1 January – The Indian and Pakistani governments exchanged a full list of nuclear sites, military and civilian, in accordance with the 1988 Non-Nuclear Aggression Agreement.[1]
2 January – Heavily armed gunmen, reportedly members of Jaish-e-Mohammed, attacked an Indian Air Force base in Pathankot, Punjab. Two of the gunmen were killed.[2]
3 January – A magnitude 6.7 earthquake struck India, 29 km (18 mi) west of Imphal, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII (Very strong).[3] At least eight people were killed, 100 others were injured, and some buildings were damaged.[4][5]
17 January – A PhD student from University of Hyderabad named Rohith Vemula died by suicide, reportedly due to caste-based discrimination. The event triggered a countrywide agitation against casteism in institutions of higher learning.[6]
February
8 February – Facebook's FreeBasics was declared illegal in India and ceased operations in the country.[7][8][9]
9 February – A group of JNU students held a campus protest marking the third anniversary of the hanging of Muhammad Afzal Guru.[10]
12 February – JNU student-union president Kanhaiya Kumar was arrested on charges of sedition.[10]
13 February – Nationwide protests and rallies took place, with students and teachers from multiple universities demonstrating against the arrest of Kanhaiya Kumar.[11]
15 February –
Lawyers assaulted journalists at the court where Kanhaiya Kumar was scheduled to appear, chanting nationalist slogans.[10]
Protests against the arrest of Kanhaiya Kumar continued at JNU, with a campus strike disrupting classes.[11]
17 February – Kanhaiya Kumar was assaulted inside the court premises, despite heavy police presence.[10]
20 February – Militants laid siege to the Entrepreneurship Development Institute[12]
22 February – Five JNU students accused of sedition returned to campus after going into hiding.[10]
24 February – JNU students Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya surrendered to police around midnight.[10]
March
14 March – Police horse Shaktiman was attacked with a stick by BJP MLA politician and cabinet minister Ganesh Joshi during a protest organized by BJP against the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand. The attack and the horse's later death sparked worldwide outrage.[13]
16 March – RTI activist Vinayak Baliga was murdered in Mangalore by contract killers allegedly linked to Hindutva group NaMo Brigade.[14][15]
18 March – Ahead of polls in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, Supreme Court of India allows pictures of Union Ministers, Chief Ministers, Governors and State Ministers to appear in government advertisements.[16]
31 March – 2016 Kolkata flyover collapse: At least 27 people were killed and 80 others injured in a bridge collapse in Kolkata, West Bengal in India.
5 April – India's fastest train, Gatimaan Express, began operating between Hazrat Nizamuddin and Agra Cantonment, run by Indian Railways.
22 April – 21 May - The 2016 Ujjain Simhastha Kumbha Mela was held, attracting nearly 75 million visitors over one month.[18]
10 April – The Puttingal temple fire caused 107 deaths.[19]
11 April – 2016 Assam Legislative Assembly election – BJP won the majority.
29 April – Jisha murder case.
May
2 May – A 17-year-old JEE aspirant named, Kriti Tripathi, died by suicide in Kota, Rajasthan.[20][21][22]
5 May – 2016 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election – Mamata Banerjee-led TMC won the majority.
16 May – 2016 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election- Jayalalithaa-led AIADMK won the majority.
16 May – 2016 Puducherry Legislative Assembly election – Congress won the majority.
23 May – Hypersonic Flight Experiment: ISRO's RLV-TD vehicle was launched from the first launchpad of Satish Dhawan Space Centre aboard an HS9 rocket booster.[23]
30 May – 30 people died following a fire at an army weapons depot in Pulgaon, Wardha district, Maharashtra.[24]
31 May – 2016 Bihar school examination scandal: A controversy broke out over the topper scam involving the Bihar School Examination Board.
