In 2011 protests seemed to be the buzzword. Led by Anna Hazare there were anti-corruption protests across the country. The Lokpall Bill was introduced in Parliament but protests on its scope continued as the year drew to a close.
Kudankulam nuclear power plant and Mullaperiyar dam were the other issues that prompted protests.
Issues like the 2G telecom, corruption in Commonweatlh Games dominated headlines throughout the year.
A stampede killed 102 people in Sabrimala in the beginning of the year, a train mishap in Uttar Pradesh killed 38 passengers whereas towards the end tragedy struck a Kolkata hospital when a major fire killed over 90 people.
Mamata Banerjee stormed the Red bastion terminating the Left Front's 34-year stranglehold on West Bengal, while Jayalalithaa knocked DMK out of power in Tamil Nadu with a landslide victory in the assembly polls.
Also, the killing of Maoists' top leader Kishenji in a gunbattle with security forces were other events in the year.
Following is the diary of events during 2011:
Jan 1: New Delhi: India and Pakistan exchange lists of their nuke installations for 20th consecutive year under an agreement which prohibits any attack on such facilities.
Jan 1: Guwahati: ULFA chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa walks free from jail on bail and declares his readiness for an "unconditional" peace dialogue with Assam Government.
Jan 4: New Delhi: A petition is filed in Supreme Court seeking initiation of contempt proceedings against former Telecom Minister A Raja and advocate R K Chandramohan for allegedly trying to influence the then Madras HC judge Justice S Reghupathi in a criminal case.
Jan 6: New Delhi: Delhi Court questions CBI's decision to
drop the case against Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi in the over two-decade old Bofors pay-off scam, saying there were "certain malafide intentions".
Jan 10: Bangalore: India joins a select group of nations manufacturing warplanes with home-grown Light Combat Aircraft 'Tejas' moving a step closer to its induction into the IAF after getting its Initial Operational Clearance.
Jan 12: Itanagar: China begun issuing visas to residents of Arunachal Pradesh, over which it lays claim, but they are stapled to passports as in case of people from Jammu-Kashmir.
Jan 13: Mumbai: A special court grants permission to CBI for reinvestigating the 2006 Malegaon blast probe case in wake of "confession" statements made by Swami Aseemanand linking Hindu groups to terror acts.
Jan 17: Ferozepur(Punjab): IFFCO chairman Surinder Jakhar dies of gunshot wounds in mysterious circumstances at his farmhouse at Abohar.
Jan 19: New Delhi: Major reshuffle in Union Cabinet portfolios which saw S Jaipal Reddy getting Petroleum, Praful Patel moving to Heavy Industries, Kamal Nath to Urban Development and Murli Deora to Corporate Affairs.
Jan 19: Bhopal: The Income Tax department has claimed to have detected wealth valued at a whopping Rs 360 crore from suspended Madhya Pradesh IAS officer couple Arvind and Tinu Joshi and disproportionate to their known source of income.
Jan 20, Kochi/Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala High Court asks whether or not 'Makara Jyoti' is man-made amid a renewed debate on authenticity of the celestial light visible from Sabarimala after the stampede that killed 102 pilgrims.
Jan 21: New Delhi: Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council unveils the first part of the draft food bill that seeks to provide legal food entitlements to 75 pc households.
Jan 22: Shillong: Lt Gen P K Rath, the senior-most
serving officer to be convicted for corruption,has been given a sentence of severe reprimand and two-year loss of seniority by an Army Court Martial.
Jan 29: New Delhi: India reacts sharply to the action of the US authorities to tie a tracker on Indian students duped by a California-based "sham" university, terming it as "unwarranted" and demanded its removal.
Jan 31: New Delhi: Setting 60 additional conditions, Environment Ministry grant conditional clearance for South Korean major Posco's USD 12 billion steel mill and captive port project in Orissa after putting it on hold.
Feb 1: Shahjahanur/Bareilly: 15 youths are killed and several others injured when they fell from the roof of two speeding trains crammed with job aspirants returning from an ITBP recruitment camp in Bareilly in UP. The incidents triggered violent protests as angry youths torched a train.
Feb 2: New Delhi: A Raja, who as Telecom Minister had allegedly manipulated procedures in allocation of 2G spectrum is arrested along with two officials by CBI, a week before it has to file its final investigation report in Supreme Court.
Feb 2: Mumbai: CBI, which has registered a case against former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan and 12 others in Adarsh Housing Society scam, approached state government seeking logistical support for the investigation.
Feb 5: Kolkata: Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee rules out disclosing names of those who have stashed away money in tax havens abroad but discloses that notices have been sent to 17 of 18 names of account holders in a bank in Liechtenstein.
Feb 6: Srinagar: In wake of killing of innocent youth in North Kashmir, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah pulls up the Army for violating the Standard operating Procedure and directs security agencies to completely avoid human rights violation.
Feb 9: Ghaziabad: Parents of slain teenager Aarushi
Talwar--Rajesh and Nupur--have been ordered to face trial in the murder of their daughter and servant Hemraj more than two years ago after local court rejected agency's closure report.
Feb 9: New Delhi: In line with CAG's findings on 2G spectrum scam, telecom regulator TRAI recommends a whopping over six-fold jump in 2G spectrum cost for operators, a move that may make mobile services costlier.
Feb 10: Bilaspur: Chhattisgarh High Court rejects bail application of rights activist Binayak Sen, who is sentenced
to life imprisonment by a sessions court on charges of sedition and links with Naxalites.
Feb 14: New Delhi: CBI brings fresh charges of forgery and cheating against former Telecom Minister A Raja and Swan Telecom promoter Shahid Usman Balwa who have been arrested in connection with 2G spectrum allocation scam case.
Feb 15: New Delhi: Supreme Court upholds death sentence to Nithari serial killer Surinder Koli for murdering 14-year- old Rimpa Haldar, one of his first victims in the serial rape -cum-killing episode six years back.
Feb 16: New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit reshuffles her Cabinet by dropping a Minister, inducting a loyalist and changing portfolios of almost all ministers.
Feb 17: New Delhi: Government scraps the controversial S -Band spectrum deal between ISRO's commercial arm and a private company on grounds of strategic interest and said it was prepared to face legal consequences.
Feb 18: Jalandhar: Lt Gen (Retd) S K Sahni sentenced to 3 years RI and cashiered from service after being found guilty of irregularities in procurement of rations for troops in Jammu and Kashmir.
Feb 19: New Delhi: Directorate of Revenue Intelligence slaps cases of FEMA and Customs Act violation on Pakistani Sufi Singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan and his manager Maroof in connection with recovery of huge undeclared foreign currency from them at the airport here.
Feb 18: New Delhi: CBI moves Supreme Court challenging an
Allahabad High Court order that dropped charges of criminal conspiracy against top BJP leaders including L K Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi in the Babri Masjid demolition case.
Feb 20: New Delhi: The birdflu outbreak in Agartala in Tripura gets confirmed to be the highly virulent H5 strain which if transmitted to humans can be deadly.
Feb 21: Mumbai: Bombay HC upholds sentence of Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Amir Kasab for "brutal and diabolical" 26/11 Mumbai attacks aimed at "destabilising" the government.
Feb 22: New Delhi: Prime Minister announces government's decision to set up a JPC into the 2G spectrum scam.
Feb 22: Ahmedabad: 31 people are convicted and 63 others, including the main accused Maulvi Umarji, are acquitted by a special court here in the 2002 Godhra train burning incident that left 59 people dead and triggered violence in Gujarat that had claimed the lives of over 1200 people.
Feb 23: New Delhi: Former Commonwealth Games Organising Committee Secretary General Lalit Bhanot and OC Director General V K Verma arrested by the CBI in connection with alleged irregularities in the Rs 107 crore deal inked with a Swiss timing firm.
Feb 25: New Delhi: No increase in passenger fares in Railway Budget for 2011-12 and no hike in freight rates while 56 new trains, including nine non-stop Duronto trains and three Shatabdis introduced.
