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  • India
    6th Millenium BC
    Meditation

    Meditation Origin

    India
    6th Millenium BC

    Meditation was first developed in India. The oldest documented evidence of the practice of meditation is wall arts in the Indian subcontinent from approximately 5,000 to 3,500 BCE, showing people seated in meditative postures with half-closed eyes.




  • Indian subcontinent (Present-Day India)
    4th Century
    Ancient India

    Nandas built on the successes of their Haryanka and Shaishunaga

    Indian subcontinent (Present-Day India)
    4th Century

    The Nandas built on the successes of their Haryanka and Shaishunaga predecessors and instituted a more centralized administration. Ancient sources credit them with amassing great wealth, which was probably a result of the introduction of a new currency and taxation system.




  • Indian subcontinent (Present-Day India)
    31st Century BC
    Ancient India

    In South India the Neolithic began by 3000 BCE

    Indian subcontinent (Present-Day India)
    31st Century BC

    In South India, the Neolithic began by 3000 BCE and lasted until around 1400 BCE. South Indian Neolithic is characterized by Ashmounds since 2500 BCE in the Andhra-Karnataka region that expanded later into Tamil Nadu.




  • Indian subcontinent (Present-Day India)
    31st Century BC
    Ancient India

    Indian religions

    Indian subcontinent (Present-Day India)
    31st Century BC

    Indian religions, sometimes also termed Dharmic religions or Indic religions, are the religions that originated in the Indian subcontinent. These religions, which include Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, and Sikhism, are also classified as Eastern religions.




  • Indian subcontinent (Present-Day India)
    31st Century BC
    Ancient India

    History of Hinduism

    Indian subcontinent (Present-Day India)
    31st Century BC

    The history of Hinduism covers a wide variety of related religious traditions native to the Indian subcontinent. Its history overlaps or coincides with the development of religion in the Indian subcontinent since the Iron Age.




  • India
    13th Century
    Martial arts

    Indian martial arts in medieval texts such as the Agni Purana and the Malla Purana

    India
    13th Century

    Indian martial arts in medieval texts such as the Agni Purana and the Malla Purana.




  • Delhi, India
    1206
    Mamluks

    Mamluk Sultanate (Delhi)

    Delhi, India
    1206

    In 1206, the Mamluk commander of the Muslim forces in the Indian subcontinent, Qutb al-Din Aibak, proclaimed himself Sultan, creating the Mamluk Sultanate in Delhi which lasted until 1290.


  • Indian subcontinent (Present-Day India)
    2600s BC
    Ancient India

    The Mature Indus civilization flourished

    Indian subcontinent (Present-Day India)
    2600s BC

    The Mature Indus civilization flourished from about 2600 to 1900 BCE, marking the beginning of urban civilization on the Indian subcontinent. The civilization included cities such as Harappa, Ganeriwala, and Mohenjo-daro in modern-day Pakistan, and Dholavira, Kalibangan, Rakhigarhi, and Lothal in modern-day India.


  • Indian subcontinent (Present-Day India)
    27th Century BC
    Ancient India

    The civilization was primarily centered in modern-day Pakistan

    Indian subcontinent (Present-Day India)
    27th Century BC

    The civilization was primarily centered in modern-day Pakistan, in the Indus river basin, and secondarily in the Ghaggar-Hakra river basin in eastern Pakistan and northwestern India. The Mature Indus civilization flourished from about 2600 to 1900 BCE, marking the beginning of urban civilization on the Indian subcontinent.


  • Indian subcontinent (Present-Day India)
    26th Century BC
    Ancient India

    This civilisation flourished

    Indian subcontinent (Present-Day India)
    26th Century BC

    This civilization flourished between 2500 BCE and 1900 BCE in what today is Pakistan and north-western India and was noted for its urban planning, baked brick houses, elaborate drainage, and water supply.


  • Indian subcontinent
    26th Century BC
    Bactria

    Bactria was the homeland of Indo-Iranians

    Indian subcontinent
    26th Century BC

    Bactria was the homeland of Indo-Iranians who moved south-west into Iran and the north-west of the Indian subcontinent around 2500–2000 BC.


  • Mughal Empire (now india)
    1630s
    Disasters with highest death tolls

    Deccan Famine of 1630–32

    Mughal Empire (now india)
    1630s

    The Deccan famine of 1630–1632 was a famine in the Deccan Plateau and Gujarat. The famine was the result of three consecutive staple crop failures, leading to intense hunger, disease, and displacement in the region. This famine remains one of the most devastating famines in the history of India, and was the most serious famine to occur in the Mughal Empire. The Dutch report gives an overall death toll of 7.4 million by late 1631, which might be for the whole region.


  • Raigad, Maratha Empire (Present Day India)
    1670s
    Waghya

    Birth

    Raigad, Maratha Empire (Present Day India)
    1670s

    Waghya was born in Raigad, Maratha Empire.


