India witnessed a series of ups and downs throughout the year 2011. As we approach 2012, let’s take a look at the most important events occurred in the country this year.
1. January 24 – Bharat Ratna Bhimsen Joshi dies: A legendary singer of Hindustani classical music, Pandit Joshi died in Pune, aged 89.
2. Feb 4 – According to secret diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks, terror training camps, though not directly run by the Pakistan Government, continue to operate along India-Pakistan border creating potential for conflict with India and instability in the region.
3. March 30 - India and Pakistan PMs watched cricket: PM Manmohan Singh and his counterpart in Pakistan, Yousuf Raza Gilani watched the Indo-Pak World Cup semi-final and hold bilateral talks.
4. March 31 - Census 2011: India's Population rises to 121 Crore. As per the census 2011, India's population increased to 1.21 billion (121 crore).
5. April 2 – India wins the 2011 Cricket World Cup: On April 2nd, India won the 2011 Cricket World Cup, defeating Sri Lanka by 6 wickets in the final, played at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai in presence of 33,000 spectators. India got world cup after 27 years.
6. April 4 - Anna Hazare initiated anti-corruption movement from Jantar Mantar in Delhi. It gripped the whole nation during the 12-day hunger strike. The movement has been named among the top 10 news stories in the world for the year 2011 by Time magazine.
7. April 24 – Sri Sathya Sai Baba, the spiritual leader & educator died on 24 April at 7:40 IST, aged 84. On 28 March 2011, Sathya Sai Baba had been admitted to the Sri Sathya Sai Super Specialty Hospital at Prashantigram at Puttaparthi, following respiration-related problems. After nearly a month of hospitalization, he died.
8. April 30 – Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh Dorjee Khandu died: On 30 April 2011, the helicopter carrying Khandu and 4 others on a trip from Tawang to Itanagar disappeared. On 4 May 2011, at around 11 am, remnants of the crashed helicopter were found by tribals near Tawang. Home Minister confirmed the news on the morning of 5 May.
9. May 25 – Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced of Rs. 22,500 Crores for African countries to develop infrastructure facilities on the eve of 2nd Indo-Africa summit.
10. June 5 - Police arrested Baba Ramdev and beat up his supporters brutally. The Delhi Police used tear gas shells and baton charge to end Baba Ramdev's yoga camp and fast at around 1:30 - 2 AM in the night. At least 30-40 people, including women and children were injured in the clash. An injured Rajbala, a 53 year old woman was killed later.
11. June 7 - A widow, identified as Aitwari Devi, 45, accused of practicing black magic, was killed and her body cut up, roasted and eaten by her murderers in Jharkhand's Gumla district.
12. June 9 - M. F. Hussain, one of India's best-known artists, died in Royal Brompton Hospital in London, of a heart attack at the age of 95 in exile from his homeland in India. In 1990s some of Husain's works became controversial because of their portrayal of Hindu deities in the nude or in an allegedly sexual manner.
13. June 11 – Senior journalist and Investigations Editor with leading Mumbai tabloid MiD DAY, J Dey was shot dead in afternoon, outside the Spectra Building near DMart at Powai in Mumbai. He sustained five bullet wounds.
14. July 13 – The 2011 Mumbai bombings: A serial bomb blast took place between 18:54 and 19:06 IST. The blasts occurred at the Opera House, Zaveri Bazaar, and Dadar West localities killing 21 persons.
15. July 19 - Hillary Clinton meets SM Krishna in Delhi: To hold the second round of Indo-US strategic dialogue, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met External Affairs Minister S M Krishna at Hyderabad House in New Delhi. They discussed on the current situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan and cooperation in counter-terrorism.
16. July 22 - Lesbian Couple marry in Gurgaon Court: For the first time in India, a lesbian couple married inside a court and the marriage was considered legal in accordance to the law. The lesbian couple married in Gurgaon court. Beena (20) and Savita (25) hail from Bagpat in Uttar Pradesh.
17. July 25 - President Dr. Pratibha Patil declares her Assets: President Pratibha Patil for the first time made her assets public by declaring her movable and immovable properties, which worth over Rs 2.49 crore.
