out of Mandal
Commission broke the coalition and Congress was back to power in
1991.
This time, finally we had a guy who is not a member of the Nehru
family. India did well in the economy as Narasimha Rao led the country
well, especially the first 3 years of his term. The last two years, he was
too engrossed in the various scams that eventually took his legacy
apart.
In 1996 election, yet another group of third parties came to power and
yet another time they failed in 2 years.

Rise of BJP
For a long time, BJP was in the shadows of its parent organization,
RSS (National Volunteers Organization). Its organization was mostly run
by some hardcore nationalists who were extremely poor in media
management. They often gave outlandish, stupid statements and let
the media paint them as crackheads. They found it very hard to utilize
the public distrust for the Congress party.
In the late 1980s, they got real big push from an unexpected source: a
TV series on Ramayana.
In 1987, Indian TV had its biggest blockbuster - Ramanand Sagar's TV
adoption of Asia's famed epic - Ramayan. The roaring success of the
TV series brought "Lord Ram" into the households of the educated
middle class, which for a while seemed to move completely out of
religion.
BJP leader Advani lost no time in running a "chariot" atop his Toyota
van all over the nation. India was in "Ram frenzy". In late 1992, they
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used the frenzy to demolish a dilapidated old mosque in the holy city of
Ayodhya. Although, the mosque demolition brought temporary
backlash against them, by 1996 they became the single largest party in
the Parliament using the leadership of moderate Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
In 1998, it came to power and lost no time in taking India nuclear. In the
following year, they were able to withstand a war against Pakistan over
the Kashmiri town named Kargil. Nationalism was at its peak and the
liberal Atal Bihari Vajpayee took India to one of the longest period of
growth. By 2004, Indian economy was among the hottest in the world.

BJP gets carried away & Congress is back

In 2004 BJP appeared a juggernaut. They delivered growth, won wars
and the nation was fairly peaceful. However, a big riot in Gujarat in
2002 that involved various BJP leaders was a big black mark for them.
More importantly, the leadership was too confident of their victory and
went overboard with their ads.
While India was fast growing, a lot of Indians were still poor. Many of
them were taken aback by the ad campaign and this opened the door
for the old devil. Congress leadership, now under Indira's daughter-inlaw Sonia Gandhi seemed to finally fix its leadership trouble. It narrowly
won the elections. Sonia appointed a dummy figure head in Dr.
Manmohan Singh to avoid bringing controversies about her own past
(naturalized citizen who didn't take up citizenship at the first
opportunity).
India did a fairly good job in 2004-09 timeframe and people voted them
back in 2009, this time with a much bigger margin. Later, a whole lot of
massive scams like the 2G spectrum was unearthed and the antiincumbency factor set in.

Rise of Modi
In 2014, BJP finally had a leader who was able to work the media well.
Until Modi's time, almost all media were anti-BJP for the most part.
BJP and RSS were often clueless in talking to the media and thus
repelled many of their target voters. Modi was adept in the art of media
management and forced both BJP and RSS to not give out loose
statements. The media tried really hard to bait him to give out selfdefeating statements, but Modi was too smart for them. Everyone in
RSS and their sister organizations knew that he was the winning horse
and all decks were cleared to help Modi in every way.
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Modi's rise has reversed a 3 decade trend towards regional politics.

Regional parties like DMK, SP, BSP and ADMK were punching well
above their league and the trend since 2014 May elections seems to be
moving the other way regional satraps.

4. Evolution of Regional Politics

Starting from the 1960s, various regional parties started getting quite
powerful in India.

Northeast Politics:
In the case of Northeast, a lot of political movements had their origins
in grassroots social movements to protect the identity. The parties are
often split along ethnic/tribal/linguistic lines. The need to protect the
tribal, linguistic and cultural identities are strongest in this region. In
1961, the Bengali movement in the Barak valley fought hard against
making Assamese the sole official language of the state. After much
agitations various parts of erstwhile Assam were made into their own
states formed along ethnic lines. Many tribal groups, such as the
Bodos, are still demanding statehood for their tribes.
In many of the states in Northeast India, the government alternates
between Congress and a regional rival such as the United Democratic
Party (Meghalaya), Sikkim Democratic Front, Mizo National Front,
Manipur People's Party, Nagaland People's Front and Asom Gana
Parishad. Tripura is traditionally a communist bastion and Arunachal
Pradesh is mostly is a Congress bastion.
In most states, the leaders keep changing often with not many
established demagogues. Sikkim is one exception where the
incumbent Pawan Kumar Chamling has been holding his ship since
1994 with no one to challenge. There is a heavy influence of
socialism/communism among the political parties.
The region experiences a large inflow of migrants of different groups:
1. Bengali Muslims - Mostly from Bangladesh making use of the
long porous border with India. They often end up as agricultural
laborers.
2. Bengali Hindus - Both from Bangladesh as well as West
Bengal, this group often dominates the service sector.
3. Marwari Hindus from various parts of India who compete in
trade and commerce.
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The resulting unemployment and cultural cleansing thus makes it a very

touchy issue. Many regional parties such as the Asom Gana Parishad
made their mark by whipping the anti-outsider sentiment.
Key issues that are unique to northeast politics are:
1. Managing migrations. The indigenous tribes often feel
threatened by the migration of plains people, especially the
Bengalis.
2. Fighting separatism. The region has the most number of
separatist groups in India. The region borders 5 different
countries and that makes policing quite hard. Many political
groups had long fought to secede from India and a lot of them
have significantly pacified now. But, tensions remain.
3. The nature of special provisions provided to the armed forces.
4. Protecting the various tribal practices. The region is among the
most diverse in India.
5. Religious conversions. Various tribes such as the Nagas and
Mizos have mostly converted to Christianity through a major
evangelical push a century ago. This had led to tensions with
tribes following indigenous religions.

Western Politics:
India's western state politics is often dominated by religious issues. The
western states bore the biggest brunt of India's partition in 1947 and
thus religious tensions run very high. There are plenty of Hindu
refugees from Pakistan who are passionately pro-BJP. Other than Shiv
Sena, there are no viable regional parties in the entire Western region.
In the case of Maharashtra, although Congress dominated the state
politics for the most part, the regional party of Shiv Sena built around
the same anti-outsider platform of many northeastern parties, often
held sway over the western part of the state, especially the city of
Mumbai.
Gujarat's and Rajasthan's regional elections often mirrored the national
elections. These states often held clues of where the nation would head
politically. Congress won whenever it won the center and vice versa.
However, since the arrival of Narendra Modi in 2001 Gujarat had
become the safest one for BJP. Rajasthanis on the other hand,
religious vote BJP and Congress in an alternative fashion in the recent
5 elections.

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Although Karnataka is geographically a part of the south, in politics it is

more closer to western India. Unlike other southern states, national
politics hold the sway in the state. Like Maharashtra and Gujarat, the
state is often a key battleground between the Congress and the various
Janata variants, including the present BJP.

Politics of Kerala and West Bengal:

Although these states are 1000 kilometers apart, Kerala and West
Bengal are similar in a lot of ways. From their passion for football to the
domination of fish in their diet, these two states stand out in a lot of
things from the rest of India. In case of politics, these are the two states
that vote for the Communist Party.
In the case of Kerala, the flirtation with Communism started soon after
independence with the rise of the veteran socialist Pattom A. Thanu
Pillai as the second Chief Minister of the state. Unions hold a very big
sway over all political parties and the voters religious alternate between
Communist Party and the Congress in every other election. There is not
much to differentiate between the two, in this state.
West Bengal politics is somewhat similar, although the voters didn't
alternate between the two parties. Between 1977 and 2011, they voted
for a single party - Communist Party of India (Marxist) and was often
mocked by mainstream media as a communist republic. Long periods
of past famines and the lack of speed in land reforms is one reason for
people's support for leftist ideas.

Politics of Hindi Heartland

This is the most populous part of India and dominates the national
politics. More than any other region, caste mathematics make a very
strong influence on the politics here. Both the top national parties Congress and BJP have had a strong presence here, although since
the start of the new millenium, Congress presence is waning. Thus, the
recent contests were often fought between BJP and various local
parties.
Bihar had a very active political movement and along with the state of
UP often decided the national politics. In return, the national
government often had a strong grip on the state. However, as
Congress started losing control over the Centre, the politics of Bihar
went on a roller coaster. In the period between 1968 and 1980, the
state was constantly having elections with no party unable to form a
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stable government. In 1977, Bihar voted out Congress and since then
the different variants of the Janata Party have been ruling the state.
Both in the case of Bihar and UP, mindboggling alliances of different
castes kept forming at opportune movements and turned the tide.
Sometimes, the Dalits and Muslims will join hands to get to power, like
in the case of Mayawati (former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh). Other
times Brahmins, Muslims and extremely backward Dalits will join a
coalition against Dalits and Other Backward Castes. This complex
caste dynamic has often made it hard to predict electoral victories.
In the case of UP, the added dynamic is the rise of "Ram politics" that
we will see shortly. Religion plays a much bigger role in UP than it does
in Bihar or Madhya Pradesh. Given that the state had a central role in
both Hindu epics as well as Mughal empire, it becomes a strongly
contended territory between Hindus and Muslims.

Politics of North India

Like in the south and northeast, regional parties are quite strong.
Jammu & Kashmir is dominated by National Conference, which was
instrumental in getting the state to integrate with India. Between 1990
and 1996, the state was directly ruled by the Central government in the
heights of insurgency. The Centre argued that the state is incapable of
managing law and order. It was among the longest use of the special
powers provided by the Indian Constitution.
Just like in the case of northeast, Punjab politics was often driven by
identity and there is a constant switch between Congress and the
regional party of Akali Dal. In 1966, Indira Gandhi rewarded the Sikhs
with their own state following the 1965 war. This was a long agitation
as the Sikhs felt disenfranchised in an united Punjab with majority
Hindus. The resulting split created the state of Haryana. In the 1970s
and 1980s, the state went through a strong separatist movement, until
the "super cop" KPS Gill brought the insurgency to an end in the early
1990s.
The politics of Haryana was mostly dominated by the Congress which
fought regional factions such as Haryana Vikas Party and Indian
National Lok Dal. Like in the case of Bihar, caste politics do play a
strong part. Since about 2012, the state political climate is radically
changing both due to the influence of neighboring New Delhi and a
total disappointment with state politicians. In a surprising show in the
October 2014 elections, BJP formed the government.
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Politics of South India & Orissa

The three distinguishing characteristics of politics in this region are:
1. Very strong dynastic rule, especially in Orissa, Tamil Nadu and
Andhra Pradesh.
2. Very strong identity towards that state. State/linguistic identity
is much stronger than ethnic, caste, tribal and religious
identities.
3. Given the strong state level patriotism, the push towards
development is a little strong although Orissa and Andhra
suffer from a deeply forested interior.
In the case of Orissa, the politics was dominated by two rival Patnaik
families - one of late Biju Patnaik and other of JB Patnaik. In the case of
Tamil Nadu, the politics switched between the Karunanidhi clan and the
MGR clan. In the case of Andhra Pradesh, the family of late NT Rama
Rao hold a big sway.
In all the southern states linguistic passions run very high and primary
identity is through the language.

5. Key Political Slogans

Econo centric
1. Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan [Hail the Soldier, Hail the Farmer] - In the
midst of the 1965 war with Pakistan, the Prime Minister Lal
Bahadur Shastri coined this slogan to improve the morale. It is
to highlight the two critical aspects of Indian society - the
farmers who were reeling from a series of famines and soldiers
who were fighting an endless stream of major wars in the early
part of 1960s [with Portugal, China and Pakistan]. Congress
made use of the slogan in the 1967 elections.
2. Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan, Jai Vigyan [Hail the soldier, farmer and
the sciences] - In 1998, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee
made an update to Shastri's slogan by adding the sciences
part. India tested the nuclear device and there was a high level
of nationalism in that period with nuclear & defense tech
forming a significant part of people's discussions.
3. Garibi Hato [Abolish Poverty] - In 1971, Prime Minister Indira
Gandhi created this catchy slogan to indicate her priority. India
was going through its worst economic period and there was a
significant pain among the poor all over India. India had turned
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clearly socialist by then and politicians of all stripe shifted left.

The slogan captures that trend. All said, there was very little of
poverty abolishing in that era.
4. India Shining - In 2004, the ruling BJP government went on the
complete opposite of Indira's slogan. India had turned right by
then and Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee wanted to utilize
the general sense of euphoria that followed a period of brisk
economic growth. However, they declared victory too soon.
While India started to shine, it was a long way from actually
shining. It spooked the poor and Vajpayee lost the elections.
5. Congress ka Haath, Aam Aadmi ke Saath [The Hand symbol of
Congress will always protect the common man] In 2004,
Congress was desperate for a misstep by the BJP and they got
one with "India Shining". Congress reminded the people that
poverty still exists and the party would fight for the proverbial
"common man".

Leader centric
1. Indira Hatao Desh Bachao [Remove Indira; Save the nation] - In
1977, Indian society was slowly emerging from the political
horror show of Emergency. There was a very real fear that India
would follow the autocratic ways of its neighbors. At this
critical juncture, veteran politican JP Narayanan coined this
slogan and won the election.
2. Ek sherni, sau langur [One Tigress, hundred monkeys] - In 1978
by-elections in the southern constituency of Chikmagalur,
Indira was staging a comeback. She was highlighting her
bravery and played the victim card of how she was surrounded
now. She also explicitly called out the confusing politics at the
centre as the anti-Indira coalition found themselves in a pickle with little common between them.
3. Jab Tak Suraj Chand Rahega, Indira Tera Naam Rahega [As
long as the Sun is shining, Indira's name would live] - In 1984,
Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi wanted rode the sympathy wave
following Indira Gandhi's assassination. India was not used to
political assassinations and the only major one before that was
the 1948 assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. Thus, people were
in a state of shock and the Congress party completely milked
the sympathy with a historic majority. Indira's name was
everywhere.
4. Sabko Dekha Bari Bari, Abki Bari Atal Bihari [We have seen
everyone. Now, it's the turn of Atal Bihari] - In 1996, there was
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a strong anti-incumbency trend. India has had a variety of

coalition governments in the previous 7 years and there was an
electoral fatigue. BJP wanted to make use of the clean image
of Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The plan almost worked with the BJP
emerging as the largest party in the Parliament. However, its
government lasted a mere 13 days and had to wait 2 years to
form a stable government.
5. Jancha, Parkha, Khara [Tried, Tested, Trusted] In the 1999
elections, Prime Minister Vajpayee ran against Rajiv's widow
Sonia Gandhi. He wanted to highlight his experience against
the greenhorn Ms. Gandhi. People trusted enough to send him
with a much bigger majority than they gave a year ago. He
completed the full term without much fuss - a rarity in that era.
6. Ab ki baar, Modi Sarkar [This time, it's Modi's turn] - In 2014,
Modi's campaign primarily centered around him and his
leadership credentials. This level of leader-centrism is unusual
even in a persona-centric Indian politics. The slogan and the
campaign was a roaring success.

