India @75: 100 events that shaped India – Hindustan Times

How does one tell the story of a nation? How does one capture a billion tales that are, eventually, one? As Independent India marks 75 years, take a tour through 100 events that mark flashpoints and turning points, wars won and battles lost, new beginnings and realised ambitions — from the creation of a Constitution to the rise of political stalwarts, from pitched battles on the cricket field to dreams captured on celluloid, from events that challenged us to responses that elevated us. We, the people of India, have a lot to remember, and a lot to celebrate…

1. India gains Independence (1947)

At the stroke of the midnight hour on August 15, 1947, India awoke to life and freedom.

At the stroke of the midnight hour on August 15, 1947, India awoke to life and freedom. It was an independence hard earned; over two hundred years of blood, sweat, revolution and sacrifice were spent in throwing off the yoke of colonialism. But from it emerged a country whose long and ancient history was only matched by the sheer opportunities before it. It was the home of ancient civilisations. It was the world’s largest democracy. It had the world’s second largest population, hundreds of religions, languages, communities and cultures. But there was much to do. India was a resource-rich country, breathtaking in its expanse of geography and opportunity. But it was poor, plundered by the British. It boasted a literacy rate of just 12%. Its public health infrastructure was woefully inadequate. On August 15, India began the process of changing all this on its own terms, as a free country. India began its tryst with destiny.

2. Partition rocks the new nation (1947)

The partition of India is a defining moment not just for what happened then, but what it has meant since

The country’s independence was framed by a bloody, brutal partition that cleaved its territory into two on religious lines – a secular India, and a Muslim Pakistan (in two parts East and West). British judge Cyril Radcliffe took a mere 40 days to draw 6,100 km of new boundaries both to India’s west and east. This resulted in unprecedented scenes as a million people were killed (some estimates put the toll at double this) and 15 million migrated to either side of the border, on foot or on trains. The partition of India is a defining moment not just for what happened then, but what it has meant since. It left the country with a hostile neighbour, Pakistan, with which it has fought several wars, and which has supported terror groups in Punjab and Kashmir.

3. Kashmir accedes to India (1947)

Two months after India gained independence, on October 26, Maharaja Hari Singh of Jammu and Kashmir, signed the instrument of accession to India. In August, the princely state had sought a “standstill arrangement” with both India and Pakistan, which India refused to sign, articulating a stance that has lasted since– that Kashmir is an inseparable part of India.

Pakistan reacted by mobilising tribesmen who entered Kashmir’s borders. Pushed into a corner, Singh signed the instrument of accession. These complex circumstances defined Kashmir’s immediate and long term future. The instrument became central to Article 370, abrogated by the BJP in 2019. In 1948, Prime Minister Nehru took the matter to the United Nations, which passed a resolution calling for a ceasefire, the withdrawal of Pakistani troops and tribal militia, and finally a referendum. But the armies never pulled back, giving rise to today’s Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, and the referendum never took place, giving rise to an angst that Pakistan based terror groups exploit.

4. Mahatma Gandhi is assassinated (1948)

On January 30, 1948, Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated by Nathuram Godse, allegedly a member of the Hindu Mahasabha, with ties to the RSS.

On January 30, 1948, at 5:17 pm four shots rang out at New Delhi’s Birla Niketan, shocking India and the world. On the floor, in a thick cloud of smoke lay the man synonymous with India’s freedom movement; who had had led the Dandi March and the Non Cooperation Movement; who had built a new vocabulary of non-violent protest; and who had earned the moniker Mahatma all over the world. Free for a matter of months, and confronting enormous economic, social and political challenges, India had lost its tallest leader.

The assassination was carried out by Nathuram Godse , allegedly a member of the Hindu Mahasabha, with ties to the RSS– a charge that the organisation denies—and angry at the creation of Pakistan and Gandhi’s overtures at reducing communal tension. As Home Minister, Sardar Patel banned the RSS. The days after his murder saw Gandhi’s ashes being sent to different parts of India in an effort to calm the religiously surcharged atmosphere. Even in death, Gandhi was a vehicle for peace.

5. India gets a Constitution (1950)

The Constitution was written by India’s finest minds, led by BR Ambedkar, with the Constituent Assembly sitting for 11 sessions, and 167 days over 2 years and 11 months.

India came into its own as a democratic republic on January 26, 1950 – a day celebrated since as Republic Day. It was the day India adopted its own Constitution, a text 145,000 words long, breathtaking in its intellectual expanse, and its imagination of a diverse and vibrant federal democracy. The Constitution was written by India’s finest minds, led by BR Ambedkar, with the Constituent Assembly sitting for 11 sessions, and 167 days over 2 years and 11 months.

The Constitution set the framework for India’s politics, adopting Universal Adult Franchise – the inalienable right of all citizens to vote and to participate in India’s democratic process. It also defined the relationship between the executive, legislature and the judiciary and gave to India a set of fundamental rights . The Preamble to the Constitution laid bare what India held dearest – that it was a sovereign, secular, democratic republic that believed in liberty of expression, belief, faith and worship, equality of status and opportunity.

6. Ever Onward with the first Asian Games (1951)

11 countries and total of 489 athletes in eight sports competed in the first ever Asian Games in 1951

The first ever Asian Games in 1951 were more than just independent India’s first time hosting an international event. It was a metaphor for India’s arrival in the world arena, and its ability to overcome every obstacle in front of it. 11 countries and total of 489 athletes in eight sports competed in the Games that began on March 4. For India, the occasion was a statement; that Indiam while a new nation, was the largest democracy in the world, an emerging power-centre in Asia, and a leader in its own right.

India finished second in the medals tally after Japan, with 51 overall, and 15 gold medals. There were sub-plots that have gone down in history, part of Indian sports trivia forever – including how a football team playing barefoot beat the mighty Iran in the final and won gold and glory.

7. The first IIT comes up in Kharagpur (1951)

In July 1951, India set up the first Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Kharagpur, in what was envisaged as a world quality engineering school that would create technicians to, quite literally, build the nation. Today, there are 23 IITs and 20 IIMs (Indian Institutes of Management; the first was set up at Calcutta on November 13, 1961) across the country.

The government of India believed that IIT Kharagpur, and those that were to follow after it, would be the source of skilled manpower and technical expertise in building infrastructure such as dams, power plants and industrial production units. This was a clear move towards modernity and technological self-reliance. Fittingly then, the IIT was set up at the site of the Hijli Detention Camp, where political prisoners had been incarcerated.

8. The Bharatiya Jana Sangh is founded (1951)

One of the parties that contested the first general election was the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, founded in October 1951.

One of the parties that contested the first general election was the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, founded in October 1951. The Sangh was the precursor to the Bharatiya Janata Party, and led by Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, who had served in Nehru’s interim cabinet. It adopted an eight point programme that has remained at the party’s ideological core, including the imagination of an Akhand Bharat, the rejection of ‘appeasement’ towards Pakistan, decentralization of industry, and an independent– as opposed to non-aligned– foreign policy. The party remained a fringe player for the first decade, winning three and four seats in 1952 and 1957. Among those four representatives was a young Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

9. India votes for the first time (1951)

India held the first general elections across the country, an exercise stunning in its scale. Led by India’s first election commissioner Sukumar Sen, the elections, which spanned five months and 68 phases, had to overcome deep logistical challenges. While most states went to the polls in early 1952, Himachal Pradesh had to vote in October 1951, because the far reaches of the Himalayas become inaccessible in the winter. The first vote in independent India was cast in the village of Kalpi by Shyam Sundar Negi. The results underlined the Congress’s early domination of Indian polity . The party won 364 of 489 seats, and 45% of the total votes polled. Jawaharlal Nehru was India’s first undisputed, elected Prime Minister . But even in this sweep, the elections threw up the propensity for upsets; BR Ambedkar was beaten in Bombay North by his former assistant and Congress candidate Sadoba Kairolkar.

By 1962, the Jana Sangh was the principal opposition with 14 seats. It later merged with the Janata Party forming India’s first non-Congress government in 1977. The Janata Party, an amalgamation of socialist and right wing parties that had come together to keep Indira Gandhi out collapsed under its own weight in 1980. That same year, the BJP was born.

10. Pather Panchali is released (1955)

Satyajit Ray’s Pather Panchali

Satyajit Ray’s Pather Panchali made the world stand up and notice Indian cinema. Ray told the story of rural Bengal, of a family grappling with poverty, and orthodoxy. There had been films made about rural India before, but never with such raw minimalism, so raw that the grit and grime was poetry at its finest.

Pather Panchali was also important because it showed an India changing from within, eventually clairvoyant in its understanding of people moving away from the rural space, into urban India, into modernism. One scene, where two children, Apu and Durga, watch a train race through the landscape, bridges the distance between Nischindpur (where the movie is set) and the big city; it remains one of Indian cinema’s most iconic scenes.

Pather Panchali quite literally became the vehicle for the recognition of Indian cinema abroad, and won the award of “Best Human Document” at Cannes. Often making lists across the world as one of the best films ever made, Panchali was restored and re-released at the Museum of Modern Art in 2015, 60 years after its global premiere at the same venue.

11. The States Reorganization Act is passed (1955)

One of a newly-independent India’s biggest challenges was to create a coherent administrative structure. After unifying most of the 571 princely states that existed at the time of independence, the government, in 1948 embarked on an effort to reorganize the country into states on the basis of administrative, geographical and historical considerations . But as India has discovered over its lifetime, language is a powerful part of Indian politics, and after a prolonged agitation, in 1953, the government was forced to separate Andhra Pradesh (from Madras state) for Telugu speakers. In the aftermath, as more such demands rose, the government appointed a commission, which suggested in 1955 that the country be divided into 16 states and three union territories on the basis of language. Eventually, the government moved to create 14 states and 6 Union Territories through the States Reorginisation Act, 1956.

This remains the largest reorganisation of states. Punjab and Haryana were separated on linguistic lines a decade later, but other more recent divisions – such as Uttarakhand from Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand from Bihar, and Chhattisgarh from Madhya Pradesh in the year 2000, have been based on administrative and social considerations rather than linguistic ones.

12. Kerala gets the first elected communist government in the world (1957)

Kerala gets the first elected communist government in the world. The EMS government’s policies such as land reforms and regulation of educational institutions triggered a huge backlash from the propertied classes in the newly formed state

Less than a decade after the Communist Party of India (CPI) adopted the now infamous 1948 Calcutta Thesis of India’s independence being a sham and called for an armed insurrection, the CPI found itself running India’s first non-Congress state government in the state of Kerala. EMS Namboodripad, who was elected the chief minister was a former Congressman .

The government would last only two years, and it would also become the first government dismissed by invoking Article 356. The EMS government’s policies such as land reforms and regulation of educational institutions triggered a huge backlash from the propertied classes in the newly formed state. The protest which is also called the Liberation Struggle in Kerala had myriad sections including the Catholic Syrian Church, Muslim league and the landed castes such as Nairs. These political fault lines continue to matter in the state’s politics till date.

