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1 January - Calcutta officially becomes Kolkata, reverting to its precolonial
name.
2 January - Power cuts leave huge swathes of northern India in
darkness for two days starting early on January 2. A minor fault in
Uttar Pradesh
leads to a breakdown in the regional grid across Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Kashmir, Punjab, and Rajasthan.
Early January - The government announces that it aims to double
the number of aircraft
operated by Air India in
the next five to seven years as well as to sell off a 60% share in
the company. Air India's stock of aging craft is thought to have
dulled the company's competitive edge in recent years.
Early January - The president of the Indian Science Congress, R.S. Paroda, warns
a conference of 3,000 Indian scientists that the country could face
a severe food shortage in 2020 as the population size outstrips the
country's level of supplies.
4 January - The government tests its first homemade jet fighter,
the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA). The plane,
originally scheduled to take its maiden flight in 1991, has taken
17 years to develop and will not be ready for service until
2010.
9 January-21 February - More than 100 million people - almost
2% of the world's population - attend the Maha Kumbh Mela festival in Allahabad, making it the
largest gathering of human beings in history. On the festival's
most important day an estimated 20 million Hindu pilgrims bathe in
the sacred waters of the three rivers which meet near the town. The
festival is held every 12 years.
15 January - Voters in Indian-administered Kashmir are able to
participate in the first local elections in 23 years. The polls
decide positions on some 125 village councils. Islamic militants
have urged a boycott of the vote, which they say will undermine the
separatist movement.
15 January - In a sign of improving relations, Prime Minister
Atal
Bihari Vajpayee meets with the visiting chairman of China's National People's Congress,
Li Peng. Both leaders say
they have made substantial progress in discussing their two
countries' disputed borders.
16 January- 11 people are killed when six members of the
Kashmiri separatist guerrilla group Lashkar-e-Toiba
attempt to storm Srinagar's civilian airport.
Mid-January - The government announces that it is willing to
meet the United
Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) for open negotiations on
ending the 20-year insurgency in the northeastern state.
Mid-January - The eastern state of Orissa urges further government assistance in
the face of a major drought. Officials estimate that the state has
lost around $150.7 million in failed rice crops alone. It is
thought that deforestation has played a major part in the
drought.
17 January - Pakistan
reacts angrily to news that the Indian military has successfully
test-fired an improved Agni-II intermediate ballistic
missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead to
anywhere in Pakistan.
Mid-January - Researchers reveal that unusually high sea
temperatures caused by the extreme weather effect known as El
Niño have irreversibly damaged coral reefs off India's western coast.
Late January - 150 million children across India are immunized
against polio in one of the largest vaccination projects
ever undertaken.
Late January - The government extends its ceasefire in Kashmir
for another month despite continuing separatist violence.
26 January - A massive earthquake, measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale, strikes the
northwestern state of Gujarat. Estimates of the death toll rise
rapidly to 30,000, with some much higher figures being quoted. The
epicentre of the quake is some 300 km west of Ahmadabad near the town of Bhuj, which bears the brunt of the destruction.
The government calls for $1.5 billion in international loans to
deal with the devastation. Aftershocks measuring up to 5.8 on the
Richter scale hinder the search for survivors and prompt mass
evacuations of the affected areas.
Late January - The UK-based human rights group Amnesty
International urges the government to crack down on the
widespread use of torture by police.
Late January- Researchers in Bangalore announce that the common antibiotic
Triclosan has
significant effects against the malaria parasite. Malaria is
thought to kill around 1 million people every year worldwide.
February
Early February - Authorities and aid workers in Gujarat warn
that disease is now the biggest problem threatening the 1 million
people made homeless by the January earthquake. Fears of a major
epidemic are increased as the thousands of corpses still trapped
beneath fallen buildings begin to decompose.
Early February - The government grants refugee status to the Karmapa Lama, Tibet's third most important religious leader.
The Karmapa has been in India since fleeing the Chinese regime in
Tibet in early 2000.
2 February - An unprecedented telephone conversation between
Prime Minister Vajpayee and Pakistani military leader General Pervez
Musharraf is hailed as a major step in relations between the
two countries. Musharraf contacts his Indian counterpart to offer
further emergency aid for the survivors of the Gujarat
earthquake.
Early February - The drug manufacturer Cipla, based in Mumbai, announces that it plans to offer anti-AIDS drugs at very low prices. The
three-drug cocktail used to help AIDS victims currently costs
around $12,000 per patient per year. Cipla says it will offer a
three-tier pricing structure with wholesalers paying $1,200,
governments $600, and the French charity Médecins sans
Frontières just $350 per patient per year.
Mid-February - In a sign of thawing relations, Foreign Minister
Jaswant Singh
begins an official visit to Myanmar. He is the first Indian minister to
go to the country since the military junta came to power there in
1988.
