India gets Independence. August 15, 1947
"Long years ago, we made a tryst with destiny and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge." At the stroke of midnight on August 14, 1947, Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first PM, stood in the Constituent Assembly and cried freedom. But with freedom came partition: into India and Pakistan.

Kashmir Joins India. October 27, 1947
Maharaja Hari Singh of Kashmir and governor-general Lord Louis Mountbatten signed the Instrument of Accession on October 27, 1947. Four wars have been waged over Kashmir since then. On 27th September 1947, just a month before the signing, Indian troops were airlifted to Kashmir to defend Srinagar from Pakistan.

Mahatma Gandhi Assassinated. January 1948
At 5.03 p.m, Nathuram Godse, an RSS worker, shot the Father of the Nation dead, near Birla House in Delhi. Three shots at close range from an automatic 9 mm Beretta irrevocably changed India’s political and cultural future. The raging Hindu-Muslim riots stopped immediately after and Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and his deputy Vallabhbhai Patel were forced to make peace.

Hyderabad liberated. September 12, 1948
Its Nizam was the richest man in the world, ruling over more than sixteen million people. It was larger than England and Scotland combined and had a domestic product greater than that of Belgium. But on September 12, 1948, the Indian Army surrounded and secured Hyderabad in just five days. It’s strategic location, the Nizam’s steady refusal to accede and finally, repeated raids by armed Hyderabadi militia on Indian trains and villages, all forced Sardar Patel into action. Other princely states were soon absorbed into India.

Ambedkar presents the Constitution. November 26, 1949.
Work on the constitution started in December 1946, with a 308-member constituent assembly. Dr. B R Ambedkar was the Chairman of the Drafting Committee. On November 26, 1949, the Constitution was finally passed. It was the longest written constitution in the world, with a total of 117,369 words in English. Speaking after the completion of his work, Ambedkar said: "I feel that the Constitution is workable; it is flexible and it is strong enough to hold the country together. If things go wrong under the new Constitution, the reason will not be that we had a bad Constitution. What we will have to say is that Man was vile."

India becomes a Republic. January 26, 1950
President Dr Rajendra Prasad formally endorsed the Constitution, making India a sovereign democratic republic. He hoisted the national flag and took the salute that day at what would later become an annual fixture: the Republic Day Parade.

Five-Year Plans begin. 1951
Within two months of India becoming a republic, the Planning Commission started making blueprints for India's future. In spite of its best intentions, regional imbalances widened and competitiveness and free enterprise took a back seat, defeating the very idea of planned development. But through wars, droughts and oil shocks of the 1960s and 1970s, the five-year plans did keep India’s growth steady.

India’s first General Election. January 1952
Fresh out of the freedom struggle, India gave voting rights to the masses. The logistics were mind boggling - 4,500 seats to be decided by 176 million Indians, spread over more than a million square miles. Eighty five per cent of them were illiterate. To aid the unread, large pictorial party symbols and separate ballot boxes for each party were used. The West turned up its nose, calling it the biggest gamble in history. Yet, as an exercise in social organisation, and as a display of sheer political exuberance, the 1952 elections had no precedent.

Family planning programme starts. 1952
At 369 million people, India had too many mouths to feed. The family planning programme revolved around safe contraceptive practices and aimed to put a cap on our burgeoning population. Its mascot, the red inverted triangle, is one of the most recognisable symbols of that era.

Hindu Code Bills passed. 1956
First introduced in the Legislative Assembly in April 1947, the Hindu Code Bill was shelved in 1951 by Jawaharlal Nehru, forcing Ambedkar to resign in anger. The Hindu Succession Act finally became law on 17th June 1956, after pressure by liberal and women's groups. It was a turning point for female rights, giving the widow, daughter and mother, equal right to a deceased man's property, along with his son, grandson and great-grandson. Earlier, the Hindu Marriage Act of 1955 banned polygamy and increased the right of the divorced wife to maintenance or alimony.

Reorganisation of states based on language. 1956
When Potti Sriramulu fasted to his death in 1952, demanding a state for Telugu speakers, he set the groundwork for dividing India on linguistic lines. People of the same language tended to share a cultural heritage and a will to work together - no matter what religion or ethnicity they belonged to. The State Reorganization Commission of 1956 ultimately redrew the map of India - coagulating people of the same language into separate autonomous states. It was the most practical way to hold the nation together.