India @ 68 - A visual chronology of post-Independence India - Part 1
August
15, India completes 67 years of freedom. In this visual chronology of
post-Independence India, we choose the moments that stood out in each
year of the nation’s triumphant, troubled history.
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Watch Narendra Modi’s Speech on Independence Day Live Streaming Online 15th August 2014
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will deliver his first address to the
nation from the ramparts of the historic Red Fort on 68th Independence
Day on Friday. Expectations are high that Modi will make some major
announcements in his maiden address. This will be perhaps the first time
after being sworn in as Prime Minister that Narendra Modi will address
the people directly.
Watch Narendra Modi Prime Minister of India, speech live telecast
from Red fort delhi on TV channels and online live streaming on
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There are speculations that Narendra Modi may not follow the prepared
text and may instead speak impromptu like his Lok Sabha campaign days.
Over the years Prime Ministers have used the platform to list the
achievements of their government and the course ahead. Since Narendra
Modi led BJP government was voted to power in May this year with huge
expectations, the first address by the BJP leader is being looked
forward eagerly.
In a first, around 10,000 members of the general public will be
present at the historic Red Fort to witness Prime Minister Narendra Modi
deliver his maiden Independence Day address to the nation.
Delhi BJP also appealed to the residents of the national capital to
join the Independence Day celebrations at Red Fort in large
numbers. Saying it has been a dream of all Indians to hear Narendra Modi
deliver the Prime Minister’s Independence Day address from the ramparts
of Red Fort, the Delhi BJP thanked the Centre for allowing the common
man to attend the August 15 ceremony at the historic monument.
And, in more joy for the public, Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC)
will provide a free ride to all commuters in all its buses in the
national capital between 6 A.M. and 10 A.M. on August 15 that they may
come from any nook and corner of the city to be a part of Independence
Day celebrations.
Arrangements are being made to provide seating for around 10,000
people in front of the historic Mughal-era monument. The members of the
public will be seated to the right of the Red Fort in the public
enclosure, next to around the same number of schoolchildren clad in
colours of the tricolour.
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Full pdf word doc text of PM Narendra Modi’s Independence Day 2014 Speech :
After Prime Minister delivers his maiden Independence Day Speech, we will have here Full text of PM Narendra Modi’s Independence Day 2014 Speech.
A dag ago, on the even of the Indian
Independence Day, on August 14, Hon’ble President of India, Shri Pranab
Mukherjee will address the Nation at 7:00 pm IST.
1947 - Tryst with destiny
AP
Eleven
days before August 15, 1947, Viceroy Lord Louis Mountbatten (center),
Jawaharlal Nehru (extreme left) and Mohammad Ali Jinnah (right) prepare
for the transfer of power from the British Crown. A notional picture of a
divided nation comprising India and Pakistan, as distinct from the
agglomeration of princely states and provinces administered by the Raj,
came into being during these deliberations. Nehru represented the Indian
National Congress while Jinnah stood for the Muslim League, which
demanded a separate sovereign state for Muslims. Although the British
were in favor of a united Indian subcontinent and the 1946 Cabinet
Mission attempted to reach a compromise between the Congress and the
Muslim League, neither Nehru nor Jinnah agreed to its proposal for a
decentralized state with power vested in local governments. August 14,
1947, the dominion of Pakistan (which then included East Pakistan)
declared independence from the British Crown. At midnight the following
day, India followed suit with Nehru famously heralding our tryst with
destiny.
1947 - Train to Pakistan 
AP
As
British India was cloven in two, the birth pangs of nationhood were
followed by separation anxiety. The first train to Pakistan, which ran
from Delhi to Lahore, was flagged off in August 1947 in a climate of
warmth and bonhomie. However, as massive population exchanges took place
between the two young nations, tensions ran high and fanned communal
passions aflame. As people were plucked out of their homes and forced to
cart their families and belongings to the strange new land across the
newly drawn border, they came under attack from brigands and hired
thugs. Both fledgling governments were ill equipped to deal with such
massive migrations, displacement and violence driven by communal
sentiments. About 10 million people are believed to have been displaced,
and over a million are estimated to have died during the Partition.
