GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

THE SECOND STAGE: PERSONALITY TEST

The written exam is not the end of the journey. The battle is just over, but the war has just begun. The second stage of
selection process does not merely have Group Discussion and Personal Interview. It can be more than that. Some of the
other means of selection are Extempore, Case Studies etc.

To clear this stage, it is important to understand the facets that make up one’s personality, what is considered important
as a personality of the individual and what is not. The most important factor of personality is confidence. And confidence
is something that comes from preparation. A sound preparation is the stepping stone towards building one’s personality.

The basic aspects that are checked in one’s persona are:-

1. Knowledge: This refers to the level of knowledge that one possesses in one’s area of specialization. It includes
academics, job, company details, interests, hobbies etc. The understanding of the fundamentals of each of these areas
contributes to one’s confidence and gives a picture of the person as a learned, knowledgeable person.

2. Contextual Awareness: It refers to the knowledge about the context to which one belongs - the school, the college,
the company, the family, the locality and the city etc. It is imperative that one knows and is aware of the surroundings
where one has been. Say for instance, if you are from XYZ University - it is important to know the founder, how old is the
institutuion etc. If you are from city ABC where you have lived from your childhood, it would be expected that you know
about your city - the famous landmarks, the tourist spots, the historical significance, the famous things about your city.
At the end of the day - remember, it is your city and your college. Same thing will apply to your company - the founder,
the industry knowledge where the company is operating, the turnover of the company, the turnover of the division you
are working in etc. would be expected of you.

3. General Awareness: This has been put specifically as a separate topic for the simple reason that it just extends from
the contextual awareness. This would not only include those things that are related to you but also those that are beyond
as well, for instance, the geography of the country of your residence, the constitution, the history, the political structure,
the political situation etc. With focus on management as your post-graduation - you are expected to know about the
current business scenario of the country, what is the status in various sectors, which sector is facing a downturn, which
sector is booming, which is your favourite sector, various business personalities, various business houses etc.

4. Goal Orientation: Goal Orientation is a very important thing that reflects not only about the future aspiration but
speaks a lot about the individual himself/herself. It reflects whether a person is aware of his/her strengths/ weaknesses/
experiences of the past etc. It is expected that a person is aware of these, plans the future with all these things taken
into consideration after a personal SWOT analysis keeping all constraints in mind. One’s career goal has to be crisp, well
thought with a definite action plan. It should not be vague, unclear and just in sync with the trend but instead should play
on one’s strengths, capabilities and action plans to overcome one’s weaknesses.

Group Discussion

What is a GD?
Group discussions are increasingly used for selection process. Since there are many applicants for the same seat, GDs
become necessary for further screening a few good needles from the hay stack. Since many applicants have the technical
skills to proceed with a good career in an industry, GD helps in choosing the more socially suitable candidates from this
lot.

Process of a GD
Group discussion is a process where applicants sit together (typically 8 to 12) and discuss a topic with an objective to
analyze an issue given to them or find a solution to a given problem. The expectation from a group is to civically discuss
the topic at hand and to arrive at a consensus or a solution. Furthermore, all this is to be done in a limited amount of
time.

Purpose of a GD
Written tests check the individual and technical skills but Group discussions help access an individual’s behavior while in a
group and his capabilities as a team player. A manager is required to act as a part of a team to accomplish the tasks that
are laid before him.
Apart from the group skills, the communication skills and the creative approach are also tested.

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
2
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

Types of Group Discussion

Broadly, Group discussions can be divided into two categories.
1. Topic based Group discussion
2. Case studies.

Topic Based Group Discussions

In this type of discussions, the topics are given to the group in a form of a question or an idea. By the end of the
discussion, the participants are required to either evolve a consensus on the issue or find a solution to the problem that is
identified by the group.
The topics can be further subcategorized into three categories:
1. Current Topics
2. Argumentative Topics
3. Abstract Topics
Let’s look at the categories in detail:

1. Current topics: These topics are based on current issues. The moderators are looking for knowledge and creative
abilities. Proper research and general awareness is a must for this category of topics.
Topics can be from any of the following areas:
A. Social
B. Political
C. Technical
D. Legal
E. Environmental
F. Economic
G. International affairs
Examples:
a) The Dragon vs. The Elephant
b) Does Pakistan work better with military dictatorship?

2. Argumentative Topics: Such topics are controversial in nature and require a candidate to take a stand, either for or
against the topic. These topics are given to create a difference of opinion and to check how open the candidate is to new
ideas and how easily can a candidate evaluate ideas and issues. Logical flow to the argument while putting a point
forward, analytical skills, ability to influence a group and group behavior are crucial check points in these discussions.
Both these two types discussed above can be classified further into five different categories wherein the topics can be
based on. These are:
A. International Topics
This includes topics on the international arena, for eg. the Syrian civil war, Israel – Gaza conflict, US-Iraq affair, The
Afghanistan Problem etc.
B. Indian Topics
These topics would focus on India, and could be related to the Kashmir Issue, the Parliament, the internal politics,
issues between various states etc.
C. Business Topics
These include topics on the various sectors like Retail sector, Telecom sector, Automobile sector, Aviation sector,
Manufacturing sector etc.
D. Economy Topics
These topics include topics like the GDP growth, the Exim policies, the Liberalization of India, effect of crude oil and
gold prices on the economy etc.
E. History Topics
These topics include historical events like Independence, the Partition of India, World War I & II etc.

One needs to have a thorough knowledge of all these issues while going for a GD. Also care must be taken that there is
accuracy of information while speaking in the group discussion.

3. Abstract Topics: If the check points of a discussion are creative thinking, imagination and common sense, then the
group might be given such a topic. Abstract topics are open and their scope depends on the imaginative thinking of the
candidate. These discussions are rather superficial and the prospective changes with a greater pace than the other two
topics. They can be better handled with examples.
Examples:
a) Grass is greener on the other side.
b) Black
c) Rahul

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
3
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

Case Based Group Discussions

In these kinds of discussions, an article with a detail description (otherwise know as a “case”) is given to the candidates
with a couple of questions to follow. The candidates have to find the answers to the problem using the information
available in the case.
It is important to read the case very carefully and candidates must not miss even the slightest detail as every single detail
can be crucial for giving solutions.
The solutions given by the aspirants must be sound holistic, credible, feasible and real. The solutions must incorporate the
interests and needs of all the stakeholders mentioned in the case.
Example:
You are the project manager of a team of 25 members. You have the option of promoting only one member in your team.
The two candidates you have shortlisted are:
a) A 37 year old employee who has been working with the company for last 5 years and is very sincere and technically
sound.
b) A 25 year young professional who has recently joined the company, but has shown tremendous improvement and
skills and a promotion would do him a world of good.

You decided on the 37 year old employee, just then you came to know that he's been diagnosed HIV+ and is not likely to
live for long. What would be your course of action?

Time duration
Typically, a group discussion is divided into three parts. After the group is seated, the members are given the topic. Then
two to three minutes are given to the group to think about the topic. This is followed by 10 to 15 minutes of discussion
which then ends with a conclusion/summary worth two to three minutes. So the total time duration comes to (2 + 10 +
2) or 15 to 20 minutes.

Skills Accessed in a Group Discussion

Coming specific to the Group Discussions that happen as a part of the processes of various B-Schools, there are a set of
parameters that are checked in a candidate. They are:-

1. Ability to articulate complex ideas in a simple form: One should have the ability to break down complex ideas
and present the same in a very cogent way. Your group members should understand what you speak and what you
mean to say.

2. Clarity of thought: One should be very clear and distinct in what one speaking. Do not sound confused. If you are
not clear with the topic do not initiate the discussion. Understand the idea and then make an entry with a relevant
point.

3. Group behaviour: Remember that it is a Group discussion and not a debate. You are not there to convince anyone
forcefully. You should render constructive suggestions thereby contributing meaningfully. One’s ability to handle a
group and work as a group member is checked here.

4. Leadership: You can guide the flow of the GD in a right way to reach to a consensus. Helping others in bringing new
ideas to the table, giving an appropriate structure to the GD in the beginning of the discussion, not allowing others to
divert the discussion etc. are leadership skills.

5. Communication- Effective communication is the key: One’s command over the language is checked. Many
candidates feel that they should use Jargons and high frequency esoteric words while presenting their views in GD.
This is totally unwarranted for; instead one can use simple but succinct language. It’s more about making an impact
and not about impressing the group (or the judges). Also it’s not all about speaking. Listening is equally important.
One needs to be a patient listener. Listening to a good view point will encourage more good ideas thereby making the
discussion healthier.

6. Knowledge of the topic: Awareness regarding the latest issues on business and socio-political environment is crucial
for GD. Proper understanding of all the debatable issues is must. Hence a candidate should go through different
articles on the same topic in different magazines and periodicals. Diverse viewpoints will help you understand the
bigger picture and facilitate you to take an independent stand on the issue.

Group Discussions in general can be called as role play - role play in terms of judging Group Dynamics. How well a person
behaves in a group, how he/she interacts with strangers, especially in a decision making situation.

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
4
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

PEST Approach - The view generator

Pest Approach is used by management teams all over the world to analysis a problem from all possible angles. This helps
in getting a broader prospective to the problem at hand. It also acts as a view generator.
In GDs, it is observed that when a group starts discussion on a point, they tend to have a distended conversation on the
same point with less value addition. At this point, a change in the perspective is advisable. PEST approach can help
achieve the same.
PEST stands for:
• Political
• Economic
• Social
• Technical/Technological
View generation becomes an important element particularly in an abstract topic. Let’s take an example.

Topic: “M”
What are the moderators looking for: Moderators are looking for different interpretation of the letter “M”. This topic would
be suitable if the company is looking for creative sides to a candidate or out-of-the-box thinking. Normal interpretations
of “M”: Candidates might come up with Mother, Mother Earth etc.

PEST Approach: When the PEST approach is taken, we think of the letter “M” in four different lights.
• Political: “M” in politics would stand for Manmohan Singh, Mamta Banerjee, Manohar Parrikar.
• Economics: Money, Manmohan Singh, Montek Singh Ahluwalia
• Social: Medha Patkar, Mahatma Gandhi, malnutrition in the society
• Technical/technological: Motorola, Media, Mahindra, Maruti, Macintosh (hence, Apple), Memory

A smart candidate can use the PEST approach to generate ideas and generate adequate number of ideas to take him
through the discussion.

Topic: Women are better managers than men. (For the sake of the argument, let us take a positive stand on the
topic)
What are the moderators looking for: this, being an opinion based topic, the moderators are looking for a clear stand, but
supported by examples.

PEST Approach
This approach will help the candidate bring in examples from a variety of fields.
Political: Margaret Thatcher, Indira Gandhi, Pratibha Patil, Jayalalitha, Mayavati
Economic: Indira Nooyi, Chanda Kochhar, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw
Social: Medha Patkar, Arundhati Roy, Ekta Kapoor,
Technical/technological: Kalpana Chawla, Sunita Williams, Marissa Meyer

Group dynamics
A useful strategy for developing an effective dynamic in your discussion group is to identify task and maintenance roles
that members can take up. Here is a list of these roles, and the dialogue that might accompany them in a group
discussion about the environmental responsibility of Australian companies.

Positive Task Roles

• Initiator: ‘Let’s take a local perspective on environmental responsibility. Maybe a fast-food outlet?’
• Information seeker: ‘Does anyone know what XYZ does with its garbage? Does it recycle?’
• Information giver: They won a local government award last year for running an environmentally friendly
operation.’
• Procedure facilitator: ‘I’ll write this down to keep track of our discussion.’
• Opinion seeker: ‘Do you think they’re really responsible or is it just a bit of good PR?
• Opinion giver: ‘I think it’s a combination of the two, but at least they’re taking the issue seriously.’
• Clarifier: ‘We need to get hold of ABC’s annual report to get a better picture of what they’re doing.’
• Summarizer: ‘O.K. We’re taking a local perspective, using ABC as our example, and we’ll have a look at last year’s
annual report to see in what way they practiced environmental responsibility.’

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
5
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

Positive Maintenance Roles

These become particularly important as the discussion develops and opposing points of view begin to emerge.
• Social Supporter: ‘We’re coming up with some good ideas here.’
• Harmonizer: P and C have looked at the issue from opposing points of view. Let’s see if we can take something
from both points of view.’
• Tension Reliever: ‘This discussion’s really dynamic. It’s good that we have so many different valid angles on the
issue.’
• Energizer: ‘Hey, the point that PQS made has really got me thinking. Let’s explore his idea some more.’
• Compromiser: ‘Half the group supports R’s view and half supports T’s. Now we need to formulate a compromise
that we can all live with.’
• Gatekeeper: ‘How do you feel about the issue, A? Your contribution here would be really valuable.’

During an effective group discussion each participant may take up a number of tasks and maintenance to keep the
discussion moving productively. As well as these positive roles, there are a number of negative roles which are often
taken up in group discussion. You should avoid taking up these roles and learn to identify them in other group members.
The discussion group may adopt the ground rule that negative role behaviour will be censured by members of the group.
Described below are some negative roles to be avoided.

Negative Roles to be avoided

• Disgruntled non-participant: someone who does not contribute and whose presence inhibits the participation of
other group members.
• Attacker: someone who acts aggressively by expressing disapproval of other members and their contributions to the
discussion.
• Dominator: someone who takes control of the discussion by talking too much, interrupting other members, or
behaving in a patronizing way.
• Clown: someone who ‘shows off’, refuses to take the discussion seriously, or disrupts it with inappropriate humor.

List of Do’s during a group discussion

Here is a list of things that should be done during a discussion to encourage efficiency and productivity.
• Keep eye contact while speaking: Its sheer sign of confidence. But make sure that you speak to everyone in the
group and not just one person. After all, it is a GROUP discussion.
• Initiate the GD: If you are aware of the topic and have confidence that interpretation of the topic is correct, initiate
the discussion. This shows that you are willing to lead the group.
• Listen carefully to others: Discussions are not only about speaking, but also about listening. The mediators should
know that you are open to new ideas as well as criticism. Allow other members to put their point forth as well.
• Speak clearly, Speak Sensibly: CONTENT is the king. So every sentence that you speak has to be relevant and more
importantly, audible. The pitch has to be high enough so that you are heard in the group and low enough so that it is
not perceived as screams.
• Make sure to bring the discussion on track: Sometime sentiments take over a discussion and the train of thought can
lead the group to discussion on irrelevant or trivial issues. A good leader will take the initiative to steer the discussion
back on track. But, do it gently. Such kind of twists can be misinterpreted as hostility.
• Formal dressing: First impression is made when you walk into the discussion area. Formal dressing will help convey
the right image.
• Positive attitude: Avoid saying negatives like ‘No, this wrong’ or ‘This doesn’t make any sense!’ Add a positive twist
to the same emotion and say ‘I hear your point, but let’s look at it from a different perspective…’
• Avoid Disagreements: This can be done by reconstructing disagreements.

Instead of Say This

That doesn’t make sense at all I don’t think I agree. Could you please explain it further?
Wow! That is dumb!! I disagree because…
That is not what the teacher asked us to do I think we should check our original assignment/topic
You are so wrong Have you considered an alternative perspective that
I understand how you feel, but I think you might also
That really offends me! consider
How can you say that? I beg to differ from you
You are not discussing the topic I think we are digressing/moving away from the topic…

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
6
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

List of Dont’s during a group discussion

Here is a list of some gestures that a participant should actively avoid.
• Don’t raise the pitch: The activity entails a participant to have a discussion with the others. Raising the voice will lead
to an argument which is not productive for any discussion. Moderate tone is the ideal solution.
• Don’t be excessively expressive with hand gestures: Finger pointing and table thumping are perceived as over
aggressiveness and are not appreciated during a spirited discussion.
• Don’t hold a pen and make sounds with it or shake your leg: This is a sure sign of nervousness and low confidence.
This might also distract other participants during a discussion. Please avoid the same.
• Don’t keep talking continuously: Nothing kills a discussion more than one participant trying to dominate by being the
only one speaking. An improper listener spoils the discussion and eventually spoils the purpose of the discussion.
• Don’t get into a personal discussion or one-on-one argument: in a GD, participants are required to talk to the entire
group rather than have a one-on-one argument. Drawing personal example is to be avoided as well.
• Don’t be indifferent when others are talking: A good team member is not only the one who speaks, but also the one
who listens. Do not be indifferent or don’t interrupt when other participants are putting their point forward.

Conclusion of a group discussion

• The conclusion is the last part of the discussion, but definitely not the least. The last two or three minutes of the
discussion, the group is asked to conclude the GD.
• The check point that the moderator is looking for is: Has the group reached a consensus on the issue or a solution of
a given problem?
• Since the purpose of the whole exercise was a discussion to reach a consensus or a solution, the last part of the
discussion is critical. Take this time to provide the solution or draw the conclusion out.
• It is generally difficult to evolve a consensus in such a short duration of time, considering most of the participants will
come with strong opinions. In that case, summarize the discussion. Outline all the main points discussed in the
process.
• Please Remember: Conclusion to be presented is of the group and not of an individual. Please don’t try to put a new
point or a new fact in this time period.

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
7
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

How to crack a GD? The content above should help a lot during the discussion. But there is a lot of preparation required
before we get to the discussion. Here are some pointers:
• Read Newspapers regularly
• Regular discussions with friends on topics
• Use English language in day-to-day conversations
• Content building
Last one can be tricky. But here are some topics that can give you a head-start. Research Topics: A bit of Google or
Wikipedia search on the following topics will help develop content.
• History o Google
o World War I and II o Flipkart
o History of Nations(India, US, China, USSR - o Amazon
Russia) • Scams
o Revolutions (India, US, Russian) o Water gate
• Economics o Harshad Mehta
o Global Meltdowm o Fodder Scam
o GDP and Fiscal Policy o Bofors
o Share market o Tehelka
o Budget o 2G
o Foreign Currencies o Coal licenses
• International Relations o Common wealth games
o Indo - US o Cash for vote
o Indo - Pak o Adarsh colony
o Indo - China • Business Sectors
o Pak - US o Retail
o Pak – China o Telecom
o Indo-Japan o IT
o Russia-Ukraine o Oil, Gas and Petroleum
o Palestine-Israel o Automobile
• International Organizations o Banking
o UN o FMCG
o SAARC o Media
o Commonwealth nations • Sports
o World Bank o Cricket
o IMF o Tennis
o WTO o Badminton
• Politics o Hockey
o Prominent national and state parties o Olympics
o Elections (2014) o ISL
o UPA Vs. NDA o IPTL
o Prominent Leaders (ruling and opposition) o Pro Kabaddi League
• Indian History • Business Personalities
o 1857 o Ratan Tata
o Formation of INC o Narayan Murthy
o 1947 o Aditya Birla
o White/Green Revolution o Kiran Mazumdar Shaw
o Wars – 1961, 1971, 1999 o Chanda Kochar
o 5 year plans o Vijay Mallya
o Rural development plans o Ambani Brothers
• Business Houses o Steve Jobs
o TATA Group o Jack Welsh
o Birla Group o Bill Gates
o Reliance Group o Richard Branson
o Bajaj Group o Larry Page
o Future Group o Sergey Brin
o RPG Group o Tim Cook
o Facebook o Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal
One needs to be prepared on a variety of topics for the GDs. There is no set topic or a region in which the GD topic can
be based. Broadly one can say that one needs to be prepared on the following topics, and have basic knowledge on all
these topics for the GD preparation. In each of the following heads, one needs to be prepared for a variety of topics. An
indicative list of topics is given below under each of the heads which is a sure must for every one preparing for the GD.

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
8
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________
Political
• Coalition governments are a recipe for corruption
• Disrupting Parliament is undemocratic
• Women’s Reservation Bill does not serve any
purpose
• Only the educated should be allowed to vote and
contest elections
• Voting should be made compulsory
• Anti-defection law must be scrapped
• Voters must be given the right to recall legislators
• Paper trail will improve credibility of EVMs
• State funding of elections will check electoral
malpractices
• Parliament and state assemblies should have fixed
terms
• India should switch from Parliamentary form of
government to a Presidential one
• Uniform Civil Code should be enacted without any
delay
• Public interest litigations have become a tool in the
hands of vested interests
• The Whistle-Blower Bill is unlikely to encourage
people to expose corruption
• Right to basic amenities should be made
fundamental right
• Tribals must be made partners in forest
management to curb Naxalism
• Reservation policy has outlived its utility
• Poor among upper castes should be provided job
reservations
• Executives must be given a equal say in higher
judiciary appointments
• Judicial Accountability Bill is a cure worse than
disease
• Smaller states enable better governance
• Standardisation of textbooks will boost national
integration
• Primary responsibility of tackling Maoists lies with
the states
• India does not need a National Security Advisor
• Govt. should legalise Lobbying
• Steel frame has failed the nation
• Delhi should bid for hosting Olympic Games
• Government should show more flexibility on
Kashmir
• India and Pakistan must solve less intractable
issues before taking up Kashmir
• Nuclear tests have eliminated India’s conventional
military superiority over Pakistan
• India can’t bank on timely US help in fighting
terrorism
• World sees India as a soft state
• India should promote Democracy in Myanmar
• India should stay out of the mess in Afghanistan
• India should refrain from joining US in promoting
democracy
• National interest should be the sole driver of India’s
foreign policy
• Business relations will bring India and China closer
• India will soon start to outpace China
• India-Japan alliance can keep China in check
CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
9
• China is a rogue power
• Economic instability shows EU is not sustainable
• Obama’s promise of Security Council Seat for India
rings hollow
• Permanent seat for India in UNSC is long overdue
• UNSC seat (non-permanent) is a watershed in
Indian diplomacy
Economic
• A cap on microfinance rates will set a wrong
precedent
• MFIs have been unfairly vilified
• MFIs play a crucial role in financial inclusion
• Money-lender is a necessary evil in the rural credit
delivery system
• Savings bank rates should be deregulated
• Teaser rates for home loans are an unfair business
practice
• The RBI should reduce statutory liquidity ratio
• Agri-exports should be freely allowed
• Low food prices will discourage farming
• MSPs are a must for food security and agricultural
growth
• Airfares should be market determined
• Tribals must be given share in mining profits
• Concern for tribals is hurting industrial development
• State’s authority to acquire private, tribal land for
development must be absolute
• Petroleum product prices should be market
determined
• Govt. should impose extra tax on diesel for fuel
guzzling SUVs
• Disinvestment will fuel government profligacy
• FDI ceiling in defence production should be
removed
• Unbridled growth of organised retail will hurt small
retailers
• FDI in retail will benefit farmers
• Short-term speculative inflows should be taxed
• Right time for insurance IPOs has not come
• Compulsory grading of IPOs should be discontinued
• Listing of stock exchanges should not be permitted
• TRAI is a toothless regulator
• Former bureaucrats should not be appointed as
head of regulatory bodies
• Financial Stability and Development Council will
interfere with autonomy of regulators
• Mandatory rotation of auditors will help check
corporate frauds like Satyam
• Separate people in posts of Chairman and MD&CEO
will ensure good corporate governance
• Corporate philanthropy in India is mere lip-service
• Tata group’s $50 million grant for Harvard could
have been better spent at home
• Govt. should not force CSR on Corporate India
• Govt. should not impose job reservations on private
sector
• In India, Businessmen in politics have been a failure
• Indian pharma companies’ sell-out to MNCs is
inevitable
• India Inc. should look beyond B.Tech and MBA for
human resources
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________
• Globalisation has worked wonders for India’s
economic development
• India’s demographic dividend is a chimera
• India’s Economic Growth is jobless growth
• India’s Healthcare System is in Bad Health
• India Inc. should look beyond B.Tech and MBA
• Govt. should refrain from curbs on tobacco
cultivation
• Hawkers have a fundamental right to trade
• Govt. should wind up PDS
• Universalisation of food security is not feasible
• Foreign aid creates dependence amongst recipients
• Kerala model of social development has failed
• NGOs are a self-serving lot
• Scrapping Planning Commission – is it good?
• Public-private partnerships in infrastructure have
failed to deliver
• The Metro is not the best answer to India’s urban
traffic problems
• Railway should not have a separate budget
• Defence budget should be pared to provide money
for development
• India should follow Gandhian development model of
rural self-sufficiency
• Dhirubhai Ambani is a role model for today’s
entrepreneurs
• Patent laws should be relaxed to make medicines
affordable
• India should follow the export-oriented model of
economic development
• Despite its many flaws, capitalism is the best
economic model
• Business ethics are no longer a luxury for
corporates but a necessity?
• Trade unions are a must to restrain exploitative
managements
• Flexible labour laws will create more jobs
Education
• Technology enabled teaching can never replace
classroom learning
• Student ratings should be introduced to judge
teachers’ performance in govt. colleges
• English should be the national language
• Homework should be discontinued
• Advent of e-readers will boost adoption of e-books
in India
• Print dictionary will go out of fashion
• Higher education should not receive government
subsidy
• Formal schooling is not essential for education
Environment
• Environment Ministry has become a stumbling block
for development
• Products made from GM organisms must be
subjected to compulsory labelling
• Developing countries like India and China must
agree to binding commitments on emissions’
reduction
• India’s heritage is withering away due to poor
conservation of monuments
CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
10
• Industrial development is at the cost of
environment
• Government should impose higher tax on polluting
industries
• No development should be permitted at the cost of
environment
• Concern for conservation cannot override rights of
people dependent on forests for their livelihood
• Promoting vegetarianism will help tackle global
warming
Ethics & Law
• Indian media has scant regard for ethics
• Live-in relationships should be given legal
recognition
• Censor board clearance must be made compulsory
for reality shows
• Pro-creation from frozen embryos is unethical
• Surrogate motherhood should be legalised
• Cloning of humans is unethical
• Alcohol prohibition is a denial of citizen’s free-will
• Gambling should be legalised
• UIDAI project is an invasion of citizen’s privacy
• There is no right way to do a wrong thing
Technology
• Renewable energy comes at a cost
• Ability to retrieve brain memory will revolutionise
humanity
• Technology has led to the individual’s alienation
from the society
• Government incentives are a must for boosting the
use of electric cars
• Technology is a useful tool in fight against
corruption
• Will man be ever replaced by machines?
• NASA’s mission to colonise Mars is science-fiction
• Geography has become history
• Pharma patents are beneficial to humanity
MBA/Management
• IITs & IIMs must become multi-disciplinary
universities
• MBA is not essential for developing managerial
acumen
• One year MBA is better than two-year course
• Management is more of an art than a science
• Ethics in business are just a fading fad
• The objective of Management is to maximise profits
• Separation of ownership and management will help
professionalise family run businesses
• Family run businesses are better suited to break
new ground than professionally run ones
• Start-ups have more scope for professional growth
• Women are better managers than men
• Advertising is all glitter and little truth
Social
• Caste Census will divide society
• Coverage of Food Security Act should be universal
• Liberal Mumbai is a thing of the past
• Encounter killings are an essential tool in fighting
organised crime
• Rural work experience should be made compulsory
for MBBS opting for PG courses
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________
• Casteism and regionalism are biggest threats to
national unity
• Classless society is an utopian dream
• India is unfit for democracy
• Sex education is an indispensable tool in the fight
against STDs
• TV is no longer an idiot box
• Foreign TV channels are destroying our culture
• Secularism has become a byword for minority
appeasement
• TV serials bring family-members closer
• Freedom of expression should be given precedence
over the state’s authority
• Removal of Mistry’s book from Mumbai University
syllabus is surrender to intolerance
• Tax rebates for women is unfair
• BPO jobs are detrimental to one’s health
• Materialism will grow in the East while Spiritualism
will flourish in the West
• Cults will overtake mainstream religions in
popularity
• Negligent doctors should be tried in consumer
courts
• Beauty pageants serve no purpose
Sports
• Professionals must replace part-time politicians as
sports federation heads
• Qatar’s selection as World Cup host is a win of
money over sports
• China’s interest will make Cricket a global sport
• Tendulkar is the greatest batsman in the history of
Cricket
• T20 spells the end of Test Cricket
• Cricket has hurt growth of other sports
• Club-based competitions like IPL will overshadow
tournaments involving national teams
• Indian Hockey League increased the importance of
Hockey in India
Abstract
• Business and Ethics do not go together
• Performance enhancing drugs should be legalised in
sports
• The test of a successful man is not an ability to
eliminate the problem before it exists, but to meet
and resolve it whenever it arises
• He who knows how to be poor knows everything
• Habit and routine have an unbelievable power to
waste and destroy
• A fool can ask more questions in an hour than a
wise man can answer in seven years
• You have to break a few eggs to make an omelette
• When all you have is a hammer everything looks
like a nail
• If you want peace, prepare for war
• Patience is a bitter plant but it bears sweet fruit
CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
11
• A university is what a college becomes when the
faculty loses interest in teaching the students
• In business, the rear view mirror is clearer than the
windshield
• True happiness can be achieved only when you
make the others feel that they are responsible for it
• A room without books is like a body without soul
• Speculation is an art of life
• The validity of science lies in its power to predict
• Freedom is the freedom to say 2 + 2 = 4. Once that
is granted, everything else follows
• That so few people now dare to be eccentric, is the
chief danger of our times
• Cursing the weather is bad farming
• It is better to be born lucky than rich
• Good judgement comes from experience and
experience comes from poor judgement
• If you are not a part of the solution, you are part of
the problem
• Rules are made to be broken
• Good economics is bad politics
• Winning is what matters, whatever may be the cost
• Education is a progressive way of discovering your
ignorance
• Great spirits face violent opposition from mediocre
minds
• Helping hands are better than praying lips
• Necessity is the mother of all invention
• Thinking about the worst prepares you for the
worst- arise and solve them
• Good things always arise from good thinking
• Faith is to believe what you do not yet see, reward
for faith is to see what you believe
• Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative
• When you find that you are on the side of majority,
it is time to reform
• Science without religion is lame and religion without
science is blind
• Morality is the creation of the weak to deter and
limit the strong
• A closed mouth catches no flies
• You don’t have to be different to be good; but you
have to be good to be different
• If you give a man a fish, he eats it once. You teach
a man to fish, you lose a business opportunity
• A man with words and no deeds is like a garden full
of weeds
• For an idea to be accepted it has to be advertised
by a good salesman
• Law is the creation of the strong to rule the weak
• Happiness is a mystery like religion, and it should
not be rationalised
• Hope for ill gains is the beginning of loss
• Education is what remains after one forgets what
one has learnt in school
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

Personal Interview

The interview is one of the most important phases of the selection process. Your profile and group discussions are tools
to get you to the interviewing stage. The interview is your opportunity to convince the panel that you are the right
person for the seat. Interviews is usually treated as a two way street. It’s the interviewer’s and the candidate’s
opportunity to know each other.
As the interviewee, the main purposes of the interview are to:
• Communicate information about yourself, your experience and your abilities
• Seek further information about the B-school
The main purposes of the interview for the interviewer are to gather relevant information about the candidate’s:
• Interview preparation - interest in and knowledge of the industry, the position and the organization
• Communication skills - oral presentation skills and the ability to interact with others
• Qualifications - academic, work, volunteer work and other experiences
• Leadership potential and teamwork - demonstrated ability to work with others and to get others to work together
• Clear and realistic career goals - future plans and awareness of career paths
• Self awareness - realistic appraisal of self
• Motivation and success potential - enthusiasm for the position; demonstrated patterns of accomplishment
• Work ethic - acceptance of responsibility, ability to keep commitments and attitude of the importance of work

Types of interviews
Depending on the B-school, there can different types of interviews. Let’s look at each of the broad classifications and try
to understand what is the expectation from the candidate in each of the formats.

Screening Interview
B-Schools sometimes use a screening interview if the applicant pool is large. This type of interview is to ensure that the
candidate meets the minimum requirements.

Tips
• Highlight your qualifications and accomplishments using non-technical language.
• Answer questions clearly and briefly –Since they are looking for the bare minimum requirements, personality is not
as important at this stage of the process.

After the screening interviews, the number of applicants will reduce. Now the interviews would be one on one (one panel
member with one candidate) or panel interviews (two or three interviewers with one candidate)
We can classify the interviews now on their formats or their content.

Interview Formats: They can be further divided in five categories.

1. Behavioral Interview: The Interviewer will ask for specific examples from your past experiences to determine if
you can provide evidence of your skills in a certain area – the best predictor of future behaviour is past
behaviour. Although the interviewer is having you recount stories from your past, they are really trying to imagine
how you would handle similar situations in the future.
When deciding what examples from your past to use, consider the following:
• The more recent the behaviour, the better its predictive power.
• The more lasting the behaviour, the better its predictive power.
• Prepare yourself for the probable skill areas that the panel would be interested in and will, therefore, likely be asked
about in the interview. Determine this by reviewing and researching the B-school.

2. Situational Interview: This format is highly structured. In that hypothetical situations are described and applicants
are asked to explain what they would do in these situations. Interviewers may use a scoring guide consisting of
sample answers to evaluate and score each applicant’s answers.

3. Structured Interview: This format combines the situational interview with a variety of other types of interview
questions. Typically, each candidate is asked the same set of questions and their answers are compared to a scoring
guide and rated. The goal of this approach is to reduce interviewer bias and to help make an objective decision
about the best candidate.

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
12
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

4. Unstructured Interview: Questions here are based on the individual’s application documents such as their résumé
and so different variants of a question will be asked to each applicant. Without structured guidelines, the
conversation can be free-flowing, thus making this method of interviewing the most prone to bias, but allowing the
interviewer to get a more natural and perhaps more realistic sense of who you are. Although this type of interview
may seem more casual, and may even occur over lunch or dinner, you must still be well prepared and maintain a
professional demeanour. Be careful not to provide information you would not have communicated if the interview was
more structured.

5. Semi-Structured Interview: This format is a blend of structured and unstructured, where the interviewer will ask a
small list of similar questions to all candidates along with some questions pertaining to your resume.

Skills Tested in a PI
Fundamental Skills Other Skills like
• Communication • Positive attitude
• Management • Behaviour
• Current affairs • Responsibility
• Thinking • Adaptability
• Common Sense • Readiness to learn

List of Do’s during a Personal Interview

• Dress appropriately for the interview. Proper dressing shows that you are serious about the interview.
• Reach the interview venue 10 to 15 minutes before and freshen up. Meeting new people who are going to judge you
can be daunting. So relax before, as much as possible.
• Greet the panel with a “Good Morning/Afternoon/Evening” (whatever is appropriate)
• Offer a firm handshake, make eye contact with the panel and smile.
• Sit still in the chair. Avoid fidgeting or slouching. Make remember that you are sitting in an interview and not in a
garden.
• Listen to the questions asked.
• Give relevant responses and try to support the same with examples.
• Be to the point and concise.
• If you don’t understand the question, you can ask for a clarification.
• Exhibit a positive attitude. The interviewer is evaluating you as a potential student and a future manager.
• When the interview gets over, thank the panel for their time. Phrases like “thank you for your time” or “It was a
pleasure meeting you” along with a smile is always a good idea.

List of Dont’s during a Personal Interview

• Everyone makes mistakes. And sometimes, they come up in the interview, like low scores in a particular subject. If
they do come up, don’t make any excuses. Take responsibility for your mistakes.
• DON’T LIE OR BEAT AROUND THE BUSH! The panel is intelligent and experienced; they will catch your lie in a
second. Dishonestly can cost you your B-school seat.
• Don’t panic if you don’t know the answer to any question. Sometimes, it’s okay to say “I don’t know” rather than
giving round about answers.
• Never ever make negative comments about your college, teachers or anyone who you have a long time association
with. It shows a lack of pride and loyalty which is not appreciated in the industry.
• Don't treat the interview casually, as if you are just shopping around or doing the interview for practice. This is an
insult to the interviewer and to the B-school.
• Do not give the impression that you are only interested in the seat because of the geographical location.
• Don’t be unprepared for questions that you can anticipate from your resume.
• Don’t go in the interview room chewing a gum or eating
• TURN OFF YOUR PHONE!

Introduction of the candidate

Introduction is the most important part of an interview. It’s the first two or three minutes of the interaction, where a
candidate can make a first good impression.
Introductions are important because
• They create the first impression
• Gives an opportunity to the panel to know why the candidate in front of them is well suited for the job.
• Gives an opportunity to the candidate to show the panel why he is different from all the applicants for the job and
what makes him unique.

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
13
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

A typical outline for an introduction is

• Greeting
• Name
• Origins
• Schools/College
• Parents
• Any unique accomplishments
• Hobbies
An example for an introduction on these lines is as follows:
Good afternoon. My name is XYZ and I hail from Vadodra, Gujarat. I did my schooling in Vadodra with a Major in
Sciences. I am perusing my Electronics and Communications engineering degree from ABC University. My father is a
banker and my mother is a yoga instructor.
Apart from my college activities including academic and extra-curricular activities, I also volunteer as an English faculty
with an NGO which works for youth in need of education.
My hobbies include reading and travelling.

There are some pointers you need to remember while drafting an introduction:
• As mentioned before, this is the first opportunity for a candidate to make an impression. Nothing spoils the first
impression as bad grammar. Draft an introduction and get it checked by someone you trust with good language
skills.
• Make sure your mention at least one such quality that sets you apart from the rest of the candidates.
• College scholarships, grades, sports accomplishments or any such achievements should ideally be placed in the
introduction. But do not describe them in detail. Just mention them so that the panel is curious about them. This will
lead them to ask you more questions on the same topics which, hopefully, you will be well prepared for.
• Each and every word in the introduction should be well researched and true. Rehearse all the questions that you can
anticipate from the introduction.

Bouquet of Questions
Usually, interview panel gets the questions from what has been said by the candidate. This starts from the introduction.
We can anticipate the questions well in advance and prepare for them.
Some questions that can be prepared are:
• Introduction
o What can you tell us about your city? (History and present)
o What makes your city unique?
o What can you tell us about your father’s business or mother’s job?
• Career Objective
o Where do you see yourself five or ten years from today?
o What are your short term and long term goals?
• Work/Academics
o What are your favorite subjects?
o What can you tell us about your college?
• Favorite Subject
o Fundamentals of the same subjects
o Current developments in the same field
• Important Project/training
o Can you tell us about the project in brief?
o What was the experience in the training program and what did you learn?
• Hobbies
o Details of the hobbies
• Strengths/Weakness
o What are your strength and weakness?
o Can you cite examples where your strengths/weakness can be seen?
• Role model
o Who is your role model and why?
• Current Affairs
o What do you know about the current political scenario?
• Extracurricular Activities
o What kind of extracurricular activities are your involved in? Can you give us some details?
• USPs (Unique Selling Proposition)
o Why should we select you?
• Any Questions
o Is there something you would like to ask us?
CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
14
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

How to crack a PI?

• The First thing to do is make an introduction. Make sure that the grammar and the information is correct. Prepare a
draft and practice it as much as possible. After all, practice makes a man perfect.
• Prepare the bouquet of questions that you can anticipate from your introduction and answer them. This will take a lot
of introspection. Please don’t bluff. Try to be honest. This way you will be able to pull of the answers with greater
confidence.
• Know everything about your family occupation and your hometown (Google/Wikipedia help a lot!)
• Be prepared with three strengthens with examples where you have shown these strengths in action
• Be prepared with a couple of weakness (not more).
• Prepare at least two subjects in detail. If you are a fresher, this preparation would help.
• For candidates who have a work experience, revisit you project/job profile.
• Do some research about the college. The things to know are
o B-school history
o Famous alumni
o Talk to any student who is in the college about the various curricular-co-curricular activities
o The pedagogy of the B-school
o Placement records and students’ profile
• Prepare every little detail about your hobbies. Let’s say your hobby is following cricket. The questions that you can
prepare are
o Favourite player /team
o Length of the pitch
o Physical dimension of stumps/ball
o Field placements
o Recent records or controversies.
o Your opinion on IPL
o Your opinion on BCCI and its control over players

General Personal Questions

• Introduce yourself in five sentences.
• What is the most significant achievement in your
life?
• What are your extra-curricular activities?
• Which is your favourite T.V. program?
• What types of books do you read? How do they
affect your moral values?
• What is Pulp Fiction? Movie, The Pulp Fiction
• Latest happenings in cricket
• Which other calls? Which one would you prefer?
• How will you contribute to your birth place?
• What do your name and surname mean?
• Caste system
• Where do you see yourself 10 years down the line
— entrepreneur?
• Which industry — what would you like to set up?
• Should Hindi be promoted as a national language —
for and against, give reasons?
• Who has been the best prime minister? Why?
• Why did you decide to enter the field of
management?
• What are your strengths and weaknesses?
• List three of your most important/proudest
accomplishments.
• The person in this position needs to be innovative
and proactive. Can you describe some things you
have done to demonstrate these qualities?
• How would you rate your communication skills and
what have you done to improve them?
• Why do you think more students are going into
public services than technical services?
• What do you see yourself doing five or ten years
from now? OR Where do you see yourself going
from here?
• Tell us about your subject background and about
your coursework.
• What experience have you had using the Internet?
• What do you see as the future of the Internet as a
reference tool?
• What courses (college/graduate school) did you find
most satisfying? Least satisfying? Why?
• What would you say you learned from your
college/graduate school experiences that you see
being carried over to your life today?
• What does success mean to you? How do you judge
it?
• Who or what in your life would you say influenced
you most with regard to your career objectives?
• What motivates you to put forth your best effort?
• Describe a time when you were under pressure to
make a decision. Did you react immediately or take
time in deciding what to do?
• Describe a problem person you have had to deal
with. What did you say or do?
• What important goals have you set in the past, and
how successful have you been in working toward
their accomplishment?
• Do you do personal planning? If so, what are your
goals?
• What things give you the greatest satisfaction?
• How would you describe yourself?
• Describe your most rewarding experience.
• Do you think ethics are important in corporate
world?

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
15
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________
• When the end is profit motive, do you think one
should think of means?
• Can you walk me through your resume?
• Can you give me an example of a time that you
demonstrated leadership?
• What is your definition of teamwork?
• What would you say is your biggest weakness?
• What are your greatest strengths?
• What are your hobbies?
• Hobbies and character-building
• Why do you have such diverse interests?
• Do you travel a lot — where?
• What does your father do?
• What do you do in your job?
• Are the psychological tests reliable? (“We do a lot of
these tests during recruitment/training”)
• Compare and contrast the Indian and Western
cultures.
• Why do you want to study in India, why not
aboard?
• What distinguishes you from others?
• What are people most surprised to learn about you?
• How comfortable are you speaking up in front of
large groups of people?
• Why do you think you are successful at what you
do?
• If you could write a book on anything what would it
be on?
• What kind of books do you like to read?
• What are your extracurricular interests?
• What is Sensex?
• Which are the G-7 countries? Name them.
• Nuclear powers — who are they? Define nuclear
power
• Kyat is the currency of which country?
• Are beauty contests relevant?
• What is the penetration of computers in India?
What should be done to improve it?
• Names of some management gurus
• Should doctors be governed by an ethical code of
conduct?
• Why do you want to shift from engineering to
management?
• What is retail banking?
• What do you understand by corporate governance?
• Which bank has moved to retail banking recently?
• What is the mantra of success?
• Discuss the disinvestments of PSU recently.
• How is euro performing? Is it getting strong or
weak?
General Questions for People with Work-
Experience
• Tell me what you do in your daily job
• What do you/don’t you like regarding your job
• How is your most recent project going?
• Take me through an interesting project you have
worked on recently.
• If I promoted you today at your job, what changes
would you implement?
• What is most frustrating at work?
CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
16
• Explain your job profile
• What was your work all about?
• Explain your industry. What are the latest
developments in the industry?
• Why did you shift your industry?
• Give instances of leadership from your work
experience.
• How did you handle your sub-ordinates?
• How did you deal with your peers and bosses?
• Explain a situation where you had to convince your
bosses / peers / subordinates.
• Explain why do you want to do your MBA after
reaching this level at work?
• Which specialization do you want to do in MBA?
• What is your opportunity cost in taking this break
after working for X years?
• Why did you not appear for B School tests as a
fresher or Why did you take the job in the first
place?
• Explain a situation where you handled pressure?
• Are you not already a manager? Then why do a
MBA?
• How would you describe your leadership style;
collaborative or direct?
• What leader in history do you admire most?
• What makes someone a leader?
• How do you motivate someone?
• Tell me about a time you had to deal with conflict in
the workplace
General Questions for Commerce/Finance
Students
• What is Budget, fiscal deficit, excise, sales and
octroi taxes?
• What are credit default swaps?
• What is Double/triple taxation bond?
• Difference between diminishing and decreasing
returns
• How do you prepare a fund flow statement?
• What is financial leverage/operating leverage?
• What do you know about Producer surplus,
Consumer surplus?
• What is e-commerce?
• What is Statistical quality control, acceptance
sampling, control charts?
• What is linear programming?
• Elasticity of demand — examples of elastic and
inelastic goods
• Revenue maximization vs. profit maximization
• Is India going through stagnation and why?
• Why is India poor?
• What are the different welfare indices?
• What is Capital Account Convertibility? Is it
advisable for India?
• What preference do you have for specialization?
• What application does economics have for
management?
• What do you understand from Indifference curves,
utility concepts?
• What is Law of demand?
• What are types of goods?
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________
• Find an economical solution to prevent the
degradation of forests.
• Difference in IRR and NPV
• How do you compare firms of different industries?
• Concept of cash flows and fund flows
• How do you calculate the net profit of a firm
(accrual and cash basis)?
• Difference between cash basis and accrual basis
• Disadvantages of accrual basis
• Differentiate monopolistic competition from
monopoly with examples.
• What is perfect competition?
• Correlation and its applications
• What is the least-cost resource combination?
• What do you know about Amartya Sen and welfare
economics
• Statistics — mean, median, mode with examples.
• Difference between an MNC and globally-oriented
firm
• Define marketing and international marketing.
• Compare marketing strategy of De Beers and
Mercedes.
• How would you market liquor?
• What does the RBI do?
• What do you know about SEBI?
General Questions for Science Students
• Draw a parabola and a hyperbola. What are their
equations? What is Lagrange’s theorem?
• What is the difference between a sigma and a Pi
bond?
• What is so interesting about coordinate geometry
applications?
• What is modern physics?
• What is Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle?
• What is wave theory?
• What is the difference between C and Pascal?
• What is Boyle’s law?
• What is ester and how is it formed?
• What is Lagrangian multiplier?
• What is chromatography?
• What is SHM (simple harmonic motion)? Give
differential equation for SHM.
• What are the different types of integration?
• What is wave physics?
• What is critical point?
• What is the branch of physics that interests you
most? Why?
• What is total internal reflection? (Physics)
• What is Darwin’s theory of evolution? How is it
different from other theories?
• What is Archimedes Principle?
• How do soaps and detergents work? Why can you
not use detergents for your skin?
• Is Co2 organic or inorganic? Why?
• What is carbonic acid? Draw its structure. What are
the properties that it should have according to its
structure?
• What is milk, a mixture or a colloidal solution? How
can you separate proteins from milk?
• What is solvent extraction?
CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
17
• Draw the structures of benzene and hexane and
differentiate between them?
• What is a crystal lattice? Give one metal which
exists in crystal structure.
• What is a difference in principle of a discus throw
and a javelin throw?
• What are superconductors? Where are they used?
• What is the greenhouse effect and what is it due to?
• If a hole is dug through the earth and a body is
dropped, what will happen?
• Why does the moon not fall on the earth?
• What is a bit (Computer)
• What are Mendel’s law?
• What is hybridization?
• What is Einstein’s contribution to quantum
mechanics?
• How does an air – conditioner work?
• What is entropy?
• How does a cricket ball spin?
• Mention the latest theory about the model of atom.
• What are fibre optics? What are ultrasonic waves?
How are they produced?
• What is hypothesis? What is null hypothesis?
• What are random variables? Give two types of
random variables.
• Difference between discrete distributions and
continuous distributions.
• Mention the probability of distribution function of
binomial distribution; derive mean and variance for
binomial distribution.
• Tell me something about Poisson’s ratio.
General Questions for Engineering Students
Civil Engineers
• What are the basic differences between the RCC
design & Steel design?
• What is mean by least count? Tell the least count of
dumpy level and theodolite?
• What is soft soil?
• Explain project management methods CERT/CPM.
• What are the CAD software versions you have
used?
• What are some of the different ways to lay a
foundation?
• Why is a manhole round?
• Why is the height of the bridges over rivers very
low?
• How to test the quality of bars?
• How to calculate water cement ratio?
• What is the difference between limit state method
and working stress in terms of load?
• What are the specification of good quality sand for
plaster and brickwork?
Mechanical Engineers
• Explain about power technology?
• How is SAP useful for mechanical engineers?
• What are the different types of bearings? What are
different types of rivets?
• What is the applicability of mechanical engineering
in the industry?
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________
• Explain Newton’s Laws.
• How is a factor of safety used in design?
• Interpret a Stress vs. Strain Curve.
• What types of equations or theories would be used
in Static Failure?
• What types of equations would be used in Fatigue
Failure?
• Which one is more efficient– a four stroke engine or
a two stroke? Why?
Electrical Engineers
• What is the difference between earthing and
grounding?
• Why transistors are not used as switching devices?
• Define watt.
• How are analog signals converted to digital signals?
• Explain the differences between a transistor and
capacitor.
• Describe the functions of a diode.
• Describe the basic elements of an integrated circuit.
• What is a UPS?
• Describe how energy is stored in an inductor on
electronic level.
Chemical Engineers
• How do you go about mixing two unknown
chemicals?
• How would you separate water and benzene?
CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
18
• How do you calculate the sonic velocity of a gas
stream?
• What is unit operation?
• What are the effects of oils on the properties of
Polyolefins?
Computer Science Engineers
• Write a function that returns the factorial of a
number.
• What are data structures?
• What are condition statements?
• Define exception handling with example.
• Name the operating systems you are familiar with.
• What is the difference between a bug and a virus?
• What is hyper threading (HT technology)?
• Which programming language would you choose to
make accounting software and why?
• What is a database? How does it differ from data
marts and data warehouses?
• Write the code to sort an array of integers.
• What is the difference between recursion and
iteration?
• What are the similarities between recursion and
iteration?
• What are constructors?
• What is Artificial Intelligence?
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

Written Assessment Test

Written Assessment Test – is tested in various formats (WAT in IIMs, XAT essay in XAT etc.) with the same intended
purpose – the purpose of assessing the written ability – the ability to structure thoughts, put them in right words & the
ability to communicate.

The topics that are given are generally current trending topics on which an opinion is asked for (for e.g. ongoing political
issues, sports, business happenings, economy related topics etc.). Here your general reading and awareness is put to test
as well because there might be topics which you wouldn’t have read about.

On the other hand, some colleges prefer evergreen topics – topics like “Are women better managers than men?”, “are
women safe in India?”, “Social media platforms are distancing the youth from their families” etc. Such issues have been
disturbing India and have been a topic of discussion since donkeys years and they will continue to stay.

Rare chances that an abstract topic is given. An abstract topic would mean “If I were a millionaire…”, “If I were the PM for
a day…” etc. Such topics check the structure of thought, creativity, vision and the sensitivity to words used for expressing
the same.

The basics of approach to a WAT/ XAT Essay remains the same:

st
1 Step: Understanding the topic: The WAT essay can be a topic or a question pertaining to an issue. Asking basic
questions on relevance of the topic to today, stakeholders etc. gives you the much needed start.
nd
2 Step: Planning the essay: A question statement might require you to take a stand. Identify the approach/perspective
with which you plan to write the essay. You are free to take any stand on the issue, for, against, balanced or even qualify
the question. Identify the ideas that you will use to explain/support your perspective. Order the ideas according to priority
of importance/relevance to your perspective.
rd
3 Step: Writing: Ensure that your writing is legible.
th
4 Step: Reviewing the essay: Spend a minute doing a quick check of your writing to avoid embarrassing spelling errors
or grammatical inconsistencies.

The content and structure of a WAT is what sets apart a good and a bad WAT write-up. Both these aspects are dependent
on clarity of thought. Ideally, a WAT should have continuity of thought and ideas. More than the length of the WAT (more
on that later), it is the understanding of the topic and the continuity that matter. Hence, it becomes imperative that
sufficient time is allocated to brainstorming and reviewing the WAT.

You should write an independent opinion (approximately 150-300 words). The write-up should contain 1-2 reasons for the
stand taken. The first paragraph could be around 5-15 lines (not sentences). At around 8 words per line, the introduction
will come to around 90 words.

The second paragraph should have one or two reasons for the stand with approximately the same length. It should
include examples, facts and figures to support the stand taken. If there is some doubt about exact numbers, you should
simply write a phrase like ‘According to some sources...’. Phrases like ‘As you know’ should be avoided as they put forth
the assumption that the reviewer knows something.

The last paragraph should be the conclusion. A good conclusion is just a smart restatement of the main points.

Important Point: The student who is able to coherently put together two reasons for his stand will be at the top of the
list. However, not every student needs to write a brilliant WAT. Of a group of fifty students, at least nine other students,
whose WAT is good, but not great, will also be selected.

List of “Dos”:
1. Understand why the given topic/ quote has been written.
2. Brainstorm and assess if there is a valid reasoning for the same.
3. If there seems no valid justification, start writing down points why the topic seems illogical*.
4. If a valid reasoning exists, evaluate whether the given reasoning is convincing.
5. If not convinced, write down points why the topic seems illogical (same as point 3)
6. If convinced, write down the points on why you agree with the topic.
7. Leave a few minutes (approximately five minutes) for reviewing what you have written.
8. Pay attention to Grammar. Though reviewers tend to overlook a few errors (up to five), do not take a casual
approach to grammar.

*Since the WAT will be around 150-300 words, the back of the page should be used to write down the main points.

List of “Don'ts:
1. Be effusive with adverbs and adjectives: Ideally, adverbs should be avoided as they present an extremist viewpoint.
Adjectives, if any, should be used sparingly.
2. Take an extremist viewpoint: ideally, take a stand but acknowledge the other side also. A balanced approach is
desirable.
3. Do not exaggerate or generalize

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
19
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

4. Use expressions like ‘I think’ and ‘I feel’. The correct expression would be ‘I believe’.
5. Act like Wikipedia on the topic. The WAT should not be a list of facts. Facts should be used to support your stand.
6. Though care should be taken that the handwriting is legible, content should not suffer because too much time was
spent on writing beautifully.

Understand the topic- put your views in a proper structure- write- stop- review.

For a better understanding:

Let us take the topic: The Elections in India provide better entertainment than many Bollywood blockbusters! Or serious
ones like the impact of the green revolution on Indian Economy or how liberalization helped the Indian economy to
survive in the 90’s?

You should not worry much about these, if you have been merely glancing through headlines or even half-heartedly
listening to news. You can safely attempt most of these, with reasonable confidence.

The most important thing to be kept in mind is that you are not supposed to write research papers on such topics. If you
can approximately capture few major points and correlate them with the topic, the job is done.

The only suggestion is that out of the allotted 20 minutes, spend at least 5 minutes to recall, plan and organize what you
intend to write. Use remaining 15 minutes to write 150-200 words in a cogent and coherent manner using grammatically
correct English. Avoid flowery, bombastic language.

Let us consider a sample:

Sample 1:
Indian economy in the post WTO era

The answer should elaborate on the following key points:

1. What is WTO? What is its role? (25-30 words)
2. First, you should identify what all should come in Indian economy, and then discuss the impact on each of these one
by one. Following sectors/areas are important in this context
The three sectors viz. manufacturing, agriculture and service sector.
Divide the three sectors into industries for example manufacturing into pharmaceutical, automobile, steel, textile
etc., service sector into IT, education entertainment, tourism, etc.
Now discuss impact on each of these. For example in case of pharmaceutical sector, Indian companies will have to
shift to product patenting from process patenting, under the TRIPS (Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights)
obligations of WTO.
3. After impact, also briefly discuss, what is the Indian government and industry doing to adjust to new realities.
4. Lastly, conclude with your suggestions what should be done to rise to the challenges and to make best use of
emerging opportunities.

Now that we have seen 2 certain topics, let us see 2 abstract topics:

The major problem with them is that most of the students get in awe of the flowery and twisted language used in them,
and cannot figure out what should he write in them.

Following guidelines may be helpful:

1. Once again spend 5-7 minutes to interpret and understand what the author implies? Are there any subtle nuances
intended?
2. It is very important to understand that there may be more than one interpretation possible for the given topic. But all
interpretations are equally valid provided you rationally explain it, and logically take it forward.
3. Thus you should clarify how you understand and interpret the given topic, clearly stating your reasons for doing so,
right in the very beginning. Here you may also disagree with the given statement.
4. Next you should build your case in support of his interpretation. Use of anecdotes, daily life examples. Fables etc.,
are very helpful in this regard.
5. Lastly, you should conclude, and end on a definite and concrete note.

Sample 2: (Abstract topic)

To give real service, one needs to add something, which cannot be bought or measured like sincerity and integrity.

Following tips may be helpful here:

1. You clarify how do you construe real service. Is the author excluding materialistic service?
2. You also clarify whether you agree with the author or not. Clearly understand that you can take either stand or even
the middle path. Important thing is how you support it.
3. Now, proceed by giving reasons and examples to support the stance you have taken. e.g., in case you want to
support the argument, give the example of the myth of Ramayana in which Shabri offers berries to Lord Ram. Or
elaborate on the life of Mother Teresa.
4. Keep on building your answer and conclude with a definite statement.
5. Once again avoid flowery English, and use grammatically correct English with a lucid style.

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
20
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

Sample 3: (Abstract topic)

Asked which of his works would he select as his master piece, Architect, Frank Lloyd Wright at the age of 83 remarked,
‘my next one’.

It is based on a direct quotation and you are expected to elaborate the idea intended. Following guidelines should be
helpful:
1. Write something on the creative urge that is unique to mankind.
2. If you are aware of Karl Marx and his works, stress on his concept of creative humanism, that man feels incomplete
without the products of his creation and sees his reflection in them, just as a father sees his reflection in his son.
3. Also elaborate on the idea that it is the body, which gets older, the mind can remain as young as it wants to, immune
to fluctuations in time.
4. Also stress on the fact that most creative works in the field of art and architecture have come from people towards
the end of their life. E.g. Goethe wrote Faust at the age of 70.
5. You can also stress on the desire to ever improve in certain people, which constantly keeps them restless.
6. You can also show your disagreement with Frank by, observing that some people never feel contentment,
irrespective of their age and remain restive
7. Similarly, you can develop new dimensions in the topic and write 150- 200 words.

Some topics for practice:

1. The recent financial crisis highlights the perils of Capitalism
2. Corruption is the root cause of current woes in India
3. Women's Reservation Bill
4. FDI in multibrand retail is a boon or bane in India
5. Banning politicians with criminal records from contesting elections is against their right
6. India versus Bharat : a divided nation
7. Social media is a waste of time
8. Does ASEAN really exist?
9. Union Budget is a useless exercise and activities like recession puts it off-track
10. Essential services like water, electricity should not be privatized
11. Is disinvestment in profit making PSU's advisable?
12. The rise in Vegetable prices is a man-made farce
13. Should Petroleum Subsidy go away?
14. Bollywood is capitalizing on people with disabilities
15. In India mass mobilization can only be achieved through religion
16. IPL is a death knell to Indian cricket
17. Legalizing doping in sports in modern times
18. New lokpal bill will be instrumental in curbing corruption
19. Cricket is cannibalizing the space of other sports in India
20. The greatest tennis star of all time
21. Vishwanathan Anand is as good a brand ambassador as Sachin Tendulkar
22. Pink is the new Blue
23. Idiots Rule
24. Sometimes wars are required to ensure peace
25. Corporate Social Responsibility
26. Discuss the role of Public Private Partnership in India's Economic Growth
27. Voting should be made compulsory
28. Gender bias is loud and clear w.r.t. women in advertisements
29. IIM should make one year of social service compulsory for all students
30. Should there be reservation for women in MBA colleges?
31. Recession is the mother of innovation
32. An eye for eye will make the whole world blind
33. World is run by conspiracy. People run by lofty ideas
34. Effects of corruption; In today’s world, business and ethics don’t go hand in hand
35. Foreign coaches are a waste of money in Indian sports.
36. Advertising is legalized lying
37. More than a billion Indians: a gigantic problem or a sea of opportunities
38. Family managed business vs. professionally run organizations
39. If I were the PM of India for a day
40. Financial Crisis in Europe

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
21
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

Statement of Purpose

Statement of Purpose: As the name suggests, is an essay that explains the purpose of application to this college. Let us
consider some examples to understand it better.

1. A certain college has a requirement of a 650 word essay to be written which talks about one’s personal life, past,
family background, education details – schooling, college – quantitative and qualitative learnings from the same,
work details – role, designation, achievements at work place, interest in extra & co-curricular and achievements
pertaining to the same, hobbies, interests, long term vision & why an MBA and how the course / college will help the
aspirant attain his long term vision.
2. A certain college has a requirement of a 250-300 word SOP which talks about why do you want to do an MBA and
how do you think the college will help you?

In both these cases, the logic of such essays is to know the thought process of the aspirant and how the aspirant is
linking his present (education / work experience) to the education that he is going to attain at the B-school and how he
plans to achieve his long term goal and whether the college’s expectation from a student is in sync with the student’s
expectation from the college & vice versa.

An SOP should ideally cover the following aspects:

- What is your long term career goal?
- What are you right now – fresh graduate / graduate with work exp / skillsets?
- How will an MBA equip you to progress towards your career goal?
- USPs of the college that you are looking forward to, to help you achieve your long term goal

DOs:
- Keep the language (vocabulary as well as sentence construction) simple
- There should be a logical flow that comes out distinctly from the SOP
- Get it proofread by at least 3 friends so that different qualitative as well as quantitative issues are sorted before the final
copy is sent (While proofreading, it is important to check for spelling mistakes, construction issues, heaviness of
vocabulary etc.)

Pasting a couple of sample SOPs below. The purpose of the same is to ensure a student understands the language, the
flow and the way the various aspects are covered.

Avoid copy paste! Writing for yourself doesn’t put you at a risk of defending somebody else’s thought process &
reasoning.

Some sample SOPs that we found online:

1. An engineering degree and a work experience of over 5 years have infused the required technical knowledge and
analytical capabilities in me. These capabilities have been strengthened by working across varied business critical
projects mapping high level business requirements to system requirements which mandated continuous interactions
with the client. My onsite stint and role as a team leader have given me an opportunity to develop my leadership
skills. I am now at that stage of my career where I would step into the shoes of a manager and be expected to have
a holistic view in order to be able to perceive a business problem from multiple perspectives. A course in
management from your college, one of the premier institutes with an eclectic mix of core subjects and electives for
each specialization, distinguished alumni network, international collaborations and state of the art facilities will help
me in this regard and pave the path for an illustrious career in IT.

2. Pursuing my bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from BITS Pilani has given a strong foundation to my
analytical skills and strategic problem solving since the course involves extensive, complex and intricate designing of
plants as well as calculations and application of basic mathematical skills.

I would like to use this knowledge gained in college to pursue my ambition of becoming an entrepreneur. In today’s high
growing and fast evolving Indian market I see several business opportunities for engineering start-ups (something in the
lines of providing engineering solutions/consulting to firms both in India and abroad). I believe that the PG program
offered by your college would provide me with the fundamental business principles, learning experience and valuable
industry interface which would help me gain practical insights into modern corporate world. Also, I am looking forward to
interacting with some of the brightest minds in terms of faculty as well as fellow students learning from their experience,
sharing my views and in the process grooming myself so that later I can be a team leader and lead projects. I feel your
college has an ideal environment conducive to the growth and development of my personality as an entrepreneur.

3. Having completed my engineering, I wish to study business management which shall provide me with the required
knowledge to fully understand the various aspects of managing a company and assist me in achieving my long term
goals.

Since many years I have had an interest in setting up a business of my own and work towards its progress. I share this
interest with my father, who in spite of being from a service background has ventured into a couple of entrepreneurial
projects in the past few years. Although still in the nascent stages, I am deeply interested in these businesses and see
them as a beginning of an established and profitable venture. I feel that an education in business management will enable

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
22
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

me to get fully involved and contribute substantially in the progress of these projects and subsequently towards the
growth and expansion of the business.

I feel that being at your college will provide me with an opportunity to study management not only from the best faculty
but also in an environment that would encourage healthy competition and exchange of knowledge and ideas. Being part
of an intelligent and diverse peer group will greatly assist me in enhancing my decision making and managerial skills.

4. Self-improvement is a continuous process and I firmly believe that one should always strive towards developing one’s
analytical, interpersonal and social skills.

After graduating in Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering, I worked in a leading Telecom company as an
Operations and Maintenance Engineer whereby I provided real-time support for customer’s cellular network. Later, I got
an opportunity to work as a Network Planning and Optimization Engineer, on global projects and deliver them with high
level of quality within stringent timelines. This helped me to acquire skills in leading, time and resource management.

But to learn the dynamics of the complex business environment and to attain managerial competence, a professionally
designed MBA program is essential. Your college with its esteemed faculty, wide industry interface and diverse student
community will not only play a significant role in empowering me with broad strategic vision but also ensure my
development as a holistic and all-round manager.

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
23
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

WHY MBA?

Every year, around two lakhs aspirants write the CAT hoping to get into a good B-school and transform their lives. But,
most of them stumble upon this most important and frequently asked question – why MBA? Here are some pointers to
help you with this question.

The top five reasons for pursuing an MBA are:

1. To build a holistic perspective of the industry

The case study based approach employed by the colleges helps create a deep understanding of various nuances of
business and simultaneously create a certain receptiveness to even the slightest change in the business environment. The
value created by the pedagogy undoubtedly is the biggest plus, but the intangible and qualitative value addition that
happens due to the interactions with the experienced faculty members, industry representatives who come on a regular
basis to share their experiences in the form of guest lecture & the healthy classroom participation / discussion help equip
a student with right business / industry perspectives.

2. Better Career Opportunities

This advantage comes as a by-product to the first advantage. An MBA graduate, due to his/her qualification, has a higher
chance of obtaining and holding a high-level management position. It is estimated that 70% of the MBA graduates
worldwide are senior managers or board directors. But, to quote Spiderman, “With great power comes great
responsibilities”. With an MBA degree comes higher responsibilities and longer working hours. Thanks to the extreme
rigor in B-schools it becomes easy to deal with both of these issues.

3. New skills and knowledge acquisition

This might sound like an inane point. But it’s an important one. MBA education is usually pursued in a very specific
situation by a fresher, a young professional with a few years of experience and sometimes even by a senior employee
who is up for a challenge. After some time in the professional world, it is human nature to conform to certain
repetitiveness and to stagnate in a comfort zone. This limits your disposition for learning and new skill acquisition. An
MBA education forces a student out of the comfort zone, deal with the latest issues with modern management theories
and allows a student to challenge himself, equipped with new practices and approaches. This learning doesn’t stop after
the two years of the education. The same challenging spirit is carried forward into the corporate world ensuring that an
individual is constantly changing and improving.

