Wrapped up the 1970s on tumblr: 1970s, sari history, fashion history.

And a very random round up of the decade it was:

Indira Gandhi was elected Prime Minister with a decisive majority in 1971.

The same year the Indo-Pakistan war of 1971 resulted in the creation of Bangladesh.  Subsequently the Simla Agreement took place (the young Benzair Bhutto in Simla).

The Shillong Accord took place in 1975.

Nav Nirman, the Bihar Movement and the Chipko Movement all began in 1974.

Emergency was declared on 25 June 1975. It led to the arrest of many of India’s leaders.  The Emergency is a well documented period in Indian history e.g. the compulsory sterilisation program of the years, the killings at Turkman Gate, the Rajan case and the incarceration and death of Snehlata Reddy.

The lifting of Emergency in 1977 was followed by a general election which led to a new government, the first time Congress lost power after Independence. Parliament was however dissolved in 1979 and Indira Gandhi was back as Prime Minister in 1980. The same year Sanjay Gandhi was killed in an aircrash.

The Marichjhapi incident took place in 1979. The incident is referenced in Amitava Ghosh’s The Hungry Tide.

The Samba Spy Scandal also took place in 1978-1979.

MISA and COFEPOSA were the 1970s best known acronyms.

India conducted its first nuclear weapon explosion in 1974. Aryabhata was India’s first satellite followed by Bhaskara in 1979.

In 1978 the Sarda Act was amended to raise the legal age of marriage to 18 for girls and 21 for boys.

The Mathura rape case in 1972 led to amendments in laws pertaining to rape, albeit only by 1983.

The crash of Air India 855 was the biggest in Indian aviation history until the 90s.  The Morbi dam disaster took place in 1979.

India won the hockey World Cup in 1975.

Amar Chitra Katha’s major titles date back to the 70s.

Though the 1970s started with the “King of Romance”, Rajesh Khanna by the end of the decade Amitabh Bachchan, the Angry Young Man persona and Sholay had all happened.

Apparently Panna Dossa was the big cheese of sari fashion in the 1970s. She started a sari store called Kalindi and designed saris for Indira Gandhi (opinions vary wildly on her as a politician but sartorially she rarely put a foot wrong) but I can’t find much else on her.

70s: The decade of innocence.