JANUARY sports

Jan. 1: Cricket journalist and commentator Christopher Martin Jenkins passes away.
Cricketers Sanjay Bangar and Sairaj Bahutule retire from first-class cricket.
Jan. 4: Uttarakhand and Railways clinch the mens and womens national basketball titles
respectively.
Jan. 6: Pakistan wins the three-match one-day series against India 2-1.
Janko Tipsarevic wins the singles title at ATP Chennai Open. Stanislas Wawrinka and Benoit Paire
win the doubles title.
Michael Hussey retires from international cricket.
Jan. 7: Lionel Messi wins his fourth successive Ballon dOr.
Jan. 10: Delhi and Petroleum win the womens and mens national table tennis team titles.
Jan. 12: Soumyajit Ghosh and K. Shamini bag the mens and womens national table tennis singles
titles.
Jan. 15: Kerala and Railways take the mens and womens national volleyball titles.
Jan. 18: American cyclist Lance Armstrong admits to doping.
Jan. 25: Cricketer Rahul Dravid awarded Padma Bhushan
Jan. 26: Victoria Azarenka wins the Australian Open womens singles title. Bob and Mike Bryan win
the mens doubles crown.
Jan. 27: Novak Djokovic wins his third consecutive Australian Open mens singles title.
India wins the one-day series against England 3-2.
Jan. 29: Mumbai wins its 40th Ranji Trophy title.
FEBRUARY
Feb. 3: ONGC and Tamil Nadu emerged the mens and womens champions at the Federation Cup
Basketball championship.
Korea defeats India 4-1 in the Davis Cup.
Feb. 10: Rest of India wins the Irani Trophy defeating Mumbai.
Ranchi Rhinos wins the inaugural Hockey India League.
Feb. 12: Wheelchair tennis legend Esther Vergeer retires.
Feb. 14: Blade Runner Oscar Pistorious charged with murder of his girlfriend.
Feb. 15: Pankaj Advani becomes the first ever Indian to reach the quarterfinals of a major-ranking
pro snooker event.
Feb. 16: Ramkumar Ramanathan and Ankita Raina win the mens and womens national grass-
court tennis titles.
Feb. 26: Petroleum Sports Promotion Board and Air India win the mens and womens national
team chess championships.
MARCH
March 3: Services defeats Kerala to retain Santosh Trophy.
Kerala takes the Federation Cup mens and womens volleyball crowns.
March 6: Sri Lankan middle-order batsman Thilan Samaraweera retires from International cricket.
March 9: Anirban Lahiri wins the SAIL-SBI Open golf championship.
March 13: West Zone retains Deodhar Trophy.
March 24: ONGC men and KSEB women triumph at the National Club Volleyball Championship.
India beats Australia 4-0 in the four-match Test series.
March 28: New Zealand cricketer Jessie Ryder goes into coma after an altercation outside a bar in
Christchurch .
March 31: Gujarat wins the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 tournament.
APRIL
April 2: Norway s Magnus Carlsen wins the candidates tournament to challenge Viswanathan
Anand for the world Chess title.
April 7: Rupesh Shah wins the Asian Billiards Championship.
India blanks Indonesia 5-0 in the Davis Cup.
April 11: Railways women and Tamil Nadu men finish on top in the 3x3 National basketball
championship.
April 14: Adam Scott wins the Augusta Masters.
April 23: Manchester United wins its 20th English Premier League title.
April 26: ONGC emerges the overall champion in Federation Cup athletics.
April 28: Ratchanok Intaton and Lee Chong Wei win the womens and mens titles at the Indian
Open badminton.
April 30: Haryana defeats Railways 4-1 to win the National womens Hockey championship.
MAY
May 1: Viswanathan Anand finishes third in the Alekhine memorial chess tournament.
May 3: ATP president Brad Drewett dies at the age of 54.
May 4: P. V. Sindhu wins Malaysian Grand Prix.
May 5: FIDE approves Chennai as venue for World chess championship.
May 8: Singapore men and women win team titles in Commonwealth table tennis championships.
Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson announces retirement at end of season.
May 12: Barcelona clinches its 22nd La Liga football title.
Fernando Alonso wins the Spanish Grand Prix.
Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams win the Madrid Masters.
Tiger Woods wins the US PGA Tour Players Championship
Churchill Brothers win the I-league football tournament.
May 13: Paris Saint-Germain is crowned French football league champion.
Roberto Mancini sacked as Manchester City manager.
May 15: Footballer Rio Ferdinand calls time on his England career.
Chelsea wins the Europa League football tournament.
May 16: Footballer David Beckham announces retirement at end of season.
Karnataka wins the Rangaswamy Cup for the mens senior National hockey championship.
May 17: Athletico Madrid wins the Copa del Rey football tournament.
May 18: Adam Gilchrist brings the curtains down on his career, winning his last IPL match.
May 19: England beats New Zealand in the first Test at Lords.
Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams win Rome Masters.
May 20: China s Zhang Jike wins the mens singles title at the World table tennis championship.
May 21: Pune Warriors withdraws from the Indian Premier League.
May 22: Andy Murray pulls out of French Open.
May 25: Bayern Munich clinches UEFA Champions League title.
May 26: Nico Rosberg wins Monaco Grand Prix.
China wins Sudirman Cup badminton tournament.
Mumbai Indians crowned IPL champion.
Sachin Tendulkar announces retirement from IPL.
Laura Massaro wins British Open squash tournament in the womens section.
Pakistan wins its two-match ODI series against Ireland 1-0.
May 27: England confirmed as host of 2019 cricket World Cup.
May 28: England beats New Zealand in the second Test at Leeds to win the two-match series 2-0.
May 29: Wisden Almanacks 150th anniversary is observed.
JUNE
June 1: Bayern Munich wins German Cup, completes historic treble after it had earlier won the
UEFA Champions League and the Bundesliga.
June 2: New Zealand clinches ODI series against England after securing an unassailable 2-0 lead.
June 3: Jose Mourinho is appointed as Chelsea manager for his second stint at the club.
June 4: Bangladesh cricketer Mohammad Ashraful admits to spot-fixing in the Bangladesh Premier
League.
June 5: Tim May quits as chief of Federation of International Cricketers Associations.
June 8: Bob and Mike Bryan win the French Open mens doubles title. Its the duos 14th Grand
Slam title, a record.
Serena Williams wins her second French Open title, beating M. Sharapova 6-4, 6-4 in the final.
June 9: Rafael Nadal wins his eighth French Open title.
Sebastian Vettel wins the Canadian Grand Prix.
K. Srikanth wins the Thailand Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament.
June 13: Usain Bolt wins the 200m competition in the Diamond League athletics meet in Oslo .
June 16: Justin Rose wins his first US Open golf tournament.
June 20: Miami Heat wins its second consecutive NBA title.
June 23: India wins the ICC Champions Trophy cricket tournament.
June 24: Boris Gelfand wins Tal Memorial chess tournament.
Darren Lehmann replaces Mickey Arthur as Australia s coach.
June 30: Brazil wins third successive Confederations Cup football tournament.
Nico Rosberg wins the British Grand Prix.
JULY
July 6: Marion Bartoli wins the womens Wimbledon title.
The Bryan brothers, Bob and Mike, win the Wimbledon to become the first doubles team to hold all
four Grand Slam titles in the Open era.
July 7: Andy Murray wins the Wimbledon, ends Britains 77-year wait for a home-grown mens
singles champion.
Su-Wei Hsieh and Peng Shuai clinch the Wimbledon womens doubles title.
Sebastian Vettel wins the German Grand Prix, his first victory at home.
July 11: India wins the tri-nation cricket tournament in West Indies .
July 14: England wins first Ashes Test in Nottingham .
July 15: Former Ireland cricket captain Trent Johnston announces retirement.
July 21: Phil Mickelson wins the British Open golf tournament.
Chris Froome bags the Tour de France cycling title.
July 28: Lewis Hamilton wins the Hungarian Grand Prix.
India takes an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match ODI series against Zimbabwe .
July 30: Aditya Mehta becomes the first Indian to win the quadrennial World Games snooker gold
medal after securing the title at Cali , Columbia .
AUGUST
Aug. 5: England retains the Ashes after playing out a draw with Australia in the third Ashes Test at
Manchester .
Aug. 10: Mo Farah wins mens 10,000m gold in the IAAF World Championships.
P. V. Sindhu loses in the womens semifinal of the World badminton championships. She, however,
secures bronze to become the first Indian woman singles player to bag a medal in the tournament.
Aug. 11: Usain Bolt reclaims the mens 100m title in the IAAF World Championships.
Lin Dan and Ratchanok Intanon win the mens and womens singles titles respectively in the World
badminton championships.
Jason Dufner wins the PGA Championship golf tournament.
Aug. 12: Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce wins the womens 100m event in the IAAF World Championships.
England beats Australia in the fourth Ashes Test at Chester-le-Street .
