From the archives of Hindustan Times: July 3, 2019

Mrs Gandhi sworn in (1964)

Mrs Indira Gandhi was sworn in as Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting in the Ashoka Hall of Rashtrapati Bhawan this morning (July 2).

President Radhakrishnan administered the oath of office and secrecy to her at a brief but im- , pressive ceremony.

Home Minister G. L. Nanda, Finance Minister T. T. Krishnamachari, other Cabinet Ministers, Mrs Vijayalakshmi Pandit and Sanjay, Mrs Gandhi’s son, were present on the occasion.

Mrs Gandhi drove straight from Rashtrapati Bhawan to Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri’s residence and was with him for a few minutes.

Later, Mrs Gandhi had a brief meeting with the various heads of media units and officers of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry.

In an informal chat with them, she said the time had come for a reappraisal of the work of the Ministry, specially in the field of broadcasting and films. Recently some criticism had appeared in the Press about the Ministry. This criticism may or may not have been justified, but she felt that some rethinking on their part was essential to keep pace with the fast changing world, with particular reference to broadcasting and film making.

Role of Press and radio

These problems, she added, had arisen because they still had not moved away from the lines which were laid down before independence. It was, therefore. essential that they should think of new horizons and break away with the past to give a new life to the community.

Addressing officials of the Press Information Bureau in the afternoon, Mrs Gandhi said she wanted the Press, radio and television to be used as media to educate the public and not for mere propaganda.

Leaders salvage Simla Summit (1972)

SIMLA- The five- day Indo-Pakistan summit ended in a grand climax with the signing of an agreement by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Pakistan President Z. A. Bhutto here tonight (July 2).

The signing ceremony was held at 1240 a.m. at the Durbar Hall of Himachal Bhavan where Mr Bhutto is staying.

The agreement came at the end of hard bargaining by both sides and was held up for lack of agreement on a formulation of the Kashmir question. A compromise eventually emerged after two rounds of talks Mrs Gandhi and Mr Bhutto held today. The final round was at the end of the dinner given by the Pakistan President in honour of the Prime Minister.

The agreement, which sets out guidelines on durable peace and normalisation of relations between India and Pakistan, will be made public simultaneously in Simla and Islamabad tomorrow.

According to the agreement India and Pakistan have agreed to settle all the mutual problems laterally and not invoke any third party.

Both countries have also agreed to abjure the use of force in settiing the issues between them.

The Pakistan President and his team of 83 aides are expected to leave here for Islamabad tomorrow morning. Mrs Gandhi will stay for another day and reach New Delhi on Tuesday.

This was how the agreement was reached. After dinner the two leaders net for ten minutes separately.

It’s okay to be gay (2009)

Delhi- THE DELHI High Court on Thursday legalized homosexual acts between consenting

adults by overturning a 149- year-old law finding it unconstitutional and a hurdle in the

fight against HIV/AIDS.

Acting on a public interest litigation filed in 2001 by Naz Foundation, a non-profit organisation working for HIV/AIDS prevention, a bench of Chief Justice A.P Shah and S

Muralidhar declared unconstitutional a part of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) that criminalized unnatural sex.

“We declare section 377 of IPC insofar as it criminalizes consensual sexual acts of adults in private as violative of…the Constitution,” ruled the bench.

“As it stands, the section denies a gay person a right to full personhood…”the bench added in a 105-page judgment delivered in a jam-packed courtroom.