« INDEPENDENCE i DAY Wi. s ZARSubscribe Now! ran = = a = Scanto & Tw [oe ae ms » Subscribe ‘To subscribe online, visitwww.thehindugroup.in/subscribe. © New Subscription © Renewal (Subscription No. ) For subscription, plese il he form, sign and send it to Cxculaion Department, The Hindu, Kastun Buldings, 1859 & 860, Anna Sala Chennai - 600 002. Ema: custome in TolhFroe No. 1800 102 1878 Name: Maing Address: oy Pio: ____ trict Lanaing: Moi 1am remitting & Cements fort Year fer2 Years By 01Cheque Nunber In favour of THG Publishing Private Limited, (Add %10 for non-Chennal cheque) DDICheque Number: Amount ate Bank Branch Signature with date:PRODUCING a special issue to com- rmemorate a special date is always a tricky project. One wants to say it all and show it all. But this isa magazine and not atome, so hhow does one strike a fine balance? And ‘what Iens does one choose to 200m into the past 75 years alens that neither distorts nor ‘magnifies but simply reflects. ‘Seventy-five years after Independence is that rare moment when one ean pause, look Inch, and take stock. A juncture in history ‘when one ean think about what brought us here. What were those seemingly minor events that set in motion a series of out- comes, some expected and some wildly tn predictable, that would change forever the trajectory of the country’s progress, its char- acter and morals, its cultural preferences and social mores, its polities and laws. ‘Wetherefore embarked ona challenging but also engaging exercise to choose the epochal moments from these past 75 years that have impacted the country forthe long term. Who would have thought that a rocket head transported bybieyele would grow into a sophisticated space programme sending science missions to the moon and Mars? Or that an innocuous television mythological ‘would unleash an angry beast of hatred. ‘Weasked historian and writer Manu Pil- Jkito talk to Rajmohan Gandhi, Mahatma Gandhs grandson, who was 12 years old independence EDITOR’S NOTE Wears of that historic day, and get him to share his thoughts. We traced the timelines of some erucial segments, such as science, cinema or envir- fonment, to see how laws and institutions hhave evolved in these areas. And we com- piled a list of the most crucial books that hhave emerged since Independence. We be- lieve such exercises offer elues to how a rav- ‘aged postcolonial country got its act together, expect indignant letters from some of ‘you demanding to know why a certain book hhas been left out or why, for instance, the 2004 tsunami does not make it to our “epochal” moments, But do remember that the purpose of such listsis merely to point to the riches that exist. As for the second, India hhas experienced umpteen catastrophes, both natural and man-made, but not each fone has irrevocably changed the course of, development or governance or life as we know it, so not everything gory or noisy or colourful is on our lis. Toll be remiss if I end without doffing iy hat to Frontline’s invisible dream team, which worked impossible hours and sub- sisted on chai and samosa to make it all eome together. Thopeyou enjoy readingiitas muchas we enjoyed making Vaishna RoyTHIS is with reference tothe article “In- visible epidemic” (August 12). All cat- egories of youth unemployment must be addressed on a war footing and can be dane properly and quickly as follows: by permanent closing down corrupt and inelfcient employment agencies and preventing them from being restarted Under anew name, abolishing the exper- lence factor needed for jobs by promot- ing pre-training from reputed pre-training institutions, and promoting popular and profitable selfemployment jobs through counselling from reputed ‘counsellors online and offine PETER CASTELLINO ‘Mums THE number of unemployed, unemploy~ able, and disguised unemployeesIthose ‘whe are made to work below their poten tall inthe country makes fora frighten- ing scenaria, The MGNREGA, warts and all, continues tobe a source of rejuvena- tion for the rural economy, but the present dispensation givesit agrin-and- bearsit kind of patronage. No wonder then that the Centre has shown no in- terest in the Decentralised Urban Em- ployment and Training scheme mooted bythe economist Jean Dreze. The eco- omit Kaushik Basu hit the nail on the head when he observed that mounting ‘majortaranism in India was a sure-fire recipe for an economic crash AYYASSERI RAVEENDRANATH ‘ARANMULA, KERALA WHILE the world sees good things in In- di, some ideological theoreticians inthe LETTERS crash aan wig ative ight ‘S0ARAUSRINWASA RAO vunvannoa sNHRA PRADESH Droupadi Murmu PRIME Winister Narendra Mod's nami ation of Droupadi Murma,aSanthal rom dia, for ihn olfice of Prenlert wa inant srk ("A no-cunea’, August 12, The Mod-ied NDA dispensation ‘ayed the tribal card wth lina preci Sion. The cross-otng by some opps tion partis clearly exited the disunity vie thle rr: Maret Bupejo's soca tats Fg alin beet ‘shu ost loro of Margret A's Sieh oppuint tn rasa tial cardia foe the Cropresxrada the announcements further prootof di ‘unity among the opposition parties, '. MURALL VELLORE, TAMIL NADU. Kallakurichi violence ‘THE death ofthe 17-year-old girl student {in Kallakurichi in Tamil Nadu was 2 sad incident [Death and rioting in a school”, ‘August 12) The violence and looting of ‘the schoot tha followed took the admit istration by surprise. It is reported that ‘more than 3,000 people, many of whorn ‘came from neighbouring districts, took partin it, Anti-social elements infiltrated ‘otherwise peaceful protests and created ‘unrest for whichthe poicearealso partly ‘responsible as they filed to take heed of the warning from intelligence agencies ‘ofa possible backlash, ‘The perpetrators ofthe violence used ‘many hurriedly formed WhatsApp ‘groups to mobilise support for their ‘ause. Ths incident shouldnot be viewed 2 an isolated one as troublemongers fare at work everywhere to create ‘schisms in society by fanning communal ‘passions. tate governments and awen- forcement agencies should be aware of the possibilty of ant-secial elements ‘waiting for opportune maments to cre ate trouble TT. VENUGOPALAN KOCH KERALA Maharashtra IT is true that for the last decade and ‘morethe B1P has bacomehabituated to toppling coalition and full-fledged gov fenments in many States through its Operation Lotus I"The toppling game", July 29). What happened to. Uddhav Thackeray's government in Maho: rashtra is 9 perfect example. Because of the Operation Lotus menace, many States are offering their people lots of freebies to remain in power. Operation Lotus may be making the BJP strong in the country, but itis also pulling down the Indian economy. think the Const tution needs to be amended suitably to prevent this “toppling game”. Other wise, every party will soon indulge in thistype ofharse-trading te gain power. \URYKUMAR HK. RAICHUR, KARNATAKA THE BJP's Operation Lotus was suc cessfully implemented in Maharashtra, twill extend to Jharkhand next. And, as. has been said, in its desire to capture power at any cst, the BJP has cometo stand for everything that Modi said the Congress stood for in its heyday. KARAM HUSAIN KHAN MUMBA A BIZARRE drama was enacted In Ma: harashtra when Eknath Shinde ditched Udéhav Thackeray and partnered with the BUP. The BUP undoubtedly has a shrewd strategy cometo power on te ‘wn inthe next Assembly election and also grab more Lok Sabha seats and regain its lost legacy of ruling Maha: rashtra on its own, It will be able to ‘eonquer” States as long as there are spineless and shameless paliticians ready to abandon their political parties and betray the people who voted for them. The anti-defection law must Be made mare stringent. MY. SHARIFF (HENNA ANNOUNCEMENT Letters, wher by sutace mall or emt, 7FRONTLINE 20108 soto FromtheKesnrananda haraicase | From MaryKon'smedalin the {eros Tiger tthe JPrmaement, __Linaon Grn othe she Inde twstmaccartstandmore eden gemenetsaton, snd mare 1900s nea hats ee eoiroR’s note 3 Inds sth destiny é e i EPOCHAL MOMENTS 1960s on From Prakash Poduane'swnto—-*Fromthe farmers aptatontothe India winning the Wortd Cup, the death of Fr Stan Swamy, and the ‘roll-out of the first Maruti car, and Lee pee INTERVIEW ann esnpomaiion of herwrared > Rajmohan Gandhi speaks to oer E epee: ‘Manu S. Pillai co Kashmir to Inala, to Mahatma Gandhi's death the Constituent ‘Assembly adopting the Constitution, PHOTO ESSAY Defining moments and more captured intime 0 wen From the ant-Mandalagitations to TIMELINE ‘Advani's rath ata, economic Environment 80 reforms, the arrival of satelite Science 2 channels the Y2K moment, and Gender 86 ioe Labour 7 ‘si, so-s6 Sinema 2 From the establishment of ina’s an * fest IT to the story of Ar Ina, the BooKs fest mio metat eho nd Meee tain ‘violent beth * 19605 ae Sahitya Akademi: Scripting eae 5 Ps 2 cultural continuum 12 rom rom Sharmila bepinnng her fntranslatin: Speaking we fast to the Gujarat riots, the in tongues Speke 105, . MENREGA scheme, the Foret Fronting beck selecion 108 Saas Rights Act, ard more J ouz 1m From the establishment ofthe Fito Incas ist rocket, LETTERS 4 Operation Flood the Green Revolution, and more Hisar For subscription queries and deliver elated ies Contac: Pan-Inda Toll Free Ne, 1800 102 1878 orcustemercaresthehad cen eles weceniteetV iret ogists Wa as Baga St nna Sun cha sno a Pres SDR SL cp nrimeencg Mima rump farm Rost oare aaron oma ‘vernal mer A oso Silat tdeteenstecmsteeatsbsnae’” Fretineiadeae ' FRONTLINE — AUGUST 36,2022A moment comes, which comes but rarely India arrived at her tryst with destiny 75 years ago, and in his historic speech that midnight, Nehru said that India had never forgotten the ideals that gave her strength. Can we still say the same? Did we sti ick to the chosen path or did we stray? To find out, Frontline picked the inflection points that have shaped the country after 1947, the moments when a butterfly flapped its wings, the moments that brought us here.AUGUST 16, 1947: Alter the Declaration of Independence, the National Flag hoisted over the Red Fortin Delhi by Jawaharlal Nehru,Maharaja Hari Singh igns Instrument of Accession ON October 26, 1947, Maharaja Hari Singh of Jammu and, Kashmir signed the Instrument of Accession with India, thereby ending the intense angling for that princely state by rival players India and Pakistan. The prelude to it was an intricate maze of bureancratic jostling, uncertainty, simulation of friendship by vested parties, indecision, and finally a tribal raid. Karan Singh, the Maharaja's son and then the heir apparent of J&K, framed it thus: “Death and destruction were fast approaching Srinagar, our smug world had collapsed around us. ‘After the British left the Indian subcontinent on August 14, 1947, the princely state of J&K had remained independent for 73 days. Maharaja Hari Singh was already in the thick of internal disturbances, with multiple uprisings against his Dogra reign, most notably in 1865, 1924, and 1931, He also faced a formidable challenger in Sheikh Abdullah of the National Conference. The National Conference, earlier called the Muslim Conference, was influenced by the Reading Room Party of 1931, an anti-Dogra group of left-wing Muslim intellectuals, ‘The Muslim majority in the princely state found the ‘Maharaja’ reign authoritarian, In the words of Kashmiri author P.N. Bazaz, “Dogra rule has been a Hindu Raj.” Maharaja Hari Singh thought of independence because, according to American Indologist William Norman Brown, “He disliked becoming part of India, which was being demoeratised, or Pakistan, which was Muslin, (On August 12, 1947, J&K petitioned India and Pakistan fora standstill agreement, which Pakistan signed but India refused, asking the Maharaja to send a representative for discussions. With every passing day, the Maharaja's position became more precarious. As early as June 1947, about 60,000 ex-army men (mostly from Poonch) had started a no-tax campaign against the Maharaja. On August 11415, Muslims in Pooneh hoisted Pakistani flags, provoking the imposition of martial law and further angering Muslim subjects. Pakistan was sending warning notes to the Maharaja, one on August 24 reading: “Should Kashmir fail to join Pakistan, the gravest possible trouble will inevitably ensue.” The worst fears of the Dogra ruler came true when on October 22, Pakistan launched Operation Gulmarg by mobilising tribals from the North-West Frontier Province. “About 2,000 tribesmen, armed with modern weaponty, raided Muzaffarabad, By the evening of October 23, they hhad captured Domel. Gathi and Chinari fell over the next two days. Then their main column proceeded towards Uri, and then, along the Jhelum river towards Baramulla, the entry point to Srinagar. (On October 24, Maharaja Hari Singh appealed to India for military aid to flush out the raiders. India obliged but not before the Instrument of Accession was signed on. Cctober-26. It limited India's powers aver the Valley to matters of defence, communications, and foreign allars,1947 Devadasi Abolition Act WITHIN two months of Independenee, the ‘Madras Presidency passed the Madras Devadasis (Prevention of Dedication) Act, ‘known as the Devadasi Abolition Act, 1947. Former colonists and the Indian elite saw the system as immoral, a social evil. The legislation’s goal was to prevent young girls from being exploited by being dedicated to ‘temples and to help older Devadasis integrate into mainstream society. The community, however, strongly opposed the legislation, saying they were respectable and learned artistes and that laws such as these would put them out of work as well as give a negative connotation to their profession. ‘As the dance of the traditional practitioners ‘was