1947 → 2026
Timeline
262 dated events from across the book, on one line. Filter by sector.
Independence; Partition
Midnight's BlueprintIdols secretly installed at the Babri mosque; site sealed.
Temple & RepublicConstitution adopted
Midnight's BlueprintFirst general election
Midnight's BlueprintFirst IIT, Kharagpur
Midnight's BlueprintThe 'Congress system': one party holds the centre of everything.
The MachineLinguistic states; AIIMS
Midnight's BlueprintGreen Revolution
The Iron YearsGreen Revolution: grow the new wheat, the state will buy it.
The FarmNon-Aligned Movement formalised at Belgrade.
The WorldChina war; space committee founded
Midnight's BlueprintChina war; the 'undeveloped borders are safer' doctrine is born.
The GunVikram Sarabhai's space committee — ISRO's ancestor.
Lab & LaunchpadNehru dies
Midnight's BlueprintWar with Pakistan
The Iron Years6% of GDP for education first promised.
Classroom & ClinicBank nationalisation
The Iron YearsFourteen largest banks nationalised overnight.
BanksBangladesh in thirteen days
The Iron YearsPokhran test
The Iron YearsThe Emergency: the referees fold, and the voter restores them.
The RefereeAryabhata, India's first satellite.
Lab & LaunchpadEmergency declared
The Iron YearsIndira voted out
The Iron YearsBlue Star; assassination; anti-Sikh massacre
The Iron YearsC-DOT founded
The Slow ThawShah Bano; Ayodhya locks opened
The Slow ThawRural housing scheme begins — the ancestor of PM Awas.
WelfareAnti-defection law.
The MachineShah Bano verdict overturned; Ayodhya locks opened — the two doors.
Temple & RepublicBofors
The Slow ThawKashmir insurgency; Pandit exodus
The Slow ThawThe coalition age.
The MachineMandal
The Slow ThawAdvani's rath yatra
The Slow ThawPlaces of Worship Act freezes every shrine's character (Ayodhya excepted).
Temple & RepublicRajiv assassinated
The Slow ThawGold flown to London
The Slow ThawLicence raj repealed; reform budget
The Great OpeningHarshad Mehta; NSE born
The Great OpeningBabri demolition
The Great OpeningBabri mosque demolished.
Temple & RepublicPokhran-II
The Great OpeningKargil; telecom policy
The Great OpeningKargil, fought without crossing the Line of Control.
The GunOdisha super-cyclone kills ~10,000.
Energy & ClimatePMGSY rural roads
The Great OpeningGujarat violence; official count 1,044 dead.
Temple & RepublicGodhra and Gujarat
The Great Opening'India Shining' loses
The Great OpeningRTI; rural jobs guarantee
The Boom and the StallRural jobs guarantee becomes law.
WelfareASER begins: half of Class 5 cannot read a Class 2 text.
Classroom & ClinicLending grows near 30% a year; most of the future bad loans are made now.
BanksDedicated Freight Corridors sanctioned.
ConcreteSwaminathan Commission: cost plus 50%. Shelved. Bihar scraps its mandi law.
The FarmNuclear deal; 26/11
The Boom and the StallNational Payments Corporation of India created.
Digital IndiaFarm-loan waiver.
The FarmIndia–US civil nuclear deal completed.
The World26/11: answered with dossiers, not force.
The GunAadhaar; education a right
The Boom and the StallAadhaar launched under the UPA; built by Nandan Nilekani.
Digital IndiaEducation becomes a legal right.
Classroom & Clinic2G and coal audits
The Boom and the StallIMPS instant transfers (2010), RuPay (2012), first DBT pilots (2013).
Digital IndiaNational solar mission.
Energy & ClimateAnna Hazare's fast
The Boom and the StallGrid failure, 62 crore dark
The Boom and the StallGrid failure: 62 crore people lose power.
ConcreteLargest blackout in history: 62 crore people.
Energy & ClimateFood law; taper tantrum
The Boom and the StallRupee crashes to nearly 69 to the dollar; India labelled one of the 'Fragile Five'.
MoneyBad loans look like a 'manageable' 4% on paper.
BanksHighway building slows to ~11–12 km a day; 406 stalled projects worth ₹3.85 lakh crore.
ConcreteFood becomes a legal right.
WelfareSupreme Court calls the CBI a 'caged parrot'.
The RefereeAgra rally: 'one crore jobs'.
WorkMangalyaan launched under the UPA.
