1998 in India
Encyclopedia
Events in the year 1998 in the Republic of India
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India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
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Incumbents
- President of IndiaPresident of IndiaThe President of India is the head of state and first citizen of India, as well as the Supreme Commander of the Indian Armed Forces. President of India is also the formal head of all the three branches of Indian Democracy - Legislature, Executive and Judiciary...
– K. R. NarayananK. R. NarayananKocheril Raman Narayanan , also known as K. R. Narayanan, was the tenth President of India. He was the first Dalit, and the first Malayali, to have been President.... - Prime Minister of IndiaPrime Minister of IndiaThe Prime Minister of India , as addressed to in the Constitution of India — Prime Minister for the Union, is the chief of government, head of the Council of Ministers and the leader of the majority party in parliament...
– Inder Kumar GujralInder Kumar GujralInder Kumar Gujral served as the 12th Prime Minister of India. Gujral was the first PM to govern exclusively from the Rajya Sabha; , only he and Manmohan Singh have done so.-Early life:...
until 19 March, Atal Bihari VajpayeeAtal Bihari VajpayeeAtal Bihari Vajpayee is an Indian statesman who served as the tenth Prime Minister of India three times – first for a brief term of 13 days in 1996, and then for two terms from 1998 to 2004. After his first brief period as Prime Minister in 1996, Vajpayee headed a coalition government from...
January to March
- 1 January – The Election CommissionElection Commission of IndiaThe Election Commission of India is an autonomous, quasi-judiciary constitutional body of India. Its mission is to conduct free and fair elections in India...
announces 16 February as the starting date of the general elections. - 11 January – Sonia GandhiSonia GandhiSonia Gandhi is an Italian-born Indian politician and the President of the Indian National Congress, one of the major political parties of India. She is the widow of former Prime Minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi...
launches her election campaign at SriperumbudurSriperumbudurSriperumbudur is an industrial city in Kanchipuram district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located in proximity to Chennai. It is famous for being the birth place of Sri Ramanuja, one of the most prominent Hindu Vaishnava saints as well as the town where former Indian Prime Minister...
, where her husband was assassinated. - 21 January – The crime/thriller series, C.I.D. started on SET
- 14–15 February – 1998 Coimbatore bombings1998 Coimbatore bombingsThe 1998 Coimbatore bombings occurred on Saturday, February 14, 1998, in the city of Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India. 46 persons - 35 men, 10 women and one child - were killed and over 200 injured in 13 bomb attacks in 11 places , all of them within a 12 km radius, 4 bombs were planted at R S...
. A series of car bombs kill at least 60 people and wound more than 200 in the southern city of CoimbatoreCoimbatoreCoimbatore , also known as Kovai , is the second largest city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is a major commercial centre in Tamil Nadu and is known as the "Manchester of South India"....
, coinciding with the schedule of Bharatiya Janata PartyBharatiya Janata PartyThe Bharatiya Janata Party ,; translation: Indian People's Party) is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Indian National Congress. Established in 1980, it is India's second largest political party in terms of representation in the parliament...
(BJP) president Lal Krishna AdvaniLal Krishna AdvaniLal Kishanchand Advani known as Lal Krishna Advani is a Veteran Indian politician. A former president of the Bharatiya Janata Party , which is currently the major opposition party in the Indian Parliament. He also served as a Deputy Prime Minister of India from 2002 to 2004...
's campaign in the city. - 16 February – More than 100 million Indians cast their votes for 222 seats in the first phase of the general election. At least 21 people die in scattered violence.
- 21 February – The Hindu nationalist BJP is ousted from power in Uttar Pradesh StateUttar PradeshUttar Pradesh abbreviation U.P. , is a state located in the northern part of India. With a population of over 200 million people, it is India's most populous state, as well as the world's most populous sub-national entity...
after a coalition ally withdrew its support. On 23 February, a bitter court battle restores the BJP-led government to power. - 22 February – The second phase of general elections is held for 184 seats.
- 26 February – The BJP wins a vote of confidence in Uttar Pradesh.
- 28 February – In the third major phase of general elections, the electorate votes for 131 seats.