sanitised, the modern version of Bharatanatyam was born—a dance suited to a newly independent nation anxious about its morals. Rukmini Devi Arundale (along with E. Krishna Iyer) was credited with removing the ‘eroticism from Sadir and making it “respectable”. ‘As dance became acceptable for upper-caste ‘maidens to practise, Bharatanatyam became ‘hugely popular. In parallel, the original dancers lost their craft and were forced to seek alternative means to support themselves. Between the anti-nauteh movement of the early 1900s and the Devadasi Abolition Act, the ‘community was erushed. And, as some scholars hhave pointed out, the Act spelt the death knell ‘THE CONTEMPORARY FORM of Bharatanatyam is a sanitised Pach eet al arte ea Veron the cance rm fe ereston protons dance equalent othe shuting down of ‘Belasarswat who care from a family of traditional artistes, widely regarded asthe greatest exponent of Bharatanatyam in post-Independence India. Although the Act prevented puble performances, Balasaraswat took advantage ofthe revivalist movement perform and teach Bharatanatyam in its pure form for nearly ive decades. ‘The Madras Act paved the way forthe Andhra Pradesh Devadasi Prevention of Dedication At) in 1947, the Karnataka Devauas (Prevention of Dedication) Act in 1982, and the Maharashtra Sytem Abolition ‘Act, 2006. In spite ofthe laws and. rehabilitation schemes in plac, reports filed ss recently as 2016 with the National Commission for Women and media reports indicate that ass bes tmmerona ees offeror Dero ‘who have become destitute and, worse, thatthe AGROUP OF DEVADASIS cressedinuhite poses nfrontofa _—_—Praetice continues ina tragically exploitative ‘marquee before a performance in Madras inthe early 0th century, form. FRONTLINE AUGUST 36,303 101948 Mahatma falls to assassin’s bullets INDIA had not been independent for even six months and was still in the midst of vicious communal violence following Partition when Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated by Nathuram Godse. Godse was a radical Hindu who blamed him for his “constant and ‘consistent pandering of Muslims”. Godse, a Brah from Poona (now Pune) and a member of the Hindu Mahasabha, stated later that he was also provoked by Gandhi's “last pro-Muslim fast’, [which] “at last ‘goaded me to the conclusion that the existence of ‘Gandhi should be brought to an end immediately” Gandhi undertook this fast on January 13, 1948, insisting thatthe newly formed Government of India release the money owed to Pakistan. He ended it on January 18. According to a report in The Hindu announcing Gandhi's death, the “Father of the Nation” was shot at 5:12 pm and he died 15 minutes later. Gandhi was at Birla House (subsequently converted into a museum) in Delhi and was on his way to his scheduled prayer meeting which was slated to begin at 5 pm. As Gandhi walked to the prayer mandap leaning on the shoulders ‘THE FUNERAL PROCESSION of MchondasK. Gandh in Dah of Ava Gandhi and Manu Gandhi, his grand daughter-in-law and grandniece, respectively, Godse walked up to him, bowed his head and said, “You are late today for prayer.” Gandhi replied, “Yes, Lam.” At that moment Godse pumped three bullets into the frail body of the 79-year-old leader, considered almost a saint by millions of followers. hi, who had survived five assassination attempts prior to Godse’ fatal action, had said two days earlier: “If Tm to die by the bullet of a mad man, I ‘must do so smiling. God must be in my heart andl on ry lips. And if anything happens, you are not to shed a single tear." Aer the assassination, an overwhelmed Jawaharlal Nehru addressed the nation by radio; “Friends and comrades, the light has gone out of our lives, and there is darkness everywhere, and I do not quite know what to tell you or how to say it. Our beloved leader, Bapu as we called him, the father of the nation, is no more.” ‘Nathuram Godse was hanged to death along with his accomplice Narayan Apte while six others were sentenced to life imprisonment. ARer Gandhi's death, India lost a certain pact with tolerance, truth, and non-violence that he had coaxed it to accept.1948 Damodar Valley Corporation NEHRU ASKED BUDHNI MEJHAN, 15,a worker on the dam site to press the ‘tion to signal the start of operations at Panchet. (Right) The upstream face of the Tilaiya dam, the DVC's frst darn, which was builtin 1953. IN a sense, “the noble mansion of free India’, as Jawaharlal Nehru ‘described it in his “A Tryst with Destiny” speceh, was built in stel and ‘cement too. The Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC), established on July 7, 1988 by an Act of Parliament and the frst ofthe "multipurpose projects”, was envisioned as one of the institutions that would lay the ‘groundwork for modern India. ‘The Damodar river flowing through Jharkhand (previously part of Bihar) and West Bengal frequently caused floods. A catastrophic flood in 1943 prompted the Bengal government to appoint the Damadar Flood Enquiry Committee, which proposed the formation of an authority similar tw the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) inthe US and the construction of| ‘dams and reservoirs. ‘VC has a network of four dams—Tilaiva and Maithon on the Barakar, anchet on the Damodar, and Konar on the Konar—and the Durgapur barrage. The first dam on the Barakar was built in 1953. According to its 2020-21 annual report, DVC's command area is 24,235 ‘4, km, and its total installed capacity from thermal, hyde, and solar power is 7107.2 MW. It provides power to eight States, with transmission lines ‘extending to 8,390 eireut kilometres. In terms of water management, DVC ‘has 2,494 km of canals and a flood reserve capacity of 1172 million eubie ‘metres and an itsigation potential of 3.64 lakh hectares, “Temples of modern India” such as these, as Nehru called them in his speech at the inauguration of the Bhakra Nangal dam on the border of Punjab and Himachal Pradesh in 1954, may have been central to nation-building in the early days of Independence to “leap across the righty moat of poverty", but many’ were sacrificed atthe altar of ‘development. Budhini Mejhan represents them. ‘On December 6, 1959, at the inauguration of DVC’ fourth dam (Panehet), Nehru asked a worker on the site, the 15-year-old Budbni to press the button to signal the start of operations. She also garlanded him, for which act she was excommunicated from her village, for in their eyes she had effectively married Nehru. In 1962, she also lost her job at DVC. ‘The displacement and impoverishment of tribal populations such as ‘Budhni's has largely gone unnoticed. Was Nehru, as is widely assumed, an ‘ardent supporter of large projects? Actually, he ritially evaluated the impact of modera engineering structures on river valleys and later labelled them “a disease of gigantisn” 1948 Films Division “THE Films Division of India was independent and pretlevsion India’s window on itself The socessor to the Film Advisory Board (1940), Films Division made documentaries, newsreels, shorts and animation films that recorded the steps the fledgling nation was taking Tis archives area treasure trove ofthe initial decades of independence when there was no ‘other agency recording these. Its short films and newsrecls used to be shown at movie halls before the film started playing. ‘Although Films Division was primarily a propaganda machine, its animated shorts such as Ek Chidiya,Anek Chidiyan were classies. also produced several ‘extraordinary documentaries such as Mani Kaul’ Siddheshwari and M.P. Husain's Through the Eye ofa Painter ‘OnMareh 30,2022, the government announced the tmerger of India's four fm medi tnits into the National Fim Development Corporation. Now, Films Division, Directorate of lm Festivals, National Film Archive of India, and Children's Film Society of tndia ae all ‘under one umbrella, causing some concerns about quality and invisible censorship. FRONTLINE — AUGUST 36,303 12Constituent Assembly adopts Constitution “Constitution is not a mere lawyers’ document, itis a vehicle of Life, and its spirit is alwoaye the spirit of Age.” Dr BR. Ambedkar. ‘WE the people of India”... “in our Constituent Assembly this twenty-sixth day of November, 1949, do hereby adopt, enact and give to ourselves this Constitution.” That is what the Preamble to the Constitution says and it isa testament to the foresight and wisdom of the Constitution framers that they provided the nation with a document that guarantees the rights of every citizen and upholds the democratic principles of human dignity, equality, and freedom, e disappeared, the and even served When many other constitutions has Indian one has stood the test of tim as a model for many others. In many ways, India’s Constitution is unique. When voting rights were being debated in many other countries, one provision of the Constitution was almost ‘unanimously approved: the right to vote forall adult , regardless of religion, caste, edueation, gender, or income. Set against the backdrop of Parttion’s framers cit violence, the document also demonstrates th intention to create a country where not only minorities would be safe, but religious identity would have no bearing on citizenship rights, The Constitution was drafted over a period of 2 ‘signs the Constitution at the final session ofthe Constituent Assembly on January 24, 1950. years, 11 months, and 17 days from December 9, 1946. ‘Members of Parliament signed it on January 24, 1950, and it eame into foree on January 26, 1950. ‘The Constituent Assembly had established a Drafting Committee led by Dr B.R. Ambedkar on August 29, 1947. In October 1947, Sir B.N, Raw finished the first draft. Almost every clause included ‘marginal notes citing similar provisions in other constitutions or the Government of India Act, 1935. On February 21, 1948, the Drafting Committee delivered a Revised Draft Constitution to Rajendra Prasad, President of the Constituent Assembly, following discussion of each article in Rau’s original draft. A Special Committee examined the text and the Drafting Committee reconvened in October to evaluate it. Ambedkar then presented a new report to the President of the Assembly. On November 4, 1948, the Assembly received the Draft Constitution. The debate on it went on for over a ‘year before the document was adopted on November 26,1949. Its interesting to note that India’s Constitution is the longest in the world, with 448 Articles in 25 Parts and 12 Schedules now. Nehru commissioned Prem Behari Narain Raizada, a calligrapher, to write the first copy by hand and Shantiniketan artists decorated it.1949 Lata Mangeshkar arrives as the voice of Ini INacavernous mansion on astill, —p dark night, a lady in white hauntingly sings Aayega, aayega, caayega/ Aayega aanewala, caqyegd. (He who must come will ‘come). Madhubala’s beauty is as poignant as Lata Mangeshkar's voice. Although Mangeshkar had sung for movies before, it was ‘Mahal that gave her instant stardom and made her the “Nightingale of India’, a title that remains hers even after her passing ‘earlier this year. Reportedly, female playback singers were acknowledged in a film's eredits ‘only after Lata was first given this honour in Mahal. Following Mahal, Lata Mangeshkar would become ‘the most sought-after playback singer in Bollywood, winning top honours like the Dadasaheb Phalke Award and the Bharat Ratna, besides several Filmfare Awards. Yet success did not come easy. Mangeshkar’s voice represented. “clean performative femininity,” devoid of any dangerous sexuality. ‘Sensuality and mischief were not ‘considered womanly qualities. Hindi film music had found its perfect female icon, Lyrieists would later compose songs with Mangeshkar's perfectly high voice in mind. Ske sang in over 1,000 films and recorded an sated 30,000 songs in 18, Indian languages. Inthe early 80s, the Guinness World Records listed hher as the most recorded voice in the world. In later interviews, Mangeshkar said that Aayega aancwaala’ was a technically difficult song based on the swar sadhana technique, which she had mastered with practice. In the opening lines, the voice seems to come from a distance; it gets louder gradually. To ereate this effect at atime when technology Before Mahal, Mangeshkar had queens of female playback at that was still basic, Mangeshkar ‘been rejected by several music time. But ‘Aayege aanewala’ reportedly placed the mie at the directors, who considered her voice changed! all that, creating a voice _centre of the recording room, ‘too thin compared to the throaty _that embodied chastity and pliant __ started singing at a remove and nasal timbre of Noor Jehan, youth, virtues that the Indian male walked towards it till she reached ‘Mubarak Begum or Shamshad ‘desired in the perfect woman. As the plaintive crescendo. The result Begum, who were the reigning 1950 India’s first IIT ‘THE Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur was India’s first IIT. Set up in May 1950, it started functioning from an address in Calcutta but shifted to Hijli in West Bengal’s Medinipur district in September ‘that year. The setting up of a world-class institution for the imparting of technological education was part of the Nehruvian vision of making India self-sufficient in knowledge acquisition. ‘Trying to recover from 200 years of colonial rule that did not significantly nurture domestic industry or enterprise, newly independent India needed to industrialise, Technology and technologists naturally had an important role to play in this journey. Also, India had a Prime Minister who was, in Ramachandra Guha's words, “fascinated by modern science”. Fostering scientific temper and hamessing science toalleviate poverty and increase productivity