13. The Dalai Lama seeks asylum (1959)

India played a significant role in the conflict and gave refuge to the Dalai Lama who set up a government in exile in Dharamshala

The 1959 crisis in Tibet saw a revolt erupt in Lhasa, its capital, which had been virtually under Chinese control after the Seventeen Point Agreement in 1951. The agreement had done little to quell the demand for autonomy for Tibet, and in protests that turned to clashes in March, the People’s Liberation Army turned aggressive, killing thousands. Even as control of Lhasa was wrested back by the Chinese, the Dalai Lama fled to India.

India played a significant role in the conflict, not only giving refuge to the Dalai Lama who set up a government in exile in Dharamshala where he continues to live, but came to the aid of thousands of Tibetan refugees, resettled across the country, from Himachal Pradesh, to Karnataka, to Madhya Pradesh.

India’s actions cemented its place as an Asian powerhouse that could be a counter-balance to China, and a protector of human rights. The issue of Tibet, and asylum to the Dalai Lama has also continued to be central to a turbulent India-China relationship.

14. ISI is declared an institute of national importance (1960)

In 1931, inside a room of Kolkata’s Presidency College, a group of professors, led by PC Mahalanobis started what they called the Statistical Laboratory, looking to research statistics in a country moving towards freedom. Two years later, they began India’s first statistics journal, Sankhya. Twenty eight years later, ISI was declared an institute of national importance and a deemed university.

ISI was living, breathing evidence of Indian brilliance showcased to the world, in a field essential to a young country. Nobel Prize winning economist Angus Deaton said that NSSO surveys, pioneered by Mahalanobis were the world’s first household surveys to apply the principles of random sampling, methods that are now used across the world. “Most countries, can only envy India in its statistical capacity,” Deaton added.

15. Mughal-e-Azam is released (1960)

Mughal-e-Azam: India’s most epochal historical film took 16 years in the making

India’s most epochal historical film took 16 years in the making – from when director K Asif first read the play Anarkali in 1944 to when he managed to put together the production of Mughal-e-Azam on screen in 1960. These were 16 years of meticulous attention to detail, and with no crimping on costs. He signed the best actors of the day – Prithviraj Kapoor played Emperor Akbar, Dileep Kumar played Shehzada Salim, and Madhubala played Anarkali . He convinced the best singers – for the voice of Sangeeet Samrat Tansen, Asif persuaded the legendary Bade Ghulam Ali Khan to sing for a price then price unheard of for a film song. And he splurged on sets — the Sheesh Mahal for the song Pyar kiya to darna kya was crafted over two years with Belgian glass for ₹15 lakh, more than what an entire Bollywood film cost at the time. Mugah-e-Azam became the ultimate tale of a love – found, lost, and then immortalised. It broke all box office records and is a landmark by which Hindi cinema has since been measured.

16. Milkha Singh flies, but comes fourth (1960)

Milkha Singh won Asian and Commonwealth Games golds, and was unbeaten for nearly two years heading to the 1960 Rome Olympics.

India’s greatest track star witnessed the horrors of Partition first-hand. After his parents were slaughtered in front of him, he escaped his village near Muzaffargarh by hanging on to the undercarriage of a train, and ended up on the Indian side of the border to begin life anew. Joining the Indian Army in 1951 changed his life, propelling him to the racetrack. There, over the next 15 years, he soared in the national imagination, teaching a young country what global fame truly meant as he became the fastest in the world in the 400m. He won Asian and Commonwealth Games golds, and was unbeaten for nearly two years heading to the 1960 Rome Olympics. Then came the moment that truly immortalised him – the odds-on favourite finished fourth despite breaking the existing Olympic record in a race that was inordinately fast, breaking millions of hearts back home. But the loss did not diminish him in any way. Milkha died in 2021 a hero, and when Neeraj Chopra won India’s first-ever athletics medal at the Olympics in Tokyo a few months later, it was no surprise that he dedicated the gold to the “Flying Sikh”.

17. The First Non Aligned Summit is held (1961)

The Cold War divided the world into two blocs. But newly decolonised countries of Asia and Africa, emerging out of centuries of oppression, had little wish to get entangled in a new superpower rivalry. Instead, they wished to exercise their independence with autonomous foreign policy choices, based on issues and principles.

It was this vision that led to the Bandung Conference of Asian and African states in 1955. Subsequently, India’s PM Jawaharlal Nehru, Yugoslavia’s Josip Broz Tito, and Egypt’s Gamal Abdel Nassar conceptualised the idea of a non-aligned movement. And in 1961, the first conference of heads of state or government of non-aligned countries was held in Belgrade.

India remained wedded to the principles of non-alignment during the Cold War, though at different stages, it sought assistance from both the United States (for instance, during the war with China in 1962) and the Soviet Union ( in the run-up to the Bangladesh war in 1971). While the policy did acquire a Soviet tilt, the philosophy underpinning non-alignment, or in its more contemporary avatar, strategic autonomy has remained the bedrock of Indian foreign policy.

18. Goa is finally free, and part of India (1961)

In December 1961, 14 years after independence, Indian patience finally ran out. As a part of Operation Vijay, Indian armed forces launched a land, sea and air attack on Goa. Vastly outnumbered, Portugal’s local authorities surrendered. India liberated Goa, and integrated it with the Union. The war was over in two days, leaving 22 Indians and 30 Portuguese dead.

A decade-and-half later, in 1975, India integrated Sikkim into the Union. The move drew outright Chinese condemnation and sparked criticism of Indian “expansionism”. But New Delhi was operating to secure both its geopolitical and security interests, as well as to back the democratic aspirations of the people of Sikkim. Sixty years after the liberation of Goa, and almost 50 years after Sikkim’s integration, there is today no dispute about Indian sovereignty in these territories.

19. China shocks India (1962)

After the initial years of bonhomie — India was among the first to recognise People’s Republic of China; it strongly advocated for China’s inclusion in the United Nations — India-China ties began to deteriorate by the late 1950s.

China’s annexation of Tibet and the Dalai Lama’s decision to flee to India created an atmosphere of distrust. Chinese maps began showing territory that India considered its own, rejecting the sanctity of the McMahon Line. Border talks weren’t productive and Jawaharlal Nehru’s attempts to persuade the Chinese leadership failed. In 1961, India adopted a Forward Policy, of extending its patrolling and creating armed outposts to prevent China from advancing into territory that India saw as its own.

On October 20, 1962, China invaded India in both the eastern and the western theatre. India wasn’t prepared. After making both territorial gains, and more significantly, sending a message of its military superiority, China declared a unilateral ceasefire the following month. Nehru had clearly mishandled the relationship, and his mistake would continue to haunt India for decades. The war would leave him a broken man, and India with a wound from which it has not yet recovered.

20. Jawaharlal Nehru dies (1964)

On May 27, 1964, Jawaharlal Nehru died. But Nehru had brought back Lal Bahadur Shastri, a low-key Congress stalwart, as minister. Shastri would go on to become India’s next PM.

In May 27, 1964, Jawaharlal Nehru died. For over four decades, he had been a central figure in national politics — so much so that the question of “After Nehru, Who?” had befuddled observers for years preceding his death. The PM had left a clue. When acting under the Kamraj plan or reorganising the government to strengthen the party, senior ministers quit the cabinet. But Nehru had brought back Lal Bahadur Shastri, a low-key Congress stalwart, as minister. Shastri would go on to become India’s next PM.

Jawaharlal Nehru died in 1964, but his legacy remains a contested feature of Indian politoics. Many credit him for his extraordinary leadership in the early years of Indian nation-building, his democratic temperament, his commitment to institution building, and his fearless advocacy of a non-denominational state and Hindu-Muslim friendship. His critics point to his mishandling of Kashmir and China, socialist instincts in economic policymaking, and portray his secularism as out of touch with Indian realities. But irrespective of where one stands, Nehru and his legacy will remain a defining feature of independent India’s journey.

21. The anti-Hindi agitation breaks (1965)

As India’s Constituent Assembly embarked on drafting a new social compact for citizens, it confronted a challenge. On the one hand, it had to grapple with India’s linguistic diversity; on the other, it had to contend with Hindi-language advocates — and they included some of the most prominent freedom fighters from north India — who sought to craft Indian nationalism on the basis of a common Hindi-language based identity. The assembly arrived at a solution by postponing the problem for 15 years. There would be no national language. Hindi would be the official language. But English, too, would be used for official communication.

The decision bought peace, but only temporarily. Through the 1950s, official commissions encouraged the use of Hindi, even as the Dravidian political movement in Tamil Nadu made its opposition to Hindi clear. Matters came to a head in January 1965 as an anti-Hindi agitation swept across Madras. After weeks of violence and repression and killings, PM Lal Bahadur Shastri assured the nation that English would continue to be used for official communication. In 1967, an amendment to the Official Languages Act guaranteed this. But the larger problem continues to simmer.

22. The Second India-Pakistan War (1965)

Deluded about its own military superiority, and persuaded that the people of Kashmir were ready to rebel against India, Pakistan launched Operation Gibraltar in August 1965.

Pakistan decided it was time to foment trouble again. Deluded about its own military superiority, and persuaded that the people of Kashmir were ready to rebel against India, Pakistan launched Operation Gibraltar in August 1965. The plan was simple. Covertly send Pakistani army personnel, commence a guerrilla war, destroy infrastructure, attack Indian presence — and bank on local participation.

The plan failed. Kashmiris did not back Pakistan, India learnt of the infiltration and began its counter-attack, opening up a front in Pakistan’s Punjab, with troops inching towards Lahore. Eventually, a ceasefire was declared in late September. There is widespread consensus in the strategic, academic and military community that India won.

The ceasefire was followed by the Tashkent Declaration, mediated by Soviet Union, that held that both sides would revert to the pre-August positions, PM Lal Bahadur Shastri died soon after signing the pact in January 1966. His death sparked rumors and conspiracy theories. But there is little doubt that despite succeeding a political giant, within a year and a half, with his sober yet strong leadership, most visible during the war, Shastri had made his mark in Indian history.

23. The arrival of Indira Gandhi (1966)

Indira Gandhi, the daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru, defeated Morarji Desai in party elections to succeed Shastri as PM

She had grown up witnessing the triumphs and setbacks during the freedom struggle. When her father was prime minister, she had lived with him and hosted dignitaries. She had, either due to nepotism as critics allege or on her own merit as supporters argue, become a leading politician, assuming the Congress presidency in the late 1950s. And she had served as minister in Shastri’s cabinet.

But when Indira Gandhi, the daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru, defeated Morarji Desai in party elections to succeed Shastri as PM, it marked the arrival of a leader who would, for better or worse, redefine national politics.

Supported by the old guard , who saw her as a potentially pliant figurehead, Gandhi shared power in her initial years with senior colleagues. She faced a major setback in the 1967 elections, when the Congress lost power in some states and saw a reduced majority in the Lok Sabha. But then, she came into her own, assuming complete control, marginalising and ousting those who didn’t fall in line, and steering a new political and policy direction for the party and the country.

