This is the front page of The Indian Express published on May 27, 1984, Forty Years Ago.
Four persons were killed in Punjab in the last 24 hours. While three of them — a BSF constable, a Hindu Suraksha Samiti leader and a headmaster — were shot dead by terrorists, a Punjab Armed Police jawan was killed when attacked by a mob in Amritsar. Terrorists lobbed a bomb at a BSF vehicle at Gurdaspur seriously injuring a jawan, Kuldip Raj, who succumbed to his injuries in the hospital.
Centre-State Scuffle
Opposition parties denounced the dismissal by the central government of the Bhandari government in Sikkim followed by the dissolution of the state assembly and imposition of the President’s rule in the state. In a statement, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) said the two actions show that the central government “has forged one more link in the chain of arbitrary dismissals of elected governments and bringing states under central rule.”
Five-Year Plan’s Focus
Three alternative strategies are being suggested by the Planning Commission for the reduction of poverty during the Seventh Five-Year Plan. These will be considered in a meeting of the Commission on June 4 presided on by Prime Minister Mrs Indira Gandhi. Poverty-reduction will form the major strategy of the next plan. The alternatives that are being proposed are its reduction by 15 to 17 per cent in one case and 20 to 23 per cent in another by the end of 1989-90.
Lightning Kills 22
The toll in the current flood in Magura in south-west Bangladesh, caused by heavy rains in the catchment areas and other natural calamities rose to 175 with reports of 22 more people killed, according to unofficial estimates. Lightning struck a tin-roofed house as a marketplace in Magura during heavy rains accompanied by a storm killing 22 and injuring 40 others, the victims took shelter in the house during the rain.
