Vol. 1985No. 055The long eighties
The India you were born into
Sunday24 February1985
The texture of 24 February 1985 sits in literature; the surrounding year was shaped by the fact that technology, telecommunications and administrative modernisation became central themes of the Rajiv Gandhi era.
Change dateThe Front Page
India enters a new decade
Technology, society and political change reshape public life
India was experiencing rapid change in communications, public policy and national politics.
Muhammad Azharuddin created a world record at Kanpur by hitting a century in each of his first three test.
Muhammad Azharuddin created a world record at Kanpur by hitting a century in each of his first three test.
India in Numbers
A snapshot of India when you were born.
In february 1985, 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 1985
Moment of the year · Cricket
India wins the World Championship of Cricket
India won the Benson & Hedges World Championship of Cricket in Australia.
198505 · 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.
RAM TERI GANGA MAILI
Year 1985
Film of the year · 1985
Ram Teri Ganga Maili
Also in theatresMard · Saagar · Arjun · Meri Jung · Ghulami · Pyar Jhukta Nahin
Song of the year · 1985
"Sun Sahiba Sun"
Also on the radio"Zindagi Aa Raha Hoon Main" · "Pyar Do Pyar Lo" · "Sagar Kinare Dil Yeh Pukare"
$ cat science-and-technology-1985
Computerisation and telecom modernisation
What science and technology looked like in India in 1985.
C-DAC is established
India created C-DAC, beginning a major national push into advanced computing.
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 1985
Rajiv Gandhi
Signed the Punjab Accord and Assam Accord, and initiated telecommunications modernization with Pitroda.
Sam Pitroda
Appointed advisor to the Prime Minister, heading national telecom missions and setting up C-DOT.
Ravi Shastri
Named 'Champion of Champions' after India won the World Championship of Cricket in Australia.
Shah Bano
Won a historic Supreme Court ruling granting maintenance rights to divorced Muslim women, sparking a national legislative debate.
Sunil Gavaskar
Crossed 9,000 Test runs, continuing his run as India's leading batsman.
Dhirubhai Ambani
Commenced construction of the massive Patalganga petrochemical complex.
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.
Mikhail Gorbachev becomes Soviet leader
11 MAR
Gorbachev becomes General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
1985, circled in red
The year India turned 38.