Contemporary India:
An Analysis of Religion, Development,
and Foreign Relations
SIS 296-003
Professor Venturelli
Authored by:
Devon Bolton, Alejandra Larumbe Milla, Patrick Egenhofer, & Kimberly Ryan
Friday, April 8, 2011
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: INDIA, AN ANALYSIS
Contemporary India is a diverse and unique country with a promising economic standing in the global marketplace. India’s history consists of a number of interesting and noteworthy paradoxes that have helped shape its society and culture. The chapters of this report will cover a broad spectrum of issues concerning India, which if not addressed, stand to threaten the democracy, progression, and stability of a great nation.
In our first chapter we will address the obstacles facing the establishment of food security in India. Specifically, India is challenged with population, climate, and institutional constraints. Additionally, inadequate levels of agricultural productivity, inaccessibility to food and rising food prices are extensively affecting the growing Indian population. India must confront these issues to ensure sustainable growth and secure its position as an economic power.
Suggested reforms to assist India in establishing food security include the increased accessibility of qualitative nourishment for its large impoverished population. Furthermore, the Indian government must take into account the diverse climate and unique state income circumstances when rationalizing food quotas. Lastly, the government should plan to systematically implement irrigation and infrastructure improvements. Successful efforts to establish food security in India will allow for continued, sustainable economic growth for the future of the nation.
In our second chapter we will examine the sociopolitical strife of the Sikh minority in India. We will focus on the conflict facing the Sikhs in the Punjab region, where the 60% of the population in this area is Sikh, and look at their struggle for an independent state. In order to understand the conflict, we will follow how tension in the region has evolved since pre-independence India with British rule to the radicalization of the conflict that arose in the 70s with massacres, like the assault on the Golden Temple, and finally to its current status, where the situation in Punjab is more calmed, although it has many adherents among Sikhs living abroad (mostly UK and Canada). In the conclusion, we will analyze the issue by comparing it to other radical independent movements in Ireland and Spain and we will look at some recommendations about the internationalization of terrorism and how to avoid future violence.
In our third chapter, we will analyze the effects of the India-Pakistan conflict over the territories of Jammu and Kashmir on the domestic Muslim population and its position in society. Certain issues pertaining to the widening gap between Hindu and Muslim Indians will be addressed, so well as potential problems that may arise from increasing and maintained levels of disparity between these two groups. Efforts to bring more Muslims into mainstream Indian society and to stamp out low-level corruption are key to ensuring progress in this area.
This will tie in with the last chapter, which looks at the relationship between both Pakistan and India in the context of terrorism. It will expose the underpinnings of their relationship, along with the issues and conflicts that have led to the rise of militant groups provoking terrorist attacks. Also we will look at the motives behind the radicalization of certain groups, particularly those active in the Kashmir conflict and look at ways to diffuse the situation. Our research will show that the Pakistan state has played an active role in pushing militants into the region and ‘stirring the pot’ by inciting anti-Indian/Western sentiments and arming these groups, which has resulted in these types of attacks.
We will look at India’s role in the conflict and how it is going about waging a counterinsurgency in the conflict and attempting to ameliorate the high tensions and disputes in the area. Also we will see the roll that the current United States-Afghanistan conflict plays on the matter. And lastly we will look at the steps India can take to stem the terrorist attacks against its country and interests, and how it can pursue a more effective counterinsurgency operation in Kashmir to win the hearts and minds of the people, and hopefully rectify the situation.
CHAPTER 1: FOOD SECURITY IN INDIA
India has proved itself to be an emerging economic world power with an increasingly strong presence in the global marketplace. As many aspects of the nation are improving, however, just as many aspects are failing. Specifically, food security in India is worsening by the year. Inadequate levels of agricultural productivity and accessibility to food are aggravated by rising food prices and are extensively affecting the Indian population. Many Indians are battling malnutrition, health complications, and severe poverty as a result. India must cope with population, climate, and institutional constraints in order to establish food security and sustainable growth to secure its position as an economic power. A collaboration of international sources will be utilized in illustrating the current food security situation in India, as well as evidencing the identified driving forces responsible for food security and suggested reforms.
Food Insecurity in India
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) define food security as ‘the means accessed by all people at all times to the food needed for a healthy life (Powledge, 2010, p. 260). The issues facing food security in India are both qualitative and quantitative. Quantitatively, there is a large shortage of food grains due to low agricultural productivity; most dominantly seen in northeast India (Basu, 2006, p. 85). As a nation, India cannot ensure the availability and accessibility of food on a continuous basis. This leads to the quality concern of consumption as reflected in problems of malnutrition (Basu, 2006, p. 86).