Social issues centric

1. Ondre Kulam, oruvane thevan [Mankind is one. God is One] - In
the 1967 elections, CN Annadurai broke away from the
atheistic Dravidian movement to adopt the slogan of the Tamil
religious saint, Maraimalai Adigalar. There was a strong anticaste stream in the first part of the slogan, while the second
part of the slogan went against his mentor Periyar's anti-God
movement. The slogan eventually took Tamilnadu firmly into
Dravidian politics.
2. Tilak, taraju aur talwar, Inko maaro joote chaar [Hit the
Brahmins, Banias and Rajputs with shoes] In the 1990s, UP
leader Mayawati brought the most casteist slogan of all by
going explicitly at the top 3 categories of the Hindu caste
system. She rode to power by galvanizing the lower caste
votes.
3. Maa, Mati, Manush [Mother, Motherland and Mankind] - In the
2009 elections in West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee ran with this
slogan that portrayed her credentials as the proverbial mother
fighting to save the state from the Communists. A few other top
female politicians like Jayalalithaa Jayaram of Tamilnadu also
use the sentimental value of the mother.
4. Jai Telangana [Long live Telangana] - One of the longest
running statehood movements culminated in 2014 with the
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creation of the separate state of Telangana formed out of the

erstwhile Hyderabad state. It was among the most passionate
movements in India with the supporters writing the slogan even
on answers sheets in school examinations.

6. Key Issues that influence election outcomes

1. Inflation - In 1998, the price of onion shot up to Rs.40/kg
[approx. $1/kg at that time] in many parts of India. The ruling
BJP lost Delhi. In 2003, Congress lost the states of Rajasthan,
Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh for the same reason. Indian
voters are very sensitive to the prices of essential commodities
like onion and these often decide outcomes in state elections.
2. Corruption - Since about the early 1980s, scams and
corruption have come to the centre stage in political
campaigns. In 1989, Congress lost from a historic majority in
the previous elections due to the Bofors scam among many
other issues. In 1996, Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao amidst
a range of of scams such as money laundering Hawala scam.
In 2014, a range of scams led by the spectrum auction
destroyed the Congress campaign.

7. Lessons from the 2014 Elections

1. Social Media is key to winning the elections. As Americans found out
in November 2008, social media is not disconnected from common
people and has a strong influence over politics. When the Modi wave
started to blow over Twitter, Facebook, and Quora two years ago,
critics dismissed that as clueless rich kids blabbering things. They said,
Congress still has a grip over the poor people who are beyond the
social media. They have all been proven wrong. Social media reflects
the opinions of common people, far more than people realize. Also, the
rise of Obama and Modi show that marketing political ideas is not too
different from marketing apps or content.
2. You can have a political startup that can get India's ears. AAP has
performed well, especially in Punjab. It shows that Indian people are
open to new political parties.
3. If you get too greedy, you lose your existing position. In January,
AAP had a great hold over Delhi. They got a historic opportunity to form
their own government. They threw it all away with clown politics and
have been swept clear of Delhi. Don't try to bite more than you can
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chew. Had they put all their energies in just Punjab, Haryana, and Delhi
instead of fighting the ghosts of Modi all over India, AAP performance
could have been better. Good that they didn't have that common
sense.
4. Don't run politics on negative things. Other than Modi, every other
politician was anti-something. Anti-corruption, Anti-communialism, blah
blah blah. Instead of telling what they will do, they were just saying
what they were against. People have clearly shown that they don't like
this kind of stuff.
5. It's the economy, stupid. At a time when India was facing a major
economic challenge, both Congress and AAP came up with a crappy
manifesto that said little of their economic agenda. You don't run a
party with a toilet paper manifesto.
6. Exaggerating things doesn't help. In the past five years, many parties
have casually thrown around Hitler references to Modi and genocide
references to the Gujarat riots. This kind of stupid exaggeration doesn't
help anyone and has made people increasingly numb to any
accusations against Modi. Even legitimate criticism against Modi was
no longer taken seriously. The more they accused Modi with ridiculous
terms, the more united India got behind Modi. Had the media and left
not used those crazy terms, BJP would have submerged Modi with
their own internal rifts. Thanks to the media, Modi could escape from
BJP's old faults.
7. Don't forget your voters. For years, Kapil Sibal's gang were running a
game of death against social media. In the process, they completely
lost track of reality. They became numb to what people thought of
them. They thought that their "secular credentials" would win them
votes.
8. Don't forget the majority. Throughout this election, politicians talked
more about the minority than the majority. They wore skull caps,
professed secularism, talked of Dalits and so on. In this process, they
ignored the needs and aspirations of the majority. AAP put the rights of
the Valmiki community right at the top of their agenda. It is important to
fight for the rights of the oppressed. However, creating a national party
with promises to just one community is a very risky gambit and again
they have not done anything beyond a lipservice. In the process they
also made the majority worried. While Congress, AAP, and Third parties
fought hard for the Muslim and Dalit votes, the field became very clear
for BJP to take the majority like a piece of cake. Eventually, even the
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Muslims and Dalits deserted Congress and third front as Modi charmed
them with his economic agenda.
9. Personality matters. Throughout the 20th century, there was a move
towards institutions. Politics and governance was taken over by parties,
business by corporations, and administration by committees. These
non-human entities had a big control. However, since the turn of the
21st century, we are returning back to the era of personalities. Although
Jobs held only a fraction of Apple's shares, all the business media was
fixated on him. Obama built a cult personality in the 2008 election. And
now Modi. People like to associate with other humans, than some
amorphous entity like a corporation, party, or committee.
10. Start small and then scale it. Until 2014, Modi didn't stand in
national elections. He was contended to be a regional politician. He
had no interest for party leadership and other BS. However, he did
work really hard to create a model state in Gujarat. Since he has put all
his energies into just one project, he was able to excel in that. The state
is not perfect, but has given the rest of India a clear idea of what Modi
could do. And when he was ready to scale what he did in Gujarat, India
said yes. Every new political party must learn this from Modi - create a
success story in one region and when you are ready to scale ask the
rest of India for their votes.

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Chapter 13: From Bullock Carts to

Mars
February 2003
I was in a state of panic. Life didn't prepare me for this. A week ago I
didn't know I would be there. But, there I was sitting in the corridor of
the President's office in the palatial Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi. In
a few minutes, I would get to meet my idol and hero, President APJ
Abdul Kalam. I was sitting alone and had just finished an elaborate
etiquette training on how to sip tea in front of the President. Then my
time came. I was asked to enter a hallowed office, behind which Dr.
Kalam was poring over some research papers. I could not believe that I
was sitting in front of the person who helped build Indian space and
nuclear tech.
Ten years since then, India launched a spacecraft to Mars and if it
lands right will become only the second nation after the US to have a
successful Mars landing.
Why is Dr. Kalam so respected? What are the key things that
happened? Let's go 40 years earlier. To 1963.
A few months after India's disastrous performance in the 1962 border
war with China, a group of scientists led by Dr. Homi Bhabha, father of
India's nuclear program and Dr. Vikram Sarabhai, a top physicist
wanted India to experiment with space technology. Only a few years
before then had the Soviet Union launched its first satellite - Sputnik beginning a space race.
India's ambitions were more humble. The scientists wanted to
understand climatic patterns better. For their experiment, they chose a
location closer to the southern tip of the country, in the village of
Thumba in Kerala. It was a sleepy village surrounded by coconut trees.
The location was chosen due to its proximity to the magnetic equator [a
little different from its more popular cousin - geographic equator] that
allowed a range of experiments to be conducted in the ionosphere of
earth's atmosphere.
The first rocket to be launched was a two-stage sounding rocket - Nike
Apache - procured from the NASA of the United States. The Kennedy
administration was closer to India than any other US administration and
185

thus India got a chance to expand its sciences with a little push from
outside.
The place had little infrastructure. The scientists wanted to keep it fairly
quiet. This meant that many of the rocket parts had to be carried
through unconventional means - like a bicycle. A cattle shed became
the temporary location for the rocket scientists to begin their
operations.
On November 21, 1963, these scientists had their first success. The
Nike-Apache rocket headed up from the Thumba Equatorial Rocket
Launching Station [TERLS]. The sounding rocket was a success and
thus began India's quest for space. Among the rocket scientists
involved in the original mission was the young, bubbly Dr. Abdul Kalam.
Over the next 12 years, 350 such rockets would fly into the
atmosphere, enabling the scientists to perform a range of experiments
to get a better sense of the atmosphere.

186

187

Four years from the launch of the first rocket, India its one indigenous
rocket - Rohini-75 - and it was successfully flown in November 1967.
On August 15, 1969, days after the Americans first landed on the
Moon, India announced the creation of its formal space organization 188

ISRO - Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).

While all this was happening, Indo-US relationships were increasingly
turning for the worse. In 1971, India and Pakistan went on a full-scale
war in which United States was overtly supporting Pakistan. The Indian
space program was slowed down by the wars, However, in May 1972,
India signed a space agreement with the erstwhile Soviet Union. The
agreement allowed the Soviets to access Indian ports and launch
vessels, while giving Indian scientists opportunities to launch their
satellites from Soviet's bases.
The first of the Indian built satellites, Aryabhata I (named after the
famous Indian mathematician - who contributed significantly to the
usage of 0 and place value system) was launched on April 19, 1975,
from Kapustin Yar in southwest Russia. Within four days of its launch
its power system failed. However, it was still a significant achievement
for India. It was followed by two more Russian launched, Indian
satellites.
In November 1980, India was able to launch its own satellites from its
new launch facility at Sriharikota near the southern metropolis of
Chennai. In 1984, Rakesh Sharma became India's first Cosmonaut to
head to space via a Soviet Intercosmos program.
The successes started pouring down since then. ISRO was able to
launch plenty of low cost missions through its indigenous satellite
launches such as PSLV and GSLV. In 2008, India's unmanned mission
to the moon was able to detect water and contributed to a big
breakthrough there.

How Does Spending on Space Help Reduce

India's Poverty?
1. India has gotten much better at predicting storms and cyclones
thanks to our weather satellites such as the INSAT 3D. That
helps the poor get their lives and possessions saved. It is the
poor who get really whacked in any natural disaster. Apart from
disaster warning, the satellites also help do environmental
research to proactively avoid disasters in the future.
2. The satellite data is also used for helping farmers plant the right
stuff and fishermen locate the right areas for fishing using
satellites such as the SARAL. Since most of our poor are
dependent on fishing and farming, this helps directly solve
189

poverty.
3. A lot of our poor are in remote areas and die without access to
the right medical resources. When you are sick, you cannot
climb out of poverty. ISRO's telemedicine works to help reduce
the number of sick and that reduces poverty. Not just curing
the disease, but the works on GIS also helps prevent diseases
by alerting authorities of disease spread.
4. Just like telemedicine, ISRO works on tele-education. Ten
years ago it launched the EDUSAT primarily built for education
of the rural poor. You don't say, education doesn't help solve
poverty.
5. Remote sensing data helps India tap its natural resources such
as water, minerals, and energy better.
6. With the help of our satellites India has gotten better at defense
and by strengthening defense we help avoid wars and that
helps reduce poverty. Those cribbing about India's need for
strong defense should research more on what happened to
Indian society when India's defenses were weak in our long
history. Heights of Indian development came only when our
army was really strong (under Guptans, Mauryas, and
Mughals).

Indirect Benefits to the Poor

1. Creates plenty of jobs for the poor engineers. While many of
the engineers from urban upper-middle class India seek MNCs,
many from poorer backgrounds join ISRO in aiding the nation.
ISRO also helps India build a space ecosystem building lakhs
of indirect jobs in research, academia, and industry.
2. ISRO helps India stay at the cutting edge of technology and
that helps the Indian brand. If you can successfully send stuff
to MARS, can't you do advanced tech work? That generates
more jobs in sectors unrelated to space.
3. ISRO has built among the most advanced air guidance
systems -GAGAN and this helps India in logistics and
transportation.
Poverty can be solved only through job creation, technological
innovation, and productivity improvement. Our expenditures on ISRO
directly help address these.
Fast Forward to 2014.

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India has now successfully launched its mission to Mars. The mission
was achieved at an extraordinary low price tag of $74 million - 1/10 of
what a similar mission would cost NASA or ESA. If this successfully
reaches Mars, India will be the first country to have the Mars mission
succeed on the first try. This came under a significant attack from
European and American journalists who derisively noted the lack of
toilets for a nation launching such "unnecessary" experiments.

Why India Needs a MARS Program

1. It is exciting for the children and teenagers, many of whom
might take up a career in science, technology and research.
These kids deserve an inspiration in the sky. If we can get a
couple of hundred of these kids into hard sciences, the mission
would have paid for itself completely.
2. ISRO is already using the technology to help other countries
put their equipments in space (for a lucrative fee, of course). If
we continue to innovate in cost and speed, we could become a
big hub for space projects. That would mean employment for
1000s of engineers and lot of foreign dollars.
3. India needs to prove its technological capabilities as it is
building up the technology hub of the future - not just space,
but everything. If you could launch a Mars mission at the cost
of setting up ERP in an enterprise, you could build anything.
There are both direct and intangible effects of this
demonstration. This would really benefit India's tech
companies. This is actually rocket science! Again more $$.
4. India needs to spend on research to master the science of the
future. NASA had plenty of spinoffs resulting out of its space
program that advanced other fields such as medicine, apparel,
food, and navigation.
5. We could have made the "Model T" of spacecrafts inexpensive and quick. The mission was completed in just 14
months and $75 million with little prior expertise. More
importantly, the mission got off the ground on the first try.
China, Japan, and Russia have had to abort Mars missions in
the past two decades due to launch failures. That is an
outstanding engineering feat worth of salute.
6. Indians have always been fascinated by space since antiquity.
Our ancient scientists spent all their lives looking at space. In
recent times, scientists such as Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar
(Nobel laureate in astrophysics), SN Bose (Boson was named
after him) have electrified the field. This mission is deeply
191

fascinating even from a cultural perspective.

7. Imagine the potential it has for humanity if India could launch
hundreds of inexpensive missions in our search for alternative
life forms and alternative planets. Four years ago, India helped
confirm that there is water on the moon - the confirmation of
which has eluded global researchers for five decades. This
mission sent to detect methane could be the start of a new life
for Indian science. Aryabhatta and Bhaskaracharya would be
really proud of the lads who worked on this mission.
8. India needs its Renaissance. We have to start breaking the
chain of poverty by thinking outside the box. That would mean
boldly assertive. People in other walks of life can surely draw
inspiration from our scientists. This day is so refreshing
although I have zero connection with anything ISRO did. If we
can reach Mars, we can do anything - from politics and the arts
to science and sports.