24: The Congress starts to weaken (1967)

The Congress’s first flush of electoral victory happened before independence. In 1937, the party contested provincial elections and got a sweeping majority in eight of 11 provinces. This hegemony continued both at the central and state level, through the 1952, 1957 and 1962 elections.

Thirty years after that first bout of electoral success, the Congress faced its first true political setback. In 1962, the party won 361 seats with a 44% vote share in the Lok Sabha. In 1967, it won 283 seats with a 40% vote share. But the real challenge came from the states.

While the Dravida Munnetra Kazgham came to power in Madras, the communists led by EMS Namboodiripad returned to power in Kerala. Bengal saw the formation of a non-Congress government led by a Congress breakaway group, but with substantial Left presence. In UP and Bihar, the opposition, from socialists of various hues to the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, united to oust the Congress. These coalitions often didn’t last, but they made it possible to imagine a political life outside of Congress hegemony.

25. The Green Revolution starts (1967)

The Green Revolution not only made India self-sufficient in food grain but also made it among the largest producers of some key crops in the world.

In the first couple of decades after Independence, India had what is described as a “ship to mouth” existence. Since domestic food grain production was not enough, especially when rains would fail, imports were the only way to feed the population. This had economic, political and strategic costs. It was in this backdrop that India introduced high yielding variety of food grain, beginning with wheat, in regions which had assured irrigation. The Green Revolution not only made India self-sufficient in food grain but also made it among the largest producers of some key crops in the world.

This was not just a technical change in the way farming was practised. It led to the political assertion of the economically influential landed peasantry. While the positive effects of the Green Revolution are undeniable — India has never faced a good crisis since then — it has given rise to sustainability issues, both on the fiscal and environmental fronts.

26. The Naxalbari movement emerges (1967)

A radical armed left wing stream had existed in Indian politics right since Independence. But in a small village on the West Bengal-Nepal border, in Siliguri’s Naxalbari, an armed peasant revolt led by communists against local landlords and state authorities announced the arrival of the Naxal movement. Over the next decade, the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) — which drew its political direction from China’s Communist Party — would, through the use of violence, expand its control and recruit a strange coalition of educated intellectuals and landless peasants in its ranks.

It was eventually suppressed in Bengal, but the movement would take newer political forms. In 2004, the merger of two major extreme left insurgent outfits gave birth to the Communist Party of India (Maoist), with a presence from Andhra Pradesh up to Bihar, with Chhattisgarh as a primary theatre. Seen at one point as India’s biggest internal security threat, the Maoist movement has risen and faded — cynically exploiting deprivation as it continues to challenge Indian democracy and Indian Constitution through armed means.

27. Ravi Shankar wins a Grammy (1968)

Pandit Ravi Shankar won his first Grammy for ‘Best Chamber Music Performance’ for West Meets East, a collaboration with popular violinist Yehudi Menuhin

Sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar, one of the world’s greatest musicians, was also popularly known in the West as a friend of The Beatles, and introduced the world to Indian ragas in the 60s. In 1968, the legendary musician won his first Grammy for ‘Best Chamber Music Performance’ for West Meets East, a collaboration with popular violinist Yehudi Menuhin. Labelled “the godfather of world music” by George Harrison of The Beatles, Shankar helped millions of rock lovers around the world discover the centuries-old traditions of Indian music. At 92, Shankar, in a wheelchair and wearing an oxygen mask, played for a select audience in Long Beach, California on November 4. It was his last concert. He died on December 11 that year.

28. The West Indies couldn’t out Gavaskar (1971)

It was Gavaskar/The real master, Just like a wall/We couldn’t out Gavaskar at all, Not at all/You know the West Indies couldn’t out Gavaskar at all. That Calypso by Lord Relator summed up the impact that Sunil Gavaskar’s entry had. No other player had been able to stand up to the mighty West Indies the way Gavaskar did in 1971 – on his first tour – in which he hammered 774 runs at an astonishing average of 154.8. The crowning moment was his 124 in the first innings and 220 in the second of the final Test at Port of Spain that would ensure India held on to a gritty draw to win the series 1-0. It was a win that would open the floodgates for international victories. Gavaskar went on to become the first batsman to score 10,000 Test runs, and to surpass Don Bradman’s centuries record; and though it took a couple more decades for India to consistently start winning abroad, they knew that the “Little Master” had defined the template.

29. The West Indies couldn’t out Gavaskar at all (1971)

It was Gavaskar/The real master, Just like a wall/We couldn’t out Gavaskar at all, Not at all/You know the West Indies couldn’t out Gavaskar at all.

That Calypso by Lord Relator summed up the impact that Sunil Gavaskar’s entry had. No other player had been able to stand up to the mighty West Indies the way Gavaskar did in 1971 – on his first tour – in which he hammered 774 runs at an astonishing average of 154.8. The crowning moment was his 124 in the first innings and 220 in the second of the final Test at Port of Spain that would ensure India held on to a gritty draw to win the series 1-0. It was a win that would open the floodgates for international victories. Gavaskar went on to become the first batsman to score 10,000 Test runs, and to surpass Don Bradman’s centuries record; and though it took a couple more decades for India to consistently start winning abroad, they knew that the “Little Master” had defined the template.

30. Bangladesh is born (1971)

In December, when Pakistan attacked, India was ready. In a decisive triumph, it forced Pakistan to surrender in less than a fortnight. Bangladesh was born.

Despite having reluctantly agreed to the idea of a Partition in 1947, India had never believed in the two nation theory. And the biggest ideological vindication of India’s position happened when tensions between West Pakistan’s Punjabi dominated, Urdu-speaking militarist regime and the Bengali-speaking East Pakistan intensified. An election in 1970 saw the victory of Mujibur Rahman, an iconic leader from the East, but the West refused to honour the verdict, sparking protests and unrest and demands for a separate nation. The Pakistan Army’s genocidal campaign triggered a massive refugee crisis for India, as people fled across the border.

This was Indira Gandhi’s finest hour, as she mobilised international opinion against Pakistan’s actions. She listened to her military leadership as they prepared. She secured geopolitical insurance in the form a treaty with Soviets. And her intelligence agencies trained and armed East’s Mukti Bahini.

31. The basic structure doctrine is articulated (1973)

Ever since Independence, there had been a recurring tension, expressed in a series of cases, between the legislature and executive’s desire to bring in radical land reforms and the judiciary’s defence of the fundamental right to property. But while land reform legislation was the trigger, there was a broader question at stake — where did the power of the legislature to amend the constitution begin and where did it end?

In the landmark 1973 Keshavanada Bharati versus the State of Kerala case, the Supreme Court articulated its basic structure doctrine. It recognised that the legislature did have the power to amend and that fundamental rights could be bridged — but there could be no amendment, no change, that violated the basic structure of the Indian Constitution both in terms of its principles and structure. The 7:6 judgment of the constitution bench, the largest ever, would significantly affect Indian constitutionalism and politics. It would draw out clear redlines for the legislative and executive branches of government, and set a powerful judicial precedent.

32. The tree-hugging movement begins – in India (1973)

How should policymakers mediate the tension between the aspiration for “development” and the need to preserve the environment? While this is how the famous economy versus ecology debate has continued to be framed, and indeed there are hard choices, it was in a village in what is now Uttarakhand that local communities reframed the debate — for, as the Gandhian activist Sunderlal Bahuguna put it, ecology is the permanent economy.

In Reni, a group of women, led by Gaura Devi, hugged trees to prevent their destruction. Their success sparked an unprecedented non-violent, environment-centred, largely women-led popular movement. The Chipko movement, as it came to be known, challenged the collusion between state authority and private contractors out to destroy forests for commercial gain. It became an inspiration for environmental movements globally. And it highlighted the need to take into account the views of the poor, the tribals, the women, the marginalised, and the local communities when it came to environmental and economic policy.

33. Indian enterprise gets its flagbearer (1973)

The story of Reliance Industries, set up in 1973, is a story of India’s economic transformation and the role of big capital. From polyester to textiles, from petrochemicals to telecom, from retail to renewables, from media to entertainment, India’s corporate giant has made its presence felt in a range of sectors. It has created extraordinary wealth for its founders, but also shareholders; it has witnessed a dramatic family feud. And through it all, it has been driven by the entrepreneurship, ambition and execution abilities of first, the late Dhirubhai Ambani, and then his son, Mukesh Ambani.

Reliance has generated jobs and revenues. It has expanded corporate India’s footprint globally and shown the power of domestic capital. And it has demonstrated the ability to navigate change – whether it be of regimes, policies, or technologies – and turbulence that few other large corporations, in India and elsewhere, have displayed.

34. The angry young man emerges (1973)

Released in 1973, Zanjeer marked the emergence of the angry young-man

Released in 1973, Zanjeer marked the emergence of the angry young-man played by Amitabh Bachhan. Bachhan, then a struggling artist, captured the imagination of the masses who saw in his character, policeman Vijay Khanna, a rebel within the system who evoked respect and loyalty from even outlaws. To be sure, there was more to Zanjeer than just Bachhan’s acting. It was among the first collaborations between the screenwriter duo of Salim-Javed and Bachhan with the former’s stories offering a critical take on the state of society – India was going through an economically difficult time and politics was tumultuous. While the Hindi film industry moved on from this critical, even pro-left rhetoric later, Bachhan would continue to dominate Bollywood for decades, retaining his superstar status till date.

35. Amul is born (1973)

In 1973, co-operatives of dairy farmers in various parts of Gujarat merged to form the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) Ltd.

In 1973, co-operatives of dairy farmers in various parts of Gujarat merged to form the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) Ltd. The oldest of these, Anand Milk Union Limited (AMUL) had been formed in 1946 when dairy farmers decided to supply milk to Bombay directly rather than sell it to a that the farmers believed did not pay a fair price. The formation of GCMMF, which decided to use the Amul brand, would change the dairy landscape in India and trigger what is now known as the white revolution, kickstarting a virtuous cycle of rise in milk availability and enhanced incomes for dairy farmers. While the dairy co-operative movement in Gujarat had a political history including the participation of leaders such as Vallabhbhai Patel and Morarji Desai, the success of the GCMMF and subsequently the National Dairy Development Board was not just political – the innovation of making skimmed milk powder from buffalo milk was a key factor.

36. India goes nuclear: Pokhran 1 and 2 (1974)

Under Atal Bihari Vajpayee, India, in 1998, conducted a set of nuclear tests

India did not like nuclear weapons. It did not want nuclear weapons. But it also recognised, from the time of Jawaharlal Nehru, that it needed to keep the nuclear option open, for both civilian and peaceful purposes and its national security. The fact that within a decade, India had to fight three wars – 1962, 1965, and 1971 — in which it was essentially alone, and that China had, by then, established its nuclear status made it clear to policymakers that India couldn’t be left behind.

