The Dawn of Freedom

Inspired by Mahatma Gandhi and his Satyagraha, a unique non-violent campaign, India threw off the yoke of British rule on 15 August, 1947. Free India's first Prime Minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, described the moment as a "tryst with destiny". In less than three years of attaining freedom, India had framed a Constitution and declared itself a Republic on 26 January, 1950. The Constitution was given shape by some of the finest minds of the country who ensured the trinity of justice, liberty and equality for the citizens of India. The Constitution was made flexible enough to adjust to the demands of social and economic changes within a democratic framework.

Adopting the path of democracy, the country held its first general elections in 1952. Elections to the Lower House of Parliament, Lok Sabha, have been held regularly every five years.

Indian Union

India is a Union of twenty-eight States and seven centrally administered Union Territories.

The States are Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal and West Bengal.

The centrally administered territories are Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Chandigarh, Daman & Diu, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Lakshadweep, Delhi and Pondicherry.

Delhi has its own legislature and head of the government, but it is still not considered as a full-fledged state.

Map of India

Constitution

The country attained freedom on 15 August 1947. The Constitution of the Republic came into effect on the 26th of January 1950.

The Constitution provides for single and uniform citizenship for the whole nation and confers the right to vote on every person who is a citizen of India and is 18 years of age or older.

Fundamental Rights

The Fundamental Rights of every Indian citizen include the freedom of speech, expression, belief, assembly and association, migration, and choice of occupation or trade. These rights also protect every Indian from discrimination on grounds of race, religion, creed or sex, and are enforceable in courts of law.

Government

The Legislature: India has a parliamentary form of government based on universal adult franchise. The executive authority is responsible to the elected representatives of the people in Parliament for all its decisions and actions. Sovereignty rests ultimately with the people.

Rajya Sabha (Council of States): The Council of States consists of not more than 250 members, of whom 12 are nominated by the President of India and the rest elected. It is not subject to dissolution, one-third of its members retiring at the end of every second year. The elections to the Council are indirect. The allotted quota of the representatives of each State is elected by the members of the Legislative Assembly of that State, in accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of a single transferable vote. The nominated members are persons with special knowledge or practical experience in literature, science, art and social service. The Rajya Sabha is presided over by the Vice-President of India. More...

The Council of Ministers

Media

All India Radio (AIR) and Doordarshan (DD), which were totally under government control since their inception, are now governed by an independent body of eminent persons who constitute the Prasar Bharati Board. A large number of private channels also beam their programmes across the country through the satellites.

Newspapers and magazines in India are independent and largely privately owned. About 3,000 newspapers, 150 of them major publications, are published daily in nearly 100 languages. Over 30,000 periodicals are also published in India. The periodicals specialise in various subjects but the majority of them deal with subjects of general interest.

Indian Foreign Policy - 50 Years of Achievement

The foundations of India's foreign policy were laid during the freedom movement when our leaders, even when fighting for independence, were engaged with the great causes of the time. The principles of India's foreign policy, that emerged then, have stood the test of time: a belief in friendly relations with all countries of the world, the resolution of conflicts by peaceful means, the sovereign equality of all states, independence of thought and action as manifested in the principles of non-alignment, and equity in the conduct of international relations.
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Defence Policy

India believes in a policy that promotes peace and international cooperation. However, the country has a land frontier of 15,200 km, a coastline of 7,516.6 km and an exclusive economic zone of 2.2 million sq. km, island territories, vital offshore installations and airspace. The armed forces, therefore, have to be kept prepared and well equipped to repel any external threat.

The country's armed forces are well trained, disciplined and free from politics. The accent in defence planning is on increasing indigenous capacity and a reliable mechanism of inter-services, inter-departmental and multi-level coordination and monitoring has been devised to help defence planning. The current strategic and technological scenarios as well as future projections are taken into consideration in preparing the defence plan. Periodic review addresses any unexpected development or threat to security.

Army

Even after the end of Cold War the global strategic environment continues to be uncertain and unstable. Some old conflicts may have ended, but the rise of religious fundamentalism and ethnic assertions have heightened tension in many parts of the world. In such a scenario, the Indian Army cannot afford to lower its guard. It needs to constantly upgrade its critical weapons and induct state-of-the-art systems to ward off threats from potential adversaries. More...

