The birth of a nation

India is declared a republic and
a new constitution is adopted.
Dr Rajendra Prasad is elected
the country’s first President.
• India declares its independence. Jawaharlal Nehru
(below) is elected the country’s first Prime Minister.
• The India-Pakistan War of 1947-48 is fought between
the two new neighbours for control over Kashmir.
1947
1950
The Reserve Bank of
India is established.
1948
1951
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
1957
1958
Nehru presents the first fiveyear plan in the Parliament.
The Lok Sabha assembles
for the first time on May 13.
Indian Airlines is
created and Air India
is nationalised.
The Special Marriage Act
1954 is passed. It provides
for a special form of
marriage irrespective of
religion or faith.
The government
nationalises the Imperial
Bank of India, renaming it
the State Bank of India.
The States Reorganisation
Act of India restructures the
boundaries and names of
states along linguistic lines.
India passes a bill
bringing Kashmir
under its control as
part of the Union.
• Mehboob Khan’s Mother India is the
nation’s first nomination for the Academy
Awards for Best Foreign Language Film.
• The Armed Forces (Special Powers)
Act (AFSPA) is passed, granting special
powers to the armed forces in ‘disturbed
areas’ in the states of Arunachal Pradesh,
Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram,
Nagaland and Tripura. It is later extended
to Jammu and Kashmir.
• First generation Ambassador automobiles
(below) roll out of the Hindustan Motors
plant in Uttarpara, West Bengal.
1949
1959
1960
• Air India gets its first
Boeing 707-420 aircraft.
Flights to New York via
London are inaugurated.
• K. Asif’s Mughal-e-Azam
is released 15 years after he
started making the movie.
• Mahatma
Gandhi (right) is
assassinated by
Nathuram Godse.
• India wins its first
gold medal in hockey
at the 1948 London
Olympics.
1962
China defeats the Indian Army
in the North East Frontier Area.
1961
Goa is liberated
after 451 years of
Portuguese colonial
rule. Its annexation
into the Indian Union
is only recognised by
Portugal in 1975.
• National stateowned broadcaster
Doordarshan is
established.
• Bajaj Auto obtains
a licence from the
government to
manufacture twoand three-wheelers,
spurring a motor
revolution in
the country.
1963
1964
1965
The Supreme Court of India mandates
that reservation should not exceed
50 per cent in any institution.
Nehru dies after a five-month
illness. He is succeeded by Lal
Bahadur Shastri.
The second Kashmir
war is fought between
India and Pakistan.
1967
1968
Pictures: AFP, Corbis, Gulf News Archives and AP
The birth of a nation
From space launches and sporting accomplishments to the evolving economy and
inspiring leadership, GN Focus charts 65 years of ups, downs, glory and introspection
By Sangamitra Roy | Special to GN Focus
Focus
82| GN
August 15, 2012
The Beatles and Mia Farrow visit Rishikesh. They attend an advanced
Transcendental Meditation training session at the ashram of Maharishi
Mahesh Yogi (above). It is one of the most productive periods for the band.
• Dr Zakir Hussain becomes
India’s first Muslim president.
• The first Naxalite war starts
with a peasant uprising in
the town of Naxalbari,
West Bengal.
• The Koyna Dam and
the Koyna Reservoir are
believed to have induced an
earthquake that leaves nearly
200 people dead and 5,000
people homeless.
1969
1970
1971
• A group of 42 striking Dalit labourers are
massacred by a gang allegedly sent by their
landlords in Kilvenmani village in Tamil Nadu.
• The Indian National Congress formally breaks
into two halves, the Congress (O) under Morarji
Desai and Congress (R) under Indira Gandhi.
Cyclone Bhola
strikes East Pakistan
(now Bangladesh)
and West Bengal,
claiming around
500,000 lives.
India and Pakistan fight
their second major war,
over East Pakistan, which
ends with the surrender of
90,000 Pakistani troops.
Bangladesh is formed.
1966
• Shastri and President
Ayub Khan of Pakistan sign
a Soviet-mediated peace
pact in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
Shastri dies of a heart attack in
Tashkent a few days later.
Indira Gandhi becomes
Prime Minister.
• Reita Faria (left) is crowned
Miss World, the first Indian to
win the title.
• Air India flight 101 to New York
crashes near the summit of
Mont Blanc in the Alps, killing all
117 passengers, and is including
physicist Homi Bhabha.
1972
India and Bangladesh sign a friendship treaty. Pakistan
and India sign the historic bilateral Simla Agreement
(above), agreeing to settle their disputes peacefully.
GN Focus
August 15, 2012
|83
1974
1973
• India successfully conducts its first
nuclear test at Pokhran in Rajasthan.