Lab & Launchpad- 2014 · THE LINE
Crude falls from over $100 to under $30 — the era's biggest unearned gift.
MoneyBJP manifesto: 25 crore jobs over ten years. 'Two crore a year' is the opposition's shorthand.
WorkAadhaar has enrolled about 63 crore people.
Digital IndiaEvery SAARC leader at the swearing-in: 'neighbourhood first'.
The World282 seats
The Boom and the StallBJP wins 282 seats on 31% of the vote.
The MachineJan Dhan launches; 1.8 crore accounts opened on day one.
Digital IndiaMadison Square Garden diaspora rally.
The WorldMars orbit on the first attempt — for ₹450 crore.
Lab & LaunchpadSwachh Bharat Mission launched; deadline Gandhi's birthday, 2019.
WelfareInflation targeting becomes law: 4%, within a 2–6% band.
MoneyRBI's Asset Quality Review orders every bad loan reclassified.
BanksSagarmala port programme begins.
ConcreteMudra collateral-free loans begin.
WelfareSupreme Court strikes down the judicial appointments commission, 4–1.
The RefereeMohammed Akhlaq lynched over rumoured beef.
Temple & RepublicInternational Solar Alliance co-founded; 175 GW-by-2022 target set (later missed).
Energy & ClimateUDAN regional flights scheme launched.
ConcreteCrop insurance (PMFBY) and online mandi (e-NAM) launched.
The FarmLEMOA, first of three US defence pacts; SAARC summit killed after Uri.
The WorldEight elected governments toppled mid-term — 'Operation Lotus'.
The MachineRegulator bans Facebook's Free Basics; India chooses the whole internet.
Digital IndiaPromise: double farmers' income by 2022.
The FarmVijay Mallya flies to London owing over ₹9,000 crore.
BanksUPI launched to modest uptake.
Digital IndiaInsolvency and Bankruptcy Code passed.
BanksUjjwala free gas connections launched.
WelfareRaghuram Rajan leaves the RBI after one term.
BanksUri: 19 soldiers killed; 'surgical strikes' across the LoC, announced aloud.
The GunJio launches; 100 million subscribers in 170 days.
Digital IndiaDemonetisation makes the QR code a necessity in one winter.
Digital IndiaDemonetisation hits the cash-run firms where most Indians work.
Work₹500 and ₹1,000 notes — 86% of currency by value — cancelled at midnight.
MoneyRBI sends the 'dirty dozen' — ₹1.75 lakh crore — to the tribunal.
BanksNine-judge bench declares privacy a fundamental right.
Digital IndiaDoklam standoff; Quad revived.
The WorldElectoral bonds created.
The MachineInstant triple talaq struck down; criminalised in 2019.
Temple & RepublicGST abolishes state border checkposts overnight.
ConcreteGST replaces seventeen taxes and thirteen cesses at a midnight session of Parliament.
MoneySantoshi Kumari, 11, dies in Simdega after her family's ration card is cancelled.
Digital IndiaThe ~₹14,000 crore Punjab National Bank fraud surfaces.
BanksSupreme Court upholds Aadhaar for welfare and tax, strikes private use.
Digital IndiaMSP set at cost + 50% — on the smaller cost (A2+FL), not C2.
The FarmBJP quits the J&K coalition; assembly dissolved; Roshni Act repealed.
The GunTB-free-by-2025 pledge — later missed.
Classroom & ClinicGaganyaan announced 'for 2022'.
Lab & LaunchpadFour senior-most judges hold a press conference against their Chief Justice.
The RefereeBad loans peak at 11.18%; state banks at 14.58%.
BanksLeisang, Manipur: every inhabited village declared electrified.
ConcreteIL&FS defaults on about ₹91,000 crore; shadow banking freezes.
BanksAyushman Bharat: ₹5 lakh hospital cover per poor family.
WelfareEssar Steel resolved for about ₹42,000 crore; PMC Bank collapses.
BanksVande Bharat trains launched.
Concrete1.26 crore apply for ~35,000 railway posts.
Work303 seats, 37% of the vote.
The MachineRTI amendment puts commissioners' tenure and pay in government hands.
The RefereeNational Clean Air Programme.
Energy & ClimateChandrayaan-2 lander lost in the final minutes.
Lab & LaunchpadLeaked PLFS: unemployment 6.1%, a 45-year high; two statistics commissioners resign.
WorkPM-Kisan: ₹6,000 a year — weeks before the election.