Feb 26: Mumbai/New Delhi: India begins pulling its nationals out of turmoil-hit Libya by two Air India planes, including a Boeing carrying 291 people, even as 67 Indians crossed over to Egypt by road and were taken to Cairo on their way back home.
Mar 1: Ahmedabad: Eleven convicts in Godhra train burning case get death sentence while 20 others get lifers by a special court in 2002 incident that left 59 'karsevaks' dead and triggered riots which claimed over 1200 lives in Gujarat.
Mar 7: Mumbai/Pune: Stud farm owner Hasan Ali Khan,
accused of massive money laundering and tax evasion, arrested by Enforcement Directorate which carried out multi-city searches at his Pune home and his associates' premises.
Mar 8: New Delhi: A second-year degree student is shot dead by an unidentified person near her college in south Delhi in broad daylight with police suspecting a stalker.
Mar 12: New Delhi: Former CVC P J Thomas decides to move Supreme Court seeking review by a Constitution bench of its March 3 judgement quashing his appointment, claiming that judiciary has no right to decide his eligibility for the post without prior reference from the President.
Mar 15: New Delhi: Suspended Commonwealth Games Organising Committee Chairman Suresh Kalmadi is questioned by the CBI for the second time in connection with alleged scams related to the conduct of the sporting extravaganza.
Mar 18: Trinamool Congress unilaterally announces candidates for 228 constituencies for Assembly elections in West Bengal, leaving 64 seats to the national party.
Mar 19: New Delhi/Lucknow: Jats, agitating for job quota, withdraw their fortnight-long blockade from the railway tracks following an Allahabad HC order but a meeting between protesters and government fail to find amicable solution.
Mar 21: New Delhi: Congress, Trinamool Congress reach seat-sharing agreement with former settling for 65 seats, against original demand of 90, in 294-member West Bengal Assembly.
Mar 24: New Delhi: Shunglu committee finds procedural violations in construction of over 1,000 flats inside CWG village by real estate developer Emmar MGF, and indicts Delhi Lt Governor Tejinder Khanna for alleged inadequacies.
Mar 26: Ghaziabad: The wife of Hemraj, who was killed along with teenaged girl Aarushi in Noida, moves a local court, trying the double murder case, seeking recording of her statement about a purported conversation with her husband who had talked of "threat" to his life and said she suspected the hands of Talwars in the killings.
Mar 28: New Delhi: Parliament's Public Accounts Committee
calls leading industrialists, including Ratan Tata and Anil Ambani, and corporate lobbyist Niira Radia to appear before the panel in connection with 2G spectrum scam.
Apr 1: India registered a 50 per cent dip in number of new cases of HIV infections in this decade says a UN report.
Apr 6: New Delhi: PM Manmohan Singh approves new guidelines for appointment of CVC, following which government sets ball rolling for choosing a head of top anti-corruption watchdog after removal of controversial P J Thomas.
Apr 8: New Delhi: Government blinks in war of attrition with Anna Hazare by agreeing to issue a formal order to set up a 10-member joint committee for drafting a strong Lokpal Bill and the Gandhian will end his fast.
Apr 13: New Delhi: China drops broad hints at reversing its 2-year-old practice of issuing stapled visas to people from Jammu-Kashmir, saying it was willing to work with India resolve issues relating to people to people exchanges.
Apr 7: New Delhi: The war over an alleged CD involving eminent lawyer Shanti Bhushan intensifies with his son Prashant claiming the disc was "doctored" using 2006 conversations of Mulayam Singh Yadav and says he will move Supreme Court on the ground it was intended to influence judgements in 2G and Amar Singh tape cases.
Apr 18: Raipur: Rights activist Binayak Sen, who was behind bars for nearly four months serving a life term for sedition and Maoists links, is released from Chattisgarh's central prison, 3 days after Supreme Court granted him bail.
Apr 24: Puttaparthi: Godman Sathya Sai Baba, a cult like figure who had a phenomenal following, including the high and mighty, across the globe dies battling illness caused by a multi-organ failure for nearly a month.
Apr 27: New Delhi: About 800 pilots from erstwhile Indian Airlines go on a strike demanding pay parity with Air India pilots and better working conditions, leading to cancellation of over 20 flights and disruption of many others.
Apr 27: Dharamsala: Harvard scholar Lobsang Sangay is
elected Prime Minister of Tibetan Government-in-Exile and would take over the political duties relinquished by spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.
Apr 29: New Delhi: With the Air India pilots' stir affecting travellers, the airline issues an "ultimatum" to pilots asking them to resume work even as the Delhi High Court refused to stay a management order derecognising their union.
May 4:
Itanagar: Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Dorji Khandu, who went missing on a flight from Tawang, is dead along with four others after their helicopter crashed in bad weather in the mountains and their bodies and the wreckage are located.
May 6: New Delhi: Air India pilots call off their 10-day -old strike that resulted in an estimated loss of over Rs 150 crore as Government agrees to reinstate sacked and suspended pilots and look into their demands within a time-frame.
May 8: New Delhi: Suspense continues over arrest of DMK MP Kanimozhi with a special court reserving for May 14 its orders on her bail application after CBI strongly objected to it saying her "complicity" in the alleged bribe given to Kalaignar TV in the 2G scam was clear.
May 11: Greater Noida: Rahul Gandhi is arrested and later released by UP police after he slips in unnoticed in pre-dawn hours to support farmers agitating against state's land acquisition process for a expressway project.
May 13: Kolkata/Chennai: Mamata Banerjee storms the Red bastion terminating the Left Front's 34-year stranglehold on West Bengal, while Jayalalithaa knocked DMK out of power in Tamil Nadu with a landslide victory in the assembly elections.
May 14: New Delhi: In the biggest ever price increase of the fuel, state-owned oil companies hike petrol price by Rs 5 per litre with effect from midnight May 15.
May 21: New Delhi: Kanimozhi, DMK MP and daughter of M Karunanidhi, arrested in connection with the 2G spectrum case, is set to move Delhi High Court for bail
May 30: New Delhi: India and Pakistan discuss
demilitarisation of Siachen, a mountainous region where borderline is not demarcated, in a "constructive framework", picking up the threads of the issue after gap of 3 years.
June 1: New Delhi: Government deputes its four senior Cabinet ministers to the Delhi airport in a bid to persuade Baba Ramdev to give up his indefinite fast on corruption but yoga guru insists that he would go ahead with it from June 4.
June 5: New Delhi/Haridwar: The dramatic eviction of Baba Ramdev in the middle of night in a swoop by Delhi police set off a slugfest between the UPA and the Sangh Parivar and the yoga guru who announced that he would continue his agitation against black money.
June 7: New Delhi: India refrains from assuring support to French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde for her candidature for top IMF post, even as she said she has received "positive views" from New Delhi.
June10: Chennai: Ending days of uncertainty, the DMK decides not to pull out of the UPA Government over the 2G spectrum scam, but accused the CBI of adopting "double standards" by arresting party MP Kanimozhi in the case.
June 11: Mumbai: A senior journalist with an English tabloid 'Mid-Day', who extensively covered underworld and crime for over two decades, was shot dead in broad daylight by four unidentified bike-borne persons who pumped five bullets on him from behind in suburban Powai.
June 12: Dehradun: Yoga guru Baba Ramdev breaks his nine-day-old fast that sparked a political slugfest heeding appeals of spiritual and religious leaders but vows to continue his campaign against corruption.
June 18: New Delhi: Government makes clear its opposition to bringing the post of Prime Minister under the purview of Lokpal till he demits office and rules out opening the conduct of MPs inside Parliament as also the higher judiciary to scrutiny of the proposed ombudsman.
June 20: Panchkula (Haryana): After a four-year-long
probe, the National Investigation Agency charges suspected right-wing extremist Swami Aseemanand and four others with triggering explosions in the cross-border Samjhauta Express in 2007 that left 68 people dead.