India's Nuclear Program

As
long
as
the
world
is
constituted
as
it
is,
every
country
will
have
to
devise
and
use
the
latest
devices
for
its
protection.
I
have
no
doubt
India
will
develop
her
scientific
researches
and
I
hope
Indian
scientists
will
use
the
atomic
force
for
constructive
purposes.
But
if
India
is
threatened,
she
will
inevitably
try
to
defend
herself
by
all
means
at
her
disposal.
-- Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, 26 June 1946
India's nuclear program had a near parallel trajectory to the space
program. They both shared some scientists through their history. For
instance, Dr. Abdul Kalam is an important figure in both these
establishments.
After the Americans went nuclear with Trinity test in July 1945, other
major nations followed. Russians tested in 1949, UK in 1952, France in
1960 and China in 1964. This put a lot of pressure on Indians to have
their own nuclear weapons program.
The key person who built the program was Dr. Homi Jehangir Bhabha,
a Cambridge educated Nuclear physicist from the Parsi community
who is related to the famous Indian industrial family, Tata. Bhabha was
vociferous in building a nuclear program and even three years before
India got independence, he outlined a three point nuclear program for
India:
192

1. Build Uranium based pressurized heavy water reactors that

would generate enough Plutonium.
2. Build Fast Breeder Reactor that would use the Plutonium
mixed with Uranium to generated more Plutonium. Thorium
would be slowly introduced.
3. Build fully self-sustaining Thorium reactors.
This staged approach would allow India to tap its vast reserves of
cheap Thorium, in place of the imported, rarer Uranium that is subject
to severe restrictions. However, 70 years since the original plan India
never went past stage 2. This has forced the Indian government to
delay its plans for moving to Thorium and explore alternative nuclear
deals.

Putting the Plan to Action

In 1949, the Indian ambassador to China proposed an economic
development plan to the West that would slow down the expansion of
Communism in Asia. This plan was formalized in the Sri Lankan capital
of Colombo and it included a big assistance by the West, led by the
United States, in promoting the economy and research facilities in a
group of Commonwealth countries in Asia.
As a part of this Colombo plan, India got a 40 MW experimental nuclear
reactor - CIRUS (Canada-India-Reactor-United States) that was
primarily funded by Canada with heavy water [needed for the nuclear
energy transfer] supplied by the United States. It was set up in
Trombay in the outskirts of the metropolis of Bombay. This reactor was
40 times more powerful than the first Indian reactor - Apsara - built on
the same location with the help of the United Kingdom.
The reactor produced weapons grade Plutonium as a byproduct. This
could be used for nuclear weapons. Since there was no international
body such as the IAEA for ensuring the safeguarding the fuel usage, the
US and Canada just put the peace requirement in the contract, but
trusted India to abide by its side of the contract.
Canadian collaboration at CIRUS was followed by another Canadian
collaboration for setting up a much bigger 200 MW reactor in Kota,
Rajasthan. India soon built its first nuclear reactor at Tarapur, a little
north of Bombay, and that still remains India's largest nuclear power
station.

Buddha Smiles - Moving to Nuclear Weapons

193

By 1958, Nehru was getting quite uneasy by the growing number of

nuclear powered nations and authorized Project Phoenix that would
build a Plutonium processing plant at Trombay. A third of the research
budget at defense department went to fund the nuclear program.
However, the wars in 1962 [with China] and 1965 [with Pakistan] took
both the time and attention off the nuclear program as it was still far
away from producing a nuclear weapon. The premature death of
Bhabha in 1966, under mysterious circumstances has impaired India's
nuclear progress a bit. Bhabha's successor, Vikram Sarabhai didn't
show as much interest in nuclear weapons due to the conflicts with his
personal faiths.
In 1967, Indira Gandhi restarted the project. It was spearheaded by
Raja Ramanna - who designed the nuclear device, Homi Sethna who
processed the plutonium and assisted by PK Iyengar in putting the
plutonium plant. The secret plant Purnima was set up in 1969. The
1971 war with Pakistan once again slowed down the progress.
Finally, the time had come on the 18th of May 1974. In the deserts of
Pokhran in Rajasthan in Western India, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi
took India nuclear with a single 8kT device.
The world reaction was a mix of shock and confusion. The US and
USSR condemned, but in a more mellow way. France congratulated
and later withdrew. Canada felt the most angst as it was its reactors
that were used to produce the Plutonium.
However, the launch of India's first satellite and the imposition of a
state of emergency within months of the tests, hardened the world
stance. Things seemed to happen too quickly and for the outside world
there seemed to be a hidden connection. There was a fear that Indira
was taking India on a path that many rogue dictators elsewhere in the
world did. India became a nuclear Pariah and Western cooperation
ended when it comes to the space and nuclear programs.

Pokhran II
The sanctions that came after the first nuclear program, slowed India's
progress a bit. In the following two decades, India didn't perform any
more tests and stressed hard on the peaceful nature of the program.
Although India planned a few tests in the early 1990s, Prime Minister
Rao caved under US pressure as any new sanctions would put further
pressure on the newly opening up economy.
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In the spring of 1998, the conservatives under Atal Bihari Vajpayee

came to power and lost no time in taking India to the next stage. Within
weeks of taking office, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee authorized
Operation Shakti - with three nuclear tests on May 11 and two more on
May 13. India initially claimed the success of its hydrogen bomb along
with a couple of micro weapons. This is a matter of controversy. But,
the fact remained that India has now become a serious nuclear power.
Expectedly, the US imposed sanctions. But, the Indian economy had
matured by this stage and within a couple of years the US had to back
down. Technology collaboration started resuming in the early 2000s,
culminating in the Nuclear 1-2-3 deal of 2005.
For India, the nuclear weapons became a necessity as it felt
surrounded by the US allies of Pakistan, China, and the Soviets.

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Chapter 14: Rice, Cow and Zero:

Ancient Indian Triumvirate in new
Revolutions
Sthanam
sthanam
dasa
gunam.
- 5th century Indian Mathematician Aryabhata heralding the modern
place value system in Mathematics
Fine,
but
first
we
want
you
to
outsource
$10
million
of
I.T.
software
work
to
India.
-- Sam Pitroda to Jack Welch [head of GE], 1989
If
I
kiss
your
cheek,
what
do
I
get
in
return?
-- Jack Welch
What
we
[TCS]
learned
out
of
[the
relationship
with
GE]
is
phenomenal.
-- S. Ramadorai, CEO of TCS
September 1989
Jack Welch, who headed the world's largest company, General
Electric, was in New Delhi trying to find a market for his products in the
growing economy. He was looking to sell airplane engines to India's
government owned airlines and machinery to other government
enterprises.
The government headed by Rajiv Gandhi was finishing its term and
heading into Parliamentary elections. The government sent its
technology advisor to meet Mr. Welch and secure something for India.
Mr. Sam Pitroda (original name Satyanarayan Gangaram Pitroda) is a
telecommunication expert who came to the US as a student and grew
up rapidly in the 1970s telecom expansion in the US. In 1984, he got
invited by Rajiv Gandhi to help India's telecom policy.
Mr. Pitroda was a shrewd negotiator who understood American
businesses and salesmen. He knew Jack Welch had a lot to gain from
the sale of engines and other equipment to India. Pitroda offered to
provide those opportunities to GE in return for GE setting up an IT
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outsourcing center in India.

It was a Crazy Time in India.
A relative of mine [mentioned in one of the previous chapters] was a top
exec at GE India who at the time appeared on the cover of the
prestigious Fortune magazine. Out of nowhere, he joined as a college
grad and went to the top of his organization using this new move of GE.
I have distinct childhood memories of the feeling whenever we visited
his home in Delhi. It was like entering a new world - a home built
completely a replica of top notch homes in the US. The car was a
Toyota coupe, imported from the US [with a left hand drive].
When Bill Gates visited India in 1995 to launch Windows 95, India's
local media could not stop talking about him. Every newspaper for that
whole month carried news about Microsoft and Bill Gates. In my 8th
standard class, my classmates were spending all evening programming
in our new computer lab. My dad would read me stories of how
programmers were changing lives all over the world. Talk of software
was everywhere in the town.
The school teacher who taught us the programming language C++ in
9th standard got an offer to join an American company - making 100
times what he made as a school teacher. It was something unheard of.
It looked as though anyone who can write 10 lines of code could be
making the fortune of a lifetime.
The events were both exhilarating and disorienting.
Back to New Delhi.
For Welch, this was just a minor irritant. He didn't want to scuttle a deal
with the Indian government and didn't have much hope out of this new
center. At worst, it will be a few waste of a couple of million dollars of
investment.
GE formed a number of partnerships with local companies such as TCS
and Wipro. These were fledgling tech companies that were doing
simple tech work at a very small scale. Wipro until then was an
industrial company creating a range of products from Jasmine toilet
soap to industrial cylinders [until early 1990s, Wipro was still making
consumer goods such as talcum powders and baby soaps]. TCS was
part of the Tata Conglomerate, set up to improve automation at its steel
plants.
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The deal to build technology for the world's largest corporation was a
blessing sent from the heaven to these companies. The joint venture
Wipro GE Medical Systems Pvt. Ltd enabled the outsourcing of medical
imaging to India. TCS came up with its own deal and soon was joined
by Satyam.
GE was quite impressed by the results of its initial outsourcing
experiment and soon a flood of outsourcing orders came - in financial
services, call support centers, and data processing. Other companies
such as IBM and Accenture followed the lead of GE. In the meanwhile,
Indian domestic companies learned the best practices and started
getting on a rapid expansion drive.
By the late 1990s, the scare of the Y2K bug took India to the next
stage. When computing systems were designed in the 1970s, year
column in the databases got only two digits to represent. The early
designers wanted to save the crucial storage space and 2000 was too
far to worry about. However, by the late 1990s, computer architects
realized that the turn of the century would completely cause chaos in
their systems. Represented with just two digits, 2000 will be written as
00 causing a confusion with 1900.
Newspapers ran horror stories about how missiles loaded with nuclear
weapons could be triggered due to this date confusion [most of such
worries were over hyped nonsense, partly even pushed by the
companies most likely to benefit from redesigning the systems]. As
every major corporation in the world was rapidly going through every
part of their database to add the two extra digits, Indian companies
came into the picture. They offered to do that trivial job and
monopolized the whole market. By 2000, India's IT companies were left
with a massive network of relationships with major corporations all over
the world.

Services Revolution - a Perfect Storm for India

1. In the early 1990s, the US tech market was rapidly exploding
due to the dot-com boom. Talent was very scarce and salaries
in technology shot through the roof. Companies thus
outsourced all the low level work.
2. As we saw in earlier chapters, India opened up its economy in
1991 that paved the way for a rapid engagement of India with
the world. Tech companies were positioned right to utilize the
massive growth in an economy that was to come.
3. Educated Indians spoke English, due to the legacy of British
198

4.

5.

6.

7.

rule. This was in stark contrast to other rapidly growing Asian

economies. American and British companies could outsource
service work without much issue.
Telecom revolution allowed the possibility of video
conferencing and remote management of teams. Data could
now move on the information highways of the world, with
relative ease.
In the 1980s, many Indian states, especially the ones in south
India opened dozens of new engineering colleges. The
engineers who came out of these were immediately tapped by
the tech companies.
The governments of India, both in center and at the state levels
were pro-tech. This is especially true of southern states like
Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Thus, these states
began commanding a bulk of the software deals.
India's natural strengths and core competencies aligned right.
Indians had a strong flair for mathematics since the ancient era
and programming is a natural extension of mathematics.
Indians were highly used to speaking multiple languages in a
nation of 20+ officially recognized languages. This helped them
travel the world and get consulting contracts. Finally, the chaos
of the nation and the diversity of the culture helped Indians be
flexible and have a hacker mindset, necessary to succeed in
the software industry.

Sixteen centuries ago, when the Gupta era Mathematician Aryabhatta

came up with the place value system and the usage of zero to develop
the modern decimal system, he might not have realized that his
descendents would be using that to build India's future. In 1980, India's
software exports was a mere $4 million. In 2014-15, Indian software
exports are estimated to be about $100 billion - a 25,000 times jump.

Emergence of Bangalore as Indias Silicon

Valley
Tech capitals don't come out of the blue. In the case of Silicon Valley,
the US government poured an enormous sum of money in building the
tech backbone for their own defense needs. Out came as a result was
Indias Silicon Valley. India tried somewhat replicating that in the case
of Bangalore.

Stage 1: Setting up the Tata Institute - Swami Vivekananda

inspires JN Tata
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In 1893, one of India's most popular reformist figures, Swami

Vivekananda was returning from a popular trip to the world fair in
Chicago.
During the return journey to India, a star entrepreneur, Jamsetji Tata
[the founder of Tata group], met the Swami in the ship. Their dialogue
must have been stunning enough for Tata to start an institute.
I trust, you remember me as a fellow-traveler on your voyage from
Japan to Chicago. I very much recall at this moment your views on the
growth of the ascetic spirit in India, and the duty, not of destroying, but
of diverting it into useful channels.
I
recall
these
ideas
in
connection
with
my
scheme
of
Research
Institute
of
Science
for
India.
Do
you
think
you
would
care
to
apply
yourself
to
the
mission
of
galvanizing
into
life
our
traditions
in
this
respect?
- Jamsetji Tata
Sir Ramsay likes Bangalore
India's then viceroy, Lord Curzon liked this idea of a research university
and forwarded the proposal to the Royal Society of London. There,
William Ramsay, who won the Nobel Prize for discovering noble gases,
was tasked with finding a suitable location. Sir Ramsay toured around
India and suggested the southern city of Bangalore. He found the
elevation of 4500 ft offered a very moderate climate of neither cool nor
warm & thus suitable for scientific exploration.
Ruled by a great ruler
More than just the climate, the region was ruled by the legendary
Krishna Raja Wadiyar IV who was really passionate about education.
He was probably one of the best monarchs in India & really a
technophile. The kingdom was already ruled by great kings like Tipu
Sultan, who understood the value of technology. He also had a great
Diwan [Prime Minister] in K. Seshadri Iyer and later Visvesvaraya who
both helped setup great institutions.
Together the monarch & his Diwans built a great many things, including
Shivanasamudra Falls [Asia's first hydropower plant], University of
Mysore, Mysore Medical College, State bank of Mysore, Lalith Mahal
palace etc.

200

Wadiyar gave 372 acres of prime land in the center of the city free of
cost to setup the new research institution. In 1933, the institute got its
first Indian director the Nobel winning C. V. Raman, under whom the
institute went to great heights.
This institution, later renamed as Indian Institute of Science, would
become the core of Indian research for a century or more. It sort of
became the Stanford for India's silicon valley & powered Bangalore.

Stage 2: Indian government invests gobbles of money

The region around Bangalore - Mysore state was a well run state with a
high level of education investment and availability of abundant
electricity through the hydropower projects.
Bangalore's climate was suitable, the city was welcoming, the
infrastructure was strong and also well connected to other major
southern metropolises of Madras and Hyderabad with both talent pool
& transportation infrastructure.
Thus, the Indian government lost no time in putting all its research
investments in the city. Bangalore is the headquarters for:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

National Aerospace Labs

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited
Indian Space Research Organization
Bharat Electronics
Bharat Earth Movers
Hindustan Machine Tools
Indian Telephone Industries

For decades, Indian government put a sizable chunk of its investments

in Bangalore. The best part about government investments is that it
often constant and immune to changing economic conditions. This
sustained public investments created a large tech workforce & a
knowledge network that was tapped by waves of tech companies.