Sixty-four years later, the scars of Partition live on in public memory,
even though the descendants of those affected by it have few physical
memories of the event.
1948-49 – A prodigal son’s patricide
AP
Nathuram
Vinayak Godse (extreme left) and Narayan Apte (center), members of the
extremist outfit Hindu Mahasabha, blamed Mahatma Gandhi for conceding
Pakistan to the Muslims. Godse and Apte had been part of previous
unsuccessful attempts to assassinate Gandhi. On January 29, 1948, the
two men reached Delhi Railway Station and checked into the retiring
room. Financed by their organization, they had purchased a Beretta .38
semi-automatic pistol. The next morning Godse approached Gandhi as he
was heading to a prayer meeting and bowed before him. At point blank
range, the assassin fired three shots and the Mahatma collapsed to the
ground. Gandhi, breathing his last, is believed to have uttered the
words, “Hai Ram”. Announcing Bapu’s death to the nation, Prime Minister
Jawaharlal Nehru said, “The light has gone out of our lives, and there
is darkness everywhere.” Godse and Apte were executed in November 1949.
1950 – Glory to the republic
AFP
On
January 26, 1950, the 34th and last Governor-General of India
Chakravarti Rajagopalachari read out a proclamation announcing the birth
of the Republic of India. The Constitution of India came into effect,
declaring India as a sovereign, democratic and secular state. Until this
day, India was a dominion under the British Commonwealth acknowledging
George VI as King and Emperor. Dr Rajendra Prasad (in picture, right)
took oath as the President of the new republic. Interestingly, despite
the newly proclaimed status India did not renounce allegiance to the
British Commonwealth. As the Manchester Guardian observed on January 26,
1950, India regarded the Commonwealth as a “political machinery used to
promote peace and economic advancement.”
1950 – The first missionary of charity
AP
Agnes
Gonxha Bojaxhiu, an Albanian nun, came to Darjeeling, India in 1929
with the Sisters of Loreto. She learned Bengali and took the name Teresa
upon being initiated into the order. While the nuns at the Loreto
Convent were engaged in teaching, Teresa was moved by the poverty she
witnessed around her. Traveling by train to Kolkata (then Calcutta), she
experienced the epiphany that was to become her life’s mission – to
devote her life to the service of the poorest of the poor. On October 7,
1950, Teresa established her own congregation, the Missionaries of
Charity, in Kolkata after receiving permission from the Vatican to do
so. Its purpose was to care for “the hungry, the naked, the homeless,
the crippled, the blind, the lepers, all those people who feel unwanted,
unloved, uncared for throughout society, people that have become a
burden to the society and are shunned by everyone." She abandoned her
nun’s habit and adopted a white sari with a blue border, which continues
to be worn by members of her order. Started with 13 members, the
Missionaries of Charity have more than 4,000 nuns today running hospices
and orphanages around the world.
1952 – Democracy’s first dance
AFP
Jawaharlal
Nehru, who had led the interim government since 1947, was elected in
the country’s first parliamentary election in 1952. The Congress Party
emerged victorious in the elections, the first test of fledgling
democracy. On May 13, Nehru formed the first democratically elected
Government of India and assumed office as Prime Minister. Later that
year the Prime Minister, seen here on his 65th birthday two years later,
unveiled India’s first Five Year Plan.
1954 – The China syndrome
AFP
Before
India became independent of British rule, it had little political
contact with its northerly neighbor. China had also recently undergone a
political upheaval. The incumbent Kuomintang nationalist party had been
defeated in a civil war by the People’s Liberation Army, which
established the People’s Republic of China. Nehru’s foreign policy began
with his government’s recognition of the new republic. In April 1954
Nehru traveled to Peking (as Beijing was then known) where he met
Chinese leaders Zhou Enlai and Mao Zedong (in pic). April 29 became a
red-letter day in the history of Sino-Indian ties for the declaration of
the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, known as Panchsheel
(inspired in part from the Pancasila – the five principles for the
foundation of Indonesia as laid out by the nation’s first president
Sukarno), which comprised respect for each other's territorial integrity
and sovereignty, non-aggression, non-interference in each other's
internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful
co-existence. The refrain “Hindi Chini bhai bhai” was common during the
1950s as the two countries ignored the odd border skirmish to maintain
peaceful relations. Within a few years, India and China fell out over
China’s occupation of Tibet.
