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India got independence on 15th of August 1947 after getting freedom from British. During British rule, India was having various princely states that had their governance. They had a special place within the administration of British rule. The rulers of these princely states were known as Maharajas who sent their sons to join the British upper crust. A number of nationalists came forward against the power of the British like Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Mahatma Gandhi. These two personalities worked for the Indian people and asked for freedom along with other nationalists. Gandhi's vision was to replace British rule into the Commonwealth of India. On the other side, Muhammad Ali Jinnah wanted a separate nation for Muslims. These nationalists started the struggle of freedom collectively but later they separated due to the religious priority. Therefore one of the major factors for the division of subcontinent was religion.

During British rule, the British army was a mix of British soldiers and common people of India. They were racist but showed loyalty to the British Empire. Hindus were divided into four castes while other religions like Jainism, Sikhism, and Islam had no such caste system. Based on caste, status was gained by the people where Brahmans were most powerful than castes. Islam believed in equality rather than caste system and therefore, Muslims demanded the land where they can practice their rituals with freedom. Gandhi participated in various marches and civil wars like salt march against salt tax increase. During the 1920s to 1930s British rule was paved with good intentions. However, the situation started to change and rebellions killed more than 300 troops in the name of freedom. Gandhi was also arrested for civil disobedience when he announced the march against salt tax in 1930. In 1935, the India Act was passed. Gandhi and Nehru refused brought constitutional advances of administration of India act which resulted in war in the Middle East and Europe.

Due to the war with Japan and Germany, the British lost the lives of so many Indian troops and in 1946 Field Marshal Lord Wavell asked London to make army strong and cooperation of Indian parties to maintain the power in the land. However, the continuous struggle of Gandhi and Jinnah, British had to leave Indian land and they divided it into India and Pakistan in 1947.

After independence, the subcontinent divided into India and Pakistan. Later, Pakistan further divided into Bangladesh and Pakistan. India is the developing nation that experienced three phases after independence including 1947-1967, 1967-1977, and 1977-1984. In the first phase, India had to control tension over the divisions of assets. Hindus started to migrate from Pakistan to India while Hindus came to India leaving their land and assets behind. It became difficult to provide the necessities to refugees as the division of assets made India lose big land and resources. Meanwhile, the issue of Kashmir was raised when Maharaja Hari Singh announced to remain with India for the sake of his power. Otherwise, Kashmir should be the part of Pakistan as per strategy that was; Muslim majority areas will be the part of Pakistan while Hindu majority areas will become the part of India. In Kashmir, Muslims were in majority but due to the decision of Maharaja Pakistan lost the land which resulted in the warlike environment between the two nations. Even today issue of Kashmir produces complications in the international relations between India and Pakistan. Besides, the first official election was held in 1952 and congress came into power. Another historical event in this phase was the Indus water dispute that started in 1960. East Pakistan and West Pakistan were dependent on Indus water that flows from India to Pakistan. Both nations made agreement on the issue to ensure peace in the subcontinent.

In the second phase (1967-1977), elections were held in February 1967. The result of the election was shocking for congress because party won fewer seats than before while INC got a place in the parliament. Afterward, various movements started in India including the Naxal movement and JP movement. After the JP movement emergency was announced by the government. Due to these movements scarcity of resources increased and in 1973, unemployment and inflation started to increase which resulted in slow economic growth in the nation.

In the third phase (1977-1987), Mrs. Gandhi announced the emergency election. Political parties came forward against congress due to which they lost their power in the north but somehow managed to get seats in the south. The political instability and conflicts between congress and JP affected the socio-economic condition of the nation. From 1977, the situation became worse when the conflict between Muslims and Hindus started. The root reason for the conflicts was the different religions and ideologies of both the communities. The violence helped Congress to regain power and they won the election of 1980 with 2/3rd majority. During the 1980s, the Punjab crisis made condition bad for the government as well as for the civilians. Conflicts between Sikhs and Hindus resulted in demand for "Punjabi Suba" for Sikhs. These conflicts ended by 1978 when the riot started between Niranki sect followers and Sikhs. From 1984, political issues started to decline and all political parties managed to cooperate to bring the Indian economy back to the path of progress.

In contemporary time, India is considered as a developing nation whose economic growth is much higher than the neighbor developing nations. It is considered as the land of minorities, diversity, and rich with culture. This is why it is also known as Incredible India. However various issues like poverty, rape rate, and high population need to be controlled to make the nation prosper and developed.

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