- 2 March – The counting of votes begins after elections marred by violence in which at least 150 were killed. The BJP and their allies emerge as the single largest political formation with 251 seats, the Indian National CongressIndian National CongressThe Indian National Congress is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Bharatiya Janata Party. It is the largest and one of the oldest democratic political parties in the world. The party's modern liberal platform is largely considered center-left in the Indian...
and its allies winning 166 and the United Front 96. - 3 March – Congress says it is willing to form a government with the United Front's support to stop the BJP from ruling.
- 7 March – The BJP crowns Atal Bihari VajpayeeAtal Bihari VajpayeeAtal Bihari Vajpayee is an Indian statesman who served as the tenth Prime Minister of India three times – first for a brief term of 13 days in 1996, and then for two terms from 1998 to 2004. After his first brief period as Prime Minister in 1996, Vajpayee headed a coalition government from...
as prime minister-aspirant. - 9 March – Sitaram KesriSitaram KesriSitaram Kesri was elected to the Lok Sabha from Katihar Lok Sabha Constituency when he won on a janata party ticket and was given a last moment call by then Bihar Janata Party President S N Sinha; he represented Bihar in the Rajya Sabha several times: July 1971 to April 1974, April 1974 to April...
resigns as Congress president. On 14 March Sonia Gandhi is elected to the post. - 10 March – The Election Commission constitutes the lower house with 539 members. The BJP and its allies form the single largest group.
- 10 March – The president asks Vajpayee whether he is "able and willing" to form a government; he seeks proof of support from allies.
- 12 March – A regional ally, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra KazhagamAll India Anna Dravida Munnetra KazhagamAll India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam is a state political party in the states of Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry, India. The party was founded by M. G. Ramachandran and is now headed by J. Jayalalithaa. The party headquarters is in Royapettah, Chennai, and was gifted to the party in 1986 by its...
(AIADMK), withholds support from the BJP. - 14 March – The AIADMK agrees to support the BJP but says it will not join its planned government.
- 15 March – Sonia Gandhi says Congress does not have the support to stake a claim to rule. The AIADMK agrees to join a BJP-led government. The president invites Vajpayee to form a government and take the oath as prime minister on 19 March and gives him ten more days to prove his parliamentary majority.
- 19 March – Vajpayee takes office after assembling a diverse cabinet reflecting his 13-party coalition.
- 28 March – The BJP-led coalition wins a parliamentary confidence vote by 13 votes thanks to last-minute backing from the regional Telugu Desam PartyTelugu Desam PartyTelugu Desam Party or TDP is a regional political party in India's Andhra Pradesh state. It was founded by former Telugu film star N. T...
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April to June
- 14 April – The BJP unanimously elects senior leader Khushabhau Thakre as its new president. Thakre formally takes over in early May from Lal Krishna Advani, who is widely credited with crafting the political strategy that took the BJP from obscurity to power.
- 19 April – Jayaram Jayalalitha, leader of key coalition partner AIADMK, demands the removal of three ministers facing graft charges. The communications minister is sacked.
- 11 May – India conducts 3 underground nuclear tests in PokhranPokhranPokhran is a city and a municipality located in Jaisalmer district in the Indian state of Rajasthan. It is a remote location in the Thar Desert region and served as the test site for India's first underground nuclear weapon detonation.-Geography:Pokhran http://marupradesh.org/ located at...
, including 1 thermonuclear device. - 13 May – India carries out 2 more nuclear tests at PokhranPokhranPokhran is a city and a municipality located in Jaisalmer district in the Indian state of Rajasthan. It is a remote location in the Thar Desert region and served as the test site for India's first underground nuclear weapon detonation.-Geography:Pokhran http://marupradesh.org/ located at...
. The United States and Japan impose economic sanctions on India. - 1 June – Finance Minister Yashwant SinhaYashwant SinhaYashwant Sinha is an Indian politician and a former finance minister of India and foreign minister in Atal Bihari Vajpayee's cabinet...
presents a budget for 1998–99 (April–March) which sends stock markets lower. Under pressure from industry and markets, the government makes some embarrassing rollbacks on its budget proposals. - 6 June – The UN Security Council votes unanimously to condemn India and Pakistan for their nuclear weapons tests.
