The Janata government had lesser success in achieving economic reforms. It launched the Sixth Five-Year Plan, aiming to boost agricultural production and rural industries. Seeking to promote economic self-reliance and indigenous industries, the government required multi-national corporations to go into partnership with Indian corporations. The policy proved controversial, diminishing foreign investment and led to the high-profile exit of corporations such as Coca-Cola and IBM from India. But the government was unable to address the issues of resurging inflation, fuel shortages, unemployment and poverty. The legalisation of strikes and re-empowerment of trade unions affected business efficiency and economic production.
Economic policy
Janata Party
Janata Party | Economic policy
t launched the Sixth Five-Year Plan, aiming to boost agricultural production and rural industries. It launched the Sixth Five-Year Plan, aiming to boost agricultural production and rural industries. Seeking to promote economic self-reliance and indigenous industries, the government required multi-national corporations to go into partnership with Indian corporations. It aimed to boost agricultural production and rural industries.
who was the first president of india to be elected unopposed
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Neelam Sanjiva Reddy
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was he involved in freedom struggle?
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Yes, he joined the Indian struggle for independence.
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which other political posts did he have?
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President of the Indian National Congress, Union Minister of Steel and Mines, Union Minister of Transport, Civil Aviation, Shipping and Tourism, speaker of the Lok Sabha, etc.
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which political party was he associated with?
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Indian National Congress Party in the Indian independence movement and Janata Party as a candidate for Parliament.
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when was the second political party established?
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23 January 1977
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what was its role during emergency?
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A state of emergency enabled the central government to issue executive decrees without requiring the consent of Parliament.
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what was the party's major economic policy?
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The Janata government had lesser success in achieving economic reforms. It launched the Sixth Five-Year Plan, aiming to boost agricultural production and rural industries. Seeking to promote economic self-reliance and indigenous industries, the government required multi-national corporations to go into partnership with Indian corporations. The policy proved controversial, diminishing foreign investment and led to the high-profile exit of corporations such as Coca-Cola and IBM from India. But the government was unable to address the issues of resurging inflation, fuel shortages, unemployment and poverty. The legalisation of strikes and re-empowerment of trade unions affected business efficiency and economic production.
Janata Party | Economic policy
The tenure of the NDA saw an unprecedented influx of foreign companies in India. This was criticised by the left parties and the BJP's affiliates (the RSS and the Swadeshi Jagran Manch). The communist parties said that the BJP was attempting to appease the World Bank and the United States government through its neoliberal policies. Similarly, the RSS stated that the BJP was not being true to its "swadeshi" ideology. The two NDA governments in the period 1998–2004 introduced significant deregulation and privatisation of government owned enterprises. It also introduced tariff-reducing measures. These reforms built off of the initial economic liberalisation introduced by the P.
Bharatiya Janata Party | Economic policies
The GDP growth which was at 3.9% in October 1999, stood between 6.6%—9% and successfully privatised all state-owned corporations and state enterprises before completing his term. However, Aziz's strategy failed deal with underlying problems deeply in country's economy. The global financial crises in 2008 led the sharp dropped in country's economy while acute electricity shortage in the country revealed the incompetence by the Peoples Party's government, but also the failure of his government to developed the necessary energy infrastructure on time.
Shaukat Aziz | Economic policy
The BJP's economic policy has changed considerably since its founding. There is a significant range of economic ideologies within the party. In the 1980s, like the Jana Sangh, it reflected the thinking of the RSS and its affiliates. It supported "swadeshi" (the promotion of indigenous industries and products) and a protectionist export policy. However, it supported internal economic liberalisation, and opposed the state-driven industrialisation favoured by the Congress. During the 1996 elections, the BJP shifted its stance away from protectionism and towards globalisation; its election manifesto recommended increasing foreign investment in priority sectors, while restricting it in others. When the party was in power in 1998, it shifted its policy even further in favour of globalisation.
Bharatiya Janata Party | Economic policies
Under Rajiv Gandhi, small steps were taken to liberalize the economy. In 1991, the new Congress-party government, led by P. V. Narasimha Rao, initiated reforms to avert the impending 1991 economic crisis. The reforms progressed furthest in opening up areas to foreign investment, reforming capital markets, deregulating domestic business, and reforming the trade regime. The goals of Rao's government were to reduce the fiscal deficit, privatize the public sector, and increase investment in infrastructure. Trade reforms and changes in the regulation of foreign direct investment were introduced in order to open India to foreign trade while stabilising external loans. Rao chose Manmohan Singh for the job.
Indian National Congress | Economic policy
The Janata government had lesser success in achieving economic reforms. It launched the Sixth Five-Year Plan, aiming to boost agricultural production and rural industries. Seeking to promote economic self-reliance and indigenous industries, the government required multi-national corporations to go into partnership with Indian corporations. The policy proved controversial, diminishing foreign investment and led to the high-profile exit of corporations such as Coca-Cola and IBM from India. But the government was unable to address the issues of resurging inflation, fuel shortages, unemployment and poverty. The legalisation of strikes and re-empowerment of trade unions affected business efficiency and economic production. The Janata government tried to curb forgery and black money in India by demonetising notes of 1000, 5000 and 10000 Rupees on 16 January 1978.
Premiership of Morarji Desai | Economic policy
Since 1991, when India undertook a series of reforms in the face of a balance-of-payments crisis, the nation has been governed by a broad agreement about its economy. Starting in 2012, India entered a period of more anaemic growth, with growth slowing down to 4.4%. Other economic problems also became apparent: a plunging Indian rupee, a persistent high current account deficit and slow industrial growth. Hit by the US Federal Reserve's decision to taper quantitative easing, foreign investors had been rapidly pulling out money from India though this has now reversed with the Stock market at near all-time high and the current account deficit narrowing substantially.
Bharatiya Janata Party campaign for the 2014 Indian general election | Economy
V. Narasimha Rao-led Congress government in the early 1990s. India's GDP growth increased substantially during the tenure of the NDA. The 2004 campaign slogan India Shining was based on the party's belief that the free market would bring prosperity to all sectors of society. After its unexpected defeat, commentators said that it was punished for neglecting the needs of the poor and focusing too much on its corporate allies.
Bharatiya Janata Party | Economic policies
In the spring of 2019, the party lauded the economic policies of the Modi government (BJP), stating that the centre had ushered in economic stability and made the country a "decisive player" in regional economics, and voiced support for the Goods and Services Tax (GST) which had been opposed by their rival the DMK.
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam | Economy
Gandhi inherited a weak economy when she again became Prime Minister in 1980. The preceding year in 1979–80 under the Janata Party government had led to the strongest recession (−5.2%) in the history of modern India with inflation rampant at 18.2%. Gandhi proceeded to abrogate the Janata Party government's Five-Year Plan in 1980 and launched the Sixth Five-Year Plan (1980–85). The government targeted an average growth of 5.2% over the period of the plan. Measures to check the inflation were also taken; by the early 1980s inflation was under control at an annual rate of about 5%. Although Gandhi continued professing socialist beliefs, the Sixth Five-Year Plan was markedly different from the years of Garibi Hatao.