Food insecurity is responsible for alarming rates of undernourished children in India—accounting for nearly forty percent of the world’s undernourished (Nolen, 2009, p. 2). This rate is twice as high as Sub-Saharan Africa and five times higher than in China (Nolen, 2009, p. 2). Developing nations in these regions continue to make progress battling child malnutrition. After nearly fifteen years of rapid growth, India has shown no improvement. India has advanced itself through its thriving information technology industries, modernized cities, numerous mobile phone users, yet childhood malnutrition rates have remained stagnant.
Malnourished Indian children are stunted physically and experience permanent delays in cognitive development due to malnutrition. India should be more concerned with improving this aspect of its development as the World Bank reports this situation to have long-term effects on the overall nation (World Bank, 2011, p. 1). Specifically, the extreme levels of under-nutrition are reducing the country’s GDP growth by three percent each year (Nolen, 2009, p. 3). The World Bank attributes this decrease as this cognitive deficit reduces any individual’s lifetime earning potential by at least ten percent (Nolen, 2009, p. 4).
More alarming, many Indians don’t recognize malnutrition to be unique or horrifying. It is commonly regarded as a normalcy across northern India. Malnutrition affects one in five children and is responsible for 3,000 infant deaths each day. In northern and eastern India, at least fifty-five percent of children are malnourished. In southern India it is estimated that approximately thirty percent of children are affected (Nolen, 2009, p. 6). While it is important to remember India is struck with the unfair scale of responsibility of supporting sixteen percent of the world’s population, this percentage should be of high priority to alleviate (Sethi, 2011, p.1).
Population Constraints to Food Security
Establishing food security in India is challenged by human factors related to the nation’s population. In 2011, the U.S. Census Bureau reported India has the second largest population of any country, second only to China. During the last decade, India has added the combined population of six developed countries-Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden and the UK (Sethi, 2011, p.1). With approximately 1,189,172,900 people, India has a lot of mouths to feed (U.S. Census Bureau, 2011, p. 1). The rapid population increase has occurred without a corresponding addition of resources such as land, water, energy, or food and is a major factor slowing down India’s overall progress (Sethi, 2011, p.1). Combined with current institutional and geographic constraints, India is challenged with providing and maintaining infrastructure and agricultural capabilities of a scale to complement its enormous population. Extensive development and resources will be necessary to have a reform of this scale be effective.
In addition to the increasing size of India’s population, urbanization has also had an effect on the demand for food. The geographic displacement has caused a shift in the pattern of food consumption—more Indians desire fine, superior grains such as wheat and rice over coarse grains (Basu, 2006, p. 95). Currently rice production in India is only one-third of what has been achieved elsewhere (Lakshmanan, 2010, p. 1). This low productivity illustrates that India’s agriculture sector is currently incapable to meet consumer demands. The food Indians wish to consume is not available for them. Increasing India’s agricultural sector capabilities to produce adequate amounts of desired food will satisfy much of the population’s taste buds.
Additionally, while some states, such as Kerala, enjoy a ninety percent literacy rate, other states lack this luxury. The eastern state of Bihar only has a literacy rate of forty-seven percent (Government of India, 2011, p. 1). Generally, men are more likely to be literate than women. In Bihar, for example, only thirty-seven percent of females are literate while nearly sixty percent of males are literate (Government of India, 2011, p. 1). Low literacy rates, as well as a commonly witnessed ‘ignorance’ of conservative outlooks, hinder the likelihood of adopting effective technological advancements in the agricultural sector. Particularly for those impoverished people living in rural areas, agriculture is the main source of income and employment (The World Bank, 2006, p. 1). ‘The Man behind the Plow’ ideology symbolizing masculinity and pride through means of physical labor deter many farmers from adopting technology to increase production.
Indian culture and the role of women also serve an interesting role in terms of providing adequate food to children. Many mothers acknowledge the fact that their child’s diet of flatbread, which in tribal villages is made over a cow-dung fire each day, may not be supplying necessary nourishment. However, in Indian culture as the male is the decision maker, mothers do not feel they have the authority to change the diet even if given the chance (Nolen, 2009, p. 6). Also, statistically nearly a third of Indian women themselves are underweight. This has led to further complications as a startling fifty-nine percent of pregnant women are anemic and give birth to low-birth-weight infants who have weak immune systems (Sofia Echo, 2011, p.1).
