SPA UK Sandesh 2017 | Page 53

Diverse languages
India has the most number of languages spoken in any one nation; 29 languages and more than 1,650 dialects are spoken in India. Canada almost broke up into two in 1960s because of tension between the English and the French.
Women power in Indian history
India grew up to be a nation, who elected a woman as Speaker, Prime Minister and President, unlike the greatest power in the World, the United States of America. There had been four major States appointing women Chief Ministers, and also leader of Opposition.
Unity and Integrity
Despite such a vast diversity, India is a single nation and this feeling of unity is increasing with each passing day in spite of media reports highlighting separatist campaigns once in a while.
Space programme and defence programme
Despite having almost nil self-reliance on defence technology and space technology, today Indians have been able to develop one of the most envious space programmes in the world started in the year 1969. To this day, India has launched various space programmes including Lunar and Mars missions, and are on the way to commercially launch satellites of developed nations at very low cost, all thanks to Indian Space Research Organization( ISRO).
Technical Education & Digital India
Since independence India has been developing its technical education sector steadfastly. This resulted into the green revolution, resulting in an increase of food grain production more than four times, independent space programmes, eradication of epidemics and an envious IT sector. In 2015, eleven Indian machines found a place in the latest list of the worlds’ 500 most powerful supercomputers, including two in the top 100.
Economic progress
In the most surprising and unspeculated move on 8th November 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the decision to withdraw Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 bank notes in a bid to crack down on black money and issued new Rs 500 and introduced a Rs 2,000 note as a replacement.
On August 4, 2016, the Rajya Sabha approved the crucial 122nd Constitutional amendment to turn the Goods and Services Tax( GST) Bill into a law. This marked the biggest tax reform in Indian history since Independence as it brought all indirect taxes under one uniform tax system.
Also, the Union Budget will be presented on the first working day of February from 2018 and will include the railway budget, ending a 92-year-old British-era practice.
SOME OTHER AREAS OF ACHIEVEMENTS
Sports
From winning hockey Olympics gold medals to lifting the 50-overs Cricket World Cups to Abhinav Bindra’ s Olympic gold, India have fared well in the world of sports since Independence.
The Sports Authority of India( SAI) was established in 1984 with its main objectives include the effective and optimum utilisation of various sports facilities and all matters pertaining to sports promotion and sports management.
Out of the many sports played in India, the popular sports are Cricket, Golf,
Hockey, Kabaddi, Kho Kho and Lawn Tennis. Women participating has also increased and has become competitive.
Who can forget the IPL phenomena in cricket, Milkha Singh and PT Usha( athletics), Saina Nehwal( badminton), Mary Kom( boxing), Vishwanathan Anand( chess), Sachin Tendulkar( cricket), Ramanathan Krishnan and Sania Mirza( tennis) and the list goes on and on.
Film Industry
There is a vast film industry in India dominated by Bollywood( mainly Hindi language) followed by Tollywood( South India) with vast followers of all Indian Cinemas throughout the world.
Nearly 1,600 films in various languages are produced every year.
But we must not forget that all these achievements couldn’ t have been accomplished without these Firsts in Indian Cinema that have their place in the golden history of Bollywood.
Briefly...
• 1st feature film‘ Raja Harishchandra’ in 1913- It was the first silent film.
• 1st sound film‘ Alam Ara’ in 1931
• 1st colour film‘ Kisan Kanya’ in 1937
It is with pride that India’ s films like Neecha Nagar in 1946, Pather Panchali in 1955 and Mother India in 1957 had received awards and recognised by the international film industry.
First individual Oscar awards have been received by Bhanu Athaiya( Best Costume Design for Gandhi- 1982) and A. R. Rahman( Best Original
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