This is a timeline of Indian history, comprising important legal and territorial changes and political events in India and its predecessor states. To read about the background to these events, see History of India.
| Year | Events |
| 1947 | Hundreds of thousands die in widespread communal bloodshed after partition. (to 1948) |
| 1948 | Mahatma Gandhi assassinated by a right wing Hindu nationalist Nathuram Godse. |
| 1948 | War with Pakistan over disputed territory of Kashmir. |
| 1948 | Telangana and other princely states integrated in Indian union |
| 1949 | Cease-fire in Kashmir,indian Constitution signed and adopted(Nov.26) |
| 1950 | Constitution of India came into effect and Jawaharlal Nehru became the Indian first prime minister (26th January) |
| 1951 | First Five-year Plan. First Asian Games held in Delhi |
| 1951 | Congress Party wins first general elections under leadership of Jawaharlal Nehru. (to 1952) |
| 1952 | First General Elections of the Lok Sabha |
| 1953 | Conquest of Mt.Everest by Tenzing Norgay and Sir Edmund Hillary |
| 1956 | Second Five-Year Plan launched |
| 1957 | Second General Elkections;decimal coinage introduced, Liberation of Goa. |
| 1962 | Third General Elections in India; Chinese attack on India (Dec 20 ) |
| 1962 | War over disputed territory of Kashmir with China |
| 1962 | India won Diu, Daman and Goa from Portuguese India. |
| 1963 | Nagaland becomes the 16th indian State |
| 1964 | Death of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. |
| 1965 | Second war with Pakistan over Kashmir. |
| 1966 | Tashkent Pact; Death of Lal Bahadur Shastri; Mrs. Indira Gandhi elected Prime Minister of India. |
| 1967 | Fourth General Elections;Dr Zakir Hussain elected the third president of India |
| 1969 | V.V.Giri elected President of India, Nationalisation of the leading banks by Presidential ordinance. |
| 1970 | Meghalaya designated as autonomous state. |
| 1971 | Himachal Pradesh becomes a State |
| 1971 | Third war with Pakistan over creation of Bangladesh, formerly East Pakistan. |
| 1971 | Twenty-year treaty of friendship signed with Soviet Union. |
| 1972 | Shimla agreement; Death of C.Rajagopalachari |
| 1973 | Mysore State renamed Karnataka |
| 1974 | India explodes a nuclear device; Fakhuruddin Ali Ahmed elected as fifth President Sikkim becomes on associate State of India |
| 1974 | India explodes first nuclear device in underground test. |
| 1975 | India launches ˜Aryabhata’; Sikkim becomes 22nd State of the Indian Union |
| 1975 | Indira Gandhi declares state of emergency after being found guilty of electoral malpractice. |
| 1975 | Nearly 1,000 political opponents imprisoned and programme of compulsory birth control introduced. (to 1977) |
| 1976 | India and China establish diplomatic relations |
| 1977 | Neelam Sanjiva Reddy elected sixth President of India |
| 1977 | Indira Gandhi’s Congress Party loses general elections. Janata Party comes to power.Communist party of India comes into power in West Bengal. |
| 1979 | Morarji Desai resigns as Prime Minister,Charan Singh becomes Prime Minister;Charan Singh resigns ( Aug 20 ) Sixth Lok Sabha dissolved |
| 1979 | Janata Party Splits. Chaudhary Charan Singh becomes Prime Minister. |
| 1980 | Seventh General Elections;Congress I comes to power;Mrs Indira Gandhi sworn in as Prime Minister; Sanjay Gandhi dies in an air crash, India Launches SLV-3 into space carrying Rohini Satellite |
| 1980 | Indira Gandhi returns to power heading Congress party splinter group, Congress (Indira). |
| 1982 | Longest bridge in Asia opened ( March 2 ); Acharya J.B. Kripalani dies ( March 19) INSAT.1A launched; Giani Zail Singh elected President of India (July 15) Acharua Vinobha dies (Nov 15) IX Asian Games inaugurated (Nov 19) |
| 1983 | N. T. Rama Rao NTR’s 9 month old Telugu Desam Comes in to Power in AP marks a new Challenger post Loknayak Jayprakash Nararayan against Indira |
| 1984 | Operation Blue Star in Punjab; Rakesh Sharma goes into space; Mrs. Indira Gandhi assassinated; Rajiv Gandhi becomes PM |
| 1984 | Troops storm Golden Temple – Sikhs’ most holy shrine – to flush out Sikh militants pressing for self-rule, called Operation Blue Star. |
| 1984 | Indira Gandhi assassinated by Sikh bodyguards, following which her son, Rajiv, takes over. |
| 1985 | Rajiv-Longowal accord signed; Sant H.S. Longowal killed elections in Punjab; Assam accord; VII Five-Year Plan launched |
| 1986 | Mizoram accord. |
| 1987 | R.Venkataraman elected President; Shankar Dayal Sharma elected Vice-President of India, Bofors gun and Fairfax controversies |
| 1987 | India deploys troops for peacekeeping operation in Sri Lanka’s ethnic conflict. |
| 1989 | Ram Shilanyas Puja at Ayodhyat; India’s first IRBM ˜ Agni’ successfully launched from Orissa (May 22); Trishul Missile test fised (June 5); Second successful launch of Prithvi (Sept 27); Rajiv Government loses poll‚ and resigns (Nov.29); Jawahar Rozgar Yojna launched (Nov.29);National front leader V.P. Singh sworn in as seventh PM, New cabinet sworn in (Dec.2), Ninth Lok Sabha constituted |
