Indira Gandhi

Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (इन्दिरा प्रियदर्शिनी गान्धी) (November 19, 1917 – October 31, 1984) was Prime Minister of India from January 19, 1966 to March 24, 1977, and from January 14, 1980 until her assassination in 1984. She was one of modern India's most important political leaders.

Nuclear Security and the Green Revolution

During the 1971 War, the US had sent its 7th 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. This move had further alienated India from the First World, and Indira now accelerated a previously cautious new direction in national security and foreign policy. India and the USSR had earlier signed the Treaty of Friendship and Mutual Cooperation, the resulting political and military support contributing substantially to India's victory in the 1971 war. But Indira now also accelerated the National nuclear program, as it was felt that the nuclear threat from China and the intrusive interest of the two major superpowers were not conducive to India's stability and security. Indira also invited the new Pakistani President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto to Shimla for a week-long summit. After near-failure of the talks, Bhutto and Indira eventually signed the Shimla Agreement, which bound the two countries to resolve the Kashmir dispute by negotiations and peaceful means. Indira was heavily criticized for not extracting the Pakistan-occupied portion of Kashmir from a humiliated Pakistan, whose 93,000 POWs were under Indian control. But the agreement did remove immediate United Nations and third party interference, and much reduced the likelihood of Pakistan launching a major attack in the near future. By not demanding total capitulation on a sensitive issue from Bhutto, Indira had allowed Pakistan to stabilize and normalize. Trade relations were also normalized, though much contact remained frozen for years. In 1974, India successfully conducted an underground nuclear test near the desert village of Pokhran in Rajasthan. Describing the test as for "peaceful purposes," India nevertheless became the world's youngest nuclear power. This move naturally prompted Pakistan's nuclear program.

Related Topics:
Bay of Bengal - Kashmir - USSR - China - Zulfikar Ali Bhutto - Shimla - Shimla Agreement - Pokhran - Rajasthan

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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 major production surpluses 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. Indira's economic policies, while socialistic, brought major industrialization as well.

Related Topics:
Green Revolution - White Revolution

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