4. Higher salary
It is a well-known fact that the average salary for an MBA graduate higher than that of an employee with a regular
graduate and/or any other post-graduate qualification. An average MBA graduate with 0 year work experience might get
an average salary somewhere between Rs 5 Lac and Rs 10 Lac per annum. In this case, you can recover the investment
you made in your MBA education in about 2 to 3 years.

5. Better Business Network

The networking opportunities increase greatly for an MBA student. Through an MBA course, a student gets to interact in a
relevant manner with peers (future high-level managers), professors and teaching staff (ideally, former or current potent
business people with great amount of on-field experience). An MBA graduate also comes across potential employers
through internships and projects. Last, but not the least, he gets unlimited and easy access to the huge alumni network
of his B-school. All these will consolidate to form a business network that is bound to pay off throughout his whole career
making him the first hand recipient of relevant information in various fields and also providing him with the best
opportunities worth seizing. All a student needs is to maintain relationships that he makes during his education.

Apart from these, there can be personal reasons to take up a post-graduation in Business Administration and these can
vary from candidate to candidate. Introspect to get your reason for the same.

Specialisations in MBA

For MBA in India there are some specializations that a candidate has to look at before choosing a course and a B-school
that is right for his career growth. The core MBA programme in any good B-school includes any of the following
specializations.
1. Marketing Management
2. Finance Management
3. Human Resource Management
4. Operations Management
5. IT Management
CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
24
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

Apart from these, there are some niche fields in which a candidate can get an MBA degree. These are:
1. Rural Management
2. Agri business Management
3. Media and Communication Management
4. International Business Management
5. Social Sciences Management

MBA in Marketing Management

Marketing management is a business discipline which focuses on the practical application of marketing techniques and the
management of a firm's marketing resources and activities. It is also one of the fields that has seen through the highs
and lows of the market and emerged as one of the strongest choices for an MBA graduate.

The courses that an applicant can go through during Marketing Management are:
• Marketing Research
• Sale Management
• Advertising management
• Consumer Behaviour
• Brand Management
• Industrial Marketing
• B2B Marketing
• Internet and Social Media Management

Industry Options after Marketing Management: One can develop a career in sectors ranging from FMCG (Fast
Moving Consumer Goods), Retail, Tourism, Banking, Hospitality, IT and ITES, Media, Advertising, Consultancy, Market
Research etc.

The Profiles: The following are the job profile that an MBA Marketing graduate might look at when he goes into the
corporate.

• Marketing manager: Job profile includes servicing and managing an ongoing relationship with the clients. The
marketing manager has to utilize all his skills like basic marketing skills, consumer satisfaction and retention, market
strategy etc. This position requires a good insight on the market and its emerging trends and also customer
management.
• Brand manager: The brand manager is responsible for the promotion and positioning activities of the brand for the
client. This will include advertising, media management, market research activities and the like.
• Market research analyst: The first opportunity to get a good understanding of the marketing is that of a market
research analyst. It is their job to gather and analyse relevant data to design a marketing strategy for their clients.
He is responsible for design, implementation and market analysis and provides support for the development of
business strategies and plans for contributing to the business. The research can be done on phone, mail or internet
surveys to access consumer preference. It can also be done by focused group discussions or interview with the
potential target market. He also helps in predicting future sales according to the past and the present market trends.
• Sales manager: A sales manager is responsible for a multitude of activities like providing effective customer service
and Monitoring Schemes in retail trade and distributors and reporting competitor activity, assessing and fixing sales
targets, developing and monitoring business development and the like. They appoint distributors and plan sales
outlets.
• Media Planning: Media Planning involves designing a plan that shows how advertising time and space in selected
media and which vehicles contribute to the achievement of marketing objectives in an advertising campaign. It is a
tool that allows the advertiser to select the most appropriate media to communicate the message in sufficient
frequency towards the maximum number of potential customers at the lowest cost.
• Product management: A product manager is responsible for the profitability and market growth of a product line.
They typically coordinate and oversee a number of diverse divisions of a corporation to ensure the efficient and
timely flow of a product to market.
• Internet Marketing: This profile caters to the emerging internet market which has grown to be a massive field
worldwide with tremendous opportunities. Profiles in fields such as account management, client relations with
internet marketing firms are obvious entry points. Candidates are also finding a great amount of openings in vendor
management functions of corporations where the key tasks to select and manage the entire spectrum of internet
marketing service providers. Social media marketing, pay-per-click search engine marketing, search engine
optimization, web content writing etc. are other fields that an internet savvy MBA marketing graduate can look
forward to.

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
25
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

MBA in Finance Management

Financial Management means the efficient and effective management of money (funds) in such a manner as to
accomplish the objectives of the organization. It includes how to raise the capital, how to allocate it i.e. capital budgeting.
Not only about long term budgeting but also how to allocate the short term resources like current assets. It also deals
with the dividend policies of the shareholders.
Some of the courses that an applicant can go through during Finance Management are:
• Security Analysis and Portfolio Management
• Merchant Banking and Financial Services
• International Trade Finance
• Strategic Financial Management
• Corporate Finance
• Derivative Management
• Risk Management
• Micro and Macro Economics
• Mergers and Acquisitions
• Capital Management

Industry Options after Finance Management: There is a wide range of sector that a finance manager can look
forward to for e.g.: Banking and financial institutions, brokerage firms, mutual funds, investment banking firms.

The Profiles: The profiles that a Finance Management Graduate typical looks at are:

• Banking: This sector has become common and popular these days. With the advent of private banks and increasing
competition among them, job opportunities in banks have increased. The potential openings are in the loan
instrument (corporate and private banking), credit and risk management etc.
• Corporate Finance: They help in making decision regarding funding and fund allocations. This team helps in making
decisions on investment projects, raising capital via debt or equity, restricting debt of the organization and making
capital expenses.
• Investment Banking: This is a specific division of baking related to creation of capital of other companies. They
provide guidance to issue securities and stock placement.
• Risk Management: Investing money in any instrument involves some amount of risk. The higher the return on
investment, higher the risk. In risk management, the manager is required to allocate funds and investments to
reduce risk for investor by diversifying the portfolio of investment in order to get desired return.
• Financial Analysis: Financial analyst will use various analytical tools to analyse the balance sheet, profit and loss
accounts and cash flow statement. This helps in strategy planning and planning for finances.
• Relationship Management: This role per se mixes marketing & finance roles. The top clients for any firm are the
most important ones going by the 80:20 rule. To manage those 20 percent clients and more so the High Net worth
Individuals (HNIs), relationship management profiles are crafted. The task of these RMs is to more or less liaison with
the current customers and increase their share of investment by offering them logically similar or logical extension
products and ensure their sustained interest in the product.
• Treasury Manager: This is more like the investment portfolio manager for the internal finances of the organisation.

MBA in Human Resource Management

Human resource management (HRM, or simply HR) is the management process of an organization's workforce, or human
resources. It is responsible for the selection, training, assessment and rewarding of employees, while also overseeing
organizational leadership and culture and ensuring compliance with employment and labour laws.
Most of the organization will have a department which is responsible to manage the company’s policies and schemes as
well as manage their employees. Hence, Human resource management finds its application in both, public and private
sector.
Some of the courses taken up in HR Management are:
• Organizational Behaviour
• Performance Management Systems
• Competency Mapping and Assessment
• Training and Development
• Labour Laws and Industrial Relations
• Human Resource Planning
• Organizational theory
• Talent Management

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
26
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

Industry Options after HR Management: As far as the industry options are concerned, HR managers are required in
almost all industries. Major recruiters are the banking sector (ICICI, HDFC, HSBC, Axis etc.), IT Sector (Infosys, TCS,
Cognizant, etc.), HR Consultancies (Ernst & Young, Deloitte, Mercer, Towers Watson, PwC Consulting) etc.
HR Managers are also required in Public sector in organizations such as Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL), National
Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), and Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) etc.

The Profiles: Candidates having MBA in Human Resource Management can find lucrative opportunities in private
companies. They can work as HR Manager in these companies and manage the employees belonging to that company.
Under the HR functions, there can be subdivisions such as

• Manpower planning – Recruitment, training & allocation of resources to respective vacancies, lies with the HR
department. If we consider an example of a Tata Consulting Services – a 3 lakh plus employee organisation – and the
fact that IT sector works on a 10-12 percent “bench strength” – the quantum of the task is clearly visible. The fact
that HR has to plan & execute manpower plans with at least a half a year plan in place as majority of their recruits is
through entry level software engineers and for the same they have to follow a talent acquisition plan on a college to
college basis / university to university basis.
• Training & Development – The most important thing that is to be taken care of, is the right environment for the
employee to prosper. That starts with the induction of an employee into an organisation – cultural, behavioural as
well as technical induction. For the same, an initial training module has to be in place.
• Manpower allocation – Acquiring of resources & training & development is important, but allocating the right
manpower to the right place is equally important else the initial investment goes waste.
• Performance Management Systems – Defining the right Key Result Areas and Key Performance Indicators gives
an employee clear ideas as to what to and how to take things forward. The more the clarity, better is the output.
• Appraisals – Year end cycles lead to Performance assessment / appraisals. This also defines the growth prospects –
role wise & monetarily – so that employees have clarity on how to take things ahead year after year and to get the
alignment with the organisation in place.
• Grievance Handling – Every workplace has its set of grievances – manpower / bad boss / work life balance /
compensation / training related grievances. A neutral body that addresses these grievances is a mandatory need of
every organisation.
• Separation Transitions & Exits – The roles include: getting the transition smooth, getting the right knowledge
management documentation in place, getting a replacement, getting an exit interview and a feedback mechanism.

MBA in Operations Management

Operations management is an area of management concerned with overseeing, designing and controlling the process
of production and redesigning business operations in the production of goods or services. It involves the responsibility of
ensuring that business operations are efficient in terms of using as few resources as needed, and effective in terms of
meeting customer requirements. It is concerned with managing the process that converts inputs (in the forms
of materials, labour, and energy) into outputs (in the form of goods and/or services).
Operations not only make sure the daily processes and functions run smoothly but also take care of the production of the
business. They strive to improve efficiency of resource use and personnel, while maintaining the quality their customers
require.
Some of the courses that are included in MBA – Operation Management are:
• Operations Research
• Operational Strategy and Control
• Material Management
• Six Sigma
• Project Management
• Supply Chain Management
• Procurement Management
• Warehouse Management
• Project Risk/Cost Management
• Enterprise resource Planning

Industry Options after Operations Management: The Sectors that come for Placement Opportunity come from a
large range from manufacturing (Ashok Leyland, GE Energy, Telcon, Tata Chemicals etc.), Consulting (Bristlecone,
Deloitte, PwC, etc.), IT/ITES (Amazon, Capgemini, IBM, Infosys, etc.) and Mining & Logistics (Rio Tinto), Logistics (GATI).

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
27
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

The Profiles: Broadly, the role of an Operations Manager can be classified as:

• Quality Management: Operation Manager ensures that the quality of product and service that the client receives is
of acceptable quality. This will require him to coordinate with quality assurance personnel and also the clients.
• Budget management: The budget for procurement of raw material, transportation of raw material, production,
packaging etc. is obtained by the operations manager. He gets the necessary approval from the finance team. He
also ensures that the quality of product is managed during the same time.
• Operational strategizing: The operations manager plays a key role in chalking out the overall operational policy.
For example, the operations manager could determine the types of equipment needed to fulfil the organizational
quality policy. The operational manager could also formulate suggestions on how to make an optimum use of the
resources of the organization (for example: Enterprise Resource Planning and Supply Chain Management).
• Manage support services: Each support service has its own set of capabilities and key responsibility areas that
finally contribute to the organizational goal. The operations manager plays a vital role in maximizing the output of the
various support services such as, IT, finance and HR. For example, the manager may—in consultation with the IT
services personnel—procure Servers that helps the organization store huge amount of confidential data in a secure
manner.
• Managing third party relations: An organization may make use of different third party services, such as security,
administrative assistants, and office conveyance. The operational manager needs to ensure that standard procedures
are followed when third parties are hired. Also, the manager needs to ensure that the necessary administrative and
legal formalities are completed. Lastly, the manager ensures that the third party properly executes the agreed terms
and conditions.
• The different job title for the Operations Manager can be: The President, Consultant, Senior Delivery Manager,
Strategic Planning Manager, Supervisor-Supplier Development, Director of Field Operations, Program Manager,
Senior Solution Architect, and Manager-Supplier Quality Systems.

MBA in Information Technology (IT)

IT management is the discipline whereby all of the information technology resources of a firm are managed in
accordance with its needs and priorities. These resources may include tangible investments like computer hardware,
software, data, networks and data centre facilities, as well as the staff who are hired to maintain them.
The courses that are taken up in IT management are:
• Network Protocols
• Modelling with Spread sheets and VBA
• User Interface Design
• Advance Software Engineering
• Software Development Methodologies
• Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
• E-commerce and E-Business
• Management Information Systems
• Information Security Models
• Software Configuration Management

Industry Options after IT Management: Most of the companies that come for placements here are IT and ITeS
(Information Technologies and IT enabled services) companies like Microsoft, Satyam, TCS, TCS e-serve, Wipro, i-Flex
Solution, Sify, ITC Infotech, Google, Cognizant Technologies, IBM etc. Also Telecom Companies like Idea Cellular, Orange
Business Solutions, Vodafone etc. and Banking and Finance Companies like HDFC, HSBC, ICICI etc. also come for
placements for MBA – IT.
Information Technology (IT) or Management Information Systems (MIS) has recently emerged as one of the most
important MBA specializations. For those who have IT background (as a software engineer or IT graduate), MBA IT can
open up positions like System Analyst, Technical Systems Manager, Technical Consultant, and Business Development
Manager - all the way up to the position of the Chief Information Officer (CIO) or Chief Technology Officer (CTO). IT,
ecommerce and related industries often offer good placements to MBA IT graduates.

The Profiles: In the high-tech environment of today, MBA IT opens up several career opportunities for a candidate as:

• Business Analyst: where you can interact between customer requirements and document them properly for
developers.
• Pre-Sales or Business Development Manager: where you prepare presentations for clients and basically,
translate technical innovations of your company in terms understandable by laymen.
• Sales or ERP Consultant: where you deal with customizing ERP solutions (like SAP) to suit client requirements.
• Project Manager: where you are directly involved with implementing a project, right from planning and estimation
to managing resources to time management.

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
28
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

• QA Manager: where you are responsible for assessing and controlling the quality of the software solutions being
provided to clients.
• Functional or Process Consultant: where you configure and re-configure processes and chalk out verticals to
complete efficient operations within an IT company.
Management professionals with technical skills gain tremendous respect among their peers in today's world.

Specialised Management Programmes

MBA in Rural management

A vast majority of Indian population lives in rural areas of the country and this fact is not likely to change soon. The
Indian village is slowly witnessing a social as well as an economic change. Hence, there is a need today with managers
who not only can understand the business aspects and opportunities in a rural area but also are sensitive towards the
rural population.
Management courses in Rural Management are few, but they work towards a noble cause. The course aims to organize,
control and handle human resource and properly utilize this for the development of rural economies.
The courses available in a rural management programme are:
• Rural research methods
• Economic analysis for Rural management
• Computer application for Rural management
• Social Entrepreneurship and Ethical leadership
• Development and Rural Communication
• Geo-informatics for Rural Management
• Rural Marketing & E-business for Rural Enterprise

Industry Options after Rural Management: The sectors which come for placements in a Rural Management course are
cooperatives and associated organizations (GCMMF, NDDB, Mother Dairy etc.), Government & Rural development state
agencies (Kerala, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra etc.), Non-Governmental organizations (Magma Fincorp, IFMR,
NABFINS etc.), Agriculture and Technology (ITC, e-Choupal, Godrej, Arvind Mills etc.). For any organization working in
the rural sector, there are very few levels of jobs. You may enter as a junior Officer or Management Trainee and based on
your performance, you might advance to become a Project Manager. The job profile of a rural manager is fast changing.
Modern management tools are modified to fit the rural sector. Hence, a rural manager is required to be as tech savvy as
any other corporate manager.

The Profiles: The profile offered by the same is that of a “Rural Manager”. The key responsibilities for the same are:
• As a rural manager, you are required to understand the people that you are to work with, their culture, ethos, beliefs,
problems and need for development. Based on the same, you will devise and implement management systems that
could help in structuring and streamlining rural development projects.
• Rural Managers are required to interact with the rural populace and research rural systems of livelihood. This will
help him in identifying the areas in which the system needs intervention or improvement. He is also responsible to
sustain these developments.
• As a Rural Manager you will be working in various rural organizations like cooperative firms, NGOs, and joint sector
firms in association with the government.
• You will set up and run these firms and thereby help the rural development process.
• In these firms, you may be working in areas like micro finance (giving small sum of money to the farmer), marketing
of products manufactured by cooperatives, finance and accounting, raising funds to run the organization etc.
• Planning and information systems, production management, inventory management and logistics, marketing,
finance, accounts, human resource development, rural development and natural resources management are other
areas of work.

MBA in Agri-Business Management

With Agriculture and allied sectors like forestry and fishing accounting for 17% of the GDP of India and employing 51% of
the total workforce (as per economic data of 2014), Agri-Business management is emerging as a huge potential
employment market. The MBA Agri-business program is thus a response to this growing need for professionals, who can
contribute to and, engineer the agri-business revolution.
Subjects covered in Agri-Business management are:
• Micro Finance and Social Entrepreneurship
• Agri Import Management
• Agri Sector Studies
• Processing and Value chain in Agri Business
• Energy Management in Agri Business
• Agri Laws and Agri Finance
• Agri Retail and Quality Management for Agri Business
CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
29
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

Industry Options after Agri-Business Management: Typical employers for agriculture manages are FMCG companies,
Agri-Equipment Manufacturing companies, large farm estates, research institutes, farm management consultancy firms,
food processing companies, The Depart of Environment, Goods and Rural Affairs, etc.

The Profiles: The Potential Profile that an MBA Agri business Manager will be looking at is of an “Agriculture Manager”.
The core responsibility for the same are:
• forward planning
• making policy decisions
• budgeting and maintaining accurate financial records
• organizing sales and purchases of livestock, farm equipment, crops and agricultural products
• handling paperwork and keeping administrative records
• recruiting, training/instructing and supervising farm workers
• making sure that work progresses satisfactorily
• ensuring compliance with government regulations and health and safety standards
• keeping an up-to-date knowledge of pests and diseases
• ensuring that the farm is profitable and meets projected financial targets
• organizing maintenance/repair of farm property, equipment and machinery
• advertising and marketing farm products
Variations in workloads relate to seasonal demands - some unsocial hours may be necessary during busy periods
(E.g.: during harvesting or lambing) and managers will be expected to deal with emergencies.

MBA in Media and Communications

In the past decade, Media, also known as the fourth estate, has gained importance in maintaining the health of
democracy. It has also become important for any business to use marketing and advertising strategy to enhance and
update knowledge of new product or services which in turn will lead to overall success of any business.
The purpose of media management is to provide tools to a manager to tackle a company’s communications and public
image by optimizing the use of the various media of media instruments such as print, social media, events, etc. They will
be equipped to handle the entire integrated media marketing process of any business, which includes:
• Market research
• Formulating brand and marketing strategies
• Evaluating media options
• Analysing sales and distribution channels
• Advertising and branding events
• Data and information analysis
Some of the courses in Media and communication management (apart from the core marketing courses) are:
• Media economics
• Culture and communications
• Product or Brand Management
• Media agenda setting and Media Audit
• Decoding consumer categories and brands
• Strategic audience research and media planning
• Branding through Films/Music/Art/ Theatre.

Industry Options after Media and Communication Management: The Top media companies that look for Media and
communications managers are: Ad agencies (Mudra, Ogilvy and Mather, JWT etc.), event organizing companies,
Television networks (Viacom, NDTV, Zee TV, BBC, and TV 18 etc.)

The Profiles: Depending on the specialization that a student opts for, the profiles that an MBA in Media and
communications can look forward to are Sr. Manager (Branding through Events), Special Correspondent or even a Public
Relations Officer.

MBA in International Business

With the advent of globalization, various organizations have widened their horizon and are looking to tap in international
markets. Hence, they need managers who can understand local markets and products and integrate them with
international markets. An MBA in International Business imparts a student with the knowledge that is required to
understand the nuances of International Business. This includes understanding of WTO, trade barrier, export-import
policies and so on.

Multinational companies and international trade organizations require MBA graduates with an International Business
degree. Some of the fields in which MBA in International Business offers jobs are international sales, global distribution
networks, international management and international trade. Most of the companies offer handsome salary packages

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
30
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

along with other lucrative facilities. The job requires professional competence and also knowledge of the latest standards
and legislations in international business.

Industry Options after International Business Management: After completing this course, candidates can look
forward to jobs in export companies, logistics companies, merchandisers, dry ports, custom clearing houses, special
economic zones, transportation companies, post-shipment quality control lab public sector houses, international banks
and companies having subsidiaries in other countries. Candidates who are able to develop their exposure in international
trade legislation, negotiation and research in international trade can surely to find positions in WTO, UNCTAD, IMF, World
Bank, Regional Trade Blocks and other trade associations.

Some of the non-conventional courses offered in MBA International Business are:

• Foreign trade policy
• Global Strategic Management
• Export Import Management
• Foreign Language (Spanish, Chinese, German etc.)
• International Commercial Law
• International marketing

The Profiles: Here is a list of some job profiles that a candidate can look forward to:
• Export managers and executives
• International business consultant
• Consultant
• International Business Development Manager
• International Marketing Manager
• International Finance Manager
• Global Business Manager

Overseas Opportunities: The overseas opportunities are unlimited and provide wide exposure globally. Most MBA IB
postgraduates are absorbed by international marketing departments of organizations engaged in exports, namely,
multinational manufacturers, like automobile companies, electronics and computer companies, and consumer durables
manufacturers. Since most of the international trade is carried out through port and aviation, these professionals can also
find opportunities in airlines, cargo, and global shipping companies.

MA in Social Sciences
A postgraduate course in Social Sciences equips candidates to learn the management pedagogy with a strong social
sciences base grounded in field reality. It develops candidates into professionally competent and socially sensitive
management graduates, fully equipped to take on the challenges of the corporate world.

Industry Options after MA in Social Science: The primary option lies with getting into an NGO and serving a cause.
Another equally lucrative option is that of getting into a corporate for a role in the Corporate Social Responsibility
department and again serving the purpose of channelizing wealth for developmental purposes. Graduates from such a
course occupy leadership positions across a wide spectrum of industries and sectors including IT/ITeS, Banking and
Finance, Manufacturing, Retail and Management Consultancy.

The courses included in Social Sciences are:

• Social work with Children and Families
• Social work with Criminology and Justice
• Social work with Community Organization and Development Practice
• Social work with Dalit and Tribal Studies and Action
• Social work with Livelihood and Social Entrepreneurship
• Social work with Mental Health
• Social work with Women-centric Practice

Some of the companies in which such graduates include corporate such as Tata Motors, public sector such as Maharashtra
State Rural Livelihood Mission and numerous NGOs such as Deepak Foundation, Azim Premji Foundation, Care India,
Action Aid etc.

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
31
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

KNOWING INDIA

India has witnessed the influence of a numerous invaders throughout its history. The Aryans were the first to invade the
subcontinent in ancient times. Their influence is known as the Vedic period. India went through a lot of socio - political
changes in the following years. A number of dynasties ruled India for the next millennia. The Delhi Sultanates established
th
the Muslim rule in India followed by rule of Mughals starting with Babar. In the 18 century, the decline in the Mughal
rule shifted the balance of power to the British East India Company. The East India Company established its authority in
India as political power with the victory at plassey(1757) and Buxor(1764). The Great Mutiny of 1857 changed the course
of Indian history once again. The British Crown took over the administration, until the India gained independence in 1947.

India’s independence was marked by tumultuous events, such as the partition and the outbreak of the first Indo-Pak war.
th
The Constitution of India came to effect on the 26 January 1950, and India became a sovereign, socialist, secular,
democratic republic. The first election was held in the year 1952, and the Congress won with a large majority. India
fought a short war with China in 1962 over territorial disputes on the Himalayan border. Following the death of Nehru in
1964, Gulzarilal Nanda became the PM (in charge) for 13 days and then Lal Bahadur Shastri became the PM of India.

In 1965, India fought the second Indo - Pak war. Pakistan suffered a stinging defeat and the Tashkent Agreement was
signed declaring the end of the war. The sudden death of Lal Bahadur Shastri in Tashkent led to the rise of Indira Gandhi
as one of the most prominent prime ministers of the country. In 1971, Indira Gandhi was re-elected with huge majority.
The third Indo - Pak war was fought for the liberation of the East Pakistan, and formation of Bangladesh.

In 1975, President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed declared an emergency, on the, advice of PM Indira Gandhi. Strikes and
protests by the anti-Congress forces ripped the country, voicing out their dissent against the dictatorship of Mrs. Gandhi.
The emergency continued until the year 1977. In the election of 1977, the Congress lost its seat of power to Janata Party,
which was a coalition of anti-congress parties. In 1980, the Indira came back to power with landslide victory in the polls.

In 1999, a coalition led by the BJP came to power as the National Democratic Alliance. It was also the first coalition
government at the Centre to last a full five year term. India is now well on its way to be an economic superpower. India
has also emerged as one of the leading players on the global geopolitical scene with major powers (USA, UK, Russia)
vying for closer political and economic relations with New Delhi.

Timeline: A chronology of key events

• 1947: End of British rule and partition of sub-continent into mainly Hindu India and Muslim-majority state of Pakistan.
• 1947-48: Hundreds of thousands die in widespread communal bloodshed after partition. Millions displaced.
• 1948: Mahatma Gandhi assassinated. War with Pakistan over Kashmir.
• 1951-52: Congress Party wins first general elections under leadership of Jawaharlal Nehru.
• 1962: India loses brief border war with China.
• 1964: Death of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
• 1965: Second war with Pakistan over Kashmir.
• 1966: Nehru’s daughter Indira Gandhi becomes prime minister.
• 1971: Third war with Pakistan over creation of Bangladesh, formerly East Pakistan.
• 1974: India’s first nuclear explosion.
• 1975: PM Indira Gandhi declares state of emergency after being found guilty of electoral malpractice.
• 1975-1977: Nearly 1,000 political opponents imprisoned and programme of compulsory birth control introduced.
• 1977: Indira Gandhi’s Congress Party loses general elections.
• 1980: Indira Gandhi returns to power heading Congress party splinter group, Congress (Indira).
• 1984: Troops storm Golden Temple - Sikhs’ holiest shrine - to flush out Sikh militants pressing for self-rule.
• 1984: Indira Gandhi assassinated, following which her son, Rajiv, takes over as the Prime Minister of India.
• 1987: India deploys troops for peacekeeping operation in Sri Lanka’s ethnic conflict.
• 1989: Falling public support leads to Congress defeat in general election.
• 1990: Indian troops withdrawn from Sri Lanka.
• 1990: Separatist groups aided and abetted by Pakistan begin campaign of violence in Kashmir.
• 1991: Rajiv Gandhi assassinated by suicide bomber sympathetic to Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tigers.
• 1991: Economic reform programme begun by Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao.
• 1996: Congress suffers worst ever electoral defeat as BJP emerges as largest single party.
• 1998: BJP forms coalition government under Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.
• 1998: India carries out nuclear tests, leading to widespread international condemnation.
• 1999 Feb: Vajpayee makes historic bus trip to Pakistan to meet Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif and to sign bilateral Lahore
peace declaration.
• 1999 May: Tension in Kashmir leads to brief war with Pakistan-backed forces in the icy heights in Kargil.

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
32
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

• 2001 Dec: Suicide squad attacks parliament in New Delhi, killing several police. Five gunmen die in the assault.
• 2001 Dec: India, Pakistan mass troops on common border amid mounting fears of a looming war.
• 2002 Jan: India successfully test-fires a nuclear-capable ballistic missile – the Agni 1.
• 2002 July: Scientist and architect of India’s missile programme APJ Abdul Kalam is elected president.
• 2004 May: Surprise victory for Congress Party in general elections. Dr. Manmohan Singh is sworn in as prime minister.
• 2004 Sept: India, along with Brazil, Germany and Japan, launches an application for a permanent seat on the UNSC.
• 2006 March: US and India sign a nuclear agreement during a visit by US President George W Bush. India gets access
to US civilian nuclear technology while agreeing to a greater scrutiny of its nuclear programme.
• 2007 July Pratibha Patil becomes first woman to be elected president of India.
• 2008 Oct India successfully launches its first mission to the moon, the unmanned lunar probe Chandrayaan-1.
• 2008 November - Nearly 200 people are killed and hundreds injured in a series of coordinated attacks by Pak trained
gunmen on the main tourist and business area in the country’s financial capital Mumbai.
• 2009 May Resounding general election victory gives governing Congress-led alliance of PM Manmohan Singh an
enhanced position in parliament, only 11 seats short of an absolute majority.
• 2009 Dec: The government says it will allow a new state, called Telangana, to be carved out of part of the southern
state of Andhra Pradesh. Violent protests both for and against the new state break out.
• 2010 May: The sole surviving gunman of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, Ajmal Amir Kasab, is convicted of murder, waging
war on India and possessing explosives.
• 2010 September: Allahabad High Court rules that disputed holy site of Ayodhya should be divided between Hindus and
Muslims
• 2011 - Anna Hazare led anti-corruption protests across the country. The Lokpal Bill was introduced in Parliament but
protests on its scope continued as the year drew to a close.
• 2011 - 2G telecom corruption in commonwealth games.
• 2012 December - Nirbhaya gangrape shook the country’s moral fabric.
• 2012 - Colgate scam
• 2013 November - On November 5, at 14:38 hours Mangalyan was launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre located
on Sriharikota Island, AP.
• 2014 March - India was declared Polio free.
• 2014 - Supreme Court recognized transgenders as a third gender.
• 2015 - NITI Aayog replaced planning commission.
• 2015 - Yakub Memon found guilty.
• 2016 - GST Bill passed.
• 2016 November - Demonetization took place and Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 denomination notes were scrapped.
• 2017 July - Implementation of GST.
• 2017 August - Right to Privacy declared fundamental right.
• 2018 January - Four senior judges of the Supreme Court held a press conference to address what they perceived as a
crisis in the Judiciary.
• 2018 September - Supreme Court decriminalized homosexuality by partially striking down Section 377 of the Indian
Penal Code.
• 2019 February - The terrorist attack in Pulwama resulted in the deaths of 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF)
personnel. The Indian Government responded by Balakot airstrike on a terrorist training camp inside Pakistan.
• 2019 April - 7 phase General Election to constitute the 17th Lok Sabha.

Major milestones in the history of modern India

End of British rule; partition; integration of princely states

The feeling of nationalism had started growing in the minds of Indians as early as the middle of the nineteenth century
but it grew more with the formation of the Indian national Congress in 1885. By the 1920’s the mood of the national
movement had become more aggressive. With Mahatma Gandhi at the helm of affairs the Congress launched many
movements against the British rule. With the pace of developments all over the world (after the Second World War), the
British came to realize that it was not possible to rule India anymore and they decided to quit. The Muslim League had
vowed for a separate nation, Pakistan. The league was concerned that a united independent India would be dominated by
Hindus.

The partition of the Subcontinent, however, led to severe rioting and population movement as Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus
found themselves on the wrong side of the partitioned provinces of Punjab and Bengal. In the aftermath of Partition, the
princely states of India, which had been given the choice whether to accede to India or Pakistan or to remain outside
them by the Indian Independence Act 1947, were all incorporated into one or other of the new dominions. The rulers of
the princely states were not uniformly enthusiastic about integrating their domains into independent India. Bhopal,
Travancore and Hyderabad announced that they did not intend to join either dominion.

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
33
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

A number of factors contributed to the collapse of this initial resistance and to nearly all princely states agreeing to
accede to India. An important factor was the lack of unity among the princes. The key factors that led the states to accept
integration into India were, however, the efforts of Vallabhbhai Patel and V. P. Menon, who were respectively the political
and administrative heads of the Indian Government’s States Department, which was in charge of relations with the
princely states. This event formed the cornerstone of Patel’s popularity in post-independence era and even today, he is
remembered as the man who united India. He is, in this regard, compared to Otto von Bismarck of Germany, who did the
same thing in 1860s. Gandhi had once told Patel “the problem of the States is so difficult that you alone can solve it”. He
was considered a statesman of integrity with the practical acumen and resolve to accomplish a monumental task.

In May 1947, Patel began lobbying the princes, attempting to make them receptive towards dialogue with the future
Government and trying to forestall potential conflicts. He convinced the princes of 565 states of the impossibility of
independence from the Indian republic, especially in the presence of growing opposition from their subjects. He proposed
favourable terms for the merger, including creation of privy purses for the descendants of the rulers.

While encouraging the rulers to act with patriotism, Patel did not rule out force, setting a deadline of 15 August 1947 for
them to sign the instrument of accession document. All but three of the states willingly merged into the Indian union—
only Jammu and Kashmir, Junagadh, and Hyderabad did not fall into his basket. Patel’s use of force and diplomacy made
rulers of these states see the writing on the wall. They either fled the country or agreed to accede, albeit reluctantly. The
world’s largest democracy and the second most populous country, India emerged as a major power in the 1990’s. It is
militarily strong, has major cultural influence and is a fast-growing and powerful economy. A nuclear-armed state, it
carried out tests in the 1970s and again in the 1990s in defiance of world opinion.

Partition, dispute and war

In 1947, the British dominion of India came to an end with the creation of two new nations, India and Pakistan. Each of
the 565 Indian princely states had to decide which of the two new nations to join: secular India or Islamic Pakistan.
Jammu and Kashmir, which had a predominantly Muslim population and a Hindu ruler, was the largest of these
autonomous states and bordered both modern countries. Its ruler was the Dogra King (or Maharaja) Hari Singh. Hari
Singh preferred to remain independent and sought to avoid the stress placed on him by either India and Pakistan by
playing each against the other.

According to the Indian theory, Pakistani tribals (Kabailis) from North Waziristan, aided and supported by Pakistani
soldiers, entered Kashmir to force the Maharajah out of power as he had avoided a vote to decide Kashmir's fate during
partition. The Maharajah was not able to withstand the invasion; he decided to cede Kashmir to India. The Instrument of
Accession was accepted by Lord Mountbatten, Governor General of IndiaOctober 27, 1947. The Indian troops then
marched into Kashmir.

However, the Pakistani theory contests this narrative. It is asserted, rather, that Indian troops marched towards Kashmir
amidst the tensions resulting from the indecision of the Maharajah. This ultimately forced the Maharajah to accede with
India, whether willingly or unwillingly is still unclear. After hearing about Indian soldiers pouring into Kashmir Mohammad
Ali Jinnah (the founding father of Pakistan) ordered the then head of the Pakistani Army, who was a British officer, to stop
the undemocratic takeover of Kashmir by sending his troops to the area. This order was denied by the General on the
grounds that it would have constituted an attack motion against his own British counterparts in the Indian Army.
Following this, the kabaili tribesmen of northern Pakistan attacked and took control of over 1/3rd of Kashmir from the
Indian army.

Indo-Pakistan War of 1947

The irregular Pakistani tribals made rapid advances into Kashmir (Baramulla sector) after the rumours that the Maharaja
was going to decide for the union with India. Maharaja Hari Singh and Prime Minister Sheikh Abdullah of Kashmir asked
the Government of India to intervene. However, the Government of India pointed out that India and Pakistan had signed
an agreement of non-intervention (maintenance of the status quo) in Jammu and Kashmir; and although tribal fighters
from Pakistan had entered Jammu and Kashmir, there was, until then, no iron-clad legal evidence to unequivocally prove
that the Government of Pakistan was officially involved. It would have been illegal for India to unilaterally intervene (in an
open, official capacity) unless Jammu and Kashmir officially joined the Union of India, at which point it would be possible
to send in its forces and occupy the remaining parts.

The Maharaja and Prime Minister desperately needed the Indian military's help when the Pakistani tribal invaders reached
the outskirts of Srinagar. Just before they entered Srinagar, negotiations for acceding Jammu and Kashmir to India in
exchange for receiving military aid were completed between Maharaja Hari Singh, Sheikh Abdullah and Jawaharlal Nehru.
The agreement which ceded Jammu and Kashmir to India was signed by the Maharaja and Lord Mountbatten.
Pakistan claims that the Maharaja and Prime Minister acted under duress, and that the accession of Kashmir to India is
invalidated by a previous agreement between India and Pakistan, to maintain the "status quo".

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
34
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

The resulting war, the First Kashmir War, lasted until 1948, when India moved the issue to the UN Security Council. The
UN previously had passed resolutions setting up for the monitoring of the conflict in Kashmir. The committee it set up was
called the United Nations Committee for India and Pakistan. Following the set-up of the UNCIP the UN Security Council
passed resolution 47 April 21, 1948. The resolution imposed that an immediate cease-fire takes place and said that
Pakistan should withdraw all presence and have no say in Jammu and Kashmir politics. It stated that India should retain a
minimum military presence and stated "that the final disposition of the State of Jammu and Kashmir will be made in
accordance with the will of the people expressed through the democratic method of a free and impartial plebiscite
conducted under the auspices of the United Nations". The cease fire took place December 31, 1948.

At that time, the Indian and Pakistani governments agreed to hold the plebiscite but neither side actually removed its
troops. The plebiscite never took place, leading the UN Security Council to pass several more resolutions which reaffirmed
its earlier resolution.

Aftermath of war
Under the leadership of Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad, a Constituent Assembly of Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir
(which was also its Legislative Assembly) had ratified the State's accession to India and had adopted a constitution
calling for a perpetual merger of the state with India. This constitution was promulgated on 26 January1957, making
Jammu and Kashmir as the only state of India to have a separate constitution (much to the displeasure of many
nationalists in India).

Pakistan still asks for a plebiscite in Kashmir under the UN. However, India is no longer willing to allow a plebiscite as it
claims that the situation has changed and that a large number of the Hindus who once lived in Kashmir were forced to
move out due to threat from separatist activities. It also claims that Pakistan or China are not willing to demilitarize areas
occupied by them. This is mentioned as one of the conditions at the UN.
The ceasefire line is known as the Line of Control and is the pseudo-border between India and Pakistan in most of the
Kashmir region.

Jammu and Kashmir: Special Status

The State of Jammu and Kashmir holds a special position under the Constitution of India. Though it is one of the States
specified in the First Schedule and forms a part of the territory of India as defined in Article 1, all the provisions of the
Constitution of India relating to the States do not apply to Jammu and Kashmir. The State alone of all the States of the
Indian Union has its own Constitution.

Article 370
Article 370 under Part XXI of the Indian Constitution (Temporary, Transitional and Special Provisions) accords special
status to the State of Jammu and Kashmir. It was incorporated in the Constitution because, under the circumstances in
which the State acceded to India, the Government of India gave a commitment to the effect that people of Jammu and
Kashmir, acting through their Constituent Assembly, were to finally determine the Constitution of the State. Article 370
stipulates that the power of the Parliament to make laws for Jammu and Kashmir is limited to those matters in the
Union List and the Concurrent List which corresponds to matters specified in the Instrument of Accession and such
other matters which the President may specify with the concurrence of the Government of the State.
Clause 3 of Article 370 provides that the President can, by public notification, declare this Article to cease to be
operative if the Constituent Assembly of the State recommends so to the President. Recently, political groups have
demanded the repeal of Article 370 so that the special status of the State is abolished. It is pointed out that the
Constituent Assembly of the State no longer exists and the President is free to act.
An appeal was filed by petitioner Kumari Vijayalakshmi Jha, against the Delhi High Court's April 11, 2017 order
dismissing the plea seeking a declaration that Article 370 is temporary in nature.
The petitioner had claimed before the high court that Article 370 was a temporary provision that had lapsed with the
dissolution of the Constituent Assembly in 1957.
The petition had said that the continuance of the temporary provision of Article 370 even after dissolution of
Constituent Assembly of J&K, and that of J&K Constitution which has never got the assent of the President of India or
Parliament or the government of India, "amounts to fraud on the basic structure of our Constitution".The Supreme
Court held in 2017 SARFAESI matter that Article 370 of the Constitution which gives special status to Jammu and
Kashmir is not a temporary provision.

Special Relationship
Some of the features of special relationship of Jammu and Kashmir with the Indian Union are as follows:
Jammu and Kashmir has its own Constitution framed by a special Constituent Assembly set up by the State. Only some
subjects on the Concurrent List can be legislated on by the Union. In the case of other States, the residuary power of
legislation belongs to Parliament, but in the case of Jammu and Kashmir, the residuary power belongs to the State
Legislature (except in certain matters for which Parliament has exclusive power, e.g., .prevention of activities relating
CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
35
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

to cession and secession). No law of preventive detention made by Parliament will extend to that State. However, by
the Constitution (Application to Jammu and Kashmir) Order, 1986, Article 249 has been extended to the State so that
it is allowed to extend the jurisdiction of Parliament to the State in national interest by passing a resolution in the
Rajya Sabha.
Parliament cannot make any law without the consent of the State Legislature relating to
(i) alteration of name or territories of the State
(ii) international treaty or agreement affecting the disposition of any part of the territory of the State. No proclamation
of an Emergency made by the President under Article 352 on the ground of armed rebellion shall have effect on the
State of Jammu and Kashmir without the State Government’s concurrence. The Union has no power to suspend the
Constitution of the State on the ground of failure to comply with the directions given by the Union.
Special rights in relation to employment, acquisition of property and settlement have been given to ‘permanent
residents’ of the State. The fundamental right of property is still guaranteed in this State. No amendment to the
Constitution of India is applicable to Jammu and Kashmir unless it is extended to it by an Order of the President under
Article 370 (i).

Reorganisation of the Indian union into smaller states

India after independence consisted of a much smaller number of states than we see today. Few states with a dominant
central government was the way the country was organised politically. However demands for creation of new states
gained ground as people felt that their aspirations were not being met by the government of the day. The movement to
create a Telugu-speaking state out of the northern portion of Madras State gathered strength in the years after
independence. Overwhelming public support for such agitations made the Central government sit up and take notice.
Such demands could no longer be suppressed by force.
• In December 1953, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru appointed the States Reorganisation Commission to prepare for
the creation of states on linguistic lines and in 1953, the 16 northern, Telugu-speaking districts of Madras State
became the new State of Andhra which was the first created purely on a linguistic basis.
• The commission created a report in 1955 recommending the reorganisation of India’s states.
• The States Reorganisation Act of 1956, which went into effect on 1 November, eliminated the distinction between
Part A, B, and C states. It also reorganised the state boundaries and created or dissolved states and union territories.
The recent creation of Telangana out of Andhra Pradesh has been fuelling new statehood movements across the country.
This has once again thrown open the debate - whether smaller states are better. The story so far of the new states can at
best be described as a mixed bag with no concrete proof of smaller states being essentially better administered than the
bigger ones or vice-versa. Apart from historical, cultural and linguistic dimensions, the quest for a new state is
understood to be driven and shaped by two factors - the development aspirations of the people and the vaulting
ambitions of the politicians leading it.

Examples:
1. Jharkhand, carved out of Bihar in 2000, is a case point where the unbridled ambitions of its politicians rode
roughshod over the development aspirations of the people after it was created. There was massive opposition to it
because the Bihar politicians felt its creation would rob the parent state of the mineral, forest and industrial resources
that Jharkhand was endowed with. Jharkhand today is seen as a case study in bad governance and dreadful levels of
corruption. Their chief ministers, Madhu Koda and Shibu Soren became familiar names only because of involvement
in a multi-crore corruption scams and criminal cases.
2. Creation of the northeastern states, today marked by political corruption, unstable governments, ethnic tensions and
insurgency, hardly espouse the case for smaller states. The breaking up of Assam in seven units in the 1970’s had no
justification except the politics of tribal-ethnic identity. These states were financially unviable as almost 80 per cent
of their budgetary outlays depended on transfers from the Centre while only 20 per cent of the revenue was locally
generated.
3. Those espousing the case for smaller states also present their case with cogent arguments. They point to the
unwieldy size of some large states and the sense of alienation people living in districts far-flung from the power
centre, i.e. the state capital. Cultural identity is another reason why people demand separate states. Uttar Pradesh is
a classic example of how small states make better sense in a democracy. It is the sixth largest in terms of population
in the whole world.
4. The area now comprising Uttarakhand has prospered after being carved out of UP.
5. Gujarat is better off after being cut from the larger Bombay Presidency.
6. Punjab was split into three — Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab — and all of these are better off. Carved out of
a larger Punjab in the 1960s, Haryana and Himachal have been examples that vindicate the case for smaller states.
7. In 2014 the Andhra Pradesh reorganisation Act 2014 was approved by Indian parliament and Telangana became
India's 29th State on June 2nd, 2015.

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
36
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

Non-Aligned Movement

The Non-Aligned Movement, or NAM, is an international organization of over 100 states which consider themselves not
formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. The purpose of the organization as stated in the Havana
Declaration of 1979 is to ensure "the national independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and security of non-aligned
countries" in their "struggle against imperialism, colonialism, neo-colonialism, apartheid, Zionism, racism and all forms of
foreign aggression, occupation, domination, interference or hegemony as well as against great power and bloc politics".
They represent nearly two-thirds of the Nations’ members and comprise 55% of the world population.

Important members have included Yugoslavia, India, Egypt, Indonesia, Pakistan, Cuba, Venezuela, South Africa, Iran,
Malaysia, and, for a time, the People's Republic of China. Brazil has never been a formal member of the movement, but
the country shares many of the aims of NAM and frequently sends observers to NAM summits. While the organization was
intended to be as close an alliance as NATO or the Warsaw Pact, it has little cohesion and many of its members were
actually quite closely aligned with one or another of the great powers.

The origin of the Non-Aligned Movement

The term "Non-Alignment" itself was coined by Indian Prime Minister Nehru during his speech in 1954 in Colombo, Sri
Lanka. In this speech, Nehru described the five pillars to be used as a guide for Sino-Indian relations, which were first put
forth by the contemporaneous Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai. Called Panchsheel (five restraints), these principles would
later serve as the basis of the Non-Aligned Movement. The five principles were:
1. Mutual respect for each other's territorial integrity and sovereignty
2. Mutual non-aggression
3. Mutual non-interference in domestic affairs
4. Equality and mutual benefit
5. Peaceful co-existence

The origin of the Non-aligned movement can be traced to a conference hosted in Bandung, Indonesia in 1955 by the then
Indonesian president, Sukarno. The world's "non-aligned" nations declared their desire not to become involved in the
East-West ideological confrontation of the Cold War. Bandung marked a significant milestone for the development of NAM
as a political movement. The founding fathers of the NAM were five prominent world leaders: Nehru of India, Tito of
Yugoslavia, Sukarno of Indonesia, Nasser of Egypt and Nkrumah of Ghana. Their actions were known as The Initiative of
Five.
However it was six years later in September of 1961, through the voluntary of Josip Broz Tito, then-president of
Yugoslavia, that the first official Non-Aligned Movement Summit was held. As well as Tito and Nehru, the other prominent
world leaders instrumental in getting NAM off the ground were Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt, Sukarno of Indonesia, and
Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana.
The movement lost credibility beginning in the late 1960s when it was seen by critics to have become dominated by
states allied to the Soviet Union.

Generally NAM summits take place every three years. Countries that have hosted NAM summits include Yugoslavia,
Egypt, Zambia, Algeria, Sri Lanka, Cuba, India, Zimbabwe, Indonesia, Colombia, South Africa, and Malaysia. After each
summit, the president or prime minister of the country where the summit takes place becomes chairman of the
movement for the next three years.

India’s Polity
India, a Union of States, is a Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic with a parliamentary system of
government. The Republic is governed in terms of the Constitution, which was adopted by Constituent Assembly on 26
th
November 1949 and came into force on 26 January 1950.

The Constitution which envisages parliamentary form of government is federal in structure with unitary features. The
President of India is constitutional head of executive of the Union. Article 74(1) of the Constitution provides that there
shall be a Council of Ministers with the Prime Minister as head to aid and advise President who shall in exercise of his
functions, act in accordance with such advice. Real executive power thus vests in Council of Ministers with Prime Minister
as head. Council of Ministers is collectively responsible to the House of the People (Lok Sabha). Similarly, in states,
Governor is head of executive, but it is the Council of Ministers with Chief Minister as head in whom real executive power
vests. Council of Ministers of a state is collectively responsible to the Legislative Assembly.

The Constitution distributes legislative power between Parliament and state legislatures and provides for vesting of
residual powers in Parliament. The Constitution has provision for independence of judiciary, Comptroller and Auditor-
General, Public Service Commissions and Chief Election Commissioner.

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
37
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

The Union and Its Territory

India comprises 29 States and seven Union Territories. They are: Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar,
Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya
Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura,
Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana and West Bengal. Union Territories are: Andaman and Nicobar Islands,
Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, National Capital Territory of Delhi, Lakshadweep and Pondicherry.

Citizenship
The Constitution of India provides for a single citizenship for the whole of India. Every person who was at the
commencement of the Constitution (26 January 1950) domiciled in the territory of India and:
1. Who was born in India; or
2. Either of whose parents was born in India; or
3. Who has been ordinarily resident in India for not less than five years became a citizen of India.
The Citizenship Act, 1955, deals with matters relating to acquisition, determination and termination of Indian citizenship
after the commencement of the Constitution.

Fundamental Rights (Part III of Indian Constitution)

The Constitution offers all citizens, individually and collectively, some basic freedoms. These are guaranteed in the
Constitution in the form of eight broad categories of Fundamental Rights which are justiciable. These are as follows:
1. Right to equality: Which includes equality before law, prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion, race,
caste, gender or place of birth, and equality of opportunity in matters of employment, abolition of untouchability and
abolition of titles
2. Right to freedom: Which includes speech and expression, assembly, association or union or cooperatives,
movement, residence, and right to practice any profession or occupation (some of these rights are subject to security
of the State, friendly relations with foreign countries, public order, decency or morality), right to life and liberty,
right to education, protection in respect to conviction in offences and protection against arrest and detention in
certain cases.
3. Right against exploitation: Which prohibits all forms of forced labour, child labour and human trafficking;
4. Right to freedom of religion: Which includes freedom of conscience and free profession, practice, and propagation
of religion, freedom to manage religious affairs, freedom from certain taxes and freedom from religious instructions
in certain educational institutes.
5. Cultural and Educational rights: Preserve the right of any section of citizens to conserve their culture, language or
script, and right of minorities to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice.
6. Right to constitutional remedies: Which is present for enforcement of Fundamental Rights?
7. Right to elementary education: Which implies that any child between the age of 6 to 14 should and can be
educated.
8. Right to Information (RTI)
9. Right to Privacy

Fundamental Duties
nd
By the 42 Amendment of the Constitution, adopted in 1976, Fundamental Duties of the citizens have also been
enumerated. These enjoin upon a citizen among other things, to abide by the Constitution, to cherish and follow noble
ideals, which inspired India’s struggle for freedom, to defend the country and render national service when called upon to
do so and to promote harmony and spirit of common brotherhood transcending religious, linguistic and regional or
sectional diversities.

Directive Principles of State Policy: The Constitution lays down certain Directive Principles of State Policy, which
though not justiciable, are ‘fundamental in governance of the country’ and it is the duty of the State to apply these
principles in making laws. They are as follows:
1. The State shall strive to promote the welfare of people by securing and protecting as effectively as it may a social
order in which justice—social, economic and political—shall form in all institutions of national life.
2. The State shall direct its policy in such a manner as to secure the right of all men and women to an adequate means
of livelihood, equal pay for equal work and within limits of its economic capacity and development, to make effective
provision for securing the right to work, education and to public assistance in the event of unemployment, old age,
sickness and disablement or other cases of undeserved want.
3. The State shall also endeavour to secure to workers a living wage, humane conditions of work, a decent standard of
life and full involvement of workers in management of industries.
4. In the economic sphere, the State is to direct its policy in such a manner as to secure distribution of ownership and
control of material resources of community to sub serve the common good and to ensure that operation of economic
system does not result in concentration of wealth and means of production to common detriment.
5. The State shall promote education and economic interests of scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and other weaker
sections.
6. The State shall organize the village panchayats
CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
38
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

7. The State shall separate judiciary from executive

8. The State shall promulgate a uniform civil code for whole country
9. The State shall protect national monuments
10. The State shall promote justice on a basis of equal opportunity
11. The State shall provide free legal aid
12. The State shall protect and improve environment and safeguard forests and wildlife of the country, promote
international peace and security, just and honourable relations between nations, respect international law, treaty
obligations and settle international dispute by arbitration.

The Union
Executive: The Union executive consists of the President, the Vice-President and the Council of Ministers with the Prime
Minister as the head to aid and advise the President.

President
Election: The President is elected by members of an electoral college consisting of elected members of both Houses of
Parliament and Legislative Assemblies of the states in accordance with the system of proportional representation by
means of single transferable vote. To secure uniformity among state inter se as well as parity between the states, as a
whole, and the Union, suitable weightage is given to each vote.
Eligibility: The President must be a citizen of India, not less than 35 years of age and qualified for election as member of
the Lok Sabha.
Term: His term of office is five years and he is eligible for re-election. His removal from office is to be in accordance with
procedure prescribed in Article 61 of the Constitution. He may, by writing under his hand addressed to the Vice-President,
resign his office.

Powers
• Executive power of the Union is vested in the President and is exercised by him either directly or through officers
subordinate to him in accordance with the Constitution.
• Supreme command of defence forces of the Union also vests in him.
• The President summons, prorogues, addresses, sends messages to Parliament and dissolves the Lok Sabha
promulgates Ordinances at any time, except when both Houses of Parliament are in session.
• The President makes recommendations for introducing financial and money bills and gives assent to bills
• The President grants pardons, reprieves, respites or remission of punishment or suspends, remits or commutes
sentences in certain cases.
• When there is a failure of the constitutional machinery in a state, The President can assume to himself all or any of
the functions of the government of that state.
• The President can proclaim emergency in the country if he is satisfied that a grave emergency exists whereby
security of India or any part of its territory is threatened whether by war or external aggression or armed rebellion.

Vice-President
Election: The Vice-President is elected by members of an electoral college consisting of members of both Houses of
Parliament in accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of single transferable vote.
Eligibility: He must be a citizen of India, not less than 35 years of age and eligible for election as a member of the Rajya
Sabha.
Term: His term of office is five years and he is eligible for re-election. His removal from office is to be in accordance with
procedure prescribed in Article 67 b.
Powers: The Vice-President is ex-officio Chairman of the Rajya Sabha and acts as President when the latter is unable to
discharge his functions due to absence, illness or any other cause or till the election of a new President (to be held within
six months when a vacancy is caused by death, resignation or removal or otherwise of President). While so acting, he
ceases to perform the function of the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha.
Council of Ministers: There is a Council of Ministers, headed by the Prime Minister, to aid and advise the President in
exercise of his functions. The Prime Minister is appointed by the President who also appoints other ministers on the advice
of Prime Minister. The Council is collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha. It is the duty of the Prime Minister to
communicate to the President all decisions of Council of Ministers relating to administration of affairs of the Union and
proposals for legislation and information relating to them.
The Council of Ministers comprises Ministers who are members of Cabinet, Ministers of State (independent charge),
Ministers of State and Deputy Ministers.
Legislature: Legislature of the Union which is called Parliament consists of President and two Houses, known as Council
of States (Rajya Sabha) and House of the People (Lok Sabha). Each House has to meet within six months of its previous
sitting. A joint sitting of two Houses can be held in certain cases.

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
39
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

Rajya Sabha
Composition: The Constitution provides that the Rajya Sabha shall consist of 12 members to be nominated by the
President having special knowledge or practical experience in respect of such matters as literature, science, art and social
service; and not more than 238 representatives of the States and of the Union Territories.
Election: Elections to the Rajya Sabha are indirect
Members representing States: They are elected by elected members of legislative assemblies of the States in
accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote.
Members representing Union Territories: They are chosen in such manner as Parliament may by law prescribe.
The Rajya Sabha is not subject to dissolution; one-third of its members retire every second year.
Rajya Sabha, at present, has 245 seats. Of these, 233 members represent the States and the Union Territories and 12
members are nominated by the President.

Lok Sabha
Composition: The Lok Sabha is composed of representatives of people chosen by direct election on the basis of adult
suffrage. The maximum strength of the House envisaged by the Constitution is now 552 (530 members to represent the
States, 20 members to represent the Union Territories and not more than two members of the Anglo-Indian community
to be nominated by the President, if, in his opinion, that community is not adequately represented in the House). The
total elective membership of the Lok Sabha is distributed among the States in such a way that the ratio between the
number of seats allotted to each State and the population of the State is, as far as practicable, the same for all States.

The term of the Lok Sabha, unless dissolved earlier is five years from the date appointed for its first meeting. However,
while a Proclamation of Emergency is in operation, this period may be extended by Parliament by law for a period not
exceeding one year at a time and not extending in any case, beyond a period of six months after the Proclamation has
ceased to operate. Fourteen Lok Sabhas have been constituted so far.

The Lok Sabha at present consists of 545 members. Of these, 530 members are directly elected from the States and 13
from Union Territories while two are nominated by the President to represent the Anglo-Indian community. Following the
th
Constitution 84 Amendment Act, 2001 the total number of existing seats as allocated to various States in the Lok Sabha
on the basis of the 1971 census shall remain unaltered till the first census to be taken after the year 2026.

Qualification for Membership of Parliament

The person must be a citizen of India and not less than 30 years of age in the case of Rajya Sabha and not less than 25
years of age in the case of Lok Sabha.

Functions and Powers of Parliament

As in other parliamentary democracies, the Parliament in India has the cardinal functions of legislation which include,
1. Overseeing the administration
2. Passing of the Budget
3. Ventilation of public grievances and discussing various subjects like development plans, national policies and
international relations.
4. The distribution of powers between the Union and the States, followed in the Constitution, emphasises in many ways
the general predominance of Parliament in the legislative field.
5. Apart from a wide-range of subjects, even in normal times, the Parliament can, under certain circumstances, assume
legislative power with respect to a subject falling within the sphere exclusively reserved for the States.
6. The Parliament is also vested with powers to impeach the President and to remove the Judges of Supreme Court and
High Courts, the Chief Election Commissioner and the Comptroller and Auditor General in accordance with the
procedure laid down in the Constitution.
7. All legislations require consent of both the Houses of Parliament. In the case of money bills, however, the will of the
Lok Sabha prevails. Delegated legislation is also subject to review and control by Parliament. Besides the power to
legislate, the Constitution vests in Parliament the power to initiate amendment of the Constitution.

Important Offices
Election Commission
The Election Commission of India is an autonomous, constitutionally established federal authority responsible for
administering the electoral processes in The Republic of India. Under the supervision of the commission free and fair
elections have been held at regular intervals as per the principles enshrined in the Parliament.
The salient features of the Indian electoral system, besides adult suffrage, are:
1. it is based on geographical representation;
2. there are only single-member territorial constituencies and no functional or plural constituencies;
3. each territorial constituency elects a single representative by a simple majority vote.

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
40
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

Composition: The Election Commission consists of the Chief Election Commissioner and such other Commissioners as
the President may from time to time determine.
Qualifications: The Constitution does not specify the qualifications of the members of the Election Commission and the
President is free to appoint anyone to this office.
The Chief Election Commissioner can be removed from his office by Parliament with two-thirds majority in Lok
Sabha and Rajya Sabha on the grounds of proven misbehaviour or incapacity. Other Election Commissioners can be
removed by the President on the recommendation of the Chief Election Commissioner.
The Chief Election Commissioner and the two Election Commissioners draw salaries and allowances at par with those of
the Judges of the Supreme Court of India as per the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners
Rules.

Term: The term of the Election Commissioner and other members of the Election Commission is not fixed by the
Constitution. Generally, they hold office for a term of six years. This term can be extended by one year at a time. But no
person can continue in office beyond the age of 65 years.

Functions: The Election Commission performs the following functions.

1. It prepares electoral rolls for the elections to Parliament as well as the State Legislatures and revises the electoral
rolls.
2. The Commission can issue an order for prohibition of publication and disseminating of results of opinion polls
3. It supervises, directs and controls elections of the President, Vice-President, Parliament and State Legislatures
4. It lays down general rules for elections and issues notification of dates and schedules of election and ensures security
of nomination papers.
5. It determines the code of conduct to be observed by the parties and the candidates at the time of the elections.
6. Quasi-judicial powers: Under the Constitution, the Commission also has advisory jurisdiction in the matter of post-
election disqualification of sitting members of Parliament and State Legislatures. Further, the cases of persons found
guilty of corrupt practices at elections which come before the Supreme Court and High Courts are also referred to the
Commission for its opinion on the question as to whether such person shall be disqualified and, if so, for what period.
The opinion of the Commission in all such matters is binding on the President

T.N. Seshan:
Over the years, the Election Commission's enforcement of India's remarkably strict election laws grew increasingly lax. As
a consequence, candidates flagrantly violated laws limiting campaign expenditures. Elections became increasingly violent
cumulating in the death of 350 persons during the 1991 campaign.

The appointment of T.N. Seshan as chief election commissioner in 1991 reinvigorated the Election Commission and
curbed the illegal manipulation of India's electoral system. By cancelling or re-polling elections where improprieties had
occurred, disciplining errant poll officers, and fighting for the right to deploy paramilitary forces in sensitive areas, Seshan
forced candidates to take the Election Commission's code of conduct seriously and strengthened its supervisory
machinery. In Uttar Pradesh, where more than 100 persons were killed in the 1991 elections, Seshan succeeded in
reducing the number killed to two in the November 1993 assembly elections by enforcing compulsory deposit of all
licensed firearms, banning unauthorized vehicular traffic, and supplementing local police with paramilitary units.
Current Chief Election Commissioner - Om Prakash Rawat

Comptroller and Auditor-General

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India is an authority, established by the Constitution of India under
Chapter V, who audits all receipts and expenditure of the Government of India and the state governments, including
those of bodies and authorities substantially financed by the government.

The CAG is the guardian of the public purse and it is his duty to see that no money is spent out of the Consolidated Fund
of India or of a State without the authority of the appropriate Legislature. The reports of the CAG are submitted to the
President or the Governor, as the case may be, and laid before Parliament and the respective State Legislatures.

th
The CAG is ranked 9 and enjoys the same status as a judge of Supreme Court of India in Indian order of precedence.
The current CAG of India is Shashi Kant Sharma, who was appointed on 23 May 2013. He is the 12th CAG of India.

Appointment: CAG is to be appointed by the President. Generally, a person with administrative experience and
knowledge of accounts is chosen for the office.
Term: Parliament has laid down that he holds office for a term of six years or till the age of 65 years, whichever is
earlier. He may resign from his office by addressing his letter of resignation to the President. He may be removed by
impeachment— i.e., the President can issue orders for his removal on the recommendation of the two Houses of

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
41
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

Parliament on grounds of proved misbehaviour and incapacity. Thus, the manner of his removal is the same as that
prescribed for a Supreme Court judge. The CAG draws the same salary as a Supreme Court judge.

Independence Ensured: The Constitution ensures the independence of the CAG in the following ways:
1. His salary and service conditions are not to be changed to his disadvantage during his tenure
2. He is disqualified for any further Government office after retirement
3. Though appointed by the President, he does not hold office at the pleasure of the President; he can be removed from
office only by impeachment.
Functions: The functions of the CAG are mentioned in Articles 149 to 151. His duties are:
1. to audit and report on all expenditure from the Consolidated Fund of India and of each State and Union Territory
having a Legislative Assembly, and see whether expenditure has been in accordance with the law
2. to audit and report on all expenditure from the Contingency Funds and Public Accounts of the Union and the States
3. to audit and report on all trading, manufacturing, profit and loss accounts, etc., of any department of the Union or a
State
4. to audit the receipts and expenditure of the Union and of each State to satisfy himself that the rules and procedures
are designed to secure an effective check on the assessment, collection and proper allocation of revenue
5. to audit and report on the receipts and expenditure of all bodies substantially financed from the Union or State
revenues, Government companies, and other Corporations when so required by the laws relating to such
Corporations.
In recent times, there has been a controversy relating to the CAG. It has been questioned whether the CAG, while
auditing, should comment on extravagant spending and suggest economy. The traditional view is that a statutory power
to sanction expenditure would include the right to scrutinise the propriety of expenditure besides its legality. Most
Government departments resent the idea.

Vinod Rai: As a part of his duty, Rai has many a times raised questions on faulty policy making of several state
governments and Union government run by Congress led United Progressive Alliance and BJP led Governments in
Chhattisgarh and Gujarat. He had slammed the Union government in the allocation of spectrum for 2G mobile use to
telecom operators, conduct of the 2010 Commonwealth Games, running of its flagship rural employment guarantee
scheme and the spending by Reliance Industries in an oil block. He had also pointed out improprieties in allocating coal
blocks, and Union government's overt generosity to GMR in an airport project and Reliance Power in a power plant. CAG
slammed government of Goa for forest policy delay, Haryana government for loss of over 10 billion (US$160 million)
due to "deficiency" in imposing taxes like sales tax on goods, stamp duty and registration fee in land deals and taxes on
vehicles in more than 4,000 cases in a yea.Hence there were instances when ministers of the then Congress coalition
government criticised CAG and questioned its authority.

Current CAG- Rajiv Mehrishi- Mr. Mehrishi is the Chair of the United Nations Board of Auditors and is the external auditor
of the World Intellectual Property Organization. He plays an important role in the affairs of International Organization of
Supreme Audit Institutions as the Chair of the Knowledge Sharing and Knowledge Services Committee, Chair of the
Working Group on Information Technology Audit and as a member of its Governing Board. His other international
responsibilities include being a member of the Governing Board of Asian Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions and
as Chair of the Board of Editors of its journal.

Chief Minister of a State

In India, the Chief Minister is the real ruler of the State and his role, status and position is very high. The Chief Minister is
in the state what the Prime Minister is at the centre. After every general election, the Governor appoints the leader of the
majority party in the State Assembly or as is often the case, the leader of a combination of parties forming a coalition, the
Chief Minister of the state. Though formally, Chief Minister is appointed by the Governor and serves during his pleasure,
in reality, in the appointment of the Chief Minister, the Governor has no free hand. The constitution makes the Council of
Minister together with the Chief Minister collectively responsible to the Legislative Assembly of the State i.e. the popularly
elected chamber of the legislature.

42nd amendment of the Indian constitution makes the advice of central Council of Ministers binding on the President. A
parallel amendment of the constitution has not been made making the advice of the State Council of Ministers binding on
the Governor. This is because; the Governor has been given some powers to be exercised at his discretion. Some
subsequent amendments of the constitution also vest the Governor with some special responsibilities. Barring these two
fields the Governor acts in all other matters on the advice of the Chief Minister.