Rising Food Prices
The World Bank reported nearly forty-four million people worldwide have been pushed into poverty by rising food prices since June of 2010 (The World Bank, 2011, p.1). Global food prices rose by 15 percent between October 2010 and January alone. Food costs are continuing to rise and will only create more devastating and lasting effects. The poor are most vulnerable to the pressure of price increases by being forced to spend generally more than half of their income on food. This displays an aspect of gross inadequacy in consumers’ purchasing power constraining the development of food security.
India’s impoverished communities are predominantly affected as threateningly levels of inadequate productivity fail to improve. Until a balance between supply and demand can be stabilized, rising food prices will continue to further cripple the impoverished communities of India (Joshi, 2010, p. 1). The poor are forced to eat less and often less-nutritious food or starve, as seen with the high malnutrition rates visible in India today (Sofia Echo, 2011, p.1).
In 2009, the Indian government announced plans to implement monthly allocations of rice and wheat to impoverished citizens at subsidized prices (Abrol, 2008, p. 80). Today, President Pratibha Patil has highlighted government efforts to provide huge incentives to farmers by hiking the minimum support price for various agricultural products and providing fertilizers at a subsidized price (Abrol, 2008, p. 80). These actions were implemented in hopes to address the underlying problem of poor productivity levels of the agriculture sector, yet only generated minimal results.
India has received aid through a larger aid program, the Global Food Crisis Response Program. The program has made attempts to help dilute the effects of high food prices and impoverished populations by alleviating nearly forty million people in need with $1.5 billion in support (Sofia Echo, 2011, p.1). Of this amount, the United Kingdom (UK) provided over 280 million pounds in aid to India. Over the next four years, India will be the largest recipient of overseas aid from the UK by potentially receiving over one billion pounds (Sofia Echo, 2011, p. 1). As this foreign aid may alleviate some of India’s current woes, India should be cautious about becoming increasingly dependent on the United Kingdom.
Recommendations
To address the consequences of population aspects and implications of rising food prices, the Indian government should utilize its already existent support program, Public Distribution System (PDS), more effectively. The mission of PDS is to distribute food-grains to consumers through an immense network of fair price shops at government issued fixed prices (Basu, 2006, p. 26). However, the government has overlooked a key determinant of food rations—income. Operating proportional quotas in reference to income bracket classifications will more appropriately allocate food to those who need it most. PDS should also focus on maintaining a buffer inventory of grains to meet demand through storage facilities.
Geographic & Climate Constraints
Challenges to establishing food security are both nationwide and region specific. The imbalance of food accessibility in northeast India in comparison to southern states can also be illustrated with opposing weather patterns. For instance, favorable monsoons in summer seasons in southwest India are essential for securing water for irrigation. However, some parts of India suffer failures of monsoons with water shortages and below-average crop yields (Sagar, 2004, p. 6).
India’s vast variety in terrain makes for differing climatic conditions. These conditions range from permanent snowfields to tropical coasts, deserts, northwest fertile plains for farming, and northeast intensively cultivated rice fields (Sagar, 2004, p. 5). Varying terrains prove extremely difficult for maintaining consistency in agricultural productivity nationwide.
Many regions in India utilize rain-fed agriculture. These areas suffer heavily during times of drought. The availability of water has consistently declined per capita since the 1950s and is projected to continue to do so well through 2020 (Sagar, 2004, p. 10). Also, farmers face pressure on increased food prices with smaller harvests and costs for irrigated production. Rain-fed agriculture areas have been pressured to exploit groundwater through implementations of seed-water technology methods (Sagar, 2004, p. 15).
India’s radically sized population is pressuring the supply of natural resources rapidly. The depletion of groundwater in areas of dry land agriculture and deteriorating soil quality in areas of surface water irrigation are severe threats to maintaining food security.
Recommendations
The most effective means of combating climate constraints of droughts and monsoons will be an extension of irrigation facilities. Irrigation improvements would help to create grain surpluses, stabilize food prices, sustain agricultural growth, absorb labor force in rural areas, and alleviate rural poverty (Kumar, 2003, p. 16). Additionally, operating effective draining systems will be able to improve conditions of soil erosion and fertilizer application by providing more fertile land options.
