Nehru, the India–Pakistan Wars, and India after Nehru (1947–1991)
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Question
What is the Kashmir dispute?
Answer
The unresolved argument over which country, India or Pakistan, should control the Muslim-majority princely state of Kashmir, dating from its contested accession to India in October 1947.
Question
What was Nehru's approach to foreign policy?
Answer
Non-alignment in the Cold War (not joining the US or Soviet bloc) combined with treating Pakistan as India's main regional rival, mostly over Kashmir.
Question
What triggered the 1947–48 Indo-Pakistani War?
Answer
Pakistani-backed tribal fighters invaded Kashmir; Maharaja Hari Singh acceded Kashmir to India in exchange for military help, and Indian troops repelled the invasion.
Question
What was Operation Gibraltar (1965)?
Answer
Pakistan's plan to send soldiers disguised as locals into Indian Kashmir to spark a local uprising against Indian rule; the uprising never happened and full war followed.
Question
What ended the 1965 war and what did it achieve?
Answer
The Tashkent Agreement (January 1966), brokered by the Soviet Union, which restored pre-war borders — the war produced no real territorial change.
Question
What caused the 1971 war (unlike 1947/1965)?
Answer
A civil war inside Pakistan: the Awami League's 1970 election majority was denied, followed by the Operation Searchlight crackdown on East Pakistan and a massive refugee crisis into India.
Question
What was the outcome of the 1971 war?
Answer
Pakistan's army surrendered at Dhaka (16 December 1971, ~90,000 prisoners); Bangladesh became independent; the Simla Agreement (1972) followed.
Question
Name three achievements of Indira Gandhi's premiership.
Answer
The Green Revolution (food self-sufficiency), victory in the 1971 war, and India's first nuclear test in 1974 ('Smiling Buddha').
Question
What was 'The Emergency' (1975–1977)?
Answer
A 21-month period when Indira Gandhi suspended civil rights, jailed opposition politicians and censored the press after a court ruled her 1971 election invalid.
Question
How did Rajiv Gandhi's premiership end?
Answer
He was assassinated in 1991 by a suicide bomber linked to Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger militants, after his government had been damaged by the Bofors corruption scandal.
Question
What economic change did P.V. Narasimha Rao introduce in 1991?
Answer
Sweeping economic liberalisation (with finance minister Manmohan Singh) — cutting tariffs, welcoming foreign investment, and ending the tightly controlled 'License Raj' system.
Question
Compare the results of the 1965 and 1971 wars.
Answer
1965 ended in stalemate (Tashkent Agreement, borders unchanged); 1971 produced permanent change (Bangladesh's independence, Pakistan halved, India regionally dominant).
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Topic 20.16 hub
Developments and challenges in South Asia after 1947
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