And so it was in 1974 that Indira Gandhi decided to authorise a “peaceful nuclear explosion”, a euphemism that still draws smiles, in Pokhran. The nuclear-haves, who wanted to keep it a closed club, weren’t pleased. Over the next two decades, China helped Pakistan build its nuclear capabilities. And eventually, under Atal Bihari Vajpayee, India, in 1998, conducted a set of nuclear tests in the same location. The world reacted sharply, India faced sanctions. But eventually, India’s nuclear capabilities have proven to be a critical deterrent in a tough neighbourhood. The civil nuclear deal with the United States eventually integrated India in the global nuclear order, not fully and formally but substantially.

37. JP launches total revolution (1974)

Jayprakash Narayan had pretty much retired from active politics when a bunch of protesting students asked him to take charge of their agitation against the Congress in 1974. When JP, as he is popularly known, agreed with much reluctance to this request, even he could not have imagined the consequences. The struggle, which began with a demand to dissolve the Bihar assembly gathered unprecedented momentum and popular imagination after the Congress government unleashed police repression including firing on protestors. In months, the movied grew in size and scope, acquiring enough momentum for JP to call for nothing short of a Sampoorn Kranti or Total Revolution in the country from a massive rally in Gandhi Miadan of Patna on June 5, 1974. The chain of events which JP set in motion through his clarion call would lead to the imposition of Emergency in India and, two years later, the election of first non-Congress government at the centre.

38. India reaches for the stars (1973)

Named after the ancient Indian astronomer, Aryabhata, weighed 360 kg and was completely designed and developed in India as an experimental satellite

Almost four years after India set up the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), it put its first satellite in space on April 19, 1975. Named after the ancient Indian astronomer, Aryabhata, weighed 360 kg and was completely designed and developed in India as an experimental satellite. To be sure, India acquired satellite launch capabilities much later and the Aryabhata’s journey into space came on the back of a treaty, the Soviet Interkosmos programme with the erstwhile Soviet Union. It was launched by a Soviet Kosmos-3M rocket from Kapustin Yar. According to ISRO, Aryabhata’s nominal mission life was six months and the spacecraft mainframe was active till March,1981. India would go on to acquire significant space technology capabilities and is now a major global player in building and launching satellites.

39. Indian democracy’s darkest moment (1975)

On June 25, 1975, India began the darkest political chapter in its postindependence history when Prime Minister Indira Gandhi imposed internal emergency in the country. The decision led to suspension of civic rights, repression of the political opposition and imprisonment of a larger of political activists. The prelude to the emergency was a growing political crisis for the Prime Minister and her party, with the Allahabad High Court’s decision to declare her election invalid being the proverbial last straw. Barring a few small parties, almost the entire political spectrum from the right to the left opposed the emergency. The imposition of the emergency only catalysed the growing consensus among political parties to join ranks against the Congress even at the cost of setting aside ideological differences. The anti-emergency movement would also give birth to an entire generation of political leaders belonging to the anti-Congress spectrum.

40. Sholay releases on Independence Day (1975)

Released on 15 August 1975, Sholay is one of the Indian film industry’s biggest ever hits, 

Released on 15 August 1975, Sholay is one of the Indian film industry’s biggest ever hits, both in terms of the amount of money it made at the box-office and its cultural impact. From underlining Amitabh Bachhan’s superstar status to giving Bollywood its first celebrity villain in Gabbar Singh, Sholay did many things for the world of films. Its import, however, went beyond the realm of cinema.

Sholay was perhaps the first popular portrayal of extra-state actors (a retired police officer along with two petty criminals) stepping in to do a job (catching a dacoit) which the state could not finish effectively. In their 1992 book Sholay: A Cultural Reading Wimal Dissanayake and Malti Sahai described the contract between Thakur (Sanjeev Kumar) and Jai and Viru (Amitabh Bachhan and Dharmendra) as the first portrayal of capitalist individuality (rootless and traditionless Jai and Viru being hired to kill) in a popular film in India.

41. The retrograde 42nd amendment is passed (1976)

The 42nd constitutional amendment is perhaps the best example of retrograde legislation being pushed under the guise of progressive rhetoric. This amendment was passed by parliament on November 11, 1976, during the emergency. Almost all the changes the 42nd amendment introduced to the constitution were aimed at tilting the balance of power towards the executive at the level of the centre, both vis-à-vis the judiciary and the state governments. This included annulling the spirit of the Kesavananda Bharti judgment which said that the parliament could not make changes to the basic structure of the constitution and shifting powers from the states to the centre. These changes were camouflaged with the progressive distraction of adding secular and socialist to the preamble of the constitution.

The 42nd amendment led to a huge political backlash and restoring constitutional status quo ante was a major plank of the Janata Party in the 1977 elections. While some of the changes were revoked through the 43rd and 44th amendment, lack of numbers for the Janata government in the Rajya Sabha meant that the 42nd amendment was not revoked in toto.

42. India gets its first non-Congress government (1977)

When Morarji Desai took the office of the prime minister on March 24, 1977, he became the first non-Congress politician to occupy the pos

When Morarji Desai took the office of the prime minister on March 24, 1977, he became the first non-Congress politician to occupy the post. Desai’s victory came in an election where the opposition fought the election on the plank of protecting democracy itself, as the country was still under emergency and many opposition leaders, still in jail. The drubbing the Congress received in the 1977 elections – its vote share fell by 9.2 percentage points and it won 198 fewer seats than in 1971 – is perhaps the biggest message the Indian people have ever delivered to a government. 1977 also heralded the era of coalition politics and the associated instabilities it brought to India’s national politics. The Janata Party which was the product of a hastily brought together coalition of ideologically diverse conglomerations collapsed within its own contradictions by 1980 and the Congress came back to power .

43. Prakash Padukone wins the All-England championship (1980)

Prakash Padukone was not the first Indian badminton player to make a mark on the international stage, but when he won the prestigious All England Open Badminton Championships, it marked the coming of age of the sport in the country. At 24, Padukone was hardly the favourite going into the iconic tournament, having been knocked out at the quarter final stage in a previous edition. But with a win over Indonesia’s Liem Swie King in 1980 at the Wembley Stadium, he heralded a new era not only for badminton but also for non-cricket sport in India. The All England was among the tournaments with the highest prize money at the time; it was also unofficially the world championship and the most exalted tournament in badminton. P Gopichand, one of those who benefited from what Padukonme did for the sport in India, won it in 2001.

44. Sanjay Gandhi dies in an air crash (1980)

As far as counterfactuals go, one of the most interesting ones in India’s post-independence political history would be what if Sanjay Gandhi had not died in a plane crash on June 23,1980. Of Indira Gandhi’s two sons, it was Sanjay Gandhi who was the willing politician and had emerged India’s second most important centre of political power.. Indeed, some accounts suggest that at times Sanjay’s will prevailed over that of his mother’s. It was under Sajnay Gandhi’s leadership that the Youth Congress came into shape and brought to fore some of the darkest and authoritarian tendencies in a party that once fought for India’s independence.

45. Asiad, and in colour (1982)

The 1982 Asian Games was a big deal. Not only was the sports extravaganza coming back to India after three decades, it was also a chance for the newly returned-to-power Indira Gandhi to showcase her government’s prowess.

China emerged the continent’s major sporting power – it overtook Japan for the first time– while India finished fifth; Delhi got a much-needed facelift; but the games also saw the introduction of another far more transformative element into the Indian life: the colour television. In the build-up to the Games, it was decided to introduce colour television and Doordarshan was given 18 months ​​to shift to colour technology. Expert commentators were invited from Europe for live sports coverage training. When the opening ceremony was beamed in colour into thousands of homes, it started a craze. More than 50,000 colour television sets were imported at first and the numbers rose to 100,000 within the year.

46. India win the cricket world cup (1983)

India’s historic World Cup win: Kapil Dev produced what is still for many the best ODI innings of all time,

Post-independence, it was clear that India had fallen in love with cricket, but cricket had not yet fallen in love with India. It was India’s favourite game, and had produced some of the country’s biggest sporting icons; but as a team, India had achieved little. Then came 1983. It was a World Cup that India was not meant to win.

India was in the same group as the West Indies and Australia, and emerged out of it. At one point, versus Zimbabwe, India were 17-4, and Kapil Dev produced what is still for many the best ODI innings of all time, bazballing when ‘Bazball’ wasn’t even a thing. Then came the final at Lords, the mecca of cricket.

As the world said surely not, India walked out to face a West Indies. India batted first and scored only 183. Surely not. But as Kapil Dev ran backwards to catch and dismiss Vivian Richards, India began to believe.

A beaming Kapil Dev held the Prudential Cup aloft on the Lords balcony, inspiring a generation of excellence that has followed for the four decades after.

47. Everyman’s wheels, the Maruti 800 is launched (1983)

With the launch of Maruti 800 also began the saga of the Indian automobile industry

When Maruti Suzuki stopped the production of Maruti 800 in January 2014, a Mint story described it as a small car with a big heart. Launched in 1983 — Prime Minister Indira Gandhi handed over the keys of the first car to Harpal Singh on December 14, 1983 — the Maruti 800 was not just a car for India. It was the biggest success story of both Indian consumerism and manufacturing. Priced at ₹50,000 at the time of its launch, the Maruti 800 aspired to become the first car for the common man. A couple of decades later, car sales — Maruti Suzuki continues to be the largest player in the market — would indeed become a popular metric of consumer demand. With the launch of Maruti 800 also began the saga of the Indian automobile industry, one of few manufacturing success stories in India. Around 2.7 million units of the car were sold until 8 January 2014 when the last Maruti 800s rolled off the production line at the company’s Gurgaon factory.

48. An Indian goes where no Indian had gone before (1984)

Rakesh Sharma

“Upar se bharat kaise dikhta hai apko (how does India look like from the space)”, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi asked Squadron Leader Rakesh Sharma on April 3, 1984, who was and continues to the only Indian citizen to have travelled to space. Pat came the Sharma’s reply, “Sare Jahan se Achha (best in the world)”. While India has made big strides in the field of space and rocket technology — it has cutting age capabilities in both satellite and missile technology — the pursuit of the cherished goal of pulling off a manned mission to space continues. Sharma went to space in as part of a Soviet mission, the same collaboration which helped India launch its first satellite a decade previously. The current government has set the deadline of 2023 for Mission Gaganyan, which will be India’s first manned mission into space.