A positive externality of additional irrigation mechanisms is the possibility of different avenues of employment opportunities for those living in poverty. The majority of the poor in rural areas depend on agriculture for employment and their livelihoods. The importance of agriculture in India’s economy’s development should not go overlooked to overall development.
The Indian government should also focus promotional efforts on water conservation throughout the nation to better deal with drought damages. There is a growing need to manage water for agriculture as recent research has shown that the future water supplies are going to fall short of the demand from different sectors if India continues to follow the same policies of water resource development and water use as in the past (Kumar, 2003, p.18). The increasing urbanization and industrialization in India’s economic growth strategy will also create greater pressure for allocating water for industrial and municipal uses (Kumar, 2003, p.18).
Policy reforms should be enacted for more efficient use of irrigation water regarding water pricing and ways to alleviate decentralized water management. Under the current pricing system for electricity in the farm sector, conventional water saving technologies only favor the rich and ignore a large percentage of Indian farmers (Kumar, 2004, p.30). Implementing nationally centralized efforts for water conservation and usage will provide a more balanced environment for the development of agricultural sectors across the nation. Adequate storage facilities for produce should also be implemented to avoid post-harvest losses for farmers.
Promoting infrastructural advancements for more open communication will foster the transition from hoarded technology benefits to a centralized sharing network in the industry. For instance, several southern states have implemented integrated pest management (IPM) programs. Other advancements including the incorporation of large networks of shallow tube well systems for irrigating rice has helped to produce record levels of harvest and efficient storage capabilities (Basu, 2006, p. 86). However, increased levels of productivity cannot be witnessed across the entire nation as isolated states fail to communicate regularly.
Institutional Constraints
The predominant force behind India’s economic growth lies in the software and information technology sectors. However, in the process it has neglected the development of agriculture and importance of food security. Combining the success with information and communication systems with the agricultural sector should be of high importance for India as the agriculture sector accounts for twenty-four percent of its gross domestic product (GDP). (Rao, 2006, p. 491). Agriculture also employs nearly fifty-seven percent of the country’s workforce and a strong multiplier effect across India’s entire economy (Rao, 2006, p. 491).
Statistically, as economic development takes place, the income elasticity of demand for food will rise (Basu, 2006, p. 92). The Indian government failed to direct proportions of newly generated income from its growing economy back into food-grain production. If the government had done this, the agriculture industry would have been better equipped for the shift of the population consuming better food and more of it.
The absence of systematic planning for agricultural development from the Indian government is a large driving force behind the lack of productivity, low rural incomes, and the inability to grow to complement India’s increasing population. India’s current system offers a long and discontinuous supply chain, inadequate policy support, limited infrastructure for storage, transportation, and marketing of agricultural produce, and inefficient knowledge flows which have constrained agricultural development (Rao, 2006, p. 500).
India’s inability to grow with continual stability will create bottlenecks and inflationary pressure within its own economy (Basu, 2006, p. 90). India’s central bank has played a large role in creating poverty and ultimately even deeper levels of food insecurity. In January of 2011, India’s benchmark interest rate increased to a two-year high and raised its inflation forecast. India has boosted its rates six times this last year; more than any central bank in Asia (MyPaper, 2011, p. 2). The increase has made borrowing more challenging and pushed further amounts of the population into poverty. Poor governance associated with the food administration and infrastructure has made the accessibility of providing food to the Indian population, particularly the poor, extremely strained.
Recommendations
The Indian government must focus on tackling both aspects of food security currently affecting the nation: quantity and quality. To establish food security nationally, sufficient infrastructure must be established for all states, from tribal dominated regions to modernized metropolises to benefit from India’s economic growth. It is essential for the government to develop a system that compliments regional diversities in climate and cultural conditions to foster food security and balanced population growth to maintain its overall economic growth.
Farmers need to feel valued by the Indian government and encouraged to continually produce. The government should offer fair, adequate prices for products. If farmers feel they will receive good prices for their produce, they will be motivated to produce more goods and more often. Widespread, this will help improve agricultural productivity. Also, the government should offer subsidized technological advancements for agricultural production processes.
Conclusion
To create sustainable growth, agricultural development should either precede or occur simultaneously with overall economic development to prepare a nation for growth. As India lacked this initial complementary development, the resulting outcomes of food security prove threatening for continually maintaining overall economic growth. The Indian government must provide increased accessibility of qualitative nourishment for its large impoverished population to combat rising food prices. Diverse climate and unique state income circumstances must be taken into account when rationalizing food quotas. Lastly, the Indian government should plan to systematically implement irrigation and infrastructure improvements. Successful efforts to establish food security in India will allow for continued, sustainable economic growth for the future of the nation.