Economic policy of the Indira Gandhi government | Operation Forward and the Sixth Five-Year Plan
During the Emergency, Indira Gandhi implemented a 20-point program of economic reforms that resulted in greater economic growth, aided by the absence of strikes and trade union conflicts. Encouraged by these positive signs and distorted and biased information from her party supporters, Indira called elections for May 1977. However, the emergency era had been widely unpopular. The most controversial issue was the 42nd amendment to the Constitution of India, which deprived citizens of direct access to the Supreme Court, except when violation of the fundamental rights resulted from Union law. The Parliament was given unrestrained power to amend any parts of the Constitution.
Janata Party | Emergency
The economic policies of Modi's government focused on privatisation and liberalisation of the economy, based on a neoliberal framework. Modi liberalised India's foreign direct investment policies, allowing more foreign investment in several industries, including in defence and the railways. Other proposed reforms included making it harder for workers to form unions and easier for employers to hire and fire them; some of these proposals were dropped after protests. The reforms drew strong opposition from unions: on 2 September 2015, eleven of the country's largest unions went on strike, including one affiliated with the BJP. The Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, a constituent of the Sangh Parivar, stated that the underlying motivation of labour reforms favoured corporations over labourers.
Narendra Modi | Economic policy
The government was even able to exceed the targeted growth figure with an annual growth rate of 5.0–5.2% over the five-year period of the plan (1974–79). The economy grew at the rate of 9% in 1975–76 alone, and the Fifth Plan, became the first plan during which the per capita income of the economy grew by over 5%.
Economic policy of the Indira Gandhi government | State of Emergency and the Fifth Five-Year Plan
The United Front government attempted a progressive budget that encouraged reforms, but the 1997 Asian financial crisis and political instability created economic stagnation. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)–Atal Bihari Vajpayee administration surprised many by continuing reforms, when it was at the helm of affairs of India for six years, from 1998–99 and from 1999–2004. The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance Coalition began privatizing under-performing government-owned business including hotels, VSNL, Maruti Suzuki, and airports. The coalition also began reducing taxes, a fiscal policy aimed at reducing deficits and debts and increased initiatives for public works. Towards the end of 2011, the Congress-led UPA-2 Coalition Government initiated the introduction of 51% Foreign Direct Investment in retail sector.
Economic liberalisation in India | Later reforms
The Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, a constituent of the Sangh Parivar, stated that the reforms would hurt laborers by making it easier for corporations to exploit them. In his first budget, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley promised to gradually reduce the budgetary deficit from 4.1% to 3% over two years, and to divest from shares in public banks. Over Modi's first year in office, the Indian GDP grew at a rate of 7.5%, making it the fastest growing large economy. For this the basis was a revised formula introduced a year after he took office, which surprised a lot of economists. However, this rate of growth had fallen significantly to 6.1%, even by the revised metric, by his third year in office.
Premiership of Narendra Modi | Economic policies
Exchange Rate became stable and predictable; the inflation rate dropped to 3.5% last 3 years as against 11–12% in 1990. After taking control of the economy, Aziz aggressively promoted the privatisation, deregulation and economic liberalisation programme and open the large heavy mechanical industries, petroleum companies, electropetroleum and chemical enterprises and state-owned corporations to private sectors. His tenure as finance minister and prime minister, the agriculture production and construction well increased, whilst aggressively and forcefully implementing his policies to liberalise the trade, and eliminated the non-tariff barriers. Under his regime, the maximum bound tariffs were brought down to high as 300% to 25% whilst the applied tariff averages falls in the range of 5% to 10%.
Shaukat Aziz | Economic policy
Though he was a socialist, Shastri stated that India cannot have a regimented type of economy. His government passed the National Agricultural Products Board Act and was responsible for setting up the Food Corporation of India under the Food Corporation's Act 1964.
Lal Bahadur Shastri | Economic policies
The economic policies of Modi's government focused on privatisation and liberalisation of the economy, based on a neoliberal framework. Modi liberalised India's foreign direct investment policies, allowing more foreign investment in several industries, including in defence and the railways. Other reforms included removing many of the country's labor laws, to make it harder for workers to form unions and easier for employers to hire and fire them. These reforms met with support from institutions such as the World Bank, but opposition from scholars within the country. The labour laws also drew strong opposition from unions: on 2 September 2015, eleven of the country's largest unions went on strike, including one affiliated with the BJP.
Premiership of Narendra Modi | Economic policies
On 25 June 1975, the President of India, Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, accepted prime minister Indira Gandhi's recommendation to declare a state of national emergency. Indira argued that the political and civil disorder constituted a threat to national security. A state of emergency enabled the central government to issue executive decrees without requiring the consent of Parliament. Elections were postponed and public gatherings, rallies and strikes were banned. Curfews were imposed and police forces were empowered to make warrantless searches, seizures and arrests. Indira's government imposed "President's rule" in the states of Tamil Nadu and Gujarat, dismissing the governments controlled by opposition political parties.
Janata Party | Emergency
On July 24, 1991, Manmohan Singh presented the budget alongside his outline for broader reform. During the speech he laid out a new trade policy oriented towards promoting exports and removing import controls. Specifically, he proposed limiting tariff rates to no more than 150 percent while also lowering rates across the board, reducing excise duties, and abolishing export subsidies. In August 1991, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor established the Narasimham Committee to recommend changes to the financial system. Recommendations included reducing the statutory liquidity ratio (SLR) and cash reserve ratio (CRR) from 38.5% and 15% respectively to 25% and 10% respectively, allowing market forces to dictate interest rates instead of the government, placing banks under the sole control of the RBI, and reducing the number of public sector banks.
Economic liberalisation in India | Liberalization of 1991
In 1991, India's fiscal deficit was close to 8.5 per cent of the gross domestic product, the balance of payments deficit was huge and the current account deficit was close to 3.5 percent of India's GDP. India's foreign reserves barely amounted to US$1 billion, enough to pay for 2 weeks of imports, in comparison to US$283 billion today. Evidently, India was facing an economic crisis. At this point, the government of India sought funds from the supranational International Monetary Fund, which, while assisting India financially, imposed several conditions regarding India's economic policy. In effect, IMF-dictated policy meant that the ubiquitous Licence Raj had to be dismantled, and India's attempt at a state-controlled economy had to end.
