most significant demand was to amend the Constitution to give more powers to the states and ensure greater decentralisation of powers. The resolution said, “the Shiromani Akali Dal emphatically urges upon the Janata Government to take cognizance of the different linguistic and cultural sections, religious minorities as also the voice of millions of people and recast the Constitutional structure of the country on real and meaningful federal principles to obviate the possibility of any danger to the unity and integrity of the country and, further, to enable the States to play a useful role for the progress and prosperity of the Indian people in their respective areas by a meaningful exercise of their powers.” With the increasing electoral competition between the SAD and the Congress, things took a turn for the worse. The dismissal of the Akali government and the return of the Congress in 1980 only added to already surcharged atmosphere and the feeling that the Sikhs were being discriminated against. A series of untoward incidents followed, increasing the alienation/ distance between the Sikhs and the central government. Bhindranwale, the leader of the group of militant Sikhs, began to preach separatism and also demanded the formation of a Sikh State- Khalistan. This was a period of intense turmoil in the State. The militants tried to impose an orthodox life code on all Sikhs and even non-sikhs of Punjab. There was also a communal colour to the conflict. People belonging to non-Sikh communities were subjected to communal attacks. All this finally culminated in the occupation of the Golden Temple by the Sikh separatist groups and the army had to intervene to vacate

Fig 18.4 :during the 1970s and 1980s India made many different achievements in Technology co-operatives etc., some examples are like in above Sriharikota launch of PSLV, Amul cooperative etc.,