  • Raigad, Maratha Empire (Present Day India)
    1680
    Waghya

    Death

    Raigad, Maratha Empire (Present Day India)
    1680

    After Chhatrapati Shivaji's death, the Waghya mourned and jumped into his master's funeral pyre and immolated himself.


  • India
    1700s
    Disasters with highest death tolls

    Deccan Famine of 1702–1704

    India
    1700s

    Deccan Famine of 1702–1704 was a famine in India. It began in 1702. The death toll from this famine is estimated to be in the range of 2 million people.


  • India
    Monday Oct 7, 1737
    Disasters with highest death tolls

    1737 Calcutta Cyclone

    India
    Monday Oct 7, 1737

    On 7 October 1737, a natural disaster struck the city of Calcutta (modern-day Kolkata) in India. For a long time this was believed in Europe to have been the result of an earthquake, but it is now believed to have been a tropical cyclone. Thomas Joshua Moore, the duties collector for the British East India Company in Calcutta, wrote in his official report that a storm and flood had destroyed nearly all the thatched buildings and killed 3,000 of the city's inhabitants. Other reports from merchant ships indicated an earthquake and tidal surge were to blame, destroying 20,000 ships in the harbor and killing 300,000 people. The population of Calcutta at the time was around 3,000–20,000.


  • Bengal, India
    1760s
    Disasters with highest death tolls

    Great Bengal Famine of 1770

    Bengal, India
    1760s

    The Great Bengal Famine of 1770 was a famine between 1769 and 1773 (1176 to 1180 in the Bengali calendar) that affected the lower Gangetic plain of India from Bihar to the Bengal region. The famine is estimated to have caused the deaths of about 10 million people.


  • India
    1780s
    Disasters with highest death tolls

    Chalisa Famine

    India
    1780s

    The Chalisa famine of 1783–1784 in the Indian subcontinent followed unusual El Niño events that began in 1780 and caused droughts throughout the region. The famine affected many parts of North India, especially the Delhi territories, present-day Uttar Pradesh, Eastern Punjab, Rajputana, and Kashmir, then all ruled by different Indian rulers. It is thought that up to 11 million people may have died in the two famines.


  • India
    1790s
    Disasters with highest death tolls

    Doji Bara Famine

    India
    1790s

    The Doji bara famine (also, Skull famine) of 1791-92 in the Indian subcontinent was brought on by a major El Niño event lasting from 1789 CE to 1795 CE and producing prolonged droughts. The resulting famine, which was severe, caused widespread mortality in Hyderabad, Southern Maratha Kingdom, Deccan, Gujarat, and Marwar.


  • India
    Wednesday Sep 25, 1839
    Disasters with highest death tolls

    1839 India Cyclone

    India
    Wednesday Sep 25, 1839

    On 25 November 1839, an enormous cyclone caused a 40-foot storm surge (unconfirmed) that hit Coringa, Andhra Pradesh, wiped out the harbor city, destroyed vessels in its bay, and killed 300,000 people. Survivors never entirely rebuilt the city.


  • India
    1860s
    Disasters with highest death tolls

    Upper Doab Famine of 1860–1861

    India
    1860s

    The Doab famine of 1860–1861 was a famine in India that affected the Ganga-Yamuna Doab in the North-Western Provinces, large parts of Rohilkhand and Awadh, the Delhi and Hissar divisions of the Punjab, all in British India, then under Crown rule, and the eastern regions of the princely states of Rajputana. Up to 2 million people are thought to have perished in the famine.


  • Odisha, India
    1866
    Disasters with highest death tolls

    Orissa Famine of 1866

    Odisha, India
    1866

    The Orissa famine of 1866 affected the east coast of India from Madras northwards, an area covering 180,000 miles and containing a population of 47,500,000; the impact of the famine, however, was greatest in Orissa, now Odisha, which at that time was quite isolated from the rest of India. In Odisha, one third of the population died due to famine. In Odisha alone, at least 1 million people, a third of the population, died in 1866, and overall in the region approximately 4 to 5 million died in the two-year period


  • Rajputana, India (now in Rajasthan, northwestern India)
    1868
    Rajputana famine of 1869

    The monsoon of 1868 was late in coming

    Rajputana, India (now in Rajasthan, northwestern India)
    1868

    The monsoon of 1868 was late in coming. When it came, was light and brief, lasting until only August 1868.


  • India
    1860s
    Disasters with highest death tolls

    Rajputana Famine of 1869

    India
    1860s

    The Rajputana famine of 1869 (1868-1870) affected an area of 296,000 square miles (770,000 km2) and a population of 44,500,000, primarily in the princely states of Rajputana, India, and the British territory of Ajmer. The death toll from this famine is estimated to be in the range of 1.5 million people.


  • India
    1868
    Rajputana famine of 1869

    Epidemics of cholera broke out among the vulnerable population

    India
    1868

    Late in 1868, epidemics of cholera broke out among the vulnerable population, and there was no harvest in the spring of 1869. Many inhabitants of the famine-stricken regions of Rajputana (for example, two-thirds of the population of Marwar) emigrated with their livestock or herds. Initially, they did not go to the British territory of Ajmer, where relief works had been arranged; many wandered in search of food until they died from starvation.


