Nation firsts
India has had wins, milestones and achievements in practically every field since 1947. We’ve pulled together as one, for it all. See how far we’ve come since the Tricolour first unfurled
ALL AS ONE 1. The Constitution
India’s Constitution is a remarkable statement of an independent country committing itself to democracy, equality, justice and liberty. Remarkably, it’s stood the test of time, provided systemic stability and been flexible enough to accommodate changing circumstances. It’s what defines India as a democracy and a union of states, with secure territorial integrity.
2. Everyone votes
India resolved a big political dilemma early. Irrespective of gender, class, education, caste and religion, all Indian adults would have the same political right to choose their representatives. For a formerly feudal country overcoming centuries of colonialism and grappling with poor socio-economic indicators, this principle of one person-one vote, a part of universal adult franchise, was revolutionary.
3. Peaceful elections
India has seen its share of electoral violence and malpractice. But seven decades after the first elections in 1951, the big picture remains of a healthy democracy. Polls are conducted every five years. The smooth transfer of power between political parties both at the state and central levels is a huge achievement when compared with other post-colonial democracies.
4. Votes are electronic
While electronic voting machines have been controversial in recent years (the losing party often ends up attributing the loss to sophisticated EVM hacking), there is little evidence to substantiate this allegation. Instead, EVMs are an asset. They have made the Indian electoral process cleaner (no more booth-capturing) and more efficient (the results are tabulated faster).
5. A seat at the table
India’s reservation programmes have been vital in allowing historically oppressed groups a better chance at education, employment, power. Reservations for citizens from Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Castes have been included and revised since Independence. Those for women have taken longer. Now, there are seats reserved for women on boards of corporations, and in panchayat elections. There is also a plan in the works for a 33% reservation for women in Parliament.
6. Stable states
After Partition, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s instinct was to stay away from identity-based states. India eventually recognised the power of linguistic-based mobilisation with the States Reorganisation Act of 1956. It changed our internal boundaries, but it let the Union offer a sense of accommodation. The unity in diversity model found its way into India’s federal structure.
7. A centre that holds
Pakistan, Bangladesh, Burma and Sri Lanka have all had actual or attempted military coups. India, early on, set up policies to prevent such a takeover. The Indian army is ethnically diverse, there are strict command structures, officers do not interfere in State matters. The huge paramilitary force is a good counterbalance, keeping India stable.
STRONG BASE 8. Enough to eat
1966 to about 1978, under geneticist MS Swaminathan, a young India introduced high-yielding varieties of cereal. It was a necessary risk for a nation plagued by poverty, malnutrition, famine and chronic food shortages. Alongside, agriculture was industrialised, tractors, irrigation systems, pesticides and fertilisers introduced as part of the Green Revolution. It worked, making India first self-sufficient, and eventually exporters of produce.
9. Bypassing the Blocs
Non-alignment, a much-misunderstood term, reflected India’s decision to adopt an independent position in world affairs. This was as much a realpolitik calculation as an ethical choice. It let India extract concessions from the US and USSR during the Cold War, while retaining a degree of autonomy. The spirit of non-alignment continued even after the Cold War.
10. Got milk?
Operation Flood seemed ambitious in 1970. Could we increase milk production and quality, and boost rural incomes, without out-pricing milk for Indians? The threephase programme set up the national milk grid, linking India’s producers with consumers in over 700 towns and cities. Fair market prices were set and regulated. It transformed India from a milk-deficient nation into world’s largest milk producer.
11. Calm in the North-East
Signed between the Rajiv Gandhi government and Mizo leader Laldenga in 1986, the Mizo Accord ended a longstanding secessionist struggle through a unique peace process. It displayed India’s ability to resolve conflicts peacefully, and Indian democracy’s ability to open itself to former insurgents who gave up violence. The Accord has held for 35 years, a triumph.
12. Power to the people
Two constitutional amendments in 1992 altered India’s entire governance structure by empowering institutions of self-government: panchayati raj at the village level and municipalities in the cities. With regular elections, and reservations for Dalits, tribals and women, India began to witness a democratic upsurge from the bottom-up. It brought the government closer to citizens and nurtured leaders who since have risen to positions in state and national politics.
