india's journey of 75 years

Modi pledges to make India a developed country as it marks 75 years of independence

Prime Minister Narendra Modi pledged to raise millions out of poverty and turn India into a developed country in the next quarter-century as he marked its 75 years since independence from British rule.

Wearing a flowing, cream-colored turban printed with small stripes of orange, white and green, Modi addressed the country Monday from New Delhi’s 17th-century Mughal-era Red Fort, saying the world was looking toward India to help resolve global issues.

Modi said the journey of the past 75 years had seen ups and downs with India battling against all odds with resilience and perseverance. He asked people to remove any trace of colonial mindset.

President Joe Biden, in a statement celebrating Indian Independence Day, said the two countries are indispensable partners grounded in a shared commitment to the rule of law and the promotion of human freedom and dignity.

Biden said he was confident that “the two countries will continue to stand together to defend the rules-based order; foster greater peace, prosperity and security for our people; advance a free and open Indo-Pacific; and together address the challenges we face around the world.”

Modi said India will be guided by the ideals of self-reliance and the spirit of international partnership to attain excellence in science and technology, set up industries, and attain food and energy security. He said billions of dollars in investment were flowing into the country turning it into a manufacturing hub.

India’s efforts have already launched the country of 1.4 billion people into the ranks of leading countries in information technology, pharmacy, space science and civil nuclear energy.

Modi said millions of people across the country were commemorating the 75th anniversary of independence by hoisting orange, white and green national flags at their homes and businesses for three days as part of a government campaign “of awakening the spirit of patriotism in every heart.” India’s Parliament House, the presidential palace, national monuments and other government offices blazed with multi-colored lighting.

The main opposition Congress party accused the Modi government of leaving opposition parties out of celebrations.

“There were special functions in Parliament’s historic Central Hall to mark the 25th, 50th and 60th anniversary of India’s independence,” Jairam Ramesh, a Congress party spokesman, said. “Sadly, nothing like that has been organized for the 75th anniversary, which has been reduced to an occasion to glorify the Sarvagyaani,” using a term meaning “a person who knows all” in a reference to Modi.

In his 80-minute speech, Modi made no reference to India’s tense ties with immediate neighbors Pakistan and China, or any steps to improve relations.

He called for unity to move forward but didn’t respond to experts and critics who say the country has been gradually departing from some commitments and argue the backsliding has accelerated since Modi came to power in 2014. They accuse his populist government of using unbridled political power to undermine democratic freedoms and preoccupying itself with pursuing a Hindu nationalist agenda.

Modi pledged to fight corruption and nepotism in the country’s politics, which he said were acting as termites eating away the gains of development.

Argument: 75 Years After Independence, a Changing ‘Idea of India’

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75 Years After Independence, a Changing ‘Idea of India’

India’s liberal founders recede from view as its current leaders craft a new, less tolerant nation..

The evening before he was sworn in as newly independent India’s first prime minister 75 years ago on Aug. 15, Jawaharlal Nehru addressed the Indian nation. There was immense curiosity around the world. Nehru’s address, which quickly became known as his “tryst with destiny” speech, is remarkable for its eloquence and his awareness of the task that lay ahead for his nation. At the time, the subcontinent was still undergoing a bloody partition, during which millions of people would die and tens of millions of lives would be uprooted.

Three-quarters of a century later, under Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership, the country’s narrative is undergoing its broadest shift since independence. India’s secular, liberal founders such as Nehru are increasingly lost from view—and blamed for the tragedy of Partition. Modi’s government wants to turn India into a more assertive, nationalistic, Hindu nation—where minorities exist but are expected to be subservient and grateful. As government officials, including Modi, increasingly mix Hinduism with politics, and as minorities, particularly Muslims, find increased restrictions against displaying their faith, India is fast becoming the country Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Pakistan’s founder, warned about when he demanded a separate nation for British India’s Muslims.

At the time of independence, there was understandable apprehension in foreign capitals about what India might become. Former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who had never liked the idea of granting his country’s biggest colony its freedom, had ridiculed India as “a geographical term … no more a united nation than the equator.” When the British left India, it was divided into two nations—two wings of Pakistan to the west and east for the subcontinent’s Muslims and a much larger Hindu-majority nation that said it would be a secular democracy. India included not only regions directly administered by the British but also more than 500 princely states, large and small, whose rulers believed themselves to be sovereign. Many thought Balkanization was inevitable. India would remain the poster child of poverty, many insisted, particularly after the Nehru government opted for post-independence economic policies that professed socialism, vastly expanded state control of the economy, and did not succeed in promoting economic welfare while announcing plans to do so. Indeed, for many decades, the poor remained poor.

Much more recently, Singaporean elder statesman Lee Kuan Yew, too, dismissed India, insisting it is not a real country . “Instead,” he said, “it is 32 separate nations that happen to be arrayed along the British rail line.” Reality, however, looks different: The multiethnic former Yugoslavia has broken up, the Soviet empire has splintered, and Pakistan has split into two. India, however, remains a unitary state, notwithstanding challenges such as the future of Kashmir.

India did bring together those princely states, and over three-quarters of a century, it has not only stayed united but emerged stronger, became self-sufficient in food, and turned into a much wealthier economic powerhouse. Crucially, India has continued to hold democratic elections, even if election campaign finance is opaque. It has a judiciary that’s independent in theory but rarely pronounces verdicts the government doesn’t like. The Army has not intervened in politics, even though retired generals fulminate in the media. The Indian media is free to criticize—but directs much of its criticism at the opposition while mostly sparing the government.

India has had major internal strife and fought wars. Today, its relations with most neighbors are fragile. Income inequality has widened. But New Delhi no longer needs help from foreign governments when facing emergencies such as natural disasters and no longer seeks concessional aid from rich countries.

India’s singular achievement since independence has been to remain a democracy that clings to its liberal, secular ethos. True, there were significant setbacks—most notably, the Emergency of 1975-1977, when then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi suspended key civil rights provisions, jailed opposition leaders and workers, and censored the press. But she held elections in 1977. When she lost, she stepped down without disputing the outcome, returning to power legitimately by winning the next elections in early 1980, following the collapse of the government that replaced her.

The world was impressed and inspired by Indian democracy and its astounding ability to hold together a vast geographic, ethnic, and religious tapestry. John Kenneth Galbraith, who later U.S. President John F. Kennedy’s ambassador to India, called India a “functioning anarchy” in 1958. Many Indians bristled at the word “anarchy,” but Galbraith’s point was valid: Even in what appeared to him as anarchy, India functioned. Anarchies aren’t meant to function. To many outsiders, there seemed to be an Indian genius at work.

Because of India’s democratic exterior—and the socialist, nonaligned policies with which many of in the international liberal community sympathized—the world gave India a free pass for many of its flaws. India’s pernicious caste system that defined an entire swath of society as “untouchable” persisted despite laws banning the practice, and India was never subjected to the kind of campaigns that rightly targeted South Africa’s apartheid regime. Frequent outbreaks of sectarian violence killed hundreds and at times thousands, but India did not face sanctions. Its robust democratic norms—politicians challenging one another, newspapers exposing scandals, and the occasional resignations of politicians guilty of corruption or misdemeanors—strengthened India’s image, suggesting that the country was adhering to its remarkably progressive constitution. And that document was progressive indeed: From the moment of independence in 1947, every Indian of a certain age, regardless of sex, religion, caste, language, or social status, had the right to vote.

In spite of major crises—several wars, droughts, incompetent leadership, corruption, and internal strife, to say nothing of autarkic economic policies and growing inequality—India continued on its path of remaining a liberal, secular, democratic country. It was an oasis surrounded by authoritarian regimes, where generals took over when they didn’t like the elected civilian government, including Myanmar, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. The comparison to its neighbors further enhanced India’s reputation. How deserved that reputation was is a different question. One problem was the government’s ability to curb freedoms whenever it wanted under esoteric so-called national security laws, which independent India actually tightened, making its citizens’ freedoms more vulnerable than during colonial times. But India’s earlier governments played by known rules. The constitution India had adopted with independence was imbued with a liberal, secular, democratic ethos. Part of the reason India got a free pass for many horrible things was because the international community trusted India to get it right. And unlike other countries in the region, India did not export its problems, not least because its very large Muslim population wasn’t radicalized by the ideologies that were sweeping Islam from the Middle East to Southeast Asia.

Instead of being a multi-everything society that celebrates its diversity, India has become a majoritarian entity, fearful of its minorities and keen to subjugate them.

I recall a private conversation with a U.S. diplomat in what was still called Bombay, now Mumbai, in the late 1980s. By then, Eastern Europe was restless and in the process of shaking off the Soviet umbrella. One by one, Moscow’s satellite states were freeing themselves. Vaclav Havel, a writer I deeply admire, would soon become president of Czechoslovakia—and later the Czech Republic. (Disclosure: I am a jury member for the Vaclav Havel Library Foundation’s Disturbing the Peace Award given annually to a courageous writer.) The diplomat at whose home I was having dinner told me, quite frankly: “India’s free ride is going to end soon. Until a few years ago, there were a handful of democracies, and most were in the West. You were the exception. Now, with [protest leader Lech] Walesa in Poland, Havel in Czechoslovakia, the world is changing—there are going to be many more democracies. They will write liberal constitutions. Their new leaders have been close to the West. And India’s flaws—the communal riots, caste riots—will be far more visible.”

He was right. In 1990, I went to South Africa for the first time. Interviewing politicians across the political spectrum, I learned early on that the constitution they planned to write after the end of apartheid was going to be far more liberal than India’s. South African intellectuals and politicians such as Nadine Gordimer, Zach de Beer, Allister Sparks, Nelson Mandela, F.W. de Klerk, and many others I talked to admired India and its democracy, not least because of Mohandas Gandhi’s years in South Africa. As South Africans often tell Indian visitors, “You gave us Mr. Gandhi, we gave you the Mahatma,” and anyone who has followed Gandhi’s life would agree that South Africa strongly shaped the Indian leader’s views and political talents.

The “idea of India,” as political scientist Sunil Khilnani described the ethos of the nation’s early years, was assumed to be what every Indian believed in: democracy, liberalism, secularism, and a concern for the poor.

However, since 1925, an organization called the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (abbreviated RSS, meaning “National Voluntary Union”) has sought to write a different narrative. Many of its early leaders have written approvingly or been unabashed admirers of Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini and Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, admiring in particular Nazi Germany’s nationalism and ideas of racial purity. During the struggle for independence, the RSS vehemently opposed Gandhi’s and Nehru’s cooperation with Muslims. But for all their admiration of nationalism, no major RSS leader made a notable contribution to India’s struggle for independence. Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, a prominent icon of Hindu Mahasabha, another right-wing organization, was charged as co-conspirator in Gandhi’s assassination in 1948, though he was acquitted. Gandhi’s actual assassin, Nathuram Godse, was a member of Hindu Mahasabha and had previously been a member of the RSS.

India has banned the RSS three times—in 1948, after Gandhi was killed; in 1975, during the Emergency; and then again in 1992, after right-wing zealots destroyed a mosque in Ayodhya because they claimed it was built on a site where they believed Rama, the Hindu god-king, was born millennia ago. One of the RSS’s allied organizations is today’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which, since its inception in 1980, has steadily expanded its influence. Since the Indian electoral system follows the British first-past-the-post system, it’s enough for the BJP to get a plurality of votes, most recently 37 percent in 2019. The opposition vote is splintered, and the grand old party of India’s independence movement, the Indian National Congress, is struggling. Thanks to the first-past-the-post system, the BJP—under Modi’s charismatic leadership—has been in power without a majority of votes since 2014.

The eight years of BJP rule have changed India’s governing ethos—and what the “idea of India” means today. Instead of being a multi-everything society that celebrates its diversity, it has become a majoritarian entity, fearful of its minorities and keen to subjugate them. Hindus have lynched Muslims on the suspicion of possessing meat. The central government has used national security laws to arrest human rights defenders—including Christians and Muslims—who had been working for the poor, in many cases with no charges filed and bail denied. In the populous state of Uttar Pradesh, the BJP-run state government has razed the homes of Muslims who have challenged the government. Indian jails are filled not only with criminals awaiting trials but also with dissident human rights activists, journalists, writers, and others whose voices an older India might have celebrated.

Continuing to describe India as “the world’s largest democracy” is increasingly bizarre; it is merely the most populous country to hold elections.

The Modi administration is unabashed in promoting the Hindu faith over others. Modi ritually prostates himself before Hindu idols and participates in religious ceremonies on state business—when unveiling national monuments, for example. Under his government, India has become a Hindu country whose minorities must accept second-class status without equal rights and protections as citizens. State schools in many BJP-ruled states no longer offer meat to children at lunch out of a mistaken belief that Hinduism prohibits eating meat. Other Hindu nationalists have been running campaigns on social media singling out films with Muslim actors for boycotts. Hindi, a language spoken as their first language by less than half of India’s 1.4 billion people, is increasingly imposed on regions where it is neither spoken nor popular as a second language. Southern Indian states, where the BJP is generally weaker than in the north, often have superior literacy rates, greater female empowerment, and lower birth rates. In cities in southern and western India, such as Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, and Hyderabad, the BJP vote is boosted by large numbers of job-seeking, Hindi-speaking, hard-to-assimilate migrants from BJP-ruled states. “India is like Europe,” the actor Mohan Agashe once told me. “A common civilization, but different local cultures.”

It is that distinction that bothers the BJP, whose long-term aim is to mold India into a unitary state with a single identity and following a single faith. Former Indian Prime Minister Morarji Desai once told me he considered this vision as ridiculous because, in his view, Hinduism is a faith with many interpretations, many gods, and many paths toward spiritual salvation, and not the singular narrative the nationalists are making it out to be. But, for better or worse, that’s the direction the BJP is headed. Like other strongly ideological parties—communists come to mind—the BJP’s aim is not the next election but the next generation.

In Modi, India’s Hindu nationalists have found a leader who galvanizes the population, even though he was the chief minister of the state of Gujarat when one of the worst massacres in independent India took place in 2002, and his government was severely castigated by human rights groups at the time. Many have forgotten that Modi was banned from entering the United States until he became prime minister in 2014. That the BJP’s vision vastly diminishes India is hardly a concern for its supporters. If it succeeds, India will be reshaped into something very much different from what Nehru described in the 1940s: “[India] was like some ancient palimpsest on which layer upon layer of thought and reverie had been inscribed, and yet no succeeding layer had completely hidden or erased what had been written previously.”

Continuing to describe India as “the world’s largest democracy” is increasingly bizarre. Today, India is merely the most populous country to hold elections. It has the form of democracy but has lost the content. Since Modi came to power, India’s ranking in the United Nations Development Program’s human development indicators has stagnated. In its annual review of political freedoms around the world, Freedom House no longer categorizes India as “free.” India is the only nominal democracy among the 10 worst jailers of writers and journalists, according to PEN America; according to Reporters Without Borders, India has become one of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists to work.

Modi operates like a master performer with a keen eye for exceptional photo-ops. Never mind that many of his policies are whimsical—like the sudden demonetization of the currency in 2016—or woefully inadequate, such as India’s response to the pandemic or to the country’s widening inequality. There are 200 million Indian Muslims—and currently not a single one in Modi’s cabinet.

Of course, India remains a hugely important country. During one of my conversations with Lee when I was a reporter in Singapore, he told me his biggest worry was turmoil in China. But have we thought about what might happen if instead of China, it’s India that disintegrates? If poorly educated, Hindi-speaking northern India increasingly imposes its retrograde values on a more educated, prosperous south, there will be trouble ahead. Going back to a social order before British rule (if it ever existed at all)—requiring moral codes that restrict women, enforcing religious practices, legislating bizarre vegetarian dietary practices, and requiring everyone to speak a single language, believe in one faith, and support one ideology—then Indian unity, preserved for the past 75 years, could begin to unravel. As any glance at a history book makes clear, that is unlikely to be a pleasant process.

An outwardly democratic India may seem like a good counternarrative to an autocratic China. But India has been an unreliable ally of the West and is looking increasingly odious. Look no further than India’s votes at the United Nations abstaining from condemning Russia’s unlawful and brutal invasion of Ukraine.

To regain the moral ascendancy India had at independence, the country needs a makeover. India needs to return to its origins—the “idea of India” and the spirit that its sole Nobel laureate in literature, Rabindranath Tagore, celebrated in his poetry . Even democratically constituted nations can be gripped by madness, as Europe’s bloody 20th century shows. India is a great adventure and fantastic experiment, but its current leadership is turning it into a mere shadow of what Gandhi, Nehru, and Tagore imagined. That failure of imagination is the ultimate tragedy as India now turns 75.

Correction, Aug. 15, 2022: A previous version of this article misstated the jurisdictions Narendra Modi was barred from entering before becoming prime minister.

Salil Tripathi is a writer based in New York. He reported from Southeast Asia in the 1990s, including on the fall of Suharto in Jakarta. He is the author of The Colonel Who Would Not Repent: The Bangladesh War and its Unquiet Legacy , and he is working on a book about the Gujaratis.