Stage 3: Offshoring comes to Bangalore

By 1980s, Bangalore has been already a major education center and a
center of research. In 1983, N. R. Narayana Murthy [the cofounder of
Infosys] decided to move its fledgling startup supporting IBM
mainframes, from Pune to Bangalore, while at the same time Azim
Premji [founder of Wipro] decided to setup a software subsidiary in the
201

city. While the rest of India didn't know/care about these new
entrepreneurs & busy celebrating the World Cup victory of that year,
these Bangalore guys were busy scripting a new era.
In 1984, Texas Instruments setup an office in Bangalore to tap the
research pool and that gave further credibility to the location. But, still
the city's tech business was a small thing. This is where the 1989 deal
with GE, mentioned earlier in this chapter, proved to be a game
changer.

Stage 4: Startup revolution

By the late 1990s, the world was going through a frenzy. Everyone was
worried about the Year 2000 problem. This dramatically increased the
demand for Bangalore's engineers & there was abundant work. But, the
problem passed & there was also a major meltdown in the silicon valley
in 2001 after the dotcom crash. A returning pool of unemployed
engineers seeded a round of new startups - who started exploring
things further beyond outsourcing.
There were also other returning expats who got tired of working for big
corporates like Amazon. A couple of them started Flipkart in 2007 India's answer to online retail. In the same year, a HBS grad got tired of
Mckinsey and founded the mobile ad network InMobi.
Flipkart and InMobi did to the Bangalore startup ecosystem what
Google and PayPal did in the valley [albeit at a much smaller scale]
They unleashed a pool of ambitious, well trained entrepreneurs from
their alumni who went on to found various other startups.
India's startup story is still in the making and just two IPOs away from a
massive explosion.

Green Revolution
Just two decades before the Indian invention of zero came to India's
rescue [through the Y2K bug], a much bigger revolution changed
India's destiny. It was a work of the Nobel winning biologist, Dr.
Norman Borlaug, that was brought to India by Mr. MS Swaminathan.
Green Revolution is a collection of technology and policy initiatives
funded by the Ford and Rockefeller foundations of the US that rapidly
increased the yields of a few cereal crops like wheat and rice. New
seed varieties and the massive usage of fertilizers were at the core of
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this revolution. It was a global event although it benefitted India the

most.
Within four decades of the Green Revolution, wheat production
increased nine times and the word famine was erased from the Indian
lexicon, despite the addition of 800 million people to the Indian
population since then. In 1964, India produced less than 10 million tons
of wheat. In 2014, it produced more than 94 million. Increase in rice
production was less dramatic, but still very impressive - from about 30
million tons in 1966 to 106 million tons in 2014.
The root of the Green Revolution lay in 1944, at the closing stages of
the Second World War. In that year, a microbiologist, Dr. Norman
Borlaug, working for DuPont in the US moved to Mexico taking up the
offer of President Avila Camacho. Back then, Mexico imported half of
its wheat. In the next 20 years, Dr. Borlaug enabled Mexico to export
half of its wheat.
To enable such an explosion of production, Dr. Borlaug interbred a
Japanese wheat plant Norin that allowed for sturdier stalk and better
nutrient absorption [allowing heavier accumulation of the grains] and a
Mexican variety developed for its disease endurance. The combination
of these two varieties proved to be explosive. By 1963, 95% of the
Mexican wheat fields used this variety.
In parallel, there was a revolution happening in rice, albeit at a much
slower rate. International Rice Research Institute was established in the
Philippines and started to become the nodal point for exchanging best
practices all over Asia.
While all this was happening in Mexico and Philippines, India was
reeling from a severe agricultural crisis in the mid-1960s. The two wars
with China and Pakistan pushed down the rupee and made all imports
costlier. The national leadership was shaky. India was willing to try out
any solution to the agrarian crisis.
The Mexican wheat variant especially looked quite suitable for the
lands of Punjab in northern India. It was the starting point of the Indian
green revolution. Within a decade, the production grew so fast that
India stopped requiring wheat imports.
For rice, the Indian agronomist Dr. Surajit Kumar De Datta came to the
rescue. He discovered a new variant [prosaically named the IR8] that
showed the potential to increase rice yield by up to 10 times under
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optimal conditions. His "miracle rice" changed the destiny of countries

all over Asia, including India. It is sad that most Indians have not even
heard of this hero.

Factors that helped the Green Revolution

1. Introduction of new seed varieties with the crossbreeding of
both ideas and plants among multiple agricultural regions.
2. Rapid increase in the usage of tube well to irrigate fields all
over the country. Punjab led the nation in irrigation. While only
20 million acres were irrigated in the 1950s, by the 1980s
irrigation reached nearly 39 million acres - more than a third of
the agricultural land.
3. Sharp increase in the use of chemical fertilizers. Between 1975
and 1990, India's fertilizer usage increased five times.
4. Colossal increase in pesticide use. From the 1950s to the
1980s, pesticide usage in India increased 40 times.
5. New equipments. In 1960, there were only 1,400 tractors in
Punjab. By 1960, there were 200 times more tractors.
Agriculture came to India 11,000 years ago. It changed life in this
massive subcontinent that is blessed with the world's largest cultivable
area. Like zero, this ancient genie came to revisit in the postindependence era and the result was miraculous.

White Revolution
India is a land of cows and the world's largest milk producer by a long
distance [producing 50 billion tons more than its nearest competitor,
USA]. The Vedas that are at the core of Hinduism extol the virtues of
cows in every opportunity. Despite all that, India was perennial short in
milk production. The yield was very poor from the starved cows.
Something had to change.
Between the 1960s Green Revolution and the 1980s IT Revolution,
came the 1970s White Revolution. It was heralded by a Mechanical
engineer from Kerala, Mr. Verghese Kurien. Kurien won government
scholarship to complete his Masters in Mechanical engineering with a
minor focus on Dairy engineering from Michigan State University.
To satisfy his bond commitment [for getting his Masters funded], the
government asked him to serve briefly at the Government creamery in
Anand, Gujarat. It served a little known cooperative named Amul that
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had the blessings of two major Indian politicians of that time, Sardar
Vallabhai Patel and future Prime Minister Morarji Desai. Kurien planned
to get out of the bond as soon as possible. But, his stint with the dairy
farmers of Anand changes his life and India's.
At the core of the Operation Flood that Kurien initiated was a milk grid
that connected India's core milk producing regions with the major
metropolises. It also enabled the use of innovative marketing
techniques that brought a higher price for the rural farmers as well as
built a number of value added products such as butter and ice cream.
In 1978, India's total milk production was 25 billion MT. By 2014, it was
141 billion MT. The availability of extra milk increased the health of the
nation and reduced malnutrition, besides adding further income to the
rural poor.

Factors that Contributed to the White Revolution

1. Using new varieties of cows and buffaloes that produced a lot
more milk. This was accompanied with the use of better
vaccines that produced healthier cows.
2. Better integration of milk consuming markets with the milk
producing ones. This allowed farmers to command better
prices and have more incentives to grow production.
3. Increased availability of financing for buying cows through the
nationalized banks.

205

Chapter 15: Bombay Dreams

1. Brothers lost in internal migrations find each other through a
family song.
2. A poor boy fallen in love with a rich, upper caste girl elopes and
get married.
3. A petite, innocent girl is brutally raped. His brother avenges her
death.
4. A poor, rural boy climbs the ladder of success after a
motivational song.
5. A poor, rural boy unwittingly becomes a major gangster
fighting" for good causes.
Peppered with four or five musical sequences, for the most part these
cliched storylines define the Hindi movie industry, Bollywood and
various regional movie industries of India. In a nation of 1.3 billion
people and a billion different problems, the movie industry is the
primary stress reliever. Viewers spanning rich and poor, urban and rural
divides embrace these movies to fill their leisure time and temporarily
forget the harsh realities of life. For centuries, theatre has provided as a
safety valve for the Indian pressure cooker. In the past century, the
movie industry has filled up the role of the traditional theatre.
Motion pictures entered India in 1896, when the pioneers of Cinema Auguste and Louis Lumire - sent a guy named Marius Sestier to the
swanky Watson hotel in Mumbai. This show inspired a local
photographer, Harishchandra Sakharam Bhatavdekar, to order a
camera from the UK. He shot the first film in India - a wrestling match in
Mumbai. This created a minor sensation and inspired later movie
makers like Hiralal Sen. A strong movie making culture was established
in Bombay and the then national capital of Calcutta.
The first full length feature film Raja Harishchandra was directed and
produced by Dadasaheb Phalke in 1913. Crowds thronged to the
theatres; ever since, movies formed a core part of the contemporary
Indian culture.

Diverse Movie Industries of India

While a casual outsider might see the Indian film industry as
synonymous with Bollywood, Bollywood is neither the only film industry
of India nor producer of the most number of Indian films. Bollywood is
206

a portmanteau of Bombay and Hollywood. It is just one of the 13 movie

industries in India that produce more than 10 films a year. Together
these 13 produce close to seventeen hundred movies each year, of
which a little more than two hundred is by Bollywood.
At the top rung of Indian Cinema is the highly commercial industries of
Bollywood (Hindi), Kollywood (Tamil) and Tollywood (Telugu) each with
more than 200 movies a year. Not just in naming, but even in storylines
these three industries have a lot in common. Many films from these
three industries are often derisively termed as the Masala (spice)
movies - referring to the generous mix of multiple genre (musical,
drama, thriller, comedy) just like how Indian cooking mixes a range of
spices. Popular screenplays move around these industries very quickly.
The core of these three industries are popular music sequences that
are often used in a very formulaic way.
Next in line comes the Bengali and Malayalam movie industries with
more of art films taking on social issues. The core part is the parallel
cinema a new wave cinema movement that was pioneered in the 1950s
by Satyajit Ray - [the don of the Bengali movie industry] and later
extended to the Malayalam industry by doyens like Adoor
Gopalakrishnan. The key elements of parallel cinema include realism,
naturalism, and sociopolitical issues.
After this follows the Kannada and Marathi movie industries that are
often overshadowed by more powerful movie industries in their
neighborhood. These two make variations of parallel cinema with
slightly less sociopolitical themes. Both these industries have the
advantage of being based on two of the most cosmopolitan cities of
India - Bengaluru and Mumbai. However, the cosmopolitan nature of
these cities also gives these two industries a lot of competition from the
well-funded top tier.
In the north east, the Assamese film industry has always dominated.
Like the Bengali films, Assamese films are known for the portrayal of
serious issues in a slower paced, sensitive style. However, the industry
has been declining unable to keep pace with Bollywood that is
constantly encroaching into the North East. The Manipuri industry
comes next. However, given the small and diverse populace the
industries there struggle to attain a sufficient scale.
A rising star is the Bhojpuri film industry targeting Bihar and Uttar
Pradesh. Historically, it was the poorer cousin of Bollywood with
smaller budgets and more rural audiences. However, as states like
207

Bihar are climbing the rungs of prosperity, this film industry is slowly
asserting its own place, not just as the poorer version of the Hindi
movie industry. As prosperity reaches India's interior, we could expect
further growth in Bhojpuri and its poorer siblings - Oriya and Gujarati
film industries.

Key Sources of Movie Ideas

With 1,700 movies made year after year often with low budgets and
tight timelines, it is practically impossible to make a lot of original
movies. Thus, most Indian filmmakers often sought various inspirations
to lift the movies from:
1. Sanskrit drama: Three thousand years of Sanskrit drama with
classics such as Kalidasa's Shakuntala and Meghadoota
deeply impact Indian cinema. The key concept of Rasa conveying complex emotions through facial expressions and
body language - is a central differentiator of Indian cinema.
These nine Rasas of Sringara (love), Hasya (laughter), Raudra
(fury), Bhyananka (horror), Karunya (compassion), Bibatsa
(disgust), Veera (heroic), Adbuta (wonder) and Shanta (peace)
form the core of Indian cinema. Dance forms like
Bharatanatyam have emphasized these attributes for centuries.
2. Hindu Epics: In the Ramayana and Mahabharata there exist
seeds for a thousand different movie plots. Hindu Puranas
(mythology) also contain a rich treasure trove of drama ideas.
3. Hollywood and foreign cinema: Indian filmmakers, both bigger
and smaller ones, often look to Hollywood for their inspiration.
Popular movies like the Sound of Music and the Seven Samurai
have inspired a generation of popular Hindi movies. South
Indian film actor Kamal Hassan often experiments with new
ideas inspired from famous Hollywood stars like the late Robin
Williams.
4. Rural folklore: India has a rich theater tradition and storytelling
was a centerpiece of this. Yatra (Bengali), Terukkuttu and
Bommalattam (Tamil Nadu), Koodiyattam (Kerala), Ramlila (UP),
Yakshagana (Karnataka) are some of the popular regional
theatre types that had a big impact on the regional movie
industries.

Trends and Patterns

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Age of Epics and Royalty

The movies of the first few decades were predominantly focused on
Hindu epics like Ramayana and Mahabharata and royal characters.
Classical dance and classical music were mixed with ancient literature
to provide very compelling movies that captured the imagination of
people.
One such classic is Alam Ara [the first talking movie in India] which
brought the rich tradition of "filmi music" - with original music and
choreography played by the actors. The concept of "Masala movies"
was heralded by the Tamil classic Chandralekha - a major filmmaking
project with plenty of song and fight sequences.
The freedom movement inspired a few revolution-themed movies like
Raithu Bidda [a Telugu film on landlords] that was censored by the
government for fear of inciting the crowds. Smart movie directors often
cleverly planted ideas related to the freedom movement through
historic allegories.

Golden Age of Social Issues

Starting from 1947, the movie industries shifted much more towards
social issues. Without the weight of the British censors, filmmakers
utilized the prevailing social sentiment of the people. Films shifted from
richness and epicness to focus on things like poverty, agriculture, and
slums. While devotional and royal movies continued to be made in
same numbers, the explosion in the overall movies made them
increasingly a smaller percentage.
Directors such as Chetan Anand and Satyajit Ray made Indian films a
popular fare in international movie festivals such as Cannes and Venice.
In Tamil Nadu, aspiring politicians used these social films as
springboards for their political career. They fully leveraged the very
powerful medium to get their political message to the people as the
audience unwittingly got captured by hours long political
advertisements. Scriptwriters such as Annadurai and M. Karunanidhi
became Chief Ministers, as did the popular actors such as MG
Ramachandran and J. Jayalalithaa.
Unlike the parallel cinema wave that was prevailing in the rest of India,
MG Ramachandran (MGR) used mostly masala movies to take the
same message across. The blend of parallel and commercial cinema
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brought him a tremendous advantage. While the parallel cinema was

watched by a select few educated classes, MGR's movies reached
most of Tamil Nadu and earned the epithet of puratchi thalaivar
[revolutionary leader]. Three decades since his death, his movies
continue to have a major political impact in the state.
Telugu cinema had a parallel evolution NT Rama Rao (NTR) taking the
role of MGR.

