The Narmada Bachao Andolan, a people's movement organized to protest against the Narmada
Valley Project, will go down in history as the longest struggle being waged. In 1947, to
harness the Narmada river which flows through the states of Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat,
the multi purpose Narmada Valley project was envisaged. The project involved the setting
up of small and big dams of which the Sardar Sarovar dam in Gujarat to be the biggest. But
the prolonged controversy over the height of the dam stalled the construction and later
delayed the completion, the Sardar Sarovar dam would submerge more than 37,000 hectares of
forest and agriculture land and would displace about 3,20,000 villagers whose livelihood
depend on the natural resources. Medha has mobilised massive rallies, over the years.
Against raising the height of the dam, she has even moved the Supreme Court in 1994.
On May 21, 1991, at Sriperumbudur, 40 km from Chennai, Dhanu, a woman suicide bomber,
killed Rajiv Gandhi. He had lost his Prime Ministership two years earlier, was hoping to
return to the power in the 1991 general elections. On 21st at 10 o' clock, people rushed
forward to garland him pushing back his security men. Dhanu moved forward, garland Rajiv
Gandhi and bent down to touch his feet. There was a terrific explosion. This was the
delayed revenge of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) against Rajiv Gandhi, who
had sent the Indian Peace keeping force to Srilanka in 1987 to protect civilians against
Tamil militancy.
India celebrated the 50th Anniversary of its independence on August 15, 1997. The Golden
Jubilee celebrations were flagged off in Mumbai on August 9, the anniversary of the Quit
India Movement. The celebrations moved to Delhi, five days later. Freedom fighters were
remembered on this day and those alive were greeted. Prime Minister I.K. Gujral addressed
the nation from the ramparts of the Red Forts.
Twenty-four years after the 'peaceful implosion' at Pokhran, this obscure place in
Rajasthan once again hit world headlines. On May 11, 1998, at 15:45 hours five nuclear
explosions took place within 48 hours. When Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee proudly
announced to the nation and the world that India had become a nuclear weapons state with
the capacity to produce the 'big bomb' as part of the national security shield, it was
indeed a moment of pride. The success of all the five underground nuclear explosions at
Pokhran was due to the combined effort over several years, of the department of Atomic
Energy and the Defence Research and Development Organization.
Some unusual movement was noticed by an Indian army petrol, in the snow-clad
Drass-Kargil-Batalik sector in the Kashmir Valley, on May 6,1999. It soon became clear
that thousands of Pakistan-backed intruders had crossed the Line of Control. The
infiltrators were well armed and entrenched at vantage points on rugged mountaintops
16,000 to 18,000 feet high, with the intention of blocking the crucial Srinagar-Leh
highway- the lifeline of Ladakh. The Indian armies on the other hand, had to move in open
rocky terrain with no cover and were easy targets for Pakistan snipers. On May 26, Indian
Air Force planes were pressed into action to carry out air strikes on enemy positions. The
infiltrators were pushed beyond the LOC in all the sectors in the Kashmir Valley, after
fifty days of intense fighting. Every inch of Indian Territory was recovered from the
Pakistan intruders by July 14.
On March 19, 2000, after a gap of 22 years, Air Force One, the US President's private jet
carrying American President Bill Clinton and his daughter Chelsea touched down on Indian
soil. President Clinton's visit to India was to build a dynamic and lasting partnership
based on mutual respect mutual benefit. His Five-day visit started by paying homage at the
samadhi of Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat. President Clinton and Prime Minister Atal B.V signed
a vision document, which laid the foundation of new Indo-US relations in the 21st century.
He went to Nayla village near Jaipur in Rajasthan, where he met the vibrant women members
of a co-operative dairy. He was moved by the Taj Mahal at Agra. He also interacted with
businessmen in Mumbai and Hyderabad.
Three new states were created in the month of Nov, i.e. Chhattisgarh Uttaranchal and
Jharkhand. The number of states of the Indian union has increased to twenty-eight.
Chhattisgarh was carved out of the state of Madhya Pradesh, On Nov 1st. Chhattisgarh is
rich in minerals and forests. D.N. Sahay and Ajit Jogi became the states first governor
and chief minister respectively. Uttaranchal was carved out of the state of Uttar Pradesh;
on Nov 9th. Uttaranchal has several pilgrim places and hill stations and well-known
academic institutions. S.S. Barnala and Nityananda Swami are the first governor and C.M of
the state respectively. Jharkhand came in to existence on Nov15th. The state is rich in
minerals. The chief. Minister is Babulal Marandi, and governor is Prabhat Kumar.