WelfarePulwama (40 CRPF dead) → Balakot, first strike inside Pakistan proper since 1971.
The GunArticle 370 abrogated; the state split into two Union Territories.
The GunJal Jeevan Mission: only 16.7% of rural homes have a tap.
ConcreteCorporate tax cut from 30% to 22% — about ₹1.45 lakh crore a year.
MoneyEvery state declares itself open-defecation free.
WelfareUnanimous Ayodhya verdict: site to temple, 5 acres to mosque.
Temple & RepublicFirst Chief of Defence Staff.
The GunCitizenship Amendment Act: a religious filter for fast-track citizenship.
Temple & RepublicCOVID: the economy contracts 5.8%, the worst year since Independence.
MoneyZero merchant fees decreed for UPI.
Digital IndiaAmnesty International shuts its India operations.
The RefereeSpace opened to private companies.
Lab & LaunchpadNorth-east Delhi riots: 53 dead, ~two-thirds Muslim.
Temple & RepublicYes Bank rescued over a weekend.
BanksFour-hour lockdown: over 1.04 crore migrants go home; 'No such data is maintained' on deaths.
WorkSchools close for ~82 weeks, among the longest on earth.
Classroom & ClinicCOVID: free grain doubled to 10 kg for ~80 crore people.
WelfareSVANidhi loans for street vendors.
WelfareThree farm ordinances issued in the lockdown.
The FarmGalwan: twenty Indian soldiers die; China ties frozen.
The WorldGalwan: twenty Indian soldiers die.
The GunNational Education Policy approved by Cabinet mid-lockdown.
Classroom & ClinicIndian troops take the Kailash heights above Pangong.
The GunLaws passed; Rajya Sabha by voice vote.
The FarmFarmers stopped at Delhi's borders — and stay.
The FarmFY21 budget ends off-budget food-subsidy borrowing; subsidy line jumps to ₹4.22 lakh crore.
MoneyRecord 37 km of highway a day — 13,394 km in a pandemic year.
ConcreteStan Swamy, 84, dies in custody before trial.
The RefereeTokyo: seven Olympic medals, Neeraj Chopra's gold.
Lab & LaunchpadVaccination begins.
Classroom & ClinicBreakaway tractor march storms the Red Fort.
The FarmChamoli flood: ~200 dead.
Energy & ClimateSecond wave; Parliament told no oxygen deaths were 'specifically reported'.
Classroom & ClinicPM Gati Shakti puts ministries on one shared map.
ConcreteLakhimpur Kheri: eight die when a convoy drives into a march.
The FarmGlasgow: net zero by 2070.
Energy & ClimatePrime Minister announces repeal on Guru Nanak's birthday.
The FarmIndia becomes the fifth-largest economy, overtaking Britain.
MoneyAgnipath: four-year army contracts, one in four retained. Trains burn.
WorkAbout $4 billion to rescue Sri Lanka.
The WorldAgnipath four-year soldiers.
The GunKartavya Path, new naval ensign; punitive bulldozer demolitions begin.
Temple & RepublicWHO gives India's ASHAs a global award.
Classroom & ClinicOperation Ganga brings ~22,500 home from Ukraine.
The WorldMSP committee formed — no deadline, legal guarantee excluded.
The FarmData-protection law finally passed.
Digital IndiaTextbook deletions: Mughals trimmed, evolution and periodic table dropped from Class 10.
Classroom & ClinicSikkim glacial-lake burst snaps a hydropower dam.
Energy & ClimateSupreme Court upholds demonetisation's legality, 4–1, without ruling on its wisdom.
MoneyExtra 5 kg withdrawn; the original 5 kg made fully free.
WelfareSupreme Court puts the Chief Justice on the panel that picks election commissioners.
The MachineManipur's ethnic war begins.
The GunBalasore: nearly 300 dead in a signalling-failure collision.
ConcreteChandrayaan-3 lands near the lunar south pole.
Lab & LaunchpadG20 Delhi: consensus in wartime; African Union admitted.
The WorldWomen's reservation passed — effective only after census and delimitation.
The MachineEastern Dedicated Freight Corridor complete.
ConcreteFree grain extended to Dec 2028 — about ₹11.8 lakh crore.
WelfareSupreme Court upholds abrogation; orders statehood 'at the earliest'.
The GunNew law removes the Chief Justice; executive holds two of three votes.
The Machine146 MPs suspended; new criminal codes passed in a half-empty House.
The RefereeAyushman opened to every citizen above 70.