were important objectives of his government. This was what, led to the establishment of the first ITT. Five more were inaugurated between 1954 and 1964. India's ITTs have now become a byword for engineering excellence. Like some scholars claim, Lata was unforgettable, the new research laboratories that were set up under ‘Nehru’s watch, not as part of existing universities but independently, the IITs were meant to foster the country’s indigenous technical and scientific capabilities. This stress on scientific and technological research was reflected in the gross national product from 0.1 per cent of the GNP spent on scientific research at the time of Independenee, it rose within a decade to 0.5 per cent and later to over I per cent of GNP. IIT Kharagpur functioned from the Hijli Detention Camp, which had been set up in 1930 to detain those participating in the freedom struggle. The first session started in August 1951 with 224 students and 42 teachers, The formal inauguration, by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, happened on August 18, 1951. Nehru laid the foundation stone for the new building in March 1952. In September 1956, Parliament passed the Indian Institute of Technology (Kharagpur) Act, which declared ITT Kharagpur an institute of national importance.1950 Freedom of the press ‘TWO cases decided by the Supreme Court in 1950, Romesh Thapar vs ‘State of Madras and Brij Bhushan vs ‘State of Delhi, helped define the rights ‘of the press and also prompted the first amendment to the Constitution. ‘The Madras government had banned the Cross Roads magazine under the Madras Maintenance of Public Order Act, 1949. Romesh ‘Thapar, the editor, argued that it Violated Article 19 of the Constitution (ight to free speech and expression). "The court found: “Unless a law restricting freedom of speech and ‘expression is directed solely against ‘the undermining of the security of the state or the overthrow of it, such law ‘cannot fll within the reservation under Clause (2) of Article 9 [on reasonable restrictions..." In Brij Bhushan, the Chief ‘Commissioner of Delhi issued a “pre-censorship order” on Organiser ‘on March 2, 1950. Brij Bhushan, its printer and publisher, petitioned the ‘Supreme Court, which overturned the Chief Commissioner's order, and ruled that imposing pre-censorship on a {journal constituted a restriction on. press freedom. ‘Vallabhbbai Patel ina letter to Nehru on July 3, 1950, wrote: “I drew ‘your attention to the Supreme Court ‘decision in Cross Roads and Organiser ‘eases. That knocks the bottom out of most of our penal laws for the control and regulation ofthe press. The views ‘which they have expressed... make it doubtful whether we ean do anything. not only about the speeches of Syama Prasad Mookerjee [incendiary speeches against the backdrop of the Nehru-Liaquat pact] but also those of ‘the more extremist type. ~. My own feeling is that very soon we shall have to sit down and consider constitutional amendments.” Sure enough, in June 1951, the Constitution (First Amendment) Bill, amended Article 19(2) to include three new restrictions on the right to free speech. These were “public order’, “friendly relations with foreign states”, and “incitement to an offence”. de LP all PRESIDENT RAJENDRA PRASAD inaugurated the Games in New Delhi 1951 First Asian Games IN March 1951, India played host tothe ist Asian Games. It was a rematkable achievement fora country that had won its freedom from colonial rule less than three years ago and was still recovering from the violence and horror that accompanied the country’s partition, Not only did India successfully host what is considered the second-largest multi-sport event inthe world after the ‘Olympics, it also performed admirably in the sporting events, ‘coming second inthe overall medal tally. “The Games were originally scheduled to take place a 1950, but ‘were postponed by a year. On March 4, 1951, President Rajendra Prasad opened the Asian Games atthe Dhyain Chand National Stadium in Deli. total of 489 athletes representing 11 nations took part in 37 events across eight sports. Japan topped the medals tally, winning 60 medals, including 24 god, while India came second with 51 medals, including 15 gold and 20 bronze. This is the highest ranking India has ever achieved in the Asian Games. The closest it eame again was inthe 1962 Games at Jakarta, when it ‘came third in the overall medal tally. ‘The idea ofa sporting event for Asian countries was first ‘discussed atthe Asian Relations Conference in New Delhi in 1947, just before Independence. The following year, the International ‘Olympic Committee proposed to revive the Far Eastern ‘Championship Games, a biennial event that been held between 1919 and 1994, Guru Dutt Sondhi, the Indian Tnternational ‘Olympic Committee (IOC) representative, suggested a more inclusive Games. “The Asian Games Federation was established on February 13, 1949, and continued until 1981, when itwas replaced by the ‘Olympic Council of Asia. An Organising Committee was formed under the leadership of Yadavindra Singh, the last ruling Maharaja ‘of Patiala and president ofthe Indian Olympic Association. The secretary was Anthony Stanislaus de Mello, one ofthe founders of ‘the Board of Control for Cricket in India. ‘The logo for the first Asian Games was a red sun with a white circle in the middle; 11 rings, one for each participating nation, formed a semicircle under the sun. 6 FRONTLINE ~ AUGUST6, 30321953 Do Bigha Zamin WHEN Bimal Roy made Do Bigha Zemin in 1953, he was a relative newcomer to the Bombay film industry. It was an unusual film to make in Bombay. It told the story of a poor man eking out living on the city streets and had no opulent settings, dream sequences, middle-class moral point, nor fairy-tale features. In the first Indian Filmfare awards in 1954, Do Bigha Zamin bagged prizes for best picture and best director. It also became the first Indian film to win the Prix Internationale in the 1954 Cannes Film Festival. The New Wave in cinema was launched. Like Satyajit Ray, another New Wave luminary, Bimal Roy was influenced by Italian Neorealism and fascinated by Vittorio de Sica’s 1948 film, Bicycle Thieves. His attempt was to capture ‘everyday realities faithfully through the eamera. ‘Do Bigha Zamin was followed by Ray's Pather Panchali in 1955, Ritwik Ghatak’s Meghe Dhaka Tara in 1960, Mrinal Sen's Biuccan Shome in 1969, and in their wake Adoor Gopalakrishnan, G, Aravindan, Mani Kaul, Balu Mahendra, and several others, together creating a formidable body of Indian A STILL FROM DO BIGHA ZAMIN New Wave cinema. featuring Balraj Sahni and Nirupa Roy. 1953 Andha Yug and Theatre of Roots IN Dharamvir Bharati’ pathbreaking Hindi These playwrights attempted to decolonise Indian play, Andha Yug (1953), the story of the Kurukshetra drama not by discarding Western models altogether war echoes the horrors of Partition, both bbut by synthesising them with folk traditions and ‘encapsulated in the cry, “What is this peace you have Sanskrit aesthetic theory as codified in Natyashastr given us, god”. Andha Yug achieved iconic status: ‘The epies Ramayana and the Mahabharata, with their Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru watched a simple grandeur, also served as guides. Girish Karnad’s, production directed by Ibrahim Alkazi against the play Hayavadana (1971) is based on backdrop of the ruins of Delhi’s Feroz Shah Kotla in both Kathasaritsagara and Thomas Mann's 1963. Combining Western dramatic traditions with novella The Transposed Heads. It opens with aan Indian epie, Andha Yug is an early example of the the sutradhar addressing the audience, in a nod ‘Theatre of Roots movement, which gai to Natyashastra, and yet its theme of loss and search ‘momentum in the 1960s and 1970s, spearheaded by for identity is universal the likes of Ratan Thiyam, Girish Karnad, KN, The stress of Theatre of Roots on the local rather Panikar, Habib Tanvir, among others. than the global resulted in the foregrounding of regional language theatre, Karnad wrote his plays in Kannada and translated them into English himself, The plays of Mohan Rakesh, Badal Sirear, Vij Tendulkar were translated into other Indian languages as wel as in English, creating a national theatre ‘movement, The establishment of Sangeet Natak Akademi in 1953 helped matters as its troupes took folk performances to Delhi and the other metropolises. NN, Sreekantan Nair coined the term thanathunatakavedi, meaning “one's own theatre", to describe the phenomenon. ‘The influence of Brecht is palpable, as is the presence of indigenous theatre forms, which tend to use non-linear narratives and a multiplicity of voiees to look at a particular story from different perspectives. There's a stress on spectacles, which break the illusion of realism. Another feature isthe preference for closed and open spaces over proscenium theatre so that actors are in close contact with the audience. The movement shaped Indian theatre as we know it today. ‘A PRODUCTION OF ANDHA YUG organised by the Sahitya Kala Parishad and the Delhi government in 20111953 Air India nationalised ‘THE story of Air India is about how a Tata founded an airline, oly to have the government take it over, and how another government returned it tothe Tatas after strugeling to run it for nearly 70 years. ‘The Indian government nationalised the private airline in 1953, ran it with taxpayer money, repeatedly underwrote losses after 2007, putit up for sale, and finally handed itto one of the bidders, the ‘Tata group. ‘When Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy (JRD) Tata set ‘up India’s first private commercial airline in 1932, it ‘was viewed with wonder. On October 15 that year, he piloted Tata Air Services first flight, from Karachi to ‘Mumbai, and thus began the story of commercial aviation 15 years before Independence. In 1938, JRD Tata named the company Tata Airlines, and later Air India. In June 1948, it started ‘service to London. Four years later, the Planning ‘Commission recommended to the government that ‘the airlines be nationalised. In 1959, Parliament passed the Air Corporations Act, enabling the merger of all airlines into two ‘corporations owned and operated by the ‘government. Nine airlines operated in India then: Air India, Air Services of India, Airways (India), Bharat Airways, Decean Airways, Himalayan Aviation, Indian National Airways, Kalinga Airlines, and Air India International. The result was a ‘monopoly for Indian Airlines and Air India. JRD ‘Tata was chairman of the government venture. He held the post for over two decades, despite a few ‘unpleasant incidents with politicians. ‘When the airline was finally picked up again by the Tata group last year, it marked the biggest disinvestment of a government-owned asset, 1953 Andhra created FOUR days after the death of Potti Sreeramulu, Nehru announced the decision to create Andhra. Sreeramulu had fought hard fora separate State for Telugu speaking people. And on October 1, 1953, Nehru inaugurated the Andhra State. Soon, several movements for linguistie States, cropped up. In 1953, the States Reorganisation Commission (SRC) was announced to examine the question “objectively and dispassionately”, The final decision for linguistic reorganisation was taken on. popular demands despite fears that it could lead to fissiparous tendencies, ‘The SRC was mindful of the Indian Statutory Commission's views that “it is neither possible nor desirable to reorganise States on a single test of either language or culture", and it postulated a balanced approach, It submitted its report in 1955 and the States Reorganisation Act was passed in 1956, ‘The report categorised the States into three parts. Part A was 216 states constituted as provinces; Part B ‘was 61 States constituted into centrally administered units; Part C was 275 States integrated to form special administrative units Hyderabad, Mysore, and Jammu and Kashmir were left out ofthe process. 1n 1956, the seventh ‘Amendment to the Constitution collapsed these various parts into part A (States) and part B Union Territories), and 14 States and six UTs were formed. 