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TIMELINE: Key dates in the history of independent India
(Reuters) - India marks 60 years of independence on August 15, celebrating the end of British colonial rule in 1947.
Following is a chronology of major events during the last six decades.
August 15, 1947 - India wins independence from Britain after being divided into two separate nations, India and Pakistan. Jawaharlal Nehru is appointed the first prime minister.
October 27, 1947 - India and Pakistan go to war in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir.
January 30, 1948 - Mahatma Gandhi, leader of the independence movement, is assassinated.
January 26, 1950 - India becomes a republic as its constitution comes into effect.
1952 - India holds its first general elections.
1962 - India and China fight a brief border war.
1964 - Jawaharlal Nehru dies after a five-month illness.
September 1965 - India and Pakistan fight war over Kashmir, which ends after a U.N. call for ceasefire.
January 1966 - Nehru's daughter, Indira Gandhi, becomes prime minister.
December 1971 - India and Pakistan fight another major war over East Pakistan which ends after 90,000 Pakistani troops surrender and leads to the creation of Bangladesh.
May 18, 1974 - India conducts underground nuclear test.
June 26, 1975 - Indira Gandhi declares a state of emergency, in which the press is censored and 100,000 people are jailed.
1977 - First non-Congress party government sweeps to power following Indira Gandhi's defeat in general elections.
January 1980 - Indira Gandhi wins back power, becomes PM.
October 31, 1984 - Indira Gandhi is assassinated by Sikh bodyguards, her son Rajiv takes over as prime minister. Hindus kill around 2,700 Sikhs in revenge riots.
December 1984 - Deadly gas leaks from a pesticide plant owned by U.S.-based Union Carbide Corp. in central city of Bhopal, killing about 6,500 people in the world's worst industrial disaster.
October 1989 - An uprising against Indian rule erupts in the Kashmir Valley, inflaming tensions with Pakistan.
May 21, 1991 - Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi is assassinated by a Tamil suicide bomber during an election campaign.
1991 - Congress party wins general elections and government launches sweeping economic reforms and dismantles decades of socialist control.
December 6, 1992 - Hindu zealots tear down a 16th century mosque in the northern town of Ayodhya, sparking nationwide riots in which about 3,000 people, mostly Muslims, are killed.
March 12, 1993 - A series of bomb blasts, planted by the Muslim underworld, hit the country's commercial capital of Bombay, killing 257 people.
1998 - Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) forms a coalition government.
May 1998 - India conducts nuclear tests, Islamabad retaliates with its own tests.
May 1999 - India launches offensive against Pakistan-backed infiltrators around Kargil in Indian Kashmir.
Dec 2001 - Gunmen attack Indian parliament. New Delhi blames Pakistan-based militants, snaps transport and diplomatic links with Islamabad and the rivals come close to war.
Feb/March 2002 - Fire on train kills 59 Hindu activists in western state of Gujarat. About 2,500 people, mostly Muslims, are killed in retaliatory riots.
November 2003 - Pakistan announces ceasefire in Kashmir and India reciprocates.
May 2004 - BJP loses power to Congress. Manmohan Singh becomes prime minister
Source: Reuters
