2009 in India

Incumbents

Governors

Events

• 1 January – National Investigation Agency Bill and the Unlawful Activities Amendment Bill, the new anti-terror regime came into force with President Pratibha Patil giving her assent.
• 1 January – 2009 Guwahati bombings: Five persons, including a boy and a woman, were killed and about 50 injured in serial bomb blasts in Guwahati, Assam.
• 1 January – 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.
• 2 January – Indian Government in tandem with the Reserve Bank of India announces the much-awaited second Stimulus Package aimed at reversing the economic slowdown.
• 2 January – Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar and Bishan Singh Bedi figure among the 55 players in the ICC's inaugural Hall of Fame list.
• 4 January – All-India Motor Transport Congress decided to go ahead with its indefinite strike from midnight of 5 January.
• 4 January – The Peoples Democratic Party formally dissociates itself from the United Progressive Alliance.
• 5 January – Indian Government summons Pakistan High Commissioner Shahid Malik to hand over evidence about Pakistan's involvement in the Mumbai terror attacks.
• 7 January – Satyam Scandal: In a letter to the Satyam board and the market regulator, SEBI, Ramalinga Raju, the founder and CEO of Satyam Computer Services, confessed that he has been creating fake invoices and that the company cash was all fictitious. The BSE crashed 749 points, wiping out about $23bn of investors wealth.
• 13 February – 2009 Orissa train derailment: A passenger train derails in Bhubaneswar, Orissa, killing at least 15 people and injuring 150 others.
• 23 February – India approves a £1.7-billion plan to launch its first astronauts into outer space by 2015.
• 25 February – A bus crashes in Indian-administered Kashmir, killing 35 people and injuring 15.
• 25 February – Former Indian Communications Minister Sukh Ram is jailed for three years for corruption.
• 24 March – Sixteen militants and eight Indian Army soldiers are killed in Jammu and Kashmir's Kupwara District.
• 1 April – No additional charges on withdrawing money from an ATM of a different bank.
• April–May – General Elections held.
• 16 April – The Naxalite movement kills 17 people as India's general election begins.
• 20 April – India's Space Research Organization launches its RISAT-2 reconnaissance satellite.
• 19 May – Manmohan Singh of the National Congress is re-elected as Prime Minister of India.
• 21 May – The Communist Party kills 16 police officers near Nagpur, Maharashtra.
• 25 May – Cyclone Aila ravages the east coast killing at least 149 and hundreds others were left homeless as torrential rains led to flooding.
• 3 June – Indian Member of Parliament Meira Kumar becomes the first female Speaker of the House of the People.
• 4 June – Two hundred thousand people attend the funeral of Dera Sach Khand leader Sant Ramanand Dass in Jalandhar, Punjab, India.
• 17 June – Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh meets Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari.
• 20 June – Indian troops enter Lalgarh, a Maoist stronghold in West Bengal, claiming a partial victory.
• 2 July – A 148-year-old colonial law banning homosexual intercourse in India is overturned by the High Court in New Delhi.
• 3 July – 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.

• 5 July – At least eight people die in blasts at two explosives factories in Madhya Pradesh.
• 9 July – The death toll from a mass poisoning involving home-brewed alcohol in Gujarat rises to 71.
• 12 July – Five people are killed and several injured in India after a bridge being constructed for the Delhi Metro collapses.
• 20 July – Ajmal Kasab, the only surviving gunman in the 2008 Mumbai attacks, pleads guilty in an Indian court, ending months of denials.
• 20 July – India and the United States sign a defence pact.
• 26 July – India launches its first nuclear submarine, the INS Arihant.
• 6 August – An Indian court sentences to death three people for carrying out bombings that killed more than 50 people in Mumbai in 2003.
• 11 August – 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.
• 24 August – At least 200 children are killed and around 900 hospitalised by Japanese encephalitis in Uttar Pradesh.
• 1 September – An outbreak of diarrhoea in Orissa, kills at least 26 people and hospitalises 237.
• 2 September – 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.
• 10 September – 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.

• 14 September – Chandrayaan-1, India's first unmanned lunar probe, discovers large amounts of water on the Moon.
• 30 September – 2009 Thekkady boat disaster: the double-decker passenger boat Jalakanyaka capsized in Lake Thekkady, killing a total of 45 passengers.
• 17 October – 32 people are killed in a fire at a fireworks warehouse in southern India, during the Diwali celebrations.
• 19 October – VA Shiva Ayyadurai publishes report alleging CSIR corruption.
• 30 October – Indian Oil Fire in Jaipur: A large fire at an oil depot on the outskirts of Jaipur, Rajasthan, leaving six people dead and around 135 injured.
• 6 November – At least 34 people are killed and 29 are injured when a bus falls into a gorge in Himachal Pradesh.
• 22 November – At least seven people are killed and more than 55 injured in a bombing in Assam, northeastern India.
• 24 November – 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.
• 10 December – India announces it is to create a new state, Telangana, out of Andhra Pradesh.
• 13 December – India successfully test fires its nuclear-capable "Dhanush" missile off the Orissa coast.

  Deaths

• 15 January – Tapan Sinha, 84, film director
• 27 January – R. Venkataraman, 98, the 8th President of India
• 31 January – Nagesh, actor
• 9 April – Shakti Samanta, 83, film director and producer
• 27 April – Feroz Khan, 69, film actor and producer
• 17 May – Prakash Mehra, 69, film director and producer
• 31 May – Kamala Das, 75, writer and poet
• 8 June – Habib Tanvir, 85, dramatist and actor
• 28 June – A. K. Lohithadas, 54, filmmaker in Malayalam cinema
• 16 July – D. K. Pattammal, 90, Carnatic musician, one of the "female trinity of Carnatic Music"
• 21 July – Gangubai Hangal, 96, Hindustani classical singer
• 28 July – Leela Naidu, 69, film actress
• 29 July – Rajan P. Dev, 56, film actor in South Indian films
• 29 July – Gayatri Devi, 90, Rajmata of Jaipur
• 9 August – Gulshan Bawra, 72, songwriter
• 9 August – Murali, 55, film and theatre actor, author
• 2 September – Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, 60, 14th Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh
• 25 October – Adoor Bhavani, 82, film actress
• 10 November – Simple Kapadia, 51, film costume designer and actress
• 7 December – Bina Rai, 73, film actress
• 29 December – C. Aswath, 72, Kannada music director and singer
• 30 December – Vishnuvardhan, 59, Kannada film actor and singer