13. Fair welfare
In force since 2006, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme is a collaborative effort of civil society and the government. It recognises the need for rural employment in times of distress, when growth benefits do not percolate. It received a bigger budgetary allocation in the pandemic, and its high demand proves it’s a safety net for India’s poorest.
14. Lunch and lessons
The mid-day meal scheme, a centrally sponsored school meals programme running since 1995, supplies lunches on working days for children in primary and upper-primary classes in government and government-aided schools. It was introduced to encourage parents to send children to school, and to improve nutrition levels. Some 115.9 million students are now fed under this scheme daily.
15. The law for everyone
Public Interest Litigation often makes news these days because someone’s filed a frivolous case as a means of harassment. But the PIL, introduced in 1979, gave teeth to India’s constitutional right to equality. Cases filed by ordinary citizens have helped close factories polluting the Ganga, given prisoners fairer trials, and pushed for laws against sexual harassment in the workplace.
16. Transparent dealing
Former Vice-President Hamid Ansari has called the Right to Information Act “one of the most empowering and progreslegislations sive passed in Independent India”. It lets citizens hold public authorities accountable, empowers them to ask questions, and demands administrative transparency. It adds good governance to democracy.
17. Getting a breather
In 1980, The Forest Conservation Act replaced the Indian Forest Act of 1927. This changed the focus from regulating and levying taxes on forest produce to actually protecting India’s green cover, controlling deforestation, and saving the water bodies that run through it. The Act is not without its flaws. And it faces its biggest challenge yet, with rapid urban and industrial development. But it’s the first line of protection for our piece of the planet.
18. The wild card
The Wildlife Protection Act implemented in 1972 was a game-changer. India had lost the Indian cheetah in the 1960s. Other wild populations and habitats were disappearing. This Act offers legal protection to animals, though unfortunately not to plant species. India’s lions, elephants, leopards, rhinos and many other endangered species are still here in large part because of this Act.
19. Earning our stripes
In 1972, India had fewer than 2,000 tigers, down from 58,000 two centuries earlier. So in 1973, the tiger was declared the national animal and Project Tiger was launched. The objective: save the tiger, protect its habitat. In the most recent 2018 tiger census, 2,461 tigers (excluding cubs) were identified. The project is one of the country’s greatest successes, spawning similar conservation programmes, like Project Elephant.
20. Water works
According to data from the National Register of Large Dams, India has 5,264 large dams and 437 more under construction. Our longest one, Odisha’s Hirakud Dam across the Mahanadi, has been in use since 1957. The dams have transformed farming and urban growth, keeping famine at bay.
21. Bridging the gaps
India’s bridges are more than engineering feats. They’ve linked India into one nation. Our longest, Assam’s Dhola-Sadiya, opened in 2017 and connects districts serviced only by rickety ferries. Our new rail bridge over the Chenab, the world’s highest, will allow trains to run from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. Mumbai’s sea link trims commute time in busy Mumbai. Swanky eight-lane flyovers in big cities show that life, business, dreams are moving along.
22. Wiping out a disease
How do you eradicate polio when tap water is contaminated, families don’t understand germ transmission, and rural healthcare is meagre? You do it the hard way: decadeslong sustained drives, consistent messaging, free doses, door-todoor follow-ups, and patience. India’s national immunisation programme, launched in 1978 is a triumph against odds. The last polio case was in 2011. The country was declared poliofree in 2014.
SHINING ARTS 23. The good word
Formally inaugurated in 1954, the Sahitya Akademi’s mandate was to promote cultural unity through literary dialogue and publications. It has since brought out over 6,000 books, held thousands of gatherings, promoted translated works, and awarded the country’s best writers, poets and translators. It has also helped writers and poets working in languages as diverse as Bodo, Dogri and Konkani to gain national prominence, a real test of national integration.