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As India marks 75 years since independence from British colonial rule, Indians share their hopes for the future

In a swirl of orange, green and white, India today marks 75 years since the country became independent and ended almost 200 years of British colonial rule.

It also marks the partition of the subcontinent into India and Pakistan — with ripple effects of that delineation still being felt today.

From a movement inspired by Mahatma Gandhi, often regarded as the architect of nonviolent resistance, India has seen a meteoric rise.

India will soon become the world's most populous nation  — it's projected to overtake China's 1.4 billion population next year, according to the UN. 

It has grown its agricultural sector, made its mark in global politics, developed nuclear capabilities, has a thriving tech industry and is making leaps in the space race.

But many challenges remain — the ABC spoke with Indians, who shared their ambitions and concerns about inequality, climate change, development and diversity.

Emergence as an economic powerhouse

Back in 1947, India's gross domestic product was just 3 per cent of the world's GDP — now it's the world's sixth largest economy.

Lisa Singh, CEO of the Australia India Institute, said India had been protectionist in the 1950s and 60s.

"That protectionist nature that India had earlier on, really came out of the fact that it had been ruled by the East India Company," she said.

A significant shift occurred in 1991 with economic liberalisation, which saw an influx of foreign investment and radical globalisation, and India became a leader in manufacturing.

Agriculture still employs 60 per cent of Indians, but contributes to just 23 per cent of GDP , according to the UN.

Anand Shriram, 35, is the vice-president of an agribusiness company in north India, with a focus on fertilisers, chemicals and plastics.

He's the fifth generation to enter agribusiness and has witnessed a transformation of the sector, but notes there's a long way to go in agricultural policy.

"I feel very, very proud to be Indian. We've come a long way, and it's great the way the country has progressed over the years," he said.

At the same time, there are contradictions — literacy rates have lifted, but unemployment is an ongoing concern, he said.

"We're talking about going to Mars and reaching outer space, but electricity and poverty and clean water for all is still an issue," he said.

India has invested heavily in research and development, becoming more competitive, but is still impacted by daily issues with traffic, pollution and corruption, he said.

The youth population is huge — more than half the country's inhabitants, or more than 600 million people, are under the age of 30.

That means there's a lot of opportunities, but an economic challenge to be met too, with the country needing to create about 10 million jobs per year for the next five to seven years, Mr Shriram said.

Many of those jobs could be in the tech and start-up sectors — India recently reached the milestone of 100 unicorns, or start-up companies worth $US1 billion.

But musician and entrepreneur Bindu Subramaniam, 38, hopes more career opportunities open up in the arts sector, too.

Ms Subramaniam was born in the US but her parents moved back to India when she was a teenager, and she has since become involved in music education.

She said India's policy of having arts education as part of every child's schooling until grade eight would help to broaden their horizons.

"A decade ago, someone who wanted to leave a stable engineering job to be a musician would be looked at as like crazy," she said.

"But I think more and more people are embracing the idea of different career pathways."

She said the 75-year milestone was an opportunity for people to reflect on how far the country had come.

"Being born outside India but very much part of the Indian diaspora gave me a unique understanding of what India was and what India is," she said.

"Because sometimes when you're born outside, you are part of the culture that your parents carried."

India's 'new place in the world'

A significant moment in India's history was the forging of its constitution in 1950.

Manuraj Shunmugasundaram, 39, a lawyer in the high court of Madras in the state of Tamil Nadu, in the country's south-east, says one of the most significant moments was the first amendment.

That extended affirmative action in education and government jobs to include groups that had been historically and systematically discriminated against, he said.

Minket Lepcha, 39, a researcher and filmmaker from the Lepcha Indigenous community in West Bengal, is documenting folklore and traditional knowledge, especially in relation to women and water flows. 

"India has come a long way, because we have a president who is from an Indigenous community. It's very empowering and positive that India has been addressing and acknowledging the role of Indigenous communities across India," she said. 

With its many borders, she said India is "a beautiful kaleidoscope of influences" and there should be a deeper listening to ethnic and Indigenous groups. 

The country has seen a transformation under Narendra Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), elected in 2014.

The government has invested heavily in constructing roads and building toilets, as well as policies to uplift those who are most impoverished.

But it has also been accused of fostering right-wing nationalism, stoking religious tensions and excluding Muslims and other non-Hindu groups.

Charu Pragya, 38, who works for the BJP political party, said the whole country was coming together to mark independence this year. 

"This is a big birthday that my country is celebrating," she said.

Internationally, India has forged partnerships with Australia, the US and Japan under the Quad, and with Brazil, Russia, South Africa and China through BRICS. India is also set to take on the G20 presidency next year.

"After the pandemic especially, I feel that we have found a new place in the world," she said.

"India went on from being a country that needed to import basic N95 masks to today … we have become a vaccine supplier to the world. So that's the progress that we have made in a very short period of time."

But Mr Shunmugasundaram, who is also a spokesperson for the progressive social justice DMK political party, said despite gains for India's diverse groups since independence, he feared an erosion under the current government.

He said moves like the passage of a citizenship law for new migrants that excludes Muslims were not just nationalism, but exclusionary to the point of "fascism".

"They want this one nation, one language, one religion," he said, saying his party historically opposed the imposition of the Hindi language on other groups.

"[This] is a starting point or something which I feel is going to be much more exclusionary, much more discriminatory and much more polarising."

Ms Pragya deflected accusations of exclusionary nationalism as "political posturing" and described India as "truly secular and truly welcoming" to refugees.

She said the country was looking to further improve healthcare and education, subsidise housing for those in need and connect even the tiniest villages to the electricity grid. 

"Once you get the basics to your people, only then you can start making sure that this disparity is done away with. And that's what we have focused on."

She said the country was also prioritising the economy and tackling climate change.

"We're working on those modern things, while we ensure that we keep our culture intact," she said.

"We are taking our rightful place in the world.

"That gives us a lot of responsibility that also makes a lot of other countries look at us with hope."

India is not 'China 2.0'

Ms Singh from the Australia India Institute said the relationship between the two countries had a lot of potential — especially in education and technology — but there needed to be a deeper understanding.

"Misunderstandings and stereotypes play a disruptive role in forging closer links between our people and countries," she said.

She said there was jubilation after independence and India was a tremendous growth and development story; the world's largest democracy lifting millions out of poverty.

She said Australia and India had much in common. More than 780,000 people of Indian origin now call Australia home, according to the latest census .

"Australia's pivot to India shouldn't be borne out of the fact of its challenges with China," she said.

"You can't look at India as China 2.0.

"India is all about relationships, it's about building trust. And that can only happen by listening to India."

She said while India was made up of diverse groups and identities, it projected a unified national identity on the world stage, including on the cricket pitch and at the Commonwealth Games. 

Looking ahead, lawyer Mr Shunmugasundaram said he wanted to see more vulnerable sections of society protected, and key areas to improve on were gender justice and equality.

Until recently, non-heterosexual people could be criminally charged, but the Supreme Court issued a historic decision to decriminalise gay sex in 2018.

But gay marriage has not yet been legalised, and there were knock-on effects for that for adoption and inheritance.

"The LGBTQIA+ community is in a grey area — they will not be charged for being a lesbian or gay person, but beyond that, there is nothing there, they cannot join a house together, for example," he said. 

Another important factor was climate justice; nearing the world's largest population gave India an obligation to act, he said.

Ms Lepcha said India needed to deepen its understanding of ecology to deal with a coming water crisis and climate change. 

"The sacred understanding of water goes beyond what is taught to us," she said. 

"Sometimes we do not realise that we are basically creating an ecological imbalance, and it is us who as the community, as the population who really needs to address these issues of climate change at a very personal level."

Musician Ms Subramaniam also wanted to see more equality for India, adding she thinks state governments are taking steps in the right direction.

"We should continue moving towards LGBTQIA+ rights, we should continue moving towards social equity … making sure that access to good education and healthcare is more fundamental," she said.

"These are gaps that are really critical to fill, and I hope that that's where we can continue to move forward."

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World leaders laud India's achievements on 75 years of Independence

WASHINGTON/PARIS: Global leaders led by US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron congratulated Indians on the 75th anniversary of India's independence on Monday, as they vowed to further strengthen bilateral ties with the world's largest democracy which has made stunning achievements.

President Biden recalled Mahatma Gandhi's "enduring message of truth and non-violence" to honour 75 years of India's democratic journey.

This year, the US and India also celebrate the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations, Biden said, underling that the two democracies will continue to stand together to defend the rules-based order, advance a free and open Indo-Pacific and address the challenges that the world is facing.

"As people around the world, including nearly four million (40 lakh) proud Indian-Americans, celebrate the 75th anniversary of India's independence on August 15, the United States joins the people of India to honour its democratic journey, guided by Mahatma Gandhi's enduring message of truth and non-violence," Biden said in a statement.

ALSO READ | PM Modi speaks of five resolves to make India developed nation by centenary year of Independence

"This year, we also celebrate the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between our great democracies. India and the United States are indispensable partners, and the US-India Strategic Partnership is grounded in our shared commitment to the rule of law and the promotion of human freedom and dignity," he said.

He said the partnership between the two nations is further strengthened by the deep bonds between their people. "The vibrant Indian-American community in the United States has made us a more innovative, inclusive, and stronger nation," Biden said.

"I am confident that in the years ahead our two democracies will continue to stand together to defend the rules-based order; foster greater peace, prosperity and security for our people; advance a free and open Indo-Pacific; and together address the challenges we face around the world," Biden said.

In a separate statement, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken greeted the people of India as they celebrated 75 years of independence on August 15. "On this important day, we reflect on the democratic values that we share, and we honour the people of India who are, together, building an even brighter future," Blinken said.

ALSO READ | India@75: How Indian economy regained its mojo and how it can be the bird of gold again

"This year is especially meaningful for our two nations as we celebrate a milestone: 75 years of diplomatic relations. Our strategic partnership touches everything from climate to trade to our vibrant people-to-people ties," he said.

"I am confident that, as two great democracies, our partnership will continue to contribute to the security and prosperity of our people and the global good. Happy Independence Day, India!" Blinken said.

French President Macron took to Twitter to congratulate Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the people of India on the occasion. "Dear friend @NarendraModi, dear people of India, congratulations on your Independence Day! As you proudly celebrate India's stunning achievements in the past 75 years, you can count on France to always stand by your side," Macron tweeted.

In his message, Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese said he has fond memories of his travels to India. Albanese said he remains "strongly committed to deepening our partnership in the spirit of respect, friendship and cooperation".

ALSO READ | Nepotism and corruption two big challenges before country, have to fight them together: PM Modi

"On the first Independence Day in 1947, when Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru called for his people to join with confidence in the adventure of their new independence, the world could not have imagined how profoundly India would heed his call," said the Australian Prime Minister.

"The emergence of the world's largest democracy and the achievements made by independent India have been remarkable," Albanese said in the statement.

Recalling his first act as the Prime Minister of Australia, he said that he met Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Quad summit in Tokyo. "Together, with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and US President Joe Biden, we reinforced our commitment to advancing the Indo-Pacific's needs," he said.

"As Comprehensive Strategic Partners, Australia and India are committed to growing bilateral cooperation," he said, adding that this year's Australia-India Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement will further support opportunities for mutual growth and prosperity.

India and Australia signed an interim Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA) on April 2 under which Canberra would provide duty-free access in its market for over 95 per cent of Indian goods such as textiles, leather, jewellery and sports products.

The agreement will help in taking bilateral trade from USD 27 billion to USD 45-50 billion in the next five years.

"All Australians applaud India's successes and the many achievements that define this great country and its people," he said. He thanked the Indian-Australian community for their contributions to the Australian "society, to our culture, to our country, and to the links between our nations".

Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles also tweeted a congratulatory message for India's Independence Day and shared pictures of INS Sumedha, an Indian navy vessel that is docked at Fremantle Port, Perth.

“"Congratulations to India on celebrating its 75th anniversary of Independence today and welcome INS Sumedha to Perth for this event. People-to-people links anchor our partnership and I send my best wishes to our large and vibrant Indian diaspora community,” Marles said.

Maldivian President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih in a tweet said, "Warm wishes to @rashtrapatibhvn, PM @narendramodi and people of India as India celebrates its 75th year of Independence."

"Maldives and India have always shared deep bonds of friendship and it is our wish that India remains a beacon of freedom, progress and diversity!," Solih wrote.

Singapore's Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan wished External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on the 75th anniversary of India's independence and expressed hope that the bilateral relations will continue to grow from strength to strength. "Wishing my good friend @DrSJaishankar and friends in India great joy as they celebrate 75 years of independence," the Indian-origin minister tweeted.

"I am confident that bilateral relations will continue to grow from strength to strength as Singapore and India further enhance our cooperation," he tweeted.

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75 Years of Independence Celebration: Know India’s Journey of Science & Technology Development

75 years of independence celebration: let’s look at india’s 75 years of science & technological development journey post-independence from 15th august 1947 till now including significant achievements and major milestones..

75 Years of Independence Celebration: Modern India is an epitome of Scientific and Technological Development and is one of the key elements for economic growth . Post 15 th August 1947, India’s journey has become a great example of an impressive growth story. As claimed by the Indian Brand Equity Foundation, India is among the topmost countries in the world in the field of scientific research and has been positioned as one of the top five nations in the field of space exploration. India has continuously undertaken space missions, including missions to the moon and the famed Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). India also ranks third among the most attractive investment destinations for technology transactions in the world.

75 Years of India’s Independence: Major Scientific & Technological Developments

Our First Prime Minister, Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru said “ Science is not merely an individual’s search for truth; it is something infinitely more than that if it works for the community ”.  He made efforts to convert India’s economy into that of a modern state and to fit her into the nuclear age and do it quickly. As India is celebrating the 75 th anniversary of its independence, let’s look what were the major Scientific & Technological developments during this period:

Development of Agricultural Technology

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India's journey since independence in 20 charts.

75 years is a long time - multiple governments ruled the nation, numerous policies were introduced to bring about structural changes to the economy.

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AP PHOTOS: The story of India, 75 years in the making

FILE - Muslim refugees sit on the roof of an overcrowded coach railway train in trying to flee India near New Delhi on Sept. 19, 1947. About 5 million Muslims migrated from India to Pakistan after India gained its independence on Aug. 15. (AP Photo/File)

FILE - The body of assassinated Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi, covered with rose petals, is carried to the site of his cremation in New Delhi, Jan. 31, 1948. (AP Photo/Max Desfor, File)

FILE - Voters receive ballots from polling station officials for India’s first General Election in a rural Delhi state village in India around Dec. 14, 1951. (AP Photo/File)

FILE - Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, left, visits the Dalai Lama, spiritual and temporal head of Tibet, at Birla House in the hill station of Mussoorie, India on April 24, 1959. The Dalai Lama fled Communist Chinese-controlled Tibet and is living in exile at Birla House. (AP Photo/File)

FILE - Two Tibetans haul long sticks of wood along a mountain road in the North East Frontier Area as they aid the Indians in battling the Chinese Red invaders, Nov. 15, 1962. The Tibetans, refugees from the fighting front, had settled in the area after being driven from their home. (AP Photo/Dennis Lee Royle, File)

FILE - Armed East Pakistan fighters head for the battle front by pedicab, in Jessore, East Pakistan on April 2, 1971. The town, near the border with India, was the scene of fierce fighting between East Pakistan followers of Bengali nationalist leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Pakistan Army forces. (AP Photo/File)

FILE - Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, right, and President of Pakistan Zulfikar Ali Bhutto shake hands after signing and agreement in the Governor’s Mansion, in Simla, India, June 28, 1972. After several days of talks, the agreement calls for the withdrawal of forces from their borders and renunciation of the use of force. (AP Photo/File)

FILE - Indian cricket team captain Kapil Dev, second from left, hugs Indian bowler Madan Lal while the rest of the Indian team celebrate at Lord’s after Gavaskar had caught West Indian, Larry Gomes, for five of the bowling of Madan Lal during the Prudential World Cup Final in London, June 25, 1983. India won the World Cup for the first time in 1983. (AP Photo/Peter Kemp, File)

FILE - A Sikh militant holds field glasses to look at government troops from his perch on the Golden Temple in Amritsar as the Indian Army moved men into positions near the temple complex, June 5, 1984. On June 6, 1984, Indian troops attacked to flush out occupying militants. About 1,200 people died in the fighting. The storming of the temple followed weeks of growing tension between the government of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Sikhs in the northern state of Punjab. Gandhi was killed in reprisal by her Sikh bodyguards four months later. (AP Photo/Sondeep Shankar, File)

FILE - Firemen use a hose to wet canvas screens at factory boundaries to prevent the spread of dangerous fumes at the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India, December, 1984. On Dec. 3, 1984, the pesticide plant run by Union Carbide leaked about 40 tons of deadly methyl isocyanate gas into the air, killing an estimated 15,000 people and affecting at least 500,000 more. Michigan-based Dow Chemical Co. took over Union Carbide in 2001. (AP Photo/Peter Kemp, File)