Aug. 13: Yelena Isinbayeva wins her third World Championship title in the pole vault event.
Aug. 14: Marion Bartoli, the 28-year-old French tennis player, announces her retirement six weeks
after winning the Wimbledon .
Jehue Gordon wins mens 400m hurdles gold in the IAAF World Championships.
Aug. 16: Mo Farah wins 5000m gold to complete a World Championship double
Aug. 17: Usain Bolt wins the 200m gold in the IAAF World Championships.
Aug. 18: Rafael Nadal and Victoria Azarenka clinch the mens and womens Cincinnati Masters
tennis titles.
Aug. 25: Sebastian Vettel wins the Belgian Grand Prix.
England and Australia draw the fifth Ashes Test at The Oval.
SEPTEMBER
Sept. 1: Korea wins the Asia Cup hockey tournament in Ipoh , defeating India in the final.
Sept. 5: Mary Ann Gomes wins the National womens chess championship in Kolkata.
Sept. 7: The B samples of mens 100m world record holder Asafa Powell of Jamaica and his team-
mate Sherone Simpson, among others, test positive.
Sept. 7: Tokyo wins the bid to host 2020 Olympic Games.
Sept. 8: The duo of Leander Paes and Radek Stephanek wins the doubles title of the US Open tennis
championship, beating Alexander Peya and Bruno Soares in New York .
Sept. 9: Serena Williams wins the womens singles title of the US Open tennis championship,
defeating Victoria Azarenka in the final at New York .
Sept. 10: Rafael Nadal wins the mens title of the US Open tennis championship, defeating Novak
Djokovic in the final at New York .
Sept. 11: India loses to Afghanistan in the SAFF Cup football championship in Kathmandu .
Sept. 13: Cricketers Sreesanth and Ankeet Chavan banned for life by BCCI on charges of spot fixing.
Sept. 17: Bajrang wins a bronze medal in the 60 kg category of the world wrestling championship in
Budapest .
Sept. 18: Former heavyweight boxing champion Ken Norton passes away in Los Angeles .
Sept. 19: Mohammedan Sporting regains the Durand Cup football title after a gap of 73 years in
New Delhi .
Sept. 21: Anand Amritraj appointed captain of the Indian Davis Cup team.
Sept. 25: BCCI expels Lalit Modi, former IPL Commissioner for serious misconduct and
indiscipline in its Special General meeting in Chennai.
Sept. 29: N. Srinivasan is unanimously re-elected as the President of Board of Control for Cricket in
India.
OCTOBER
Oct. 1: Former World No. 3 tennis player David Nalbandian of Argentina announces retirement.
Oct. 6: Mumbai Indians wins the Champions League cricket tournament in New Delhi .
Oct. 6: Sebastian Vettel wins the Korean Formula One Grand Prix.
Oct. 13: Sebastian Vettel wins the Japanese Formula One Grand Prix.
Oct. 18: Ding Junhui wins the Indian Open International snooker tournament in New Delhi .
Oct. 19: Mohit Mayur and Prerna Bhambri win the mens and womens singles titles in the National
tennis championship in New Delhi .
Oct. 27: Sachin Tendulkar plays his last Ranji Trophy match against Haryana at Lahli.
Oct. 27: Sebastian Vettel wins the Formula One Indian Grand Prix in New Delhi .
NOVEMBER
Nov. 6: Rafael Nadal ensures world no 1 position after his victory over Wawrinka in the ATP World
Tours event in London.
Nov. 10: World chess (Viswanathan Anand and Norway's Magnus Carlsen) begins in Chennai; Ist
game drawn.
Nov. 15: Carlsen wins fifth game to take 3-2 lead.
Nov. 16: Sachin Tendulkar ends his career after the India-West Indies Second Test. India win to
take the series 2-0.
Nov. 17: Czech republic wins Davis Cup beating Serbia 3-2 in Belgrade.
Nov. 21: Carlsen wins ninth game in World chess in Chennai, leads 6-3.
Nov. 22: Carlsen wins 10th game and take world champion title, beating Anand 6.5-3.5.
Nov. 24: Formula one champion Sebastian Vettel equals Michael Schumachers 2004 record of 13
wins in a season in Sao Paolo.
DECEMBER
Dec. 1: Rising Star P. V. Sindhu wins Macau Open badminton beating Canadas Michelle Li.
Dec. 5: India loses to South Africa in first ODI in Johannesburg.
Dec. 8: India lose second ODI to South Africa in Durban and series 0-2.
Dec. 10: Third India-South Africa ODI washed out in Centurion.
Dec. 15: Germany wins junior World Cup hockey (Roger Danet trophy) beating France 5-2 in final
in New Delhi.
Dec. 17: Australia regains Ashes, beating England in the Perth Test and taking 3-0 lead.
Dec. 22: India-South Africa Ist Test ends in exciting draw in Johannesburg.
Dec. 25: South Africas star cricketer Jacques Kallis announces retirement from Test cricket after
India series.
Dec. 29: Kallis signs off in style, with a century (115).
Formula I legend Michael Schumacher suffers serious head injury in ski accident at Meribel in
France.
Dec. 30: South Africa wins second Test in Durban, wins series.

JANUARY national
Jan. 1: The Union Governments Direct Benefits Transfer scheme is launched in 20 districts in six
States across the nation.
Jan. 2: The Supreme Court upholds the appointment of Justice R.A. Mehta as Gujarat Lokayukta.
The first of the five newly-announced fast-track courts to try cases related to sexual offence against
women is inaugurated in New Delhi by the CJI Altamas Kabir.
A 16-year-old girl is gangraped in Rayagada, Odisha.
Jan. 3: The Delhi police file chargesheet against five persons arrested in the December 16, 2012
gangrape case before a duty magistrate in Saket district courts in New Delhi.
Complex issues cannot be settled by faith, emotion and fear but by structured debate, analysis and
enlightenment, says Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the inauguration of the
100{+t}{+h}annual session of the Indian Science Congress in Kolkata.
Jan. 6: Assam gains an entry in the India Book of Records for holding the largest ensemble of
14,833 drummers playing khol in unison in Titabor, Jorhat district.
Jan. 7: The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha withdraws support to the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Arjun
Munda Government.
Jan. 8: Pakistani troops ambush and kill two soldiers of 13 Rajaputana Rifles Lance Naik Sudhakar
Singh and Lance Naik Hemraj (one of them beheaded), after crossing the LoC in Krishna Gati sector
of Poonch.
Arjun Munda resigns as Jharkhand Chief Minister.
Jan. 10: The Calcutta High Court in an interim order grants custody of the Bhattacharya children to
their mother Sagarika Chakraborty.
Jan. 12: Follow in the footsteps of Swami Vivekananda, says the West Bengal Governor M.K.
Narayanan, inaugurating the World Youth Festival to mark the Swamijis 150{+t}{+h}birth
anniversary in Kolkata.
Jan. 13: The 100-year-old Pamban rail bridge, Indias first cantilever bridge across the Palk Strait in
Rameswaram Island, Tamil Nadu suffers damage as a Karwar-bound barge rams it.
Jan. 15: Visa-on-arrival for Pakistani seniors put on hold following Prime Ministers warning that,
business as usual, not possible with Pakistan.
The Rayagada gangrape victim who attempted self-immolation (on January 7) dies at a corporate
hospital in Visakhapatnam.
Jan. 18: The Supreme Court directs the Centre to set up a Special Court to try Italian marines
Massimilano Latore and Salvatore Gironi involved in the shooting of two fishermen off the Kerala
waters on February 15, 2012.
Jan. 19: Rahul Gandhi is appointed Congress Vice-President at the Chintan Shivir in Jaipur.
Jan. 21: The former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh merges his Jankranti Party
(Rashtrawadi) with the BJP.
Prema Jayakumar, daughter of an autorickshaw driver in Malad, Mumbai tops the nationwide CA
exam. Her brother Dhanraj too clears the exam.
Jan. 22: A Special CBI court jails for 10 years former Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala
for illegal selection of over 3,000 junior basic trained primary school teachers during 1999-2000.
Jan. 23: The Justice Verma Committee rules against recommending the death penalty even in the
rarest of rare cases, and also does not favour lowering the age of a juvenile from 18 to 16.
Shiv Sena elects Uddhav Thackeray as party president at the National Executive In Mumbai.
Jan. 24: The Madras High Court upholds the shifting of the Legislative Assembly-cum-Secretariat
complex back from the Omandurar Government Estate to Fort St. George. Work begins to convert
building into hospital.
Jan. 25: Noted physicist Yash Pal, space scientist Roddam Narasimha, sculptor Raghunath
Mohapatra and painter Syed Haider Raza chosen for Padma Vibhushan.
Actor Sharmila Tagore, cricketer Rahul Dravid, boxing champion Mary Kom, film-star Rajesh
Khanna, comedian Jaspal Bhatti (both posthumously); noted scientist Shivathanu Pillai and V.K.