Age of the Superstars and Gangsters:

By the 1970s, a critical point in Indian cinema was reached. The arrival
of better technology, such as color pictures and a hippie, rebel culture
in the West inspired a new era. The glossy film magazines demanded
more energetic celluloid characters. The heroes of this new era neither
were the moral superior like in the epic era, nor were the social
revolutionaries of the golden era.
These new age heroes were young, restless youth with ambiguous
morality and without the need to be social revolutionaries. They were
gangsters, disco dancers, guitar players and college Romeos. For the
young, post-independence generation these Superstars were
mesmerizing.
Rajesh Khanna heralded the trend with the 1969 Bollywood classic
Aradhana, that was then followed by Dharmendra's 1975 blockbuster
Sholay. These two actors created conditions ripe for the biggest of
them all - Amitabh Bachchan - to take South Asia by a storm. Amitabh
often played the role of the Don - the king of the Bombay underworld.
The heroes dressed in shiny bell-bottoms, oversized sunglasses and
long sideburns, paired with skimpily dressed hot favorites like Zeenath
Amman and Parveen Babi.
With film financing increasingly dependent on the underworld, it is likely
that the underworld had a big role in making these gangster films with
highly sympathetic and romantic portrayals of the ganglords.
Some of the most cliched plotlines at the start of this chapter come for
this period. The missing brothers plotline was inspired by various
internal migrations due to economic reasons that made families lose
track of each other. The vagaries of the new city life brought a whole
range of issues like exploitation of women and getting pushed into
crimes.

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Inspired by the "Big B" [Bachchan] and often remaking his movies
came the southern superstars - Rajinikanth [Tamil], Rajkumar
[Kannada,] and Chiranjeevi [Telugu]. Rajnikanth brought a unique style
and was an instant hit among the audience. Chiranjeevi has become a
political force in Andhra Pradesh following the mold of NTR.
In Tamil, actors Rajnikanth [screen name of the actor Sivaji Rao] and
Kamal Haasan made career defining roles playing Tamil ganglords
fighting the anti-Tamil riots of Mumbai. These massive hit movies Badhshah and Nayakan inspired a wide range of other Tamil actors to
don the same role [actor Vijay recently tried this familiar trope in the
Tamil movie Thalaiva].

Age of Melodrama and Chocolate Boys:

The opening up of the Indian economy in the early 1990s brought a
new era. The audience was able to watch foreign channels like HBO
and Star TV and thus demanded more out of their heroes.
In the north, three khans completely took over the industry in the early
1990s. Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, and Salman Khan were goodlooking heroes and gave a rich trove of romantic flicks like Kuch Kuch
Hota Hai, Hum Apke Hain Kaun, and Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge.
While the length of the movie names grew significantly, the quality did
not. The Hindi movie industry looked to begin a long season of rot.
The decline in the Hindi movie industry was lapped by new age
southern directors like Mani Ratnam and Shankar. Manirathnam
brought the social movies back with a string of explosive classics like
Thalapathi (1991) and the "terrorism trilogy" - Roja (1992), Bombay,
(1995) and Dil Se (1998) - giving the audience a peek into the growing
Hindu-Muslim violence without the slow pace of the art cinema. He
also made Iruvar (a critical history of Tamil politics), Kannathil
Muthamital (a 2002 movie on Sri Lankan Tamil tragedy), and Yuva (a
2004 movie on youth revolution). Shankar gave his own social classics
like Indian (1996), Mudhalvan (1999) and Anniyan (2005). However,
unlike Mani Ratnam, Shankar was not able to get significant traction in
the rest of India.

Present Age (2000 - )

The Hindi movie industry has gotten back some of its mojo with
Ashutosh Gowariker's 2001 classic Lagaan starring Aamir Khan that
gave a fictionalized account of India's freedom struggle. Gowariker
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followed that with other classics like Swades (2004) and Jodhaa Akbar
(2008). This inspired other filmmakers to take more serious topics in
movies such as Rang de Basanti (2006), Chak de India (2007), and
Taare Zameen Par (2007). As the movie audience matures, the market
is also trying to cater to different niche segments instead of making the
middle-of-the-fare movies that is addressed to all audience.

The Comedy Men

The masala movie tradition requires the audience to be entertained
through different means. A Comedy track is often a critical element in
the masala. These tracks can often go independent of the main story
plot. Other times, it is often woven with the main plot. Vadivelu, Kaunda
Mani, Johny Lever, Nagesh, Brahmanandam, Vivek, Jagathy
Sreekumar, and Paresh Rawal all add colors to Indian cinema and help
lighten up the audience before the hero makes a major fight or a
romantic move.

The Music Men

The story of Indian Cinema would be incomplete without the music
directors who bring the movies to life. Film music fills the radios of
every corners of India and films are the predominant vehicle for
musicians to deliver their original compositions. Whether it is the dusty
roads of Rampur or the gleaming offices of Bangalore, you will always
find Indians humming to popular film tunes.
One of the musical greats is RD Burman who composed classical
works paired with singers like Asha Bhosle and Kishore Kumar. He was
the core element in making the superstars like Rajesh Khanna and
Amitabh Bachchan reach all corners of India. The southern counterpart
of Burman, Ilayaraja was equally good and blended modern Western
music with traditional Indian music.
Since the mid-1990s, the Madras Maestro AR Rahman has completely
dominated the Indian film music. In 10 of the last 20 years, Rahman has
won the annual Filmfare Award for the Best Music Director (the highest
one in Indian film industry). Groomed by Mani Ratnam, Rahman has
now become the only Indian music director who is known in the
international stage.

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Chapter 16: Score Kya Hai? - The

Story of Indian Sport
"What
is
the
national
sport
of
India?"
The quiz master gave me a full toss. I was about 12 then and leading
my house - Vyasa - in a school Quiz tournament. We were already
winning. I was happy that I answered the questions on nuclear test ban
treaties, Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan and the evolving Asian
financial crisis. I smugly looked at this final question. Such an easy one.
"C.R.I.C..." before I could finish, the kid next to me shouted "hockey". I
was furious.
"What the ****." I gave him an angry look as he might have just costed
us the competition. He was two years younger than me and was
smiling at me sheepishly. I should not have picked that kid as a
teammate.
The Quiz Master announced with a touch of drama, "The Vyasa team
won". I was confused. How come Cricket is not the national sport of
India? [In truth, it was recently found that there is no officially
designated national sport of India, although Field Hockey was popularly
assumed as the national sport].
26th May 1999
We were vacationing in the Andaman islands and Kolkata. One of the
few perks my dad got out of working for a government bank was this all
paid annual vacation. The train was approaching Calcutta's main
railway station at Howrah. I was playing the game of "Book Cricket"
with a random stranger in the train.
It was one of the dozens of nonsense Cricket-centric games Indian
students invent to pass the boring times while sitting in a classroom. At
that time we had no mobile phones to fiddle with nor Angry Birds to
stay addicted to. Thus we had to be quite creative. The game of "Book
Cricket" is one of those.
You just quickly open a random page in a book and the last digit of the
page number is your score. If the last digit is "0" you are out. You
quickly keep opening the pages and keep adding up the scores until
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you get out. The guy with the highest score wins.
The ingenuity of this game lies in the fact that you look like a studious
boy from a distance. An innocent bystander (or a teacher) would
assume that you are quickly referring to various concepts that you
stumble across. Of course, to make this game more interesting we
would add various rules and strategies. If I'm playing "an away game"
the opponent would bring his book and he might have strategically
folded a few pages ending with 0. If I find that out, I will call foul and we
repeat the game.
The smartness lies in adding a touch of fold without a physical
appearance of a foul. We also became masters at opening the book. A
kid in the next class could open 2,000 pages in one hour and I could
open and play even while running. We played hundreds of games and
had our own minor leagues.

National Language and Religion of India

"Toss laga hua hoga. Abhi match dekhte hain," the other kid said. It
was the important World Cup game between India and Sri Lanka. We
had to track it right from the toss - that will determine who gets to bat
first. Time to close the book cricket. I pulled out my Sony Walkman
(one of my few valuable possessions) and tuned to the Cricket
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commentary.
Indian trains are among the most eclectic things you would see. Around
us, there was a Punjabi soldier, a Bihari trader, and a Bengali
government worker all speaking mutually unintelligible languages. Each
of them had different dreams, different ambitions. Some were returning
home from the battlefield for vacation. Some visiting relatives. Some
attending a funeral. Some in a vain search for a job in the city. Indian
Railways are the soul of India.
The soldier seemed too preoccupied with some thought. It was the day
when the Indian Air Force started fighting back Pakistan's intruders in
India's state of Jammu & Kashmir. In the next few weeks, India and
Pakistan would engage in a full-scale border war named after the
location of the first operation - Kargil. Maybe the Jawan was worried
about getting called back for the battle?
The Bengali government worker seemed more perturbed by the
massive changes in the names of India's major cities. In those few
years, Bombay became Mumbai, Madras became Chennai, Calcutta
became Kolkata and much later Bangalore became Bengaluru. As a
traveler in a government job, it was hard to keep track of all the random
name changes.
The Bihari trader was commenting on the falling state of the Indian
economy. Stock market and real estate market were at their nadir. The
new government under BJP promised to do a lot more as they now
have a majority. But, the trader was not so optimistic. He had seen
enough of promises, especially from his state Chief Minister, the
colorful Lalu Prasad Yadav.
"Sri Lanka won the toss. But, they decided to field. India is batting," I
shouted at my friend. Immediately, the whole group's attention was on
me. It was Chai time and everyone just bought the Rs. 2 tea from the
railway vendor.
India might speak 1,600 languages and follow 12 different religions, but
Cricket is the bond. Who cares if Cricket is not the national game, it
qualifies to be a national religion and probably even a national language
[if languages are supposed to aid in communication].
We might hate the British for the atrocities committed during
colonialism, but we are deeply thankful of the triumvirate they left us Chai, Cricket, and the Indian Railways.
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Now, we were in the midst of all the three. Let the war, economy and
linguistic chauvinism wait.
The opening batsman, Sadagopan Ramesh, was the cousin of a close
friend of mine. He started with a boundary. Before we could finish
clapping, he was out the next ball.
"Indha thayir sadham, indha vattiyum sodhapitan," an aunty from
Madras can be heard muttering in Tamil [much more serious and
profane insults in other languages have been redacted here].
"Sala, wicket close rakhna tha," people around me were passing their
expert comments as we were interpreting the things the commentators
were saying. The Hindi commentator was aghast that the Sri Lankan
bowler Vaas could so easily clean up ballebaaz Sadagoppans stumps.
Dravid and Ganguly - Fire and Ice
Now, two young icons were in the middle of things - Sourav Ganguly,
the flamboyant batsman from Calcutta and Rahul Dravid, the calm boy
from the south. If Sourav was the film star, who garners all the
attention, Rahul was the scientist, who builds all the critical stuff and
moves away from the public's attention.
Like various other Indian icons, these two were discovered in India's
tour of England in the summer of 96. [I was at that point on a train to
Mumbai - one of the other annual vacations.] India might have won
freedom from England in 1947, but we recognize our icons only after
they conquer the Lords Cricket ground in London.
This time they were playing 100 miles away from London in Somerset
County. I was a diehard fanatic of Ganguly and I was impatient to
watch his action on TV. I was pushing my dad to get us a quick taxi
from the station to the apartment we were renting for the vacation. I
couldnt afford to miss any of Ganguly's shots. Traffic jams were pretty
bad in India's most crowded city. I knew I would miss out on Ganguly's
innings by the time we got to the apartment.
But, we were in Calcutta [hometown of Sourav] of all places and the
Bengal Tiger [Sourav's nickname] was in action.
People pulled the TVs from their homes and shops and brought it out
to the pavement. And crowds gathered around each TV. Strangers
would randomly look you in the eyes and talk as though we were
buddies for a long time.
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When Sourav was in form, it was Diwali time in Calcutta.

Every time Dravid was on strike, people would shout "take a single and
walk away". While our political leaders often sloganed "Jai Jawan, Jai
Kisan, Jai Vigyan" [Long live soldiers, farmers, and scientists], the
common people were only fixated on the celebrities. Add Dravid to the
list of soldiers, farmers, and scientists. Poor guy, he was not a
celebrity, even after he scored so much.
As Sourav made the record score with his heavy sixes, Sri Lankans
were out of the game and India got a chance to move to the next
round. We celebrated with random strangers on the street.
How come this game of Cricket played by colonials in white, got the
attention of eclectic India and acquired a pseudo-religion status? To
answer that question, we have to move to another part of England June 25, 1983 at Lords Cricket Ground in London.

Indian Sporting History

It is not clear how important outdoor sporting activity was to ancient
Indian culture. While martial arts, wrestling, and related games like
Kabbadi have always been popular, it is the board games like Chess,
Ludo, and Snake & Ladders where Indians had traditionally spent a lot
of their time on. Thus, the modern history of organized outdoor Indian
sport really starts from the British rule.
In 1900, India was first represented in the Olympics by an Indian-born
Englishman named Norman Pritchard. He won two silver medals in
athletics and it still remains the only two athlete from India to win
multiple medals in the same Olympics.
In 1928, hockey was reintroduced in the Olympics and India got a
team. On March 28, 1928, a break group of men left the Indian shores
for Amsterdam, aboard the ship Kaiser-i-Hind. Merely three people
came to send off the Indian team on its greatest voyage.
The team had very low expectations ahead of its first game against
Austria. And a miracle came in the form of the Allahabad lad, Dhyan
Chand. He scored an incredible three goals in the opening match. But,
that is just the start. In the five-match tournament, he scored a record
14 goals. Next highest in the table were two other Indians with five
goals each and an odd German. Chand was a sensation beyond words.

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Here is how Indias scorecards read:

17th May: Won Austria: 6-0
18th May: Won Belgium: 9-0
20th May: Won Denmark: 5-0
22nd May: Won Switzerland: 6-0
26th May (Final): Won Netherlands (home team): 3-0
India scored a record 29 goals with not a single goal scored against
them. The goalkeeper, Richard Allen, didn't have to do a lot of work as
the ball hardly came near him. Chand kept complete control over the
ball at all times.
The Indian team got a heros welcome and hockey suddenly became a
sensational sport for India.
In the following Olympics in Los Angeles (1932), India scored a record
24 goals in its finals against the home team, United States. Dhyan
Chand and his brother Roop Chand scored 25 of the 35 goals India
scored in the tournament.
In the 1936 Olympics, India scored a record 38 goals in the
tournament, and just one goal was scored against them in the finals by
Germany. Chand was practically invincible in a global sport for over 20
years. The world missed his action in 1940 and '44 as the Olympics
were cancelled due to war. The Indian hockey team resumed play in
the 1948 Olympics and kept on its record path for 12 more years.
It was in the 1960 Olympics final where India would finally slip as its
archrival Pakistan would sneak a goal past its defence in the 11th
minute. India came home disappointed with the silver, but got its
revenge in the 1964 Olympics, winning the gold against Pakistan.
Indias key strength in hockey relied on its stick work and wizardry.
However, the introduction of artificial turfs in the 1970s pushed the
game more towards strength and stamina, than mere art work. Indian
hockey was unable to raise to the challenge and since the 1970s was
able to win the Olympic gold only once - in 1980 when the Western
world completely boycotted the Moscow Olympics due to the Soviet
invasion of Afghanistan.