June 25: New Delhi: The Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) decides to strengthen its guidelines on the transfer of sensitive enrichment and reprocessing technologies (ENR).
June 27: Mumbai: Underworld don Chhota Rajan ordered the killing of senior crime journalist Jyotirmoy Dey 16 days back and 7 persons including two sharp shooters are arrested, says Mumbai police but remains tightlipped about motive.
June 29: New Delhi: PM Manmohan Singh rules out inclusion of higher judiciary within the ambit of Lokpal.
July 1: Mumbai: Kannada actress Maria Susairaj gets a maximum three years' imprisonment while her boyfriend and former Navy officer Emile Jerome gets 10-year jail in brutal killing of Neeraj Grover.
July 2: New Delhi: Defence Secretary Pradeep Kumar chosen Chief Vigilance Commissioner, four months after Supreme Court quashed appointment of P J Thomas to post.
July 7: New Delhi: Textiles Minister Dayanidhi Maran resigns from the Union Cabinet, becoming the second DMK casualty in the Government in the 2G spectrum allocation scam.
July 8: New Delhi: The Supreme Court restrains the seven-member committee from opening vaults of the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Thiruvananthapuram, which according to estimates contains wealth worth over Rs one lakh crore.
July 10: Fatehpur (UP): At least 38 passengers were killed and about 210 injured when 15 bogies of a speeding Delhi-bound Kalka Mail derailed here -- the second major train mishap in a week in Uttar Pradesh.
July 12:New Delhi: Controversial Jairam Ramesh is elevated to Cabinet status and shifted from the high-profile Environment Ministry and Veerappa Moily replaced by Salman Khursheed as Law Minister in a substantive reshuffle of the Union Council of Ministers.
July 18: Rawatbhata (Raj): India begins construction of
its 25th atomic power plant and announces to build four more indigenous 700 MW units than planned earlier.
July 21: Bangalore: Lokayukta indicts Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa and his ministers in a "huge racket" of illegal mining and finds that his sons got kickbacks of Rs 30 crores from a mining firm.
July 22: Mumbai: The Enforcement Directorate issues a showcause notice to BCCI and suspends IPL commissioner Lalit
Modi for transfer of Rs 90 crore to UK, in connection with its probe in the alleged financial irregularities in the T20 cricket tournament.
July 23: Hyderabad: Putting an end to the 20-day-old political drama, Andhra Pradesh Assembly Speaker Nadendla Manohar rejects the resignation of 101 Telangana MLAs.
July 25: New Delhi: After A Raja, former Telecom secretary Siddhartha Behura seeks to implicate Prime Minister in the 2G spectrum scam, claiming that PMO was kept in the loop by the then Telecom Minister on the first-come-first- served policy in the award of licenses.
July 27: New Delhi: Supreme Court orders immediate suspension of mining and transportation of iron ore from Bellary district of the state saying "over-exploitation" of the area has caused large-scale environmental degradation.
July 31: Bangalore: Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa, resigns ending three days of defiance and favours sitting Lok Sabha MP D V Sadananda Gowda as his successor.
Aug 3: New Delhi: Delhi High Court dismisses Centre's appeal challenging a 2007 order of the Income Tax tribunal that Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati, birthday gifts from supporters were exempted from taxation under the IT Act.
Aug 4: Bangalore: Lok Sabha member D V Sadananda Gowda is sworn-in as chief minister of Karnataka, succeeding B S Yeddyurappa, who quit in the wake of the Lokayukta report on illegal mining that indicted him.
Aug 8: New Delhi: US hands over to India documents
related to Pakistani-Canadian Tahawwur Hussain Rana,
Accused
of offering support to 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, and his confessional statements that will help NIA to file a charge sheet against him.
Aug 9: New Delhi: The Supreme Court rejects plea of the Jayalalithaa government in Tamil Nadu, for scrapping uniform education system brought in by earlier DMK government and directed its immediate implementation.
Aug 12: New Delhi: President Pratibha Patil rejects the clemency petitions of three killers of Rajiv Gandhi whose death sentences were confirmed by the Supreme Court in 2000.
Aug 14: New Delhi: President Pratibha Patil condoles the death of veteran actor Shammi Kapoor.
Aug 16: New Delhi: Anna Hazare refuses to leave Tihar Jail despite being offered a release, 15 hours after being detained and prevented from going on fast for strong Lokpal.
Aug 17: New Delhi: Rajya Sabha takes up impeachment proceedings against Calcutta High Court judge Justice Soumitra Sen, who claimed he was being victimised and made "sacrificial lamb" to cleanse the judiciary.
Aug 20: New Delhi: Filmstar Chiranjeevi formally joins Congress and hails Rahul Gandhi as
future prime minister.
Aug 21: Hyderabad: 29 MLAs, loyal to Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, deciding to quit in Andhra Pradesh against mention of late YSR's name in the FIR of CBI in its probe in the case related to the Kadapa MP.
Aug 28: New Delhi: Anna Hazare breaks 12-day-old fast declaring that poll reforms will be top of his agenda next so that corruption can come down.
Aug 30: Chennai: Ten days before their hanging, three Rajiv Gandhi killers get a reprieve from Madras HC which stayed their execution for eight weeks even as Tamil Nadu assembly in an unprecedented unanimous resolution appealed to the President to reconsider their mercy pleas.
Sep 2: New Delhi: With Income Tax office slapping a
notice on activist Arvind Kejriwal to pay dues, Team Anna Hazare alleges that the government is back to its "dirty tricks department" and that officials were pressurised by "political bosses" to act against them.
Srinagar: Jammu-Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah announces general amnesty scheme for youths in over 1,200 cases of stone-pelting in Valley during last summer's unrest.
Aug 29: Ahmedabad: Slamming the CBI for its "botched up" and "blinkered" investigations, the Gujarat High Court drops murder charges against the 12 accused in the killing of former minister Haren Pandya eight years ago.
Sept 4: New Delhi: India and Pakistan reach a "back- channel" agreement on the Kashmir issue during the tenure of Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, PM Manmohan Singh had told a visiting US Congressional team.
Sept 5: New Delhi: The much-talked about Land Acquisition Bill, which provides for enhanced compensation to land owners and other benefits, approved by Union Cabinet notwithstanding reservations from some senior ministers on some aspects.
Sept 6: New Delhi: MP Amar Singh is arrested and lodged in Tihar Jail in sensational twist in cash-for-vote scam that rocked Parliament three years ago after he made a dramatic appearance in a local court within hours of claiming to beill.
Sept 7: New Delhi: A high intensity briefcase bomb rocks the crowded reception area in the Delhi High Court killing 11 people and injuring 76 in a major terror attack that struck the Capital after a gap of three years.
Sept 11: Sunday
Dehradun: Former army general Bhuwan Chandra Khanduri takes over as new Uttarakhand Chief Minister, vowing to fight corruption as BJP handed him the reins of power barely six months ahead of assembly polls.
Sept 12: Supreme Court declines to pass any order on
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's alleged inaction to contain riots in 2002 and leaves it to the trial court to decide course of action against him on basis of SIT report.
Sept 13: Chennai: At least seven persons are killed and 85 others injured when a passenger train from Chennai rams into a stationary train near Arakkonam, derailing 5 coaches, in the third major rail accident in two months.
Sept 15: New Delhi: Rendered out of action for over a month by her illness, Congress President Sonia Gandhi makes her first public appearance before a group of top party leaders bringing cheer to them and to the rank and file.
Sept 17: Fighting hard to remove the taint of 2002 violence, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi began a three- day fast for peace and communal harmony vowing to end votebank politics but said nothing directly by way of regret for the post-Godhra carnage.
New Delhi: India supported rebel-backed National Transitional Council of Libya and announced plans of considering a USD 2 million assistance to the country.
Sept 18:
Gangtok: A powerful earthquake with a 6.8 magnitude hit Sikkim and several areas in the eastern part of the country and neighbouring Nepal, leaving 18 dead and over 100 injured besides causing damage to buildings and roads.
