 "BS Decoded: The story of India in 50 Business Standard headlines since 1975")
1. June 25, 1975
Democracy interrupted:Citing internal and external threats to the country, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi has a state of emergency declared across India. It lasts 21 months, until March 21, 1977
2. January 16, 1978
Losing currency: The Morarji Desai-led Janata Party government demonetises banknotes of Rs 1,000, Rs 5,000, and Rs 10,000 under the High Denomination Bank Notes (Demonetisation) Ordinance, resulting in long queues outside banks. History would repeat itself 38 years later
3. July 12, 1982
It takes a village: One of the earliest financial inclusion institutions, the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) gets down to work to promote rural development through credit, infrastructure, and various schemes
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4. October 31, 1984
Shock and disbelief:Prime Minister Indira Gandhi is assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards at her residence in New Delhi in the aftermath of Operation Blue Star. Soon after, anti-Sikh riots break out even as her son, Rajiv Gandhi, is sworn in as prime minister
5. January 1, 1986
Market moment: The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) launches the Sensex, and the market opens the new year with a bang. The base year is taken as 1979. It is now known as the
S&P BSE Sensex
6. 1990
Student wrath: Thousands of students hit the streets after Prime Minister VP Singh announces on August 7, 1990, that Other Backward Classes would get a 27% reservation in central government and PSU jobs. On September 19, Rajiv Goswami, a Delhi University student, attempts self-immolation, becoming the face of the anti-Mandal agitation
7. 1991
Country in crisis: India pledges a portion of its gold reserves as collateral to the IMF to secure an emergency loan to tide over a foreign exchange crisis and avoid defaulting on payments
8. July 23, 1991
Heads-up: Ahead of the historic 1991-92 Budget and the new industrial policy, Finance Minister Manmohan Singh indicates at a meeting of the Congress Working Committee that ‘harsh measures’ had become imperative as the government had inherited a ‘grim’ economic situation
9. July 24, 1991
Liberating changes: It is the Budget — PV Narasimha Rao government’s first — that would transform India. Through a speech that lasts over an hour and a half, Finance Minister Manmohan Singh opens up India’s economy and introduces wide-ranging economic reforms that would free the industry of Licence Raj
10. January 30, 1992
Power to the regulator: The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) becomes a statutory body with Parliament passing the Sebi Act. The government had established Sebi as a non-statutory body through a resolution on April 12, 1988, to regulate the securities market