| 1989 | Falling public support leads to Congress defeat in general election. |
| 1989 | National Front (India) Headed by N. T. Rama Rao and led by Janata party formed and stormed in to power with outside support from BJP and CPI. |
| 1990 | Last of IPKF return home (March 25); Indian Airlines A-320 Airbus Crash (Feb. 14); Janata Dal splits; BJP withdraws support to the Government;Advani takes out Rath Yatra and is arrested, Mandal Report‚ implemented announced by V.P. Singh Violence in Ayodhya due to Ram Janam Bhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute |
| 1990 | Muslim separatist groups begin campaign of violence in Kashmir. |
| 1991 | Gulf War breaks out (Jan. 17); Rajiv Gandhi assassinated (May 21); X Lok Sabha constituted (June 20); P. V. Narasimha Rao becomes Prime Minister |
| 1991 | Rajiv Gandhi assassinated by suicide bomber sympathetic to Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tigers. |
| 1991 | Economic reform programme begun by Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao. |
| 1992 | India establishes full diplomatic ties with Israel (Jan. 29); Bharat Ratna and Oscar winner Satyajit Ray dies (April 23); S.D.Sharma elected President (July 25); INS Shakti-first indigeneously built submarine was launched on Feb. 7 |
| 1992 | Hindu extremists demolish mosque in Ayodhya, triggering widespread Hindu-Muslim violence. |
| 1992 | Over 200 people die in Cuttack in Odisha, after drinking illegally brewed liquor in the 1992 Odisha liquor deaths incident. |
| 1993 | Ordinance to acquire 67.33 acres in Ayodhya (Jan 7); Massive security falls in BJP rally; Wave of bombing leaves 300 dead in Bombay; Insat-2B becomes fully operational; Earthquake in Maharashtra |
| 1994 | Government monopoly over civil aviation ends; Storm over GATT treaty; Plague outbreak; Sushmita Sen-Miss Universe; Aishwarya Rai-Miss World |
| 1995 | Mayawati First Dalit Chief Minister of UP; BJP comes to power in Maharashtra and Gujarat, Janata Dal in Karnataka and Congress in Orissa; Indian National Congress (T) formed; President’s Rule in UP after fall of Mayawati; INSAT 2C and IRSI-C launched |
| 1995 | West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu made the first call from Kolkata to inaugurate the cellular services in India |
| 1996 | Hawala takes toll of several Union Ministers ans opposition leaders; PSLV D3 launched on March 21 with IRSP-3 ushering new era in India space programme; Eleventh Lok Sabha Elections held on April 127-BJP emerges as the single largest party |
| 1996 | Congress suffers worst ever electoral defeat as Hindu nationalist BJP emerges as largest single party. |
| 1996 | The Amarnath Yatra tragedy in which at least 194 pilgrims are reported to have frozen to death in northern Kashmir after being stranded by violent rain and snow storms. |
| 1997 | On August 15, India celebrated its 50th year of Independence |
| 1998 | Death of Mother Teressa; Atal Behari Vajpayee becomes Indian Prime Minister; India explodes its second nuclear device (Pokhran II) |
| 1998 | BJP forms coalition government under Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. |
| 1998 | India carries out nuclear tests, leading to widespread international condemnation. |
| 1999 | India Airlines plane IC-814 hijacked by terrorists and taken to Kandahar, Afghanistan, on Dec 24, 1999. Three militants released by Indian govt.for the freedom of hostages kept as passengers. I ˜Operation Vijay’ launched by Indian Army to flush out Pakistani infiltrators inside LoC in the Kargil sector of J&K, India wins battle. |
| 1999 | Vajpayee makes historic bus trip to Pakistan to meet Premier Nawaz Sharif and to sign bilateral Lahore peace declaration. |
| 1999 | Tension in Kashmir leads to brief war with Pakistan-backed forces in the icy heights around Kargil in Indian-held Kashmir. |
| 1999 | Cyclone devastates eastern state of Odisha, leaving at least 10,000 dead. |
| 2000 | US President Bill Clinton visits India during March 2000. Three new states Chhatisgarh, Uttaranchal and Jharkhand created.India’s population crossed one billion mark. |
| 2000 | India marks the birth of its billionth citizen. |
| 2001 | ˜Agra Summit’ between India and Pakistan in July 2001; Worst natural calamity of India: Gujarat Earthquake in Jan 2001; GSLV launched successfully in April 2001 and PSLC-C3 launch conducted in October 2001. |
| 2002 | Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam, is elected President of India; One of the most harrific communal roits in recent history, the Godhra Incident, happens on Feb 27, 2002 in Gujarat; National Water Policy announced in April, which aims at integrating water resources develpment and management for optimal and sustainable utilisation. |