18. July 25 - Research in Motion (RIM), maker of BlackBerry smart phones fired 2,000 employees. The company had suffered a huge loss as Android and iPhones had become more popular and widespread.
19. July 27 - Harish Hande and Nileema Mishra win Magsaysay Award: Two Indians Harish Hande and Neelima Mishra made the country proud by winning the prestigious Magsaysay Award. The award is considered as Asia's Nobel Prize.
20. September 2011 – Flood in Odisha and Bihar : Flood's fury in Mahanadi and other rivers wreaked havoc in Orissa submerging about 2,600 villages spread over 19 districts and affecting 11 lakh people.
21. Sept 7 - Bomb Blast in Delhi: At least 10 people were dead and 65 were brutally injured with the bomb blast in the Delhi High Court premises.
21. September 12 - Narendra Modi gets clean chit in Gulbarg case: Supreme Court directed the lower court to decide whether Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi can be probed or not in the Gulbarg murder case.
24. September 13 - Trains collide near Chennai: 15 people were killed and 85 others injured when a passenger train was hit by another train near Arakkonam, 80 kms from Chennai at 9:30 PM on 13th September.
25. September 16 - Azharuddin's son Ayazuddin dies after road accident: 19 year old son of former Cricketer Mohd. Azaruddin dies on 16th September in the Apollo Hospital, Hyderabad, after being critically injured in a severe road accident on 11th September, when his bike crashed on Hyderabad's outer ring road. Ayazuddin had played in the under-13, under-15 and under-19 Cricket and was considered a promising talent.
26. September 18 - A powerful earthquake measuring 6.9 on the Richter scale occurred at 18:10 IST on 18 September. It rocked Sikkim and other parts of Northeastern states killing 116 people.
27. September 24 - Ruling BJD MLA shot dead in Odisha: Ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MLA, Jagabandhu Majhi from Umerkote was shot dead by suspected Maoists in Odisha's Nabarangpur district.
28. September 25 - Nuclear-capable Missile 'Shaurya' test-fired: The DRDO test-fired the nuclear-capable surface-to-surface medium range missile, 'Shaurya' from Chandipur-on-Sea off the Odisha Coast at 2:30 PM today.
29. September 29 - Abdul Kalam frisked at New York Airport: Indian Ex-President Dr. Kalam while boarding an Air India flight at New York's JFK Airport, the U.S. security officials came and asked for his jacket and shoes, claiming that these items were not checked according to prescribed procedure during the “private screening” applicable to him.
30. October 10 - Renowned ghazal singer Jagjit Singh died at the Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai after he suffered a brain hemorrhage at the age of 70. Golden voice, Jagjit Singh made his mark with hits like Yeh zindagi kisi aur ki, Mere naam ka koi aur hai, Patta-patta boota-boota haal hamaara jaane hai, Hontho se chhoo lo tum, Tum ko dekha, Hazaar baar ruke ham and hazaar baar chale.
31. October 13 - Prashant Bhushan Attacked: Eminent lawyer Prashant Bhushan, one of the key members of Team Anna, was attacked inside his chamber in the Supreme Court. He was assaulted by Bhagat Singh Kranti Sena activists for his alleged comment on Kashmir issue.
32. October 16 - Mayabati inaugurated Rs 650 crore parks: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati inaugurated the 33-acre Dalit Prerna Sthal or the Ambedkar Park in Noida. Rs 650 crore was spent to build the park. The waste of money was highly criticized. Many environmentalists alleged that the project is being constructed on the city's green belt with the loss of 6000 trees.
33. October 26 - Sushil Kumar, a computer operator and tutor who earns Rs.6,000 per month, went on to win the top jackpot prize of Rs 5 crore rupees in ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’ hosted by Amitabh Bachchan.
34. October 26 - Ra-One released: Ra.One is the most expensive Bollywood film of 2011. 52 crore rupees was spent on marketing through various partnerships, which set the record for the largest marketing budget in India. The film released across 3,100 screens in India and 904 prints overseas in both 2D and 3D and was also dubbed in Tamil and Telugu, making it the largest Indian cinematic release in the world.
35. October 30 – For the first time Indian Grand Prix, the 17th race of the 2011 Formula One season took place at the Buddh International Circuit in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh. Germany’s Sebastian Vettel from Red Bull won the race.