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Other Indian Sports

Although India invented Chess and the strategy game is a favorite
pastime of a score of Indians, India never really dominated Chess until
the arrival of Vishy world master Anand. Just a year after India lost a
place at the Olympics finals for the first ever time (1968 Mexico City),
an icon was born in the Cauvery delta town of Mayiladuthurai in Tamil
Nadu.
At the age of just 18, Anand became Indias first Grandmaster and won
his first World Chess Championship in 2000. Since 2006, he has won
the World Championship four times and also in the process climbed to
no. 1 in the world rankings. Many reviewers rank Anand to be the alltime greatest Chess player.
Even after the spectacular rise of Anand, Indian Chess didnt
dramatically improve. Three decades after Anands rise as a star, only
one other Indian is in the worlds top 20 - Koneru Humpy - in womens.
Unlike the glories that cricketers get, Anand is quite underrecognized
and underappreciated in India.
What Anand did for Chess, Prakash Padukone did for Badminton. He
won the inaugural Badminton Worldcup in 1981 and followed up
winning the prestigious All-England Badminton Championship in 1982.
Saina Nehwal (won Bronze in 2012 London) and Pullela Gopichand
(who won the all England Championship in 2001) are the only other
major badminton stars from India.
India had the occasional athletic brilliance in the Asian games in the
form of Milkha Singh and PT Usha - both sensations of their time.
However, India was never able to impact athletics in the world arena.
Since about 2000, India has produced strong players in shooting and is
able to get its 1-2 medals in each Olympics on the back of the
shooters.

Rise of Cricket as a National Pastime

While the sports mentioned in the previous sections are often played
and respected, nothing captures an average Indian as much as Cricket.
However, it didn't start that way.
Until 1983, Cricket was not a very popular game in India and was
followed primarily by the anglophone youth in the cities. The first ever
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recorded game of Cricket dates to 1721. In June 1932, India was

admitted to the elite league of Test Cricket-playing nations - the sixth
nation to be admitted - after England, Australia, South Africa, West
Indies, and New Zealand. Some of the earliest players such as
Maharajah Ranjit Singh and Duleep Singh Ji are still remembered.
However, India had to wait 20 years to score its first victory - in 1952
against England - and in the same year won its first series by beating
the newbies Pakistan.
The 1970s was the classic era for Indian Cricket, with a spin quartet of
Prasanna, Chandrasekhar, Bedi, and Venkataraghavan and a solid set
of batsmen in Gavaskar and Gundappa Vishwanath. Under the
captainship of Ajit Wadekar, the Indian Cricket team won back-to-back
away series in England and the West Indies.
While India was putting up a solid show in Tests, it was failing to adapt
to the new format - One Day Internationals, or ODIs- that became a
fixture in 1974.

Cricket World Cup 1983

When India landed on the shores of England in the spring of 1983, very
little was expected of them - much less than what the hockey team was
expected of in the 1928 Olympics. In the previous two Cricket World
Cups (in 1975 and 1979) India had won just one match in total - and
that too against an absolute rookie - East Africa. In one of the infamous
matches, the famous batsman Gavaskar had forgotten that he was
playing a shorter format of the game.
India was put in a tough group with the invincible West Indies - who
had won the previous two World Cups - a strong Australia, and a
promising Zimbabwe.
In the opening match for India, played on June 9, it had to meet the
West Indies. People expected the defending champions to crush the
minnows. When India lost their opening batsmen - Srikkanth and
Gavaskar - for cheap runs, viewers set up themselves for the obvious.
However, one unlikely hero - Yashpal Sharma - changed the game with
a career-best score of 89 to take India to a very decent score of 262.
When the bowlers came out to play, they took inspiration from this
miraculous batting display from Sharma and did the unthinkable: they
bowled out West Indies with six overs to spare and 34 runs short.
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India crushed the defending champion in its opening game!

Suddenly, India felt a new energy and momentum. In the next game,
they easily walked over Zimbabwe by bowling them out for a cheap
155. At the end of the league stage India was placed second and
qualified for the semifinals.
It was incredible. Had India gotten back home just with that, its fans
would have been quite proud. However, there was more to come.
In the semifinals, India met the home team England. The local press
was reporting that Indias honeymoon was soon to end. England had
won the toss and elected to bat on a slow pitch at Old Trafford in
Manchester. The pitch really suited the Indian medium pace bowlers,
who were suddenly transformed into a lethal unit. They walked all over
the English batsmen to get them out for 213. The batsmen then got into
the act by whistling past the English target without breaking a sweat.
India was now in the finals! No one could believe it. A team that had
won just one game in the entire two World Cups before then had now
upset the three strongest sides of the tournament. Time for the final
showdown.
It was a nice, warm day on the 25th of June, 1983. The Mecca of
Cricket - Lord's Cricket Ground at London - was basking in the
sunshine and packed to capacity. Clive Lloyd, the tall gentleman from
Guyana, proudly walked out onto the center. He could sense the
grandness of the venue where his team had won the previous two
World Cups. It was now a matter of formality to get the hat-trick or
three in a row. He called the toss correct and had no hesitation to bowl.
It was time for the worlds most lethal bowling unit to mark their targets
on a hapless subcontinent batting unit, helped by prodigious seam on a
classic Lords wicket. Roberts, Garner, Holding, and Marshall didnt
disappoint with their fiery ability to throw hard Cricket balls at over 90
miles an hour. The opening batsman, Srikkanth, had some success, but
the rest could not last long.
West Indies was all over India. At the end of their innings, India had just
183 - never enough to be even of nuisance value to the juggernaut
batting unit of the West Indies.
When West Indies came down to bat, Indias first victim was Gordon
Greenidge. He was taken out for a paltry one run. However, that
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brought the two legends of the game - Viv Richards and Desmond
Hayes - together. They scored runs freely. It was only a matter of time.
Out of nowhere came the Indian medium pacer Madan Lal. He took
both the legends and the allrounder Gomes in quick succession in a
matter of just 19 balls and six runs.
Now, India sensed that they were in the game. Captain Kapil Dev
started rotating his medium pacers in an expert fashion to slowly
strangle the West Indies batsman. The normally free-flowing batsmen
were hamstrung by Mohinder Amarnath, who gave only a total of 12
runs in his seven overs. The West Indies' middle order lost patience
and got out cheaply.
When Holding was finally caught LBW by Man-of-the-Match Amarnath,
the stadium erupted. India had won. Kapil Dev was beaming when he
picked up the trophy, and that was an iconic picture for a whole
generation.
That victory changed the nature of Indian Cricket and in fact, the whole
game of Cricket. Kapil Dev and his men got a heros welcome and
continued the momentum by winning the World Championship in
Australia in 1985.
Just as Hockey faded in Indian minds with a string of defeats from the
early 1980s, Cricket rose. Indians now have a new set of heroes to
celebrate. With the popularisation of TV, Tendulkar and the economy,
Cricket became a religion in India. And with the entry of a billion fans,
the sleepy game of Cricket was permanently transformed.

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Chapter 17: Into the Future

In the past 67 years, India proved its naysayers wrong by surviving as a
nation of 1.3 billion people and 22 official languages. It was able to
successfully integrate a variety of peripheral territories and its
Constitution is a classic. It was able to withstand multiple wars and
stand neutral in a highly polarized world.
While we can take comfort with the fact that we survived and we didn't
end up a basket case, this is not the best we can do. We need to not
just survive, but thrive. We need to push our accelerator. We need to
show the world what we are capable of and be the model nation of
peace. We need to be the elephant - that neither hunts nor gets hunted.
In the past 17 chapters, we saw the various things that happened in the
past. In this final chapter, I will take a glimpse at the future.
I will just start with my parable of the well.
There was a nice village that had a big well in the centre. One day,
there was a big robber raid on that village and many villagers jumped
into the well to save themselves. Some of them fell by accident, others
were pulled into it while rescuing others. Some were confused, some
were just like a sheep following the leader. Few fell in to be with their
friends and a few others were forced in. Eventually, everyone was in the
well. Many died in the process.
A few generations grew inside the well, making use of the water and
little resources. By then, the external attacks were long gone. But, the
villagers didn't realize that. Scores died, living in squalor, and there was
misery all around. As the number of generations grew, people started
forgetting that there was once a village above the well.
One day, a guy named Mohandas finally rose up from the well and saw
that there was a world around him. He started grouping others and
slowly people started getting out of it.
The challenge now is broken down into four parts:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Convincing people about life outside the well, in the village.

Finding enough ropes
Getting them out in an orderly fashion.
Advocating patience as it is going to take a lot of time to get a
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million people out of the well.

This was the state of India and many other countries 60 years ago.
Leaders in many countries have since then brought the ropes to pull
out the people.
India was a little slower than a few other countries, but we still pulled
out as many people as Japan and Germany did. India's middle class
with college education and professional jobs is more than the
population of Germany. However, the Indian well had a lot of people to
start out with and thus while Germany was done with pulling 80 million
people out, India is not yet done even after pulling out 150 million
people since 1947. You can take people out of the well only so fast and
it takes time.
However, we can drive the process faster if:
1. We can get a lot more ropes, and
2. Dig a few more holes on the side to create alternate paths.
The ropes are in these case are the jobs. For a long time, our
government was the only provider of good jobs and there are only so
many jobs (ropes) to pull people out. What other countries have done is
bring more ropes - entrepreneurs - and dig more side holes (foreign
investments) to get the people out. Most successful countries have
done this - Singapore, Korea, Taiwan, Japan, and Europe and most
recently China (flooded with foreign investments and entrepreneurs).
Here is how India can jumpstart its well rescue process aka journey
towards a developed society. I will focus on the practical stuff.
Step 1: Make it Easy for Entrepreneurs
Who took Japan to its heights? Its government did its part, but the bulk
load was by its entrepreneurs. The folks who created Toyota, Honda,
Sony, Fujitsu, Hitachi, Komatsu, Mitsubishi, Fuji, Nissan... In the case of
Germany it was Daimler, Siemens, SAP, BMW and millions of smaller
manufacturers. The same for US, Europe, Singapore and now China.
The ONLY way a country can get out of misery is by enabling its
entrepreneurs, who will bring more ropes to pull out the people. No
country has ever become developed without involving its
entrepreneurs. India is the world's worst place to do business. I know it
both from statistics and cutting my teeth running business there.
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This can be fixed by dismantling our "License raj". Some of these are
easy fixes - make it easy to register a "Private Limited", have more
predictable rules (unlike the infamous "Vodafone" witch hunt - where
the Indian government retroactively applied a tax rule when the
company bought out the telecom player Hutch), and enable quick
approvals throughout the system. Get the government out of the way.

Step 2: Get the Women Involved

Our women are underutilized in the process of pulling the people out.
We give them useless tasks and don't get them to fire up. India has
among the lowest percentage of women workers in a professional
capacity.
All developed societies had a huge jump in women entering the
workforce around the Second World War. That's how they developed.
If we can get the women to join the workforce - we get twice more
hands and grow twice as fast. It should be simple math, right?
We need to have a substantial push in getting the women in politics,
business, and professional workplaces. If it takes some reservation to
do the initial push, let's do it.

Step 3: Get Every Child Going to a Good

School
Indians whine incessantly about the education system. If there was a
World Cup in whining, Indians would get it for their daily complaints on
the education system. For all its faults, India's best schools fill up Wall
Street, Silicon Valley, Canary Wharf, Mckinsey, Microsoft, Harvard, and
Oxford. In a dozen places I studied, I don't know of a single friend who
is not doing well. Thus, the primary problem is less in our best schools,
but the fact that 95% of the population don't have access to good
schools. UNICEF estimates that a third of Indias children leave before
finishing primary school. This leaves a huge room for improvement.
If we can get every Indian kid to have the standard of education of even
a Kendriya Vidyalaya or DAV or DPS, India can have a 20X boost in
productivity. That means more schools, more good teachers, better
technology.

Step 4: Time to Add More Judges and Police

225

India has too few courts and judges. Added with archaic laws and
processes, we have a dysfunctional judicial system. When the judiciary
is dysfunctional, society cannot progress. Enable legal reforms to
simplify the processes. But, more importantly add thousands of judges
and millions of new policemen. We cannot have better security until our
police and judiciary levels reach international levels. First, fix the
quantity and then fix the quality.

Step 5: Fighting Graft (Corruption)

This is a complex process and there is no one-step silver bullet.

Better Technology
In Chennai, once I was almost hit by a bus when I was waiting on my
bike at a signal on a nice, early morning. The signal was red, although
no one was on the road. The bus behind me wanted to move ahead on
the red, while I was standing in its way. Should I or should I not have
obeyed that red light? Was I too dogmatic instead of pragmatic? Our
poor technology (having red signal when the intersection is empty) has
made a simple thing of following a rule into a dilemma. It has made
rule-breaking the pragmatic option, instead of the other way around.
One way to resolve such an issue is by having better technology. If the
signal detected motion on my side and not on other sides, it should
directly change to green. That's what happens in developed countries.
Use the right technology that makes rule-following pragmatic. When
everyone around you realizes that the rule and its implementation is
logical, there is less of a reason to break it (unless you are crazy).
This is just one simple example. We can have better technology
throughout society. Some more examples:
1. Spend a few million rupees to design a very good website that
has all the government forms used in all the government
departments. The site has to be so intuitive that filling
government forms should be a very simple and straightforward
process. Make it very easy to get this accessible on mobile. If
you do this well, you can eliminate the army of bribe seekers
outside the government offices.
2. Create videos and test materials to enable a prospective
drivers to learn the road rules in a simple, fun way. Every type
of education can be made fun. Let them learn the rules, and
226

then pass the test for free (without paying a bribe). Which
Indian would not love things for free?
3. Use analytics tools to analyze what the market prices of homes
are. Most of the real estate black money involves understating
the sale price. Once you build a strong analytics tool, it will be
hard to understate price and save tax. Same for sales tax and
others. Share this data openly on the government website.
4. Make credit card transactions more prevalent. Subsidize the
payment technologies so much that people get incentives not
to use cash. Cash transactions are the source of half the
headache.
These are starting points. There are a million things we could do as
system designers. The goal of any society should be to make rulefollowing pragmatic. In India, many of the rules are illogical, outdated,
archaic, and stupid. This has made even logical people ignore the rules.
Once the rational people start following the rules, the government can
go brutal on the irrational rule-breakers.

Never Have a Meaningless Rule that Cannot Be Enforced Well

Any rule that cannot be enforced is tyranny and unfair. The good ones
would be the only ones to follow (due to self-conscience) and bad ones
will not (no enforcement). An example of this is the prohibition law in
the US in the 1920s that made it illegal for people to buy alcohol.
Alcohol is so entrenched in Western culture and so easy to
manufacture that the laws were openly flouted. Crimes, gangs, mafias,
and corruption ruled in cities like Chicago due to that. India has many
such rules that are similar. Alcohol is bad, but cannot be banned. Same
for cigarettes, drugs, prostitution, trans fats, etc. If you cannot enforce
a rule very well, don't have it in the rule book. By having these weak
rules, you weaken the fear and respect for law. You then create these
dirty surfaces over which germs then fester. Throw these unused
furniture out the window.

