Important Events in India in 2021

Important Events in India in 2021: From the largest COVID-19 vaccination drive in the world to the repeal of three contentious Farm Laws, check the important events that happened in 2021 in India. 

Important Events in India 2021: January

1 January 2021

India began its two-year stint as a non-permanent member of the UNSC. 

2 January 2021

i) Two COVID-19 vaccines-- Covaxin and Covishield-- were approved by India for emergency use.

ii) Former Minister of Home Affairs, former Governor of Bihar and former Chairperson of NCSC, Buta Singh, succumbed to cerebral haemorrhage at the age of 86 years. 

iii) Award-winning poet and writer Neelamperoor Madhusoodanan Nair died at the age of 84 years due to age-related ailments. 

iii) Indian film producer K. Balu succumbed to COVID-19. 

3 January 2021

i) Indian actor Shani Mahadevappa passed away at the age of 90 due to coronary artery disease. 

ii) Indian poet and lyricist Anil Panachooran succumbed to COVID-19 at the age of 55 years old.  

iii) Indian screenwriter and film director Shaji Pandavath died at 63. He was facing complications from heart surgery and a fall.

4 January 2021

WhatsApp announced a change in its privacy policies and data sharing norms. The announcement of data sharing with its parent company Facebook led to massive outrage and a shift to other similar applications such as Signal and Telegram. 

5 January 2021

i) Sahitya Akademi Award-winning writer A. Madhavan passed away at 87. 

ii) Indian lyricist Vennelakanti Rajeswara Prasad succumbed to cardiac arrest. He was 63 years old. 

12 January 2021

The apex court of India suspended the implementation of three contentious Farm Laws keeping in view the farmers' protest. 

16 January 2021 

i) The Government of India began the world's largest vaccination drive against the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. 

ii) An alleged 500-page transcript of WhatsApp chat between Arnab Goswami and former Broadcast Audience Research Council CEO Partho Dasgupta was leaked to media. 

21 January 2021

i) Five people were killed in a massive fire at the Serum Institute of India Building, Pune.

ii) A truck carrying stacks of blasting gelatin exploded at a boulder-crushing facility in Abbalagere in the Shivamogga district of Karnataka, killing around eight people. 

22 January 2021

Indian singer Narendra Chanchal passed away at the age of 80 years due to an age-related illness. 

24 January 2021

A couple in Andhra Pradesh's  Madanapalle murdered their two daughters after believing in the superstition of rebirth. 

26 January 2021

i) India celebrated its 72nd Republic Day without any chief guest. The event took place with a few spectators and an air show by Rafale jets.

ii) A massive tractor rally by the protesting farmers' took place in the National Capital. The rally turned violent and a serious law and order situation was witnessed. 

Also Read | Most Searched Person on Google in India 2021: Check Top 10 Personalities on Google Trends 2021

Important Events in India 2021: February

7 February 2021

Over 200 were killed or reported missing in Uttrakhand's glacier burst. Chamoli disaster is one of the most tragic disasters in India. 

9 February 2021

Bollywood Actor Rajiv Kapoor died of cardiac arrest at the age of 58. 

14 February 2021

22-year-old environmentalist Disha Ravi was arrested by the Delhi Police on sedition charges after allegedly editing and circulating a toolkit related to farmers' protest which was tweeted by Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg. She was later granted bail as the toolkit was innocuous. 

22 February 2021

In a shocking incident, Dadra and Nagar Haveli MP Mohan Sanjibhai Delkar died by suicide. He was 58. 

24 February 2021

i) The world's largest cricket stadium, Motera cricket stadium, was renamed as Narendra Modi Stadium. 

ii) Punjabi Singer  Sardool Sikander passed away at the age of 60 due to post-COVID complications. 

Important Events in India 2021: March

20 March 2021

Dattatreya Hosabale was elected as the General Secretary of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

22 March 2021

Indian actor Theepetti Ganesan breathed his last at the Madurai Government Hospital due to ill health at the age of 31. 

26 March 2021

A fire broke out in a COVID-19 hospital in Bhandup, Mumbai killing ten people. 

Important Events in India 2021: April

1 April 2021

The Gujarat Assembly amended the Freedom of Religion Act, 2003, thereby bringing in stringent provisions against forcible conversion through marriage or allurement. It is the third state after Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh to pass such a bill. 

3 April 2021

The Naxalite-Maoist insurgents from the Communist Party of India (Maoist) carried out an attack against Indian security forces at the Sukma-Bijapur border. A total of 22 soldiers were martyred and 9 Naxalites were killed.

