Page 1 - LN- INDIAN POLITICS TRENDS AND DEVELOPMENTS

LESSON NOTES

INDIAN POLITICS- TRENDS AND DEVELOPMENTS

1. During the decade of eighties, five developments took place in country with long

lasting impact i.e. End of Congress system in 1980, Mandal Issues in 1990, New

Economic Reforms in 1991, Ayodhya dispute in 1992 and Assassination of Rajiv

Gandhi in 1991.

2. Elections in 1989 led an era of coalitions with the defeat of Congress Party and

it emerged several parties when no single party secured a clear majority of seats in

any Lok Sabha election held since 1989 and in this era, regional parties played a

crucial role in forming ruling alliances.

3. Atal Behari Vajpayee was the Prime Minister during NDA goverments and his

government formed in 1999 completed its full term.

4. The nineties also saw the emergence of powerful parties and movements to

represent the Dalits and backward castes as well as regional assertions. Now, there

have been nine governments at the centre which have either been coalition

government or minority governments supported by other parties or regional parties

only.

5. OBC : This refers to the administrative category 'other backward classes'.There

are communities other then SC and ST who suffer from educational and social

backwardness.These are also reffered to as 'backward castes'.

6. The Mandal Commission : The Mandal Commission was set up to investigate

the extent of educational and social backwardness among various sections of

Indian society and recommend ways of identifying these 'backward classes'.The

commission gave its recommendations in 1980.The commission did servey and

found that these backward castes had a very low presence in both services.