Indira Gandhi Research Paper

Indira Gandhi was an important historical figure in India. She broke through traditional gender boundaries, and became a woman leader of the largest democracy in the world. This was an accomplishment that even the United States has not achieved. She also marked the start of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty within a democratic India. Internal affairs such as the Hindu-Sikh conflict and the exponentially growing population led to Indira Gandhi changing her governance to that of an authoritarian.

Indira Gandhi's background prepared her to become the prime minister of India. She lived from 1917 until 1984, and spent most of her time in India and England ("Indira Gandhi"). In England, she went to college and joined the British Labour Party, which was more liberal towards the idea of India's independence. Her parents, Kamala and Jawaharlal Nehru, were both activists and fought for the decolonization of

Jawaharlal worked hard to industrialize India. Jawaharlal supported the usage of hydroelectric power, he invested funds in infrastructure, and he requested the research and aid of scientists to help use natural resources more effectively and widely. “Industrialization increased in India by 7% per year from 1951-1965” ("Jawaharlal Nehru"). Industrialization caused people to move out of the rural areas and into the growing cities. This attracted people to move into India and into the city. As a result, the population grew by 2.3% annually ("Jawaharlal Nehru"). The population and industrialization increase caused agriculture and food production to lag behind. During the years 1972 and 1973, crops failed, deepening the problem. To gain loans from the International Monetary Fund, Indira shifted to more conservative economic policies that angered many of her partisans. Again, she did this without consent of the congress-N party (“Jawaharlal