Manmohan Singh | Minister of Finance
The Fifth Five-Year Plan (1974–79) was enacted in the backdrop of the state of emergency and the "Twenty Point Program" of 1975. The latter was the economic rationale of the emergency, a political act which has often been justified on economic grounds. In contrast to the reception of Gandhi's earlier economic plan, this one was criticized for being a "hastily thrown together wish list." Gandhi promised to reduce poverty by targeting the consumption levels of the poor and enact wide-ranging social and economic reforms. The government additionally targeted an annual growth of 4.4% over the period of the plan. The measures of the emergency regime was able to halt the economic trouble of the early to mid-1970s, which had been marred by harvest failures, fiscal contraction, and the breakdown of the Bretton Woods system of fixed exchanged rate; the resulting turbulence in the foreign exchange markets being further accentuated by the oil shock of 1973.
Economic policy of the Indira Gandhi government | State of Emergency and the Fifth Five-Year Plan
"Bloomberg" highlighted India's slowing economy amidst a record high current account deficit and a falling rupee in summer 2013. It pointed out to a lack of infrastructure investment and a government increasingly likely to give subsidies the national finances cannot afford just before the election. Other points it mentioned were stagnant policymaking and an inefficient bureaucracy. The economy was the main issue in the campaign. The lack of a clear mandate as a result of the election could lead to an increase in the price of gold in the country.
Bharatiya Janata Party campaign for the 2014 Indian general election | Economy
The history of economic policy of Congress-led governments can be divided into two periods. The first period lasted from independence, in 1947, to 1991 and put great emphasis on the public sector. The second period began with economic liberalization in 1991. At the beginning of the first period, the Congress prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru implemented policies based on import substitution industrialization and advocated a mixed economy where the government-controlled public sector would co-exist with the private sector. He believed that the establishment of basic and heavy industry was fundamental to the development and modernisation of the Indian economy. The government, therefore, directed investment primarily into key public-sector industries—steel, iron, coal, and power—promoting their development with subsidies and protectionist policies.
Indian National Congress | Economic policy
Under the policies initiated by late Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao and his then-Finance Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, India's economy expanded rapidly. The economic reforms were a reaction to an impending balance of payment crisis. The Rao administration initiated the privatisation of large, inefficient, and loss-inducing government corporations. The UF government had attempted a progressive budget that encouraged reforms, but the 1997 Asian financial crisis and political instability created economic stagnation. The Vajpayee administration continued with privatisation, reduction of taxes, a sound fiscal policy aimed at reducing deficits and debts, and increased initiatives for public works. Cities like Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, and Ahmedabad have risen in prominence and economic importance, becoming centres of rising industries and destinations for foreign investment and firms.
History of India (1947–present) | Economic reforms
Sanjay Gandhi had masterminded the Union government's unpopular campaign of family planning, which had allegedly involved forcible sterilisation of young men by government officials. Sanjay Gandhi had also instigated the demolition of slums in the Jama Masjid area of New Delhi, the national capital, which left thousands of people, mostly Muslims, homeless. Indian labourers, urban workers, teachers and government employees were also disenchanted by wage freezes and the curtailing of trade union activities and rights.
Janata Party | Emergency
The collapse of the Soviet Union, which was India's major trading partner, and the Gulf War, which caused a spike in oil prices, resulted in a major balance-of-payments crisis for India, which found itself facing the prospect of defaulting on its loans. India asked for a $1.8 billion bailout loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which in return demanded de-regulation. In response, the Narasimha Rao government, including Finance Minister Manmohan Singh, initiated economic reforms in 1991. The reforms did away with the Licence Raj, reduced tariffs and interest rates and ended many public monopolies, allowing automatic approval of foreign direct investment in many sectors.
Economy of India | Post-liberalisation period (since 1991)
Singh, an acclaimed economist and former chairman of the Reserve Bank, played a central role in implementing these reforms.
Indian National Congress | Economic policy
But Patel declined. Rao then chose Manmohan Singh for the job. Manmohan Singh, an acclaimed economist, played a central role in implementing these reforms. Major reforms in India's capital markets led to an influx of foreign portfolio investment. The major economic policies adopted by Rao include: The impact of these reforms may be gauged from the fact that total foreign investment (including foreign direct investment, portfolio investment, and investment raised on international capital markets) in India grew from a minuscule US$132 million in 1991–92 to $5.3 billion in 1995–96. Rao began industrial policy reforms with the manufacturing sector. He slashed industrial licensing, leaving only 18 industries subject to licensing.
P. V. Narasimha Rao | Economic reforms
The economy of India is characterised as a developing market economy. It is the world's sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and the third-largest by purchasing power parity (PPP). According to the IMF, on a per capita income basis, India ranked 139th by GDP (nominal) and 118th by GDP (PPP) in 2018. From independence in 1947 until 1991, successive governments promoted protectionist economic policies with extensive state intervention and regulation which is characterised as Dirigism. The end of the Cold War and an acute balance of payments crisis in 1991 led to the adoption of a broad program of economic liberalisation.
Economy of India | Introduction
Singh's ministry enact a National Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in 2005. Singh's government has continued the Golden Quadrilateral and the highway modernisation program that was initiated by Vajpayee's government. Singh has also been working on reforming the banking and financial sectors, as well as public sector companies. The Finance ministry has been working towards relieving farmers of their debt and has been working towards pro-industry policies. In 2005, Singh's government introduced the value added tax, replacing sales tax. In 2007 and early 2008, the global problem of inflation impacted India.
Manmohan Singh | Economic policy
Modi's government put in place the Goods and Services Tax, the biggest tax reform in the country since independence. It subsumed around 17 different taxes and became effective from 1 July 2017.
Narendra Modi | Economic policy
The economic package is nearly 10% of the GDP. He added that Special economic package was for labourers, farmers, honest tax payers, MSMEs and cottage industries Modi added that the five main pillars India stands on are – economy, infrastructure, governing systems, vibrant democracy and supply chain.
Indian government response to the COVID-19 pandemic | Communication and economic stimulus
In a policy statement, Gillani stated that the "country's GDP growth rate will be 4% basically due to the enhanced agricultural production and the web of taxation has been increased". The tax collection in 2011 was more 27% comparing to 2010. An unsuccessful attempt was carried out by Gillani's government to privatise the mega-state corporations, particularly the power sector; major nationalised industries such as WAPDA, IESCo, TESCo, PEPCo were proposed by the finance ministry to privatise the power distribution companies. Major worker's strike were initiated by the central labour unions, and after receiving much criticism, his government halted the privatisation programme of energy sector, and nationalised the remaining power sector industries due to public pressure.
Yousaf Raza Gillani | Financial and economic policy
The Vajpayee government expanded the process of economic liberalisation initiated by the P.V. Narasimha Rao government (1991–1996). His government initiated the privatisation of most state corporations, including the Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd. His government also began the establishment of special export processing zones, Information Technology and Industrial Parks across the country to bolster industrial production and exports. In its third term (1999–2004), his government launched the National Highway Development Project, with the first phase being the Golden Quadrilateral. In 2003, the government launched the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman (Honouring of Non-Resident Indians) and initiated plans to establish an Overseas citizenship of India to enable NRIs to invest and do business freely in India.
