In photos: Moments that made India

1950s

THEN: Fleeing Chinese military brutality, thousands of Tibetans followed the Dalai Lama through the Himalayas, finding home in India

NOW: The National Register of Citizens in Assam aims to identify migrants who are now residing in Indian territories, putting the onus on citizens to prove their Indianness

1960s

THEN: With the onset of the Green Revolution, farmers began to grow high-yielding varieties of wheat and rice, changing India’s status as a food-deficient country and creating jobs in ancillary industries

NOW: The government is opposed to eager farmers growing unapproved, disease-resistant, genetically modified crops like brinjal and cotton, citing risks of disruption of ecosystem and biodiversity

1970s

THEN: Triggered by a judicial decree that held her guilty of corrupt electoral practices, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi imposed an 18-month Emergency across the country, leading to political suppression and chaos

NOW: The Congress’s humiliating loss in the 2019 parliamentary elections has put in doubt the Gandhi family’s dominance in national politics

1980s

THEN: On the intervening night of December 3 and 4, 1984, a leak from Union Carbide’s pesticide plant in Bhopal turned the city into a toxic gas chamber, killing thousands and making it one of the world’s worst industrial disasters

NOW: Air pollution in India has assumed the proportions of a public health emergency, claiming over 1.2 million lives in 2017 alone, making it the third highest cause of death

1990s

THEN: Rajiv Goswami, a student at Delhi University, sets himself ablaze during protests against caste-based job reservations recommended by the Mandal Commission

NOW: Even as state governments increase caste-based reservations in jobs and education to appease various communities, the Telangana government is setting up a university exclusively for Dalit students

2000s

THEN: Delhi High Court scraps a colonial-era law that criminalised homosexuality in India

NOW: The Kinnar Akhara, comprising transgender sadhus, including LGBTQ leader Laxmi Tripathi, takes a holy dip in the Ganga during Kumbh Mela, to reclaim the position held by the community in Hinduism

2010s

THEN: Isro’s successful Mars Orbiter Mission (Mangalyaan) proves the country’s space capabilities

NOW: Academics at an Indian Scientific Congress Association event claim that India’s mythological stories aren’t fiction, and that “we had 100 Kauravas from one mother because of stem cell and test tube technology”