1955 – Devdas, the original bizarre love triangle
.
Bimal
Roy’s Devdas was not the first cinematic adaptation of Sharat Chandra
Chattopadhyay’s novel (it was preceded by five versions in various
Indian languages) but the 1955 film was path-breaking in its mass
appeal. Starring Dilip Kumar as the tragic male protagonist, Suchitra
Sen as Parvati (the estranged childhood sweetheart) and Vyjayanthimala
as the courtesan Chandramukhi, the bizarre love triangle left an entire
nation bewitched. Though the film has been remade amid great hype, no
one could surpass Dilip Kumar’s iconic portrayal of the doomed lover,
which has since been much emulated, imitated and parodied. Even the
bitterest critics agree that Roy’s cinematic technique was leagues ahead
of his time. Elsewhere in the Hindi film industry, Raj Kapoor and
Nargis stole hearts in Shree 420, and the song “Mera joota hai Japani”
symbolized a bold new patriotism.
1956 - Ambedkar embraces Buddhism, spearheads Dalit Buddhist movement
AP
Bhimrao
Ramji Ambedkar was born into an impoverished family of the Mahar caste
and spent his life battling the stigma of untouchability and caste-based
discrimination in Indian society. In an era when education was the
province of privileged upper castes, he obtained multiple doctorates in
law, economics and political science from institutions such as Columbia
University and the London School of Economics. As Law Minister in the
first Union Cabinet and chairman of the committee appointed to draft the
Constitution of India, Ambedkar envisioned a law that provided
constitutional guarantees for a wide range of civil liberties including
freedom of religion, abolition of untouchability and equal rights for
women. The Constituent Assembly adopted it in 1949. However, Ambedkar’s
proposal for a Hindu Code guaranteeing equal right to inheritance and
property was opposed by a section of Parliament. Disappointed, he
resigned. After unsuccessful attempts to contest the Lok Sabha elections
as an independent, he turned his focus on Buddhism. Discovering through
anthropological research that his Mahar ancestors were in fact
Buddhists who were made untouchables by dominant Brahmins, he converted
to Buddhism in 1956. He also proceeded to proselytize the faith among 5
lakh supporters. Despite failing health he completed the manuscript of
his book, The Buddha and His Dhamma, and died just days later on
December 6, 1956. Ambedkar’s philosophy had a profound influence on
Indian society and initiated a journey towards equality that continues
to date.
1957 – Mother India soothes India’s Kashmir woes
.
It
was a year of great changes. Even as Kerala ushered into power the
first democratically elected Communist government the Kashmir problem
rose to a boil with both Pakistan and a section of Kashmiris pressing
for a plebiscite to determine the future of the state. However, it was
cinema that truly fanned India’s patriotic sentiments. Mother India, a
story of grinding poverty directed by Mehboob Khan and starring Sunil
Dutt and Nargis, became a national sensation. Nargis played Radha, a
poor village woman who rises against odds and sacrifices her own corrupt
son in the film’s melodramatic climax. Nargis represented the
turbulence of India in the wake of independence. The film’s title was
taken from a controversial book by American writer Katherine Mayo that
made a disparaging attack on Indian society. Khan, drawing upon Pearl S
Buck’s books The Mother and The Good Earth, said that his film’s title
was a challenge to Mayo’s “scurrilous work”, declaring the empowerment
of Indian women and their triumph over sexual subjugation. Mother India
was India’s first official submission to the American Academy Awards in
the Best Foreign Language Film category and finished among the top five
nominees in 1958.
1958 - AFSPA empowers India to kill its children
AFP
Approved
by Parliament on September 11, 1958, the controversial Armed Forces
(Special Powers) Act granted sweeping powers to armed forces in what it
defined as “disturbed areas”. Under its provisions, armed forces can
search, arrest and shoot to kill on suspicion to preserve public order.
The AFSPA was first enforced in Assam and Manipur in 1972 and amended to
apply to Tripura, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Nagaland.