9 POTTI SREERAMULU 71954 The three Akademis JUST before Independence, the Royal Asiatie Society in Bengal had proposed the formation of a National Cultural Trust to preserve and promote India’s artistic heritage. “After freedom, the proposal ‘was pursued by the Government of India, who ‘convened a series of conferences to work out the ‘details. Consensus emerged in favour of establishing three National Academies: one of letters, another of visual arts, and a third of dance, drama and music,” says a Sahitya Akademi document. In the 1950s, painters, dancers, singers, and actors began to persuade governing leaders to ‘The Sangeet Natak Akademi (SNA) was the first of the three to be established in 1953, followed shortly by Lalit Kala Akademi (LKA) and Sahitya Akademi SA). ‘Against the backdrop of the ongoing cultural renaissance of those years, the role of the ‘Akademis was and still is to revive, preserve, and patronise Indian art, dance, musi, and literature, Awards given by each academy continue to be the highest recognition for an artist in India ‘SNA supports India’s rich legacy of performing arts that goes back many centuries. It remains an important centre for music, dance, and drama. ‘Over time, SNA set up several State centres. Its archives, which includes music, films, and costumes, is considered the most comprehensive collection of material on the Indian performing arts, Lalit Kala Akademi, also known as the National Academy of Art, was established in 1954. Its ‘objectives include providing space for exhibitions, fellowships, awards, and taking art shows to foreign shores. LKA used to have the interesting task of baying art for the country’s collection, and almost ‘every well-known Indian artist has been associated. with LKA at some point in their eareer. LKA’s ambitious Triennale, which debuted in 1968, ‘established India as an art destination, ‘The Sahitya Akademi’s primary role is to keep alive and support the country’s literary traditions ‘and works in 24 languages, Its centres consistently host seminars, dialogues, and readings across the ‘country. Involved in translations and publications, SA has published 6,000 books since its inception, AN ARTWORK atthe frst Trennale, 1968 1956 Free meals for schoolchildren in Tamil Nadu WHEN Chief Minister K. Kamaraj brought in a free ‘meal Scheme to all panchayat- and government-run primary schools in Tamil Nadu in 1956-57, he was reforging an earlier idea, On November 17, 1920, The Hindu reported that the Chennai Corporation council, hhad unanimously decided to provide “tiffin” to a local school in Chennai. The rationale was that the students ‘were poor and it was not expensive (one anna for a student) to feed them. Shortly, the school noticed an inerease in student attendance. ‘Kamaraj’s scheme was aided partly by the US. voluntary organisation CARE, The government contributed an anna and a half for each student; the rest came from CARE and local people. This modest ‘midday meal scheme would soon grow into a game changer for school attendance and children's nutrition across India. And would become a working model for ‘many countries to emulate, In 1982, M.G. Ramachandran, the then Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, included anganwadi children as well tothe scheme in addition to primary school students. And two years later, the government extended it toall schoolchildren across the State. K. KAMARA serving gruel at a school in Sri Devas agricultural farm at Katpadi, on October 29,1954. He introduced free meals inallpanchayat-and = ‘government-run primary schools in Tamil Nadu in 1956-57.A controversy arose in the 1980s when the scheme was named after M.G, Ramachandran, with Congress workers protesting because Kamaraj had pioneered the ‘scheme and they wanted it to bear his name, But MGR’s party; the Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, did not budge. Later Chief Ministers, including M, Karunanidhi, Jayalalithaa, and M.K. Stalin, tried to incorporate extra nutrition into the meal to improve the scheme. In July 2022, Stalin introduced a breakfast scheme as well for ‘students across the State. While in neighbouring Kerala, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan inaugurated a scheme on August 1, 2022, to provide milk and eggs two days a week to preschool children in State anganwadis inthe State. Tn India, where State governments draw up and implement welfare programmes, the nutritious noon. ‘meal project is unique. It was thought up at the local level, implemented at the State level, and later scaled up to the national level. “According to the Union government's school ‘education website: “Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman, earlier known as the National Programme of | Mid-Day Meal in Schools, is one of the foremost rights-based Centrally Sponsored Schemes under the National Food Security Act, 2013. The primary objective of the scheme isto improve the nutritional status of children studying in classes I-VIII in eligible schools.” 1956 Voice from the sky AKASHVANI BHAVAN in New Delhi “YEH Akashoani hai.” Right from its signature tune to its news bulletins, talk shows, phone-ins, radio plays, farm shows, sports commentary, and late night Indian classical music, Akashvani evokes a universal emotion. It was in 1956 that All India Radio (AIR), established in 1936, became Akashvani. ‘Rabindranath Tagore had reportedly written a ‘poem titled “Akashvani” forthe launeh of Caleutta’s short wave service; Akashvani in Sanskrit means “voice from the sky”, Akashvani was also the name of | asmall radio station that began broadcasting from the home of a retired professor, M.V. Gopalaswami, in Mysore on September 10, 1935. Broadcasting in India predates AIR by nearly a decade, inthe shape of the Indian State Broadeasting Service, which was taken over by the ‘government on June 8, 1936, and renamed All India Radio. AIR had only six stations in 1947 (Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta, Madras, Tiruchirapalli, and Lucknow), covering 11 per cent of the population and 2.5 per cent ofthe country’s area. When AIR became Akashvani, thanks to transistor technology, radios had become ‘commonplace by then. In 1957, the Vividh Bharati ‘Service was launched, featuring film musie ‘programmes besides classical concerts, Today, ‘Akashvani is one of the world’s largest networks, Its ‘programmes from the External Services Division are broadcast in 11 Indian and 16 foreign languages, reaching more than 100 countries. Its 470 broadeasting centres cater to 99.19 per cent ofthe population and cover nearly 92 per cent ‘of the country. The radio service is now used for storm warnings and erop cultivation techniques, dispelling rumours in conflict zones, assisting immunisation drives, and. entertainment. Its News: broadcasts 647 bulletins daily for 56 hours in 90 languages/dialects in its Home, Regional, External, and DTH Services. Ifany technological advancement transformed India teuly into a “global village’, it was Akashvani, 71959 A signal development LONG before news was a “product” and the viewera “customer”, there was Doordarshan. A generation still sighs with nostalgia over those black-and-white, later colour, pictures that changed with the vagaries of the weather, wavy at times and grainy at others; the antenna the entire family helped fix; the news readers; Chitrahaar, and serials such as Hum Log and Buniyaad. ‘On September 15, 1959, Doordarshan (or “a glimpse ‘of all afar’, as the Prasar Bharati website describes it) was launched in Delhi using equipment from West Germany. In 1965, it began broadeasting in and around New Delhi. Mumbai and Amritsar had access by 1972, and seven more cities were added three years later. Satelite launches made it possible to broadeast on a national seal. In the mid 1970s, the Satellite Instructional Television Experiment helped develop both entertainment programmes as well as information ‘capsules on agriculture, health, and family planning. ‘On April 1976, Doordarshan, until then a part of All India Radio (AIR), became a separate Department of the Ministry of Information and Broadeasting. Currently, along with Akashvani, itis one of Prasar Bharati's divisions. ‘The coverage of the Ninth Asian Games in Delhi, which were held from November 19 to December 4, 1982, was a turning point in Indian television history. For the fist time, Doordarshan offered nationwide coverage in colour via INSAT1A. The Republic Day parade at Janpath, the thrill ofa sporting event, scenes from far-off battlefields, and summit venues kept viewers glued to their seats in the years that followed. Sunday evenings were movie time. ‘The airing of Ramayan in 1987, closely followed by ‘Mahabharat, watched by the devout with vibhuti on their foreheads, was another watershed moment in Doordarshan’s history. As critics have noted, these serials laid the groundwork fora politcal juggernaut to begin rolling. From a single studio at AIR, Doordarshan has now _grown to 66 studios across the country and operates 34 satellite channels in addition to providing a free-to-air DTH service. ‘After liberalisation, when the logic of the ‘marketplace entered the “signal area’, TV access was no longer free. India is now a hub for numerous channels, and programmes produced by both domestic and international companies. But one can still find the mandatory Doordarshan channels in various languages ‘on broadeaster bouquets. In memory of simpler times, ‘some people grab that piece of history while cchannel-surfing. 2007 photograph. 1959 Naya Theatre WHEN Habib Tanvir established Naya Theatre in 1959 with his wife, Monecka Misra, the group went (on to redefine modern Indian stagecraft. Tanvir's vast body of work revolved around issues such as nation, identity and democracy. ‘Most of Tanvir’s plays under the Naya Theatre banner were performed by actors from Chhattisgarh ‘who were largely trained in the local performative tadition of the Nacha. An oral tradition, Nacha, combines dance, music, aerobatics, and improvised dialogues to tell a story. Tanvir broke conventional ‘modes of doing theatre to usher in a new era. In his formative years, Tanvir reviewed films in English, wrote poems in Urdu, and was exposed to ‘touring Parsi theatre and all-night Nacha performances in Chhattisgarh. He joined the Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA) as an actor and director in Mumbai. He was influenced by Brecht and the Berliner Ensemble during his training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic At, the Bristol Old Vie, and the British Drama League in the UK. He set up Hindustani Theatre along with Qudsia Zaidi and ‘MS. Sathyu before establishing Naya Theatre. 11970, he revived his play Agra Bazaar, earlier staged with stadents of Jamia Millia and villagers of (Okla, Based on the life ofthe Urdu poet Nazir Akbarabadi, the remake was enacted by actors from Chhattisgarh, (Charandas Chor (1975), a satire, became his biggest hit, drawing full houses for nearly three decades across Europe and India. & film version was directed by Shyam Benegal while the play was still in production. Tanvir continued to tour with his group ‘well into his 80s and took an active interest in the ‘matters ofthe day until he died in 2009. He was rewarded in India and abroad with several accolades, including a Padma Shree, a Padma Bhushan, and a nomination to the Rajya Sabha. FRONTLINE — AUGUST 36,303 Ea1959 Panchayati Raj begins in Nagaur, Rajasthan INAUGURATING the Nagaur panchayat in Rajasthan on October 2, 1959, which was the goth birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru ‘said, “We are going to lay the foundations of democracy oF panchayati raj in our county... Ibis ‘historic event. Itis fitting that the programme of panchayati raj should be inaugurated on Mahatma Gandhi's birthday.... The progress ‘of our country is bound up with the progress in our villages.” ‘The launch of the Nagaur panchayat laid the basis for political ‘decentralisation in India, which ‘was later instrumental in strengthening people's participation in democracy atthe local level. It Drought accountability at the grass roots, and the assurance of systematic service delivery. Village-level bodies such as the panchayat date back to ancient India, During the struggle for independence, Mahatma Gandhi hhad articulated his idea of village ‘swaraj, but there was no consensus ‘on the issue when the Constitution ‘was being framed, So it was included only in the Directive Principles of State Policy and there ‘were no legislated local bodies. "The Balwant Rai Mehta ‘Committee appointed in 1957 recommended the establishment of three-tier Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIS), and they were set up in several States, Even ‘though West Bengal and later Kerala and Karnataka robustly developed PRI, it was clear that ‘these bodies were not playing an ‘effective role in rural development in many parts of the country. led to the passage of the historie 7ard and 74th Amendments to the Constitution in 1992. These mandated the creation of local ‘government institutions at the level of the village, taluk, and district, ‘with a similar structure established for towns and cities. As part of, these landmark pieces of legislation, one-third of the seats were reserved for women and reservation was also provided for persons belonging to the Schedule ‘Castes and Scheduled Tribes. PRIME MINISTER JAWAHARLAL NEHRU inaugurating the scheme of democratic decentralisation in Rajasthan, at 'Nagaur, on October 2, 1959. Under the new scheme some ofthe powers of development and administration would be transferred tothe nevdy constituted Panchayat Samits and Zita Parishads. a1960 FTIl in Pune WHENEVER you were in thrall of Shabana Azmi’s performances or were glued to Shatraghan Sinha’s ish dialogue deliver e you were ‘mesmerised by Sanjay Leela Bhansali’ larger-than-life {lms or reveled in Subhash Ghai’s quintessential ‘masala movies or Adoor Gopalaktishnan's cerebral ‘cinema, you can thank FTI, Pune, for it All these alumni, and more, have played a significant role in shaping Indian cinema as we know it. ‘When the legendary film-maker V. Shantaram. established a studio for Prabhat Films in Pune in 1933, hhe would not have imagined that more than 25 years later it would be the launch venue for another prabhat (dawn) in the annals of Indian film after the Indian _government chose this very traet of land to set up the Film Institute of India, now known as Film and ‘Television Institute of India (FTI), in 1960. (Prabhat Films had had a successful run for about two decades, after which it shut shop in the early 1950s and the ‘company’s assets were auctioned off) A department of the Ministry of Information and Broadeasting, it began organising training programmes for Doordarshan in 1971; the Television Training wing, “which was earlier operating out of New Delhi, shifted to Pune in 1974. The institute formally became FTI and gained autonomous society status. From inception the institute has been a work in progress, evolving with changing times. Students were ‘encouraged to think differently and often had the good fortune to interact with Iuminaties who visited as guest faculty. Many alumni from the 1970s