CHAPTER 2: THE CASE OF THE SIKHS IN INDIA
In the territories where different religions coexist, political conflicts may occur as a result of a friction between the different faiths. This happened during the sixteenth-century in France between the Catholic and Protestant community, giving rise to the so-called Wars of Religion. Another example of this phenomenon can be found in Ireland. With the occupation in the seventeenth century by the English of Ireland, the confrontation with the invaders soon tinged with religious meaning, opposing the Irish Catholics to the Protestant English who colonized the island. This confrontation has survived until today in the Irish county of Ulster, which still belongs to the UK, as they have a majority Protestant population, imposes its political criteria to a Catholic minority of Republicans who aspire to independence to join the independent state of Ireland.
The Sikh Religion
In India, where different religions have coexisted historically, religious issues have also had profound political implications, especially since the birth of India as an independent state in 1947. I will focus on the conflicts instigated by Sikhs, a religious minority (2% of the population) that has a strong presence in the rich region of Punjab, where 60% of their population is followers of this religion. The existence of this community and its political aspirations in recent decades, have influenced in a direct way the history of India today (O’Brien, Palmer, 1998). In order to develop my analysis I will start my paper with an historical view about the religion and the conflict, especially in the region of Punjab, and the process that it took to its radicalization, flowed by a conclusion analyzing and comparing its current status.
The two great religions of India are Hinduism, the majority religion, and Islam, which is spread mainly in the northern peninsula of Hindustan. The Sikh religion, seva, which appeared in the sixteenth century, is a syncretic religion, a mixture of Hindu and Muslim elements. This new belief was founded by Guru Nanak, which the Sikhs (Punjabi term means disciple) are his followers. Nanak attempted to synthesize Hinduism and Islam in a monotheistic religion of deep character, as seen in this simple prayer: "There is one God, and he is our father, so we must all be brothers" (DÃez de Velasco, 1998:418).
This guru developed an egalitarian ideology that sought to overcome the caste system, a characteristic of the Hindu religion. The most important for Nanak was the will to seek the supreme divinity through personal prayer and service (seva) to the community. Therefore, in the Sikh religion there are no pictures, no myths, and no hell. The Sikh faith preserves the Hindu belief in reincarnation, but believes that human beings can free themselves from the cycle of reincarnation through virtue, which allows you to reach the abode of love of God. In contrast, Hindus believe that virtue produces only a reincarnation in better living conditions (DÃez de Velasco, 1998).
Nanak advocated the natural goodness of man, who has been created by the will of God. But it has to overcome the ignorance that is where the origin of evil lies, so Nanak chose not to design a life of renunciation but a life of improvement of the material world that he believed good and perfectible. Thus, the material welfare of man is as necessary as the spiritual. Therefore the emphasis on service to the welfare of the community, the Sikhs spend a tenth of their income and many hours of their free time. The purpose of life is liberation (mukti), which is achieved by means of delivery to the One (ikk), is for the overcoming of selfishness (DÃez de Velasco, 1998).
Sikhism during the leadership of Arjun, the fifth guru, consolidated its main temple, called the Golden Temple in Amritsar, built on an artificial lake at the place where tradition marked praying Nanak. His other temples are called Gurdwara. Also under the leadership of Arjun Sikh scriptures were fixed, Guru Granth Sahib or Adi Granth, compiled them in 1604, which include devotional hymns. In the early eighteenth century, the last guru stated that no successor would be human and that the community would be governed only by the holy book, and become the axis of the Sikh religion. Copies of this book are saved in the Gurdwaras, all the same and consisting of 1,430 pages that are read in communal ceremonies (weddings, funerals, etc.), and where meals are also held in common that favors the consolidation of the sangat (community) preventing any Sikh to fall in poverty (DÃez de Velasco, 1998).
Fundamental to the development of Sikhism was a man of the tenth Guru, Gobind Singh (1666-1708), which established a warrior brotherhood: the Jalsa (Pure), a religious group of soldiers of faith, bound by a vow to defend the community against injustice and identified by carrying the five "k," which are: kesh, uncut hair and beard, symbolizing spirituality kattgha, a comb in their hair, which symbolizes order and discipline, kirpan, a short, curved dagger, which means dignity, courage and selflessness, kara, a steel bracelet on his right wrist, symbolizing unity with God and kachh, shorts and underwear, which implies a symbol of modesty and moral restraint (DÃez de Velasco, 1998) .
