Opinion August 16, 1977, Forty Years Ago: Morarji at Red Fort
Desai also endeavoured to promise that he would build an India free from fear and want. He called for an end to untouchability in five years and stressed the need for steps to prevent atrocities on weaker sections of the society.
August 16, 1977
For the first time since Independence, a non-Congress prime minister unfurled the national flag at the Red Fort. In a speech free from rhetoric, Morarji Desai pledged his would be the aim to provide a government that would serve the people. Desai also endeavoured to promise that he would build an India free from fear and want. He called for an end to untouchability in five years and stressed the need for steps to prevent atrocities on weaker sections of the society.
Desai mentioned the progress the country had made in industry, agriculture and education in the past 30 years, but pointed out that the gains of development have gone to a few. A mistake made by the nation, Desai said, was it had deviated from the path shown by Gandhiji and had begun emulating the West. He spoke about the 20 months of the Emergency regime, the zulum that went with it and the harm it had done to the nation
Flash food toll
Forty-six persons, on a pilgrimage, were swept away in flash floods in a jungle stream near Watrap in Ramanathapuram district, according Tamil Nadu police. Arrests by CBI P.C. Sethi, former minister for petroleum, Yashpal Kapoor M.P and R.K. Dhawan, who was additional private secretary to Indira Gandhi, were arrested by the CBI following searches conducted at various office and residential premises in Delhi and Patna.
Strike in Bombay
A conference, organised by the AITUC-led Mumbai Girni Kamgar Union, warned that thousands of textile workers would go on strike if the government failed to announce its decision on minimum bonus.
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