Ajourney of peril and promise

India at 77 stands as a country that has held its own, showing a remarkable capacity to manage an essentially adversarial external environment

- SHYAM SARAN

Business Standard celebrates the 50th anniversary of its birth just as India marks the 77th anniversary of its independence. The newspaper was born in tumultuous times. Soon after its first edition appeared on March 27, 1975, the country was subjected to the dark days of the Emergency, which marked a major setback to its democratic dispensation.

Fortunately, the political nightmare was short-lived with the then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, holding fresh elections in 1977. She and her party, the Indian National Congress, had to face a humiliating electoral defeat. Democracy emerged stronger from this reverse.

Since then India has undergone significant political, economic and social changes. The winds of change in India have occurred in a shifting geopolitical landscape and have often been triggered by these shifts. There is a complex interplay of domestic and external dynamics, which has oriented the country in different, sometimes unexpected, directions.

A geopolitical constant throughout the post-Second World War period, right up to 1990, was the Cold War and the overarching East-West ideological and military confrontation. India's nonalignment was driven by its determination to maintain its strategic autonomy in a polarised world. This has not changed, although its manifestations may be different.