49. India gets its first soap, Hum Log (1983)

Hum Log explored themes of social distress, alcoholism, dowry and gender discrimination

​The story of an Indian family and their daily struggles sounds almost soporific by today’s standards. Yet, when Hum Log started airing in 1984, it was like nothing the country had ever seen before. Colour televisions had entered Indian homes two years before, and twice a week at 9pm, entire families across India sat down in front of their television sets to watch the gently-paced trials and tribulations of alcoholic Basesar Ram, a stoic Lajwanti, frustrated Lalloo, his sisters Badki, Manjhli and Chutki, and the aspiring cricketer Nanhe. For a country yearning to break out of the yoke of slow economic growth, their stories encapsulated the struggles of balancing traditions with modernity and ambition with responsibilities. The show explored themes of social distress, alcoholism, dowry and gender discrimination, creating, for the first time, the concept of appointment viewing. The narrator, actor Ashok Kumar later said that he received almost 400,000 letters from young people across the country, some almost a decade after the show stopped airing.

50. Usha soars (1984)

PT Usha

hundredth of a second. In the summer of 1984, that’s all that stood between Pilavullakandi Thekkeraparambil Usha and history. Arguably India’s greatest woman athlete, Usha may have missed a podium finish in the 400m hurdles at the Los Angeles Olympics but her string of successes – multiple gold medals at Asian Championships and Asian Games – inspired a generation of women athletes and democratised track and field disciplines, especially for those who came from as humble a background as she did. Not since the days of Milkha Singh had India boasted of a truly world-class track-and-field athlete – and Payyoli Express, as she came to be known as, left behind an unmatched legacy of international medals and helped the entry of many women into sports while helping popularise women’s track-and-field events . She is now a nominated member of Parliament.

51. Indira Gandhi is assassinated (1984)

On October 31, 1984 Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was shot dead by her two Sikh body guards. The killing, apart from sending shock waves across the country, also triggered one of India’s worst communal riots where Sikhs were targeted in multiple cities including the national capital. It also catapulted Rajiv Gandhi, a completely inexperienced politician to the prime minister’s post. Rajiv Gandhi’s tacit endorsement of the anti-Sikh riots best seen in the infamous comment “when a big tree falls, the earth shakes” continues to haunt the Congress party till date. Gandhi’s killing was a retaliation to her decision to order Operation Blue Star, a full scale attack by the Indian army on the Golden Temple, the holiest religious site for Sikhs, but which had been taken over by Khalistani militants.

On the night of December 2, 1984 India experienced its worst ever industrial accident; thousands of people perished after inhaling toxic methyl isocyanate gas from the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal. The damage of the gas leak went much beyond the death numbers with the after effects leading to more deaths and serious illnesses over the years. If the human cost was not enough, the Bhopal accident also exposed India’s lack of institutional preparedness to fix liability in the aftermath of the disaster. Apart from a token conviction of a handful of Indian employees of Union Carbide India Limited, nobody was ever punished for the accident, despite reports that proved gross negligence by the company. Even in terms of monetary compensation, the government got far less than the $3.3 billion it originally demanded from Union Carbide.

53. One step forward, two steps back with Shah Bano (1985)

The Shah Bano verdict is a legal milestone. It trumpeted rights of Muslim women over personal laws. After she was divorced, Bano, 62, sought maintenance for herself and her children under the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) though Muslim personal law obligates maintenance only till the “iddat” period (usually three months) after divorce. In 1985, the Supreme Court ruled that a Muslim woman was entitled to receive alimony under CrPC.

But the criticism of the verdict by several Muslim community leaders prompted the then Rajiv Gandhi government to enact the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act in 1986 to negate the ruling. This, in turn, then led to Rajiv Gandhi endorsing the reopening of a disputed area of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya as a response to criticism by Hindus that he was pandering to the Muslims, sparking a different chain of events.

But though the law was changed, the philosophy laid down in the verdict lived on, and was enforced three decades later in 2017 when the Supreme Court struck down instant triple talaq as being unconstitutional.

54. The Assam Accord is signed (1985)

The Assam Accord, a memorandum of settlement signed in 1985 between the Indian government and leaders of the anti-foreigners Assam Movement, was aimed at settling an agitation launched by the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) six years earlier. The bone of contention was alleged illegal migration from Bangladesh, particularly after its war of independence in 1971, that AASU said threated the political, economic, and cultural rights of the indigenous population . The agreement promised to recognise all migrants who entered Assam before January 1, 1966; revise the electoral database on that same date; and identify and deport all those who entered after March 25, 1971. To this end, it amended the Citizenship Act in 1986; said it would erect walls and barbed wire fencing at “appropriate places” along the India-Bangladesh border; and deploy security patrols at land and river routes. The issue, however, continues to roil Assam because of improper implementation of the promises, and difficulties in identifying illegal immigrants. A new amendment to the Citizenship Act in 2019 and the delay in implementing the National Register of Citizens (NRC) highlight the complexity that still surrounds the Assam problem.

55. A (big) smoking gun (1986)

The Bofors scandal was the first instance of big-ticket corruption causing a regime change in India . The object in question was a 155mm field howitzer gun that Swedish firm Bofors AB was supplying to the Indian military. The allegation was that there were kickbacks received by government officials in both countries. In 1988, when the story first broke on Swedish radio, the political situation in India was already uncertain. The Shah Bano case had frayed the social fabric, and caste and religious politics were at the cusp of being unfurled. In the middle of this turmoil, alleged kickbacks in the ₹1,450 crore Bofors deal dominated front-page news – with investigative reporter Chitra Subramaniam becoming a household name — as Opposition forces and Congress rebels united to brand the Rajiv Gandhi government corrupt. The Bofors scandal was the last straw that broke the back of the Congress government and ensured a victory for the National Front led by former defence minister VP Singh in 1989. Nothing eventually came of the Bofors case in Indian courts, and despite the controversy, the gun itself has proved its worth.

56. A judgement reaffirms the power of the floor-test (1989)

The Supreme Court’s nine-judge Constitution bench ruling in the Bommai case is now a guiding judicial principle on Centre-state relationship and imposition of President’s Rule. SR Bommai’s government in Karnataka was dismissed by the Centre in 1989 using Article 356, without giving him a chance to prove his majority, and President’s Rule was imposed. After Bommai challenged this, the Supreme Court laid down legal principles for the lawful and valid exercise of the power under Article 356, while underscoring the federal structure and the roles of President and governor.

Bommai’s judgment laid down the supremacy of the floor test in determining the support enjoyed by the party in power. It held that Article 356 should be used sparingly, and never for political gain or to get rid of an inconvenient state government, adding its use is amenable to judicial review. It is also open to the court to restore a state government in case it strikes down the proclamation as unconstitutional, the ruling stressed. The Bommai verdict prescribes important constitutional guarantees against the abuse of Article 356. It is now the most quoted verdict in the country’s political history and continues to resonate in contemporary India .

57. Boy wonder Sachin Tendulkar makes his debut (1989)

Sachin Tendulkar made his Test debut in Karachi in 1989

16-year-old boy with curly hair and a disarming smile walked into the Indian cricket team with the weight of the world on his shoulders. By then, every coach in the Mumbai maidans, and every cricket pundit who had watched him play, had predicted that he would be the next big thing in Indian cricket, and perhaps the greatest batsman of all time. Sachin Tendulkar – who made his Test debut in Karachi in 1989 – spent the following 24 years proving the pundits right. He not only became the face of Indian cricket, but also the face of a newly liberalised India through the 1900s and 2000s, a mega brand. Tendulkar ended up with 15,921 runs in 200 Tests and 18,463 runs in 463 one-day internationals. Between the two formats, he scored a 100 international hundreds. No player in the modern game can compete with the sheer weight of these numbers, and with what Tendulkar – now a Bharat Ratna – meant to a nation waiting to exhale.

58. The home minister’s daughter is kidnapped (1989)

Rubaiyya Sayeed, daughter of then home minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, was kidnapped barely half a kilometre from her house in Nowgam

The first seeds of separatist unrest sprouted in the Kashmir valley in the late 1980s. It was sparked by the disputed 1987 elections, precipitated by attacks on officials through 1988, and brought to a head through terror operations by the Jammu & Kashmir Liberation Front in 1989 with Pakistan’s spy agency ISI fishing in troubled waters. On December 8 that year, Rubaiyya Sayeed, daughter of then home minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, was kidnapped barely half a kilometre from her house in Nowgam when the 23-year-old was returning in a mini-bus from a local hospital where she worked. The first ransom call was made to a local newspaper whose editor conveyed the demand — the release of five arrested mujahideen for her safe return — to the Indian government. After intense negotiations, the exchange happened and Rubaiyya was freed, but the episode became a watershed moment in Kashmir insurgency. The militants got emboldened, the Pakistani hand became more conspicuous, and the Kashmiri Pandit exodus began from the Valley just months later. JKLF chief Yasin Malik, now in jail, is still facing charges for his role in the abduction.

59. Mandal redefines Indian politics (1989)

A Janata Dal rally on a Mandal Rath

No single government made a bigger impact on India’s social and political future in so short a time as the VP Singh government did in just 11 months between December 1989 and November 1990 by implementing the Mandal Commission’s recommendations to give 27% reservations in jobs and education for Other Backward Classes. This took total reservation for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and OBCs to 49%. The decision led to turmoil, a massive students’ protest , and debates about the downfall of meritocracy. It led to the rise of caste politics and regional leaders across the heartland — from Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mayawati in Uttar Pradesh to Lalu Yadav and Ram Vilas Paswan in Bihar. It also provided an alternative political narrative to the Hindu majoritarian movement, as pushed by a rising Bharatiya Janata Party, linked to the Babri Masjid-Ram Mandir dispute in Ayodhya. There have been changes, alterations, and setbacks to the OBC reservation movement, including charges that it favoured a small upwardly mobile fraction called the “creamy layer”, but OBC politics is still integral to India three decades later.

60. Rajiv Gandhi is assassinated (1991)

“I am young, I too have a dream.” Those words by Rajiv Gandhi marked India’s largest mandate in 1984, soon after his mother Indira Gandhi’s assassination, and the sudden rise to power of the country’s youngest prime minister at just 40 years of age. Rajiv Gandhi’s tenure was frenetic and politically tumultuous — from the Shah Bano case to the Bofors scandal, from the start of Kashmir insurgency to the Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka. He was defeated in 1989 and, less than two years out of power, was eyeing a big comeback, when a suicide bomber linked to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam ended that dream. LTTE was angry with the IPKF’s role in the Sri Lankan civil war, and chose Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu, as the place to exact revenge in a highly sophisticated plot. It was a moment that changed the course of the Congress party (though it did return to power in 1991, and then again for 10 years from 2004 to 2014) and left behind a key unanswered question — what would Rajiv, now wily and experienced, have been like in his second term?

61. India opens up (1991)

On July 24, 1991, finance minister Manmohan Singh presented a Budget which would change the face of the Indian economy forever. Although not a part of the budget, Singh also tabled a new industrial policy in Parliament which effectively put an end to the licence-quota raj, making private enterprise free to undertake almost any business activity in most parts of the economy.

To be sure, India had already started taking incremental steps towards deregulating its economy much before 1991 and the process of economic reforms continues till date. However, the reason the 1991 Budget is considered to be the most important milestone in India’s liberalisation trajectory is that it signalled the government’s ideological alignment with the wider agenda.

