Historians consider India's modern age to have begun sometime between 1848 and 1885. The appointment in 1848 of
Lord Dalhousie as Governor General of the
East India Company rule in India
set the stage for changes essential to a modern state. These included
the consolidation and demarcation of sovereignty, the surveillance of
the population, and the
education
of citizens. Technological changes—among them, railways, canals, and
the telegraph—were introduced not long after their introduction in
Europe. However, disaffection with the company also grew during this time, and set off the
Indian Rebellion of 1857.
Fed by diverse resentments and perceptions, including invasive
British-style social reforms, harsh land taxes, and summary treatment of
some rich landowners and princes, the rebellion rocked many regions of
northern and central India and shook the foundations of company rule. Although the rebellion was suppressed by 1858, it led to the dissolution of the
East India Company and to the
direct administration of India
by the British government. Proclaiming a unitary state and a gradual
but limited British-style parliamentary system, the new rulers also
protected princes and landed gentry as a feudal safeguard against future
unrest. In the decades following, public life gradually emerged all over India, leading eventually to the founding of the
Indian National Congress in 1885.
[80]
The rush of technology and the commercialisation of agriculture in
the second half of the 19th century was marked by economic setbacks—many
small farmers became dependent on the whims of far-away markets. There was an increase in the number of large-scale
famines,
and, despite the risks of infrastructure development borne by Indian
taxpayers, little industrial employment was generated for Indians.
There were also salutary effects: commercial cropping, especially in
the newly canalled Punjab, led to increased food production for internal
consumption. The railway network provided critical famine relief, notably reduced the cost of moving goods, and helped nascent Indian-owned industry. After World War I, in which
some one million Indians served,
a new period began. It was marked by British reforms but also
repressive legislation, by more strident Indian calls for self-rule, and
by the beginnings of a non-violent movement of non-cooperation, of
which
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi would become the leader and enduring symbol.
During the 1930s, slow legislative reform was enacted by the British;
the Indian National Congress won victories in the resulting elections. The next decade was beset with crises:
Indian participation in World War II,
the Congress's final push for non-cooperation, and an upsurge of Muslim
nationalism. All were capped by the advent of independence in 1947, but
tempered by the
bloody partition of the subcontinent into two states: India and Pakistan.
Vital to India's self-image as an independent nation was its
constitution, completed in 1950, which put in place a sovereign,
secular, and democratic republic. In the 60 years since, India has had a mixed bag of successes and failures. It has remained a democracy with civil liberties, an activist Supreme Court, and a largely independent press. Economic liberalisation, which was begun in the 1990s, has created a large urban middle class, transformed India into
one of the world's fastest-growing economies, and increased its geopolitical clout. Indian movies, music, and spiritual teachings play an increasing role in global culture. Yet, India has also been weighed down by seemingly unyielding poverty, both rural and urban; by
religious and
caste-related violence; by
Maoist-inspired Naxalite insurgencies; and by
separatism in Jammu and Kashmir. It has unresolved territorial disputes with China, which escalated into the
Sino-Indian War of 1962; and with Pakistan, which flared into wars fought in
1947,
1965,
1971, and
1999. The India–Pakistan nuclear rivalry came to a head in 1998.
India's sustained democratic freedoms are unique among the world's new
nations; however, in spite of its recent economic successes, freedom
from want for its disadvantaged population remains a goal yet to be
achieved.
India is my country. All indians are my brothers and sisters.