Saraswat, industrialists R. Thayagarajan and Adi Godrej prominent among 24 Padma Bhushan
awardees.
Film director Ramesh Sippy, eminent entrepreneur Rajshree Pathy, actor Sridevi, fashion designer
Ritu Kumar, scholar Noboru Karashima, Urdu poets Nida Fazli and Salik Lakhnawi (the latter
posthumously) actor Nana Patekar prominent among 80 Padma Shri awardees.
Author Jeet Thayil is presented the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature-2013 for his debut
novelNarcopolis at the Jaipur Literature Festival.
Jan. 26: The Nation celebrates the 64{+t}{+h}Republic Day with a charming display of military
prowess and cultural diversity.
Jan. 28: The sixth accused in the New Delhi gangrape and murder case is declared a minor by the
Juvenile Justice Board.
Jan. 29: Over 1,009 children set a world record by assembling dressed up like Mahatma Gandhi on
the Marina, Chennai.
Jan. 31: President Pranab Mukherjee inaugurates The Hindu Centre for Politics and Public Policy, a
new think-tank from Kasturi & Sons Ltd. at a function in Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi.
The Supreme Court sets aside a January 2005 Kerala High Court judgment acquitting all 35 persons
except the prime accused S.S. Dharmarajan in the 1996 Suryanelli sex scandal case.
FEBRUARY
Feb. 1: The Union Cabinet gives nod for an ordinance aimed at making changes in sections of the
IPC dealing with crimes against women.
The UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi presents the Best Performing Gram Panchayat Award to Karma
Lepcha of Hee-Gyathang, Sikkim, during the eighth MGNREGA Diwas Sammelan in New Delhi.
Feb. 2: A special fast track court in New Delhi frames charges against five accused in the December
16, 2012 Delhi gangrape case.
The Karnataka government appoints G. Bhavani Singh as the Special Public Prosecutor in the
disproportionate assets case against Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa.
Feb. 4: Solictor-General of India Rohinton Nariman resigns.
The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa hands over a cheque for Rs. 10 lakh to Prema Jayakumar
of Mumbai who scored the first rank in the CA examination.
Feb. 6: Land acquisition for the Posco project in Odisha is halted following stiff opposition from the
locals.
Feb. 7: The Supreme Court directs Karnataka to release forthwith 2.44 tmcft of water to Tamil Nadu
to save standing crops on one lakh acres in the Cauvery delta region.
Feb. 8: The Tamil Nadu Assembly adopts four bills, including the Special Police Youth Brigade Bill.
Feb. 9: The December 13, 2001 Parliament attack case convict Mohammed Afzal Guru is hanged
and buried inside the Tihar jail complex in New Delhi.
Feb. 10: Thirtysix Kumbh pilgrims are killed and 39 injured in a stampede at the
Allahabad railway station after a foot bridge collapses due to heavy rush of people.
Feb. 11: New stock exchange MCX-SX starts trading shares.
Feb. 12: The Defence Ministry orders a CBI probe into allegations of bribery in the Rs.
3,600-crore VVIP helicopter deal inked in February 2010 with Italian defence firm
Finmeccanica.
Vinodhini, a victim of acid attack in Karaikal on November 14, 2012 dies at a private
hospital in Chennai.
Feb. 13: Mohan Parasaran is appointed Solicitor General.
Feb. 14: A record 91.5 per cent polling is registered in the Tripura Assembly election.
Feb. 17: Journalist-author Jerry Pinto is presented The Hindu Literary Prize 2013 for
his novel Em and the Big Hoom , at a function in Chennai.
Feb. 18: The President Pranab Mukherjee presents the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace,
Disarmament and Development for 2011 to Ela Ramesh Bhatt of Self-Employed
Womens Association at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Feb. 19: The Centre notifies the final award of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal
given in February 2007, in the Gazette.
Feb. 20: The mowing down of a trade unionist in Ambala, Haryana and attack on those
who turned up for work at Noida mar the first day of the two-day all-India general
strike called by 11 central trade unions.
The National Greeen Tribunal, Southern Bench gives its nod for the setting up of a
multi-superspeciality hospital in Omandurar Government Estate, Chennai.
Feb. 21: Sixteen persons are killed and over 117 injured as two powerful blasts rip
through crowded areas at Dilsukhnagar in Hyderabad.
Sensex plunges by over 317 points, its biggest single-day fall since May 2012, to close at
19325.36.
Feb. 23: More than 83 per cent voting registered in Nagaland Assembly polls.
Over 85 per cent polling recorded in Meghalaya.
Feb. 24: Vidya (21), dies of injuries she suffered in an acid attack on Jan. 30, at the
Government Kilpauk Hospital, Chennai.
Feb. 25: The PSLV C20 puts the 400-Kg India-French satellite SARAL and six others
into their precise orbits after its successful launch from the Sriharikota spaceport.
Feb. 26: The Railway Budget for 2013-14 presented in the Lok Sabha by a Congress
Minister after 17 years, spares passengers, but hikes freight rates by 5.8 per cent based
on fuel price.
Rajya Sabha approves the amended Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace
Prevention, Protection and Redressal Bill. Nod for Presidents rule in Jharkhand.
Sensex tanks 316.55 points to close at 19015.14 wiping out Rs. 1 lakh crore in investor
wealth.
Feb. 27: The Government forms a 30-member JPC to probe the chopper deal.
At least 20 persons are killed and six others injured in a major fire at a market place
on Surya Sen Street close to the Sealdah railway station in Kolkata.
Feb. 28: The Union Budget 2013-14 is presented in the Lok Sabha. Womens bank to be
set up with Rs. 1,000-crore capital. Nirbhaya Fund of Rs. 1,000-crore for womens
safety.
The Left Front wins a fifth straight victory in Tripura with a two-thirds majority. The
Naga Peoples Front sweeps back to power in Nagaland for the third consecutive time
with an absolute majority. The Congress retains Meghalaya.
MARCH
March 3: Land acquisition for the Posco project resumes.
A Deputy Superintendent of Police Zia-Ul-Haque is shot dead during a mob attack in
the Hathgawan area of Pratapgarh district in U.P.
March 4: Uttar Pradesh Food and Civil Supplies Minister Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias
Raja Bhaiya resigns after being named an accused in the killing of DSP Zia-ul-Haque.
March 6: The seventh Left Front Government headed by Manik Sarkar (who takes oath
as Chief Minister for the fourth consecutive term) assumes office in Tripura.
March 8: The Delhi gangrape victim is posthumously honoured with the Rani
Lakshmibai Award, at a function in New Delhi.
Bittihotra Mohanty, son of former Odisha DGP B.B. Mohanty missing since his release
on parole on November 20, 2006 while serving a seven-year term for raping a German
National in Alwar, Rajasthan is arrested by the Kerala Police in Kannur.
March 9: The Cauvery Delta Farmers Welfare Association presents a memento
namedPonniyin Selvi to the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa for her efforts in
getting the final award of the Cauvery Tribunal notified in the Central gazette, at a
function in Thanjavur.
March 11: Ram Singh, the main accused in the December 16, 2012 Vasant Vihar
gangrape is found hanging in his cell inside Tihar jail.
March 13: The CBI books the former Air Chief Marshal S.P. Tyagi along with 12 others
for alleged cheating, criminal conspiracy in the Rs. 3,600-crore VVIP chopper deal.
March 16: The President Pranab Mukherjee inaugurates the 125{+t}{+h}anniversary
celebrations of Malayala Manorama in Kottayam, Kerala and releases a
commemorative stamp.
March 18: Paan Singh Tomar bags the best feature film award at the 60th National
Film Awards function in New Delhi. The Hindi film Vicky Donor and Malayalam
filmUstad Hotel share the award for the best popular film providing wholesome
entertainment. Irrfan Khan ( Paan Singh Tomar ) and Vikram Gokhale ( Anumati )
share the best actor award. Usha Jadhav ( Anumati ) bags the best actress award.
March 19: The DMK decides to quit both the Union Government and the Congress-led
UPA.
The Lok Sabha passes the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2013, to provide for more
stringent punishment for crimes against women.
March 20: All five DMK Ministers in the UPA government submit resignation letters to
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
March 21: The Supreme Court confirms the death sentence for Yakub Abdul Razak
Memon, the main accused in the March 12, 1993 Mumbai serial blasts that killed 257
people. Five-year jail term for actor Sanjay Dutt. Death sentence for 10 commuted to
lifer.
The Tamil Nadu Finance Minister O. Paneerselvam presents a revenue-surplus budget
in the State Assembly. Social sector allocated Rs. 43,450-crore.
March 22: Italian marines Massimilano Latore and Salvatore Girone land in Delhi.
March 26: AirAsias proposal gets the governments nod.
March 27: The Tamil Nadu Assembly adopts a resolution, which among other things,
seeks a referendum on creation of Eelam.
