New Delhi in History

Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar becomes a central organiser of the Board of Scientific and Industrial Research, strengthening coordinated applied research in India.

Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar becomes the founding director of CSIR and begins building a national network of scientific laboratories.

Jawaharlal Nehru becomes Vice President of the Viceroy's Executive Council and leads the Interim Government.

Nehru leads the interim government of India as Britain moves toward transfer of power and partition negotiations continue.

Vallabhbhai Patel becomes Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister in independent India's first government.

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad becomes independent India's first Education Minister.

During Gandhi's fast, pressure increases on the Indian government to release Pakistan's agreed share of partition financial assets.

The Indian government agrees to release Pakistan's outstanding share of partition financial assets during Gandhi's fast.

The Constituent Assembly adopts the Constitution of India under the presidency of Rajendra Prasad.

Bhatnagar's CSIR laboratory programme establishes the National Physical Laboratory as a major centre for standards, materials and measurement research.

Nehru and Liaquat Ali Khan sign the Delhi Pact to protect minority rights in India and Pakistan.

Nehru's government formally protests China's military advance into Tibet.

Nehru's government launches the First Five-Year Plan with a strong emphasis on agriculture, irrigation and development.

The first Lok Sabha is constituted following India's inaugural general election.

Nehru forms India's first Union government based on a nationwide general election.

India and China sign an agreement incorporating the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, widely known as Panchsheel.

Homi Bhabha leads India's atomic energy programme as the Department of Atomic Energy is created under the Prime Minister.

Nehru's government adopts the Industrial Policy Resolution, expanding the planned role of the public sector.

Polling for the second Lok Sabha returns Congress to power and gives Jawaharlal Nehru another parliamentary mandate.

India grants asylum to the Dalai Lama after he flees Tibet following the uprising in Lhasa.

The third Lok Sabha election again returns a Congress majority, continuing Jawaharlal Nehru's premiership.

President Radhakrishnan proclaims a national emergency as the border war with China intensifies.

General P. N. Thapar leaves office as Army chief after the severe reverses suffered during the border war.

J. N. Chaudhuri assumes leadership of the Indian Army during the final days of the 1962 conflict.

China announces a unilateral ceasefire after the major phase of the Sino-Indian War.

Senior Congress leaders leave government posts under the Kamaraj Plan to strengthen the party organisation.

Death of Jawaharlal Nehru

After Nehru's death, Gulzarilal Nanda temporarily heads the Union government until Congress chooses a permanent successor.

Shastri's government promotes agricultural production and public participation as India confronts serious food shortages.

Shastri popularises the slogan Jai Jawan Jai Kisan while emphasising national defence and agricultural production.

Shastri leads India during the 1965 war with Pakistan, which ends after a United Nations-backed ceasefire.

India accepts a United Nations-backed ceasefire that ends the main fighting of the 1965 war with Pakistan.

Following Shastri's sudden death in Tashkent, Gulzarilal Nanda again serves briefly as caretaker Prime Minister.

Indira Gandhi's government devalues the rupee as part of a broader response to severe balance-of-payments pressures.

India holds its fourth general election; Congress retains national power but loses ground across many states.

President Zakir Husain dies in office.

Indira Gandhi's government nationalises fourteen major commercial banks.

Parliament enacts legislation to regulate monopolistic and restrictive trade practices.

The Lok Sabha is dissolved early, paving the way for the 1971 general election.

India and the Soviet Union sign the Treaty of Peace, Friendship and Cooperation.

The Twenty-sixth Amendment ends official recognition and privy-purse payments for former princely rulers.

Indira Gandhi's government launches Project Tiger to protect India's remaining wild tiger populations and their habitats.

The Thirty-sixth Amendment completes Sikkim's admission as a full state of India.

The Forty-second Amendment adds a constitutional list of Fundamental Duties for citizens.

The Forty-second Amendment adds socialist, secular and integrity to the Constitution's Preamble.

Morarji Desai forms India's first Union government headed by a non-Congress party.

The Forty-fourth Amendment reverses several Emergency-era constitutional changes and strengthens safeguards for civil liberties.

The government demonetises high-denomination banknotes of 1,000, 5,000 and 10,000 rupees.

The Lok Sabha is dissolved after Charan Singh resigns without facing a confidence vote.

Parliament enacts the Forest Conservation Act to restrict diversion of forest land without central approval.

Indira Gandhi's government begins the Sixth Five-Year Plan with renewed emphasis on growth, poverty reduction and infrastructure.

Congress wins the seventh general election and Indira Gandhi returns to national office.

New Delhi hosts the Asian Games, prompting major investment in sporting and urban infrastructure.

