Table of Contents
Achievements of India after 1947
India had won its freedom on 15th August, 1947 after a long struggle against the British rule. Many people had lost their lives and family. They had felt the British oppressive policies and faced the tortures and punishments.
They had no opportunity provided by the British to prosper. They neither were educated nor could provide education to their upcoming generations. The people in the British Rule worked as slaves because they to pay heavy taxes. They were cruelly beaten by the British and their officials and policemen, if they were unable to pay taxes.
Many small incidents occurred during the course of time by the people who revolted but they were individual clashes. The mass rebellion up surged in 1857 in the all the parts of India that brought the sense of liberty among the Indians.
Then the arrival of Mahatma Gandhi in India in 1915 intensified it at that level that had shaken the foundation of the British Rule in India. Gandhiji had launched many movements, advised the people to use non-violent means and united the people.
The feeling of Nationalism started taking shape in the frightened and weak people and they became united. They initiated mass agitations and insurgencies that had made the British to think to leave India.
The constitution of India came into force on 26th January, 1950. Now the newly formed government had all the powers in the hand got a chance to make the country Golden-Bird again.
Dr. Rajendra Prasad was nominated as the President of India, while Jawaharlal Nehru and Ballabh Bhai Patel held the Prime- Minister and Deputy Prime Minister cum Home-minister post respectively. India has achieved a lot in the entire domain. It has soon become a developing country.
Many Development Works has been done in all the Sectors. Some of them are mentioned here:
- Education: A consistent growth in the field of education is being observed from the independence. The illiteracy rate is getting decreased. Many world level colleges, universities, and institutions have been established that provide technical and vocational education. Many research works are in progress.
- Empowerment of Women: To empower the Indian women constitution has provided equal rights to women. Now women are contributing in the every field of the life.
- Science and Technology: India is now totally independent in the field of safety and the space. India has developed its own Missile; it has launched many satellites in the space, and uses its own technology in many fields. In communication India has left many countries behind. India has been put its steps in the discovery of the Moon and the Mars.
- Production and Manufacturing: Now India has become independent in these fields. The designed vehicles and machines are exported in the global market. In the field of computers India has developed a lot. Several kinds of facilities are provided on the Internet that has made the human life easy.
- Transportation: In the area of transport, the number and the length of the roads have been increased. The whole country is now attached through a network of roads and rail-lines. Many International airports have been built for the international journeys. The network of Railway carries many passengers from one place to another.
- Sports: Indians are valiant and self-respected people. Many stories of bravery had been stored in the History. In the sports domain India has gained immense popularity. Numerous top level sports men were born in India who had won many medals in their life. The trend has become common now-a-days also and still the trend prevails. In every international sports activity Indians have shown their talent and skill and won medals for the country.
Greatest Achievements of India
- Two Phases of Economy: The policy of liberalization and privatization has largely affected the economy and many economic reforms have been done to run the economic system.
- The Green Revolution: It was mainly bought by M.S. Swaminathan. The introduction of HYV ( High Yielding Variety) seeds and chemical fertilizers the yield of food-grains have been increased to such a level that India has become capable to fulfill the needs of the people and the surplus grains were exported to other countries.
- Eradication of Epidemics and Polio: Various epidemics and Polio have been eradicated successfully from our nation with the improvement of medical science.
- Indian Armed Forces: India is one of four largest military powers in the world today, and has got one of most sophisticated missile programs in the world.
- First Voting after India’s Independence: India is the only nation in the world, which gave Universal Adult Franchise from its first day of independence. Whereas, in the US, the world’s second largest democracy, this right was given more than 150 years after their independence.
- Union of Indian Princely States: Just after independence, we executed the world’s largest merger and acquisition activity, when 560 small princely states joined (merged) into the Indian state.
- Diverse Languages: We have the most number of languages spoken in a single nation; 29 languages are spoken in India, by more than one million people each.
- Space Program and Defense Program: Today we are one of the most developing nations in the field of Space and defense program. We have launched various space programs including Lunar and Mars mission, under Indian Space Research Organization.
- Technical Education & Digital India: Since independence India has been developing its technical education sector. Now India has become a nation that has established many production units and built a large network of roads to reach every nook and corner of the country.
- Religious Tolerance: Despite having such diversity in terms of religions and cultures, India has developed into a secular state where every religion is free to worship and propagate their religion.
- The Republic: The constitution of India came into effect on 26 January 1950. The Indian constitution is known as the largest written constitution in the world.
- Construction of New India with Dams and Irrigation Project: India has gained a lot after construction of dams and several canals that help the farmers in irrigating their fields.
- Heavy Industry in India: Many heavy industries were established in India to make the country dependent.
- Panchayat Raj System to Empower Rural India: The Panchayati Raj refers to the system of local self-government in India introduced by a constitutional amendment in 1992.
- Green Revolution: Major technological reforms were occurred in Indian agriculture, from the mid 1960s.