24. Screen sharing
Nothing to watch on streaming channels? Remember, we started with just one. Doordarshan aired its first broadcast in 1959. A revolution followed. TV shows, news bulletins, Chayageet, cricket matches, live broadcasts of the Republic Day Parade. Doordarshan operates 21 channels today. It has the advantage in rural pockets. It’s still free.
25. Tunes and tales
India’s Grammy winners include tabla maestro Zakir Hussain, TH Vinayakram and slide guitar exponent Vishwa Mohan Bhatt. Ricky Kej won one in 2014 for his New Age album Winds of Samsara. AR Rahman won two Grammys and two Oscars for Slumdog Millionaire. Ravi Shankar has four, plus a lifetime achievement Grammy. Bhanu Athaiya won India’s first Oscar, for costume design, for the 1982 film Gandhi. Satyajit Ray received an honorary Oscar in 1992.
26. Writers of note
The world has lauded Indians telling the story of India. In 1971, A Free State by VS Naipaul, an Indian-origin writer from Trinidad, won the Booker. Midnight’s Children, Salman Rushdie’s tale of newly independent India, won the Booker in 1981, and the Booker of Bookers in 1993. Since then, the Booker has gone to Arundhati Roy for The God of Small Things, in 1997, to Kiran Desai for The Inheritance of Loss in 2006, and to Aravind Adiga for The White Tiger in 2008.
27. Art gets its due
At Christie’s first auction of modern Indian art in 1987, sales totalled a paltry Rs 16 lakh. Two years later, a Sotheby’s auction raked in Rs 38.9 lakh. By 2002, Tyeb Mehta’s Celebration had become the first work by an Indian artist to command over Rs 1 crore.
This year, Indian auction house Saffronart sold the most expensive and second-most-expensive pieces of Indian art: a 1961 VS Gaitonde (Rs 39.9 crore), and an Amrita Sher-Gil (Rs 37.8 crore).
28. Pomp and pageantry
In 1966, Reita Faria became the first Miss World title-holder from India. Our crowning year, 1994, saw Sushmita Sen and Aishwarya Rai win Miss Universe and Miss World respectively. 2000 was a landmark year too. Lara Dutta was Miss Universe, Priyanka Chopra was Miss World and Dia Mirza was Miss Asia Pacific. Most recently, Manushi Chillar won Miss World in 2017.
29. India’s own biennale
Before the Kochi Biennale there was Triennale-India in Delhi. The 11th edition, held in 2005, featured artists from 40 countries. The Kochi-Muziris Biennale, held since 2012, sees participation from international artists such as Ai Weiwei alongside renowned Indian ones like Nalini Malani, Atul Dodiya, and artist group CAMP.
30. Laureates to laud
Indian-American economist Abhijit Banerjee is only the most recent of India’s Nobel laureates. Amartya Sen was awarded an Economics Nobel in 1998. Other notable Indian (or Indian-origin) laureates include CV Raman, Subramanyan Chandrasekhar and Har Gobind Khorana. Mother Teresa won the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize for her charitable work, while child-rights activist Kailash Satyarthi shared his with Pakistani educationist Malala Yousafzai in 2014.
31. Our antiques returned
Last year alone, the UK returned three 15thcentury idols stolen from a temple in Tamil Nadu; Australia returned a pair of sculptures from the same period, and a 6th to 8th-century sculpture; and the US returned a marble sculpture and a limestone relief. A recent display at Purana Qila in Delhi had over 190 returned artefacts. What the country really wants returned, meanwhile, is the 105-carat Kohinoor diamond in London.
SPORT STARS
32. Cricket’s boundaries
India has had two World Cup wins – in 1983 against the West Indies and in 2011 against Sri Lanka. But it’s telling that we now mention them as victories by the men’s team. India’s women’s cricket team has entered the World Cup 11 times, making it to the finals in 2005 and 2017.
33. Queen’s gambits
For years, Manuel Aaron and Viswanathan Anand shouldered all our chess dreams. Now, we’re just as proud of the first Indian woman Grandmaster, Koneru Humpy, as well as chess champions like Harika Dronavalli, Dibyendu Barua, Tania Sachdev. And then there’s R Praggnanandhaa, the fifthyoungest Grandmaster in the world, who