Premiership of Morarji Desai

Morarji Desai
4th Prime Minister of India
In office
24 March 1977 – 15 July 1979
President Basappa Danappa Jatti and Neelam Sanjiva Reddy
Preceded by Indira Gandhi
Succeeded by Choudhary Charan Singh
Personal details
Born 29 February 1896
Bhadeli, Bombay Presidency, India
Died 10 April 1995(1995-04-10) (aged 99)
New Delhi, India
Political party Congress (up to 1969), Congress(O) (1969-1977), Janata Party
Occupation Civil servant, Activist
Religion Hindu

The premiership of Morarji Desai extended from 24 March 1977 to 15 July 1979. In the Indian general election, 1977 Morarji Desai led the Janata Party to victory against the Congress party. Upon taking office, Morarji Desai became the first Indian Prime Minister not belonging to the Congress party.[1]

Emergency and election victory

The Janata Party was formed by political leaders and activists of various political parties who had been united in opposing the state of emergency imposed in 1975 by then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.[1][2] After elections were called in 1977, the Janata Party was formed from the union of the Congress (O), Swatantra Party, Socialist Party of India, Bharatiya Jana Sangh and the Lok Dal. Congress defector Jagjivan Ram, Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna & Nandini Satpathy formed the Congress for Democracy and joined the Janata alliance.[3] The widespread unpopularity of Emergency rule gave Janata and its allied a landslide victory in the election.

Morarji Desai ministry

Morarji Desai ministry

7th cabinet of the Republic of India
Date formed 24 March 1977 (1977-03-24)
Date dissolved 28 July 1979 (1979-07-28)
People and organisations
Head of government Morarji Desai
Head of state

Basappa Danappa Jatti (Acting)
(until 25 July 1977)

Neelam Sanjiva Reddy (from 25 July 1977)
Member party Janata Party (Janata alliance)
Status in legislature Majority
Opposition party Indian National Congress (Congress Alliance)
Opposition leader Yashwantrao Chavan
(1 July 1977– 11 April 1978)
C. M. Stephen (12 April 1978 – 9 July 1979)
Yashwantrao Chavan (from 10 July 1979)
History
Election(s) 1977
Outgoing election 1980
Legislature term(s) 2 years, 4 months and 4 days
Predecessor Second Indira Gandhi ministry
Successor Charan Singh ministry

Cabinet ministers

Portfolio Minister Took office Left office Party
Prime Minister Morarji Desai24 March 197728 July 1979Janata Party
Deputy Prime Minister Charan SinghJanuary 197928 July 1979Janata Party
Deputy Prime Minister Jagjivan RamJanuary 197928 July 1979Janata Party
Minister of Finance Haribhai M. Patel24 March 197724 January 1979Janata Party
 Charan Singh24 January 197928 July 1979Janata Party
Minister of Home Affairs Charan Singh24 March 19771 July 1978Janata Party
 Morarji Desai1 July 197828 July 1979Janata Party
Minister of Defence Jagjivan Ram24 March 197728 July 1979Janata Party
Minister of External Affairs Atal Bihari Vajpayee24 March 197728 July 1979Janata Party
Minister of Information and Broadcasting Lal Krishna Advani24 March 197728 July 1979Janata Party
Minister of Industry George Fernandes24 March 197728 July 1979Janata Party
Minister of Agriculture Parkash Singh Badal24 March 197720 June 1977Akali Dal
 Surjit Singh Barnala20 June 197728 July 1979Akali Dal
Minister of Works and Housing and Supply and Rehabilitation Sikandar Bakht24 March 197728 July 1979Janata Party

Rabi Ray was inducted in January 1979 to fill in the vacancy caused by Raj Narain's exit.

Ministers of state

Reversal of Emergency decrees

The first actions taken by the Desai government were to formally end the state of emergency and media censorship and repeal the controversial executive decrees issued during the Emergency.[1][2][5][6] The Constitution was amended to make it more difficult for any future government to declare a state of emergency; fundamental freedoms and the independence of India's judiciary was reaffirmed.[5][6] The new government also proceeded to withdraw all charges against the 25 accused in the Baroda dynamite case, which included the new Minister of Industry, George Fernandes.[6] The Minister of Railways reinstated the railway employees disciplined after the May 1974 strike.[6] The Desai government proceeded to establish inquiry commissions and tribunals to investigate allegations of corruption and human rights abuses by members of Indira Gandhi's government, political party and the police forces. Specific inquiries were instituted on Sanjay Gandhi's management of the state-owned Maruti Udyog Ltd., the activities of the former Minister of Defence Bansi Lal and the 1971 Nagarwala scandal.[6] Both Indira and her son Sanjay were charged with allegations of corruption and briefly arrested.

Economic policy

See also: Double Seven

The Janata government had lesser success in achieving economic reforms. It launched the Sixth Five-Year Plan, aiming to boost agricultural production and rural industries. Seeking to promote economic self-reliance and indigenous industries, the government required multi-national corporations to go into partnership with Indian corporations. The policy proved controversial, diminishing foreign investment and led to the high-profile exit of corporations such as Coca-Cola and IBM from India.[7] But the government was unable to address the issues of resurging inflation, fuel shortages, unemployment and poverty. The legalisation of strikes and re-empowerment of trade unions affected business efficiency and economic production.

The Janata government tried to curb forgery and black money in India by demonetising notes of 1000, 5000 and 10000 Rupees on 16 January 1978.[8] Many decades later, in November 2016, Modi government decided to demonetise 500 and 1000 rupee notes in an effort to stop the counterfeiting of the current banknotes alleged to be used for funding terrorism in India and for cracking down on black money in the country.[9]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Kuldip Singh (1995-04-11). "OBITUARY: Morarji Desai". The Independent. Retrieved 2009-06-27.
  2. 1 2 "The Rise of Indira Gandhi". Library of Congress Country Studies. Retrieved 2009-06-27.
  3. ↑ G. G. Mirchandani (2003). 320 Million Judges. Abhinav Publications. pp. 90–100. ISBN 81-7017-061-3.
  4. ↑ "Morarji, Charan Singh waited for each other to die: Book". The Indian Express. 2008-11-11. Retrieved 2009-06-27.
  5. 1 2 Paul R. Brass (1994). The Politics of India Since Independence. Cambridge University Press. pp. 40–50. ISBN 978-0-521-45970-9.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 G. G. Mirchandani (2003). 320 Million Judges. Abhinav Publications. pp. 176–191. ISBN 81-7017-061-3.
  7. ↑ Shashi Tharoor (2006). India: From Midnight To Millennium. Arcade Publishing. pp. 164–66. ISBN 978-1-55970-803-6.
  8. ↑ "A Look Back to 1978 When Currency Notes Were Last Scrapped". Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  9. ↑ "Here is what PM Modi said about the new Rs 500, Rs 2000 notes and black money". India Today. 8 November 2016. Retrieved 9 November 2016.
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