Simpler Rules
Fifteen years ago, the cops near my home changed one of the key
roads into a one-way. As a dogmatic rule-obeyer, I biked around that
road for a long time, while no one else obeyed the rule. However, once
someone told me why the rule was in place - to make it easy for a local
film star to park easily - it no longer made sense for me to obey that
rule. I broke that one-way rule as an act of civil disobedience.
227

This happens all over India. There was a time when getting dollars was
very hard. An honest relative of mine had to sell his Indian home and
take his money back to Australia (he was a citizen there). When the
Indian government blocked him from taking his own money out of
India, what did he do?
Many of our laws are stupid this way. We make it illegal for someone to
be gay. We make it excruciatingly difficult for someone to open a new
mine. We make it impossible for someone to open a new factory. Our
rules are so bad that our entrepreneurs either have to look abroad for
growth or bribe.
When laws are stupid and complex, even honest people will ignore
them. When an honest man is forced to break laws on a daily basis,
society decays.
In 1992, Manmohan Singh destroyed the gold smuggling business
overnight. He didn't use big armies or police or courts. He just made it
legal for honest people to bring gold into the country. Since the early
2000s, Hawala has gone out of vogue among the good people due to
RBI reforms. Never have an unnecessary rule in your book that neither
makes sense nor can be enforced.
Simplify, simplify, simplify.

Reduce Scarcity
Ask the people of 1960s and 70s of what it was like to get a phone line
or a scooter in their time. Most people would have bribed someone to
get these basic things. Now, you pay bribes neither to get a phone line
nor to get a motorbike. You don't pay bribes to get ahead of the
employment queue in employment exchange either.
Make it easy for honest and rational people to get their basic needs
and desires satisfied in a straightforward way. There is a reason why all
the nordic countries became so egalitarian and corruption-free
(although brutal crimes were very common in the previous centuries).
Prosperity is good!
The movie - Guru - ends well on this idea. Ambani could have not
broken the rules and not enrich the economy. Or he could break the
rules and enrich the economy. Notable economist, Swami Iyer, calls
this the efficient corruption vs. inefficient corruption.

228

In an ideal society, such a distinction should vanish and there should

be no necessity for a good businessman to bribe.

Rule of Law -> Destroy a Culture of Fear

This is the fundamental duty of the government. Setting up the rule of
law so that the good guys are not afraid to talk the truth. That means
anyone who threatens, hurts, or murders a journalist, judge,
government servant, or a whistleblower must be treated mercilessly.
Once you bring the murderers and gangs to justice with tailor-made
laws and fast-track courts, the culture of fear disappears. Once good
people stop being afraid, they will be more open to whistleblow. This is
a classic law and order issue.
On a related note, governments should also stop scaring people with
misuse of slander and libel laws. Anyone in public life should not be
given the right to hide behind slander laws.
Reduce Government Involvement and Destroy Monopolies
When governments are too involved in the economy, you create powercenters that become above the law. The government agencies become
monopolies and laws would get written around them. You create these
"babus" who become too powerful to impact your life. There is a
concept called "rent seeking" where these powerful people will take
"rent" for any economic activity you do (like selling vegetables on the
road).
Get rid of these babus and get rid of any kind of monopolies government or private. When there are multiple companies vying to
provide services to the people, corruption becomes less necessary.
Most of the world's most corrupted countries have too much
government involvement or are run by oligarchs/autocratics.

Provide Better Wages to Cops and Other Civil Servants

In most parts of India, cops get peanuts as official salary. This makes it
impossible for a honest person to get in and survive. As the good
apples exit, rotten apples replace them. As it is practically impossible to
survive on the government salary, bribe-taking becomes a very simple
and straightforward option.
Pay the cops well and be merciless when they take a bribe. When they
229

are paid well, they have a lot to lose when breaking the rules.

Broken Window Theory - Create Clean Zones

In public policy, there is a concept called broken-window theory. In a
street, if there are windows broken by miscreants and not acted upon,
it sends signals to the other baddies that rule-enforcement is weak.
Crimes will fester in those areas. In the same way, you tend to put
garbage in those areas where there are already piles of garbage. You
are less likely to throw garbage in a clean mall.
Like a lot of crimes, corruption is a disease in that it can spread easily if
there are no antibodies. To solve corruption, we need to create zones
of "cleanliness" - where rules are both straightforward and strongly
enforced .
Government could start this in specific departments (let us say the
passport office) or specific areas (say North Delhi) and do a complete
reset of the rules and enforcement. Make it impossible for anyone to
break the small list of logical rules you set. Eradicate the disease in that
zone, quarantine it, and go to the next zones.
Working against corruption is a complex, long slog. It involves
everything from building a strong economy to creating the right policies
that makes sense. It is not a switch that you can turn on and off. Even if
you have honest cops and leaders, you cannot solve it without fixing
the underlying problems. Even if you give a death sentence to bribe
givers/takers, you cannot solve it.
When we complain of attitudes, we are copping out and taking an easy
way. Attitudes are a reflection of the environment and is an adaptation.
That means we need to change the environment and make it conducive
to obey the rules. This will not eradicate corruption; like germs,
corruption will continue to live, but can be turned powerless.
There is a famous dialogue in Kamal Hassan's movie Indian/Hindustani. It goes into how bribes are present even in
developed societies - but it is given to prevent the official from doing
their duty. By the bad people. In India, bribes are necessary to get the
official to even do their duty. Even by the good people.
Our focus should primarily be on how to prevent honest and rational
people from bribing. This can be done by designing a better system.
Once you get the honest people out of the corruption ring, you will get
230

the strength of truth to fight the small fraction of real baddies.

Step 6: National Level Skill Development

In the next 20 years, we need to bring 500 million people out of
agriculture as we climb the ladders of prosperity. I have said this many
times. We don't need 600 million people working in farming. It is again
simple math - if 600 million people are required to produce food for 1.2
billion people, we either have to drastically push up food prices or have
the farmers live in poverty.
However, if 100 million people can produce food for 1.2 billion people,
the farmer salaries can go up 6X without pushing up food inflation. And
all developed economies have pulled this off. This is not rocket
science.
Now, what will these 500 million people do for a living? This is where
we need a national level skill development. Let us produce new
industrial workers, new accountants, new doctors, new mechanics,
new drivers... Millions of Indian businesses are suffering from not
having access to quality people.

Step 7: This is Rocket Science

India went to mobile revolution, without touching landlines. We directly
went into software before we even had factories or toilets. India needs
to leapfrog, wherever it is possible. Let's leverage technology to the
hilt.
Let us be the most efficient guys to go to space. Let us be the leader in
online education. Let us be the leader in robotics, 3D manufacturing
and Internet of things (IoT) - three things that are going to drastically
alter the world's economy in the next 10 years.
Just like ISRO, we need to have a national center of robotics, national
center for IoT and a national institute of 3D manufacturers. Get on to
this before the world even realizes this. America and Britain fully used
Industrial revolution as they didn't have big industries before that and
were able to leapfrog India and China. Now, it is time for the next cycle.
We don't have many industries to lose now and this is when we can
leapfrog.

Step 8: Tap Our Sun and Get Out of Foreign

231

Energy
India can't forever depend on Saudi Arabia and other countries for our
oil. Coal will kill our environment like it is doing to China. Hydro power
will kill our forests. Thus, we need to use solar energy as a national
priority. Even if it is expensive for now, we must put all our national
efforts and get the economies of scale. This will give us the energy
security and the one who has the energy will be one with metaphoric
power.
India has 200,000sq km of deserts in the western side (Thar Desert and
Rann of Kutch). These are hot almost throughout the year and in the
summers can get as hot as 52C.
A big chunk of this desert is not really populated and the government
owns a lot of it. What if we could take 400sq km of land out of it for
solar power?
400sq km = 400,000,000sq m
A big chunk of Western India is capable of generating 2500 kWh/sq m.
Thus, total production from the 400sq km =2.5 Mwh * 400 million = 1
PWh.This is the total electricity production of India. In short, with less
than 0.2% of our desert, we can almost completely wean ourselves of
foreign energy.

232

Miles to Go Before I Sleep

Whose
woods
these
are
I
think
I
know.
His
house
is
in
the
village
though;
He
will
not
see
me
stopping
here
To
watch
his
woods
fill
up
with
snow.
My
little
horse
must
think
it
queer
To
stop
without
a
farmhouse
near
Between
the
woods
and
frozen
lake
The
darkest
evening
of
the
year.
He
gives
his
harness
bells
a
shake
To
ask
if
there
is
some
mistake.
The
only
other
sounds
the
sweep
Of
easy
wind
and
downy
flake.
The
woods
are
lovely,
dark
and
deep,
But
I
have
promises
to
keep,
And
miles
to
go
before
I
sleep,
And
miles
to
go
before
I
sleep.
-Robert Frost in Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

233

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4.

5.
6.
7.

8.
9.
10.
11.
12.

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"water
wars".
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5. (2014, Jul 11). Top 10 natural disasters that rocked India. India
TV.
http://www.indiatvnews.com/news/india/top-10-naturaldisasters-that-rocked-india-29492.html

Chapter 8:

1. Kaminsky, Arnold and Long, Roger. (2011). India Today: An

Encyclopedia of Life in the Republic. ABC-CLIO. ISBN:
0313374627 pp. 497-501.
2. Paul, Bappaditya. (2014). The First Naxal: An Authorised
Biography of Kanu Sanyal. SAGE Publications. ISBN:
8132117875
3. (2012, Aug 25). Indias Northeast: A Neglected Crisis. The
Economist.
4. Paul, Manas. (2010). EYEWITNESS: Tales From Tripura's
Ethnic Conflict. Lancer Publishers. ISBN: 1935501151 pp. 8694.
5. Treaty of Yandabu (24 February 1826). Retrieved from:
http://www.sdstate.edu/projectsouthasia/loader.cfm?
csModule=security/getfile&PageID=874574
6. Armed Forces Special Powers Act (1958). Indian Army.
Retreived
from:
http://indianarmy.nic.in/Site/RTI/rti/MML/MML_VOLUME_3/CHAPTER__
7. (2013). Demographic Status of Scheduled Tribe Population of
India.
Ministry
of
Tribal
Affairs.
Retrieved
from:
http://tribal.nic.in/WriteReadData/CMS/Documents/20130611020800220
8. Chattopadhyay, Raghabendra and Duflo, Esther. (2003). The
Impact of reservation in the panchayati raj: Evidence from a
nationwide randomized experiment. Framed Field Experiments.
Retrieved
from:
http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:feb:framed:00223.

Chapter 9:
1. (1977). Documentation of Emergency Period in India (1975-77).
Centre
for
Research
Libraries.
Retrieved
from:
http://images.crl.edu/126.pdf
2. (1975, Jul 14). INDIA: Indira Gandhi's Dictatorship Digs In.
TIME.
3. Akbar, M.J. (2005, Dec 26). 1975: The Emergency. India Today.
Retrieved
from:
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/1975emergency-was-imposed-not-because-india-was-in-dangerbut-because-indira-gandhi-was/1/192345.html
239

4. Guha, Ramachandra. (2011). India After Gandhi: The History of

the World's Largest Democracy. Pan Macmillan. ISBN:
0330540203
5. Srivatsava, Samar. (2014, Aug 12). Economic Milestone:
Nationalisation of Banks (1969). Forbes India. Retrieved from:
http://forbesindia.com/article/independence-dayspecial/economic-milestone-nationalisation-of-banks(1969)/38415/1
6. (1975, Nov 7). Indira Nehru Gandhi vs Shri Raj Narain & Anr.
India
Kanoon.
Retrieved
from:
http://indiankanoon.org/doc/936707/
7. The Constitution (Forty-Second Amendment) Act, 1976. India
Code.
Retrieved
from:
http://indiacode.nic.in/coiweb/amend/amend42.htm
8. (1975, Oct 27). INDIA: The Emergency: A Needed Shock. TIME.
9. (1977, Apr 4). INDIA: A Powerful Vote for Freedom. TIME.
10. (1976, Apr 26). Fading Hope in India. New York Times.
11. Jack, Ian. (1977, Mar 10). With Friend Like Son Sanjay, Gandhi
Doesn't Need Enemies. London Sunday Times.

Chapter 10:
1. Jayapalan, N. (2001). Foreign Policy of India. Atlantic
Publishers and Distributors. ISBN: 817156898X
2. (1949, Oct 10). INDIA: Marching Through Kashmir. TIME.
3. Sharma, S.R., Sharma, R. (1999). Indo U.S. Relations 1947-71:
Fractured Friendship: Part 1. Discovery Publishing. ISBN:
8171414877
4. (1957, Feb 14). The India-Pakistan Question. United Nations
Security
Council.
Retrieved
from:
http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?
symbol=S/3787
5. Security Council Veto List. United Nations. Retrieved from:
http://research.un.org/en/docs/sc/quick/veto
6. Panda, Ankit. (2013, Nov 8). Geographys curse: Indias
vulnerable Chicken Neck. The Diplomat. Retrieved from:
http://thediplomat.com/2013/11/geographys-curse-indiasvulnerable-chickens-neck/
7. Haidar, Suhasini. (2014, Jul 21). Paradigm shift after Israels aid
during Kargil. The Hindu.
8. Agarwal, Rajeev. (2014, Feb 14). Could Iran and India be
Afghanistans Plan B?. The Diplomat. Retrieved from:
http://thediplomat.com/2014/02/could-iran-and-india-be240

afghanistans-plan-b/
9. (2010, Jan 21). 71% of Afghans say India playing most positive
role in country: Poll. Times of India.
10. Miller, Manjari Chatterjee. (June 2013). India's Feeble Foreign
Policy.
Foreign
Affairs.
Retrieved
from:
http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/139098/manjarichatterjee-miller/indias-feeble-foreign-policy

Chapter 11:
1. Das, Gurcharan. (2012). India Unbound: From Independence to
the Global Information Age. Penguin Books. ISBN: 0143419250
2. Luce, Edward. (2008). In Spite of the Gods: The Rise of Modern
India. Anchor. ISBN: 1400079772
3. Weinraub, Bernard. (1991, Jun 29). Economic Crisis Forcing
Once Self-Reliant India to Seek Aid. New York Times.
4. Cerra, Valerie., Saxena, Sweta Chaman. (2002). What Caused
the 1991 Crisis in India? IMF Staff Papers. Vol 49. No. 3
5. Sharma, Chanchal Kumar. (2011). A Discursive Dominance
Theory of Economic Reform Sustainability: The Case of India.
India Review. Vol 10, Issue 2. pp.126-184
6. Panagariya, Arvind. (2001). Indias Economic Reforms. EDRB
Policy
Briefs.
Retrieved
from:
http://www.columbia.edu/~ap2231/Policy%20Papers/OPB2.pdf
7. Singh, Manmohan. (1991). Budget Speech 1991-92. Retrieved
from: http://indiabudget.nic.in/bspeech/bs199192.pdf
8. Chidambaram, Palaniappan. (1997). Budget Speech 1997-98.
Retrieved
from:
http://indiabudget.nic.in/bspeech/bs199798.pdf
9. Thomas, Prince Mathews. (2014, Aug 20). Economic Milestone:
Chidambaram's Dream Budget (1997). Forbes India. Retrieved
from:
http://forbesindia.com/article/independence-dayspecial/economic-milestone-chidambarams-dream-budget(1997)/38459/1
10. Bhagwati, Jagdish N.. Srinivasan, T. N. Foreign Trade Regimes
and Economic Development: India. NBER. pp. 86-98.
11. Moreno, Ramon. (1998, Aug 7). What Caused East Asias
Financial
Crisis.
FRBSF.
Retrieved
from:
http://www.frbsf.org/economicresearch/publications/economic-letter/1998/august/whatcaused-east-asia-financial-crisis/
12. Baily, Martin Neil and Elliott, Douglas. (2009). The US Financial
and Economic Crisis: Where Does It Stand and Where Do We
241

