India @ 64 - A visual chronology of post-Independence India-3

 

India @ 64 - A visual chronology of post-Independence India-Part-3

August 15, India completes 64 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.

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).

1980 –India shuttles to the top

Though the year will go down in history as the year of Indira Gandhi's return to politics and her son Sanjay Gandhi's controversial death, India took giant leaps in sports. Two triumphs in the international arena set India on the global map. For one, the Indian hockey team won gold at the Moscow Olympics and young badminton star Prakash Padukone, father of starlet Deepika Padukone, became the first Indian to win the All England Badminton Open.

1981 – Standing on the shoulders of 7 giants

Seven unassuming entrepreneurs, with a collective capital of Rs 1,0000 among them, opened an unassuming information technology company in Pune. What used to be Infosys Consultants Pvt Ltd then is today Infosys Limited, one of the proud behemoths in global IT, with offices in 33 countries, boasting of numerous awards and partnerships with top universities and ranking 28 among the world's IT services providers. N R Narayana Murthy, founder and chairman emeritus of Infosys, continues to be an inspiration to Indian and global entrepreneurs alike 30 years down the line.

1982 – Color me glad

Television and radio separated as broadcast media in 1976, and for the better part of the 1970s, the idiot box was a phenomenon restricted to only seven cities in the country. Indian television programming actually kicked off in the early 1980s and Doordarshan stood tall as the sole channel when in 1982, colour televisions entered the Indian market. Lo and behold, entertainment in Eastman, Deluxe and Technicolor was now available in the comfort of a middle-class home. Crowns and Coronas made way for Solidaires and Keltrons, and television programming received a fillip with epics such as Ramayan, Mahabharat, the Sunday morning cartoon show, the Wednesday evening Chitrahaar and one long-running family drama after another.

1983 – Kapil's Devils go from underdogs to top dogs

Seen as underdogs going into the tournament with no hopes of clearing the league matches, the Kapil Dev-led Indian cricket team triumphed over all odds, including wagers of 100-1in favour of the Windies in the finals of the World Cup. With a modest score of 183 to defend, the match, and subsequently the trophy, belonged to the Indian medium-pacers. When Balwinder Singh Sandhu swung the ball, Gordon Greenidge had no other choice but to edge it, helping India to its first wicket. WI's swashbuckling batsmen had a rather meek task of adding runs to the scoreboard in little trickles, but some smart bowling, swift fielding and superlative catches by the Indian team ensured that the Cup belonged to India and India alone on that unforgettable day of June 25, 1983.

1984 – The night of the living dead

Even as the country came to grips with the assassination of Indira Gandhi on October 31, a terrible tragedy struck its people on December 2. As the nation slept, a deadly leak of highly toxic methyl isocyanate gas at the Union Carbide India Limited pesticide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, claimed thousands of lives insidiously. Thousands more succumbed in the days and years ahead and tens of thousands were disabled for life. The Indian subsidiary of Union Carbide continues to fight civil and criminal lawsuits against it for negligence and endangering public life. Warren Anderson, then CEO of UCC, was convicted last year but his conviction is largely seen as a mere rap on the knuckles for a crime of epic proportions.

1985 – Blown apart in mid-air

Kanishka, Air India's ill-fated Flight 182, en route to Delhi from Montreal, met with a bloody end mid-air. All 329 on board, including 22 Indians, died. Sikh extremism that was consuming India in the wake of Operation Blue Star is said to be the motivation behind the bombing. Sikh separatists are said to have placed explosives inside the plane, blowing it to smithereens just an hour after takeoff. Investigations carried on for more than 20 years, making it one of the most expensive trials in Canada's history.

1986 – A black end to Sikh strife

Coming close on the heels of Operation Blue Star during Indira Gandhi's reign, this two-part attack, labelled Operation Black Thunder, was carried out by 'Black Cat' commandoes of the National Security Guards to rid Amritsar's Golden Temple of Khalistani separatists who were using the holy shrine as a base and refuge. The 1000-member strong team of NSG and BSF personnel stormed the temple and captured over 300 militants, with little collateral damage compared to 1984. Soon after, the Indian Government deemed it illegal to use religious shrines for military and political purposes.

1987 – The day the music died

Kishore Kumar, born Abhas Kumar Ganguly, lent not just his voice to umpteen Bollywood heroes, but his soul as well to Indian cinema. Known as much for his soulful songs as for his peppy musical outbursts, Kishore Kumar was one-third of the trifecta (Mohammed Rafi and Mukesh being the other two) that formed the firm foundation of the golden era in Bollywood music. Hiding behind the façade of an eccentric artiste, this idealist, philosopher and dreamer's voice was the harbinger of joy to millions, but this very troubled multifaceted personality was very private, famous for his temper tantrums and refused to let go of his inner child well into his old age. He died of a heart attack in 1987.

1988 – The show must go on

India had to say goodbye to yet another stalwart of Indian cinema this year, with Raj Kapoor's death. Branded as the showman of the millennium, Raj Kapoor had no cinematic equal, though many aspired to (unsuccessfully) walk in his shoes. Hailing from a family of thespians, this controversial actor-filmmaker was responsible for the blossoming of the careers of many leading ladies, literally and figuratively, and had the gumption to stray into uncharted territories of brazen intimacy and nudity on the silver screen. His death ended what many saw as an unapologetic era in Indian cinema, and no Kapoor since then has been able to make the merest speck of a mark as Raj did during his glorious reign.

1989 - A small town's pride

While India was dealing with the kidnapping of the Union Home Minister's daughter, Rubaiya Sayeed, and the subsequent drama that unfolded, Kottayam, a small sleepy town in the state of Kerala, was preparing to earn the distinction of being the first town in India with a 100% literacy rate. All 70,000 inhabitants, give or take a few, could read and write, a distinction that today makes Kerala the most literate of all of India's states.