Before independence
The Mughal Empire, established in India in the sixteenth century, was the closest thing to a unified state. Until the early eighteenth century, it suffered successive attacks by Afghan and Persian neighbors, internal revolts and the emergence of European countries. The French and British began to influence the Indian policy. One of the most important revolts which had to face the declining Mughal Empire was led by the Sikhs in Punjab.
Since the seventeenth century Sikhs had problems with the imperial governors. The implementation of a Sikh guru in 1675 increased hostility toward the Mongols, and the process was completed when the Guru Gobind Singh transformed the Sikh sect in an almost military community. In the period between 1750 and 1770, the Sikhs took over much of Punjab. Partnerships between the leaders were short-lived, but eventually the sukerchakia family managed to become dominant in the Punjab area and impose his authority to other groups. Sukerchakia Ranjit Singh transformed the heritage of his family in a powerful kingdom in the late eighteenth century. In 1792, at the age of twelve he became chief of his clan until his death in 1839, Ranjit Singh was devoted to organize an army that came to control the entire Punjab from the Indus to nearly Jumna in the East. Ranjit Singh thanked God "have been kind to your servant and have increased their power in ways that territory now reaches to the borders of China and Afghanistan" (Embree, Wilhelm, 1974:266). However, he only exercised effective power over their homeland around Lahore and Amritsar, and the rest of territories were controlled by chiefs who paid tribute. This political system was similar to many other Indian kingdoms, but the powerful modern army created by Ranjit Singh was unique. For the organization of this army they used European officers of various nationalities and had munitions factories supplying weapons and artillery (Cataluccio, 1970).
After his death in 1839, succession wars, internal conflicts and desires for independence, led to the rapid disintegration of the Sikh kingdom. The British were able to take advantage of these divisions and twenty years after the death of Ranjit Singh, the East India Company had taken over the Punjab. After two wars against the British, the first and second Anglo-Sikh wars, Punjab was annexed to the British colony of India in 1849 and Sikhs suffered the same fate as the rest of the Indians until the end of the British rule (Embree, Wilhelm, 1989).
Sikhism reborn with the independence of India
After the Second World War (1939-1945) the British were convinced that they were unable to sustain its powerful colonial empire. In India, the movement for independence began in the 20's. It was led by Mahatma Gandhi and after the war, he had reached a level of maturity that allowed him to achieve its main objective: to be an independent state without the British presence. However, one of the main problems that arose during the independence process was the existence of two powerful religious communities in the same territory: the Hindu and Muslim (Cataluccio, 1970).
It was soon observed that while Muslims and Hindus wanted the British to leave India, its political goals were different. The Indian National Congress Party, led by Mahatma Gandhi, wanted a unified integrated India to the different religious communities, while the Muslim League wanted to create a Muslim state. This definitely accelerated the events from July 1946, when the Muslim League decided to use what they called "Direct Action" and extremely violent clashes spread from Calcutta all over the region of Bengal. As argued by J. N. Dixit (2002: 457-458), former Minister of Foreign Affairs of India: "The fight came in 1946 when the Muslim League called for direct action (...). The answer that came from Hindus and Sikhs came after (…) and created the atmosphere of a civil war in India.” Finally, there were two separate states, India, with a majority of people who practiced the Hindu religion and the state of Pakistan, with a Muslim majority. In this process, most of the Sikh population came under Indian administration in the territory of Punjab, who sought refuge in the tens of thousands of Sikhs who fled the fighting between Muslims and Hindus (Dixit, 2002).
In the process leading to independence, the Sikhs of Punjab argued that specific religious community could ask for special consideration in the new India that was to be born. Even some Sikhs proposed the creation of an independent Sikh state to be called Khalistan. The Congress Party in order to prevent Sikhs to ally with the Muslim League, promised broad autonomy after independence, but the actual result was that with the independence, Punjab was divided between India and Pakistan (Gurmit, 1989).
After the British left India, the Congress party soon forgot all the promises he had made, and many Sikhs felt cheated. On November 21, 1949, in reviewing the draft of the Constitution of India, Hukam Singh, the Sikh representative in the Constituent Assembly declared: “Naturally, under these circumstances, as I have stated, the Sikhs feel utterly disappointed and frustrated (Gurmit, 1989). They feel that they have been discriminated against. Let it not be misunderstood that the Sikh community has agreed to this [Indian] Constitution. I wish to record an emphatic protest here. My community cannot subscribe its assent to this historic document”. (Gurmit, 1989: 110-111). Therefore, the Sikhs did not support the Constitution.