Go From Here? Initiative on Business and Public Policy at

Brookings.
13. McDonald, Hamish. (1999). The Polyester Prince: The Rise of
Dhirubhai Ambani. Allen & Unwin (Australia). ISBN: 1864484683

Chapter 12:

1. Biswas, Soutik. (2011, Jan 18). Is India sliding into a hereditary

monarchy? BBC.
2. Constitution of Political Parties. Election Commission of India.
Retrieved
from:
http://eci.nic.in/eci_main1/PolPar/constituation.aspx
3. (2014, Mar 14). Key dates in Indias election history. India
Insight.
Reuters.
Retrieved
from:
http://blogs.reuters.com/india/2014/03/05/key-dates-in-indiaselection-history/
4. Chishti, Seema. (2014, Mar 27). ONCE UPON A POLL: The first
Lok Sabha elections (1951-52). The Indian Express. Retrieved
from: http://indianexpress.com/article/india/politics/once-upona-poll-the-first-lok-sabha-elections-1951-52/
5. STATISTICAL REPORT ON GENERAL ELECTIONS, 1951 TO
THE FIRST LOK SABHA. Volume 1. Election Commission of
India.
Retrieved
from:
http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/StatisticalReports/LS_1951/VOL_1_51_LS.PDF
6. (2012, Sep 10). Why Tatas, Birlas use electoral trusts to fund
politics.
Firstpost.
Retrieved
from:
http://www.firstpost.com/politics/why-tatas-birlas-preferelectoral-trusts-to-fund-political-parties-450251.html
7. (2014, Mar 23). 14 electoral trusts set up as elections draw
closer.
Live
Mint.
Retrieved
from:
http://www.livemint.com/Politics/FJQwA1NJLXXgKSkBH2S8bM/IndiaInc-registers-14-electoral-trusts-as-elections-draw.html?
utm_source=copy
8. Tripathi, Ashish (2012, Sep 10). Anonymous donors 'run'
political parties in India, Congress tops the list. The Times of
India.
9. Bergen, Peter. & Swanson, Ana. (2014, Apr 15). 11 things to
know about world's biggest election. CNN.
10. Das, N.K. (2009). Identity Politics and Social Exclusion in
Indias North-East: The Case for Re-distributive Justice.
Bangladesh e-Journal of Sociology, Volume 6, Number 1.
Retrieved
from:
http://www.bangladeshsociology.org/Identity%20Politics%20and%20S
242

East.pdf
11. 10 Slogans that Define Indias Political History. India Today.
Retrieved
from:
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/gallery/massappeal-slogans-bjp-congress-indira-gandhi-atal-biharivajpayee/1/9334.html
12. Jha, Sanjay. (2012, Feb 12). Missing in poll action: the
punchline. The Telegraph.

Chapter 13:

1. APJ Abdul Kalam. (1999). Wings of Fire: An Autobiography of

APJ Abdul Kalam. Sangam Books
2. (2003, Nov 20). Forty years in Space. Rediff. Retrieved from:
http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/nov/20spec.htm
3. Budget
at
a
Glance.
ISRO.
Retrieved
from:
http://www.isro.gov.in/pdf/BUDGET_AT_A_GLANCE.pdf
4. Jason Overdorf. (2008, Oct 17). India's Satellites Help Farmers,
Fishermen.
Newsweek.
Retrieved
from:
http://www.newsweek.com/indias-satellites-help-farmersfishermen-92303
5. (2013, Mar 16). Remote sensing data benefits Indian farmers,
fishermen.
Zee
News.
Retrieved
from:
http://zeenews.india.com/news/science/remote-sensing-databenefits-indian-farmers-fishermen_835856.html
6. Telemedicine: Healing Touch Through Space. ISRO. Retrieved
from: http://www.isro.org/publications/pdf/Telemedicine.pdf
7. Space Technology Enabled Village Resource Centre (VRC).
ISRO.
Retrieved
from:
http://www.isro.org/publications/pdf/VRCBrochure.pdf
8. (2013, Feb 25). India successfully launches Indo-French, 6
foreign satellites. The Indian Express.
9. (2008, Dec 19). ISRO makes $40 million profit out of W2M
satellite.
Live
Mint.
Retrieved
from:
http://www.livemint.com/Industry/wVmPLdPA759oFCHMmZYjvK/ISROmakes-40-million-profit-out-of-W2M-satellite.html
10. List of 40 Foreign Satellites launched by Indian Polar Satellite
Launch
Vehicle

PSLV.
ISRO.
Retrieved
from:
http://www.isro.org/pdf/foreignsatellite.pdf
11. ISRO Satellite Centre Celebrates Ruby Year. ISRO.
http://www.isro.gov.in/newsletters/contents/spaceindia/jan2012jun2012/article11.htm
12. Paul Leventhal. (2005, Dec 19). CIRUS Reactors Role in a US India Nuclear Agreement. Nuclear Control Institute. Retrieved
243

from:
http://www.nci.org/06nci/04/CIRUS%20Reactors%20Role%20in%20a%
India%20Nuclear.htm
13. David Martin. Exporting Disaster: Cost of Selling Candu
Reactors. Retrieved from: http://www.ccnr.org/exports_3.html
14. George Perkovich (2008). India's Nuclear Bomb: The Impact on
Global Proliferation by Delhi: Oxford University Press Delhi.
15. Vipin Narang (2013, summer). Five Myths about Indias Nuclear
Posture. The Washington Quarterly. Retrieved from:
http://web.mit.edu/polisci/news/pdf/NarangFiveMyths.pdf

Chapter 14:

1. Joseph, Manu. (2012, Mar 28). How India Became an

Outsourcing Magnet. New York Times. Retrieved from:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/29/world/asia/29ihtletter29.html?_r=0
2. Solomon, Jay & Kranhold, Kathryn. (2005, Mar 23). In India's
Outsourcing Boom, GE Played a Starring Role. The Wall Street
Journal.
3. Lak, Daniel. (2008). India Express: The Future of the New
Superpower. Palgrave Macmillan Trade, 38-44
4. Chung, Tan. (2009). Rise of the Asian Giants: The DragonElephant Tango. Anthem Press India. 189-195.
5. Romero, Frances. (2011, May 20). Y2K: Top 10 End-of-theWorld
Prophecies.
TIME.
Retrieved
from:
http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,207267
6. Leonard, Andrew (2007, Apr 20). From Opium to Outsourcing.
Salon. Retrieved from: http://www.salon.com/2007/04/20/tata/
7. Tilden, William Augustus. Ramsay, William. (1918). Sir William
Ramsay: Memorials of His Life and Work. MacMillan (London).
8. Kannan, Shilpa. (2013, September 3). Bangalore: India's IT hub
readies for the digital future. BBC.
9. (2006, May 29). The end of India's green revolution?. BBC.
Retrieved
from:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4994590.stm
10. India Wheat Production by Year. Index Mundi. Retrieved from:
http://www.indexmundi.com/agriculture/?
country=in&commodity=wheat&graph=production
11. The Beginning of the Green Revolution Retrieved from:
http://www.agbioworld.org/biotechinfo/topics/borlaug/minnesota.html
12. Banos, Los., & Buri, Suphan. (2014, May 10). The New Green
244

Revolution: A Bigger Rice Bowl. The Economist.

13. Moore, P.Fitzgerlad, & Parai, B.J. The Green Revolution.
http://people.ucalgary.ca/~pfitzger/green.pdf
14. Pingali, Prabhu L. (2012). Green Revolution: Impacts, limits,
and the path ahead. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 109: 12302
12308.
15. (2013, Sep 9). Remembering the father of 'White Revolution'.
The
New
Indian
Express.
Retrieved
from:
http://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/Remembering-thefather-of-White-Revolution/2013/09/09/article1775988.ece
16. India Milk Production by Year. Index Mundi. Retrieved from:
http://www.indexmundi.com/agriculture/?
country=in&commodity=milk&graph=production

Chapter 15:

1. Hutchinson, Pamela. (2013, July 25). The birth of India's film

industry: How the movies came to Mumbai. The Guardian.
Retrieved
from
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/jul/25/birth-indias-filmindustry-movies-mumbai
2. Miglani, Surendra. (2006, March 26). Talking Images: 75 years
of cinema. The Sunday Tribune. Retrieved from
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2006/20060326/spectrum/main1.htm
3. Booth, Gregory D. Behind the Curtain: Making Music in
Mumbais Film Studios. New York: Oxford University Press,
2008.
4. Ray, Satyajit. Our Films Their Films. Hyderabad: Orient
Blackswan, 2011
5. Best
of
Bollywood.
TIME.
Retrieved
from:
http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,202207
6. (2013, Aug 22). Tamil leads as India tops film production. The
Times
of
India.
Retrieved
from:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/Tamil-leadsas-India-tops-film-production/articleshow/21967065.cms
7. Caldwell, John. The Movie Mujra: The Trope of the Courtesan
in Urdu-Hindi Film. Southeast Review of Asian Studies. Volume
32 (2010), pp. 1208
8. Sreenivasarao, S. Greek Comedies, Sanskrit Drama And
Bollywood. Retrieved from: http://creative.sulekha.com/greekcomedies-sanskrit-drama-and-bollywood_433835_blog
9. AISHWARYA, S. (2010, Feb 8). Tamil cinema has a longer,
richer history. The Hindu.
245

10. Chute, David. The Rise and Fall and Rebirth of Bollywood
Superstar
Amitabh
Bachchan.
Retrieved
from
http://www.filmcomment.com/article/the-rise-and-fall-andrebirth-of-bollywood-superstar-amitabh-bachchan
11. Dundoo, Sangeetha Devi. (2013, Jan 11). Theres a long way to
go. The Hindu.

Chapter 16:
1. Shukla, Neha. (2012, Aug 2). Hockey is not our national game:
Ministry. The Times of India.
2. ICC World Cup, 1999. ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved from
http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/current/match/65213.html
3. 1999
Kargil
Conflict.
Global
Security.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/kargil-99.htm
4. Badam, R. T. (2004, Dec 26). India's Cities Flex Muscle by
Changing Names. Los Angeles Times.
5. Mazoomdaar, Jay. (2013, October 3). Issue 41 Volume 10. The
Promise And Betrayal Of Lalu Prasad Yadav. Tehelka.
6. 10 slogans that define India's political history. India Today.
Retrieved
from:
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/gallery/massappeal-slogans-bjp-congress-indira-gandhi-atal-biharivajpayee/2/9334.html
7. (2012, Apr 19). Olympics moment: Curious case of Norman
Pritchard. Daily News & Analysis.
8. (2012, Jul 7). 1928 Olympics: India's first step towards
ascending hockey throne. The Hindu.
9. (2012, Jul 8). 1936 Olympics: Hat-trick for India under Dhyan
Chand. The Hindu.
10. (2012, Jul 12). 1960 Olympics: Pakistan ends Indias
dominance. The Hindu.
11. (2012, May 30). Factfile of Viswanathan Anand's World Chess
Championship titles. The Times of India. Retrieved from:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/chess/Factfile-ofViswanathan-Anands-World-Chess-Championshiptitles/articleshow/13673095.cms
12. The Chess Games of Viswanathan Anand. Retrieved from:
http://www.chessgames.com/player/viswanathan_anand.html
13. A look at the history of Indian badminton and best players.
Khelnama.
Retrieved
from:
http://www.khelnama.com/120921/others/features/lookhistory-indian-badminton-and-best-players
14. Bowen, Rowland (1967). Some dates in Indian cricket history.
246

Wisden.
Retrieved
from:
http://www.espncricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/152361.htm
15. Story
of
Cricket.
BBC.
Retrieved
from:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/specials/1157_cricket_history/page6
16. India
defy
the
odds.
Wisden.
Retrieved
from:
http://www.espncricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/150434.htm

Chapter 17
1. (2012, Oct 23). India ranks 132nd in ease of doing biz among
185 economies:World Bank. The Times of India.
2. Quinn, James. (2013, Jan 6). Vodafone faces 1.6bn tax bill
from India. The Telegraph.
3. Rathi, Akshat. (2014, Feb 13). India has the lowest workforce
participation rate of women among the BRICS. Quartz.
Retrieved from: http://qz.com/176658/india-has-the-lowestworkforce-participation-rate-of-women-among-the-brics/
4. Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education. UNICEF.
Retrieved from: http://www.unicef.org/india/overview_3703.htm
5. (2011, Sep 7). Acute shortage of judges at all levels ails our
judicial system. The Economic Times.
6. Vyawahare, Malavika. (2013, Jan 16). Indias Police Force Lags
Much of the World. India Ink. The New York Times blogs.
Retrieved
from:
http://india.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/16/india-has-one-ofthe-lowest-police-population-ratios-in-the-world/
7. (2003, Apr 12). Five steps to combat corruption. The Times of
India.
Retrieved
from:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Five-steps-tocombat-corruption/articleshow/43197417.cms
8. Debroy, Bibek. (2011, Jul 24). Ad Hoc Revolution of 1991: Not
just about careful planning but about Political & policy
cleverness. The Economic Times.
9. Anklesaria Aiyar, Swaminathan S. (2013, May 19). Evolving out
of inefficient corruption. Swaminomics. Retrieved from:
http://swaminomics.org/evolving-out-of-inefficient-corruption/
10. Pande, Shamni. (2013, Mar 31). Skills shortage is costing India
dear.
Business
Today.
Retrieved
from:
http://businesstoday.intoday.in/story/companies-worktowards-skills-gap-in-india/1/193097.html
11. Pearson, Madelene & Sharma, Malavika. (2011, Jan 6). Where
Are India's Skilled Workers? Bloomberg Businessweek.
Retrieved
from:
247

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/11_03/b42110080951
12. Chadha, Mridul. (2014, Sep 4). India Can Add 145 GW Solar
Power Capacity By 2024: Report. Clean Technica. Retrieved
from: http://cleantechnica.com/2014/09/04/india-can-add-145gw-solar-power-capacity-2024-report/
13. Sharma, Naveen Kumar., Tiwari, Prashant Kumar., & Sood, Yog
Raj. Solar energy in India: Strategies, policies, perspectives and
future potential. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews.
Volume 16, Issue 1, January 2012, Pages 933941

248