  • Rajputana, India
    May, 1869
    Rajputana famine of 1869

    Many villagers returned to their villages believing that the rains would be early

    Rajputana, India
    May, 1869

    In May 1869, many villagers, who had emigrated earlier now returned to their villages believing that the rains would be early. However, the rains held off until mid-July and, in the interim, many thousands more died of starvation. Even so, the autumn harvest promised to be abundant, but swarms of locusts descended upon the fields and destroyed the young crops.


  • Rajputana, India
    Sep, 1869
    Rajputana famine of 1869

    There were heavy rains that, although good for the spring harvest

    Rajputana, India
    Sep, 1869

    In September and October 1869, there were heavy rains that, although good for the spring harvest, caused an epidemic of malaria and killed many more.


  • Gujarat, India
    Saturday Oct 2, 1869
    Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

    Born

    Gujarat, India
    Saturday Oct 2, 1869

    Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born on 2 October 1869 into a Gujarati Hindu Modh Baniya family in Porbandar (also known as Sudamapuri), a coastal town on the Kathiawar Peninsula and then part of the small princely state of Porbandar in the Kathiawar Agency of the Indian Empire.


  • Rajputana, India
    1870
    Rajputana famine of 1869

    Famine ended

    Rajputana, India
    1870

    Finally, the anticipated harvest of spring 1870 arrived and ended the famine.


  • India
    1870s
    Disasters with highest death tolls

    Indian Great Famine of 1876–78

    India
    1870s

    The Great Famine of 1876–1878 (also the Southern India famine of 1876–1878 or the Madras famine of 1877) was a famine in India under Crown rule. It began in 1876 after an intense drought resulting in crop failure in the Deccan Plateau. The death toll from this famine is estimated to be in the range of 5.5 million people.


  • India
    1896
    Plague

    Russian bacteriologist Waldemar Haffkine successfully protects rabbits against an inoculation of virulent plague microbes

    India
    1896

    Russian bacteriologist Waldemar Haffkine successfully protects rabbits against an inoculation of virulent plague microbes, by treating them previously with a subcutaneous injection of a culture of the microbes in broth. The first vaccine for bubonic plague is developed. The rabbits treated in this way become immune to plague. In the next year, Haffkine causes himself to be inoculated with a similar preparation, thus proving in his own person the harmlessness of the fluid. This is considered the first vaccine against bubonic plague.


  • Mumbai, India
    Oct, 1896
    Winston Churchill

    Churchill went to Bombay

    Mumbai, India
    Oct, 1896

    Churchill proceeded to New York City and, in admiration of the United States, wrote to his mother about "what an extraordinary people the Americans are!" With the Hussars, he went to Bombay in October 1896. Based in Bangalore, he was in India for 19 months, visiting Calcutta three times and joining expeditions to Hyderabad and the Northwest Frontier.


  • India
    1890s
    Disasters with highest death tolls

    Indian Famine

    India
    1890s

    Indian Famine of 1896–1902 was a famine in India. It began in 1896. The death toll from this famine is estimated to be in the range of 2 million people.


  • Present-day Bangalore, India
    Oct, 1897
    Winston Churchill

    First Book "The Story of the Malakand Field Force"

    Present-day Bangalore, India
    Oct, 1897

    Churchill returned to Bangalore in October 1897 and there wrote his first book, The Story of the Malakand Field Force, which received positive reviews. He also wrote his only work of fiction, Savrola, a Ruritanian romance. To keep himself fully occupied, Churchill embraced writing as what Roy Jenkins calls his "whole habit", especially through his political career when he was out of office. It was his main safeguard against recurring depression, which he termed his "black dog".


  • India
    Friday Dec 2, 1898
    Winston Churchill

    Churchill embarked for India to settle his military business and complete his resignation

    India
    Friday Dec 2, 1898

    On 2 December 1898, Churchill embarked for India to settle his military business and complete his resignation from the 4th Hussars. He spent a lot of his time there playing polo, the only ball sport in which he was ever interested.


  • Present-day Mumbai, India
    1898
    Winston Churchill

    Beliefs

    Present-day Mumbai, India
    1898

    In one 1898 letter to his mother, Churchill referred to his religious beliefs, saying: "I do not accept the Christian or any other form of religious belief". Churchill had been christened in the Church of England but, as he related later, he underwent a virulently anti-Christian phase in his youth, and as an adult was an agnostic. In another letter to one of his cousins, he referred to religion as "a delicious narcotic" and expressed a preference for Protestantism over Roman Catholicism because he felt it "a step nearer Reason".


  • Mumbai, India
    Monday Mar 20, 1899
    Winston Churchill

    Churchill sailed from Bombay

    Mumbai, India
    Monday Mar 20, 1899

    Having left the Hussars, Churchill sailed from Bombay on 20 March 1899, determined to launch a career in politics.