FILE - Young Muslim separatists come into the streets with guns, defying an army curfew and demanding independence in Kashmir, Monday, Jan. 23, 1990. Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan and claimed by both in its entirety. The region’s fury at Indian rule has been long seething and most Muslim Kashmiris support the rebel goal of uniting the territory, either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country. An armed rebellion against Indian rule began in 1990’s. (AP Photo/Ajit Kumar, File)

FILE- Supporters of the anti-reservation movement hoist a colleague in the air during a massive rally near parliament house in New Delhi on Tuesday, Oct. 2, 1990. The affirmative action plan for lower castes have sparked a series of protests by upper caste students who say it will deprive them employment opportunities. (AP Photo/Ajit Kumar, File)

FILE - Rajiv Gandhi’s wife Sonia, center, and her two children, Rahul and Priyanka, look back from the burning pyre after the body of the former Indian Prime Minister was set on fire during his funeral in New Delhi, Friday, May 24, 1991. Gandhi was killed by a Sri Lankan suicide bomber at an election rally in Sriperumbudur in Southern India. (AP Photo/Denis Paquin, File)

FILE - Hindu fundamentalists walk along the perimeter wall of the disputed site of a Ram temple to be built where the Babri mosque, at rear behind trees, still stood when this picture was taken in Ayodhya, Dec. 6, 1992. Later on militant Hindus stormed the 430-year old Muslim mosque and destroyed it. In 2019, India’s Supreme Court ruled in favor of building a Hindu temple on the disputed site. Hindus believe their god Ram was born there and say the Muslim Emperor Babur built a mosque on top of a temple at the site. (AP Photo/Udo Weitz, File)

FILE - The skeletal remains of a transport bus are seen alongside burning vehicles and damaged buildings outside Bombay’s Passport Office after a massive explosion, March 12, 1993. Twelve bombs exploded in less than 20 minutes at various locations, killing hundreds in India’s financial capital. According to the Bombay Police, the prime culprit Dawood Ibrahim, who masterminded the attacks, is still at large and lives as a “free man” in Karachi, Pakistan. (AP Photo/Sherwin Crasto, File)

FILE - Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, second left, Defense Minister George Fernandes, center, founder of the Indian nuclear program A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, center right, and Atomic Energy Chief R. Chidambaram display the victory symbol during a visit to the Shakti 1 test site, where India tested nuclear devices a week earlier, in Pokhran, India, May 20, 1998. (AP Photo/Ajit Kumar, File)

FILE - Indian artillery guns are engulfed in smoke in Dras, some 155 kilometers (96 miles) in north of Srinagar, India, on Saturday, July 10, 1999. The conflict with Pakistan that raged for three months across the disputed Kashmir region had nearly brought the nuclear neighbors to a war. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi, File)

FILE - Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, left, and his Indian counterpart Atal Bihari Vajpayee wave upon Vajpayee’s arrival in Wagha border, 28 kilometers (17 miles) from Lahore, Pakistan, Saturday, Feb. 20, 1999. Vajpayee arrived for talks with Sharif to pave a way to mend the deteriorated bi-lateral relationship between the two nations for the first time since the both countries conducted nuclear testing last year. (AP Photo/B.K.Bangash, File)

FILE - Commuters travel on an overloaded truck outside Calcutta, India, Wednesday, May 10, 2000. India’s population officially hit 1 billion a day later on May 11, 2000, an event marked with fanfare and concern over the nation’s too-rapid growth. (AP Photo/Bikas Das, File)

FILE - An aerial view shows the destruction in the town of Anjar, India, some 50 kilometers (30 miles) east of Bhuj, Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2001. The 7.9 magnitude quake in Gujarat state killed more than 20,000 people. (AP Photo/Enric Marti, File)

FILE - Razia, a Muslim woman, cries while praying by her destroyed home near Ahmedabad, India, March 2, 2002. Vengeful Hindu mobs torched Muslim homes, killing scores, as rioting spread through western Gujarat state leading to the death of at least 1,000 in one of India’s worst religious strife. (AP Photo/Aman Sharma, File)

FILE - Paliyamma grieves on returning to her damaged house at a fishermen’s colony hit by the tsunami, in Nagappattinam, in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, Dec. 31, 2004. The huge tsunami triggered by a massive undersea earthquake in the Indian Ocean killed more than 10,000 Indians. Paliyamma lost seven members of her family. (AP Photo/Gurinder Osan, File)

FILE- An Indian soldier takes cover as the Taj Mahal hotel burns during a gun battle between Indian military and militants inside the hotel in Mumbai, India, Nov. 29, 2008. The three days of terror in Mumbai carried out by the Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba left 166 people dead. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder, File)

FILE - Competitors from various nations ride in a pack on the promenade at Rajpath in front of the landmark India Gate monument in the men’s 168 km cycling road race during the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, India, Sunday, Oct. 10, 2010. India hosted the Games for the first time in 2010. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer, File)

FILE - India’s most famous prisoner of conscience Irom Sharmila, who has been on a hunger strike since November 2000 to protest against the Armed Forces Special (Powers) Act, cries by her bed at the Jawaharlal Nehru Hospital in Imphal, in the northeastern Indian state of Manipur, Nov. 3, 2014. The act gives the military sweeping powers to search, arrest and even shoot suspects with little fear of prosecution. Human rights groups have long accused security forces of abusing the law. Sharmila ended her 16-year hunger strike on Aug. 9, 2016. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath, File)

FILE- Indian cricketers celebrate their win with the trophy in the Cricket World Cup final match against Sri Lanka in Mumbai, India April 2 , 2011. India won the Cup for the second time, after almost three decades. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi, File)

FILE - Bahujan Samaj Party Chief Mayawati, center, is presented with a gold crown by her supporters at a public rally, in Mumbai, India Nov. 25, 2007. In 2007, Indian politics saw a major shift when the country’s most prominent Dalit leader, Mayawati, pulled off a surprise election victory in the country’s most populous state. Dalits form the lowest rung of India’s Hindu caste hierarchy. (AP Photo/Rajesh Nirgude, File)

FILE - Protesters shield themselves as police beat them with sticks during a violent demonstration near the India Gate against a gang rape and brutal beating of a 23-year-old student on a bus last week, in New Delhi, India Dec. 23, 2012. The attack sparked widespread protests across the country, leading to tougher laws against rape. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer, File)

FILE - Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and India’s next prime minister Narendra Modi greets the gathering at the home of his 90-year-old mother in Gandhinagar, in the western Indian state of Gujarat, Friday, May 16, 2014. Modi won the most decisive election victory the country has seen in more than a quarter century and swept the long-dominant Congress party from power. (AP Photo/Saurabh Das, File)

FILE - A gay rights activist celebrates after the country’s top court struck down a colonial-era law that made homosexual acts punishable by up to 10 years in prison, in New Delhi, India Sept. 6, 2018, a landmark victory for gay rights that one judge said would “pave the way for a better future.” (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri, File)

FILE - An Indian national flag, left, flies next to a Jammu and Kashmir state flag on the Civil Secretariat building, in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir Aug. 9, 2019. On Aug. 5, 2019, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government passed legislation in Parliament that stripped Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood, scrapped its separate constitution and removed inherited protections on land and jobs. While deeply unpopular in Muslim-majority Kashmir, Modi was cheered by supporters for fulfilling a long-held Hindu nationalist pledge to scrap the restive region’s special privileges and assimilate Kashmir into the rest of the country. (AP Photo/ Dar Yasin, File)

FILE - Indians wave national flags and shout slogans behind a police barricade during a protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act in New Delhi, India, Friday, Dec. 20, 2019. The new law provides a fast track to naturalization for some migrants who entered the country illegally while fleeing religious persecution. But it excludes Muslims, which critics say is discriminatory and a violation of India’s Constitution. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri, File)

FILE - Indian farmers wait for the outcome of a meeting with the government at the protest site against new agricultural laws, on a highway at the Delhi-Haryana state border, India, Thursday, Dec. 3, 2020. Indian prime minister Narendra Modi’s government had insisted that the laws were necessary reforms to modernize Indian farming and would lead to a deregulated market with more private-sector control of agriculture. The farmers said the laws would drastically shrink their incomes and leave them at the mercy of big corporations. After a year, Modi made a surprise announcement to withdraw them. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup, File)

FILE - A man runs to escape heat from multiple funeral pyres of COVID-19 victims at a crematorium on the outskirts of New Delhi, India, Thursday, April 29, 2021. India’s excess deaths during the pandemic could be a staggering 10 times the official COVID-19 toll, likely making it modern India’s worst human tragedy, according to the most comprehensive research yet on the ravages of the virus in the South Asian country. Most experts believe India’s official toll of more than 414,000 dead is a vast undercount, but the government has dismissed those concerns as exaggerated and misleading. (AP Photo/Amit Sharma, File)

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NEW DELHI (AP) — “At the stroke of the midnight hour,” India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru said, “when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom.”

The historic speech just before midnight on Aug. 15, 1947 turned the hopes of millions into reality. India was a free, independent country. Its British colonial history was in the past. A new future beckoned.

Seventy-five years on, India is a vastly changed country. Its story is told through its throbs of tumult, daunting hurdles, spirited triumphs and terrible tragedies.

This is the story of India.

Before leaving the Indian subcontinent, British colonialists drew an imaginary line that led to the creation of India and Pakistan, a process that triggered massive migration and religious riots. Hundreds of thousands died in the violence. Some 12 million people fled their homes.

That same year, India and Pakistan fought their first war over disputed Kashmir, leading to the region being divided between the rival countries.

The wounds of partition were still fresh when independence leader Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated in 1948.

India emerged quickly from the tumult and in 1951 took a democratic leap by holding its first general elections.

But soon India met with a crisis on its borders. In 1959, the Dalai Lama fled to India after a failed Tibetan uprising. Three years later, in 1962, India and China were at war.

In 1971, India fought another war with Pakistan, this time over New Delhi’s involvement in the independence of Bangladesh (formerly East Pakistan) under Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

India’s democracy went through a major test in 1975 when Gandhi declared a formal emergency. It lasted nearly two years and culminated with her ouster from office.

A 1983 victory in the Cricket World Cup fulfilled a million dreams, but a year later India was shaken by two cataclysmic events.

Gandhi, who had returned to power in 1980 elections, ordered an army siege on the Golden Temple in Punjab in 1984 to crush Sikh extremism. That same year she was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards, leading to massive anti-Sikh riots.

Dramatic progress came with historic reforms in the 1990s that spurred growth. But it coincided with major upheaval, including an armed insurgency in disputed Kashmir.

In 1991, former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by an ethnic Tamil suicide bomber. In 1992, Hindu mobs demolished a historic mosque in Ayodhya city, sparking countrywide riots. And in 1993, a series of explosions shook Mumbai city and killed more than 250 people.

India chose to show its military might in 1998 by conducting a series of five nuclear tests; Pakistan followed with its own tests. In 1999, the two countries fought a limited war in Kargil.

2000-Present

The new millennium started on a grim note: A massive earthquake in Gujarat state killed more than 20,000 people.

A year later, in 2002, the state erupted in anti-Muslim riots, leading to the death of at least 1,000 people. In 2004, a huge tsunami triggered by a massive undersea earthquake in the Indian Ocean killed more than 10,000 Indians.

India signed a nuclear accord with the U.S. in 2008. The same year, the Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba carried out a series of attacks in Mumbai, leaving 166 people dead.

The 2010s marked a significant change in India’s politics and public discourse.

In 2012, the country saw widespread protests after the gang rape and murder of a 22-year-old woman on a bus in New Delhi. The protests led to tougher laws against rape.

Two years later, Prime Minister Narendra Modi won a landslide victory in general elections. Modi repeated the feat in 2019, and his rule since has been marked by increased religious polarization and contentious decisions such as scrapping Kashmir’s semi-autonomy.

India again convulsed in nationwide protests in 2020 and 2021 against a religious-driven citizenship law and controversial agricultural reforms. They coincided with one of the country’s biggest challenges: a tsunami of coronavirus cases.

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75th Independence: A retrospective journey

As we have a good time the seventy fifth Independence Day, ‘Azadi Ka Amrut Mahotsav’, soaked in patriotic fervour, I prolong my heat greetings and quality desires to all my fellow Indians. What a pleasant and joyous second for all of us! On this day in 1947, India grew to become the world’s greatest democracy after prevailing Independence from British colonialists who dominated this us of a for over 200 years. A state of 1.3 billion will be eagerly ready to watch and pay attention when the Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi unfurls the Tricolour and gives you his Independence Day speech for the eighth consecutive time that will reverberate from the ramparts of the Red Fort. The PM had launched ‘Azadi Ka Amrut Mahotsav’ in Gujarat on March 12 after paying tributes to Mahatma Gandhi and all the martyrs who misplaced their lives hostilities for Independence. March 12, 2021, marked the 91st anniversary of the historical Salt Satyagraha. The year-long celebrations will culminate on August 15, 2022. The United States these days stands at a critical juncture amid changing geopolitical situations and a post-Covid new world order. Thanks to the dynamic management of our PM Narendra Modi, the world has been noticing India and taking it seriously. India is taking part in its position befitting its stature and gaining prominence at the world degree like by no means before. Our courageous armed forces are giving a befitting reply to our neighbours who are getting aggressive alongside the LoC and LAC. The developing strategic ties with the USA, the Quad initiative, relationships with the ASEAN, the EU, balancing ties with Israel, Iran, Arab nations and members of the family with Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Maldives display Modi government’s deft coping with of overseas coverage and countrywide security. The Covid-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc and posed unheard of challenges. The Union Government ramped up fitness infrastructure, manufacturing of vaccines, clinical oxygen and streamlined vaccination programmes. Taking it as a challenge, the Modi authorities have vaccinated greater than 50 crore humans in simply a few months. Under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana, free cooking gas, meals grains and monetary useful resource are being supplied to crores of people. People dwelling beneath the poverty line have appreciably decreased in the closing few years. The ‘National Education Policy’ will seriously change the training machine and create opportunities. And Karnataka is the first country in India to put in force NEP. The overall performance of the Indian Olympic contingent and the way PM Modi inspired them used to be heartening. The authorities are encouraging industries inclusive of MSMEs, startups and exporters with sops to make India self-reliant and an crucial section of world provide chains. Eliminating retrospective taxation and decriminalization of some industrial legal guidelines will increase investor self assurance and make sure ease of doing business. The new Karnataka team, headed through Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, will work with a new get to the bottom of and commitment. As Industries Minister, I’ve set my dreams and priorities. The largest venture is addressing the unemployment problem, attracting extra investments, retaining Karnataka’s lead function in industries and its popularity as a essential vacation spot for investors. Karnataka has continually been acknowledged for its investor-friendly atmosphere, and we’ll proceed to prolong aid to industrialists and make certain ease of doing business.

Karnataka’s contribution to the freedom warfare used to be colossal and traditionally very significant. The fights and moves of countless rulers of princely states, revolutionaries and rebellions such as Kittur revolution and Vidurashwatha motion (known as South India’s Jallianwala Bagh) are etched in the records of Indian freedom struggle.

The challenges are aplenty, so are the grit and willpower of this government. It’s time we shed our variations and beef up the arms of the PM and recognize the dream of ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ a self-reliant India. Taking India to increased heights and making it a Vishwa Guru would be a befitting tribute to our martyrs on the seventy fifth Independence Day.

I have a strong objection of celebrating the Freedom.  India was many times occupied by foreign invaders from the Persian King Darius I in 531 BC and we counted on. Before the British, the Mughals were the only power that came and settled here to rule, other came and snatched.  The independence reminds nothing but one thing that we were ruled by the British. But I defy celebrating that I strongly object to the celebration of the humiliation of independence, because India was, is and will remain our own land, then why to call us declare independent after being freed from illegal occupation by the British? We were Independent and remain independent.

India is cursed with coward and dishonest politicians who for the sake of getting power kept India a middleclass country.  The weak foreign policy, the cowardice submission to foreign powers like China and America, the appeasing politics and keeping everybody happy diplomacy thwarted India’s progress.  The hand of Veto power to China by Jawaharlal Nehru, the wrong Hndi-Chini Bhai Bhai policy (that backfired in term of 1962 war) because Nehru failed to read the Zhou Enlai.

In one of my previous articles I have told that even in the development of the country, especially in science and technology the role of the central government was very sluggish. The population control policy was never brought because of the vote bank….the more people the more vote.  India is one such country, that she needs no help from other country because we can grow anything and everything, the abundant natural resources could have a golden contribution if population control policy was there.  More healthy people would have born.  Many more Olympic and world gold medal could have been won by us. The paradox is that still we call us developing country and branded with third world. More paradox is that we have poverty and we have Rafael.  The old people in the parliament ruined many dreams. The young people were never interested in coming and sitting the steering. India would be glorious, provided the day the young blood will come and occupy the seats in the parliament pushing off the grey hairs cowards.

my impressions of 75 years of independence. our nation is stable and progressing well because of the ...

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75 years of Indian Independence: Looking at India’s journey from 1947 through the lens of significant events in each year

When the britishers came to india, it was a large undivided land filled with wealth and riches. when they left, india was struggling with poverty and chaos..