Puthiya Kovilakathu Sree Manavedan Raja (100), the Zamorin of Calicut passes away
at a hospital in Kozhikode.
March 30: Sterlite Industries Ltd.s copper smelter plant is ordered closed by the
Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board, following reports of a gas leak on March 23.
The family members of those killed in the December 13, 2001 attack on Parliament
take back gallantry medals they had returned on December 13, 2006.
APRIL
April 1: The Supreme Court in a landmark verdict rejects Swiss firm Novartis plea for
a patent for modification of Glivec that fights a form of chronic blood cancer. Green
signal for cheaper generic drugs.
April 2: A new Gujarat Lokayukta Aayog Bill, 2013 is passed in the State Assembly.
The Supreme Court directs Sterlite Copper Smelter plant to pay Rs.100 crore as
compensation for land and water pollution. The order will not come in the way of
TNPCB closure directive.
April 3 : A court holds Maharashtra State Transport bus driver Santosh Mane who
killed nine persons and injured 37 after hijacking a bus on January 25, 2012, guilty of
murder.
April 4: At least 74 people are killed and 61 injured after a seven-storey building at
Lucky Compound, Shilpata collapses in Thane, in the neighbourhood of Mumbai.
The Tamil Nadu Government posts Shiv Das Meena, an IAS officer as Administrator of
the 84-year-old Annamalai University.
April 5: President Pranab Mukherjee presents the Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan
and Padmashri awards at a function in Rashtrapati Bhavan.
April 6: Lt. Commander Abhilash Tomy becomes the only one in the world to officially
do solo circumnavigation and solo non-stop circumnavigation.
April 8: A sessions court in Pune hands down death sentence to Santosh Mane.
April 10: A sessions court in New Delhi rejects CBIs clean chit to Congress leader
Jagdish Tytler in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case and orders a fresh probe.
Benod Behari Choudhury (102), the last of the revolutionaries who took part in the
1930 Chittagong Armoury Raid dies at a Kolkata hospital after a multi-organ failure.
April 12 : The Supreme Court rejects the mercy petition of Khalistani terrorist and
death-row convict Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar in the 1993 Delhi bomb blast case.
April 15 : A Pune trial court holds Mirza Himayat Baig guilty of planning and executing
the February 13, 2010 German Bakery blasts.
The Tamil Nadu Government introduces a Bill in the Assembly to repeal the
Annamalai University Act of 1929 and replace it with a fresh legislation. Registrar
R.Meenakshisundaram demits office.
April 17 : Telugu writer Ravuri Bharadwaja is selected for the Jnanpith Award for
2012.
Relatives rescue a five-year-old girl raped and brutalised from the ground floor flat of
an apartment in Gandhi Nagar, East Delhi. She had gone missing two days earlier.
April 18: Mirza Himayat Baig is sentenced to death for murder and criminal
conspiracy by a Pune sessions court.
The Madras High Court orders the sale of MT Pratibha Cauvery which ran aground in
Chennai due to Cyclone Nilam on October 31, 2012, through the court.
April 19: B. Sivanthi Adityan (76), owner of Dina Thanthi and well-known sports
administrator, dies in Chennai after a prolonged illness.
April 20: Manoj Sah, accused of raping the five-year-old is arrested at Chiknouta, in
Bihars Muzaffarpur.
April 22: Pradeep Kumar, the second accused in the Delhi child rape case is arrested in
Barahiya village at Lakhisarai district, Bihar.
April 23: Sudipta Sen, Chairman-cum-Managing Director of Kolkata-based Saradha
group is held in the tourist resort of Sonmarg in Kashmir.
April 24 : West Bengal government decides to set up a Rs.500-crore relief fund to
help out depositors hit by the chit fund scam.
Feroz Khan accused of raping a four-year-old girl in Ghansur town in Seoni, Madhya
Pradesh on April 17 is arrested in Bhagalpur, Bihar.
April 27: Major Anup Joseph Manjali is awarded Kirti Chakra by the President Pranab
Mukherjee. Twelve defence personnel given Shaurya Chakra for acts of bravery. Ten
officers are awarded Param Vishist Seva Medal.
April 28: Sailendra Nath Roy, a home guard and Guinness World Record holder, dies
of heart attack while trying to cross the Teesta river suspended from a 600-feet zip
cable by a tuft of his hair at a height of 70 feet near the Coronation Bridge near
Siliguri, West Bengal.
April 29: The four-year-old rape victim from Madhya Pradesh dies of cardiac arrest at
a Nagpur hospital.
April 30: A sessions court in Delhi acquits senior congress leader Sajjan Kumar of all
charges in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case. Five others are convicted.
Lok Sabha approves passage of the Finance Bill 2013-14, the railway budget and the
Appropriation bills, without discussion.
MAY
May 1: The Supreme Court upholds the governments proposal to allow FDI in multi-
brand retail trade.
May 2: Punjab Government declares Sarabhjit Singh a National Martyr.
May 3: Pakistani terror convict Sanaullah Haq is critically injured in an attack by an
Indian jailmate at Kot Bhalwal Central Jail in Jammu, four days after completion of 14
years of imprisonment.
The Tamil Nadu Assembly passes a resolution demanding that the Union Government
take steps to take back control of Katchatheevu, a small island ceded to Sri Lanka in
1974.
Bollywood legend Pran is honoured with the Dada Saheb Phalke Award by President
Pranab Mukherjee. Trophies given to the winners of 60th National Film Awards.
BiopicPaan Singh Tomar wins best picture award.
Haritha V. Kumar tops the rank list of the 2012 UPSC exams, in the process becoming
the first Keralite in more than 20 years to achieve this distinction.
Sarabhjit Singh is cremated with full honours in Bhikiwind village in Punjabs Tarn
Taran district.
May 5: China ends three-week stand-off and pulls out troops from Daulat Beg Oldi
sector in Ladakh.
Seventy per cent turnout in Karnataka Assembly polls.
May 6: The Supreme Court clears the decks for the commissioning of the Kudankulam
Nuclear Power Plant in Tamil Nadu.
May 8 : Karnataka votes the BJP out of power. Gives the Congress an unambiguous
mandate to rule.
May 9: Pakistani prisoner Sanaullah Haq (64) dies of multiple organ failure at a
hospital ,in Chandigarh.
May 10: Union information and Technology Minister Manish Tewari presents the
Dadasaheb Phalke award to veteran actor Pran (93) at the latters residence in Bandra.
May 11: Manjima Chatterjee wins The Hindu Metroplus Playwright Award 2013 for
herThe Mountain of Bones .
May 16: The Delhi Police Special Cell smashes a spot-fixing racket in the ongoing IPL
matches with the arrest of Indian pacer Sreesanth and two of his teammates from
Rajasthan Royals Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan in Mumbai.
Actor Sanjay Dutt surrenders in the special TADA court in Mumbai.
The Tamil Nadu Assembly gives its nod for the Annamalai University Bill, 2013 paving
the way for government control.
May 17: The Patna High Court acquits former Lok Sabha MP Rajesh Ranjan alias
Pappu Yadav and two others in the June 14, 1998 killing of CPI (M) MLA Ajit Sarkar.
May 18: Anshu Jamshenpa of Arunachal Pradesh, who holds the record of being the
only mother in the world to have scaled the Mount Everest twice in 10 days scales the
peak again for the third time.
Siddaramaiah is sworn in Karnataka Chief Minister.
Sri Narayana Yatheendra Mahadesikan, (87), 45{+t}{+h}Azhagiyasingar of Ahobila
Mutt passes away in Tiruchi.
May 20: India and China sign eight agreements, including one to increase the
frequency of exchange of hydrological data.
May 21: Defence Secretary Shashi Kant Sharma is appointed as the
12{+t}{+h}Comptroller and AuditorGeneral.
Arunima Sinha, a former national volleyball player, becomes the first woman amputee
to scale Mount Everest.
May 22: The Centre notifies Cauvery Water (Implementation of the Order of 2007)
Scheme, 2013. Formation of supervisory committee too notified.
May 23: Sri Ranganatha Yatheendra Mahadesikan formally takes charge as the
46{+t}{+h}Azhagiyasingar of Ahobila Mutt in Srirangam.
The Union Cabinet decides to grant classical language status for Malayalam.
May 24: Gurunath Meiyappan, son-in-law of BCCI president N. Srinivasan is arrested
on charges of betting, conspiracy and cheating by the Mumbai Crime Branch.
May 25: Mahendra Karma who founded Salwa Judum for combating Maoists and state
Congress president Nandkumar Patel are among 27 persons killed in an ambush on a
motorcade by naxalites at Darbha, Chhattisgarh. Senior leader V.C. Shukla is seriously
injured.
The former Editor-in-chief of The Hindu N. Ram and veteran author-journalist activist
Kuldip Nayar are honoured with the Red Ink Lifetime Achievement Awards for 2013
for a career dedicated to good journalism by the Press Club of Mumbai.
