Integrity Score 270
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Prologue continues ......
The first few decades after Independence saw the gradual consolidation
of the democratic polity. Institutions such as an independent judiciary, the
Election Commission, the Comptroller and Auditor General, and the
Finance Commission were established which strengthened the democratic
and federal system. Similarly, the foundation for industrialization,
agricultural development, scientific advancement, power generation, etc.,
was laid immediately after Independence. Pandit Nehru had a vision of
India as a self-reliant and proud nation that would play an important role in world affairs.
The five-year plans on the Soviet model were introduced with a view to developing the economy by using the resources in a planned manner so that the problems of poverty and hunger could be solved. India faced serious challenges during these decades. It faced a number of wars from the neighbouring countries. The war with China in 1962 was devastating.
India lost the war. In 1965 Pakistan imposed a war on India. It resulted in a draw in the sense that India captured some territories of Pakistan and Pakistan occupied some of India’s territories. At the end of the war, under the mediation of Aleksey Nickolayevich Kosygin, Prime Minister of erstwhile Soviet Union, India returned to Pakistan the captured territories and thus lost the strategic advantages it secured in the war.
In 1971, again a war broke out between India and Pakistan during which the Indian Army entered Dhaka, capital of the then East Pakistan, and helped the Mukti Bahini, the militia of the freedom fighters of East Pakistan, to establish an independent nation – Bangladesh. At the end of the war, around one lakh soldiers of Pakistan under the command of Lieutenant General Niazi surrendered to the Indian Army. It was a moment of glory for the Indian Army, which had suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the Chinese Army in 1962.
To be continued....