WORLD NEWZ

INDIA......THE JOURNEY OF 60 YEARS...


1947-1951
India becomes independent on 15 August 1947; Jawaharlal Nehru is the first Prime Minister-1947
• In a shocking episode, Nathuram Godse assassinates Mahatma Gandhi at a prayer meeting in New Delhi- 1948
• Pakistani tribals invades Kashmir; Maharaja Harisingh signs a treaty with Nehru ceding Kashmir to the Indian Union- 1948
• India’s constitution promulgated on 26th January 1950; Dr. Rajendra Prasad takes as India's President
• Indian hockey team won the gold medal at the London Olympics, the first of its three consecutive win- 1948



1952-1956
• India’s first general election takes place. It was also the first country to be born with universal adult suffrage, including women, something that even countries like USA did not have then. The Congress wins the election and Jawahralal Nehru remains the Prime Minister- 1952
• India’s first five year plan is tabled at the Parliament- 1952
• Treaty of Panchsheel was signed in 1954 pledging friendly ties between India and China, under which India gave up all extra territorial rights over Tibet and recognised Tibet as a part of China- 1954
• BPCL becomes the first Indian company to market liquid gas petroleum for home use- 1955
• State Bank of India formed, becomes the first Indian bank to be nationalized- 1955
• Homi Bhabha the Cambridge educated physicist appointed as the first Chairman of India’s Atomic energy commission and the brain behind the first Atomic Reactor in Asia- 1956
• First radio telescope was installed in Calcutta.

1957-61
• The state of Bombay was divided into Maharashtra and Gujarat. Bombay (now Mumbai) becomes the capital of Maharashtra- 1960
•Air India’s first international flight to New York- 1960
• ‘Mother India’ becomes the first Indian Movie to be selected nominated for the Oscars- 1957
• Doordarshan starts services with an experimental telecast in New Delhi- 1959.




1962-1966
• Indo- Sino War: China invades India along the Himalayan border- 1962
• Jawaharlal Nehru dies due to illness(1964), Lal Bahadur Shastri succeeds him as Prime Minister- 1965
• After months of border skirmishes, Pakistan’s Operation Gibraltar begins the second Indo-Pak War- 1965. The war ends with signing of a treaty at the Tashkent Summit in Kazakistan, where Lal Bahadur Shastri dies under suspicious circumstances.
• Green Revolution leads to the quantum jump in the productivity of wheat and
rice-1968
• The Indian National Committee on space research was set up by Vikram Sarabhai -1962
• National Film Archive of India was established as a media unit -1964


1967-1971
• Third Indo-Pak War takes place and Bangladesh is born, carved out of the eastern end of Pakistan. Unilateral ceasefire on December 16 -1971
• Operation flood, a rural development programme started by the national diary development board with the objective of creating a nationwide milk grid, popularly termed as the 'White Revolution'-1968
• India’s first atomic power station at Tarapur -1969

1972-1977
• Indira Gandhi declares a state of Emergency during which the press
was censored -1975. The Emergency period ended in 1977, with Janata party winning the General Elections. This was the first time a non-Congress member occupied the Prime Minister's office.
• RIL on a roll. Dhirubhai Ambani popularised the equity cult in India by taking Reliance Industries Limited public. RIL had it first public issue in 1977.
• India’s first nuclear test carried out at Pokhran, Rajasthan-1974
• Kiran Bedi becomes the first woman to join IPS-1972
• The first Indian film to be made in 70 mm and one of the biggest blockbusters in Bollywood history, G. P Sippy’s Sholay with its impressive cast and dialogues caught the fancy of a nation steeped in drama-1975


1978-82
• Indira Gandhi sweeps the polls and becomes the Prime Minister again-1980
• Infosys technologies, N R Narayan Murthy’s dream was incorporated and the IT boom began- 1982
• Bhanu Athaiya becomes the first Indian to win an Oscar, for Best costume design for the film ‘Gandhi’-1982
• India hosts the Asian Games in New Delhi-1982





1983-87
• Operation Blue Star. Indian Army storms the Golden Temple complex to flush out militants-1984
• Prime Minister Indira Gandhi is assassinated by her Sikh body guards in retaliation to Operation Blue Star. Anti-Sikh riots took place, with organised mass murders all over India, with worst ever violence being in Delhi-1984
• Air India flight 182 is blown up off the coast of Ireland by a Sikh terrorist-1985
• Maruti Udyog limited was established-1983
• Bofors Scandal: Swedish Radio reports that Swedish armament company paid bribes to Indian leaders and officials to win a contract-1987
• Indian cricket team won the World Cup in England-1983
• PT Usha won four gold medals at the Asian Games-1986


1988-1992
• Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by a suicide bomber while on election campaign at Sriperambadur-1991
• Babri Masjid demolition; Riots in UP, Madhya Pradesh, Mumbai and other places in the country-1992
• Manmohan Singh the then Finance Minister, opens the market and introduces liberalisation-1991


1993-1997
• Thirteen bombs explode in Mumbai killing about 300 people; worst ever terrorist attack in the country-1993
• An estimated 10,000 die when a 6.4 earthquake struck Latur, Maharashtra-1993
• PSLV launched successfully-1994
• Prasar Bharti a statutory autonomous body established-1997
• Leander Paes wins a bronze medal at the Atlanta Olympics the first medal in
32 years-1996
• Kapana Chawla became the first Indian woman in space when she blasted off board NASA’s space shuttle Columbia-1997


