The year 2021 marks the 75th Independence Day which will be celebrated amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic in the country.
Here is a list of most significant events from 1857 to 2021 that led to our freedom and the establishment of the sovereign nation of India.
1857: The revolt of 1857 is significant for various reasons. Most of its protagonists – Mangal Pandey, Rani Laxmibai, Kunwar Singh and many others – became the national heroes. It also came to be known as India’s first war of independence. The revolt created a sense of nationhood among the Indians by uniting them politically, culturally and socially against a foreign rule. It also became the basis of the more popular and widespread struggle for independence at the beginning of the 20th century.
1885: The Indian National Congress (also known as the Congress Party/INC) was created and became India’s major political party.
1919: The tragic Jallianwala Bagh massacre took place on April 13. This event in which Brigadier-General Reginald E.H. Dyer ordered indiscriminate firing at a crowd including women and children, killing hundreds of them, caused much resentment and anger among the people and led to the Non-Cooperation Movement.
1920: The Non-Cooperation Movement was a significant phase of the Indian struggle for freedom.
1942: The Quit India movement called for the immediate withdrawal of the British from India and the British responded by putting most of the INC leadership in jail.
1947: End of British rule and partition of sub-continent into mainly Hindu India and Muslim-majority state of Pakistan. India became a free country at midnight between August 14 and 15.
Right to vote: From the very first day after Independence, India gave every adult the right to vote. In the US, the right to vote for every individual was given about 150 years after their independence.
1950: The Constitution was adopted by the Indian Constituent Assembly on 26 November 1949, and came into effect on 26 January 1950 with a democratic government system, completing the country’s transition towards becoming an independent republic.
1951: Railways network was nationalised in 1951 and was initially divided into three zones. Indian Railways is now one of the world’s largest railway networks.
India hosted the first-ever Asian Games in the year 1951 in New Delhi.
1956: India designed and built Asia’s first nuclear reactor Apsara nuclear reactor on August 4.
1960: The Green Revolution in India in 1960 saw an increase in food grain production, with development of high-yielding varieties of wheat and pulses.
1969: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is founded.
1970: India saw the White Revolution (Operation Flood) — the world’s biggest dairy development program, pioneered by Verghese Kurien. It transformed India from a milk deficient nation into the world’s largest milk producer.
1973: The Chipko Andolan was a forest conservation movement in India. It began in 1973 in Reni village of Chamoli district, Uttarakhand.
1974: India conducted its first nuclear test, codenamed “Smiling Buddha”. With this, India broke into the list of five nuclear-powered nations.
1975: India designed first space satellite, named it after astronomer Aryabhata.
1983: Kapil Dev led Indian cricket team won the World Cup.
1984: India sent its first astronaut, Rakesh Sharma, into space in 1984 in a joint mission with the Soviet Union.
1987: The state of Goa is formed.
1990: The 1990 airlift of Indians from Kuwait was carried out from August 13, 1990, to October 20, 1990, after the invasion of Kuwait. Air India helped evacuate nearly 175,000 people.
1991: Indian economy opened the doors for free trade by foreign investors.
1994: Beauty queens Sushmita Sen and Aishwarya Rai won the Miss Universe and Miss World titles respectively.
1998: BJP formed its first government under Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee but it lasted for only a year. Following fresh polls, BJP came back to power, becoming the first non-Congress government to do so.
India conducted a series of five nuclear bomb tests at Pokhran, Rajasthan, in May 1998 under the codename “Operation Shakti”. It led to India becoming a full-fledged nuclear state.
1999: Delhi-Lahore bus service- In its inaugural run on February 19, 1999, the bus carried then PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee who was to attend a summit in Lahore.
The Kargil War, took place between May and July in the Kargil district of Kashmir and other areas along the LoC. The war ended in July, with India successfully recapturing Tiger Hill.
2000: The states of Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, and Jharkhand are formed. It changed the count of Indian states from 25 to 28.
2005: Right to Information Act implemented.
2007: Pratibha Patil became India’s first woman president.
2008: India successfully launched Chandrayaan in October 2008 to explore the moon. One of the greatest achievements of Chandrayaan was the discovery of water molecules in the lunar soil.