May 29: In a major twist to the Suryanelli rape case, the lone convict S.S. Dharmarajan
denies knowing Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman P.J. Kurien in an affidavit filed in the
District and Sessions Court, Thodupuzha, Kerala.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is re-elected to the Rajya Sabha from Assam for the
fifth consecutive term.
May 31: The National Green Tribunal allows Sterlite Industries Ltd. to begin operation
of its copper smelter plant in Tamil Nadus Tuticorin district.
JUNE
June 1: N.R. Narayana Murthy is reappointed Infosys Chairman two years after his
retirement. Son Rohan Murthy appointed his executive assistant.
June 4: The Union Cabinet approves a non-binding conciliation process with the
British telecom giant Vodafone in the $2-billion (Rs. 11,200 crore) tax dispute case.
June 11: Senior Congress leader Vidya Charan Shukla (84) dies of injuries he sustained
in a Maoist attack in Chhattisgarh, at Medanta in Gurgaon.
The Andhra Pradesh High Court approves the merger of Satyam Computers with Tech
Mahindra.
June 13: Two out of three segments of Mumbais 17-km Eastern Freeway, comprising
the nations second longest road and the first-ever urban tunnel are inaugurated by
the Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan.
June 16: The Janata Dal (United) severs its alliance with the BJP. The JD(U) national
president Sharad Yadav resigns as NDA convener.
Heavy rains lash Mumbai and trigger landslips in Uttarakhand. Thousands of Char
Dham pilgrims stranded on Gangotri and Yamunotri routes.
June 17: More than 30 persons are killed and 57,000 pilgrims left stranded in
Rudraprayag, Chamoli and Uttarkasi as unprecedented rains wreak havoc in
Uttarakhand. Dehradun records 340 mm rainfall. Mandakini river floods
Rudraprayag. NH-107 is washed away.
Oscar Fernandes becomes Road & Highways Minister; Sis Ram Ola gets Labour and
Employment; Mallikarjuna Kharge shifted from Labour to Railway and Girija Vyas is
allocated Housing in the Union Cabinet reshuffle.
June 18: The toll in the flood fury in the north, especially in Uttarakhand and
Himachal Pradesh goes up to 130. Over 70,000 pilgrims are stranded and 21 bridges
have collapsed in Uttarakhand. The temple town of Kedarnath is wiped out in flash
floods.
June 19: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar wins the trust vote in the State Assembly.
June 20: Sixteen badly blocked roads across Uttarakhand are declared open. Over
33,192 pilgrims rescued. Army flies 50 sorties.
June 21: Hyderabads Pallerla Sai Sandeep Reddy tops IIT JEE (Advanced). He had
also been the topper in the engineering stream of EAMCET in Andhra Pradesh.
June 22: Helicopters fly 150 sorties as rescue efforts gain steam in Uttarakhand and
82,000 evacuated till date. At least 22,000 stranded in Rudraprayag, Chamoli and
Uttarkashi districts. Toll touches 680.
June 25: An IAF helicopter crashes while on a rescue mission to Kedarnath in
Gaurikund area killing all 20 persons, including the crew on board.
June 26: Over 3,600 people are rescued from Harsil, Gaurikund and Badrinath
bringing the total number to 1,03,000.
The Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi launch
the Rs. 1,672-crore Banihal-Qazigund rail link to connect Jammu with Kashmir and
the rest of the nation. The 11.215-km Pir Panjal tunnel is also inaugurated.
June 27: Four AIADMK candidates and one each from the CPI and the DMK are elected
to the Raj Sabha from Tamil Nadu.
The ailing Tuticorin Alkali Chemicals and Fertilizers Limited is closed.
June 29: Justice P. Sathasivam becomes the first Judge from Tamil Nadu to be
appointed the CJI.
June 30: Anil Goswami takes charge as the Union Home Secretary.
JULY
July 1: Indias first dedicated navigation satellite, the 1,425-Kg IRNSS-1A is
successfully put into orbit after launch from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in
Sriharikota.
Jamia Millia University Vice-Chancellor Najeeb Jung is appointed Lt. Governor of
Delhi and K.K. Paul is named Meghalaya Governor.
July 2: Sujatha Singh is named Foreign Secretary.
July 3: The Madras High Court restrains NLC labour unions from going on strike over
the divestment issue. Unions launch indefinite strike.
July 4: The Odisha government completes land acquisition for the proposed Posco
Steel Plant.
Dalit Youth Elavarasan whose marriage to a Vanniyar girl Divya led to caste tension in
Dharmapuri, Tamil Nadu last year is found dead near a railway track behind the
Dharmapuri Government Arts College.
July 7: The Bodh Gaya temple complex in Bihar, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is
rocked by a series of bomb blasts.
July 8: Twelve persons are buried alive and one dies of injuries after City Light,
Secunderabads noted Irani hotel collapses.
July 10: The Supreme Court rules that chargesheeted MPs, MLAs, and MLCs will be
disqualified on date of criminal conviction.
July 11: The AERB gives its nod for controlled fission at the first unit of the
Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant in Tamil Nadu.
The Union Cabinet gives nod for revocation of Presidents rule in Jharkhand.
July 12: Veteran Bollywood actor and Dada Saheb Phalke awardee Pran Kishan Sikand
(93), dies at the Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai.
July 13: Jharkhand Mukti Morcha MLA Hemant Soren is sworn in as Jharkhands
ninth Chief Minister in Ranchi.
The reactor at the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project attains criticality.
July 14: India bids adieu to the 163-year-old Telegram Service.
July 15: Decks cleared for Tamil Nadu Government to acquire five per cent NLC stake
sale for Rs.500 crore. Employees call off strike.
July 16: The Supreme Court allows dance bars in Maharashtra, shut down seven years
ago to reopen.
The former Haryana Chief Minister, Om Prakash Chautala among 55 convicted in the
1999 teachers recruitment scam by a special CBI court in New Delhi.
July 17: The worlds largest steel maker Arcelor Mittal scraps its $12-billion steel plant
in Odisha.
July 18: The Supreme Court declares the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test
unconstitutional.
The CJI Altamas Kabir retires.
July 19: Justice P. Sathasivam is sworn in as the 40{+t}{+h}CJI at a ceremony at the
Rashtrapati Bhavan.
July 23: Vidya Subramaniam, Associate Editor of The Hindu wins the Ramnath
Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award for the Best Commentary and Interpretative
Writing for 2010.
July 24: Meena Devi, Principal of the Dharmasati Gandaman Primary School in Bihar
where 23 kids died after having mid-day meal is arrested.
July 25: A Delhi Court convicts suspected Indian Mujahideen operative Shahzad
Ahmed in the 2008 Batla House encounter case of murdering inspector Mohan Chand
Sharma.
July 26: Celebrated biologist Obaid Siddiqi (81), a scientist nonpareil dies of brain
injuries sustained in an accident two days ago while taking a stroll near his residence
in Vidyaranyapura in Bangalore.
July 30: The UPA Coordination Committee agrees to the division of Andhra Pradesh.
Suspected Indian Mujahideen terrorist Shahzad Ahmed convicted in the Batla House
encounter is sentenced to lifer.
July 31: An indefinite curfew is clamped in Diphu, headquarters town of Karbi
Anglong Hill district in Central Assam following widespread violence triggered by the
announcement on Telangana.
AUGUST
Aug. 1: The Assam Government requests Army to be on standby as violence spreads to
more areas in Karbi Anglong district.
Shujata Singh takes over as Foreign Secretary.
A probe is ordered following a major crisis after the National Spot Exchange Ltd.
suspends most trades on its platform.
Aug. 2: Seven Congress MPs, including six from the Lok Sabha and one from the Rajya
Sabha resign in protest against the division of Andhra Pradesh.
Aug. 4: The U.P. government serves chargesheet on IAS officer Durga Shakti Nagpal
(suspended on July 27 for ordering the demolition of the wall of an under-construction
mosque at Kadalpur village).
Aug. 5: The National Green Tribunal orders a nationwide stay on sand mining on river
beds without Environment Ministry clearance.
The number of MPs from the Seemandhra region who have quit membership from
both Houses protesting the creation of Telangana goes up to 17.
Aug. 6: Five Indian soldiers are killed in an ambush by Pakistani army commandos on
the Line of Control in the Poonch sector of Jammu and Kashmir.
Chief Economic Adviser Raghuram Govind Rajan is appointed as the RBI Governor for
three years.
Sensex plunges by 449.22 points to close at 18733.04. Rupee touches its record low of
61.80 a dollar.
Aug. 7: The historical bill to replace the National Food Security Bill Ordinance, 2013 is
introduced in the Lok Sabha.
Justice R.A. Mehta decides not to accept the post of Gujarat Lok Ayukta despite having
won a pitched legal battle.
Aug. 8: The National Green Tribunal permits Sterlite Industries to operate its copper
smelting plant at Tuticorin.
