'1985: Key Events

• The 52nd Amendment bill disqualifies Members of Parliament who defect from one Party to another.

• The Assam accord, after which the AASU-Asom Gana Parishad leadership takes over the state government.

• The Punjab accord is signed by Rajiv Gandhi and Harchand Singh Longowal, the most moderate of the Sikh leaders. Longowal is assassinated shortly afterwards.

• Doordarshan becomes a fully commercial station selling prime time slots to private sponsors and manufacturers of TV soaps. Its first successful series, Kumar Vasudev’s Humlog (1984-5), is modelled on the Mexican concept of the ‘developmental’ soap opera and is sponsored by Colgate-Palmolive and Nestlé.

• Several privately made serials follow as TV ownership jumps from 2. 7 million in 1984 to 12. 5 million in 1986.

• Indian Cinema season at Pesaro Film Festival, Italy.