On August 11, Abhinav Bindra won the gold medal in the men’s 10 m air rifle shooting event. It was the first ever medal for India at the Beijing Games.
2009: Parliament passed the RTE Bill in 2009, making education a fundamental right of every child and bridged the gap between different classes of society.
On July 26, India launched INS Arihant, the country’s first indigenous nuclear submarine armed with ballistic missiles with a range of 3,500 km.
2010: India hosted the Common Wealth Games in Delhi. For the first time in the history of the Games, India won over 100 medals (101) and stood second, after Australia.
2011: After 28 years, The Indian Cricket team won the World Cup.
Social activist Anna Hazare staged a 12-day hunger strike in Delhi in protest at state corruption.
2013: National Food Security Act passed.
The Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) was successfully launched in 2013, making India the first Asian nation to reach Martian orbit and the first nation in the world to do so on its maiden attempt.
2014: In March 2014, the WHO certified the South-East Asian region – which includes India, a polio-free region.
Ending the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, Narendra Modi became the 15th prime minister.
India’s 29th state Telangana is formed.
India successfully launched NAVIC (Navigation with Indian Constellation), an independent regional navigation satellite system on par with US-based GPS.
2017: The Goods and Services Tax (GST) introduced on July 1.
India created history by launching 104 satellites by ISRO’s vehicle the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).
Punjab government announced free education to girls from nursery to Ph.D. in all government institutions.
Indian Women’s Cricket Team entered World Cup finals. The team and the match changed the face of women’s sports in India.
Men’s Hockey team won 2017 Asia Cup.
The Supreme Court banned the practice of Triple Talaq.
2018: The Supreme Court restored a landmark Delhi High Court judgment in 2018 that decriminalised homosexuality.
ISRO made a path-breaking discovery, inventing the atomic clock. The clock is useful in navigating satellites and measuring the precise location data.
2019: In February, India’s first indigenously developed light combat aircraft Tejas received the final operational clearance for induction into IAF.
On March 27, 2019, India successfully conducted Mission Shakti – an anti-satellite missile test that could destroy satellites in space through missiles on the ground.
In India’s quest to land its first spacecraft on the moon, Chandrayaan-2, riding the powerful GSLV Mk-III rocket, was successfully launched at 2.43 pm on July 22 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota.
On August 6, 2019, the Parliament passed a bill dividing Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories of J&K and Ladakh and also adopted a resolution scrapping special status of the state under Article 370.
2020: The COVID-19 pandemic in India began on 30 January 2020, when the first case was reported in Thrissur.
PM Narendra Modi announced one of the world’s most stringent lockdowns on March 24th, halting most economic and social activities, closing borders and allowing only essential services to continue.
Aarogya Setu: India launched its first COVID-19 tracking Mobile App.
On 12 May 2020, PM Modi raised a clarion call to the nation giving a kick start to the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan (Self-reliant India campaign).
India’s first hydrogen fuel-cell powered car completed the trials.
Successful test firing of Hypersonic Technology Demonstration Vehicle.
‘Rudram’ Anti-Radiation Missile successfully test-fired.
On May 5, skirmishes began between India and China. Several Indian and Chinese soldiers are injured in a cross-border clash at the Nathu La crossing.
On June 17, India won two-year seat on the United Nations Security Council.
On June 29, Indian Government bans 59 Chinese Apps including TikTok, CamScanner, SHAREit and UC Browser due to ongoing Sino-Indian Border tensions.
On July 29, National Education Policy 2020 approved by the Union Cabinet.
On August 5th, Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation brick for the Supreme Court-mandated Ram Temple to be constructed in Ayodhya.
2021: India launched the largest vaccine drive, starting its journey on the road to recovery from a pandemic that has unconditionally disrupted and taken lives.
India successfully test-fired Agni-Prime missile.
India celebrated the sixth anniversary of Digital India on July 1.
Indian army inducted 12 indigenous short span bridging systems for operations.
At Tokyo Olympics 2020, India bagged 7 medals including 1 Gold. A matter of great pride for all the Bharatiya folk.
And the achievements will continue………..