  • Raigad Fort, Maratha Empire (Present Day India)
    1906
    Waghya

    A memorial was built

    Raigad Fort, Maratha Empire (Present Day India)
    1906

    In memory of Waghya, a memorial was built next to Chhatrapati Shivaji's samadhi at Raigad Fort with a donation by Indore’s Prince Tukoji Holkar in 1906, who gave ₹5,000 (US$70) towards the dog's statue.


  • Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India
    Sunday Nov 18, 1917
    Indira Gandhi

    Born

    Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India
    Sunday Nov 18, 1917

    Indira Gandhi was born as Indira Priyadarshini Nehru in a Kashmiri Pandit family on 19 November 1917 in Allahabad.


  • India
    Friday Mar 10, 1922
    Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

    Gandhi was arrested

    India
    Friday Mar 10, 1922

    Gandhi expanded his nonviolent non-co-operation platform to include the swadeshi policy – the boycott of foreign-made goods, especially British goods. The appeal of "Non-cooperation" grew, its social popularity drew participation from all strata of Indian society. Gandhi was arrested on 10 March 1922, tried for sedition, and sentenced to six years' imprisonment.


  • India
    Saturday Mar 18, 1922
    Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

    The Imprisonment

    India
    Saturday Mar 18, 1922

    Gandhi began his sentence on 18 March 1922. With Gandhi isolated in prison, the Indian National Congress split into two factions, , opposing this move. Furthermore, co-operation among Hindus and Muslims ended as Khilafat movement collapsed with the rise of Ataturk in Turkey. Muslim leaders left the Congress and began forming Muslim organizations. The political base behind Gandhi had broken into factions.


  • India
    Thursday Jan 31, 1924
    Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

    The Release

    India
    Thursday Jan 31, 1924

    Gandhi was released in February 1924 for an appendicitis operation, having served only two years.


  • India
    Saturday Jan 25, 1930
    Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

    The Indian National Congress declared the independence of India

    India
    Saturday Jan 25, 1930

    Gandhi joined the Indian National Congress and was introduced to Indian issues, politics and the Indian people primarily by Gokhale (the key leader of the Congress Party). Gandhi took leadership of the Congress in 1920 and began escalating demands until on 26 January 1930 the Indian National Congress declared the independence of India. The British did not recognize the declaration but negotiations ensued, with the Congress taking a role in provincial government in the late 1930s.


  • India
    Saturday Mar 1, 1930
    Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

    Gandhi's Letter to the viceroy of India

    India
    Saturday Mar 1, 1930

    Gandhi sent an ultimatum in the form of a polite letter to the viceroy of India, Lord Irwin, on 2 March. A young left wing British Quaker by the name of Reg Reynolds delivered the letter. Gandhi condemned British rule in the letter, describing it as "a curse" that "has impoverished the dumb millions by a system of progressive exploitation and by a ruinously expensive military and civil administration... It has reduced us politically to serfdom." Gandhi also mentioned in the letter that the viceroy received a salary "over five thousand times India's average income. British violence, Gandhi promised, was going to be defeated by Indian non-violence.


  • Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India
    Tuesday Mar 11, 1930
    Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

    The famous Salt March

    Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India
    Tuesday Mar 11, 1930

    This (Gandhi's letter to the viceroy of India) was highlighted by the famous Salt March to Dandi from 12 March to 6 April, where, together with 78 volunteers, he marched 388 kilometres (241 mi) from Ahmedabad to Dandi, Gujarat to make salt himself, with the declared intention of breaking the salt laws. Thousands of Indians joined him on this march to the sea. The march took 25 days to cover 240 miles with Gandhi speaking to often huge crowds along the way.


  • Darjeeling, in the lower Himalayas, India
    Sunday May 24, 1931
    Mother Teresa

    First Religious vows

    Darjeeling, in the lower Himalayas, India
    Sunday May 24, 1931

    She arrived in India in 1929 and began her novitiate in Darjeeling, in the lower Himalayas, where she learned Bengali and taught at St. Teresa's School near her convent. Teresa took her first religious vows on 24 May 1931. She chose to be named after Thérèse de Lisieux, the patron saint of missionaries; because a nun in the convent had already chosen that name, Agnes opted for its Spanish spelling (Teresa).


  • India
    Monday May 8, 1933
    Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

    21-day fast of self-purification

    India
    Monday May 8, 1933

    In 1932, Gandhi began a new campaign to improve the lives of the untouchables, whom he started referring to as Harijans or "the children of god". On 8 May 1933, Gandhi began a 21-day fast of self-purification and launched a one-year campaign to help the Harijan movement. This new campaign was not universally embraced within the Dalit community. Ambedkar and his allies felt Gandhi was being paternalistic and was undermining Dalit political rights.


  • India
    1936
    Waghya

    The statue of Waghya was erected

    India
    1936

    Reportedly by Mid-Day, the statue of Waghya was erected on a Samadhi at Shivaji's memorial in 1936 under the banner of Shri Shivaji Raigad Smarak Samati (SSRSS) in leadership of Narasimha Chintaman Kelkar.