Sept 22: The Supreme Court says the vault 'B' of Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple will be opened only after substantial work regarding documentation and preservation of assets unearthed from other vaults of the shrine is completed.
Sept 27
New Delhi: Portugese Court orders termination of extradition of underworld don Abu Salem for breach of agreement by India for slapping offences that attract death penalty.
Sept 30
Ahmedabad: Suspended IPS officer Sanjeev Bhatt, who had
implicated Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in 2002 post- Godhra riots, is arrested after a police constable filed an FIR against him.
Balasore (Orissa): After perfect trial of 'Shourya' and 'Prithvi-II', India successfully test fired nuclear capable 'Agni-II' ballistic missile with a strike range of 2,000 km as part of user trial by armed forces from Wheeler Island off Orissa coast.
Oct 1
Ahmedabad: A day after suspended IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt is arrested, his family says they fear for his life and have written to Gujarat Commissioner of Police demanding justice.
Oct 2
New Delhi/Hyderabad: Bringing his fight for a separate Telangana to the national capital, TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao stages a sit-in at Rajghat, rejecting
Centre's decision
to hold "further consultations".
Oct 5
New Delhi: Pakistan is a "twin brother" and India a "great friend", Afghan President Hamid Karzai says in an obvious attempt to reassure Pakistan that the Strategic Partnership Agreement signed here was not targeted against it.
New Delhi: The world's cheapest tablet PC, priced at around Rs 1,200, will now be available to students in the country as part of the government's programme to expand education through information technology.
Oct 9
New Delhi: Supreme Court stays the death sentence of Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving gunman from the 2008 Mumbai attack, on his petition that he does not deserve to be hanged because of his young age but it wonders whether he deserved to be heard.
Oct 11
Sitabdiara/Chapra: BJP stalwart L K Advani sets off on
his sixth yatra in 21 years to focus on rash of scams and black money issues, giving a clarion call for not just 'change' in leadership but also change in the system.
New Delhi: After nearly 10 years in jail, dismissed IPS officer Ravi Kant Sharma is acquitted in the sensational murder case of journalist Shivani Bhatnagar by the Delhi High Court which itself raised questions as to who were behind the killing and what was the motive for it.
Oct 16
Jaipur: Rajasthan Minister Mahipal Maderna, suspected to be involved in the case of disappearance of nurse Bhanwari Devi, is sacked by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.
Oct 17
Hisar: Kuldeep Bishnoi, HJC-BJP combine nominee, wins the battle for the prestigious Hisar Lok Sabha by-election in Haryana in a tight race in which Team Anna vigorously campaigned against the Congress which lost deposit.
Oct 20
New Delhi: Team Anna plunges into yet another controversy with allegations against Kiran Bedi that she over charged companies and institutions by inflating her travel expenses, evoking a strong attack from Congress and former colleagues in the anti-corruption campaign.
Oct 28
New Delhi: In a u-turn, Anna Hazare declares that he will campaign against Congress in five states where Assembly elections are due next year if the UPA government fails to get the Jan Lokpal Bill passed in Winter Session of Parliament.
Nov 5
Mumbai: Legendary singer-composer Bhupen Hazarika, who wove a magical tapestry out of traditional Assamese music and lyrics, dies following a prolonged illness.
Nov 8
Haridwar: Sixteen people--14 women and two men-- are
killed in a stampede during a religious ceremony attended by tens of thousands of devotees near the famous 'Har Ki Pauri' ghat on the banks of the Ganges river.
Nov 12
New Delhi: The US apologises to former President A P J Abdul Kalam who was twice subjected to frisking at New York airport by American security officials.
Nov 13
Phulpur: Launching Congress party's election campaign symbolically from late Jawaharlal Nehru's constituency, Rahul Gandhi unleashes a scathing attack on Mayawati government calling it "corrupt and insensitive".
Nov 17
Mumbai/Chennai: Nuclear regulators of India and US undertake a review of safety measures at various atomic power plants in two countries in aftermath of Fukushima disaster.
Nov 20
New Delhi: Former Telecom Minister Sukh Ram, is sentenced to five years imprisonment by a Delhi court in a 1996 corruption case and arrested and sent to Tihar jail.
Nov 21
New Delhi: At least 14 eunuchs are killed and over 40 others injured when a major fire sweeps through an east Delhi community hall where a congregation was taking place.
New Delhi: All difficult issues, including boundary question, came up during the meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his counterpart Wen Jiabao in Bali and they said these would be worked out.
Nov 22
Lucknow: Chief Minister Mayawati pushes through resolution to split Uttar Pradesh into four parts in the state Assembly in less than 10 minutes ignoring stiff opposition after which the House was adjourned sine die.
Ahmedabad: In a blow to the Narendra Modi
Government, the
Gujarat High Court-appointed SIT concludes police encounter with college girl Ishrat Jehan and three others was fake as they were killed prior to the incident.
Nov 23: Giridih (Jharkhand): Seven passengers burnt to death when a fire broke out in two AC coaches of Howrah- Dehradun Doon Express with authorities
Suspecting the hand of
miscreants.
New Delhi: Five top corporate executives, accused in 2G spectrum allocation scam, are granted bail by Supreme Court.
Nov 25: Kolkata: Maoists top leader Kishenji is killed in gunbattle with security forces in a forest in West Midnapore district of West Bengal, a day after he narrowly escaped jail.
Nov 26: New Delhi: Border talks between India and China scheduled to commence here have been indefinitely postponed.
Nov 28: Imphal: United Naga Council lifts its 100-day economic blockade on the Manipur side of two national highways without any condition but with a caveat that agitation would be re-launched if the government did not make an 'alternative arrangement' for Nagas in the state.
Dec 1: New Delhi: Union Cabinet finalises and approves India's stand at the ongoing UN Climate Conference in Durban.
Dec 10: Dehra Dun: Visiting Sri Lankan army chief Lt Gen Jagath Jayasuriya says though China’s influence in Indian Ocean is growing, it is not posing any threat to Indian sub- continent.
Dec 11: New Delhi: Leaders of non-UPA parties share dais with Anna Hazare during his one-day fast here backing him on a strong Lokpal but make it clear to him that it will be Parliament that will take the final call and civil society cannot expect all its demands to be accepted.
Dec 12: New Delhi: Delhi, the political and cultural capital of several empires including the Mughals, adds yet another chapter to its glorious history as it marks 100 years of its re-emergence as modern India's capital.
Dec 19: New Delhi: RLD, with five members in Lok Sabha,
formally joins the UPA amid speculation that its chief Ajit Singh would be included in Cabinet as Civil Aviation Minister.
Dec 19: New Delhi: Delhi, the political and cultural capital of several empires including the Mughals, adds yet another chapter to its glorious history as it marks 100 years of its re-emergence as modern India's capital.
Dec 20: New Delhi: Union Cabinet clears three crucial Bills relating to judicial accountability, protection of whistleblowers and Citizens Charter--issues which Anna Hazare wants to be brought under the ambit of the proposed Lokpal.
Dec 24: New Delhi: The Election Commission announces a seven-phased poll in Uttar Pradesh between February 4 and 28, while assembly elections in Punjab, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa will be held in a single-phase.
New Delhi: US-born terrorist David Headley, founder of Lashker-e-Taiba terror group Hafiz Saeed and two serving Pakistani Army officers were among the nine people chargesheeted by NIA for planning and execution of terror strikes in India.
Dec 25: Mumbai: Renowned director and actor Satyadev Dubey, a maverick theatre guru who went on to become an icon, dies after remaining in coma for the past four months.
Dec 27: New Delhi: Anna Hazare faces a low turnout as he launches his three-day fast against a "weak" Lokpal Bill asking people to be ready for fight to finish to stamp out corruption and ensure that "goondas" do not enter Parliament.
Dec 28: Mumbai: Anna Hazare makes a surprise announcement of calling off his campaign to fill jails ended his fast.
