15-08-1947 India gains Independence from British Rule.
Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first Prime Minister, at the Constituent Assembly debates in New Delhi.
28-10-1947 Kashmir accedes to Union of India
29-02-1948 Free India’s first full budget
27-11-1949 Constitution of India adopted
Leaders sign as the Constituent Assembly adopts India's constitution.
15-03-1950 First Planning Commission reporting to the Prime Minister set up
18-01-1950 Birth of Indian Republic
26-01-1950 First President sworn in
28-01-1950 Proclamation of new Constitution
29-01-1950 Supreme Court inaugurated
10-07-1951 First Five Year Plan launched
18-08-1951 First Indian Institute of Technology inaugurated in Kharagpur
21-10-1951 The Telangana armed struggle led by the Communists ends formally
25-10-1951 First general elections
25-07-1952 India wins gold in hockey, Khashaba Jadhav wins bronze in wrestling in Helsinki Olympics
01-08-1953 Air India nationalised and becomes India’s national carrier
01-10-1953 Formation of Andhra State after popular agitations for separate State from Madras Presidency
11-08-1954 Annexation of Dadra & Nagar Haveli from the Portuguese
01-07-1955 India’s largest bank Imperial Bank of India renamed as State Bank of India
01-11-1956 State Reorganisation Act reforms the boundaries of States in India on linguistic lines
06-12-1956 India wins a hockey gold by beating Pakistan 1-0. The only medal in that Olympics
05-04-1957 First democratically elected Communist Party government outside Europe gets to power in Kerala with CPI leader EMS Namboodiripad as the Chief Minister
01-10-1958 The Standards of Weights and Measures Act takes effect
31-03-1959 The Dalai Lama flees Tibet and arrives in India
01-12-1959 Eighth Amendment to the Constitution extends period of reservations to SCs/STs by 10 years
01-05-1960 Gujarat and Maharashtra are formed from the State of Bombay
09-09-1960 India loses to Pakistan 1-0 and gets Silver - the only medal in that Olympics
13-11-1961 First Indian Institute of Management inaugurated in Calcutta
19-12-1961 Goa is officially ceded to India after 400 years of Portuguese rule
20-10-1962 Beginning of the Sino-Indian war with China launching attacks in Aksai Chin and Arunachal Pradesh
21-11-1962 China declares ceasefire and withdraws to MacMohan Line in Eastern sector to end war.
27-05-1964 Jawaharlal Nehru passes away
26-01-1965 Hindi becomes “official language”. Anti-Hindi agitations follow, which result in it remaining as one of 23 “official languages of India”.
Anti-Hindi agitation by college students in Madras in January 1965. Photo: Hindu Photo Archives
23-02-1965 English adopted as associate language between Central government and non-Hindi speaking States
06-09-1965 - 22-09-1965 India-Pakistan war ends after UN Security Council calls for ceasefire on September 20.
01-12-1965 Border Security Force formed as a special body to guard the borders
10-01-1966 Tashkent Accord signed between Indian Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri and Pakistan President Ayub Khan
11-01-1966 Lal Bahadur Shastri dies in Tashkent
27-05-1967 Peasant uprising in Naxalbari, West Bengal. Later, it spawns other movements
19-07-1969 14 leading banks nationalised through an ordinance
24-06-1970 Operation Flood - an initiative to create a nation-wide milk grid is launched
03-12-1971 - 17-12-1971 War with Pakistan for the liberation of Bangladesh ends after General Yahya Khan accepts India’s cease-fire proposal
The Dakota-3 aircraft used during the Bangladesh Liberation War.
02-07-1972 Simla Agreement signed between India and Pakistan to resolve all disputes peacefully
18-05-1974 India explodes nuclear device underground in Pokhran as part of Project ‘Smiling Buddha’
19-04-1975 India enters space age with the launch of Aryabhatta, first Indian satellite designed and built at the Space Research Centre near Bangalore and launched near Moscow
16-05-1975 Sikkim annexed by India
26-06-1975 President proclaims National Emergency during Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s tenure. 676 persons detained all over country
21-03-1977 Emergency ends
24-03-1977 The Janata Party’s chairman Morarji Desai becomes Prime Minister in India’s first non-Congress party led government after the Congress was defeated
18-10-1979 Mother Teresa awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace
25-06-1983 India wins the Prudential ODI cricket World Cup at Lords, London defeating the two-time champion West Indies
19-10-1983 Indian-American astrophysicist S Chandrasekhar wins the Nobel Prize for Physics
03-04-1984 Rakesh Sharma becomes India’s first man in space after he was launched aboard Soyuz T-11 spaceship
Mr. Rakesh Sharma, the first Indian cosmonaut who is to go up in space from Baikonour on April 3, 1984. 125 years.
06-06-1984 Indian government launches Operation Blue Star to remove militants from the Sri Harminder Sahib (Golden Temple) premises in Amritsar
31-10-1984 Indira Gandhi assassinated by her security guards.
In this photo Zail Singh (right), N. Sanjeeva Reddi, R. Venkataraman pay their last respects to Indira Gandhi.
