- 1947: - Freedom from British Raj.
- 1947-48: - Hundreds of thousands die in widespread communal bloodshed after partition.
- 1948: - War with Pakistan over disputed territory of Kashmir.
- 1951-52: - Congress Party wins first general elections under leadership of Jawaharlal Nehru.
[edit] Regional tensions- 1962: - India loses brief border war with China.
- 1965: - Second war with Pakistan over Kashmir.
- 1971: - Twenty-year treaty of friendship signed with Soviet Union.
[edit] Democratic strains- 1975: - Indira Gandhi declares state of emergency after being found guilty of electoral malpractice.
- 1975-1977: - Nearly 1,000 political opponents imprisoned and programme of compulsory birth control introduced.
- 1980: - Indira Gandhi returns to power heading Congress party splinter group, Congress (Indira).
- 1984: - Troops storm Golden Temple - Sikhs' most holy shrine - to flush out Sikh militants pressing for self-rule.
- 1984: - Indira Gandhi assassinated by Sikh bodyguards, following which her son, Rajiv, takes over.
- 1984: December - Gas leak at Union Carbide pesticides plant in Bhopal. Thousands are killed immediately, many more subsequently die or are left disabled.
- 1987: - India deploys troops for peacekeeping operation in Sri Lanka's ethnic conflict.
- 1989: - Falling public support leads to Congress defeat in general election.
- 1990: - Indian troops withdrawn from Sri Lanka.
- 1990: - Muslim separatist groups begin campaign of violence in Kashmir.
- 1991: - Rajiv Gandhi assassinated by suicide bomber sympathetic to Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers.
- 1992: - Hindu extremists demolish mosque in Ayodhya, triggering widespread Hindu-Muslim violence.
- 1996: - Congress suffers worst ever electoral defeat as Hindu nationalist BJP emerges as largest single party.
- 1998: - India carries out nuclear tests, leading to widespread international condemnation.
- 1999: February - Vajpayee makes historic bus trip to Pakistan to meet Premier Nawaz Sharif and to sign bilateral Lahore peace declaration.
- 1999: May - Tension in Kashmir leads to brief war with Pakistan-backed forces in the icy heights around Kargil in Indian-held Kashmir.
- 1999: October - Cyclone devastates eastern state of Orissa, leaving at least 10,000 dead.
[edit] Population: 1 billion- 2000: May - India marks the birth of its billionth citizen.
- 2000: - US President Bill Clinton makes a groundbreaking visit to improve ties.
- 2001: January - Massive earthquakes hit the western state of Gujarat, leaving at least 30,000 dead.
- 2001: A high-powered rocket is launched, propelling India into the club of countries able to fire big satellites deep into space.
- 2001: July - Vajpayee meets Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in the first summit between the two neighbours in more than two years. The meeting ends without a breakthrough or even a joint statement because of differences over Kashmir.
- 2001: July - Vajpayee's BJP party declines his offer to resign over a number of political scandals and the apparent failure of his talks with Pakistani President Musharraf.
- 2001: September - US lifts sanctions which it imposed against India and Pakistan after they staged nuclear tests in 1998. The move is seen as a reward for their support for the US-led anti-terror campaign.
[edit] Kashmir tensions rise- 2001: October - India fires on Pakistani military posts in the heaviest firing along the dividing line of control in Kashmir for almost a year.
- 2001: December - Suicide squad attacks parliament in New Delhi, killing several police. The five gunmen die in the assault.
- 2001: December - India imposes sanctions against Pakistan, to force it to take action against two Kashmir militant groups blamed for the suicide attack on parliament. Pakistan retaliates with similar sanctions, and bans the groups in January.
- 2001: December - India, Pakistan mass troops on common border amid mounting fears of a looming war.
- 2002: January - India successfully test-fires a nuclear-capable ballistic missile - the Agni - off its eastern coast.
- 2002: February - Inter-religious bloodshed breaks out after 59 Hindu pilgrims returning from Ayodhya are killed in a train fire in Godhra, Gujarat. More than 1,000 people, mainly Muslims, die in subsequent riots. (Police and officials blamed the fire on a Muslim mob; a 2005 government investigation said it was an accident.)
- 2002: May - Pakistan test-fires three medium-range surface-to-surface Ghauri missiles, which are capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
War of words between Indian and Pakistani leaders intensifies. Actual war seems imminent.