Premiership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee | Economic policy
1990 - 2005 Caste and Criminalisation The Rashtriya Janata Dal leader, Lalu Prasad's, support of social justice ensured that politics was dominated by Mandal politics and caste rather than development during this period. Also, the criminalisation of politics during this time created a business unfriendly climate and contributed to the economic collapse. The biggest crisis business faced was with organised kidnapping, which was linked to the ruling RJD. The resulting crisis led to a flight of capital, middle class professionals, and business leaders to other parts of India. The flight of business and capital increased unemployment and this led to the mass migration of Bihari farmers and unemployed youth to more developed states of India.
Economy of Bihar | Collapse
Indian economic policy after independence was influenced by the colonial experience, which was seen as exploitative by Indian leaders exposed to British social democracy and the planned economy of the Soviet Union. Domestic policy tended towards protectionism, with a strong emphasis on import substitution industrialisation, economic interventionism, a large government-run public sector, business regulation, and central planning, while trade and foreign investment policies were relatively liberal. Five-Year Plans of India resembled central planning in the Soviet Union. Steel, mining, machine tools, telecommunications, insurance, and power plants, among other industries, were effectively nationalised in the mid-1950s. The Indian economy of this period is characterised as Dirigism.
Economy of India | Pre-liberalisation period (1947–1991)
GDP and GNP grew 3.9 and 4.0% annually between 1950–1951 and 1964–1965. It was a radical break from the British colonial period, but the growth rates were considered anemic at best in comparison to other industrial powers in Europe and East Asia. India lagged behind the miracle economies (Japan, West Germany, France, and Italy). State planning, controls, and regulations were argued to have impaired economic growth. While India's economy grew faster than both the United Kingdom and the United States, low initial income and rapid population increase meant that growth was inadequate for any sort of catch-up with rich income nations.
Jawaharlal Nehru | Economic policies
The main economy is dependent on agriculture. A major sector of economy is also dependent on its tourism, since it is a historical place. Some of the main agricultural products are rice, potato and jute. Only large scale industry here is formed by about 20 cold storages of potato. A few of the percentage of the people are government employees, School Teachers and employed in other small private sectors. The financial status of most of the people is in middle class and lower middle class category.
Chandrakona | Economy
Indian economic policy after independence was influenced by the colonial experience (which was seen by Indian leaders as exploitative in nature) and by those leaders' exposure to Fabian socialism. Policy tended towards protectionism, with a strong emphasis on import substitution industrialization under state monitoring, state intervention at the micro level in all businesses especially in labour and financial markets, a large public sector, business regulation, and central planning. Five-Year Plans of India resembled central planning in the Soviet Union. Under the Industrial Development Regulation Act of 1951, steel, mining, machine tools, water, telecommunications, insurance, and electrical plants, among other industries, were effectively nationalised.
Economic liberalisation in India | Pre-liberalization policies
Angus Maddison's historical dataset shows Indian GDP actually rose around 1% from 1929-32, a much better outcome than for most other economies. Rice, wheat, etc., could be used for private consumption but the cash crops which they now cultivated could not be used for private consumption. As there was little sale of indigenous manufactures and limited exports, commodities accumulated and the flow of cash was restricted. Moreover, imports were severely affected by the Swadeshi movement and the boycott of foreign goods imposed by Indian Freedom Fighters. There was a deficiency of money in many places causing widespread poverty. In such a condition, the most recommended course of action is the devaluation of currency.
Great Depression in India | Economic policy of the Raj during the Depression
Adopted to avert impending 1991 economic crisis, the reforms progressed furthest in the areas of opening up to foreign investment, reforming capital markets, deregulating domestic business, and reforming the trade regime. Rao's government's goals were reducing the fiscal deficit, privatisation of the public sector and increasing investment in infrastructure. Trade reforms and changes in the regulation of foreign direct investment were introduced to open India to foreign trade while stabilising external loans. Rao wanted I. G. Patel as his Finance Minister. Patel was an official who helped prepare 14 budgets, an ex-governor of Reserve Bank of India and had headed The London School of Economics.
P. V. Narasimha Rao | Economic reforms
Economic issues like poverty, unemployment, development are main issues that influence politics. "Garibi Hatao" (eradicate poverty) has been a slogan of the Indian National Congress for a long time. The well known Bharatiya Janata Party encourages a free market economy. The more popular slogan in this field is "Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas" (Cooperation with all, progress of all). The Communist Party of India (Marxist) vehemently supports left-wing politics like land-for-all, right to work and strongly opposes neoliberal policies such as globalisation, capitalism and privatisation.
Politics of India | Economic problems
While commenting on his policies in 1973, Bhutto told the group of investors that belonged to the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) that "activity of public sector or state sector prevents the concentration of economic power in few hands, and protects the small and medium entrepreneurs from the clutches of giant enterprises and vested interests." Bhutto's shift away from some socialist policies badly upset his democratic socialist alliance and many in the Pakistan Peoples Party, many of his colleagues, most notable Malik Mirage left Bhutto and departed to Soviet Union after resigning from Law Minister. Continuous disagreement led the government's socialist alliance to collapse and further uniting with secular Independence Movement led by Asghar Khan.
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto | Economic policy
Manmohan explained to the PM and the party that India is facing an unprecedented crisis. However the rank and file of the party resisted deregulation. So Chidambaram and Manmohan explained to the party that the economy would collapse if it was not deregulated. To the dismay of the party, Rao allowed Manmohan to deregulate the Indian economy.
Manmohan Singh | Minister of Finance
As free-market reforms empowered the states to develop their own economic and social policies, subnational and not national political incumbents, often representing regional or state parties, were increasingly held responsible for changes in the "economic life" of the states they governed. The salience of economic issues (especially unemployment and lack of overall development during the state incumbents' term in office) in post 2019 assembly elections in Haryana and Maharashtra vindicates Sharma-Swenden thesis.
Economic voting | Introduction
This rule was interrupted between 1977 and 1980, when the Janata Party coalition won the election owing to public discontent with the controversial state of emergency declared by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. The Janata Dal won elections in 1989, but its government managed to hold on to power for only two years.
Politics of India | Role of political parties
This led some Congress party leaders to demand a move towards a presidential system emergency declaration with a more powerful directly elected executive. The most significant of the initial such movement was the Nav Nirman movement in Gujarat, between December 1973 and March 1974. Student unrest against the state's education minister ultimately forced the central government to dissolve the state legislature, leading to the resignation of the chief minister, Chimanbhai Patel, and the imposition of President's rule. After the re-elections in June 1977, Gandhi's party was defeated by the Janata alliance, formed by parties opposed to the ruling Congress party.
The Emergency (India) | Political unrest
In his election manifesto for the 1984 general election, he did not mention any economic reforms, but after assuming office he tried to liberalise the country's economy. He did so by providing incentives to make private production profitable. Subsidies were given to corporate companies to increase industrial production, especially of durable goods. It was hoped this would increase economic growth and improve the quality of investment. But according to Professor Atul Kohli of Princeton University in a book published by Cambridge University, Gandhi faced stiff opposition from Congress leadership who thought "it would open the economy to external economic influences".