WelfareRozgar Melas hit their target: ten lakh appointment letters.
WorkILO India Employment Report: youth are 83% of the unemployed.
WorkTwo sitting chief ministers arrested — a first; both later bailed.
The RefereeNEET leak: 67 perfect scores. ASER records the best reading recovery ever.
Classroom & ClinicRam temple consecrated.
Temple & RepublicShambhu border: tear gas from drones; Shubhkaran Singh killed.
The FarmElectoral bonds struck down 5–0.
The MachineINS Kolkata retakes the hijacked MV Ruen, 1,400 nautical miles out.
The WorldPeak demand hits 250 GW.
Energy & Climate240 seats; the party loses Faizabad, home of Ayodhya.
The MachineBJP loses Faizabad, the seat containing Ayodhya.
Temple & RepublicWayanad landslide: 420 dead, Kerala's worst disaster.
Energy & ClimateSheikh Hasina falls and flees to Delhi.
The WorldJ&K assembly election: 64% turnout, won by the opposition.
The GunSupreme Court: punitive demolitions unconstitutional. Sambhal violence.
Temple & RepublicVizhinjam deep-water port begins commercial operations.
ConcreteParliamentary panel (13 of 30 BJP MPs) recommends legal MSP.
The FarmSupreme Court freezes all new mosque suits and surveys.
Temple & RepublicGukesh, 18, becomes the youngest chess world champion.
Lab & LaunchpadState banks earn a record ₹1.78 lakh crore; all twelve profitable.
Banks20% ethanol blending, five years early.
Energy & ClimateNew monthly jobs survey begins.
WorkSpaDeX: India becomes the fourth nation to dock in orbit.
Lab & LaunchpadOne billion tonnes of coal mined in a year.
Energy & ClimateIndus Waters Treaty put in abeyance after Pahalgam.
The WorldGovernment adopts the caste census for 2027.
The MachineCourt: Governors' indefinite delay on bills is illegal.
The RefereeWaqf Amendment; split interim order in Sept 2025.
Temple & RepublicPahalgam: 26 tourists massacred.
The GunOperation Sindoor: nine sites, then Pakistani airbases; ceasefire on 10 May.
The Gun2021 death registers released — 21 lakh extra deaths.
Classroom & ClinicWorld's largest container ships dock at an Indian quay for the first time.
ConcreteNon-fossil sources pass 50% of installed capacity.
Energy & ClimateShubhanshu Shukla, first Indian aboard the ISS.
Lab & LaunchpadUS tariff reaches 50%; Modi in Tianjin days later.
The WorldDharali swept away on the Gangotri road.
Energy & Climate$100,000 fee on the H-1B visa.
The WorldLeh firing: four dead; Sonam Wangchuk jailed under the NSA.
The GunColdrif syrup at 48.6% diethylene glycol kills 19–23 children.
Classroom & ClinicGST collapses to essentially two rates: 5% and 18% (40% for luxury and sin goods).
MoneyBihar: NDA takes 202 of 243 after ~65 lakh names deleted.
The MachineFive-judge bench walks it back: no court-set timelines.
The RefereeFour labour codes, replacing 29 laws, come into force.
WorkPutin's first visit since the Ukraine invasion.
The WorldSHANTI Bill opens nuclear power to private players.
Energy & ClimateSubsidised gas refills cut from nine a year to four.
WelfareV-Dem: India an 'electoral autocracy', 105th. RSF: 157th.
The RefereeNew GDP base year (2022–23) raises recent growth but shrinks the economy's size by over 3%.
MoneyTrump–Modi deal: tariff cut to 18%. BNP sweeps Bangladesh.
The WorldMicron's Sanand chip-packaging plant inaugurated.
Lab & LaunchpadNaxalism declared 'largely eliminated'.
The GunWestern Freight Corridor complete — 2,843 km in all.
ConcreteBengal won 207/294; Vijay's TVK ends Tamil Nadu's Dravidian duopoly.
The MachineSkyroot becomes India's first space unicorn.
Lab & LaunchpadCockroach Janta Party protests over exam leaks.
Classroom & ClinicRecord 23.66 billion UPI transactions in a month.
Digital India31.78 crore informal workers registered on e-Shram.
WorkVikram-1: the first private Indian rocket reaches orbit.
Lab & LaunchpadEducation Minister resigns — the era's first minister lost to the street.
Classroom & ClinicFarmers stopped at Khanauri, marching against the India–US trade deal.
The Farm