4 April 2021

i) Veteran Indian actress Shashikala passed away at the age of 88 due to age-related ailments. 

ii)  India’s first female cricket commentator Chandra Nayudu died at the age of 88 after battling a prolonged illness.

8 April 2021

A French online journal Mediapart came out with an investigative journalism piece on the Rafale deal alleging that the jet manufacturer had paid nearly one million Euros to an Indian middleman. The piece was based on an investigation by the French anti-corruption agency AFA. 

17 April 2021

59-year-old Indian actor Vivek succumbed to the acute coronary syndrome.

18 April 2021

Hockey player turned Umpire Anupama Puchimanda succumbed to COVID-19 at the age of 41. 

23 April 2021

A fire broke out at Vijay Vallabh Hospital in Virar, Maharashtra, killing at least 13 COVID-19 patients. 

24 April 2021

A total of 25 Covid-19 patients died in Jaipur Golden Hospital, Delhi after the hospital runs out of oxygen supply. 

26 April 2021

Padma Shri awardee Dadudan Gadhvi died at the age of 82. 

28 April 2021

The 2021 Assam earthquake with a magnitude of 6.0 was witnessed. As a result, two people died and 12 were injured.  

30 April 2021

i) A Special Bench of Justices Dhananjaya Y. Chandrachud, L. Nageswara Rao and Shripathi Ravindra Bhat warned State governments and police against clamping down on citizens who were either soughting help or spreading information regarding the availability of COVID-19 hospitals, oxygen cylinders, etc. through social media during the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic in India. 

ii) Noted journalist Rohit Sardana succumbed to COVID-19 at the age of 41.  

iii) Indian director and cinematographer, KV Anand died at 54 due to COVID-19 complications. 

Important Events in India 2021: May

1 May 2021

Eighteen people died after a fire broke out at Gujarat's Bharuch Welfare Hospital. 

3 May 2021

Academic and litterateur Noor Alam Khalil Amini died at 68 due to non-communicable disease.

4 May 2021

i) Twitter permanently suspended the account of Indian actress Kangana Ranaut over hateful posts.

ii) A show-cause notice for contempt of court was issued by the Delhi High Court to the Government of India after it failed to meet the court's direction to supply requisite Oxygen for hospitals in Delhi.

5 May 2021

Supreme Court of India struck down the Maharashtra State Reservation for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBC) Act, 2018. 

6 May 2021

i) Union Minister V. Muraleedharan's convoy was attacked in West Bengal by the locals. 

ii) Indian politician Chaudhary Ajit Singh succumbed at the age of 82. 

10 May 2021

Thousands of dead bodies were found floating in River Ganges at Chausa, Buxar district, Bihar.

11 May 2021

K. R. Gouri Amma, the first woman minister and first revenue minister of Kerala, died at the age of 101.

14 May 2021

Award-winning Indian sculptor Kanaka Murthy succumbed to COVID-19 at the age of 79. 

17 May 2021

Cyclone Tauktae hits India, resulting in at least 90 deaths.

20 May 2021

Noted historian Nizamuddin Asir Adrawi died at the age of 94

21 May 2021

i) A cyberattack on Air India was reported and the personal details of about 4.5 million customers globally were compromised, including passports, credit card details, birth dates, names and ticket information.

ii) 13 Maoists were killed in  Maharashtra's Gadchiroli in an operation carried out by C-60 commandos.

iii) Chipko Movement leader  Sunderlal Bahuguna succumbed to COVID-19 at the age of 94. 

23 May 2021

Indian diamond trader Mehul Choksi was arrested in Dominica. He committed the Punjab National Bank scam. 

25 May 2021

Protests intensified in Lakshadweep under the Save Lakshadweep campaign against the administrator Praful Khoda Patel's controversial decisions and laws. Some of the decisions that Patel took were shutting all dairy farms on the island, banning beef on the Muslim majority island, removing non-vegetarian food items from Midday Meals provided in schools, implementing the Goonda Act and more. 

26 May 2021

Cyclone Yaas affected Odisha and West Bengal and killed 20 people. 

Important Events in India 2021: June

4 June 2021

A lawsuit filed by Indian actress Juhi Chawla against setting up of 5G Cellular network in India was dismissed by the Delhi Court and a fine of Rs. 20 lakhs was imposed for abusing the process of law.

7 June 2021

A fire broke out at a chemical plant on the outskirts of Pune, Maharashtra, killing at least 18 people. 

13 June 2021

Financial fraud was alleged by AAP's Sanjay Singh and SP's Pawan Pandey in the purchase of land for the Ram temple in Ayodhya. It was alleged that on March 18, 2021, the trust purchased two different plots on the same day at two different rates. Of these, one transaction appeared manipulated and intended to divert funds.