Aug. 10: The compact pressurised water reactor on board Indias nuclear-powered
submarine, Arihant, achieves criticality capping 25 years of indigenous efforts.
YSR Congress President and Kadapa MP Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy resigns from the
Lok Sabha. His mother Y.S. Vijaya resigns as Pulivendula MLA.
Aug. 11: Subramanian Swamy merges the Janata Party with the BJP.
Aug. 12: INS Vikrant, Indias first indigenous aircraft carrier is launched at Cochin
Shipyard Limited.
The Manmohan Singh government introduces the Right to Information (Amendment
Bill), 2013 in the Lok Sabha.
Aug. 13: The Rajya Saha passes the Registration of Births and Deaths (Amendment)
Bill, 2012.
Aug. 14: The Navys kilo-class submarine INS Sindhurakshak sinks after twin
explosions at the Mumbai naval dockyard, a day earlier. Eighteen sailors are killed.
The Supreme Court confirms the death penalty to Khalistani terrorist Devender Pal
Singh Bhullar.
Aug. 16: Sensex plunges 769.41 points its lowest point in four years to leave
investors poorer by Rs. 2 lakh crore.
Abdul Karim Tunda, the alleged Lashkar-e-Taiba ideologue is formally arrested on the
Indo-Nepal border.
Aug. 17: Sheikh Jalal-ud-din, eminent cardiologist from Kashmir, dies at the AIIMS of
injuries he sustained in a July 18 militant attack near his residence at Namblabal in
Pampore, near Srinagar.
Aug. 19: Twentyeight persons, including 14 women are crushed to death by the Patna-
bound superfast Rajyarani Express at Dhamara Ghat station in Bihars Khagaria
district.
Aug. 20: Maharashtras most vocal rationalist Narendra Dabholkar is shot dead near
Punes Shanivar Peth area.
The UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi launches the national food security scheme at a
function in New Delhi. Haryana and Uttarakhand included in rollout.
Aug. 22: A 22-year-old photo-journalist is gangraped on the Shakti Mills Compound at
Mahalaxmi, Mumbai while on an assignment.
Aug. 23: One person is killed and 39 others injured when a major blast leads to the
collapse of an under construction cooling tower at HPCLs Visakh Refinery in
Visakhapatnam.
Aug. 26: The Lok Sabha passes the National Food Security Bill, 2013 after a six-hour
long debate.
Karnataka government removes G. Bhavani Singh as Special Public Prosecutor in the
Rs. 66.65-crore disproportionate assets case against Tamil Nadu Chief Minister
Jayalalithaa and others.
Aug. 27: The rupee slumps to 66.24/25 a dollar triggering a collapse in stock markets.
Sensex loses 590.05 points to close at 17968.08.
Aug. 29: Yasin Bhatkal, a key plotter in several blasts and co-founder of the banned
Indian Mujahideen and his close associate Asadullah Akhtar are arrested from the
Indo-Nepal border in Bihars Raxaul town.
The Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill is passed by the Lok Sabha.
Aug. 31: Juvenile gets three years jail term in the December 16, 2012 Delhi gangrape
case.
SEPTEMBER
Sept. 2: The Rajya Sabha approves by voice vote the National Food Security Bill.
Sept. 4: Raghuram Rajan takes over as the 23{+r}{+d}RBI Governor. Duvvuri Subba
Rao demits office.
The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation
and Resettlement Bill, 2013, is passed by the Rajya Sabha.
The Lok Sabha gives nod for the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority
Bill, 2011.
Sept. 5: The amended version of the Land Acquisition Bill is cleared by Parliament.
The Rajya Sabha passed the Constitution (120{+t}{+h}Amendment) Bill, 2013 to create
a Judicial Appointments Committee.
Deepak Sandhu becomes the first woman Chief Information Commissioner of the
nation.
Sept. 6: The Lok Sabha gives nod for the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and
Regulation of Street Vending) Bill, 2012.
The Lok Sabha passes The Representation of the People (Amendment and Validation)
Bill, 2013 dealing with those in lawful custody but not convicted. The RS had given its
nod on August 27.
The Tagore Award for Cultural Harmony, 2013 is presented to western music director
Zubin Mehta by the President Pranab Mukherjee in New Delhi.
Sept. 7: At least nine persons, including a photojournalist are killed and 34 injured
after a fresh bout of communal violence in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, triggered by
an incident on August 27 in which two boys were killed in Kawal Village by a mob.
Sept. 8: The U.P. government issues shoot-at-sight orders even as fresh violence erupts
in far-flung pockets of Muzzaffarnagar taking the toll to 21.
Sept. 12: President Pranab Mukherjee presents the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace,
Disarmament and Development for 2012 to his Liberian counterpart Ellen Johnson
Sirleaf at Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi.
Sept. 13: A fast track court in New Delhi awards death penalty to the four convicts in
the December 16 gang rape and murder case.
The BCCI slaps life ban on pacer S. Sreesanth and Mumbai left-arm spinner Ankeet
Chavan for spot-fixing in the IPL.
Sept. 19: A special CBI Court in New Delhi convicts Congress Rajya Sabha M.P.
Rasheed Masood under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Sept. 22: The suspended U.P. IAS officer Durga Shakti Nagpal is reinstated.
Sept. 24: The Union Cabinet negating a Supreme Court ruling, clears an ordinance that
will protect convicted MPs and MLAs from immediate disqualification.
Sept. 25: Annamalai University administrator Shiv Das Meena assumes charge as Vice-
Chancellor.
Sept. 26: The Department of Posts launches a separate PIN Code 110201 for the
Supreme Court of India.
Sept. 27: The Supreme Court holds that a voter can exercise the option of negative
voting and reject candidates as unworthy of being elected.
Fiftyfour persons are killed and 32 injured after a 33-year-old four-storey building at
Dockyard Road in south Mumbai collapses.
Sept. 30: A special CBI Court in Ranchi pronounces all 45 accused, including RJD
leader and MP Lalu Prasad and former Bihar Chief Minister Jagannath Mishra guilty
in the Chaibasa treasury case of the Rs. 950-crore fodder scam.
The Supreme Court quashes the Karnataka Government order removing G. Bhavani
Singh as Special Public Prosecutor.
OCTOBER
Oct. 1: The Gujarat Assembly passes for the second time the Gujarat Lokayukta Aayog
Bill, 2013.
Congress MP and former Union Minister Rasheed Masood is sentenced to four years
in jail by a special CBI court in New Delhi in a corruption case.
Oct. 2: The Union Cabinet withdraws the ordinance on convicted lawmakers as well as
the Bill that sought to amend the Representation of the People Act on which it was
based.
Oct. 3: The Union Cabinet gives approval to a Home Ministry proposal to divide
Andhra Pradesh and create Telangana State. Four Union Ministers quit.
The former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav gets five years RI, stands
disqualified from Parliament and is banned from polls for 11 years.
Oct. 4: All 13 districts in the coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions observe total
shutdown on the first day of a 48-hour bandh.
India launches JENVAC its first indigenous vaccine to protect children from Japanese
encephalitis.
Oct. 5: After nearly three months, pilgrimage to Kedarnath and Badrinath temples
resumes.
Oct. 7: Over 50 lakh consumers in the five districts of Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram,
Srikakulam, East and West Godavari go without power following strike by over 8,000
electricity staff.
Arundhati Bhattacharya takes over as the SBI Chairperson, thus becoming the first
woman to be appointed to the top job.
Oct. 8: The Supreme Court commutes to lifer the death sentence awarded to the
former Delhi Youth Congress leader Sushil Sharma for murdering and burning the
body of his wife Naina Sahni on July 2, 1995.
Oct. 9: The Patna High Court acquits all 26 accused in the December 1, 1997 case of
Laxmanpur Bathe massacre in Arwal district of Bihar in which 58 Dalits were killed.
The Tolkappiyar Award for lifetime achievement in classical Tamil is awarded to Dr.
Iravatham Mahadevan and Prof. Tamizhannal Periyakaruppan for 2009-10 and 2010-
11 respectively.
Bharati Enterprises and U.S. retail giant Walmart announce termination of their joint
venture, ending a six-year relationship.
Oct. 11: The Indian Coast Guard detains Seaman Guard Ohio, a Sierra Leone-flagged
vessel with 25 armed guards on board in Tuticorin, Tamil Nadu.
Oct. 12: The cyclonic storm Phailin crosses the Odisha coast near Gopalpur 20 km
from Berhampur in Ganjam district. Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh bears the
brunt and seawater enters many villages.
Oct. 13: As many as 115 people are killed as a result of a stampede that breaks out on a
bridge near the Ratangarh Mata temple in Madhya Pradeshs Datia district.
Oct. 18: The Tamil Nadu Q Branch police arrest 33 men, including the crew of U.S.-
based ship Seaman Guard Ohio.
Oct. 20: Congress member of the Rajya Sabha Rashid Masood becomes the first MP to
lose his seat after the Supreme Court struck down a provision in the electoral law that
protected a convicted lawmaker from disqualification.
