Essential Question: What problems did India face after independence?
I. The end of British rule
A. Wartime developments
1. Many Indians refused to back Britain in WW II
a. They were angry because Great Britain would not meet their demands for self-rule
2. Mohandas Gandhi started the �Quit India� movement
a. He insisted that complete separation from Great Britain was the only answer
-Great Britain should leave India at once
-Gandhi and his followers were arrested
B. The partition of India
1. In March 1947, Britain decided to set a deadline for independence
a. A decision was made to divide India by religions
-Hindu and Muslim
b. Independence was officially declared on in August, 1947
-The two nations of India and Pakistan were born
II. Independent India
A. Government leaders and policies
1. In 1950, India�s new constitution went into effect
a. The government became a republic
-It has an elected president and parliament
2. Jawaharlal Nehru (India�s first prime minister) face a difficult task
a. Many forces divided his country
-Several religions, languages, and the caste system
b. Nehru wanted to separate religion from government and give people more individual rights
3. After Nehru�s death in 1964, his daughter Indira Gandhi became
prime minister (she would serve for nearly 20 years)
a. Her goal was to carry out her father�s ideas
B. Social and economic problems
1. By the early 1990�s, relations with Pakistan had soured
a. Clashes occurred frequently between troops from both countries
2. Economically, India has a mixed economy
a. Private companies own some industries, and government owns the rest
3. Despite a solid economy, India�s population is growing to fast
a. India�s economy can�t keep up with the population increase
C. The problem of Kashmir
1. In 1947, Pakistan claimed Kashmir because three quarters of its people
were Muslim
a. Muslims and Hindus in Kashmir fought each other for control
b. This led to fighting between India and Pakistan
-By the end of the 1990�s, more than 20,000 people have been killed
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India and South Asia (Independence cont.)
Essential Question: How did Pakistan and Bangladesh develop after the partition of India?
III. The Division of Pakistan
A. Independence for Bangladesh
1. When British rule ended, Pakistan became a two-part country
a. West Pakistan and East Pakistan (see map pg. 848)
-They were over 1000 miles apart from each other
-They had different languages, cultures and geography
-It was almost impossible to govern the two parts as one
2. Pakistan held elections to unite the country
a. East Pakistan�s Awami Party won a majority of seats in the assembly
-The Awami Party wanted self-rule for East Pakistan
-Pakistan�s national government refused to accept the election results
b. Riots between East Pakistan and the central government broke out
-The situation soon became a civil war
-India came to the aid of East Pakistan
c. In 1971, the Pakistanis were defeated and East Pakistan became the new nation of Bangladesh
B. Bangladesh and Pakistan today
1. Both Bangladesh and Pakistan faced major problems after the division
a. Bangladesh had been torn apart by war
-It also suffered famines, floods, and tropical storms
-In 1998, more than 1 million people died, and at least 30
million people lost their homes when floods covered
almost all of Bangladesh
b. Pakistan, too, faced problems
-Military coups and free elections dominated the political landscape