Vol. 1991No. 363The nineties edition
The India you were born into
Sunday29 December1991
A time-capsule view of 29 December 1991: agriculture and the monsoon becomes the doorway into a year when economic crisis, liberalisation and political upheaval combined to make this a defining year for modern India.
Change dateThe Front Page
India’s economy opens further
Reform and global integration reshape the country
India was living through an era of economic liberalisation, new markets and fast-changing public life.
Stone laid for Sanskrit University at Kaladi, birthplace of Adi Sankara.
Stone laid for Sanskrit University at Kaladi, birthplace of Adi Sankara.
India in Numbers
A snapshot of India when you were born.
In december 1991, 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 1991
Moment of the year · Cricket
Indian cricket's commercial era accelerates
The country's cricket and broadcast landscape began changing rapidly.
199105 · 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.
SAAJAN
Year 1991
Film of the year · 1991
Saajan
Also in theatresHum · Beta · Lamhe · Sadak · Phool Aur Kaante · Henna
Song of the year · 1991
"Bahut Pyar Karte Hain"
Also on the radio"Mera Dil Bhi Kitna Pagal Hai" · "Dekha Hai Pehli Baar" · "Adayein Bhi Hain Mohabbat Bhi Hai"
$ cat science-and-technology-1991
Computerisation and telecom modernisation
What science and technology looked like in India in 1991.
PARAM 8000
C-DAC unveiled PARAM 8000, a landmark indigenous parallel supercomputer.
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 1991
P. V. Narasimha Rao
Sworn in as Prime Minister in June and initiated structural economic liberalisation.
Manmohan Singh
Appointed Union Finance Minister and delivered the landmark 1991 Budget that opened India's economy.
Rajiv Gandhi
Assassinated on 21 May in Sriperumbudur by an LTTE suicide bomber during election campaigning.
J. Jayalalithaa
Swept to power in Tamil Nadu, becoming Chief Minister for the first time.
Sachin Tendulkar
Scored memorable Test centuries on challenging tracks in Perth and Sydney.
Subhash Chandra
Launched Zee TV, establishing India's first private satellite television channel network.
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.
Soviet Union dissolves
26 DEC
The USSR formally ceases to exist after the Soviet republics become independent states.
1991, circled in red
The year India turned 44.