Rajiv Gandhi | Economic policy
Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of India, along with the statistician Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis, formulated and oversaw economic policy during the initial years of the country's independence. They expected favourable outcomes from their strategy, involving the rapid development of heavy industry by both public and private sectors, and based on direct and indirect state intervention, rather than the more extreme Soviet-style central command system. The policy of concentrating simultaneously on capital- and technology-intensive heavy industry and subsidising manual, low-skill cottage industries was criticised by economist Milton Friedman, who thought it would waste capital and labour, and retard the development of small manufacturers.
Economy of India | Pre-liberalisation period (1947–1991)
In 1991, Singh as Finance Minister, freed India from the Licence Raj, source of slow economic growth and corruption in the Indian economy for decades. He liberalised the Indian economy, allowing it to speed up development dramatically. During his term as Prime Minister, Singh continued to encourage growth in the Indian market, enjoying widespread success in these matters. Singh, along with the former Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram, has presided over a period where the Indian economy has grown with an 8–9% economic growth rate. In 2007, India achieved its highest GDP growth rate of 9% and became the second fastest growing major economy in the world.
Manmohan Singh | Economic policy
Despite this, Bajnai made a reform in taxes, pensions, public sector bonuses, maternity support, mortgage subsidies, energy subsidies and public transport subsidies.
Gordon Bajnai | Economic policy
Despite the initiatives undertaken by Bhutto's government to boost the country's economy, the economical growth remained at equilibrium level. But Bhutto's policy largely benefited the poor and working class when the level of absolute poverty was sharply reduced, with the percentage of the population estimated to be living in absolute poverty falling from 46.50% by the end of 1979–80, under the General Zia-ul-Haq's military rule, to 30.78%. The land reform programme provided increased economic support to landless tenants, and development spending was substantially increased, particularly on health and education, in both rural and urban areas, and provided "material support" to rural wage workers, landless peasants, and urban wage workers.
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto | Economic policy
He famously said, " "प्रजा मोटो भए दरबार पनि बलियो रहन्छ "" (If the people are capable then the palace will also remain stronger).
Prithvi Narayan Shah | Economic Policy
This fall has been blamed on the exercise of demonetisation of currency. The funds dedicated to poverty reduction programs and social welfare measures was greatly decreased by the Modi administration. The money spent on social programs declined from 14.6% of GDP during the Congress government to 12.6% during Modi's first year in office. Spending on health and family welfare declined by 15%, and on primary and secondary education, by 16%. The budgetary allocation for the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, or the "education for all" program, declined by 22%. The government also lowered corporate taxes, abolished the wealth tax, and reduced customs duties on gold, jewelry, and increased sales taxes.
Premiership of Narendra Modi | Economic policies
Gandhi inherited a weak and troubled economy. Fiscal problems associated with the war with Pakistan in 1965, along with a drought-induced food crisis that spawned famines, had plunged India into the sharpest recession since independence. The government responded by taking steps to liberalize the economy, and by agreeing to the devaluation of the currency in return for the restoration of foreign aid. The economy managed to recover in 1966 and ended up growing at 4.1% over 1966–1969. But, much of that growth was offset by the fact that the external aid promised by the United States government and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), meant to ease the short-run costs of adjustment to a liberalized economy, never materialized.
Economic policy of the Indira Gandhi government | Green Revolution and the Fourth Five-Year Plan
The Indian National Congress attracted support from Indians of all classes, castes and religions opposed to the British Empire. The Janata Party which came into power in India in 1977, was a catch-all party which consisted of people with different ideologies opposed to The Emergency.
Big tent | India
The Janata Party's 298 seats and its allies' 47 seats (of a total 542) gave it a massive majority. Morarji Desai became the first non-Congress Prime Minister of India. Voters in the electorally largest state of Uttar Pradesh, historically a Congress stronghold, turned against Gandhi and her party failed to win a single seat in the state. Dhanagare says the structural reasons behind the discontent against the Government included the emergence of the strong and united opposition, disunity and weariness inside Congress, an effective underground opposition, and the ineffectiveness of Gandhi's control of the mass media, which had lost much credibility.
The Emergency (India) | Elections of 1977
During Lal Bahadur Shastri's last full year in office (1965), inflation averaged 7.7%, compared to 5.2% at the end of Gandhi's first stint in office (1977). On average, inflation in India had remained below 7% through the 1950s and 1960s. But, it then accelerated sharply in the 1970s, from 5.5% in 1970–71 to over 20% by 1973–74, due to the international oil crisis. Gandhi declared inflation the gravest of problems in 1974 (at 25.2%) and devised a severe anti-inflation program. The government was successful in bringing down inflation during the emergency; achieving negative figures of −1.1% by the end of 1975–76.
Economic policy of the Indira Gandhi government | Inflation and unemployment
The party's economic policy has been changed significantly from the Vlaams Blok. While the Vlaams Blok called for a rather mixed economy, the Vlaams Belang has moved towards neoliberalism. However, for the 2019 federal election the party adopted a centre-left economic program.
Vlaams Belang | Economy
Gandhi inherited a weak economy when she became prime minister again in 1980. The preceding year—1979–80—under the Janata Party government saw the strongest recession (−5.2%) in the history of modern India with inflation rampant at 18.2%. Gandhi proceeded to abrogate the Janata Party government's Five-Year Plan in 1980 and launched the Sixth Five-Year Plan (1980–85). Her government targeted an average growth rate of 5.2% over the period of the plan. Measures to check inflation were also taken; by the early 1980s it was under control at an annual rate of about 5%. Although Gandhi continued professing socialist beliefs, the Sixth Five-Year Plan was markedly different from the years of Garibi Hatao.
Indira Gandhi | Operation Forward and the Sixth Five-Year Plan
Bajnai took over an economy that was expected to contract by 6 percent in 2009 and was kept afloat by a $25.1 billion IMF-led lifeline. Foreign investors were declining to finance Hungary's high budget and then current account deficits, and the forint's weakness threatened hundreds of thousands of families who took out foreign currency mortgages. Bajnai must have had to cut spending to rescue the budget, keep within IMF guidelines and regain investor confidence. The Bajnai government had four main goals: Handling the ruling Socialists might have been his most difficult task. He needed their votes but a sizeable section of the party viewed Bajnai with contempt because cuts in welfare spending was seen as eroding the party's traditional voter base.
Gordon Bajnai | Economic policy
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Rajnath Singh criticised the budget, claiming that the government failed to fulfil the people's expectations. BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu described the Budget as "escapist" and alleged that no steps were taken to attract investment or to provide relief for farmers. Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM) leader Brinda Karat termed the Budget as s pro-rich and claimed that there were no major allocations in health, education and food subsidy. Communist Party of India (CPI) leader Gurudas Dasgupta criticised the projected economic growth as 'utopian'. RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav described the Budget as balanced but criticised it for not providing funds for reconstruction of Bihar following the floods in Kosi.
