India was under the control of European colonial powers, through trade and conquest. The Indian independence movement began with the creation of two movements: the Indian National Congress in 1885 and the Muslim League in 1905. Both groups wished to see India as an independent state which was achieved in 1947. However, even though India benefited from colonialism However, this oppression also had a downside: India remained trapped in poverty after decolonization and is considered one of the largest concentrations of poor people in the world. Today, there are more than 1.1 billion who continue to live below the $1.25 poverty line. Poverty in India remains incredibly high and stands at around 300 million, being the most dominant in rural areas, where almost 77% of India's poor live. Some argue that poverty takes on a new definition when it comes to India and according to the World Bank, “in India, poverty is officially linked to a basic nutritional level measured in calories (food-energy method).” One of the main characteristics of underdevelopment and poverty is overpopulation and is estimated to amount to approximately 1.27 billion. In 1970, former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi attempted to implement a forced sterilization program in the early 1970s, but failed. This program was intended to prevent the reproduction and multiplication of members of the population and reduce India's ever-growing population. It is considered a serious violation of human rights because it used propaganda and monetary incentives to convince citizens to be sterilized and agreed to give people who accepted land, housing, money or loans. Another important feature of poverty in India is famine, from which some of them were severe enough to... middle of paper... by extensive regulation, by protectionism and public ownership of large monopolies, by corruption rampant and slow growing. During the early years of independence, Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first prime minister, immediately launched a series of economic reforms in which the government controlled the public sector and directed investment into key public sector industries. Under Nehru's leadership, the government attempted to develop India by undertaking agricultural restructuring and rapid industrialization, and his government directed the establishment of many institutions of higher education. Today he is admired for creating a system that provides universal primary education. Apart from economic reforms, he launched many policies, most notably the foreign policy of non-alignment during the Cold War, where he projected India as a regional power in South Asia..