1961 in India

Events in the year 1961 in the Republic of India.

← 1960 1959 1958 1961 in India → 1962 1963 1964
Centuries:	18th 19th 20th 21st
Decades:	1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s
See also:	List of years in India Timeline of Indian history

Incumbents

• President of India – Rajendra Prasad
• Prime Minister of India – Jawaharlal Nehru
• Vice President of India – Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
• Chief Justice of India – Bhuvaneshwar Prasad Sinha

Governors

• Andhra Pradesh – Bhim Sen Sachar
• Assam – Vishnu Sahay (until 13 January), Satyavant Mallannah Shrinagesh (starting 13 January)
• Bihar – Zakir Hussain
• Gujarat – Mehdi Nawaz Jung
• Karnataka – Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar
• Kerala – V. V. Giri
• Madhya Pradesh – Hari Vinayak Pataskar
• Maharashtra – Sri Prakasa
• Odisha – Yeshwant Narayan Sukthankar
• Punjab – Narahar Vishnu Gadgil
• Rajasthan – Gurumukh Nihal Singh
• Uttar Pradesh – Burgula Ramakrishna Rao
• West Bengal – Padmaja Naidu

Events

• National income - ₹186,821 million
• 20 January – Queen Elizabeth II start of Royal visit.^[1]
• 5 February - Cachar Gana Sangram Parishad formed against imposition of Assamese language in Barak Valley by Bimala Prasad Chaliha government.
• 4 March – the first Aircraft carrier of Indian Navy, INS Vikrant was commissioned.^[2]
• 19 April - Indian Foreign Service officer K. Sankara Pillai assassinated at Indian High Commission, Ottawa by a youth of Yugoslavian origins. This is the first martyr-ship of an Indian Diplomat.^[3]
• 19 May - Eleven Bengali Language Movement workers of Barak Valley including Kamala Bhattacharya killed in Assam Rifles firings at Silchar.^[4]
• 29 May – Nearly 32 people died in a coastal village in Kollam, Kerala due to chelonitoxism after consuming Turtle meat.^[5]
• 23 June - Sainik School system was established by Defence Minister of India, V. K. Krishna Menon.
• 12 July – Panshet Dam bursts in Pune causing a massive flood in the city of Pune. Over 1,000 people die.
• 2 October - Shipping Corporation of India is incorporated by amalgamation of Eastern Shipping Corporation and Western Shipping Corporation.^[6]
• 14 October - Jawaharlal Nehru commissions the first Electric locomotive that is made in India at Chittaranjan Locomotive Works.^[7]
• 1 November – The Hungry generation movement is launched in Calcutta.
• 17-19 December – Goa is officially ceded to India after 400 years of Portuguese rule.^[8]

Law

• 5 December – Supreme Court of India held that land taking under Kerala Agrarian Relations Act, 1961 is not protected from judicial scrutiny of Article 31(A).^[9]

• The Tenth^[10] and Eleventh Amendments of the Constitution of India (1961)
• Anti-dowry Act

Births

• 7 January – Supriya Pathak, actress.
• 22 February - Mansoor Ali Khan, actor, music composer, writer and producer.
• 12 June – Jagadish, actor.
• 6 July – Vandana Chavan, politician and lawyer.
• 19 July – Harsha Bhogle, cricket commentator and journalist
• 15 August – Suhasini Maniratnam, actress, producer and director.
• 19 November – Vivek, actor and comedian. (d. 2021).

Full date unknown

• V. M. Girija, poet.

See also

• List of Bollywood films of 1961