2009 Union budget of India | Political parties
Under social equality, everyone has equal status and opportunities. Economic equality in this context means that the government will endeavour to make the distribution of wealth more equal and provide a decent standard of living for all. Following independence, the Indian government officially adopted a policy of non-alignment, although it had an affinity with the USSR. The party's commitment to socialism has waned in recent years, particularly following the assassination of Indira Gandhi and her son Rajiv Gandhi. Elected in 1991, the government of Narasimha Rao introduced economic liberalisation with the support of finance minister Manmohan Singh, who later on became the prime minister of India (2004-2014).
Socialism in India | Political parties
Nehru implemented policies based on import substitution industrialization and advocated a mixed economy where the government controlled public sector would co-exist with the private sector. He believed that the establishment of basic and heavy industry was fundamental to the development and modernisation of the Indian economy. The government, therefore, directed investment primarily into key public sector industries—steel, iron, coal, and power—promoting their development with subsidies and protectionist policies. The policy of non-alignment during the Cold War meant that Nehru received financial and technical support from both power blocs in building India's industrial base from scratch. Steel mill complexes were built at Bokaro and Rourkela with assistance from the Soviet Union and West Germany.
Jawaharlal Nehru | Economic policies
To lower the price of consumer goods, the state took measures to decrease inflation and enact reforms on the internal practices of the factories. The government also fixed prices, in an attempt to halt the scissor effect. The NEP succeeded in creating an economic recovery after the devastation of World War I, the Russian Revolution, and the Russian Civil War. By 1925, in the wake of Lenin's NEP, a "... major transformation was occurring politically, economically, culturally and spiritually." Small-scale and light industries were largely in the hands of private entrepreneurs or cooperatives. By 1928, agricultural and industrial production had been restored to the 1913 (pre-World War I) level.
New Economic Policy | Results
The collapse of the Chandra Shekhar government in the midst of the crisis and the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi lead to the election of a new Congress government lead by P. V. Narasimha Rao. He selected Amar Nath Verma to be his Principal Secretary and Manmohan Singh to be finance minister and gave them complete support in doing whatever they thought was necessary to solve the crisis. Verma helped draft the New Industrial Policy alongside Chief Economic Advisor Rakesh Mohan, and it laid out a plan to foster Indian industry in five points. Firstly, it abolished the License Raj by removing licensing restrictions for all industries except for 18 that "related to security and strategic concerns, social reasons, problems related to safety and overriding environmental issues." To incentivize foreign investment, it laid out a plan to pre-approve all investment up to 51% foreign equity participation, allowing foreign companies to bring modern technology and industrial development.
Economic liberalisation in India | Liberalization of 1991
India's overall economic package was announced as , 10% of India's GDP. The package, though announced on 12 May by the Prime Minister, included previous government actions, including the RBI announcements. The previous RBI announcements included around liquidity. the economic package also included the Finance Minister announcement of a package totaling on 26 March. The strategy of combining fiscal and monetary, liquidity measures was defended by the government. Sitharaman explained that other countries had also done the same. Estimates of the size of India's fiscal stimulus as a percentage of GDP varied between 0.75% to 1.3%. The Finance Minister, for five days, between 13 and 17 May, held press conferences in which the details of the economic package was explained.
Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in India | Economic package
There was a complete turnaround in economic policy under him as the previous policies had led to economic stagnation. He opened the heavily state-controlled economy to market forces, which many credit with subsequent economic growth. He opened up the economy and introduced more liberal economic policies emphasizing private sector led development. Policies were changed to create an environment conducive to foreign and local investment, with the objective of promoting export led growth shifting from previous policies of import substitution. To facilitate export oriented enterprises and to administer Export Processing Zones the Greater Colombo Economic Commission was established. Food subsidies were curtailed and targeted through a Food Stamps Scheme extended to the poor.
J. R. Jayewardene | Economy
The Great Depression struck the province at the fag end of P. Subbarayan's tenure and lasted the whole span of the Munuswamy Naidu and Bobbili governments. The policy of the Raja of Bobbili during the Depression was alleged to be one of the indifference to plight of the peasants and the poor. The government expressed its complete solidarity with the Governor and his executive council. As a result, while the Government endorsed the measures taken by the governor it did not criticize those that were detrimental to the common man. The ministry is alleged to have done little for the financial relief of the common man apart from making recommendations or expressing sympathy and grief.
Ramakrishna Ranga Rao of Bobbili | Policy during the Great Depression
He introduced measures to significantly reduce the "Licence Raj" after 1990, allowing businesses and individuals to purchase capital, consumer goods and import without bureaucratic restrictions.
Rajiv Gandhi | Economic policy
As the government liberalised its economic policies, economic growth surged and the foundation was laid for India becoming one of the fastest growing economies of the world. The former Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh was instrumental in bringing about this change although India, with its socialist past, could not push economic reforms as aggressively as China which raced ahead during this decade from being just ahead of India to a GDP double that of India (a 4 times higher rate of growth) due to its more aggressive rate of economic reform. The License Raj came to an end. GDP per capita nearly doubled from US$1,380 in 1990 to US$2,420 in 2000.
1990s in India | Economy
The program of economic policy reform which was put in place in 1991 has yielded amazing results, dramatically improving the quality of life in India. Trade liberalisation in India has also corresponded with a dramatic rise in inequality and associated social issues, but these are normal for a developing economy. The Indian GDP rose from $266 billion in 1991 (inflation adjusted) to $3 trillion in 2019 (1100% increase) while its purchasing power parity rose from $1 trillion in 1991 to $12 trillion in 2019 (1100% increase).
1991 Indian economic crisis | Aftermath
By 1991, India still had a fixed exchange rate system, where the rupee was pegged to the value of a basket of currencies of major trading partners. India started having balance of payments problems in 1985, and by the end of 1990, the state of India was in a serious economic crisis. The government was close to default, its central bank had refused new credit, and foreign exchange reserves had reduced to the point that India could barely finance three weeks’ worth of imports.
Economic liberalisation in India | Crisis Leading to Reforms
She was barred from contesting any election for the next six years. Economic problems, corruption and the conviction of Gandhi led to widespread protests against the Congress (R) government, which responded by imposing a State of Emergency. The rationale was that of preserving national security. However, the government introduced press censorship, postponed elections and banned strikes and rallies. Opposition leaders such as Jivatram Kripalani, Jayaprakash Narayan, Chandra Shekhar, Biju Patnaik, , Atal Bihari Vajpayee, L. K. Advani, Raj Narain, Satyendra Narayan Sinha, Ramnandan Mishra and Morarji Desai were imprisoned, along with thousands of other political activists. When the State of Emergency was lifted and new elections called in 1977, opposition political parties such as the Congress (O), Bharatiya Jana Sangh, Bharatiya Lok Dal as well as defectors from the Congress (R) joined to form the Janata party, which won a sweeping majority in the Indian Parliament.
