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The States Reorganization Act of 1956 remains the single most extensive change in state boundaries since the Independence of India in 1947. It took 9,000 interviews, visits to 104 places and 1,52,250 memorandums before the Act, creating 14 states and six Union territories, was passed. The Act led to the formation of Kerala and Bombay. A new article was also added to the Constitution that ensured linguistic minorities the right of education in their mother tongue.
“WITH GRACE AND GOODWILL.”
the formal end of French rule was marked by a treaty signed in Delhi. Pondicherry, Karikal, Mahe and Yanam were declared Indian territories. Jawaharlal Nehru praised the French for their “tolerance, good sense and wisdom”.
FIRST CUT
- Sulochana Modi became the first female mayor of Bombay.
- The mile-and-a-half-long Banihal tunnel, an all-weather link in Kashmir, was inaugurated.
- The first steel tube plant at Jamshedpur went into operation.
- Lambretta, the first scooter, was introduced.
- India reached the semi-finals of the Olympic football tournament.
DID YOU KNOW
India celebrated the 2,500th Buddha Jayanti with celebrations organised all over the country. This included an international exhibition of Buddhist art.
FRENCH HONOUR
S.H. Raza painted The Village and Eglise (above) and became the first non-French artist to be awarded the Prix de la Critique. With this award he joined the ranks of artists like Bernard Buffet. He also started showing his work in Venice, Tokyo, Brussels, Sao Paulo, New York and Britain. His work was exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in Paris. Indian philosophy, specifically tantric beliefs and their evocative values, influenced Raza greatly. The reality of being an Indian artist in the West at a period when all art from this country was regarded imitative, weighed on him. But what saved his work from being just exotic was the effort to be Indian in spirit, says critic Yashodhara Dalmia.
“FIRST LET’S PROVE OURSELVES AND THEN TALK OF GANDHI.”
Homi J. Bhabha
The Cambridge-educated physicist was the first chairman of Indian’s Atomic Energy Commission and the brain behind the first atomic reactor in Asia that went into operation at Trombay, Bombay, in 1956. He also founded the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in the city. Though he said 50 bombs would cost Rs 10 crore, an expenditure quite small when compared to the military budgets of many countries, he was a votary of disarmament.
ELSEWHERE…
- Sudan became independent from Britain. Northern Muslim parties took over. Southerners demanded autonomy and civil war began.
- The UN Security Council voted unanimously to censure Israel for its attack on Syria as a flagrant violation of the Palestine armistice.
- Actor Grace Kelly (below) married Prince Rainier III of Monaco in a civil ceremony. A church wedding took place the next day.
- The last of the French troops left Vietnam.
70,000
tourists visited the state of Jammu and Kashmir during this year.
500
million roubles was the loan offered by the USSR for the purchase of farm machinery.
Courtesy By India Today