From being a colony to becoming an important nation in world politics, India has come a long, long way. (Photo credit: Pixabay)

• India gained its Independence from the long British rule on August 15, 1947, at the cost of Partition.
• On January 26, 1950, the Constitution of India became effective and India became a Republic.
• To date, the Emergency remains one of the darkest periods of independent India's social narrative.

New Delhi: On August 15, 2022, India will celebrate its 76th Independence Day . The number is significant, for it alone indicates how many years India has journeyed as an independent nation after driving out the British colonisers. The journey, of course, was not an easy one. When the Britishers came to India, it was a large undivided land filled with wealth and riches. When they left, the land was no longer undivided, as the colonisers had carved it up into India and Pakistan (Present-day Bangladesh was part of Pakistan then). The country was struggling with poverty, chaos and bewilderment, for it was almost 200 years ago since the country last breathed in the air of freedom.

But India decided to fight. First, it took baby steps with its newfound freedom. It stumbled while trying to overcome the obstacles in its way, but never gave up. Then gradually, it understood the ways of the world (quite literally), and one day, it was found to be taking rapid strides towards development in every sphere. India, today, is one of the most prominent and respected nations in the world. From the status of a colony to becoming a country that is playing an increasingly important role in world politics, India has come a long, long way. A journey which we can count by 75 years.

As the 75th Independence Day is coming nearer, let us take a look at the iconic and important moments that shaped the narrative and course of Independent India.

1947: Independence and Partition

India gained its Independence from the long British rule on August 15, 1947. Just before the clock struck 12, on August 14, the first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru delivered the famous ‘Tryst with Destiny’ speech to the Indian Constituent Assembly in the Parliament. On August 15, he raised the Indian national flag above the Lahori Gate of the Red Fort in Delhi. But the Independence of India came at a painful cost in the form of the Partition, and lakhs and lakhs of people were uprooted from their homes. Many died in the confusion and journey from one country to another, and those who lived narrated its horrors to the subsequent generation.

1948: Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated

Mahatama Gandhi, the great freedom fighter who is lovingly considered the Father of the Nation in India, was assassinated on January 30, 1948, by Nathuram Vinayak Godse in New Delhi. Godse was a member of the Hindu Mahasabha and a former member of RSS who was of the view that Gandhi was too accommodating to Muslims during the Partition of India.

1949: Constitution of India was adopted

The Constitution of India is the supreme law of India, a document that simply needs no introduction. The date November 26, 1949, holds a significant place in India’s history, as it was on that day that the Constituent Assembly of India adopted the Constitution of India.

1950: India became a Republic

In order of importance, 1950 is possibly the most important and epoch-making year in independent India’s history after 1947. For it was on January 26, 1950, that the Constitution of India became effective. It replaced the Government of India Act 1935 as the country’s fundamental governing document, and the Dominion of India became the Republic of India. Every year, January 26 is celebrated as Republic Day.

1951: The First Five-year Plan was launched

Five-Year Plans (FYPs) are centralised and integrated national economic programs, and it was former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru who presented the First Five-Year Plan to the Parliament of India. It was launched in 1951 and was based on the Harrod–Domar model with few modifications. Its main focus was to develop the primary sector of the country.

1952: India witnessed the first Lok Sabha election

In India, the Lok Sabha election was held for the first time between October 25, 1951, and February 21, 1952. It was a humungous affair, as 1,949 candidates competed for 489 seats in the Lok Sabha. More than 173 million people out of an overall population of about 360 million were eligible to vote, making it the largest election conducted at the time. The voter turnout was 45.7 per cent. Congress bagged a mammoth 364 seats out of the total 489 seats and 45 per cent of the total votes polled, and Jawaharlal Nehru became the first democratically elected Prime Minister of India.

1953: Air India was nationalised

In 1932, JRD Tata founded Air India as Tata Airlines and himself flew its first single-engine de Havilland Puss Moth, a British three-seater high-wing monoplane aeroplane. After World War II, regular commercial service was restored in India and Tata Airlines became a public limited company in 1946 under the name Air India. In 1953, the Government of India passed the Air Corporations Act and purchased a majority stake in the carrier from Tata Sons JRD Tata remained its Chairman till 1977. The company was renamed Air India International Limited and the domestic services were transferred to Indian Airlines.

1954: India and China signed the Panchsheel

Panchsheel, or the Five Principles of Peaceful Co-existence, were first formally enunciated in the Agreement on Trade and Intercourse between the Tibet region of China and India or the Sino-Indian Agreement which was signed on April 29, 1954. It stated, in its preamble, that the two governments resolved to enter into the agreement based on the principles of,

• Mutual respect for each other’s territorial integrity and sovereignty
• Mutual non-aggression
• Mutual non-interference
• Equality and mutual benefit
• Peaceful co-existence

1955: State Bank of India (SBI) was founded

The State Bank of India was formed from the imperial bank of India in 1955. The three Presidency banks in pre-Independent India, the Bank of Bengal, the Bank of Bombay and the Bank of Madras merged to form the Imperial Bank of India on January 27, 1921. On 1 July 1955, the Imperial Bank of India became the State Bank of India. It is the 43rd largest bank in the world and the largest bank in India.

1956: Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) was established

The Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), an Indian statutory insurance and investment corporation was established on September 1, 1956, when the Parliament of India passed the Life Insurance of India Act which nationalised the insurance industry in India. The LIC was created by merging over 245 insurance companies and provident societies.

1957: The decimalisation of the rupee

India decimalised its rupee 10 years after Independence, in 1957. The Indian Coinage Act was amended in September 1955 for the adoption of a decimal system for coinage, and it came into force with effect on April 1, 1957. The rupee remained unchanged in value and nomenclature, but it was now divided into 100 ‘Paisa’ instead of 16 Annas or 64 Pice. For public recognition, the new decimal Paisa was termed ‘Naya Paisa’ until June 1, 1964, when the term ‘Naya’ was dropped.

1958: Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act was passed

The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, commonly known as AFSPA, was passed in 1958. It is an Act that grants special powers to the Indian Armed Forces to maintain public order in “disturbed areas”. According to the Disturbed Areas (Special Courts) Act, 1976, an area, once declared ‘disturbed’, has to maintain the status quo for at least six months.

1959: Dalai Lama was given political asylum by India

The 1959 Tibetan uprising began on March 10, 1959, in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet. Dalai Lama fearing for his life escaped from Tibet with his followers with the help of the CIA Special and crossed into India on March 30, 1959. He reached Tezpur in Assam on April 18, and later, he set up the Government of Tibet in Exile in Dharamshala, which is often referred to as “Little Lhasa”.

1960: Maharashtra was formed

On May 1, 1960, the state of Maharashtra was formed from the division of the erstwhile Bombay State. Since then, May 1 is celebrated every year as Maharashtra Day or Maharashtra Din in the state.

1961: Liberation of Goa

In 1961, India annexed Goa, Daman and Diu, which were then Portuguese Indian territories. From December 17 to December 19, 1961, the Indian Armed Forces carried out Operation Vijay and ended 451 years of rule by Portugal over its remaining exclaves in India, which is also known as the ‘Liberation of Goa’. After Portuguese rule ended, Goa was placed under military administration and on June 9, 1962, military rule was replaced by the civilian government.

1962: India-China War

The India-China War in 1962 began on October 20, and ended when China declared a ceasefire on November 20 and simultaneously announced its withdrawal to its claimed “Line of Actual Control”. The main cause of the war was a dispute over the sovereignty of the widely separated Aksai Chin and Arunachal Pradesh border regions.

1963: India’s first-ever rocket launch

On November 21, 1963, the launch of the first sounding rocket from Thumba near Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, marked the beginning of the Indian Space Programme. Sounding rockets made it possible to probe the atmosphere in situ using rocket-borne instrumentation.

1964: Sirima-Shastri Pact was signed

The Sirima-Shastri Pact or Srimavo-Shastri Pact was an agreement that was signed between Sirimavo Bandaranaike, former Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, and Lal Bahadur Shastri, former Prime Minister of India, on October 30, 1964. It was officially called the Agreement on Persons of Indian Origin in Ceylon and was an important agreement in determining the status and future of people of Indian origin in Sri Lanka.

Also, on May 27, 1964, the first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, breathed his last.

1965: India-Pakistan War

The India-Pakistan War of 1965 or the Second Kashmir War took place between August and September of that year. On August 5, 1965, between 26,000 and 33,000 Pakistan soldiers crossed the Line of Control dressed as Kashmiri locals, aiming to precipitate an insurgency against Indian rule. On August 15, Indian forces crossed the cease-fire line. On September 20, the United Nations Security Council unanimously passed a resolution, demanding an unconditional ceasefire from both nations within 48 hours. While India immediately accepted the demand, Pakistan accepted it on September 23.

1966: The year of notable events

In 1966, three important events took place that shaped the subsequent course of India’s narrative:

• On January 10, 1966, the Tashkent Declaration, a peace agreement between India and Pakistan, was signed. It resolved the India-Pakistan War of 1965. The Soviets, represented by Premier Aleksey Kosygin, moderated between former Indian Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri and former Pakistan President Muhammad Ayub Khan.
• On January 11, 1966, the second Prime Minister of India, Lal Bahadur Shastri breathed his last in Tashkent, Uzbekistan (then in the Soviet Union), one day after signing the peace treaty.
• After Shastri’s death, Indira Gandhi became the Prime Minister of India on January 24, 1966.

1967: Nathu La and Cho La clashes took place

The Nathu La and Cho La clashes, also referred to as the Sino-Indian War of 1967, was a series of border clashes between India and China alongside the border of the erstwhile Kingdom of Sikkim, then an Indian protectorate. It started on September 11, 1967, when China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) attacked Indian posts at Nathu La, and ended on September 15, 1967. In October 1967, another military clash took place at Cho La and ended on the same day.

1968: Three-language formula was introduced

In 1968, the three-language formula, a language learning policy, was formulated by the Union Ministry of Education. It was adopted by the Indian Parliament and was incorporated into the National Education Policy in the same year. It provided for the study of “Hindi, English and modern Indian language (preferably one of the southern languages) in the Hindi speaking states and Hindi, English and the regional language in the non-Hindi speaking states”.

1969: Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) was formed

The Indian Space Research Organisation, commonly known as the ISRO, was formed on August 15, 1969. ISRO is India’s primary agency performing tasks related to space-based applications, space exploration and the development of related technologies.

1970: The Patents Act was passed

The Patents Act was passed in the Indian Parliament in 1970, and to date, it is the legislation that governs patents in India. The Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks (CGPDTM) generally known as the Indian Patent Office, is an agency under the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade which administers the Indian law of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks.

1971: The India-Pakistan War

The 1971 India-Pakistan War is one of the most significant moments in the history of Independent India. It took place during the Bangladesh Liberation War, from December 3, 1971, to December 16, 1971. On December 3, the Pakistan Air Force carried out Operation Chengiz Khan, the code name assigned to their preemptive strikes on the forward airbases and radar installations of the Indian Air Force. It prompted India to enter into the Bangladesh Liberation War, which was a revolution and armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Bengali nationalist and self-determination movement in erstwhile East Pakistan. India crushed Pakistan in war and forced the Pakistan military to sign the Instrument of Surrender on December 16, 1971, in Dhaka. Pakistan’s defeat resulted in the formation of a new country, Bangladesh, which was earlier known as East Pakistan.

1972: The Simla Agreement was signed

On July 2, 1972, the Simla Agreement was signed by Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Pakistan President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Under the Simla Agreement, both India and Pakistan undertook to abjure conflict and confrontation which had marred relations in the past, and to work towards the establishment of durable peace, friendship and cooperation. It had a set of guiding principles, mutually agreed to by India and Pakistan, which both sides would adhere to while managing relations with each other. The Simla Agreement focused on respect for each other’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, non-interference in each other’s internal affairs, respect for each other’s unity, political independence, sovereign equality, and abjuring hostile propaganda. It also agreed on the fact that every issue would be resolved peacefully through direct bilateral approaches, building the foundations of a cooperative relationship, and the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir would not be violated.

1973: Mysore State renamed Karnataka

Mysore State was a state in Independent India. It was formed in 1947 out of the territories of the Kingdom of Mysore and it existed in that form till 1956, and its capital was Bangalore (currently Bengaluru). In 1956, it was considerably enlarged, when it became a linguistically homogeneous Kannada-speaking state in India. On November 1, 1973, it was renamed Karnataka.

1974: Operation Smiling Buddha took place

Officially known as Pokhran-I, Operation Smiling Buddha was the assigned code name of India’s first successful nuclear bomb test which took place on May 18, 1974. The bomb was detonated in Pokhran Test Range (PTR) in Rajasthan, by the Indian Army under the supervision of several key Indian generals. It was the first confirmed nuclear weapons test by a nation outside the five permanent members of the UNSC. In 1975, Homi Sethna, a chemical engineer and the chairman of the Indian Atomic Energy Commission (AECI), Raja Ramanna of BARC, and Basanti Nagchaudhuri of DRDO, were honoured with the Padma Vibhushan, and five other project members received the Padma Shri.

1975: The Emergency was imposed

To date, the Emergency remains one of the darkest periods of India’s history post-1947. It was officially issued by President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed upon the advice of the then Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi. It was in effect from June 25, 1975, until its withdrawal on March 21, 1977. Elections were cancelled, civil liberties were suspended, most of Indira Gandhi’s political opponents were imprisoned and the press was censored. Numerous human rights were violated during that period. Sanjay Gandhi, the son of Indira Gandhi, spearheaded a brutal, ruthless mass campaign for vasectomy. As per reports, in 1976-1977, the program led to 8.3 million sterilizations, most of them forced. Many innocent people were imprisoned and tortured as all kinds of fundamental rights were thrown out of the window. To date, the controversies regarding the Emergency and its nightmarish brutality have stayed alive in the mainstream narrative, and in the subsequent years, it has been heavily criticised for all the right reasons.

Amid the dark cloud of chaos that pervaded India, something good happened. Aryabhata, India’s first satellite, was launched on April 19, 1975, from Kapustin Yar, a Soviet rocket launch and development site. The satellite was named after the prominent Indian astronomer and mathematician Aryabhata of the 5th century AD and was built by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

1976: Sanjay Gandhi’s infamous sterilisation programme

During the period of Emergency in India when fundamental rights did not exist in the country, Sanjay Gandhi, the son of the then Prime Minister of India, allegedly did something heinous. In September 1976, he initiated a widespread compulsory sterilisation programme to limit the growth of the population in India. Experts have debated the exact extent of Gandhi’s role in the implementation of the programme. According to some experts, Gandhi was directly responsible for his authoritarianism, while other experts blame the officials who implemented the programme rather than Gandhi himself. Rukhsana Sultana, one of Gandhi’s close associates, received tremendous criticism for the sterilisation campaign in certain areas of old Delhi. The campaign primarily involved getting males to undergo vasectomy, and allegedly, unwilling candidates were also sterilised. In 1976-1977, the programme led to 8.3 million sterilisations, most of them forced. Later, some spine-chilling incidents were reported that showed the true brutality of the programme.

1977: Lok Sabha election and first non-Congress government

On January 18, 1977, amid the Emergency, Indira Gandhi called for fresh elections and released some political prisoners. On January 20, four Opposition parties, the Indian National Congress (Organisation), the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the Bharatiya Lok Dal and the Praja Socialist Party, decided to fight the elections under a single banner called the Janata Alliance. A defeat looked imminent for the Congress and Indira Gandhi, who came under heavy criticism because of the Emergency. The Lok Sabha elections were held between March 16 and March 20, 1977. The Emergency expired on March 21, shortly before the final results were announced. The Janata Alliance crushed Congress, and incumbent Prime Minister Indira Gandhi lost her seat in Rae Bareli. On March 24, Morarji Desai was sworn in as the fourth Prime Minister of India, and the first non-Congress government in independent India was formed. At the age of 81, Desai became the oldest man to be elected PM of India.

In the same year, a devastating tropical cyclone hit Andhra Pradesh in November. About 100 villages were washed away by the cyclonic storms and the ensuing floods and a total of 10,841 were killed or went missing, and 34 lakh people were rendered homeless.

1978: Indira Gandhi came back to Parliament and was arrested

In the 1977 Lok Sabha elections, Indira Gandhi lost her seat in Rae Bareli and Congress appointed Yashwantrao Chavan as its Parliamentary party leader. Soon afterwards, the Congress party split again with Gandhi floating her own Congress faction. She won a by-election in the erstwhile Chikkamagaluru Lok Sabha Constituency and took a seat in the Lok Sabha in November 1978. However, the Janata Government’s Home Minister, Choudhary Charan Singh, ordered her arrest along with Sanjay Gandhi. They were arrested on several charges, which would be difficult to prove in court. The arrest automatically expelled Gandhi from Parliament. However, this strategy backfired disastrously, and her arrest and long-running trial helped her to gain sympathy from many people.

