India Religion and Languages

By | March 5, 2021

According to franciscogardening, India is the seventh-largest country in the world by area and the second-most populous country with over 1.3 billion people. It is a federal constitutional republic governed under a parliamentary system consisting of 29 states and 7 union territories. India is a multicultural, multilingual, and multi-ethnic society, with Hindi being the official language and English as an associate official language. It has the world’s third largest economy in terms of purchasing power parity and is one of the fastest growing economies in the world. India is home to many religions, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Islam, Christianity and Zoroastrianism. It also has a rich cultural heritage that includes art forms such as music, dance, painting and sculpture which have been passed down through generations. India also boasts some of the most beautiful monuments in the world such as the Taj Mahal, Qutub Minar and Red Fort. The country also has many national parks that are home to wildlife species like tigers, lions and elephants that are found nowhere else in the world. India is known for its delicious cuisine which consists of a variety of spices that make each dish unique and flavorful.

The left wing in India is divided into three main organizations. The largest is the Communist Party (CPI), which together with the Congress Party dominates the unions. To the left of this stands the Marxist Communist Party (CPI-Marxist), which has played a particular role in the states of Kerala and West Bengal (Calcutta). The third Communist Party is the Marxist Leninists (CPI-ML). According to Countryaah, this party was banned as early as the early 1970s. It was linked to its association with the Naxalite movement.

The rebellion in Naxalbari lasted from 1967-72. It started as a peasant revolt and developed into a general political uprising. Naxalbari is a district in the tea area of ​​Darjeeling on the slopes of the Himalayas. 90% of the farmers in this area were organized and armed, the land was distributed through farmer committees that also took over all food stocks, and they organized their own public administration and their own school system. They started to build a new community from scratch. A similar uprising started in the rice-growing Srikakulam in the south in 1969. The CPI-ML movement in Calcutta joined the uprising early and quickly took over the leadership. The enthusiasm was great and the experience low. An essential part of the strategy was based on the theory of the spontaneous revolution: When the landlord was shot, the masses would rise and support those responsible for the killing. The Indian government waged a nationwide fight to stop the Naxalite movement, and even before the state of emergency in 1975, there were 10-35,000 political prisoners in the prisons. The Naxalite movement was finally crushed in 1972 and the CPI-ML ceased to function as a legitimate political party.

1974-75 Crisis

The economic crisis of the early 70s hit India hard as the country was heavily dependent on oil imports. Industrial exports did not grow enough to offset the increase in import costs. In addition, the pressure on food resources came from a population that increased by 15 million people a year. In order to curb population growth, Indira implemented sterilization programs, which in many parts quickly became the nature of forced sterilization.

In 1974, a movement started in the state of Gujarat that would have consequences for India’s political leadership. For three months there was unrest with allegations of corruption. The prime minister of the state had to step down and the legislative assembly was dissolved. In April 1975, Indira’s old opponent, Morarji Desai, launched a hunger strike that would go on to death if no elections were held to avoid this important state continuing under Delhi’s patronage. The allegations of corruption were widespread, and Indira himself was convicted of misusing the state funds and was sacked for his seat in the National Assembly. The election for the new state assembly in Gujarat became a disaster for Indira. At the same time, another senior politician, socialist and Gandhian, JP Narayan, from its headquarters in Bihar started a popular movement against Indira and against the corruption. The opposition gradually gained a cross-political and national character.

Pressure from many sides, Indira arrested its opponents on the morning of June 26, 1975, declared India in a state of emergency and imposed press censorship. It lasted for two years. During this period, the government had to implement a 20-point economic program, and in the aftermath of this, many attacks on the population occurred. Especially the forced sterilization helped make the state of emergency despised by many. Indira chose to print normal elections after two years, but suffered a crushing defeat against the large coalition of political parties, which collectively went under attack under the designation People’s Party (Janata). In doing so, Indira lost the leadership of its former party partner and opponent, Morarji Desai. Desai did not make major changes to the country’s foreign policy and was also unable to meet Janata’s promises of employment and improving the economy. In the middle of 79, the groups led by Charan Singh and Jagjivan Ram withdrew from the coalition, and Desai had to resign as he no longer had a parliamentary majority. New elections were printed, which in January 1980 brought Indira back to the Prime Minister’s post.

Gandhi’s second term in government was characterized by greater concentration of power and accusations of bureaucracy and state corruption, which gave a deep cut to her reputation. At the same time, tendencies towards stronger regionalism developed. Especially in Punjab where the Sikhs made ever stronger demands for autonomy. Smaller militant groups of Sikhs persecuted Hindus to throw them out of the state, thus securing a complete majority of Sikhs. The next logical step would be to disassociate and create an independent “Khalistan”. Indira blamed foreign forces – a reference to Pakistan and the United States – for destabilizing the country, which at this time still had close cooperation with the Soviet Union.

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New Delhi

New Delhi, the capital of India since 1912. It lies immediately south of (Old) Delhi and together with this and newer outer neighborhoods constitutes a metropolitan area with a total of 16.3 million. input (2011); New Delhi itself has 250,000 residents. The city is constructed according to a unified plan of geometrically determined, right avenues, monumental government buildings and state institutions in open park landscapes with housing for officials, diplomats and rangers.

India Population by Religion