Dec 28: New Delhi: India termed as "sensible resolution" of a sensitive issue the rejection of a petition seeking a ban on Bhagvad Gita by a Russian court and said it was glad to "put this episode behind us."
Kudankulam nuclear power plant and Mullaperiyar dam were the other issues that prompted protests.
Issues like the 2G telecom, corruption in Commonweatlh Games dominated headlines throughout the year.
A stampede killed 102 people in Sabrimala in the beginning of the year, a train mishap in Uttar Pradesh killed 38 passengers whereas towards the end tragedy struck a Kolkata hospital when a major fire killed over 90 people.
Mamata Banerjee stormed the Red bastion terminating the Left Front's 34-year stranglehold on West Bengal, while Jayalalithaa knocked DMK out of power in Tamil Nadu with a landslide victory in the assembly polls.
Also, the killing of Maoists' top leader Kishenji in a gunbattle with security forces were other events in the year.
Following is the diary of events during 2011:
Jan 1: New Delhi: India and Pakistan exchange lists of their nuke installations for 20th consecutive year under an agreement which prohibits any attack on such facilities.
Jan 1: Guwahati: ULFA chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa walks free from jail on bail and declares his readiness for an "unconditional" peace dialogue with Assam Government.
Jan 4: New Delhi: A petition is filed in Supreme Court seeking initiation of contempt proceedings against former Telecom Minister A Raja and advocate R K Chandramohan for allegedly trying to influence the then Madras HC judge Justice S Reghupathi in a criminal case.
Jan 6: New Delhi: Delhi Court questions CBI's decision to
drop the case against Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi in the over two-decade old Bofors pay-off scam, saying there were "certain malafide intentions".
Jan 10: Bangalore: India joins a select group of nations manufacturing warplanes with home-grown Light Combat Aircraft 'Tejas' moving a step closer to its induction into the IAF after getting its Initial Operational Clearance.
Jan 12: Itanagar: China begun issuing visas to residents of Arunachal Pradesh, over which it lays claim, but they are stapled to passports as in case of people from Jammu-Kashmir.
Jan 13: Mumbai: A special court grants permission to CBI for reinvestigating the 2006 Malegaon blast probe case in wake of "confession" statements made by Swami Aseemanand linking Hindu groups to terror acts.
Jan 17: Ferozepur(Punjab): IFFCO chairman Surinder Jakhar dies of gunshot wounds in mysterious circumstances at his farmhouse at Abohar.
Jan 19: New Delhi: Major reshuffle in Union Cabinet portfolios which saw S Jaipal Reddy getting Petroleum, Praful Patel moving to Heavy Industries, Kamal Nath to Urban Development and Murli Deora to Corporate Affairs.
Jan 19: Bhopal: The Income Tax department has claimed to have detected wealth valued at a whopping Rs 360 crore from suspended Madhya Pradesh IAS officer couple Arvind and Tinu Joshi and disproportionate to their known source of income.
Jan 20, Kochi/Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala High Court asks whether or not 'Makara Jyoti' is man-made amid a renewed debate on authenticity of the celestial light visible from Sabarimala after the stampede that killed 102 pilgrims.
Jan 21: New Delhi: Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council unveils the first part of the draft food bill that seeks to provide legal food entitlements to 75 pc households.
Jan 22: Shillong: Lt Gen P K Rath, the senior-most
serving officer to be convicted for corruption,has been given a sentence of severe reprimand and two-year loss of seniority by an Army Court Martial.
Jan 29: New Delhi: India reacts sharply to the action of the US authorities to tie a tracker on Indian students duped by a California-based "sham" university, terming it as "unwarranted" and demanded its removal.
Jan 31: New Delhi: Setting 60 additional conditions, Environment Ministry grant conditional clearance for South Korean major Posco's USD 12 billion steel mill and captive port project in Orissa after putting it on hold.
Feb 1: Shahjahanur/Bareilly: 15 youths are killed and several others injured when they fell from the roof of two speeding trains crammed with job aspirants returning from an ITBP recruitment camp in Bareilly in UP. The incidents triggered violent protests as angry youths torched a train.
Feb 2: New Delhi: A Raja, who as Telecom Minister had allegedly manipulated procedures in allocation of 2G spectrum is arrested along with two officials by CBI, a week before it has to file its final investigation report in Supreme Court.
Feb 2: Mumbai: CBI, which has registered a case against former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan and 12 others in Adarsh Housing Society scam, approached state government seeking logistical support for the investigation.
Feb 5: Kolkata: Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee rules out disclosing names of those who have stashed away money in tax havens abroad but discloses that notices have been sent to 17 of 18 names of account holders in a bank in Liechtenstein.
Feb 6: Srinagar: In wake of killing of innocent youth in North Kashmir, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah pulls up the Army for violating the Standard operating Procedure and directs security agencies to completely avoid human rights violation.
Feb 9: Ghaziabad: Parents of slain teenager Aarushi
Talwar--Rajesh and Nupur--have been ordered to face trial in the murder of their daughter and servant Hemraj more than two years ago after local court rejected agency's closure report.
Feb 9: New Delhi: In line with CAG's findings on 2G spectrum scam, telecom regulator TRAI recommends a whopping over six-fold jump in 2G spectrum cost for operators, a move that may make mobile services costlier.
Feb 10: Bilaspur: Chhattisgarh High Court rejects bail application of rights activist Binayak Sen, who is sentenced
to life imprisonment by a sessions court on charges of sedition and links with Naxalites.
Feb 14: New Delhi: CBI brings fresh charges of forgery and cheating against former Telecom Minister A Raja and Swan Telecom promoter Shahid Usman Balwa who have been arrested in connection with 2G spectrum allocation scam case.
Feb 15: New Delhi: Supreme Court upholds death sentence to Nithari serial killer Surinder Koli for murdering 14-year- old Rimpa Haldar, one of his first victims in the serial rape -cum-killing episode six years back.
Feb 16: New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit reshuffles her Cabinet by dropping a Minister, inducting a loyalist and changing portfolios of almost all ministers.
Feb 17: New Delhi: Government scraps the controversial S -Band spectrum deal between ISRO's commercial arm and a private company on grounds of strategic interest and said it was prepared to face legal consequences.
Feb 18: Jalandhar: Lt Gen (Retd) S K Sahni sentenced to 3 years RI and cashiered from service after being found guilty of irregularities in procurement of rations for troops in Jammu and Kashmir.
Feb 19: New Delhi: Directorate of Revenue Intelligence slaps cases of FEMA and Customs Act violation on Pakistani Sufi Singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan and his manager Maroof in connection with recovery of huge undeclared foreign currency from them at the airport here.
Feb 18: New Delhi: CBI moves Supreme Court challenging an
Allahabad High Court order that dropped charges of criminal conspiracy against top BJP leaders including L K Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi in the Babri Masjid demolition case.
Feb 20: New Delhi: The birdflu outbreak in Agartala in Tripura gets confirmed to be the highly virulent H5 strain which if transmitted to humans can be deadly.
Feb 21: Mumbai: Bombay HC upholds sentence of Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Amir Kasab for "brutal and diabolical" 26/11 Mumbai attacks aimed at "destabilising" the government.
Feb 22: New Delhi: Prime Minister announces government's decision to set up a JPC into the 2G spectrum scam.
Feb 22: Ahmedabad: 31 people are convicted and 63 others, including the main accused Maulvi Umarji, are acquitted by a special court here in the 2002 Godhra train burning incident that left 59 people dead and triggered violence in Gujarat that had claimed the lives of over 1200 people.
Feb 23: New Delhi: Former Commonwealth Games Organising Committee Secretary General Lalit Bhanot and OC Director General V K Verma arrested by the CBI in connection with alleged irregularities in the Rs 107 crore deal inked with a Swiss timing firm.
Feb 25: New Delhi: No increase in passenger fares in Railway Budget for 2011-12 and no hike in freight rates while 56 new trains, including nine non-stop Duronto trains and three Shatabdis introduced.