and 1980s went ‘on to win laurels in both mainstream and offbeat ‘cinema, in acting, direction, cinematography and ‘editing, besides others, making immeasurable contributions to Indian cinema in general. In recent decacles the institute has created an ‘outreach department to facilitate collaboration with film schools worldwide, started courses in podeasting and new media set up the Prabhat Museum to honour the legacy of one of India’s major film production hhouses, and even inaugurated a campus community radio station called Radio FTI 90.4. Italso runs a film appreciation course every summer. —— IN FRONT OF the FTII campus, 1961 First NAM summit in Belgrade (ON SEPTEMBER 7, 1946, as vice chairman and member in charge of external affairs in the Viceroy’s Executive Couneil, Jawaharlal Nehru declared: "We propose, as far as possible, to keep away from the power politics of groups, aligned against one ‘another, which have led in the past to two world ‘wars and which may again lead to disasters on an ‘even vaster seale."It was the perfeet seript for independent India’s role on the global stage. ‘The Bandung Conference, an April 1955 meeting of Asian and African nations emerging from the yoke of their European colonial masters and refusing to ally with either of the two Cold War blocs, Iaid the groundwork for the formation of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). Despite the infighting, debates, strategic postures, and sighs of annoyance,” writes Vijay Prashad in The Darker Nations, Bandung produced something: a belief that two-thirds of the world’s people had the right to return to their own burned cities, cherish them, and rebuild them in their own image. In mid-July 1956, Yugoslavia’s Josip Broz Tito, Egypt's Gamal Abdel Nasser, and Nehru met on the island of Brijuni in the northern Adriatic Sea to spact of the Bandung Conference and ei vision for a non-aligned force. Brijuni ‘was dubbed the “Third World’ Yalta”, where Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill met in February 1945, justJAWAHARLAL NEHRU with Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt and Josip Braz Tito of Yugoslavia atthe NAM Conference in Bolgrade, before the end of the Second World War, to spheres of influence”. "If Yalta presaged the division of the world, Brijuni and Belgrade augured the creation of an association that ‘would seek more room for the darker nations,” writes Prashad. The first official NAM summit, held in Belgrade in 1961 under the leadership of Tito, Nasser, Nehru, Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, and Sukarno of Indonesia, drew delegates from 25 African, Asian, Latin American, and European countries. Participants at the eonference were united ‘emphasis on economie development and t ‘condemnation of colonialism. Nehru’s principle of “peaceful coexistence” appealed to the new nations. ‘NAM remained a moral force over the next ‘decades, refusing to intervene in Cold War te In terms of the conference's impact on the United Nations, it did draw attention to the structural disadvantages that Third World countries faced “within the organisation, which eventually led to the ‘expansion of the Security Council and the Economic and Social Council Today, the largely toothless NAM is the second-largest international organisation of states ater the UN, with 120 members. NAM countries account for nearly two-thirds of UN members and 5 per cent ofthe global population. ‘consolidate " thei 1962 Alkazi helms NSD THE Sangeet Natak Akademi appointed Ebrahim Alkazi, 37 to head the newly conceived National School of Drama (NSD) in 1962. The multifaceted and charismatic Alkavi was an established name in theatre. As NSD first director, he would east the mould for ‘modern Indian theatre and shape itinto an internationally recognised art Alkazi, who was trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, was singularly responsible for creating a radically progressive syllabus and environment that would revolutionise theatre in the country. He introduced ereative stageeraft and ceutting-edge acting techniques and fostered rigour and professionalism in the institute. People who worked ‘with him say he was known for his strict diseiplinary style of teaching but he would also mentor in a manner that influenced students to push their boundaries, During Alkazis tenure, NSD built two theatres that included outdoor seating stages, a novel idea at the time. A repository company was founded, which took productions across the country and abroad. Alkazis vision and experience catalysed NSD and its graduates into becoming the best in their trade. Well-known actors Naseeruddin Shah, Rohini Hattangadi, and the Tate Om Puri are alumni ofthe NSD. “The quality of NSD students is such that the difference between those who trained at the institute ‘and those who did not is a stark," says a theatre director in Mumbai. Ram Gopal Bajaj, a former director of the EBRAHIM ALKAZI National School of Drama, says: “Alkazi modernised Indian theatre. At the same time, however, he made us realise the importance ‘of our own roots.” Feisal Alkazi, Alkazi’s son and a well-known, a yys: “My father had a very thorough grounding in theatre. I think he took that experience and created a course that was holistic and comprehensive. He created a syllabus where you could make a career out of theatre and acting. You ean see that today. He brought a tremendous sense of discipline into the arena of theatre training and performance. He made artists responsible towards their audiences, He had an ineredible visual sense and emphasised the aural on stage.” “His productions went beyond the word. You see thatin Tuglag, Andha Yug, and Look back in Anger. He had the ability to deftly add a few light touches and boring the production to life. [know he would spend hours choosing background noises. For instance, it was important to get the right type of ericket sound for a night scene,” Alkazi says.1963 First rocket launch INDIA spaceward odyssey hegan on November \ 21,1963, with the Iauneh ofthe US Nike Apache sounding rocket from Thumba, near ‘Thiruvananthapuram, The rocket was taken to the launch ste on a bullock eat; rocket heads ‘would be cared on bieyeles. ‘The Nike Apache weighed 715 kg and reached analtitude of 207 km with a 90-Kg pasload, Cut to August 2022: India’s newest rocket, the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV), weighs 120 tonnes, is + metres long, and Gan put 500-kg satellites into a 500 km orbit. In the derades in between, Indian rocketry blazed forth, celebrating successes and learning from failures, pioneering variety of rockets aka lunch vehicles: SLV-3s, ASLVs, and PSLVs and ‘GSLVs and ther variants. With these tried and tested workhorse, no orbit—polar altitude 700 km), geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO) or low ‘earth orbit (LEO, 250 tos00 km altitude)—is beyond India’s and ISRO's reach ‘The programme provides India with a sustained self-reliant acces to space, even deep space, fuelled by slid propellant, liquid propellants or eryogenicfuids and can place in orbit a diverse range of locally built satellites for remote-sensing/earth observa ‘weather forecasting, communication, cartography, navigation, edueation (EDUSAT), ‘surveillance astronomy and ocean-monitoring ISRO's remote-sensing satelites are acknowledged as among the best in the world —as 00d asthe French SPOT or the American Landsat. ‘One other area where India took the world by surprise is with its forays into deep space, sending science missions tothe moon (2008) and Mars (aunched in 2013), Putting the Chandayaan-t spaceeraft into the moon's orbit seemed ike a piece of eake for ISRO’ engineers, but the spacecraft itself did not ive up to its targeted ite ‘of one yea. Tat said, one ofits payloads iscovered water ice onthe moon andi terrain ‘mapping camera has sent thousands of invaluable Pictures of the lunar surface. The Mars Orbiter Mission or Mangalyaan has been an unalloyed ‘suecess, with a flood of data reeived about the Red Planet. Iftoday India isa self-reliant and world-class space-faring nation, there are many to thank from, ‘that frst launch at Thumba: the US, for the ‘two-stage Nike Apache rocket; France, for the sodium vapour payload; the Soviet Union, whose Mi-d helicopter gave the range clearance; and, of == ‘course, ISRO's rocket and payload engineers. em ‘THE NIKE APACHE ROCKET being readied for launch FRONTLINE AUGUST a6 2023 7%1963 Badal Sircar’s Evam Indrajit WHEN Badal Sirear’s absurdist play Eoam Indrajit was staged in 1963, it foreshadowed the angst of the Naxalite movement and created astir in theatre circles. Sirear would later pioneer Third Theatre, which looks beyond the proscenium format and engages with the making them participate in the unfolding. action, ‘The protagonist Indrajt's frustration with his meaningless life painfully held up a mirror to the 1960s reality for Indi middle-class youth. The euphoria, and hope of the early Nehruvian ‘years was over; there was a cloud of ‘doubt in the aftermath of the loss against China in 1962; the gulf between rich and poor was ‘widening; and refugees from East Pakistan were trickling into Sirear’s home State. IL was time to introspect and that is what Indrajit does. And he finds his own life audience interactivel wanting, he: ‘theatre 1964 Karnad’s satire on Nehi ASCENE FROM Tugiag, staged at Purana Quilain Delhi IN 1964, Girish Karnad, then a young playwright, wrote Tuglag in Kannada as a challenge to show the theatre world that there was more to stageeraft than costume ‘drama. Karnad apparently sent the play to Ebrahim Alkazi, who was then the Director of the National School of Drama. Alkazi’s interest in the powerful script Ted to the play being translated into Urdu and its first staging as a student production at NSD. "Alkazi's decision to set the play against the magnificent backdrop of the ruins of New Delhi's Purana Quila in 1972 was a defining moment for not Jjust Tuglag but Indian theatre as a whole. Yet, it was EVAM INDRAJIT being performed in Chennai in May 2005. unhappy with his job, and his romance too fizzles out Indrajit is left alone in embittered and relentless questioning. When Sircar moved to what he called anganmanch or courtyard (ional theatre paraphernalia en ‘that created an illusion of reality. In 1967, he started the theatre group Shatabdi, which performed its first ‘anganmanch play Spartacus in 1972, Theatre in India in the 19th and 20th centuries was an important ite of social and political questioning. Sircar anticipated, iched and reinvented that tradition in ways that would endure. ruvian era Tuglag’s content that set it apart. It was essentially a satire on the Nehruvian era and the polities of the 1960s told through the story of ‘Mohammad-bin-Tuglag, the H4th century Sultan whose dystopian reign is documented as a spectacular failure in India’s history. Karnad captures Tuglaq’ life, his insecurities, hs eruel and violent nature, and the deranged thoughts that drove him to make decisions that failed miserably. The playwright juxtaposes ‘Tuglaq’s idealism with reality to prove his spiralling ‘madness. The subtext was elear—Tuglag was an allegory for a statesman who was losing his grip in post-independent India “It was written and staged at a time when the magic of Nehru was waning. There was a clear historical parallel, It was an important play because of Karnad’s ability to use ahistorical story and contextualise it. This format had never been seen,” says Feisal Alka, th direetor and Ebrahi Alkazis son. Documentation from the Alkazi Foundation for the Arts on the play says: “Tuglay has unfolded as a timeless play, where an episode from history has drawn significant insights into contemporary realities. The playwright depicted the polasities of the protagonist's characteristies and completed a full eirele of the narrative, from the monareh's rise to power to his downfall.”1965 Operation Flood and the NDDB ‘THE National Dairy Development Board was formed in 1965 to start farmer-run milk cooperatives across the ‘country on the lines of the Kaira Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union, popular as Brand Amul, at Anand in Gujarat’s Kheda district. The Kaira union, set up in 1946, was the product of one man's fight against traders ‘who exploited farmers That man, Tribhuvandas Kishibhai Patel, was instrumental in picking, in 1950, Verghese Kurien, who would take forward his mission of bringing about a milk revolution in India, Kurien began Operation Flood in 1970, and by the time the “milk man of India” retired as the Chairman of NDDB in 1998, India had 81,000 dairy cooperatives ‘similar to Amal. From a position of stagnant milk ‘THE AMUL TRI "YTribhuvandas Patal flanked by Verghese Kurlan and HM production in the 1950s and 1960s, India today’ contributes 23 per cent of global production (global: {906 million tonnes in 2020; India: 209.96 million tonnes, 2020-21), ‘This stupendous achievement was made possible by institutions such as the Gujarat Cooperative Milk ‘Marketing Federation (GCMMF). Set up in 1973, it has £8.64 million producer members across 18 district cooperative milk producers’ unions; collects an average 26.5 millon litres of milk a day (2021); and is the largest exporter of dairy produets in India, “The experiment spread across States, and as of 2019, India had over 1,90,000 dairy coops, with brands such as Aavin, Nandini, Vijaya, and Mother Dairy. 