The Chief Minister is the head of the Government. The Ministers are appointed on the advice of the Chief Minister.
Portfolios among ministers are in reality allocated by the Chief Minister. The Chief Minister has also the power to ease a
minister out of office. He may advice the Governor to drop a minister. The Chief Minister presides over the meetings of
the State Cabinet.

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
42
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

The Chief Minister also is the leader of the legislature. He is the leader of the majority group. Through his control over the
legislative majority, he controls the legislature.

The position of the Chief Minister is very important and his role is to carry out the most important functions of the state.
Collective responsibility ensures that the Governor will not find any other person but the leader of the majority group in
the Legislative Assembly, able to command majority support and hence fit to be appointed Chief Minister.

Governor
The Governor is the chief executive authority in a state. He is appointed by the President on the advice of the Prime
Minister. The Governor is appointed for a period of five years, but holds the office at the pleasure of the President. He
may be removed by the President before the expiry of his term or he may even resign.

The governor of a state is the repository of the executive powers of the state, which are exercised by him in accordance
with the Constitution of India. He has the right to be kept informed of the decisions of the state ministry. He appoints the
chief minister and on his advice, other ministers and several important states official such as the advocate general, the
chairman and members of the State Public Service Commission. Though the Governor has no powers to appoint the
judges of the State High Court, but it is provided by the Article 217 that he will be consulted by the president before such
an appointment is made.

Among the legislative powers of the governor is the right to address the legislature and to send messages to it. He can
summon the state legislature, prorogue either house or dissolve the legislative assembly. Every bill passed by the state
legislature must receive the governor's assent before it can become a law. He may give his assent to a bill or withhold it
or he may reserve it for the consideration of the president. He may also return a Bill, other than a money bill, to the
legislature for reconsideration, but if it is passed a second time, the governor may not withhold his assent to it. At the
same time, no money bill can be introduced in the legislative assembly except on the governor's recommendation. The
constitution authorises the governor to promulgate ordinances during the period when the state legislature is not in
session (Article 213).

An ordinance promulgated by a governor has the same force as an act passed by the state legislature but it ceases to be
effective at the expiration of six weeks from the date when the state legislature re-assembles or before the end of the
period if a resolution is passed by the legislature disapproving the said ordinance. Finally, the governor, like the President,
has the power to nominate certain members to the state legislature. He nominates some members in the State Legislative
Council, if the state has bicameral legislature, who has special knowledge or practical experience in the field of art,
science, literature, cooperative movement and social services. He can also nominate one member in the State Legislative
Assembly from the Anglo-Indian community if he is feels that they are not adequately represented.

The judicial powers of the governor includes the power of granting pardon, or reducing or commuting sentences of any
person convicted of any offence against any law relating to matters to which the executive powers of the state
extends. The governor has the power to make a report to the president whenever a situation arises in which the
government of a state cannot be carried on in accordance with provisions of the Constitution (Article 356), thereby
inviting the president to impose 'President's Rule'.
It is important to note here that merely the governor of Jammu & Kashmir has the power to impose 'Governor's Rule'
under section 92 of the Constitution of that state. However, it may be noted that the president of India is not bound to
act on the governor's advice in this or any other matter.

Prime Minister
The Indian Prime Minister occupies the most powerful position to function as the head of the Council of ministers. Article
74 of the Indian constitution creates the office of the Prime Minister. This article provides that there will be a Council of
Ministers with the Prime Minister at the head to “aid and advice” the President in the exercise of his functions.
This article of the Indian constitution thus specifies that the Prime Minister is
a. the head of the Council of Ministers and
b. that his function is to aid and advice the President.

The Prime Minister’s leadership with the Council of Minister is further consolidated by Article 75 of the constitution of
India. All the ministers are appointed by the President on the advice of the Prime Minister Portfolios are distributed among
the ministers by the President according to the wishes of the Prime Minister. Inconvenient ministers are dismissed and
ministerial portfolios are redistributed, as the Prime Minister desires. Thus though constitutionally, the ordinary ministers
serve during the pleasure of the President, in reality they serve during the pleasure of the Prime Minister.
Again the constitution does not spell out the size of the Council of Ministers. The Prime Minister decides how many
ministers should be there. The ministers also are classified in 3 categories:

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
43
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

1. The cabinet ministers

2. Ministers of cabinet rank called the ministers of state and
3. The deputy ministers.
The Council of Ministers is thus constituted and directed by the Prime Minister. He is in reality the “key-stone of the
cabinet arch.”

Secondly, though the constitution formally makes the President, the head of the state, he is not given the powers of
governing the country. The Indian President is emphatically not like the U. S. President but, rather is constituted into a
constitutional figure head like the British Queen. Art. 74 require the President to act on the aid and advice of the Council
of Ministers. Constitutional amendment, the 42nd, in 1976 has made it explicit that the President is to act only on advice
by the Council of Ministers of which the Prime Minister is the key-stone.

Thirdly, though the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers are formally appointed by the President and they serve
during his pleasure, actually neither their appointment nor their tenure in office depends on the President’s sweet will.
The constitution makes them collectively responsible to the House of People. The President is politically obliged to find a
Prime Minister who enjoys the majority support in the House of People. This means that the leader of the majority party
in the House of People must be appointed Prime Minister. Any other person cannot carry the Parliamentary majority with
him. Thus in a very real sense, the Prime Minister is not a nominee of the President but is self chosen, He serves during
the President’s pleasure. But the pleasure is political rather than personal. So long the Prime Minister enjoys the support
of the majority in the Lok Sabha. The President cannot withdraw his pleasure from the Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister is the leader of the Parliament. He derives this position from his position as the leader of the majority
party in the House of People. Since in India’s Parliamentary system, the President acts only on advice and since the Prime
Minister is the Principal adviser to the President, all the powers of the President over the Parliament are in reality the
Prime Minister’s powers. With his assured majority support in the House of People, the Prime Minister can make the
Parliament pass whatever laws he wishes the Parliament to pass. The sovereignty of the Parliament is in reality the
authority of the Prime Minister.

The constitution itself makes the position of the Prime Minister all powerful. Over and above that, India has been blessed
from the very dawn of independence, with some very exceptional Prime Ministers who made the office of the Prime
Minister tower over any other constitutional office. Both Jawaharlal Nehru and Mrs. Indira Gandhi contributed significantly
in making the position of the Prime Minister very strong.
But however strong, the Indian Prime Minister is never a dictator. In the ultimate analysis, the strength of the Prime
Minister lies in popular support.

Role of President
The President is the head of the armed forces of India. He also assigns the various state Governors, the Chief Justice of
India and other judges of the Supreme Court and the High Courts, the Attorney General, the Comptroller and Auditor
General (CAG) of India. The President also chooses the Election Commissioners and the Ambassadors to different nations.
The thing to be noted here is that although the President does not select people for these coveted positions himself, but
he can chose not to complete the formal assigning and ask the government to re-look upon the selections. The official
procedure for all such posts is finally approved by the President only and hence it is important for him to go through these
selections appropriately. Also, being the head of the whole administration, the President is the one who finally approves
the bills passed by the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. Here also, if the President is not satisfied with the objectives of the
bill, he has the authority to send the bill back to the Parliament once. The President can’t topple the eventual decision of
the Parliament, but can interfere to make the cabinet re-think over the objectives of the bill.

One very critical role of the President is the responsibility he has to take while dealing with a death penalty. The decision
of death penalty given to a person by Indian Law can be overturned only by the President. This is one of the most crucial
decisions that a President may have to make while respecting the legal procedure involved in the particular case. Death
penalty in India is imposed only in the rarest of rare cases according to the rule of Supreme Court of India. Hence, it is
only at the behest of the President that it can be overturned. Another significant role of the President is during the times
of crisis, such as an Emergency, which India has already experienced in the past. In the scenario of an internal crisis or a
situation of predicament, the President is the one who declares Emergency and then tries to assist the government. In
this case, the President can override many provisions of the constitution, which promise fundamental rights to the citizens
of India and provide governing delegation of powers to the states which form the coalition.

As for the appointment of the President, there is a specific reason that the cabinet members and the opposition party
members should come as close as possible towards reaching a consensus. This reason is in direct relation with the
situation of removal of the President in case he is proved to be guilty of some charges or in case he is found to have
dishonored the constitution. Even in this case, the President can be put on trial only if there is a majority of two-thirds of
both the houses of the Parliament. During the voting to decide a new President, the members of Parliament need not
follow the instructions of their respective parties as the voting is done through a secret poll.
CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
44
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

Looking at a broader level, the President of our country represents our pride and honour simply by the virtue of his
designation. Our Presidents in the past have provided motivation to the nation in the form of some inspirational words by
addressing the nation on special occasions like Republic Day and Independence Day. This sort of communication with the
nation becomes even more crucial when a country is going through a delicate situation or a phase of economic or social
vulnerability. Judging by the importance of such occasions, one can say that the job and responsibility of our President is
not bounded by a fixed set of regulations and he can continue to serve the country by supporting the decisions of the
Government in favour of the people of our country.
Important Facts about States & Union Territories of India

I. STATES OF INDIA

ANDHRA PRADESH
Basic Information:
Area: 160205 sq km
Population (2011 Census): 49,386,799
Growth rate (2001-2011): 11.10%
Density per sq km: 308
Sex ratio (females per 1,000 males): 996
Literacy rate (2011 Census): 67.41%
Male: 75.65%
Female: 59.74%
Capital: Hyderabad
No. of districts: 13
Legislature: Bicameral (Assembly and Council)
Principal languages: Telugu
Assembly seats: 175
Council seats: 58
Lok Sabha seats: 25
Rajya Sabha seats: 11
Judiciary (Name and Location): High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad
State Day: November 1st
Major Rivers: Godavari, Krishna, Penna, and Thungabhadra
Tourist Attractions: Borra Caves, Araku Valley,Horseley Hills, Coringa Wildlife Sanctuary ,Tirumala Temple
History: Formed in 1956
Major Regional Festivals: Sankranti, Ugadi, Pongal, Lumbini, Vinayak Chaviti
Major Dance/Music Forms: Kuchipudi
Industry: Sugar, textiles, tobacco, information technology (IT)
Agriculture: wheat, jowar, bajra, maize, minor millet, coarse grain, many varieties of pulses, oil
seeds, sugarcane, cotton, Chili pepper, mango nuts and tobacco
General Information:
• The Qutub Shah is of Golconda laid the foundations of the modern city of Hyderabad.
• Andhra Pradesh is the first state in India that has been formed on a purely linguistic basis in 1953 and enlarged in
1956.
• Kurnool was the first capital of the Andhra state with the high court established at Guntur.
• The A.P. Legislative Council was abolished in 1985. It was revived after a gap of 22 years in 2007.
• Andhra leads all other states in the production of tobacco with a virtual monopoly of Virginia tobacco.
• Tirupati in Chittoor district houses one of the most famous temples in India. The presiding deity is known
as Venkateswara. The main temple is situated on a hill-top, Tirumala.
• The main tourist attraction is the capital of the state, Hyderabad. Places of interest are the Charminar built in 1591,
Osmania University, State Museum and Art Gallery, Salar Jung Museum, Health Museum, Nehru Zoological Park, Public
Gardens, Birla Mandir and Macca Masjid.
• The famous diamonds, Kohinoor and Pitt, came from the diamond mines of Golconda.
• Nagarjuna Srisailam Sanctuary is the largest tiger reserve in India.

ARUNACHAL PRADESH
Basic Information:
Area: 83,743 sq km
Population (2011 Census): 1,382,611
Growth rate (2001-2011): 25.92%
Density per sq km: 17
Sex ratio (females per 1,000 males): 920

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
45
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

Literacy rate (2011 Census): 66.95%

Male: 73.69%
Female: 59.57%
Capital: Itanagar
No. of districts: 19
Legislature: Unicameral
Principal languages: Nishi, Dafla, Miji, Adi Gallong, Wancho, Tagin. Hill Miri, Mishmi, Monpa, Tangsa and Khampti
Assembly seats: 60
Lok Sabha seats: 2
Rajya Sabha seats: 1
Judiciary (Name and Location): High Court of Guwahati at Guwahati
State Day: May 20th
Major Rivers: Brahmaputra
Tourist Attractions: Itanagar Parashurama Kund, Mouling National Park, Tawang Monastery
History: Formed in 1987
Major Regional Festivals: Losar, Reh, Mopin, Khan, Sanken
Major Dance/Music Forms: Wancho dance and other folk dances
Industry: Forest products, handloom, clay, limestone
Agriculture: Paddy, millets, maize, wheat, pulses, potatoes
General Information:
• Arunachal Pradesh (Land of the Dawn-Lit Mountains) is a thinly populated hilly tract in the eastern most part of India.
• The population of Arunachal is predominantly tribal. The principal tribes are: Adi, Nishi, Apatani, Tagin, Mishmi,
Khampti, Nocte, Wancho, Tangsha, Singpho, Monpa, Sherdukpen and Aka.
• Originally known as the North East Frontier Agency (NEFA), Arunachal Pradesh was placed under the administration of
the Union Government in 1948. It was declared a union territory under the name of Arunachal Pradesh on January 20th,
1972. It became a full-fledged state on February 20th, 1987.
• The traditional method of agriculture is Jhumming, a kind of shifting cultivation.
• India’s largest Buddhist monastery is at Tawang.

ASSAM
Basic Information:
Area: 78,438 sq km
Population (2011 Census): 31,205,576
Growth rate (2001-2011): 16.93
Density per sq km: 400
Sex ratio (females per 1,000 males): 958
Literacy rate (2011 Census): 72.19%
Male: 78.81%
Female: 67.27%
Capital: Dispur
No. of districts: 27
Legislature: Unicameral
Principal languages: Assamese
Assembly seats: 126
Lok Sabha seats: 14
Rajya Sabha seats: 7
Judiciary (Name and Location): High Court of Guwahati at Guwahati
State Day: January 21st
Major Rivers: Brahmaputra, Barak Tourist Attractions: Kamakhya Temple, tea gardens, Haflong, Kaziranga National
Park, Majuli
History: Formed in 1947
Major Regional Festivals: Bihu, Baishagu, Baikho, Rongker, Ambubashi
Major Dance/Music Forms: Bihu
Industry: Chemical fertilizers, coal, petroleum, tea, sericulture
Agriculture: Rice, jute, tea, cotton
General Information:
• Geographically Assam is a shadow of its former self. It has been reduced to one-third of its original size in thirty years’
time. In 1948, the North East Frontier Agency was separated from Assam for security reasons.
• In 1963, Nagaland was carved out of Assam as a full-fledged state. On January 21st, 1972, Meghalaya was cut out of
Assam, as a separate state and Mizoram became a union territory. In 1987 Mizoram was granted statehood.

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
46
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

• Assam holds a unique position in the production of mineral oil Assam is first state in the country where oil was struck in
1889 at Digboi. Petroleum and petroleum products from Assam amount to a large share of the country’s total output of
petroleum and natural gas.
• Assam contributes 15.6% of world’s tea production and 55% of the country’s tea output.
• Assam is the largest producer in the world of the golden coloured ‘muga’ silk.
• Kaziranga National Park is world famous for rhinos and elephants. Manas is another national park.

BIHAR
Basic Information:
Area: 94,163 sq km
Population (2011 Census): 103,804,637
Growth rate (2001-2011): 25.07%
Density per sq km: 1,102
Sex ratio (females per 1,000 males): 919
Literacy rate (2011 Census): 63.82%
Male: 73.39%
Female: 53.33%
Capital: Patna
No. of districts: 38
Legislature: Bicameral (Assembly and Council)
Principal languages: Hindi
Assembly seats: 243
Council seats: 75
Lok Sabha seats: 40
Rajya Sabha seats: 16
Judiciary (Name and Location): High Court of Patna at Patna
State Day: December 12th
Major Rivers: Sarayu, Gandak, Ganga
Tourist Attractions: Vaishali, Bodh Gaya, Rajgir, Nalanda, Vikramshila, Sasaram, Madhubani
History: Formed in 1912
Major Regional Festivals: Navratri, Chhath,Teej, Bihula, Sarhul, Nag Panchami
Major Dance/Music Forms: Jhumarnach, folk dances
Industry: Oil refineries, railway wagons, fertilizers, cotton, jute, food processing
Agriculture: Rice, wheat, maize, pulses, oilseeds, sugar cane
General Information:
• The name ‘Bihar’ is a corrupt form of ‘Vihara’ which means Buddhist monastery.
• Bihar was the home state of the Mauryan emperors. Under Asoka the Great, Magadha and its capital Pataliputra
became famous all over the world.
• Sher Shah Suri founded the city of Patna, on the site of the ancient capital Pataliputra.
• Bihar has been divided for the second time with the birth of Jharkhand in November 2000.
• Bodh Gaya, near Gaya in Bihar, is a Buddhist centre of pilgrimage. It contains the famous ancient temple near the
Bodhi Tree under which Buddha attained enlightenment.
• Nalanda was one of the great seats of learning in ancient India and contains the ruins of many Buddhist temples and
monasteries.
• Sasaram is famous on account of the magnificent tomb of Sher Shah Suri, Emperor of Delhi.
• Vaishali was the seat of ancient Lichavi Republic.

CHHATTISGARH
Basic Information:
Area: 1,35,194.5 sq km
Population (2011 Census): 25,545,198
Growth rate (2001-2011): 22.59%
Density per sq km: 190
Sex ratio (females per 1,000 males): 991
Literacy rate (2011 Census): 71.04%
Male: 81.45%
Female: 60.59%
Capital: Raipur
No. of districts: 27
Legislature: Unicameral
Principal languages: Hindi

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
47
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

Assembly seats: 90
Lok Sabha seats: 11
Rajya Sabha seats: 5
Judiciary (Name and Location): High Court of Chhattisgarh at Bilaspur
State Day: November 1st
Major Rivers: Mahanadi, Indravati, Narmada, Godavari
Tourist Attractions: Bastar, Kankerghat, Chitrakoot Falls, Kailash Caves, Kutumbsar Caves
History: Formed in 2000
Major Regional Festivals: Bastar Dassera, Madai, Hareli, Pola
Major Dance/Music Forms: Panthi, Raut Nacha and Soowa dances; Sohar, Bihav and Pathoni songs
Industry: Steel, cement, IT
Agriculture: Rice, maize, wheat, groundnuts, pulses
General Information:
• Chhattisgarh is the 26th state of the Indian Union. It is carved out of Madhya Pradesh and came into existence on
November 1st, 2000.
• Bastar is Chhattisgarh’s biggest district and its cultural showpiece on account of its rich cultural heritage.
• Chhattisgarh is among the most backward regions in the country, with a predominant tribal population and a dominant
political class. The region is rich in minerals and earns a handsome royalty from mining activity. Chhattisgarh accounts
for more than 70 percent of India’s total production of tendu leaves that are used for making bidis.
• The well-endowed Bailadila mines, numerous power projects, the steel plant at Bhilai and many cement factories belong
to Chattisgarh.

GOA
Basic Information
Area: 3702 sq km
Population (2011 Census): 1,457,723
Growth rate (2001-2011): 8.17%
Density per sq km: 390
Sex ratio (females per 1,000 males): 968
Literacy rate (2011 Census): 87.4%
Male: 92.81%
Female: 81.84%
Capital: Panaji
No. of districts: 2
Legislature: Unicameral
Principal languages: Marathi and Konkani
Assembly seats: 40
Lok Sabha seats: 2
Rajya Sabha seats: 1
Judiciary (Name and Location): High Court of Bombay at Mumbai (with a bench at Panaji)
State Day: December 19th
Major Rivers: Mandovi, Zuari, Terekhol, Chapora
Tourist Attractions: Anjuna, Arambol, Basilica of Bom Jesus, Se Cathedral
History: Formed in 1987
Major Regional Festivals: Shigmo, Bonderam, Feast of Three Kings, Feast of St. Xavier Major
Dance/Music Forms: Shigmo dance; Manddo, Durpod
Industry: Mining, textiles, pharmaceuticals, fisheries
Agriculture: Rice, millets, maize, cashew, coconut, bananas, sugar cane, pineapples, areca nuts
General Information:
• General Information Goa was part of the union territory of Goa, Daman, and Diu. It became the 25th state in the Indian
Union on May 30th, 1987 while Daman and Diu remained a union territory.
• The Mormugao harbour is virtually at the confluence of the Mandovi and Zuari rivers.
• Ptolemy, the great geographer (second century AD) refers to Goa in his geography as “Gouba”.
• The Portuguese made the city of Panaji, the capital of Goa in 1843. The Portuguese territory of Goa, Daman and Diu
was finally liberated on December 19th, 1961.
• The Goa government has introduced (Oct. 1993) Konkani as the official language. It is written in Devanagri script.
• Tourism is a major industry in Goa.

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
48
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

GUJARAT
Basic Information:
Area: 1,96,024 sq km
Population (2011 Census): 60,383,628
Growth rate (2001-2011): 19.17%
Density per sq km: 310
Sex ratio (females per 1,000 males): 918
Literacy rate (2011 Census): 79.31%
Male: 87.23%
Female: 70.23%
Capital: Gandhinagar
No. of districts: 33
Legislature: Unicameral
Principal languages: Gujarati
Assembly seats: 182
Lok Sabha seats: 26
Rajya Sabha seats: 11
Judiciary (Name and Location): High Court of Gujarat at Ahmedabad
State Day: May 1st
Physical Characteristics: Rocky plains, coastal, hilly
Major Rivers: Banas, Sabarmati, Tapti, Narmada, Mahi
Tourist Attractions: Gir National Park, Somnath Temple, Dwarka, Palitana, Porbandar
History: Formed in 1960
Major Regional Festivals: Navratri, Uttarayan, Bhadra Purnima
Major Dance/Music Forms: Dandiya, Garba, Bhavai
Industry: Chemical, fertilizers, petrochemicals, handicrafts, cotton textiles, engineering
Agriculture: Groundnuts, cotton, tobacco, rice, wheat
General Information:
• On May 1st, 1960, as a result of the Bombay Reorganization Act, 1960, the state of Gujarat was formed from the north
and west (predominantly Gujarati speaking) portions of Bombay State. The remainder was renamed as the state of
Maharashtra.
• Fifty Harappan sites are located in north Gujarat.
• Gujarat ranks first in the country in the production of cotton and groundnut and second in the production of tobacco.
• Valsad is India’s first integrated horticulture district.
• The state is a major producer of inorganic chemicals such as soda-ash and caustic soda as well as chemical fertilizers. It
has the largest petro-chemical complex in the country.
• The state accounts for nearly 63 per cent of infant milk produced in the country.
• Gujarat is a major salt-producing state and its production forms as much as 60% of the country’s output.
• The first expressway of the nation is in Gujarat between Ahmedabad and Vadodara.
• The Gir sanctuary at Sasan Gir forest (the world’s last habitat of the Asiatic lion); the sacred temples of Dwaraka and
Somanath; Palitana, the picturesque mountain city of Jain temples on the 2000 feet high Shetrunaya hills and Udwada,
the oldest Fire Temple of Parsees in India are just a few of the varied attractions in the state.

HARYANA
Basic Information:
Area: 44,212 sq km
Population (2011 Census): 25,353,081
Growth rate (2001-2011): 19.90%
Density per sq km: 573
Sex ratio (females per 1,000 males): 879
Literacy rate (2011 Census): 76.64%
Male: 79%
Female: 66.77%
Capital: Chandigarh
No. of districts: 21
Legislature: Unicameral
Principal languages: Hindi
Assembly seats: 90
Lok Sabha seats: 10
Rajya Sabha seats: 5
Judiciary (Name and Location): High Court of Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
49
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

State Day: November 1st

Major Rivers: Yamuna, Ghaggar
Tourist Attractions: Pinjore Gardens, Surajkund and Badhkal lakes, Morni Hills, Sultanpur Bird Sanctuary
History: Formed in 1966
Major Regional Festivals: Baisakhi, Gangor, Lohri, Gugga Naumi
Major Dance/Music Forms: Sarangi/Ras Leela, Phag Dance
Industry: Handloom, electrical appliances, automobiles, IT
Agriculture: Sugar cane, oilseeds, rice, groundnuts, maize, wheat
General Information:
• The only river which flows through Haryana is the Ghaggar.
• The state was the home of the legendary Bharata Dynasty, which has given the name Bharat to India.
• Kurukshetra, the scene of the epic battle between the Kauravas and the Pandavas, is situated in Haryana.
• The modern state of Haryana came into being on November 1st, 1966 as a result of the reorganization of the old Punjab
State into two separate states.
• Haryana is proverbially known ‘as the milk pail of India’.
• A factory of the Hindustan Machine Tools producing tractors is located at Pinjore. Gurgaon is a fast growing Industrial
hub where Maruti Udyog is one of the biggest the manufacturing units.
• Haryana is the first state to have electrified all of its villages.

HIMACHAL PRADESH
Basic Information:
Area: 55,673 sq km
Population (2011 Census): 6,859,509
Growth rate (2001-2011): 12.81%
Density per sq km: 123
Sex ratio (females per 1,000 males): 972
Literacy rate (2011 Census): 83.78
Male: 90.83
Female: 76.60
Capital: Shimla
No. of districts: 12
Legislature: Unicameral
Principal languages: Hindi & Pahari
Assembly seats: 68
Lok Sabha seats: 4
Rajya Sabha seats: 3
Judiciary (Name and Location): High Court of Himachal Pradesh at Shimla
State Day: April 16th
Major Rivers: Beas, Ravi, Chandrabhaga, Sutlej
Tourist Attractions: Shimla, Kulu, Manali, Dharamsala
History: Formed in 1971
Major Regional Festivals: Chaitti, Basoa, Faguii, Gotsi, Sairi, Sajo, Gugnaumi
Major Dance/Music Forms: Mala Dance, Rakshas Dance
Industry: Electronics, toys, oil
Agriculture: Wheat, rice, maize, barley, fruits (apples, plums and figs), olives
General Information:
• The state is almost entirely mountainous with altitude’s ranging from 460 to 6600 metres above sea level.
• Himachal Pradesh is watered by a number of rivers, the most important of which are the Chenab, Ravi, Beas, Sutlej and
Yamuna.
• Himachal Pradesh was originally formed as a centrally-administered territory on April 15th, 1948. Himachal Pradesh was
reorganized and declared a state on January 25th, 1971 with Shimla as its capital.
• Shimla, Dalhousie, Dharamsala (the Dalai Lama lives here), Kulu, Kasauli, Solan, Chail and Kufri are some of the
famous hill stations.
• Khajjiar in Chamba district has earned the name ‘mini Switzerland’ because of the striking similarity in landscape.

JAMMU & KASHMIR

Basic Information:
Area: 2,22,236 sq km
Population (2011 Census): 12,548,926
Growth rate (2001-2011): 23.71
Density per sq km: 56

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
50
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

Sex ratio (females per 1,000 males): 883

Literacy rate (2011 Census): 68.74%
Male: 78.26%
Female: 58.01%
Capital: Srinagar (Summer), Jammu (Winter)
No. of districts: 22
Legislature: Bicameral (Assembly & Council)
Principal languages: Kashmiri, Dogri, Punjabi, Urdu, Balti, Pahari & Ladakhi
Assembly seats: 87
Council seat: 36
Lok Sabha seats: 6
Rajya Sabha seats: 4
Judiciary (Name and Location): High Court of Jammu & Kashmir at Jammu and Srinagar
State Day: February 6th
Major Rivers: Jhelum, Chenab
Tourist Attractions: Dal Lake, Shalimar Bagh, Pahalgam, Gulmarg, Amarnath Caves, Vaishno Devi, Leh-Ladakh
History: Formed in 1947
Major Regional Festivals: Losar, Navroz, Lohri, Baisakhi, Chaitre Chaudash
Major Dance/Music Forms: Kudd, Dogri/Pahari music, Hafiza, Bacha/ Nagma dance
Industry: Machinery, sericulture, handicrafts, horticulture
Agriculture: Paddy, wheat, fruit, saffron, cumin
General Information:
• After Independence, when all the states decided to accede to India or Pakistan, Kashmir asked for standstill agreements
with both. In the meantime, the state became the target of an armed attack by Pakistan and the Maharaja acceded to
India on October 26th, 1947 by signing the Instrument of Accession.
• Jammu and Kashmir is the only state in India which has a constitution of its own, that came into force on January 26th,
1957.
• Kashmir is a paradise for tourists both international and domestic. Main centres of attraction are Srinagar, Pahalgam,
Gulmarg and Sonamarg. Among places of pilgrim interest are Amarnath and Vaishno Devi.

JHARKHAND
Basic Information:
Area: 79,714 sq km
Population (2011 Census): 32,988,134
Growth rate (2001-2011): 22.34%
Density per sq km: 414
Sex ratio (females per 1,000 males): 947
Literacy rate (2011 Census): 67.63%
Male: 78.45%
Female: 56.21%
Capital: Ranchi
No. of districts: 24
Legislature: Unicameral
Principal languages: Hindi
Assembly seats: 81
Lok Sabha seats: 14
Rajya Sabha seats: 6
Judiciary (Name and Location): High Court of Jharkhand at Ranchi
State Day: November 15th
Major Rivers: Damodar, Subarnarekha
Tourist Attractions: Dassam Falls, Sun Temple, Birsa Deer Sanctuary, Jamshedpur Industrial Area
History: Formed in 2000
Major Regional Festivals: Sarhul, Karma, Sorhai, Holi, Makar Sankranti
Major Dance/Music Forms: Agni and Jhumar dances, Chhau
Industry: Iron and steel, minerals, automobiles, engineering
Agriculture: Paddy, wheat, maize, pulses
General Information:
 Jharkhand is the 28th state of the Indian Union. It has been carved out of Bihar and came into existence on November
15th, 2000.
 The state is fabulously rich in mineral resources such as iron ore, coal, mica, limestone, graphite, asbestos, dolomite
etc. It is among the minerally richest zones in India containing 32.4 per cent of India’s coal, 23.3 per cent of iron ore,

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
51
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

33.9 per cent of copper and 46.6 per cent of mica. Bokaro Steel Plant, TISCO’s plant at Jamshedpur and the Heavy
Engineering Complex at Ranchi are some of its prized inheritances.
 The struggle for Jharkhand was waged by the adivasis of the Chhotanagpur Plateau and Santhal Parganas belt for yell
over half a century. Initially led by Jaipal Singh, the tribal communities of the region have been demanding freedom
from exploitation.
 The Jharkhand State is a truncated version of the original Jharkhand dream; it now comprises only Southern Bihar.
 The movement for an adivasi homeland attained new momentum when Santhal leader Shibu Soren formed Jharkhand
Mukthi Morcha (JMM) in 1972.

KARNATAKA
Basic Information:
Area: 1,91,791 sq km
Population (2011 Census): 61,130,704
Growth rate (2001-2011): 15.67%
Density per sq km: 320
Sex ratio (females per 1,000 males): 968
Literacy rate (2011 Census): 75.60%
Male: 82.85%
Female: 68.13%
Capital: Bangalore
No. of districts: 30
Legislature: Bicameral (Assembly & Council)
Principal languages: Kannada
Assembly seats: 224
Council seats: 75
Lok Sabha seats: 28
Rajya Sabha seats: 12
Judiciary (Name and Location): High Court of Karnataka at Bengaluru
State Day: November 1st
Major Rivers: Krishna, Cauvery
Tourist Attractions: Mysore Palace, Chamundi Hill, Hampi, Belur
History: Formed in 1956
Major Regional Festivals: Ugadi, Makar Sankranti, Karaga, Ganesh Chaturthi, Dussehra
Major Dance/Music Forms: Simha Nrutya, Yakshagana
Industry: IT, telecom, electronics, floriculture, silk
Agriculture: Rice, pulses, wheat, coffee
General Information:
• Karnataka was formerly known as Mysore. On November 1st, 1973 the name Mysore was changed to Karnataka.
• The name Karnataka is derived from Karunadu, literally means ‘lofty land’.
• The vast ruins at Hampi, near Hospet, remain today as sombre remainders of the glorious Vijayanagar Empire.
• Karnataka accounts for 59% of the country’s coffee production and 47% of the country’s ragi.
• Karnataka accounts for 85 per cent of the raw silk produced in the country. Karnataka’s sandal soap and sandal oil are
well known in world markets.
• The ‘Garden City’ of Bangalore has been adjudged the cleanest city in India.
• Mysore city is famous for the Dasara festival during September-October. The famous Krishnaraja Sagar dam and
Brindavan gardens are nearby.
• Sravanabelagola, where the 18 metre statue of Gomateswara Bahubali stands, is a Jain pilgrim centre.
Mahamastakabhisheka is held once every 12 years.
• Gersoppa (Jog Falls) of Karnataka is world famous and is the highest waterfall in India.

KERALA
Basic Information:
Area: 36,863 sq km
Population (2011 Census): 33,387,677
Growth rate (2001-2011): 4.86%
Density per sq km: 860
Sex ratio (females per 1,000 males): 1084
Literacy rate (2011 Census): 93.91%
Male: 96.02%
Female: 91.98%
Capital: Thiruvananthapuram

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
52
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

No. of districts: 14
Legislature: Unicameral
Principal languages: Malayalam
Assembly seats: 140
Lok Sabha seats: 20
Rajya Sabha seats: 9
Judiciary (Name and Location): High Court of Kerala at Ernakulam (Kochi)
State Day: November 1st
Physical Characteristics: Coastal, hilly
Major Rivers: 44 rivers, including Periyar and Bharatapuza
Tourist Attractions: Kovalam, Wayanad, Kannur
History: Formed in 1956 Major Regional Festivals: Vishu, Onam, Asthami Rohini, Thrikarthika
Major Dance/Music Forms: Mohiniyattam, Kathakali, Kalaripayattu
Industry: Coir and marine products, handicrafts, fisheries, food products
Agriculture: Coconut, rubber, tea, coffee, cashew, spices (pepper, cinnamon, cardamom), rice, tapioca
General Information:
• Under the States ReOrganization Act of 1956, Travancore, Cochin and Malabar states were united to form the State of
Kerala on November 1st, 1956.
• Kerala has a unique cropping pattern. It accounts for 92 per cent of India’s rubber, 70 per cent of coconut, 60 per cent
of tapioca and almost 100 per cent of lemon grass oil. Kerala is the largest producer of a number of other crops like
banana and ginger, besides an abundance of tea and coffee.
• Coir and Cashew are two of the largest traditional industries in the state.
• The first fully literate municipal town (Kottayam-1989), and district (Ernakulam-1990) in India are in Kerala. On
December 11th, 1995, Ernakulam also became India’s first Bachat (savings) district. In 1991, Kerala became the first
fully literate state in India.
• Periyar Wild Life Sanctuary at Thekkady in Idukki district is a popular tourist attraction. Sabarimala, abode of Lord
Ayyappan, is a famous pilgrim centre in Pathanamthitta district.
• The beautiful Willingdon Island with the adjoining port is another great attraction.
• Kochi (Cochin)—the major port of Kerala—is known as the “Queen of the Arabian Sea”.
• Kalady in Ernakulam District is the birthplace of Sri Sankaracharya.

MAHARASHTRA
Basic Information:
Area: 3,07,713 sq km
Population (2011 Census): 112,372,972
Growth rate (2001-2011): 15.99%
Density per sq km: 370
Sex ratio (females per 1,000 males): 896
Literacy rate (2011 Census): 82.91%
Male: 89.82%
Female: 75.48%
Capital: Mumbai
No. of districts: 36
Legislature: Bicameral (Assembly and Council)
Principal languages: Marathi
Assembly seats: 288
Council seats: 78
Lok Sabha seats: 48
Rajya Sabha seats: 19
Judiciary (Name and Location): High Court of Bombay at Mumbai
State Day: May 1st
Major Rivers: Tapti, Godavari
Tourist Attractions: Gateway of India, Murud-Janjira Fort, Elephanta Island, Aurangabad Caves, Mahabaleshwar,
Matheran
History: Formed in 1960
Major Regional Festivals: Vat Purnima, Banganga, Ganesh Chaturthi, Nag Panchami, Ashadi Ekadashi
Major Dance/Music Forms: Lavni, Lezhim, Vasudev Dance
Industry: Textiles, petrochemicals, heavy chemicals, pharmaceuticals, sugar, food processing, electronics, engineering,
automobiles Agriculture: Rice, millets, wheat, sugar cane, pulses, oranges, mangoes

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
53
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

General Information:
• Under the Bombay Re-Organization Act, 1960 Maharashtra and Gujarat were formed into separate states on May 1st,
1960.
• Mumbai has the largest stock exchange in the country. Besides, it has India’s largest harbour, accounting for nearly
50% of India’s international passenger traffic.
• Mumbai is also well-known for its film production.
• Ganesh Chaturthi is the main festival of the state.
• Maharashtra Government has renamed Bombay as Mumbai. Victoria Terminus (VT) station is renamed as Chhatrapati
Shivaji Railway Terminus.
• A sports university, Asia’s first, was inaugurated in Pune in 1996.
• The important tourist centres are the caves at Ajanta, Ellora, Elephanta and Kanheri

MANIPUR
Basic Information:
Area: 22,327 sq km
Population (2011 Census): 2,570,390
Growth rate (2001-2011): 18.65%
Density per sq km: 120
Sex ratio (females per 1,000 males): 987
Literacy rate (2011 Census): 79.85%
Male: 86.49%
Female: 73.17%
Capital: Imphal
No. of districts: 9
Legislature: Unicameral
Principal languages: Manipuri
Assembly seats: 60
Lok Sabha seats: 2
Rajya Sabha seats: 1
Judiciary (Name and Location): High Court of Guwahati at Guwahati (with a bench at Imphal)
State Day: January 21st
Major Rivers: Barak, Imphal
Tourist Attractions: Keibul Lamjao National Park, Khwairamband Bazaar, war cemeteries, Loktak Lake, Khonghampat
Orchidarium, Tengnoupal
History: Formed in 1972
Major Regional Festivals: Ningol Chakouba, Yaoshang, Kut, Gaan-Ngai, Cheiraoba
Major Dance/Music Forms: Ras Lila, Lai Haroba, Nongdai Jagoi
Industry: Handloom, cane, bamboo
Agriculture: Rice, wheat, maize, pulses, apricots, oranges
General Information:
• Manipur had been a union territory from 1956 and a full-fledged state from 1972. Manipuri was recognized as a
scheduled language in 1992.
• Handloom is the biggest industry in Manipur. Manipur is the first to introduce Oak Tussar industry (Sericulture).
• Called a ‘Jewel of India’ by Jawaharlal Nehru, Manipur lies in the shadows of hills.
• Manipuri dance is world famous.
• The Loktak Lake, the biggest fresh water lake in eastern India and Keibul Lamjao, the only floating national park in the
world, are quite attractive.

MADHYA PRADESH
Basic Information:
Area: 3,08,144 sq km
Population (2011 Census): 72,597,565
Growth rate (2001-2011): 20.30%
Density per sq km: 236
Sex ratio (females per 1,000 males): 930
Literacy rate (2011 Census): 70.63%
Male: 80.53%
Female: 60.02%
Capital: Bhopal
No. of districts: 50
Legislature: Unicameral
Principal languages: Hindi
CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
54
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

Assembly seats: 230

Lok Sabha seats: 29
Rajya Sabha seats: 11
Judiciary (Name and Location): High Court of Madhya Pradesh at Jabalpur (with benches at Gwalior and Indore)
State Day: November 1st
Major Rivers: Narmada, Chambal, Tapti
Tourist Attractions: Sanchi, Gwalior Fort, Orchha Fort, Khajuraho, Ujjain, Kanha and Bandhavgarh National Parks
History: Formed in 1956 Major Regional Festivals: Bhagoriya, Shivratri, Ram Navami, Rangpanchami
Major Dance/Music Forms: Gaur Dance, Muria Dance, Relo Songs
Industry: Forestry, coal, iron, minerals, diamonds, textiles, cement, automobiles, IT
Agriculture: Rice, wheat, soyabean, spices
General Information:
• The main river systems in this state are the Chambal, Betwa, Sindh, Narmada, Tapti, Mahanadi and Indravati.
• Under the provisions of the States ReOrganization Act, 1956, the state of Madhya Pradesh was formed on November
1st, 1956.
• The major industries are the Bharat Heavy Electricals at Bhopal, the Security Paper Mills at Hoshangabad, the Bank
Note Press at Dewas, the Newsprint Mill at Nepanagar and Alkaloid Factory at Neemuch.
• Pithampur near Indore is called the “Detroit of India”. The Rau-Pithampur road is India’s first private sector
infrastructure project.
• Khajuraho, once the capital of Chandela rulers is the embodiment of the great artistic activity between the 9th and 12th
centuries.
• Ujjain, where kumbha mela is held every 12th year and Sanchi with ancient Buddhist monuments, are among the other
tourist attractions.
• Kanha National Park near Jabalpur is one of the most beautiful wild life sanctuaries in India.

MEGHALAYA
Basic Information:
Area: 22,429 sq km
Population (2011 Census): 2,964,007
Growth rate (2001-2011): 27.82%
Density per sq km: 130
Sex ratio (females per 1,000 males): 986
Literacy rate (2011 Census): 75.48%
Male: 77.17%
Female: 73.78%
Capital: Shillong
No. of districts: 11
Legislature: Unicameral
Principal languages: Khasi, Garo, English
Assembly seats: 60
Lok Sabha seats: 2
Rajya Sabha seats: 1
Judiciary (Name and Location): High Court of Guwahati at Guwahati (with a bench at Shillong)
State Day: January 21st
Major Rivers: Someswari, Jinjiram, Kalu
Tourist Attractions: Ward’s Lake, Lady Hydari Park, Bishop Beadon Falls, Elephant Falls, Umiam Lake, Mawsmai Caves,
Shillong Peak
History: Formed in 1972
Major Regional Festivals: Moirang Lai Haraoba, Yaoshang, Behdienkhlam, Ningol Chakouba, Gaan-Ngai
Major Dance/Music Forms: Shad Shad Suk Mynsiem, Nongkrem and Doregata dances
Industry: Plywood, chemical oils, food processing, horticulture, minor mining
Agriculture: Rice, maize, potatoes, cotton, jackfruit, jute, oilseeds, tapioca, oranges, pineapples, tea, coffee,
mushrooms
General Information:
• Handloom is the biggest industry in Manipur. Manipur is the first to introduce Oak Tussar industry (Sericulture).
• Called a ‘Jewel of India’ by Jawaharlal Nehru, Manipur lies in the shadows of hills.
• Manipuri dance is world famous.
• The Loktak Lake, the biggest fresh water lake in eastern India and Keibul Lamjao, the only floating national park in the
world, are quite attractive.

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
55
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

MIZORAM
Basic Information:
Area: 21,081 sq km
Population (2011 Census): 1,091,014
Growth rate (2001-2011): 22.78%
Density per sq km: 52
Sex ratio (females per 1,000 males): 975
Literacy rate (2011 Census): 91.58%
Male: 93.72%
Female: 89.40%
Capital: Aizawl
No. of districts: 8
Legislature: Unicameral
Principal languages: Mizo and English
Assembly seats: 40
Lok Sabha seats: 1
Rajya Sabha seats: 1
Judiciary (Name and Location): High Court of Guwahati at Guwahati (with a bench at Aizawl)
State Day: February 21st
Major Rivers: Tlawng, Tiak, Chhimtuipui
Tourist Attractions: Aizawl, Champhai, Tam DiLVantawng Falls
History: Formed in 1987
Major Regional Festivals: Mim Kut, Pawl Kut, Chapchar Kut, Thalfavang Kut
Major Dance/Music Forms: Khal Lam, Cheraw, Chailam, Sawlkin
Industry: Mining, handloom, bamboo, food processing, tea
Agriculture: Fruit crops (oranges, pineapples, passion fruit), spices (turmeric, chillies, ginger)
General Information:
• Mizoram, in the local language, means the land of Mizos—Mizo itself means highlander.
• Consequent to the passing of the 53rd Constitution Amendment Bill, Mizoram became the 23rd state of the Indian Union
on February 20th, 1987.
• The Mizos belong to the Mongolian race. The Mizos are divided into various tribes: the Lushais, Pawis, Paithes, Raltes,
Pang, Hmars, Kukis, Maras and Lakhers, etc.
• Known as the land of enchanting hills, Mizoram is famous for its vast expanses of jagged mountain ranges shrouded
mystically in a reddish-blue haze.

NAGALAND
Basic Information:
Area: 16,579 sq km
Population (2011 Census): 1,980,602
Growth rate (2001-2011): 0.47%
Density per sq km: 119
Sex ratio (females per 1,000 males): 931
Literacy rate (2011 Census): 80.11%
Male: 83.29%
Female: 76.69%
Capital: Kohima
No. of districts: 11
Legislature: Kohima
Principal languages: Ao, Konyak, Angami, Sema and Lotha
Assembly seats: 60
Lok Sabha seats: 1
Rajya Sabha seats: 1
Judiciary (Name and Location): High Court of Guwahati at Guwahati (with a bench at Kohima)
State Day: January 1st
Rivers: Dhansiri, Doyang, Dikhu,Tizu
Tourist Attractions: WWII Cemetery, Kohima Village (Bara Basti), State Museum
History: Formed in 1963
Major Regional Festivals: Moatso, Nazu, Sekrenyi,Tuluni, Yemshe
Major Dance/Music Forms: Nruirolians (Cock Dance), Temangnetin (Fly Dance)
Industry: Handloom, handicrafts, bamboo, sugar
Agriculture: Rice, maize, millets, rubber, tea, banana, pineapple, ginger, spices

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
56
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

General Information:
• The population of Nagaland is entirely tribal. These are Angamis, Zeliangs, Rengmas, Kukis, Semas, Aos, Lothas,
Semas, Chang, Sangtam and Konyaks.
• In January 1961, the Government of India conferred the status of a state on Nagaland. The State of Nagaland was
officially inaugurated on December 1st, 1963.

ODISHA
Basic Information:
Area: 1,55,820 sq km
Population (2011 Census): 41,947,358
Growth rate (2001-2011): 13.97%
Density per sq km: 270
Sex ratio (females per 1,000 males): 948
Literacy rate (2011 Census): 73.45%
Male: 82.40%
Female: 65.36%
Capital: Bhubaneshwar
No. of districts: 30
Legislature: Unicameral
Principal languages: Odia
Assembly seats: 147
Lok Sabha seats: 21
Rajya Sabha seats: 10
Judiciary (Name and Location): High Court of Odisha at Cuttack
State Day: April 1st
Major Rivers: Subarnarekha, Mahanadi, Salandi, Hirakud
Tourist Attractions: Konark Sun Temple, Puri, Chilika Lake, Tikarapara Crocodile Sanctuary
History: Formed in 1936 Major Regional Festivals: Raja, Panchuka Purnima, Kedu, Chaita Parva, Naga Chaturthi Major
Dance/Music Forms: Odissi, Chitrapada, Dhruvapada, Panchal
Industry: Steel, aluminium, thermal power, cement, IT, petrochemicals, food processing, jute, paper, railway workshops
Agriculture: Rice, wheat, millets, maize, pulses, oilseeds
General Information:
• In 2011, “Orissa” was renamed “Odisha” and “Oriya” language was renamed “Odia”.
• Bhubaneshwar, the capital of Odisha is known as the cathedral city of India on account of its numerous temples. Places
of interest are: Lingaraja Temple, Mukheswar Temple, Ananta Basudeva Temple and Rajarani Temple, the Jain and
Buddhist rock-cut caves of Khandagiri, Udayagiri and Dhauli together with Ashoka’s rock edicts.
• Odissi, the classical dance form of Odisha, evolved in the shadow of the magnificent temples of the state.
• Puri (Jagannath Puri) is a coastal town and beach-resort in Odisha. It is one of the four dhomas (holy places of
pilgrimage) in India—the three others being Badri-Kedarnath in the north, Rameswaram in the south and Dwaraka in
the west.
• Konark is famous for the great temple of the Sun-God, conceived as a giant celestial chariot with 24 exquisitely carved
wheels, drawn by seven impetuous horses.
• Chilka, the largest brackish water inland lake in Asia, stretches over an area of 1100 sq km.
• The largest lion safaris of India, and the only white tiger safari in the world, are located on the outskirts of
Bhubaneshwar.

PUNJAB
Basic Information:
Area: 50,362 sq km
Population (2011 Census): 27,704,236
Growth rate (2001-2011): 13.73%
Density per sq km: 550
Sex ratio (females per 1,000 males): 895
Literacy rate (2011 Census): 76.68%
Male: 81.48%
Female: 71.34%
Capital: Chandigarh
No. of districts: 20
Legislature: Unicameral
Principal languages: Punjabi
Assembly seats: 117

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
57
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

Lok Sabha seats: 13

Rajya Sabha seats: 7
Judiciary (Name and Location): High Court of Punjab & Haryana at Chandigarh
State Day: November 1st
Major Rivers: Beas, Jhelum, Ravi, Sutlej, Chenab
Tourist Attractions: Golden Temple, Durgiana Temple, Jallianwalla Bagh, Moti Bagh Palace, Bhakra Dam, Chhatbir Zoo
History: Formed in 1956
Major Regional Festivals: Lohri, Basant Panchami, Baisakhi, Gurpurab
Major Dance/Music Forms: Bhangra dance and music
Industry: Cotton, sugar, dairy products, machine tools, auto parts, chemicals, textiles, sports goods, leather goods,
hydel power
Agriculture: Wheat, rice, gram, barley, oilseeds, maize, sugar cane, cotton, pulses
General Information:
• The land is highly fertile as it is watered by the tributaries of the Indus, Ravi, Beas, Sutlej and the river Ghaggar.
• The word “Punjab” is made up of two Persian words ‘Pan’ and ‘Aab’. ‘Panj’ means five and ‘Aab’ means water.
• The Sikh faith came into being during a period of religious revival in the 15th and 16th centuries. It was founded as a
new religious order by Guru Nanak. He was followed by nine Gurus.
• On November 1st, 1966, Punjab was divided into three units—Punjab comprising the predominantly Punjabi-speaking
areas, Haryana made up of the Hindi-speaking districts and the Kharar tehsil and the capital, Chandigarh. Hilly areas
were transferred to Himachal Pradesh.
• The fertilizer consumption in Punjab is the highest in India.
• Punjab’s contribution is highest in the procurement of foodgrains for the central pool.
• The per capita availability of milk in the state is also the highest in the country. Per capita availability of eggs in Punjab
is 90, the highest in India (national-22).
• Amritsar, the city of the Golden Temple, (now renamed Harmandar Sahib), is sacred to the Sikhs.

RAJASTHAN
Basic Information:
Area: 3,42,239 sq km
Population (2011 Census): 68,621,012
Growth rate (2001-2011): 21.44%
Density per sq km: 201
Sex ratio (females per 1,000 males): 893
Literacy rate (2011 Census): 67.06%
Male: 80.51%
Female: 52.66%
Capital: Jaipur
No. of districts: 33
Legislature: Unicameral
Principal languages: Hindi & Rajasthani
Assembly seats: 200
Lok Sabha seats: 25
Rajya Sabha seats: 10
Judiciary (Name and Location): Rajasthan High Court in Jodhpur
State Day: March 30th
Major Rivers: Banas, Luni, Sabarmati
Tourist Attractions: Mount Abu, Jaipur Palace, Hawa Mahal, Jaisalmer Fort, Ranthambore, Pushkar
History: Formed in 1956
Major Regional Festivals: Brij, Gangaur,Teej, Gogaji, Makar Sankranti
Major Dance/Music Forms: Ghoomar and Kalbeliya dances; Kathputli puppet theatre; Bhopa
Industry: Zinc and copper mining, cement, sugar, glass, machinery, precious and semi-precious stones
Agriculture: Millets, pulses, maize, gram, oilseeds, barley, cotton, mustard, chillies, fenugreek
General Information:
• The major rivers are Chambal, Bayas and Luni.
• The state of Rajasthan came into existence on November 1st, 1950.
• Rajasthani handicrafts are famous all over the world. Ajmer has become the first fully literate district in the whole of
North India.
• Places of interest are Mount Abu, Ajmer, Alwar (Sariska Tiger Sanctuary), Bharatpur (Keoladeo Bird Sanctuary),
Bikaner, Jaipur (the Pink City), Jodhpur, Udaipur, Pali, Jaisalmer and Chittorgarh.

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
58
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

SIKKIM
Basic Information:
Area: 7,096 sq km
Population (2011 Census): 607,688
Growth rate (2001-2011): 12.36%
Density per sq km: 86
Sex ratio (females per 1,000 males): 889
Literacy rate (2011 Census): 82.80%
Male: 87.29%
Female: 76.43%
Capital: Gangtok
No. of districts: 4
Legislature: Unicameral
Principal languages: Nepali, Lepcha & Limbu
Assembly seats: 32
Lok Sabha seats: 1
Rajya Sabha seats: 1
Judiciary (Name and Location): High Court of Sikkim at Gangtok
State Day: May 16th
Major Rivers: Teesta, Lachung, Rangit
Tourist Attractions: Tashding, Pemayantshe and other monasteries, Changu Lake, Buddha Park
History: Formed in 1975 Major Regional Festivals: Saga Dawa, Lhabab Dhuechen, Drukpa Tsheshi, Phag Lhabsol,
Losoong, Losar
Major Dance/Music Forms: Kanchenjunga, Kali Topi
Industry: Bamboo, handicrafts, handloom, carpet-weaving, watch jewels, alcoholic beverages
Agriculture: Maize, rice, wheat, potatoes, black cardamom, ginger, oranges
General Information:
• Sikkim is the 22nd state of the Indian Union. Sikkim became a state of the Indian Union under the Constitution (Thirty-
eighth Amendment) Act, 1975.
• River Tista and its tributaries drain the state.
• Sikkim boasts of several hundred varieties of orchids and is frequently referred to as a botainsts’ paradise.
• The population of Sikkim is mainly made up of the Lepchas, the Bhutias, their allied clans and the Nepalese.
• Sikkim has the largest area and the highest production of large cardamom in India.
• Khangchendzonga National Park is one of the highest national parks in the world and includes the world’s third highest
mountain (Kanchenjunga).

TAMIL NADU
Basic Information:
Area: 1,30,058 sq km
Population (2011 Census): 72,147,030
Growth rate (2001-2011): 15.60%
Density per sq km: 550
Sex ratio (females per 1,000 males): 995
Literacy rate (2011 Census): 80.33%
Male: 86.81%
Female: 73.86%
Capital: Chennai
No. of districts: 32
Legislature: Unicameral
Principal languages: Tamil
Assembly seats: 234
Lok Sabha seats: 39
Rajya Sabha seats: 18
Judiciary (Name and Location): High Court of Madras at Chennai
State Day: April 14th
Major Rivers: Kaveri, Cheyyar, Palar, Amaravathi, Tamarpani, Vellur
Tourist Attractions: Marina Beach, Mahabalipuram, Ooty
History: Formed in1956
Major Regional Festivals: Pongal, Karthigai, Mahamagam, Saraswati Puja, Vinayak Chaturthi
Major Dance/Music Forms: Bharatanatyam, Paravi Attam, Melam
Industry: Cotton, commercial vehicles, safety matches, sugar, paper, cement
Agriculture: Rice, sugar cane, cotton, coconut, cashew, tea, rubber, coffee
CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
59
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

General Information:
• The Nilgiris and the Annamalai (Elephant Hills) are the hill groups with the maximum height. In the famous
Ootacamund area of the Nilgiris district the highest peak Doddabetta, stands at 2640 metres above the sea level.
• On January 14th, 1969, Madras State changed its name to Tamil Nadu. The capital city Madras was renamed Chennai in
1996.
• The Legislative Council was abolished in 1986.
• Tamil Nadu’s sugarcane yield of 100 tonnes per hectare is a world record.
• Tamil Nadu produces 60% of safety matches and 77% of finished leather.
• Hill Stations: Uthagamandalam (Ooty), Kodaikanal and Yercaud.
• ‘Bharatanatyam’, the sophisticated classical dance form of Tamil Nadu has now become popular all over India. Pongal is
the chief festival.
• Major tourist centres: Mamallapuram (Mahabalipuram), Poompuhar, Pichawaram, Point Calimere, Courtallam,
Hogenakkal, Annamalai Sanctuary, Mudumalai Sanctuary, Vedanthangal Bird Sanctuary, Kalakkad and Vandaloor Zoo
and Mundanthurai Sanctuary.
• Tourist spots at Chennai: Fort St. George, San Thome, Fort Museum, Marina Beach, Snake Park, Guindy Park and Deer
Sanctuary, Egmore Museum, Valluvarkottam Park, Crocodile Bank, Vandaloor Zoo and Muthukkadu Boat House.

TELANGANA
Basic Information:
Area: 114,840 sq km
Population: 35,193,978dfd
Growth Rate: NA
Density per sq km: 307 sq. km
Sex Ratio (females per 1,000 males): 988
Literacy rate (2011 Census): 66.50%
Male: 75.6%
Female: 58.77%
Capital: Hyedrabad
No. of districts: 10
Legislature: Bicameral
Principal Languages: Telugu
Assembly Seats: 119
Council Seats: 36
Lok Sabha Seats: 17
Rajya Sabha: 7
Judiciary (Name and Location): High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad
nd
State Day: 2 June
Major Rivers: Godavari, Krishna
Tourist Attractions: Keesaragutta Ramalingeshwara Swamy temple, Warangal - The Thousand Pillar Temple, Kuntala
Waterfall
nd
History: Formed in 2 June 2014
Major Regional Festivals: Sankranti, Ugadi, Pongal, Lumbini, Vinayak Chaviti
Major Dance/Music Forms: Kuchipudi
Industry: Automobiles and auto components industry, spices, mines and minerals, textiles and apparels, pharmaceutical,
horticulture, poultry farming
Agriculture: tobacco, mango, cotton and sugar cane
General Information:
• Telinga is mentioned in Mahabharata as "Telingadesha" whose people fought in Kurukshetra War with
the Pandavasagainst the Kauravas.
• The Satavahana dynasty (230 BCE to 220 CE) became the dominant power in the area. It originated from the lands
between the Godavari and Krishna rivers. After the decline of the Satavahanas, various dynasties, such as
the Vakataka, Vishnukundina, Chalukya, Rashtrakuta and Western Chalukya, ruled the area.
• There have been several movements to revoke the merger of Telangana and Andhra, major ones occurring in 1969,
1972, and 2009. On 9 December 2009 the Government of India announced the process of formation of the Telangana
state. Violent protests led by people in the Coastal Andhra and Rayalseema regions occurred immediately after the
announcement, and the decision was put on hold on 23 December 2009.
• in February 2014.In February 2014, Andhra Pradesh Re-organisation Act, 2014 bill was passed by the Parliament of
India for the formation of Telangana state comprising ten districts from north-western Andhra Pradesh.
• The state of Telangana was officially formed on 2 June 2014. Kalvakuntla Chandrashekar Rao was elected as the first
chief minister of Telangana, following elections in which the Telangana Rashtra Samiti party secured majority.
Hyderabad will remain as the joint capital of both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh for a period of 10 years.

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
60
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

TRIPURA
Basic Information:
Area: 10,491 sq km
Population (2011 Census): 36,71,032
Growth rate (2001-2011): 15.74%
Density per sq km: 350
Sex ratio (females per 1,000 males): 961
Literacy rate (2011 Census): 94.65 %
Male: 92.80%
Female: 83.15%
Capital: Agartala
No. of districts: 4
Legislature: Unicameral
Principal languages: Bengali, Kakborak & Manipuri
Assembly seats: 60
Lok Sabha seats: 2
Rajya Sabha seats: 1
Judiciary (Name and Location): High Court of Guwahati at Guwahati (with a bench at Agartala)
State Day: January 21st
Major Rivers: Gomti, Khowati, Manu, Haorah, Muhuri
Tourist Attractions: Ujjayanta Palace, Chaturdasa Devata Temple, Neer Mahal, Unnakoti, Sipahijala
History: Formed in 1972
Major Regional Festivals: Ashokastami, Unakoti, Manasa Mangal, Kharchi Puja, Garia Puja, Rasha
Major Dance/Music Forms: Bihu dance; Sarinda and Sumui music Industry: Pisciculture, handloom, sericulture, natural
gas, glass, lignite
Agriculture: Rice, wheat, sugar cane, potatoes, turmeric, oilseeds
General Information:
• Tripura became a union territory on November 1st, 1957 and was elevated to the status of a full-fledged state on
January 21st, 1972.
• Handloom weaving is the single largest industry in this state.
• Nineteenth century marked the beginning of the modem era in Tripura when king Maharaja Bir Chandra Bahadur
modelled his administrative set-up on the British India pattern and brought in various reforms. His successor ruled
Tripura till October 1949 when the state merged with the Indian Union.
• Tripura is a predominantly hilly state. It has its unique tribal culture and a fascinating folklore.
• The tourist centres are Goddess Temple at old Agartala, Tripura, Sundari Temple, Kamala Sagar, Dumboor Lake,
Trishna wildlife sanctuary, Vij Palace and Coconut Island.

UTTARAKHAND
Basic Information:
Area: 53,483 sq km
Population (2011 Census): 10,116,572
Growth rate (2001-2011): 19.17%
Density per sq km: 189
Sex ratio (females per 1,000 males): 963
Literacy rate (2011 Census): 79.83%
Male: 88.33%
Female: 70.70%
Capital: Dehradun
No. of districts: 13
Legislature: Unicameral
Principal languages: Hindi
Assembly seats: 71
Lok Sabha seats: 5
Rajya Sabha seats: 3
Judiciary (Name and Location): High Court of Uttarakhand at Nainital
State Day: November 9th
Major Rivers: Ganga, Yamuna, Ramganga, Kali
Tourist Attractions: Gangotri, Kedarnath, Corbett National Park, Nainital, Haridwar, Rishikesh, Almora, Valley Of
Flowers, Pindari Glacier, Auli
History: Formed in 2000
Major Regional Festivals: Basant Panchami, Bhaitauli, Makar Sankranti, Phool Dei, Ghughutia, Khatarua

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
61
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

Major Dance/Music Forms: Garhwali folk dance and music

Industry: Mining, forestry, hydel power projects
Agriculture: Rice, wheat, barley, millets, oilseeds, sugar cane, potatoes, cotton
General Information:
• Uttarakhand is the 27th state of the Indian Union. It has been carved out of Uttar Pradesh and came into existence on
November 9th, 2000.
• Till 2006, Uttarakhand was known by the name of Uttaranchal.
• The demand for Uttarakhand was first made at the Karachi session of the Congress in 1930. It was later picked up by
PC Joshi, general secretary of the undivided Communist Party, in 1952. Known for the historic Chipko and anti-liquor
movements, the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (founded in 1979) championed the cause for a separate state.
• Located in the foothills of the Himalayas, the state is home to many important places of religious interests to the Hindus
(Yamunotri, Gangotri, Badrinath, Kedarnath, Joshimath, Rishikesh and Haridwar) and the Sikhs (Hemkund Sahib and
Nanakmatta). The famous hill stations in the state are Mussoorie, Nainital, Almora, Dehradun etc.
• The mainstay of the state is its income from tourism (both from general public visiting hill stations and from pilgrims),
forest wealth and rich water resources.

UTTAR PRADESH
Basic Information:
Area: 2,43,286 sq km
Population (2011 Census): 199,581,477
Growth rate (2001-2011): 20.29%
Density per sq km: 820
Sex ratio (females per 1,000 males): 908
Literacy rate (2011 Census): 69.72%
Male: 79.24%
Female: 58.18%
Capital: Lucknow
No. of districts: 75
Legislature: Bicameral
Principal languages: Hindi
Assembly seats: 404
Council seats: 100
Lok Sabha seats: 80
Rajya Sabha seats: 31
Judiciary (Name and Location): High Court of Allahabad at Allahabad
State Day: November 1st
Major Rivers: Ganga, Yamuna, Gomti, Ghaghra, Ramganga, Betwa
Tourist Attractions: Taj Mahal, Fatehpur Sikri, Varanasi, Mussoorie
History: Formed in 1950
Major Regional Festivals: Ram Navami, Buddha Purnima, Lath mar Holi, Makar Sankranti, Basant Panchami
Major Dance/Music Forms: Kathak, Lucknow and Benares Gharanas of music
Industry: Sugar, textiles, mining, automobiles, IT, cement, livestock, handloom, fruit processing, forestry, handicrafts
Agriculture: Rice, wheat, pulses, sugar cane, barley, millets, potatoes, cotton, tobacco
General Information:
• UP is the largest producer of foodgrains and oilseeds in the country. It leads all the states in India in the production of
wheat, maize, barley, gram, sugarcane and potatoes. The state produces about one half of the total sugarcane output
in the country. The state is India’s ‘sugarcane bowl’.
• Many of the great sages of the Vedic times like Bharadwaja, Yajnavalkya, Vashishta, Vishwamitra and Valmiki appear to
have flourished in UP.
• The two great epics of India, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, appear to have been inspired by UP. The Ramayana
features the royal family of Kosala and the Mahabharata centres round the royal family of Hastinapur, both in Uttar
Pradesh.
• Mahavira, the founder of Jainism, is said to have breathed his last at Doora in UP.
• It was at Sarnath, in UP, that the great Buddha preached his first sermon and laid the foundations of his order.
• After Independence in January, 1950, the United provinces of Agra and Oudh were renamed Uttar Pradesh.
• Places like Agra (Taj Mahal, the white marble mausoleum built by Shah Jahan, being the chief attraction), Ayodhya,
Sarnath, Varanasi, Lucknow, Mathura and Prayag have rich treasures of Hindu and Islamic architecture.

