The United Nations Security Council calls an emergency session to consider the deteriorating situation between India and Pakistan.

Pakistan severs diplomatic relations with India following New Delhi's recognition of Bangladesh.

India and Bangladesh sign a friendship treaty.

Biju Patnaik of the Pragati Legislature Party is elected leader of the opposition in the state assembly in Orissa, India.

Project Tiger, a tiger conservation project, is launched in the Corbett National Park, India.

Gaura Devi leads a group of 27 women of Laata village, Henwalghati, Garhwal Himalayas, to form circles around trees to stop them being felled and giving rise to the Chipko Movement in India.

Nuclear test: under project Smiling Buddha, India successfully detonates its first nuclear weapon becoming the sixth nation to do so.

An earthquake strikes Himachal Pradesh, India

India's first satellite Aryabhata is launched.

India annexes Sikkim after the mountain state holds a referendum in which the popular vote is in favour of merging with India.

The State of Emergency is declared in India.

Indira Gandhi establishes emergency rule in India.

India expels three reporters from ''The Times'', ''The Daily Telegraph'', and ''Newsweek'' because they refused to sign a pledge to abide by government censorship.

Bihar train disaster A passenger train travelling between Mansi and Saharsa, India, jumps the tracks at a bridge crossing the Bagmati river. The government places the official death toll at 268 plus another 300 missing; however, it is generally believed that the actual figure is closer to 1,000 killed.

The Sri Lankan Civil War begins with the killing of 13 Sri Lanka Army soldiers by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam Terrorist group. In the subsequent riots of Black July, about 1,000 Tamils are slaughtered, some 400,000 Tamils flee to neighbouring Tamil Nadu, India and many find refuge in Europe and Canada.

Squadron Leader Rakesh Sharma is launched aboard Soyuz T-11, and becomes the first Indian in space.

Operation Bluestar, a military offensive, is launched by the Indian government at Harmandir Sahib, also known as Golden Temple, the holiest shrine for the Sikhs, in Amritsar. The operation continues until June 6 with casualties, most of them civilians, in excess of 5,000.

Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi is assassinated by two security guards. Riots soon break out in New Delhi and nearly 10,000 Sikhs are killed.

Bhopal Disaster: A methyl isocyanate leak from a Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, India, kills more than 3,800 people outright and injures 150,000–600,000 others (some 6,000 of whom would later die from their injuries) in one of the worst industrial disasters in history.

Bhopal disaster: India files suit against Union Carbide for the disaster which killed an estimated 2,000 and injured another 200,000.

Sri Lankan Tamil mercenaries try to overthrow the Maldivian government. At President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom's request, the Indian military suppresses the coup attempt within 24 hours.

Union Carbide agrees to pay $470 million to the Indian government for damages it caused in the 1984 Bhopal Disaster.

92 people are killed aboard Indian Airlines Flight 605 at Bangalore, India.

Former Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi is assassinated by a female suicide bomber near Madras.

The Chief Judicial Magistrate of Bhopal court declares Warren Anderson, ex-CEO of Union Carbide, a fugitive under Indian law for failing to appear in the Bhopal Disaster case.

Several bombs explode in Bombay (Mumbai), India, killing about 300 and injuring hundreds more.

An earthquake hits India's Latur and Osmanabad district of Marathwada (Aurangabad division) in Maharashtra state leaving tens of thousands of people dead and many more homeless.

A truck-bomb explodes outside of a US-operated Saudi Arabian National Guard training center in Riyadh, killing five Americans and two Indians. A group called the Islamic Movement for Change claims responsibility.

In the Indian state of Assam, a passenger train is bombed by Bodo separatists, killing 26.

India's Missionaries of Charity chooses Sister Nirmala to succeed Mother Teresa as its leader.

Uphaar cinema fire, in New Delhi, India, killed 59 people, and over 100 people injured.

A tornado sweeps through Dantan in India killing 250 people and injuring 3000 others.

Pakistan tests medium-range missiles capable of reaching India.

Nuclear testing: Pakistan responds to a series of nuclear tests by India with five of its own, prompting the United States, Japan, and other nations to impose economic sanctions.

Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons are burned alive by radical Hindus while sleeping in their car in Eastern India.

Infosys becomes the first Indian company listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange.

A large cyclone devastates Orissa, India.

An earthquake hits Gujarat, India, causing more than 20,000 deaths.

Protests occur in Manipur over the extension of the ceasefire between Naga insurgents and the government of India.

A military MiG-21 aircraft crashes into the Bank of Rajasthan in India, killing eight.