Feb 26: Mumbai/New Delhi: India begins pulling its nationals out of turmoil-hit Libya by two Air India planes, including a Boeing carrying 291 people, even as 67 Indians crossed over to Egypt by road and were taken to Cairo on their way back home.
Mar 1: Ahmedabad: Eleven convicts in Godhra train burning case get death sentence while 20 others get lifers by a special court in 2002 incident that left 59 'karsevaks' dead and triggered riots which claimed over 1200 lives in Gujarat.
Mar 7: Mumbai/Pune: Stud farm owner Hasan Ali Khan,
accused of massive money laundering and tax evasion, arrested by Enforcement Directorate which carried out multi-city searches at his Pune home and his associates' premises.
Mar 8: New Delhi: A second-year degree student is shot dead by an unidentified person near her college in south Delhi in broad daylight with police suspecting a stalker.
Mar 12: New Delhi: Former CVC P J Thomas decides to move Supreme Court seeking review by a Constitution bench of its March 3 judgement quashing his appointment, claiming that judiciary has no right to decide his eligibility for the post without prior reference from the President.
Mar 15: New Delhi: Suspended Commonwealth Games Organising Committee Chairman Suresh Kalmadi is questioned by the CBI for the second time in connection with alleged scams related to the conduct of the sporting extravaganza.
Mar 18: Trinamool Congress unilaterally announces candidates for 228 constituencies for Assembly elections in West Bengal, leaving 64 seats to the national party.
Mar 19: New Delhi/Lucknow: Jats, agitating for job quota, withdraw their fortnight-long blockade from the railway tracks following an Allahabad HC order but a meeting between protesters and government fail to find amicable solution.
Mar 21: New Delhi: Congress, Trinamool Congress reach seat-sharing agreement with former settling for 65 seats, against original demand of 90, in 294-member West Bengal Assembly.
Mar 24: New Delhi: Shunglu committee finds procedural violations in construction of over 1,000 flats inside CWG village by real estate developer Emmar MGF, and indicts Delhi Lt Governor Tejinder Khanna for alleged inadequacies.
Mar 26: Ghaziabad: The wife of Hemraj, who was killed along with teenaged girl Aarushi in Noida, moves a local court, trying the double murder case, seeking recording of her statement about a purported conversation with her husband who had talked of "threat" to his life and said she suspected the hands of Talwars in the killings.
Mar 28: New Delhi: Parliament's Public Accounts Committee
calls leading industrialists, including Ratan Tata and Anil Ambani, and corporate lobbyist Niira Radia to appear before the panel in connection with 2G spectrum scam.
Apr 1: India registered a 50 per cent dip in number of new cases of HIV infections in this decade says a UN report.
Apr 6: New Delhi: PM Manmohan Singh approves new guidelines for appointment of CVC, following which government sets ball rolling for choosing a head of top anti-corruption watchdog after removal of controversial P J Thomas.
Apr 8: New Delhi: Government blinks in war of attrition with Anna Hazare by agreeing to issue a formal order to set up a 10-member joint committee for drafting a strong Lokpal Bill and the Gandhian will end his fast.
Apr 13: New Delhi: China drops broad hints at reversing its 2-year-old practice of issuing stapled visas to people from Jammu-Kashmir, saying it was willing to work with India resolve issues relating to people to people exchanges.
Apr 7: New Delhi: The war over an alleged CD involving eminent lawyer Shanti Bhushan intensifies with his son Prashant claiming the disc was "doctored" using 2006 conversations of Mulayam Singh Yadav and says he will move Supreme Court on the ground it was intended to influence judgements in 2G and Amar Singh tape cases.
Apr 18: Raipur: Rights activist Binayak Sen, who was behind bars for nearly four months serving a life term for sedition and Maoists links, is released from Chattisgarh's central prison, 3 days after Supreme Court granted him bail.
Apr 24: Puttaparthi: Godman Sathya Sai Baba, a cult like figure who had a phenomenal following, including the high and mighty, across the globe dies battling illness caused by a multi-organ failure for nearly a month.
Apr 27: New Delhi: About 800 pilots from erstwhile Indian Airlines go on a strike demanding pay parity with Air India pilots and better working conditions, leading to cancellation of over 20 flights and disruption of many others.
Apr 27: Dharamsala: Harvard scholar Lobsang Sangay is
elected Prime Minister of Tibetan Government-in-Exile and would take over the political duties relinquished by spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.
Apr 29: New Delhi: With the Air India pilots' stir affecting travellers, the airline issues an "ultimatum" to pilots asking them to resume work even as the Delhi High Court refused to stay a management order derecognising their union.
May 4:
Itanagar: Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Dorji Khandu, who went missing on a flight from Tawang, is dead along with four others after their helicopter crashed in bad weather in the mountains and their bodies and the wreckage are located.
May 6: New Delhi: Air India pilots call off their 10-day -old strike that resulted in an estimated loss of over Rs 150 crore as Government agrees to reinstate sacked and suspended pilots and look into their demands within a time-frame.
May 8: New Delhi: Suspense continues over arrest of DMK MP Kanimozhi with a special court reserving for May 14 its orders on her bail application after CBI strongly objected to it saying her "complicity" in the alleged bribe given to Kalaignar TV in the 2G scam was clear.
May 11: Greater Noida: Rahul Gandhi is arrested and later released by UP police after he slips in unnoticed in pre-dawn hours to support farmers agitating against state's land acquisition process for a expressway project.
May 13: Kolkata/Chennai: Mamata Banerjee storms the Red bastion terminating the Left Front's 34-year stranglehold on West Bengal, while Jayalalithaa knocked DMK out of power in Tamil Nadu with a landslide victory in the assembly elections.
May 14: New Delhi: In the biggest ever price increase of the fuel, state-owned oil companies hike petrol price by Rs 5 per litre with effect from midnight May 15.
May 21: New Delhi: Kanimozhi, DMK MP and daughter of M Karunanidhi, arrested in connection with the 2G spectrum case, is set to move Delhi High Court for bail
May 30: New Delhi: India and Pakistan discuss
demilitarisation of Siachen, a mountainous region where borderline is not demarcated, in a "constructive framework", picking up the threads of the issue after gap of 3 years.
June 1: New Delhi: Government deputes its four senior Cabinet ministers to the Delhi airport in a bid to persuade Baba Ramdev to give up his indefinite fast on corruption but yoga guru insists that he would go ahead with it from June 4.
June 5: New Delhi/Haridwar: The dramatic eviction of Baba Ramdev in the middle of night in a swoop by Delhi police set off a slugfest between the UPA and the Sangh Parivar and the yoga guru who announced that he would continue his agitation against black money.
June 7: New Delhi: India refrains from assuring support to French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde for her candidature for top IMF post, even as she said she has received "positive views" from New Delhi.
June10: Chennai: Ending days of uncertainty, the DMK decides not to pull out of the UPA Government over the 2G spectrum scam, but accused the CBI of adopting "double standards" by arresting party MP Kanimozhi in the case.
June 11: Mumbai: A senior journalist with an English tabloid 'Mid-Day', who extensively covered underworld and crime for over two decades, was shot dead in broad daylight by four unidentified bike-borne persons who pumped five bullets on him from behind in suburban Powai.
June 12: Dehradun: Yoga guru Baba Ramdev breaks his nine-day-old fast that sparked a political slugfest heeding appeals of spiritual and religious leaders but vows to continue his campaign against corruption.
June 18: New Delhi: Government makes clear its opposition to bringing the post of Prime Minister under the purview of Lokpal till he demits office and rules out opening the conduct of MPs inside Parliament as also the higher judiciary to scrutiny of the proposed ombudsman.
June 20: Panchkula (Haryana): After a four-year-long
probe, the National Investigation Agency charges suspected right-wing extremist Swami Aseemanand and four others with triggering explosions in the cross-border Samjhauta Express in 2007 that left 68 people dead.
June 25: New Delhi: The Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) decides to strengthen its guidelines on the transfer of sensitive enrichment and reprocessing technologies (ENR).