Historical compulsion for introducing the Act came amid political
challenges in integrating the northeast states into the Indian Union
after Independence. Since 1990, the Act has also been applied in Jammu
and Kashmir where it has been opposed vociferously. India has been under
heavy international pressure to repeal the AFSPA, which the watchdog
Human Rights Watch condemned as a "tool of state abuse, oppression and
discrimination". Opposition to the AFSPA gained momentum when several
women activists protesting against the custodial death of Thangjam
Manorama Devi stripped before the Manipur headquarters of the Assam
Rifles on July 15, 2004. Four years before that Irom Sharmila, the
39-year-old “Iron Lady of Manipur”, began her indefinite fast, accepting
neither food nor water. Jailed for attempting to take her own life,
Sharmila has been kept alive with tube-fed and intravenous nutrition.
Her decade-long fast has made her the icon of the agitation against the
AFSPA.
1959 - Tibetans find a home in India
AFP
Since
1951, the Communist Party of China had declared its hold over Tibet but
granted the area relative autonomy under the provisions of the
Seventeen Point Agreement. A protest in certain parts of Tibet against
the redistribution of land according to socialist norms sparked off
fighting that turned into an armed rebellion. The Chinese occupants
stepped up the subjugation of the Tibetan people with brutal measures
that included killings, rape of women and coercing monks and nuns to
have sex in violation of vows of celibacy. An armed rebellion
intensified in Lhasa, Tibet’s capital, but the Chinese suppressed it.
During the uprising the 14th Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso escaped to India
along with a number of refugees. Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru met the
Dalai Lama in Mussoorie in 1959 and assured him of protection for his
people, offering them land in India to set up settlements in
Dharamshala, Bylakuppe and Darjeeling among other places. The Tibetan
spiritual leader would go on to establish the Tibetan Government in
Exile at Dharamshala. The influx of refugees into India continued for
decades thereafter.
1960 – Hamara Bajaj
AFP
In
1960, Bajaj Auto, established in 1945, went public. Just the previous
year the company established by visionary industrialist Jamnalal Bajaj
had been granted a license to manufacture two- and three-wheelers. While
the company initially imported the Vespa 150 under license from Piaggio
of Italy, it began production of the Chetak scooter in 1972. Modeled
after the Italian Vespa Sprint, the Bajaj Chetak – named for the famous
horse of the historical Rajput hero Maharana Pratap – became a household
symbol across India. In 1985, a long-running commercial on Doordarshan
with the jingle “Hamara Bajaj” cemented its reputation as the people’s
scooter. Several scooter models have been rolled out down the ages, but
the Chetak became ingrained in culture. In 2009 the company, now among
the Forbes 2000, stopped production of the Chetak.
1961 – India marches into Goa
The
longest reigning colonial power, the Portuguese had held Goa for 451
years until India wrested it back on December 19, 1961. Starting in
1950, the Government of India had attempted to make diplomatic dialogue
with the Portuguese government in Goa, which asserted that the territory
was not a colony but an integral part of Portugal. Calls for freedom
had begun as early as 1928 when the French-educated Goan nationalist
Tristao de Braganza Cunha organized the first independence movement to
liberate the colony. Cunha, who was instrumental in coordinating the
many disparate freedom movements within Goa, was made a state prisoner
and confined first at Fort Aguada, Goa and then at the Peniche prison in
Portugal. Cunha died in 1958, by which time the movement to free Goa
had built up momentum. In addition to the nonviolent methods adopted by
Cunha and his Gandhian supporter Ram Manohar Lohia, groups like the Azad
Gomantak Dal and United Front of Goans, supported by the Indian
government, used force to attempt to unseat the Portuguese government.
After a series of incidents, Indian forces stormed Goa by land, air and
sea and liberated the coastal enclave after a 48-hour operation. The Goa
episode was hotly debated across the world when a United Nations
Security Council draft resolution spearheaded by the United States
calling for a ceasefire in Goa was vetoed by the Soviet Union, India’s
Cold War ally. India’s ties with Portugal were suspended until they were
restored in 1974 after the authoritarian ruler António de Oliveira
Salazar’s regime was overthrown in 1968.
