Section

Modern India

Independent India since 1947: the constitution, the integration of the states, the reforms and the questions of today.

India Scrapped Industrial Licensing for All but 18 Industries on 24 July 1991, Cut Its Highest Tariffs and Adjusted the Rupee, and Its GDP Has Since Gone From $270 Billion to $3.92 Trillion

Licensing scrapped for all but 18 industries, tariffs cut, the rupee adjusted, with a reserves crisis behind the timing. What the 1991 documents say, what the numbers did next, and how economists weigh the credit.

India Abrogated Kashmir's Special Status in 2019. Seven Years Later, Everything the Supreme Court Ordered Has Happened Except One Thing

India stripped Jammu and Kashmir of its special status in 2019. The Supreme Court upheld it in 2023 and ordered elections and a return to statehood. The elections happened in 2024. The statehood still hasn't.

Kashmir's Pandits Were Told to Convert, Leave, or Die. Thirty-Two Years Later, the Government's Own Return Scheme Got One of Them Shot at His Desk

A campaign of assassination and threat drove most of Kashmir's Hindus out of the valley in a few months in 1990. The government scheme built decades later to bring them back employed a man named Rahul Bhat, who was shot dead at his desk in 2022.

In 19 Months as Prime Minister, Lal Bahadur Shastri Led India Through the 1965 War, Backed the Dairy Board That Spread Amul's Model Across the Country, and Gave It Jai Jawan Jai Kisan

A frail-looking minister who resigned over a rail crash became Prime Minister in June 1964, and within a year had a war, a failed harvest and a dairy programme on his desk. Here is what the official record shows he did with them.

The Constituent Assembly Opened on 9 December 1946 Without the Muslim League, Spent 114 Days Debating the Draft Constitution, and Had 15 Women Among Its Members

Elected by provincial legislators, opened by its oldest member and boycotted by the League, the Assembly took 114 days over the draft. A 77 to 77 tie in a Congress party meeting left its language compromise unresolved before it reached the floor.

Vinoba Bhave Walked Across India From 1951 to 1964, Collected About 40 Lakh Acres of Gifted Land for the Landless in the Bhoodan Movement, and Received the Magsaysay Award and the Bharat Ratna

A Gandhian on a foot march from 1951 to 1964 turned a village conversation in Nalgonda into one of the largest voluntary land transfers on record. Here are the figures, who gives each one, and the honours that followed.

Al Jazeera Was Taken Off Air in India Over Kashmir Maps, Lost Its Security Clearance Over a Kashmir Film, and Reported the Capture of a Pilot That Pakistan's Own Army Denied

Five days off air over maps in 2015, a withdrawn security clearance in 2018, and a May 2025 pilot-capture report that Pakistan's army spokesman denied. The public record on Al Jazeera in India, with its replies.

The US President Praised India's Voter ID System on Truth Social. Here's What India's System Actually Is

Nearly a billion Indians carry a photo voter card, and the last general election drew 646 million votes with well under one per cent cast by mail. The number checks out. What India's system actually requires is more interesting than one post can hold.

Punjab's Farmers Took India From Importing Food to Feeding Itself, Its Sikhs Have Served in Every War, and the State Has Been at Peace Since the Early 1990s

Punjab grew the wheat and rice that fed India, and the state has been at peace since the early 1990s. The record of the years between, from the Golden Temple in 1984 to the return of peace, is set out plainly.

Kashmiri Pandits, Rooted in the Valley for Millennia, Settled Across India After 1990, and by 2021 Government Schemes Had Brought 3,509 of Their Youths Back to Work There

Rooted in the Valley for millennia, the Kashmiri Pandits settled across India after 1990. Government jobs and housing offered since 2008 had brought 3,509 youths back by 2021. The exodus is set out factually.

Al Jazeera Is Owned by the Emir of Qatar, Chaired by a Sheikh and Funded Almost Entirely by His Government. The US Justice Department Called It 'Controlled' by Qatar

Al Jazeera says it is independent. Its owner is the Emir of Qatar, its chairman and director general are ruling family members, and the US Justice Department wrote in 2020 that it is controlled and funded by Qatar's government.

Rajendra Prasad Presided Over the Constituent Assembly, Served 12 Years and 107 Days as India's First President, and Is the Only President Elected Twice, in 1952 and 1957

A servant who did not recognise Gandhi at his Patna door, a closing speech about honest men and lifeless machines, and a 1957 vote that is the highest winning share on record. The dated record of Prasad's life.

Indian Troops Took Hyderabad, a State of 16,338,534 People, in Five Days in September 1948, and a Report Withheld for Decades Estimated 27,000 to 40,000 Deaths

The most populous princely state held out for more than a year after independence, then gave way in 108 hours. What happened in the villages afterwards is the part with no agreed number.

Sardar Patel and V. P. Menon Turned 554 Princely States Into 14 Administrative Units, and Offered the Rulers a Tax-Free Privy Purse to Sign

Jodhpur's maharaja reportedly held a blank sheet signed by Jinnah, and only 91 of the 190,870 votes cast in Junagadh were for Pakistan. These are the numbers, formulas and deadlines behind the 1947 map.

Sikkim Became India's 22nd State in 1975 After a Poll Counted 59,637 to 1,496, Following a 1950 Treaty and Two Constitutional Amendments

The 1950 treaty, a gazette notice of the vote and two US cables from 1974 set out what happened. They do not settle whether 1975 was a merger or an annexation, which Beijing, Indian writers and a former R&AW officer answer differently.

Mother Teresa Won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 and the Bharat Ratna in 1980, and the Order She Founded in Calcutta in 1950 Had 754 Missions in 138 Countries by 2025

From a Loreto classroom to a home for the dying at Kalighat, with a state funeral in 1997 and a canonisation attended by an 11-member Indian delegation. The documented record of her work in Calcutta, and what the sources disagree about.

Portugal Held Goa for 451 Years. India's Army, Navy and Air Force Ended It in About 40 Hours, After a Court Case, a Blockade and a Veto at the UN

Salazar's message of 14 December foresaw no truce and no Portuguese prisoners. Within five days the fighting was over, and Portugal recognised the loss only in a treaty signed on the last day of 1974.

A Seven-Member Committee Sat 141 Days to Draft India's Constitution, and Its Chairman B. R. Ambedkar Told the Assembly the Credit Did Not Really Belong to Him

A first draft in about a month, roughly 7,635 tabled amendments, and a chairman who said the praise belonged partly to others. The Assembly's own record, and where later historians disagree.