01-11-1984 - 03-11-1984 Anti-Sikh riots in Delhi kill and injure thousands
03-12-1984 Methyl Isocyanate leak from Union Carbide plant in Bhopal results in more than 2,000 immediate deaths. More than 10,000 people were treated for inhaling the poisonous gas
29-07-1987 India and Sri Lanka sign an accord to safeguard the interest of the Tamil minority in the island nation
24-03-1990 The last of the Indian Peace Keeping Force leave Sri Lanka, ending a 2 1/2 year long chapter in the relations between the two nations
25-07-1991 Government led by Prime Minister Narasimha Rao and Finance Minister Manmohan Singh embark upon economic liberalisation
The Hindu's cartoon on economic liberalisation.
30-03-1992 Satyajit Ray receives honorary Oscar from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
06-12-1992 Babri Masjid demolished by kar sevaks belonging to the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and other Sangh Parivar affiliates
Babri Masjid demolition on 6th Dec 1992- Photo by-SANJAY SHARMA/INDIAPIX NETWORK
12-03-1993 Series of bomb blasts in Mumbai claimed 250 lives, injured 1,000. First blast reported at Jeejeebhoy Towers
11-05-1998 — 13-05-1998 India conducts a series of nuclear tests in Pokhran, Rajasthan; also tests a thermonuclear device
14-10-1998 Amartya Sen wins Nobel Prize for Economics
20-02-1999 Prime Minister AB Vajpayee commences bus diplomacy to Lahore
May-July 1999 Kargil conflict between India and Pakistan after Pakistan soldiers and militants infiltrate across the LoC
n this May 30, 1999, file photo, Indian army soldiers fire artillery in the northernmost part of the Kargil region, located some 225 kilometers (140 miles) north of Srinagar, India. Conflict erupted in Kargil as Pakistani forces and Kashmiri fighters occupied Himalayan peaks. India launched air and ground strikes. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi, File)
25-12-1999 Hijacking of IA flight IC 814 results in release of three terrorists in Afghanistan as ransom for release of hostages
13-12-2001 Suicide squad of LeT and JeM terrorists attack Parliament complex. Threat neutralised
Feb-March 2002 Riots in Gujarat kill more than a thousand people after a train bogie is burnt in Godhra, killing 59 kar sevaks
02-03-2006 India and U.S. sign landmark nuclear deal pending approval by legislatures in both countries
06-07-2006 Nathu La pass between India and Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) of China reopened after 44 years
24-09-2007 India wins World Twenty20 Championship in cricket
30-09-2007 Vishwanathan Anand is undisputed world champion after defeating V Kramnik
11-08-2008 Abhinav Bindra wins India’s first individual Olympic gold in Shooting
21-08-2008 Sushil Kumar wins Bronze in Beijing
22-10-2008 India’s moon mission Chandrayaan-1 injected into its initial orbit
14-11-2008 Impact probe onboard Chandrayaan-1, successfully landed on the moon
26-11-2008 Lashkar-e-Taiba militants from Pakistan carried out coordinated attacks across Mumbai, killing 164 people and wounding at least 308
Smoke billowing out of the ground and first floor of the Taj Hotel in south Mumbai following the 26/11 terror attacks. File photo
23-02-2009 Music composer A R Rahman wins Oscars for best score and song for the film Slumdog Millionaire
24-09-2009 Chandrayaan I finds traces of water on the moon
09-03-2010 Rajya Sabha votes for 33 per cent reservation for women in Parliament
02-04-2011 India wins the cricket ODI world Cup held in the subcontinent by beating Sri Lanka.
Indian team celebrates after winning the ICC World Cup.
20-04-2012 Agni V propels India into elite ICBM club
12-08-2012 Wrestler Sushil Kumar wins silver medal in London Olympics
09-09-2012 In ISRO’s 100th mission, PSLV puts two satellites into orbit
17-06-2013 More than 5700 die in massive Uttarakhand floods
10-08-2013 In a first for India, submarine INS Arihant’s nuclear reactor goes critical
05-11-2013 India starts historic mission, Mangalyaan or Mars Orbital Mission to Mars
13isbs Mangalyaan
16-11-2013 Bharat Ratna awarded to Sachin Tendulkar and scientist C.N.R. Rao
05-01-2014 India joins five other nations to have mastered cryogenic engine tech
26-05-2014 Narendra Modi sworn in as India’s 15th Prime Minister after taking BJP-led alliance to a stunning victory
01-06-2014 Telangana, the 29th State of India, is born
24-09-2014 India puts Mars Orbiter Mission, Mangalyaan, in orbit around Mars in its first attempt
01-01-2015 NITI Aayog is the new policy body replacing the Planning Commission
01-07-2015 India’s GDP crosses $2-trillion mark
10-08-2015 Chennai-born Sundar Pichai named chief executive officer of Google
17-08-2016 Wrestler Sakshi Malik wins the bronze medal in Rio Olympics
19-08-2016 Shuttler P.V. Sindhu wins the silver medal in Rio Olympics
01-02-2017 Budget presented with the merger of Railway Budget after 92 years of being presented separately
01-07-2017 Goods and Services Tax implemented nationwide
Compiled by The Hindu indexing team