The radicalization of the conflict
The conflict became radicalized in the early 70's when the cultural and political demands of the Sikhs of Punjab joined radical approaches that were religious in nature. Some scholars argued that the experience and injustice of the Green Revolution in India also contributed to provoke the terrorism in Punjab. In the words of Gurmat of the All Sikh Convention of the 13th April 1986: "If the hard-earned income of the people or the natural resources of any nation or region are looted by force; if the goods they produce are paid at set prices arbitrarily while the goods they buy are sold at higher prices and, taking this process of economic exploitation to its logical conclusion, you lose the human rights of a nation, region or people, and people will feel like Sikhs feel today, with the shackles of slavery" (Shiva, 2005). However, the main factor was that tensions were rising as a result of clashes between Sikhs and the sect of the Nirankaris who were interested in the control of Sikh temples.
In April 1978, a group of Nirankaris clashed violently with radical Sikhs, directed by Bhindranwale. Two years later, in April 1980 the leader of the Nirankaris, called Baba Gurbachan Singh was murdered and Bhindranwale was accused of the murder, however he was released after the trial.
The more moderate faction of the Sikhs, grouped in the Akali Dal, was asking the central government for Indian reforms that would help preserve the cultural identity of the Sikh community. However, most radical Sikhs wanted the independence of Punjab to make into a new state under the name of Khalistan. The fanatic leader Bhindranwale became the head of the independence movement. The religious and nationalist leader took up residence at the Golden Temple in Amritsar, believing that the police would not dare to enter this religious building (Gurmit, 1989).
Government agreed to some religious claims: it banned the sale of snuff, liquor and meat in a radius of two hundred meters around the Golden Temple, authorized the radio broadcast of sacred hymns, and Sikhs were allowed to carry on the dagger, that their religion requires them to always carry with them, in Indian Airlines. But the demands of the Akali Dal went further. They requested recognition of twenty-five holy places and the holy character of the city of Amritsar. They also wanted Chandigarh, to be the new capital of the state of Punjab and, above all, intended to prevent neighboring states to take the water from the rivers of Punjab. For a town of farmers with fertile lands, the economic demands of irrigation were essential (Gurmit, 1989).
In November 1982, the Akali Dal called to organize a series of protests in Delhi. In response, the Indian police arrested thirty thousand Sikhs. In February 1984, rejecting protests focused on Article 25 of the Constitution of India, which defined the Sikhs and Hindus. Some of the Akali leaders were arrested for burning it in protest. Defining a Sikh citizens as part of the Hindu religion generated discontent in this community, since Sikhism should be regarded as a distinct religion and not a sect of Hinduism in general. The highlight of the conflict occurred when in 1984 Bhindrawale armed insurgents and took refuge in the sacred temple. That was when the Indian army launched "Operation Blue Star" and attacked the temple in the time when many Sikhs were praying. Hundreds were killed and among them, the nationalist leader Bhindrawale. This assault on the Golden Temple marked the definitive break between the Sikh and Hindu communities. The brutal repression unleashed by Indian troops in the assault on the temple caused the struggle for a separate Khalistan happen to be supported by a majority of the Sikhs of Punjab (Gurmit, 1989).
The struggle for independence
The struggle for independence
The responsible person who ordered the assault on the Temple was Indira Gandhi, the former prime minister of India. By giving the order, she made clear that she would not consent any separatist movement in Punjab. In response to this position, on the morning of October 31, she was assassinated by two of her own security guards that belonged to the Sikh community. Her assassination sparked a wave of violence against Sikhs across India. On April 29, 1986 at a meeting of thousands of Sikhs in Akal Takht, the independent state of Khalistan was proclaimed. However, this proclamation had no real effect because the Government of India, citing the principle of territorial integrity, did not recognize that independence. Since then and for years, the Punjab was plunged into a terrifying wave of violence (Gurmit, 1989).
