THE SEVEN-DECADE JOURNEY

Big policy: Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru signing the First Five-Year Plan document in 1950

Economic milestone: Rickshaw pullers congratulating Prime Minister IndiraGandhi on the nationalisation of 14 major banks in 1969

Operation flood: President VV Giri, flanked by Sir Richard Trehane (right), President, International Dairy Federation, and V Kurien, Chairman, Indian Dairy Development Board, in 1972

Equity trading: Stock brokers at the BSE

Green revolution: MS Swaminathan, Director, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, holding a sheaf of corn

Dark phase: President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed and Prime Minister Indira Gandhi during the Emergency in 1975

The Maruti story: Former PM Indira Gandhi inspecting a Maruti model before itslaunch

Architects of Liberalisation: Former Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao with then Finance Minister Manmohan Singh, who opened up India’s economy to the world

Trailblazer ISRO set a record in February 2017, deploying 104 satellites froma single rocket

Cash-ban: Long queues outside ATMs and bank branches were thenorm as the government introduced demonetisation in Nov 2016

Tax innovation: President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime MinisterNarendra Modi launch the Goods and Services Tax at midnight, June 30

Dream Budget: Then Finance Minister P Chidambaram’s Budget of 1997 helped broaden the nation’s tax base

Telecom revolution: Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi with telecom‘czar’ Sam Pitroda at a telematics exhibition