Communism wins in Kerala. March 1957
For the first time in world history, Communists took power through the ballot box. On March 16, 1957, the CPI-M secured 65 of the total 126 seats in the Kerala Legislative Assembly. E M S Nampoothiripad became the chief minister. It was India’s first Communist Government, and the first dent in the Congress’ hegemony.

'Mother India'. 1957 released
From the day it hit the screen, Mehboob Khan's Mother India has never stopped playing in some theatre or the other in India. Now five decades old—the tale of a peasant family struggling under a moneylender’s yoke and Radha who unflinchingly sacrifices all to keep the family together—tore at the hearts of Indians just freed from British colonial rule. It was the first Indian film to gross over Rs.40 million and the first ever to be nominated for the Oscars.

Goa liberated. December 19, 1961
The Portuguese were the first European power to arrive in India (in 1510). They were also the last to depart (December 19, 1961), after 450 years. Goan resistance to the regime intensified under Dr Ram Manohar Lohia’s leadership in 1946. After peaceful negotiations failed, sustained aerial bombing by India forced the Portuguese to formally surrender on December 19, 1961. 3,306 Portuguese troops laid down their arms. Within 40 hours of the start of military operations, the last foreign holding in India was brought to an end.

October/India loses war with China. November 1962
India loses an unprovoked war with China. The armed forces' budget was ramped up dramatically, the nuclear weapons programme put on the fast track. And even though non-aligned, India began tilting towards the Soviet Union for military help.

Nehru dies. May 27, 1964
Born in Allahabad in 1889 into a wealthy Kashmiri family, Jawaharlal Nehru was lawyer in England till 1912. But by the end of World War Two, he’d evolved into Mahatma Gandhi's second in command in India. India’s first PM, he put India firmly on the path of industrialisation. During the Cold War, Nehru pioneered the non-aligned movement and became a beacon for poor countries that didn’t want to depend on any major power. The defeat to China in 1962 shook him badly and he died soon after May 27, 1964.

January/Anti-Hindi protests. February 1965
Even before Independence, in 1937, Tamil Nadu protested violently against the imposition of Hindi. Agitations continued through the 1940s, 50s and the first half of the 1960s. Students led from the front, many were injured, others dragged to jail, still others set themselves afire. There were calls for an independent Tamil Nadu and secession from India. Partly due to such protests, English still remains the educational and business language of India.

Indira Gandhi becomes PM. 1966
On January 19, 1966, Jawaharlal Nehru’s daughter Indira Gandhi pipped Morarji Desai to take over India’s reins as Prime Minister. Over the years, she became India’s Iron Lady. She was supremely charismatic yet compulsively paranoid about political enemies. Her reign changed India’s future forever.

White Revolution. 1966
Verghese Kurien’s Amul experiment in Gujarat soon blossomed into the much larger Operation Flood, spread over 23 states, 170 districts and 90,000 village cooperatives. It changed India from an importer to the world's largest milk producer and exporter.

Green Revolution. 1967
The Indian farm miracle started around the same time. Minister C. Subramaniam, scientists and farmers used better seeds, double-cropping and easy bank loans to up production by 70 per cent in a decade, making India completely self sufficient in food grains.