14 June 2021

Following a tweet by Journalist Sucheta Dalal on June 12, the shares of Adani Group companies fell by 5 - 25%.

16 June 2021

Award-winning Indian actress  Swatilekha Sengupta died at 71 from complications arising from kidney ailments.

17 June 2021

Student activists Natasha Narwal, Devangana Kalita, and Asif Iqbal Tanha were released from Tihar Jail, hours after a trial court ordered their immediate release. They were in custody since May 2020 and were granted bail by Delhi High Court on June 15. 

18 June 2021

Indian sprinter Milkha Singh died at 91 from pneumonia caused by COVID-19. 

22 June 2021

i) Kerala High Court stayed two controversial orders of Lakshadweep administration-- closure of dairy farms and exclusion of non-vegetarian items from mid-day meals. 

ii) Indian lyricist Poovachal Khader succumbed to COVID-19 at 72.

23 June 2021

ED transferred assets worth Rs. 8,441.50 crore to public sector banks which suffered losses to the tune of Rs. 22,585.83 crore due to frauds committed by Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi.

24 June 2021

PM Modi and Union Minister Amit Shah met political leaders from Jammu and Kashmir and reportedly gave them signals regarding elections and restoration of statehood.

25 June 2021

i) Kerala Women's Commission chairperson MC Josephine resigned following a public outrage on her remarks to a woman complaining of domestic violence on June 23 in a live TV show telecasted on Manorama News.

ii) Kerala High Court issued Anticipatory bail to Lakshadweep based film-maker, Aisha Sultana. Sedition charges were imposed on her on June 10 after she called administrator Praful Khoda Patel a 'Bio weapon' in a news debate on MediaOne TV. 

27 June 2021

EU removed Covishield from the Green Pass list.

Important Events in India 2021: July

1 July 2021

Nine European countries including Switzerland, Estonia and 7 European Union member states-- Austria, Germany, Slovenia, Greece, Iceland, Ireland & Spain recognized the Covishield vaccine. However, a travel ban was in place for Indians as the country has been recognized as a “virus variant country”. 

4 July 2021

Pushkar Singh Dhami was elected as the 11th Chief Minister of Uttarakhand. He is the youngest Chief Minister of the state. 

5 July 2021

India's oldest political prisoner, Stam Swamy died in custody in Mumbai. He was arrested in connection with the 2018 Bhima Koregaon violence in October 2020. 

6 July 2021

Ministry of Co-operation was created by the Union Government to strengthen the Cooperative movement in the country. 

7 July 2021 

i) A massive cabinet reshuffle took place in the second Modi ministry. 12 Ministers resigned while 43 new people were inducted into the ministry. 

ii) Veteran actor Dilip Kumar passed away at 98 due to prolonged illness. 

8 July 2021

i) Violence erupted in 12 Uttar Pradesh districts amid the filing of the nominations for elections to Panchayat Samiti. 

ii) Former Dean, Faculty of Arts at AMU, Abul Kalam Qasmi, passed away at 70.

iii) Former CM of Himachal Pradesh, Virbhadra Singh, died at 87 after a prolonged illness.  

9 July 2021

External Affairs Minister, S. Jaishankar handed over a relic belonging to Ketevan the Martyr from the 17th-century to the Government of Georgia. The relic was preserved in the Church of St. Augustine, Goa.

10 July 2021

Ayurveda practitioner P.K. Warrier died at 100. 

13 July 2021

Cricketer Yashpal Sharma died at 66  due to a cardiac arrest. He was part of the 1983 World Cup team when India lifted its first-ever Cricket World Cup. 

14 July 2021

A suo moto case was undertaken by the apex court of India against UP's decision to go ahead with Kanwar Yatra amid concerns for an impending third wave of COVID-19. 

15 July 2021

A PIL challenged the constitutional validity of Section 124A of the IPC. The SC expressed concern over its widespread misuse and lack of accountability of invoking sedition law. It further sought the centre's response. 

16 July 2021

i) Veteran TV actress Surekha Sikri died of cardiac arrest at 75. 

ii) Pulitzer Prize winner Photojournalist Danish Siddiqui was killed while covering a clash between Afghan security forces and Taliban forces near a border crossing with Pakistan. He was 41. 

18 July 2021

i) 32 people were killed in the 2021 Mumbai landslide. 

ii) Pegasus (spyware) database was accessed by Forbidden Stories and Amnesty International. The data revealed that more than 300 Indians were under surveillance through Pegasus.

19 July 2021

Raj Kundra was arrested by Mumbai Police over his alleged involvement in the making and publishing of pornographic content through a mobile application named Hotshot.