India hosts the seventh Non-Aligned Movement summit and Indira Gandhi becomes chair of the movement.

Rakesh Sharma becomes the first Indian citizen to travel into space aboard the Soviet Soyuz T-11 mission.

Death of Indira Gandhi

Congress wins a record parliamentary majority in the general election held after Indira Gandhi's assassination.

The Fifty-second Amendment introduces anti-defection provisions for members of Parliament and state legislatures.

M. K. Bhan identifies the naturally attenuated 116E rotavirus strain in newborn infants and recognizes its potential for vaccine development.

Rajiv Gandhi and Harchand Singh Longowal sign an accord intended to address major political grievances in Punjab.

Rajiv Gandhi's government signs the Assam Accord with leaders of the Assam agitation.

The government signs the Mizoram Peace Accord, helping end a long-running insurgency in the northeast.

Parliament enacts the Consumer Protection Act, creating new mechanisms for consumer rights and grievance redress.

The ninth general election ends Congress's majority and leads to the formation of a National Front government.

V.P. Singh's government announces implementation of reservations for Other Backward Classes in central government employment.

Manmohan Singh becomes Finance Minister in P.V. Narasimha Rao's government.

India devalues the rupee in two stages as part of its response to the 1991 balance-of-payments crisis.

Manmohan Singh presents a reform budget that reduces controls, opens the economy and addresses a severe balance-of-payments crisis.

Rao's government announces a new industrial policy that dismantles much of the industrial licensing system.

The Seventy-fourth Amendment strengthens constitutional recognition of urban local government.

The Seventy-third Amendment gives constitutional status to Panchayati Raj institutions in rural India.

The National Human Rights Commission is established under the Protection of Human Rights Act.

P. Venugopal leads the AIIMS team that performs India's first successful heart transplant.

India becomes a founding member of the World Trade Organization.

Atal Bihari Vajpayee becomes Prime Minister for the first time but resigns after thirteen days.

H.D. Deve Gowda becomes Prime Minister at the head of the United Front coalition.

Gujral promotes a foreign-policy approach emphasising unilateral goodwill toward India's smaller South Asian neighbours.

I.K. Gujral becomes Prime Minister after the fall of the Deve Gowda government.

A. Sivathanu Pillai helps establish BrahMos Aerospace to develop a supersonic cruise missile through an India-Russia joint venture.

The United States and other countries impose sanctions on India after the Pokhran-II nuclear tests.

Vajpayee begins a new term as Prime Minister at the head of a National Democratic Alliance coalition.

Armed attackers assault the Indian Parliament complex in New Delhi, prompting a major security and diplomatic crisis.

The Eighty-sixth Amendment establishes a constitutional right to free and compulsory education for children aged six to fourteen.

Manmohan Singh forms the first United Progressive Alliance government after the 2004 general election.

Singh's government coordinates large-scale relief operations after the Indian Ocean tsunami devastates coastal communities.

The government launches the National Rural Health Mission to strengthen public health services, particularly in rural areas.

The Right to Information Act receives presidential assent, expanding citizens' access to government records.

The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act creates a legal guarantee of rural wage employment.

India and the United States agree on a plan separating Indian civilian and military nuclear facilities.

Pratibha Patil takes office as India's first woman President and the twelfth holder of the office.

The Nuclear Suppliers Group grants India a waiver permitting civilian nuclear commerce despite India remaining outside the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Manmohan Singh is sworn in again after the Congress-led UPA secures enough support to form the government following the 2009 election.

Parliament enacts the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act.

New Delhi opens the Commonwealth Games after extensive preparations and controversy over costs and administration.

Pranab Mukherjee takes office as the thirteenth President of India.

The National Food Security Act establishes legal entitlements to subsidised food grains for a large share of India's population.

Parliament passes the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act to create new anti-corruption oversight institutions.

Narendra Modi is sworn in as Prime Minister after the BJP wins a parliamentary majority in the 2014 general election.

Modi launches the Jan Dhan programme to expand access to bank accounts and basic financial services.

Modi launches the Swachh Bharat Mission as a national sanitation and cleanliness campaign.

Narendra Modi wins a second term after the BJP-led alliance secures another parliamentary majority.

The government removes Jammu and Kashmir's special constitutional status and reorganises the former state into two union territories.

Narendra Modi announces a nationwide lockdown to limit the spread of COVID-19.

Narendra Modi announces an extension of India's nationwide COVID-19 lockdown.

India hosts the G20 leaders' summit in New Delhi during its presidency of the group.

Narendra Modi takes the oath of office for a third consecutive premiership after the 18th Lok Sabha election.

Modi announces Operation Sindoor strikes after the Pahalgam attack, as India targets sites it identifies as terrorist infrastructure.