1962 – Friends, brothers and enemies 
After
the 1959 Tibetan Uprising and India’s decision to grant refuge to
Tibetans fleeing the Chinese occupation of their homeland, India’s
relations with China were simmering. They finally came to a boil over
disputes concerning two border areas – Aksai Chin on the border of
Kashmir and Xinjiang, and Arunachal Pradesh in northeast India, a
consequence of the Chinese refusal to accept the McMahon Line that was
drawn in 1914 as the historical border between China and British India.
Skirmishes and hostilities escalated as the Chinese built up troops and
reinforcements in two places along the disputed border. The Chinese
aggression was timed to coincide with the Cuban Missile Crisis in which
the United States and the Soviet Union were involved, as this meant both
powers would not involve themselves with the happenings in southern
Asia. Nehru’s Forward Policy and assertion of the McMahon Line as the
boundary was criticized and he lost standing for failing to foresee
China’s motives. Defense Minister V K Krishna Menon resigned accepting
responsibility for India’s lack of military preparedness. The war called
for a review of India’s foreign policy – from ‘brotherly’ ties with
China, Nehru began to look west.
1963 – Nagaland joins the Indian family 
Nagaland,
at the northeastern tip of India, was inducted into India as its 16th
state on December 1, 1963. The region was a designated home for 15
officially recognized Naga tribes, many of whom also live in Manipur,
Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. Naga tribes had little contact with the
outside world until Christian missionaries arrived in the 1870s and over
95 per cent of Naga people have embraced the faith. The British, who
annexed Assam following the Treaty of Yandabo after the First
Anglo-Burmese War, attempted to reach out to the tribes but conflicts
often took place. Even as India announced independence from the British
Crown in 1947, the Nagas pressed for a sovereign nation of their own.
Talks with the Government of India, which began in June that year with
recognition of the Nagas’ right to “self-determination”, continued until
1952 when a rebellion by the Naga National Council, which pressed for
secession from India, was crushed by Indian armed forces. In 1962, India
assembled the controversial Naga People’s Convention and following an
agreement granted statehood to Nagaland in 1963. The move was seen by
the rebels as a great betrayal of Naga interests. Since then, Nagaland
has had a troubled relationship with the Government of India, although
talks have been held periodically after the National Socialist Council
of Nagaland was founded by Thuingaleng Muivah, Isaac Swu and S Khaplang
in 1970. In the picture above, Naga tribesmen are shown performing the
traditional dance on the occasion of the Hornbill festival.
1964 – The passing of Nehru 
India’s
first prime minister was a troubled man after India’s defeat in the
1962 war with China. Facing criticism internally and losing Congress
political strongholds in Kerala in the 1962 election, he took ill and
spent his time recuperating in Kashmir. On returning to Delhi he
suffered a stroke and later a heart attack. He died on May 27. Despite
criticism of some of his policies, Nehru was an acknowledged statesman
and visionary who led a young nation out of post-Independence darkness.
Interim Prime Minister Gulzarilal Nanda, who had been sworn in, would
soon be replaced by his close political confidant Lal Bahadur Shastri.
1965 – War in the subcontinent 
Indians
(in picture) celebrate with a seized Pakistani Army tank. India’s
military losses in the war with China emboldened Pakistan to attack and
lay claim to Kashmir, which it had lost during the Partition of India.
After clashes between troops in the Rann of Kutch in Gujarat, the
hostilities intensified in August. Though both sides suffered heavy
casualties in land and air battles that extended along Pakistan’s border
with Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat, India was perceived as the
victor for decisively thwarting the Pakistani attack. A United
Nations-mediated ceasefire was enforced and remained in effect till the
next war in 1971. Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri was hailed as a
national hero for the victory, which soothed the memory of the defeat to
China.
1966 – The cartoonist who drew ire 
On
June 19, 1966 Balasaheb Keshav Thackeray, who had started his career as
a cartoonist with the Free Press Journal in Mumbai, founded the Shiv
Sena. Six years before, Thackeray had started Marmik, a cartoon weekly
in which he criticized Gujarati and South Indian laborers in Mumbai whom
he accused of usurping jobs that Maharashtrians deserved. His
organization was launched to campaign for job security for
Maharashtrians. In years to come the Shiv Sena’s ideology and methods
would invite strident criticism but it would emerge as a decidedly
powerful political entity both in state politics and at the centre,
where it would ally with the Bharatiya Janata Party.
