Post-Independence India and Contemporary World
This domain covers nation-building after 1947, economic strategy, foreign policy and contemporary challenges.
Integration and constitution
The princely states were integrated through negotiation and force-Junagadh, Hyderabad and Kashmir were contested. The Constitution (1950) created a federal parliamentary republic with universal adult franchise. Linguistic reorganisation culminated in the States Reorganisation Act 1956.
Economy and society
The First Five-Year Plan (1951) emphasised agriculture; later plans promoted heavy industry under a mixed economy. The Green Revolution raised wheat and rice output but widened regional gaps. Liberalisation in 1991 dismantled licence controls and opened markets. Social movements pressed for land, caste justice, women's rights and environmental protection; the Emergency (1975-77) tested civil liberties.
Foreign policy
Non-alignment, Panchsheel (1954) and the 1961 Belgrade summit shaped India's stance. Wars with Pakistan in 1947-48, 1965, 1971 and 1999, and with China in 1962, defined borders. The 1971 war led to Bangladesh. Nuclear tests in 1974 and 1998, SAARC, BRICS and Look East reflect changing priorities.
Worked example
Assess the Green Revolution. Reasoning: high-yielding varieties, irrigation and fertiliser raised output and reduced famine dependence, but benefits concentrated in Punjab, Haryana and western UP, and groundwater and inequality costs grew.
Traps
Independence (1947) and the Republic (1950) are different; non-alignment was not an anti-Western alliance; 1991 reform was not only a balance-of-payments crisis; linguistic states were not a pre-independence demand.