1979: The Mandal Commission was established

In 1979, the Janata Party Government led by Prime Minister Morarji Desai established the Mandal Commission. It was established to “identify the socially or educationally backward classes” of India. It was headed by BP Mandal, a parliamentarian, to consider the question of reservations for people to redress caste discrimination and used eleven social, economic, and educational indicators to determine backwardness. The recommendations of the Mandal Commission in its report and its subsequent implementation created widespread controversy in India.

1980: A significant year for Indian politics

The year 1980 is significant in the history of Indian politics.

• On April 6, 1980, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was formed. It is currently the ruling party in the central government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. As of July 2022, it is the country’s largest political party in terms of representation in Parliament and state legislatures. The BJP is a right-wing party and has close ideological and organisational links to the much older Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Since January 20, 2022, JP has been serving as the president of the BJP.
• The 1980 Lok Sabha election witnessed the strong comeback of Indira Gandhi and her Congress (I) to power. It was held due to the fall of the Janata government, which was formed after the 1977 general elections. Morarji Desai lost a vote of confidence in the Parliament and had to resign from the post of Prime Minister. Charan Singh became the PM in June 1979. Even though Congress promised to support him, it backed out just two days before the government was scheduled to prove its majority in Lok Sabha. Charan Singh was forced to resign and called for elections in January 1980. Indira Gandhi once again became the PM with a thumping victory, with Congress winning 353 seats. Janata Party won just 31 seats, and Charan Singh’s Janata Party (Secular) bagged 41 seats.
• On June 23, 1980, Sanjay Gandhi, who was widely expected to succeed her mother as the leader of Congress, died in a plane crash near Safdarjung Airport in New Delhi. He was flying a new aircraft of the Delhi Flying Club, and, while performing an aerobatic manoeuvre over his office, lost control and crashed. He died instantly, it reportedly took eight surgeons four hours to stitch up his mutilated body.

1981: Infosys was founded

On July 2, 1981, Infosys, an Indian multinational information technology company that provides business consulting, information technology and outsourcing services was founded. It is one of the largest Indian IT companies in India, and according to Forbes Global 2000 ranking, it was the 602nd largest public company in the world back then. It was founded by seven engineers, NR Narayana Murthy, Nandan Nilekani, S Gopalakrishnan, SD Shibulal, K Dinesh, NS Raghavan and Ashok Arora in 1981 in Pune. On July 2, 1981, it was registered as Infosys Consultants Private Limited, its office was relocated to Bengaluru in 1983. Later, it was renamed Infosys Limited in June 2011. On August 24, 2021, it became the fourth Indian company to cross $100 billion in market capitalization.

1982: Colour television began its journey in India

On August 15, 1982, Doordarshan introduced a national telecast service (DD National) from its own TV studio in Mandi House, New Delhi. In India, colour television began its journey with the live telecast of the Independence Day speech by former PM Indira Gandhi on August 15 that year, followed by the colour telecast of the 1982 Asian Games in Delhi.

National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, commonly known as NABARD, was established on July 12, 1982, on the recommendations of the B Sivaraman Committee. NABARD is an apex regulatory body for the overall regulation of regional rural banks and apex cooperative banks in India and works under the jurisdiction of the Union Ministry of Finance.

1983: India won the cricket World Cup for the first time

Nobody gave India any real chance of winning the 1983 Cricket World Cup (then known as Prudential Cup) and expected them to be a pushover. But India, led by Kapil Dev and having players like Mohinder Amarnath, Kirti Azad, Roger Binny, Balwinder Sandhu, Krishnamachari Srikkanth and Yashpal Sharma among others, defied all odds to win the World Cup for the first time. In the final of the tournament, India defeated West Indies by 43 runs and scripted one of the most stunning upsets in cricket history. It would change the history of cricket forever and would result in India becoming a powerhouse in the sport.

1984: Indira Gandhi assassination and Bhopal gas tragedy

On October 31, 1984, former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated at her residence in Safdarjung Road, New Delhi by her Sikh bodyguards, Satwant Singh and Beant Singh. It took place after Operation Blue Star, an Indian military action which was carried out between June 1 and 8, 1984, on the orders of Gandhi to remove Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his followers from the Golden Temple in Amritsar. The assailants had fired 33 bullets at her, of which 30 had hit; 23 had passed through her body, while seven remained inside.

In the same year, arguably the worst industrial disaster in the world took place in India. The Bhopal disaster, also known as the Bhopal gas tragedy, was a chemical accident that occurred on the night of December 2-3, 1984, at the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) pesticide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. The official immediate death toll was 2,259. In 2006, a government affidavit stated that the leak caused 558,125 injuries, including 38,478 temporary partial injuries and approximately 3,900 severely and permanently disabling injuries.

1985: TADA came into effect

In 1985, the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, commonly known as TADA, came into effect. On May 23, 1985, the President of India gave assent to Act, and on May 24, 1985, it came into effect. TADA was an anti-terrorism law in India which was in force between 1985 and 1995 (modified in 1987). The Act was implemented to thwart the Khalistani Movement, an armed Sikh separatist movement in Punjab, and the Act later expanded to encompass other states as well. It was allowed to lapse in 1995 due to increasing unpopularity after widespread allegations of abuse. TADA was the first anti-terrorism law legislated by the government to define and counter the activities of terrorists.

1986: First Operation Black Thunder took place

Operation Black Thunder was the name given to two operations that took place in India in the late 1980s to flush out remaining pro-Khalistan Sikh militants from the Golden Temple. On April 30, 1986, the first Operation Black Thunder took place, and it was commanded by Julio Ribeiro, who was the DGP of Punjab. For three months before the operation took place, about 200 radical Sikh militants had been occupying the temple premises. About 300 National Security Guards commandos stormed the Golden Temple along with 700 Border Security Force troops and captured about 200 Sikh militants. The operation lasted for eight hours and was approved by former Punjab CM Surjit Singh Barnala.

1987: Goa became a state of India

On December 19, 1961, the Indian Army conducted Operation Vijay and annexed Goa, and Daman and Diu islands, ending the Portuguese rule there. Goa, along with Daman and Diu, was organised as a Union Territory of India. On January 16, 1967, a referendum was held in Goa, to decide the future of the Union Territory of Goa, Daman and Diu. On May 30, 1987, the union territory was split, and Goa became the 25th state of India, and Daman and Diu remained a Union Territory.

1988: The SEBI was established

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is the regulatory body for the securities and commodity market in India. It is owned by the Union Ministry of Finance and was established on April 12, 1988. Later, it was given Statutory Powers on January 30, 1992, through the SEBI Act, 1992.

1989: Agni was successfully launched

The Agni missile is a family of medium to intercontinental range ballistic missiles developed by India. Agni missiles are long-range, nuclear weapons capable, surface-to-surface ballistic missiles. The first missile of the series, Agni-I was tested at the Interim Test Range in Chandipur in 1989. It was India’s first intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM), and at that time, elevated India into a prestigious league of only five nations in the world with IRBM strategic capability.

1990: Exodus of Kashmiri Hindus

The Exodus of Kashmiri Hindus or the Exodus of Kashmiri Pandits in 1990 is one of the most significant events in independent India. The migration or flight took place in early 1990 from the Kashmir valley following an extreme rise in violence and insurgency by extremist groups. A series of gruesome high-profile murders and threats by the terrorists pushed the Kashmiri Pandits into a corner, and lawlessness and chaos took over the Valley. Numerous violent incidents forced thousands of Pandits to flee the Valley for safety. According to Kashmiri Pandit Sangharsh Samiti (KPSS), the local organisation of Hindus in Kashmir, 357 Hindus were killed in Kashmir in 1990.

1991: Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi

On May 21, 1991, a suicide bombing in Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu killed former Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi. Apart from Gandhi, at least 14 others were killed in the blast and 43 people were grievously injured. The name of the suicide bomber was Thenmozhi Rajaratnam, also known as Dhanu. She was a member of the Sri Lankan Tamil separatist organisation Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The incident sent shockwaves across India and was mourned by prominent personalities all over the world.

1992: Demolition of the Babri Masjid

The demolition of the Babri Masjid is one of the most controversial incidents in the history of independent India. Situated in Uttar Pradesh’s Ayodhya, the Babri Masjid was the subject of a lengthy socio-political dispute and was targeted after a political rally organised by Hindu nationalist organisations turned violent. On December 6, 1992, the Vishva Hindu Parishad and the BJP organised a rally at the site involving 1,50,000 volunteers, known as ‘kar sevaks’. The rally turned violent, and the infuriated crowd overpowered the security forces and razed the mosque to the ground. This demolition led to communal riots in India, causing the death of at least 2,000 people.

1993: Bombay blasts

On March 12, 1993, Bombay (currently Mumbai), the capital of Maharashtra, was rocked by a series of 12 deadly bombings. The single-day attacks killed 257 people and injured 1,400. The attacks were coordinated by Dawood Ibrahim, the leader of the international organised crime syndicate D-Company. He ordered and organised the bombings through his subordinates, Tiger Memon and Yakub Memon. On March 21, 2013, the Supreme Court of India upheld the death sentence against suspected ringleader Yakub and reduced the previous death sentences against 10 others to life in prison. However, two of the main suspects in the case, Ibrahim and Tiger, are yet to be arrested or tried.

1994: Prithvi missile inducted into the Indian Army

Prithvi is a tactical surface-to-surface short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) of India. Prithvi I class was a single-stage liquid-fueled surface-to-surface ballistic missile having a maximum warhead mounting capability of 1,000 kg, with a range of 150 km (93 mi). This class of Prithvi missiles was inducted into the Indian Army in 1994.

1995: Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Limited was founded

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Limited (DMRC) is a centre-state joint venture that operates the Delhi Metro, and it was founded on May 3, 1995. The DMRC also plans and implements metro rail, monorail, and high-speed rail projects in India and abroad. Elattuvalapil Sreedharan, also known as the ‘Metro Man’, was the first managing director of DMRC.

1996: Atal Bihari Vajpayee became PM for the first time

Ahead of the 1996 Lok Sabha elections, the then BJP president LK Advani declared that Atal Bihari Vajpayee would be the party’s prime ministerial candidate. After the election results were declared, the BJP, with 161 seats, became the single largest party in Parliament. President of India Shankar Dayal Sharma invited Vajpayee to form the government, and he was sworn in as the 10th prime minister of India. But the BJP failed to muster a majority among members of the Lok Sabha, and Vajpayee resigned after a few days when it became clear that he did not have enough support to form a government. His first tenure as the Prime Minister of India lasted from May 16, 1996, to June 1, 1996.

1997: The year of RJD, KR Narayanan and a sorrowful incident

• On July 5, 1997, the political spectrum of Bihar changed forever. It was on that day that Lalu Prasad Yadav founded the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), a socialist political party. The RJD was formed as a breakaway of the Janata Dal, and Lalu Prasad was elected as the first president of the party.
• On July 17, 1997, KR Narayanan was elected to become the President of India with 95 per cent of the votes in the electoral college. It is the only presidential election to have been held with a minority government holding power at the Centre. He was sworn in on July 25 and became the first person from the Dalit community to hold the post.
• On September 5, 1997, Mother Teresa, also known as Saint Teresa of Calcutta, passed away in Calcutta (present-day Kolkata) in West Bengal. She was an Albanian-Indian Roman Catholic nun who in 1950 founded the Missionaries of Charity. In 1979, she received the Nobel Peace Prize for the works she undertook in the struggle to overcome poverty and distress in our society.

1998: India conducted Pokhran-II tests

In May 1998, India conducted a series of five nuclear bomb test explosions at the Army’s Pokhran Test Range, and it is known as the Pokhran-II tests. It was the second instance of nuclear testing conducted by India, after the Smiling Buddha in May 1974. The tests achieved their main objective of giving India the capability to build fission and thermonuclear weapons with yields up to 200 kilotons.

1999: Atal Bihari Vajpayee became PM for the third time, Kargil War and Air India flight hijacked

• In the 1999 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) won 303 seats out of the 543 seats in the Lok Sabha, securing a comfortable and stable majority. On October 13, 1999, Vajpayee took oath as the Prime Minister of India for the third time. By the time he left the office in 2004, he had become the first non-Congress Prime Minister to serve a full five-year term.
• The Kargil War, a significant moment in the history of bilateral relations between India and Pakistan, was an armed conflict between the two countries that took place from May to July 1999 in the Kargil district of Jammu and Kashmir and elsewhere along the Line of Control (LoC). It was caused by the infiltration of Pakistan troops, disguised as Kashmiri militants, into positions on the Indian side of the LoC. The Indian Armed Forces recaptured a majority of the positions on the Indian side of the LoC, and Pakistan, under international political pressure, withdrew its forces from the remaining Indian positions along the LoC.
• On December 24, 1999, Harkat-ul-Mujahideen terrorists hijacked Indian Airlines Flight 814 (IC 814). The abducted hostages were released only after the Indian government agreed to the demand of the terrorist group to release jailed terrorists. The flight was travelling from Nepal to Delhi on that day. There were 176 passengers and 15 crew members on the flight.

2000: Jharkhand became India’s 26th state and Bill Clinton visited India

Jharkhand is a state in eastern India that shares its border with West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north and Odisha to the south. The state was formed on November 15, 2000, after carving out what was previously the southern half of Bihar.

On March 20, 2000, US President Bill Clinton arrived in New Delhi to a warm welcome amidst unprecedented security. It was the first India visit by a US President in 22 years. The visit was immensely important as it rekindled India-US relations, after the slide in the wake of the Pokhran II nuclear tests in May 1998. While the US described the trip as the turning of a new leaf in India-US relations, India described it as the harbinger of “a qualitatively new” relationship.

2001: Gujarat, Narendra Modi and Parliament attack

• On January 26, 2001, on India’s 52nd Republic Day, tragedy struck Gujarat. An earthquake, known as the Gujarat earthquake or the Bhuj earthquake, shattered the state and destroyed the lives of thousands of people. The epicentre of the earthquake was about 9 km south-southwest of the Chobari village in the Kutch District of Gujarat. The massive earthquake resulted in the death of 13,805 to 20,023 people (including 18 in southeastern Pakistan), injured another 1,67,000 and destroyed nearly 3,40,000 buildings.
• It was in 2001 that Narendra Modi truly announced himself in the national political arena for the first time. On October 3, 2001, he replaced a weary Keshubhai Patel as the Chief Minister of Gujarat and was entrusted with the responsibility of preparing the BJP for the 2002 state Assembly elections. He was sworn in as the CM on October 7, 2001.
• On December 13, 2001, terrorists belonging to Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) attacked the Parliament of India in New Delhi. The attack led to the deaths of six Delhi Police personnel, two Parliament Security Service personnel, and a gardener, and increased the tensions between India and Pakistan, resulting in the 2001-2002 India-Pakistan standoff. The five terrorists who perpetrated the attack were killed outside the Parliament.

2002: Prevention of Terrorism Act, Gujarat riots

The Prevention of Terrorism Act, 2002 (POTA) was an Act passed by the Parliament of India in 2002, to strengthen the anti-terrorism operations of India’s security forces. It replaced the Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance (POTO) of 2001 and the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA). In 2004, the Act was repealed by the United Progressive Alliance coalition in the Centre.

The 2002 Gujarat riots, also known as the 2002 Gujarat violence was three-day communal violence in Gujarat. Reportedly, the riot was a result of the burning of a train in Godhra on February 27, 2002, which caused the deaths of 58 Hindu pilgrims and ‘kar sevaks’ returning from Ayodhya. According to official figures, 1,044 people died and 2,500 were injured in the riots.

2003: Mumbai bombings

On August 25, 2003, two car bombings took place in Mumbai, that killed 54, and injured 244 people. One of the explosions took place at the Gateway of India and another one took place in a jewellery market Zaveri Bazaar near the Mumba Devi Temple in central Mumbai. Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba was blamed for the attack.

2004: Congress came back to power

The 2004 Lok Sabha elections in India were held between April 20 and May 10, 2004, and they were the first elections in India fully carried out with electronic voting machines. The Congress came back to power after eight years, and it led the United Progressive Alliance in forming the government. Congress leader and former Finance Minister Manmohan Singh became the 13th Prime Minister of India.

2005: Delhi bombings, and a landmark judgement

On October 29, 2005, three terrorist-orchestrated explosions took place in Delhi, killing 62 people and injuring at least 210 others. The bombings happened two days before Diwali and were triggered in two markets in central and south Delhi and in a bus in the south of the city. The terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba was blamed for the attack.

On April 25, 2005, the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, in a landmark judgement, ruled that hospitals are duty bound to accept accident victims, patients in critical condition and that doctors cannot demand fees before agreeing to treat the patient and that a relative’s consent is not necessary if there is no family member present at the time.

2006: Former US President George W Bush visited India

In March 2006, former US President George W Bush visited India, and the trip left behind a significant legacy in the narrative of the India-US relationship. Bush reversed decades of US policy during the trip as he focused particularly on areas of nuclear energy, counter-terrorism cooperation, and discussions that would eventually lead to the India-United States Civil Nuclear Agreement. It was in stark contrast to the stance taken by his predecessor Bill Clinton, whose approach to India after the 1998 nuclear tests have been characterised as “sanctions and hectoring”.