June
14 June – Anu Bansal suffered burns over 80% of her body after being set on fire by her husband for giving birth to a daughter. She died several days later. It would take her daughters eight years to get justice for her murder.[25]
22 June – ISRO launched 20 satellites into space using PSLV-XL.[26]
25 June – 2016 Pampore attack.
28 June – Government of India accepted the 7th Pay Commission recommendations, increasing salaries of employees.[27]
2016 Kashmir unrest.
2016 Indian Air Force An-32 disappearance.
July
2 July – At least 30 people died due to heavy rains in Uttarakhand.[28]
August
3 August – Goods and Services Tax (India) Bill passed in Parliament.[29][30]
5 August – 2016 Kokrajhar shooting occurred.
9 August – Manipur activist Irom Sharmila ended her 16-year hunger strike.[31]
13 August – Pramukh Swami Maharaj, a Swaminarayan guru, passed away.
14 August – Na. Muthukumar, an Indian Tamil poet, lyricist, and National Award-winning author, died.
September
2 September – Indian general strike of 2016 took place.
Kaveri River water dispute: Violence broke out in Karnataka.[32]
13 September – 43 out of 44 MLAs from the Arunachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly left Congress and joined People's Party of Arunachal.[33]
18 September – 2016 Uri attack: Four Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists attacked an Indian Army brigade headquarters in Uri near the Line of Control, killing 19 soldiers in a pre-dawn ambush.
22 September – Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa was hospitalized at Apollo Hospital.
29 September – 2016 Indian Line of Control strike: The Indian Army conducted a surgical strike in response to the Uri attack.
30 September – Bihar liquor ban: The Patna High Court struck down liquor ban law.[17]
October
2 October – 2016 Baramulla attack occurred.
11 October – Jangaon district was formed in Telangana.
13 October – BJP joined People's Party of Arunachal- led Government in Arunachal Pradesh.[34]
15 October – 24 people died in a stampede at a religious gathering in Varanasi.[35]
17 October – A fire at SUM Hospital in Bhubaneshwar killed 22 died.[36]
19 October – In the Qnet multi-level marketing case, former World Billiards Champion Michael Ferreira was arrested.[37]
24 October – Cyrus Mistry was removed as the Chairman of the Tata Sons, one of India's largest conglomerates.[38]
27 October – In the Senari massacre case in Bihar, 15 were convicted and 23 acquitted; 10 received death sentences.[39]
October – Bihar liquor ban: The Supreme Court stayed the High Court order, reimposing the ban.[17]
October – Samajwadi Party, ruling Uttar Pradesh, was embroiled in a family feud.[40]
31 October – October 2016 Bhopal encounter occurred.
November
1 November – 2016 Manipur unrest began.
8 November – The Indian government demonetized ₹500 and ₹1000 banknotes with immediate effect, causing political uproar.
11 November – 42 Congress MLAs resigned from the Punjab Vidhan Sabha following a Supreme Court ruling on the Sutlej Yamuna link canal project.
16 November – The winter session of Indian Parliament began, with debates on demonetization.[41]
20 November – A train derailsment near Pukhrayan killed at least 150 people.[42]
26 November – Nabha jailbreak in Punjab. Six inmates escaped.[43]
29 November – 2016 Nagrota army base attack occurred.
30 November – The Supreme Court of India ordered cinemas to play national anthem before films.[44]
December
5 December – Former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa died after 72 days of hospitalization at Apollo Hospital.
10 December – Industrialist Pawan Ruia was arrested following a railway complaint.[45]
12 December – Cyclone Vardah makes landfall on the Tamil Nadu coast. 18 people died.[46]
14 December – The National Green Tribunal banned kite-flying with manja, a glass-coated thread, due to safety concerns.[47]
15 December – Supreme Court banned liquor sales on national and state highways to reduce road accidents caused by drunk driving.[48]
24 December – Prime Minister, Narendra Modi laid the foundation for the Pune Metro Project; construction began.[49]
25 December – In the 2013 Indian helicopter bribery scandal: arrests were made, including a former Indian Air Force chief.[50]
29 December – 2016 Ariyalur gang rape case occurred.
Public holidays
Publications
"Devlok" by Devdutt Pattanaik
"One Indian Girl" by Chetan Bhagat
Deaths
January
2 January
Ardhendu Bhushan Bardhan, Indian politician (b. 1924)[51]
Fateh Singh, shooter and army officer (b. 1964)[52]
3 January
Shankar Prasad Jaiswal, Indian politician (b. 1932)[53]
Raghu Nandan Mandal, Indian politician (b. 1952)[54]
4 January – S. H. Kapadia, Indian judge (b. 1947)[55]
6 January – Labhshankar Thakar, Gujarati author (b. 1935)[56]
7 January – Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, Indian politician (b. 1936)[57]
8 January
M. O. Joseph, Malayalam film producer (b. 1929)[58]
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