1962 WAR AND PEACE

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1947-2008-India-Roundup

The ditty “Hindi Chini bhai bhai” became “Hindi Chini bye bye”. Attacking India in Ocotber, China quickly snapped up Indian positions in Ladakh and nefa, aided by a complete collapse of military leadership. A shattered Jawaharlal Nehru called it a “deliberate cold-blooded decision”. The second Chinese offensive in November saw young men pouring into the army. Though China declared a unilateral ceasefire, 1,383 Indian soldiers were killed, 3,968 were taken prisoners and 1,696 were missing. M.J.Akbar wrote in India: The Siege Within, “It was as if suddenly the adolescence was over and the country had to mature through a most painful crisis. In those 10 days when it seemed as if the Chinese would march across the Himalayas or seep through Assam capturing guwahati, there was the realization that freedom and nationhood could not be taken casually.”

FIRST CUT

• The Income Tax Act, 1961, came into force on April 1.
• The Indian National committee on Space Research was set up by Vikram Sarabhai.

RICHARD B. RUSSELL who opposed American arms supply to India

“Indians put up a disgraceful exhibition in being driven out of impregnable strongholds in the border mountains.”

1962 “THE TRIP ISN’T A FASHION SHOW FOR MRS KENNEDY.”

INDIA AT 60

So said an American spokesman. But whether it was her evening dress or her size 10A shoes, the “Amriki Rani”, who visited India months before the war, created a stir wherever she went. Jacqueline Kennedy put a gulal tika on Jawaharlal Nehru, who had issued a personal invitation.

THE NAWAB AT PLAY

Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi

Education at Winchester and Oxford, the ninth nawab of Pataudi, Mansoor Ali Khan—better known as Tiger Pataudi—became the youngest Test captain at 21 when he led the Indian cricket team touring the West Indies. A few months later, a car accident permanently damaged vision in his right eye. The bold batsman captained Sussex five years later. Having debuted in the India vs England Test series in 1961, Pataudi played in 46 elections to the Lok Sabha to protest the abolition of privy purses in India.

ELSEWHERE…

• Nelson Mandela (below) was arrested after living on the run for 17 months. He was jailed and finally released, 27 years later, in 1990.
• Algeria won its freedom from France after a bloody seven-year war of independence. A referendum on independence in Algeria saw six million of the 6.5-million electorate over.
• The United Nations announced that the Earth’s population had hit three billion.

361 was the number of seats, out of 494, won by the Congress in the Lok Sabha. The Congress got 44.72 per cent of the total votes. The second-largest winner was the Communist Party of India, trailing way behind with just 29 seats.

Courtesy By India Today