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
62
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

WEST BENGAL
Basic Information:
Area: 88,752 sq km
Population (2011 Census): 91,347,736
Growth rate (2001-2011): 13.93%
Density per sq km: 1,029
Sex ratio (females per 1,000 males): 947
Literacy rate (2011 Census): 77.08%
Male: 82.67%
Female: 71.16%
Capital: Kolkata
No. of districts: 20
Legislature: Unicameral
Principal languages: Bengali
Assembly seats: 295
Lok Sabha seats: 42
Rajya Sabha seats: 16
Judiciary (Name and Location): High Court of Calcutta at Kolkata
State Day: November 1st
Major Rivers: Hooghly, Teesta
Tourist Attractions: Victoria Memorial, Shantiniketan, Kalimpong, Darjeeling, Digha, Jaldapara, Doars, Sundarbans
History: Formed in 1960
Major Regional Festivals: Kali Puja, Saraswati Puja, Durga Puja, Naba Barsho, Dol Purnima, Bhai Fota
Major Dance/Music Forms: Jatra theatre, Baul, Rabindra Sangeet
Industry: Industry: Steel, power, jute, tea, chemicals, and petrochemicals
Agriculture: Rice, maize, oilseeds, sugar cane, tea, cotton, pulses
General Information:
• The old Bengal (of which West Bengal forms a part) is known as Gauda or Vanga in ancient Sanskrit literature.
• When India became independent in 1947, Bengal was partitioned between India and Pakistan. While Pakistan’s share
came to be called East Pakistan, India’s share was called West Bengal.
• West Bengal is the first state where 30% reservation of seats for women in the elected bodies was implemented.
• The state accounts for 66.5 per cent of the country’s jute (including mesta).
• Kolkata’s metro rail project, the first of its kind in the country, was commissioned in 1995.
• Up to 1912 Calcutta was the capital of India.
• Places of interest are: Victoria Memorial (picture gallery and museum), Indian Museum, Zoological Garden, Parsvnath
Temple (Jain temple), Kali ghat temple, Nakhoda Mosque, Dhakshineswar Temple, Belvedere House (originally the
residence of British viceroys when they visited Calcutta, now turned into the National Library). Marble Palace, Eden
Gardens. Binoy Badal-Dinesh Bag (erstwhile Dalhousie Square), Ashutosh Museum of Arts, Fort William, Jorasanko
Thakurbari (birth place of Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore) and the Howrah Bridge (renamed as Rabindra Setu).

II. Union Territories Of India

ANDAMAN AND NICOBAR ISLANDS

Basic Information:
Area: 8073 sq km
Population (2011 Census): 380,500
Growth rate (2001-2011): 6.68%
Density per sq km: 46
Sex ratio (females per 1,000 males): 878
Literacy rate (2011 Census): 86.27%
Male: 90.11%
Female: 81.84%
Capital: Port Blair
No. of districts: 3
Legislature: None
Principal languages: Bengali, Hindi, Nicobarese, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam
Lok Sabha seats: 1
Judiciary (Name and Location): High Court of Calcutta at Kolkata (a circuit bench at Port Blair)
Tourist Attractions: Cellular Jail, Ross Island, Havelock Island, Marine Museum, Anthropological Museum, Water Sports
Complex, Viper Island, Gandhi Park, Chidiya Tapu
History: Formed in 1956

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
63
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

Major Regional Festivals: Island Tourism Festival, Subhash Mela

Major Dance/Music Forms: Ethnic dances and music Industry: Handicrafts, fisheries, polythene, PVC, fibre glass,
tourism
Agriculture: Paddy, coconuts, areca nuts banana, mango, pepper, clove, nutmeg, cinnamon
GENERAL INFORMATION:
• Andaman and Nicobar Islands are a group of more than 3000 islands.
• Pygmalion Point (also known as Parsons Point) which has since been renamed as ‘Indira Point’, is the southern most tip
of India and not ‘Kanyakumari’ as is popularly believed.
• The Andaman and Nicobar Islands are also known as the Bay Islands.
• After the evacuation of the Japanese in 1945, the islands, as part of India, became free on August 15th, 1947.
• On November 1st, 1956 the Andaman and Nicobar Islands were constituted into a union territory.
• Tourist centres are Anthropological Museum, Marine Museum, Mount Harriet, Chidiya Tapu (Bird Island), Wandoor
Beach, Viper Island, Cellular Jail and Dilthaman Tank.

CHANDIGARH
Basic Information
Area: 114 sq km
Population (2011 Census): 1,054,686
Growth rate (2001-2011): 17.10%
Density per sq km: 9,300
Sex ratio (females per 1,000 males): 818
Literacy rate (2011 Census): 86.77%
Male: 90.81%
Female: 81.88%
Capital: Chandigarh
No. of districts: 1
Legislature: None
Principal languages: Hindi, Punjabi, English
Lok Sabha seats: 1
Rajya Sabha seats: None
Judiciary (Name and Location): High Court of Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh
Tourist Attractions: Rock Gardens, Sukhna Lake, Capitol complex, Open-Hand Monument, Rose Garden
History: Formed in 1953
Industry: Paper, metals, alloys, machinery, food products, soft drinks, pharmaceuticals, electronics, IT
Agriculture: Wheat, maize, paddy
General Information:
• Chandigarh has been a union territory since 1966. It is the capital of both Punjab and Haryana where the high court
and the university for both states are located.
• A planned modern city, it was designed by the French architect Le Corbusier.
• Tourist centres are Rose Garden, Rock Garden, Shanti Kunj, Sukhna Lake, Museum, Art Gallery, Capital complex and
National Gallery of Portraits.

National Capital Territory of Delhi

Basic Information:
Area: 1,484 sq km
Population (2011 Census): 16,314,838
Growth rate (2001-2011): 20.96%
Density per sq km: 11,297
Sex ratio (females per 1,000 males): 866
Literacy rate (2011 Census): 86.34%
Male: 91.03%
Female: 80.93%
Capital: Delhi
No. of districts: 11
Legislature: Unicameral
Principal languages: Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu
Assembly seats: 70
Lok Sabha seats: 7
Rajya Sabha seats: 3
Judiciary (Name and Location): High Court of Delhi at delhi
Major Rivers: Yamuna
Tourist Attractions: Red Fort, Old Fort, Qutub Minar, India Gate
CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
64
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

History: The Union Territory of Delhi was officially renamed National Capital Territory of Delhi in 1991
Industry: Tourism, consumer goods, IT
Agriculture: Wheat, maize, vegetables, pulses
General Information:
• The city of Delhi was founded in the 11th century AD by a Rajput chieftain of the Tomar clan.
• In 1857, following the mutiny of Indian troops the British deposed the titular Emperor Bahadur Shah and formally
annexed Delhi.
• In 1912, the capital of British India was transferred from Calcutta to Delhi.
• Delhi became a union territory on November 1st, 1956.
• In December 1991, the Parliament passed the Constitution 69th Amendment Act providing the National Capital Territory
a legislative assembly comprising 70 seats along with a seven member council of ministers headed by a chief minister.
• Both the Delhis—the old city of the Mughals established by Shah Jahan and the new city constructed by the British in
1931—preserve centres of tourist interest. Among them are Rashtrapati Bhavan, Mughal Gardens, Parliament Buildings,
Chandni Chowk, Red Fort, Jama Masjid, Raj Ghat, Shantivana, Vijaya Ghat, Purana Kila (Indraprastha), Humayun’s
Tomb, Lodi Tomb, Qutub Minar, Haus Khas, Safdarjung’s Tomb, Jantar Mantar and India Gate.

DADRA AND NAGAR HAVELI

Basic Information:
Area: 487 sq km
Population (2011 Census): 342,853
Growth rate (2001-2011): 55.50%
Density per sq km: 700
Sex ratio (females per 1,000 males): 775
Literacy rate (2011 Census): 77.65%
Male: 86.46%
Female: 65.93%
Capital: Silvassa
No. of districts: 1
Legislature: None
Principal languages: Gujarati and Hindi
Lok Sabha seats: 1
Rajya Sabha seats: None
Judiciary (Name and Location): High Court of Bombay at Mumbai
Major Rivers: Daman Ganga
Tourist Attractions: Tadekeshwara Temple, Vanvihar Udyan Mini Zoo, Deer Park, Hiravan Garden, Tribal Museum
History: Formed in 1961
Industry: Tiles, silk, chemicals, forest products, rubber, animal husbandry Agriculture: Rice, millets, pulses, oilseeds
General Information:
• The Portuguese ruled this territory till its liberation in 1954.
• On August 11th, 1961, the territory was integrated into the Indian Union.
• From 1954 till 1961, the territory functioned almost independently by what was known as “Free Dadra and Nagar Haveli
Administration”
• The territory is a predominantly rural area with about 79 per cent tribal population.
• The tourist places are Bindrabin, Deer Park, Vanganga Lake and Island garden, Dadra, Vanvihar Udyan and Tribal
Cultural Museum.

DAMAN & DIU

Basic Information:
Area: 102 sq km
Population (2011 Census): 242,911
Growth rate (2001-2011): 53.54%
Density per sq km: 2,400
Sex ratio (females per 1,000 males): 618
Literacy rate (2011 Census): 87.07%
Male: 91.48%
Female: 79.59%
Capital: Daman
No. of districts: 2
Legislature: None
Principal languages: Gujarat
Lok Sabha seats: 1
Rajya Sabha seats: None
CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
65
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

Judiciary (Name and Location): High Court of Bombay in Mumbai

Physical Characteristics: Coastal
Major Rivers: Daman Ganga, Chassi
Tourist Attractions: Bom Jesus Church, Our Lady of Sea Church, Moti Daman and Nani Daman forts, Devka Beach, Diu
Fort
History: Formed in 1987
Industry: Tourism, small-scale industries
Agriculture: Paddy, millets, groundnuts, pulses, sugarcane, coconut
General Information:
• Daman and Diu were separated by the 57th amendment of the Constitution from Goa to become an independent union
territory when Goa was accorded full statehood in 1987.
• These three different landblocks on the west coast of India had come to form one political unit after liberation from the
erstwhile Portuguese regime in 1961.
• Devka beach in Daman and Nagoa beach in Diu attract visitors.

LAKSHADWEEP
Basic Information:
Area: 32 sq km
Population (2011 Census): 65,473
Growth rate (2001-2011): 6.23%
Density per sq km: 2000
Sex ratio (females per 1,000 males): 946
Literacy rate (2011 Census): 92.28%
Male: 96.11%
Female: 88.25%
Capital: Kavaratti
No. of districts: 1
Legislature: None
Principal languages: Malayalam
Lok Sabha seats: 1
Rajya Sabha seats: None
Judiciary (Name and Location): High Court of Kerala at Ernakulam
Tourist Attractions: Agatti, Amindivi, Andretti, Bangaram, Kavaratti, Kadmat, Kalpeni, Minicoy, Lighthouse, Bangaram
History: Formed in 1956
Industry: Coconut fibre, coir fibre, matting, fisheries
Agriculture: Coconut
General Information:
• The tiniest union territory of India, Lakshadweep is an archipelago consisting of 36 islands.
• Coconut is the only crop of economic importance in Lakshadweep.
• Oceanic birds generally found are ‘tharathasi’ (Sternafuscata) and ‘karifetu’ (Anous stolidus). They are generally found
in one of the uninhabited islands known as pitti. This island has been declared a bird sanctuary.
• Saint Ubaidulla is believed to have preached Islam to the islanders. The grave of Saint Ubaidullain Andrott is today a
sacred place.
• In 1854, the English took over all the islands.
• The union territory was formed in 1956 and it was named Lakshadweep in 1973 (earlier name: Laccadives).
• The headquarters of the administration was shifted from Calicut (Kerala) to Kavaratti Island in 1964.
• Cheriyam, Suheli, Valiyakara and Tinakara have been identified as international tourist spots.

PUDUCHERRY
Basic Information:
Area: 492 sq km
Population (2011 Census): 1,244,464 sq km
Growth rate (2001-2011): 27.72%
Density per sq km: 2,500
Sex ratio (females per 1,000 males): 1,038
Literacy rate (2011 Census): 86.55%
Male: 91.12%
Female: 81.22%
Capital: Puducherry
No. of districts: 4
Legislature: Unicameral

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
66
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

Principal languages: Tamil and French

Assembly seats: 33
Lok Sabha seats: 1
Rajya Sabha seats: 1
Judiciary (Name and Location): High Court of Madras at Chennai
Major Rivers: Ponnaiyar, Coringa, Godavari
Tourist Attractions: Serenity Beach, Plage Paradiso, Karaikal Beach, Place du Government, Aurobindo Ashram
History: Formed in 1963
Industry: Textiles, computer products, electronics, leather, beer, auto parts, LPG cylinders
Agriculture: Rice, pulses, groundnut, coconut, areca nuts, spices, chillies
General Information:
• The French first established their foothold in Puducherry in 1673.
• The territory of Puducherry comprises the former French establishment of Puducherry, Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam.
• The union territory of Puducherry was constituted in 1962. It was handed over to India by the French in 1954.
• Till 2006, Puducherry was known by the name of Pondicherry.
Among the places of interest are Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Government Museum, Bharathi & Bhara-thidasan Memorial
Museum, Government Square, Botanical Garden, French Institute, Sacred Heart of Jesus Church, Joan of Arc, Manakula
Vinayagar Temple, Ananda Rangapillai mansion, Auroville and Boat Club on the Chunnambar river.

India’s Defence

st
The first decade of the 21 century has made it increasingly evident that security threats are unconstrained by borders.
Each of India’s neighbours is undergoing a transition, giving rise to varied political experiences and experiments. The
menace of terrorism and proliferation of arms, drugs and nuclear technology poses dangers that merit constant attention.

The continuing links of extremist and terrorist organisations with organs of the Pakistan State adds greater complexities
and dangers to the evolving situation confronting us. Strengthening of our security apparatus both internally and on our
frontiers is, therefore, a national priority of the highest order.

China’s stated objectives, in its defence White Paper, of developing strategic missile and space-based assets and of
rapidly enhancing its blue-water navy to conduct operations in distant waters, as well as the systematic upgrading of
infrastructure, reconnaissance and surveillance, quick response and operational capabilities in the border areas, need to
be monitored carefully in the foreseeable future for the implications that it can have on the security and defence of India.
Similarly, its military assistance and cooperation to Pakistan, including the possibility of enhancing connectivity with
Pakistan through the territory illegally occupied by Pakistan in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, will also have direct
military implications for India.

India’s credible minimum deterrence plays an important role in the regional security calculus. While maintaining a posture
of minimum deterrence, India has announced a policy of no-first-use and a policy of non-use against non-nuclear weapon
states. India also continues to maintain a voluntary, unilateral moratorium on nuclear testing.

The need for enhanced maritime security should be seen in the backdrop of a long coastline facing the Arabian Sea on the
West, the Bay of Bengal to the east and the vast Indian Ocean in the South. Increased economic activity along the coast
and the growth of major towns has heightened this necessity. Over the recent years, maritime issues like the security of
sea-lanes, piracy on the high seas, energy security, WMD, terrorism etc. have become important elements in India’s
security. The Indian Navy has played an outstanding role in curbing piracy in parts of Indian Ocean. The Mumbai terror
attacks have once again highlighted the importance of the maritime dimension in India’s security.

Organisation: The principal task of the Ministry is to frame policy directions on defence and security related matters and
communicate them for implementation to the Services Headquarters, Inter-Service Organisations, Production
Establishments and Research & Development Organisations. It is required to ensure effective implementation of the
Government’s policy directions and the execution of approved programmes within the allocated resources.

The principal functions of the Departments are as follows:

1. The Department of Defence deals with the Integrated Defence Staff (IDS) and three Services and various Inter-
Service Organisations. It is also responsible for the Defence Budget, establishment matters, defence policy, matters
relating to Parliament, defence co-operation with foreign countries and co-ordination of all defence related activities.
2. The Department of Defence Production is headed by a Secretary and deals with matters pertaining to defence
production, indigenisation of imported stores, equipment and spares, planning and control of departmental
production units of the Ordnance Factory Board and Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs).

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
67
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

3. The Department of Defence Research and Development is headed by a Secretary, who is the Scientific Adviser to the
Defence Minister. Its function is to advise the Government on scientific aspects of military equipment and logistics
and the formulation of research, design and development plans for equipment required by the Services.
4. The Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare, headed by a Secretary, deals with all resettlement, welfare and
pensionary matters of Ex-Servicemen. Integrated Defence Staff (IDS) was created on October 1, 2001 based on the
recommendation of the Group of Ministers, which was set up in 2000 post Kargil to review the Nation’s higher
defence management. Since then, HQ IDS has been acting as the single point organisation for inculcating jointness
and synergy between the Armed Forces, by way of integrating policy, doctrine, war fighting and procurement.

The three Services Headquarters, viz., the Army Headquarters, the Naval Headquarters and the Air Headquarters function
under the Chief of the Army Staff (COAS), the Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS) and the Chief of the Air Staff (CAS)
respectively. The Inter-Service Organisations, under the Department of Defence are responsible for carrying out tasks
related to common needs of the three Services such as medical care, public relations and personnel management of
civilian staff in the Defence Headquarters.
Finance Division in the Ministry of Defence deals with all matters having a financial implication. This Division is headed by
Secretary (Defence Finance)/Financial Adviser (Defence Services) and is fully integrated with the Ministry of Defence and
performs an advisory role.

Army: The Indian Army stands vigil along the border - watchful, prepared for any sacrifice so that the people of the
country may live in peace and with honour.

The infusion of high technology based precision weaponry has enhanced the lethality of future warfare manifold. The
spectrum of threat ranges from the nuclear to the conventional and the asymmetric, with terrorism emerging like a
hydra-headed monster. The rigours of climate i.e., the glacial heights and extreme cold, dense mountainous jungles and
the heat and simoom of the deserts also need to be factored.

The Mechanised Forces constitute a significant and essential segment of Defence Forces with a formidable combat
potential and operational worth. The effort to modernize Mechanised Forces continues, wherein additional quantities of
ATGMs (anti-tank guided missiles) for BMP-2 (infantry combat vehicle) and T-90 tank have been contracted.

The artillery is acquiring an array of guns, missiles and rocket systems with long ranges and superior firepower as also
state-of-the-art surveillance systems.

Weapon System of the Army includes, BrahMos Weapon System, Smerch Multi Rocket Launcher System (MLRS) and
Pinaka Multi Barrel Rocket Launcher System (MBRLS).

The present situation in the region warrants state-of-the-art systems for the Infantry. This is being achieved through
endeavours for better quality personal weapons, thermal imaging devices, mine protected vehicles and improved radio
communication systems. A contract has been signed for supply of Boot Anti Mines for use by Infantry. Bullet proof
vehicles and shot guns are being procured for counter insurgency operations.

Navy: The Indian Navy (IN), by virtue of its capability, strategic positioning and robust presence in the Indian Ocean
Region (IOR), has been a catalyst for peace, tranquillity and stability in the IOR. It has engaged other maritime nations
by extending hand of friendship and co-operation. For the smaller nations in our neighbourhood as well as nations that
depend on the waters of the Indian Ocean for their trade and energy supplies, the Indian Navy ensured a measure of
stability and tranquillity in the waters around our shores. To achieve its tasks Indian Navy is enhancing its capabilities,
cooperation and inter-operability with regional and extra regional navies.

In order to augment the Indian Navy force level, a number of ships, submarines, survey vessels, auxiliary support vessels
etc. are under construction in India and abroad. The indigenous Aircraft carrier is also under construction at CSL, Kochi.

Indigenously built INS Kesari was commissioned into the Indian Navy. Two Water Jet - Fast Attack Crafts Chetlat and Car
Nicobar were commissioned into the Indian Navy in recent times.

Coast Guard: The Indian Coast Guard was established as an independent service on August 19, 1978 as the fourth
branch of the armed force of India, as per the Coast Guard Act, 1978. Since its inception, the Coast Guard has acquired a
wide range of platforms both surface and airborne to undertake the assigned tasks during peace time and to supplement
the efforts of Indian Navy during war.

The command and control of the Coast Guard rests with the Director General of Indian Coast Guard at New Delhi. The
Organisation has five Regional Headquarters i.e. Mumbai, Chennai, Gandhinagar, Kolkatta and Port Blair. The five

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
68
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

Regional Headquarters exercise command and control in the waters adjoining the entire coastline of India, through 12
Coast Guard District Headquarters.
The duties of Coast Guard include: (a) Ensuring the safety and protection of artificial islands, offshore terminals,
installations and other structures and devices in Maritime Zones; (b) Providing protection to fishermen, including
assistance to them at sea while in distress; (c) Taking such measures as are necessary to preserve and protect the
maritime environment and to prevent and control marine pollution; (d) Assisting the customs and other authorities in
anti-smuggling operations; (e) Enforcing the provisions of such enactments as are for the time being in force in the
maritime zones; and (f) Such other matters, including measures for the safety of life and property at sea and collection of
scientific data, as may be prescribed.

Air Force: The Indian Air Force is the air arm of the Indian armed forces. Its primary responsibility is to secure Indian
airspace and to conduct Aerial warfare during a conflict.

The IAF has inducted state-of-the-art Su-30MKI aircraft in operational squadrons. Hawk AJT aircraft have also been
inducted. Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) are being procured to significantly enhance the effectiveness of
both Offensive and Defensive operations of the IAF.

Contract for MiG-29 mid-life upgrade and extension of total technical life was signed with RAC MiG, Russia. IAF is also
processing upgradation of the Mirage-2000 and Jaguar aircrafts and Mi-17 helicopters in order to optimise their
utilization. To keep the DO-228 aircraft abreast with the latest technology, all the existing aircrafts are being upgraded
with the latest avionics. In order to exploit the AN-32 aircraft further, TTL (total technical life) extension up to 40 years
and re-equipment with latest version of systems to meet the present ICAO standards for the entire AN-32 fleet is being
undertaken.

Indigenisation of spares required for overhaul is a continuous process. Indigenisation of more than 80,000 lines of spares
has been accomplished by the Base Repair Depots (BRDs) for various fleets of IAF. A long term plan has been prepared to
replace all imported barriers with ADRDE (DRDO’s Aerial Delivery Research and Development Establishment) indigenized
barriers. Indigenisation of maintenance and overhaul spares of imported Arrester Barriers is also under progress.
Approximately 800 lines of spares have already been indigenised.

To enhance electronic surveillance, a large number of ground based radars are being inducted. Such Radars in different
categories like Aerostat, Medium Power Radar (MPR), Low Level Light Weight Radar (LLLWR), Low Level Transportable
Radar (LLTR), and Surveillance Radar Equipment (SRE) will greatly improve airspace management.

The IAF is acquiring state-of-the-art communication equipment across all spectrums. These include SATCOM, HF and
V/UHF sets with associated encryption equipment to provide secure and reliable communications for all Command,
Control and Combat elements.

India’s Foreign policy

No country exists in isolation or is wholly self-sufficient. The mutual interdependence of countries for the fulfilment of
their variegated needs has brought them closer and has also given rise to forces of collaboration and confrontation.
India’s foreign policy is based on democratic principles of equality, liberty and fraternity. The underlying aim of having a
foreign policy is to ensure peaceful relations with neighbouring countries and the rest of the world and to preserve
freedom to have autonomy in making decisions on international issues.
The fundamental principles of our foreign policy are:
1. promotion of national interests such as social and economic development and political stability
2. safeguarding national security
3. promotion of peace, friendship, goodwill and co-operation amongst countries
4. resistance to imperialist, colonial and authoritarian forces and opposition to interference of super powers in the
internal affairs of other countries
5. encouragement of peaceful settlement of disputes among nations
6. opposition to arms race and support to disarmament movements
7. upholding ideals of human rights and opposition to all inequalities and discriminations based on race, colour, religion,
etc.
8. promotion of the principles of Panchsheel and non-aligned movement.

Foreign Policy over the Years

The policy of non-alignment and activism that India pursued in the early years of independence stood the country well,
despite the tactical errors analysts may find with the help of hindsight.

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
69
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

The ‘collective’ decision-making that entered the Indian foreign policy arena after Nehru continued for some time under
Indira Gandhi’s tenure as prime minister. She proved a shrewd manipulator, and managed to maintain good relations with
both super powers, at least in the initial years. For the first time, the ideals of foreign policy were imbued with
pragmatism, though the basic principles were not given up.

When Janata Party took over at the Union level in 1977, it was expected that the foreign policy would be changed
drastically. Nothing of the sort happened. The Jan Sangh, had been highly critical of the Indian closeness with the Soviet
Union. But what was sought now, after coming to power was ‘genuine’ non-alignment. Both super-powers were appeased.
On the whole, the Janata Party government tried to be more even-handed in dealing with the USA and the USSR.

During Indira Gandhi’s second stint as prime minister after the fall of the Janata government, there was some souring of
relations with the neighbouring states, but relations with the super powers gained a new maturity. Also, there was an
overture to the West European states, mainly in order to reduce India’s dependence on the USSR for sophisticated
weapons.

In Rajiv Gandhi’s tenure as prime minister, which began in 1984, foreign policy principles of the Nehru and Indira regimes
were reaffirmed. Attempts were made to improve relations with the USA and the Soviet Union as well as with
neighbouring states of Pakistan and China. But his policy in Sri Lanka proved detrimental.

By the time Narasimha Rao came to the helm of affairs with a Congress minority government at the Union level in 1991,
major changes had taken place on the international stage. The Cold War had come to an end, ideological barriers had
degenerated, and the Soviet Union had disintegrated causing major readjustments in the power equations. India was
faced with serious economic problems of its own, and this forced the country to make necessary adjustments in its
foreign policy. India became open to US proposals for military cooperation even as it opened its doors for foreign
investment. It was in this era that economic diplomacy got pre-eminence. Rao openly declared that his govt. would use
foreign policy as a dynamic instrument for promotion of national interest in the changed global context.

A coalition government came to power in 1996, led by I.K. Gujral. The United Front government continued on the
foundations of the earlier policy. It laid more emphasis on improving relations with the neighbouring states. The Gujral
Doctrine, as the foreign policy initiative came to be known, aimed at prioritizing the immediate neighbourhood and
strengthening the already strong areas, winning trust and confidence in problematic areas, and then moving outward in
concentric circles, strengthening at every step the country’s membership of old regional groupings and assuming a more
active role in new regional arrangements.

When the BJP-led coalition first came to power in 1998, there was, again, no fundamental change in the basic principles
of foreign policy. But there was a more realistic orientation. It conducted the second nuclear explosion in Pokhran in May
1998, inviting worldwide protests and sanctions from the West and Japan. Its aim was, at least partly, to show the world
that India was an entity to reckon with. It took a firm decision to oppose unequal treaties such as the Comprehensive
Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) and the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR).

In his years as prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh junked the Nehruvian foreign policy that allied it closely with global
American objectives. Singh’s inability to improve relations with the US while ensuring that LNG flowed to India from Iran
was a sign of weakness. In his ten years as PM, Singh maintained a moderate, non-hawkish posture towards Pakistan.
However, relations between the two countries soured following the November 26, 2008 terror attack on Mumbai. With
China, Singh has maintained the steady, incremental approach of his predecessors while building up India’s defences. In
January 2013, the Minister of external Affairs, Sri Lanka visited India and signed an agreement on combating
International Terrorism and Illicit drug trafficking and a revised Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement. The ties between
India and Maldives have strained after the cancellation of the GMR Airport contract, the single largest Indian Investment
in the Island Nation.

The major objectives of the country’s foreign policy in recent times have been:
• safeguarding India’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, enhancing India’s strategic space and preserving the
autonomy of our decision-making process;
• creating such conditions in the Indian subcontinent and in our immediate neighbourhood as would enable India to
devote its resources and attention to developmental activities;
• developing broad-based, mutually’ beneficial cooperation with all countries in the economic field—trade, industry,
investment and technology transfer—and facilitating business and professional contacts for this purpose;
• working with the P-5 countries (the permanent members of the UN Security Council) and other major powers to
promote bilateral ties as well as strengthening peace, stability and multi-polarity in the world;
• working constructively with other countries bilaterally as well as in multilateral institutions and international
organisations, such as the UN, NAM, etc., to try and resolve complex political, social and economic problems faced by
the international community;
CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
70
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

• promoting civilisational tolerance and interaction in the world and preserving the unique cultural -heritage of mankind
in all its diversity and splendour through common action and international programmes;
• giving priority to ‘economic diplomacy’ to promote trade and investments, ensure equitable transfer of technology
and strengthen the country’s general economic and commercial links with the rest of the world.

India’s achievements after independence

We have made decent progress in several areas during the last 68 years.
• We have produced world-class scientists, engineers, journalists, soldiers, bureaucrats, politicians and doctors from
world class institutes like IIT’s and IIM’s.
• We are amongst the only 5 countries in the world to have the capability to design/develop and send its own satellites
and into space.
• We have increased average life expectancy from 32 years to 65 years.
• We have built about 1.25 million miles of new roads; we have multiplied our steel production by over 50 times and
cement production by almost 20 times.
• We have the third largest network of Railways in the world.
• Green Revolution: This started in 1965, transforming India into a food-surplus economy from a food-deficit economy
• White Revolution: The credit for India becoming the world leader in milk production goes to Dr. Verghese Kurien.
• Telecom Revolution: No other technology has brought India--the urban and the rural—together as effectively as the
500-line EPABX designed and implemented by the Centre for Development of Telematics under the leadership of Sam
Pitroda.
• Space Technology: ISRO successfully got a spacecraft into Martian orbit on it’s maiden attempt.
• Atomic Energy: Dr. Homi Bhabha’s program has made possible successful utilization of nuclear energy in defence,
power generation, medicine and allied areas.
• Software Revolution: N. Vittal's Software Technology Program, along with the economic reforms of 1991, laid the
foundation for this industry's spectacular progress.
• But, a whopping 287 million are illiterate; 27 crore people are still below the poverty line;
• 97 million people lack access to drinking water;
• 665 million people lack decent sanitation; 42% of children are below acceptable nutrition levels; and basic medicines
are unavailable in 75% of villages.

Five-Year Plans of India

Indian Economy is based on the concept of planning. This is carried through her five-year plans, developed, executed and
monitored by the Planning Commission. Though scraped by the Narendra Modi led government, the planning commission
had the Prime Minister as the ex-officio Chairman and a nominated Deputy Chairman, who has rank of a Cabinet Minister.
Montek Singh Ahluwalia was the previous the Deputy Chairman of the Commission. The Twelfth Plan is currently
underway.

First plan (1951-1956)

Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru presented the first five-year plan to Parliament on December 8, 1951. Its total budget
was 206.8 billion rupees ($23.6 billion in 1950 dollars exchange rate).
Features
1. Net domestic product went up by 15%.
2. The monsoons cooperated, and harvests were good during the plan period, boosting exchange reserves and per
capita income, which went up by 8%.
3. Many irrigation projects were started during this five year plan. Bhakra-Nangal, Hirakud, and Mettur dam in South
India are few examples.
4. The World Health Organization together with the Indian government addressed the health needs of children and
reduced infant mortality in a big way.
5. 5 IIT’s were started as major technical institutions. University Grant commission was formed to take care of higher
education needs from the funding point of view.
6. Contracts were signed to start 5 steel plants.

Second plan (1956-1961)

The second five-year plan focussed on industry, especially heavy industry.
Features
1. Hydroelectric power projects were started in the second five year plan. Notable one being Mahatma Gandhi Hydro
Electric project at Sharavati, Koyna Dam project in present day Maharastra.
2. Five steel mills at Bhilai, Durgapur and Jamshedpur were also started.
3. Atomic Energy Commission was formed in 1957 with Homi J. Bhabha as the head of the AEC.
4. Monsoons failed during these years and population explosion continued unabated.
CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
71
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

5. Pakistan and U.S.A. were allies under the CEATO agreement. The U.S. administration looked at India as a semi
communistic, socialistic country. The Non-Aligned Movement of which India was the founding member was seen by
the western powers with suspicion.
All in all these years were not very productive for the Indian economy.

Third plan (1961-1966)

Features
1. The planned stress was on agriculture, but due to the Sino-Indian War of 1962 focus shifted towards defence and
development.
2. In 1965-66, the Green Revolution was started for the advancement of Indian agriculture. The wars lead to rising
prices in India. The priority was thus shifted to price stabilization.
3. India continued on with dam building. Hundreds of small and large dams were built during this five year plan. Many
cement and fertilizer plants were also built. Punjab started producing an abundance of wheat.
4. Many primary schools were started in rural areas. In an effort to bringing democracy to the grass roots, Panchayat
elections were started.
5. State electricity Boards were formed.
6. State secondary education Boards came into existence
7. State Road transportation corporations were formed and local road building became state responsibility.
Annual Plans: The situation created by the Indo-Pakistan conflict in 1965, two successive years of severe drought,
devaluation of the currency, general rise in prices and erosion of resources available for Plan purposes delayed the
finalisation of the Fourth Five Year Plan. Instead, between 1966 and 1969, three Annual Plans were formulated within the
framework of the draft outline of the Fourth Plan.

Fourth plan (1969-1974)

Features
1. The annual plan was introduced to resolve immediate problems, but still unemployment and poverty were major
problems so this remained the focus of the plan.
2. Mrs. Indira Gandhi was the Prime Minister of India. She tried to control the capital market by nationalising 14 of
India's major banks.
3. During 1971 more than ten million illegal Bangladeshi immigrants poured into India as refugees running away from
the murderous West Pakistani Army General Yahya Khan who was the military dictator of Pakistan. The refugee crisis
thus high jacked India's fourth five year plan. India sent troops and liberatedEast Pakistan in fifteen days. Funds
earmarked for the industrial development had to be used for the war effort.
4. India also tested (underground) a "peaceful" atomic weapon in 1974 as a reply to President Nixon's crude gun boat
th
diplomacy of bringing the U.S. 7 fleet into the Bay of Bengal as a threat to the Indian army operation in Bangladesh
(the East Pakistan).

Fifth plan (1974-1979)

Features
1. Stress was laid on employment, poverty removal, and justice.
2. The plan also focused on self-reliance with respect to agricultural production and defence.
3. During the fourth and fifth plans, stress was on rational minimum; but it was realized that poverty still plagued the
nation. Hence, in 1978 the newly elected Morarji Desai government rejected the plan.

Sixth plan (1980-1985)

This is called the Janata Government Sixth Five Year Plan. The new government rejected the Nehruvian Model of
economy.
Features
1. This plan marked the beginning of Economic Liberalisation.
2. Price Controls were eliminated and ration shops were closed.
3. Family Planning was expanded in order to prevent overpopulation.
4. The idea of a National Highway system was introduced for the first time and many roads were widened to
accommodate the increase in road traffic.

Seventh plan (1985-1990)

The Seventh Plan marked the comeback of the Indian National Congress Party into power. Stress was laid on improving
the productivity level of industries by up gradation of technology.
Period between 1989-91: The 1989-91 years, was a time of political instability in India and hence no five year plan
was implemented. Between 1990 and 1992, there were only Annual Plans. In 1991, India faced a crisis in Foreign
Exchange (Forex) reserves, left with reserves of only about $1 billion (US). Thus, under pressure, the country took the
risk of reforming the socialist economy. At That Time Dr Manmohan Singh and PV Narsimha Rao initiated the LPG
reforms. It was the beginning of privatization and liberalization in India.

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
72
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

Eighth plan (1992-1997)

Features
1. Modernisation of industries was a major highlight of the Eighth Plan.
2. Under this plan, the gradual opening of the Indian economy was undertaken to correct the burgeoning deficit and
foreign debt.
3. Meanwhile India became a member of the World Trade Organization on 1 January 1995.

Ninth plan (1998-2002)

Features
1. The target growth rate for the ninth plan was proposed to be 7%.
2. India was able to achieve the target as a sound base for rapid growth had already been laid in the country.

Tenth plan (2002-2007)

Features
1. A growth rate of 7.7 % was achieved.
2. 20 point programme was introduced.
3. Reduction in gender gap in literacy and wage rate.

Eleventh Five-Year Plan (2007-2012)

Features
1. A revival in agricultural growth which is the most important single factor affecting rural prosperity
2. Improved access to essential services in health and education especially for the poor.
3. A special thrust on infrastructure development
4. Environmental sustainability
5. Good governance at all levels, Central, state, and local.

Twelfth Five-Year Plan (2012-2017)

Objectives
1. Enhancing the Capacity for Growth Today, India can sustain a GDP growth of 8 percent a year. Increasing this to 9 or
10 percent will need more mobilization of investment resources; better allocation of these resources through more
efficient capital markets; higher investment in infrastructure through both public and PPP routes.
2. Enhancing Skills and Faster Generation of Employment
3. Bringing about sustainable development.
4. Creating open, integrated, and well-regulated markets for land, labour, and capital and for goods and services.
5. Decentralisation and Empowerment including greater and more informed participation of all citizens in decision-
making, enforcing accountability, exercising their rights and entitlements
6. Achieving technological and organizational innovation.
7. Securing the Energy Future for India
8. Accelerating development of Transport Infrastructure
9. Rural Transformation and Sustained Growth of Agriculture
10. Managing Urbanization
11. Improved Access to Quality Education
12. Better Preventive and Curative Health Care

NITI AAYOG
NITI Aayog or National Institution for Transforming India Aayog is basically a policy think tank of Government of India
and State Governments that replaces 65-year old Planning Commission. Union Government of India had announced
formation of NITI Aayog on 1st January, 2015. NITI Aayog serves as a “think tank” of the government as a “directional
and policy dynamo” and provides both to the governments at the centre and in the states with strategic and technical
advice on key policy matters including economic issues of national and international importance. Thus NITI Aayog never
plans, rather it formulates policy. By following these policies, various Ministries of the Central Government will prepare
developmental projects considering the need of long term development. NITI is in favour of cooperative federal structure
where both the Centre and States jointly prepare developmental policies.

The NITI Aayog comprises the following members and bodies:

1. Prime Minister of India as the chairperson.
2. Governing Council comprising the Chief Ministers of all States and Union Territories with legislatures and Lieutenant
Governors of other Union Territories.
3. Regional Councils will be formed to address specific issues and contingencies impacting more than one state or a
region. The aim of the Regional Councils is to amicably settle disputes between two or more states facing a common
set of problems that usually delay the progress of developmental projects.

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
73
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

These councils will be formed for a specified tenure. The Regional Councils will be convened by the Prime Minister and
will comprise of the Chief Ministers of States and Lt. Governors of Union Territories in the region for addressing
specific issues. These Regional Councils will be chaired by the chairperson of the NITI Aayog or his nominee.
4. Experts, specialists and practitioners with relevant domain knowledge will be called as special invitees, to be
nominated by the Prime Minister.

Full-time organizational framework (in addition to Prime Minister as the Chairperson) includes the following
positions:
(i) Vice-Chairperson.
(ii) Members: Two (2) Full-time.
(iii) Part-time Members: Maximum of two from leading universities, research organizations and other relevant institutions
in an ex-officio capacity. Part-time members will be on a rotational basis.
(iv) Ex-officio Members: Maximum of four members of the Union Council of Ministers to be nominated by the Prime
Minister.
(v) Chief Executive Officer (CEO). To be appointed by the Prime Minister for a fixed tenure, in the rank of Secretary to
the Government of India.
(vi) Special Invitees.
(vii) Secretariat as deemed necessary for its functioning.

The following are some of the important aims and objectives of NITI Aayog:
1. NITI Aayog sets its aims to provide a critical directional and strategic input into the development process of the
country.
2. NITI Aayog aims to serve as a “think tank” of the government both at central and state levels with relevant strategic
and technical advice on key policy matters including economic issues of national and international importance.
3. NITI Aayog now seeks to replace the centre-to-state one way flow of policy framed by the Planning Commission by
an amicable settled policy framed by a genuine and continuing partnership of states.
4. The NITI Aayog will also seek to put an end to slow and tardy implementation of policy by fostering better Inter-
Ministry co-ordination and better centre-state co-ordination. It will help evolve a shared vision of national
development priorities, and foster co-operative federalism, in order to focus on the view that strong states make a
strong nation.
5. The NITI Aayog has set it objectives to develop mechanisms to formulate credible plans to the village level and
aggregate these progressively at higher levels of government. This Aayog will ensure special attention to the sections
of society that may be at risk of not benefitting adequately from economic progress.
6. The NITI Aayog, will create a knowledge, innovation and entrepreneurial support system through a collaborative
community of national and international experts, practitioners and partners. The Aayog will offer a platform for
resolution of inter-sectoral and inter-departmental issues in order to accelerate the implementation of the
development agenda.
7. The NITI Aayog will monitor and evaluate the implementation of programmes, and focus on technology upgradation
and capacity building.

Operation Flood/White Revolution

Operation Flood was the name of a rural development programme started by India's National Dairy Development Board
(NDDB) in 1970. It is one of the largest programs of its kind. The objective of the programme was to create a nationwide
milk grid.
Operation Flood has helped dairy farmers direct their own development, placing control of the resources they create in
their own hands. A National Milk Grid links milk producers throughout India with consumers in over 700 towns and cities,
reducing seasonal and regional price variations while ensuring that the producer gets a major share of the consumers'
rupee. The bedrock of Operation Flood has been village milk producers' cooperatives, which procure milk and provide
inputs and services, making modern management and technology available to members.

Programme Implementation
Operation Flood was implemented in three phases.
Phase I
• Phase I (1970–1980) was financed by the sale of skimmed milk powder and butter oil gifted by the European Union
(then the EEC) through the World Food Programme.
• NDDB planned the programme and negotiated the details of EEC assistance.
• During its first phase, Operation Flood linked 18 of India's premier milksheds with consumers in India's four major
metropolitan cities: Delhi, Mumbai, Calcutta and Chennai.

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
74
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

Phase II
• Operation Flood's Phase II (1981–1985) increased the milksheds from 18 to 136
• By the end of 1985, a self-sustaining system of 43,000 village cooperatives covering 4.25 million milk producers had
become a reality.
• Domestic milk powder production increased from 22,000 tons in the pre-project year to 140,000 tons by 1989.
Phase III
• Phase III (1985–1996) enabled dairy cooperatives to expand and strengthen the infrastructure required to procure
and market increasing volumes of milk.
• Veterinary first-aid health care services, feed and artificial insemination services for cooperative members were
extended, along with intensified member education.
• Operation Flood's Phase III consolidated India's dairy cooperative movement, adding 30,000 new dairy cooperatives
to the 42,000 existing societies organized during Phase II. Milksheds peaked to 173 in 1988-89 with the numbers of
women members and Women's Dairy Cooperative Societies increasing significantly.

Agriculture in India
Agriculture is the mainstay of the Indian economy. Agriculture and allied sectors contributed nearly 13.7 per cent of Gross
Domestic Product (GDP of India) during 2013 with 50% of the work force.

India is the largest producer of milk, cashew nuts, coconuts, tea, ginger, turmeric and black pepper. It also has the
world's largest cattle population (193 million). India ranks second worldwide in farm output. It is the second largest
producer of wheat, sugar, groundnut and inland fish. It is the third largest producer of tobacco and rice. India accounts
for 10 per cent of the world fruit production with first rank in the production of banana and sapota. Despite high growth,
international comparisons reveal that the average yield in India is generally 30% to 50% of the highest average yield in
the world.

Agriculture in the Indian states

Punjab: Historically, the Punjab region (the five rivers region) has been one of the most fertile regions on earth. The
region is ideal for wheat-growing. Punjab is called the "Granary of India" or "India's bread-basket". It produces 43% of
India's wheat and 15% of India's rice currently.
Haryana: Self-sufficient in food production and the second largest contributor to India's central pool of food grains. The
National Dairy Research Institute at Karnal and the Central Institute for Research on Buffaloes at Hisar are instrumental
in development of new breeds of cattle and propagation of these breeds through embryo transfer technology. The Murrah
breed of water buffalo from Haryana is world-famous for its milk production.
Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir: The high-altitude states of Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir
are ideal for production of apples.
Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka: Major producers of rice, Tamil Nadu being India's second biggest
producer of rice. These states are mostly irrigated by the rivers Krishna, Godavari and Cauvery. Karnataka is the largest
producer of coffee in India and accounts for 53% of the country’s coffee production. Karnataka is also the largest
producer of sandalwood based products like perfumes. The state is also the largest producer of raw silk and Mysore silk
saris are famous. The other state manufacturing silk is Tamil Nadu.
Arunachal Pradesh: Has a large number of fruit orchards. Tea is the other produce of the high altitude regions of
Assam, West Bengal (Darjeeling), Tripura. Assam produces some of the finest and most expensive teas in the world (see
Assam tea).
In the north-eastern states like Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland, shifting cultivation known locally as “jhum”, was
practised by the tribal groups, but that has come to be less practised. In mountainous states like Sikkim, farming is done
on terraced slopes. The state has the highest production and largest cultivated area of cardamom in India.
Rajasthan: Is among the largest producers of edible oils in India and the second largest producer of oilseeds. The state
is also the biggest wool-producing state in India.
Kerala: Produces almost 90% of national output of pepper. It is also the largest producer of spices which include
cardamom, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Kerala is also the largest producer of natural rubber in India (91%). The
other state producing rubber is Tripura. 30 percent of Mizoram is covered with wild bamboo forests, and it accounts for 40
percent of India's 80-million-ton annual bamboo crop. There has been an economic shift towards agriculture for some
states like Bihar after the mineral rich areas were carved out to form the new state of Jharkhand

Green Revolution
Green Revolution is the term used for the spectacular growth in the foodgrain production, particularly in wheat and rice,
as a result of the new agricultural strategy introduced in 1967-68. This strategy was in the form of a package programme
woven around new high yielding varieties (HYV) of seeds and included other inputs, such as chemical fertilizers and
pesticides, assured water supply, supply of electricity at subsidised rates, improvement of rural infrastructure (road,
transport, etc.), credit and marketing facilities on cooperative basis, a system of support prices and buffer stocking. M.S.
Swaminathan is known as the "Father of the Green Revolution in India".

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
75
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

Implications
• After 1966 there was a substantial increase in food grain production, especially wheat production, as a result of the
new agricultural strategy.
• The adoption of new technology has also given a boost to agricultural employment because of diverse job
opportunities created by multiple cropping and shift towards hired workers.
• The new technology and modernization of agriculture have strengthened the linkages between agriculture and
industry.
• The green revolution has been limited in its coverage of crops, land as well as regions. In case of crops, the change
has been confined largely to wheat. The green revolution has been practically limited to Punjab, Haryana and western
Uttar Pradesh.
• Commercial crops were not covered by the new technology and contributed little in raising the overall agricultural
production.
• The green revolution has caused a sudden rise in the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides has harmed the long-
term fertility of soil and caused water pollution.
• As a result of wasteful use of water, the water table has fallen sharply—upto three to five metres in large parts of
Punjab and Haryana. Other harmful effects of injudicious use of water include waterlogging, salinization, alkalization
& silting.
• Loss of Bio Diversity: Due to heavy use of chemicals, we have lost many birds and insects.

A Second Green Revolution

In 2004, a second green revolution policy was announced by the government, and even though the next government at
the Centre did not refer to it, the ingredients have been promoted in practice.
The effort is to increase agricultural production, going beyond just some foodgrains to all sectors. (To the extent it seeks
to range across all agricultural sectors, it is also termed ‘rainbow revolution’). It ranges across cropping patterns,
diversification, checking post-harvest losses, sustainable practices, soil and water conservation. It also includes
encouraging use of bio-fertilizers, bio-pesticides, and organic farming and lays emphasis on improving infrastructure,
storage, and value addition-agro-processing.

Reviving Agriculture
In recent times several unfavourable trends in Indian agriculture - farmers’ suicides, declining prices of several crops,
widening disparities between agricultural and non-agricultural sectors and a marked slowing down in the rate of
agricultural growth - have attracted much comment and discussion in the media. They have contributed to generating a
sense of a deepening agrarian crisis in the country. A comprehensive analysis of problems affecting Indian agriculture
shows that the crisis is multi-faceted.
Agricultural productivity in India is low compared to world standards. Fundamental causes are:
• The size of holdings has always been small and is getting smaller.
• Rainfed agriculture still prevails in many parts of the country, and there is no alternative in the event of the
monsoon failing.
• Population pressure is a big problem as it results in further fragmentation of land holdings.
• Wasteful use of irrigation water
• Yield response to fertilizers below potential because of excessive use, unbalanced nutrient composition,
micronutrient deficiencies and suboptimal modes and timing of placement
• Degradation of soils and deterioration of water quality due to over-use of agro chemicals
• Failure of the research system to generate varieties, cropping systems and practices that would significantly
increase yield.
• Poor marketing and storing facilities for foodgrains

In order to revive Agriculture the following steps need to be taken:

• Provide remunerative prices to farmers to maintain food security and increase income of farmers.
• There has been a continuous decline in public investment in agriculture and it has been a matter of concern as it is
important for improving infrastructure. Public investment is essential for reviving agriculture.
• Further growth in agriculture has to be obtained more and more by increasing the output per unit of land in rain-fed
areas and per unit of water in irrigated tracts.
• Unregistered cultivators, tenants, and tribal cultivators — all face difficulties in accessing institutional credit and other
facilities available to farmers with land titles. One priority should be to record and register actual cultivators and
provide passbooks to them, to ensure that they gain access to institutional credit and other inputs
• There is a considerable scope for further land redistribution, particularly when wastelands and cultivable lands are
taken into account.
• Marginal and small farmers need assistance in input purchases, technology adoption, crop insurance, credit, output
marketing and improvement in rural infrastructure in a big way.
• The government should give large push to core issues like public investment in infrastructure, land and water
management including rainwater conservation and watershed development, research and extension and price
stabilization to make cultivation viable and profitable.

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
76
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

India’s Economy

Indian Economy, the third largest economy in the world, in terms of purchasing power, is going to touch new heights in
coming years. As predicted by Goldman Sachs, the Global Investment Bank, by 2035 India would be the third largest
economy of the world just after US and China. It will grow to 60% of size of the US economy.
The history of Indian economy can be broadly divided into three phases: Pre- Colonial, Colonial and Post-Colonial.

Pre Colonial
The economic history of India since Indus Valley Civilization to 1700 AD can be categorized under this phase. During
Indus Valley Civilization Indian economy was very well developed. It had flourishing trade relations with other parts of
world, which is evident from the coins of various civilizations found at the site of Indus valley. Each village in India was a
self-sufficient entity. Each village was economically independent as all the economic needs were fulfilled within the village.
Colonial
Then came the phase of colonization. The arrival of East India Company in India ruined the Indian economy. There was a
two-way depletion of resources. British used to buy raw materials from India at cheaper rates and finished goods were
sold at higher than normal price in Indian markets. During this phase India’s share of world income declined from 22.3%
in 1700 AD to 3.8% in 1952.
Post-Colonial
After India got independence from this colonial rule in 1947, the process of rebuilding the economy started. For this
various policies and schemes were formulated. First five year plan for the development of Indian economy came into
implementation in 1952. These Five Year Plans, started by Indian government, focused on the needs of Indian economy.
If on one hand agriculture received the immediate attention on the other side industrial sector was developed at a fast
pace to provide employment opportunities to the growing population and to keep pace with the developments in the
world. Trade liberalization, financial liberalization, tax reforms and opening up to foreign investments were some of the
important steps, which helped Indian economy to gain momentum. The Economic Liberalization introduced by Manmohan
Singh in 1991, then Finance Minister in the government of P V Narasimha Rao, laid the foundation of India’s economic
st
revival in the 21 century.

Major milestones in the growth of Indian Economy

Exploitation under British rule

The structure of India’s present day economy is not just of current making; it has its roots steeped in history, particularly
in the period when India was under British rule which lasted for almost two centuries before India finally won its
independence on 15 August 1947. The sole purpose of the British colonial rule in India was to reduce the country to being
a feeder economy for Great Britain’s own rapidly expanding modern industrial base. India was a thriving independent
economy before the advent of the British rule. Though agriculture was the main source of livelihood for most people, yet,
the country’s economy was characterized by various kinds of manufacturing activities. India was particularly well known
for its handicraft industries in the fields of cotton and silk textiles, metal and precious stone works etc. The Colonial
government’s policies brought about a fundamental change in the structure of the Indian economy — transforming the
country into a net supplier of raw materials and consumer of finished industrial products from Britain.

India’s economy under the British colonial rule remained fundamentally agrarian — about 85 per cent of the country’s
population lived mostly in villages and derived livelihood directly or indirectly from agriculture. However, the agricultural
sector continued to experience stagnation and, not infrequently, unusual deterioration. As in the case of agriculture, so
also in manufacturing, India could not develop a sound industrial base under the colonial rule. Even as the country’s world
famous handicraft industries declined, no corresponding modern industrial base was allowed to come up to take pride of
place so long enjoyed by the former.

Today India’s economy is the tenth largest economy in the world by nominal value and the third largest by purchasing
power parity (PPP). In the 1990s, following economic reform from the socialist-inspired economy of post-independence
India, the country began to experience rapid economic growth, as markets opened for international competition and
st
investment. In the 21 century, India is an emerging economic power with vast human and natural resources, and a
huge knowledge base.

Central Planning post-independence

Central planning was one of the founding pillars of Indian economic policy post-independence. India’s first Prime Minister,
Jawaharlal Nehru chose the goal of economic self-sufficiency with economic development to be achieved by central
planning modelled on that of the Soviet Union. The system envisaged government investment in capital intensive industry
like steel and oil & gas. The private sector was seen as lacking in resources and expertise for the rebuilding of a country
emerging from the ravages of centuries of British colonial past. The impact of central planning on India’s economic
development is discussed in the paragraphs below.
CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
77
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

The first five year plan (1951-55) called for the planned development of only a few industries, the ones that private
industry had not developed for one reason or another. In the first five year plan the other industries were left to the
market. The second five year plan (1956-1961) was more interventionist. It sought to eliminate the import of consumer
goods, particularly luxuries, by means of high tariffs and low quotas or banning some items altogether. The large
enterprises in seventeen industries were nationalized.

License Raj
Licenses were required for starting new companies, for producing new products or expanding production capacities. This
is when India got its License Raj, the bureaucratic control over the economy. The Indian Government required businesses
get bureaucratic approval not only for expanding productive capacity but also for laying off workers and for shutting
down. Established business houses learned how to game the system with, parallel bureaucracies in Delhi to follow up on
their files, organize bribes, and win licenses.

Government planning also involved requiring businesses to produce in particular areas, usually economically backward
areas. The Five Year Plans required huge financial resources and this often meant taking resources away from agriculture
and giving them to pet industries that were not viable on their own. License-permit raj was the central tenet of the
planning process. Any action to expand production, albeit opening a new plant, moving existing operations to a new
location or even expanding production in an old plant, required a license. In the early 1980’s the License Raj rejected 50
to 60 percent of the application, most commonly on the basis that there was adequate existing capacity.

Large firms in certain industries, called core industries, had to abide by the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices
Act, (MRTP). The government had a policy of reserving certain products for “small” companies. In the late 1970’s there
were 800 products reserved for such companies. This stunted the growth of companies and precluded the possibility of
reaping economies of scale. Absence of global sized Indian company in many sectors is because of this policy anomaly.
Also firms cannot in the matter of labour costs reduce their costs by laying off workers. This requires government
permission and financial hardship of the firm is not a proper justification. Labour laws have been relaxed in recent times
but still remain rigid by global standards.
The success pattern of development in other Asian countries such as Malaysia, Thailand, Korea, Singapore and China
involved cultivating export industries. In contrast, India virtually shut off imports with high tariffs, low quotas and outright
banning. The end result is that India in 1988 had the lowest ratio of imports to GDP of any country in the Asia and
consequently also had a comparably low ratio of exports to GDP. It is not impossible to expand exports without having a
corresponding expansion in imports but it is as a practical matter difficult to do so. India’s government, however, decided
in the late 1980’s to try to promote exports without loosening its restrictions on imports. Exporters were given Import
Replenishment Licenses which could be used to buy imports. Profits on exports were made exempt from the corporate
profit tax. There are numerous rules and regulation to prevent the special rules for exporters from being abused but the
plethora of loopholes provided ample scope for misuse and corruption.

The fact that India’s growth seemed too ordinary in world context for the first four decades post-independence makes
India’s acceleration of economic growth since that much more exciting. With other countries that have experienced
growth miracles, it is very difficult to imagine how to translate their experience into lessons for other developing
countries. The world’s economists now have an example of an economy that did not have remarkably favourable initial
conditions but that has sustained rapid economic growth over two decades.

Emergence of public sector

Before independence, there was almost no ‘Public Sector’ in the Indian economy. After independence and with the advent
of planning, India opted for the dominance of the public sector, firmly believing that political independence without
economic self-reliance was not good for the country. The passage of Industrial Policy Resolution of 1956 and adoption of
the socialist pattern of the society led to a deliberate enlargement of our public sector.

Many eminent economists argued that Government must not venture into those areas, where the private sector could
undertake the job efficiently. Experiences show they were right. Market driven economies have done well throughout the
world compared to state controlled and administered economies. The collapse of socialist economy of the Soviet block has
convinced the policy planners, around the world, that role of the State should be that of a facilitator and regulator rather
than the producer and manager.
The management problems that afflict most PSUs were over-staffing, underutilization of capacity, excessive inventories,
poor management of materials, obsolete technology, inadequate maintenance and wrong selection of products. The policy
of promoting public sector was not a total disaster and did have some beneficial effects. Among the positives associated
with the public sector in India include:
• It played an important role in preventing the concentration of economic power.
• Filling of gaps: At the time of independence, private sector in the country lacked the financial resources and technical
& managerial competence in several key industries. These included heavy industries such as steel, heavy machine

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
78
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

tools, exploration and refining of oil, electrical and equipment, chemicals and fertilizers, defence equipment, etc.
Public sector has helped to fill up these gaps.
• Employment: Public sector has created millions of jobs to tackle the unemployment problem in the country.
• Balanced Regional Development: Public sector undertakings have located their plants in backward and downtrodden
parts of the country. These areas lacked basic industrial and civic facilities like electricity and water supply. Public
enterprises have developed these facilities thereby brining about complete transformation in the socioeconomic life of
the people in these regions.
• Contribution to Public Exchequer: In recent years, the public sector has made increasing contributions to the public
sector in the form of dividend, corporate taxes, excise and customs duty.
• Research and Development: As most of the public enterprises are engaged in high technology and heavy industries
they have undertaken research and development programmes in a big way.

Nationalisation of key industries

Banking
The government took major initiatives in banking sector reforms after Independence.
• In 1955, it nationalized the Imperial Bank of India and started offering extensive banking facilities, especially in rural
and semi-urban areas.
• The government constituted the State Bank of India to act as the principal agent of the RBI and to handle banking
transactions of the Union government and state governments all over the country.
• In 1969, as a major process of nationalization, 14 commercial banks in the country were nationalized. In the second
phase of banking sector reforms, seven more banks were nationalized in 1980. With this, 80% of the banking sector
in India came under the government ownership.
Advantages:
• The ownership of the State gave a new confidence to the savers and being backed by a sovereign the normal
suspicions associated with the capabilities of the bankers in the private sector were gone.
• This resulted in a massive quantitative expansion of the bank customer base as well as in the nature of services
provided.
• Absence of concern for profitability and targeting made banks to expand rapidly in un-banked areas thereby linking
the entire country by banking activity.
• The national banks are still the driving force of the Indian economy with over 90 per cent of the country’s population
availing services of credits and deposits with them.
• A large employment base was created.
Disadvantages
• Absence of profitability
• The deterioration in service

Insurance
Insurance industry in India has its origins in 1818 when Oriental Life Insurance Company in Calcutta was established. In
1950, the insurance industry was nationalized.
The nationalization was justified based on the following arguments.
• The government wanted to increase market penetration by nationalization.
• If there are economies of scale in the market, it would thus become possible for government to cut the cost of
operation per policy sold below what private companies could.
• Government could take life insurance in rural areas where it was not profitable for private businesses to sell
insurance.

Impact of Nationalization
• The government was able to bring down frauds and misuse of funds garnered as premium income and restore public
confidence in the insurance business.
• At the same time the preservation of state monopoly restricted the growth of the industry in the absence of private
players.

Liberalization & Economic reforms

The economic liberalization in India refers to on-going reforms in India that started in 1991. Balance of Payments crisis in
1991 pushed the country to near bankruptcy. In return for an IMF bailout, gold was transferred to London as collateral,
the Rupee devalued and economic reforms were forced upon India.

The Government of India headed by Narasimha Rao decided to usher in several reforms that are collectively termed as
liberalization. Narasimha Rao appointed Manmohan Singh as a special economic advisor to implement liberalization.
The reforms ushered in a remarkable change in the Indian mind-set, as it implied a shift from the traditional values held
since Independence in 1947.
CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
79
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

The new policies included the following:

• Opening up for international trade and investment
• Deregulation, initiation of privatization, tax reforms, and inflation-controlling measures.
• In the industrial sector, industrial licensing was cut, leaving only 18 industries subject to licensing, ending many
public monopolies, allowing automatic approval of foreign direct investment in many sectors.
• Restrictions that existed on the import of foreign technology were withdrawn.
• The Controller of Capital Issues which decided the prices and number of shares that firms could issue was abolished.
• In 1994, the National Stock Exchange was started as a computer-based trading system which served as an
instrument to leverage reforms of India’s other stock exchanges. The NSE emerged as India’s largest exchange by
1996.
• Tariffs were reduced from an average of 85 percent to 25 percent,
• Foreign direct investment was encouraged by increasing the maximum limit on share of foreign capital in joint
ventures from 40 to 51 percent with 100 percent foreign equity permitted in priority sectors.
• Procedures for FDI approvals were streamlined, and in at least 35 industries, automatically approving projects within
the limits for foreign participation.
• In 1992, India’s equity markets were opened to investment by foreign institutional investors and permitted Indian
firms to raise capital on international markets by issuing Global Depository Receipts (GDRs).
• Marginal tax rates were reduced.
• Privatization of large, inefficient and loss-inducing government corporations was initiated.
• In service sectors government regulation was eased significantly
• Import licensing was abolished relatively early for capital goods and intermediates which became freely importable in
1993, simultaneously with the switch to a flexible exchange rate regime.
• The Indian financial system was incrementally deregulated and exposed to international financial markets along with
the introduction of new instruments and products.

Impact of Liberalization
• Today 64.8% of the annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of India comes from the service industry.
• With the increase in the supply level, the rate of employment has also increased considerably.
• Liberalization has made the Indian Economy a huge consumer market.
rd
• India is now among the top ten largest economies in terms of market exchange rate and 3 largest in terms of the
Purchasing Power Parity.
• The purchasing power of the booming middle class was enhanced, who went on a consumption spree, which in turn
allowed the retail sector to flourish.
• The booming economy also created a wave of real estate boom across the country.

Emergence of private sector

Privatization of non-core industries: Privatization, in its broader sense, stands for policies to reduce the role of the
state, assign larger role for the private sector pursuing the logic of the market in all economic decisions.
1. The entry of new private sector enterprises could introduce competition where public sector enjoyed monopoly. The
existing public enterprises (PSEs) would be forced to go commercial and respond to the market discipline.
2. The de-reservation process has sometimes been described as ‘Parallelization’ in the privatization framework.
3. Deregulation implies loosening such statutes like the Industries (Development Regulation) Act, 1951 (IDRA),
Monopolies Restrictive Trade Practices Act, 1969, (MRTPA), Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1973 (FERA), Capital
Issues Control and Technical Scrutiny by the Directorate General of Technical Development (DGTD).
4. Privatization has been carried out in several stages; such as, deregulation, de-reservation, privatization and
disinvestment.
5. Under the Indian planning system public sector investments are financed through financial allocations by the
government. While there were no administrative restrictions on cottage, village and small scale industries most large
investment proposals by the private sector have had to pass through the scrutiny by a multiple of regulatory
agencies.
6. The Statement on Industrial Policy, 1991 (IPS 1991) marked acceleration of the trends towards deregulation and an
enlarged scope for large private Indian and foreign capital. IPS 1991:
• Virtually abandoned the industrial licensing system under the IDRA
• Removed restrictions on large industrial houses under the MRTP Act
• Dispensed with the general ceiling of 40 percent on foreign equity under FERA.
• The policy mix included increasing external competition through lowering of customs duties and relaxations in
the quantitative restrictions.
• This was followed by dismantling of the Directorate General of Trade and Development (DGTD) and the repeal of
Capital Issues Control Act, 1947.
• Thus, the process of freeing the private sector from regulations and enabling it to respond to market forces was
nearly complete.
CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
80
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

7. The industrial policy of 1991 announced a number of important steps with regard to the public sector. The areas
reserved for the public sector under the Industrial Policy Resolution, 1956 were reduced, initially from seventeen to
eight, and later to four. The remaining four areas related to defence equipment, atomic energy and associated
minerals, and railway transport.
8. With a view to disinvest the holdings of the PSUs, the government set up a committee in August 1996. The
commission was set up by the United Front government under the Chairmanship of G V Ramakrishna. The
Commission’s report that was submitted in February 97 underlined the long-term strategy on disinvestment. Major
objectives were to:
• Strengthen PSUs where appropriate in order to facilitate disinvestment
• Strengthen profitable PSUs to promote greater competitiveness to enable payment of higher dividends to the
government and to enhance share values strengthen other marginally profitable PSUs and reduce their future
dependence on the budget
• Financially restructure and revive loss-making PSUs to invite private capital for long-term turnaround
• Sustaining long-term employment by financial turnaround of loss-making PSUs
• Providing adequate and fair compensation through VRS to surplus workforce
• Enhance government receipts by disinvestment in profitable PSUs.
• MTNL, GAIL, CONCOR, BALCO, HCIL, ONGC are among the prominent PSUs that have been disinvested partially.

Joint ventures with foreign companies boost Indian expertise: The economic reforms and liberalization initiated
since 1991 have created an enabling framework for Indian companies to set up joint ventures with foreign companies in
India. Major benefits of JVs include:
• Providing companies with the opportunity to obtain new capacity and proficiency.
• Allowing companies to enter into new geographic markets or obtain new technological knowledge.
• In addition to servicing the huge Indian market, many JVs are becoming increasingly important supply sources
for the foreign joint venture partners.
• International corporations can now sell their products directly in India through distribution arrangements and
even put up manufacturing facilities through their wholly-owned or majority owned subsidiaries
• Through these joint ventures Indian companies are able to offer domestically products that earlier had to be
imported. The consumers benefit by the services that come along with the joint venture.
• The foreign partner is spared the time consumed in understanding the Indian consumer and the arduous task of
building a distribution network in the Indian market while the Indian partner gets access to his technical and
managerial expertise.
• JVs have benefited Indian industry as a whole in improving its technical, managerial and marketing expertise.
• International corporations investing in India, are benefitted by the presence of the large Indian market.
• International corporations also leverage on the low cost of production in India to obtain low cost product for their
global requirements.
• The MNC’s don’t need to spend any time or money on management of the Indian venture. Their technology is
safe protected by the joint venture agreement.
• Besides low cost advantages, MNC’s get a share in the surplus in terms of profits or dividend derived by the joint
venture.

Example of JV’s: Maruti is one of the most successful joint ventures in India. Maruti Udyog Limited (MUL) was
established in Feb 1981 through an Act of Parliament, to meet the growing demand of a personal mode of transport it was
established with the following objectives
• Modernizing the Indian automobile industry
• Producing fuel efficient vehicles to conserve scarce resources
• Producing indigenous utility cars for the growing needs of the Indian population.

A license and a Joint Venture agreement was signed with the Suzuki Motor Company of Japan in Oct 1983, by which
Suzuki acquired 26% of the equity and agreed to provide the latest technology as well as Japanese management
practices. Suzuki was preferred for the joint venture because of its track record in manufacturing and selling small cars all
over the world. The hugely successful joint venture with Suzuki began to unlock India’s hidden manufacturing strengths
that had been bottled up by post-independence economic policies. Today Maruti is India’s biggest automobile company
with sales of over 1 million vehicles in a year (2009-10). In September 2007, Maruti Udyog Limited was renamed Maruti
Suzuki India Limited when the government sold off its shareholding.