• 17 million railways workers strike
for increased pay scales.
The Save the
Tiger campaign
is launched.
1977
1978
The first nonCongress government
comes to power and
Morarji Desai
(above) becomes
Prime Minister.
• The Indian President declares
a state of emergency under Article
352 of the Constitution.
• Aryabhata, the first Indian
satellite, is launched.
• Ramesh Sippy’s Sholay (right)
runs for 286 weeks straight.
1976
Pictures: Corbis, Gulf News Archives and Supplied
The minimum age
for marriage is
raised to 21 years
for men and 18
for women.
1981
Indira Gandhi
visits the UAE
(left) for the first
time in her official
capacity as Prime
Minister of India.
1984
• Indira Gandhi orders Operation
Blue Star to remove Sikh
separatists from the Golden Temple
in Amritsar. She is assassinated
months later by two of her own
Sikh security guards. Between
2,700 and 10,000 Sikhs are killed
in the riots that follow. Rajiv Gandhi
(above left) becomes the youngest
Prime Minister of India.
• Squadron leader Rakesh
Sharma (above right) becomes
the first Indian in space after he is
launched aboard the Soyuz T-11.
• A methyl isocyanate leak from
a Union Carbide pesticide plant
in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, kills
more than 8,000 people. William
Anderson, CEO of Union Carbide,
exits the country secretly.
1983
1982
• India wins the Cricket World Cup at
Lords in London.
• Maruti 800 (below), the ‘people’s
car’, is unveiled by Indira Gandhi.
• More than 3,000 people are
killed by Luhang tribals in the Nellie
massacre in Assam during a sixhour period. Most of the victims are
Muslims and illegal immigrants
from Bangladesh.
As Delhi hosts the ninth Asian
Games, the government
allows the importation of
colour TVs.
A bomb brings down Air India
Flight 182 in the Atlantic Ocean,
south of Ireland, killing all
329 on-board.
1986
ERNET (Education and Research
Network) is launched as a
collaborative effort with the five
IITs, IISc, erstwhile NCST and DIT.
Mira Nair’s Salaam
Bombay becomes the
second Indian film to
be nominated for the
Academy Award for Best
Foreign Language Film.
1987
1995
1996
• Prime Minister P.K. Narasimha
Rao (right) and Finance Minister
Manmohan Singh usher in several reforms
that effectively liberalise India’s socialist economy.
• Rajiv Gandhi is assassinated by an LTTE suicide
bomber in Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu.
1992
• A Bhopal court declares former
Union Carbide CEO Warren
Anderson a fugitive for failing to
appear in the Bhopal Gas Tragedy
case, and orders his extradition from
the US.
• Activists of the Vishva Hindu
Parishad tear down the Babri Masjid
in Ayodhya, sparking nationwide
communal riots, in which about
3,000 people lose their lives.
• Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge becomes one of the
longest running Hindi movies and provides Hindi
films with a new trend and audience — the NRI.
• India joins the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
• VSNL introduces the internet to six cities in India
with the launch of dial-up services.
• Atal Bihari Vajpayee resigns as Prime
Minister after just 13 days in office to avoid
a no-confidence motion.
• The communists join a coalition government
for the first time since independence.
• Chinese President Jiang Zemin becomes the
first Chinese head of state to visit India.
• The President decides
to set up the Mandal
Commission, providing
quotas in government
departments for members
from backward castes.
• The Morvi Dam bursts in
Gujarat, killing thousands.
• Mother Teresa (above)
wins the Nobel
Peace Prize.
1991
Prime Minister V.P. Singh (above) announces
the implementation of the controversial Mandal
Commission report amid widespread protests.
The Indian military prevents a coup
in the Maldives.
China and India
engage in a second
round of hostilities.
Focus
84| GN
August 15, 2012
• India wins a hockey
gold at the 1980 Moscow
Olympics.
• Indira Gandhi returns to
power. Six months later,
her son and heir apparent,
Sanjay, dies in a
plane crash.
1990
1988
1979
1980
1989
1985
2000
• Air India Flight 855, the airline’s first
Boeing 747, crashes into the Arabian Sea.
All 213 passengers are killed.
• Durga, India’s first test tube baby, is born
in Calcutta (now Kolkata) on October 3.
• Indira Gandhi is re-elected to the
Indian Parliament.
1975
1997
1993
A series of 13 bomb
blasts devastates
Mumbai, killing more
than 200 people.
1994
Miss India Sushmita
Sen is crowned Miss
Universe and Miss India
runner-up Aishwarya
Rai (left, centre) is
crowned Miss World.
2001
• Researchers say unusually
high sea temperatures caused
by extreme weather conditions
have irreversibly damaged coral
reefs off India’s western coast.