1966 – Women on top 
India
in 1966 saw her share of ups and downs. Even as India and Pakistan
negotiated for peace at Tashkent, Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri
died thereafter in mysterious circumstances. An Air India flight crashed
into Mont Blanc killing 117 people including Homi J Bhabha, chairman of
the Indian Atomic Energy Commission. But it was woman power that really
swung it for the nation that year. Months after Indira Gandhi was sworn
in as India’s first woman Prime Minister, a young medical student
floored a Miss World jury with her beauty and wit. For one year Reita
Faria wore her crown and then threw it all away to concentrate on
completing her medical degree
.1968 – A boy band in India 
Though
it was much later that an Indian rock band would sing of John, Paul,
George and the other guy crossing the universe, the Beatles made a
beeline for India in 1968 at the height of their fame. Accompanied by an
entourage that included actress and model Mia Farrow, an acolyte of
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the Fab Four arrived at the Maharishi’s ashram
near Rishikesh for what was to be a ten-day course in Transcendental
Meditation. Their stay was cut short by the death of manager Brian
Epstein. The Beatles went back with mixed feelings – while John Lennon’s
initial fascination with the Maharishi turned into disenchantment (he
later referred to the Maharishi as a “lecherous womanizer”), George
Harrison and his wife were taken in, while McCartney recounted many
years later upon the Maharishi’s death that he was a great soul. All
said, it was a fertile period in the band’s career as many future hits
were penned here, including Ringo Starr’s first composition “Don’t Pass
Me By.” Portraits of the Beatles’ stay in India, taken by Paul Saltzman,
were released in 2000.
1969 - A train to the capital
In
a tumultuous year for Indian politics – the Indian National Congress
split into two factions – all eyes were on New Delhi. No surprise then
that the Indian Railways introduced a special train connecting the
capital with other Indian cities. The first Rajdhani Express left Delhi
for Howrah, traversing 1,445 km in under 17 hours. The fully
air-conditioned railway coaches are the gold class of Indian Railways
and are accorded royal treatment. Today, 21 pairs of Rajdhani trains
connect Delhi with state capitals.
1970 – “They say Indira Hatao, I say Garibi Hatao”
Indira
Gandhi, fast losing her popularity, ushered in a new era in Indian
politics with her epic line, “They say Indira hatao, I say Garibi hatao”
in a desperate bid to gain the loyalty of the masses for the elections
that she subsequently won in 1971. The slogan, which means “Abolish
Poverty”, was later adopted by Rajiv Gandhi. Though the campaign was by
no means successful, (only a shocking 4% of the total allocated funds
for the campaign actually went into anti-poverty programs), it helped
her secure the elections the coming year.
1971 – Bollywood smokes a chillum
Dev
Anand, by no means second to showman Raj Kapoor in choosing
controversial themes for his films, touched upon the sensitive topic of
drugs in a movie that perfectly married the two themes of childhood
isolation and the hippie movement. The film became a starring vehicle
for the lead heroine, Zeenat Aman (Zeenie baby, as she was called), and
was a huge musical and commercial hit.
In keeping with the sub-theme
of western influence on India, the soundtrack featured both Hindi and
English songs, the robust-voiced Usha Uthup holding up strongly in the
English numbers against Asha Bhonsle’s honeyed vocals in the Hindi ones.
The mood of the film had strong Warholesque undertones and while
sending out an anti-drug message, also celebrated the liberation of the
Indian woman from her ghar ki rani stereotype.
1972 – Putting the cat back in the bag
Project
Tiger, launched in 1973-74, was India’s first successful conservation
venture, aiming at the preservation and protection of the tiger, the
national animal, in its natural reserves. There were 40 such reserves in
2008, but the total tiger population had dipped to an alarming 1411,
which made the government sit up, take notice and give the movement its
second wind three years ago, pledging over US $150 million dollars to
the campaign. The 2011 tiger census puts the total figure at 1716,
showing a healthy growth of about 20% over the last three years, though
poaching of tigers for their skin still continues to pose a problem.