While many believe that the 1991 liberalisation was necessitated by a balance of payment crisis — and there is nothing factually wrong with argument — such arguments do not appreciate the importance of a growing consensus within the Indian policymaking establishment to usher in such policy changes.

62. Star TV launches (1991)

Television in the 1980s was appointment viewing. There were weekly music shows, evening Hindi serial, news bulletins, specialised programmes for different groups such as farmers; and on Sundays, cartoons, big-ticket epics and international shows such as Star Trek, and movies.

Into this universe, hastened by the arrival of “cable” in the form of CNN during the first Gulf War in 1990, a window to the universe of satellite TV opened in December 1991. The Star network, run by Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing (Rupert Murdoch acquired a majority in 1992), introduced five channels– Star Plus for international shows, Star Movies for Hollywood cinema, BBC for world news, MTV for international music, and Prime Sports for live global sport. Suddenly, Indians could choose what they wanted to see, switching between genres. And when Zee TV launched the first Indian shows not run by a State-sponsored channel in 1992, the floodgates opened .

News, until then the purview of print largely, moved to TV too. At its peak India had over 1,600 satellite TV channels across multiple languages.

Then streaming changed everything.

63. The Big Bull and a big scam (1992)

Harshad Mehta , the son of a textile worker, dabbled in sales before he found his true calling – at a brokerage in the Bombay stock market. Mehta’s instinct and understanding of the markets helped him garner a massive reputation early, but it was his innate knowledge of loopholes in the financial system and how to utilise them that made him the “Big Bull” of Dalal Street. Through a series of sophisticated methods — corrupt bank officials handing over fake cheques to use as collateral; investing banking funds, parked in his account, in the share market to drive up select stocks; and using fake banking receipts (BRs) to get unsecured loans and play banks against each other — Mehta’s stock exchange scam defrauded investors of around $10 million dollars by the time it was exposed in 1992. Between January and March that year, the BSE Sensex went from 2,000 to 4,000 points , before it came crashing down overnight. The scandal eventuality led to a complete overhaul of the Indian markets, new oversight mechanisms, and the restructuring of financial transaction systems in India.

64. A rape results in some reforms (1992)

Bhanwari Devi, a Dalit woman, was gang-raped on September 22, 1992 as revenge for stopping the wedding of a nine-month-old Gujjar girl. Bhanwari was employed by the state government as a “saathin” (friend), and her work included speaking about societal ills such as female foeticide, dowry, and child marriage. Her rapists were allegedly all Gujjars, far above her in the social hierarchy. Three years later, all the accused were acquitted by a trial court.

But the incident, and the police and judicial response to it, sparked a fire that stirred and shaped the women’s movement in India. A petition by social organisation Vishaka and others, contended that Bhanwari Devi was attacked at her workplace, and urged the Supreme Court for the protection of working women. A bench of then chief justice JS Verma, and justices Sujata Manohar and BN Kirpal, in 1997 held that the “right to work with human dignity and the safeguards against sexual harassment” are implicit in the Indian Constitution. It went on to frame the Vishaka Guidelines, detailing the ambit of sexual harassment in the workplace and calling for a time-bound compliance mechanism for complaints that is now mandatory in all Indian workplaces.

65. The Babri Masjid falls (1992)

The mosque was brought down in hours, ostensibly in a spontaneous act.

The centuries-old Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute, over the birthplace of Lord Ram in Ayodhya, got new wings in 1986. A district court ruled that the gates of a disputed area in the mosque would be reopened for Hindus to pray. The decision was endorsed by Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, aiming to offset the criticism he faced over the Shah Bano case. In 1990, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which aimed to make the issue its political mainstay, launched a massive Rath Yatra to Ayodhya under the leadership of LK Advani. And finally, on December 6, 1992, when a symbolic “kar seva” was to be performed in Ayodhya, a massive crowd overwhelmed the police, dashed to the structure, and attacked it. The mosque was brought down in hours, ostensibly in a spontaneous act. The episode sparked riots across the country but also cemented the BJP’s place as a Hindutva force, though its leaders claimed the act itself was not pre-planned. In 2019, even when the Supreme Court eventually allowed the construction of a Ram Mandir on the site, it held that the demolition was a criminal act.

66. Infosys IPO heralds the equity culture (1993)

In February 1993, a little-known tech company from Bangalore announced its initial public offering. The IPO was met with only mild interest, and there were fears that it would be heavily undersubscribed. Though Enam, the merchant banker and underwriters to the offer, picked up the unsubscribed portion as was the norm at that time, the stock was not expected to make the splash it did when it was listed – shares jumped from the issue price of ₹95 to a massive premium of ₹145 on the opening day of trading. The rest, as they say, is Dalal Street folklore.

Infosys – founded by NR Narayan Murthy and seven other engineers including future CEOs of the company Nandan Nilekani and S Gopalakrishnan – played a big role in creating the equity culture in India. And Infosys stock has also been responsible for making the IT sector one of the bell-weathers of the Indian markets. In 1999, it was only fitting when it became the first Indian tech company to be listed on Nasdaq.

67. Bombay witnesses bomb blasts, but they also take down the underworld (1993)

After the Babri Masjid demolition in December 1992, communal riots broke out across the country, and some of the worst were witnessed in Bombay. In the middle of this unrest, on March 12, 1993, 12 coordinated blasts reverberated across key locations. A total of 257 people were killed and over 1,400 were injured as India’s financial capital reeled from the attack masterminded by underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, and carried out by his lieutenants Tiger and Yakub Memon. The Bombay underworld had, for the first time, got involved in national politics.

But that moment — in which Dawood’s D-company flexed its muscles to macabre and horrific effect — also led to the eventual dismantling of the underworld. Ibrahim’s right-hand man, Chhota Rajan, split from the organisation and took most of the leadership-level Hindu aides with him. It sparked a gang war that consumed both groups, and, amid a strong police crackdown, diminished the power of the Mumbai’s bhai culture. Though Yakub Memon was sentenced to death in 2007 and executed in 2015, Ibrahim and Tiger Memon are yet to be arrested for the attacks.

68. Mayawati becomes India’s first Dalit CM (1995)

Mayawati

The Dalit politcal revolution may have begun with the ascendance of BR Ambedkar and later Jagjivan Ram, and gathered momentum with Kanshi Ram’s launch of the Bahujan Samaj Party, but it reached its high point on June 3, 1995 when Mayawati took oath as the first Dalit chief minister of India’s largest province, Uttar Pradesh and the first Dalit woman chief minister of the country. Behind her elevation lay the painstaking work of creating a constituency of lower caste and scheduled caste voters, stitched together by Ram’s groundwork. At a time when Dalits were often prevented from voting, not allowed to draw water from public wells, and often segregated in schools and other public spaces, Mayawati offered a powerful counter-narrative of hope and assertion, one that helped the BSP cement its status as the foremost representative of the oppressed community. The former school teacher-turned-politician went on to become chief minister another three times, and though in the last decade, her political fortunes have waned, the hope of equal representation she embodied remains a bright spot for Indian democracy.

69. Internet on Independence Day (1995)

It may not have been obvious at the time but the months of July and August were watershed moments in India’s history. First, in July, then Union communications minister Sukh Ram, placed a call to West Bengal chief minister Jyoti Basu from Sanchar Bhavan in Delhi to Writers Building in erstwhile Calcutta, marking the first mobile phone call in the country. Then, on August 15, Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited launched the nation’s first publicly available internet service. The two revolutions – mobile phone and internet– worked in tandem over the following two decades as India made the leap from un connected to wireless. In 1995, VSNL had a monopoly on the internet and only allowed a speed of 9.6 kb/s, and ₹5,000 for 250 hours of use. Today bandwidth costs in India are among the lowest in the world, and mobile phones equipped with cheap internet are catalysing a revolution in e-commerce, fintech, entertainment and education.

70. DDLJ (1995)

A still from the film Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jaayenge

The heroine running through fields of mustard, the hero with his outstretched arms, the romantic song-and-dance sequence in a foreign location, the tussle between the pulls of the hearts and the confines of family. If these are Bollywood tropes that sound common, credit one iconic film for it – Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge. When it was released in 1995, a new generation in India was emerging out of the churn of liberalisation. Incomes were rising, foreign products – hitherto made scarce by licence raj – were streaming into India, and it had just become possible for the middle class to also be upwardly mobile. DDLJ channeled the aspirations of this generation into the NRI love story that not only gave the country its most successful Bollywood franchise at the time, but also created a new genre of movies that lasted 20 years. In Raj (Shah Rukh Khan) and Simran (Kajol), the country got a heartthrob on-screen couple and the movie marked the rise of an era where the three Khans – Shah Rukh, Salman and Aamir – would dominate not only the box office but popular imagination and national conversation.

71. The BJP’s first government (1996)

It was a government known more for the dramatic way in which it collapsed than its formation or governance. Yet, the 13-day government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee marked a pivotal turn in Indian politics and the end of the political isolation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) by elevating arguably the tallest Opposition leader in Parliament to the prime minister’s position. After the 1996 election, the BJP emerged as the single-largest party in Parliament for the first time, leaving a weakened Congress far behind. But when asked by President Shankar Dayal Sharma to form the government, Vajpayee found the party’s image tough to shake off and didn’t manage to win over even a single legislator from other parties. But his emotional resignation speech struck a chord with many ordinary people and only elevated his legacy as a statesman. He would go on to become prime minister twice again, definitively bringing the curtain down on an era where the BJP’s Hindu nationalist moorings were seen as a hindrance, and laid the groundwork for the party’s unprecedented dominance two decades later.

72. Arundhati Roy wins the Booker (1997)

God of small things: A precocious debut novel by Arundhati Roy, the book broke barriers of language, form and content 

When the God of Small Things released in 1997, it was unlike anything that had come before. A precocious debut novel by Arundhati Roy, the book broke barriers of language, form and content as it told the story of Estha and Rahel and Ammu in a small Kerala village. Touching upon the post-colonial realities of India, the shackles of caste, forbidden relationships and the exploration of complex human emotions, the God of Small Things not only unexpectedly won the Booker that year but also became the watershed moment for a new generation of Indian writers in English. As this relatively new genre flourished, winning India more Bookers and other literary accomplishments, Roy’s stature and the book’s mystique only grew. Roy didn’t produce another novel for 20 years but her stature as the flagbearer of a new generation of Indian writers remains safe.

73. Amartya Sen wins the Nobel (1998)

When Amartya Sen won the Nobel Prize in 1998, it became a landmark moment.