During that period, the Sikhs and Hindus committed all kinds of atrocities in a low intensity war that ruined the economy of the region, which led to a decreased support for independence; therefore in the early 1993 the movement for a free Khalistan was virtually dismantled. However, according to Amnesty International, the Indian state achieved during this period of the independence movement to stop violating human rights of Sikhs to foster a culture of impunity for extrajudicial killings that occurred on a large scale, and against torture Police and Indian troops exercised so indiscriminate. In fact, the clashes that took place during those years show a balance of terrifying figures. Thus, while violence in Northern Ireland between 1969 and 1976 caused 1686 casualties in Punjab, it cost 21,469 lives (Gurmit, 1989).
Today, the situation in Punjab is quite calm and the free movement for Khalistan is very weak, although it has adherents among Sikhs living abroad, mostly in the United Kingdom and Canada.
Conclusion
The first conclusion that we could get to analyze the past and present of the Sikh religion is that in his case, as with other religions, different beliefs are closely linked with various political and social realities.
Another conclusion we can come when we know the recent history of the Sikh community in the Indian Punjab is that many modern communities do not identify themselves with belongings to that country and aspire to get independent from it. This political aspiration is usually based on cultural differences, language, history or otherwise, and also occasionally in religious differences, although it is true that the latter need not be present in the nationalist aspirations. For example, in my country, Spain, two communities, the Basques and the Catalans, have a portion of its population that wants independence. Each has its own characteristics. Have languages other than Spanish, peculiar customs and their own historical trajectories, but they are mostly Catholic communities, like the rest of the Spanish State.
In the case of the Sikh religion it is a crucial differentiating factor, but they also have other features that could feed their aspirations for independence, such as the Punjabi language, its history as an independent state before the British , its natural wealth, based on the rivers flowing through the Punjab, and its economy that is richer and more prosperous than the neighboring regions.
The third conclusion we can draw is that the desire for independence of these communities can be made either peacefully or through violence, depending on various factors. In countries with high income per capita, with modernized societies and democratic political systems, the independence movements are generally formulated in a peaceful manner (Quebec, Canada, Wales, United Kingdom, Flemish in Belgium etc ...), but sometimes this assumption is not met as evidenced by the existence of the IRA in Northern Ireland and ETA in the Basque Country in Spain, two organizations that have resorted to violence.
Another factor that influences how to raise the claims is the welcome of their demands by the state government. If the central government serves part of their aspirations, there will be less eco-violent approaches, while if not responding to any of their demands, radical nationalism can become violent. Finally, if the answer to the demands is repressive, (persecution, imprisonment, etc.) radicals may find more support in society, as happened with the Sikhs when the Golden Temple was assaulted.
In any case, when the differences between communities of different types are added to those of a religious nature, the conflict is often radical. In the case of Sikhs, we find different approaches and responses throughout its recent history. In general, we can say that the aspirations of the Sikhs in the last 60 years were almost always made by peaceful and political means. Immediately after independence of India, the Sikh community felt cheated, but its frustration did not led them to resort to violence. Their demands were moving in the field of politics and the struggle to preserve their cultural identity merely by institutional manners. However, in the decade of the 70s in the twentieth century religious claims were in the foreground. That made it easier for fanatics like Bhindrawale to link political demands for an independent state with its desire that the State should have a theocratic nature, feeding violence to achieve it. Moreover, the act of the Indian State to brutally suppress the independence movement, assaulting a sanctuary and turning all the Sikhs on terrorism suspects helped trigger the violence.
Finally, we could say that since a few decades ago, the old political conflicts of nationalist nature in many cases aggravated by religious formulations, acquired an international dimension that could not be imagined in earlier times. This gravity and internationalization have been seen in the terrorist attacks perpetrated by Islamic jihads in the recent years.
In the case of the Sikhs, there are currently about 18 million followers concentrated both in India and spread throughout the Anglo world. They are a thriving community that has a major migration in the United Kingdom (70% of the population of India which currently is set in Britain are Sikhs, which are about the amount of 230,000). Also present in the U.S. where they have opened more than 50 temples, and Canada, where integration policies have altered the rules of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, for example by allowing Sikhs to wear his turban instead of the work hat "stetson" for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The best way to avoid conflict is by generating long integration policies within the limits established by law in the host countries. However, I believe that these problems of nationalist and religious roots are complex and have no easy solutions. The movements of this nature can go for long periods of dormancy and then appear, after many years with new impetus. The case that might be more familiar to us is that of Irish Catholics whose movement for total independence of Ireland began in the mid nineteenth century and has gone through many different periods, for example during the 1930's, 40 and 50, IRA remained largely inactive but, in the mid 60's, it emerged with force. The same can happen with the Sikhs of Punjab.
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