  • Indian subcontinent (Present-Day India)
    21st Century BC
    Ancient India

    Early Vedic society is described in the Rigveda

    Indian subcontinent (Present-Day India)
    21st Century BC

    Early Vedic society is described in the Rigveda, the oldest Vedic text, believed to have been compiled during the 2nd millennium BCE, in the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent.


  • Indian subcontinent (Present-Day India)
    21st Century BC
    Ancient India

    Iron using in the Central Ganga Plain and the Eastern Vindhyas

    Indian subcontinent (Present-Day India)
    21st Century BC

    Iron using and ironworking were prevalent in the Central Ganga Plain and the Eastern Vindhyas from the early second millennium BCE.


  • Indian subcontinent (Present-Day India)
    21st Century BC
    Ancient India

    The oldest Vedic text

    Indian subcontinent (Present-Day India)
    21st Century BC

    Early Vedic society is described in the Rigveda, the oldest Vedic text, believed to have been compiled during the 2nd millennium BCE.


  • Indian subcontinent (Present-Day India)
    21st Century BC
    Ancient India

    Indo-Aryan peoples

    Indian subcontinent (Present-Day India)
    21st Century BC

    Indo-Aryan peoples refer to both the pastoralist Indo-European people migrating from Central Asia into South Asia in the second millennium BCE.


  • Indian subcontinent (Present-Day India)
    21st Century BC
    Ancient India

    Ochre Coloured Pottery culture

    Indian subcontinent (Present-Day India)
    21st Century BC

    During the 2nd millennium BCE, Ochre Coloured Pottery culture was in the Ganga Yamuna Doab region.


  • India
    1940
    Indira Gandhi

    Back to India

    India
    1940

    During her time in Europe, Indira was plagued with ill-health and was constantly attended to by doctors. She had to make repeated trips to Switzerland to recover, disrupting her studies. She was being treated there in 1940, when the German armies rapidly conquered Europe. Gandhi tried to return to England through Portugal but was left stranded for nearly two months. She managed to enter England in early 1941, and from there returned to India without completing her studies at Oxford. The university later awarded her an honorary degree.


  • Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India
    Wednesday Mar 25, 1942
    Indira Gandhi

    Marriage

    Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India
    Wednesday Mar 25, 1942

    During her stay in Great Britain, Indira frequently met her future husband Feroze Gandhi (no relation to Mahatma Gandhi), whom she knew from Allahabad, and who was studying at the London School of Economics. The marriage took place in Allahabad according to Adi Dharm rituals though Feroze belonged to a Zoroastrian Parsi family of Gujarat.


  • India
    1940s
    Disasters with highest death tolls

    Bengal Famine of 1943

    India
    1940s

    The Bengal famine of 1943-1944 was a devastating famine in the Bengal province of British India during World War II. An estimated 2.1–3 million, out of a population of 60.3 million, died of starvation, malaria, or other diseases aggravated by malnutrition, population displacement, unsanitary conditions and lack of health care.


  • Manipur, India
    Mar, 1944
    World War II

    Operation U-Go

    Manipur, India
    Mar, 1944

    The Japanese launched an operation against British positions in Manipur, India. The operation took place from March till June 1944. The offensive culminated in the Battles of Imphal and Kohima, where the Japanese and were first held and then pushed back.


  • India
    Friday May 5, 1944
    Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

    Gandhi's release

    India
    Friday May 5, 1944

    Gandhi was released before the end of the war on 6 May 1944 because of his failing health and necessary surgery; the Raj did not want him to die in prison and enrage the nation. He came out of detention to an altered political scene – the Muslim League for example, which a few years earlier had appeared marginal, "now occupied the centre of the political stage".


  • Kohima, Nagaland, India
    Friday Jun 23, 1944
    World War II

    Battle of Kohima ended

    Kohima, Nagaland, India
    Friday Jun 23, 1944

    The Battle of Kohima was the turning point of the Japanese U-Go offensive into India in 1944 during the Second World War. The battle was fought in three stages from 4 April to 22 June 1944 around the town of Kohima, the capital of Nagaland in northeast India. From 3 to 16 April, the Japanese attempted to capture Kohima ridge, a feature which dominated the road by which the besieged British and Indian troops. From 18 April to 13 May, British and Indian reinforcements counter-attacked to drive the Japanese from the positions they had captured. The Japanese abandoned the ridge at this point but continued to block the Kohima–Imphal road. From 16 May to 22 June, the British and Indian troops pursued the retreating Japanese and reopened the road. The battle ended on 22 June when British and Indian troops from Kohima and Imphal met at Milestone 109, ending the Siege of Imphal.


  • Imphal, Manipur, India
    Monday Jul 3, 1944
    World War II

    Japanese left Imphal

    Imphal, Manipur, India
    Monday Jul 3, 1944

    The Battle of Imphal took place in the region around the city of Imphal, the capital of the state of Manipur in northeast India from 8 March until 3 July 1944. Japanese armies attempted to destroy the Allied forces at Imphal and invade India, but were driven back into Burma with heavy losses.


