Background of Emergency Video Lecture | Political Science Class 12 - Humanities/Arts

background of emergency since 1967
Indira Gandhi had emerged as a towering
leader with tremendous popularity this
was also the period when party
competition became bitter and polarized
this period also witnessed tensions in
the relationship between the government
and the judiciary the Supreme Court
found many initiatives of the government
to be violative of the Constitution the
Congress party took the position that
this stand of the court was against
principles of democracy and
parliamentary supremacy the Congress
also alleged that the court was a
conservative institution and it was
becoming an obstacle in the way of
implementing pro-poor welfare programs
the parties opposed to the Congress felt
that politics was becoming too
personalized and that governmental
authority was being converted into
personal Authority the split in the
Congress had sharpened the divisions
between Indira Gandhi and her opponents
economic context in the elections of
1971
Congress had given the slogan of Geary
be hot ow or remove poverty however the
social and economic condition in the
country
did not improve much after 1971-72 the
Bangladesh crisis had put a heavy strain
on India's economy about 8 million
people crossed over the East Pakistan
border into India this was followed by
war with Pakistan after the war the US
government stopped all aid to India in
the international market oil prices
increased manifold during this period
this led to an all-round increase in
prices of commodities prices increased
by 23 percent in 1973 and 30 percent in
1974 such a high level of inflation
caused much hardship to the people
industrial growth was low and
unemployment was very high particularly
in the rural areas in order to reduce
expenditure the government froze the
salaries of its employees this caused
further dissatisfaction among the
government employees monsoons failed in
1970 to 1973 this resulted in a sharp
decline in agricultural productivity
food grain output declined by 8% there
was a general atmosphere of
dissatisfaction with the prevailing
economic situation all over the country
in such a context non-congress
opposition parties were able to organize
popular protests effectively instances
of students unrest that had persisted
from the late 1960s became more
pronounced in this period there was also
an increase in the activities of Marxist
groups who did not believe in
parliamentary politics these groups had
taken two arms and insurgent techniques
for the overthrow of the capitalist
order and the established political
system known as the Marxist Leninist now
Maoist groups or Nestle teas they were
particularly strong in West Bengal where
the state government - explained and
measures to suppress them
Gujarat and be hard movements students
protests in Gujarat and Bihar both of
which were Congress rule states had
far-reaching impact on the politics of
the two states and national politics in
January 1974 students in Gujarat started
an agitation against rising prices of
food grains cooking oil and other
essential commodities and against
corruption in high places the students
protest was joined by major opposition
parties and became widespread leading to
the imposition of President's rule in
the state