2007: A female President and a World Cup win

In 2007, India got its first-ever female President in the form of Pratibha Patil. An Indian politician and lawyer, Patil served as the 12th President of India from July 2007 to July 2012.

Against all odds, India won the 2007 ICC World Twenty20, the inaugural T20I world championship which was contested in South Africa from September 11 to 24, 2007. The Men in Blue defeated arch-rivals Pakistan by five runs in the final to clinch the trophy.

2008: Chandrayaan-1 launch and the heinous 26/11 attacks

Chandrayaan-1 was the first Indian lunar probe under the Chandrayaan program which was launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on October 22, 2008. The mission was a major boost to India’s space program, as our country researched and developed its own technology to explore the Moon.

The 2008 Mumbai attacks, also known as 26/11, are possibly the most significant and deadly terrorist attacks carried out on Indian soil. A series of terrorist attacks took place in November 2008, when 10 members of the terrorist organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba carried out 12 coordinated shooting and bombing attacks for four days across Mumbai. The attacks, which drew widespread global condemnation, began on November 26 (Wednesday) and lasted until November 29 (Saturday), 2008. A total of 175 people died, including nine attackers, and more than 300 were wounded.

2009: The NIA was formed

The National Investigation Agency (NIA), the primary counter-terrorist task force in India, was formed in 2009. It came into existence with the enactment of the National Investigation Agency Act, 2008 by the Indian Parliament on December 31, 2008. The founding Director-General of NIA was Radha Vinod Raju.

Other events in 2009

• The Satyam Computer Services scandal is one of India’s largest corporate frauds that erupted in 2009. It all began on January 7, 2009, when the chairman of Satyam, Byrraju Ramalinga Raju, resigned and confessed in a letter to the SEBI that he had manipulated the accounts of Rs 7,000 crore in several forms.
• After the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) led by Congress formed the government after winning a majority of seats, and Manmohan Singh became the first Prime Minister of India since Jawaharlal Nehru in 1962 to be re-elected after completing a full five-year term.
• On July 26, 2009, India launched its first nuclear submarine, the INS Arihant.

2010: Education became a fundamental right of children

The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act or Right to Education Act (RTE) is an Act of the Indian Parliament that was enacted on August 4, 2009. It describes the modalities of the importance of free and compulsory education for children between the age of 6 to 14 years in India under Article 21A of the Indian Constitution. When the Act came into force on April 1, 2010, India became one of the countries in the world to make education a fundamental right.

The 2011 Census of India or the 15th Indian Census was conducted in two phases, house listing and population enumeration. The house listing phase began on April 1, 2010, and involved the collection of information about all buildings.

The 2010 Commonwealth Games were held in Delhi from October 3 to 14, 2010. A total of 4,352 athletes from 71 Commonwealth nations and dependencies competed in 21 sports and 272 events, making it the largest Commonwealth Games to date. It was also the largest international multi-sport event to be staged in India, eclipsing the Asian Games in 1951 and 1982. It was the first time that the Commonwealth Games were held in India and the second time they were held in Asia after Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 1998.

2011: India won the World Cup

India won the ICC ODI World Cup for the second time in 2011. On April 2, India won the tournament by defeating Sri Lanka by 6 wickets in the final at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Thus, India became the first country to win the ODI World Cup final on home soil. Mahendra Singh Dhoni was the Man of the Match in the final and Yuvraj Singh was declared the Man of the Tournament.

On April 5, 2011, social activist Anna Hazare started a hunger strike to pressurise the Indian government in enacting a stringent anti-corruption law, The Lokpal Bill, 2011 as envisaged in the Jan Lokpal Bill. His hunger strike garnered tremendous support from all over the country. It ended on April 9, a day after the government accepted Hazare’s demands. The government issued a gazette notification on the formation of a joint committee, consisting of government and civil society representatives, to draft the legislation.

In the 2011 West Bengal Assembly elections, Mamata Banerjee and her party All India Trinamool Congress ended the 34-year-old Left Front regime in the state. She was sworn in as the Chief Minister of West Bengal on May 20, 2011. Thus, she became the first female Chief Minister of the state.

2012: The heinous Delhi gangrape and murder

On December 16, 2012, in Delhi, a 22-year-old woman was beaten, gang-raped, and tortured in a private bus in which she was travelling with her friend. Apart from the woman and her friend, there were six other people on the bus, including the driver. The six people raped the woman and beat her friend. Eleven days after the assault, she was transferred to a hospital in Singapore for emergency treatment but died two days later. The incident garnered tremendous coverage and criticism both in India and foreign countries, the victim came to be known as ‘Nirbhaya’ (fearless). Out of the six perpetrators, one died during the trial period, and four others were executed by hanging on March 20, 2020. Among the six people was a juvenile, who was convicted of rape and murder and given the maximum sentence of three years of imprisonment in a reform facility.

The fourth annual BRICS summit was held at Taj Hotel in New Delhi on March 29, 2012. It was the first time that India had hosted a BRICS summit, and the other member states, Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa took part in it.

After leading a very successful and distinguished political career, Pranab Mukherjee became the President of India on July 25, 2012, becoming the first Bengali to serve in that post.

Ajmal Kasab was a Pakistan terrorist and a member of the Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist organization, was one of those who executed the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai. He was the only attacker captured alive by police. He was sentenced to death and was hanged on November 21, 2012.

2013: Criminal Law (Amendment) Act was passed

The Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013 (also known as the Nirbhaya Act) is legislation that was passed by the Lok Sabha on March 19, 2013, and by the Rajya Sabha on March 21, 2013. It provides for amendment of the Indian Penal Code, Indian Evidence Act, and Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 on laws related to sexual offences. On April 2, it received Presidential assent and was deemed to be effective from April 3.

The National Food Security Act (NFSA) 2013 is an Act that aims to provide subsidised food grains to approximately two-thirds of the country’s entire population. It converts into legal entitlements for existing food security programmes of the Government of India, including the Midday Meal Scheme, Integrated Child Development Services scheme and the Public Distribution System. Further, the NFSA 2013 recognises maternity entitlements.

The Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), also called Mangalyaan, is a space probe orbiting Mars since September 24, 2014. It was launched by ISRO on November 5, 2013, and it is India’s first interplanetary mission. It made ISRO the fourth space agency to achieve Mars orbit, made India the first Asian nation to reach Martian orbit and the first nation in the world to do so on its maiden attempt.

On October 10, 2013, Sachin Tendulkar announced that he would retire from all cricket after the two-Test series against West Indies in November that year.

The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 is an Act that seeks to protect women from sexual harassment at their workplace. It aims to provide protection against sexual harassment of women in the workplace and for the prevention and redressal of complaints of sexual harassment and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto. The Bill, after being passed by the two Houses of Parliament and getting the Presidential assent, came into force as an Act on December 9, 2013.

2014: Narendra Modi became the PM of India for the first time

In September 2013, Narendra Modi was named the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha election, despite opposition from several BJP leaders, including LK Advani. But Modi led BJP superbly during the election campaign, and the saffron party rode on his charisma to win 282 seats in the election, while its National Democratic Alliance (NDA) won a total of 336 seats. BJP became the first party to win a majority of seats on its own in the general elections since 1984. Modi was sworn in as the Prime Minister of India on May 26, 2014, and he is the first Indian PM to be born after India’s Independence in 1947.

The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013, commonly known as The Lokpal Act, is an anti-corruption Act in India that “seeks to provide for the establishment of the institution of Lokpal to inquire into allegations of corruption against certain important public functionaries, including the Prime Minister, cabinet ministers, members of parliament, Group A officials of the Central Government and for matters connecting them”. It came into force on January 16, 2014.

On June 2, 2014, Telangana was formed by carving out a portion of Andhra Pradesh and became the 29th state of India with Hyderabad.

2015: NITI Aayog was formed

The NITI Aayog, the apex public policy think tank of the Indian government, and the nodal agency tasked with catalyzing economic development, and fostering cooperative federalism through the involvement of state governments of the country in the economic policy-making process, was established on January 1, 2015.

Digital India is a campaign launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on July 1, 2015, to ensure the government’s services are made available to citizens electronically by improved online infrastructure and by increasing internet connectivity or making the country digitally empowered in the field of technology.

Every year, on November 26, Constitution Day is celebrated in India to commemorate the adoption of the Constitution of India. On November 26, 1949, the Constituent Assembly of India adopted the Constitution, and it came into effect on January 26, 1950, making India a Republic. The year 2015 was the 125th birth anniversary year of BR Ambedkar, who is known as the father of the Indian Constitution. In October that year, PM Modi announced that November 26 will be celebrated as “Constitution Day”, and in November, the government officially announced the celebration of the day.

2016: Uri attack and India’s surgical strikes in Pakistan

On September 18, 2016, the Uri attack was carried out by four Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists against an Indian Army brigade headquarters near the town of Uri in Jammu and Kashmir. The attack led to the death of 19 Indian soldiers, and 19 to 30 others were injured.

On September 29, 2016, India announced that it had conducted surgical strikes against terror launch pads across the Line of Control in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), and inflicted “significant casualties”.

2017: GST was launched by the Indian government

The Goods and Services Tax, popularly known as GST, was launched at midnight on July 1, 2017, by the President of India, and the Government of India. It was marked by a historic midnight (June 30- July 1) session of both the Houses of Parliament convened at the Central Hall, and it was attended by high-profile guests from the business and the entertainment industry.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is a Eurasian political, economic, security and military alliance. On June 9, 2017, India became a full member of the SCO.

In 2017, the Supreme Court of India ruled that the practice of instant triple talaq is unconstitutional and a divorce pronounced by uttering talaq three times in one sitting is void and illegal. Following that, the government introduced The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2017.

2018: Supreme Court decriminalised Section 377

Section 377 is a section of the Indian Penal Code which was introduced in 1861 during the British rule of India. According to the section, sexual activities “against the order of nature” are illegal. On September 6, 2018, the Supreme Court of India ruled that the application of Section 377 to consensual homosexual sex between adults was “unconstitutional, irrational, indefensible and manifestly arbitrary”. But it remains in force relating to sex with minors, non-consensual sexual acts, and bestiality.

The Statue of Unity is 597 feet tall and is the highest statue in the world. It is located in Gujarat and depicts Indian statesman and independence activist Vallabhbhai Patel. It was designed by Indian sculptor Ram V Sutar and was inaugurated by PM Modi on October 31, 2018, on the 143rd birth anniversary of Patel.

Atal Bihari Vajpayee was an Indian politician and founder of the BJP who served three terms as the Prime Minister of India. One of the greatest names in the history of Indian politics, Vajpayee passed away on August 16, 2018, at the age of 93.

On January 1, 2018, the Bhima Koregaon violence took place during an annual celebratory gathering at Bhima Koregaon in Maharashtra to mark the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Bhima Koregaon. The violence and stone pelting by the crowd at the gathering resulted in the death of a 28-year-old youth and injury to five others.

2019: Pulwama attack and Balakot airstrike

On February 14, 2019, a convoy of vehicles carrying Indian security personnel on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway was attacked by a vehicle-borne suicide bomber at Lethapora in the Pulwama district of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. The attack, known as the Pulwama attack, killed 40 personnel of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) as well as the perpetrator, Adil Ahmad Dar, who was a local Kashmiri youth from Pulwama. The terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammed claimed responsibility for the attack.

On February 26, 2019, the Indian warplanes conducted a bombing raid conducted in Balakot, Pakistan against a terrorist training camp. The airstrike, popularly known as the Balakot airstrike, was conducted by India in the early morning hours of February 26. Its warplanes dropped bombs in the vicinity of the town of Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan.

On August 5, 2019, Article 370 and Article 35A, which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir, were revoked from the Indian Constitution. Also, the Government of India bifurcated Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh into separate Union Territories.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, the BJP received 37.36 per cent of the total valid votes polled, the highest vote share by a political party since the 1989 general election, and won 303 seats. Overall, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) won 353 seats and Narendra Modi started his second term as the Prime Minister of India.

2020: The nightmare of COVID-19 and lockdown

The year 2020 was sort of a nightmare for the majority of Indians, as the COVID-19 pandemic ravaged the country and people were confined to their homes because of the resultant lockdown. The tale of lockdown began on the evening of March 24, 2020, when the Government of India ordered a nationwide lockdown for 21 days, limiting the movement of the entire population to thwart the outbreak of the pandemic. It came after a 14-hour voluntary public curfew on March 22, followed by enforcement of a series of regulations in the COVID-19-affected regions in the country. When the lockdown was imposed, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in India was approximately 500.

2021: The controversy over three new farm laws

The three new farm laws, which were introduced by the Government of India in 2020, created a great stir in many parts of the country, especially in Punjab. Scores of farmers went to Delhi to protest against the laws and demanded that the government must withdraw the laws. As per reports, the new laws would have deregulated a system of government-run wholesale markets and hence, allowed farmers to sell directly to food processors. But farmers feared that it would lead to an end of the government-guaranteed price floors, thereby reducing the prices they would receive for their crops. On January 12, 2021, the Supreme Court stayed the implementation of the farm laws. On November 19, 2021, PM Narendra Modi announced that the government would repeal the laws in the upcoming Parliamentary session in December. On December 1, 2021, the laws were formally repealed.

2022: India gets its first tribal President

On July 21, 2022, Droupadi Murmu created history by becoming the first tribal person to be elected to the office of President of India. Murmu contested the presidential election as a candidate for the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance and defeated the Opposition’s candidate Yashwant Sinha. Also, Murmu is only the second female President of India after Pratibha Patil (2007-2012). Murmu has also served as the ninth Governor of Jharkhand from 2015 to 2021.

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Achievements and Challenges

Col Shiv Choudhary (Retd) India is all set to celebrate 75th Independence Day. The mighty Red Fort is all decked up to hoist the Indian tricolor and the inter-services guard of honor is in marching readiness. COVID-19 has forced to scale down the celebrations, but not the spirit and mood across India and abroad. This long march from 1947 till 2021 has been full of monumental moments. The most significant moments have been 15 Aug 1947, the Independence without any bloodshed, the enactment and adoption of the world’s largest constitution on 26 Jan 1950, first election under the Indian constitution in 1951-52, apolitical army, unity in diversity and one nation one voice during every national crisis. Has this long journey been so smooth? Not an easy question to answer. When India stepped into democracy on the principle of universal adult franchise after August 15, 1947, there were many who had predicted gloom and doom for the country. One of the fears was that India would ‘collapse into region based fragmented geographical and monarchical pieces’. There were also predictions of an unstable India full of anarchy or fascism. None of those fears has come true. Indeed, India is the only nation in Asia which remained democratic since independence. Between 1951-52 and 2021, 17 parliamentary elections have been held. Each election has been a mammoth exercise. Deepening of democracy, success of all parliamentary form of governments through ballot boxes, rule of law and people’s faith in democratic process and institutions, are the biggest achievements of independent India. No other country can lay claim to this achievement. India of 2021 is vastly different from India of 1947. It is fifth largest economy in the world by nominal GDP and third largest in terms of purchasing power parity. Barring aside a temporary dip due to ongoing Covid-19, there has been a steady rise in Gross National Income, Gross National Product, Per Capita Income, Food grains, investment, life expectancy, scientific advances, tax collection and infrastructure and international status. We must be proud of historical numerous mile stones touched in our journey. Few which cannot be ignored in our sacred nation building mission are accession of Kashmir in 1947,five years plans, biggest railway network, holding of Asian, common wealth and world level sports events, building Asia’s first nuclear reactor, green and white revolution, nationalization of banks, joining of Sikkim in 1975, liberation of Bangladesh, entry into space, historical economic reforms, robust economy, Aadhaar Card, nuclear power status, crushing defeat of Pakistan in three wars, winning two world cricket cups, Enactment of various Acts, Laws and Bills, coalition governments, MGNREGA, launch of Aryabhatta, aggressive missile system, digitization, mission Chandrayaan, demonization, GST Act, manufacturing indigenous fighter aircrafts, bifurcation of J&K state and end of its special status, non permanent member of UNO Security Council, indigenous vaccination, and wins at Olympic. Indeed, the list is endless. Successful history has also been mired with controversies and sad events like imposing of national emergency, tragic killing of two sitting PMs and a CM, riots, gruesome Nirbiya rape and murder case, terrorism, insurgencies, crimes by politicians and criminalization of politics, train accidents, hooch tragedies and vote bank politics and caste-based division. In addition to an array of national failures, achievements and mile stones, India continues to be besieged with numerous challenges obstructing economic growth, social equality, democratic norms, reputation and stability. Terrorism, communalism, regionalism and religious divide is dangerous for any nation and sadly we are gripped deep. Such anti national, unlawful and anti-social acts must be curbed with collective might. Glorification of regional parochialism or regionalism hampers the unity of the nation. Inter-state border disputes and river water issues are directly borne out of regionalism. Corruption has become a part of Indian DNA so much that every decision and transaction is a suspect. It is infectious and nourishes further. Its rooting out must start with top-down approach by the parliamentarian. Mother of all ills is our ever-increasing population, related poverty, reservation and depleting resources including agriculture. The percentage of agricultural workers is likely to drop up to 25.7% by 2050 from 58.2% in 2001. The howler of ‘larger population is an asset’ is sheer politics to give false sense of pride. We must enact some legislation to end these magninitus by rising above vote bank politics, else we remain poor forever. Traditionally and systematically, we always had a very fragile health care system and we are witnessing its collapse. A lot needs to be done on this to avoid loss of life. Other areas like existing roads, affordable housing and services like water, sanitation, healthcare, domestic air travel, rural connectivity etc. need quick fix solutions. India alarmingly stands at 131 positions out of 189 nations in The United Nation’s Human Development Index, which measures levels of healthcare, education and standard of living. Our education system has been degrees based and theoretical. One does a doctorate and fails to find a job. Out of the seventeen lakh odd engineers produced every year, just about 6% are found job fit. The number of literates has no doubt risen from 12% in 1947 to near 75% now. Sarvaa Shiksha Abhiyaan, National Literacy Mission, Sakshara Bharat, Compulsory Free Education and Right to Education 2009 are good steps. New NEP 2020 should fix it to some extent. Flood shortage, drinking water, environment degradation, depleting natural resources and climate change are impacting the globe. As per NITI Aayog, demand for drinking water will outstrip supply by 2030. Nearly 600 million Indians suffer from water stress and about 2 Lakh deaths per year are attributed to lack of access to safe water. 21 cities are in the worst situation today. Painfully, we lose lives regularly everywhere including in the financial capital of Mumbai. Sluggish justice delivery system is fulcrum of all crimes, lawlessness, and corruption and anti national acts. There is a huge difference in expediency between rich and poor class. Politicians, fraudsters, criminals and offenders are not scared of law. Pendency, postponement and adjournments are the hall marks. Uniform legal system is seen a selective legal system by majority of the citizens. Institutionalized accountability must be established. The accountability of bureaucracy, executive heads, ministries and many other Government officials is simply misplaced. This is leading to non-completion, abandonment, pre mature closure, cancellation, denial and failure of developmental projects. Normally, all such officials and appointees hide behind alibis like ‘system failure, collective failure, pendency, not approved, pre-mature closure, technically non feasible, fund crunch, and order from top. This practice must be accorded final burial. Political arrogance and poor policing are glaringly evident. Politicians often misuse their position, influence transfers, threaten helpless, influence voters, and at times commit heinous crimes. Policing issues like understaffing, archaic mindset, lack of technology, training, poor facilities, 24/7 working conditions, uncertain tenures and designations, misuse of man power, shoddy investigation, low conviction rate, shrinking public faith, recommended police reforms must be attended to. Discrimination of women is still a big stigma despite having produced jewels like Lakshmibai, Rani, Annie Besant, Kasurba Gandhi, Savithribai Phule, Sarojini Naidduand Kalpana Chawla. Lack of education, male domination, discriminatory customs, crimes, vulnerability and less presence at top level, have been evident. Women are now treading into space, aviation, politics and defense forces. Beti Bachao Beti Padao, Women and Children Development, Child Marriage Act, Dowry Prohibition Act, Empowerment of Women, Women Commissions and reservation in jobs and parliament are right steps in this connection.

