Vol. 1970No. 089The dramatic seventies
The India you were born into
Monday30 March1970
30 March 1970 offers a small historical doorway — fashion and clothing, set against a country where industrial growth, political movements and social change were reshaping the India of the early 1970s.
Change dateThe Front Page
India faces change and challenge
Security, food production and development define the decade
India was navigating regional conflict, political change and economic development during a transformative period.
Union Government revises percentage of reservation in service for SC\STs from 12.5\% to 15\%. Orders to be effective from 25 March.
Union Government revises percentage of reservation in service for SC\STs from 12.5\% to 15\%. Orders to be effective from 25 March.
India in Numbers
A snapshot of India when you were born.
In march 1970, a litre of petrol cost Loading… and a local phone call cost Loading….
Interpolated placeholder between benchmark years; replace with annual UN WPP estimate 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 1970
Moment of the year · Hockey
India wins Asian Games hockey silver
India finished second in Bangkok.
197005 · 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.
JOHNY MERA NAAM
Year 1970
Film of the year · 1970
Johny Mera Naam
Also in theatresMera Gaon Mera Desh · Purab Aur Paschim · Safar · Kati Patang · Aan Milo Sajna · Khilona
Song of the year · 1970
"Pal Pal Dil Ke Paas"
Also on the radio"Pyar Deewana Hota Hai" · "Zindagi Ke Safar Mein" · "Yeh Shaam Mastani"
$ cat science-and-technology-1970
Satellites, television and national communications
What science and technology looked like in India in 1970.
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 1970
Verghese Kurien
Launched 'Operation Flood' (The White Revolution), transforming India into a self-reliant dairy producer.
Indira Gandhi
Abolished the Privy Purses offered to former rulers of princely states through constitutional moves.
A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
Led development teams working on the rocket motor systems for the SLV-3 project.
Vikram Sarabhai
Signed the agreement with NASA for the Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE).
Satyajit Ray
Released 'Aranyer Din Ratri', earning an international nomination at the Berlin Film Festival.
Dev Anand
Directed and starred in 'Johny Mera Naam', one of the year's top-grossing films.
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.
Apollo 13 launches
11 APR
Apollo 13 launches toward the Moon; two days later an oxygen-tank failure forces the crew to abandon the planned lunar landing and...
1970, circled in red
The year India turned 23.