Navy

The Indian Navy has to guard not only a large coastline, but also offshore oil, sea bed reserves and sea-lanes that are used for 97 per cent of the Indian trade.

Indigenisation being an important consideration even in expansion plans, some of the recent acquisitions by the Indian Navy like the destroyer "Bombay", frigate "Beas" submarine, "INS Shankul," were all made in India, one of the few countries to have the technology for submarine construction. The Indian Navy has also pioneered in Asia the idea of docking a submarine on pontoon, which will help in carrying out all dry dock routines. To further maritime diplomacy and cooperation, joint exercises were conducted with a number of countries. Naval ships also exchanged visits with a number of countries. The Indian Navy also has the proud distinction of participating in all the 13 Indian expeditions to Antarctica.

Air Force

Though the Indian Air Force is only 62 years old and, like the other services, suffers from resource constraints, it has made tremendous technological advancements in recent years, which have helped in indigenisation of a vast range of equipments and sophisticated technology. This has also enabled the IAF to upgrade and integrate state-of-the-art weapons and avionics in the existing fleet. The MiG 21 BIS is currently being upgraded with the help of Russian agencies.

Progress has been made in developing Light Combat Aircraft, air defence radars, pilotless target aircraft and air-to-ground weapons. Overhaul facilities for the MiG 29 and Mirage-2000 are also being set up. The proposal to acquire advanced jet trainers has been approved.

The electronic warfare capability, crucial in modern-day wars, and precision-guided munitions capabilities of the IAF are also being upgraded and soon the entire IAF fleet will be equipped with global positioning system sets.

Defence Research and Development

A network of 50 laboratories work under the Defence Research and Development Organisation. The Department of Defence Research and Development is being developed to match and even surpass international standards in critical technologies. A national mission has been launched to achieve self-reliance in defence systems from the present 30 per cent to 70 per cent by 2005 A.D. Good progress has been made in the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme. User trials of the Prithvi surface-to-surface missile have been completed. Flight trials were undertaken to evaluate the beam-gathering system of the Trishul surface-to-air missile. Further tests were carried out on the medium-range surface-to-air missile Akash. The anti-tank missile Nag was tested in captive helicopter flights. The third launch of the Agni vehicle was completed and the project completed.

Indian Ocean

Over the past two decades, the Indian Ocean has become an arena of great power rivalry and confrontation. This has naturally led to greater tensions in the region. The littoral and hinterland States of the Indian Ocean have expressed their unified and determined opposition to outside military presence and called for its elimination in the United Nations Declaration on the Indian Ocean as a Zone of Peace. India hopes that the great powers and major maritime users will join the efforts of the littoral States of the Indian Ocean in achieving this objective.

Economic Policy

With the global trend of so many countries throwing open their economies, India has begun to place special stress on economic diplomacy at all levels-bilateral, regional and multilateral. The existing opportunities are being expanded while new ones are being created for trade, investment and technological cooperation with both the developed and the developing world.

But the success of India's economic reform programme may not be possible without a favourable global economic environment. The effort of the government has been, therefore, to forge a consensus at international fora in favour of policies that support the economic development programmes of the developing countries.

Economic and Technical Cooperation

As a country that has achieved self-reliance in diverse fields, Indian economic and technical assistance is eagerly sought by a number of developing countries. India provides many of these countries with its expertise in projects ranging from the construction of cement plants to airports and railway systems. A number of Indian firms have been active in this regard in South East Asia, Africa and West Asia.

The Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) Programme provides Indian expertise and consultancy services to a number of developing countries for feasibility and detailed technical evaluation studies. The programme supports training of personnel in India in a host of areas like agriculture, animal husbandry, and small-scale industries.

India has established a reputation for appropriateness and excellence in a number of areas. Developing countries are increasingly finding cooperation with countries like India a very attractive option.

India provides facilities to students from Asia and Africa for university education, especially in professional areas such as medicine, engineering, and architecture. In addition, thousands have been trained in Indian institutions in diverse fields such as railways, mass media, industrial consultancy, business management, education, agricultural research, shipping and water resources management.