Services overtake manufacturing in share of GDP, rise of knowledge economy: The World Bank Institute offers a
formal definition of a knowledge economy as one that creates, disseminates, and uses knowledge to enhance its growth
and development. A knowledge economy uses data as it raw material and transforms it using technology, analysis tools,
and human intelligence into knowledge and expertise. The time is very opportune for India to make its transition to the
knowledge economy. The rapidly rising share of services in India’s GDP reflects the sterling growth of India’s knowledge
economy. Service Sector in India today accounts 64.8% of India’s GDP.
CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
81
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

Indiahas many of the key ingredients for making this transition to a developed, knowledge economy.
1. It has a critical mass of skilled, English-speaking knowledge workers, especially in the sciences.
2. It has a well-functioning democracy.
3. Its domestic market is one of the world’s largest.
4. It has a large and impressive Diaspora, creating valuable knowledge linkages and networks.
5. It has macroeconomic stability and a dynamic private sector.
6. Institutions of a free market economy, a well-developed financial sector, and a broad and diversified science and
technology (S&T) infrastructure can go a long way to develop the Indian economy.
7. The development of the information and communication technologies (ICT) sector in recent years has been
remarkable.
8. India has a flourishing entrepreneurship and free enterprise.
9. It has a strong infrastructure for supporting private enterprise; capital markets that operate with efficiency and
transparency; an advanced legal system; and an independent judiciary.
10. Property rights are fairly secure, and the protection of private ownership is strong.
11. The rule of law generally prevails.
12. Corporate governance has also improved dramatically.

Some of the key constraints and emerging possibilities confronting India on four critical pillars of the knowledge economy
include:
1. Strengthening the economic and institutional regime
2. Developing educated and skilled workers
3. Creating an efficient innovation system
4. Building a dynamic information infrastructure

Indian companies turn multinationals

India Inc. is flying high,not just over the Indian sky. Many Indian firms have slowly and surely embarked on the global
path and lead to the emergence of the Indian multinational companies. It’s not only the private sector that is in
aggressive mode. Even public sector units have joined the global Indian takeover race. In fact, the number of acquisitions
abroad has increased considerably in the past few years. Indian multinationals appear to be on a shopping spree.

Example (Private sector)

• Aurobindo Pharma: Started its transition from a single product, domestic player in mid-1990s to become a
multiproduct global player today. The company added newer products like life style drugs and anti-HIV drugs to its
portfolio and got its manufacturing facilities approved by several regulatory authorities to give a thrust to exports.
Today high growth markets (like Brazil and China) and regulated markets (like US, Canada and Europe) contribute
more than 50 per cent to total revenues of the company.
• TCS: With 169 offices in 35 countries world-wide, is not only dominant in English speaking countries, but also in the
Spanish and Portuguese speaking regions of the world. Its strategic acquisitions of a banking and BPO business in
Chile, and a banking solutions company in Australia, have helped it to gain complementary skills and geographic
presence.

Example (Public sector)

• Indian Oil: The company has begun to pursue global diversification by targeting exploration opportunities and
providing technical services to companies in the Middle East as well as marketing its products across Asia.

Inclusive Growth
India’s economy is headed in a new direction – striving to touch double-digit annual growth rates. The challenge now is to
ensure that this growth is sustainable, equitable and inclusive, taking into account the needs of all sections of society.In
such a scenario, the term, ‘inclusive growth’, is finding its way increasingly in the lexicon of government leaders,
economists, planners, academicians and businessmen, not just in India but even internationally.The key components of
the ‘inclusive growth’ strategy include a sharp increase in investment in rural areas, rural infrastructure and agriculture;
spurt in credit for farmers; increase in rural employment through a unique social safety net; and a sharp increase in
public spending on education and health care. Also required are a variety of legislative take.”

The private sector has an important role to play achieving inclusive growth by enhancing employment opportunities in
farm and non-farm enterprises in rural areas, providing micro finance, contract farming, setting up storage facilities for
agro-produce, and procuring them from farmers. The private sector could also encourage the promotion of traditional arts
and crafts in joint ventures with rural enterprises.

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
82
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

Developing human potential

India’s potential as economic superpower of the future has been talked about a lot. But there is a wide gulf between what
Indian can achieve and its level of preparedness in reaching that goal. Here is a brief look at other major areas of concern
that need to be addressed.
1. Health: India’s infant mortality rate is as high as 41 infants per every 1,000. But the ones that survive suffer
malnourishment. India has a child malnutrition rate that is twice that of sub-Saharan Africa - at 47% of children aged
below three. Malnutrition in early childhood has serious, long-term consequences because it impedes motor, sensory,
cognitive, social and emotional development. Malnutrition may continue to be a drag on the Indian economy’s
potential for many years. Only a healthy population can be expected to be productive.
2. Primary Education: The number of children attending primary school has gone up many-fold since Independence
and universal access is within sight. But several major problems persist. The education system is wracked by a
shortage of resources, schools, classrooms and teachers. Majority of rural schools lack basic amenities such as
toilets, which deters girls from attending.
3. Literacy rates: A recent study found that 38% of children who have completed four years of schooling cannot read
a small paragraph and that 55% can’t divide a three-digit number by a single-digit one. Due to poor teaching, a third
of children drop out before completing five years of primary school and many of those who stay on learn little.
4. Higher education: While 3 million students graduate from Indian universities each year, only about 25% of
engineering graduates and 10-15% of general college graduates are employable in the offshore IT industry.

Plan of action: The areas of concern are numerous and it will require an enormous effort for India to lift its people from
the misery of surviving on less than 1$ a day. The government will be required to allocate funds for massive investment
in human capital through health and education so that the productive potential of the young workforce can be fully
utilized. It will also require a colossal investment in physical infrastructure, lifting infrastructure spending as a share of
GDP to 7-8% from 4.6%, so that Indian companies can start plugging into global just-in-time supply chains.

Urbanisation
It is an index of transformation from traditional rural economies to modern industrial one. For this, a change in mind-set
about urban planning is imperative. Following areas should be kept in mind.
1. The bane of cities has been the stark contrast between the rich and the poor. In India, it is lavish skyscrapers jostling
with slums. A world-class city will have the least amount of such differences, and in its design and architecture will be
meant to be inclusive.
2. To address the challenge of water and the impending battles over water rights, cities will have to be designed to be
self-sufficient in water. It will mean implementing rainwater harvesting and water recycling. It will require regular
tracking of ground water levels. The system will have to be designed both for efficient storage in times of low rains as
well as be capable of handling the overflow in times of floods.
3. No world-class city can be even thought of without pervasive public transport. In fact, the public transport system
will have to be designed first with commercial, industrial and residential areas planned later.
4. Cities are ultimately engines of commerce, connected as they are to the rest of the country by airports, ports and
roads and telecommunication links. They take in human capital and raw materials and create products and services.
This will require sophisticated supply chains to be thought of in their design. This could be the supply chains of
knowledge, or that of its industrial output.
5. Empowerment of people at the level of the ward or locality is a must. It will mean the citizens of an area making a
choice over how their budgets will be spent. It will mean common public schools of high quality where the parents of
the locality will have a say or public amenities such as parks and water fountains. The idea is to involve ordinary
citizens in city planning.
6. One of the principal reasons for ill-planned cities is the underestimation of migration. Such huge numbers make all
plans and estimates for public services and land go haywire. Part of the solution is to develop not one or two cities,
but many more across the country, so that the load of migration can be absorbed.

India and Wars

1. Indo-Pakistani War of 1965

The Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, also known as the Second Kashmir War, was the culmination of a series of skirmishes
that occurred between April 1965 and September 1965 between India and Pakistan. The war was the second fought
between India and Pakistan over the region of Kashmir, the first having been fought in 1947. The war lasted five weeks,
resulted in thousands of casualties on both sides and ended in a United Nations (UN) mandated ceasefire. It is generally
accepted that the war began following the failure of Pakistan's "Operation Gibraltar" which was designed to infiltrate and
invade Jammu and Kashmir.

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
83
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

Pre-war escalation
Fight broke out between India and Pakistan in an area known as the Rann of Kutch- a barren region in the Indian state of
Gujarat. Initially involving the border police from both nations, the disputed area soon witnessed intermittent skirmishes
between the countries' armed forces firstly on March 20 and again in April 1965. In June the same year, British Prime
Minister Harold Wilson successfully persuaded both countries to end hostilities and set up a tribunal to resolve the
dispute. The verdict, which came later in 1968, saw Pakistan gaining only 350 square miles (900 km²) of the Rann of
Kutch, as against Pakistan's original claim of 3500 sq miles. After its successes in the Rann of Kutch, Pakistan, under the
leadership of General Ayub Khan, is said to have believed that the Indian Army was unable to defend itself against a quick
military campaign in the disputed territory of Kashmir, following a loss to China in 1962. Pakistan believed that the
population of Kashmir was generally discontented with Indian rule and that a resistance movement could be ignited by a
few infiltrating saboteurs. This was codenamed Operation Gibraltar. For its part, Pakistan claimed to have been
concerned by the attempts of India to absorb Kashmir - a state that Pakistan claims as "disputed".

Aerial warfare
• The war saw the Indian Air Force and the Pakistani Air Force being involved in full scale combat for the first time
since independence. Though the two forces had previously faced off in the First Kashmir War during the late 1940s, it
was limited in scale compared to the 65 conflict.
• Pakistan's main strike force comprised the U.S. made F-86 Sabre jets, which claimed a fair share of Indian planes,
though remaining vulnerable to the diminutive. Unlike the PAF whose planes largely consisted of American craft, IAF
flew an assortment of planes from Vampires to Mysteries, many of which were outdated in comparison to PAF planes.

Tank battles
• The 1965 war witnessed some of the largest Tank Battles since World War II. The Pakistani Army had numerical
advantage in tanks as well as better equipment in the form of the venerable Patton Tank. Pakistani armour
comprised largely of Patton tanks, which were superior to the M4 Sherman tanks possessed by Indian Army.
• Despite the qualitative edge of Pakistani armour, it was outclassed on the battlefield due to stellar performance by
Indian tank crews.

Ceasefire
• On September 22, the United NationsSecurity Council unanimously passed a resolution that called for an
unconditional ceasefire from both nations. The war ended the following day.
• The Soviet Union, led by Premier Alexey Kosygin, brokered a ceasefire in Tashkent (now in Uzbekistan), where Indian
Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri and Pakistani President Ayub Khan signed an agreement to withdraw to pre-
August lines no later than February 25, 1966.
• The ceasefire ensured a six year period of relative peace between the two neighbouring rivals before war broke out
once again in 1971.

Involvement of other nations

• The United States of America, which was the primary supplier of arms and ammunitions to both nations (especially
Pakistan), placed a military embargo. The US was alarmed that weapons given to fight communism had been used by
its allies to fight each other.
• This was a major blow to Pakistan, as much of its military hardware was supplied by the US, and it is believed to
have contributed to the Pakistani decision that its forces could not sustain the fighting much beyond mid-September.
• Following the US decision, other NATO allies (including the UK) stopped military supplies to both nations. Both before
and during the war, China had been a strong ally of Pakistan and had constantly threatened India, with whom it had
fought a war in 1962.
• This was one of the reasons why India chose to accept the ceasefire, since it believed that it could not sustain a war
on two fronts. While India's Non Aligned Movement stand saw few nations coming to its aid, Pakistan received help
from other Islamic nations from the Persian Gulf region, including Turkey. Islamic republics like Indonesia also
extended aid to Pakistan.
• Surprisingly, the USSR was more neutral than most other nations during the war and even invited both nations to
host talks in Tashkent.
Consequences of the war
India
• Though the war was indecisive, Pakistan suffered much heavier material and personnel casualties compared to India.
• India's decision to declare ceasefire with Pakistan caused some outrage among the Indian populace, who believed
they had the upper hand.
• Both India and Pakistan increased their defence spending and the Cold War politics had taken roots in the
subcontinent.
• The Indian Military, which was already undergoing rapid expansions, made improvements in command and control to
address some shortcomings.

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
84
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

Pakistan
• September 6 is celebrated as 'Defence Day' in Pakistan in commemoration of the successful defence of Sialkot
against the Indian army.
• Moreover, the end game left a lot to desire as Pakistan had lost more ground than gained and more importantly did
not achieve the goal of occupying Kashmir, which has been viewed by many impartial observers as a defeat for
Pakistan.
• The United States did not support Pakistan in this war. After the war, Pakistan would increasingly look towards China
as a major source of military hardware and political support.
• Another negative consequence of the war was the growing resentment against the Pakistani government in East
Pakistan. Bengali leaders accused the government for not providing adequate security for East Pakistan during the
conflict, even though large sums of money were taken from the east to finance the war for Kashmir.

2. Indo-Pak War of 1971

The Indo-Pakistan War of 1971 was a major military conflict between India and Pakistan. The war is closely associated
with Bangladesh Liberation War (sometimes also referred to as Pakistani Civil War). There is an argument about exact
dates of the war. However, the armed conflict on India's western front during the period between 3 December1971 and
16 December1971 is called the Indo-Pakistani War by both the Bangladeshi and Indian armies. The war ended in a
crushing defeat for the Pakistani military in just a fortnight.

India's involvement in Bangladesh Liberation War

• On 27 March1971, the Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi, expressed full support of her government to the
Bangladeshi struggle for freedom.
• The Bangladesh-India border was opened to allow the tortured and panic-stricken Bangladeshis safe shelter in India.
The governments of West Bengal, Bihar, Assam, Meghalaya and Tripura established refugee camps along the border.
Exiled Bangladeshi army officers and voluntary workers from India immediately started using these camps for the
recruitment and training of Mukti Bahini guerrillas.
• As the massacres in East Pakistan escalated, an estimated 10 million refugees fled to India, causing financial
hardship and instability in the country. The United States, a long and close ally of Pakistan, continued to ship arms
and supplies to West Pakistan.
• Indira Gandhi launched a diplomatic offensive in the early fall of 1971 touring Europe, and was successful in getting
both the United Kingdom and France to break with the United States, and block any pro-Pakistan directives in the
United Nations security council.
• Gandhi's greatest coup was on 9 August when she signed a twenty-year treaty of friendship and co-operation with
the Soviet Union, greatly shocking the United States, and decreasing the possibility that the People's Republic of
China would become involved in the conflict. China, an ally of Pakistan, had been providing moral support, but little
military aid, and did not advance troops to its border with India.
• Operation of the Mukti Bahini caused severe casualties to the Pakistani Army, which was in control of all district
headquarters.
• As the flow of refugees swelled to a tide, the economic costs for India began to escalate. India began providing
support including weapons and training for the Mukti Bahini, and began shelling military targets in East Pakistan.

American and Soviet involvement

• The United States supported Pakistan both politically and materially. Nixon, backed by Henry Kissinger feared Soviet
expansion into South and Southeast Asia. Pakistan was a close ally of the People's Republic of China, with whom
Nixon had been negotiating a rapprochement and where he intended to visit in February 1972. Nixon feared that an
Indian invasion of West Pakistan would mean total Soviet domination of the region, and that it would seriously
undermine the global position of the United States and the regional position of America's new tacit ally, China. In
order to demonstrate to China the bona fides of the United States as an ally, and in direct violation of the US
Congress-imposed sanctions on Pakistan, Nixon sent military supplies to Pakistan and routed them through Jordan
and Iran, while also encouraging China to increase its arms supplies to Pakistan.
• The Nixon administration also ignored reports it received of the 'genocidal' activities of the Pakistani Army in East
Pakistan, most notably the Blood telegram.
• But when Pakistan's defeat seemed certain, Nixon sent the USS Enterprise to the Bay of Bengal, a move deemed by
the Indians as a nuclear threat. Enterprise arrived on station on December 11, 1971. On 6 December and 13
December, the Soviet Navy dispatched two groups of ships, armed with nuclear missiles, from Vladivostok; they
trailed U.S. Task Force 74 in the Indian Ocean from 18 December until 7 January1972.
• The Soviet Union had sympathized with the Bangladeshis, and supported the Indian Army and Mukti Bahini during
the war, recognizing that the independence of Bangladesh would weaken the position of its rivals - the United States
and China. It gave assurances to India that if a confrontation with the United States or China developed, the USSR
would take counter-measures. This had been enshrined in the Indo-Soviet friendship treaty signed in August 1971.
The Soviets also sent a nuclear submarine to ward off the threat posed by USS Enterprise in the Indian Ocean.

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
85
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

Effects
• The war led to the immediate surrender of Pakistani forces to the allied forces of India and Bangladesh, jointly known
as the Mitro Bahini.
• It was one of the largest surrenders since World War II. India originally wished to try some 200 of them for war
crimes for the brutality in East Pakistan, but eventually acceded to releasing them as a gesture of reconciliation.
• Bangladesh became an independent nation, and the third most populous Muslim country.
• Loss of East Pakistan demoralized the Pakistani military and Yahya Khan resigned, to be replaced by Zulfiqar Ali
Bhutto.
• R.J. Rummel cites estimates ranging from one to three million people killed.
• On the brink of defeat around December 14, the Pakistani Army and its local collaborators systematically killed a
large number of Bengali doctors, teachers and intellectuals, part of a program against the Hindu minorities who
constituted the majority of urban educated intellectuals.
• The Simla Agreement created the following year, also saw most of Pakistani territory (more than 13,000 km²) being
given back to Pakistan to create "lasting peace" between the two nations.

3. Kargil War (1999)

The Kargil War, also known as the Kargil conflict, was an armed conflict between India and Pakistan that took place
between May and July 1999 in the Kargil district of Kashmir.
The war is one of the most recent examples of high altitude warfare in mountainous terrain, and posed significant
logistical problems for the combating sides. This was the first ground war between the two countries after they had
developed nuclear weapons. (India and Pakistan both test-detonated fission devices in May 1998, though the first Indian
nuclear test was conducted in 1974.) The conflict led to heightened tensions between the two nations and increased
defence spending on the part of India. In Pakistan, the aftermath caused instability to the government and the economy,
and on October 12, 1999 a coup d’état by the military placed army chief Pervez Musharraf in power.

Background
After the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971, there had been a long period of relative calm among the two neighbours.
But during the 1990s, escalating tensions and conflict with separatists in Kashmir as well as nuclear tests by both
countries in 1998 changed the scenario. Despite the belligerent atmosphere, both countries signed the Lahore Declaration
in February 1999 to provide a peaceful and bilateral solution to the Kashmiri issue. However, elements in the Military of
Pakistan covertly trained and sent troops and paramilitary forces, some allegedly in the guise of mujahideen, into the
Indian Territory. The aim was to sever the link between Kashmir and Ladakh, and cause Indian forces to withdraw from
the Siachen Glacier, thus forcing India to negotiate a settlement of the broader Kashmir dispute.

Operation Badr
According to India's then army chief Ved Prakash Malik the infiltration was code named "Operation Badr". Some analysts
believe that the blueprint of attack was reactivated when Pervez Musharraf was appointed chief of army staff in October
1998.

War progress
Occupation by Pakistan
Because of the extreme winter weather in Kashmir, it was common practice for the Indian and Pakistan Army to abandon
forward posts and reoccupy them in the spring. That particular spring, the Pakistan Army reoccupied the forward posts
before the scheduled time.

Troops from the elite Special Services Group as well as four to seven battalions of the Northern Light Infantry (a
paramilitary regiment not part of the regular Pakistan army at that time) backed by Kashmiri guerrillas and Afghan
mercenaries covertly and overtly set up bases on the vantage points of the Indian-controlled region. Initially, these
incursions were not spotted due to the heavy artillery fire by Pakistan across the Line of Control, which provided cover for
the infiltrators.
The Government of India responded with Operation Vijay, a mobilisation of 200,000 Indian troops. However, because of
the nature of the terrain, division and corps operations could not be mounted; the scale of most fighting was at the
regimental or battalion level.

Protection of National Highway No. 1A

The terrain of Kashmir is mountainous and at high altitudes; even the best roads, such as National Highway No. 1 (NH 1)
from Leh to Srinagar, are only two lanes. From their observation posts, the Pakistani forces had a clear line of sight to lay
down indirect artillery fire on NH 1A. This was a serious problem for the Indian Army as the highway was its main
logistical and supply route.

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
86
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

The infiltrators, apart from being equipped with small arms and grenade launchers, were also armed with mortars,
artillery and anti-aircraft guns. Many posts were also heavily mined, with India later recovering nearly 9,000 anti-
personnel mines according to ICBL. The initial Indian attacks were aimed at controlling the hills overlooking NH 1A, with
high priority being given to the stretches of the highway near the town of Kargil. The majority of posts along the Line of
Control were adjacent to the highway, and therefore the recapture of nearly every infiltrated post increased both the
territorial gains and the security of the highway.

Indian Territory recovery

Once India regained control of the hills overlooking NH 1A, the Indian Army turned to driving the invading force back
across the Line of Control, but elected not to pursue forces further into the Pakistani-controlled portion of Kashmir. The
Battle of Tololing, among other assaults, slowly tilted the combat in India's favour.

The Bofors field Howitzer (infamous in India due to the Bofors scandal) played a vital role, with Indian gunners making
maximum use of the terrain that assisted such an attack. However, its success was limited elsewhere due to the lack of
space and depth to deploy the Bofors gun.

It was in this type of terrain that aerial attacks were introduced. The Indian Air Force launched Operation Safed Sagar but
was limited by the high altitude, which in turn limited bomb loads and the number of airstrips that could be used.

In some vital points, neither artillery nor air power could dislodge the outposts manned by the Pakistan soldiers, who
were out of visible range. The Indian Army mounted some direct frontal ground assaults which were slow and took a
heavy toll given the steep ascent that had to be made on peaks as high as 18,000 feet (5,500 m). Since any daylight
attack would be suicidal, all the advances had to be made under the cover of darkness, escalating the risk of freezing.
Meanwhile, the Indian Navy also readied itself for an attempted blockade of Pakistani ports (primarily Karachi port) to cut
off supply routes. Later, the then-Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif disclosed that Pakistan was left with just six
days of fuel to sustain itself if a full-fledged war had broken out. As Pakistan found itself entwined in a prickly position,
the army had covertly planned a nuclear strike on India, the news of which alarmed U.S. President Bill Clinton, resulting
in a stern warning to Nawaz Sharif. Two months into the conflict, Indian troops had slowly retaken most of the ridges
they had lost; according to official count, an estimated 75%–80% of the intruded area and nearly all high ground was
back under Indian control.

Following the Washington accord on July 4, where Sharif agreed to withdraw the Pakistan-backed troops, most of the
fighting came to a gradual halt. The Indian army launched its final attacks in the last week of July; as soon as the last of
these Jihadists in the Drass subsector had been cleared, the fighting ceased on July 26. The day has since been marked
as Kargil Vijay Diwas (Victory Day) in India. By the end of the war, India had resumed control of all territory south and
east of the Line of Control, as was established in July 1972 as per the Shimla Accord.

World opinion
• Pakistan was criticised by the International community for allowing its paramilitary forces and insurgents to cross the
Line of Control.
• India also released taped phone conversations between the Army Chief and a senior Pakistani general where the
latter is recorded saying: "the scruff of [the militants] necks is in our hands," although Pakistan dismissed it as a
"total fabrication".
• As the Indian counter-attacks picked up momentum, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif flew to meet U.S.
president Bill Clinton on July 4 to obtain support from the United States. Clinton rebuked Sharif, however, and asked
him to use his contacts to rein in the militants and withdraw Pakistani soldiers from Indian Territory. He applauded
Indian restraint for not crossing the LoC and escalating the conflict into an all-out war.
• The other G8 nations, too, supported India and condemned the Pakistani violation of the LoC at the Cologne summit.
• The European Union opposed the violation of the LoC.
• China, a long-time ally of Pakistan, did not intervene in Pakistan's favour.
Impact and influence of media
The conflict became the first "live" war in South Asia that was given such detailed media coverage, often to the extent of
drumming up jingoistic feelings.

WMDs and the nuclear factor

• One of the main concerns in the international community during the Kargil crisis was that both neighbours had access
to weapons of mass destruction, and if the war intensified, it could have led to nuclear war.
• The first hint of the possible use of a nuclear bomb was on May 31 when Pakistani foreign secretary Shamshad
Ahmad made a statement warning that an escalation of the limited conflict could lead Pakistan to use "any weapon"
in its arsenal.”
• Additionally, the threat of WMD included a suspected use of chemical and even biological weapons.

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
87
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

Aftermath
India
• Indian PM A.B.Vajpayee’s handling of the Kargil crisis is believed to have played a big part in garnering the votes.
• The aftermath of the war saw the rise of the Indian stock market by over 1,500 points.
• Indians were also angered by the death of pilot Ajay Ahuja under controversial circumstances, and especially after
Indian authorities reported that Ahuja had been murdered and his body mutilated by Pakistani troops.
• The war had also produced higher than expected fatalities for the Indian military, with a sizeable percentage of them
including newly commissioned officers.
• One month later, the Atlantique Incident - where a Pakistan Navy plane was shot down by India - briefly reignited
fears of a conflict between the two countries.
• After the war, the Indian government severed ties with Pakistan and increased defence preparedness
• There was also severe criticism of the intelligence agencies like RAW, which failed to predict either the intrusions or
the identity/number of infiltrators during the war.
• Soon after the conflict, India also decided to complete the project to fence the entire LOC.

Pakistan
• Faced with the possibility of international isolation, the already fragile Pakistani economy was weakened further.
• The government refused to even recognise the dead bodies of its soldiers; an issue that provoked outrage and riots
in the Northern Areas.
• Sharif said that over 4,000 Pakistani troops were killed in the operation and that Pakistan had lost the conflict.
• Benazir Bhutto, an opposition leader and former prime minister, called the Kargil War "Pakistan's greatest blunder".
Many ex-officials of the military and the ISI (Pakistan's principal intelligence agency) also were of the view that
"Kargil was a waste of time" and "could not have resulted in any advantage" on the larger issue of Kashmir.
• Despite calls by many for a probe, no public commission of inquiry was set up to investigate the people responsible
for initiating the conflict.

4. India China War Of 1962

Eleven years after it invaded Tibet, Peoples Republic of China on October 16, 1962, launched an attack on Himalayan
India ended a long peaceful co-existence between the two Asian giants.
The short Sino-Indian war was triggered by a dispute over the Himalayan border in the Aksai Chin. The disputed area was
strategic for China as it had a major road between Tibet and Xinjiang. Approximately 43,000 square kilometres of Indian
territory remains under Chinese occupation.

Aksai Chin & Forward Post Policy

Aiming to consolidate its hold in Tibet, China started developing infrastructure in Himalayan regions. A ring road was
constructed which led from China to Tibet and from there via Karakorum Range to Sinkiang and Mongolia and then back
to China. Indian Ladakh district of Aksai Chin region of J&K obstructed the road and would have forced Chinese to build
through the harsh Takla Makan desert. But, taking advantage of the point that they hadn't actually signed the agreement
reached at Shimla Conference, China published maps showing that Aksai Chin belonged to them. It refused the de-facto
McMahon line in East of India that demarcated the border and control of the land. India had discovered the road only in
October 1958, triggering public outcry in the country.
The two countries had fairly good relations through most of 1950s and even agreed on the famous 'Five Principles of co-
existence' in 1954. However, border tensions began to surface since 1956.

The War
Hostilities began on October 16, 1962. The Chinese said they were responding to Indian provocations. On Oct 20, 1962,
Chinese People's Liberation Army launched two major coordinated attacks 1000 km apart in the Chip Chap valley in
Ladakh and the Namkachu river. After taking control of a substantial portion of the disputed territory, Chinese forces
made an offer for talks on October 24. India rejected this offer and tried to regroup during the lull in the fighting.
By November 18, Chinese forces had penetrated close to the outskirts of Tezpur, Assam, a major frontier town nearly 50
km from Assam-North-East Frontier Agency border. The Chinese did not advance further and on November 21 declared a
unilateral cease-fire. The US Air Force flew in massed supplies to India in November, 1962, but neither side wished to
continue hostilities.

Results of the War

• India's defeat in 1962 led to an overhaul of Indian Army in terms of doctrine, training, organisation and equipment.
• Nehru Government decided to take control of many territories that he saw as a source of espionage and resupply to
potential enemies.

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
88
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

LOAC Controversy, Status Quo Continues

Indians continue to regard territorial acquisitions by China as an illegal occupation. And so, the proposals to formalise
Sino-Indian border at the Line Of Actual Control have not made any headway. However, both India and China don't want
to disturb the status quo and the disputed boundary, called by Line of Actual Control or the McMahon Line is not
considered a major flashpoint. Military commissions from India and China meet regularly to discuss the status of the
border. The war also altered the course of the Cold War.

Millitancy and Operation Blue Star

Operation Blue Star (June 3 to June 6, 1984) was an Indian military operation at the Harmandir Sahib in Amritsar,
Punjab, the holiest temple of the Sikhs. Following a crackdown on militants in early 1984, Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale's
militant faction fortified the Harmandir Sahib complex. Bhindaranwale, along with Shabeg Singh, a Major General
dismissed from the Indian army, took to heavily arming and fortifying the Harmandir Sahib.

Operation Blue Starwas launched by Indira Gandhi to eliminate Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his followers who had
sought cover in the Harmandir Sahib complex. General Vaidya planned and coordinated operation Blue Star. On the 3rd of
June, a 36 hour curfew was imposed on the state of Punjab. The period coincided with the anniversary of the martyrdom
of Guru Arjan Dev, who built the Harmandir Sahib and compiled the Sikh's Holy book - Shri Guru Granth Sahib. As a
result of this, when the curfew was imposed the temple was filled with worshippers.

The operation was expected to be a swift one. However, the firepower and fortifications of the temple by militants had
been grossly underestimated. The operation was undertaken in the cover of the night, and due to the immense firepower
and sophisticated weaponry in the possession of the militants, the Indian army suffered heavy casualties.

Criticism of the Operation

• It was criticized as the most poorly conducted and managed military operation in the history of the India Army due to
the large number of military and civil casualties.
• Moreover, the success in emptying and depoliticising the temple was marred by the damage to the temple building
and the death of civilian worshipers caught in the crossfire.
• The Operation led to an estrangement between the Indian Central government and large portions of the Sikh
community. Indira Gandhi was later assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards. The assassination triggered Anti-Sikh riots
in North India.

India and Weapons of Mass Destruction

The Smiling Buddha

In 1974, India, under the leadership of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, conducted an underground nuclear test called
Operation Smiling Buddha in the Pokhran region of the northern state of Rajasthan. India termed it a "peaceful nuclear
explosion". Reports on the actual yield of these tests vary from official accounts of 12 kt, to Western intelligence reports
that place the yield to be between 4-6 kt. The device tested was essentially a nuclear fission device.
India is believed to have begun work on a thermonuclear weapon in 1980. According to reports, by 1989 India was
making efforts to isolate and purify the lithium-6 isotope, a key requirement for the production of a thermo-nuclear
device which they succeeded in doing by 1999.

Operation Shakti
A second series of tests, called Operation Shakti were carried out in Pokhran under a newly elected BJP government on
May 11 and 13, 1998, and took the entire world community by surprise. After the blasts, Prime Minister Atal Bihari
Vajpayee announced that this was "India's due, the right of one-sixth of humankind". The devices tested were two fission
devices, three low-yield devices and one thermonuclear device (the "H-bomb").

Nuclear Policy
• India maintains a "no-first-use" "minimum nuclear deterrent," nuclear policy in the event of war as enunciated in its
Nuclear Doctrine, released in 1999.
• India's Strategic Nuclear Command was formally established in 2003, with an Air Force officer, Air Marshall Asthana,
as the Commander-in-Chief.
• The joint services SNC is the custodian of all of India's nuclear weapons, missiles and assets. It is also responsible for
executing all aspects of India's nuclear policy. However, the civil leadership, in the form of the CCS (Cabinet
Committee on Security) is the only body authorized to order a nuclear strike against another offending strike: In
effect, it is the Prime Minister who has his finger "on the button".
• It is widely estimated that India currently has between 70-100 warheads.

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
89
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

Delivery Systems
In general, nuclear weapons can be "delivered" to their targets by missiles or by fighter aircraft such as bombers.
Missiles
India has methodically built an indigenous missile production capability, using its commercial space-launch program to
develop the skills and infrastructure needed to support an offensive ballistic missile program.

During the 1980s, India conducted a series of space launches using the solid-fuelled SLV-3 booster. Most of these
launches put light satellites into near-earth orbit.

Elements of the SLV-3 were subsequently incorporated into two new programs. In the first, the new polar-space launch
vehicle (PSLV) was equipped with six SLV-3 motors strapped to the PSLV's first stage. More importantly, the Agni IRBM
technology demonstrator uses the SLV-3 booster as its first stage. In short, India's missile program routinely adapts
previously developed space technology to new applications.

It is well worth the time to review the key missile applications:

• Prithvi: It has the capability of manoeuvring in flight so as to follow one of six different pre-programmed
trajectories.
• Agni: The Agni tests demonstrated that India can develop a manoeuvring warhead that incorporates endo-
atmospheric evasive manoeuvres and terminal guidance in the re-entry vehicle.
• PSLV: During its next excursion, this missile will triple-launch a reconnaissance satellite and two piggy-backed light-
weight satellites in an attempt to prove the missile's value to the commercial space-launch world.

India Aircraft Potential Special Weapons Delivery Systems

The current status of delivery systems for Indian nuclear weapons is unclear. India has developed and tested nuclear
weapons that could be delivered on the Prithvi and Agni missiles, although it is unclear whether India currently has such
an operational capability.

Submarines
The Indian fleet numbers over 200 combat naval vessels, of which 25 are submarines, 3 are aircraft carriers, and another
150 are destroyers and fast frigates.

Nuclear Weapons
• India is currently thought to have had a stockpile of around 40-50 warheads.
• India is generally credited with having sufficient fissile material to build 60-200 nuclear weapons, with most reports
placing the figure at 85-100.
• India's first nuclear test was on the 18th of May, 1974. Since then she has conducted another series of test at the
Pokhran test range in the state of Rajasthan.
• In terms of nuclear non-proliferation, since India has an extensive civil and military nuclear program, which includes
10 nuclear reactors, uranium mining and milling sites, heavy water production facilities, a uranium enrichment plant,
fuel fabrication facilities, and extensive nuclear research capabilities, it is now impossible to stop India's nuclear
program by means of a nuclear export control regime.
• In the future, India plans to commission fast-breeder reactors, thorium 232 reactors (which will yield U233--a
plutonium-type substance), and nuclear-powered submarines.
• Research and Development facilities in India are comparable to the best in the U.S.

Chemical Weapons
• In 1992 India signed the Chemical Weapons Convention, stating that it did not have chemical weapons and the
capacity or capability to manufacture chemical weapons. The treaty's provisions were equally applicable to all
countries, including the powerful countries. The treaty came into force on April 29, 1997.
• In 1992 India declared to Pakistan that it did not possess chemical weapons, and India and Pakistan issued a
declaration that neither side possessed or intended to acquire or use chemical weapons.

Biological Warfare
India is a signatory to the BWC of 1972.
• India has a well-developed biotechnology infrastructure that includes numerous pharmaceutical production facilities
bio-containment laboratories (including BL-3) for working with lethal pathogens.
• The Defence Research and Development Establishment (DRDE) at Gwalior is the primary establishment for studies in
toxicology and biochemical pharmacology and development of antibodies against several bacterial and viral agents.
• Work is in progress to prepare responses to threats like Anthrax, Brucellosis, cholera and plague, viral threats like
smallpox and viral haemorrhagic fever and bio-toxic threats like botulism.

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
90
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

India’s Leaders

Jawaharlal Nehru
st th
1 Prime Minister of India, In Office (1947 – 1964), succeeded by Gulzarilal Nanda, Born – 14 November 1889, Died
May 27, 1964, Married to Kamala Nehru.

Jawaharlal Nehru (November 14, 1889 – May 27, 1964) was a senior political leader of the Indian National Congress, was
a pivotal figure during the Indian independence movement and served as the first Prime Minister of the Republic of India.
Popularly referred to as Panditji (Scholar), Nehru was also a writer, scholar and amateur historian, and the patriarch of
India's most influential political family.

As the son of the wealthy Indian barrister and politician Motilal Nehru, Nehru had become one of the youngest leaders of
the Indian National Congress. Rising under the mentorship of Mahatma Gandhi, Nehru became a charismatic, radical
leader, advocating complete independence from the British Empire. An icon for Indian youth, Nehru was also an exponent
of socialism as a means to address long-standing national challenges. Serving as Congress President, A forceful and
charismatic orator, Nehru was a major influence in organising nationalist rebellions and spreading the popularity of the
nationalist cause to India's minorities.

Rise to national leadership

In the 1920s, Nehru was elected president of the All India Trade Unions Congress. He and Subhash Chandra Bose had
become the most prominent youth leaders, and both demanded outright political independence of India.

Nehru criticised the Nehru Report prepared by his father in 1928, which called for dominion status for India within the
British Empire. Arguing that India would deliver an ultimatum to the British and prepare for mass struggle, Nehru and
Bose won the hearts of many young Indians. To resolve the issue, Gandhi said that the British would be given two years
to grant India dominion status. If they did not, the Congress would launch a national struggle for full, political
independence. Nehru and Bose succeeded in reducing the statutory deadline to one year.

The failure of talks with the British caused the December 1929 session in Lahore to be held in an atmosphere charged
with nationalist, anti-British passions. Preparing for the declaration of independence, the AICC elected Jawaharlal Nehru
as Congress President at the encouragement of Gandhi. Favoured by Gandhi for his charismatic appeal to India's masses,
minorities, women and youth, the move nevertheless surprised many Congressmen and political observers.

Avadi and Quit India

The Congress passed the Avadi Resolution proclaiming socialism as the model for India's future government. Nehru was
re-elected the following year, and oversaw the Congress national campaign for the 1937 elections. Largely leaving
political organisation work to others, Nehru travelled the length and breadth of the country, exhorting the masses on
behalf of the Congress, which would win an outright majority in the central and most of the provincial legislatures.
Although he did not contest elections himself, Nehru was seen by the national media as the leader of the Congress.

At the outbreak of World War II, India was entered on the side of the British by the viceroy. Outraged at the viceroy's
arbitrary decision, all elected Congressmen resigned from their offices at the instigation of Subhash Bose and Nehru.But
even as Bose would call for an outright revolt and would proceed to seek the aid of Nazi Germany and Japan, Nehru
remained sympathetic to the British cause. He joined Maulana Azad, Chakravarthi Rajagopalachari and Patel in offering
Congress support for the war effort in turn for a commitment from the British to grant independence after the war. In
doing so, Nehru broke ranks with Gandhi, who had resisted in supporting war and remained suspicious of the British. The
failure of negotiations and Britain's refusal to concede independence outraged Indian nationalists. Gandhi and Patel called
for an all-out rebellion, a demand that was opposed by Rajagopalachari and resisted by Nehru and Azad. After intensive
debates and heated discussions, the Congress leaders called for the British to Quit India — to transfer power to Indian
hands immediately or face a mass rebellion. Despite his scepticism, Nehru travelled the country to exhort India's masses
into rebellion. He was arrested with the entire Congress Working Committee on August 9, 1942 and transported to a
maximum security prison at a fort in Ahmednagar. Here he would remain incarcerated with his colleagues till June 1945.
His daughter Indira and her husband Feroze Gandhi would also be imprisoned for a few months. Nehru's first grandchild,
Rajiv was born in 1944.

India's first prime minister

Nehru and his colleagues had been released as the British Cabinet Mission arrived to propose plans for transfer of power.
The Congress held a presidential election in the knowledge that its chosen leader would become India's head of
government. 11Congress state units nominated Vallabhbhai Patel, while only the Working Committee suggested Nehru.
Sensing that Nehru would not accept second place to Patel, Gandhi supported Nehru and asked Patel to withdraw, which
CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
91
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

he immediately did. Nehru's election surprised many Congressmen and continues to be a source of controversy in modern
times. Nehru headed an interim government, which was impaired by outbreaks of communal violence and political
disorder, and the opposition of the Muslim League led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, who were demanding a separate Muslim
state of Pakistan. After failed bids to form coalitions, Nehru reluctantly supported the partition of India as per a plan
released by the British on June 3, 1947. He would take office as the Prime Minister of India on August 15, and delivered
his inaugural address titled "A Tryst With Destiny:"

However, this period was marked with intense communal violence that swept across the Punjab region, Delhi, Bengal
and other parts of India. Nehru conducted joint tours with Pakistani leaders to encourage peace and calm angry and
disillusioned refugees. Fearing communal reprisals, Nehru also hesitated in supporting the annexation of Hyderabad
State, and clashed with Patel on the Kashmir dispute and relations with Pakistan. Nehru felt offended by Patel's decision-
making regarding the states' integration without consulting either him or the Cabinet. Patel asked Gandhi to relieve him
of his obligation to serve. He knew that he lacked Nehru's youth and popularity, and believed that an open political battle
would hurt India. After much personal deliberation and contrary to Patel's prediction, Gandhi on January 30, 1948 told
Patel not to leave the Government, and to stay by Nehru's side in joint leadership. A free India, according to Gandhi,
desperately needed both Patel and Nehru's joint leadership.

Gandhi was assassinated on January 30, 1948. At Gandhi's wake, Nehru and Patel embraced each other and addressed
the nation together. Criticism soon arose from the media and other politicians that Patel's home ministry had failed to
protect Gandhi. Emotionally exhausted, Patel tendered a letter of resignation, offering to leave the Government — despite
his word to Gandhi — desiring not to embarrass Nehru's administration. Nehru sent Patel a letter dismissing any question
of personal differences and his desire for Patel's ouster. He reminded Patel of their thirty-year partnership in the freedom
struggle, and that after Gandhi's death, it was especially wrong for them to quarrel. Moved, Patel personally and publicly
endorsed Nehru's leadership and refuted any suggestion of discord. Despite working together, the two leaders would
clash on various issues. Nehru declined Patel's counsel on sending assistance to Tibet after its 1950 invasion by the
People's Republic of China and ejecting the Portuguese from Goa by military force.

When Nehru pressured Dr. Rajendra Prasad to decline a nomination to become the first President of India in 1950 in
favour of Rajagopalachari, he thus angered the party, which felt Nehru was attempting to impose his will. Nehru sought
Patel's help in winning the party over, but Patel declined, and Prasad was duly elected. When Nehru opposed the 1950
Congress presidential candidacy of Purushottam Das Tandon, a conservative Hindu leader, he endorsed Jivatram Kripalani
and threatened to resign if Tandon was elected. Patel rejected Nehru's views and endorsed Tandon in Gujarat, where
Kripalani received not one vote despite hailing from that state himself. Patel believed Nehru had to understand that his
will was not law with the Congress, but he personally discouraged Nehru from resigning after the latter felt that the party
had no confidence in him.

Economic policies
• Creating the Planning commission of India, Nehru drew up the first Five-Year Plan in 1951, which charted the
government's investments in industries and agriculture. Increasing business and income taxes, Nehru envisaged a
mixed economy in which the government would manage strategic industries such as mining, electricity and heavy
industries, serving public interest and a check to private enterprise.
• Nehru pursued land redistribution and launched programmes to build irrigation canals, dams and spread the use of
fertilizers to increase agricultural production.
• He also pioneered a series of community development programs aimed at spreading diverse cottage industries and
increasing efficiency into rural India.
• Nehru also launched India's programme to harness nuclear energy.
• His government succeeded in extending water and electricity supply, health care, roads and infrastructure to a large
degree for India's vast rural population.

Education and social reform

• His government oversaw the establishment of many institutions of higher learning, including the All India Institute of
Medical Sciences, the Indian Institutes of Technology and the Indian Institutes of Management.
• Nehru also outlined a commitment in his five-year plans to guarantee free and compulsory primary education to all of
India's children. For this purpose, Nehru oversaw the creation of mass village enrollment programmes and the
construction of thousands of schools.
• Nehru also launched initiatives such as the provision of free milk and meals to children in order to fight malnutrition.
• Adult education centres, vocational and technical schools were also organised for adults, especially in the rural areas.
• Under Nehru, the Indian Parliament enacted many changes to Hindu law to criminalize caste discrimination and
increase the legal rights and social freedoms of women.
• A system of reservations in government services and educational institutions was created to eradicate the social
inequalities and disadvantages faced by peoples of the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
92
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

National security and foreign policy

• Although having promised in 1948 to hold a plebiscite in Kashmir under the auspices of the U.N., Nehru grew
increasingly wary of the U.N. and declined to hold a plebiscite in 1953. He ordered the arrest of the Kashmiri
politician Sheikh Abdullah, whom he had previously supported but now suspected of harbouring separatist ambitions;
Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad replaced him.
• On the international scene, Nehru was a champion of pacifism and a strong supporter of the United Nations.
• He pioneered the policy of non-alignment and co-founded the Non-Aligned Movement of nations professing neutrality
between the rival blocs of nations led by the U.S. and the U.S.S.R.
• Recognising the People's Republic of China, Nehru sought to establish warm and friendly relations with it despite the
annexation of Tibet in 1950, and hoped to act as an intermediary to bridge the gulf and tensions between the
communist states and the Western bloc.

Criticism and legacy

• Jawaharlal Nehru has been criticised for refusing to accept Vallabhbhai Patel as the Congress nominee to lead India's
government.
• While the state Congress Working Committees, though not the central Working Committee, believed that Patel was
better suited for the office, prominent observers such as the industrialist J.R.D. Tata and contemporary historians
suggest that Patel would have been more successful than Nehru in tackling India's problems.
• Nehru is criticised for establishing an era of socialist policies that created a burgeoning, inefficient bureaucracy and
curbed free enterprise and productivity while failing to significantly eliminate poverty, shortages and poor living
conditions.
• Historians and Hindu nationalists also criticise Nehru for allegedly appeasing the Indian Muslim community at the
expense of his own conviction in secularism.
• Nehru's neutral foreign policy is criticised as hypocritical in lieu of his affinity for the Soviet Union and other socialist
states.
• He is also blamed for ignoring the needs of India's military services and failing to acknowledge the threat posed by
the People's Republic of China and Pakistan.
• A few of Nehru's ministers had to resign on allegation of corruption .His minister of Mines and Oil K D Malviya had to
resign for accepting money from a private party in return for certain concessions. The sitting judge of the Supreme
Court, S.K. Das reviewed all the evidence, including the account books of the businessman in which mention had
been made of a payment to Malviya, and found two of the six charges against the Minister to be valid. Malviya
resigned as a result.

Chinese miscalculation
Nehru assumed that as former colonies they shared a sense of solidarity, as expressed in the phrase "Hindi-Chini bhai
bhai" (Indians and Chinese are brothers). He was dedicated to the ideals of brotherhood and solidarity among developing
nations, while China was dedicated to a realist vision of itself as the hegemon of Asia. Nehru did not believe that one
fellow Socialist country would attack another; and in any event, he felt secure behind the impregnable wall of ice that is
the Himalayas. Both proved to be tragic miscalculations of China's determination and military capabilities. Nehru decided
to adopt the policy of moving his territory forward, and refused to listen to any negotiations China had to offer. As Nehru
declared the intention to throw every Chinese out of the disputed areas, China made a pre-emptive attack on the Indian
front. India was vanquished by the Chinese People's Liberation Army in a bitter and cold battle in the Northeast. Although
India has repaired its relationship with the Chinese to some extent, the wounds of the Sino-Indian War have not been
forgotten. Even today, over forty years later, few know the real story of what happened and what went wrong. The
military debacle against China in 1962 was thoroughly investigated in the Henderson-Brooks Report which successive
Indian governments have refused to release.

Indira Gandhi

Indira Priyadarsini Gandhi (November 19, 1917 – October 31, 1984) was Prime Minister of India from January 19,
1966 to March 24, 1977, and again from January 14, 1980 until her assassination on October 31, 1984.
Daughter of India's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, and mother of another, Rajiv Gandhi, Indira Gandhi was one of
India's most remarkable political leaders after independence. In spite of her famous surname, she was of no relation to
Mahatma Gandhi.

Rise to power
Nehru died on May 24, 1964, and Gandhi, at the urgings of the new Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, contested
elections and joined the Government, being immediately appointed Minister for Information and Broadcasting. She went
to Madras when the riots over Hindi becoming the national language broke out in non-Hindi speaking states of the south.
There she spoke to government officials, soothed the anger of community leaders and supervised reconstruction efforts
for the affected areas. Shastri and senior Ministers were embarrassed, owing to their lack of such initiative. Minister
Gandhi's actions were probably not directly aimed at Shastri or her own political elevation.
CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
93
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

She reportedly lacked interest in the day-to-day functioning of her Ministry, but was media-savvy and adept at the art of
politics and image-making. With the backing of the Syndicate, in a vote of the Congress Parliamentary Party, Gandhi beat
Morarji Desai by 355 votes to 169 to become the fifth Prime Minister of India and the first woman to hold that position.

Nuclear security and the Green Revolution

During the 1971 War, the US had sent its Seventh Fleet to the Bay of Bengal as a warning to India not to use the
genocide in East Pakistan as a pretext to launch a wider attack against West Pakistan, especially over the disputed
territory of Kashmir.

But Gandhi now accelerated the national nuclear program, as it was felt that the nuclear threat from the People's Republic
of China and the intrusive interest of the two major superpowers were not conducive to India's stability and security. She
also invited the new Pakistani President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto to Shimla for a week-long summit. After the near-failure of the
talks, the two heads of state eventually signed the Shimla Agreement, which bound the two countries to resolve the
Kashmir dispute by negotiations and peaceful means. It was Gandhi's stubbornness which made even the visiting
Pakistani Prime Minister sign the accord according to India's terms in which Zulfikar Bhutto had to write the last few
terms in the agreement in his own handwriting.

Indira Gandhi was criticized by some for not making the Line of Control a permanent border while a few critics even
believed that Pakistan occupied Kashmir should have been extracted from a humiliated Pakistan, whose 93,000 prisoners
of war were under Indian control.
In 1974, India successfully conducted an underground nuclear test, unofficially code named as smiling Buddha, near the
desert village of Pokhran in Rajasthan. Describing the test as for "peaceful purposes", India nevertheless became the
world's youngest nuclear power.

Indira Gandhi vowed that never again will she let a food shortage come India's way. Special agricultural innovation
programs and extra government support launched in the 1960s had finally resulted in India's chronic food shortages
gradually being transformed into surplus production of wheat, rice, cotton and milk. The country became a food exporter,
and diversified its commercial crop production as well, in what has become known as the Green Revolution. At the same
time, the White Revolution was an expansion in milk production which helped to combat malnutrition, especially amidst
young children. Gandhi's economic policies remained socialistic and did not bring major industrialization. This would finally
occur in 1991, with the opening of the Indian economy.

Emergency
Gandhi's government faced major problems after her tremendous mandate of 1971. The Green Revolution was
transforming the lives of India's vast underclasses, but not with the speed or in the manner promised under Garibi Hatao.
Job growth was not strong enough to curb the widespread unemployment that followed the worldwide economic
slowdown caused by the OPEC oil shocks.

Gandhi had already been accused of tendencies towards authoritarianism. Using her strong parliamentary majority, she
had amended the Constitution and stripped power from the states granted under the federal system. The Central
government had twice imposed President's Rule under Article 356 of the Constitution by deeming states ruled by
opposition parties as "lawless and chaotic", thus winning administrative control of those states. Elected officials and the
administrative services resented the growing influence of Sanjay Gandhi, who had become Gandhi's close political advisor
at the expense of men like P.N. Haksar, Gandhi's chosen strategist during her rise to power. Renowned public figures and
former freedom-fighters like Jaya Prakash Narayan, and Acharya Jivatram Kripalani now toured the North, speaking
actively against her Government.
In June 1975 the High Court of Allahabad found the sitting Prime Minister guilty of employing a government servant in
her election campaign and Congress Party work. Technically, this constituted election fraud, and the court thus ordered
her to be removed from her seat in Parliament and banned from running in elections for six years. Gandhi appealed the
decision; the opposition parties rallied en masse, calling for her resignation. Strikes by unions and protest rallies
paralyzed life in many states. J.P. Narayan's Janata coalition even called upon the police to disobey orders if asked to fire
on an unarmed public. Public disenchantment combined with hard economic times and an unresponsive government. A
huge rally surrounded the Parliament building and Gandhi's residence in Delhi, demanding her to behave responsibly and
resign.

Prime Minister Gandhi advised President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed to declare a state of emergency, claiming that the strikes
and rallies were creating a state of 'internal disturbance'. Ahmed was a long-time political ally, and in India the President
is bound to act upon the advice rendered by the elected Prime Minister. Accordingly, a State of Emergency caused by
internal disorder, based on the provisions of Article 352 of the Constitution, was declared on June 26, 1975.

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
94
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

Even before the Emergency Proclamation was ratified by Parliament, Gandhi called out the police and the army to break
up the strikes and protests, ordering the arrest of all opposition leaders that very night. Many of these were men who had
first been jailed by the British in the 1930s and 1940s. Powers to impose curfews and indefinitely detain citizens were
granted to the police, while all publications were subjected to substantial censorship by the Ministry of Information and
Broadcasting. Finally, impending legislative assembly elections were indefinitely postponed, with all opposition-controlled
state governments being removed by virtue of the constitutional provision allowing for a dismissal of a state government
on recommendation of the local governor.

The Prime Minister pushed a series of increasingly harsh bills and constitutional amendments through Parliament, with
little discussion or debate. In particular, there was an attempt to amend the Constitution to not only protect a sitting
Prime Minister from prosecution, but even to prevent the prosecution of a Prime Minister once he or she had left the post.
The Prime Minister also ensured that her actions would be beyond judicial review, once her term of office expired. It was
clear that Gandhi was attempting to protect herself from legal prosecution once emergency rule was revoked.

Gandhi further utilized President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, to issue ordinances that did not need to be debated in Parliament,
allowing her - and Sanjay - to effectively rule by decree. Inder Kumar Gujral, a future Prime Minister himself, but then
Gandhi's, resigned as Minister for Information and Broadcasting to protest Sanjay Gandhi's interference in his work of the
ministry.

The Prime Minister's emergency rule lasted nineteen months. During this time, despite the suspension of civic liberties,
the country made significant economic and industrial progress. This was primarily due to the end it put to strikes in
factories, colleges, and universities and the repression of trade and student unions. In line with an ubiquitous slogan on
the billboards displayed at that time, Baatein kam, kaam zyada, ("Less talk, more work"), productivity increased and
administration was streamlined. Tax evasion was reduced by zealous government officials, although corruption remained
a major problem. Agricultural and industrial production expanded considerably under Gandhi's 20-point programme;
revenues increased, and so did India's financial standing in the international community. Thus much of the urban middle
class in particular found it worth their while to contain their dissatisfaction with the state of affairs.

Simultaneously, a draconian campaign to stamp out dissent included the arrest and torture of thousands of political
activists; the ruthless clearing of slums around Delhi's Jama Masjid ordered by Sanjay and carried out by Jagmohan,
which left hundreds of thousands of people homeless and thousands killed, and led to the permanent ghettoisation of the
nation's capital; and the family planning program which forcibly imposed vasectomy on thousands of fathers and was
st
often poorly administered, nurturing a public anger against family planning that persists into the 21 century.

In 1977, greatly misjudging her own popularity, Gandhi called elections and was roundly defeated by the Janata Party.
Janata, led by her long-time rival, Desai and with Narayan as its spiritual guide, claimed the elections were the last
chance for India to choose between "democracy and dictatorship." To the surprise of some - mainly Western - observers,
she meekly agreed to step down.

Removal, arrest, and return

Desai became Prime Minister and Neelam Sanjiva Reddy, the establishment choice of 1969, became President of the
Republic. Gandhi had lost her seat and found herself without work, income or residence. The Congress Party split, and
veteran Gandhi supporters like Jagjivan Ram abandoned her for Janata. Unable to govern owing to fractious coalition
warfare, the Janata government's Home Minister, Choudhary Charan Singh, ordered the arrest of Indira and Sanjay
Gandhi on a slew of charges. Her arrest and long-running trial, however, projected the image of a helpless woman being
victimized by the Government, and this triggered her political rebirth.
The Janata coalition was only united by its hatred of Gandhi (or "that woman" as some called her). Although freedom
returned, the government was so bogged down by infighting that almost no attention was paid to her basic needs. She
was able to use the situation to her advantage. She began giving speeches again, tacitly apologizing for "mistakes" made
during the Emergency, and garnering support from icons like Vinoba Bhave. Desai resigned in June 1979, and Singh was
appointed Prime Minister by the President.

Singh attempted to form a government with his Janata (Secular) coalition but lacked a majority. Charan Singh bargained
with Gandhi for the support of Congress MPs, causing uproar by his unhesitant coddling of his biggest political opponent.
After a short interval, she withdrew her initial support and President Reddy dissolved Parliament, calling fresh elections in
1980. Gandhi's Congress Party was returned to power with a landslide majority.
Indira Gandhi was awarded the Lenin Peace Prize (for 1983-84).

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
95
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

Operation Blue Star and assassination

In response to this desecration of the Golden Temple, on October 31, 1984, two of Indira Gandhi's Sikh bodyguards
Satwant Singh and Beant Singh assassinated her in the garden of the Prime Minister's Residence at No. 1, Safdarjung
Road in New Delhi. As she was walking to be interviewed by the British actor Peter Ustinov filming a documentary for
Irish television, she passed a wicket gate, guarded by Satwant and Beant, where they proceeded to open fire with their
semiautomatic machine pistols before being shot themselves by other bodyguards. She died on her way to the hospital, in
her official car, but was not declared dead until many hours later.

Indira Gandhi was cremated on November 3, near Raj Ghat and the place was called Shakti Sthal. After her death, anti-
Sikh riots engulfed New Delhi , leading to the death of thousands of innocent Sikhs and leaving many homeless.

1984 Anti-Sikh Riots

1984 Anti-Sikh Riots took place in India after the assassination of Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984. India's Prime
Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by two of her Sikh guards acting in the aftermath of Operation Bluestar.

Over the next four days nearly 3000 Sikhs were massacred in systematic riots planned and led by Congress activists and
sympathizers. The then Congress government was widely criticized for doing very little at the time, if not acting as a
conspirator, especially since voting lists were used to identify Sikh families. The then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, son of
Indira Gandhi allegedly made a statement "When a big tree falls, the earth is bound to shake" on the Sikh carnage . His
widow, Sonia Gandhi and current President of the Congress Party, officially apologized in 1998 for the events of
November, 1984. It is alleged that the anti-Sikh violence were conducted at the behest of the Congress party who
actually instigated masses.

The Incident
On November 1, 1984, a huge mob from the suburbs of Delhi descended on various localities where the Sikh were mainly
concentrated. They carried iron rods, knives, clubs, and combustible material, including kerosene. They had voters' lists
of houses and business establishments belonging to the Sikhs. The mobsters swarmed into Sikh homes. Sikh men,
women and children were brutally killed. Their shops and houses were ransacked and burned. The mobsters stopped
buses and trains, in and out of Delhi, pulling out Sikh passengers to be lynched or doused with kerosene and burnt.

During the riots, the Hindu right wing parties protected Sikhs. Khushwant Singh expressed his gratitude to the Hindus
when saying: “It was the Congress leaders who instigated mobs in 1984 and got more than 3000 people killed. I must
give due credit to RSS and the BJP for showing courage and protecting helpless Sikhs during those difficult days. BJP
party leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee himself intervened at a couple of places to help poor taxi drivers.” The Bharatiya Janata
Party strongly condemned the riots.

st st
On the night of October 31 and morning of November 1 , several Congress leaders allegedly held meetings and
mobilized support to launch a full scale assault against Delhi's Sikhs.

Rajiv Gandhi

Rajiv Ratna Gandhi (August 20, 1944 – May 21, 1991), the eldest son of Indira and Feroze Gandhi, was the 9th Prime
Minister of India (and the 3rd from the Gandhi family) from his mother's death on 31 October1984 until his resignation on
December 2, 1989 following a general election defeat. Becoming the Prime Minister of India at the age of 40, he is the
youngest person to date to hold that office.

Prime Minister
• Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi began leading in a direction significantly different from Indira Gandhi's socialism. He
improved bilateral relations with the United States - long strained owing to Indira's socialism and close friendship
with the USSR - and expanded economic and scientific cooperation. He increased government support for science and
technology and associated industries, and reduced import quotas, taxes and tariffs on technology-based industries,
especially computers, airlines, defence and telecommunications.
• He introduced measures significantly reducing the License Raj - allowing businesses and individuals to purchase
capital, consumer goods and import without red-tape and bureaucratic restrictions.
• In 1986, Rajiv announced a national education policy to modernize and expand higher education programs across
India.
• Rajiv Gandhi was the founder of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya System in the year 1986.
• Rajiv authorized an extensive police and Army campaign to contain terrorism in Punjab.
• It is alleged that even as the situation in Punjab came under control, the Indian government was offering arms and
training to the LTTE rebels fighting the Government of Sri Lanka. The Indo-Sri Lanka Peace Accord was signed by
Rajiv Gandhi and the Sri Lankan President J.R.Jayewardene, in Colombo on July 29, 1987.

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
96
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

Bofors scandal
• Rajiv's finance minister, Vishwanath Pratap Singh uncovered compromising details about government and political
corruption, to the consternation of Congress leaders.
• Transferred to the Defence ministry, Singh uncovered what became known as the Bofors scandal, involving tens of
millions of dollars - concerned alleged payoffs by the Swedish Bofors arms company through an Italian businessman
and Gandhi family associate, Ottavio Quattrocchi, in return for Indian contracts.
• Upon the uncovering of the scandal, Singh was conspicuously dismissed from office, and later from Congress
membership.
• Rajiv Gandhi himself was later personally implicated in the scandal, when the investigation was continued by
Narasimhan Ram and Chitra Subramaniam of The Hindu newspaper, shattering his image as an honest politician,
however, he was cleared over this allegation in 2004.

Sri Lanka Policy

The Indo-Sri Lanka Peace Accord signed was opposed by the then Sri Lankan Prime Minister Premadasa and was forced to
accept it due to pressure from then President Jayewardene, in January 1989 Premadasa was elected President and he
demanded in that IPKF leave within 3 months. India was fighting the LTTE. This war was unpopular in India in particular
Tamil Nadu. IPKF was accused of human rights violations in Sri Lanka. Public opinion both in India and Sri Lanka and both
Tamil and Sinhala were against Gandhi's Sri Lanka policy. Rajiv Gandhi refused to withdraw the IPKF in a situation which
clearly pointed at the failure of his Sri Lanka policy both diplomatically and militarily. Rajiv believed that the only way he
could succeed was to politically force Premadasa and militarily force the LTTE to accept the accord. Meanwhile in
December 1989 Indian elections V.P.Singh became the Prime Minister and he saw that Rajiv 's Sri Lanka policy was a
miserable failure as the IPKF operation cost over 1100 Indian soldiers lives, over 5000 Sri Lankan Tamil lives and cost
over 2000 crores and politically, diplomatically and militarily it was a stalemate.

Assassination
Rajiv Gandhi's last public meeting was at Sriperumbudur on May 21, 1991, in a city close to Chennai, where he was
assassinated while campaigning for the Sriperumbudur Lok Sabha Congress candidate Mrs Maragatham Chandrasekhar in
Tamil Nadu. The assassination was carried out by the LTTE suicide bomber Thenmuli Rajaratnam also known as Dhanu.

Jain Commission and Other Reports

In the Jain report, various people and agencies are named as suspected of having been involved in the murder of Rajiv
Gandhi. Among them, the cleric Chandraswami was suspected of involvement, including financing the assassination. One
of the accused, Ranganath, said Chandraswami was the godfather who financed the killing. The interim report of the Jain
Commission created a storm when it accused Karunanidhi and the Tamils of a role in the assassination, leading to
Congress withdrawing its support for the I. K. Gujral government and fresh elections in 1998. LTTE spokesman Anton
Balasingham told the Indian television channel NDTV that the killing was a "great tragedy, a monumental historical
tragedy which we deeply regret." A memorial christened Veer Bhumiwas constructed at his cremation spot.

Sonia Gandhi
Born – 1946, Italy, IPA: leader of the Congress Party of India, born Edvige Antonia Albina Maino on December 9, 1946, is
an Italian-born Indian politician, the President of the Indian National Congress and the widow of former Prime Minister of
India, Rajiv Gandhi.

Role in Indian politics and related controversies

• She officially took charge of the Congress party as its president in 1998 and was elected to parliament in the
th
elections held in 1999. She was elected the Leader of the Opposition of the 13 Lok Sabha in 1999.
• During her campaign, her opponents (mainly the Bharatiya Janata Party) played up her foreign birth, her failure to
take Indian citizenship for 15 years after her wedding, and her lack of fluency in Hindi or any Indian language despite
her claim that she had "become an Indian in her heart the day she became Indira Gandhi's daughter-in-law".
• In May 1999, Sonia Gandhi offered to resign from the Congress Party leadership after three senior leaders (Sharad
Pawar, Purno A. Sangma and Tariq Anwar) challenged her right to try to become India's Prime Minister, given that
she was not born of Indian blood or soil.
• In the 2004 general elections, Sonia launched a nationwide campaign, criss-crossing the country on the Aam Aadmi
(Ordinary people) slogan in contrast to the 'India Shining' slogan of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA)
alliance. After her party's unexpected victory, she was tipped to be the next Prime Minister of India. On May 16, she
was unanimously chosen to lead a 15-party coalition government with the support of the left, which was
subsequently named the United Progressive Alliance (UPA).
• Amidst a storm of controversy raised by the NDA over her 'foreign origin' in which leaders like Sushma Swaraj
threatened to shave their hair, as a protest, among others, Gandhi declined the leadership of the Congress
Parliamentary Party in the Lok Sabha. That position would have indicated that she was the party's nominee for Prime
Minister. Her action was hailed as an act of renunciation, while her opponents attacked it as a political move in which
the ultimate aim was to gain an absolute majority for the Congress Party in Parliament, subsequent to which she
would become Prime Minister.
CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
97
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

• At the time, several members of the National Democratic Alliance - notably Subramaniam Swamy and Sushma
Swaraj - claimed that there were legal reasons that barred her from the Prime Minister's post, and, indeed, from
Parliament. . They pointed, in particular, to Section 5 of the Indian Citizenship Act of 1955, which they claimed
implied 'reciprocity'. This was contested by others and eventually the suits were dismissed by the Supreme Court of
India.
• On May 18, a day before her scheduled inauguration, she recommended noted economist Dr. Manmohan Singh for
the Prime Minister's post. Sonia retained the post of the Leader of the Majority and the Chairperson of the Congress
Parliamentary Party. This arrangement enabled her to keep political control of the party and to deal with the political
fire fights in the giant coalition government while leaving the management of the country in the hands of Manmohan
Singh.
• Congress President Sonia Gandhi on March 23, 2006 announced her resignation from the Lok Sabhaand also as
chairperson of the National Advisory Council.
• She was re-elected from her constituency Rae Bareilly in May 2006. As chairperson of the National Advisory
Committee, she played an important role in making the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme into law.

