Recent Developments in Indian Politics
What the domain tests
This domain tests post-1989 changes: Mandal politics, the Babri dispute, economic liberalisation, coalition governments, the rise of the BJP and the changing Congress and regional-party landscape.
Core rules and concepts
- The Mandal Commission recommended 27 per cent reservation for Other Backward Classes; it was implemented in 1990 and deepened backward-caste political mobilisation.
- The Babri Masjid demolition in 1992 sharpened religious polarisation and changed party competition.
- The 1991 economic reforms liberalised trade and investment and reduced the licence regime.
- Coalition governments after 1989 gave regional parties national influence; the NDA and UPA were both alliance formations.
- The BJP won a single-party majority in 2014, shifting the pattern from coalition dependence; it repeated this in 2019.
- Recent issues include welfare schemes, digital politics, GST (2017), the 2019 reorganisation of Jammu and Kashmir, and debates over federalism and media freedom.
Worked example
How did Mandal change party politics? Reasoning: it created a national OBC constituency; parties competed to claim backward-caste representation; upper-caste backlash also mobilised; the Supreme Court reviewed the policy. Reservation became a central axis of electoral competition.
Traps that cost marks
- Treating recent politics as only election results; policy and social movements matter.
- Saying Mandal was implemented immediately in 1980; the report came in 1980 and implementation in 1990.
- Assuming coalition politics ended after 2014; alliances still matter.
- Ignoring state-level variation in party competition.