Opinion Forty Years Ago, January 1, 1980: Crucial battle in UP
UP, the home state of Prime Minister Charan Singh and former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi — both of whom are locked in a grim battle — may also decide who would be the next PM because of the number of parliamentarians the state sends to the Lok Sabha.
January 1, 1980, Forty Years Ago 
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The Indian Express, January 1, 1980, forty years ago.
The electoral battle being fought fiercely for 85 Lok Sabha seats from Uttar Pradesh — with the largest electorate of a little over 5.78 crore — is going to be decisive in many respects. UP, the home state of Prime Minister Charan Singh and former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi — both of whom are locked in a grim battle — may also decide who would be the next PM because of the number of parliamentarians the state sends to the Lok Sabha. The efforts, time and energy of the Janata, the Congress (I) and the Lok Dal are, therefore, concentrated more here than anywhere else.
Delayed New Year
India ushers in the new year tonight one second late. The Indian Standard Time is to be put back by a second for studies in astronomy, astrophysics, space physics and day-to-day work, says a National Laboratory press release. It says there is a 19-second time difference between earth and atomic times. The astronomical time is based on the rotation of the earth on its axis and “the rotation rate is said to be slowing down owing to various celestial forces acting on the earth”.
Delhi to Moscow
India asked the Soviet Union to pull out its troops from Afghanistan. It told Moscow in plain words that the presence of the Soviet troops in Afghanistan would have far-reaching consequences for the entire region. The Indian position on the Afghanistan issue was made clear when the caretaker prime minister, Charan Singh, told the Soviet ambassador of “India’s deep concern at the substantial involvement of Soviet military forces in Afghanistan”. The PM told the ambassador, Yuri Vorontsov, that India valued its friendly relations with Afghanistan and would like “its independence and non-alignment to be strengthened”.
UN Sanctions Iran
The UN Security Council adopted a United States resolution threatening Iran with economic sanctions unless hostages held at the US embassy were released by January 7. The vote was 11-0 with four abstentions — the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, Bangladesh and Kuwait. US Secretary of State Cyrus R Vance, raised his hand to cast the United States’ vote in favour of its own proposal.
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