1973 – A landmark year for teenybopper romances
RK
Films’ Bobby, the launch pad for star son Rishi Kapoor and rumoured
star daughter Dimple Kapadia, featuring a pleasantly plump Dimple
complete with love handle and cankles, and tinsel town’s original
chocolate lover boy Rishi, was a runaway hit at the box office, riding
high on whispers of an off-screen romance between the leads. The movie
redefined the love story at the box office and became the inspiration
for the onslaught of
teenage-romance-set-against-a-backdrop-of-class-divide films. As with
all blockbusters, the movie’s soundtrack was a huge hit and enjoys pride
of place in the golden era of Bollywood music.
1974 – A pox on India’s health
Six
years before smallpox was successfully eradicated from the world, India
fell prey to the disease, losing over 15,000 lives in just five months
mostly in West Bengal, Bihar and Orissa. Thousands who survived were
either disfigured or blinded. It was one of the worst outbreaks of
smallpox in the disease’s history. Ironically, the epidemic occurred in
the midst of WHO’s smallpox eradication program.
1975 – The year when controversy ruled
Fakhruddin
Ali Ahmed, then President of India, declared a state of internal
emergency upon the advice of then PM Indira Gandhi, thereby granting her
full power to rule by decree. It was arguably the most controversial
period in independent India’s history. No stranger to controversy
herself, Indira Gandhi is said to have brought democracy “to a grinding
halt”, in her own words. The almost two-year-long emergency ended in
early 1977, with the Janata Party beating Indira’s Congress by a small
majority in the general elections, bringing back ‘democracy’ from a
bleak period of ‘dictatorship’.
1976 – Pocketful of good intentions
This
is one year that India is unlikely to forget. The legal ages of
marriage for men and women were declared (21 and 18, respectively) and
thousands of married men and women were called to volunteer for
vasectomies and tubal ligations to control the burgeoning population.
Many were promised plots of land in the NCR region of Delhi if they
willingly underwent vasectomies, earning the area the rather unfortunate
name of Nasbandi (vasectomy) Colony. Sanjay Gandhi, son of then Prime
Minister, Indira Gandhi, shouldered the majority of the blame for what
is seen as a failed program. Inverted red triangles or not, our nation
today is home to 17% of the world’s population, 1.21 billion at last
count – and still counting…
1977 – At the lotus feet of the Lord
1977
saw the passing of Acharya Charanaravinda Bhaktivedanta Swami
Prabhupada, the founder-acharya of the International Society for Krishna
Consciousness (or the Hare Krishna Movement), who was largely
responsible for spreading the message of Vaishnavism in the Western
world. A hugely celebrated spiritual icon, Srila Prabhupada’s final
resting place is in Vrindavan, a town that relies largely on the ISKCON
movement for its tourist trade. A statue that bears a striking
resemblance to the spiritual leader is also found in the temple in
Vrindavan. ISKCON, though initially a recipient of rich praise, now sees
itself mired in controversy.
1978 – Fertility’s triumph and shame
India’s
first test tube baby, Durga (Kanupriya Agarwal) was born after India’s
first successful in vitro fertilization, credited to the late physician
Subhash Mukhopadhyay. The doctor unfortunately received only posthumous
credit, as during his time, he had to battle ostracization and
bureaucracy, with the government refusing him the right to attend
international conferences. He ultimately committed suicide and became
the inspiration for the Tapan Sinha movie, Ek Doctor Ki Maut.
1979 – Nobility wins a Nobel
Sister
of Mercy Mother Teresa’s undying kindness and compassion for the
downtrodden, the displaced and the diseased was awarded the richly
deserved Nobel Peace Prize. Albanian by birth (her native town Skopje is
now the capital of Macedonia), she adopted Indian citizenship. Moved by
the poverty she witnessed in the wake of the Bengal Famine of 1943 and
the communal violence in the aftermath of Partition, she left the
Sisters of Loreto to establish her own order, the Missionaries of
Charity. In 1952 she established the Kalighat Home for the Dying in
Kolkata (then Calcutta), a charitable hospice where the poor could die
“a beautiful death”. Before she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, she
had already been recognized with the Balzan Prize (1978) and the Albert
Schweitzer International Prize (1975).
