Flashback: India@71 and its milestones through The Times of India's pages

India throws off British rule, attains independence and takes control of its own destiny.

Independent India wins its first Olympic Gold medal, with the hockey team thrashing Great Britain, its former colonial master, 4-0 in the finals at the London Olympics. Indian hockey teams had won Gold medals in the 1928, 1932 and 1936 Olympics earlier while competing as a British colony. This was India's first post-Independence medal and one that's truly special.

The war, which began with Pakistan's Operation Gibraltar to infiltrate forces into Kashmir, saw strong Indian retaliation on the western border and some of the largest tank battles since World War II. Indian forces captured 1,920 square kilometers of Pakistani territory and thwarted all Pakistani strategic objectives. The war also wiped off the humiliation of the 1962 conflict with China.

When Lt General JS Aurora accepted the unconditional surrender of Lt Gen. AAK Niazi in Dhaka after a 13-day war, it split Pakistan into half, recreated East Pakistan into a new country in the form of Bangladesh and gave India its finest military triumph.

The declaration of Emergency was the darkest hour for India's democracy. It was lifted only in 1977, to be followed by a general election that saw the stunning defeat of Indira Gandhi, only for her to return back to power in 1980.

Kapil Dev's unfancied team came from nowhere to beat the mighty West Indies and lifted the Cricket World Cup in a magnificent triumph.

Manmohan's Singh's 1991 Budget kick-started the process of economic liberalization through reforms and opened up the country to the global economy.

Prime Minister VP Singh's push to implement the Mandal Commission's recommendations, which asked for greater reservation for Other Backward Castes (OBCs) in government jobs and public universities, reshaped Indian politics, and unleashed protests by students across India.

The Ram Janmabhoomi movement, over the disputed Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, significantly re-altered Indian politics forever. The legal dispute over the site remains sub-judice in the Supreme Court but the passions unleashed by the issue, on all sides, continue to reverberate politically.

India first exploded a peaceful nuclear device in 1974 but its five nuclear tests in May 1998, declaring it to be a nuclear power, were a turning point in India's engagement with the world.