20 July 2021

Minister of State of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare stated in Rajya Sabha that there were no deaths due to lack of oxygen in India during the second wave.

22 July 2021

i) IT department conducted raids on mulitple premises of Dainik Bhaskar media group. 

ii) A series of floods took place across Maharashtra, leaving 251 dead and 100 missings. 

23 July 2021

Zomato's IPO was listed in the stock market at a premium of 53% over the issue price.

24 July 2021

Indian weightlifter Saikhom Mirabai Chanu won the Olympic silver medal in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

25 July 2021

Telangana's Ramappa Temple got the UNESCO World Heritage Site tag.

26 July 2021

i) Karnataka CM BS Yediyurappa resigned. 

ii) Five Assam Police personnel at Cachar district were killed in violent clashes between Mizoram Police and Assam Police along the state border following a border dispute.

28 July 2021

Lingayat leader and son of former chief minister S. R. Bommai,  Basavaraj Bommai, took oath as CM of Karnataka. 

Important Events in India 2021: August

1 August 2021

i) Ace badminton player P. V. Sindhu won a bronze medal in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. 

ii) 9-year-old Dalit girl was allegedly raped by four men on her way to fetch water. She was forcefully cremated at a crematorium in the South West Delhi district by the miscreants. 

4 August 2021

i) Boxer Lovlina Borgohain won a bronze medal in the Welterweight category in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

ii) Heavy rains combined with the release of water from Maithon Dam, Damodar Valley Corporation flooded 300 villages in West Bengal's Hoogly district and claimed 23 lives. 

5 August 2021

India men's Hockey team won a bronze medal in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. 

6 August 2021

PM Modi renamed Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award as Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. 

7 August 2021

Neeraj Chopra won the gold medal in Javelin throw and Indian Wrestler Bajrang Punia won a bronze medal in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

10 August 2021

Lok Sabha passed the 127th Constitutional amendment bill. It restored states power to make their own OBC lists and reverses SC's May 2021 verdict on the Maratha quota.

11 August 2021

i) Twitter locked accounts of INC and its five major leaders including Ajay Maken and Randeep Surjewala. Earlier, Twitter locked Rahul Gandhi's account. 

ii) Amid protests by the opposition, the ruling party passed twenty crucial bills without discussion in the parliament. 

21 August 2021

Two time CM of Uttar Pradesh, Kalyan Singh, died at 89. He succumbed to sepsis and multi-organ failures.

23 August 2021

FM Sitharaman announced National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP) to sell assets worth Rs. 6 trillion in the next four years. This includes Indian Railways assets, National highways assets, power transmission assets and warehousing assets. 

27 August 2021

La. Ganesan was appointed as Governor of Manipur. 

28 August 2021

Ministry of Road Transport and Highways introduced a new Bharat (BH) series vehicle registration in the country. 

29 August 2021

Bhavina Patel won a silver medal in Table tennis, N.K. Nishad Kumar won silver in the High jump and V.K. Vinod Kumar won a bronze medal in the Discus throw at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics. However, V.K. Vinod Kumar was stripped of a bronze medal after he was found not meeting the Paralympics criteria.

30 August 2021

i) Avani Lekhara and Sumit Antil won the gold medals in women's 10m air rifle standing and men's javelin throw (F64) at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics. 

ii)  In javelin throw F46, Devendra Jhajharia won the silver medal while Sundar Singh Gurjar won a bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics.

iii) In the F56 discus throw Yogesh Kathuniya won a silver medal at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics.

Important Events in India 2021: September

1 September 2021

Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani passed away at 91.

2 September 2021

i) Siddharth Shukla died of a heart attack at the age of 40. 

ii) Noted journalist Chandan Mitra died at the age of 65 after battling a prolonged illness.  

3 September 2021

i) India's oldest living first-class cricketer Raghunath Chandorkar passed at the age of 100. 

ii) Textile conservator and designer Suraiya Hasan Bose passed away at 93. 

5 September 2021

Economist Sheila Bhalla died at 88. 

11 September 2021

Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani resigned. 

18 September 2021

Punjab CM Amarinder Singh resigned. 

19 September 2021

DRI impounded around 2,988.22 kg of Heroin heading from Afghanistan at Mundra Port port in Gujarat, one of the largest drug seizures by an enforcement agency in the world. 

20 September 2021

i) An eviction drive by the Assam government under Garukhuthi Project at Sipajhar, Darrang district turned violent. 

ii) Charanjit Singh Channi took oath as the CM of Punjab. He is the first Dalit CM of the state.

Important Events in India 2021: October

2 October 2021

NCB raided a cruise vessel named Cordelia chartered between Mumbai and Goa and arrested eight people including  Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan khan. 