- 2002: June - UK, US urge their citizens to leave India and Pakistan, while maintaining diplomatic offensive to avert war.
- 2002: July - Retired scientist and architect of India's missile programme APJ Abdul Kalam is elected president.
- 2003: August - At least 50 people are killed in two simultaneous bomb blasts in Bombay.
- 2003: November - India matches Pakistan's declaration of a Kashmir ceasefire.
- 2003: December - India, Pakistan agree to resume direct air links and to allow overflights.
- 2004: January - Groundbreaking meeting held between government and moderate Kashmir separatists.
- 2004: May - Surprise victory for Congress Party in general elections. Manmohan Singh is sworn in as prime minister.
- 2004: September - India, along with Brazil, Germany and Japan, launches an application for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.
- 2004: November - India begins to withdraw some of its troops from Kashmir.
- 2004: December - Thousands are killed when tidal waves, caused by a powerful undersea earthquake off the Indonesian coast, devastate coastal communities in the south and in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
- 2005: July - More than 1,000 people are killed in floods and landslides caused by monsoon rains in Mumbai (Bombay) and Maharashtra region.
- 2005: 8 October - An earthquake, with its epicentre in Pakistani-administered Kashmir, kills more than 1,000 people in Indian-administered Kashmir.
- 2006: February - India's largest-ever rural jobs scheme is launched, aimed at lifting around 60 million families out of poverty.
- 2006 March - US and India sign a nuclear agreement during a visit by US President George W Bush. The US gives India access to civilian nuclear technology while India agrees to greater scrutiny for its nurnment announces its strongest economic growth figures for 20 years - 9.4% in the year to March.
- 2007: July - India says the number of its people with HIV or AIDS is about half of earlier official tallies. Health ministry figures put the total at between 2 million and 3.1 million cases, compared with previous estimates of more than 5 million.
- 2007: July - Pratibha Patil becomes first woman to be elected president of India.
- 2006: November - Hu Jintao makes the first visit to India by a Chinese president in a decade.
- 2006: December - US President George W Bush approves a controversial law allowing India to buy US nuclear reactors and fuel for the first time in 30 years.
- 2007: 18 February - 68 passengers, most of them Pakistanis, are killed by bomb blasts and a blaze on a train travelling from New Delhi to the Pakistani city of Lahore.
- 2007: February - India and Pakistan sign an agreement aimed at reducing the risk of accidental nuclear war.
- 2007: March - Maoist rebels in Chhattisgarh state kill more than 50 policemen in a dawn attack.
- 2007: April - India's first commercial space rocket is launched, carrying an Italian satellite.
- 2007: May - At least nine people are killed in a bomb explosion at the main mosque in Hyderabad. Several others are killed in subsequent rioting.
- 2007: May - Government announces its strongest economic growth figures for 20 years - 9.4% in the year to March.
- 2007: July - India says the number of its people with HIV or AIDS is about half of earlier official tallies. Health ministry figures put the total at between 2 million and 3.1 million cases, compared with previous estimates of more than 5 million.
- 2007: July - Pratibha Patil becomes first woman to be elected president of India.
- 2008: July - Congress-led governing coalition survives vote of confidence brought after left-wing parties withdraw their support over controversial nuclear cooperation deal with US. After the vote, several left-wing and regional parties form new alliance to oppose government, saying it has been tainted by corruption.
- 2008: July - Series of explosions kills 49 in Ahmedabad, in Gujarat state. The little-known group Indian Mujahideen claims responsibility.
- 2008: October - Following approval by the US Congress, President George W Bush signs into law a nuclear deal with India, which ends a three-decade ban on US nuclear trade with Delhi.
India successfully launches its first mission to the moon, the unmanned lunar probe Chandrayaan-1.
- 2008: November - Nearly 200 people are killed and hundreds injured in a series of co-ordinated attacks by gunmen on the main tourist and business area of India's financial capital Mumbai. India blames militants from Pakistan for the attacks and demands that Islamabad take strong action against those responsible.
- 2008: December - India announces "pause" in peace process with Pakistan. Indian cricket team cancels planned tour of Pakistan.
- 2009: February - India and Russia sign deals worth $700m, according to which Moscow will supply uranium to Delhi.
- 2009: April - Trial of sole surviving suspect in Mumbai attacks begins.
- 2009: May - Resounding general election victory gives governing Congress-led alliance of PM Manmohan Singh an enhanced position in parliament, only 11 seats short of an absolute majority.
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