1998-2001
• On 11-13 May 1998, India, under Atal Bihari Vajpayee with the BJP government in power, conducted its second set of nuclear tests, Pokhran II.
• Kargil War: India launches air strikes in Kargil and Drass regions of Kashmir against suspected Pakistani infiltrators-1999
• Five gunmen and a suicide bomber attack the Parliament building in New Delhi-2001
• Infosys becomes the first Indian company to be listed in NASDAQ-1999
• The country’s first ever private FM radio station-Radio City launched in Bangalore-
• Cricket match fixing: CBI names Mohd Azharuddin, Ajay Jadeja, Ajay Sharma and Manoj Prabhakar as the cricketers involved in match fixing-2000


2002-2006
• Godhra Riots: At least 140 people killed during the Gujarat bandh to protest the Godhra carnage. Violence against muslims continues for over three months-2002
• India’s Scientist man APJ Abdul Kalam is elected as the President-2002
• A Tsunami triggered by a massive undersea earthquake off Sumatra in India devastates coastal India-2004
• US President George W bush visits India. US signs landmark nuclear deal with India- 2006
• LN Mittal takes over Arcelor-2006
• Narain Karthikeyan becomes the first Indian to compete in Formula One racing-2005


2007-
• Now, in 2007 India got its first women president Pratibha Patil








EARTH QUAKE IN PERU... DOZENS KILLED...

A powerful 7.9 earthquake has hit the coast of Peru, killing more than 70 people and injuring 680 others.

At least 46 people were killed in the province of Ica, about 265km (165 miles) south of Lima, officials said.

In Lima, buildings shook violently during the prolonged tremors, prompting residents to take to the streets.

President Alan Garcia said Peru had been badly hit, but first signs were that the quake was not a catastrophe.

He said he was sending three cabinet members, including the health minister, to the worst affected southern coastal towns.

Low-lying coastal areas in Peru, Chile, Ecuador and Colombia were evacuated after a tsunami alert was issued. The warning was later withdrawn.

The earthquake struck coastal Peru at 1840 (2340 GMT) and lasted for

several minutes,

The US Geological Survey said its epicentre was beneath the Pacific Ocean, about 145km (90 miles) south-east of Lima.

Four strong aftershocks ranging from 5.4 to 5.9 followed, the organisatio

n said.

Rush-hour traffic in Lima came to a halt as buildings shook with the force of the powerful tremors and hundreds of people spilled onto the streets.

"I heard quite violent shaking, books falling off the bookcase, a lampshade falling over and pictures falling off the wall, and I went to the safe zone by the lift," the BBC's Dan Collyns in Lima said.

But the full devastating force of the earthquake was felt closer to the epicentre in the southern coastal province of Ica.

Deputy Health Minister Jose Calderon described the situation in Ica, where 650,000 people live, as "dramatic".

The city's mayor, Mariano Nacimiento, said hospitals in the area had reported 4

6 deaths and 350 injured, but added that the death toll was expected to rise.

The mayor said he had asked the government for medicine, blankets, tents and all help that could be given.

"We're working, visiting areas where there are dead people and for this, the government's role is very important," he told Radio Programas del Peru (RPP).

Local TV reports said many of the dead and injured in Ica had been celebrating evening mass when the church they were in collapsed.

State of emergency

Speaking on national TV and radio, President Garcia thanked God that the earthquake had not caused a catastrophe, as such events had in the past.

"It fortunately did not cause a catastrophe with an immense number of victims," he said.

"We have declared a state of emergency in the Ica province and we are going this evening to ensure that regional and local governments, civil defence institutions and ministries can spend what they need to, rapidly and immediately, in order to solve the problems that exist there."

The president also ordered police onto the streets of Lima to keep order.

Our correspondent says the feeling on the streets of Lima, a city where one third of the population lives, is that it may have narrowly avoided a major disaster.

FLOOD IN NORTH KOREA...

We went to Sogon, driving for about two hours to get there, and we saw extensive examples of flooding as we went down, with widespread inundation of arable lands which, of course, creates concerns as regards the long-term food implications.

We have been told by the government that the Kangwon province is one of the areas that is worst affected. The impression we are getting is that there is severe damage throughout the southern half of the country, across to the east.

The southern part of the country is the main food-producing area. As you go further north it is more mountainous and hence their ability to produce is limited.

The area that has been inundated is part of the 'rice bowl', hence this creates additional concerns as to what impact that may have.

We estimate that annually there is a food deficit of about a million tons of cereals - that's maize and rice. So, in the past, North Korea has relied on bilateral, from China and South Korea predominantly, and also multilateral support through the World Food Programme.

Collapsed houses

Last year, the amount of food that entered the county did not meet the food gap and hence we were concerned about the implications that was going to have for food security in the country and potentially the impact that may have on the most vulnerable.

Certainly for them to have the floods this year is only going to exacerbate the already food insecure situation in the country.

People are managing as best they can. We understand from the government that those who have lost their homes are now residing in either their place of work or some form of community shelter - either a school or nursery, we expect.

We were dealing with local officials. They tell us that the waters have inundated houses, houses have collapsed, factories have been completely inundated and roads and bridges have been washed away. Certainly the impression we are getting is that this is very severe flooding.

We saw bridges that were knocked down, we saw roads that had been washed away. The infrastructure is typically old and anything that damages it further is going to have implications.

Wiped out

The landscape in the southern area is a combination of flatlands with quite dramatic mountains, there are fields with hills and mountains shooting up.

There are small villages and co-operative farms. These are very rudimentary houses - typically handmade.

People may have a small plot in the front of the house in which they try to grow their own vegetables - potatoes, beans, carrots, tomatoes - they are then surrounded by more extensive farmlands which have been damaged by flooding.

In one area, we were looking at what we thought was a river running through a field of maize but it was in fact the offshoot of a flooded river. Crops have just been wiped out.

We also saw a lot of areas that were completely underwater, knowing that the rice would not be able to recover.

This is the period of pollination and, hence, because the rice is underwater during this period, it won't germinate and hence won't produce for the harvest due in September-October.