Janata Party | Introduction
The economic liberalization in India refers to the economic liberalization of the country's economic policies with the goal of making the economy more market and service-oriented and expanding the role of private and foreign investment. Although unsuccessful attempts at liberalization were made in 1966 and the early 1980s, full liberalization was initiated in 1991. Specific changes included reducing import tariffs, deregulating markets, and reducing taxes, all of which lead to an increase in foreign investment and high economic growth in the 1990s and 2000s. From 1992 to 2005, foreign investment increased 316.9% and India's gross domestic product (GDP) grew from $266 billion in 1991 to $2.3 trillion in 2018 International business analysts argue that Indian government coalitions should continue liberalization.
Economic liberalisation in India | Introduction
Populist programs and policies were replaced by pragmatism. There was an emphasis on tightening public expenditures, greater efficiency of the state-owned enterprises (SOE), which Gandhi qualified as a "sad thing", and in stimulating the private sector through deregulation and liberation of the capital market. The government subsequently launched "Operation Forward" in 1982, the first cautious attempt at reform. The Sixth Plan went on to become the most successful of the Five-Year Plans yet; showing an average growth of 5.7% over 1980–85.
Economic policy of the Indira Gandhi government | Operation Forward and the Sixth Five-Year Plan
The central government also imposed censorship on radio, television and newspapers. Across the country, police forces arrested thousands of opposition political activists, as well as leaders such as Raj Narain, Jayaprakash Narayan, Jivatram Kripalani, Morarji Desai, Satyendra Narayan Sinha, Vijay Raje Scindhia, Charan Singh, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Lal Krishna Advani and others. Opposition political organisations such as the Hindu nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) were banned and their leaders arrested. Only the Communist Party of India supported the state of emergency. Due to the advancing age and failing health, Narayan was released from prison, but remained prohibited from political activity.
Janata Party | Emergency
that saw the economy record an unprecedented growth of 9.6% in 1999," Chaudhry declared. He said that in the five years of Qarase's leadership, public debt had doubled to F$2.3 billion, that basic infrastructure had deteriorated, and that the economy was on the brink of collapse.
Mahendra Chaudhry | Pro-business policies
The majority of the population has 100% farming as their primary occupation.
Mandave Kd | Economy
The Congress strongly endorses a mixed Capital economy in which both the private sector and the state direct the economy, reflecting characteristics of both market economies and planned economies. A leading economic theory advocated by the modern Tamil Nadu Congress party is import substitution industrialisation that advocates replacing foreign imports with domestic production. Party also believes that mixed economies often provide environmental protection, maintenance of employment standards, a standardized welfare system, and maintenance of competition. The Indian National Congress party liberalised the Indian economy, allowing it to speed up development dramatically.
Tamil Nadu Congress Committee | Economic policy
The funds dedicated to poverty reduction programmes and social welfare measures were greatly decreased by the Modi administration. The money spent on social programmes declined from 14.6% of GDP during the Congress government to 12.6% during Modi's first year in office. Spending on health and family welfare declined by 15%, and on primary and secondary education by 16%. The budgetary allocation for the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, or the "education for all" programme, declined by 22%. The government also lowered corporate taxes, abolished the wealth tax, increased sales taxes, and reduced customs duties on gold, and jewellery. In October 2014, the Modi government deregulated diesel prices.
Narendra Modi | Economic policy
Among the social, recreational and cultural facilities it had 1 cinema theatre, 1 auditorium/ community hall, 1 public library. Three important commodities it produced were: furniture, jute yarn, tea. It had branches of 2 nationalised banks, 1 private commercial bank and 1 cooperative bank.
Mainaguri | Infrastructure
During his tenure, automatic increases in governmental budgets by means of indices such as linkage and natural population growth were revoked and replaced by a law that capped annual budget growth at 1%. Welfare benefits were linked to the CPI (Consumer Price Index) instead of an average salary, child allowances were reduced and the budgetary pension of civil servants was replaced by a cumulative pension. The retirement age was raised, and the number of public sector workers reduced. The Labor Union (Histadrut) pension funds were also nationalized. According to Yogev, the overall plan implemented in this period was based on the approach not to harm the wealthier echelons (so that they would not leave the country), while the period of recession in these years was used to promote the reduction of organized labor in the economy.
Ori Yogev | Ministry of Finance
No timetable was given instead his government announced that the privatisation process would be completed when international market would be feasible. During his first years of government, Gillani's government obtained unprecedented loans from International Monetary Fund which increased the level of poverty in the country. In January 2012, Prime minister Gillani announced the "economic sector have been achieved during the first six months of the current fiscal due to the prudent policies of the present government". In the parliament, Gillani pointed out that the fiscal deficit had come down from 9.4% to 7.6% and inflation that had reached 25% had been reduced to 9.7% during December 2011.
Yousaf Raza Gillani | Financial and economic policy
During the Depression, the British Raj intensified the existing imperialistic economic policies. While these policies protected Britain's economy, they destroyed India's. Because the fall in prices had been higher in India compared to the rest of the world, the price of commodities manufactured in India rose dramatically compared to imports from the United Kingdom or some other country in the world. Farmers who were cultivating food crops had earlier moved over to cash crop cultivation in large numbers to meet the demands of the mills in the United Kingdom. Now, they were crippled as they were unable to sell their products in India due to the high prices; nor could they export the commodities to the United Kingdom which had recently adopted a protective policy prohibiting imports from India.
Great Depression in India | Economic policy of the Raj during the Depression
Narain defeated Gandhi at Rae Bareli in those elections. The new Janata-led government reversed many Emergency-era decrees and opened official investigations into Emergency-era abuses. Although several major foreign policy and economic reforms were attempted, continuous in-fighting and ideological differences made the Janata government unable to effectively address national problems. By mid-1979, Prime Minister Morarji Desai was forced to resign and his successor Chaudhary Charan Singh failed to sustain a parliamentary majority as alliance partners withdrew support. Popular disenchantment with the political in-fighting and ineffective government led to the resurgence of Gandhi and her new Congress (I) party, which won the general election called in 1980.
Janata Party | Introduction
Elaborate licences, regulations and the accompanying red tape, commonly referred to as Licence Raj, were required to set up business in India between 1947-90. The Indian economy of this period is characterised as Dirigism. Licence Raj established an "irresponsible, self-perpetuating bureaucracy" and corruption flourished under this system. Only four or five licences would be given for steel, electrical power and communications, allowing licence owners to build huge and powerful empires without competition. A huge public sector emerged, allowing state-owned enterprises to record huge losses without being shut down. Controls on business creation also lead to poor infrastructure development. By 1980, this had created widespread economic stagnation.
