India got independence on 15th of August in 1947 from the British rule. But, even with all the dejection around, the 69 years of independence have not been uneventful for there have been sparks of achievements and success attained that have filled the heart of each Indian with pride. Here we listed 30 Moments In Independent India’s History That Will Fill You With Pride. Have a look!
1. India’s first general election was carried out in 1951. The voter turnout was 45.7%.
2. World Health Organisation (WHO) officially declares India ‘polio-free’ in 2014.
3. Our first organised resistance to destruction of forests, the Chipko movement, began in 1974.
4. 1966: Retia Faria Powell became the first Asian woman to win the Miss World.
5. 1952 – Khashaba Jadhav, the first Indian to win an individual Olympic medal for India
6. We entered the nuclear club in 1974 when we carried out our first nuclear test at Pokhran.
7. 1975 – India won World Cup Hockey, Malaysia
8. 1983 – Cricket World Cup Victory.
9. Aryabhatta, our first satellite, named after the 5th century scientist, was launched in 1975. Since then we’ve only got bigger on the satellite front.
10. Mother Teresa’s humanitarian work was noticed at a global level when she won the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1979.
11. 2000 – Viswanathan Anand wins the World Chess Championship
12. 1984: Rakesh Sharma became the first Indian to enter space opening doors for bigger outer space ventures.
13. We started a new legacy when we hosted the first Asian Games in 1951.
14. India opened its gates to the global market and initiated economic liberalisation in 1991.
15. We defeated Pakistan in the Kargil War in 1999 and recaptured Tiger Hill.
16. India became one of the few nations to enact the fundamental Right to Information in 2005.
17. We became one of the first few countries to have a woman head of state when Pratibha Patil took over as President of India in 2007.
18. We continued being great at cricket when India won the T20 World Cup in 2007.
19. We always had hits and misses at the Olympics, but we reached new heights when Abhinav Bindra won the gold medal in the 10m Air Rifle event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
20. A.R. Rehman made the nation proud when he received an Oscar for Slumdog Millionaire in 2009.
21. 2011: We won the cricket World Cup AGAIN.
22. The Indian government declared the Golden Quadrilateral complete in 2012. Over 40,000 km of highways and expressways were added to our infrastructure.
23. 2011: We decided to take a stand against the system and supported Anna Hazare in his campaign against corruption.
24. 2012: Defence Research and Development Organisation successfully test fired Agni V, taking a big step towards being more powerful.
25. 2014: We became the first country to reach the Mars orbit in the very first attempt. The whole world was pleasantly surprised and proud when Mangalyaan reached Mars.
26. After several years of disappointment, our hockey team made a glorious comeback when they defeated Pakistan in the 2014 Asian Games.
27. Kailash Satyarthi made us proud when he received the Nobel Prize for Peace in 2014.
28. 2015: Narendra Modi completed one year in office giving us hope by launching projects like Make-in-India, Digital India, Skill India and 100 smart cities.
29. In 1994 when Sushmita Sen and Aishwarya Rai became Miss Universe and Miss World respectively.
30. Amartya Sen’s Nobel Prize victory
In 1998, Amartya Sen, one of the greatest and most well-known economists in the world, was awarded the Nobel Prize for Economics for his work in welfare economics. Winning such a prestigious award is one the greatest honours that can be bestowed upon an individual, and Sen was more than deserving of it.