Independent India: Triumphs and Tragedies - Part 4 Quiz

Answer: Poor economic development

In the 1980s, following the Green Revolution, there was great prosperity but also much discontent in Punjab, especially among the Sikhs. Fears of loss of identity, of simply merging with the majority Hindus, the Congress party interfering with State politics a little too much, and bickering among the Sikhs themselves led to a lot of discontent among the youth and the start of many extremist religious organizations (some funded by Pakistan and non-resident Sikhs). One of these, the Babbar Khalsa was led by a man called Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, a man who saw himself as the "Ayatollah Khomeini" of the Sikhs.

Answer: New Delhi

The Ninth Asian games of 1982 were held in India, for the second time, after the first edition was held in New Delhi in 1951. The Asian Games was part of Jawaharlal Nehru's vision to try and bring the Asian states closer and thus prevent their dominance by the Cold War powers. Approximately 4,500 athletes from 33 countries participated in these games, with China emerging the winner. Source:http://sify.com/itihaas/fullstory.php?id=13383371

Answer: Operation Blue Star

For the past year before Operation Blue Star, Punjab was being terrorized by Sikh militants and police alike and the Army had been called in settle the matter. When finally, a group of militants led by Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, had holed up in the Golden Temple, the Indian Army surrounded the Temple and laid seige to it.

The plans to take the temple were , ironically enough laid down by two Sikh officers, but its execution could not have been worse. The operation was carried out on a Sikh holy day when the temple was full of worshippers and the Army used too much force resulting in terrible damage to the temple.

The bloodbath at the Temple eventually resulted in the intensification of the Sikh insurgency, which was not put down till the early 1990's - by a Sikh police officer. Source:http://sify.com/itihaas/fullstory.php?id=13383400

Answer: Kapil Dev

When India started the World Cup, the highest expectation of the captain and the rest of the country was to win one or two matches, and at least put up a good show in the rest. They did slightly more than that! The West Indies on the other hand, under Clive Lloyd, had won the last two World Cups and were relishing the prospect of making it three in a row, after they found out that they would have to play India in the finals.

It was only a die-hard India fan who would take the 500:1 odds for India winning the Cup.

The match itself was dramatic, to say the least. Batting first, India did not score too many runs, and the total itself did not look a great challenge to the mighty West Indian batting line up consisting of Greenidge, Haynes, Richards, Lloyd, Gomes and Kanhai. One great catch turned all the predictions upside down. Kapil Dev, ran 75 yards backwards to take a stunner and dismiss Viv Richards and trigger off the collapse in the West Indian batting.

The rest, as they say, is history and Indian cricket was never the same again.

Answer: True

October 31, 1984 was another dark day, in a dark year as Indira Gandhi became the first Indian Prime Minister to be assassinated. She was shot by her bodyguards, Satwant Singh and Kuldip Singh, both Sikhs who felt that she had deliberately ordered the attack on the Golden Temple to damage the Sikh community. Immediately following her death, terrible anti-Sikh riots broke out in Delhi and parts of North India, instigated by Congressmen.

In the 1984 elections, Rajiv Gandhi, Indira's elder son, was elected PM with the largest Parliamentary majority ever.

Answer: Reliance

The fourth Cricket World Cup was held in India and Pakistan and was sponsored by Reliance. Australia, like India before them, were the underdogs, but managed to beat England in the finals at Kolkata (Calcutta), despite teh latter being a comfortable position to win. However both India and Pakistan lost in the semi-finals.

Answer: True

Rajiv Gandhi, although he was not PM when he was assassinated, was the first Indian political leader to be assassinated by a suicide bomber, of the dreaded Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Rajiv Gandhi had planned the foolhardy IPKF operation against the rebels in Sri Lanka, in order to assist the Sri Lankan government, only to find, like his grandfather, that the the Indian Army was ill-equipped and not trained to fight such an operation in the jungles of Jaffna. 1200+ casualties later, Rajiv Gandhi lost his Prime Ministership and was campaigning in Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu, when he was assassinated.

The story of the assassination and the way the conspiracy was unearthed is also quite fascinating, as about 20 of the conspirators were sentenced to death in 2000 for their role in the assassination.

Answer: The Maldives

In 1988, in response to a request by the Foreign Minister of Maldives, Indian troops were dispatched by air to Male, on November 3, to put down an attempted coup by mercenaries. About 1,600 Indian troops were airlifted in this succesful operation and the last mercenaries were flushed out by the 6th. For more information on this, check out this website:http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-6151.html

Answer: Muslim Women's (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1985

In the landmark case of Shah Bano Begum v. Mohammed Ahmad Khan, the Supreme COurt of India decreed that a Muslim woman, divorced by her husband had the right to maintenance for the rest of her life and not just for 4 months 10 days as stipulated in the Koran.

This decision outraged the conservative Muslims, mostly men, who campaigned hard to get this decision overturned and surprisingly, the government caved in to this demand. However, on a more positive note, this act has been used by various Indian courts to award higher amounts to Muslim women and ensure that they are adequately provided for the rest of their lives by their husbands.

Answer: Soyuz T-11

On April 2, 1984, Sqd. Ldr. Rakesh Sharma became the 138th man and the 1st Indian in space, on board the Soyuz T-11, along with two other Russian Cosmonauts. Since then, only one other Indian, the late Kalpana Chawla has gone to space, this time aboard Columbia, with NASA help. Thus, India is perhaps the only country to have sent both an 'astronaut' and a 'cosmonaut' to space - a pleasant fallout of non-alignment maybe. -:)