Mid-February - Violent protests by Kashmiri separatists in
Srinagar intensify. Five Indian policemen are killed on February 19
alone in riots sparked by the death of four stone-throwing
demonstrators killed by police in Haigam, 40 km north of Srinagar,
four days earlier.
Late February - The government extends its ceasefire in
separatist Kashmir for an extra three months.
Late February - A unilateral 15-day ceasefire is declared by
the government in the far northeastern separatist state of Manipur. The cessation of
hostilities will begin on March 1 to coincide with the start of the
local Yaosang festival.
March
15 March - Defense Minister George Fernandes resigns in a bribery
scandal which threatens to bring down the government. The leader of
the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Bangaru Laxman,
has already left his position, but the departures fail to calm
opposition parties, who continue to stall the workings of
parliament for a third day on March 16. Journalists released
secretly filmed footage on the Internet, showing government members from the
defense ministry and other senior figures accepting bribes from
bogus arms dealers.
28 March - A counter-insurgencySpecial Operations Group (SOG)
patrol claims to have killed Salaudin Ayubi, the Pakistani-based Lashkar-e-Toiba's leader in the Kashmir
valley, in a shootout near Srinagar. There has been a spate of
attacks by militants in Srinagar in recent months, although the
ceasefire announced by the Indian government in November remains
nominally in place.
Late March - Provisional results of the 2001 census are released, providing official
confirmation that the country's population now exceeds one billion.
The full census results are not expected until 2003.
April
Beginning of April - Widespread strike action by private owners
of buses, taxis, and motorized rickshaws contributes to chaotic traffic
conditions in Delhi, as new
rules come into force requiring a switch from diesel fuel to
compressed natural
gas in a bid to combat urban air pollution.
Early April - Customs and excise chief B.P. Verma is arrested
on charges of corruption.
Early April - In a bold attempt to hasten an end to violence in
separatist Kashmir, the government offers unconditional peace talks
to Kashmiri militants. However, with no invitation to the Pakistani
authorities it is not likely to attract much response from the
separatists.
Early April - The Tibetan
spiritual leader, the 14th Dalai LamaTenzin Gyatso,
welcomes news that tens of thousands of Dalits
(lower-caste Hindus) are to convert to Buddhism on October 14.
Early April - Tea production in the northeastern region of Darjeeling is adversely
affected by an indefinite general strike called by the Gorkha National Liberation
Front (GNLF) over the government's failure to identify the
perpetrators of an attack on their leader, Subhas Ghising.
Mid-April - Extra troops are dispatched to the Bangladeshi border after
18 soldiers are killed in escalating shooting incidents. Tension in
the region has mounted over a disputed section of the border south
of Assam.
Mid-April - Opposition parties recommence the disruption of
parliament in an attempt to force the government to launch an
investigation into an allegedly corrupt arms deal.
18 April - The country's space program is brought into a new
era with the successful test launch of its geostationary satellite
launch vehicle, the GSLV-D1, at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. The program had caused
embarrassment for the country's space agency in late March when the
first test launch, broadcast live on television, was aborted as
flames burst from the craft on ignition. Communications satellites
launched in India have hitherto been propelled by Arianespace or Russian
rockets, and the GSLV-D1 is planned as a less costly
alternative.
22 April - The U.S.-based current affairs magazine TIME
apologizes emphatically for the offense caused by the printing of a
depiction of the Prophet Muhammad - considered a blasphemy in Islam
- which had sparked large riots in Kashmir the previous day.
22 April - The government is outraged when medical reports
suggest that many of the 16 soldiers killed by Bangladeshi forces
in border skirmishes were mutilated and tortured before being
murdered.
May
1 May - The number of Tibetan children under the age of 13
crossing the Himalayas
to enter India doubled to 1,500 in the first four months of the
year according to the Reception Centre for Tibetan Refugees.
Early May - Ten people are killed in pre-electoral clashes in
the northeastern state of Assam as the outlawed separatist United Liberation Front of
Asom (ULFA) clashes with soldiers. State elections are to be
held on May 10.
Early May - Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pramod Mahajan
announces that the government will open up the country's arms
production industry to private investors, including up to 26% to
foreign capital.
Mid-May - The ruling BJP suffers defeat in five key state
elections, losing ground to the opposition Congress (I) party in Assam, Kerala, and Pondicherry. In Tamil Nadu a coalition
allied to Congress (I) sweeps to power making Jayaram Jayalalitha, a former film star
with a conviction for bribery, chief minister there. In West Bengal the
communist Left Front
is returned to power continuing its record as the world's longest
serving elected communist government.
Mid-May - Prime Minister Vajpayee announces that India will
honour the ASEAN treaty keeping
Southeast Asia a nuclear weapons-free zone.