  • India
    Apr, 1945
    Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

    Gandhi's letter to Birla

    India
    Apr, 1945

    Gandhi tried to test and prove to himself his brahmacharya. The experiments began some time after the death of his wife in February 1944. At the start of his experiment, he had women sleep in the same room but in different beds. He later slept with women in the same bed but clothed, and finally, he slept naked with women. In April 1945, Gandhi referenced being naked with several "women or girls" in a letter to Birla as part of the experiments.


  • India
    Friday Aug 15, 1947
    Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

    Disapproved Independence

    India
    Friday Aug 15, 1947

    In August 1947 the British partitioned the land with India and Pakistan each achieving independence on terms that Gandhi disapproved.


  • Patna, India
    1948
    Mother Teresa

    The Holly Family Hospital

    Patna, India
    1948

    She began missionary work with the poor in 1948, replacing her traditional Loreto habit with a simple, white cotton sari with a blue border. Teresa adopted Indian citizenship, spent several months in Patna to receive basic medical training at Holy Family Hospital and ventured into the slums.


  • Darjeeling, India
    Aug, 1949
    Flag of Bhutan

    First national flag

    Darjeeling, India
    Aug, 1949

    The CBS document states that the first national flag was designed upon the request of Jigme Wangchuck, the second Druk Gyalpo of the 20th-century Kingdom of Bhutan, and was introduced in 1949 during the signing of the Indo-Bhutan Treaty.


  • Vadnagar, Bombay State, India (now Gujarat)
    Saturday Sep 16, 1950
    Narendra Damodardas Modi

    Birth

    Vadnagar, Bombay State, India (now Gujarat)
    Saturday Sep 16, 1950

    Narendra Modi was born on 17 September 1950 to a family of grocers in Vadnagar, Mehsana district, Bombay State (present-day Gujarat).


  • India
    Saturday Oct 7, 1950
    Mother Teresa

    A Vatican permission

    India
    Saturday Oct 7, 1950

    On 7 October 1950, Teresa received Vatican permission for the diocesan congregation, which would become the Missionaries of Charity. In her words, it would care for "the hungry, the naked, the homeless, the crippled, the blind, the lepers, all those people who feel unwanted, unloved, uncared for throughout society, people that have become a burden to the society and are shunned by everyone".


  • Kolkata, India
    1952
    Mother Teresa

    Home of the Pure heart

    Kolkata, India
    1952

    In 1952, Teresa opened her first hospice with help from Kolkata officials. She converted an abandoned Hindu temple into the Kalighat Home for the Dying, free for the poor, and renamed it Kalighat, the Home of the Pure Heart (Nirmal Hriday).


  • India
    1953
    Freddie Mercury

    Mercury began taking piano lessons at the age of seven

    India
    1953

    Mercury spent most of his childhood in India where he began taking piano lessons at the age of seven while living with relatives.


  • Panchgani, Mumbai, India
    1954
    Freddie Mercury

    Mercury was sent to study at St. Peter's School

    Panchgani, Mumbai, India
    1954

    In 1954, at the age of eight, Mercury was sent to study at St. Peter's School, a British-style boarding school for boys, in Panchgani near Mumbai.


  • India
    Tuesday Dec 21, 1954
    Josip Broz Tito

    Tito visited India

    India
    Tuesday Dec 21, 1954

    Tito visited India from 22 December 1954 through 8 January 1955.


  • Panchgani, Mumbai, India
    1958
    Freddie Mercury

    The Hectics

    Panchgani, Mumbai, India
    1958

    At the age of 12, he formed a school band, the Hectics, and covered rock and roll artists such as Cliff Richard and Little Richard.


  • New Delhi, India
    1958
    Indira Gandhi

    The President of The Congress

    New Delhi, India
    1958

    Towards the end of the 1950s, Indira Gandhi served as the President of the Congress. In that capacity, she was instrumental in getting the Communist led Kerala State Government dismissed in 1959. That government had the distinction of being India's first ever elected Communist Government.


  • New Delhi, India
    Wednesday Sep 7, 1960
    Indira Gandhi

    Her Husband Death

    New Delhi, India
    Wednesday Sep 7, 1960

    Her marriage lasted 18 years, until Feroze died of a heart attack in 1960.


  • New Delhi, India
    Monday Jun 8, 1964
    Indira Gandhi

    The Minister of Information and Broadcasting

    New Delhi, India
    Monday Jun 8, 1964

    After her father's death in 1964 she was appointed as a member of the Rajya Sabha (upper house) and served in Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri's cabinet as Minister of Information and Broadcasting.


  • New Delhi, India
    Sunday Jan 23, 1966
    Indira Gandhi

    The Prime Minister of India

    New Delhi, India
    Sunday Jan 23, 1966

    In January 1966, after Shastri's death, the Congress legislative party elected Indira Gandhi over Morarji Desai as their leader. Congress party veteran K. Kamaraj was instrumental in achieving Indira's victory. Because she was a woman, other political leaders in India saw Gandhi as weak and hoped to use her as a puppet once elected.