Independence Day Special

Unemployment has been prevalent always. Elections promises of generating million of jobs have been mere election slogans. As per 2018 data, the rate of unemployment has been increasing substantially. Millions have been laid off due to Covid-19. Population and illiteracy are its thriving factors. Another dangerous threat dawning is of fake news and media control. One side information and misinformation, hate speech, false propaganda and poor ethics, are threatening the creditability and trust in democracy. India needs to open ears to find the truth and worthiness of actions. Border disputes and refugees problem have been sulking issues. We have resolved few less intensive issues. India is growing in its stature and able to play global role in conflict management both domestic and international. It will be in our interest to grow strong and attempt settling the long standing dispute with China from a position of unity, strength and national might. Looking back at the preceding decades, India has propelled itself as a nation in spite of the many internal and external threats. A vibrant democracy, an independent judiciary, and a diversified and widespread industry and totally apolitically military are her greatest virtues. India has not failed anywhere in making a significant contribution abroad. No progressive and democratic nation can ever live on past laurels. India needs to focus on taking every possible step to meet all the domestic and international challenges in an expeditious way. Simultaneously, India must focus on issues like ending reservation system, strengthening economically and socially strong human capita, knowledge bank and innovation centered India. Need attention on equity, national dignity, global convergence, conflict management, energy and India playing a global role. India’s future agenda must set the tone by linking every citizen, neighborhood and the globe. We have enough talent, scientists, technology, will power and human resources to achieve everything. Every Indian irrespective of any factors has stood as one unit during national crisis. We only need to be clear on our internal and external threats, national interest and region specific foreign policies, ultra nationalism, caste based politics or enlarging the font size of achievements. Efficient leadership and clean politics only will impel India’s march ahead to be self reliant and world leader. (e-mail: [email protected]).

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Essay on 75 Years of Indian Independence

Students are often asked to write an essay on 75 Years of Indian Independence in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on 75 Years of Indian Independence

The journey of independence.

India has completed 75 years of independence, a journey that began on 15th August 1947. This period has been marked by significant growth and development, despite various challenges.

Post-Independence Era

Initially, India faced numerous issues like poverty and illiteracy. The leaders worked hard to uplift the country, focusing on education, infrastructure, and health.

Economic Progress

India has made remarkable economic progress. It’s now one of the fastest-growing economies, with advancements in technology, space research, and various industries.

Cultural Preservation

Despite modernization, India has managed to preserve its rich cultural heritage, showcasing its diversity to the world.

Looking Ahead

As India steps into the next 75 years, the aim is to build an inclusive, prosperous nation, ensuring a better future for all.

250 Words Essay on 75 Years of Indian Independence

Introduction.

India, a nation with a rich history, diverse culture, and a promising future, celebrated 75 years of independence in 2021. This milestone marks a journey of resilience, development, and transformation, which is worthy of reflection and celebration.

Post-Independence Struggles

The initial years following independence were marked by the daunting task of nation-building. The partition of India and Pakistan led to large-scale violence, displacement, and socio-economic challenges. The nascent government had to formulate a constitution, establish institutions, and ensure social justice amidst this chaos.

Progressive Developments

Over the years, India has made significant strides in various fields. The Green Revolution transformed the agricultural landscape, making India self-sufficient in food grains. The IT revolution positioned India as a global hub for technology and services. India’s space program, ISRO, has achieved remarkable feats, including the successful Mars Orbiter Mission.

Challenges and the Way Forward

Despite these accomplishments, India still grapples with issues such as poverty, illiteracy, and corruption. The economic disparity is a pressing concern that needs to be addressed. However, with the advent of digital technology and initiatives like Digital India, there is hope for a more inclusive and equitable future.

The 75 years of Indian independence is a saga of triumph, resilience, and constant evolution. The journey has been challenging, but the progress made is commendable. As we look forward to the future, the lessons from the past will guide India towards a prosperous and inclusive society.

500 Words Essay on 75 Years of Indian Independence

The dawn of independence.

India, a land of rich cultural heritage and diverse traditions, celebrated its 75th year of independence in 2021. This independence, achieved after a prolonged struggle against British rule, marked the beginning of a new era of self-governance, democracy, and socio-economic development. The journey from 1947 to the present day has been a saga of significant transformation and growth.

Post-Independence Challenges

The immediate aftermath of independence was a period of considerable challenges. The partition of the country into India and Pakistan led to widespread communal violence and a massive refugee crisis. The new nation was also faced with the task of integrating hundreds of princely states into the Indian Union. Despite these adversities, India managed to create a democratic system, which was a remarkable achievement considering the socio-economic conditions of the time.

Building a Democratic Republic

The adoption of the Constitution in 1950 laid the foundation for India as a democratic republic. The Constitution, which is the longest written constitution in the world, enshrines the principles of justice, liberty, equality, and fraternity. It established a parliamentary system of government, universal adult franchise, and a commitment to social justice and human rights.

Economic Development and Modernization

In the economic sphere, India embarked on a path of planned development with the establishment of the Planning Commission in 1950. The focus was on self-reliance and the development of key industries and infrastructure. Over the years, India has transitioned from an agrarian economy to a diversified one with substantial growth in sectors such as information technology, telecommunications, and services.

India on the Global Stage

India’s foreign policy, characterized by the principles of non-alignment and peaceful coexistence, has evolved over the years. India has played a significant role in international affairs, be it the fight against apartheid in South Africa or contributing to United Nations peacekeeping missions. Today, India is seen as a major global player with increasing influence in international forums.

The Road Ahead

As India celebrates 75 years of independence, it stands at a crucial juncture. While it has made significant strides in various spheres, challenges remain. Issues such as poverty, illiteracy, corruption, and environmental degradation need to be addressed. The vision for the future should be to build an inclusive, sustainable, and resilient India.

In conclusion, the journey of India since independence has been a story of resilience, transformation, and progress. The 75th year of independence is not just a milestone but a moment of reflection on the past and a vision for a brighter future. The onus is on the current generation to carry forward the legacy of the freedom fighters and work towards realizing the dream of a truly independent, prosperous, and inclusive India.

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75 Years Journey of India's Independence

As India is celebrating the 75th anniversary of its independence, let’s look at what have been the historic events, most significant achievements and major milestones during this period: On August 15, 1947, India gained its independence from British Rule.

By Sanjenbam Jugeshwor Singh

Updated 15 Aug 2022, 7:22 am

Post August 15, 1947, India’s journey has become a great example of an impressive growth story. The journey highlights India’s expansion ranging from agricultural production to nuclear and space technology, from affordable healthcare to world-class educational institutions, from Ayurveda to biotechnology, from giant steel plants to becoming an IT power, and having the third-largest start-up ecosystem in the world.

As India is celebrating the 75 th  anniversary of its independence , let us  look at what have been the historic events, most significant achievements and major milestones during this period: On August 15, 1947, India gained its independence from British Rule.

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Our First Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, delivered the famous 'Tryst with Destiny' speech to the Indian Constituent Assembly in Parliament just before the clock struck 12, on August 14, 1947. On August 15, Pandit Nehru hoisted the Indian National Flag above the Lahori Gate of the Red Fort in Delhi.

On November 26, 1949, the Constituent Assembly of India adopted the Constitution of India . Later on January 26, 1950, the Constitution of India became effective. The Constitution of India replaced the Government of India Act 1935 as the country's fundamental governing document, and the Dominion of India became the Republic of India.

The Constitution of India is the supreme law of India. Every year, on January 26, India celebrates  its Republic Day. Our First Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, presented the First Five-Year Plan to the Parliament of India in 1951. The First Five-year Plan mainly focused on the development of the primary sector and was based on the Harrod–Domar model with few modifications.

The motto of the first Five-Year Plan was agricultural development. The main objective was to solve different problems that formed due to the partition of the nation. Rebuilding the country after independence was the vision of this plan.

General elections were held in India between October 25,1951and February 21, 1952. They were the first elections to the Lok Sabha after independence in August 1947. The First session of Lok Sabha commenced on May 13, 1952. Total Lok Sabha seats were 489 and total eligible voters were 17.3 crores. The Indian National Congress (INC) won 364 seats.

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The first Lok Sabha lasted its full tenure of five years and was dissolved on April 4,1957. Jawaharlal Nehru became the first democratically elected Prime Minister of India.

Under the Air Corporations Act , 1953, Nehru nationalized nine airlines - Air India, Air Services of India, Airways (India), Bharat Airways, Deccan Airways, Himalayan Aviation, Indian National Airways, Kalinga Airlines and Air India International - and brought them under two PSEs, Indian Airlines and Air India International.

The State Bank of India was incorporated on July 1, 1955. The Government of India nationalised the Imperial Bank of India in 1955 with the Reserve Bank of India taking a 60 per cent stake and the name was changed to the State Bank of India. Indian coinage went decimal on April 1, 1957, 10 years after it gained independence from the British.

The Indian Coinage Act was amended in September 1955 to embrace the decimal system. After the amended Act came into being, a circular issued by the comptroller and Auditor-General of India in April 1956 said: ’Government accounting with effect from April 1, 1957 is tube maintained in terms of rupees and naye paise instead of rupees, annas and pies. All challans in support of money tendered in payment of Government dues are, therefore, to be expressed in the new coinage.

The Annexation of Goa was the process in which the Republic of India annexed Estado da Índia, the then Portuguese Indian territories of Goa, Daman, and Diu, starting with the armed action carried out by the Indian Armed Forces in December 1961.

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In India, this action is referred to as the " Liberation of Goa ".The Sino-Indian War between China and India occurred in October–November 1962. A disputed Himalayan border was the main cause of the war. The war ended when China declared a ceasefire on November 20, 1962, and simultaneously announced its withdrawal to its claimed "Line of Actual Control”.

The launch of the first sounding rocket from Thumba near Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala on November 21, 1963, marked the beginning of the Indian Space Programme . Sounding rockets made it possible to probe the atmosphere in situ using rocket-borne instrumentation. This was the first milestone in modern India’s space odyssey.

Vikram Sarabhai and his then accomplice APJ Abdul Kalam were the brainchild of this achievement. The Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 or the Second Kashmir War was a culmination of skirmishes that took place between April 1965 and September 1965 between Pakistan and India.

The conflict began following Pakistan's Operation Gibraltar, which was designed to infiltrate forces into Jammu and Kashmir to precipitate an insurgency against Indian rule; It became the immediate cause of the war.

On August 15, Indian forces crossed the cease-fire line. On September 20, the United Nations Security Council unanimously passed a resolution, demanding an unconditional ceasefire from both nations within 48 hours. While India immediately accepted the demand, Pakistan accepted it on September 23. On Shastri’s sudden death in January 1966, Indira Gandhi was named leader of the Congress Party—and thus also became prime minister—in a compromise between the party’s right and left wings. Her leadership, however, came under continual challenge from the right wing of the party, led by former minister of finance Morarji Desai.

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ISRO was formed in 1969 with a vision to develop and harness space technology in national development while pursuing planetary exploration and space science research. ISRO replaced its predecessor, INCOSPAR (Indian National Committee for Space Research), established in 1962 by India’s first Prime Minister Pt Jawaharlal Nehru and scientist Vikram Sarabhai, are considered among the founding fathers of the Indian space program. 

Operation Flood , launched on January 13, 1970, was the world's largest dairy development programme and a landmark project of India's National Dairy Development Board. The Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 was a military confrontation between India and Pakistan that occurred during the Bangladesh Liberation War in East Pakistan from December 3, 1971 to the fall of Dacca (Dhaka) on December 16, 1971.

The Emergency in India was a 21-month period from 1975 to 1977 when Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declared a state of emergency across the country. Officially issued by President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed under Article 352 of the Constitution because of the prevailing "internal disturbance", the Emergency was in effect from June 25, 1975 until its withdrawal on March 21, 1977.

Elections were canceled, civil liberties were suspended, most of Indira Gandhi's political opponents were imprisoned and the press was censored. Numerous human rights were violated during that period. The Emergency is one of the most controversial periods of independent India's history.DD became national when it started to telecast national programs in the year 1982. In the same year, color TVs were introduced in the Indian markets.

The first color programs were the live telecast of the Independence Day parade on August 15, 1982, followed by the Asian Games being held in Delhi. On June 25, 1983, the Indian Cricket Team created history for the first time by winning the World Cup by defeating West Indies who had won the last two world cups. India’s Victory in 1983 is considered to be the landmark moment in Cricket History. 83 World cup was played in Lord's Stadium (England). For the first time, an Asian Nation-India reached the World Cup Final and this was the third consecutive World Cup final appearance for the West Indies.

On May 30, 1987, Goa attained statehood (while Daman and Diu became a separate union territory), and Goa was reorganised into two districts, North Goa and South Goa. Dayanand Bandodkar was elected as the first Chief Minister of Goa, Daman, and Diu. Goa became India's 25th state on May 30, 1987.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India was constituted on April 12, 1988 as a non-statutory body through an Administrative Resolution of the Government for dealing with all matters relating to the development and regulation of the securities market and investor protection and to advise the government on all these matters.

Agni-I was first tested at the Interim Test Range in Chandipur at 7.17 am on May 22, 1989 and was capable of carrying a conventional payload of 1,000 kg (2,200 lb) or a nuclear warhead. Agni missiles consist of one (short range) or two stages (intermediate-range). The three branches of the new economic policy of 1991 were Liberalization, Privatization, and Globalization.

The immediate factor that triggered India's economic reforms of 1991 was a severe balance of payments crisis that occurred in the same year. The first signs of India's balance of payments crisis became evident in late 1990 when foreign exchange reserves began to fall.

The Government of India under Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda and the Government of Delhi jointly set up a company called the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) on May 3, 1995, with Elattuvalapil Sreedharan as the managing director. On May 11 and 13, 1998, 24 years after Pokhran –I the Indian DefenceResearch and Development Organization (DRDO) and Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) conducted five further nuclear tests, dubbed "Pokhran-II", at the Pokhran range.