3 October 2021

i) ICIJ began publishing Pandora Papers. Around 380 Indians were named in the leaked data. 

ii) Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah fame actor Ghanshyam Nayak died at 77 after suffering from a rare form of cancer. 

4 October 2021

Eight people including four farmers were killed in UP's Lakhimpur Kheri district as Union Minister Ajay Kumar Mishra's son's car runs over protesting farmers. 

8 October 2021

Tata Group acquired 100% stakes in Air India from the Indian Government through its subsidiary Talace Private Ltd, as part of Disinvestment of Public Sector Units in India.

11 October 2021

Indian actor Nedumudi Venu died at the age of 73 years due to post-COVID complications. 

16 October 2021

i) Indian men's football team wins the eighth SAFF Championship by beating Nepal with a 3–0 margin. 

ii) Flash floods and landslides caused by heavy rains in Kerala killed 42 people. 

19 October 2021

Heavy rains and landslides claimed 64 lives in the Kumaon division of Uttarakhand. 

21 October 2021

India achieved the milestone of administering one billion Covid-19 vaccine doses as part of the national immunisation drive started in January. 

22 October 2021

Cardiologist and medical writer  K. A. Abraham died at 79 due to an age-related illness. 

23 October 2021

i) Indian Politician V. Govindan died at 80 after a brief illness. 

ii) Indian actress Minoo Mumtaz passed away at the age of 79 years due to cancer. 

26 October 2021

i) CBI arrested a serving Indian Navy officer along with two retired ones in connection with the leakage of confidential information related to the modernisation of a Kilo-class submarine.

ii) During a VHP rally organized in protest of attacks against Hindus in Bangladesh, a mosque in the North Tripura district was vandalised. 

27 October 2021

SC ordered an independent panel to make a comprehensive probe into Pegasus (spyware) snooping scandal.

29 October 2021

Indian actor Puneeth Rajkumar died of cardiac arrest at the age of 46.

30 October 2021

i) Aryan Khan was granted bail from Bombay High Court. He was in custody for 22 days at Mumbai Central Prison.

ii) Actor Bineesh Kodiyeri was released following a bail order from Karnataka High Court. He was in custody since October 2020 in connection with the Prevention of Money Laundering Act violations and the 2020 Bengaluru drug case. 

Important Events in India 2021: November

4 November 2021 

Indian politician Subrata Mukherjee passed at the age of 75 due to cardiac arrest. 

5 November 2021

PM Modi unveiled Adi Shankaracharya's statue in Kedarnath's Shiva temple which was destroyed in the 2013 flash floods. 

15 November 2021

Celebrated Indian writer Mannu Bhandari died at the age of 90 after suffering from a prolonged illness. 

18 November 2021

After the historic IPO, the shares of Paytm crashed 27% on the first day of trading. It is among the biggest listing day loss in the history of the Indian Stock market. 

19 November 2021

i) PM Modi in his address to the nation apologized to the farmers and announced the repeal of three Farm Laws following a year-long farmers' protest.

ii) Heavy rains and flash floods hit Andhra Pradesh's Rayalaseema and claimed at least 29 lives.

Important Events in India 2021: December

2 December 2021

Cyclone Jawad wreaked havoc across three Indian states-- Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Odisha. The cyclone began on 2 December and ended on 6 December 2021. 

4 December 2021

Veteran journalist Vinod Dua died at 67. He died after a prolonged illness following a Covid infection. 

5 December 2021

India's first woman psychiatrist, Sarada Menon, died at 98. 

7 December 2021

A Catholic missionary school in Madhya Pradesh was attacked and vandalized by a mob of around 500 Hindu extremists, despite school authorities requesting police protection prior to the attack.

8 December 2021

i) CDS Bipin Rawat, his wife Madhulika Rawat and 12 other persons were killed in the IAF chopper Mi-17V5 crash near Coonoor, Tamil Nadu. 

ii) Rohit Sharma was appointed as India's full-time white-ball, ODI and T20I, captain. Virat Kohli will lead the Indian side only in Tests. 

9 December 2021

Farmers' protest was called off as the government repealed the three contentious farm laws. 

13 December 2021

i) Harnaaz Sandhu won Miss Universe 2021 title, brought home the crown 21 years after Lara Dutta won the title in 2000.

ii) Indian politician Harbans Kapoor died at 75. 

24 December 2021

Cricketer Harbhajan Singh retired from all formats of cricket. 

Also Read | 7 Worst Events of 2021: List of Top Natural & Man-made Disasters- Hello 2022!

List of Upcoming Space Missions 2022: Check Space Missions India & Abroad