2003 in India

Events

26 January – The president of Iran, Mohammad Khatami, is the guest at the Republic Day celebration.
5–9 February – Aero-India show is held in Bangalore.
March – India put up a great show at the ICC Cricket World Cup in South Africa after poor performances in the past and go on to the Finals. They were defeated by Australia in the Finals.
13 March - Bombing in Mumbai Suburban Railway at Mulund
23 March -
- Abdul Majeed Dar, former Kashmiri Militants who initiated peace talks shot dead by assailants at Sopore.^[1]
- 2003 Nadimarg massacre^[2]
26 March - Haren Pandya, former home minister of Gujarat was found killed in Ahmedabad.
18 April – Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, at his first rally in Srinagar, makes a historic announcement of a peace initiative with Pakistan.
31 May – Prime Minister Vajpayee has the rare honour of joining the head table at the 300th foundation day of St. Petersburg with Vladimir Putin and George W. Bush.
22 June – Vajpayee is in China. India concedes that Tibet is an integral part of China. China agrees to recognise Sikkim's accession to India.

14 July – India refuses to send troops to Iraq.
25 August – 52 killed in two bomb blasts in Mumbai.
24 September – United States President George W. Bush invites Vajpayee to lunch in New York City during Vajpayee's US trip. It is considered an important meeting for Indo-US relations. Several deals are struck on civilian nuclear technology, space, hi-tech trade and missile defence.
1 October - People's War Group carried out a assassination attempt on N. Chandrababu Naidu, Chief minister of Andhra Pradesh in Alipiri using Claymore mine.^[3]
6 October – Vajpayee visits Bali for the second time in 2 years.
22 October – India announces confidence-building measures with respect to Indo-Pakistani relations: more buses, flights, higher mission strength, etc.
15 November – Vajpayee visits Syria.
28 November – Abu Salem, one of India's most wanted fugitives for his alleged role in the 1993 Bombay bombings, is sentenced to four and a half years imprisonment by a Portuguese court on charges of fraud and resisting arrest. In response, the Central Bureau of Investigation announces it will maintain its efforts to seek Salem's deportation to India.^[4]

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Deaths

8 January – Mahadeva Subramania Mani, entomologist (born 1908).
14 July – Leela Chitnis, actress (born 1909).
1 February – Kalpana Chawla, Indian-American Astronaut and first Indian woman to go to space (born 1962).
27 July – Henning Holck-Larsen, engineer, co-founder of Larsen & Toubro (born 1907).
25 October – Pandurang Shastri Athavale, philosopher, spiritual leader, social reformer, who founded the Swadhyay Movement (born 1920).
3 November – Narendra Prasad, actor, playwright, teacher and literary critic (born 1946).
21 December – G. V. Iyer, film director (born 1917).

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Incumbents