1966 Beginning of Green Revolution WHEN in 1966, a high-yielding, disease-resistant variant of wheat ‘as shipped into Punjab from Mexico, it was an epoch-making cevent, ushering India into the Green Revolution that would resewe it from an impending mass famine and also over-dependence on foreign aid that hindered diplomatic independence. ‘This HYV wheat was the innovation of American scientist Norman Borlaug, whose ‘accomplishments in Mexico had ‘enticed the then Indian Minister of Food and Agriculture, C. Subramanian, and his adviser, M.S. 2%1967 First regional party to form government ITWAS memorable victory nd jay itmade history. In 1967, when the ' Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam ‘government rode to power in the ‘State of Madras, it marked the ‘very first win for a regional party in India. It was also significant ‘because it established two strong Dravidian parties in Tamil Nadu, whieh to date have not ceded power to any national pasty. ‘The moment itself was not the result of an overwhelming belief in ‘a Tamil identity but came on the back of four major negative ‘developments: the Congress was ‘weakened when C. Rajagopalachari formed the ‘Swatantra Party and aligned with the DMK; anti-Hindi protests were peaking but an arrogant Union government was refusing to back down; searcity of food was at i and inflation was ‘amummunai poratiam (hree-pronged agitation), and almost all opposition politcal partis joined it in this agitation Ahead of the 1967 State legislative election, the Congress ideologue Periyar E.V. Ramasamy ‘campaigning against the DMK. But they fell to the oratory of C.N. ‘Annadurai, M. Karunanidhi, and V.R. Nedunchezhiyan, who enthralled the crowds, and to actor MG. Ramachandran, who ‘charmed the voters. ‘The grand coalition stitched by ‘ade Annadurai led the DMK to ‘win 137 of the 174 seats it contested, The Congress, which ‘contested 232 seats, managed to win only 51. Interestingly, Election ‘Commission data show that the DMK received only 40.69 per cent of the votes polled, while the Congress had a larger vote share, at 41.1 per cent. ‘The election also settled the ‘question of which ofthe two Communist parties was bigger in ‘the State. The Communist Party of India contested 32 seats and managed to win only two seats (LS per cent vote share), while the “new communist party, the ‘Communist Party of India (Marxist), managed to win 11 of the 22 seats it contested (just over 4 per cent votes polled). had changed the face ofthe party 2 This was als the year that and projected former Chief dislodged the Congress, which has Minister K. Kamaraj asitsleader; CHIEF MINISTER CN. Annaduraiat not yet recovered its presence in italsohhad Dravida Kazhagam ——_hishome in Madras, on June 3, 1967. Tamil Nadu. ‘Swaminathan, The two invited diesel pump sets, dug a record But equally, nobody anticipated Borlaug to India in 1963, and the numberof tube-wells, and the negative fallout of such an subsequent years saw deep developed the new practices intensive planting programme: ina collaborative efforts by American required tomanage the produce. _ few decades, there was loss of soil universities and Indian universities In 1968, the efforts paid off __fertility due toa focussed single inlevelling land in Punjab, the ——_biliantly. From being @ ‘erop, sol toxicity due to theatre of the Green Revolution. _ship-to-mouth shortage economy, _pestieide-dependent methods, soil Punjab, which enjoyed asteady whose Prime Minister (Lal Bahadur ‘supply of water owing to the Bhakra Shastri) had once infamously asked. ‘Nangal project and the pioneering _ Indians to miss a meal on Mondays, efforts ofthe Punjab Agricultural the country saw schools and cinema University in adapting the HYV halls being shut down to make seeds to local conditions, was storage room for surplus perhaps the only State in India at foodgrains, Rice yields too jumped that time to take advantage of the from about two tonnes per hectare new experiment. The State in the 1960s to six tonnes per _government purchased 90,000 hectare in the mid-1990s. ‘erosion, and major depletion of ‘ground water, effects that are still impacting later generations of farmers. While production of rice and wheat grew exponentially, indigenous rice varieties and millets declined, and many native erops ‘were lost forever, impacting diet habits and decreasing natural resistance in the people. a1967 Naxalbari movement 1967 Vijay IN May1967, two back-to-back eight women, two children, and . incidents ignited the Naxalbari one young man, From that point | TeNdulkar’s ‘movement, which would havea a new chapter began in Indias far-reaching impact on Indian _post-Independence history, Shantata! Court polities, society and culture. A written in fire and blood. On ‘simmering discontent was June 28, 1967, Radio Peking Chalu Aahe palpable in rural north Bengal, _joyfully announced: “A peal of and under the leadership of spring thunder has erashed over (Charu Majumdar, Kanu Sanyal, the land of India, Revolutionary Mujbur Rahman, Khokon peasants in Darjeling area have Majumdar, Jangal Santhal, and sen in rebellion.” cers, peasants from Naralbar, ‘The two incident sparked Kharbar and Phanshidews the naxal movement, turing a were organising themselves to peasant agitation into an anted forcibly seize land fom FRruggle Tt quiely spread fom x a anobscure region on the 7 Bengal-Nepal border to different f parts ofthe county. It not only fave birth to apolitical ‘movement but precipitated a ‘THE staging of Vijay Tendulkar's cultural upheaval and Marathi play, Shantata! Court Chatw ‘encouraged a new strain of “Aahe (Silence! The Court Is In Session), ‘thought and idea that still {1967 is considered a milestone in hhaunts the imagination of the Indian theatre. This powerful expose of youth, Operation “Khatam” chauvinism and hypocrisy is still (nish of), calling for the relevant, which explains why annihilation ofall class performed widely, both in Marathi and ‘oppressors, came into being and | in translation. The fist production was spread to Kolkata under the directed by Arvind Deshpande with leadership of young charismatic Sulbha Deshpande playing Leela Benare, figures like Ashim Chatterjee the lead character. (aka Kaka) and Dipanjan Ray Inspired by a conversation Tendulkar Chowdhu. heard on a train, the play within a play is ‘On April 2, 1969, the ‘ mock tral on infanticide which turns ‘Communist Party of India {nto areal trial for the female (Marxist-Leninist) was formed protagonist, who reveals to her under the leadership of Chara | colleagues that she is pregaant out of Majumdar and Saroj Dutta. The wedlock. Under the pretest of acting, her party has since split into various | male colleagues engage ina brutal factions. The nasal movement character assassination and intimidate ePUML) SUPPORTERS atthe jtselfunderwent many changes. __herto the point where she tres to flee party's 40th anniversary, Kolata's At present, it isrepresented by | from the room. Sahid Minar Maidan in 2007. ‘the Communist Party of India When the tension and passive (Maoist), established on aggression reach a climax, the players (On May 24, during an September 21,2004, through the remove their costumes and say it was all ‘operation to take overland, the merger of the People’s War an act. By that time, the woman is police arrived todisperse a| Group and the Maoist reduced toa wreck and the audience sathering of 000 protesting Communist Ceatre of India knows that whatever happened, peasants in Naxalbari, During (MCCI). Though the Maoiss' happened for rea. While drawing a the confrontation, Inspector activities are Himited to certain | parallel between actual courtroom, Sonam Wangie ofthe Naxalbari parts ofthe country, and the dramas and theatre, it asks the audience police station was struck by three naxal ideology has now largely | to judge the truth value ofboth. arrows and killed. lost its politcal and practical ‘Theatre critic Deepa Gehlot says: ‘On May 25, at Bengai Jot relevance, the Naxalbari “Like so many of his plays this was an village near Naxalbar, the police movement continues to fascinate indictment of socal hypocrisy and the ‘opened fire on acrovid of mainly scholars and common people kind of moral policing that is prevalent women protesters and killed alike. even today.” FRONTLINE AUGUST a6 2023 a1969 Banks nationalised (ON the midnight of July 19, 1969, Indira Gandhi's government nationalised 14 banks, each with reserves of more than Rs.50 erore. ‘An authorised history of the Reserve Bank of India calls the action “the single most important ‘economie decision taken by any government since 1947". It goes on ‘to state that “not even the reforms (of 1991 are comparable in their ‘consequences political, social and, of course, economi ‘The move was among several Important socialist initiatives taken by the then besieged Prime Minister to shore up her popularity as she fought to strengthen her position against the “Syndicate”, a ‘group of powerful leaders within the Congress. Indira Gandhi also wanted to regain the ground lost by the Congress in the 1967 election. HUNDREDS OF Ri ICKSHAW PULLERS congratulate Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on the nationalisation of banks, in New Delhi on July 2, 1969. Morarji Desai, who was opposed to total deposits and managed 82 per Amendment in 1971 in the face of ‘bank nationalisation, was divested cent of the bank branches in the severe opposition from the ‘of the Finance portfolio before the country. erstwhile rulers and their decision was announced. ‘Next came another populist supporters. The discontent this ‘The move increased the reach of move, which abolished the generous spawned would later add teeth to banking in rural areas. The number privy purses that were being paid to the Indian right wing. ‘of publie seetor banks was princes who had acceded to India in Inher third term as premier, increased to 22 and these 1947-48. Indira Gandhi did this by Indira Gandhi effected a second, collectively held 84 per cent of the passing the 26th Constitutional round of nationalisation in 1980. 1973 Kesavananda Bharati case IN an interview a few years before his passing in 2020, Kesavananda Bharati, the pontiff of the Edneer Mutt in ‘Kasaragod in Kerala, said that when he challenged the Kerala Land Reforms Act he never thought that the subsequent Supreme Court judgment (in Kesavananda Bharati vs State of Kerala) would become such a landmark event in the annals ofthe Indian judiciary. approached the court not beeause I lost my property but due to the feeling that what the government did ‘was not right,” he said. ‘Nonetheless, Bharatis petition led to the Kesavananda judgment, which set forth the “basic structure doctrine”. The Supreme Court pronounced on April 24, 1973—by a razor-thin majority of 7:6—that although Parliament had the power toamend any part, ‘of the Constitution of India, it could not use this power twalter or destroy the “basic structure’ of the ‘Constitution. Considering the salience ofthe issue, the ‘Supreme Court had constituted a 13-judge bench that heard the case continuously for almost five months to flesh out the relationship between the three ‘conventional branches of government. The judgment ‘meant that all constitutional amendments made henceforth would have to pass the Supreme Court's “basic structure filter’ While the basie structure of the Constitution is not defined, Chief Justice S.M. Sikri in his judgment identified what it constituted, aecording to him: the supremacy, the secular character, and the federal ‘character of the Constitution; the republican and, ‘democratic form of government; and the separation of powers between the legislature, the executive, and the Judiciary. The other judges on the bench prepared their ‘own lists of what constituted the basie structure of the Constitution. one were to indulge in a counterfactual exercise, it would perhaps not be too fantastical to imagine India descending into an authoritarian form of governance ‘with even the sanctity of the Constitution sacrificed at the altar of untrammelled political power ifthe Kesavananda Bharati judgment had allowed Parliament to amend any part of the Constitution. a FRONTLINE ~ AUGUST 6, 0221973 Project Tiger ‘TIGER CUBS at the Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve near ‘Nagpur in Maharashtra on July 29, 2019 INDIRA GANDHI launched Project Tiger on April 1, 1973, from Jim Corbett National Park in Uttar Pradesh (now in Uttarakhand). At the beginning of the 20th century, India had between 20,000 and 40,000 tigers. But hhunting had decimated the population until they numbered around 2,000 in the early 1970s. After Project Tiger, its population grew gradually, with the 2018 tiger census putting the number at 2,967. ‘The success of Project Tiger led to the Wildlife (Protection) Act of 1972 being amended, and it gradually widened the scope for the protection of other endangered species as well. Project Tiger being personally supported by Indira Gandhi gave it the kind of visibility that led to far greater publie discourse and awareness around wildlife conservation in India and the generation of. funds. Project Tiger was also about habitat conservation as the tiger is at the top of the food chain. It was initially started in nine tiger reserves, covering over 14,000 sq. km, and the objective was to ereate diverse ecosystems that would have enough space for all species to grow, feed, and procreate. The 1973 Chipko movement starts ON April 24, 1973, Gandhian social worker Chandi Prasad Bhatt rallied the women of Mandal village in the Garhwal division of what was then still part of Uttar Pradesh to stop Symonds (a company manufacturing sports products) from cutting down trees. The women embraced the trees and prevented them from being cut. ‘Their action started what became famous as the Chipko movement. ‘The forests of the area, now in Uttarakhand, had attracted timber companies