He was already among the most respected economists in the world, but when Amartya Sen won the Nobel Prize in 1998, it became a landmark moment. Born into a distinguished Bengali family in Santiniketan, Sen was the proponent of transformative ideas in welfare economics and the study of poverty whose 1970 book Collective Choices and Social Welfare arguably made him the father of modern social choice theory. In addition to his transformative ideas about welfare economies and the cause of famines (and what governments can do to prevent it), Sen also wrote about gender and other social problems, including female mortality rates and the case of “missing women”. His stellar academic career – it saw him become the first Asian master of an Oxbridge college and a distinguished professor at Harvard University – also saw a robust exchange of ideas and philosophies with another giant of Indian economics, Jagdish Bhagwati. Sen’s profound impact on how human development and productivity is measured led to the creation of the human development index and his sharp interventions in Indian politics, society and national conversation continue to be unparalleled.

74. The Kargil War (1999)

Kargil war: In the end, India emerged victorious, stamping its military superiority in the region while Pakistan lost face both domestically and internationally. 

On May 3, 1999, local shepherds in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kargil region spotted something unusual: The intrusion of men speaking an unfamiliar tongue, seemingly from across the border. They reported it to the army, which sent out a patrol team – but the men were captured and killed. By the end of the week, it was clear that this was no ordinary incursion across the Line of Control by isolated militants but a large-scale intrusion by Pakistani army backed forces. In a fierce offensive over the course of the next two months, the Indian military flushed clean strategic heights and key sectors – the first time the two nuclear-armed neighbours had engaged in military conflict since the 1971 war of independence of Bangladesh. In the end, India emerged victorious, stamping its military superiority in the region while Pakistan lost face both domestically and internationally. The episode, which was the first war broadcast on live television, also underlined the political chaos and rivalry between Islamabad and Rawalpindi, and dealt a body blow to the fledgling peace process.

75. IC814 hijack (1999)

Indian Airlines flight 814 with 180 people on board was hijacked by a group of men in ski masks, later linked to al Qaeda

Shortly after it took off from Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International Airport onChristmas eve 1999, Indian Airlines flight 814 with 180 people on board was hijacked by a group of men in ski masks, later linked to al Qaeda. Over the next five hours, the flight attempted to land in several airports for refuelling, including an aborted attempt in Amritsar and a successful one in Lahore, and finally reached Kandahar. With public sentiment strongly in favour of rescuing the passengers, New Delhi agreed to release three notorious terrorists – including Jaish-e-Mohammed founder Maulana Massod Azhar – after nearly a week of negotiations. The incident underlined the unreliability of the Taliban regime, which was in control of Afghanistan and appeared to have done everything in its power to help the hijackers, including deploying armed soldiers on the tarmac to prevent a covert operation. The episode led to an overhaul of India’s security procedures and brought home the horrors of modern-day terrorism – although the world would only wake up to these later.

76. Tata buys Tetley (2000)

The audacious acquisition of the iconic British tea brand, Tetley, by a relatively minor player in the global industry, Tata Tea, for 271 million pounds (almost four times the then net worth of the Tata subsidiary) made global headlines in 2000. Not only was it among the first such moves by an Indian conglomerate, it also underlined that Indian companies were not afraid to shake up global markets. Though there were several teething troubles, including issues of cultural integration, the merger helped Tata become a global player in the business. Soon, other Indian firms were making increasingly daring moves in the global M&A firmament. The Tata group led many of these initiatives, such as the 2008 acquisition of the iconic car brand Jaguar. As the Indian economy grew rapidly in the 2000s, so did the appetite of Indian firms.

77. The rest begins with Clinton’s India visit (2000)

Clinton fever. Chelsea mania. These were some of the colourful descriptions used in the press to describe then United States President Bill Clinton’s historic visit to India in the spring of 2000, ending a half-a-century drought of official visits by US heads of state to New Delhi. Wherever Clinton went, he was treated like a rockstar. He received a standing ovation in Parliament and warm receptions in Delhi, Hyderabad, Jaipur and Mumbai, in the process resetting ties and setting the groundwork for a close strategic bilateral relationship that has not only survived severe geopolitical challenges over the next two decades but also thrived and expanded. Clinton reversed years of American ambivalence towards India and then hostility after the 1998 Pokhran nuclear bomb detonation; and with PM Vajpayee’s state visit the following year, a new chapter in the bilateral relationship began.

78. The Match fixing scandal (2000)

In the summer of 2000, a series of exposes by the police in various countries and subsequent explosive admissions by senior cricketers left the reputation of the sport in tatters

It was a 3am call that changed the course of world cricket. What was going through the mind of former South Africa skipper Hansie Cronje when he called Ali Bacher in the middle of the night to confess his role in a betting racket? Did he know that many of his illustrious peers would be caught with incriminating evidence over the following few months, shaking the sport and its connection of trust and honour with its audience? In the summer of 2000, a series of exposes by the police in various countries and subsequent explosive admissions by senior cricketers left the reputation of the sport in tatters. India was particularly affected as former skipper Mohammed Azharuddin and all-rounder Ajay Jadeja were among those implicated, though the latter was later cleared by the Delhi high court. Herschelle Gibbs, Nicky Boje and Saleem Malik are among the others implicated. It took a complete overhaul of the Indian team and a sensational run at the 2003 World Cup for the shadow of match fixing to be dispelled.

79. India’s population touches a billion (2000)

At 5.05am on May 11, 2000, India’s billionth baby was born at Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital. India marked the birth of Aastha Arora, the daughter of Anjana and Ashok Arora, with frenzied television coverage and some fears of a burgeoning population, although subsequent decades proved that concerns about an explosion in population were overblown. India’s population levels have since reached replacement or below replacement levels in several states. The landmark of one billion, which placed India behind only China, also underlined the challenges that the country would face in the decades to come — generating meaningful employment for its large pool of working-age people, creating the conditions for their socio-economic growth and expanding government capacity to take advantage of the demographic dividend.

80. The seat of democracy comes under attack (2001)

The spectre of terrorism came disturbingly close to the seat of India’s democracy on December 13 2001 when Parliament was attacked by a group of Jaish-e- Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists. The men drove into the Parliament complex in an unmarked car with official government stickers, evading security. Once they ran into the vehicle of former vice president Krishan Kant, they started shooting. At the time, though both Houses were adjourned, it was believed that about 100 people were still present in the building. All five gunmen were eventually killed, but not before eight security personnel and a gardener also died in the fighting. India blamed Pakistan for orchestrating the attack, which led to a tense standoff between the two countries on the border and in international forums.

81. Gujarat is wracked by riots (2002)

The horrific acts of arson, murder and rape scarred the social fabric of the state, sparked national and international condemnation and allegations of government laxity in the initial hours of the violence. 

The burning of a train compartment at Godhra station on February 27, 2002, the deaths of 58 Kar Sevaks in the fire, and the subsequent anti-Muslim riots that roiled the state for three days and left 1000 people dead marked the worst bout of communal violence in India in two decades. The horrific acts of arson, murder and rape scarred the social fabric of the state, sparked national and international condemnation and allegations of government laxity in the initial hours of the violence. A judicial commission later concluded that the fire on the Sabarmati Express was an act of arson and investigation into the subsequent violence monitored by the Supreme Court booked several people, including some senior BJP politicians for mass violence at places such as Naroda Patiya and Gulbarg Society. Some victims alleged a wider conspiracy but these were later rejected by the apex court.

82. Delhi gets a world-class metro (2002)

When the metro started rolling in the Capital, it brought to Delhi a system of mass transit that was truly world class, safe and punctual.

The Metro may be an ubiquitous form of mass public transport in Indian cities big and small but the transit revolution began with the Delhi Metro that opened in 2002. Yes, there was an earlier metro system, in Kolkata that operated from 1995, but it was not very extensive and didn’t cover large parts of the city. When the metro started rolling in the Capital, it brought to Delhi a system of mass transit that was truly world class, safe and punctual. It changed the way Delhiites travelled to far flung areas in the city that was used to the unreliable services of buses like the Blue Line. It made travel safe for women across the city and in its subsequent expansion, made all parts of the city more accessible to them. Despite continued problems of last mile connectivity and in latter year, higher fares, the metro was so successful that it led to a demand for similar systems in many other Indian cities.

83. The Congress springs a surprise (2004)

When the metro started rolling in the Capital, it brought to Delhi a system of mass transit that was truly world class, safe and punctual.

It was an outcome no one saw coming. The National Democratic Alliance went into the 2004 election on a high, confident of returning to power on the back of its governance record, the popularity of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and economic growth. Yet, when results were announced, it was clear that the Bharatiya Janata party had overestimated its support base and the India Shining slogan had backfired. Instead, a carefully crafted coalition by Congress president Sonia Gandhi did unexpectedly well, and the party itself inched ahead of the BJP and with the help of the Left and smaller parties, cobbled together a coalition.DDDD Singh, who was the architect of liberalisation, inaugurated an era of high growth and stable governance before getting bogged down by corruption scandals.

84. Rights and entitlements in focus with RTI and MGNREGA (2005)

Most developed countries have had a few transformative social schemes that have changed the social and economic course of the country (thin85k the New Deal in the United States). For India, two schemes launched by the United Progressive Alliance government in 2005 had a similar effect. The first, the Mahatma Gandhi National rural employment guarantee scheme, promised 100 days of paid work to one person from every poor family in rural areas, and the second, the Right to Information Act worked on longstanding demands for more government accountability by making it possible for citizens to demand information from bodies and officials. Despite some political opposition, the MGNREGS has only expanded in the last decade and acted as a safety net for families in the pandemic. The RTI had enabled crucial breakthroughs and though it has weakened in recent years, still acts as an important lever for transparency

85. Cricket goes pop with IPL (2007)

In 2007, BCCI  announced the  launch a new cricket league called the Indian Premier League (IPL) based on the still-nascent Twenty20 format. 

With an announcement on September 13, 2007, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) changed the face of cricket and how it is played across its biggest market, India. BCCI announced the launch a new cricket league called the Indian Premier League (IPL) based on the still-nascent Twenty20 format. Never before had the Indian viewer seen a tournament so glitzy, with as many frills and controversies to boot. Based on a city franchisee model, the IPL quickly gained popularity and record numbers of fans and viewers when it began in the summer of 2008 and has retained its undisputed position as the biggest cricket T20 league in the world. Inspired by the formats of the NBA and the English Premier league, IPL was a truly global enterprise that kept gaining strength even though its founder, cricket administrator Lalit Modi, was later were accused of financial misconduct. The league also survived a scandalous spot fixing controversy. Its wild popularity birthed several similar leagues in other countries and it looks set to replace (if it already hasn’t) the 50-over one-day game as the dominant format in which cricket is played.

86. India wins first individual gold at Olympics (2008)

Abhinav Bindra won his gold in the 10m air rifle event

India’s first individual gold at the Olympics came courtesy a young man from Chandigarh who showed the country just what it took to reach the top – determination, hard work, the right training and conditioning, and obsessive focus. If 2021, Tokyo was India’s breakout Olympic Games, then the seeds for that were sown back in 2008, in Beijing, when Abhinav Bindra won his gold in the 10m air rifle event. Bindra had been nudging greatness for some time – he came 11th in Sydney; 7th in Athens; 1st in Beijing; (a disappointing) 16th in London; and then 4th in Rio (his last games). That string of numbers holds in it a message that India is just beginning to understand – the true measure of sporting success for a country is having enough people in the top rung; when that happens, a podium-finish is only a matter of time. And if Bindra’s medal showed Indian sportspeople the limits of the possible, his post-retirement life (including his work on mental illness) has shown them how best to leverage achievement.