Economic liberalisation in India | Pre-liberalization policies
A five-year plan released in 1973 focused state investments into agriculture, rural infrastructure and cottage industries. But a famine occurred in 1974 when the price of rice rose sharply. In that month there was "widespread starvation started in Rangpur district. Government mismanagement had been blamed for that." During the Mujib regime the country witnessed, industrial decline, growing Indian control over Bangladesh's industries, and counterfeit money scandals.
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman | Economic policies
The annual growth rate of the Indian economy had stagnated around 3.5% from the 1950s to 1980s, while per-capita income growth averaged 1.3%. During the same period, Pakistan grew by 5%, Indonesia by 9%, Thailand by 9%, South Korea by 10% and Taiwan by 12%.
Economic liberalisation in India | Pre-liberalization policies
Gandhi inherited a tattered economy in her second term; harvest failures and a second oil shock in the late 1970s had again caused inflation to rise. During Charan Singh's short reign in office in the second half of 1979, inflation averaged 18.2%, compared to 6.5% during Gandhi's last year in office (1984). General economic recovery under Gandhi led to an average inflation at 6.5% from 1981–82 to 1985–86; the lowest since the beginning of India's inflation problems in the 1960s. Unemployment stayed constant at 9% over a nine-year period (1971–80) before declining to 8.3% in 1983.
Economic policy of the Indira Gandhi government | Inflation and unemployment
The Government cited threats to national security, as a war with Pakistan had recently been concluded. Due to the war and additional challenges of drought and the 1973 oil crisis, the economy was in poor condition. The Government claimed that the strikes and protests had paralysed the government and hurt the economy of the country greatly. In the face of massive political opposition, desertion and disorder across the country and the party, Gandhi stuck to the advice of a few loyalists and her younger son Sanjay Gandhi, whose own power had grown considerably over the last few years to become an "extra-constitutional authority".
The Emergency (India) | Proclamation of the Emergency
The Desai government ended India's support for the guerrillas loyal to Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding leader of Bangladesh, who had been assassinated in 1975 by military officers and replaced by a military regime that sought to distance itself from India. India also sought to improve relations with the United States, which had been strained due to the latter's support for Pakistan during the 1971 war and India's subsequent proximity with the Soviet Union. The Janata government announced its desire to achieve "genuine" non-alignment in the Cold War, which had been the long-standing national policy. In 1978, Jimmy Carter became the first U.S.
Janata Party | Foreign policy
This period was called the Licence Raj, or Permit Raj, which was the elaborate system of licences, regulations, and accompanying red tape that were required to set up and run businesses in India between 1947 and 1990. The Licence Raj was a result of Nehru and his successors' desire to have a planned economy where all aspects of the economy were controlled by the state, and licences were given to a select few. Up to 80 government agencies had to be satisfied before private companies could produce something; and, if the licence were granted, the government would regulate production. The licence raj system continued under Indira Gandhi.In addition, many key sectors such as banking, steel coal, and oil were nationalized.
Indian National Congress | Economic policy
The measures of the emergency regime was able to halt the economic trouble of the early to mid-1970s, which had been marred by harvest failures, fiscal contraction, and the breakdown of the Bretton Woods system of fixed exchanged rates. The resulting turbulence in the foreign exchange markets was accentuated further by the oil shock of 1973. The government was able to exceed the targeted growth figure with an annual growth rate of 5.0–5.2% over the five-year period of the plan (1974–79). The economy grew at the rate of 9% in 1975–76 alone, and the Fifth Plan, became the first plan during which the per capita income of the economy grew by over 5%.
Indira Gandhi | State of Emergency and the Fifth Five-Year Plan
During the 1970s and 1980s, Singh held several key posts in the Government of India, such as Chief Economic Advisor (1972–76), governor of the Reserve Bank (1982–85) and head of the Planning Commission (1985–87). In 1991, as India faced a severe economic crisis, newly elected Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao surprisingly inducted the apolitical Singh into his cabinet as Finance Minister. Over the next few years, despite strong opposition, he as a Finance Minister carried out several structural reforms that liberalised India's economy. Although these measures proved successful in averting the crisis, and enhanced Singh's reputation globally as a leading reform-minded economist, the incumbent Congress party fared poorly in the 1996 general election.
Manmohan Singh | Introduction
From 1951 until his death in 1964, Jawaharlal Nehru was the paramount leader of the party. Congress gained power in landslide victories in the general elections of 1951–52, 1957, and 1962. During his tenure, Nehru implemented policies based on import substitution industrialisation, and advocated a mixed economy where the government-controlled public sector co-existed with the private sector. He believed the establishment of basic and heavy industries was fundamental to the development and modernisation of the Indian economy. The Nehru government directed investment primarily into key public sector industries—steel, iron, coal, and power—promoting their development with subsidies and protectionist policies. Nehru embraced secularism, socialistic economic practices based on state-driven industrialisation, and a non-aligned and non-confrontational foreign policy that became typical of the modern Congress Party.
Indian National Congress | Nehru/Shastri era (1947–1966)
She began a new course by launching the Fourth Five-Year Plan in 1969. The government targeted growth at 5.7% while stating as its goals, "growth with stability and progressive achievement of self-reliance." The rationale behind the overall plan was Gandhi's "Ten Point Programme" of 1967. This had been her first economic policy formulation, six months after coming to office. The programme emphasized greater state control of the economy with the understanding that government control assured greater welfare than private control. Related to this point were a set of policies which were meant to regulate the private sector. By the end of the 1960s, the reversal of the liberalization process was complete, and India's policies were characterised as "protectionist as ever." To deal with India's food problems, Gandhi expanded the emphasis on production of inputs to agriculture that had already been initiated by her father, Jawaharlal Nehru.
Economic policy of the Indira Gandhi government | Green Revolution and the Fourth Five-Year Plan
Since then, the overall thrust of liberalisation has remained the same, although no government has tried to take on powerful lobbies such as trade unions and farmers, on contentious issues such as reforming labour laws and reducing agricultural subsidies. By the turn of the 21st century, India had progressed towards a free-market economy, with a substantial reduction in state control of the economy and increased financial liberalisation. This has been accompanied by increases in life expectancy, literacy rates, and food security, although urban residents have benefited more than rural residents. While the credit rating of India was hit by its nuclear weapons tests in 1998, it has since been raised to investment level in 2003 by Standard & Poor's (S&P) and Moody's.
Economy of India | Post-liberalisation period (since 1991)
In the 2019 Indian general election, unemployment in India was an issue. Economic issues like poverty, unemployment, development are main issues that influence politics. Garibi Hatao (eradicate poverty) has been a slogan of the Indian National Congress for a long time. The well known Bharatiya Janata Party encourages a free market economy. The more popular slogan in this field is Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas (Cooperation with all, progress of all). The Communist Party of India (Marxist) vehemently supports left-wing politics like land-for-all, right to work and strongly opposes neoliberal policies such as globalisation, capitalism and privatisation.
Unemployment in India | Politics