INDIA SINCE

INDIA SINCE

1957

·         The decimal coinage system is introduced, following which the Indian Coinage Act lays down that the rupee well be divided into one hundred naya paise, with the half-rupee and the quarter being equivalent to 50 and 25 naya paise (1 April). Coins of denominations of 10, 5, 2 and 1 paise are introducted. (The preflx nay or new is removed in 1964.)

·         Archaeologist Dr V.S. Wankaner discovers Bhimbetka which harbours one of world's largest collections of rock art.

1958

·         Union Finance Minster T.T. Krishnamachari resigns following a scandal over purchase of shares in the Mundhra Group of concerns by the Life Insurance Corporation (13 February). Morarji Desai is made finance minister (22 March).

·         India's first mild sterilization plant in inaugurated at the Aarey Milk Colony, Bombay (22 July).

·         The Indian Institute of Technology is inaugurated in Bombay (25 July).

·         Mihir Sen becomes the first Indian to swim the English Channel.

·         The Metric system of weights is introduced (2 October).

·         Acharya Vinoba Bhave is awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award for community leadership (7 August), First Indian won this award.

1959

·         The UN Secretary General, Dag Hammarskjold, arrives in New Delhi (18 March).

·         The Prime minster makes a statement in the Lok Sabha regarding the Dalai lama's entry into Indian territory in search of political asylum after the Chinese military occupation of Tibet (3 Apit). The Dalai Lama and 1,00,000 followers are given sanctuary in India.

·         American President Dwight D. Eisenhower visits India (9 December), First USA President to visit India.  

·         Television starts in India. Philips India Limited provide the equipment to the Government of India. There are two programmes a week, on Tuesday and Friday evenings, each of one hour's duration. The President inaugurates the service (15 September).

·         Arati Saha swims the English Channel (August 30), becoming the first Indian woman to do so.

1960

·         India, Pakistan and the World Bank sign the Indus Waters Treaty in Karachi (19 September).

·         Soviet Premier Khrushchev visits India (11 February).

·         The Constitution (9^th Amendment) is enacted to amend the First Schedule of the Constitution to effectively transfer territories to Pakistan as per agreements between the two countries.

·         India's last jury trial, the Nanavati trial: the case pertained to Commander K.M. Nanavati, who was charged with the murder of Bombay businessman Prem Bhagwandas Ahuja on 27 April 1959. The jury pronounced Nanavati not guilty by an 8-1 Majority. The jury verdict is pronounced 'perverted' by the sessions judge who referred the case to the high court which later found Nanavati guilty of murder and sentenced him to life imprisonment. The jury verdict in the case led to a critical assessment of the process of trial by jury introduced into Indian by the British over a Hundred years ago. It had already been done away with in Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Orissa, Kerala, Punjab, Rajasthan and UP and remained in force only in the Presidency towns. The system was soon done away with.

·         The first Subscriber Trunk dialing facility (STD) in India connects Lucknow and Kanpur (26 November).