After India's independence on August 15, 1947, India received most of the subcontinent's 562 widely scattered polities, or princely states, as well as the majority of the British provinces, and parts of three of the remaining provinces. Muslim Pakistan received the remainder. Pakistan consisted of a western wing, with the approximate boundaries of modern Pakistan, and an eastern wing, with the boundaries of present-day Bangladesh.

Just after partition leading to formation of two countries India and Pakistan from out of a single country, India was besieged with a number of grave problems: religious divide, suffering of both communities through riot, killings and displacement of people from their ancestral homes in division of Bengal and Punjab areas in to two countries, a war between the two countries over Kashmir. Economically however, India , though poor was better off relative to some other countries like China. India had a reasonably good foreign exchange reserves. a better industrial base, a vibrant domestic private sector entrepreneurs, Indians in the rural areas were very poor with virtually no education and awareness (political, international, modern hygiene, modern living, birth control) and yet were very industrious and honest without greed and jealousy.

The elite class was mostly educated the British way and influenced by the British elite and socialists who were anti-American and therefore Indians became anti-American. Life expectancy was only about 37 years. Despite the poverty, most people were contended and lived peaceful lives, mostly in joint/ undivided families. While during the freedom movement before Independence in 1947, all Indians had cultivated very little regional/ provincial or linguistic hatred, after 1947 the regional/ linguistic and provincial feelings became stronger and stronger among the elite trying to capture power in central leadership. Congress was the only political party of significance. The general hatred towards businessmen and rich people gathered momentum after 1947.

India also has many internal problems. Different communities with different identities - regional, language, caste, religion - demanded different rights for their communities. Some communities demanded more autonomy for their cultures within the Indian states. Others demanded autonomous states within the Indian Union, while the others demanded to be independent from India.

The nizam of Hyderabad, also a Muslim ruler of a Hindu-majority populace, tried to maneuver to gain independence for his very large and populous state, which was, however, surrounded by India. After more than a year of fruitless negotiations, India sent its army in a police action in September 1948, and Hyderabad became part of India.

The Hindu ruler of Kashmir, whose subjects were 85 percent Muslim, decided to join India. Pakistan, however, questioned his right to do so, and a war broke out between India and Pakistan. A cease-fire was arranged in 1949, with the cease-fire line creating a de facto partition of the region. The central and eastern areas of the state came under Indian administration as Jammu and Kashmir state, while the northwestern quarter came under Pakistani control as Azad Kashmir and the Northern Areas. Although a UN peacekeeping force was sent in to enforce the cease-fire, the dispute was not resolved. This deadlock has intensified suspicion and antagonism between the two countries.

Till today, India, the "largest democracy in the world" does not have a clean human rights records. Every year, thousands of people are imprisoned for political reasons, often without charges of trials. Torture and ill-treatment are common, and hundreds have died in custody. Hundreds more are victims of extra-judicial executions or forced "disappearances". Armed groups commit grave human rights violations, including killings, tortures and rapes, with impunity.