2009 in India - Events

Events

• January 1 – National Investigation Agency (NIA) Bill and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment (UAPA) Bill, the new anti-terror regime came into force with President Pratibha Patil giving her assent. (The Hindu)
• January 1 – 2009 Guwahati bombings: Five persons, including a boy and a woman, were killed and about 50 injured in serial bomb blasts in Guwahati, Assam.
• January 1 – Indian Government decides to place officers in the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and their equivalents in the other two services on a higher pay band and constitute a separate pay commission in a move to redress the grievances of Indian Armed Forces personnel over anomalies in pay structures. (The Hindu)
• January 2 – Indian Government in tandem with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announces the much-awaited second Stimulus Package aimed at reversing the economic slowdown. (The Hindu)
• January 2 – Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar and Bishan Singh Bedi figure among the 55 players in the ICC’s inaugural Hall of Fame list. (The Hindu)
• January 4 – All-India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC) has decided to go ahead with its indefinite strike from midnight of January 5. (The Hindu)
• January 4 – The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) formally dissociates itself from the United Progressive Alliance (UPA). (The Hindu)
• January 5 – Indian Government summons Pakistan High Commissioner Shahid Malik to hand over evidence about Pakistans involvement in the Mumbai terror attacks. (The Hindu)

• February 13 – 2009 Orissa train derailment: A passenger train derails in Bhubaneswar, Orissa, India, killing at least 15 people and injuring 150 others.
• February 23 – India approves a £1.7-billion plan to launch its first astronauts into outer space by 2015.
• February 25 – A bus crashes in Indian-administered Kashmir, killing 35 people and injuring 15.
• February 25 – Former Indian Communications Minister Sukhram is jailed for three years for corruption.
• March 24 – Sixteen militants and eight Indian Army soldiers are killed in Jammu and Kashmir's Kupwara District.
• April 1 – No additional charges on withdrawing money from an ATM of a different bank
• April–May – General Elections held
• April 16 – The Naxalite movement kills 17 people as India's general election begins.
• April 20 – India's Space Research Organization launches its RISAT-2 reconnaissance satellite.
• May 19 – Manmohan Singh of the National Congress is reelected as Prime Minister of India.
• May 21 – The Communist Party kills 16 police officers near Nagpur, Maharashtra, India.
• May 25 - Cyclone Aila ravages the east coast killing at least 149 and hundreds others were left homeless as torrential rains led to flooding.
• June 3 – Indian Member of Parliament Meira Kumar becomes the first female Speaker of the House of the People.
• June 4 – Two hundred thousand people attend the funeral of Dera Sach Khand leader Sant Ramanand Dass in Jalandhar, Punjab, India.
• June 17 – Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh meets with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari.
• June 20 – Indian troops enter Lalgarh, a Maoist stronghold in West Bengal, claiming a partial victory.
• July 2 – A 148-year old colonial law banning homosexual intercourse in India is overturned by the High Court in New Delhi.
• July 3 – Three people die and over a dozen are injured in riots after a dead pig is thrown into an under-construction mosque in Mysore, India.

• July 5 – At least eight people die in blasts at two explosives factories in Madhya Pradesh, India.
• July 9 – The death toll from a mass poisoning involving home-brewed alcohol in Gujarat, India rises to 71.
• July 12 – Five people are killed and several injured in India after a bridge being constructed for the Delhi Metro collapses.
• July 20 – Ajmal Kasab, the only surviving gunman in the 2008 Mumbai attacks, pleads guilty in an Indian court, ending months of denials.
• July 20 – India and the United States sign a defence pact.
• July 26 – India launches its first nuclear submarine, the INS Arihant.
• August 6 – An Indian court sentences to death three people for carrying out bombings that killed more than 50 people in Mumbai in 2003.
• August 11 – 2009 Andaman Islands earthquake: A 7.5 magnitude earthquake occurs in the Andaman Islands of India. No casualties or injuries were reported, although there were complaints about minor damages to buildings.
• August 24 – At least 200 children are killed and around 900 hospitalised by Japanese encephalitis in Uttar Pradesh, India.
• September 1 – An outbreak of diarrhoea in Orissa, India, kills at least 26 people and hospitalises 237.
• September 2 – 2009 Andhra Pradesh helicopter crash: A Bell 430 helicopter crashes during a flight in southern India. Fatalities included Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, the Chief Minister of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.
• September 10 – At least five girls are killed and 30 other students injured in a stampede at a state-run school in the Indian capital, New Delhi.

• September 14 – Chandrayaan-1, India's first unmanned lunar probe, discovers large amounts of water on the Moon.
• September 30 – 2009 Thekkady boat disaster: the double-decker passenger boat Jalakanyaka capsized in Lake Thekkady, killing A total of 45 passengers.
• October 17 – 32 people are killed in a fire at a fireworks warehouse in southern India, during the Diwali celebrations.
• October 30 – Indian Oil Fire in Jaipur: A large fire at an oil depot on the outskirts of Jaipur, Rajasthan, India, leaves six people dead and around 135 injured.
• November 6 – At least 34 people are killed and 29 are injured when a bus falls into a gorge in Himachal Pradesh.
• November 22 – At least seven people are killed and more than 55 injured in a bombing in Assam, northeastern India.
• November 24 – Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had the first official state visit to the White House during the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama. Several discussions took place during the meeting, including on trade and nuclear power.
• December 10 – India announces it is to create a new state, Telangana, out of Andhra Pradesh.
• December 13 – India successfully test fires its nuclear-capable "Dhanush" missile off the Orissa coast.