The reforms era | The great opening
Structural reforms did more than just drag India’s economy back from the brink. In a virtuous segue from Rajiv’s prelude on telecom and IT, the Rao-Manmohan duo wrote the opening act of a new script
Sharp turns
In a Republic still young and evolving, decades would naturally compete to be called the ‘most consequential’. But even put to that test, 1985-1995 would probably have the most stories that dominate our democracy and debates today
1985-1995 | Turbulence and transition
The 1985-95 decade may have been trauma-filled, but that's where we invested our future.
The Rajiv paradox
Indira’s heir was a technophile who turned India towards the 21st century but made missteps on religion. His South Asia policy too was marred by tragic errors but still left a legacy
Janata Dal interregnum | The social messiahs
The next great Janata experiment—the ‘third way’ in Indian politics—lost its way soon enough, but not before the main protagonist, V.P. Singh, effected the Mandal revolution
The Rao years | The inscrutable reformer
The compromise PM was not expected to do much, except be a harmless place-holder. But Narasimha Rao did not remain a stage prop for long—by the time he exited, he had altered India’s grammar
Polity | Mandal vs mandir
Both causes seemed to erupt all of a sudden—in one year—on the long-static canvas of Indian politics. Both infused new idioms and unlocked new energies, in ways that still define us
Internal security | Architecture of violence
A former prime minister was not the lone victim of an assassination in a decade of cataclysmic rage. A nation's intrinsic tendency to peace and order lay bloodied, too, amid riots, terror and insurgency
Global eye | Light in the dark
The end of apartheid in South Africa and fall of the Soviet Union were bright spots even as China crushed a rebellion and wars raged in Sri Lanka and the Gulf
Scam bang
As big money oozed in, the era of big scams dawned. Post Bofors, it was a lurid collage: arms dealers, stock scamsters, icky godmen and tales of hawala gravy floating to the top
Cinema | Enter the Khans
Times were changing, romance was in the air, and in came a flotilla of new dreamboats, all dew-fresh and dimpled, changing the look and feel of Hindi cinema
Television | Small magic
Doordarshan had us glued to the tube in the late ’80s with iconic shows and mythologicals. And then there was the great opening up to western pleasures in the ’90s...
Sports | The record breakers
Sunny, Kapil, Azhar, Sachin, Usha, Vishy—names that came to be forever etched in India’s sporting history
Trends | Reflections of the past
After decades of stasis, the country was opening up in every manner possible. India Today followed the shift closely