Mid-May - Tarun Gogoi, the new Congress (I) chief
minister of Assam, declares that he will press for a ceasefire with
separatist rebels, but he faces opposition from the BJP-controlled
federal government.
Mid-May - Indian troops cooperate with their Myanmar counterparts in a
joint offensive along their common border. Rebels from Nagaland, Manipur, and Assam are targeted.
24 May - The government extends an offer of talks on Kashmir to
Pakistani ruler General Pervez Musharraf but ends India's six-month
unilateral ceasefire in the disputed region.
June
2 June - The federal government imposes direct rule in the
northeastern state of Manipur after the state government
collapsed.
Early June - Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh signs a defense deal with
Russia worth a potential $10 billion including plans to establish
an air-defense system to cover the entire country and several
projects to develop new aircraft.
6 June - Police intercept an illegal consignment of 85 human
skulls near the border with eastern Nepal. The heads were apparently en route to the
lucrative tourist trade in the Himalayan country and are believed
to have been raided, some fairly recently, from Christian
graveyards in northeast India. No smugglers are caught.
10 June - The Kashmiri separatist All Party Hurriyat Conference
announces the suspension of all strikes and rallies in the province
pending a summit between Indian and Pakistani leaders scheduled for
July.
17 June - Thousands of demonstrators clash with police and set
fire to the Manipur state
legislature in Imphal. The
protests are over an agreement between the government and
separatist rebels from the neighbouring state of Nagaland to extend their
three-year ceasefire for another year, and to widen the deal to
areas beyond the state. The protestors claim that the extension
will undermine regional security.
18 June - The government announces that Pakistani military
ruler General Pervez Musharraf is expected in India on July 14 for
a landmark summit with Indian leaders.
21 June - A deal is signed by which the world famous Taj Mahal monument is to
receive private sponsorship from the Taj Hotel Group.
22 June - At least 64 people die when a train plunges off a
bridge in Kerala state. The
following day 50 people drown in West Bengal when an overcrowded boat
capsizes on the Ganges River.
July
Early July - Police in the southern state of Tamil Nadu are ordered to
shoot violent protestors on sight following unrest in the region
prompted by the brief detention of the state's former chief
minister Muthuvel
Karunanidhi. The arrest was ordered by new chief minister Jayaram Jayalalitha, an arch-rival of
Karunanidhi.
4 July - The country's first ever private FM radio station -
Radio City - is launched in Bangalore.
Early July - Archaeologists announce the discovery of possibly
the world's second-largest Buddhist stupa (a holy domed building containing
relics or artifacts associated with Buddha) in Bihar. It is believed
to date from the 6th
century.
5 July - Thousands of women clash with police in Imphal, Manipur, in protest at the federal government's
negotiations with neighbouring Naga rebels. The rally deliberately
contravenes a curfew imposed in the city after riots in June.
Early July - The transport ministry announces plans ahead of
the India-Pakistan summit to open links with Pakistan, including
across the Line
of Control in Kashmir.
First half of July - 500,000 people are displaced by severe flooding in the eastern state of Orissa.
13 July - Shabir Shah, the leader of the Jammu and Kashmir
Democratic Party (JKDP), is arrested ahead of the landmark
India-Pakistan summit in Agra.
17 July - Hopes for a new era in Indo-Pakistani relations are
disappointed when the summit between Prime Minister Vajpayee and
newly appointed Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf fails to make
progress on the Kashmir issue and ends without agreement.
23 July - 30,000 people clash with police again in Imphal in
continuing protests against the government's peace proposals with
neighbouring Naga rebels.
25 July - Famed Bandit Queen turned M.P. Phoolan Devi is
assassinated by masked gunman at the gate of her New Delhi residence at the
age of 37.
Late July - Prime Minister Vajpayee accepts the invitation from
Pakistani President Musharraf to travel to Pakistan for a second
round of bilateral talks. However, his acceptance comes amid
reports that he has privately derided Musharraf's diplomatic
skills.
31 July - The ruling BJP orders Prime Minister Vajpayee to
remain in office, rejecting his offer to resign. Vajpayee cited
difficulties in maintaining a workable coalition in
government.
August
9 August - The security status of four districts of Jammu is
changed, so that now all six districts of Jammu as well as all six
districts of the Kashmir valley are designated "disturbed areas",
leaving Ladakh as the only part of Jammu and Kashmir not covered by
the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act of 1990.
September
Early September - India's first police office dedicated
specifically to Internet crimes opens in Bangalore.
21 September - Jayaram Jayalalitha, the controversial former
film star, is forced to resign as chief minister of Tamil Nadu
after the Supreme Court ruled her appointment was invalid due to
her conviction for corruption.