UPA Chairperson
As chairperson of the National Advisory Committee and the UPA chairperson,
• She played an important role in making the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and the Right to
Information Act into law.
• She addressed the United Nations on 2 October 2007, Mahatma Gandhi's birth anniversary which is observed as the
International day of non-violence after a UN resolution passed on 15 July 2007.
• Under her leadership, India returned the Congress-led-UPA to a near majority in the 2009 general elections with Dr.
Manmohan Singh as the Prime Minister. The Congress itself won 206 Lok Sabha seats, which was the highest total by
any party since 1991.
• She played an important role in the introduction and subsequent clearance of the ambitious Food Security Bill in the
parliament in 2013.

Atal Bihari Vajpayee

th
Atal Bihari Vajpayee (born 25 December 1924) is an Indian statesman who served as the 10 Prime Minister of India, in
three non-consecutive terms, first for 13 days in 1996, then for 13 months from 1998 to 1999 and then from 1999 to
2004 for a full five year term. A parliamentarian for over four decades, Vajpayee was elected to the Lok Sabha nine
times, and twice to the Rajya Sabha . He is the only parliamentarian to have been elected from four different states at
different times (Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Delhi. He won his first election from Balrampur and later he
moved to Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, until 2009, when he retired from active politics due to health concerns.

Prime Minister of India (1996 to 2004)

Important events during his tenure as PM were as follows:
1. Nuclear tests
• In May 1998, India conducted five underground nuclear tests in Pokhran desert in Rajasthan. Two weeks
later, Pakistan responded with its own nuclear tests making it the newest declared nation with nuclear weapons.
2. The Lahore summit
• In late 1998 and early 1999, Vajpayee began a push for a full-scale diplomatic peace process with Pakistan. With
the historic inauguration of the Delhi-Lahore bus service in February 1999, Vajpayee initiated a new peace
process aimed towards permanently resolving the Kashmir dispute and other conflicts with Pakistan. This eased
the tension created by the 1998 nuclear tests, not only within the two nations but also in South Asia and the rest
of the world.
3. Kargil War
• It was revealed that militants and non-uniformed Pakistani soldiers had infiltrated into the Kashmir Valley and
captured control of border hilltops, unmanned border posts and were spreading out fast. The incursion was
centred around the town of Kargil.
• Indian army units were swiftly rushed into Kashmir in response. Operation Vijay, launched in June 1999, saw the
Indian military fighting thousands of militants and soldiers in the midst of heavy artillery shelling and while
facing extremely cold weather, snow and treacherous terrain at the high altitude.
• Almost 70% of the territory was recaptured by India.
• The victory in Kargil bolstered the image of Vajpayee and he was hailed across the country for his bold and
strong leadership.
4. National highway project, foreign policy and economic reforms
• During his administration, Vajpayee introduced many domestic economic and infrastructural reforms, including
encouraging the private sector and foreign investments, encouraging research and development and
privatisation of some government owned corporations.
CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
98
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

• Vajpayee's pet projects were the National Highway Development Project and Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak
Yojana.
• The government reformed the tax system, increased the pace of reforms and pro-business initiatives, major
irrigation and housing schemes and so on.
• In 2001, the Vajpayee government launched the famous Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, which aimed at improving the
quality of education in primary and secondary schools.
5. 2001 attack on Parliament
• On 13 December 2001, a group of masked, armed men stormed the Parliament building in Delhi. The terrorists
managed to kill several security guards, but the building was sealed off swiftly and security forces cornered and
killed the men, who were later proven to be Pakistan nationals.
• Prime Minister Vajpayee ordered a mobilisation of India's military forces, and as many as 500,000 servicemen
amassed along the international boundary bordering Punjab, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Kashmir. Pakistan
responded with the same. Vicious terrorist attacks and an aggressive anti-terrorist campaign froze day-to-day
life in Kashmir.
6. Prevention of Terrorist Act
• The Vajpayee administration also passed the Prevention of Terrorist Act against vigorous opposition of non-NDA
parties.
7. 2002 Gujarat violence
• In 2002, Hindu-Muslim violence in the state Gujarat killed more than 1,000 people. Vajpayee officially
condemned the violence.
• Vajpayee was accused of doing nothing to stop the violence, and later admitted mistakes in the handling the
events.

Dr. Manmohan Singh

th
Dr. Manmohan Singh born on 26 September 1932 was the 13 Prime Minister of India. A renowned economist, he is the
only Prime Minister since Jawaharlal Nehru to return to power after completing a full five-year term, and the first Sikh to
hold the office.

In 1991, as India faced a severe economic crisis, newly elected Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao inducted the apolitical
Singh into his cabinet as Finance Minister. Over the next few years, he as a Finance Minister carried out several structural
reforms that liberalised India's economy.

As Prime Minister
• Singh's government has continued the Golden Quadrilateral and the highway modernisation program that was
initiated by Vajpayee's government.
• In 2005, Prime Minister Singh and his government's health ministry started the National Rural Health Mission, which
has mobilised half a million community health workers
• In 2006, his Government implemented the proposal to reserve 27% of seats in All India Institute of Medical Studies
(AIIMS), Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and other central
institutions of higher education for Other Backward Classes which led to 2006 Indian anti-reservation protests.
• Eight more IIT's were opened in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Orissa, Punjab, Madhya
Pradesh, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh.
• The Singh government also continued the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan programme. The programme includes the
introduction and improvement of mid-day meals and the opening of schools all over India.
• Unique Identification Authority of India was established in February 2009, an agency responsible for implementing
the envisioned Multipurpose National Identity Card with the objective of increasing national security and facilitating e-
governance.
• The Right to Information Act was passed by the Parliament in 2005 during his tenure.
• Manmohan Singh has continued the pragmatic foreign policy that was started by P.V. Narasimha Rao and continued
by Bharatiya Janata Party's Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
• Singh has continued the peace process with Pakistan initiated by his predecessor, Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Exchange of
high-level visits by top leaders from both countries have highlighted his tenure.
• Efforts have been made during Singh's tenure to end the border dispute with People's Republic of China. In
November 2006, Chinese President Hu Jintao visited India which was followed by Singh's visit to Beijing in January
2008. A major development in Sino-Indian relations was the reopening of the Nathula Pass in 2006 after being closed
for more than four decades.
• Relations with Afghanistan have also improved considerably, with India now becoming the largest regional donor to
Afghanistan.
• Singh's government has worked towards stronger ties with the United States.
• Relations have improved with Japan and European Union countries, like the United Kingdom, France, and Germany.

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
99
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

• Singh's government has also been especially keen on expanding ties with Israel. Since 2003, the two countries have
made significant investments in each other and Israel now rivals Russia to become India's defence partner.
• In January 2013, the Minister of external Affairs, Sri Lanka visited India and signed an agreement on combating
International Terrorism and Illicit drug trafficking and a revised Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement.
• The ties between India and Maldives have strained after the cancellation of the GMR Airport contract, the single
largest Indian Investment in the Island Nation.

V P Singh:
Vishwanath Pratap Singh (25 June 1931 – 27 November 2008) was the seventh Prime Minister of India and the 41st Raja
Bahadur of Manda. Singh held office for slightly less than a year, from 2 December 1989 to 10 November 1990.

As Prime Minister
• Reservation for Backward Classes: He decided to implement the recommendations of the Mandal
Commission which suggested that a fixed quota of all jobs in the public sector be reserved for members of the
historically disadvantaged so-called Other Backward Classes.

NARENDRA MODI
th
Narendra Damodardas Modi is the 15 and current Prime Minister of India, in office since May 2014.Modi, a leader of
the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), previously served as the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014. He is currently
the Member of Parliament (MP) from Varanasi.

Early Life
Born on September 17, 1950, into a low-caste family running a small business, his interest in politics was sparked at an
early age. As a young boy, Modi helped his dad serve tea in Gujarat's Vadnagar railway station. At eight, Modi associated
with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

It was a logical step when Modi joined the BJP in 1985, as the party licked its wounds after winning just two seats in a
disastrous showing in 1984 the Lok Sabha elections.

He rose steadily through the ranks, and was inducted into the national executive in 1991 after aiding Murli Manohar Joshi,
a party senior, in his ekta yatra (unity journey) to bolster support.

Four years later, and now a stalwart, Modi worked hard behind the scenes to secure the party victory in Gujarat elections.
Despite his association with Joshi, it was LK Advani, the BJP's most revered leader, who became his chief political mentor.
It was Advani who mentored Modi when he virtually handpicked him into his team of state apparatchiks after
recommendations from a few trusted peers in the late 1980s. Modi promoted privatization of businesses, small
government and Hindu values. In 1995, Modi was elected BJP national secretary, a position from which he successfully
helped settle internal leadership disputes, paving the way for BJP election victories in 1998.

Tenure as Gujarat’s Chief Minister

Narendra Modi became the Chief Minister of the state of Gujarat for the first time in October 2001 after his predecessor
Keshubhai Patel resigned from the post following the defeat of Bharatiya Janata Party in the by-elections.

In February 2002, while Modi served as chief minister of Gujarat, a commuter train was attacked by Muslims killing 58
kar sevaks. In retaliation, an attack was carried out on the Muslim neighborhood of areas of Ahmedabad, baroda and
surat. Violence spread, and Modi imposed a curfew granting police shoot-to-kill orders. After 72 hours peace was
restored. Modi’s government was criticized for the harsh crackdown, and he was accused of allowing the killings of more
than 1,200 people including 250 Hindus. Central government and Supreme Court inducted a Special Investigation Team
(SIT) to verify the facts. The SIT concluded that Modi did all he could in his capacity to control riots and punish the guilty.

Nevertheless the international response was sharp: a prolonged international boycott, with the US denying him a visa.
Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the then prime minister, wanted to sack Modi after the riots, but he held on after the party stood
behind him.

It is believed that the religious polarization that followed the 2002 riots actually boosted his electoral prospects. Narendra
Modi was re-elected chief minister of Gujarat in 2007 and 2012. Through those campaigns, Modi's hardline Hinduism
softened and he spoke more about economic growth. Modi continued to build his reputation in Gujarat on economic
growth, building an efficient business administration and selling the state to the world. Since Modi took control, Gujarat
has led the nation in GDP growth and accounts for 16 percent of industrial output, despite having five percent of its
population. The western state boasts of uninterrupted power supply and the finest road infrastructure in the country. He
is also credited with bringing prosperity and development to Gujarat and is seen as a corrupt-free and efficient
administrator

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
100
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

However, some say he has done little to alleviate poverty and improve living standards. They talk about poverty,
th
malnutrition and lack of proper education in the state. As per the statistics, the State ranks 13 in terms of property and
st
21 in education. On the other hand, the state officials claim that the State outperformed other states in terms of female
education. Also the school drop-out rates and the maternal mortality rates have also declined. Gujarat is also one of the
states that do not suffer from the problem of land mafia.

On 26th of May, 2014, Narendra Modi was sworn is as the Prime Minister of India. He became the first Prime Minister of
India born after India’s Independence. The initiatives undertaken by him and his government are mentioned in NDA 2
section in the following pages.

NDA1: Major work & initiatives & implications

Despite a booming national economy, the Congress polled poorly in the 1996 general election, falling from 260 seats in
the Lok Sabha to only 140.

A hastily contrived coalition, the United Front (UF), under Janata Dal politician H.D. Deve Gowda, soon was able to seat a
government. But the UF relied on the support of the Congress from the outside, in exchange for continuing certain
Congress policies. The coalition still proved unstable, and Gowda was replaced as prime minister in April 1997 by Inder
Kumar Gujral, also of the Janata Dal. However, an interim report on Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination released in November
stated that the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party, a member of the UF, shared responsibility in Gandhi’s death.
The Congress removed its support, and, after the collapse of the UF, new elections were slated for March 1998. (The
claims against the DMK were never substantiated.)

Much to the chagrin of the Congress, the BJP polled well in the March elections, increasing its membership in the Lok-
Sabha from 160 seats to 179. The Congress, now led by Sonia Gandhi, increased their representation slightly, garnering
an additional five seats. No single party seemed to be in a position to form a government (Janata Dal had fallen to a mere
six seats), and it was only after much politicking that the BJP was able to form a new governing coalition, again under
Vajpayee.

The BJP coalition, called the National Democratic Alliance, crumbled in April 1999 and operated as a caretaker
government until elections that fall. The BJP again had a good outing, outpolling all other parties and raising its
representation in the Lok-Sabha to 182 seats. The Congress representation in the lower house eroded even further, to
112 seats.

India had conducted its first nuclear weapons test in 1974, but its program for developing and fielding such weapons had
been covert. Under the BJP, India publicly and proudly declared itself a member of those states possessing nuclear
weapons, and in May 1998—within months of the BJP coming to power—India conducted a series of five nuclear weapons
tests. This apparently was interpreted as saber rattling by Pakistan, which responded by detonating its own nuclear
devices. The international community harshly condemned both sides and urged the two new nuclear powers to begin a
dialogue, particularly on the unresolved question of Kashmir.

Despite several tentative steps toward rapprochement, armed conflict broke out between India and Pakistan in the high
mountains of the Kargil region of Jammu and Kashmir in May 1999. Eventually, intense international pressure induced the
Pakistani government to withdraw its troops to its side of the line of control.
BJP had a poor showing at the May 2004 elections. The Congress regained some ground lost in previous general elections,
raising its representation in the Lok-Sabha to 145 seats; the BJP’s membership fell to 137 seats. The Congress formed a
coalition known as the United Progressive Alliance (UPA). Congress leader Sonia Gandhi opted not to take the
premiership, however, and instead recommended Manmohan Singh, for the post. The Congress made significant gains in
the 2009 parliamentary elections, increasing its seat total in the Lok-Sabha to 206; conversely, the BJP’s total fell to 116.
Singh formed another cabinet and was sworn in for a second term, becoming the first prime minister since Jawaharlal
Nehru to do so after having served a full five-year first term.

NDA’s achievements
• Adhering to the canons of “Coalition Dharma” mutual trust, regular consultation, consensus building, and acceptance
of a common approach, the NDA has shown how a coalition can work unitedly to fulfil the people’s aspirations.
• A GDP growth rate of 8% became real.
• Agricultural production surpassed all previous records.
• The NDA rule not only brought pride to the “Made in India” label, but also made “Served from India” the first choice
of global companies. This service sector generated new employment.
• Poor and inadequate infrastructure, which was the debilitating legacy of the previous years, was replaced by a world-
class infrastructure for India, built by Indians, in India.
• Internet connectivity, highway connectivity, and rural roads connectivity were among the initial, visible successes of
this revolution.
CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
101
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

• The Vajpayee Government built more houses for the rural poor under the Indira Awaas Yojana in the last five years
than the Congress
• The NDA Government launched some of the biggest-ever social development initiatives in the world. These include
the Antyodaya Anna Yojana and the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.
• The coverage of the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS), which is the world’s largest early childcare
program, was greatly expanded.
• Major initiatives, such as establishment of a separate ministry for tribal affairs, were taken to promote the cause of
social justice.

UPA 1 (2004-09): Major work & initiatives & implications

The UPA said that its objective was to trigger a development process which ensured broad-based improvement in the
quality of life of people, especially the poor, the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes and
Minorities. The government also sought to bring about a more regionally balanced development.

• The average person’s spending in urban areas went up 12.9% under the UPA (2004-2009) compared to a 6.7% jump
under the NDA regime (1999-2004).
• The years after 2004 saw the government waive unpaid farm loans, announce pay hikes for government employees
through the sixth pay commission and put in place its flagship rural employment guarantee scheme (NREGS). The
National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme was extended to all rural districts across the country.
• The period from 2004 onwards saw a rise in consumer durables industry and other allied services.
• With the launch of its flagship Programmes, namely, Bharat Nirman, National Rural Employment Guarantee
Programme, National Rural Health Mission, Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, modified Sarva
Shiksha Abhiyan with expanded Mid-Day Meal Programme, the Government put in place an “architecture for
inclusive growth” during its four years in office.
• In meeting these objectives the Government gave high priority to revitalization of agriculture, the empowerment of
our farmers and the modernization of the rural economy. Terms of trade have improved for agriculture, in particular
by increasing the minimum support price for foodgrains, increased investment in irrigation, agricultural research and
rural infrastructure.
• The Government ensured that the rate of inflation was brought down from around 6% in 2003-2004 to a little over
3% in the years 2004-2005 and 2005-2006.
• The sharp escalation in oil prices and in the price of metals, especially steel, and foodgrains impacted our domestic
economy. The Government took several measures to deal with this challenge. Controls were imposed on commodity
exports, tariffs were reduced to encourage cheaper imports, fiscal and monetary policy initiatives were taken by the
authorities
• Special emphasis was laid on the empowerment through education of scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, other
backward classes and minority communities and women.
• The Government also took important initiatives in the fields of health care, urban development and the modernization
of infrastructure.

UPA 2 (2009-14): Major work & initiatives & implications

The UPA government completed 5 years in office in its second term in May 2014 amidst uncertainty over passage of key
economic legislations, crisis of confidence in the bureaucracy, corruption charges eroding its already tattered credibility,
raging inflation and an overall economic situation marked by downturn in manufacturing and investments.
Economist-turned-politician Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who even risked his government in the first term on the
Indo-US nuclear deal, appeared to be buffeted by scams, especially the 2G and Coal scandal.
Despite obvious signs of failure, the government appears unwilling to accept its underperformance. The Prime Minister
can be credited with achievements as a sharp decline in poverty, higher growth rate in agriculture, record food grain
production (crossing 250 million tonnes for the first time), loans worth more than Rs 2 lakh crore to small farmers,
reforms in education and increase in power generation capacity.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi listed MNREGA as a vital instrument of rural transformation, social security schemes and
insurance for workers in the unorganised sector, several women-centric schemes, easy loans to farmers and Aadhaar as
solid steps for the welfare of the common man. The UPA chief allayed any doubts about commitment to economic
reforms, stressing the importance of high growth to sustain social sector investments.
Following is a look at the government’s achievements
• Right to Education: In April 2010, the government notified a scheme of free education for all children up to 14.
• Skill development programme: A programme to develop specific skills and meet labour shortfalls till 2022 was
launched.
• Unique Identification Number authority: It was the Big Idea of the UPA – have a biometric-based identification
system that would prevent leakages, duplication and corruption. Headed by technocrat Nandan Nilekani, UID or
Aadhaar was mired in controversies ranging from cost overruns to turf wars with agencies engaged in similar work,
but is now making steady progress.
CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
102
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

• Relations with Pakistan: Normalisation of relations with Pakistan has proceeded apace.
• National Food Security Bill 2013: This law aims at providing subsidized food grains to two thirds of India’s 1.2 billion
people. According to the law 75 % of rural and 50 % of urban population are entitled to 5 kg food grains per month
at Rs.3 , Rs.2, Re.1 per kg for rice, wheat and millet respectively.
• Land Acquisition Bill, 2013: This act has provision to provide fair compensation to those whose land is taken away,
brings transparency to the process of acquisition of land to set up factories and assures rehabilitation of those
affected.
• Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Bill: This will help extend pension cover to more citizens of the
country through PFRDA’s New Pension Scheme.

NDA 2 (May 2014 onwards) Cabinet, Major Work & Initiatives & Implications
In 2014, NDA came back to power by winning a whooping majority of 337 seats. Out of this BJP alone won 280 seats. The
major political parties in NDA-2 with their Lok Sabha seats are – BJP (282), Shiv Sena (18), Telugu Desham Party(16),
Lok Jan Shakti Party (6), Shiromani Akali Dal (4).

Prime Minister and Council of Ministers – As on 24/03/2019

S.no Portfolio Name
Union Council of Ministers
Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Department of Atomic Energy,
1 Department of Space, All important policy issues and All other portfolios not Narendra Modi
allocated to any Minister
Cabinet Ministers
1 Home Affairs Raj Nath Singh
2 External Affairs Smt. Sushma Swaraj
3 Commerce and Industry Shri Suresh Prabhu
Urban Development, Housing and Urban Affairs, Poverty Alleviation,
4 Hardeep Singh Puri
Information & Broadcasting
5 Road Transport and Highways, Shipping Nitin Jairam Gadkari
6 Defence Nirmala Sitharaman
7 Railways, Coal, Corporate Affairs Piyush Goyal
8 Statistics & Programme Implementation D.V. Sadananda Gowda
9 Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Nitin Jairam Gadkari
10 Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Ramvilas Paswan
11 Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Giriraj Singh
12 Women and Child Development Smt. Maneka Sanjay Gandhi
13 Chemicals and Fertilizers Rao Inderjit Singh
14 Law & Justice, Electronics & Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad
15 Health and Family Welfare Jagat Prakash Nadda
16 Civil Aviation Shri Suresh Prabhu
17 Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Anant Geete
18 Food Processing Industries Smt. Harsimrat Kaur Badal
19 Drinking Water and Sanitation Uma Bharti
20 Steel Chaudhary Birender Singh
21 Tribal Affairs Jual Oram
22 Agriculture & Farmers Welfare Radha Mohan Singh
23 Social Justice and Empowerment Thawar Chand Gehlot
24 Textiles Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani
Science and Technology, Earth Sciences, Environment, Forest and Climate
25 Dr. Harsh Vardhan
Change
26 Human Resource Development Prakash Javadekar
27 Minister without Portfolio None

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
103
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

28 Rural Development, Panchayati Raj, Mines, Parliamentary Affairs Narendra Singh Tomar

29 Petroleum and Natural Gas; Skill development and Entrepreneurship Dharmendra Pradhan
30 Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi

Some of the notable initiatives by Modi Government

What Make in India

• Improve share of Manufacturing in India’s GDP which is at 20% Compared to China’s
40%
Why? • Job Creation - Between 2005 and 2012, India's GDP growth was 54% but its net job
growth was only 3%.
• Foster Innovation (India was ranked 81 in 2015 Global Innovation Index)
Make India a Global Manufacturing Hub & increase share of Manufacturing in GDP to 25% by
Goal
2025
When? Launched on September 25,2014
• Improve Ease of Doing Business
• Promote Foreign Direct Investment
• Implement Intellectual Property Rights
How?
• Skill Development
• Focus on 25 key sectors of the economy
• Implement GST Reform
Since the launch of Make in India, FDI in India has followed an extremely positive trend. FDI
Equity Inflows witnessed a growth of 63% while FDI Inflow hit the 55% mark (Over the
corresponding period previous to it). FDI inflow from April 2014 to December 2017 (USD
208.99 billion) is 39.24% of the overall FDI received in the country since April 2000 (USD
532.552 billion). For the first time, India crossed the USD 50 Billion mark in FY 2015 - 16
Outcome with USD 55.45 Billion in FDI, due to the investment friendly policies and opening up of FDI
allowance in various sectors. The highest FDI inflow of USD 60.8 Billion in 2016 - 17, was
also witnessed during this period. With government data showing that Foreign Direct
Investment (FDI) worth $33.75 billion has already flowed into India in the first half of this
fiscal, the country is poised to see FDI inflows in 2017-18 surpassing even the record $60
billion it received in the last financial year.

What Goods and Service Tax

• Simplify Indirect Taxation
Why? • Remove cascading effect of taxes
• Convert India into a single seamless market
To improve tax collections and boost India’s economic development by breaking tax barriers
Goal
between States and integrating India through a uniform tax rate.
The first country in the world to implement GST was France in 1954. India first thought of
the GST in 1999 under NDA-1. Asim Dasgupta was appointed as the head of a committee set
up to facilitate the implementation of GST. In 2004, the government changed and P
Chidambaram took up the baton and set an April 2010 deadline. The NDA opposed the bill at
When?
that time and therefore it did not pass through and ironically when NDA came to power in
2014, the congress opposed the bill. It was passed in the Lok Sabha in 2014 and after
discussions with the opposition by the Modi Government it has finally been passed in Rajya
Sabha in 2016 with a deadlines to implement it by July 1, 2017
Dual GST : Cooperative Federalism(SGST+CGST+IGST)
How?
4 Tier Structure - 5%,12%,18%, 28%
It is expected to change the way business is done but its impact is yet to be seen. The
passing of the landmark bill has shown serious reform intent from the government and sent
Outcome
the right message to the investor community Analysts have predicted a Long term
improvement in GDP Growth Rates by 2%.

What Jan Dhan Yojna (Tag Line-“Mera Khata Bhagya Vidhata”)

• Improve access to universal Banking services among the 65% unbanked population of
Why? India(2012 World Bank Estimate)
• Improve Financial Literacy
Ensure access to financial services, namely Banking Savings & Deposit Accounts, Remittance,
Goal
Credit, Insurance and Pension in an affordable manners
When? 28th August 2014
• Account holders will be provided bank accounts with no minimum balance.
• RuPay(India’s own alternative to VISA/MASTERCARD) debit cards will be issued.
• Accidental insurance cover of Rs. 1 lakh (US$1,600).
How?
• After six months of opening of the bank account, holders will be eligible for Rs. 5,000
(US$78) overdraft from the bank.
• With the introduction of new technology introduced by National Payments Corporation of
CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
104
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

India (NPCI), a person can transfer funds, check balance through a normal phone which
was earlier limited only to smart phones.
• Mobile banking for the poor would be available through National Unified USSD Platform
(NUUP) for which all banks and mobile companies have come together
• Sub-Service Areas(Remote Areas) to be served by Bank Mitras( Correspondents)
• An important step is the linking of Jan Dhan Yojana with Aadhaar, the unique biometric
identification system. Aadhaar is now backed by an Act of Parliament and is reported to
have covered virtually the entire population. Linking of the two systems is also being
actively pursued. However, this is a work in progress and there is still a long way to go.
• 28.56 Cr Jan-Dhan accounts have been opened as of 10.5.2017
(Source:https://pmjdy.gov.in/)
• 64,682 Crs Deposited in Beneficiary accounts
• 1.26 Lakh Bank Mitras delivering remote banking services in rural areas
• A Guinness World Record for 18 million bank accounts opened in 1 week
• The project was criticised for wasting limited resources of Banks towards forcing
customers to open accounts just to inflate the account number. Most of the account
Outcome
holders already had an existing bank account and therefore according to data on the
PMJDY website, as on 31 March 2015, 58% of the 147.1 million Jan Dhan accounts were
zero-balance accounts
• But post Demonetization the situation has improved. As on 24 February, only 28.88%
were zero-balance accounts, even as the total number of Jan Dhan accounts increased to
210 million (This is due to higher government subsidies flowing in via the DBT( Direct
Benefit Transfer)

What National Institution for Transforming India( NITI Aayog)

Existing 5 year plans are rigid and yielded the power to allocate funds to states and were a
legacy of the Nehru Era where, as a nation, our priority was survival. Now that we have
reached a stage where we are at the cusp of launching ourselves as a Global Power. The
Why?
present government feels that the time has come to shift to a Think-Tank approach which
suggests institutional reforms in governance and dynamic policy shifts that can seed and
nurture large-scale change.
When? Jan 01, 2015
• Governing Council – Prime Minister (Chair Person), Ex-Officio Members, Arvind Panagria
(Vice Chairman), Full Time Members, Chief Minsters of 29 States and 7 Union Territories.
• Cooperative Federalism: NITI Aayog will provide Governments at the central and state
levels with relevant strategic and technical advice across the spectrum of key elements
How? of policy, this includes matters of national and international import on the economic
front, dissemination of best practices from within the country as well as from other
nations, the infusion of new policy ideas and specific issue-based support.
• Assisting the central government in policy making
• Serving as the government’s think tank
• Rejuvenated the institution by downsizing Planning commission staff from 1200 to 500
and hiring 45 young professionals and 12 senior officers from outside
• The Aayog is also leading a campaign to bring about major reforms in agricultural
marketing
• It identifies and spreads the best practices across states in various areas through regular
interactions with state officials
Outcome • It has taken the initiative to identify numerous sick Public Sector units for closure.
• A big bang reform it has proposed is the replacement of the Indian Medical Council Act,
1956, by a Medical Education Commission Act to overhaul medical education in India.
• It is working on the creation of 20 world-class universities and reform of the University
Grants Commission Act, 1956 and All India Council of Technical Education Act, 1987.
• It has led the way for the creation of a vibrant innovation and entrepreneurship
ecosystem in the country through its Atal Innovation Mission

What Direct Benefit Transfer

• Stop abuse of the Public Distribution system through arbitrage, diversion of supplies and
Why? profiteering in the black market
• Targeting Subsidies effectively so that they flow only to the intended beneficiaries
Though the DBT mechanism started in 2013 under the UPA on a pilot basis, it took off in a
When? major way only under Modi government after the LPG subsidy scheme (Pahal) was
commenced through the DBT mechanism in November 2014.
-The starting point for DBT is that every resident has an Aadhaar number.
This Aadhaar number is linked to his or her bank account
Entitlements and benefits are transferred directly to beneficiaries through Aadhaar-linked
bank accounts.
How?
The last-mile is the most important—DBT enables disbursements to take place at the
doorstep of the beneficiaries through a dense network of Business correspondents who make
the payments using cost-effective ‘micro-ATM’ machines. Interoperable cash withdrawal
stands at the heart of this scheme and is delivered through the 250,000 post office branches

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
105
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

and 100,000 ATMs in the country. Added to this will be approximately 1 million Aadhaar
enabled ‘micro-ATMs’, and eventually this platform aims to incorporate the over 750 million
mobile phone devices to unleash its transformational potential.
The entire system is run on an ‘Aadhaar Payments Bridge’ (APB) and ‘Aadhaar-enabled
Payment Systems’ (AEPS), which are now operational and can handle millions of transactions
on a daily basis. The APB and AEPS provide a fully interoperable system—it ‘talks’ to all
banks, and it doesn’t matter if the banks of the payer, payee and business correspondent are
different.
• 1.6 crore bogus ration cards have been deleted, resulting in savings of about Rs. 10,000
crore
• 3.5 crore duplicate beneficiaries were weeded out in the PAHAL scheme, resulting in
savings of over Rs. 14,000 crore in 2014-15 alone
Outcome • The rural development ministry expects an allocation of Rs 55,000 crore for the
government’s flagship rural jobs scheme under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural
Employment Guarantee Act in the Budget for 2018-19. This would be the highest
allocation for the scheme, beating the record Rs 48,000 crore it received this financial
year.
What Demonetization
• Major Reason – Wipe out Black Money ( 25% of our GDP according to a World Bank
Estimate)
• Cash is a major feeder to the Black Economy which holds most of its assets in Real Estate
Why?
and Gold
• Other Reasons : Fake Currency, Promote Digital Transactions, Improve Tax Compliance
• In India only 3.3 % of the population pays income tax compared to 46% in the USA
When? November 8th 2016
The nation was taken by surprise when our PM Narendra Modi announced on the evening of
8th of November that 500 & 1000 Rs notes would cease to be legal tenders from midnight.
Some numbers that help understand the scale of this better
• 87% of our total Cash Supply of 16.4 Lakh Cr was affected.
• Total value of notes scraped - 12% of our GDP.
How? • 22 Billion Notes were scraped.
Modus Operandi
- Banks & Post Offices were assigned as centres where notes old could be exchanged
and deposited
- Deadline for Depositing Notes – Dec 30th 2016 & Exchanging Notes – 24th
November
Positives:
- Boost deposit base and savings
- Improve monetary transmission and reduce lending rates
- Create room for further monetary accommodation
- Psychological Impact on offenders
- Widening of Tax Net – 91 Lakh new tax payers added
- Forced transition to Digital Transactions- windfall for companies like PayTM,
MobiKwik
Negatives
Outcome
- Poor Execution: Lack of clarity in announcements creating confusion. As many as
66 Notifications were released by RBI in 50 days post demonetization
- General Public was left reeling without cash till as late as January. Re-monetization
exercise was not planned properly
- Massive impact on workers in the informal economy ( Construction, Agriculture,
Retail & Textile)
- 97% of the money was deposited in banks. Only 85% was expected to come back
- Criticism from top economists – The impact on Black money would be limited as
most of it is stashed in offshore bank accounts and in the form of Gold

What Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan

• India ranked 143 among 188 countries in health study
• 8 million households in the urban area do not have toilets and they defecate in the open
Why?
• 55 % of Villagers defecate in the open
• 57% of Toilets do not have water supply
2nd October 2014 – Mahatma Gandhi’s Birthday
When “A clean India would be the best tribute India could pay to Mahatma Gandhi on his 150 birth
anniversary in 2019” – Narendra Modi
Mission:
1)Elimination of open defecation
2)Elimination of manual Scavenging (Removal of human waste from unsanitary toilets)
How?
3) Modern and Scientific municipal solid waste management
Apart from this there are certain intangible missions like
4) Behavioural change on healthy sanitation

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
106
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

5) Generate awareness about cleanliness and sanitation and link with public health
6) Capacity augmentation for urban local bodies (ULB)
7) Private sector in capex (capital expenditure) and opex(operaation and maintenance)
Brand Ambassador : Bollywood icon Amitabh Bachchan
Mantra - ‘Na gandagi karenge, Na karne denge.
As per July 2018

• The number of people defecating in the open in rural areas has come down to 25 crore in
January 2018, from 55 crore in October 2014, a reduction of 45 per cent.
• So far, 296 districts and 3,07,349 villages across India have been declared as Open
Outcome Defecation Free (ODF).
• The states and union territories that have gone ODF since 2014 include Sikkim, Himachal
Pradesh, Kerala, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, Arunachal Pradesh, Gujarat,
Daman & Diu and Chandigarh.

Challenges for Modi Government

• Job Creation
India’s unemployment rate has registered a slight increase since the BJP government began its term in May 2014, despite
the government’s professed emphasis on job creation. The unemployment rate in 2015-16 was 5% of the labour force, up
from 4.9% in 2013-14, the year before the BJP assumed power.
The eight major sectors of manufacturing, trade, construction, education, health, information technology, transport, and
accommodation and restaurant created 641,000 jobs .In comparison, these sectors had added 1.28 million jobs between
July 2011 and December 2013
The Economic Survey pointed to a shift in the pattern of employment from permanent jobs to casual and contract
employment.The increasingly “temporary” nature of work, it said, has an “adverse effect” on the level of wages, stability
of employment, and employees’ social security.

• Non-Performing Assets
Known to be India’s Number 1 Macro Economic Challenge NPA is any asset of a bank which is not producing any income.
The amount of top twenty NPA accounts of Public Sector Banks stands at Rs. 1.54 lakh crores.
In absolute terms, State Bank of India has the highest value of Gross NPA around Rs. 93,000 crores. Punjab National
Bank (Rs. 55,000 crores) and Bank of India (Rs. 44,000 crores) come next.

GNPA formed 3% of the total advances in 2008 increasing to 5% in 2013 and 7% in 2016.
Bank revenue is inversely proportional to NPAs. In the short-term, due to high reserves or other strong capital many
banks will be able to handle an increase in NPAs, but when that capital is used up, NPAs will imperil a bank’s health.
Here is the impact of the NPAs:
• As NPAs rise, it will create shortage of funds and then few banks will be willing to lend.
• The stakeholders of the banks will lose a lot of money as banks will find it tough to survive.
• This will create crisis of confidence in the market. The interest rates will go up badly, which will directly impact the
customers.
• All of this will lead to a situation of low off take of funds. This will hurt the overall demand in the Indian economy. It
will finally lead to lower growth rates and higher inflation because of the higher cost of funds.
• This trend may continue in a dreadful circle and deepen the crisis.
• Total NPAs have amounted close to the size of UP budget, if all the NPAs are recovered, how well it can bode for the
Indian economy.

• Ease of Doing Business

India up just one spot in ease of doing business; ranks 130 out of 190 countries. Narendra Modi government that made
several initiatives and has set itself a target to break into the top 50. It is measured according to multiple factors like
Electricity connections to businesses, paying taxes, electronic system for paying employee state insurance contributions,
electronic filing of integrated customs declarations, the Companies (Amendment) Act, passage of the commercial courts
and the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code. India has made a substantial improvement in some areas such as electricity
connection, but slippage in other areas, including payment of taxes and enforcing contracts, prevented improvement on
the rankings that is followed widely by global investors.

List of Current Chief Ministers of Indian States (As on 24/03/19)

S.No. State and/or Union Chief Minister Took in Office Party

Territory (mm/dd/yyyy)
1 Andhra Pradesh Shri. Nara Chandrababu Naidu 8 June 2014 Telugu Desam Party
2 Arunachal Pradesh Shri. Pema Khandu 27 January 2017 Bharatiya Janata Party
3 Assam Shri. Sarbananda Sonowal 24 May 2016 Bharatiya Janata Party
4 Bihar Shri. Nitish Kumar 22 February 2015 Janata Dal (United)

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
107
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

5 Chhattisgarh Shri. Bhupesh Baghel 17 December 2018 Indian National Congress

6 Delhi (NCT) Shri. Arvind Kejriwal 14 February 2015 Aam Aadmi Party
7 Goa Shri. Pramod Sawant 19 March 2019 Bharatiya Janata Party
8 Gujarat Shri. Vijaybhai R. Rupani 26 December 2017 Bharatiya Janata Party
9 Haryana Shri. Manohar Lal Khattar 26 October 2014 Bharatiya Janata Party
10 Himachal Pradesh Shri. Jairam Thakur 27 December, 2017 Bharatiya Janata Party

11 Jammu and Kashmir None(President’s Rule) 20 December 2018

12 Jharkhand Shri. Raghubar Das 28 December 2014 Bharatiya Janata Party

13 Karnataka Shri. HD Kumaraswamy 23 May 2018 Janata Dal (Secular)
Communist Party of India
14 Kerala Shri. Pinarayi Vijayan 25 May 2016
(Marxist)
15 Madhya Pradesh Shri. Kamal Nath 17 December 2018 Indian National Congress
16 Maharashtra Shri. Devendra Fadnavis 31 October 2014 Bharatiya Janata Party
17 Manipur Shri. Nongthombam Biren Singh 15 March 2017 Bharatiya Janata Party
18 Meghalaya Shri. Conrad Kongkal Sangma 6 March 2018 Bharatiya Janata Party
19 Mizoram Shri. Zoramthanga 15 December 2018 Mizo National Front
20 Nationalist Democratic
Nagaland Shri. Neiphiu Rio 8 March 2018
Progressive Party
21 Odisha Shri. Naveen Patnaik 5 March 2000 Biju Janata Dal
22 Puducherry (UT) Shri. V. Narayanasamy 6 June 2016 Indian National Congress
23 Punjab Shri. Captain Amarinder Singh 16 March 2017 Indian National Congress
24 Rajasthan Shri. Ashok Gehlot 17 December 2018 Indian National Congress
25 Sikkim Shri. Pawan Kumar Chamling 12 December 1994 Sikkim Democratic Front
26 Tamil Nadu Shri. Edappadi K Palaniswami 16 February 2017 All India Anna Dravida
Munnetra Kazhagam
27 Telangana Shri. K Chandrasekhar Rao 2 June 2014 Telangana Rashtra Samithi
28 Tripura 9 March 2018 Bharatiya Janata Party
Shri. Biplab Kumar Deb
29 Uttar Pradesh Shri. Yogi Adityanath 19 March 2017 Bharatiya Janata Party
30 Uttarakhand Shri. Trivendra Singh Rawat 18 March 2017 Bharatiya Janata Party
31 West Bengal Km. Mamata Banerjee 20 May 2011 All India Trinamool Congress
Major Political Parties of India

1. Indian National Congress (INC)

Origin & Brief History
• Founded in 1885 by members of the occultist movement Theosophical Society - Allan Octavian Hume, Dadabhai
Naoroji, Dinshaw Wacha, Wyomesh Chandra Bannerjee, Surendranath Banerjee, Manmohun Ghose, Mahadev
Govind Ranade & William Wedderburn.
• As the primary participant in the Indian Independence Movement, over 15 million members and over 70 million
participants from the INC took part in its struggle against British colonial rule in India.
• Has been India's dominant political party, led by the Nehru-Gandhi family for the most part; major challenges for
party leadership hadstarted post Nehru but been more prominent recently.
• Has ruled the country for 55 of the 67 years since independence in 1947.
• A majority of the existing political parties in India have formed out of breaks/splits from the INC.
• The current INC largely consists of the INC (Indira) party which was formed in 1969.

Target Constituents
• Pan-India outlook & self-proclaimed “secular” bias.
• Historically, INC has supported & advocated in favour of farmers, laborers, workers’ unions (labour unions), and
religious & ethnic minorities.
• Also in favour of the regulation and control of Business & Finance, taking cues from the socialist movement in
the then USSR at the time of independence.
• Have been instrumental in rolling out the objectives laid out at the time of independence which laid emphasis on

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
108
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

Technology, Education and Development for overall long term development of India. IITs, IISc, IIMs, ISRO,
DRDO, BARC are a outstanding examples of the same.
• Major planks include reduction of poverty & illiteracy, and strong support to the weaker section of the society.
• Have been instrumental in rolling out the large scale reforms like RTI, RTE, Food Security Bill, Land Acquisition
bill, NREGA, Insurance Bill, FDI, Decontrol of Fuel prices and dismantling of fuel subsidies.

Key Persons
• President, Chairperson & Parliamentary Chairperson – Sonia Gandhi
• Vice-President – Rahul Gandhi
• Political Secretary – Ahmed Patel
• Leader in the Lok Sabha – Mallikarjun Kharge
• Leader in the Rajya Sabha – Ghulam Nabi Azad
• Prominent Spokespersons – Manish Tiwari, RPN Singh, Deepa Dasmunshi, Jayanti Natrajan, Sanjha Jha, Rajiv
Shukla, etc.

Main Ideological Thrust

• Social policy officially based upon the Gandhian principle of ‘Sarvodaya’; supports Employment Generation
Schemes, Reservation, etc.
• Economic policy was earlier centred around the public sector and aimed at establishing a “socialistic pattern of
society”; after the then-Finance Minister Manmohan Singh’s Economic Reforms in 1991, they have now adopted
free market policies, with a cautious approach to liberalization.
• Foreign policy has been largely centred around the Nehruvian principle of ‘Non-Alignment’.

Major Electoral Achievements (Centre & States)

• Held power at the Centre for 30 continuous years from 1947-1977.
• On the back of a sympathy wave following Indira Gandhi’s assassination, Rajiv Gandhi swept to power with a
record 411 seats in a 542-seat Lok Sabha in 1984.
• Out of the 14 Prime Ministers of India so far, 6 have been from the INC - Jawaharlal Nehru (1947–1964),
Gulzarilal Nanda (Caretaker PM; May–June 1964, January 1966), Lal Bahadur Shastri (1964–1966), Indira
Gandhi (1966–1977, 1980–1984), Rajiv Gandhi (1984–1989), P.V. Narasimha Rao (1991–1996), Manmohan
Singh (2004–2014).
• Generally from 1947 to date, and particularly in between 1947-1984, the INC has been in power at State Govt.
level in a majority of Indian States, except West Bengal & Kerala, where the Communists held sway.
• As of December 2014, the INC holds 44/545 seats in the Lok Sabha & 69/245 seats in the Rajya Sabha.
• As of December 2014, the INC holds power in 10 States (independent majority in 6 State governments &
dominant partner in an alliance in 4 more).

Current State Govts. (in alphabetical order, CM in brackets; as of November 2014)

• Arunachal Pradesh (Nabam Tuki), Assam (Tarun Gogoi), Himachal Pradesh (Virbhadra Singh), Kerala (Oommen
Chandy), Manipur (Okram Ibobi Singh), Meghalaya (Mukul Sangma), Mizoram (Pu Lalthanhawla), Uttarakhand
(Harish Rawat), Karnataka (Siddaramaiah)
Trivia
th
• The Indian Emergency of 25 June 1975 – 21st March 1977 was a 21-month period, when PM Indira Gandhi of
the INC, declared a state of emergency under Article 352 of the Constitution of India, effectively bestowing on
her the power to rule by decree, suspending elections and civil liberties. It is one of the most controversial
periods in the history of independent India & called the darkest hour of Indian democracy, Though citizens claim
this was the most efficient bureaucratic regime.
• Name of Official INC Social Media platform : Khidki
• Official INC Newspaper : Congress Sandesh
• Symbol : Palm/Hand; HQ : 24, Akbar Road, New Delhi

2. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)

Origin & Brief History
• Established in 1980, the BJP is India's largest political party in terms of representation in parliament and second
largest in the various state assemblies.
• The BJP has its roots in the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS) founded by Dr. Shyama Prasad Mookherjee in 1951 to
support the Hindu nationalist cause. The BJS was widely regarded as the political arm of the Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
• After Mookherjee's untimely death, Deendayal Upadhyaya built up the BJS by raising a band of dedicated
workers & grooming future political leaders like Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Lal Krishna Advani, etc. A vast majority of
the party workers, including Upadhyaya himself, were derived from the RSS.
• In 1980, the leaders and workers of the former BJS founded the BJP, with AB Vajpayee as its first president.
CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
109
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

• The BJP led the national government along with a coalition of parties of the National Democratic Alliance (1998
to 2004), with Atal Bihari Vajpayee as Prime Minister, thus making it the first non-Congress government to last a
full term in office.
• From 2004-2014, the BJP was the principal opposition party in the parliament.
• In 2014, BJP was elected as the single largest party in Lok Sabha elections with the majority of 280 seats out of
543 seats. Narendra Modi is elected as the 14th Prime Minister of India

Target Constituents
• Traditional supporters have been Hindu voters in North India, youth voters, urban electorate & educated middle
class and Upper Castes.
• The rank-and-file leadership of BJP is largely derived from the leading members of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak
Sangh (RSS) and its millions of affiliates.
• It also maintains friendly relations and links with other Sangh Parivar organisations, such as Vishwa Hindu
Parishad and Swadeshi Jagaran Manch (an organisation promoting economic protectionism).

Key Persons
• Party President/Chairperson – Amit Shah
• Parliamentary Chairperson – Narendra Modi
• Leader in Lok Sabha – Narendra Modi
• Leader in Rajya Sabha - Arun Jaitley
• Vice Presidents - Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Uma Bharti, Smriti Irani, etc.
• Prominent Spokespersons - Prakash Javadekar, Syed Shahnawaz Hussain, Nirmala Sitharaman.

Main Ideological Thrust

• BJP's platform is generally considered as the right-wing of the Indian political spectrum.
• The official ideology and central philosophy is designated to be “integral humanism”, based upon a 1965 book by
Deendayal Upadhyaya.
• BJP is popularly labeled “Hindu nationalist”, advocates social conservatism, and self-reliance as outlined by the
Swadeshi movement.
• Opposed Marxism and the socialist economic policies of the Congress party, but espoused Swadeshi, as opposed
to foreign imports and the establishment of friendly trade relations with foreign nations, thus remaining
protectionist.
• Advocates a strong national defence policy, which includes modernisation of India's armed forces and a strong
nuclear deterrence.
• The Babri Masjid issue and the consequent events played a major role in the elevation of BJP on the national
arena.

Major Electoral Achievements (Centre & States)

• The BJP led the national government along with a coalition of parties of the National Democratic Alliance from
1998 to 2004, with Atal Bihari Vajpayee as Prime Minister - the first non-Congress government to last a full term
in office at the Centre.
• From 2004 to 2014, it was the principal opposition party in parliament.
• BJP’s predecessor the Jana Sangh won just 3 Lok Sabha seats in the first general elections in 1952.
• Gradually increased its strength and by 1962 became one of the most effective opposition parties in India,
seriously challenging the power of the Congress in various north Indian states.
• After 1967, Jan Sangh (Pre-breakup of BJP and JD) entered into coalition with political organisations of similar
ideologies and political positions and formed govts. in states such as Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, etc.
• BJS along with many other political parties merged with the Janata Party in 1977 to present a united opposition
to the Congress.
• Janata Party won with a huge majority in 1977 and formed the government with Morarji Desai as prime minister.
Atal Bihari Vajpayee, was the external affairs minister in the new government.
• Initial victories included assembly elections of Delhi in 1993, and Gujarat & Maharashtra in March 1995, and a
good performance in the elections to the Karnataka assembly in December 1994.
• In the 1996 General Elections, it emerged as the single largest party in the Lok Sabha, and AB Vajpayee became
the PM; however due to insufficient support, he memorably resigned after just 13 days!
• Had a tally of 183 Lok Sabha seats in the 1998 elections.
• Won the 2008 state elections in Karnataka, making it the first time that they had won Assembly elections in any
south Indian state. In the 2013 assembly election of Karnataka, BJP again faced major defeat and lost its only
south Indian state government.
• Has held power prominently in states like Maharashtra, Karnataka, Rajasthan, etc.
• In the 2009 general elections, strength in Lok Sabha reduced to 116 seats; Rajya Sabha strength is 49 seats.

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
110
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

• In 2014, BJP was elected as the single largest party in Lok Sabha elections with the majority of 281 seats out of
th
543 seats. Narendra Modi is elected as the 14 Prime Minister of India

Current State Governments/Opposition

• As of December 2014, BJP has 7 incumbent Chief Ministers - Raman Singh in Chhattisgarh, Laxmikant Parsekar
in Goa, Anandiben Patel in Gujarat, Shivraj Singh Chouhan in Madhya Pradesh, Vasundhara Raje in Rajasthan,
Manohar Lal Khattar in Haryana and Devendra Fadnavis in Maharashtra. Results of recently concluded assembly
elections of Jharkhand and Jammu & Kashmir has further added to the tally of BJP. The party is likely to form
government in Jharhand. While it may be an ally to party forming government in Jammu & Kashmir.
• Shares power with other political parties of NDA coalition in Punjab, Andhra Pradesh and Nagaland.
• Main opposition party in most of the States under the Congress rule.

Trivia
• Party HQ - 11 Ashoka Road, New Delhi; Party Newspaper – Kamal Sandesh, Party Symbol – Lotus Flower
• Was a major opponent of Operation Blue Star & was amongst those who strongly disliked and openly protested
the violence against Sikhs in Delhi in 1984, following the assassination of Indira Gandhi by one of her Sikh
bodyguards.
• Amongst the coalition parties of the NDA, only the Shiv Sena party from Maharashtra shares a similar ideology
with the BJP!
• The BJP-led govt. in 1999-2004 wholeheartedly continued the economic policies initiated by the previous
Congress govt. under P. V. Narasimha Rao & Manmohan Singh.
• During 1999-2004, the BJP-led government invested in major infrastructure development projects such as the
Golden Quadrilateral network of national highways, and launched a major effort to attract foreign investment &
introduce free trade. This led to the election campaign of 2004 being desgined around ‘India Shining’.

3. Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)

Origin & Brief History
• BSP was founded by the charismatic Dalit leader Kanshi Ram in 1984.
• The party has its main base in Uttar Pradesh.
• Due to Kanshi Ram’s deteriorating health in the 1990s, former school teacher Mayawati became the party's de
facto leader.
• Their power grew quickly with seats in the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly and the Lok Sabha.
• In 1993, BSP formed a coalition with Samajwadi Party President Mulayam Yadav as Chief Minister. In mid-1995,
Mayawati withdrew support from the govt. Since this, they have regarded each other publicly as chief rivals.
• BSP formed a govt. in 1995 with the support of the BJP, but in October 1995 the support was withdrawn by the
BJP.
• In the 2007 UP assembly elections, BSP emerged as the single majority party, the first to do so since 1991 But,
lost thereafter in the 2012 Elections to SP.
• In this phase, the BSP took away a majority of upper castes votes from their traditional party, the BJP.
• BSP is now the third largest national party of India in terms of vote percentages as per the 2009 Lok Sabha
Elections, having more than 10% vote share across the country. This reduced to 4.1% in 2014 Lok Sabha
Elections.
Target Constituents
• The BSP formed mainly to represent Bahujans, referring to people from the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes
and Other Backward Castes (OBC), as well as minorities.
• Recent major reach-out has been done towards other castes, even some members of the upper castes.
• The BSP has historically drawn a loyal base of voters from India's lowest castes (Dalits) which spread across
states and is loyal to the BSP ideology.

Key Persons
• Founder – Kanshi Ram
• President/Chairperson – Mayawati
• Secretaries General - Satish Chandra Mishra, Dr. Suresh Mane, Naseem Uddin Siddiqui, Swami Prasad Maurya.
• Leader in Lok Sabha – Rajesh Verma
• Leader in Rajya Sabha – Mayawati

Main Ideological Thrust

• The BSP is a centrist national political party with socialist leanings.
• It claims to be inspired by the philosophy of B. R. Ambedkar.
• It’s political position is Left-of-Centre & stated ideologies are Dalit Socialism, Secularism & Social Engineering.
• One of the main political thoughts of the BSP founder Kanshi Ram was that political instability is one of the best
factors beneficial to the uplift & progress of the Dalits & the downtrodden!
CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
111
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

Major Electoral Achievements (Centre & States)

• In 1993, following the assembly elections, BSP formed a ruling coalition with the Samajwadi Party.
• In June 1995, BSP’s Mayawati became Chief Minister with BJP’s support.
• In May 2007, the Uttar Pradesh state assembly election results saw the BSP emerge as a single majority party
(206 seats), the first to do so since 1991.
• In terms of vote percentages as per the 2009 Lok Sabha Elections, BSP is now the third largest national party of
India, having more than 10% vote share countrywide.
• In the 2012 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, BSP could manage only 80 seats, due to anti-incumbency factor.
• Other States where the BSP has a legislative presence are Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Haryana, Himachal
Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan& Uttarakhand.
• Current Lok Sabha strength = 0 seats; Rajya Sabha strength = 10 seats.

Current State Govts./Opposition

• Not in power in any state as of December 2014.
• Uttar Pradesh is the only State where the BSP currently has a major seat-share in the Legislative Assembly (80
seats).

Trivia
• Symbol – Elephant; Newspapers - Adil Jafri, Mayayug; HQ - 12, Gurudwara Rakabganj Road, New Delhi.
• Mayawati is a former schoolteacher who once aspired to join the IAS!
• Some of the BSP’s popular election slogans are “Haathi nahin, Ganesh hain, Brahma, Vishnu Mahesh Hain”,
“Tilak, Taraazu Aur Talwaar; Inke Maaro Jootey Chaar”, etc.
• Mayawati's assets run into millions of dollars, with several properties to her name. Mayawati’s tax payments
consistently rank her among the top taxpayers in India.
• Mayawati has commented that she will formally convert to Buddhism when the political conditions enable her to
become Prime Minister of India.

4. Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)

Origin & Brief History
th
• NCP was formed on 25 May 1999 by Sharad Pawar, P. A. Sangma & Tariq Anwar after they were expelled from
th
the Indian National Congress (INC) on 20 May 1999, for disputing the right of Italian-born Sonia Gandhi to lead
the party.But came back to be a part of the Congress fold in Maharashtra to form the government and then in
UPA 1 & 2.
• At the time of formation, the party also absorbed Indian Congress (Socialist), which traced its origins to the state
of Maharashtra.
th
• On 20 June 2012, Sangma quit the NCP to contest in presidential polls.

Target Constituents
• Primarily Maharashtra-based, with a sprinkling of support in Meghalaya & Manipur.
• Rural electors & farmers, agriculturists, etc.
• Semi-urban & urban lower-income groups, etc.

Key Persons
• President/Chairperson – Sharad Pawar
• General Secretary - Tariq Anwar (Former Minister of State for Agriculture)
• Praful Patel (Former Civil Aviation Minister, Former Cabinet Minister for Heavy Industries)
• Ajit Pawar (Former Dy. Chief Minister of Maharashtra)
• Chagan Bhujbal (Former Minister of Public Works, Maharashtra)
• R. R. Patil (Former Home Minister of Maharashtra)
• Agatha K Sangma (Former Minister of state for rural development)
• Supriya Sule (MP)

Main Ideological Thrust

• The NCP is a Centre to Centre-Left political party.
• Their stated ideology is Progressivism, Secular Democracy, Gandhian Secularism, Egalitarianism, Social Justice,
Federalism, Social Conservatism, and Nationalism.

Major Electoral Achievements (Centre & States)

• Centre (Lok Sabha elections) – 6 seats in 1999, 9 seats each in 2004 & 2009, 6 seats in 2014
rd
• State (Maharashtra) – 58 seats in 1999 (3 largest party), 71 seats in 2004 (single largest party) & 62 seats in
nd th
2009 (2 largest party) and 41 seats in 2014(4 largest party).

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
112
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

th
• On 20 June 2012, founder-member PA Sangma quit the NCP to contest in presidential polls vs. Pranab
Mukherjee, but lost.

Trivia
• NCP's election symbol is an analogue clock (with two legs and an alarm button) that reads 10:10.
• Its youth wing is the Nationalist Youth Congress.
• HQ - 10, Bishambhar Das Marg, New Delhi.
th
• On 20 June 2012, PA Sangma quit the NCP to contest the 2012 presidential polls; he now heads a national-level
th
political party called National People's Party (founded on 6 January 2013) with a Book as its symbol.
• According to an RTI query filed with the Election Commission, there is no registered party with the official name
‘Rashtrawadi Congress Party’ (used by most NCP ministers while taking oath, etc.)! The registered name of the
NCP is actually ‘Nationalist Congress Party’, and ‘Rashtrawadi Congress Party’ is merely the Marathi/Hindi
translation being used! So a group of political activists in Navi Mumbai actually registered a new political party
named ‘Rashtrawadi Congress Party’ in October 2013!!!

5. Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)

Origin & Brief History
• DMK is a Dravidian party founded by C. N. Annadurai as a breakaway faction from the Dravidar Kazhagam
(known as Justice Party till 1944) headed by Periyar.
• It traces its roots to the South Indian Liberal Federation (Justice Party) formed in 1916, by P. Thyagaraya
Chetty, Dr. P.T. Rajan, Dr. C. Natesa Mudaliar, etc.
• In August 1944, Periyar created the ‘Dravida Kazhagham’ out of the Justice Party and the Self-Respect
Movement at the Salem Provincial Conference. Dravidar Kazhagam was conceived as a movement and not a
political party, and it insisted on an independent nation for Dravidians called Dravida Nadu, consisting of areas
that were covered under Madras Presidency.
• In 1949, several of Periyar’s followers led by C. N. Annadurai, decided to split from Dravidar Kazhagham &
announced the formation of the DMK on 17th September 1949.
• In 1953, Tamil actor M. G. Ramachandran (MGR) joined the DMK, and popularised the party flag and symbol,
which at that time stood for secession from India, by showing it in his movies.
• Since 1969, DMK is headed by M Karunanidhi, ex- Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.
• It is a former member of the United Progressive Alliance & a state political party in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.

Target Constituents
• Dravidians in general & Tamilians in particular.
• Fiercely Tamil Nationalistic electors.
• Supporters of Tamil identity & independence, both in India & neighbouring countries like Sri Lanka.

Key Persons
• Founder – CN Annadurai
• Other original members - V. R. Nedunchezhiyan, K. A. Mathiazhagan, K. Anbazhagan, N. V. Natarajan, E. V. K.
Sampath (nephew of Annadurai).
• Popular Face till 1972 – MG Ramachandran (Tamil film star)
• Current Leader/President - M. Karunanidhi
• Leader in the Lok Sabha - T. R. Baalu
• Other prominent leaders – MK Stalin & MK Kanimozhi (children of M Karunanidhi)

Main Ideological Thrust

• Political position is Centre-Left; ideology comprises Social Democracy, Populism, and Democratic Socialism.
• Dravidian in outlook & pro-Tamil in action.

Major Electoral Achievements (Centre & States)

• DMK holds the distinction of being the first party other than the INC, another member of the United Progressive
Alliance, to win state-level elections with clear majority (1971) on its own in any state in India.
• Ruled Tamil Nadu from 1967-1977, then from 1989-1991, 1996-2001, and from 2006-2011.
• Bagged a high of 25 Lok Sabha seats in the 1967 general elections; had 18 seats & was a prominent member of
the UPA govt. Currently it has 0 Lok Sabha seats.

Current State Governments/Opposition

• Main opposition party in Tamil Nadu & Puducherry.
• Current State Assembly seats = 23 out of 234.

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
113
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

Trivia
• HQ - Anna Arivalayam, Anna Salai, Chennai; Party Newspapers - Murasoli (Tamil) &The Rising Sun (English).
• After MGR’s death in 1987, the LTTE reportedly sent personal emissaries to Karunanidhi for seeking his active
support in their battle against the IPKF, since because there was no more MGR to help them.
• The party's election symbol is the sun arising from between two mountains, called the Rising Sun and the party
flag consists of red and black colour.
• DMK's worst poll performance ever in Tamil Nadu was registered in 1991 and its peak in 1971.
• Kalaignar TV is a channel started in 2007 & managed by Kanimozhi and Dayalu Ammal, the daughter and wife of
Karunanidhi.
• M Karunandihi’s nephew was the late Murasoli Maran, whose son Kalanidhi Maran runs Sun Network, India's
second largest TV network. According to Forbes, Kalanidhi is among India's richest 20 persons, with a net worth
of $2.9 billion! His channels were the mouth organ of the DMK party until Kalaignar TV was started.
• Party founder Annadurai wanted a separate Dravida Nadu but the DMK changed its stance with the Chinese
invasion in 1962 and suspended its demand for the length of the war and supported India for raising funds for
the war. When the war ended, nationalistic feelings were so strong that DMK gave up the separate Dravida
nation idea.

6. All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK)

Origin & Brief History
• The AIADMK is a Dravidian party founded by M.G. Ramachandran (popularly known as MGR) in 1972 as a
breakaway faction of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), due to serious differences between MGR & M
Karunanidhi.
• Earlier called Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (ADMK) by MGR, the party leaders later prefixed All India (AI)
tag before the party name.
• Since its inception, the relationship between the AIADMK and DMK has been marked with mutual contempt.
• In 1979, AIADMK became the first Dravidian and regional party to be part of the Union Cabinet, when two
AIADMK MPs joined the short-lived Charan Singh Ministry.
• AIADMK was headed by J. Jayalalithaa from 1989-2016.
• Currently, O Pannerselvam is the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, following the arrest of Jayalalitha in the case of
acquisition of disproportionate assets.

Key Persons
• Founder - M.G. Ramachandran, Current President/Leader - E. Madhusudhanan.
• O. Panneerselvam (Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu from 2001–2002 and September 2014 - May 2015)

Main Ideological Thrust

• Political position can be described as Centrist.
• Ideological leanings are Social Democracy & Populism.
Major Electoral Achievements (Centre & States)
th
• The AIADMK came to power in 1977 after trouncing DMK in the assembly elections. MGR was sworn in as the 7
Chief Minister of the state on 30 June 1977. MGR remained in power for ten years till his death in December
1987, winning three consecutive assembly elections (1977, 1980 and 1984).
• In 1979, AIADMK became the first Dravidian & regional party to be part of the Union Cabinet.
• Though it won just 2 Lok Sabha seats in the mid-term parliamentary elections of January 1980, the AIADMK won
a comfortable majority in the state assembly by winning 129 seats out of 234!
• AIADMK suffered heavily in the 1989 Assembly elections, due to a split into the Janaki and Jayalalithaa factions,
winning only 2 and 27 seats respectively.
• Achieved a landslide victory in 1991 Assembly elections in alliance with the INC.
• Formed an alliance with the BJP and MDMK during the parliamentary elections in 1998. Shared power with the
BJP in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee headed government between 1998–1999, but withdrew support a year later,
leading to the fall of the BJP government.
• Regained power in the 2001 Assembly elections, winning 132 seats.
• Pushed out of power in the 2006 Assembly elections & fared poorly in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, but stormed
back to power in the 2011 Assembly polls, winning 150 seats.
• In all, has won the Tamil Nadu assembly election 6 times to head the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly.
rd
• In 2014 elections, AIADMK bagged 37 Lok Sabha seats, which is the 3 highest number of seats in Lok Sabha
election.

Current State Governments/Opposition

• Currently in power in Tamil Nadu with a significant majority of 151 seats (without alliance) out of 234 seats.
• Has no representation in present Kerala and Karnataka assembly. In Karnataka the AIADMK has had members in
the state assembly.
CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
114
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

Trivia
• The party headquarters at 226, Avvai Shanmugam Salai, Roayapettah, Chennai was gifted to the party in 1986
by its former leader Janaki Ramachandran, wife of MGR.
• Many of the early leaders of the AIADMK were from the movie industry & their respective fan clubs, etc.!
• Jayalalitha is called ‘Amma’ (Mother) and sometimes ‘Puratchi Thalaivi’ (Revolutionary Leader) by her followers.
• Party Symbol – Two Leaves, Party Newspaper - Dr. Namathu MGR, Party TV channel mouthpiece – Jaya TV

7. Janata Dal (United) (JD(U))

Origin & Brief History
• The Janata Dal (United) was formed with the merger of the Sharad Yadav faction of the Janata Dal, the
th
Lokshakti Party and the Samata Party on 30 October 2003.
• The merged entity was called Janata Dal (United) with the arrow symbol of Janata Dal (United) and the green
and white flag of the Samata Party.
• The uniting force is believed to be common opposition to Rashtriya Janata Dal in Bihar, especially after the RJD
welcomed Samata Party rebels into the party.
• The party mentor and patron is the veteran socialist leader George Fernandes.
• Its origins go back to before the 1999 General Elections, when a faction led by J. H. Patel had lent support to the
National Democratic Alliance, leading to the split in the Janata Dal, leading to the formation of Janata Dal
(Secular) under H. D. Deve Gowda, and Janata Dal under Sharad Yadav.

Target Constituents
• Industrial workers, urban poor, trade unions, etc.
• Rural electors & farmers, agriculturists, etc.
• Semi-urban & urban lower-income groups, etc.

Key Persons
• Chairperson – Sharad Yadav
• Leader in Lok Sabha- Kaushalendra Kumar
• Leader in Rajya Sabha – Shivanand Tiwari
• Chief Minister of Bihar – Nitish Kumar

Main Ideological Thrust

• Political position is Centre-Left.
• Ideology is Integral Humanism, Secularism, and Socialism.

Major Electoral Achievements (Centre & States)

• In 2009 elections it was the fifth largest party in Lok Sabha with 20 seats. Currently it has 2 seats.
• The JD(U) along with its then-alliance partner, the BJP defeated the RJD-led UPA government in Bihar in
November 2005.
• Nitish Kumar led JDU-RJD-Congress alliance has recorded a landslide victory in 2015 Bihar Assembly Election

Current State Governments

• In power in Bihar since November 2005.
• Negligible strength of 2 seats in the neighbouring Jharkhand Assembly.
• The JD(U) broke its ties with the BJP in Bihar in protest against the elevation of Narendra Modi to PM candidate,
bringing to an end a 17-year-old alliance that had held firm through thick and thin in the national politics.
• Sharad Yadav has since relinquished his position as the NDA convenor.

