20th Century
| Year | Date | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 1900 | 22 October | Ashfaqulla Khan is born (to 1927) |
| 1902 | Anushilan Samiti, organized revolutionary association formed. | |
| 1903 | British Expedition to Tibet | |
| Delhi Durbar Second Time. | ||
| 1905 | Partition of Bengal | |
| 1906 | Jugantar formed. | |
| 30 December | Muslim League formed in Dacca. | |
| 1909 | Morley-Minto Reforms | |
| 1911 | Cancelation of Partition of Bengal | |
| Delhi Durbar Third Time | ||
| 1912 | Delhi conspiracy case | |
| 1913 | Gadar Party formed. | |
| 1914 | Hindu–German Conspiracy | |
| 1915 | Ghadar conspiracy | |
| Provisional Government of India formed in Kabul. | ||
| Gandhiji Return to India. | ||
| 1916 | Lucknow Pact | |
| 1917 | Champaran and Kheda Satyagraha | |
| 1919 | Jallianwala Bagh massacre | |
| Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms | ||
| Rowlatt Act | ||
| 1920 | Non-cooperation movementKhilafat Movement | |
| 1924 | Hindustan Socialist Republican Association formed. | |
| 1925 | Kakori conspiracy | |
| 1927 | November | Simon Commission |
| 1928 | Bardoli Satyagraha | |
| 1929 | Central Assembly Bombed by Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt. | |
| Purna Swaraj resolution. | ||
| 1930 | Salt Satyagraha | |
| Round Table Conferences (India) First | ||
| civil disobedience movement | ||
| 1931 | March | Gandhi–Irwin Pact |
| 23 March | Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev Martyred | |
| September–December | Round Table Conferences (India) Second | |
| 1932 | 24 September | Poona Pact |
| 4 August | Communal Award | |
| November–December | Round Table Conferences (India) Third | |
| 1935 | August | Government of India Act 1935 |
| 1939 | All India Forward Bloc Established by Subhas Chandra Bose | |
| 1940 | Lahore Resolution | |
| August offer 1940 | ||
| 1942 | Quit India Movement | |
| Late March | Cripps' mission | |
| August | Indian National Army Established by Subhas Chandra Bose | |
| 1943 | Arzi Hukumat-e-Azad Hind, the Provisional Government of Free India formed by Netaji. | |
| 1944 | Subhas Chandra Bose calls Mahatma Gandhi as the Father of the Nation. | |
| 1946 | February | Royal Indian Navy Mutiny |
| March | Cabinet Mission | |
| 16 August | Direct Action Day/Great Calcutta Killings | |
| 1947 | July | Indian Independence Act 1947 by British Raj. |
| Partition of India | ||
| Freedom from British Raj. | ||
| Hundreds of thousands die in widespread communal bloodshed after partition. (to 1948) | ||
| 1948 | 30 January | Mahatma Gandhi assassinated by a right wing Hindu nationalist Nathuram Godse. |
| War with Pakistan over disputed territory of Kashmir. | ||
| Telangana and other princely states integrated in Indian union | ||
| 1950 | 26 January | Republic Day (India) |
| 1951 | Congress Party wins first general elections under leadership of Jawaharlal Nehru. (to 1952) | |
| 1962 | India loses brief border war with China. | |
| India won Diu, Daman and Goa from Portuguese India. | ||
| 1964 | Death of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. | |
| 1965 | Second war with Pakistan over Kashmir. | |
| 1966 | Nehru's daughter Indira Gandhi becomes prime minister. | |
| 1971 | Third war with Pakistan over creation of Bangladesh, formerly East Pakistan. | |
| Twenty-year treaty of friendship signed with Soviet Union. | ||
| 1974 | India explodes first nuclear device in underground test. | |
| 1975 | Indira Gandhi declares state of emergency after being found guilty of electoral malpractice. | |
| Nearly 1,000 political opponents imprisoned and programme of compulsory birth control introduced. (to 1977) | ||
| 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 | Janata Party Splits. Chaudhary Charan Singh becomes Prime Minister. | |
| 1980 | Indira Gandhi returns to power heading Congress party splinter group, Congress (Indira). | |
| 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 | Troops storm Golden Temple - Sikhs' most holy shrine - to flush out Sikh militants pressing for self-rule. | |
| Indira Gandhi assassinated by Sikh bodyguards, following which her son, Rajiv, takes over. | ||
| 1987 | India deploys troops for peacekeeping operation in Sri Lanka's ethnic conflict. | |
| 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 | Muslim separatist groups begin campaign of violence in Kashmir. | |
| 1991 | Rajiv Gandhi assassinated by suicide bomber sympathetic to Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers. | |
| Economic reform programme begun by Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao. | ||
| 1992 | Hindu extremists demolish mosque in Ayodhya, triggering widespread Hindu-Muslim violence. | |
| 1992 | May | Over 200 people die in Cuttack in Orissa, after drinking illegally brewed liquor in the 1992 Orissa liquor deaths incident. |
| 1996 | Congress suffers worst ever electoral defeat as Hindu nationalist BJP emerges as largest single party. | |
| 1996 | August | 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. |
| 1998 | BJP forms coalition government under Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. | |
| 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. |
| May | Tension in Kashmir leads to brief war with Pakistan-backed forces in the icy heights around Kargil in Indian-held Kashmir. | |
| October | Cyclone devastates eastern state of Orissa, leaving at least 10,000 dead. | |
| 2000 | US President Bill Clinton makes a groundbreaking visit to improve ties. | |
| May | India marks the birth of its billionth citizen. |
Read more about this topic: Timeline Of Indian History
Famous quotes containing the word century:
“[A] Dada exhibition. Another one! What’s the matter with everyone wanting to make a museum piece out of Dada? Dada was a bomb ... can you imagine anyone, around half a century after a bomb explodes, wanting to collect the pieces, sticking it together and displaying it?”
—Max Ernst (1891–1976)