- Rise of IT Industries (1998-2008): In India information technology consists of two major component; IT service and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO). It contributes to India’s GDP from 1.2% in 1998 to 7.5% in 2012.
- India Enters The Trillion Dollar Economy: In April 2007, India entered the trillion dollar economy. It was in the year 2006-07 when the GDP of India was Rs 41,00,000 Crore which was much higher than the GDP of 2001.
- A Victory for Democracy: It was the first time in the year 1977 when India actually showed the true democratic colors. The emergency imposed by the contemporary govt. was removed after some days and again the democracy prevailed was a win of democracy.
- End of the Two Front Wars with Pakistan and Formation of Bangladesh: India and Pakistan war was ended in December 1971 and it was a complete end to the war when the East Pakistan was formed and was converted into a new country altogether – Bangladesh. It was a proud moment for the country as they gave help in the freedom of Bangladesh.
Most Precious Moments of Independent India
- In 1951, India’s first general election was held. The voter turnout was 45.7%.
- In 1951, India started a new legacy when we hosted the first Asian Games.
- In 1966, Reita Faria Powell became the first Asian woman to win the Miss World.
- In 1974, our first organised resistance to destruction of forests, the Chipko movement, began.
- In 1974, we also entered into the nuclear club and carried out our first nuclear test in Pokhran.
- In 1975, Aryabhatta, our first man-made satellite, named after the 5th century mathematician, was launched. Since then we never looked back and progressed in this field.
- In 1979, Mother Teresa’s charitable work was noticed at a global level when she won the Nobel Prize for Peace.
- In 1983, India won the cricket World Cup for the first time, and made a mark as world-class sportsmanship.
- In 1984 Rakesh Sharma became the first Indian to enter space opening the doors for bigger outer space ventures.
- In 1991, India opened its gates to the global market and initiated economic liberalization.
- In 1999, India defeated Pakistan in the Kargil War and re-captured Tiger Hill.
- In 2005, India became one of the few nations to enact the Right to Information (RTI).
- In 2007, India 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, India won the T20 World Cup.
- In 2008, 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.
- In 2009, A.R. Rehman brought a proud moment for the country when he received an Oscar for Slumdog Millionaire.
- In 2011, India won the cricket World Cup again.
- In 2011, we decided to take a stand against the system and supported Anna Hazare in his campaign against corruption.
- In 2012, Defence Research and Development Organisation successfully tested the missile Agni – V, taking a big step towards being more powerful.
- In 2012, the Indian government declared the Golden Quadrilateral complete. Over 40,000 km of highways and expressways were added to our infrastructure.
- In 2014, after years of battling with Polio, India was declared polio free.
- In 2014, we became the first country to reach the Mars orbit in the very first attempt.
- In 2014, after several years of disappointment, our hockey team made a glorious comeback when they defeated Pakistan in the 2014 Asian Games.
- In 2014, Kailash Satyarthi made us proud when he received the Nobel Prize for Peace.
- In 2015, India successfully reduced its school dropout rate by 90%, ensuring primary education to all its children.
- In 2015, the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport, New Delhi, won the award of best Airport from Airport International Council.
- In 2016, India carried out surgical strike across the border on terror outfits in Pakistan territory.
- In 2017, India’s first full time woman Defence Minister, Nirmala Sitaraman took charge.
- In 2017, India’s Manushi Chillar was crowned Miss World in an event in China.
- In 2018, India’s longest railroad bridge over Brahmaputra (Bogibeel Bridge) was inaugurated by the Prime Minister in Assam.
- In 2018, India launched its first ever Semi High Speed electric train named Train 18 or Vande Bharat Express.
- In 2019, India launched Chandrayaan-2, its second moon exploration mission on 22nd July 2019.
- In 2019, Government of India abrogated Article 370 from the state of Jammu & Kashmir on 5th August 2019.
Independence Day Special: Golden Moments of Indian Sports
In this context some of the major achievements of the Indian sportsmen are mentioned below:
- 1948: India bagged her first Gold Medal after Independence in field hockey in 1948 Summer Olympics.
- 1951: India hosts inaugural Asian Games: India played a host for the Asian Games at New Delhi in March 1951.
- 1952: Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav was an Indian wrestler and the first to win bronze medal in 1952 summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland.
- 1952: Indian field hockey team won its 5th consecutive Gold Medal in 1952 Summer Olympics.
- 1952: India wins first Test series in cricket: In the captaincy of Lala Amaranths India won its first test series against Pakistan.
- 1958: Wilson Jones, a billiards player from India won the World Amateur Billiards Championship in Calcutta in 1958.
- 1958: Lila Ram Sangwan took home the gold medal in the heavyweight (100 Kg) in 1958 Commonwealth Games.
- 1958: Mihir Sen became the first Indian to cross the stretch of English Channel from Dovner to Calais in 1958.