Trivia
• The JD(U)’s symbol incorporates the arrow symbol of Janata Dal (United) and the green and white flag of the
Samata Party, to signify its origins.

8. Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M))

Origin & Brief History
• The CPI(M) emerged from a split from the Communist Party of India in 1964.
• During the 1962 war with China, a faction of the Indian Communists backed the position of the Indian
government, while other sections of the party claimed that it was a conflict between a socialist and a capitalist
state. The basis of difference in opinion between the two factions in CPI was ideological & the difference in
opinion was also a reflection of a similar difference at international level on ideology between the Soviet and
Chinese parties. The alleged ‘right wing’ inside the party followed the Soviet path and put forward the idea of
joining hands with the then ruling INC. Whereas, the faction of CPI which later became CPI(M), referred this as a
revisionist approach of class collaboration. It was this ideological difference which later intensified, coupled with
the Soviet-Chinese split at the international level and ultimately gave birth to CPI(M).
CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
115
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

• Simply put, the CPI(M) can be called the pro-China faction & the CPI as the pro-Russia faction.
• During the Kerala Legislative Assembly elections of 1965 the party has adopted the name ‘Communist Party of
India (Marxist)’ to obtain its election symbol from the Election Commission of India.
• The strength of the CPI(M) is concentrated in the states of Kerala, West Bengal and Tripura.

Target Constituents
• Workers, peasants, under-privileged classes, trade unionists.

Key Persons
• First General-Secretary of the party - P. Sundarayya
• Prominent Past members - Harkishen Singh Surjeet, Jyoti Basu, etc.
• Secretary-General = Prakash Karat
• Leader in Lok Sabha – Basudev Acharia, Leader in Rajya Sabha – Sitaram Yechury.
• Prominent Current Leaders - S. Ramachandran Pillai, Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, Manik Sarkar (Tripura CM),
Biman Bose, Brinda Karat, etc.

Main Ideological Thrust

• Political position is Left-wing; ideology is Communism & Marxism–Leninism.
• The party is well known for its Anti-globalization and Anti-capitalism stance.

Major Electoral Achievements (Centre & States)

• In the West Bengal elections in 1969, the CPI(M) contested 97 seats, and won 80 to become the largest in the
West Bengal legislative.
• In the Kerala Assembly elections of 1970, they contested 73 seats and won 29.
• In the 1977 West Bengal Assembly elections, the CPI(M)’s Jyoti Basu became the chief minister of West Bengal,
an office he held continuously until his retirement in 2000. The CPI(M) held the majority in the West Bengal
government continuously 1977to 2011!
• Got 5.66% of votes polled in 2004 Lok Sabha elections (43 MPs). Won 42.31% on an average in the 69 seats it
contested.
• In the 2009 parliamentary election their number of MPs became 16. This reduced to 9 seats in 2014 elections.
• In West Bengal &Tripura it participates in the Left Front. In Kerala the party is part of the Left Democratic Front.
In Tamil Nadu it was part of the ruling Democratic Progressive Alliance led by the DMK. However, it has since
withdrawn support.
• In the latest Tripura elections, it bagged 49 out of 60 seats.
Current State Governments/Opposition
• CPI(M) heads the state government in Tripura. Manik Sarkar is the CM. In Tripura, the party has a majority of its
own in the state assemblies, but governs together with Left Front partners.
Trivia
• Party HQ - Gole Market, New Delhi, India, Party Newspaper - People's Democracy.
• Student wing - Students Federation of India; Youth wing - Democratic Youth Federation of India; Women's wing
- All India Democratic Women's Association; Labour wing - Centre of Indian Trade Unions; Peasant's wing - All
India Kisan Sabha.
• CPI(M) is officially known as Bharat ki Kamyunist Party Marxvadi in Hindi, but it is often known as Marxvadi
Kamyunist Party (abbreviated MaKaPa) in press and media circles. This name though has a very interesting story
to tell. During its initial years after the split, the party was often referred by different names such as ‘Left
Communist Party’ or ‘Communist Party of India (Left)’. The party has used the name ‘Left’ because CPI people
were dubbed as rightist in nature for their support to Congress-Nehru regime!
• The party has adopted the name ‘Communist Party of India (Marxist)’ in 1965 to obtain its election symbol from
the Election Commission of India.
• The Naxal movement in India has its roots in the 1967 peasant uprising in Naxalbari, in northern West Bengal,
led by hardline district-level CPI(M) leaders Charu Majumdar and Kanu Sanyal!

9. Communist Party of India (CPI)

Origin & Brief History
• In the Indian communist movement, there are different views on exactly when the Indian Communist Party was
founded.
th
• The date maintained as the foundation day by CPI is 26 December 1925, at the first Kanpur Party Conference.
But the CPI(M), which separated from the CPI, claims that the party was founded in 1920.
• During the 1920s and beginning of 1930s the party was badly organised, and in practice there were several
communist groups working with limited national coordination. The British colonial authorities had banned all
communist activity, which made the task of building a united party very difficult.

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
116
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

th
• In the Cawnpore Bolshevik Conspiracy Case on 17 March 1924, M.N. Roy, S.A. Dange, Muzaffar Ahmed, Nalini
Gupta, Shaukat Usmani, Singaravelu Chettiar, Ghulam Hussain and R.C. Sharma were put on trial.
• When the CPI was underground, it directed its members to join the provincial Workers and Peasants Parties.
• As of 1934, the main centres of activity of CPI were Bombay, Calcutta and Punjab. The party had also begun
extending its activities to Madras. A group of Andhra and Tamil students, amongst them P. Sundarayya, were
recruited to the CPI.
• In July 1942, the CPI was legalized by the British. Communists strengthened their control over the All India
Trade Union Congress, but at the same time, were politically cornered for their opposition to the Quit India
Movement.
• CPI contested the Provincial Legislative Assembly elections of 1946 of its own. It had candidates in 108 out of
1585 seats. It won in 8 seats. In total the CPI vote counted 6,66,723, which should be seen with the backdrop
that 86% of the adult population of India lacked voting rights. The party had contested three seats in Bengal,
and won all of them.

Target Constituents
• Workers, peasants, under-privileged classes, trade unionists.

Key Persons
• Founding members - M.N. Roy, Evelyn Trent Roy (Roy's wife), Abani Mukherji, Rosa Fitingof (Abani's wife),
Mohammad Ali (Ahmed Hasan), Mohammad Shafiq Siddiqui, Rafiq Ahmed of Bhopal and M.P.B.T. Acharya.
• Shripad Amrit Dange (former Chairman of the party), Chandra Rajeswara Rao, P K Vasudevan Nair, etc.
• Secretary-General = S. Sudhakar Reddy

Main Ideological Thrust

• Political leanings are Leftist, and the ideology is Communism.

Major Electoral Achievements (Centre & States)

• In the general elections in 1957, the CPI emerged as the largest opposition party.
• In 1957, the CPI won the state elections in Kerala under E. M. S. Namboodiripad. This was the first time that an
opposition party won control over an Indian state.
• During the period 1970–77, CPI was allied with the INC. In Kerala, they formed a government together with the
INC, C. Achutha Menon as Chief Minister.

Current State Governments/Opposition

• In West Bengal it participates in the Left Front. It also participated in the state government in Manipur.
• In Kerala the party is part of Left Democratic Front. In Tripura the party is a partner of the governing Left Front,
having a minister.
• In Tamil Nadu it is part of the Progressive Democratic Alliance. It is involved in the Left Democratic Front in
Maharashtra.

Trivia
• To date, CPI happens to be the only national political party from India to have contested all the general elections
using the same electoral symbol.
• In 1946 the party launched the Tebhaga movement in Bengal, a militant campaign against feudalism.
• In 1957, when the CPI won the state elections in Kerala, it was the first time that an opposition party won
control over an Indian state. It was also the first ever democratically elected Communist government ANYWHERE
in the world!

10. All India Trinamool Congress (AITC)

Origin & Brief History
• Founded on January 1, 1998 by Mamata Banerjee.
• After remaining with the INC for over 2 decades, Mamata Banerjee formed her own party, the Trinamool
Congress, which was registered with the Election Commission of India during mid-December, 1997.
• The Election Commission allotted to the party an exclusive symbol of Jora Ghas Phul (blades of grass & flower).

Target Constituents
• Rural & Urban poor, unemployed youth, disadvantaged sections of society, etc.
• Recently there has been a distinct shift of Left-wing supporters from the CPI-CPI(M) to the TMC.

Key Persons
• Founder & Chairperson – Mamata Banerjee (CM of West Bengal)
• Leader in Lok Sabha - Sudip Bandyopadhyay; Leader in Rajya Sabha - Mukul Roy (ex-Railway Minister).
• Chief Whip in the Rajya Sabha – Derek O’Brien.
CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
117
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

Main Ideological Thrust

• Political position is Centre-Left; political ideology is Populism, Socialism & Secularism.

Major Electoral Achievements (Centre & States)

• In the 1998 Lok Sabha polls, TMC won 7 seats.
• In the next Lok Sabha election that was held in 1999, TMC won 8 seats.
• In 2000, TMC won the Kolkata Municipal Corporation Elections. In the 2001 Vidhan Sabha elections, TMC won 60
seats with INC.
• In the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, TMC won 1 seat.
• In the 2006 Vidhan Sabha elections, TMC won 30 seats.
• In the 2009 Lok Sabha election, Trinamool Congress won 19 seats from West Bengal.
• In the West Bengal state assembly election of 2011, TMC won a majority of 184 seats out of 294. Mamata
Banerjee became the Chief Minister.
• TMC also has 5 MLAs in the Arunachal Pradesh Assembly, 7 MLAs in the Manipur Assembly & 1 MLA in Assam &
Uttar Pradesh each.
• TMC also have 1 MP in Rajya Sabha from Jharkhand.
th
• It is the 4 largest party with 33 Lok Sabha Seats.

Current State Governments/Opposition

• Currently in power in West Bengal with a simple majority of 187/294.

Trivia
• Ma Mati Manush was a slogan coined by Mamata Banerjee. The term is literally translated as “Mother,
Motherland and People”. The slogan became very popular in West Bengal during 2011 assembly election. Later,
Mamata Banerjee wrote a Bengali book with the same title. A song was also recorded with the same title to
glorify the theme. According to a report published in June 2011, it was one of the six most popular political
slogans of India at that time!
• The psychedelic green-blue-saffron colour scheme of the long-distance Duronto Express trains of Indian Railways
are based on paintings of Mamata Banerjee!

11. Jammu & Kashmir National Conference

Origin & Brief History
th
• In October 1932, Sheikh Abdullah founded the All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference. On 11 June 1939 it
was renamed as the All Jammu and Kashmir National Conference.
• The National Conference was affiliated to the All India States Peoples Conference. Sheikh Abdullah was elected
its president in 1947.
• In 1946, the National Conference launched an intensive agitation against the state government. It was directed
against Maharaja Hari Singh. The slogan of the agitation was "Quit Kashmir".
• Led at the time of Indian independence in 1947 by Sheikh Abdullah, it has been led subsequently by the Sheikh's
son Farooq Abdullah (1981–2002) and his son Omar Abdullah (2002–2009). Farooq Abdullah was again made
the President of the party in 2009.

Target Constituents
• Indigenous Kashmiris who are in favour of re-unification of Kashmir.
• Electors who are pro-India & moderately separatist (pro-Art. 370).

Key Persons
• Founder – Sheikh Abdullah
• Chairperson - Farooq Abdullah
• Former Chief Minister & ex-Chairperson – Omar Abdullah

Main Ideological Thrust

• Major ideology is Moderate Separatism, Pro-India Sentiment & Re-unification of Kashmir.

Major Electoral Achievements (Centre & States)

• In the September 1951 elections, National Conference won all 75 seats of the Constituent assembly of Jammu
and Kashmir. Sheikh Abdullah remained the prime minister until his dismissal in August 1953.
• Sheikh Abdullah was allowed to return to power in February 1975 after striking a deal with the central
government.
• In 1977, National Conference won the state assembly elections, and Sheikh Abdullah became the chief minister.
th
His son Farooq Abdullah succeeded him as the Chief Minister on his death on 8 September 1982.

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
118
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

• In June 1983 elections, the JKNC led by Farooq Abdullah again won a comfortable majority.
• Won state Assembly elections with comfortable majority till 2002 state assembly elections, the National
Conference won only 28 seats, with the PDP emerging in the Kashmir Valley as a contender for power.
• In the December 2008 state assembly elections, the JKNC led by Omar Abdullah emerged as a single largest
party, winning 28 seats. After the elections, the JKNC formed an alliance with the Congress Party which had won
17 seats.
• They have consistently dominated the Lok Sabha polls in the state as well, with the only real competition coming
from the INC.

Current State Governments/Opposition

• Omar Abdullah lead the State Govt. in Jammu & Kashmir from 2008 to 2014 with 28 seats out of 87, in alliance
with the INC, which had which has 17 seats.
• JKNC has won in 15 seats out of 87 seats. So the party is next government of the state.
• JKPDP emerged as leading party and formed the government in J&K with the help of BJP

Trivia
• Founder Sheikh Abdullah was dismissed in August 1953 & arrested on the grounds of conspiracy against the
State of India.
• In July 1984 Farooq Abdullah's brother-in-law Ghulam Mohammad Shah split the party. Acting on the behest of
the central government, the Governor dismissed Farooq as a Chief Minister and installed Ghulam Mohammad
Shah in his place.

12. Telugu Desam Party (TDP)

Origin & Brief History
• The TDP was founded by Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao (NTR) on 29 March 1982.
• The TDP stormed to power within 9 months of its formation, in the 1983 Assembly elections, thus forming the
first non-Congress government in Andhra Pradesh.
• The party has governed Andhra Pradesh twice from 1983 to 1989 and then from 1994 to 2004.
• Since 1995, the party is headed by N. Chandrababu Naidu, the incumbent Leader of Opposition in the Andhra
Pradesh State Assembly.
rd
• On 23 August 1995, Naidu engineered an internal party coup against NTR. His main reason to take over the
party and govt. from NTR was that NTR's second wife Lakshmi Parvathi was mishandling the party internal affairs
in order to be the successor to NTR in the party, and that the party was in danger of disintegrating.
• The party's headquarters is located at NTR Bhavan in the Banjara Hills locality of Hyderabad.

Target Constituents
• Native Telugu-speaking electorate & regional Andhra pride proponents.
• Common man, economically disadvantaged sections, women, youth & all backward segments of society.
• Tech-savvy young electorate targeted by N Chandrababu Naidu’s technology-friendly policies.
• Muslim & Christian minorities in Andhra Pradesh.

Key Persons
• Founder – NT Rama Rao
• Current Leader/President – N Chandrababu Naidu
• Leader in Lok Sabha – Thota Narasimham;
• Leader in Rajya Sabha - Tulla Devender Goud.

Main Ideological Thrust

• Occupies Centre-Left position in the political spectrum.
• Ideology is Populist, Regionalist, and Social Liberalist.

Major Electoral Achievements (Centre & States)

• Within 9 months of formation, the TDP bagged 202 seats in the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections in 1983, thus
forming the first non-Congress government in Andhra Pradesh.
• It also achieved the rare distinction of being the first regional party to become the main opposition party (33 MPs
in Parliament compared to 2 MPs of BJP in the 1984 elections after the sympathy wave sweep by the INC in the
th
8 Lok Sabha (1984 to 1989).
• The TDP has governed Andhra Pradesh twice from 1983 to 1989 and then from 1994 to 2004.
• It came back to power in April 2014 in Andhra Pradesh

Current State Governments/Opposition

• Currently N Chandrababu Naidu is the Chief Minister of the Andhra Pradesh, after the separation of Telangana.
CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
119
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

Trivia
• TDP is the first regional party to become the main opposition party in the Lok Sabha, after the 1984 elections.
• Election Symbol - Bicycle
• When TDP was in power in Andhra Pradesh, both, Tony Blair, former Prime Minister of England and Bill Clinton,
former President of the USA visited Chandrababu Naidu at Hyderabad.
• The governor of Illinois, USA declared a Naidu Day in his honour!
• TDP supremo Naidu was described as one of the Hidden Seven working wonders around the world, by Profit, a
monthly magazine published by Oracle Corporation.

13. Samajwadi Party (SP)

Origin & Brief History
• The Samajwadi Party was one of several parties that emerged when the Janata Dal (People's League),
fragmented into several regional parties.
• Came into existence on October 4, 1992 in Lucknow under the leadership of Mulayam Singh Yadav.
• Since 1992, they have come to power in Uttar Pradesh twice - 1993 and then again in 2003.

Target Constituents
• Mainly represents the interests of Other Backward Classes (OBCs).
• Known for their overtures & appeasement of the Muslim electorate also.

Key Persons
• Founder & Chairperson, Leader in Lok Sabha – Mulayam Singh Yadav
• Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh – Akhilesh Yadav
• Leader in Rajya Sabha - Ram Gopal Yadav
• Secretary-General - Kiranmoy Nanda
• Other Prominent Leaders - Abu Asim Azmi (State President of Maharashtra Samajwadi Party), Azam Khan
(Senior Cabinet Minister, National General Secretary), Shivpal Singh Yadav, etc.

Main Ideological Thrust

• Ram Manohar Lohia, who was a freedom fighter, socialist and a great Parliamentarian, is the guiding ideological
light for the Samajwadi Party.
• Occupies the Centre position in the political spectrum.
• Ideology encompasses Populism, Democratic Socialism, Secularism& Social Conservatism.

Major Electoral Achievements (Centre & States)

• Mulayam Singh Yadav formed the government in Uttar Pradesh in 1993 & 2003; his son Akhilesh Yadav leads the
current State Govt.
• Has contested Lok Sabha & State Assembly elections around the country, though its successes have been mainly
in Uttar Pradesh.
• In the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, it won 23 seats, behind the INC with 206 seats and the BJP with 116 seats.
• In the 2012 Assembly elections, SP registered a landslide victory with a clear majority in the UP House.
• SP has three MLAs in Maharashtra, two MLAs in Bihar and one MLA each in Karnataka, MP and West Bengal.
• Current Rajya Sabha strength – 13 seats, Lok Sabha Seat- 5

Current State Governments/Opposition

• The SP is in power in Uttar Pradesh with 224/403 seats; Akhilesh Yadav is the CM.
• Negligible strength in the other States where they have a presence.

Trivia
• Akhilesh Yadav is the youngest person ever to hold the office of Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh.
• The SP shares the election symbol of the Bicycle with the TDP!
• In 2005, former Karnataka Chief Minister Bangarappa resigned from the BJP to join the Samajwadi Party. He
successfully held his Lok Sabha seat (Shimoga) on the Samajwadi ticket.
• Yesteryear film star Jayaprada left the TDP to join the Samajwadi Party & got elected from Rampur with an
overwhelming margin. She was later expelled for her support & closeness to expelled SP leader Amar Singh.
• Notorious Siwan MP Mohammad Shahabuddin, who is a history sheeter & has numerous serious crimes
registered against him, is from the SP.

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
120
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

14. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)

Origin and Brief History
• The origin of the AAP can be traced to a difference of opinion between Arvind Kejriwal and Anna Hazare, social
activists who were involved in Team Anna, a strand of the anti-corruption movement for Jan Lokpal Bill that had
gained momentum in India during 2011 and 2012. Hazare wanted to keep the movement politically neutral but
Kejriwal considered that direct involvement in politics was necessary because attempts to obtain progress
regarding the Jan Lokpal Bill through talks with existing political parties had, in his opinion, achieved nothing.
• Hazare and Kejriwal agreed on 19 September 2012 that their differences regarding a role in politics were
irreconcilable. Kejriwal had support from some anti-corruption movement activists, such as Prashant Bhushan
and Shanti Bhushan, others such as Kiran Bedi and Santosh Hegdebut was opposed by. On 2 October, Kejriwal
announced that he was forming a political party and that he intended the formal launch to be on 26 November.
• The party was formally launched in Delhi on 26 November and in March 2013 it was registered as a political
party by the Election Commission of India.
• Indian politics has seen the spectacular rise of parties in the past but what makes the AAP different is the span
of its geographical and political reach. It is neither regional like N.T. Rama Rao’s Telugu Desam Party, which
stormed to power in Andhra Pradesh in 1983 less than a year after it was founded, nor sectional, like the
Bahujan Samaj Party that grew rapidly with the support of Dalits in Uttar Pradesh. The AAP’s origins lie in a
single issue that troubles all Indians, whether poor, middle class or wealthy – corruption. And the party’s
leadership has broadened the ambit of this issue by focusing on the wider set of factors that have led to money-
making and rent-seeking on a colossal scale. Kejriwal has made the link between crony capitalism and
institutional reform, pushing for structural changes and transparency in public institutions, especially those
dealing with law enforcement. This ideology led to the rise and popularity of Arvind Kejriwal and AAP.
• Moreover, Arvind Kejriwal came more into limelight when he declared that he will contest against Modi in the
Varanasi Constituency during Lok Sabha Elections 2014.

Target Constituents
• The party’s primary supporter base is in Delhi, Haryana and Punjab
• In Delhi elections, all the youth and elder people, Industrialists and Peasants voted to AAP. Mostly they were
benefited because of the frustration of people towards corruption.

Key Persons
• Founder/President- Arvind Kejriwal
• Prominent Members during 2014 elections who left the party- Mallika Sarabhai, Shazia Ilmi, Captain GR
Gopinath.
• Prominent Current members- Manish Sisodia, Gopal Rai, Prashant Bhushan, Kumar Vishwas, Yogendra Yadav.

Main Ideological Thrust

• Occupies Centre-Left position in the political spectrum
• Main Ideology is Swaraj, Anti-Corruption.
• The AAP says that the promise of equality and justice that forms a part of the constitution of India and of its
preamble has not been fulfilled and that the independence of India has replaced enslavement to an oppressive
foreign power with that to a political elite. It wants to reverse the way that the accountability of government
operates and has taken an interpretation of the Gandhian concept of swaraj as a tenet. It believes that through
swaraj the government will be directly accountable to the people instead of higher officials. The swaraj model
lays stress on self-governance, community building and decentralization.

Major Electoral Achievements (Centre and States)

• AAP contested its first assembly elections in Delhi in December 2013. It won 28 out 0f 70 assembly seats. It won
second highest number of seats with BJP winning 32 seats.
• Congress offered AAP support to form the Governmental. AAP accepted it to form Government in Delhi replacing
3 time consistent winner Sheila Dixit (INC).
• On December 28, Arvind Kejriwal sworn in as the second- youngest Chief Minister of Delhi. AAP was the fastest
party to get to power after its formation.
• After 49 days of ruling, the AAP resigned the government failing to get support for controversial Jan Lokpal Bill.
• In 2014 Lok Sabha elections, it managed to get just 4 Lok Sabha seats out of 434 seats in which it contested.
• In 2015 Delhi legislative assembly election AAP won 67 of 70 seats and Arvind Kejriwal became the Chief
Minister of Delhi.
Trivia
• HQ- A-119, Kaushambhi(NCR), Ghaziabad- 2010
• Party Newspaper – AAP ki Kranti.
• Student Wing- Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti
• Youth Wing- Aam Aadmi Youth Wing. Women’s Wing- AAP Ki Mahila Shakti

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
121
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

KNOWING WORLD

Important International Organizations

World Bank
The World Bank is an international organization affiliated with The United Nations (UN) and designed to finance projects
that enhance the economic development of member states. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the bank is the largest
source of financial assistance to developing countries. It also provides technical assistance and policy advice and
supervises—on behalf of international creditors—the implementation of free-market reforms. Together with The
International Monetary Fund (IMF) and The World Trade Organization, it plays a central role in overseeing economic
policies and reforming public institutions in developing countries and defining the global macroeconomic agenda.

Origins
Founded in 1944 at The UN Monetary and Financial Conference (commonly known as The Bretton Woods Conference),
which was convened to establish a new, post-World War II international economic system, The World Bank officially
began operations in June 1946. Its first loans were geared toward the postwar reconstruction of western Europe.
Beginning in the mid-1950s, it played a major role in financing investments in infrastructural projects of developing
countries, including roads, hydroelectric dams, water and sewage facilities, maritime ports, and airports.

The World Bank Group comprises five constituent institutions: The International Bank for Reconstruction and
Development (IBRD), the International Development Association (IDA), The International Finance Corporation (IFC), The
Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), and The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes
(ICSID). The IBRD provides loans at market rates of interest to middle-income developing countries and creditworthy
lower-income countries. The IDA, founded in 1960, provides interest-free long-term loans, technical assistance, and
policy advice to low-income developing countries in areas such as health, education, and rural development. Where as the
IBRD raises most of its funds on the world’s capital markets, the IDA’s lending operations are financed through
contributions from developed countries. The IFC, operating in partnership with private investors, provides loans and loan
guarantees and equity financing to business undertakings in developing countries. Loan guarantees and insurance to
foreign investors against loss caused by noncommercial risks in developing countries are provided by the MIGA. Finally,
the ICSID, which operates independently of the IBRD, is responsible for the settlement by conciliation or arbitration of
investment disputes between foreign investors and their host developing countries.

From 1968 to 1981 the president of The World Bank was former U.S. secretary of defense, Robert S. McNamara. Under
his leadership the bank formulated the concept of “sustainable development,” which attempted to reconcile economic
growth and environmental protection in developing countries. Another feature of the concept was its use of capital flows
(in the form of development assistance and foreign investment) to developing countries as a means of narrowing the
income gap between rich and poor countries. The bank has expanded its lending activities and, with its numerous
research and policy divisions, has developed into a powerful and authoritative intergovernmental body.

Organization
The World Bank is related to The UN, though it is not accountable either to The General Assembly or to The Security
Council. Each of the bank’s more than 180 member states is represented on the board of governors, which meets once a
year. The governors are usually their countries’ finance ministers or central bank governors. Although the board of
governors has some influence on IBRD policies, actual decision-making power is wielded largely by the bank’s 24
executive directors. Five major countries—the United States, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, and France—appoint
their own executive directors. The other countries are grouped into regions, each of which elects one executive director.
Throughout The World Bank’s history, the bank president, who serves as chairman of The Executive Board, has been an
American citizen.

Voting power is based on a country’s capital subscription, which is based in turn on its economic resources. The wealthier
and more developed countries constitute the bank’s major shareholders and thus exercise greater power and influence.
For example, at the beginning of the 21st century the United States exercised more than one-sixth of the votes, more
than double that of Japan, the second largest contributor. Because developing countries hold only a small number of
votes—e.g., in the late 1990s approximately 2 percent of the votes were held by 25 African countries combined—the
system does not provide a significant voice for these countries, which are the primary recipients of the World Bank’s loans
and policy advice.

The bank obtains its funds from the capital subscriptions of member countries, bond flotation’s on the world’s capital
markets, and net earnings accrued from interest payments on IBRD and IFC loans. Approximately one-tenth of the
subscribed capital is paid directly to the bank, with the remainder subject to call if required to meet obligations.

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
122
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

The World Bank is staffed by more than 10,000 people, roughly one-fourth of whom are posted in developing countries.
The bank has offices in about 70 countries, and in many countries staff members serve directly as policy advisers to the
ministry of finance and other ministries. The bank has consultative as well as informal ties with the world’s financial
markets and institutions and maintains links with nongovernmental organizations in both developed and developing
countries.

Debt and Policy Reform

The debt crisis of the early 1980s—during which many developing countries were unable to service their external debt to
multilateral lending institutions because of a slowdown in the world economy, high interest rates, a decline in commodity
prices, and wide fluctuations in oil prices, among other factors, played a crucial role in the evolution of The World Bank’s
operations. The bank had become increasingly involved in shaping economic and social policies in debated developing
countries. As a condition of receiving loans, borrowing countries were required to implement stringent “structural
adjustment programs,” which typically included severe cuts in spending for health and education, the elimination of price
controls, the liberalization of trade, the deregulation of the financial sector, and the privatization of state-run enterprises.
Although intended to restore economic stability, these programs, which were applied in a large number of countries
throughout the developing world, frequently resulted in increased levels of poverty, mounting unemployment, and a
spiraling external debt. In the wake of the debt crisis, The World Bank focused its efforts on providing financial assistance
in the form of balance-of-payments support and loans for infrastructural projects such as roads, port facilities, schools,
and hospitals. Although it emphasizes poverty alleviation and debt relief for the world’s least developed countries, the
bank has retained its commitment to economic stabilization policies that require the implementation of austerity
measures by recipient countries.

The World Bank and the IMF played central roles in overseeing free-market reforms in eastern and central Europe after
the fall of communism there in the 1980s and ‘90s. The reforms, which included the creation of bank ruptcy and
privatization programs, were controversial because they frequently led to the closure of state-run industrial enterprises.
“Exit mechanisms” to allow for the liquidation of so-called “problem enterprises” were put into place, and labour laws
were modified to enable enterprises to lay off un-needed workers. The larger state enterprises often were sold to foreign
investors or divided into smaller, privately owned companies. In Hungary, for example, some 17,000 businesses were
liquidated and 5,000 reorganized in 1992–93, leading to a substantial increase in unemployment. The World Bank also
provided reconstruction loans to countries that suffered internal conflicts or other crises (e.g., the successor republics of
former Yugoslavia in the late 1990s). This financial assistance did not succeed in rehabilitating productive infrastructure,
however. In several countries the macroeconomic reforms resulted in increased inflation and a marked decline in the
standard of living.

The World Bank is the world’s largest multilateral creditor institution, and as such many of the world’s poorest countries
owe it large sums of money. Indeed, for dozens of the most heavily indebted poor countries, the largest part of their
external debt—in some cases constituting more than 50 percent—is owed to The World Bank and the multilateral regional
development banks. According to some analysts, the burden of these debts—which according to the bank’s statutes
cannot be canceled or rescheduled—has perpetuated economic stagnation throughout the developing world.

United Nations
United Nations is an international organization established on 24th October, 1945. The United Nations was the second
multipurpose international organization established in the 20th century that was worldwide in scope and membership. Its
predecessor, The League of Nations, was created by The Treaty of Versailles in 1919 and disbanded in 1946.
Headquartered in New York City, the UN also has offices in Geneva, Vienna, and other cities. Its official languages are
Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish. For a list of UN member countries and secretaries-general, see
below.

According to its Charter, the UN aims: “to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, to reaffirm faith in
fundamental human rights,…to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from
treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained, and to promote social progress and better standards of
life in larger freedom.”

In addition to maintaining peace and security, other important objectives include developing friendly relations among
countries based on respect for the principles of equal rights and self-determination of peoples; achieving worldwide
cooperation to solve international economic, social, cultural, and humanitarian problems; respecting and promoting
human rights; and serving as a centre where countries can coordinate their actions and activities toward these various
ends.

The UN formed a continuum with The League of Nations in general purpose, structure, and functions; many of the UN’s
principal organs and related agencies were adopted from similar structures established earlier in the century. In some

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
123
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

respects, however, the UN constituted a very different organization, especially with regard to its objective of maintaining
international peace and security and its commitment to economic and social development.
Changes in the nature of international relations resulted in modifications in the responsibilities of the UN and its decision-
making apparatus. Cold War tensions between The United States and The Soviet Union deeply affected the UN’s security
functions during its first 45 years. Extensive post-World War II decolonization in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East
increased the volume and nature of political, economic, and social issues that confronted the organization. The Cold War’s
end in 1991 brought renewed attention and appeals to The UN. Amid an increasingly volatile geopolitical climate, there
were new challenges to established practices and functions, especially in the areas of conflict resolution and humanitarian
assistance. At the beginning of the 21st century, The UN and its programs and affiliated agencies struggled to address
humanitarian crises and civil wars, unprecedented refugee flows, the devastation caused by the spread of AIDS, global
financial disruptions, international terrorism, and the disparities in wealth between the world’s richest and poorest
peoples.

Organization and Administration

Principal organs: The United Nations has six principal organs: The General Assembly, The Security Council, The Economic
and Social Council, The Trusteeship Council, The International Court of Justice, and The Secretariat.

General Assembly
The only body in which all UN members are represented, The General Assembly exercises deliberative, supervisory,
financial, and elective functions relating to any matter within the scope of the UN Charter. Its primary role, however, is to
discuss issues and make recommendations, though it has no power to enforce its resolutions or to compel state action.
Other functions include admitting new members: selecting members of The Economic and Social Council, the
nonpermanent members of the Security Council, and the Trusteeship Council; supervising the activities of the other UN
organs, from which the Assembly receives reports; and participating in the election of judges to The International Court of
Justice and the selection of the secretary-general. Decisions usually are reached by a simple majority vote. On important
questions, however—such as the admission of new members, budgetary matters, and peace and security issues—a two-
thirds majority is required.

The Assembly convenes annually and in special sessions, electing a new president each year from among five regional
groups of states. At the beginning of each regular session, The Assembly also holds a general debate, in which all
members may participate and raise any issue of international concern. Most work, however, is delegated to six main
committees: (1) Disarmament and International Security, (2) Economic and Financial, (3) Social, Humanitarian, and
Cultural, (4) Special Political and Decolonization, (5) Administrative and Budgetary, and (6) Legal.

The General Assembly has debated issues that other organs of the UN have either over looked or avoided, including
decolonization, the independence of Namibia, apartheid in South Africa, terrorism, and The AIDS epidemic. The number of
resolutions passed by The Assembly each year has climbed to more than 350, and many resolutions are adopted without
opposition. Nevertheless, there have been sharp disagreements among members on several issues, such as those relating
to The Cold War, The Arab-Israeli conflict, and human rights. The General Assembly has drawn public attention to major
issues, thereby forcing member governments to develop positions on them, and it has helped to organize ad hoc bodies
and conferences to deal with important global problems.

The large size of the Assembly and the diversity of the issues it discusses contributed to the emergence of regionally
based voting blocs in the 1960s. During The Cold War The Soviet Union and The Countries of Eastern Europe formed one
of the most cohesive blocs, and another bloc comprised The United States and its Western allies. The admission of new
countries of The Southern Hemisphere in the 1960s and ‘70s and the dissipation of Cold War tensions after 1989
contributed to the formation of blocs based on “North-South” economic issues—i.e., issues of disagreement between the
more prosperous, industrialized countries of the Northern Hemisphere and the poorer, less industrialized developing
countries of the Southern Hemisphere. Other issues have been incorporated into The North-South divide, including
Northern economic and political domination, economic development, the proliferation of nuclear weapons, and support for
Israel.

Security Council
The UN Charter assigns to The Security Council, primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and
security. The Security Council originally consisted of 11 members—five permanent and six nonpermanent—elected by The
General Assembly for two-year terms. From the beginning, nonpermanent members of the Security Council were elected
to give representation to certain regions or groups of states. As membership increased, however, this practice ran into
difficulty. An amendment to The UN Charter in 1965 increased the council’s membership to 15, including the original five
permanent members plus 10 nonpermanent members. Among the permanent members, The People’s Republic of China
replaced The Republic of China (Taiwan) in 1971, and The Russian Federation succeeded the Soviet Union in 1991. After
the unification of Germany, debate over the council’s composition arose again, and Germany, India, and Japan each
applied for permanent council seats.
CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
124
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

The nonpermanent members are chosen to achieve equitable regional representation, five members coming from Africa
or Asia, one from eastern Europe, two from Latin America, and two from western Europe or other areas. Five of the 10
nonpermanent members are elected each year by The General Assembly for two-year terms, and five retire each year.
The presidency is held by each member in rotation for a period of one month.

Each Security Council member is entitled to one vote. On all “procedural” matters—the definition of which is sometimes in
dispute—decisions by the council are made by an affirmative vote of any nine of its members. Substantive matters, such
as the investigation of a dispute or the application of sanctions, also require nine affirmative votes, including those of the
five permanent members holding veto power. In practice, however, a permanent member may abstain without impairing
the validity of the decision. A vote on whether a matter is procedural or substantive is itself a substantive question.
Because The Security Council is required to function continuously, each member is represented at all times at the UN’s
headquarters in New York City.

Any country—even if it is not a member of The UN—may bring a dispute to which it is a party to the attention of The
Security Council. When there is a complaint, the council first explores the possibility of a peaceful resolution. International
peacekeeping forces may be authorized to keep warring parties apart pending further negotiations. If the council finds
that there is a real threat to the peace, a breach of the peace, or an act of aggression (as defined by Article 39 of the UN
Charter), it may call upon UN members to apply diplomatic or economic sanctions. If these methods prove inadequate,
The UN Charter allows the Security Council to take military action against the offending country.

During The Cold War, continual disagreement between The United States and The Soviet Union, coupled with the veto
power of The Security Council’s permanent members, made The Security Council an ineffective institution. Since the late
1980s, however, the council’s power and prestige have grown. Between 1987 and 2000 it authorized more peacekeeping
operations than at any previous time. The use of the veto has declined dramatically, though disagreements among
permanent members of The Security Council—most notably in 2003 over the use of military force against Iraq—have
occasionally undermined the council’s effectiveness. To achieve consensus, comparatively informal meetings are held in
private among the council’s permanent members, a practice that has been criticized by nonpermanent members of The
Security Council.
In addition to several standing and ad hoc committees, the work of the council is facilitated by The Military Staff
Committee, sanctions committees for each of the countries under sanctions, peacekeeping forces committees, and an
International Tribunals Committee.

Economic and Social Council

Designed to be The UN’s main venue for the discussion of international economic and social issues, The Economic and
Social Council (ECOSOC) directs and coordinates the economic, social, humanitarian, and cultural activities of The UN and
its specialized agencies. Established by the UN Charter, ECOSOC is empowered to recommend international action on
economic and social issues; promote universal respect for human rights; and work for global cooperation on health,
education, and cultural and related areas. ECOSOC conducts studies; formulates resolutions, recommendations, and
conventions for consideration by The General Assembly; and coordinates the activities of various UN programs and
specialized agencies. Most of ECOSOC’s work is performed in functional commissions on topics such as human rights,
narcotics, population, social development, statistics, the status of women, and science and technology; the council also
oversees regional commissions for Europe, Asia and The Pacific, Western Asia, Latin America, and Africa.

Trusteeship Council
The Trusteeship Council was designed to supervise the government of trust territories and to lead them to self-
government or independence. The trusteeship system, like the mandate system under the League of Nations, was
established on the premise that colonial territories taken from countries defeated in war should not be annexed by the
victorious powers but should be administered by a trust country under international supervision until their future status
was determined. Unlike the mandate system, the trusteeship system invited petitions from trust territories on their
independence and required periodic international missions to the territories. In 1945 only 12 League of Nations mandates
remained: Nauru, New Guinea, Ruanda-Urundi, Togoland and Cameroon (French administered), Togoland and Cameroon
(British administered), The Pacific Islands (Carolines, Marshalls, and Marianas), Western Samoa, South West Africa,
Tanganyika, and Palestine. All these mandates became trust territories except South West Africa (now Namibia), which
South Africa refused to enter into the trusteeship system. The Trusteeship Council, which met once each year, consisted
of states administering trust territories, permanent members of The Security Council that did not administer trust
territories, and other UN members elected by The General Assembly. Each member had one vote, and decisions were
taken by a simple majority of those present. With the independence of Palau, the last remaining trust territory, in 1994,
the council terminated its operations. No longer required to meet annually, the council may meet on the decision of its
president or on a request by a majority of its members, by The General Assembly, or by The Security Council. Since 1994
new roles for the council have been proposed, including administering the global commons (e.g., the seabed and outer
space) and serving as a forum for minority and indigenous peoples.

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
125
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

International Court of Justice

The International Court of Justice, commonly known as The World Court, is the principal judicial organ of the United
Nations, though the court’s origins predate the League of Nations. The idea for the creation of an international court to
arbitrate international disputes arose during an international conference held at The Hague in 1899. This institution was
subsumed under the League of Nations in 1919 as The Permanent Court of International Justice (PCIJ) and adopted its
present name with the founding of The UN in 1945.

The court’s decisions are binding, and its broad jurisdiction encompasses “all cases which the parties refer to and all
matters specially provided for in The Charter of The United Nations or in treaties and conventions in force.” Most
importantly, states may not be parties to a dispute without their consent, though they may accept the compulsory
jurisdiction of the court in specified categories of disputes. The court may give advisory opinions at the request of The
General Assembly or The Security Council or at the request of other organs and specialized agencies authorized by The
General Assembly. Although the court has successfully arbitrated some cases (e.g., the border dispute between Honduras
and El Salvador in 1992), governments have been reluctant to submit sensitive issues, thereby limiting the court’s ability
to resolve threats to international peace and security. At times countries also have refused to acknowledge the
jurisdiction or the findings of the court. For example, when Nicaragua sued The United States in the court in 1984 for
mining its harbours, the court found in favour of Nicaragua, but The United States refused to accept the court’s decision.

The 15 judges of the court are elected by The General Assembly and The Security Council voting independently. No two
judges may be nationals of the same state, and the judges are to represent a cross section of the major legal systems of
the world. Judges serve nine-year terms and are eligible for reelection. The seat of the World Court is The Hague.

Secretariat
The secretary-general, the principal administrative officer of The United Nations, is elected for a five-year renewable term
by a two-thirds vote of the General Assembly and by the recommendation of The Security Council and the approval of its
permanent members. Secretaries-general usually have come from small, neutral countries. The secretary-general serves
as the chief administrative officer at all meetings and carries out any functions that those organs entrust to The
Secretariat; he also oversees the preparation of the UN’s budget. The secretary-general has important political functions,
being charged with bringing before the organization any matter that threatens international peace and security. Both the
chief spokesperson for the UN and the UN’s most visible and authoritative figure in world affairs, the secretary-general
often serves as a high-level negotiator. Attesting to the importance of the post, two secretaries-general have been
awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace: Dag Hammarskjöld in 1961 and Kofi Annan, corecipient with The UN, in 2001.

The Secretariat influences the work of the United Nations to a much greater degree than indicated in The UN Charter. It is
responsible for preparing numerous reports, studies, and investigations, in addition to the major tasks of translating,
interpreting, providing services for large numbers of meetings, and other work. Under the Charter the staff is to be
recruited mainly on the basis of merit, though there has been a conscious effort to recruit individuals from different
geographic regions. Some members of The Secretariat are engaged on permanent contracts, but others serve on
temporary assignment from their national governments. In both cases they must take an oath of loyalty to The United
Nations and are not permitted to receive instructions from member governments. The influence of the Secretariat can be
attributed to the fact that the some 9,000 people on its staff are permanent experts and international civil servants rather
than political appointees of member states.

The Secretariat is based in New York, Geneva, Vienna, Nairobi (Kenya), and other locales. It has been criticized
frequently for poor administrative practices—though it has made persistent efforts to increase the efficiency of its
operations—as well as for a lack of neutrality.

Subsidiary Organs
The United Nations network also includes subsidiary organs created by The General Assembly and autonomous specialized
agencies. The subsidiary organs report to the General Assembly or ECOSOC or both. Some of these organs are funded
directly by the UN; others are financed by the voluntary contributions of governments or private citizens. In addition,
ECOSOC has consultative relationships with NGOs operating in economic, social, cultural, educational, health, and related
fields. NGOs have played an increasingly important role in the work of the UN’s specialized agencies, especially in the
areas of health, peacekeeping, refugee issues, and human rights.

Specialized Agencies
The specialized agencies report annually to ECOSOC and often cooperate with each other and with various UN organs.
However, they also have their own principles, goals, and rules, which at times may conflict with those of other UN organs
and agencies. The specialized agencies are autonomous in so far as they control their own budgets and have their own
boards of directors, who appoint agency heads independently of the General Assembly or secretary-general. Major
specialized agencies and related organs of the UN include the International Labour Organization (ILO), The Food and

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
126
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

Agriculture Organization of The United Nations (FAO), The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO), and The World Health Organization (WHO). Two of the most powerful specialized agencies, which also are the
most independent with respect to UN decision making, are The World Bank and The International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The United Nations, along with its specialized agencies, is often referred to collectively as The United Nations system

Functions
Maintenance of international peace and security: The main function of The United Nations is to preserve international
peace and security. Chapter 6 of The Charter provides for the pacific settlement of disputes, through the intervention of
The Security Council, by means such as negotiation, mediation, arbitration, and judicial decisions. The Security Council
may investigate any dispute or situation to determine whether it is likely to endanger international peace and security. At
any stage of the dispute, the council may recommend appropriate procedures or methods of adjustment, and, if the
parties fail to settle the dispute by peaceful means, the council may recommend terms of settlement.

Peacekeeping, peacemaking, and peace building: International armed forces were first used in 1948 to observe cease-
fires in Kashmir and Palestine. Although not specifically mentioned in The UN Charter, the use of such forces as a buffer
between warring parties pending troop withdrawals and negotiations—a practice known as peacekeeping—was formalized
in 1956 during the Suez Crisis between Egypt, Israel, France, and The United Kingdom. Peacekeeping missions have
taken many forms, though they have in common the fact that they are designed to be peaceful, that they involve military
troops from several countries, and that the troops serve under the authority of The UN Security Council. In 1988 the UN
Peacekeeping Forces were awarded The Nobel Prize for Peace.

In the 1990s, second-generation peacekeeping missions were undertaken in Cambodia (1991–93), the former Yugoslavia
(1992–95), Somalia (1992–95), and elsewhere and included troops from the permanent members of the Security Council
as well as from the developed and developing world (e.g., Australia, Pakistan, Ghana, Nigeria, Fiji, India). In the former
Yugoslav province of Bosnia and Herzegovina, The Security Council created “safe areas” to protect the predominantly
Bosniac (Bosnian Muslim) population from Serbian attacks, and UN troops were authorized to defend the areas with force.
In each of these cases, The UN reacted to threats to peace and security within states, sometimes taking sides in domestic
disputes and thus jeopardizing its own neutrality. Between 1988 and 2000 more than 30 peacekeeping efforts were
authorized, and at their peak in 1993 more than 80,000 peacekeeping troops representing 77 countries were deployed on
missions throughout the world. In the first years of the 21st century, annual UN expenditures on peacekeeping operations
exceeded $2 billion.

Sanctions and Military Action: By subscribing to the Charter, all members undertake to place, at the disposal of the
Security Council, armed forces and facilities for military sanctions against aggressors or disturbers of the peace. During
the Cold War, however, no agreements to give this measure effect were concluded. Following the end of the Cold War,
the possibility of creating permanent UN forces was revived.

Arms Control and Disarmament: The UN’s founders hoped that the maintenance of international peace and security
would lead to the control and eventual reduction of weapons. Therefore the Charter empowers the General Assembly to
consider principles for arms control and disarmament and to make recommendations to member states and the Security
Council. The Charter also gives The Security Council the responsibility to formulate plans for arms control and
disarmament. Although the goal of arms control and disarmament has proved elusive, the UN has facilitated the
negotiation of several multilateral arms control treaties.

Economic Welfare and Cooperation: The General Assembly, ECOSOC, The Secretariat, and many of the subsidiary
organs and specialized agencies are responsible for promoting economic welfare and cooperation in areas such as postwar
reconstruction, technical assistance, and trade and development.
Economic Reconstruction: The devastation of large areas of the world and the disruption of economic relations during
World War II resulted in the establishment (before the UN was founded) of The United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation
Administration (UNRRA) in 1943. The UNRRA was succeeded by The International Refugee Organization, which operated
from 1947 to 1951. To assist in dealing with regional problems, in 1947 ECOSOC established The Economic Commission
for Europe and The Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East. Similar commissions were established for Latin
America in 1948 and for Africa in 1958. The major work of economic reconstruction, however, was delegated to the
International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank), one of the major financial institutions created in
1944 at The UN Monetary and Financial Conference (commonly known as the Bretton Woods Conference). Although the
World Bank is formally autonomous from The UN, it reports to ECOSOC as one of the UN’s specialized agencies. The
World Bank works closely with donor countries, UN programs, and other specialized agencies.

Financing Economic Development: The World Bank is also primarily responsible for financing economic development.
In 1956 The International Finance Corporation was created as an arm of The World Bank specifically to stimulate private
investment flows. The corporation has the authority to make direct loans to private enterprises without government

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
127
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

guarantees and is allowed to make loans for other than fixed returns. In 1960 The International Development Association
(IDA) was established to make loans to less-developed countries on terms that were more flexible than bank loans. The
UN itself has played a more limited role in financing economic development. The General Assembly provides direction and
supervision for economic activities, and ECOSOC coordinates different agencies and programs. UN development efforts
have consisted of two primary activities. First, several regional commissions (for Europe, Asia and the Pacific, Latin
America, and Africa) promote regional approaches to development and undertake studies and development initiatives for
regional economic projects. Second, UN-sponsored technical assistance programs, funded from 1965 through The United
Nations Development Programme (UNDP), provide systematic assistance in fields essential to technical, economic, and
social development of less-developed countries. Resident representatives of The UNDP in recipient countries assess local
needs and priorities and administer UN development programs.

Trade and Development: After the massive decolonization of the 1950s and early 1960s, less-developed countries
became much more numerous, organized, and powerful in The General Assembly, and they began to create organs to
address the problems of development and diversification in developing economies. Because the international trading
system and The General Agreements on Tariffs and Trade dealt primarily with the promotion of trade between advanced
industrialized countries, in 1964 The General Assembly established The United Nations Conference on Trade and
Development (UNCTAD) to address issues of concern to developing countries. Toward that end, UNCTAD and the Group of
77 less-developed countries that promoted its establishment tried to codify principles of international trade and arrange
agreements to stabilize commodity prices.

Social Welfare and Cooperation: The United Nations is concerned with issues of human rights, including the rights of
women and children, refugee resettlement, and narcotics control. Some of its greatest successes have been in the area of
improving the health and welfare of the world’s population. In the 1990s, despite severe strains on the resources of UN
development programs and agencies resulting from massive refugee movements and humanitarian crises, The UN
increased its emphasis on social development.

UNESCO
HQ: Paris, France
Head: Audrey Azoulay
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), is a specialized agency of the United
Nations (UN).
Its purpose is to contribute to peace and security by promoting international collaboration through education, science,
and culture in order to further universal respect for justice, the rule of law, and human rights along with
fundamental freedom proclaimed in the United Nations Charter. It is the heir of the League of Nations' International
Committee on Intellectual Cooperation.
UNESCO has 195 member states and nine associate members.
UNESCO pursues its objectives through five major programs: education, natural sciences, social/human sciences,culture,
and communication/information.
Projects sponsored by UNESCO include literacy, technical, and teacher-training programmes; international science
programmes; the promotion of independent media and freedom of the press; regional and cultural history projects; the
promotion of cultural diversity; translations of world literature; international cooperation agreements to secure the
world’s cultural and natural heritage (World Heritage Sites) and to preserve human rights, and attempts to bridge
the worldwide digital divide. It is also a member of the United Nations Development Group.
UNESCO's aim is "to contribute to the building of peace, the eradication of poverty, sustainable development and
intercultural dialogue through education, the sciences, culture, communication and information".
Other priorities of the organization include attaining quality education for all and lifelong learning, addressing emerging
social and ethical challenges, fostering cultural diversity, a culture of peace and building inclusive knowledge societies
through information and communication.
The broad goals and concrete objectives of the international community —
Mobilizing for education: so that every child, boy or girl, has access to quality education as a fundamental human right
and as a prerequisite for human development.
Building intercultural understanding: through protection of heritage and support for cultural diversity. UNESCO
created the idea of World Heritage to protect sites of outstanding universal value.
Pursuing scientific cooperation: such as early warning systems for tsunamis or trans-boundary water management
agreements, to strengthen ties between nations and societies.
Protecting freedom of expression: an essential condition for democracy, development and human dignity

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
128
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

UNICEF
HQ: New York
Head: Henrietta H. Fore
The United Nations Children's Fund is a United Nations Program headquartered in New York City that provides long-
term humanitarian and developmental assistance to children and mothers indeveloping countries. It is one of the
members of the United Nations Development Group and its Executive Committee.
UNICEF was created by the United Nations General Assembly on December 11, 1946, to provide emergency food and
healthcare to children in countries that had been devastated by World War II. Ludwik Rajchman, a Polish bacteriologist,
is regarded as the founder of UNICEF and was its first chairman from 1946 to 1950. In 1953, UNICEF became a
permanent part of the United Nations System and its name was shortened from the original United Nations International
Children's Emergency Fund but it has continued to be known by the popular acronym based on this previous title.
UNICEF relies on contributions from governments and private donors and UNICEF's total income for 2008 was
$3,372,540,239. Governments contribute two thirds of the organization's resources; private groups and some 6 million
individuals contribute the rest through the National Committees. It is estimated that 91.8% of their revenue is distributed
to Program Services. UNICEF's programs emphasize developing community-level services to promote the health and well-
being of children. UNICEF was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1965 and the Prince of Asturias Award of Concord in
2006.
Most of UNICEF's work is in the field, with staff in over 190 countries and territories. More than 200 country offices carry
out UNICEF's mission through a program developed with host governments. Seventeen regional offices provide technical
assistance to country offices as needed.
Overall management and administration of the organization takes place at its headquarters in New York. UNICEF's Supply
Division is based in Copenhagen and serves as the primary point of distribution for such essential items
as vaccines, antiretroviral medicines for children and mothers with HIV, nutritional supplements,emergency shelters,
educational supplies, among others. A 36-member Executive Board establishes policies, approves programs and oversees
administrative and financial plans. The Executive Board is made up of government representatives who are elected by
the United Nations Economic and Social Council, usually for three-year terms.

Promotion and Fund Raising

• Many people in developed countries first hear about UNICEF's work through the activities of 36 National Committees
for UNICEF. These non-governmental organizations (NGO) are primarily responsible for fundraising, selling UNICEF
greeting cards and products, creating private and public partnerships, advocating for children’s rights, and providing
other support. The U.S. Fund for UNICEF is the oldest of the National Committees, founded in 1947.
• On 7 September 2006, an agreement between UNICEF and the Spanish Catalan association football club FC
Barcelona was reached whereby the club would donate 1.5 million euros per year to the organization for five years.
As part of the agreement, FC Barcelona will wear the UNICEF logo on the front of their shirts. This was the first time
a football club sponsored an organization rather than the other way around. It was also the first time in FC
Barcelona's history that they have had another organization's name across the front of their shirts. Following this
many football clubs got affiliated with UNICEF.

SAARC
HQ: Kathmandu, Nepal
Members: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepla, Pakistan, Sri Lanka
The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is an economic and geopolitical organisation of
eight countries that are primarily located in South Asia. The SAARC Secretariat is based in Kathmandu, Nepal. The
combined economy of SAARC is the 3rd largest in the world in the terms of GDP(PPP) after the United States and China
and 8th largest in the terms of nominal GDP. SAARC nations comprise 3% of the world's area and in contrast have 21%
(around 1.7 billion) of the world's total population. India makes up over 70% of the area and population among these
eight nations. All non-Indian member states except Afghanistan share borders with India but only two other members,
Pakistan and Afghanistan, have a border with each other. During 2005-10, the average GDP growth rate of SAARC stood
at an impressive 8.8% p.a. But it slowed to 6.5% in 2011 largely because of slowdown in India which accounts for nearly
80% of SAARC's economy.
The SAARC policies aim to promote welfare economics, collective self-reliance among the countries of South Asia, and to
accelerate socio-cultural development in the region. The SAARC has developed external relations by establishing
permanent diplomatic relations with the EU, the UN (as an observer), and other multilateral entities. The official meetings
of the leaders of each nation are held annually whilst the foreign ministers meet twice annually. The 18th SAARC Summit
was held in Kathmandu from 26-27 November 2014. 19th SAARC summit will happen in Islamabad, Pakistan in 2016.

SAFTA
SAFTA was envisaged primarily as the first step towards the transition to a South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) leading
subsequently towards a Customs Union, Common Market and Economic Union. The SAFTA Agreement was signed on 6
January 2004 during Twelfth SAARC Summit held in Islamabad, Pakistan. The Agreement entered into force on 1 January
2006, and the Trade Liberalisation Programme commenced from 1 July 2006. Under this
CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
129
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

agreement, SAARC members will bring their duties down to 20 per cent by 2009. Following the Agreement coming into
force the SAFTA Ministerial Council (SMC) has been established comprising the Commerce Ministers of the Member
States. In 2012 the SAARC exports increased substantially to US$ 354.6 billion from US$ 206.7 billion in 2009. Imports
too increased from US$ 330 billion to US$ 602 billion over the same period, but the intra-SAARC trade amounts to just a
little over 1% of SAARC's GDP. In contrast, in ASEAN (which is actually smaller than SAARC in terms of size of economy)
the intra-bloc trade stands at 10% of its GDP.

SAARC Visa Exemption Scheme

The SAARC Visa Exemption Scheme was launched in 1992. The leaders at the Fourth Summit (Islamabad, 29–31
December 1988), while realising the importance of having people to people contacts among the peoples of SAARC
countries, decided that certain categories of dignitaries should be entitled to a Special Travel document, which would
exempt them from visas within the region. Currently the list included 24 categories of entitled persons, which include
Dignitaries, Judges of higher courts, Parliamentarians, Senior Officials, Businessmen, Journalists, Sportsmen etc. The Visa
Stickers are issued by the respective Member States to the entitled categories of that particular country.

BRICS
HQ: Brizal, Russia, India, China, South Africa
BRICS is the acronym for an association of five major emerging national economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China, and
South Africa. The grouping was originally known as "BRIC" before the inclusion of South Africa in 2010. The BRICS
members are all developing or newly industrialised countries, but they are distinguished by their large, fast-growing
economies and significant influence on regional and global affairs; all five are G-20 members. As of 2014, the five BRICS
countries represent almost 3 billion people which is 40% of the world population, with a combined nominal GDP of
US$16.039 trillion (20% world GDP) and an estimated US$4 trillion in combined foreign reserves. As of 2014, the BRICS
nations represented 18 percent of the world economy.

The term, "BRICS", was coined by then chairman of Goldman Sachs asset management, Jim O'Neill
The 6th BRICS summit was the sixth annual diplomatic meeting of the BRICS, a grouping of major emerging economies
that includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. It was hosted by Brazil, as the first host country of the current
five-year summit cycle; the host city was Fortaleza. Argentine President Cristina Kirchner was a special guest of the
summit. The 6th BRICS summit resulted in the official inauguration of the New Development Bank. The 7th BRICS summit
was held in Russian city of Ufa in Bashkortostan on 8–9 July 2015.

NDB
The New Development Bank (NDB), formerly referred to as the BRICS Development Bank, is a multilateral development
bank operated by the BRICS states (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) as an alternative to the existing US-
dominated World Bank and International Monetary Fund. The Bank is set up to foster greater financial and development
cooperation among the five emerging markets.
It will be headquartered in Shanghai, China. Unlike the World Bank, which assigns votes based on capital share, in the
New Development Bank each participant country will be assigned one vote, and no countries will have veto power.

Development capital
The bank's primary focus of lending will be infrastructure projects with authorized lending of up to $34 billion annually.
The bank will have starting capital of $50 billion, with capital increased to $100 billion over time. Brazil, Russia, India,
China and South Africa will initially contribute $10 billion each to bring the total to $50 billion. Each member cannot
increase its share of capital without all other 4 members agreeing. This was a primary requirement of India. The bank will
allow new members to join but the BRICS capital share cannot fall below 55%.

Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA)

The CRA is a framework for the provision of support through liquidity and precautionary instruments in response to actual
or potential short-term balance of payments pressures. The objective of this reserve is to provide protection against
global liquidity pressures. This includes currency issues where members' national currencies are being adversely affected
by global financial pressures. The Bank would also provide assistance to other countries suffering from the economic
volatility in the wake of the United States' exit from its expansionary monetary policy.
This fund will consist of $10 billion of "paid-in capital" ($2 billion from each member to be provided over seven years) and
an additional $40 billion to be "paid upon request". Out of the total initial capital of $100 billion, China will contribute $41
billion, Brazil, Russia and India would give $18 billion each, and South Africa would contribute $5 billion. It is scheduled to
start lending in 2016.

G20
Members: Australia, Canada, Mexico, Italy, Russia, Brazil, India, Japan, Argentina, Indonesia, Turkey, France, Saudi
Arabia, UK, China, South Africa, South Korea, EU.

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
130
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

The G-20, which was founded in 1999, is the latest in a series of initiatives aimed at international coordination of
economic policy, which have been prominent since the efforts during World War II to create some form of international or
global economic governance, including the "Bretton Woods twins", the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank,
and what is now the World Trade Organization. Collectively, the G-20 economies account for around 85% of the gross
world product (GWP), 80% of world trade (or, if excluding EU intra-trade, 75%), and two-thirds of the world population.
The 2015 G-20 Antalya summit is the tenth annual meeting of the G-20 heads of government. It is held in Antalya,
Turkey, a southwestern city, which is the most visited destination in Turkey and the tenth in the world, on 15-16
November 2015. The venue for the Leaders Summit is Regnum Carya Hotel Convention Centre. Turkey officially took over
the presidency of the G-20 from Australia on 1 December 2014, and China will preside over the organization in 2016.

The 2014 Australia G-20 Summit

The 2014 G-20 Australia summit was the ninth meeting of the G-20 heads of government.It was held in Brisbane, the
capital city of Queensland, Australia, on 15–16 November 2014.
Following the summit, the G-20 leaders released a joint communique summarising the points of agreement between
them. This focused on economic concerns, highlighting plans to increase global economic growth, create jobs, increase
trade and reduce poverty. The communique sets out a goal of increasing economic growth by an extra 2% through
commitments made at the summit, and of increasing infrastructure investment through the creation of a four-year
infrastructure hub, linking government, private sector, development banks and interested international organisations.
The communique also addressed the stability of global systems, mentioning measures to reduce risk in financial systems,
improve the stability of banks, make international taxation arrangements fairer, reduce corruption and strengthen global
institutions. Although the communique largely focused on economic concerns, other topics such as energy supply, climate
change and the Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa were also discussed.

ASEAN
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations= is a political and economic organisation of ten countries located in Southeast
Asia, which was formed on 8 August 1967 by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Since then,
membership has expanded to include Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar (Burma) and Vietnam. Its aims include
accelerating economic growth, social progress, socio-cultural evolution among its members, protection of regional peace
and stability, and opportunities for member countries to discuss differences peacefully.
AFTA
In 1992, the Common Effective Preferential Tariff (CEPT) scheme was signed as a schedule for phasing tariffs and as a
goal to increase the region’s competitive advantage as a production base geared for the world market. This law would act
as the framework for the ASEAN Free Trade Area. The AFTA is an agreement by the member nations of ASEAN concerning
local manufacturing in all ASEAN countries. The AFTA agreement was signed on 28 January 1992 in Singapore.
India became the part of ASEAN after the East Asia Summit, along with Australia, New Zeland, US, Russia.
ASEAN has concluded free trade agreements with China (expecting bilateral trade of $500 billion by 2015), Korea, Japan,
Australia, New Zealand, and India. ASEAN-India bilateral trade crossed the $70 billion target in 2012 (target was to reach
the level only by 2015).

Single Aviation Market

The ASEAN Single Aviation Market (ASEAN-SAM), is the region's major aviation policy geared towards the development of
a unified and single aviation market in Southeast Asia by 2015. The aviation policy was proposed by the ASEAN Air
Transport Working Group, supported by the ASEAN Senior Transport Officials Meeting, and endorsed by the ASEAN
Transport Ministers. The ASEAN-SAM is expected to fully liberalise air travel between member states in the ASEAN region,
allowing ASEAN countries and airlines operating in the region to directly benefit from the growth in air travel around the
world, and also freeing up tourism, trade, investment and services flows between member states. Since 1 December
2008, restrictions on the third and fourth freedoms of the air between capital cities of member states for air passengers
services have been removed, while from 1 January 2009, full liberalisation of air freight services in the region took effect.
On 1 January 2011, full liberalisation on fifth freedom traffic rights between all capital cities took effect.

World Trade Organization (WTO)

World Trade Organization (WTO) is an international organization established to supervise and liberalize world trade. The
WTO is the successor to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which was created in 1947 in the
expectation that it would soon be replaced by a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) to be called the
International Trade Organization (ITO). Although the ITO never materialized, the GATT proved remarkably successful in
liberalizing world trade over the next five decades. By the late 1980s there were calls for a stronger multilateral
organization to monitor trade and resolve trade disputes. Following the completion of the Uruguay Round (1986–94) of
multilateral trade negotiations, the WTO began operations on 1st January, 1995.

Origins
The ITO was initially envisaged, along with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, as one of the key

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
131
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

pillars of post-World War II reconstruction and economic development. In Havana in 1948, the UN Conference on Trade
and Employment concluded a draft charter for the ITO, known as the Havana Charter, which would have created
extensive rules governing trade, investment, services, and business and employment practices. However, the United
States failed to ratify the agreement. Meanwhile, an agreement to phase out the use of import quotas and to reduce
tariffs on merchandise trade, negotiated by 23 countries in Geneva in 1947, came into force as the GATT on 1st January,
1948.

Although the GATT was expected to be provisional, it was the only major agreement governing international trade until
the creation of the WTO. The GATT system evolved over 47 years to become a de facto global trade organization that
eventually involved approximately 130 countries. Through various negotiating rounds, the GATT was extended or
modified by numerous supplementary codes and arrangements, interpretations, waivers, reports by dispute-settlement
panels, and decisions of its council.

During negotiations ending in 1994, the original GATT and all changes to it introduced prior to the Uruguay Round were
renamed GATT 1947. This set of agreements was distinguished from GATT 1994, which comprises the modifications and
clarifications negotiated during The Uruguay Round (referred to as “Understandings”) plus a dozen other multilateral
agreements on merchandise trade. GATT 1994 became an integral part of the agreement that established the WTO. Other
core components include the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), which attempted to supervise and
liberalize trade; the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), which sought to improve
protection of intellectual property across borders; the understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the Settlement
of Disputes, which established rules for resolving conflicts between members; the Trade Policy Review Mechanism, which
documented national trade policies and assessed their conformity with WTO rules; and four plurilateral agreements,
signed by only a subset of the WTO membership, on civil aircraft, government procurement, dairy products, and bovine
meat (though the latter two were terminated at the end of 1997 with the creation of related WTO committees). These
agreements were signed in Marrakech, Morocco, in April 1994, and, following their ratification, the contracting parties to
the GATT treaty became charter members of the WTO. By the early 21st century the WTO had more than 140 members.