June 27: Mumbai: Underworld don Chhota Rajan ordered the killing of senior crime journalist Jyotirmoy Dey 16 days back and 7 persons including two sharp shooters are arrested, says Mumbai police but remains tightlipped about motive.
June 29: New Delhi: PM Manmohan Singh rules out inclusion of higher judiciary within the ambit of Lokpal.
July 1: Mumbai: Kannada actress Maria Susairaj gets a maximum three years' imprisonment while her boyfriend and former Navy officer Emile Jerome gets 10-year jail in brutal killing of Neeraj Grover.
July 2: New Delhi: Defence Secretary Pradeep Kumar chosen Chief Vigilance Commissioner, four months after Supreme Court quashed appointment of P J Thomas to post.
July 7: New Delhi: Textiles Minister Dayanidhi Maran resigns from the Union Cabinet, becoming the second DMK casualty in the Government in the 2G spectrum allocation scam.
July 8: New Delhi: The Supreme Court restrains the seven-member committee from opening vaults of the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Thiruvananthapuram, which according to estimates contains wealth worth over Rs one lakh crore.
July 10: Fatehpur (UP): At least 38 passengers were killed and about 210 injured when 15 bogies of a speeding Delhi-bound Kalka Mail derailed here -- the second major train mishap in a week in Uttar Pradesh.
July 12:New Delhi: Controversial Jairam Ramesh is elevated to Cabinet status and shifted from the high-profile Environment Ministry and Veerappa Moily replaced by Salman Khursheed as Law Minister in a substantive reshuffle of the Union Council of Ministers.
July 18: Rawatbhata (Raj): India begins construction of
its 25th atomic power plant and announces to build four more indigenous 700 MW units than planned earlier.
July 21: Bangalore: Lokayukta indicts Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa and his ministers in a "huge racket" of illegal mining and finds that his sons got kickbacks of Rs 30 crores from a mining firm.
July 22: Mumbai: The Enforcement Directorate issues a showcause notice to BCCI and suspends IPL commissioner Lalit
Modi for transfer of Rs 90 crore to UK, in connection with its probe in the alleged financial irregularities in the T20 cricket tournament.
July 23: Hyderabad: Putting an end to the 20-day-old political drama, Andhra Pradesh Assembly Speaker Nadendla Manohar rejects the resignation of 101 Telangana MLAs.
July 25: New Delhi: After A Raja, former Telecom secretary Siddhartha Behura seeks to implicate Prime Minister in the 2G spectrum scam, claiming that PMO was kept in the loop by the then Telecom Minister on the first-come-first- served policy in the award of licenses.
July 27: New Delhi: Supreme Court orders immediate suspension of mining and transportation of iron ore from Bellary district of the state saying "over-exploitation" of the area has caused large-scale environmental degradation.
July 31: Bangalore: Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa, resigns ending three days of defiance and favours sitting Lok Sabha MP D V Sadananda Gowda as his successor.
Aug 3: New Delhi: Delhi High Court dismisses Centre's appeal challenging a 2007 order of the Income Tax tribunal that Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati, birthday gifts from supporters were exempted from taxation under the IT Act.
Aug 4: Bangalore: Lok Sabha member D V Sadananda Gowda is sworn-in as chief minister of Karnataka, succeeding B S Yeddyurappa, who quit in the wake of the Lokayukta report on illegal mining that indicted him.
Aug 8: New Delhi: US hands over to India documents
related to Pakistani-Canadian Tahawwur Hussain Rana,
Accused
of offering support to 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, and his confessional statements that will help NIA to file a charge sheet against him.
Aug 9: New Delhi: The Supreme Court rejects plea of the Jayalalithaa government in Tamil Nadu, for scrapping uniform education system brought in by earlier DMK government and directed its immediate implementation.
Aug 12: New Delhi: President Pratibha Patil rejects the clemency petitions of three killers of Rajiv Gandhi whose death sentences were confirmed by the Supreme Court in 2000.
Aug 14: New Delhi: President Pratibha Patil condoles the death of veteran actor Shammi Kapoor.
Aug 16: New Delhi: Anna Hazare refuses to leave Tihar Jail despite being offered a release, 15 hours after being detained and prevented from going on fast for strong Lokpal.
Aug 17: New Delhi: Rajya Sabha takes up impeachment proceedings against Calcutta High Court judge Justice Soumitra Sen, who claimed he was being victimised and made "sacrificial lamb" to cleanse the judiciary.
Aug 20: New Delhi: Filmstar Chiranjeevi formally joins Congress and hails Rahul Gandhi as
future prime minister.
Aug 21: Hyderabad: 29 MLAs, loyal to Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, deciding to quit in Andhra Pradesh against mention of late YSR's name in the FIR of CBI in its probe in the case related to the Kadapa MP.
Aug 28: New Delhi: Anna Hazare breaks 12-day-old fast declaring that poll reforms will be top of his agenda next so that corruption can come down.
Aug 30: Chennai: Ten days before their hanging, three Rajiv Gandhi killers get a reprieve from Madras HC which stayed their execution for eight weeks even as Tamil Nadu assembly in an unprecedented unanimous resolution appealed to the President to reconsider their mercy pleas.
Sep 2: New Delhi: With Income Tax office slapping a
notice on activist Arvind Kejriwal to pay dues, Team Anna Hazare alleges that the government is back to its "dirty tricks department" and that officials were pressurised by "political bosses" to act against them.
Srinagar: Jammu-Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah announces general amnesty scheme for youths in over 1,200 cases of stone-pelting in Valley during last summer's unrest.
Aug 29: Ahmedabad: Slamming the CBI for its "botched up" and "blinkered" investigations, the Gujarat High Court drops murder charges against the 12 accused in the killing of former minister Haren Pandya eight years ago.
Sept 4: New Delhi: India and Pakistan reach a "back- channel" agreement on the Kashmir issue during the tenure of Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, PM Manmohan Singh had told a visiting US Congressional team.
Sept 5: New Delhi: The much-talked about Land Acquisition Bill, which provides for enhanced compensation to land owners and other benefits, approved by Union Cabinet notwithstanding reservations from some senior ministers on some aspects.
Sept 6: New Delhi: MP Amar Singh is arrested and lodged in Tihar Jail in sensational twist in cash-for-vote scam that rocked Parliament three years ago after he made a dramatic appearance in a local court within hours of claiming to beill.
Sept 7: New Delhi: A high intensity briefcase bomb rocks the crowded reception area in the Delhi High Court killing 11 people and injuring 76 in a major terror attack that struck the Capital after a gap of three years.
Sept 11: Sunday
Dehradun: Former army general Bhuwan Chandra Khanduri takes over as new Uttarakhand Chief Minister, vowing to fight corruption as BJP handed him the reins of power barely six months ahead of assembly polls.
Sept 12: Supreme Court declines to pass any order on
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's alleged inaction to contain riots in 2002 and leaves it to the trial court to decide course of action against him on basis of SIT report.
Sept 13: Chennai: At least seven persons are killed and 85 others injured when a passenger train from Chennai rams into a stationary train near Arakkonam, derailing 5 coaches, in the third major rail accident in two months.
Sept 15: New Delhi: Rendered out of action for over a month by her illness, Congress President Sonia Gandhi makes her first public appearance before a group of top party leaders bringing cheer to them and to the rank and file.
Sept 17: Fighting hard to remove the taint of 2002 violence, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi began a three- day fast for peace and communal harmony vowing to end votebank politics but said nothing directly by way of regret for the post-Godhra carnage.
New Delhi: India supported rebel-backed National Transitional Council of Libya and announced plans of considering a USD 2 million assistance to the country.
Sept 18:
Gangtok: A powerful earthquake with a 6.8 magnitude hit Sikkim and several areas in the eastern part of the country and neighbouring Nepal, leaving 18 dead and over 100 injured besides causing damage to buildings and roads.
Sept 22: The Supreme Court says the vault 'B' of Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple will be opened only after substantial work regarding documentation and preservation of assets unearthed from other vaults of the shrine is completed.
