Post-independence Consolidation and Reorganisation (till 1965)

What the official syllabus says

UPPCS Main Examination, General Studies I.

Post-independence consolidation and reorganization within the country (till 1965 A.D.).

Topics in detail

The syllabus stops at 1965. Study how the new state was built in its first two decades: integrating territory, writing the Constitution, reorganising states, planning the economy and dealing with neighbours.

Partition and its aftermath

• Partition violence and the movement of refugees; rehabilitation in Punjab, Delhi and Bengal
• Division of assets and services between India and Pakistan

Integration of the princely states

• Role of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and V. P. Menon; the Instrument of Accession and Standstill Agreements
• Junagadh, Hyderabad (police action, 1948) and Jammu and Kashmir (accession, October 1947)
• Merger and grouping of states (Part B states)
• French possessions (Pondicherry transferred de facto in 1954) and the liberation of Goa, Daman and Diu (1961)

Building democratic institutions

• The Constituent Assembly and the Constitution coming into force on 26 January 1950
• First general elections (1951-52) and the Election Commission
• Institutions set up under the Constitution: Supreme Court, CAG, UPSC, Finance Commission

Reorganisation of states

• Linguistic demands; the Dhar Commission and the JVP Committee (1948-49)
• Potti Sriramulu and the creation of Andhra State (1953)
• States Reorganisation Commission (Fazl Ali, 1953-55) and the States Reorganisation Act, 1956
• Bombay reorganisation into Maharashtra and Gujarat (1960); the creation of Nagaland (1963)

Language question

• Official language provisions (Articles 343 to 351)
• Official Languages Act, 1963 and the anti-Hindi agitation of 1965

Economic consolidation

• Planning Commission (1950); the First (1951-56), Second (1956-61, Mahalanobis model) and Third (1961-66) Five Year Plans
• Industrial Policy Resolutions of 1948 and 1956; the public sector and the mixed economy
• Land reforms: zamindari abolition (including the Uttar Pradesh Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act, 1950), tenancy reform, ceilings
• Bhoodan and Gramdan (Vinoba Bhave); the Community Development Programme (1952)
• Balwant Rai Mehta Committee (1957) and the start of Panchayati Raj (Nagaur, Rajasthan, 1959)

Foreign policy and security

• Non-alignment; Panchsheel (1954); the Bandung Conference (1955); the Belgrade summit of non-aligned countries (1961)
• The Kashmir war of 1947-48 and the UN ceasefire
• The China war of 1962 and its effects on defence policy
• The India-Pakistan war of 1965

Tribal and regional integration

• Tribal policy and the Fifth and Sixth Schedules
• Early movements in the North-East (Naga, Mizo) and their handling

Overlaps

The Constitution and federal relations are studied in depth in General Studies II; planning and land reform carry into General Studies III.