  • India
    Thursday Feb 16, 1967
    Indira Gandhi

    The First Electoral Test for Indira

    India
    Thursday Feb 16, 1967

    The first electoral test for Indira was the 1967 general elections for the Lok Sabha and state assemblies. The Congress Party won a reduced majority for the Lok Sabha in these elections owing to widespread disenchantment over rising prices of commodities, unemployment, economic stagnation and a food crisis. Gandhi herself was elected to Lok Sabha from the Raebareli constituency.


  • New Delhi, India
    Monday Aug 21, 1967
    Indira Gandhi

    Minister of External Affairs

    New Delhi, India
    Monday Aug 21, 1967

    On 22 August 1967, she became the Minister of External Affairs of India until 14 March 1969.


  • New Delhi, India
    Wednesday Jan 31, 1968
    United Nations Conference on Trade and Development

    New Delhi Conference

    New Delhi, India
    Wednesday Jan 31, 1968

    The New Delhi Conference, held in February and March 1968, was a forum that allowed developing countries to reach an agreement on the basic principles of their development policies. The conference in New Delhi was an opportunity for schemes to be finally approved. The conference provided a major impetus in persuading the North to follow up UNCTAD I resolutions, in establishing generalized preferences. The target for private and official flows to LDCs was raised to 1% of the North's GNP, but the developed countries failed to commit themselves to achieve the target by a specific date. This has proven a continuing point of debate at UNCTAD conferences. The conference led to the International Sugar Agreement, which seeks to stabilize world sugar prices.


  • New Delhi, India
    Wednesday Jul 16, 1969
    Indira Gandhi

    Minister of Finance

    New Delhi, India
    Wednesday Jul 16, 1969

    On 17 July 1969, She became the Minister of Finance of India until 27 June 1970.


  • New Delhi, India
    Friday Jun 26, 1970
    Indira Gandhi

    Minister of Home Affairs

    New Delhi, India
    Friday Jun 26, 1970

    On 27 June 1970, she became the Minister of Home Affairs of India until 4 February 1973.


  • New Delhi, India
    Thursday Dec 31, 1970
    Indira Gandhi

    The Garibi Hatao Programme

    New Delhi, India
    Thursday Dec 31, 1970

    Garibi Hatao (Eradicate Poverty) was the theme for Gandhi's 1971 political bid. The Garibi Hatao slogan and the proposed anti-poverty programs that came with it were designed to give Gandhi independent national support, based on rural and urban poor. This would allow her to bypass the dominant rural castes both in and of state and local governments; likewise the urban commercial class. And, for their part, the previously voiceless poor would at last gain both political worth and political weight. The programs created through Garibi Hatao, though carried out locally, were funded and developed by the Central Government in New Delhi. The program was supervised and staffed by the Indian National Congress party. "These programs also provided the central political leadership with new and vast patronage resources to be disbursed... throughout the country."


  • India
    Sunday Feb 28, 1971
    Indira Gandhi

    Indian General election

    India
    Sunday Feb 28, 1971

    Indira Gandhi won the 1971 Indian general election.


  • Kolkata, India
    Wednesday Dec 8, 1971
    Gita Gopinath

    Birth

    Kolkata, India
    Wednesday Dec 8, 1971

    Gita Gopinath was born on 8 December 1971 in Calcutta, India in a Malayali family. She is the younger of two daughters of T.V. Gopinath and V.C. Vijayalakshmi. Her family is related to the late A. K. Gopalan.


  • India
    Sep, 1973
    Indira Gandhi

    The 1973 Oil Crisis

    India
    Sep, 1973

    Despite the victory against Pakistan, the Congress government faced numerous problems during this term. Some of these were due to high inflation which was in turn caused by war time expenses, drought in some parts of the country and more importantly, the 1973 oil crisis.


  • India
    Saturday May 18, 1974
    Nuclear Power

    First nuclear weapon test in India

    India
    Saturday May 18, 1974

    India has conducted nuclear weapons tests in a pair of series namely Pokhran I and Pokhran II. India has signed neither the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty nor the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, considering both to be flawed and discriminatory.


  • Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India
    Wednesday Jun 11, 1975
    Indira Gandhi

    The Allahabad High Court declaration

    Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India
    Wednesday Jun 11, 1975

    On 12 June 1975, the Allahabad High Court declared Indira Gandhi's election to the Lok Sabha in 1971 void on grounds of electoral malpractice. The court ordered her stripped of her parliamentary seat and banned from running for any office for six years. As the constitution holds that the Prime Minister must be a member of either the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha, the two houses of the Parliament of India, this would have effectively removed her from office. However, Gandhi rejected calls to resign and announced plans to appeal to the Supreme Court. Gandhi insisted that the conviction did not undermine her position, despite having been unseated from Lok Sabha.


