After the 1996 Indian general election, the BJP formed a government briefly; it was followed by United Front coalitions, which depended on external political support. Two prime ministers served during this period: H.D. Deve Gowda and I.K. Gujral. In 1998, the BJP formed a coalition—the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). Led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the NDA became the first non-Congress, coalition government to complete a five-year term. In the 2004 Indian general elections, no party won an absolute majority. Still, the Congress emerged as the largest single party, forming another successful coalition: the United Progressive Alliance (UPA). It had the support of left-leaning parties and MPs who opposed the BJP.
The UPA returned to power in the 2009 general election with increased numbers, and it no longer required external support from India’s communist parties. Manmohan Singh became the first prime minister since Jawaharlal Nehru in 1957 and 1962 to be re-elected to a consecutive five-year term. In the 2014 general election, the BJP became the first political party since 1984 to win an absolute majority. In the 2019 general election, the BJP regained an absolute majority. In the 2024 general election, a BJP-led NDA coalition formed the government. Narendra Modi, a former chief minister of Gujarat, is in his third term as the prime minister of India and has served in the position since 26 May 2014.
Foreign relations
India has had uneasy relations with its western neighbor, Pakistan. The two countries went to war in 1947, 1965, 1971, and 1999. Three of these wars were fought over the disputed territory of Kashmir. In contrast, the 1971 war followed India’s support for the independence of Bangladesh.After the 1965 war with Pakistan, India began to pursue close military and economic ties with the Soviet Union. By the late 1960s, the Soviet Union was its largest arms supplier.
China’s nuclear test of 1964 and threats to intervene in support of Pakistan in the 1965 war caused India to produce nuclear weapons. India conducted its first nuclear weapons test in 1974 and carried out additional underground testing in 1998. India has signed neither the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty nor the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, considering both to be flawed and discriminatory. India maintains a “no first use” nuclear policy and is developing a nuclear triad capability as a part of its “Minimum Credible Deterrence” doctrine.
Since the end of the Cold War, India has increased its economic, strategic, and military cooperation with the United States and the European Union. In 2008, a civilian nuclear agreement was signed between India and the United States. Although India possessed nuclear weapons at the time and was not a party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, it received waivers from the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Nuclear Suppliers Group, ending earlier restrictions on India’s nuclear technology and commerce.
Economy
India is the world’s largest producer of milk, with the largest population of cattle. In 2018, nearly 80% of India’s milk was sourced from small farms with herd size between one and two, the milk harvested by hand milking. 55% of India’s female workforce was employed in agriculture in 2019. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Indian economy in 2024 was nominally worth $3.94 trillion; it is the fifth-largest economy by market exchange rates and is, at around $15.0 trillion, the third-largest by purchasing power parity (PPP). With its average annual GDP growth rate of 5.8% over the past two decades, and reaching 6.1% during 2011–2012, India is one of the world’s fastest-growing economies. However, due to its low GDP per capita—which ranks 136th in the world in nominal per capita income and 125th in per capita income adjusted for purchasing power parity (PPP)—the vast majority of Indians fall into the low-income group.