Sept 27
New Delhi: Portugese Court orders termination of extradition of underworld don Abu Salem for breach of agreement by India for slapping offences that attract death penalty.
Sept 30
Ahmedabad: Suspended IPS officer Sanjeev Bhatt, who had
implicated Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in 2002 post- Godhra riots, is arrested after a police constable filed an FIR against him.
Balasore (Orissa): After perfect trial of 'Shourya' and 'Prithvi-II', India successfully test fired nuclear capable 'Agni-II' ballistic missile with a strike range of 2,000 km as part of user trial by armed forces from Wheeler Island off Orissa coast.
Oct 1
Ahmedabad: A day after suspended IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt is arrested, his family says they fear for his life and have written to Gujarat Commissioner of Police demanding justice.
Oct 2
New Delhi/Hyderabad: Bringing his fight for a separate Telangana to the national capital, TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao stages a sit-in at Rajghat, rejecting
Centre's decision
to hold "further consultations".
Oct 5
New Delhi: Pakistan is a "twin brother" and India a "great friend", Afghan President Hamid Karzai says in an obvious attempt to reassure Pakistan that the Strategic Partnership Agreement signed here was not targeted against it.
New Delhi: The world's cheapest tablet PC, priced at around Rs 1,200, will now be available to students in the country as part of the government's programme to expand education through information technology.
Oct 9
New Delhi: Supreme Court stays the death sentence of Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving gunman from the 2008 Mumbai attack, on his petition that he does not deserve to be hanged because of his young age but it wonders whether he deserved to be heard.
Oct 11
Sitabdiara/Chapra: BJP stalwart L K Advani sets off on
his sixth yatra in 21 years to focus on rash of scams and black money issues, giving a clarion call for not just 'change' in leadership but also change in the system.
New Delhi: After nearly 10 years in jail, dismissed IPS officer Ravi Kant Sharma is acquitted in the sensational murder case of journalist Shivani Bhatnagar by the Delhi High Court which itself raised questions as to who were behind the killing and what was the motive for it.
Oct 16
Jaipur: Rajasthan Minister Mahipal Maderna, suspected to be involved in the case of disappearance of nurse Bhanwari Devi, is sacked by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.
Oct 17
Hisar: Kuldeep Bishnoi, HJC-BJP combine nominee, wins the battle for the prestigious Hisar Lok Sabha by-election in Haryana in a tight race in which Team Anna vigorously campaigned against the Congress which lost deposit.
Oct 20
New Delhi: Team Anna plunges into yet another controversy with allegations against Kiran Bedi that she over charged companies and institutions by inflating her travel expenses, evoking a strong attack from Congress and former colleagues in the anti-corruption campaign.
Oct 28
New Delhi: In a u-turn, Anna Hazare declares that he will campaign against Congress in five states where Assembly elections are due next year if the UPA government fails to get the Jan Lokpal Bill passed in Winter Session of Parliament.
Nov 5
Mumbai: Legendary singer-composer Bhupen Hazarika, who wove a magical tapestry out of traditional Assamese music and lyrics, dies following a prolonged illness.
Nov 8
Haridwar: Sixteen people--14 women and two men-- are
killed in a stampede during a religious ceremony attended by tens of thousands of devotees near the famous 'Har Ki Pauri' ghat on the banks of the Ganges river.
Nov 12
New Delhi: The US apologises to former President A P J Abdul Kalam who was twice subjected to frisking at New York airport by American security officials.
Nov 13
Phulpur: Launching Congress party's election campaign symbolically from late Jawaharlal Nehru's constituency, Rahul Gandhi unleashes a scathing attack on Mayawati government calling it "corrupt and insensitive".
Nov 17
Mumbai/Chennai: Nuclear regulators of India and US undertake a review of safety measures at various atomic power plants in two countries in aftermath of Fukushima disaster.
Nov 20
New Delhi: Former Telecom Minister Sukh Ram, is sentenced to five years imprisonment by a Delhi court in a 1996 corruption case and arrested and sent to Tihar jail.
Nov 21
New Delhi: At least 14 eunuchs are killed and over 40 others injured when a major fire sweeps through an east Delhi community hall where a congregation was taking place.
New Delhi: All difficult issues, including boundary question, came up during the meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his counterpart Wen Jiabao in Bali and they said these would be worked out.
Nov 22
Lucknow: Chief Minister Mayawati pushes through resolution to split Uttar Pradesh into four parts in the state Assembly in less than 10 minutes ignoring stiff opposition after which the House was adjourned sine die.
Ahmedabad: In a blow to the Narendra Modi
Government, the
Gujarat High Court-appointed SIT concludes police encounter with college girl Ishrat Jehan and three others was fake as they were killed prior to the incident.
Nov 23: Giridih (Jharkhand): Seven passengers burnt to death when a fire broke out in two AC coaches of Howrah- Dehradun Doon Express with authorities
Suspecting the hand of
miscreants.
New Delhi: Five top corporate executives, accused in 2G spectrum allocation scam, are granted bail by Supreme Court.
Nov 25: Kolkata: Maoists top leader Kishenji is killed in gunbattle with security forces in a forest in West Midnapore district of West Bengal, a day after he narrowly escaped jail.
Nov 26: New Delhi: Border talks between India and China scheduled to commence here have been indefinitely postponed.
Nov 28: Imphal: United Naga Council lifts its 100-day economic blockade on the Manipur side of two national highways without any condition but with a caveat that agitation would be re-launched if the government did not make an 'alternative arrangement' for Nagas in the state.
Dec 1: New Delhi: Union Cabinet finalises and approves India's stand at the ongoing UN Climate Conference in Durban.
Dec 10: Dehra Dun: Visiting Sri Lankan army chief Lt Gen Jagath Jayasuriya says though China’s influence in Indian Ocean is growing, it is not posing any threat to Indian sub- continent.
Dec 11: New Delhi: Leaders of non-UPA parties share dais with Anna Hazare during his one-day fast here backing him on a strong Lokpal but make it clear to him that it will be Parliament that will take the final call and civil society cannot expect all its demands to be accepted.
Dec 12: New Delhi: Delhi, the political and cultural capital of several empires including the Mughals, adds yet another chapter to its glorious history as it marks 100 years of its re-emergence as modern India's capital.
Dec 19: New Delhi: RLD, with five members in Lok Sabha,
formally joins the UPA amid speculation that its chief Ajit Singh would be included in Cabinet as Civil Aviation Minister.
Dec 19: New Delhi: Delhi, the political and cultural capital of several empires including the Mughals, adds yet another chapter to its glorious history as it marks 100 years of its re-emergence as modern India's capital.
Dec 20: New Delhi: Union Cabinet clears three crucial Bills relating to judicial accountability, protection of whistleblowers and Citizens Charter--issues which Anna Hazare wants to be brought under the ambit of the proposed Lokpal.
Dec 24: New Delhi: The Election Commission announces a seven-phased poll in Uttar Pradesh between February 4 and 28, while assembly elections in Punjab, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa will be held in a single-phase.
New Delhi: US-born terrorist David Headley, founder of Lashker-e-Taiba terror group Hafiz Saeed and two serving Pakistani Army officers were among the nine people chargesheeted by NIA for planning and execution of terror strikes in India.
Dec 25: Mumbai: Renowned director and actor Satyadev Dubey, a maverick theatre guru who went on to become an icon, dies after remaining in coma for the past four months.
Dec 27: New Delhi: Anna Hazare faces a low turnout as he launches his three-day fast against a "weak" Lokpal Bill asking people to be ready for fight to finish to stamp out corruption and ensure that "goondas" do not enter Parliament.
Dec 28: Mumbai: Anna Hazare makes a surprise announcement of calling off his campaign to fill jails ended his fast.
Dec 28: New Delhi: India termed as "sensible resolution" of a sensitive issue the rejection of a petition seeking a ban on Bhagvad Gita by a Russian court and said it was glad to "put this episode behind us."
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