Regional parties come to power. February 19, 1967
The DMK led by C N Annadurai not only supported popular demand for the advancement of Tamil culture and language and a separate state for Tamils - it also advocated wide spread industrialization as they key to economic independence. When New Delhi made the use of Hindi compulsory in 1967, popular resentment drove Annadurai to power. It marked the end of Congress rule in Tamil Nadu and the rise of regional parties and non-Congress, socialist, Janta Dal forces across India.

Naxalbari uprising. May 25, 1967
On May 25, 1967, in Naxalbari village in Darjeeling district, northern West Bengal, a landlord’s hired goons attacked a tribal awarded land by the courts. In retaliation, tribals attacked landlords en-masse and grabbed their land. From this 'Naxalbari Uprising' came the word Naxalite. Though violently stamped out - the movement triggered a split between moderates and hardliners in the communist party. Ideologues from the much older Telangana armed struggle in Andhra Pradesh soon joined cause and in time, the movement spread throughout pockets in India. Today it is probably India’s most potent, yet hidden threat to internal security.

Bank Nationalisation, abolition of privy purses. July 20, 1969
Forced to pander to the left wing in her minority government, Indira went populist with a vengeance - nationalizing banks, increasing budgetary allocation for the poor and abolishing state stipends for India’s former royalty. But by not taxing the wealthy to finance these efforts, she almost drained the government exchequer. Economic growth crawled at two to three percent, foreign investment dried up and soon raging inflation set in. Ironically, the “Garibi Hatao” slogan that Indira coined in this period gave her an overwhelming victory in the 1971 elections.

India beats England in England. August 24, 1971
They had just brought the Ashes home, after 12 years. So logically, Ray Illingworth's England should just have overrun Ajit Wadekar's India. Yet it was routed by our spin revolution - spearheaded by Chandra, Bedi and Venkat. So full of the Ashes was all of England at that time, that its shock loss of a home series to India, didn’t really matter. But to purists, it was proof enough of Indian cricket's coming of age.

India-Pakistan War, creation of Bangladesh. December 1971
India defeated Pakistan and helped carve out Bangladesh. The victory shook off our weak image after the unsettled 1965 war and the disastrous 1962 conflict with China. Earlier, President Nixon had in sent warships to the Indian Ocean to "threaten" India into submission. But Mrs Gandhi’s special bond with Brezhnev and her "friendship treaty" with the Soviets forced America to back off. However, the India-Pakistan Shimla Agreement signed soon after, could not settle the Kashmir dispute once and for all.

Chipko Andolan. March 1973
Simmering discontent against logging in the Garwhal Himalayas finally flared up when in 1973, the State Forest Department banned villagers from cutting trees to make basic implements. But simultaneously, a sporting goods company was permitted to cut 32 trees to make tennis racquets. Irate women hugged the trees in question - and demanded to be killed before the trees were harmed. The Government and its contractor soon backed down and thus was born a peaceful, soon nationwide protest against deforestation.

Launch of Project Tiger. 1973
In the early 1970’s, only 1,827 tigers existed in the wild, thanks to deforestation and poaching. Faced with an international outcry and the imminent extinction of our national animal, the Government nationalized nine major wild life sanctuaries and banned deforestation and poaching. By 1980, the tiger population dramatically doubled and Project Tiger became the role model for preserving the country's dwindling ecosystems.

First Nuclear Explosion, Pokhran 1. 1974
“It was like Krishna lifting up the hill," said a top nuclear scientist after watching the explosion of India's first nuclear device on May 18, 1974, in the Pokhran desert in Rajasthan. Pakistan's Prime Minister Z A Bhutto swore his country would make the bomb even if they had "to eat grass". It took another 24 years for India to declare itself a nuclear weapons state after a series of explosions in May 1998.

Emergency's hard lessons. June 26, 1975
Justice Sinha’s orders officially unseated Indira Gandhi as Prime Minister. In response, she got the President to declare Emergency, snatching away democratic freedoms and making India a totalitarian state. Her paranoia-fuelled dictatorship over the next two years drove the world’s largest democracy to the brink - and beyond.

Sholay: India’s first 70 mm spectacle. 1975
Some call it India's answer to Godfather. Ramesh Sippy, its maker, could never manage an equal in his long career. A finely scripted, mega-budget, multi-starring blockbuster, Sholay released on August 15, 1975. Almost three decades later, it remains the Indian film industry's most memorable movie.