- 1960: Ramanathan Krishnan, Indian tennis player, created history by reaching the semi-finals in 1960 Wimbledon.
- 1961-62: India won a test series (Dec 1961-Jan 1962) against England which was played in Calcutta and Madras.
- 1950-1960: During 1950s to 1960s, the Indian football team ranked among the top 20 football teams in the world.
- 1962: India won its second gold medal in football at the Asian Games in Jakarta.
- 1962: Padam Bahadur Mall gave the country its first gold medal in the sport of boxing in the 60 kg category.
- 1964: India was successful in beating Pakistan 1-0 and bagging gold medal in Hockey in 1964 Olympics at Tokyo.
- 1965: In May 1965, Indian Army’s team led by Avatar Singh Cheema reached the top of Mt. Everest.
- 1966: Hawa Singh was won a Gold medal in the heavy weight boxing category and dramatically did the same four years later at the same place.
- 1967: Under the captaincy of Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi India beat New Zealand 3-1 in a test series at Wellington.
- 1971: India won the test series 1-0 against England in their first ever win on English soil.
- 1975: India wins hockey World Cup defeating Pakistan 2-1 under the captaincy of Ajit Pal Singh.
- 1980: The Indian hockey team beat Spain 4-3 in the final to win their last Olympic gold medal in hockey.
- 1980: Prakash Padukone wins all England Badminton championships in 1980.
- 1982: India hosted the Asian Games for the second time in New Delhi in the year 1982.
- 1983: In the 1983 Cricket World Cup India beat two-time reigning world champions West Indies in the final of the tournament winning the Cup.
- 1983: Sunil Gavaskar surpassed Sir Donald Bradman’s record of 29 centuries at Chennai in a test series against West Indies.
- 1984: In 400 meter hurdle race Usha lost the bronze by 1/100th of a second.
- 1985: Sunil Gavaskar’s term as India captain ended with the team winning the Benson & Hedges World Championship of cricket, held in Australia.
- 1986: P.T. Usha proved her excellence by winning four Gold Medals in 1986 Asian Games.
- 1986: Khajan Singh, an Indian swimmer won Silver Medal in Asian Games at Seoul.
- 1987: The World Cup moved out of England for the first time and was co-hosted by India and Pakistan.
- 1987: Sunil Gavaskar became the first batsman ever, to score 10,000 runs in Test cricket.
- 1988: Viswanathan Anand became India’s first chess Grandmaster by winning Shakti Finance International chess tournament held in Coimbatore, India.
- 1990: In the Asian Games at Beijing and India won Gold by defeating Bangladesh in finals.
- 1996: Leander lands an Olympic medal: Indian tennis ace Leander Paes bagged bronze at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996 after nearly 44 years.
- 1997: Mahesh Bhupathi, Indian tennis player became the first Indian to bagged Grand Slam title.
- 1999: Anil Kumble became the second player to claim all 10 wickets in a Test inning against Pakistan at Feroz Shah Kotla stadium.
- 2000: In Sydney Olympics, Karnam Malleswari lifted 110 kg in the “snatch” and 130 kg in the “clean and jerk” and with a total of 240 kg, she bagged the bronze medal.
- 2001: Pullela Gopich won the All England Badminton Championship, defeating China in finals.
- 2001: Indian cricket team won a test match against Australia in Calcutta.
- 2002: Anju Bobby George won a bronze medal in long jump at the World Championships in Paris.
- 2004: Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore bagged silver at the men’s double trap shooting event at Olympic Games in Athens.
- 2005- Pankaj Advani won the world Billiards championships in 2005 at Qawra, Malta, becoming the first player to achieve a “grand double”.
- 2005- Narain Karthikeyan became first F1 driver from India
- 2004- The unbeaten Indian Kabaddi Team marks its first win at the first kabaddi world cup.
- 2007: INDIA won ICC World cup T20.
- 2008- Abhinav Bindra won gold medal at the 2008 Olympics.
- 2009- Saina Nehwal becomes the first Indian women to win a super series tournament.
- 2011- Indian cricket team won the one day world cup after a long time of 28 years in captaincy of Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
- 2012- Sachin Tendulkar made his 100th centuries and declared his retirement.
- 2014- Five times world champion and Olympic bronze medalist Mary Kom won her first Asian Games gold medal in women’s 48-51 kg boxing.
- 2016- P.V. Sindhu won a silver Medal in Badminton in 2016 Rio Olympics.
- 2017- P.V. Sindhu achieved Silver Medal in World Badminton Championship.
- 2018- Hima Das, an Indian sprint runner, won a Gold Medal in 400 mtrs in World U-20 Championship in 2018.
- 2019 – Indian sprint runner Hima Das, nick named Dhing Express, won a total five Gold Medals in July 2019, in various championships at Poland and Czech Republic.
- 2019- Wrestler Bajrang Punia bagged a Gold Medal at Tbilisi Grand Prix held at Georgia.