• 150 million children are
immunised against polio.
• An earthquake measuring
7.9 on the Richter scale strikes
Gujarat (above), killing more
than 30,000 people.
• The country’s first ever private
FM radio station, Radio City, is
launched in Bengaluru.
• The three-year-old US-led
economic sanctions against
India’s external defence trade
are lifted.
• Five terrorists attack
the Parliament House.
• India’s population
officially crosses the
billion mark (below).
• Miss India Lara Dutta is
named Miss Universe and
Miss India first runner-up
Priyanka Chopra wins the
Miss World title.
• K.R. Narayanan is sworn in as India’s first
Dalit President.
• 49 senior Hindu politicians and religious figures are charged
for their alleged role in the demolition of the Babri Masjid.
• Sonia Gandhi announces her decision to join the Congress
Party’s election campaign.
• Sabeer Bhatia (above) becomes India’s internet poster boy
as Hotmail is sold to Microsoft for $400mn (about Dh1.4bn).
• Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two
sons are burnt to death by Hindu fundamentalists.
• India wins the Kargil War against Pakistan.
• Hijackers take over an Indian Airlines flight carrying
189 people from Kathmandu to New Delhi, and free
their hostages only after the release of three militants
by the Indian Government.
1999
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Pictures: Corbis, Gulf News Archives and Supplied
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Vajpayee visits China and concedes
that Tibet is an integral part of that
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Sikkim’s accession to India.
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2003
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• Indian spacecraft SRE 1
2002
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successfully completes a 12-day
• 59 pilgrims are attacked and
killed onboard a train in Godhra,
Gujarat. More than 1,000 people
perish in the riots that follow.
• The ownership of mobile
phones in India has increased by
75 per cent.
orbital test flight, making India one
of the few nations to return a craft
from orbit.
• India wins the first T-20 cricket
world tournament.
• Nearly 1.5 million people are
affected by floods across 15 districts
in Bihar as the River
Kosi changes its
course after 300 years.
An earthquake originating in the Indian
Ocean measures 9 on the Richter scale. The
resulting tsunami kills more than 15,000
people in India and 250,000 across the globe.
2004
A trial court judgement is overturned
and Manu Sharma is found guilty in
the Jessica Lal Murder Case. He is
sentenced to life in prison.
2006
2007
2008
• Abhinav Bindra (above) wins India’s first-ever
individual Olympic gold medal in Beijing for the 10m
Air Rifle event. Sushil Kumar gets bronze in Freestyle
Wrestling while Vijender Singh wins a bronze
medal in boxing.
• India launches Chandrayaan I (right), its first
unmanned lunar probe.
• Sister Alphonsa from Kerala becomes India’s first
Catholic woman saint.
• The 123 Agreement between India and the US
formally begins the Indo-US nuclear deal and ends
India’s nuclear isolation.
• A terrorist attack in Mumbai kills 175 people and
injures more than 300. Top hotels are hit, including the
iconic Taj Mahal Palace.
• Tata Motors acquires Jaguar (left) and Land Rover
from Ford for $2.3 billion.
• The Telecom Regulatory
Authority of India (TRAI) slashes
international tariffs. Direct dialling to
the Gulf, the SAARC countries, Saudi
Arabia, Africa, Australia and New
Zealand costs Rs 12 a minute, down by
33 per cent.
• Hundreds lose their lives after
Mumbai is submerged in 5-7ft of water
for five days following heavy rains.
2011
India hosts the 2010
Commonwealth Games.
2009
2005
• Saina Nehwal clinches the Swiss Open
Grand Prix in badminton.
• India wins the 2011 Cricket World Cup (right).
• India hosts its first F1 Race at the Buddh
International Circuit, Noida, Uttar Pradesh.
• Sonia Gandhi (11th) and Dr Manmohan Singh
(19th) are ranked among the top 20 most
powerful people on earth by Forbes magazine.
2010
• India crosses the 500-million
mobile subscriber mark.
• India launches its first nuclear
submarine, the INS Arihant.
• The government passes The Right
of Children to Free and Compulsory
Education Act, making education
a fundamental right.
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Focus
85| GN
August 15, 2012
1998
• Sonia Gandhi
(right) launches
her election
campaign in
Sriperumbudur, where her husband
was assassinated.
• The US and Japan impose
economic sanctions on India and
the UN Security Council votes
unanimously to condemn India and
Pakistan for their nuclear
weapons tests.
• Amartya Sen is awarded the
Nobel Prize in Economics.
• Sify becomes India’s first private
internet service provider.
• A large-scale power outage
across North India leaves more
than 600mn in the dark.
• Pranab Mukherjee (right) is
elected India’s 13th President.
2012