TIMELINE OF INDIA





1947: Indian independence; India partitioned



1948: Mahatma Gandhi assassinated; Integration of princely states



1949: Ceasefire in Kashmir; Enactment of Indian constitution



1950: India becomes Republic



1952: First general elections; Congress government comes to power



1956: The states are reorganized on a linguistic basis



1962: War with China



1964: Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru dies



1965: War with Pakistan; ceasefire declared



1966: Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri dies at Indo-Pak summit at Tashkent; Indira Gandhi comes to power



1971  India and Pakistan wage another war



1972: Simla agreement signed between Indira Gandhi and Pakistan Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (Benazir Bhutto's father.) 



1974: India becomes the world's sixth nuclear power, explodes nuclear device in Pokhran, Rajasthan



1975  Indira Gandhi found guilty by court of electoral malpractice; President declares state of emergency due to "internal disturbance threat" 



1976  India and Pakistan re-establish diplomatic relations at the ambassadorial level



1977: Emergency ends in sixth General elections; Janata Party comes to power 



1979: Janata Party splits; Seventh general elections held



1980  Indira Gandhi returns to power



1983  India won their first Cricket World Cup with Kapil Dev as their captain



1984: Indira Gandhi assassinated; son Rajiv Gandhi becomes Prime Minister; In Bhopal, Union Carbide gas leak kills over 2,200



1989: Rajiv Gandhi's Congress defeated in ninth general elections; minority government led by Janata Dal's V.P Singh comes to power



1991: V.P Singh's government falls; Rajiv Gandhi assassinated by Sri Lankan Tamil suicide bomber; Tenth general elections sees Congress government return to power with P.V. Narasimha Rao as Prime Minister



1992: A Hindu mob demolishes the Babri Masjid (mosque) at Ayodhya; sparks off Hindu-Muslim riots in several cities across the country



1996: Eleventh general elections -- the largest democratic exercise on the planet -- sees fall of P.V. Narasimha Rao and the Congress government. The Bharatiya Janata Party comes to power and falls after 13 days; United Front Coalition forms government under Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda



1997 Congress withdraws support to coalition government; Deve Gowda resigns, I.K. Gujral becomes India's 12th Prime Minister 



1998 BJP comes to power, Atal Behari Vajpayee becomes India's 14th Prime Minister 



2004 Congress regains power. Sonia Gandhi turns down the seat and Congress chooses Manmohan Singh as the 15th Prime Minister 



2007  India won the first 20/20 Cricket World Cup