Objectives and Operation

The WTO has six key objectives: (1) to set and enforce rules for international trade, (2) to provide a forum for negotiating
and monitoring further trade liberalization, (3) to resolve trade disputes, (4) to increase the transparency of decision-
making processes, (5) to cooperate with other major international economic institutions involved in global economic
management, and (6) to help developing countries benefit fully from the global trading system. Although shared by the
GATT, in practice these goals have been pursued more comprehensively by the WTO. For example, whereas the GATT
focused almost exclusively on goods—though much of agriculture and textiles were excluded—the WTO encompasses all
goods, services, and intellectual property, as well as some investment policies. In addition, the permanent WTO
Secretariat, which replaced the interim GATT Secretariat, has strengthened and formalized mechanisms for reviewing
trade policies and settling disputes. Because many more products are covered under the WTO than under the GATT and
because the number of member countries and the extent of their participation has grown steadily—the combined share of
international trade of WTO members now exceeds 90 percent of the global total—open access to markets has increased
substantially.

The rules embodied in both The GATT and The WTO serve at least three purposes. First, they attempt to protect the
interests of small and weak countries against discriminatory trade practices of large and powerful countries. The WTO’s
most-favored-nation and national-treatment articles stipulate that each WTO member must grant equal market access to
all other members and that both domestic and foreign supplier must be treated equally. Second, the rules require
members to limit trade only through tariffs and to provide market access not less favourable than that specified in their
schedules (i.e., the commitments that they agreed to when they were granted WTO membership or subsequently). Third,
the rules are designed to help governments resist lobbying efforts by domestic interest groups seeking special favours.
Although some exceptions to the rules have been made, their presence and replication in the core WTO agreements were
intended to ensure that the worst excesses would be avoided. By thus bringing greater certainty and predictability to
international markets, it was thought, the WTO would enhance economic welfare and reduce political tensions.

Resolution of Trade Disputes

The GATT provided an avenue for resolving trade disputes, a role that was strengthened substantially under the WTO.
Members are committed not to take unilateral action against other members. Instead, they are expected to seek recourse
through the WTO’s dispute-settlement system and to abide by its rules and findings. The procedures for dispute resolution
under the GATT have been automated and greatly streamlined, and the timetable has been tightened.

Dispute resolution begins with bilateral consultations through the mediation, or “good offices,” of the director-general. If
this fails, an independent panel is created to hear the dispute. The panel submits a private draft report to the parties for
comment, after which it may revise the report before releasing it to the full WTO membership. Unlike the IMF and the
World Bank, both of which use weighted voting, each WTO member has only one vote. As in the earlier GATT system,
CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
132
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

however, most decisions are made by consensus. Unless one or both of the parties files a notice of appeal or the WTO
members reject the report, it is automatically adopted and legally binding after 60 days. The process is supposed to be
completed within nine months, and, if an appeal is lodged, The WTO Appellate Body hears and rules on any claim of legal
error within 60 days. Appellate rulings are automatically adopted unless a consensus exists among members against
doing so.

Trade-Policy Reviews
The WTO also seeks to increase awareness of the extent and effects of trade-distorting policies, a goal that it
accomplishes through annual notification requirements and through a policy-review mechanism. Notices of all changes in
members’ trade and trade-related policies must be published and made accessible to their trading partners. For many
developing countries and countries whose economies were formerly centrally planned, this requirement was a major step
toward more transparent governance. The WTO reviews the trade policies of the world’s four largest traders (The
European Union, The United States, Japan, and Canada) once every two years, the policies of the 16 next largest traders
once every four years, and the policies of all other traders once every six or more years. After extensive consultations
with the member country under review, The WTO Secretariat publishes its review together with a companion report by
the country’s government. The process thus monitors the extent to which members are meeting their commitments and
provides information on newly opened markets. It also provides a firmer basis for subsequent trade negotiations and the
resolution of trade disputes.

Eurozone
The euro area (also known as the euro zone) consists of those European Union countries which have adopted the euro as
their currency. It currently has 18 member states. The euro zone is one of the largest economic regions in the world and
its currency, the euro, is considered one of the most liquid when compared to others.

Sharing a single currency means that euro area countries must coordinate their economic and fiscal policies closely –
much more so than other EU countries. Euro area finance ministers meet every month in the Euro group, where they
coordinate those policies, take the necessary steps to promote financial stability in the euro area and discuss all issues of
common concern for the management of the single currency area.

Leaders of euro area member states meet at Euro Summits to outline the strategic direction of their economic and fiscal
policies. All EU member states coordinate their economic and fiscal policies in the Council. They also adopt EU-wide
measures to preserve economic stability and boost growth and jobs, in particular through deepening of the single market.
Monetary policy decisions are taken by the independent European Central Bank.

The euro is also used as an official or a de facto currency by a number of countries and regions outside the European
Union.

European Debt Crisis

The European debt crisis refers to Europe’s inability to pay the debts it built up in recent decades. The European debt
crisis grew out of the U.S. financial crisis of 2008-2009. A slowing global economy exposed the unsustainable financial
policies of certain euro zone countries.

The euro zone, made up of 18 European countries that use the euro, including France, Germany, Spain, and Ireland.
Several countries in the euro zone have borrowed and spent too much since the global recession began, causing them to
lose control of their finances.

The European debt crisis can be traced back to October 2009, when Greece’s new government admitted the budget deficit
would be double the previous government’s estimate, hitting 12% GDP. After years of uncontrolled spending and
nonexistent fiscal reforms, Greece was one of the first countries to buckle under the economic strain.
Over the past few years a number of countries in the euro zone – Greece in May 2010 and February 2012, Ireland in
November 2010, Portugal in May 2011, Spain in July 2012 for its banks and Cyprus in May 2013 – have been forced into
taking emergency loans from other euro zone and EU governments and the IMF. These countries’ governments asked for
these loans when they became unable to fund their budget deficits at sustainable interest rates on the financial markets
and faced the prospect of defaulting on their debt.

In return for the loans, these countries signed up to implement economic reforms and public sector austerity intended to
reduce their budget deficits and make their economies more competitive. So, inability to borrow money on the markets to
fund deficits was the short-term factor behind the crisis, but what were the underlying reasons behind it were numerous.

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
133
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

Causes of the crisis

One-size-fits-all monetary policy
The single currency began in 1999 with 11 member countries (there are now 18). As a result, euro members gave control
of monetary policy to the European Central Bank (ECB) which sets interest rates for the whole of the eurozone. Some
large countries, notably Germany, had weak growth and this led to the ECB setting a relatively low interest rate.
However, this rate was too low for some booming economies like Ireland and Spain and helped create large housing
market bubbles there.
Also, by giving up an independent monetary policy and currency, countries with high debt burdens were not able to use
certain measures to respond to the crisis that countries outside the euro (like the UK) could use. These include allowing
higher inflation (to reduce the debt burden), directly/indirectly depreciating your currency (to promote exports) and
buying up your own debt to avoid default (like in quantitative easing programmes).

Misplaced confidence and assessment of risks

Borrowing costs for all euro zone governments converged upon the euro’s creation, meaning countries, like Greece, that
previously had to offer a higher interest rate than, say, Germany to attract investment were now able to borrow more
cheaply. Likewise, private sector borrowing costs in these countries also fell to German levels. This fuelled a buildup of
government debt in Greece and Portugal, as well as private sector debt in Portugal, Ireland and Spain. The implication
was that financial markets perceived every country in the euro zone to have virtually the same risk of defaulting on their
loans (perhaps assuming all euro zone countries ‘were in it together’). Once the global financial crisis began in 2008,
investors thought again. Countries with high debt burdens and weak economies, such as Greece, soon saw their
borrowing costs rise.

Economic divergence and trade imbalances

As mentioned above, different economies in the euro zone were growing at different speeds in the 2000s. Many of the
countries that ultimately needed bailouts also saw their economy’s productivity levels and competitiveness decline (due to
higher labour costs) relative to the eurozone average (especially Germany) during this period. So, countries like Greece,
Ireland and Spain, that were growing strongly and buying lots of imports, were also becoming less competitive
internationally. The result was that a large trade deficit had to be funded by high levels of public and private borrowing
(which had become cheaper).
Once the financial crisis hit and borrowing costs started rising for these countries, confidence in their ability to repay this
debt was called into question, making financing it more difficult and expensive. The single currency also meant that the
easy way to regain competitiveness (at least in the short-term) of devaluing your currency was not an option for these
countries. Meanwhile, Germany had accumulated large trade surpluses during this time, partly as a result of lowering its
labour costs (through restraint in wage growth).

Response to the crisis

When the euro was created, no mechanism was set up to deal with debt crises such as those seen since 2010. As a
result, emergency rescue plans had to be drawn up and agreed on the hoof. The long drawn-out affairs that became
synonymous with these bailouts were viewed unfavourably by many. It also created the impression that the larger euro
zone countries that were providing the bulk of the loans were split as to how best to resolve the crisis. This lack of
decisive action weakened confidence in international markets, prolonging the crisis.

Country-specific factors
The reasons leading up to the crisis were different for each country. Some of these factors are summarised very briefly
below:
• Greece (loans totaling €240bn) – high public sector debt, generous public sector benefits, chronic tax evasion and
weak competitiveness.
• Ireland (loans totaling €85 billion, including €17.5 billion from Irish Treasury and National Pension Reserve Fund) –
declining competitiveness and property bubble funded by banks which went bust and were taken over and
underwritten by the state, causing government debt crisis.
• Portugal (loans totaling €78bn) – moderately high private and public sector debt, weak competitiveness, and anemic
growth.
• Spain (loans totaling €41bn) – an ailing banking sector had lent heavily to construction sector before the housing
bubble burst.
• Cyprus (loans totaling €10bn) – collapse of the banking sector (massive relative to size of economy), partly due to
links to Greece.

The majority of the loans provided to the countries were funded by other eurozone countries, with the IMF also
contributing.

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
134
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

Current Condition of the Euro Crisis

The European Central Bank’s move a year ago, when they announced that they stand ready to buy government bonds of
countries under pressure proved those who thought the ECB was not a “true” central bank wrong, and risk spreads on
the sovereign bonds of high-debt countries have been much lower since.

Recently, there has been some good news from the growth front as well: GDP growth in Q2 returned into positive
territory for the Euro zone as a whole, with stronger than expected results in Germany, France, and even Portugal. Spain
and Italy are still in recession, but even there, the worst of the downturn seems to be over.

Bottomline: The risk that the Euro zone might break up has been taken off the table, and it seems unlikely to come
back. The ECB and governments have shown that they are fully committed to keeping the area together. But there is a lot
more work to be done to improve the flexibility and competitiveness of many European economies—otherwise both
growth and employment will remain disappointingly weak in a number of countries (and this in turn will make it harder to
reduce debt levels further).

International Monetary Fund (IMF)

The IMF was established on December 27, 1945 in Washington on the recommendations of Bretton Woods Conference.
But it started working on March 1, 1947. The fund has 185 member countries accounting for more than 80 per cent of
total world production and 90 per cent of world trade.
The purpose of the Fund is to promote international monetary cooperation, to facilitate the expansion and balanced
growth of international trade, to promote exchange stability and to prevent unnecessary exchange depreciations, to
remove all exchange controls and restrictions and to establish multi-convertibility of all currencies and lastly to help
member countries with funds to correct maladjustments in their balance of payments.
India is a founder member of the fund. India’s original subscription quota was SDR (Special Drawing Rights) 400 million.
The initial par value of rupee was Rs 3.30 per US dollar but, subsequently, the rupee was devalued a number of times till
it stood at Rs 8.25 in 1978. At present, the external value of the rupee is not fixed but allowed to fluctuate according to
market condition of demand and supply.

International Labour Organization (ILO)

It came into existence on April 11, 1919 and was associated with the League of Nations. Now it is working in co-operation
with U.N.O. as its specialized agency. All members of the U.N.O. automatically become the members of the I.L.O.
Besides, the I.L.O. can admit certain nations of its own accord. It has its own Charter, which was renewed and modified in
1954.

Organization:

It consists of three main organs:

1. The International Labour Conference:

It consists of the representatives of all the member states of U.N.O. Every member state sends four delegates to attend
the conference.
Two delegates represent the government and the other two represent the employers and the workers. The Conference
discusses various labour problems of the world and takes certain decisions. These decisions are known as conventions-
The government of the member states may or may not ratify such conventions.
The Conference meets at least once a year. The Conference frames the policy of the Organization in the form of
conventions.

The Governing Body:

It consists of 32 members, representing the government and 8 each representing the employers and the workers. The
governing body carries out the policy framed by the conference.
The International Labour Office:
It is the secretariat of the I.L.O. Its head quarters are at Geneva. The Office collects and supplies information regarding
labour conditions all over the world. It prepares agenda for every Conference and publishes regular bulletins and periodi-
cals regarding the condition of workers all over the world.

Functions:
The I.L.O. seeks to promote social justice by improving the conditions of the workers all over the world. It further affirms
that labour is not a commodity; freedom of expression and of association are essential to human progress; poverty
anywhere constitutes a danger to prosperity everywhere; and that war against want should be carried on everywhere.
For the achievement of these purposes I.L.O. is concerned with
(1) regulation of hours of work, (2) the prevention of unemployment, (3) provision of adequate living wages,

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
135
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

(4) protection of workers against sickness, diseases, injury arising out of their employment, (5) the protection of children
and women, (6) provision for old age and injury,(7) organization of technical and vocational education,(8) provision for
child welfare and maternity protection, (9) housing and other facilities for workers.

World Health Organization (WHO)

It is a specialized agency of the United Nations that is concerned with international public health. It was established on 7
April 1948, and is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. The WHO is a member of the United Nations Development
Group. Its predecessor, the Health Organization, was an agency of the League of Nations.
The WHO is responsible for the World Health Report, the worldwide World Health Survey, and World Health Day. The
current Director-General of WHO is Tedros Adhanom, who started his five-year term on 1 July 2017.
The WHO's Constitution states that its objective "is the attainment by all people of the highest possible level of health".
The WHO fulfills this objective through its functions as defined in its Constitution:
(a) To act as the directing and coordinating authority on international health work;
(b) To establish and maintain effective collaboration with the United Nations, specialized agencies, governmental health
administrations, professional groups and such other organizations as may be deemed appropriate;
(c) To assist Governments, upon request, in strengthening health services;
(d) To furnish appropriate technical assistance and, in emergencies, necessary aid upon the request or acceptance of
Governments;
(e) To provide or assist in providing, upon the request of the United Nations, health services and facilities to special
groups, such as the peoples of trust territories;
(f) To establish and maintain such administrative and technical services as may be required, including epidemiological
and statistical services;
(g) to stimulate and advance work to eradicate epidemic, endemic and other diseases; (h) To promote, in co-operation
with other specialized agencies where necessary, the prevention of accidental injuries;
(h) To promote, in co-operation with other specialized agencies where necessary, the improvement of nutrition, housing,
sanitation, recreation, economic or working conditions and other aspects of environmental hygiene;
(i) To promote co-operation among scientific and professional groups which contribute to the advancement of health;
(j) To propose conventions, agreements and regulations, and make recommendations with respect to international
health matters and to perform.

Major World Events

Cold War
The Cold War was a decade-long struggle for global supremacy that pitted the capitalist United States against the
communist Soviet Union. Although there are some disagreements as to when the Cold War began, it is generally
conceded that mid to late 1945 marks the time when relations between Moscow and Washington began deteriorating.
This deterioration ignited the early Cold War and set the stage for a dynamic struggle that often assumed mythological
overtones of good versus evil.

At the close of World War II, the Soviet Union stood firmly entrenched in Eastern Europe, intent upon installing
governments there that would pay allegiance to the Kremlin. It also sought to expand its security zone even further into
North Korea, Central Asia, and the Middle East. Similarly, the United States established a security zone of its own that
comprised Western Europe, Latin America, Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan. A clash of very different
beliefs and ideology - capitalism versus communism - each held with almost religious conviction, formed the basis of an
international power struggle with both sides vying for dominance, exploiting every opportunity for expansion anywhere in
the world. From the long view of history, it is clear that both sides were jockeying for a way to secure their futures from
the threat of another world war, but it was the threat that each side perceived from the other that allowed for the
development of mutual suspicion. It was this mutual suspicion, augmented by profound distrust and misunderstanding
that ultimately fueled the entire conflict.

Interestingly, for the first few years of the early Cold War (between 1945 and 1948), the conflict was more political than
military. Both sides squabbled with each other at the UN, sought closer relations with nations that were not committed to
either side, and articulated their differing visions of a post war world. By 1950, however, certain factors had made the
Cold War an increasingly militarized struggle. The communist takeover in China, the pronouncement of the Truman
Doctrine, the advent of a Soviet nuclear weapon, tensions over occupied Germany, the outbreak of the Korean War, and
the formulation of the Warsaw Pact and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization as rival alliances had all enhanced the Cold
War's military dimension. U.S. foreign policy reflected this transition when it adopted a position that sought to "contain"
the Soviet Union from further expansion. By and large, through a variety of incarnations, the containment policy
remained the central strategic vision of U.S. foreign policy from 1952 until the ultimate demise of the Soviet Union in
1991.

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
136
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

Successive American presidents and successive Soviet premiers tried to manage the Cold War in different ways, and the
history of their interactions reveals the delicate balance-of-power that needed to be maintained between both
superpowers. Dwight Eisenhower campaigned as a hard-line Cold Warrior and spoke of "rolling back" the Soviet empire,
but when given a chance to dislodge Hungary from the Soviet sphere-of-influence in 1956, he declined. The death of
Stalin in 1953 prefaced a brief thaw in East-West relations, but Nikita Kruschev also found it more politically expedient to
take a hard line with the United States than to speak of cooperation.

By 1960, both sides had invested huge amounts of money in nuclear weapons, not only as an attempt to maintain parity
with each other's stockpiles, but also because the idea of deterring conflict through "mutually assured destruction" had
come to be regarded as vital to the national interest of both. As nuclear weapons became more prolific, both nations
sought to position missile systems in ever closer proximity to each other's borders. One such attempt by the Soviet
government in 1962 precipitated the Cuban Missile Crisis, arguably the closest that the world has ever come to a large-
scale nuclear exchange between two countries.

It was also in the early 1960s that American containment policy shifted from heavy reliance on nuclear weapons to more
conventional notions of warfare in pursuit of a more "flexible response" to the spread of communism. Although originally
articulated by President Kennedy, it was in 1965 that President Johnson showcased the idea of flexible response when he
made the initial decision to commit American combat troops to South Vietnam. American thinking had come to regard
Southeast Asia as vital to its national security, and President Johnson made clear his intention to insure South Vietnam's
territorial and political integrity "whatever the cost or whatever the challenge."

The United States ultimately fought a bloody and costly war in Vietnam that poisoned U.S. politics and wreaked havoc
with its economy. The Nixon administration inherited the conflict in 1969, and although it tried to improve relations with
the Soviets through detente – and even took the unprecedented step of establishing diplomatic relations with Communist
China – neither development was able to bring about decisive change on the Vietnamese battlefield. The United States
abandoned the fight in 1973 under the guise of a peace agreement that left South Vietnam emasculated and vulnerable.
Although Nixon continued to negotiate with the Soviets and to court Maoist China, the Soviet Union and the United States
continued to subvert one another's interests around the globe in spite of detente's high-minded rhetoric. Leonid Brezhnev
had been installed as Soviet premier in 1964 as Kruschev's replacement, and while he too desired friendlier relations with
the United States on certain issues (particularly agriculture), genuinely meaningful cooperation remained elusive.

By the end of the 1970s, however, the chance for an extended thaw had utterly vanished. Jimmy Carter had been elected
president in 1976, and although he was able to hammer out a second arms limitation agreement with Brezhnev, the 1979
Soviet invasion of Afghanistan significantly soured U.S.-Soviet relations. Seeking to place a greater emphasis on human
rights in his foreign policy, Carter angrily denounced the incursion and began to adopt an increasingly hard line with the
Soviets. The following year, Americans overwhelmingly elected a president who spoke of waging the Cold War with even
greater intensity than had any of his predecessors, and Ronald Reagan made good on his promises by dramatically
increasing military budgets in the early 1980s.

Nonetheless, by 1985 Mikhail Gorbachev had replaced Brezhnev in Moscow, and he quickly perceived that drastic changes
to the Soviet system were necessary if the USSR was to survive as a state. He instituted a series of liberal reforms known
as perestroika, and he seemed genuinely interested in more open relations with the West, known as glasnost. Although
President Reagan continued to use bellicose language with respect to the Soviet Union (as when he labeled it an "evil
empire"), the Gorbachev-Reagan relationship was personally warm and the two leaders were able to decrease tensions
substantially by the time Reagan left the White House in 1989.

Despite improved East-West relations, however, Gorbachev's reforms were unable to prevent the collapse of a system
that had grown rigid and unworkable. By most measures, the Soviet economy had failed to grow at all since the late
1970s and much of the country's populace had grown weary of the aged Communist hierarchy. In 1989, the spontaneous
destruction of the Berlin Wall signalled the end of Soviet domination in Eastern Europe, and two years later the Soviet
government itself fell from power.

The Cold War had lasted for forty-six years, and is regarded by many historians, politicians, and scholars as the third
major war of the twentieth century.

America Soviet Union

Free elections No elections or fixed
Democratic Autocratic / Dictatorship
Capitalist Communist
Motto: “Survival of the fittest” Motto:”Everybody helps everybody.”
Richest world power Poor economic power
Personal Freedom Society controlled by the NKVD(secret police)
Freedom of the media Complete censorship
CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
137
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

Vietnam War
Vietnam was the longest war in American history and the most unpopular American war of the 20th century. It resulted in
nearly 60,000 American deaths and an estimated 2 million Vietnamese deaths. Even today, many people still ask whether
the American effort in Vietnam was a sin, a blunder, a necessary war, or whether it was a noble cause, or an idealistic, if
failed, effort to protect the South Vietnamese from totalitarian government.

Summary:
Between 1945 and 1954, the Vietnamese waged an anti-colonial war against France, which received $2.6 billion as
financial support from the United States. The French defeat at the Dien Bien Phu was followed by a peace conference in
Geneva. As a result of the conference, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam received their independence, and Vietnam was
temporarily divided between an anti-Communist South and a Communist North. In 1956, South Vietnam, with American
backing, refused to hold unification elections. By 1958, Communist-led guerrillas, known as the Viet Cong, had begun to
battle the South Vietnamese government.
To support the South's government, the United States sent in 2,000 military advisors--a number that grew to 16,300 in
1963. The military condition deteriorated, and by 1963, South Vietnam had lost the fertile Mekong Delta to the Viet Cong.
In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson escalated the war, commencing air strikes on North Vietnam and committing ground
forces--which numbered 536,000 in 1968. In 1968, during the lunar new year (or “Tet”) holiday, North Vietnamese and
communist Viet Cong forces launched a coordinated attack against a number of targets in South Vietnam. The U.S. and
South Vietnamese militaries sustained heavy losses before finally repelling the communist assault. The Tet Offensive
played an important role in weakening U.S. public support for the war in Vietnam.

The next president, Richard Nixon, advocated Vietnamization, withdrawing American troops and giving South Vietnam
greater responsibility for fighting the war. In 1970, Nixon attempted to slow the flow of North Vietnamese soldiers and
supplies into South Vietnam by sending American forces to destroy Communist supply bases in Cambodia. This act
violated Cambodian neutrality and provoked antiwar protests on the nation's college campuses.

From 1968 to 1973, efforts were made to end the conflict through diplomacy. In January 1973, an agreement was
reached; U.S. forces were withdrawn from Vietnam, and U.S. prisoners of war were released. In April 1975, South
Vietnam surrendered to the North, and Vietnam was reunited.
Consequences
1. The Vietnam War cost the United States 58,000 lives and 350,000 casualties. It also resulted in between one and two
million Vietnamese deaths.
2. Congress enacted the War Powers Act in 1973, requiring the president to receive explicit Congressional approval before
committing American forces overseas.

Cuban Crisis
Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962, was a major cold war confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union. In
response to the Bay of Pigs Invasion and other American actions against Cuba as well as to President Kennedy's build-up
in Italy and Turkey of U.S. strategic nuclear forces with first-strike capability aimed at the Soviet Union, the USSR
increased its support of Fidel Castro's Cuban communist regime. In the summer of 1962, Nikita Khrushchev (a Russian
politician who led the Soviet Union during the cold war) secretly decided to install nuclear-armed ballistic missiles in Cuba.
When U.S. reconnaissance flights revealed the clandestine construction of missile launching sites, President Kennedy (The
U.S. President) publicly denounced (Oct. 22, 1962) the Soviet actions. He imposed a naval blockade on Cuba and
declared that any missile launched from Cuba would warrant a full-scale retaliatory attack by the United States against
the Soviet Union. On Oct. 24, Russian ships carrying missiles to Cuba turned back, and when Khrushchev agreed (Oct.
28) to withdraw the missiles and dismantle the missile sites, the crisis ended as suddenly as it had begun. The United
States ended its blockade on Nov. 20, and by the end of the year the missiles and bombers were removed from Cuba.
The United States, in return, pledged not to invade Cuba, and subsequently, in fulfilment of a secret agreement with
Khrushchev, removed the ballistic missiles placed in Turkey.

The end result of the crisis was seen as a huge success for Kennedy but contributed to the downfall of Khrushchev in
Russia. The one positive thing to come out of the crisis was the creation of a hot-line between Moscow and Washington to
allow for easier communication between the two nations leaders at a time of crisis.

This is one of the few examples of the Cold War where the two principle countries actually got involved against the other.
Up to 1962, other nations fought out the Cold War on their behalf (USA + China in Korea; USA + North Vietnamese in
the Vietnam War etc.) as each knew that a conflict between the two would have the potential to be horrific. The lessons
learned from Cuba ensured that neither would push each to the brink again and that the ‘rules’ of the Cold War would be
adhered to.

Just one year later in 1963, both nations signed the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. This treaty stated that neither would
explode nuclear bombs during testing in the atmosphere. This was a popular treaty in America and a sign that something
positive had come out of the Cuban Crisis - that of a greater respect for each other.
CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
138
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

Fall of the Soviet Union

On Christmas Day 1991, the Soviet flag flew over the Kremlin in Moscow for the last time. A few days earlier,
representatives from 11 Soviet republics (Ukraine, the Russian Federation, Belarus, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan) met in the Kazakh city of Alma-Ata and announced that
they would no longer be part of the Soviet Union. Instead, they declared they would establish a Commonwealth of
Independent States. Because the three Baltic republics (Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia) had already declared their
independence from the USSR, only one of its 15 republics, Georgia, remained. The once-mighty Soviet Union had fallen,
largely due to the great number of radical reforms that Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev had implemented during his
six years as the leader of the USSR. However, Gorbachev was disappointed in the dissolution of his nation and resigned
from his job on December 25. It was a peaceful end to a long, terrifying and sometimes bloody epoch in world history.

The Origins and Evolution of The Soviet State

The Soviet state was born in 1917. That year, the revolutionary Bolsheviks overthrew the Russian czar and established a
socialist state in the territory that had once belonged to the Russian empire. In 1922, Russia proper joined its far-flung
republics in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The first leader of this Soviet state was the Marxist
revolutionary Vladimir Lenin.
The Soviet Union was supposed to be “a society of true democracy,” but in many ways it was no less repressive than the
czarist autocracy that preceded it. It was ruled by a single party–the Communist Party–that demanded the allegiance of
every Russian citizen. After 1924, when the dictator Joseph Stalin came to power, the state exercised totalitarian control
over the economy, administering all industrial activity and establishing collective farms. It also controlled every aspect of
political and social life. People who argued against Stalin’s policies were arrested and sent to labour camps or executed.
After Stalin’s death in 1953, Soviet leaders denounced his brutal policies but maintained the Community Party’s power.
They focused in particular on the Cold War with Western powers, engaging in a costly and destructive “arms race” with
the United States while exercising military force to suppress anticommunism and extend its hegemony in Eastern Europe.

Mikhail Gorbachev’s Glasnost and Perestroika

In March 1985, a long-time Communist Party politician named Mikhail Gorbachev assumed the leadership of the USSR He
inherited a stagnant economy and a political structure that made reform all but impossible.

Gorbachev introduced two sets of policies that he hoped would help the USSR become a more prosperous, productive
nation. The first of these was known as glasnost, or political openness. Glasnost eliminated traces of Stalinist repression,
like the banning of books and the omnipresent secret police, and gave new freedoms to Soviet citizens. Political prisoners
were released. Newspapers could print criticisms of the government. For the first time, parties other than the Communist
Party could participate in elections.

The second set of reforms was known as perestroika, or economic restructuring. The best way to revive the Soviet
economy, Gorbachev thought, was to loosen the government’s grip on it. He believed that private initiative would lead to
innovation, so individuals and cooperatives were allowed to own businesses for the first time since the 1920s. Workers
were given the right to strike for better wages and conditions. Gorbachev also encouraged foreign investment in Soviet
enterprises.

However, these reforms were slow to bear fruit. Perestroika had torpedoed the “command economy” that had kept the
Soviet state afloat, but the market economy took time to mature. (In his farewell address, Gorbachev summed up the
problem: “The old system collapsed before the new one had time to begin working.”) Rationing, shortages and endless
queuing for scarce goods seemed to be the only results of Gorbachev’s policies. As a result, people grew more and more
frustrated with his government.

The Revolutions of 1989 and The Fall of The Soviet Union

Gorbachev believed that a better Soviet economy depended on better relationships with the rest of the world, especially
the United States. Even as President Reagan called the USSR the “Evil Empire” and launched a massive military build up,
Gorbachev vowed to bow out of the arms race. He announced that he would withdraw Soviet troops from Afghanistan,
where they had been fighting a war since 1979, and he reduced the Soviet military presence in the Warsaw Pact nations
of Eastern Europe.

This policy of non-intervention had important consequences for the Soviet Union–but first, it caused the Eastern European
alliances to, as Gorbachev put it, “crumble like a dry saltine cracker in just a few months.” The first revolution of 1989
took place in Poland, where the non-communist trade unionists in the Solidarity movement bargained with the Communist
government for freer elections in which they enjoyed great success. This, in turn, sparked peaceful revolutions across
Eastern Europe. The Berlin Wall fell in November; that same month, the “velvet revolution” in Czechoslovakia overthrew
that country’s Communist government. (In December, however, violence reigned: A firing squad executed Romania’s
Communist dictator, Nicolae Ceaucescu, and his wife.)

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
139
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

This atmosphere of possibility soon enveloped the Soviet Union itself. Frustration with the bad economy combined with
Gorbachev’s hands-off approach to Soviet satellites to inspire a series of independence movements in the republics on the
USSR’s fringes. One by one, the Baltic states (Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia) declared their independence from Moscow.
Then, in early December, the Republic of Belarus, the Russian Federation and Ukraine broke away from the USSR and
created the Commonwealth of Independent States. Weeks later, they were followed by eight of the nine remaining
republics. (Georgia joined two years later.) At last, the mighty Soviet Union had fallen and The Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics (USSR) ceased to exist on December 26,1991.

Did You Know?

In 1988, Time magazine selected Mikhail Gorbachev to be its “Man of the Year” for his work toward ending
the Cold War. The next year, it named him its “Man of the Decade.” In 1990, Gorbachev won the Nobel Peace
Prize.

Fall of Berlin Wall

On August 13, 1961, the Communist government of the German Democratic Republic (GDR, or East Germany) began to
build a barbed wire and concrete “Antifascistischer Schutzwall,” or “antifascist bulwark,” between East and West Berlin.
The official purpose of this Berlin Wall was to keep Western “fascists” from entering East Germany and undermining the
socialist state, but it primarily served the objective of stemming mass defections from East to West. The Berlin Wall
stood until November 9, 1989, when the head of the East German Communist Party announced that citizens of the GDR
could cross the border whenever they pleased. That night, ecstatic crowds swarmed the wall. Some crossed freely into
West Berlin, while others brought hammers and picks and began to chip away at the wall itself. To this day, the Berlin
Wall remains one of the most powerful and enduring symbols of the Cold War.

Tearing down a wall might not seem like much, but when you realize what all else came down with that wall, you begin to
see it in a whole new light. At the end of World War II, there was relief at the downfall of a disturbed man who wanted to
dominate the earth. However, there was also suspicion between countries and a desire to control as much land as
possible. The nations that defeated Hitler and his friends began to quarrel amongst themselves. Should the defeated
lands be democratic in nature or communist? The end result was a lesson from King Solomon: split the spoils down the
middle. Germany was the embodiment of the war, and therefore, it became the most disputed area. In the end, it was
split in half with one part under a communist government and the other under a more democratic style. Through the
middle of Berlin, a large wall was built to separate the capital city and symbolize the wall that separated the communist
world from everyone else. When the wall came down in 1989, it signified the end of communist rule and birth of the voice
of the people.

9/11 Attacks
On September 11, 2001, 19 militants associated with the Islamic extremist group al-Qaeda hijacked four airplanes and
carried out suicide attacks against targets in the United States. Two of the planes were flown into the twin towers of the
World Trade Center in New York City, a third plane hit the Pentagon just outside Washington, D.C., and the fourth plane
crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. Almost 3,000 people were killed during the 9/11 terrorist attacks, which triggered
major U.S. initiatives to combat terrorism and defined the presidency of George W. Bush.

The attackers were Islamic terrorists from Saudi Arabia and several other Arab nations. Reportedly financed by the al-
Qaeda terrorist organization of Saudi fugitive Osama bin Laden, they were allegedly acting in retaliation for America’s
support of Israel, its involvement in the Persian Gulf War and its continued military presence in the Middle East. Some of
the terrorists had lived in the United States for more than a year and had taken flying lessons at American commercial
flight schools. Others had slipped into the country in the months before September 11 and acted as the “muscle” in the
operation. The 19 terrorists easily smuggled box-cutters and knives through security at three East Coast airports and
boarded four early-morning flights bound for California, chosen because the planes were loaded with fuel for the long
transcontinental journey. Soon after takeoff, the terrorists commandeered the four planes and took the controls,
transforming ordinary passenger jets into guided missiles.

TWIN TOWERS COLLAPSE

Less than 15 minutes after the terrorists struck the nerve center of the U.S. military, the horror in New York took a
catastrophic turn when the south tower of the World Trade Center collapsed in a massive cloud of dust and smoke. The
structural steel of the skyscraper, built to withstand winds in excess of 200 miles per hour and a large conventional fire,
could not withstand the tremendous heat generated by the burning jet fuel. At 10:30 a.m., the north building of the
twin towers collapsed. Only six people in the World Trade Center towers at the time of their collapse survived. Almost
10,000 others were treated for injuries, many severe.

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
140
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

Brexit
Britain has been a member of the European Union (or its predecessor, the European Economic Community) since 1973.
But a series of crises have shaken British confidence in the EU. The European Central Bank’s disastrous handling of the
post-2008 recession caused sky-high unemployment in Greece and Spain. The Syrian refugee crisis tested Europe’s open-
borders policy. In 2014, Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron was worried about gains by the far-right United
Kingdom Independence Party. So to mollify anti-immigration voters in his party, he promised a referendum on British exit
from the European Union if he won the 2015 election.

Cameron personally believed that it would be a mistake for Britain to leave the EU, and campaigned for voters to vote to
remain in. But other members of his party — including former London Mayor Boris Johnson — campaigned for a "Leave"
vote. Also supporting Leave was UKIP leader Nigel Farage, who argued that immigrants were costing Britons jobs, using
up government services, and committing crimes. In the end, Leave won, with nearly 52 percent of voters deciding to exit
the EU. As economists predicted, the leave vote is causing economic turmoil. As the result came in, the value of the
British pound fell by 10 percent to $1.35, its lowest level against the dollar since 1985. Stock markets around the world
fell in Friday trading.

The vote spooked financial markets because the British economy has become deeply intertwined with the European
continent. Negotiating Britain’s withdrawal could be a messy, complex process, and the new post-withdrawal rules might
make it harder to do business between the UK and the EU — threatening London’s status as the financial capital of
Europe. The UK has voted to leave the European Union. It is scheduled to depart at 11pm UK time on Friday 29 March,
2019. The UK and EU have provisionally agreed on the three "divorce" issues of how much the UK owes the EU, what
happens to the Northern Ireland border and what happens to UK citizens living elsewhere in the EU and EU citizens living
in the UK. Talks are now focusing on the detail of those issues and on future relations - after agreement was reached on a
21-month "transition" period to smooth the way to post-Brexit relations.

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
141
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY OF INDIA

Service Sector
Contribution to GDP: 56.90%
Contribution to Employment: 27%

The service sector, also called the tertiary sector, is put into three main areas so it can be better understood. The other
two are the primary sector, which covers areas such as farming, mining and fishing; and the secondary sector which
covers manufacturing and making things. The service sector provides a service, not an actual product that could be held
in your hand. Activities in the service sector include retail, banks, hotels, real estate, education, health, social
work, computer services, recreation, media, communications, electricity, gas and water supply.

In India, there has been a huge growth in service sector businesses which made up 55% of India's GDP in 2006—
2007. Computer software businesses in India are increasing at a rate of 35% per year.
India has 10th largest service sector in absolute terms (1486346 mn $).

Country wise contribution of service sector to the GDP

Country Service Sector Absolute terms(in mn $) Service Sector contribution to nominal GDP
USA 45,605,844 79.7
Japan 4,258,274 71.4
China 3,792,665 46.1
Germany 2,417,812 71.1
India 1,047,933 56.9

The major industries in which the service sector can be segregated are:
1) Banking:
Activities undertaken in banking industry includes investment banking, corporate banking, private
banking, insurance, consumer finance, foreign exchange trading, commodity trading, trading in equities, futures and
options trading and money market trading.

Major banking companies in India are:

SBI
Chairman: Rajnish Kumar
Products: consumer banking, corporate banking, finance and insurance, investment banking, mortgage loans, private
banking, private equity, savings,Securities, asset management, wealth management, Credit cards
Market Capitalization: Rs.231698.96 (in Crores)
Revenue: Rs. 210736 crore (US$34 billion)
Employees: 222033
Details:
The roots of the State Bank of India lie in the first decade of the 19th century, when the Bank of Calcutta, later renamed
the Bank of Bengal, was established on 2 June 1806. The bank received the exclusive right to issue paper currency till
1861 when, with the Paper Currency Act, the right was taken over by the Government of India. The Presidency banks
amalgamated on 27 January 1921, and the re-organized banking entity took as its name Imperial Bank of India. The
Imperial Bank of India remained a joint stock company but without Government participation.
Pursuant to the provisions of the State Bank of India Act of 1955, the Reserve Bank of India, which is India's central
bank, acquired a controlling interest in the Imperial Bank of India. On 1 July 1955, the Imperial Bank of India became the
State Bank of India. In 2008, the government acquired the Reserve Bank of India's stake in SBI so as to remove any
conflict of interest because the RBI is the country's banking regulatory authority.
On October 7, 2013, Arundhati Bhattacharya became the first woman to be appointed Chairperson of the bank.

ICICI

MD & CEO: Ms. Chanda Kochhar

Chairman: M.K Sharma (Term ends on 30 June, 2018)
Products: Credit cards, Consumer banking, corporate banking,finance and insurance,investment banking, mortgage
loans, private banking, wealth management
Revenue: US$ 13.52 billion (as per 2012)
Market Capitalization: Rs. 191461.23 (in Crores)
Employees: 81,254

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
142
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

Details:
ICICI Bank is an Indian multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. As
of 2014 it is the second largest bank in India in terms of assets and market capitalization.The Bank has a network of
3,820 branches and 11,162 ATMs in India, and has a presence in 19 countries.

ICICI Bank was established by the Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India (ICICI), an Indian financial
institution, as a wholly owned subsidiary in 1994. The parent company was formed in 1955 as a joint-venture of
the World Bank, India's public-sector banks and public-sector insurance companies to provide project financing to Indian
industry. The bank was initially known as the Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India Bank, before it
changed its name to the abbreviated ICICI Bank. The parent company was later merged with the bank
In 2000, ICICI Bank became the first Indian bank to list on the New York Stock Exchange with its five million American
depository shares issue generating a demand book 13 times the offer size
Controversies:
• In 2008, following the 2008 financial crisis, customers rushed to ICICI ATMs and branches in some locations due to
rumors of adverse financial position of ICICI Bank. The Reserve Bank of India issued a clarification on the financial
strength of ICICI Bank to dispel the rumors.
• On 14 March 2013 the online magazine Cobrapost released video footage from Operation Red Spider showing high-
ranking officials and some employees of ICICI Bank agreeing to convert black money into white, an act in violation
of Money Laundering Control Act. The Government of India and Reserve Bank of India ordered an inquiry following the
expose. On 15 March 2013, ICICI Bank suspended 18 employees, pending inquiry. On 11 April 2013 Deputy Governor
of RBI, H R Khan reportedly told that the central bank is initiating action against ICICI Bank in connation with
allegations of money laundering.
Some initiatives:
• In September 2013, ICICI Bank launched a one of its kind app on Facebook 'Pockets by ICICI Bank' to enable
customers to carry out a wide range of financial transactions on Facebook. Customers can access the ICICI Bank
app by logging into their Facebook account and then going to the official ICICI Bank Facebook page. Through the app,
customers can make payments to friends, recharge prepaid mobile and book movie tickets. One can also carry out
non-financial transactions such as accessing a mini statement of their savings bank account, getting demat holding
statements, opening fixed or recurring deposit, order a cheque book, stop a cheque payment, upgrade debit card,
among others.
• iWish- the flexible recurring deposit:
• iWish is a flexible recurring deposit product launched by ICICI Bank for its savings account customers. Unlike a
traditional recurring deposit, iWish allows customers to save varying amounts of money at any time of their choice.
ICICI Bank has developed this product in collaboration with Social Money.

2) IT Industry:
• Information technology in India is an industry consisting of two major components: IT Services and business process
outsourcing (BPO). Information technology is playing an important role in India today & has transformed India's image
from a slow moving bureaucratic economy to a land of innovative entrepreneurs.
• The sector has increased its contribution to India's GDP from 1.2% in 1998 to 7.5% in 2012. According to NASSCOM,
the sector aggregated revenues of US$100 billion in 2012, where export and domestic revenue stood at US$69.1
billion and US$31.7 billion respectively, growing by over 9%.
• The IT sector in India is generating 2.5 million direct employment.India is now one of the biggest IT capitals of the
modern world and all the major players in the world IT sector are present in the country.
• The major cities that account for about nearly 90% of the sector's exports
are Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Chennai , Trivandrum, Noida, Mumbai and Pune. Bangalore is considered to be
the Silicon Valley of India because it is the leading IT exporter. Exports dominate the industry and constitute about
77% of the total industry revenue. However, the domestic market is also significant with a robust revenue
growth. The industry’s share of total Indian exports (merchandise plus services) increased from less than 4% in
FY1998 to about 25% in FY2012. According to Everest Group, the "Top Five Indian IT Services Providers"
are Accenture, TCS, Cognizant, Wipro and IBM.

Major IT companies in India are:

TCS
Founder: J.R.D. Tata
MD & CEO: Rajesh Gopinathan
Services: IT, business consulting andoutsourcing services
Market Capitalization: Rs. 478539.79 (in Crores)
Revenue: US$ 14.44 billion (2013-14)
Employees: 3,13,757

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
143
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

Details:
• Tata Consultancy Services Limited (TCS) is an Indian multinational information technology (IT) service, consulting and
business solutions company headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. TCS operates in 46 countries. It is a subsidiary of
the Tata Group and is listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange of India. TCS is the
largest Indian company by market capitalization and is the largest India-based IT services company by 2013
revenues. TCS is now placed among the ‘Big 4’ most valuable IT services brands worldwide. In 2013, TCS is ranked
40th overall in the Forbes World’s Most Innovative Companies ranking, making it both the highest-ranked IT services
company and the top Indian company. It is the world's 10th largest IT services provider, measured by the revenues.
• TCS is one of the largest private sector employers in India, and the second-largest employer among listed Indian
companies (after Coal India Limited).TCS had a total of 313757 employees as of November 2014. The employee costs
for the FY 2012-13 were US$4.38 billion, which was approx. 38% of the total revenue of the company for that period.
The average age of a TCS employee is 28 years.
Major Controversies:
Hiring in Canada
• In May 2013 the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, in its extensive coverage of the hiring of temporary foreign
workers in Canada and the unemployment issues faced by Canadians, reported that TCS rarely hires skilled
experienced Canadians while advertising open positions in Canada. TCS responded that the company hired more than
125 Canadian workers in 2013.

Infosys
Founder: Narayan Murthy, Nandan Nilekani, Ashok Arora, N.S Raghvan, S. Gopalakrishnana, SD Shibulal, K Dinesh
MD & CEO: Salil S. Parekh
Services: IT, business consulting and outsourcing services
Market Capitalization: Rs. 222535.23 (in Crores)
Revenue: US$ 8.24 billion (2014)
Employees: 1,65,411
Details:
• Infosys was co-founded in 1981 by Narayan Murthy, Nandan Nilekani, N. S. Raghavan, S. Gopalakrishnan, S. D.
Shibulal, K. Dinesh and Ashok Arora after they resigned from Patni Computer Systems. The company was
incorporated as "Infosys Consultants Pvt. Ltd." with a capital of Rs. 10,000 (roughly $250) in Model Colony, Pune as
the registered office. It signed its first client, Data Basics Corporation, in New York. In 1983, the company's corporate
headquarters was relocated from Pune to Bangalore.
• Infosys has a global presence with 72 offices and 94 development centers in the United States, India, China, Australia,
Japan, Middle East, and Europe.
• Recently, Vishal Sikka has been appointed as the new CEO and MD of the company to revive the company’s growth.
By November 2014, Infosys has shown positive signs of the growth.
Major Initiatives:
• Infosys Foundation: Infosys established the Infosys Foundation, to support the underprivileged sections of society. . A
team at the Foundation identifies programs in the areas of Healthcare, Education, Culture, Destitute Care and Rural
Development.
• Academic Entente: It explores co-creation opportunities between Infosys and academia through case studies, student
trips and speaking engagements. Some initiatives include research collaborations, publications, conferences and
speaking sessions, campus visits and campus hiring.
• Infosys Labs: Infosys Labs is organized as a global network of research labs and innovation hubs.
Major Controversies:
Accusation of visa fraud
• In 2011, Infosys was accused of committing visa fraud by using B-1 (visitor) visas for work requiring H-1B (work)
visas. The allegations were initially made by an American employee of Infosys in an internal complaint. He
subsequently sued the company, claiming that he was harassed and sidelined after speaking out. Although that case
was dismissed, it along with another similar case, brought the allegations to the notice of the US authorities - and
the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and a federal grand jury started investigating. In October 2013, Infosys
agreed to settle the civil suit with US authorities by paying US$34 million. Infosys refused to admit guilt and stressed
that it only agreed to pay the fine to avoid the nuisance of 'prolonged litigation'.
Allegation of language bias
• In July 2014 Former US employees of Infosys have filed a lawsuit against it for alleging discrimination because of their
inability to communicate in Hindi. According to the lawsuit filed in the US District Court of Eastern District of
Wisconsin, the former employees alleged that they were "excluded" from work conversations by their supervisors and
co-workers who "regularly spoke in Hindi" in front of them. The case has been filed by Layla Bolten, Gregor Handloser
and two more employees. Bolten was hired as a tester, while Handloser was hired by Infosys in 2004 as a sales
manager.

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
144
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

3) Healthcare:
• The health care industry, or medical industry, is an aggregation of sectors within the economic system that provides
goods and services to treat patients with curative, preventive, rehabilitative and palliative care .The health care
industry is one of the world's largest and fastest-growing industries. Consuming over 10 percent of gross domestic
product (GDP) of most developed nations, health care can form an enormous part of a country's economy.
• The United Nations International Standard Industrial Classification (ISIC) categorizes the health care industry as
generally consisting of:
1. hospital activities;
2. medical and dental practice activities;
3. "other human health activities”
This third class involves activities of, or under the supervision of, nurses, midwives, physiotherapists, scientific or
diagnostic laboratories, pathology clinics, residential health facilities, or other allied health professions.
• Medical Tourism: Medical tourism (also called medical travel, health tourism or global health care) is a term initially
coined by travel agencies and the mass media to describe the rapidly growing practice of traveling across international
borders to obtain health care. Over 50 countries have identified medical tourism as a national industry.
However, accreditation and other measures of quality vary widely across the globe, and there are risks and ethical
issues that make this method of accessing medical care controversial\

Major healthcare companies in India are:

Narayana Hrudayalaya:
MD & CEO: Dr. A Raghuvanshi
Chairman: Dr. Devi Shetty
Employees: 12500
Services: Healthcare Services
Details:
• Narayana Health was founded in 2000 by Dr. Devi Shetty under the aegis of the Asian Heart Foundation (AHF). It
may be noted that the affluent come here for the world's best healthcare and the poor come here for the focused
attention they can get from a private hospital. No one is refused treatment due to lack of funds. From a humble
beginning of a 225 beds hospital in 2001, Narayana Health has grown to a 7500 beds healthcare conglomerate in
2014 with 29 hospitals present in 17 Cities within the country.

Apollo Hospitals:
Founder: Prathap C. Reddy
MD: Suneeta Reddy
Employees: 10000+
Revenue: Rs. 31.73 billion
Services: Healthcare Services
Details:
• Apollo Hospitals is an Indian hospital chain based in Chennai, India. It was founded by Dr Prathap C. Reddy in 1983
and has hospitals in India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Ghana, Nigeria, Mauritius, Qatar, Oman and Kuwait. Several of
the group's hospitals have been among the first in India to receive international healthcare accreditation by America-
based Joint Commission International (JCI).
• The group has developed services in telemedicine, after starting a pilot project in 2000 in Pratap Reddy's home
village. It is now the largest telemedicine provider in India with 71 center. The success of Apollo Hospitals has made
it a topic forHarvard Business School case study.
• Apollo Hospitals India Representative Office is a medical tourism service provider in Sri Lanka for the patients who
travel to Apollo Hospitals India for medical treatment. It has set up a medical center at the Rajiv Gandhi International
Airport at Shamshabad.

Manufacturing Sector:
Contribution to GDP: 26%
Contribution to Emloyment: 22%
Manufacturing is the production of merchandise for use or sale using labor and machines, tools, chemical and biological
processing, or formulation. The term may refer to a range of human activity, from handicraft to high tech, but is most
commonly applied to industrial production, in which raw materials are transformed into finished goods on a large scale.
Such finished goods may be used for manufacturing other, more complex products, such as aircraft, household
appliances or automobiles, or sold to wholesalers, who in turn sell them to retailers, who then sell them to end users –
the "consumers".

Manufacturing takes turns under all types of economic systems. In a free market economy, manufacturing is usually
directed toward the mass production of products for sale to consumers at a profit. In a collectivist economy,

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
145
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

manufacturing is more frequently directed by the state to supply a centrally planned economy. In mixed market
economies, manufacturing occurs under some degree of government regulation.

The manufacturing sector is closely connected with engineering and industrial design.

Examples of major manufacturers in North America include General Motors Corporation, General Electric, Procter &
Gamble, General Dynamics, Boeing, Pfizer, and Precision Castparts.
Examples in Europe include Volkswagen Group, Siemens, and Michelin.
Examples in Asia include Toyota, Samsung, and Bridgestone.
Country wise contribution of service sector to the GDP
Country Manufacturing Sector Absolute terms(in mn $) Manufacturing Sector contribution to nominal GDP
USA 2,995,787 19.1
Japan 1,640,091 27.5
China 3,611,671 43.9
Germany 955,563 28.1
India 475,161 25.8

The major industries in which the service sector can be segregated are:
1) Automible Manufacturing Sector:
• The automotive industry in India is one of the largest automotive markets in the world. It had previously been one of
the fastest growing markets globally, but is currently experiencing flat or negative growth rates. India's passenger car
and commercial vehicle manufacturing industry is the sixth largest in the world, with an annual production of more
than 3.9 million units. According to recent reports, India overtook Brazil to become the sixth largest passenger vehicle
producer in the world .Throughout the course of 2011 and 2012, the industry grew 16-18%, selling around three
million units. In 2010, India beat Thailand to become Asia's third largest exporter of passenger cars.
• As of 2014, India is home to 40 million passenger vehicles. More than 3.7 million automotive vehicles were produced
in India in 2014 (an increase of 33.9%), making the country the second (after China) fastest growing automobile
market in the world in that year.

TATA MOTORS
Chairman: Natarajan Chandrasekaran
Products: Automobiles,Commercial vehicles,CoachesBuses,Construction equipment,Military vehicles,Automotive parts
Market Capitalization: Rs. 131867.89 (in Crores)
Revenue: US$ 38.6 billion (FY 2013-14)
Employees: 66593
Details:
• Tata Motors Limited (formerly TELCO, short for Tata Engineering and Locomotive Company) is an Indian
manufacturing company headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India and a subsidiary of the Tata Group. It is
the world's 17th largest motor vehicle manufacturing company, fourth-largest truck manufacturer, and second-largest
bus manufacturer by volume.
• In 1998, Tata launched the first fully indigenous Indian passenger car, the Indica, and in 2008 launched the Tata
Nano, the world's most affordable car. Tata Motors acquired the South Korean truck manufacturer Daewoo
Commercial Vehicles Company in 2004 and purchased Jaguar Land Rover from Ford in 2008.

Operations:
• TATA Motor Cars: Tata Motors Cars is a division of Tata Motors which produces passenger cars under the Tata Motors
marque. Tata Motors is among the top four passenger vehicle brands in India with products in the compact, midsize
car, and utility vehicle segments. The company’s manufacturing base in India is spread across Jamshedpur
(Jharkhand), Pune (Maharashtra), Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh), Pantnagar (Uttarakhand), Dharwad (Karnataka) and
Sanand (Gujarat).
• TATA Daewoo: Tata Daewoo (officially Tata Daewoo Commercial Vehicle Company and formerly Daewoo Commercial
Vehicle Company) is a commercial vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Gunsan, Jeollabuk-do, South Korea, and a
wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Motors. It is the second-largest heavy commercial vehicle manufacturer in South
Korea and was acquired by Tata Motors in 2004. The principal reasons behind the acquisition were to reduce Tata's
dependence on the Indian commercial vehicle market (which was responsible for around 94% of its sales in the MHCV
segment and around 84% in the light commercial vehicle segment) and expand its product portfolio by leveraging on
Daewoo's strengths in the heavy-tonnage sector.
• Jauguar Land Rover: Jaguar Land Rover PLC is a British premium automaker headquartered in Whitley, Coventry,
United Kingdom, and has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Motors since June 2008, when it was acquired from
Ford Motor Company. Its principal activity is the development, manufacture and sale of Jaguar luxury and sports cars
and Land Rover premium four-wheel-drive vehicles. It also owns the currently dormant Daimler, Lanchester,
and Rover brands.
CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
146
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

Mahindra and Mahindra

Chairman: Anand Mahindra
MD: Pawan Goenka
Products: Automobiles,Commercial vehicles,Two wheelers
Market Capitalization: Rs. 76389.09 (in Crores)
Revenue: Rs. 691 billion (US$11 billion) (2014)
Employees: 34612
Details:
• Mahindra & Mahindra was set up as a steel trading company in 1945 in Ludhiana as Mahindra & Mohammed by
brothers K.C. Mahindra and J.C. Mahindra and Malik Ghulam Mohammed. After India’s independence and Pakistan was
formed, Mohammed emigrated to Pakistan. The company changed its name to Mahindra & Mahindra in 1948. It
eventually saw business opportunity in expanding into manufacturing and selling larger MUVs, starting with assembly
under licence of the Willys Jeep in India. Soon established as the Jeep manufacturers of India, the company later
commenced manufacturing light commercial vehicles (LCVs) and agricultural tractors. Today, Mahindra & Mahindra is
a key player in the utility vehicle manufacturing and branding sectors in the Indian automobile industry with its
flagship UV Scorpio and uses India's growing global market presence in both the automotive and farming industries to
push its products in other countries.

Operations and products:

• M&M has a global presence and its products are exported to several countries. Its global subsidiaries include Mahindra
Europe S.r.l. based in Italy, Mahindra USA Inc., Mahindra South Africa and Mahindra (China) Tractor Co. Ltd.
• Military Defense: The company has built and assembled military vehicles, commencing in 1947 with the importation
of the Willys Jeep that had been widely used in World War II.Its line of military vehicles include the Axe. It also
maintains a joint venture with BAE Systems, Defence Land Systems India.
• Energy: Mahindra & Mahindra entered the energy sector in 2002, in response to growing demands for increased
electric power in India. Since then, more than 150,000 Mahindra Powerol engines and diesel generator sets (gensets)
have been installed in India. Mahindra EPC is the Engineering Procurement & Construction arm of the Mahindra group.
A portfolio company under the Cleantech arm of Mahindra Partners, they offer solar solutions spanning On-Grid
solutions, EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) and Off-Grid Product solutions.
• Farm Equipment: Mahindra began manufacturing tractors for the Indian market during the early '60s. It is the top
tractor company in the world (by volume) with annual sales totaling more than 200,000 tractors. Since its inception,
the company has sold over 2.1 million tractors. Mahindra & Mahindra’s farm equipment division (Mahindra Tractors)
has over 1,000 dealers servicing approx. 1.45 million customers.

2) Petroleum
• The petroleum industry includes the global processes of exploration, extraction, refining, transporting (often by oil
tankers and pipelines), and marketing petroleum products. The largest volume products of the industry are fuel
oil and gasoline (petrol). Petroleum (oil) is also the raw material for many chemical products, including
pharmaceuticals, solvents, fertilizers, pesticides, and plastics. The industry is usually divided into three major
components: upstream, midstreamand downstream.
• Petroleum is vital to many industries, and is of importance to the maintenance of industrialcivilization in its current
configuration, and thus is a critical concern for many nations. Oil accounts for a large percentage of the world’s energy
consumption, ranging from a low of 32% for Europe and Asia, to a high of 53% for the Middle East.

GAIL (INDIA)
MD and Chairman: Shri B. C. Tripathi
Products: Natural Gas, Petrochemical, Liquid Hydrocarbons, Liquefied Petroleum GasTransmission, City Gas Distribution,
E&P, Telecommunication, Electricity Generation.
Market Capitalization: (Rs.Cr.) 52,889.27
Revenue: Rs. 619 billion (US$10 billion)
Employees: 3994
Ratna Status: Maharatna
Ministry: Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas
Details:
• GAIL (India) Limited is the largest state-owned natural gas processing and distribution company in India, It is
headquartered in New Delhi. GAIL has been conferred with the Maharatna status on 1 Feb 2013, by the Government
of India. The company was initially given the responsibility of construction, operation & maintenance of the Hazira –
Vijaypur – Jagdishpur (HVJ) pipeline project. It was one of the largest cross-country natural gas pipeline projects in
the world. This 1800-kilometre-long pipeline was built at a cost of 17 billion (US$280 million) and it laid the
foundation for development of market for natural gas in India. GAIL commissioned the 2,800 kilometres (1,700 mi)
Hazira-Vijaipur-Jagdishpur (HVJ) pipeline in 1991. Between 1991 and 1993, threeliquefied petroleum gas (LPG) plants
were constructed and some regional pipelines acquired, enabling GAIL to begin its gas transportation in various parts
of India
CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
147
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

• In order to secure gas for its mainstream business Exploration and Production department was created. Today GAIL is
a partner in the Dawoo-OVL led consortium in two offshore block in Myanmar which has made a gas discovery. Bulk of
its blocks are located in India in the prolific basins of Cambay, Assam-Arakan, Mahanadi, Krishna Godavary Deep
water and onland, Cauvery onland and deep water and western offshore.

Operations:
• Natural gas transmission: GAIL has built a network of trunk pipelines covering length of around 11,000 km.
Leveraging on the core competencies, GAIL played a key role as gas market developer in India for decades catering to
major industrial sectors like power, fertilizers, and city gas distribution.
• LPG Production and Traonsmission: Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) is the most widely used domestic and commercial
fuel in India. Over the past four years GAIL has emerged as one of the major LPG producers in the country.
• Petrochemicals: GAIL diversified from gas marketing and transmission into polymer business by setting up North
India's first gas based Petrochemicals complex. Even without having any prior experience in petrochemicals, GAIL
commissioned the plant successfully in year 1999 by rigorous team work and project management capabilities.

CSR:
• GAIL has allocated an annual budget of 2% of the previous year's profit after tax for CSR activities, which is effectively
used for carefully chosen programmes. During the year 2010–11, the company has taken up programmes of a value
of approximately 575 million(US$9.3 million) for implementation under the seven thrust areas, which include
Community Development, Infrastructure, Healthcare/Medical, Skill Development/Empowerment, Educational Aids,
Environment Protection, Drinking Water/Sanitation. For the year 2010–11 under the thrust area Community
Development, programmes worth 157 million (US$2.5 million) are endorsed and the implementation of these
projects is in progression.

ONGC: Oil and Natural Gas Corporation

MD and Chairman: Shashi Shanker
Products: Crude Oil, Gas, LPG, Naptha
Market Capitalization: Rs. 296,832.73 (in Crores)
Revenue: US$ 27.6 billion
Employees: 32,923
Ratna Status: Maharatna
Ministry: Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas
Details:
• Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) is an Indian multinational oil and gas company headquartered
inDehradun, India. It produces around 69% of India's crude oil (equivalent to around 30% of the country's total
demand) and around 62% of its natural gas. It was ranked as the largest profit making PSU in India. ONGC has been
ranked 357th in the Fortune Global 500 list of the world's biggest corporations for the year 2012. It is ranked 22nd
among the Top 250 Global Energy Companies by Platts
• ONGC was founded on 14 August 1956 by Government of India, which currently holds a 69.23% equity stake. It is
involved in exploring for and exploiting hydrocarbons in 26 sedimentary basins of India, and owns and operates over
11,000 kilometers of pipelines in the country.
• Against a global decline of production from matured fields, ONGC has maintained production from its brownfields like
Mumbai High, with the help of aggressive investments in various IOR (Improved Oil Recovery) and EOR (Enhanced Oil
Recovery) schemes. ONGC has many matured fields with a current recovery factor of 25-33%.

Joint Venures
• ONGC Tripura Power Company: ONGC Tripura Power Company Ltd (OTPC) is a joint venture which was formed in
September 2008 between ONGC, Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services Limited and the Government of
Tripura. It will supply electricity to the power deficit areas of the north eastern states of the country.

Agricultural Sector
Contribution to GDP: 17%
Contribution to Emloyment: 51%
The Indian agriculture sector accounts for 17 per cent of India's gross domestic product (GDP) and employs just a little
less than 50 per cent of the country's workforce. This sector has made considerable progress in the last few decades with
its large resources of land, water and sunshine. India is presently the world's largest producer of pulses and the second
largest producer of rice and wheat.
The country is also the largest producer, consumer and exporter of spices and spice products in the world and overall in
farm and agriculture outputs, it is ranked second. From canned, dairy, processed, frozen food to fisheries, meat, poultry,
and food grains, Indian agro industry has plenty of areas to choose for business.

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
148
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

The Department of Agriculture and Cooperation under the Ministry of Agriculture is the nodal organisation responsible for
the development of the agriculture sector in India. Under it, several other bodies such as the National Dairy Development
Board (NDDB) work for the development of the other allied agricultural sectors.

Country Agricultural Sector Absolute terms(in mn $) Agricultural Sector contribution to nominal GDP
USA 188,217 1.12
Japan 71,568 1.2
China 918,138 10.0
Germany 27,205 0.8
India 320,458 17.4

India’s largest crops:

Economic Value(2009 Average Yield(tonnes per
Product Unit Price(US$ / kilogram)
prices, US$) hectare)
Rice $38.42 billion 0.27 3.3
Wheat $12.14 billion 0.15 2.8
Potatoes $5.67 billion 0.15 19.9
Beans $2.57 billion 0.42 1.1
Cotton $8.13 billion 1.43 1.6
Cow milk $17.13 billion 0.31 1.2

India is the Largest Producer of:

• Fresh Fruit
• Lemons and limes
• Buffalo milk - whole, fresh
• Castor oil seeds
• Sunflower seeds
• Sorghum
• Millet
• Spices
• Okra
• Jute
• Beeswax
• Bananas
• Mangoes, mangosteens, guavas
• Pulses
• Indigenous Buffalo Meat
• Fruit, tropical
• Ginger
• Chick peas
• Areca nuts
• Other Bastfibres
• Pigeon peas
• Papayas
• Chillies and peppers, dry
• Anise, badian, fennel, coria

Challenges in agricultural Sector

Infrastructure
India has very poor rural roads affecting timely supply of inputs and timely transfer of outputs from Indian farms.
Irrigation systems are inadequate leading to crop failures in some parts of the country because of lack of water. In other
areas regional floods, poor seed quality and inefficient farming practices, lack of cold storage and harvest spoilage cause
over 30% of farmer's produce going to waste, lack of organised retail and competing buyers thereby limiting Indian
farmer's ability to sell the surplus and commercial crops.

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
149
GD-PI 2019_____________________________________________________________________________

The Indian farmer receives just 10 to 23% of the price the Indian consumer pays for exactly the same produce, the
difference going to losses, inefficiencies and middlemen. Farmers in developed economies of Europe and the United
States, in contrast, receive 64 to 81%

Productivity
Although India has attained self-sufficiency in food staples, the productivity of Indian farms is below that of Brazil, the
United States, France and other nations. Indian wheat farms, for example, produce about a third of the wheat per hectare
per year compared to farms in France. Rice productivity in India was less than half that of China. Other staples
productivity in India is similarly low. Indian total factor productivity growth remains below 2% per annum; in contrast,
China's total factor productivity growth is about 6% per annum, even though China also has smallholding farmers.
Several studies suggest India could eradicate hunger and malnutrition within India, and be a major source of food for the
world by achieving productivity comparable with other countries.
By contrast Indian farms in some regions post the best yields, for sugarcane, cassava and tea crops.
Yields for various crops vary significantly between Indian states. Some Indian states produce two to three times more
grain per acre than in other Indian states. The table compares the statewide average yields for a few major agricultural
crops within India, for 2001-2002.

Farmer suicides
In 2012, the National Crime Records Bureau of India reported 13,754 farmer suicides. Farmer suicides account for 11.2%
of all suicides in India. Activists and scholars have offered a number of conflicting reasons for farmer suicides, such as
monsoon failure, high debt burdens, genetically modified crops, government policies, public mental health, personal
issues and family problems.

Diversion of agricultural land for non agricultural purpose

Indian National Policy for Farmers (2007) calls for "prime farmland must be conserved for agriculture except under
exceptional circumstances, provided that the agencies that are provided with agricultural land for non-agricultural
projects should compensate for treatment and full development of equivalent degraded or wastelands elsewhere". The
policy suggests that, as far as possible, land with low farming yields and potential should be earmarked for non-
agricultural purposes such as construction and industrial parks. Uncultivable land affected by salinity and acidity and
similar quality problems should, suggests the National Policy for Farmers, where possible, be targeted for commercial
development.

CATsule/19/GD-PI_______________________________________________________
150