- 9 June – Over 1,120 people are killed when a cyclone hits coastal areas of the western state of Gujarat.
- 19 June – Separatist guerrillas shoot dead 25 members of a Hindu wedding party at Chapnari village in the Doda District of Jammu and Kashmir StateJammu and KashmirJammu and Kashmir is the northernmost state of India. It is situated mostly in the Himalayan mountains. Jammu and Kashmir shares a border with the states of Himachal Pradesh and Punjab to the south and internationally with the People's Republic of China to the north and east and the...
– 1998 Chapnari massacre1998 Chapnari massacre1998 Chapnari massacre was a massacre of 25 Hindu villagers in Chapnari village in Doda district of Jammu & Kashmir on 19 June 1998 allegedly attributed to Pakistan backed insurgent groups.-Background:...
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July to September
- 20 July – Jayalalitha launches another salvo against the coalition government, giving it a two-day ultimatum to implement a Supreme Court ruling on supply of river water to her southern state of Tamil NaduTamil NaduTamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...
or face "disastrous consequences". - 4 August – Guerrillas in Kashmir kill 19 people as cross-border firing by the Indian and Pakistani armies runs into its sixth day. On 5 August, at least 104 people are reported dead.
- 7 August – The AIADMK decides to continue its support after a water-sharing deal is struck between four southern provinces.
- 9 August – In Kashmir, separatist Ali Mohammad Dar, the self-styled deputy supreme commander of the banned Hizbul MujahideenHizbul MujahideenHizbul Mujahideen , founded by Ahsan Dar in 1989, is a Kashmiri militant group active in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir since 1989. Their headquarters are located in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir. It is believed the group al-Badr, derived from Hizbul Mujahideen...
, is killed in a gunbattle with Indian police. - 10 August – A further 19 people die as violence flares across the disputed region.
- 25 September – President K.R. Narayanan deals a blow to the Indian cabinet, urging it to review its recommendation to fire the government in the crime-plagued eastern state of Bihar.
October to December
- 18 October – Pakistan and India end their first peace talks in a year with agreement to meet again next February in New Delhi.
- 6 November – The first talks between India and Pakistan since 1992 over the disputed Siachen glacier end when Pakistan rejects an Indian proposal for a ceasefire.
- 26 November – A passenger train rams into another train in the northern Indian state of Punjab, killing at least 201 people.
- 29 November – The BJP pays a heavy price for its failure to halt a surge in the price of food items, especially onions, losing local elections to the main opposition Congress party in the key Hindi heartland states of DelhiDelhiDelhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
and RajasthanRajasthanRājasthān the land of Rajasthanis, , is the largest state of the Republic of India by area. It is located in the northwest of India. It encompasses most of the area of the large, inhospitable Great Indian Desert , which has an edge paralleling the Sutlej-Indus river valley along its border with...
and failing to wrest control of the central state of Madhya PradeshMadhya PradeshMadhya Pradesh , often called the Heart of India, is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and Indore is the largest city....
. - 30 December – Defence Minister George FernandesGeorge FernandesGeorge Mathew Fernandes is an Indian trade unionist, politician, journalist, agriculturist, and member of Rajya Sabha from Bihar. He is a key member of the Janata Dal , and was the founder of the Samata Party...
sacks Naval Chief Admiral Vishnu BhagwatVishnu BhagwatVishnu Bhagwat is a former Chief of the Naval Staff of India. He is the first and only chief of naval staff who was sacked while still serving. It was for the first time in the history of independent India that a service headquarter had refused to implement the order of an incumbent government.-...
, triggering controversy.
Full date unknown
- The National Highway Development Project is launched.
- Netaji Subhas Open UniversityNetaji Subhas Open UniversityNetaji Subhas Open University is an open university imparting distance education in eastern India. It is the 58th largest university in the world.-History:...
started functioning in KolkataKolkataKolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...
, West Bengal.
Births
- 12 July – Swini KharaSwini KharaSwini Khara is an Indian child actress. She became known for her role as the mischievous Chaitali in Baa, Bahu aur Baby. This was followed by roles in advertisements for ICICI Bank and Lakme- before acting with Amitabh Bachchan in the movie Cheeni Kum...