in the 1960s, and the hill, slopes were being decimated by commercial logging. Local people, however, were not allowed to cut trees for fuel or fodder, Then, in 1970, the Alakananda flooded its ‘banks and the already bare slopes aggravated the disaster, causing major mudslides and landslides. Yet the logging continued unabated, For the villagers, the last straw was the government's permission to Symonds. Chandi Prasad Bhatt, well-known in the area for his cooperative organisation Dasholi Gram Swarajya Sangh, ‘mobilised the people. The Symonds permit was cancelled. Logging, however, continued. When, in 1974, forests affected by the Alakananda floods were once again earmarked for logging, it enraged the villagers and it was the women who drove out the contractors. The State set ‘up a committee, and the outcome was a 10-year ban on logging, later extended fora further 10 years. The Chipko movement gained momentum. CChipko was successful primarily because of the SUNDERLAL BAHUGUNA, who had become synonymous with the Chipko movement, wth his wife, Vira, FRONTLIN AUGUST a6 2023 3programme has now grown to include 31 tiger reserves, covering over 74,000 sq, km. But tiger deaths have also increased, with 106 ‘deaths in 2020 and 127 in 2028. "The Centre funds tiger range States and -situ conservation in some chosen reserves. ‘The reserves have been created on a eore and batfer structure, where the core is for tiger-centric activities and the buffer is for humans on the fringes ofthe forest. In the 13th Five Year Plan, Rs.1,027 crore was allotted for the project, which is administered by the National Tiger Conservation Authority. Poaching s a big problem because of the ‘demand for tiger parts. A GPS-based law ‘enforcement and ecological monitoring tool, M-STHIPES (Monitoring System for Tigers Intensive Protection and Ecological Status), Jaunched in 2010, is helping create a database of individual tigers so that seized body parts, ‘can be traced to the tigers they belong to. ‘Tigers continue to be on the IUCN Endangered lst and under Schedule 1of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. With India accounting for 70 per cent of the world’s tigers, the onus is on Project Tiger to increase ‘their numbers. simplicity of method and the involvement of local people, for whom it was about regaining control over natural resources. Their close links with the forest provided the impetus. It ‘was the women, who collected firewood and fodder, who were, therefore, at the forefront. ‘The movement is often called an eco-femini ‘movement, but the label i an external tag, For the women, it was a matter of survival. ‘The movement gained power again under co-activist Sunderlal Bahuguna, whose ‘mission was to save the Himalayan forests. He persuaded Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to Impose a 15-year ban on logging in the Garhwal-Kumaon region. ‘The spirit ofthe Chipko movement has since been assimilated into tree-saving protests around the country. One in Karnataka even took on a local name, “appiko, meaning. “embrace” in Kannada, But the frst recorded. instance of this novel way of saving trees comes from the nature-loving Bishnois of Rajasthan in the 18th century. ‘Awoman called Amrita Devi rallied other women to save the trees in her village that were being eut by the Jodhpur ruler. Neither the women nor the trees survived, but the king, stunned by their sacrifice, issued a royal decree that trees were never to be eut again in Bishnoi villages. 1973 Janam is formed JANAM, short for Jana Natya Manch or people's theatre Torum, was born at an interesting juncture in the new republic. In th easly 1970s, iizens were getting disenchanted with the unmet promises ofthe Congress made atthe time of Independence. Poverty, inflation, and ‘unemployment were high. The Indian communists were calling for reforms but were themselves at loggerheads with each other. In 1973, hungry for change, a group of young and enthusiastic members ofthe Students’ Federation of India (SFI) in Delhi formed the cultural font Janam from the vestiges of the Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA) of the 1940s, Safdar Flashmi was a founder member. With avowed sympathy for the workers’ cause, the group began to perform plas fr trade union events especially Centre of Indian Trade Union (CITU). In its inital ive years, Janam produced large-scale performances that were attended by thousands of people. Its biggest hit during that time was a political satire called Baki (Goat, directed by Kavita Nagpal ‘The dampdown during the Emergeney 0f1975 made it dificult forthe group tw continue as usual. Struggling under “financial and political * constraints, the group = began to explore the = possibilities of street © theatre, and thereafter produced performances only ‘within the bounds of what its audience members—workers and farmers—could afford. The first play under this format, ‘Machine, directed by a 24-year-old Hashmi, inaugurated a vibrant era for Janam. However, things turned ugly when on January 1, 1989, while performing a play Halla Bol inthe Jhandapur industrial area of Sabibabad, in Ghaziabad, Delbi the group was attacked by political goons allegedly patronised by the Congress, the then ruling party. A young Nepali migrant ‘worker, Ram Bahadur, was shot dead, several others injured, and Saféar Hashmi violently assaulted, his skull smashed ‘with bamboo sticks and ion rods. He died in hospital the next day. “he incident shook the nation, and over 15,000 people joined the funeral procession the following morning. Hashmi’ killing drew nationwide attention to Janam and its protest theatre. And when, just 36 hours after his death, ‘Moloyashree Hashmi, his wife, returned to Sahibabad and completed the interrupted ply, it galvanised not only the istic eommunity but also the common person on the SAFDAR HASHMI. a FRONTLINE — AUGUST 6, 20221974 JP Movement ‘THE 1970s were a shaky period. While the 1971 Victory over Pakistan appeared glossy, the many crises itengendered soon removed the sheen: over 10 million Bangladeshi refugees; widespread food ‘scarcity; galloping inflation; high unemployment; industrial unrest fanned by labour militancy and political obduraey in equal measure; and an ‘unimaginable inerease in corruption, Gujarat was one of the worst-hit States, but a ‘Congress government drunk on power—it won 140 of | the 168 seats in the 1972 Assembly eleetion—did not ‘seem to care, Students in Ahmedabad began a protest, against the increase in hostel mess fees and soon all sections of society joined in. Chimanbhai Patel, who had become Chief Minister in July 1973 replacing, ‘Ghanshyam Oza, faced their wrath. Itwas the start of the Nav Nirman movement, whose aim was threefold resignation of the Chief Minister, dissolution of the ‘Assembly, and fresh elections. ‘Students, under the banner of the Nav Nirman ‘Samiti, with the support ofthe ABVP, the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS), and the Congress (0), organised ‘bandhs and strikes until Patel stepped down on February 9, 1974. ‘The students had a visitor two days later: freedom fighter and anti-corruption erusader Jayaprakash, Narayan, He had come to support the protests and. JAYAPRAKASH NARAYAN and his supporters gather in protest ouside the Patna Secretariat in 1974 as part ofa plan to {get the legislators and Ministers in Bihar to resign ther seats and join the movement against corruption. understand how students in his home State Bihar could gain from the experience. The Bihar Rajya Sangarsh Samiti, with Lalu Prasad as president and. comprising the ABVP, the Samajwadi Yuva Jana Sabha (SYJS), and the Bihar Chhatra Sangharsh Samiti (BCSS), was at the vanguard of protests there, and came to be called the Bihar Movement or JP ‘Movement, formed to fight the excesses of the Abdul Ghafoor-led Congress government. (On March 18, 1974, an important date in the JP ‘Movement, students gheraoed the Bihar Assembly. Clashes erupted and three students died in police firing, Protests erupted across Bihar, demanding the exit of Ghafoor. When eight more students were killed in police firing on April 12, JP expanded the protests, calling for electoral reforms and probity in publie life, Simultaneously, unrest was brewing among railway workers over demands for pay revision and eight-hour shifts. Indira Gandhi was in no mood to relent but neither were the railway unions. This agitation birthed George Fernandes, who became Teader ofthe All India Railwaymen’s Federation, ‘When Fernandes called for an all India strike on May 8, he and other leaders were arrested, but on the day, atleast 70 per cent of workers did strike, bringing the country toa standstill. The reteibution was swift, with the Centre resorting to brutal repression through 2paramiltary forces. Draconian laws such as MISA ‘were used against protesters. On May 28 the strike ‘as called off, with most leaders jailed. ‘On June 5, JP called for Sampoorna Kranti CTotal Revolution) at a rally in Patna, where it was also decided to hold a satyagraha on the Assembly premises every day. Around 1,600 protesters were arrested, many detained under MISA. Students were asked to boycott classes and join the movement, ‘Meanwhile, in Gujarat, the Assembly had been dissolved after Morarji Desai went on an indefinite fast and President's Rule imposed. In June 1975, ‘elections were held after Desai went om a fast again and they brought the first non-Congress government to power in the State. Results were announced on June 12, This was also the day when the Allahabad High Court, ina petition filed by Raj Narain, set aside Indira Gandhi’s election in the 1971 general election ‘on the grounds of electoral malpractice, But she refused to resign her Rae Bat As JP began traversing Ini aanti-Congress parties and the protests intensified, Indira imposed the Emergency on June 25,1975, ‘clamping down on basie freedoms for 21 months, She called elections in Mareh 1977, which, much to her ‘surprise, the Janata Party won. As the decade ended, ‘the Janata experiment too ended in disarray, with the socialist stalwarts going their own ways. GEORGE FERNANDES under arrest during the al India railway strike in May 1976 1974 Smiling Buddha AFTER China tested its first nuclear device in 1964, India was keen to prove that it was not lagging bychind. The 1962 defeat stil ranked. In fact, Homi 4J.Bhabha, the father of India's nulear programme, had announced that same year that India eould build bomb, Bhabha died in a mysterious air rash in 1966, The Indian bomb went ff exactly a decade after China exploded its device. ‘Though China provided an Jmmediate impetus for India’s political ‘establishment, the beginnings of Ini scientific trajectory ‘were first laid during the Nehru years. The 1950s and the 1960s are seen as the infrastructure building phase. The ‘establishment of four ITs and the Indian Statistical Institute, and the ‘commissioning of India’s first nuclear reactor, Apsara, happened in the 1950s. The Institute ‘of Mathematical Sciences was ‘established in 1962. ‘The Atomic Energy Commission aimed for sel-eliance:buil research reactors, plutonium separation plans, tranium mining; fuel rod manufacturing and reprocessing facilities, and developing capable ‘manpower at all levels of operation, maintenance and management. Nehru’s nationalist view of science seemed to be accepted by two generations of ‘exceptionally gifted, intelligent, and articulate scientists such as Meghnad Saha, Shanto Swarup Bhatnagar and Homi J. Bhabha. The next generation ‘of scientists inchided the ike of Vikram Sarabhai and Satish Dhawan, “The D-day forthe test was May 18,1974 in Pokhran. The pointsman was Raja Ramanna, whose team extracted plutonium for the device from CIRUS (Canada ~ India Reactor US) research reactor. It was nota deliverable weapon, which had been a point of contention among top scientists. What was the point, Sarabhai had asked, if ndia did not havea delivery aechanismy? Sarabhai’ eoncern, scholars have noted, was because ofthe international fallout an explosion would entail He was right. Pakistan accelerated its nuclear programme soon afer. DR RAJA RAMANA. 21979 The first PIL petition PUBLIC interest litigation (PIL) petitions are cases filed in a court that highlight a pul ‘Supreme Court judges, V.R. Krishna Iyer and P.N. Bhagwati (both appointed to the Supreme Court in 1973), made PIL petitions possible, and created an important route for redress of grievances for those who ‘were otherwise kept out ofthe corridors of justice. ‘The introduction of PIL jurisprudence was nothing short ofa revolution: Judges in High Courts and the ‘Supreme Court overlooked procedural lacuna and liberally interpreted Articles 32 and 296 of the ‘Constitution, thereby simplifying access to justice. In short, the judiciary stepped in where the executive and the legislature had failed or had not acted with the urgency an issue commanded. ‘Technically, the 1979 Hussainara Khatoon vs State of Bihar (relating to the plight of undertrials Tangnishing in jails) was the first PIL petition though Justice Krishna Iyer spoke about it in the 1976 Mumbai Kamgar ease (Mumbai Kamgar Sabha vs M/s Abdulbhai Faizullabhai and others (1976 (3) SCC '832)). He noted: “Public interest is promoted by a spacious construction of locus standi in our jo-economic circumstances and conceptual Iatitudinarianism permits taking liberties where the remedy is shared by a considerable number, particularly when they are weaker: For the next three decades and more, the PIL. petition proved to be a path to justice in many landmark eases that took on State high-handedness or in eases where justice seemed a pipe dream. This included M.C. Mehta vs Union of India (discharge of untreated sewage from Kanpur's tanneries into the 1980 Prakash Padukone wins All England Championship INDIA is today a big name in international badminton, with four men and one woman in the top 20 of the Badminton World Federation (BWF) rankings. In the last seven years, India produced two world number ‘ones, Saina Nehwal (2015) and Kidambi Srikanth (2018), India ranks fifth in the world in badminton With three medals at the Olympies, 2 at the Commonwealth Games and 10 each in the Asian Games and the BWF World Championships. These achievements would not have been possible without the heroics of Prakash Padukone in the badminton court: the frst Indian to win the prestigious All England Championship, in 1980, and climb to the top of the world rankings. 