RJDs Lalu Prasad Yadav and JD (U)s Jagdish Sharma are disqualified from the Lok
Sabha following their conviction in a fodder scam case.
Oct. 24: Manna Dey (94) legendary playback singer dies at a hospital in Bangalore
after prolonged illness.
The FIPB gives nod to Tata-Singapore Airlines proposal to set up a full service airline
in India.
Oct. 26: Andhra Pradesh reels under floods caused by rain for the past five days and
the toll touches 39. Crops on 6.78 lakh hectares damaged.
Oct. 27: Five persons are killed and 83 injured in serial blasts that rock Patnas Gandhi
maidan, the venue of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modis Hunkar rally.
Ashwath Narayanan, wins The Hindu Saregama M. S. Subbulakshmi Award 2013.
Oct. 28: The Supreme Court directs the Sahara Group to deposit in three weeks the
original title deeds of properties with Rs. 20,000 crore to the SEBI.
Oct. 30: Fortyfive persons, including an infant are killed as the bus in which they were
travelling goes up in flames on Hyderabad-Bangalore highway.
Oct. 31: Eminent agriculture scientist M. S. Swaminathan is honoured with the Indira
Gandhi National Integration Award, at a function in New Delhi.
NOVEMBER
Nov. 1: Sensex falls back to 21196.81 after scaling a lifetime high of 21293.88 on the last
day of the Hindu Samvat year 2069.
Kannur in Kerala is declared the first zero-landless district in the country.
Nov. 2: Eight persons are run over by a passenger train near Gotlam station in Andhra
Pradeshs Vizianagaram district, after a rumour of fire on their train made them jump
on to the adjacent track.
Nov. 3: Sensex ends day at 21,239.36 its second consecutive record high, in a special
session of Muhurat trading.
Nov. 5: The ISROs Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV C-25) in its silver jubilee
mission puts the 1,350 kg Mars Orbiter precisely on to its earth-orbit 44 minutes after
blasting off from Sriharikota.
A CBI special court in Thiruvananthapuram clears the State CPI(M) secretary Pinarayi
Vijayan of all charges in the SNC-Lavalin case.
Nov. 6: The Gauhati High Court quashes the Union Home Ministry resolution of 1963
on the basis of which the CBI was constituted.
Nov. 9: The Supreme Court stays the Gauhati High Court verdict on CBI formation.
Nov. 11: Sixtyseven per cent voting is registered in the first phase of Chhattisgarh
Assembly polls.
Nov. 16: Cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar and top scientist C.N.R. Rao are named for
Bharat Ratna, Indias highest civilian award.
Nov.19: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh inaugurates Bharatiya Mahila Bank, the first
all women commercial bank in Mumbai.
The Supreme Court gives a big relief to political parties allowing jailed persons to
contest polls.
High turnout in phase II of Chhattisgarh Assembly polls.
The German Chancellor Angela Merkel is chosen for the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace,
Disarmament and Development for 2013.
Nov. 20: The first Centenary Award for Indian Film Personality is presented to actress
Waheeda Rahman and Lifetime achievement Award to Czech film-maker Jiri Menzel
at the inauguration of the 44{+t}{+h}International Film Festival of India in Panaji,
Goa.
Nov. 21: The Goa police launch criminal probe into charges against Tarun Tejpal,
founder and editor-in-chief of Tehelka sexually assaulting a woman staff of the weekly
magazine at a hotel during the Think Fest.
Nov. 22: Cyclone Helen leaves four persons dead and destroys paddy on one lakh
acres while crossing the coast close to south of Machilipatnam in Andhra Pradesh.
Nov. 25: A special CBI court in Ghaziabad holds dentist couple Nupur and Rajesh
Talwar guilty of the murder on May 16, 2008 of their daughter Aarushi Talwar and
domestic worker, Hemraj at their home in Noida, Uttar Pradesh.
A record 70.82 per cent voting is recorded in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls.
Mizoram registers 81 per cent balloting.
Nov. 26: A CBI special court in Ghaziabad awards lifer to Nupur and Rajesh Talwar.
Nov. 27: The Kanchi Sankaracharya Sri Jayendra Saraswati and the junior Acharya Sri
Vijayendra Saraswati are acquitted by a Sessions Court in Puducherry in the
September 3, 2004 murder of A. Sankararaman, manager of the Sri
Varadarajaperumal Temple, bringing an eight-year trial to a close.
Nov. 29: The law intern names West Bengal Human Rights Commission Chairman A.
K. Ganguly as the former Supreme Court judge against whom she has levelled sexual
harassment charges.
The final judgment given by the Brajesh Kumar tribunal on the Krishna Water dispute
leaves Andhra Pradesh disappointed as it gives no relief on any of the 14 amendments
it sought on the December 2010 interim order.
Nov. 30: Tarun Tejpal, editor-in-chief of Tehelka is arrested after a Goa sessions court
rejects his anticipatory bail plea.
The Emperor of Japan, Akihito arrives in New Delhi on a six-day state visit.
East Timors first feature film A Guerra da Beatriz (Beatrizs War) bags the Golden
Peacock award at the 44{+t}{+h}IIFA in Goa.
DECEMBER
Dec. 1: A record 72.49 per cent turnout is recorded in the Rajasthan Assembly
elections.
Mars Orbiter begins its 300-day 680-million km voyage to the Red Planet after being
put into a sun-centric orbit.
Dec. 2: The ISROs Mars Orbiter becomes the farthest object sent into space by India.
Dec. 3: The Prime Minister Manmohan Singh inaugurates the 8{+t}{+h}Asia Gas
Partnership Summit in New Delhi during which he dedicates to the nation the GAIL
India Ltd.s 1,000 km-long Dabhol-Bangalore gas pipeline.
Dec. 4: Delhi registers more than 65 per cent voting in Assembly polls, with youth
turning up in large numbers.
Dec. 5: The Union Cabinet approves the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill, 2013 for
the creation of a Telangana State with 10 districts, paving the way for the bifurcation of
Andhra Pradesh.
The Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi announces an award of Rs. 2 lakh to Gunjan
Sharma who offered herself as hostage to a gunman who had abducted them in a
school van in Simaluguri district a day earlier, to save 10 of her schoolmates.
Dec. 6: Large-scale protests mark the first day of a 48-hour bandh called by the YSR
Congress and the TDP in coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema against the Union Cabinet
nod to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh.
Dec. 8: The BJP scores a landslide victory in the Rajasthan Assembly polls bagging 162
states in the 200-member House.
The BJP gets a two-thirds majority and performs a hat-trick in the Madhya Pradesh
Assembly polls.
In Chhattisgarh, the BJP wins a third consecutive term.
The BJP emerges the single largest party, winning 31 seats in the Delhi Assembly polls
but falls short of majority. The Aam Aadmi Party steals the show on its debut by
bagging 28 seats. The Congress gets a drubbing.
The AIADMKs P. Saroja wins the Yercaud byelection by a record margin of 78,116
votes.
Dec. 9: The Congress retains power in Mizoram.
The report of the 30-member JPC on 2G Spectrum allocation tabled in the Lok Sabha.
Dec. 10: The DMDK presidium chairman and Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the
Tamil Nadu Assembly, Panruti S. Ramachandran quits active politics and resigns as
Alandur MLA.
Dec. 11: The Supreme Court sets aside the July 2, 2009 Delhi High Court verdict
decriminalising gay sex.
Retired Gujarat High Court judge D. P. Buch is sworn in as the Lokayukta, a post that
had remained vacant for a decade.
The IAFs workhorse, MiG-21 bows out, at a function in Kalaikunda air base, West
Bengal.
Dec. 12: Raman Singh takes oath as Chhattisgarh Chief Minister for the third
consecutive term at a function in Raipur.
The West Bengal Assembly passes the West Bengal Protection of Interest of Depositors
Bill, 2013.
The Union Cabinet approves the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill.
Dec. 13: BJP leader Vasundhara Raje is sworn in as Rajasthan Chief Minister in
Jaipur.
The Supreme Court grants bail to RJD president Lalu Prasad in a fodder scam case.
The Maharashtra Assembly passes the Anti-Superstition Bill.
Dec. 14: Shivraj Singh Chouhan is sworn in Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister for a third
term.
Lal Thanhawla is sworn in Mizoram Chief Minister .
Dec. 15: DMK ends decade-old ties with the Congress.
Union Labour Minister Sis Ram Ola (86), dies at a Gurgaon hospital.
Dec. 16: The Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill, 2013 to bifurcate the State is
introduced in both Houses of the Legislature.
The Union Cabinet gives nod to the Prevention of Communal Violence Bill.
Dec. 17: The Rajya Sabha passes by voice vote the historic Lokpal Bill.
Dec. 18: The Lok Sabha passes the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill, 2013.