  • India
    Tuesday Jun 24, 1975
    Indira Gandhi

    Declaring State of Emergency

    India
    Tuesday Jun 24, 1975

    Gandhi moved to restore order by ordering the arrest of most of the opposition participating in the unrest. Her Cabinet and government then recommended that President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed declare a state of emergency because of the disorder and lawlessness following the Allahabad High Court decision. Accordingly, Ahmed declared a State of Emergency caused by internal disorder, based on the provisions of Article 352 of the Constitution, on 25 June 1975.


  • New Delhi, India
    Saturday Nov 29, 1975
    Indira Gandhi

    Minister of Defence

    New Delhi, India
    Saturday Nov 29, 1975

    On 30 November 1975, she became Minister of Defence of India for a month.


  • India
    Tuesday Mar 15, 1977
    Indira Gandhi

    1977 Indian General Election

    India
    Tuesday Mar 15, 1977

    In 1977, after extending the state of emergency twice, Indira Gandhi called elections to give the electorate a chance to vindicate her rule. Gandhi may have grossly misjudged her popularity by reading what the heavily censored press wrote about her. Gandhi's Congress party was crushed soundly in the elections. The public realized the statement and motto of the Janata Party alliance. Indira and Sanjay Gandhi both lost their seats, and Congress was cut down to 153 seats (compared with 350 in the previous Lok Sabha), 92 of which were in the South.


  • Andhra Pradesh, India
    Monday Nov 14, 1977
    Disasters with highest death tolls

    1977 Andhra Pradesh Cyclone

    Andhra Pradesh, India
    Monday Nov 14, 1977

    The 1977 Andhra Pradesh cyclone was a devastating tropical cyclone that hit Andhra Pradesh on November 14, 1977, killing at least 10,000 people.


  • New Delhi, India
    1977
    Narendra Damodardas Modi

    Graduated

    New Delhi, India
    1977

    In 1978 Modi received a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from School of Open Learning at University of Delhi, graduating with a third class.


  • Vadodara and Surat, India
    1977
    Narendra Damodardas Modi

    RSS sambhag pracharak (regional organiser)

    Vadodara and Surat, India
    1977

    Modi became an RSS sambhag pracharak (regional organiser) in 1978, overseeing RSS activities in the areas of Surat and Vadodara.


  • Chikmagalur, Karnataka, India
    Oct, 1978
    Indira Gandhi

    The Chikmagalur Constituency Election

    Chikmagalur, Karnataka, India
    Oct, 1978

    She won a by-election from the Chikmagalur Constituency to the Lok Sabha in November 1978.


  • India
    1978
    Indira Gandhi

    Arresting Indira

    India
    1978

    In 1979, the government started to unravel over the issue of dual loyalties of some members to Janata and the RSS. The ambitious Union Finance minister, Charan Singh, who as the Union Home Minister during the previous year had ordered arrest of Gandhi, took advantage of this and started courting the Congress.


  • New Delhi, India
    Jul, 1979
    Indira Gandhi

    Dissolving the Parliament

    New Delhi, India
    Jul, 1979

    Charan Singh was appointed Prime Minister, by President Reddy, after Indira and Sanjay Gandhi promised Singh that Congress would support his government from outside on certain conditions. The conditions included dropping all charges against Indira and Sanjay. Since Charan Singh refused to drop the charges, Congress withdrew its support and President Reddy dissolved Parliament in August 1979.


  • New Delhi, India
    1979
    Indira Gandhi

    Achieving her Son's Dream

    New Delhi, India
    1979

    In 1980, As a tribute to her son's dream of launching an indigenously manufactured car, Gandhi nationalized Sanjay's debt ridden company called Maruti Udyog for Rs. 4.34 crore and invited joint venture bids from automobile companies around the world.


  • India
    Wednesday Jan 2, 1980
    Indira Gandhi

    The 1980 Elections

    India
    Wednesday Jan 2, 1980

    Before the 1980 elections Gandhi approached the then Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid, Syed Abdullah Bukhari and entered into an agreement with him on the basis of 10-point programme to secure the support of the Muslim votes. In the elections held in January, Congress returned to power with a landslide majority.


  • New Delhi, India
    Sunday Jun 22, 1980
    Indira Gandhi

    Son's Death

    New Delhi, India
    Sunday Jun 22, 1980

    On 23 June, Gandhi's son Sanjay was killed in an air crash while performing an aerobatic manoeuvre in New Delhi.


  • Ahmedabad, India
    1982
    Narendra Damodardas Modi

    Master of Arts degree in political science

    Ahmedabad, India
    1982

    Five years later, in 1983, he received a Master of Arts degree in political science from Gujarat University, as an external distance learning student.


  • Amritsar, Punjab, India
    Friday Apr 22, 1983
    Indira Gandhi

    The Punjab Police Deputy was shot dead

    Amritsar, Punjab, India
    Friday Apr 22, 1983

    On 23 April 1983, the Punjab Police Deputy Inspector General A. S. Atwal was shot dead as he left the Temple compound. The following day, after the murder, Harchand Singh Longowal confirmed the involvement of Bhindranwale in the murder.


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