, actress - 3 September – Amey PandyaAmey PandyaAmey Pandya, is an Indian child actor active in Indian television and cinema. He is also sometimes credited as Ameya Pandya.-Career:...
, actor - 16 November – Priyanshi SomaniPriyanshi SomaniPriyanshi Somani is a mental calculator. She was the youngest participant of the Mental Calculation World Cup 2010 and won the overall title. She is the only participant who has done 100% accuracy in Addition, Multiplication, Square Root till date in all four Mental Calculation World Cups. Somani...
, mental calculator
Full date unknown
- S. AkashS. Akash-Early life:S. Akash was born in Bangalore, India. He trained under flautist, Ronu Majumdar.-Career:S. Akash was the winner of the Idea Jalsa National Talent Hunt Winner. He has been performing solo since 2005. He performed at Pandit Motiram Pandit Maniram Sangeet Samaroh in 2010.-References:...
, flautist - Hemant BrijwasiHemant BrijwasiHemant Brijwasi is the winner of , a singing competition aired on Zee TV. The first runner-up was Yatarth Ratnum Rastogi followed by Shreyasi Bhattacharjee. Hemant got eliminated on July 18, 2009 due a rare ordinary performance, but bounced back in contention through the wild card entry on August...
, singer - Diptayan GhoshDiptayan GhoshDiptayan Ghosh is a chess player from Kolkata, India. He became the under-10 Asian champion at the Youth Chess Championship 2008, in Turkey.He is a student at the Goodricke National Chess Academy at Kolkata.-External links:...
, chess player - Ishaan Khattar, actor
- Azharuddin Mohammed IsmailAzharuddin Mohammed IsmailAzharuddin Mohammed Ismail is an Indian child actor, who played the youngest version of Salim Malik in the Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire , for which he won a Screen Actors Guild Award...
, actor - Sreelakshmi SureshSreelakshmi SureshSreelakshmi Suresh is a student of Presentation High Secondary School in Kozhikode, Kerala, India. She has been noted as one of the youngest award winning web designers in the world...
, student of Presentation High Secondary School in KozhikodeKozhikodeKozhikode During Classical antiquity and the Middle Ages, Kozhikkode was dubbed the "City of Spices" for its role as the major trading point of eastern spices. Kozhikode was once the capital of an independent kingdom of the same name and later of the erstwhile Malabar District...
, Kerala - Swapnali YadavSwapnali YadavSwapnali Yadav was a twelve-year-old Andheri girl who became the youngest-ever to win the women's category in the Kimberley National Lake Argyle Swim in Kununurra, Western Australia. Besides being the youngest, she is also the first Indian to win the event...
Deaths
- 19 May – Leela DeviLeela DeviDr. R. Leela Devi was an Indian writer, translator, and teacher. Her work includes books in English, Malayalam, and Sanskrit languages. She was from the state of Kerala.- Writer & Translator :...
, writer, translatorTranslationTranslation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. Whereas interpreting undoubtedly antedates writing, translation began only after the appearance of written literature; there exist partial translations of the Sumerian Epic of...
, and teacher (b.1932). - 4 June – AarudhraAarudhraBhagavatula Sadashiva Shankara Sastry , known by his pen-name Arudra, is a highly respected author in Modern Telugu literature of Andhra Pradesh, India.-Early life:...
, author, poet and historian (b.1925). - 16 September – Mazhar KhanMazhar Khan (actor)Mazhar Khan was an Indian film and television actor and producer and director.-Career:Mazhar made his debut in the 1979 film Baton Baton Mein. He came into recognition with the 1980 film Shaan which was directed by Ramesh Sippy...
, actor, producer and director (b.1953). - 22 October – Ajit Khan, actor (b.1922).
See also
- Bollywood films of 1998Bollywood films of 1998A list of films produced by the Bollywood film industry based in Mumbai in 1998:-Highest grossing:The top ten grossing films at the Indian Box Office in 1998:-1998:-External links:* at the Internet Movie Database...