7%Ganges), Parmanand Katara vs Union of India (any doctor can treat medico-legal cases since saving, human life is most important), Javed vs State of. Haryana (coercive population control), and Vishaka 1 Slate of Rajasthan (sexual harassment isa clear Violation of fundamental rights). ‘On December 1, 1988, a full court made certain ‘modifications to the PIL rule, including that no petition involving individual/personal matters shall be entertained as a PIL, with some exceptions. “Letter-petitions falling under the following, ‘categories alone will ordinarily be entertained as Public Interest Litigation:- 1) Bonded Labour matters. 2. Neglected Children. 3. Non-payment of ‘minimum wages to workers and exploitation of ‘easual workers and complaints of violation of Labour Laws (except in individual eases),” a court circular said, The Supreme Court made it clear that rushing to the apex court forall cases would not be tolerated Ata time when badminton was dominated by Denmark, China and Indonesia, Prakash Padukone single-handedly carved out a space for India in the international arena, Born on June 10, 1955, in Bangalore, he was introduced to the game at an ‘early age by his father, Ramesh Padukone, who was the secretary of the Mysore Badminton Association. He dominated the sport, winning the national ‘championships eight times in a row (1971-79), and in 1978, he won his frst international tite, the gold at the Commonwealth Games in Canada ‘The year 1980 turned out to be the turning point for both Padukone and Indian sports. He beat the legendary Morten Frost—"Mr Badminton’—in the Denmark Open; and then made history by winning the All England Championship, defeating the twortime defending champion, the Indonesian superstar Liem Swie King. It would be 21 years before another Indian, Pullela Gopichand, would win the All England again, in 2001, Padukone’s magnificent streak in 1980 ‘continued as he went on to claim the Swedish Open title, defeating Rudy Hartono, the Indonesian legend and a record eight-time winner of the All England Championship. The same year he became ‘World No 1 in the BWF rankings Padukone retired in 1991, but continued to serve Indian badminton through his Prakash Padukone ‘Academy, which has produced champions and stars like P. Gopichand, Aparna Popat, Anup Sridhar, Arvind Bhat, Trupti Murgunde, Aditi Mutatkar, Sayali Gokhale, Ashwini Ponnappa and Lakshya Sen, India has produced a number of iaternational stars in badminton over the years and it was Padukone who first opened the door for them in 1980. 1982 Festival of India FESTIVAL OF INDIA in Colombo, 2015, IN 1978, Britain had proposed a large-scale exhibition of Indian antiques, something that had been done only once before, in 1947-48, immediately after Independence. After her post-Emergency re-election in 1980, Indira Gandhi, as recommended by her cultural adviser Pupul Javakar, widened the scope, wanting to showcase “modern” India’s artistic achievements as well. The “Festival of India” (Fol) was thus born. Conceptualised as a galaxy of events that would include art, sculpture, dance, music, poetry, cinema, theatre, science, eras, food and more, the first Fol was held in Britain in 1982, followed by editions in subsequent years in the US and France (1985-86), the erstwhile Soviet Union (1987-88), Japan (1988), Germany, Sweden, and China. The festivals were designed to not just exhibit India’s past in the form of sculptures and manuscripts but also its achievements in the contemporary age, thus creating a rich smorgasbord of experiences, There were scientific and technological shows, literary symposiums, and educational programmes. Shops, local communities, restaurants, and cultural centres participated. Radio and TV shows featured the festival Schools and universities attended in large groups. The Fols were organised under broad heads such as Design, Craft, Testles, Photography, and Cinema, and were planned by a National Advisory Committee headed by the Prime Minister, with eminent personalities representing their respective fields. They were executed by a special eel set up under the Culture Ministey. ‘As much as the Fols have been criticised for being pointless pageantry besides incorporating “culture as an arm of diplomacy”, they did serve two ends: first, they gave one ofthe first global platforms to some of India’s best and brightest; and second, they were the first attempts to present India through Indian eyes, an enterprise for a nation freshly emerged from 3 FRONTLINE — AUGUST 6, 2022India’s World Cup winJUNE 25,1983, was a day that forever | 983 Small car, big dreams ‘changed the course of Indian sports. India won the 1983 Prudential World|» WHEN Harpal Singh of Delhi, an Indian Airlines employee, Cup, beating Clive Lloyd's mighty West received the keys to the first Maruti 800 car from the then Prime Indies team, arguably the greatest team __-Minister Indira Gandhi on December 14, 1983, it was a giant leap inthe history of the game. From that for the collective aspirations of the Indian middle elass day onvard, cricket rose ftom being Car ownership was no longer the preserve ofthe rich and famous just hugely popular sport to anational | once the first Marui rolled out from the company’s Gurgaon factory. obsession, and became one ofthe Iteost Rs.47,500 then, and there was no stopping the middle-class biggest money-spinners in the country. Indian from aiming to acquire it: the company actually received ‘When India entered the orders for more than 1.5 lakh units in just two months, tournament, it was beyond anyone's imagination that it would eventually end up as champions. Yet Kapil Dev and his immortals defied all expectations and predictions, as they secured victories against all the teams in their group, and then proceeded to defeat two dangerous teams in succession—Australia and England—on the route to the final at Lore’s. Even as the world stood surprised that India could make itso far, most considered the final with the West Indies to be a foregone conclusion. ‘West Indies had won both the previous World Cups with embarrassing ease, and its batting MARUTI 800 cars at the company’s Gurgaon factory, in December 2008. line-up (Gordon Greenidge, Desmond Haynes , Vivian Richards, Clive Lloyd, For 1 years, until January 18, 2014, when the last unit rolled out Lary Gomes and Faoud Bacchus), and of the assembly the Maruti 800 nurtured the desires of changing bowling attack (Maleolm Marshal, society and launched a ear revolution in the country. ‘Andy Roberts, Michael Holding and ‘Today the auto enthusiast is spoilt for ehoice and the landscape Joel Garner) struck terror in the hearts | is littered with dozens of models and variants. But much before of every cricket team in the world. terms like hatchback, sedan and SUV became commonplace, the ‘So when India was bundled out for only term known to Indians was car, and that usually meant either ameagre 183, spectators were already ___the Ambassador or the Fiat. Overnight, the Maruti 800 threw out making plans for the rest of the those two workhorses. afternoon, ‘During its long and eventful lifespan, the ear sold over 26 lakh ‘What neither West Indies nor the units in India alone and thousands of units were exported to nearby “spectators expected was the cunning countries and even to Europe. strategy India came up with in its “The first ca for millions of Indian families, it was their first bowling attack. The formidable affordable chance to transition from two-wheelers to four-wheeled, Windies, expecting a cakewalk, fell for comfort. Jjust 140 runs. Mohinder Amarnath Started as a collaboration with Suzuki of Japan, Marut’s journey picked up hissecond consecutive Man can actually be traced to the early 1970s when Indira Gandhi's son of the Match award. ‘Sanjay Gandhi started a venture with the dream of building a small Tt was awatershed moment in India | car, but it was soon mired in controversy amid allegations of that transcended sports. An editorial favouritism. After Indira Gandhi returned to power in 1980, she from a daily newspaper ranked the handpicked the bureauerat V. Krishnamurthy to revive the project ‘World Cup win among the finest ‘and build a “people's ear”. His efforts paid off and on Sanjay’s birth achievements in independent India. anniversary in 1983, the first Maruti was handed over. ‘The victory propelled India’s rise as one ‘Maruti did not just transform the Indian auto industry: it of the strongest cricketing nations, and unlocked the country’s manufacturing potential and introduced the Board of Control for Cricket in world-class best practices in production and quality control. Maruti India (BCCI) became the richest ‘Suzuki India Ltd was sold to Suzuki Motor Corporation in 2003, but ‘governing body of cricket in the world, for those frst three decades, the Maruti 800 was a symbol of pride with a reported net worth of Rs.18,000 for a people who could finally believe that it was possible to make in crore. India, not just for India but for the world. w FRONTLINE ~ AUGUST6, 30331984 P.T. Usha’s missed medal SOMETIMES in sports a loss can be as much a source of inspiration asa vietory. P-T. Usha’ historie run in the 400 m hhurdles final in the 1984 Olympies is one such loss. Usha may have lost the bronze by one-hundredth of a second, but she galvanised an entire generation to take to track and field to be ‘the next P-T. Usha and achieve that which she missed so narrowly. ‘Usha was India’s brightest hope for a medal in the 198 ‘Olympics. She had already made history on the road to the 400 m hurdles final by becoming the firs Indian athlete to win in an Olympic semi-final. She beat the US champion Judi Brown and clocked 55.54 seconds. Carrying the expectations of an entire nation on her shoulders, Usha ran a magnificent race in the final, clocking, 55.42 seconds, but lost the bronze to Cristina Cojacoru of Romania by the narrowest of margins, Nevertheless, she had. the distinction of being the first Indian woman to reach an ‘Olympic final, Born on June 27, 1964, in Kuttali, Kerala, Pilavullakandi ‘Thekkeraparambil Usha was the first and biggest woman superstar in Indian athletics. She did not allow the disappointment of the Olympic loss to impede her on her road, to greatness. In the 1985 Asian Championships in Indonesia, she won six medals (five gold and one bronze) ~ ‘feat not yet matched by any Indian athlete. In the 1986 Asian Games in Seoul, the “Payyoli Express” as she ‘was nicknamed, won four gold and a silver. In the 1989 Asian Championships, Usha hhad a six-medal hau: four gold and two silver. Ina career spanning, nearly two decades, ‘Usha won four gold medals, and seven silver at the Asian Games, and 23 medals at the Asian Championship, including 14 gold ‘medals. In her day, she ‘was the undisputed "Queen of Indian Track and Field”, After her retirement she opened. the Usha School of Athletics, where she rooms budding athletes to fulfill her dream of seeing an Indian sprinter standing on the Olympic podium”. 1984 Hanging of Magbool Bhat (ON February 11, 1984, the Indira Gandhi government green-signalled the hanging of Kashmiri separatist Maqhool Bhat inside ‘Tihar jail The hanging was carried out albrupty five days ater the killing of an Indian diplomat, Ravindra Mhatre, in the UK by an alate of the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (IKLP), which had inflamed publie sentiments. Bhat's body was not returned to his family, which sparked ‘widespread fury in Kashmir and bolstered anti-India sentiments. Bhat had been convicted and sentenced to death as early as in 1966 for murdering a CID official. However, in December 1968, he had escaped to Pakistan, After he was recaptured by Indian forces in 1976 when he ‘eame into J&K again, the Supreme Court in 1978 upheld his death sentence. When he ‘was hanged in 1984, it stirred the imagination of the Kashmiri masses and Bhat became a symbol of resistance that would linger. By 1967, the atmosphere inthe Valley was tense, aggravated by the allegedly rigged ‘elections earlier that year. Despite ‘overwhelming popularity, several candidates ‘of the Muslim United Front, a coalition of Islamie Kashmir political parties and challenger tothe National Conference-Congress combine, were declared defeated, including Mohammad Yousuf Sha, who would eventually escape to Pakistan, take the alias Syed Salahuddin, and form the United Jehad Council Besides this growing anti-India feeling, ‘other factors contributed at this time tothe ‘eventual eruption of militaney in Kashmir in Fanuary 1990. Chief among these was the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1988.89, which led to large numbers of ingthe idea of against what they ‘considered an occupying force. “The JKLF was atthe forefront ofthis armed uprising. In Deeember 1989, JKLF ‘guerillas kidnapped Dr Rubaiya Sayeed,

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