87. Terror ravages Mumbai (2008)

In terms of sheer brazenness, the 26/11 attacks by Pakistan-based terror groups on key locations in Mumbai (including a railway station, two luxury hotels, a Jewish centre, and a hospital) ranks up there with 9/11. The attack lasted three days, killed 166 people from 17 countries. It resulted in a review of India’s security architecture, but although the United Progressive Alliance government passed a stringent anti-terror law (UAPA, 2008), and set up a new federal agency, the National Investigation Agency, the attack reinforced perceptions that the dispensation was soft on terror. Worse, despite evidence pointing to the role of Pakistan-based groups, Islamabad declined to act against them (and the people involved) in any meaningful way. Covered 24×7 by live TV, the attacks outraged a nation, and may have well swayed sentiment in favour of the muscular response to terror strikes from across the border that are preferred by the current government.

88. One India; One ID (2009)

Aadhaar didn’t just put in place a highly-efficient technology backbone that could ensure direct delivery of benefits to people (apart from being a fool-proof way of identification using bio-metrics), but also, courtesy the opposition to it from various quarters, helped kickstart the move to protect the privacy and data of individuals, a process that is still on-going. Despite alarmist claims, in almost a decade of existence, there have been no major data breaches, no misuse of biometrics, and no breach of biometric data. The oft-cited JAM trinity – no-frills Jan Dhan bank accounts, Aadhaar, and mobile phones – helped India effectively target deserving (and needy) beneficiaries during the pandemic, and Aadhaar itself is now the pillar of the government’s welfare schemes. The experience gained from Aadhaar has helped the country in a range of areas – from the creation of vaccine platform CoWin to the growth of a thriving fin-tech industry.

89. The movement against corruption (2011)

The second term of the United Progressive Alliance government was characterized by economic headwinds that the government of the day seemed incapable of negotiating and a raft of corruption scandals involving national resources such as spectrum and coal. Leveraging this narrative, an orthodox Gandhian from Maharashtra, and his diverse group of followers – from an ambitious former IPS officer to a civil-servant-turned-activist to a yoga guru to a lawyer who specialized in public interest litigations – launched an India against corruption movement. The Gandhian, Anna Hazare, was the face of the campaign and embarked on an indefinite fast seeking the appointment of an independent anti-corruption ombudsman. The movement caught the imagination of the nation, old political parties hitched their fortunes to the bandwagon (and new ones were birthed from it), and while it may not have succeeded in its original objectives it did pave the way for change – and briefly showcase the limits of the possible for civil society movements

90. The nation weeps for Nirbhaya (2012)

In a country that wasn’t a stranger to sex crimes, the 2012 gangrape and murder of a young physiotherapy student, who was christened Nirbhaya (or fearless) by media, on a bus as it moved through the streets of Delhi on a winter night, outraged public sensibilities, brought people across India, young and old, male and female, onto the streets in a spontaneous movement seeking tighter rape laws and a safer environment for women, and prodded even disbelievers to pray for the recovery of the woman as she battled for her life (first in India, then in Singapore). Laws were amended to accelerate trials and tighten punishment, and treat juvenile offenders accused of heinous crimes be treated as adults, a fund was created to make cities and towns safer for women, and states around the country launched women’s safety helplines – but as Hathras and Unnao and Hyderabad and a countless other recent examples indicate, the battle is far from won.

91. Modi! Modi! Modi! (2014)

It may seem surprising in 2022, but till June 2013, a year before the election that saw his ascent to the top elected post in the country, there was no certainty that Narendra Modi would be the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Prime Ministerial candidate. In June 2013, he was named chairman of the party’s election committee, and in September, its Prime Ministerial candidate – with both decisions being opposed by party veteran L K Advani. A combination of his stature as the tallest Hindu leader in the country, his incorruptible image and track record as the chief minister of Gujarat, and smart social engineering in important Hindi belt states such as Uttar Pradesh worked to Modi’s advantage – as did disaffection with the Congress-led UPA’s mismanagement of the economy and involvement in several corruption scandals. The result: the BJP became the first party to achieve a majority in the Lok Sabha on its own in three decades, and the party would go on to better these numbers in 2019.

92. The activist as politician (2015)

Arvind Kejriwal always had what it took to be a middle-class hero – a degree from an IIT, a job in the civil services, and a reputation for outspokenness and honesty as an activist at the forefront of the movement that made India pass a sunshine right-to-information legislation. His involvement in Anna Hazare’s 2011, India Against Corruption movement then, was no surprise. What was surprising was his emergence, on the other side, as the head of a political formation, the Aam Aadmi Party. Delhi’s unique demography helped the party come to power in 2013 (briefly) and then 2015 (for a full term). The party returned to power in 2020, on the back of a focus on health care and education, and then, in 2022, won Punjab, becoming a rare regional party to govern more than one region. (2015)

93. Money is for nothing (2016)

The problem with bold, but simple ideas to complex problems is that they rarely end up solving the latter – and, in fact, likely end up causing collateral damage. The sudden move by the government to demonetize all high value currency notes on November 8, 2016 – the move was initially touted as a “surgical strike” on black money, that old peeve of all Indians – did not unearth any black money (with almost all the money in the system coming back into banks), and instead caused tremendous pain to poor people, the lower middle class, and small enterprises. It did give India’s digital economy a boost – and the number and volume of UPI transactions have made India an efficient and advanced fin-tech market, something that may have taken longer without demonetization – and that soon became its post-facto raison d’etre.

94. One country, one tax (2017)

India’s federal structure resulted in a complex indirect tax regime, with states levying a range of diverse taxes on goods and services. It was clear that a national-level indirect tax regime, that replaced state taxes, would make it easier to do business – and, if structured well, expand the tax base. The Goods and Services Tax or GST was that reform and it came into effect on July 1, 2017. Its creation required states to give up their rights to tax (everything other than fuel and liquor), although they were promised an assured growth in revenue for five years, with the shortfall being made good by sin taxes. The high rate of guaranteed growth (14%), regional political considerations that kept tax rates down (and required frequent changes), and the intervening pandemic meant that the new tax regime took time to stablise , but the consistency and magnitude of recent GST collections suggests that this has finally happened.

95. The court legalizes consensual gay sex (2018)

A landmark ruling by the Supreme Court declared in September 2018 that it was no longer a crime to be a homosexual in India. On September 6 that year, the Supreme Court partially struck down the 157-year-old British-era law (Section 377 of the penal code) that penalised consensual gay sex between adults, declaring that an individual’s sexual orientation was a matter of privacy and also an essential facet of one’s dignity. The LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer) community possesses the same human, fundamental and constitutional rights as other citizens, the court said. A Constitution Bench led by Chief Justice Dipak Misra said section 377 of the Indian Penal Code was arbitrary and unconstitutional to the extent that it punished consensual intercourse between adults irrespective of their gender identity or sexual orientation. The Supreme Court held that Section 377 infringed upon the fundamental rights of LGBTQ people, who ought to be treated equally before the law, enjoy dignity and freedom of expression and not face discrimination.

96. Another terror strike and a muscular response (2019)

The attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama by a local member of a Pakistan-based terror group, Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) once again highlighted the role of India’s neighbour in fomenting trouble in Kashmir, but it was followed by a daring airstrike by Indian fighter jets at a Jaish training camp in Balakot, with an unspecified number of casualties, indicating India’s new position of responding to terror strikes with “surgical strikes” of its own, taking out terror pods across the life of control or even the international border in Pakistani territory. Pulwana outraged the nation, even as Balakot energized it, with a pilot who shot down a Pakistani F-16, but then crashed in Paksitani territory (he was captured but then released), Ahinandan Varthaman becoming a national hero.

97. Jammu & Kashmir is completely integrated with India (2019)

The abrogation of Article 370, which gives autonomy in certain areas to the Jammu & Kashmir government, and special rights to its citizens has always been on the agenda of the Bharatiya Janata Party, and in 2019, fresh from a big victory in the Lok Sabha elections, the party decided to go ahead with it, citing uniformity, development, and national security as the rationale. The erstwhile state was also reorganized into two Union Territories, although Jammu & Kashmir has been promised that its statehood will be restored after a delimitation exercise and elections (Ladakh will remain a union territory). While the matter has been challenged before the Supreme Court, it is yet to be heard, and given that three years have passed it is unlikely that the clock can be moved back.

98. The Ram temple becomes a reality (2019)

A decades-long legal battle involving the Ramjanmabhoomi and Babri Masjid came to an end on November 9, 2019, with the Supreme Court ruling in favour of the Hindu parties to the case, and ordering the creation of the temple trust to build the temple. The court also ruled that the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992 was in violation of the law and ordered that an alternative 5-acre plot of land be handed over to the UP Sunni Central Waqf Board, one of the Muslim parties fighting the case, to build a mosque. In 2020, a special CBI court acquitted all the accused in the Babri demolition case citing that the evidence was inconclusive. Work on the temple is proceeding apace and the structure is expected to be ready by 2024.

99. China flexes its muscles, but India holds its own (2020)

The fragile peace on the Line of Actual Control between India and China came to an end on 15 June 2020, when Chinese and Indian soldiers clashed in Galwan valley in a bloody (but gun-free) battle that resulted in the death of 20 Indian soldiers and at least four Chinese ones (although the Chinese casualties are believed to be higher). The move highlighted Beijing’s expansionist tendencies, the lack of movement on the long-pending border-definition issue, and resulted in Chinese and Indian soldiers going eyeball to eyeball in the Ladakh sector. While subsequent talks have resulted in some disengagement, these too seem to have reached a stalemate.

100. Neeraj Chopra’s javelin soars (2021)

On August 7, 2021, Neeraj Chopra found a small pocket in the air in the Tokyo sky and pierced it with his javelin. As the projectile soared, so did 101 years of India’s Olympics history with it. It kept travelling, with complete disregard for the burden of the past and the shackles of what is and isn’t possible. And when it landed, it had pushed the margins forever. The distance was 87.58m, and it would change Indian sport forever. It was the first medal by an Indian in track & field at the Olympic Games – not even the hallowed pantheon of Milkha Singh, PT Usha, and Anju Bobby George had managed one – and it was the second individual gold after Abhinav Bindra’s shooting triumph in 2008. Chopra was born in Haryana’s Khandra village in 1997. He was overweight as a child, and sport first became a fitness tool, then an escape, and eventually an obsession with excellence. This July, he followed up the Olympic gold with a silver at the World Championships – also a first for India. By one act of heroism at Tokyo, he has opened the doors to the global stage for Indian athletics, as evidenced by a flurry of medals even in his absence at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.