21st Century India

In all Indian general elections, the participation of the people has been enormous. Without a doubt, the democratic system has kept the country stable and united. But political parties quickly learned to win elections by creating “voting blocs,” groups of people who always vote for the same party. A party seeks to convince a group that only it can truly serve the group’s interests. Unfortunately, such appeals often run along narrow religious, ethnic, linguistic or caste lines. Issues that could otherwise be settled in a friendly manner are kept alive and used for political and occasionally treacherous ends.

There remains one internal threat to the democratic order: communist-inspired local uprisings in India’s eastern states running from Bihar to Andhra Pradesh. Poor and tribal people support these armed separatist movements because they have seen little economic improvement in their region. Local police and government forces struggle to control these militant groups.

Economic Development

During India’s first decades, the economy was a mixture of state control and free enterprise. Prime Minister Nehru began a series of “five-year plans,” setting economic goals for agriculture, manufacturing, etc., to be met with government support. To prevent excessive profit-taking, the government set maximum prices for important goods. A few key industries were nationalized, such as banks. Heavy industries requiring large capital investment, such as steel and military arms manufacturing, were established and run by the government.

Overseas investment was regulated. India’s years as a colony made her wary of letting foreign investors control any vital industry. Import duties were kept high, making it expensive to bring in foreign goods. India wanted to be self-sufficient and build its own economic infrastructure to meet the demands of its growing cities and villages.

A major issue was food. India was not producing enough to feed her ever-increasing population and had to import nearly ten million tons of food yearly from the US. The technological advancements of the “Green Revolution” resulted in India’s complete self-sufficiency in food by 1969.

India’s growth for the first 30 years was slow, but the economy was stable and urban unemployment low. By the 1980s and 90s, however, the world had changed. International trade and cooperation had increased. Countries with totally state-controlled economies—such as the Soviet Union and China—started having serious problems. In 1991, the Soviet Union broke up into many countries. Seeing a similar threat to its own economy, India began easing restrictions on industries and encouraging private business, free trade and foreign investment.

The results were dramatic (see chart below). India’s rate of growth went from a low 3.5% to a healthy 7.5%. Its middle class rose from less than 5% of the population in 1950 to more than 17% today. The middle class is projected to reach 40% in 2025. India has evolved into a major world power through scientific and technological advancement, development of industries and defense build-up.

Religious and Social Development

India today is 81% Hindu, 13.4% Muslim, 2.3% Christian and 1.9% Sikh. It has the third largest population of Muslims in the world—161 million, after Indonesia and Pakistan. Relations between religions are generally peaceful, especially at a personal level. However, several religious riots and attacks have occurred at great loss of life.

One religious practice unites India as a nation: pilgrimage. There are hundreds of national pilgrimage destinations across India, and thousands at the regional level. The holy city of Varanasi welcomes 100,000 pilgrims a day, and a single temple, Tirupati, hosts 50,000 and more each day. Pilgrimage to religious sites is so popular that families plan their vacations around them. In India a vacation is not only for relaxation and fun; it is also a religious experience and opportunity for cultural interaction.

Throughout Indian history, the movement of pilgrims has had significant impact on the religious and cultural unity of the country. Pilgrims create a continuous religious conversation as they travel about the land. Religious discussions form a bond among travelers and promote a sense of belonging to the country and religion. Such interactions are repeated at thousands of destinations each year.

The map on page seven shows the most important Hindu pilgrimage sites in India, as well as those significant to Jains, Buddhists and Sikhs. Prominent sites, such as Varanasi, Mathura, Ayodhya, Ujjain and Rameswaram, attract huge crowds year around. Most sites, however, are crowded with devotees only during annual festivals. For example, hundreds of thousands attend the summer festival at the Jagannath Temple in Puri, Odisha. Three huge chariots carrying the temple Deities are pulled through the streets by crowds tugging on ropes a foot in diameter. Similarly, devotees of Lord Krishna flock to the towns of Vrindavan and Mathura during Krishna Janmashtami and other major festivals.

Several pilgrimages require serious effort, such as Amarnath Cave. It is located 12,700 feet high in the Himalayas, in Jammu and Kashmir. Every summer 400,000 pilgrims walk on a narrow, rocky trail for four or five days to reach this sacred shrine to Lord Siva.

For some Indian states, such as Kerala and Uttar Pradesh, the economic activity generated by pilgrimage is a significant percent of the state’s total economy.

ACADEMIC VOCABULARY

treacherous

having hidden and unpredictable dangers

ethnic

of a specific place, race, culture or religious origin

nationalize

government takeover of a business, such as a bank or railroad

import duty

a tax on goods brought into the country

infrastructure

the basic facilities of a nation such as roads, dams, bridges, phone systems, airports, railways

urban

cities and towns, in contrast to villages

virtually

almost or nearly the same as

pilgrimage

travel to a holy place for a religious purpose

labyrinth

a complex network of passageways

lore

knowledge and belief held by a group and passed on by word of mouth