The chief scientific adviser and the Director of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Dr Abdul Kalam, and Dr R Chidambaram, the Director of the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), were the chief coordinators of this test planning.

The Kargil War , also known as the Kargil conflict, was an armed conflict fought between India and Pakistan from May to July 1999 in the Kargil district of Jammu and Kashmir and elsewhere along the Line of Control.

On July 26, 1999, India marked the successful completion of “ Operation Vijay ” by declaring victory over Pakistan in the Kargil war, ending the three-month war along the Line of Control. The day since then has been celebrated as “ Kargil Vijay Diwas ”.  Jharkhand was carved out of 18 districts of Bihar in the year 2000 November 15.

Later, six more districts were carved out by reorganizing the existing districts. Pratibha Patil is an Indian politician and lawyer, who was the first woman president of India from 2007-2012. Chandrayaan-1 was the first Indian lunar probe under the Chandrayaan program which was launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on October 22, 2008. The mission was a major boost to India's space programme, as the country researched and developed its own technology to explore the Moon.

The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act or Right to Education Act (RTE) is an Act of the Indian Parliament that was enacted on August 4, 2009. It describes the modalities of the importance of free and compulsory education for children between the ages of 6 to 14 years in India under Article 21A of the Indian Constitution.

When the Act came into force on April 1, 2010, India became one of the countries in the world to make education a fundamental right. The NITI Aayog , the apex public policy think tank of the Indian government, and the nodal agency tasked with catalysing economic development, and fostering cooperative federalism through the involvement of state governments of the country in the economic policy-making process, was established on January 1, 2015.

The Goods and Services Tax , popularly known as GST, was launched at midnight on July 1, 2017, by the President of India, and the Government of India. It was marked by a historic midnight (June 30- July 1) session of both the Houses of Parliament convened at the Central Hall, and it was attended by high-profile guests from the business and the entertainment industry.

In 2020, India witnessed the COVID-19 pandemic and people were confined to their homes because of the resultant lockdown. The tale of lockdown began on the evening of March 24, 2020, when the Government of India ordered a nationwide lockdown for 21 days, limiting the movement of the entire population to thwart the outbreak of the pandemic.

It came after a 14-hour voluntary public curfew on March 22, followed by enforcement of a series of regulations in the COVID-19-affected regions in the country. Droupadi Murmu took oath as the 15 th President of India on July 25, 2022. She contested against Yashwant Sinha, the joint opposition’s nominee for the top constitutional job. Draupadi Murmu is a tribal leader from Rairangpur in Mayurbanj district in Odisha.  Jagdeep Dhankhar was on Thursday, the August 11 2022 sworn in as the 14 th Vice President of India and chairman of Rajya Sabha.

On the 75 th Independence Day of India; people are celebrating Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav to acknowledge the development and growth of India post-Independence. Democracy has ensured that virtually every region of India and every group is represented at the highest levels of office in India. Women leaders have been elected as Prime Minister, President and Speaker of the Indian Parliament, and Chief Ministers of several of India’s large state.

( The views expressed are personal )

First published: 15 Aug 2022, 3:34 am

Tags: national flag azadi ka amrit mahotsav har ghar tiranga Independence day history independence day celebration indian history

Sanjenbam Jugeshwor Singh

Assistant Professor, JCRE Global College, Babupara, Imphal. The writer can be reached at [email protected]

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Suggestions, 75 years of the supreme court of india.

Authored by – Kanika Arora

Introduction:.

As the Supreme Court marks its 75th year, this article takes a nostalgic yet critical look at its profound influence on the Indian legal system. From its inception to the present day, the Supreme Court has been a guardian of justice, rendering judgments that have not only interpreted the law but have often set new legal precedents.

On January 28, 1950, a nascent India took a momentous step towards solidifying its democratic foundations. The Supreme Court of India, established on that historic day, has since become the guardian of the Constitution, upholding the rule of law and protecting the rights of over 1.3 billion citizens. As India embarks on its 75th year of independence, reflecting on the Supreme Court’s legacy offers valuable insights into the nation’s evolution and underscores the crucial role of an independent judiciary in a vibrant democracy.

• Pillars of Justice: Landmark Judgments that Shaped India:

The Supreme Court’s history is etched with landmark judgments that have redefined the legal landscape and social fabric of India. From guaranteeing the right to equality in Maneka Gandhi v. Union of India (1978) to decriminalizing homosexuality in Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India (2017), the court has consistently pushed the boundaries of social progress and human rights. Its rulings on environmental protection, freedom of speech, and access to education have not only empowered individuals but also laid the foundation for a more just and equitable society.

• Beyond Rulings: Addressing Contemporary Challenges:

Despite its undeniable contributions, the Supreme Court faces contemporary challenges threatening its effectiveness and accessibility. Concerns regarding the pendency of cases, judicial appointments, and the impact of executive overreach highlight the need for continuous introspection and reform. The increasing burden on the court necessitates efficient disposal of cases while ensuring due process and thorough adjudication. Additionally, ensuring greater diversity and inclusivity within the judiciary is crucial to uphold public trust and reflect the changing demographics of India.

• Guiding Light for the Future: Upholding the Rule of Law and Envisioning a Just India:

As India navigates the complexities of the 21st century, the Supreme Court’s role in upholding the rule of law and securing the fundamental rights of its citizens remains paramount. Protecting judicial independence, fostering access to justice for marginalized communities, and adapting to the evolving demands of a digital age are some pressing issues that necessitate continuous dialogue and reform. By embracing innovation, public engagement, and a commitment to social justice, the Supreme Court can continue to be a beacon of hope, guiding India toward a future where the fundamental rights and aspirations of all citizens are truly realized.

Landmark Cases of the Indian Supreme Court in its 75-Year Journey:

As India celebrates the 75th anniversary of its independence, let’s revisit some of the landmark judgments delivered by the Supreme Court that have shaped the nation’s legal and social landscape:

• Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala (1973): This case established the “basic structure doctrine,” outlining that the Constitution’s core principles cannot be altered by amendments. It ensured constitutional stability and protected fundamental rights from legislative overreach.
• Shah Bano Begum v. Mohd. Danial Latifi (1985): This case upheld the right of a Muslim woman to alimony after divorce, challenging the discriminatory application of personal laws. It sparked debate on gender equality and religious jurisprudence.
• Minerva Mills v. Union of India (1980): This case struck down two amendments that sought to curtail judicial review, reaffirming the court’s power to uphold the Constitution’s basic structure. It cemented the principle of judicial checks and balances.
• Olga Tellis v. Bombay Municipal Corporation (1985): This case recognized the right to life with dignity, including access to necessities like housing. It paved the way for judicial intervention in slum rehabilitation and poverty alleviation.
• Maneka Gandhi v. Union of India (1978): This case broadened the scope of Article 21 (right to life) to include personal liberty and freedom of movement. It empowered individuals to challenge arbitrary state actions impacting their fundamental rights.
• T.M.A. Pai Foundation v. State of Karnataka (2002): This case upheld the right to manage educational institutions based on their fundamental character, paving the way for private institutions with limited state interference. It sparked ongoing debates about autonomy and accountability in education.
• Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India (2017): This case decriminalized consensual sexual activity between same-sex adults, recognizing LGBTQ+ rights and promoting inclusivity. It marked a significant milestone in the fight for equality and non-discrimination.
• Aadhaar Judgment (2017): This case upheld the constitutional validity of the Aadhaar scheme, recognizing its potential for financial inclusion and welfare delivery. However, it also addressed concerns about privacy and data protection, creating a framework for balancing technology with individual rights.
• Sabarimala Review Petitions (2018): This case overturned a previous ban on women of menstruating age entering the Sabarimala temple, upholding the principle of gender equality in places of worship. It ignited passionate debates about religious practices and individual rights.
• Ayodhya Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid Title Dispute Case (2019): This landmark verdict brought closure to a long-standing religious dispute, awarding the disputed land in Ayodhya for the construction of a Ram temple, while directing the government to provide alternate land for a mosque. It highlighted the complexities of religious conflict resolution and the court’s role in mediating sensitive societal issues

These are just a few examples of the Supreme Court’s impactful judgments, showcasing its diverse and evolving role in shaping Indian society. As the nation progresses, the court’s future decisions will undoubtedly continue to influence the legal landscape and address emerging challenges, contributing to India’s journey toward a more just and equitable future.

Conclusion:

The 75 years of the Supreme Court encapsulate a legacy of legal wisdom, resilience, and evolution. This article celebrates the milestones, acknowledges the challenges, and underscores the pivotal role the Supreme Court has played in shaping India’s legal identity. As the court continues its journey, it is essential to reflect on its rich history and appreciate the dynamic interplay between legal principles and societal transformation.

The 75th anniversary of the Supreme Court of India is a moment to celebrate not just the institution’s remarkable legacy but also its unwavering commitment to shaping a fairer and more equitable India. Its journey, though marked by challenges, is a testament to the enduring power of an independent judiciary in safeguarding the very essence of democracy.

As India stands on the threshold of a new era, the Supreme Court’s responsibility to uphold the rule of law, protect individual rights, and navigate the complexities of the future remains its defining mission. By staying true to its ideals and constantly striving for improvement, the court can continue to serve as a symbol of hope, ensuring that the promises of equality, justice, and liberty enshrined in the Indian Constitution remain a living reality for every citizen.

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The life and music of Amy Winehouse, through the journey of adolescence to adulthood and the creation of one of the best-selling albums of our time. The life and music of Amy Winehouse, through the journey of adolescence to adulthood and the creation of one of the best-selling albums of our time. The life and music of Amy Winehouse, through the journey of adolescence to adulthood and the creation of one of the best-selling albums of our time.

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• Mark Ronson
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A Terrorist Attack in Russia

The tragedy in a moscow suburb is a blow to vladimir v. putin, coming only days after his stage-managed election victory..

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Hosted by Sabrina Tavernise

Featuring Anton Troianovski

Produced by Will Reid and Rachelle Bonja

Edited by Patricia Willens

Original music by Dan Powell and Marion Lozano

Engineered by Alyssa Moxley

Listen and follow The Daily Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music

Warning: this episode contains descriptions of violence.

More than a hundred people died and scores more were wounded on Friday night in a terrorist attack on a concert hall near Moscow — the deadliest such attack in Russia in decades.

Anton Troianovski, the Moscow bureau chief for The Times, discusses the uncomfortable question the assault raises for Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin: Has his focus on the war in Ukraine left his country more vulnerable to other threats?

On today’s episode

Anton Troianovski , the Moscow bureau chief for The New York Times.

Background reading

In Russia, fingers point anywhere but at ISIS for the concert hall attack.

The attack shatters Mr. Putin’s security promise to Russians.

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We aim to make transcripts available the next workday after an episode’s publication. You can find them at the top of the page.

Translations by Milana Mazaeva .

Special thanks to Eric Schmitt and Valerie Hopkins .

The Daily is made by Rachel Quester, Lynsea Garrison, Clare Toeniskoetter, Paige Cowett, Michael Simon Johnson, Brad Fisher, Chris Wood, Jessica Cheung, Stella Tan, Alexandra Leigh Young, Lisa Chow, Eric Krupke, Marc Georges, Luke Vander Ploeg, M.J. Davis Lin, Dan Powell, Sydney Harper, Mike Benoist, Liz O. Baylen, Asthaa Chaturvedi, Rachelle Bonja, Diana Nguyen, Marion Lozano, Corey Schreppel, Rob Szypko, Elisheba Ittoop, Mooj Zadie, Patricia Willens, Rowan Niemisto, Jody Becker, Rikki Novetsky, John Ketchum, Nina Feldman, Will Reid, Carlos Prieto, Ben Calhoun, Susan Lee, Lexie Diao, Mary Wilson, Alex Stern, Dan Farrell, Sophia Lanman, Shannon Lin, Diane Wong, Devon Taylor, Alyssa Moxley, Summer Thomad, Olivia Natt, Daniel Ramirez and Brendan Klinkenberg.

Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Landsverk of Wonderly. Special thanks to Sam Dolnick, Paula Szuchman, Lisa Tobin, Larissa Anderson, Julia Simon, Sofia Milan, Mahima Chablani, Elizabeth Davis-Moorer, Jeffrey Miranda, Renan Borelli, Maddy Masiello, Isabella Anderson and Nina Lassam.

Anton Troianovski is the Moscow bureau chief for The Times. He writes about Russia, Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia. More about Anton Troianovski

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Jungkook's solo track 'Seven' clinches 'Song of the Year' at the '2024 BIC Seven Awards

T he digital buzz was palpable as the virtual stage lit up for the grand reveal of the '2024 BIC Seven Awards', hosted by the esteemed magazine 'BIC Seven E News'. Celebrating the finest in music, television, series, and Latin culture, the event promised a night of recognition and excitement.

Among the highly anticipated categories was 'Song of the Year', showcasing a lineup of chart-topping hits and beloved melodies. The contenders included the dynamic collaboration "Die For You" by The Weeknd X Ariana Grande, the soulful ballad "Flowers" by Miley Cyrus, the electrifying "Rush" by Troye Sivan, the introspective "What Was I Made For?" by Billie Eilish, and the captivating "Water" by Tyla.

One name that had been on everyone's lips was Jungkook, who had already left an indelible mark on the music scene with his smash hit "Seven". The track had garnered widespread acclaim, sweeping up accolades at major music award ceremonies the previous year. From clinching the coveted 'Song of Summer' title at the '2023 MTV Video Music Awards (MTV VMA)' to securing 'Best Song' at the '2023 MTV Europe Music Awards (MTV EMA)', and even snagging 'Top Global K-Pop Song' at the '2023 Billboard Music Awards' (BBMAs), Jungkook had dominated the charts and hearts alike.

But the success of "Seven" didn't stop there. It found its place among the elite, earning spots in prestigious lists such as 'The 100 Best Songs of 2023: Staff Picks' by 'Billboard', 'The Best Songs and Albums of 2023: Official Charts Staff Picks' by the 'Official Charts', and 'The 100 Best Songs of 2023' as announced by the venerable U.S. music magazine 'Rolling Stone'. Remarkably, "Seven" soared to the 10th position on the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI)'s '2023 Global Single Chart', marking a historic moment as the only Korean song to crack the top 10.

The trailblazing journey continued for Jungkook as he shattered barriers and made history yet again. At the '2024 People's Choice Awards (PCAs)', one of the most prestigious music award ceremonies in the U.S., Jungkook clinched the title of 'The Male Artist of the Year', becoming the first and only Asian artist to achieve this remarkable feat.

The accolades didn't end there. In January, Jungkook's global impact was recognized at the '2024 Pure Chart Award', a digital ceremony hosted by the esteemed French radio station 'RPM' and the revered music hub 'Pure Chart'. Emerging victorious in the 'International Male Artist of the Year' category, Jungkook solidified his status as a transcendent talent with a universal appeal.

As the curtains closed on the '2024 BIC Seven Awards', the echoes of Jungkook's triumph reverberated throughout the industry, underscoring not only his unparalleled talent but also his enduring influence on the global music landscape.

READ ALSO: BTS members' solo tracks making waves on the Billboard hot 100

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For more news like this visit TOI . Get all the Latest News , City News , India News , Business News , and Sports News . For Entertainment News , TV News , and Lifestyle Tips visit Etimes

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New Delhi [India], March 26 (ANI): S&P Global Ratings forecast rate cuts of up to 75 basis points (100 basis points is equal to 1 percentage point) in India by its central bank in the financial year 2024-25.

In line with the projection for US policy rates, the global rating agency largely expects these moves to occur in the second half of the financial year.

Besides India, the rating agency also expects similar rate cuts in Indonesia, New Zealand, and the Philippines.

“In India, slowing inflation, a smaller fiscal deficit and lower U.S. policy rates will lay the ground for the Reserve Bank of India to start cutting rates. But we believe more clarity on the path of disinflation could push this decision at least to June 2024, if not later,” the rating agency said.

In India, the Monetary Policy Committee of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its February review meeting unanimously decided to keep the policy repo rate unchanged at 6.5 per cent, thus maintaining status quo for the sixth straight time.

The repo rate is the rate of interest at which RBI lends to other banks.

Deliberating the policy statement on Friday morning after a three-day review meeting, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das attributed comfortable inflation and firm growth dynamics as the reasons behind maintaining the status quo the policy stance.

Retail inflation in India though, is in RBI’s 2-6 per cent comfort level but is above the ideal 4 per cent scenario. In February, it was 5.09 per cent.

In India, S&P expects consumer inflation to decline further to 4.5 per cent on average in fiscal 2025.

RBI maintained India’s retail inflation projections for 2023-24 at 5.4 per cent, with with Q3 at 5.6 per cent and Q4 at 5.2 per cent. CPI inflation for Q1:2024-25 is projected at 5.2 per cent; Q2 at 4.0 per cent; and Q3 at 4.7 per cent, with risks evenly balanced.

The RBI typically conducts six bimonthly meetings in a financial year, where it deliberates interest rates, money supply, inflation outlook, and various macroeconomic indicators. (ANI)

This report is auto-generated from ANI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.

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