36. November 2 – Pakistan grants MFN to India: Pakistan granted the 'Most Favored Nation' (MFN) status to India to take the bilateral trade relations to the next level. This is the first time India received this status from Pakistan.
37. November 5 - Bhupen Hazarika died: Padmashree Bhupen Hazarika, who was on the ventilator for four months passed away at 4.37 p.m.at Kokilaben Hospital in Mumbai. Lyricist, musician, singer, poet and film-maker from Assam Bhupen ji is acknowledged widely in the Hindi film industry for introducing Hindi film to the sounds and folk music of Assam and Northeast India.
38. November 8 - Haridwar Stampede: 22 people were crushed to death and many others injured in a stampede at a religious ceremony close to the holy river Ganges in Haridwar.
39. November 9 - Har Gobind Khurana, the first India-born person to win the Nobel Prize after Independence, died of natural causes in Concord, Massachusetts, on 9th November morning. He was 89 and is survived by his daughter Julia and son Dave.
40. November 16 - Kolaveri D: The song was officially released on 16th November. Within a week of the official release of the video, it received more than 1.3 million views on YouTube, more than 1 million shares on Face book, while trending in India on Twitter the whole time. By 30 November it had more than 10,500,000 YouTube views. It is most popular for its funny Tanglish lyrics.
41. November 16 – Baby born to Aishwarya Rai : Former Miss World and Bollywood actor Aishwarya Rai Bachchan gave birth to a girl at Seven Hills Hospital, in Mumbai on 16th November at around 9.50 A.M. Amitabh Bachchan, tweeted at 10, 'I am Dada to the cutest baby girl !'
42. November 23 - Tata announced Cyrus Mistry as successor: India’s leading Industrial house Tata named Cyrus Pallonji Mistry the successor to Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata. At 38, he was one of the youngest directors of the company, set up as a trading firm in 1868.
43. November 24 – Top Maoist Leader Kishenji was killed: Top Maoist leader Koteswar Rao alias Kishenji was killed at Burishol village in Junglemahal area of West Bengal. The CRPF confirmed that 207 Cobra Battalion, 184 CRPF battalion and Bengal state police killed the Maoist leader in a joint operation.
44. November 24 - Sharad Pawar got slapped: Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar was slapped by a man at the NDMC centre in New Delhi. The attacker, identified as Harvinder Singh, reportedly blamed Mr. Pawar for rising prices of essential commodities.
45. December 4 – Padma Bhusan Dev Anand Died: Dev Anand died at The Washington Mayfair Hotel in London at the age of 88 on 3 December 2011 (4 December 2011 by IST) of a cardiac arrest. Indian film actor, writer, director and producer Dev have acted in 140 films and is a national award winner. He was considered as the top romantic hero of his time.
46. December 6 - Union Telecom and HRD Minister Kapil Sibal warned the social networking sites of uploading the defamatory content, particularly those related to Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh, on their sites.
47. December 7 - FDI in Retail suspended: Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee declared on 7th December that government suspended the proposal of 51% FDI in multi-brand retail till a consensus is reached among all parties.
48. December 8 – Sehwag’s record: On 8 December 2011, he hit his maiden double century in ODI cricket, against West Indies, becoming the second batsman after Sachin Tendulkar to reach the landmark. His score remains the highest individual score in ODI cricket - 219 off 149 balls. He is the only player in world to score a double hundred in ODI and a triple hundred in Test Cricket.
49. December 9 - AMRI Hospital Kolkata Fire Accident : A tragic fire broke out in the AMRI Hospital in Kolkata in which 91 persons have died, making it one of the worst tragedies in any hospital in India.
50. December 15 - West Bengal Hooch Tragedy: 160 died: After consuming illicit liquor in Sangrampur area of South 24 Parganas District in West Bengal people fell ill. The tragedy occurred as the locals consumed methyl alcohol.
50. December 15 - Indian Rupee value goes down to 54: The Indian rupee falls short by Rs 54.17 per US Dollar; record lowest by 46 paisa in the trade business and hence is the weakest currency note in Asia in 2011 now.
