Vol. 2021No. 305Contemporary India
The India you were born into
Monday1 November2021
The archive's lens for 1 November 2021 is air travel — a useful counterpoint to the larger story that vaccination and recovery from the pandemic ran alongside continuing economic and technological change.
Change dateThe Front Page
India confronts the COVID-19 pandemic
Public health, livelihoods and recovery shape daily life
India was responding to the COVID-19 pandemic through public-health measures, vaccination and economic recovery efforts.
India in Numbers
A snapshot of India when you were born.
In november 2021, a litre of petrol cost Loading… and a local phone call cost Loading….
Benchmark value; verify against the original census/official source before publication. Not a census count. Source: current India population working dataset.
Prices from the month you were born, listed the way the kirana shop would have written them.
- The Hindu archive
- National archival records
- Press and public memory
04 · Sport
India on the field in 2021
Moment of the year · Athletics
Neeraj Chopra wins India's first Olympic athletics gold
Chopra won men's javelin at Tokyo.
202105 · Cinema & music
What India was watching and humming
The film everyone queued for that month, and the song that played from every cassette player that year.
SOORYAVANSHI
Year 2021
Film of the year · 2021
Sooryavanshi
Also in theatres83 · Shershaah · Jugjugg Jeeyo · Sardar Ka Grandson · Mimi · Bell Bottom
Song of the year · 2021
"Ranjha"
Also on the radio"Raataan Lambiyan" · "Param Sundari" · "Mann Bharryaa 2.0"
$ cat science-and-technology-2021
Apps, UPI and digital public infrastructure
What science and technology looked like in India in 2021.
Technology moves closer to daily life
Computing, communication and consumer electronics were gradually moving from specialist institutions toward ordinary homes, offices and public life.
Faces of 2021
Neeraj Chopra
Won India's first-ever Olympic gold medal in athletics (Men's Javelin) at the Tokyo Olympics.
Adar Poonawalla
Supplied hundreds of millions of vaccine doses to drive India's national vaccination drive.
P. V. Sindhu
Won a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics, becoming the first Indian woman to win two individual Olympic medals.
Rishabh Pant
Played an iconic match-winning 89* at the Gabba, securing India's historic Test series victory in Australia.
Harnaaz Sandhu
Crowned Miss Universe 2021, bringing the title back to India after 21 years.
Falguni Nayar
Founded Nykaa and took the company public in 2021, becoming one of India's most prominent self-made business leaders.
09 · BEYOND INDIA
Beyond India
Before the internet put the world in our pockets, news from abroad arrived through telegrams, radios, television sets and eventually phones.
Joe Biden is inaugurated
20 JAN
Biden becomes the 46th president of the United States.
2021, circled in red
The year India turned 74.