23 September - Three-year-old U.S.-led economic sanctions
against India's external defense trade are lifted as part of the
U.S. attempt to bolster its regional alliances against Islamic
militants. The sanctions were imposed on India and Pakistan in 1998
after they both conducted nuclear weapons tests.
Late September - 10,000 soldiers are deployed along the border
with Nepal in an effort to combat the flow of militants and
criminals who are thought to use southern Nepal as a base for
operations in India.
30 September - Madhavrao Scindia, the deputy leader
of the opposition Congress (I) party, is one of eight people killed
in a plane crash.
October
1 October - 38 people are killed in a concerted attack on
Indian government buildings in Srinagar, Kashmir. A Pakistani
suicide bomber from the Jaish-e-Mohammad (Army of Mohammad)
detonates a government jeep packed with explosives at the entrance
of the buildings, while troops disguised as policemen enter the
complex and begin firing. The All-Party Hurriyat Conference of
Muslim separatists and the Pakistani government both immediately
condemn the attack but the Indian government accuses the Pakistani
authorities of collusion.
2 October - Keshubhai Patel resigns his position as
chief minister of Gujarat
following the poor showing of his BJP in elections there. He is
replaced by the BJP's general secretary, Narendra Modi.
2 October - U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell suggests that Muslim Kashmiri
separatists in India will be targets in the "war on
terrorism".
8 October - Despite increased tensions after attacks in
Kashmir, Prime Minister Vajpayee and Pakistani President Musharraf
agree to cooperate against international terrorism in a rare
telephone conversation.
12 October - The U.S. freezes the assets of the Pakistani-based
Kashmiri separatist group Jaish-e-Mohammad as one of its targeted
terrorist groups.
15 October - The disgraced former defence minister George
Fernandes is reappointed to his post. He left the cabinet in March
over a prominent corruption scandal.
16 October - Despite pressure from the U.S. to renew
negotiations over Kashmir, the government insists that it will
continue to repel incursions into Indian-administered Kashmir by
rebels it says are backed by Pakistan. Indian forces began shelling
positions on the Pakistani side of the Line of Control the previous
day.
22 October - Interest rates are cut to their lowest level since
1973, falling by half a percentage point to 6.5%.
24 October - President K.R. Narayanan signs
into law the Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance granting extra
powers to the police in an effort to combat terrorism. As well as
allowing the detention of suspected terrorists for up to three
months without charge, the decree makes it a duty for people to
report suspicious behavior.
26 October - Japan becomes the latest country to lift economic
sanctions imposed on India and Pakistan after both countries
conducted nuclear tests in 1998.
November
1 November - The government accuses neighbouring Pakistan of
provocation, saying it has been slowly increasing its military
presence in Kashmir.
4 November - Hundreds of thousands of lower caste Hindus
convert to Buddhism in one of the largest mass conversions in
recent years.
6 November - Around 15,000 labourers, peasants, women, and
lower caste Hindus demonstrate in New Delhi against the
government's cooperation with international financial institutions,
which they claim is self-destructive.
12 November - A strike called by groups opposed to a plan for
greater representation for the ethnic Bodo people brings the state of Assam to a
standstill. India's central government has proposed creating Bodo
councils in regions where they form a majority of the population,
but non-Bodos have raised fears that they will become the targets
for racial discrimination at the hands of the new councils.
December
7 December - The government of the state of Meghalaya is toppled by a
vote of no confidence. The United Democratic Party will be
replaced by an opposition coalition called the People's Forum of
Meghalaya.
13 December - Six gunmen injure 22 people and kill six police
officers before they themselves are killed in a dramatic "suicide"
attack on the central parliament buildings in New Delhi. No members
of the government are hurt. The government blames the attack on two
Pakistan-based Kashmiri militant groups, Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Toiba, the former of which had
also attacked the local government centre in Indian-administered
Kashmir in October.
Early December - The economy shows signs of a rapid slowdown as
inflation strikes a 20-year low of 2.27% at the beginning of the
month, falling from a 10-year high of 8.57% in February.
Mid-December - Tension between India and Pakistan escalates
rapidly after the Indian government accuses its Pakistani
counterpart of supporting a terrorist attack on the Indian parliament
in New Delhi. The threat of all-out war between India and Pakistan
looms large across the New Year with both sides massing forces
along their common border. There is an exchange of mortar fire
across the "line of control", the de facto border in
Kashmir, on January 2. However, the leaders of both countries
express hope that conflict could be avoided amid a massive
international diplomatic effort, including a regional visit from UK
Prime Minister Tony Blair. Some of the heat is released when the
leadership of the groups believed to have been involved in the
parliamentary attack are arrested in Pakistan and Indian Prime
Minister Vajpayee announces that war is "unnecessary".
Full date
unknown
India becomes the second
nation in the world to register one billion people in its
population. The first was China
in 1979.
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