'1984: Key Events

• The Bhopal disaster, in which deadly emissions of methyl iso-cyanate from a Union Carbide (India) plant in Bhopal kill 3849 people (by official estimates) and maim 500,000 people in the countryside.

• The army attacks the Golden Temple, Amritsar, the most sacred of Sikh gurdwaras and the hideout of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. Over 2000 people die, including a third of the military contingent used. The Congress (I)’s former protégé, Bhindranwale, is killed. In retaliation, Indira Gandhi is assassinated by her security guards, triggering the Delhi riots in which 2717 people (official estimate), mostly Sikhs, are killed by mobs with alleged Congress (I) compliance.

• Rajiv Gandhi becomes prime minister.

• The P. C. Joshi Working Group on Software for Doordarshan is presented to parliament, with scathing criticism of TV’s commercialism and ‘Delhi- centrism’. The report is never officially published.

• Doordarshan starts a second channel from Delhi.

• John Abraham starts the Odessa Collective in Cochin.