In the beginning of the 21st century, mobile used to be a sign of wealth. Buying a mobile with keypad, recharging it and making calls was within the reach of only those with money. But now everyone has a smartphone in their hands.
There was a time when black and white or color doom TV ruled the houses. Thin screen TVs came in these 25 years. After LCD, Plasma, LED, now smart TVs have arrived. Now no one wants to get Doom TV even for free.
One had to stand in line in front of banks to deposit or withdraw money from the bank account. On holidays the line used to become even longer. But now that is not a problem. All banking work is done on mobile only. UPI has arrived, making sending and receiving money very easy.
To buy clothes for festivals or food for the house, one had to go to the market. But now there is online shopping to buy things of your choice while sitting at home. Food also arrives at the doorstep. Everything can be delivered to your home without leaving your home.
There was a time when most of the people of the country did not even know Narendra Modi. But now there is no one in India and abroad who is not aware of the name 'Modi'. He has become one of the most influential leaders in the world. He is famous for his hug diplomacy and forceful speeches.
India had to face incidents like attack on Parliament, Mumbai train blast, terror of 26/11, martyrdom of soldiers in Pulwama and Pahalgam massacre. India gave a befitting reply to Pakistan through surgical strikes, air strikes and Operation Sindoor.
ISRO, which once carried rockets on a bicycle, has achieved such success that the whole world was left watching. Completed Chandrayaan and Mangalyaan missions twice at low cost. Also launched foreign satellites. Now ISRO is preparing for Gaganyaan.
In the year 2000, the price of 10 grams of gold was Rs 4400. 1 kg silver was available for Rs 8000. If you had bought 10 grams of gold then, its price today would have been Rs 1.36 lakh and the price of 1 kg silver would have been Rs 2.40 lakh!
In the year 2000, Sensex was around 6000 points. Now it has crossed 85 thousand. Now most of the people know about stock market and mutual funds. There is more awareness regarding investment than ever before.
There were hardly any good roads in the country. In this century, the Golden Quadrilateral Plan connecting the four corners of the country was made. Now is the era of expressways. There is no problem in traveling anywhere in the country.
Traveling by plane was limited to only a few people, but now that time has changed. Even those wearing slippers are now boarding aeroplanes. Air service is available in every corner of the country. Many new airports including Bengaluru Airport, Navi Mumbai have started.
The trend of luxury buses has increased. The number of Volvo buses has increased across the country. Electric buses are running. The craze for electric bikes and cars has increased. New cars have arrived. Trains like Metro and Vande Bharat have also started.
IT companies made a major contribution to the economy by reaching new heights. The youth got employment. Room, food delivery, cab and auto service became easy with the startup revolution. Use of drones is increasing. Now the AI revolution is going on.
Earlier, boys used to shave well at the time of marriage. Now keeping beard has become a trend. Even in weddings, boys are becoming grooms with beards. Even in films, heroes are seen in bearded look.
Earlier, people of the country had ration card and voter ID, but there was no single identity card. In these 25 years, a 12-digit unique identity card named Aadhaar was given to everyone. Now without Aadhaar you have no Aadhaar!
Had to go to the studio to get photographs taken. Even if one had one's own camera, the photo had to be taken after calculating the reel. Then digital cameras came and brought a revolution. Now mobile cameras have done magic. Everyone has become a photographer!
All the social media we are using today, including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, etc., have all come in these 25 years. E-mail also became popular during this period.
This is the time which changed the world's thinking about India. India is now a powerful country in the world. India's achievement in every field, be it production, defence, IT, trade, is spectacular. India is now playing an important role in making policies also.
These 25 years have seen terrible wars like Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Ukraine, Israel and Palestine.
India's population was 1.05 billion and it was the second largest in the world. Now the population of the country has crossed 140 crores. Leaving China behind, India has reached the first position in the world.
A new Parliament building is also ready in the country.
Article 370, which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir, has ended. The construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya has been completed. For this, the struggle that lasted for decades has come to an end.
IPL tournament is going on. India, which won the World Cup in 1983, won the World Cup once again in 2011. T20 World Cup started and India has won it twice. Players like Virat Kohli are a great contribution to world cricket in these 25 years.
Humanity witnessed an unprecedented pandemic that shut down the entire country for 40 days and took away our loved ones from us. People have now come out of that period.
There was no woman President in the country before. In these 25 years, two women have held the post of President. Pratibha Patil reached this post in 2007, now Draupadi Murmu is the first citizen of the country.
