1961 in 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

Events in the year 1961 in the Republic of India.

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

References

1. Sekar, Sunitha (9 September 2022). "Madras gave a reception fit for a Queen in 1961". The Hindu. ISSN   0971-751X . Retrieved 26 April 2023.
2. "INS Vikrant, First Make-In-India Aircraft Carrier To Be Commissioned In 2022". IndiaTimes. 25 June 2021. Retrieved 26 June 2021.
3. "Column | India's first diplomatic martyr". OnManorama. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
4. "Barak Valley pays tribute to 11 language martyrs". The Times of India. 20 May 2013. ISSN   0971-8257 . Retrieved 26 April 2023.
5. Jyothilal, G. "60 years after 32 people who consumed turtle meat died in Kollam; survivor recollects tragedy". Mathrubhumi. Retrieved 26 June 2021.
6. "The standard-bearer". Frontline. Retrieved 27 April 2022.
7. "Chittaranjan Locomotives History".
8. "The day India freed Goa from Portuguese rule". BBC News. 19 December 2017. Retrieved 26 June 2021.
9. Austin, Granville (1999). Working a Democratic Constitution: The Indian Experience. Oxford University Press. p. 111. ISBN   0195648889.
10. Tenth Amendment of the Constitution of India

External links

Media related to 1961 in India at Wikimedia Commons