Novelists Mridula Garg (Hindi) and R. N. Joe D Cruz (Tamil), poet Javed Akhtar
among winners of Sahitya Akademi Awards, 2013.
Dec. 19: Sushma Singh is sworn in Chief Information Commissioner by the President
Pranab Mukherjee at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Dec. 20: The report of the Adarsh Commission of Inquiry tabled in the State Assembly
indicts four former Chief Ministers of Maharashtra. Cabinet rejects report.
A Division Bench of the Karnataka High Court sets aside permission given to the UB
Holdings to sell 1.36-crore shares of United Spirits to British liquor major Diageo Plc.
The indigenous Light Combat Aircraft Tejas gets initial clearance for joining IAF, 30
years after the project was sanctioned.
Dec. 21: Union Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan resigns.
Dec. 25: The Army decides to courtmartial six military personnel for the murder of
three civilians in a fake encounter on April 30, 2010 at Machhil in Kashmir.
Dec. 27: The final Ecologically Sensitive Area notification on Western Ghats is put on
hold.
Dec. 28: Arvind Kejriwal is sworn in Delhi Chief Minister at the Ramlila Maidan in
New Delhi. Six Cabinet colleagues too assume office.
Twentysix persons are charred to death as an AC coach of the Bangalore City-Nanded
Express catches fire near Kothacheruvu in Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh.
Dec. 29: The parents of the December 16, 2012 gangrape victim announce setting up of
a trust in her name at a prayer meeting at their village in Ballia , Uttar Pradesh.
Dec. 30: The U.K.-based Tesco Plc. first global retailer to get FIPB nod to enter
domestic multi-brand retail sector.
The Army chief General Bikram Singh takes over as the Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff
Committee in New Delhi.
Dec. 31: Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha takes over as the 24th Chief Of The Air Staff from
Air Chief Marshal N. A. K. Browne at Vayu Bhawan in New Delhi


JANUARY international
Jan. 1: Sixty persons are crushed to death in a stampede outside a stadium in Ivory Coasts main
city of Abidjan after a New Years Eve fireworks display.
The U.S. Senate approves last minute deal to avert the fiscal cliff.
Jan. 2: U.S. President Barack Obama signs into law the American Taxpayer Relief Act of
2012, fiscal cliff bill.
Jan. 3: Mullah Nazir, a senior Taliban leader is killed in a U.S. drone attack near Wana,
the main town of South Naziristan, Pakistan bordering Afghanistan.
Malala Yousafzai, Pakistani schoolgirl shot by a Taliban gunman for advocating girls
education is selected for Irelands Tipperary International Peace Prize for 2012.
Amerish B. Ami Bera, an Indian-American and Tulsi Gabbard, the first ever Hindu
elected to the U.S. House of Representatives create history as they are sworn in as members
of the 113{+t}{+h}Congress.
Jan. 6: Madanjeet Singh (88), former Indian diplomat, founder of South Asia Foundation
and a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador since 2000, dies in Beaulieu-sur-Mer in France,
following a stroke.
Jan. 7: The U.S. President Barack Obama nominates Charles Chuck Hagel as Defence
Secretary and John Brennan to head the CIA.
Jan. 10: More than 100 persons are killed in a series of blasts in Quetta, Pakistan.
Jan. 11: The Sri Lankan Parliament impeaches Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake.
Malian authorities declare emergency throughout the country. Fresh troops deployed and
helicopter gunships attack rebel-held Konna.
Aaron Swartz (26), Internet activist and computer prodigy who helped create an early
version of the Web feed system Rich Site Summary is found dead at his apartment in the
New York City borough of Brooklyn.
Jan. 13: Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa dismisses Chief Justice Shirani
Bandaranayake.
The Egyptian Court of Cassation orders the retrial of former President Hosni Mubarak
accepting his right to appeal against life sentence.
Jan. 15: Sri Lankas former Attorney-General Mohan Peiris is appointed the Chief Justice
following Parliament nod.
Eighty people are killed as twin blasts rock the Aleppo University, Syria.
Jan. 17: Tahawwur Rana, an accomplice of convicted terrorist David Coleman Headley is
jailed for 14 years followed by three years of supervised release by a U.S. District Court in
Chicago for providing material support to Laskhar-e-Taiba.
Jan. 19: Eleven militants and a few hostages are killed as Algerian Special Forces storm a
natural gas facility near the Libyan border ending a four-day standoff.
Jan. 20: U.S. President Barack Obama takes the official oath for his second term at the
White House. Vice-President Joe Bidden is sworn in for a second term by Supreme Court
Justice Sonia Sotomayor.
Jan. 21: Political absolutism must not thwart change and renewal, says Barack Obama
after being sworn in publicly as the 44{+t}{+h}U.S. President in Washington.
The Bangladesh War Crimes Tribunal pronounces its historic first verdict awarding death
sentence to a former Jamaat-e-Islami leader, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad.
Jan. 23: Yair Lapids centrist Yash Atid Party secures 19 seats in the Israeli polls in its
maiden outing.
Jan. 24: Pakistani-American David Coleman Headley is sentenced to 35 years in jail
followed by five years of supervised release by a U.S. Court for masterminding the 2008
Mumbai terror attacks.
Jan. 25: Eleven persons are killed, eight in Suez, in deadly clashes between the police and
protestors opposed to President Mohamed Morsy.
Jan. 26: An Egyptian court sentences to death 21 persons on charges related to the
February 1, 2012 football violence in Port Said that left 74 dead. The verdict triggers an
attempted jailbreak and a riot that leaves 28 dead.
Former left-leaning Prime Minister Milos Zeman wins the Czech Republics first directly
elected presidential vote.
Jan. 27: At least 245 people are killed and at least 200 injured as a fire sweeps through a
crowded nightclub in Santa Maria, southern Brazil.
French and Malian troops regain control of the fabled Saharan trading town of Timbuktu
after a three-week military campaign.
Jan. 28: Violence continues in Egypt for the fifth day and toll touches 50. Opposition
coalition rejects President Morsys call for dialogue.
India and Bangladesh sign two landmark pacts to extradite criminals and liberalise the visa
regime, in Dhaka.
Jan. 29: John Kerrys nomination as U.S. Secretary of State is confirmed by the Senate.
Israel boycotts the U.N. Human Rights Council session in Geneva becoming the first
country to do so.
FEBRUARY
Feb. 1: U.S. President Barack Obama honours NRI scientist Rangaswamy Srinivasan with
the 2011 National Medal of Technology and Innovation for his groundbreaking work with
laser, at the White House in Washington.
Feb. 5: Senior Jamaat-e-Islami leader Abdul Quader Mollah nicknamed butcher of
Mirpur is sentenced to lifer for crimes against humanity during the 1971 war by a war
crimes tribunal in Bangladesh. Violence during nation-wide strike enforced by the Jamaat.
Feb. 7: Syrian President Bashar al-Asads forces continue the offensive on rebel belts,
leaving 64 people dead.
Feb. 8: A major snow-storm hits the north-eastern U.S. Schools ordered closed in Boston.
Over 900 flights cancelled.
Feb. 9: A blizzard dumps up to 40 inches of snow with hurricane-force winds across a nine-
state region in the north-eastern U.S. leaving about 600,000 without power and disrupting
thousands of flights.
Feb. 10: Zhuang Zedong (72), one of Chinas most-famed table tennis champions, who
played a key role in the Ping Pong diplomacy that paved the way for normalising ties with
the U.S., dies in Beijing.
Frances Communist Party drops the hammer and sickle symbol replacing it with a five-
pointed star representing the European Left.
Feb. 11: Pop Benedict XVII announces at a historic speech at the Vatican, that he has
decided to resign, the first Pope to do so in 600 years.
Giuseppe Orsi, the head of Italian Defence Firm Finmeccanica is held in Milan in relation
to a probe into international corruption.
Feb. 13: American Airlines and U.S. Airways agree to merge in a $11 billion deal that will
create the worlds biggest airline.
Feb. 14: Israel admits that it had jailed in 2010 Prisoner X, an Australian National and
Mossad agent Ben Zygier, for leaking work-related details, who later committed suicide in
a maximum security cell.
South African Olympian Blade Runner Oscar Pistorious, is charged with shooting dead
his girl friend Reeva Steenkamp at his house in Pretoria.
Nepals major parties agree to form an election government led by the Chief Justice Khil
Raj Regmi to be known as an election council to hold new Constituent Assembly
elections.
Feb. 15: Ahmed Rajib Haidar, blogger and key participant of the massive Shahbagh
movement in Bangladesh launched on February 5, seeking death for war criminals is shot
dead near his house in Dhaka.
Feb. 16: At least 100 people are killed, 180 others injured in a massive blast near a school
targeting the Hazara Shia community of Quetta, Pakistan.
Feb. 17: Romanian director Calin Peter Netzer bags the Golden Bear for his dramatic
film Childs Pose as the 63{+r}{+d}Berlin International Film Festival wraps up. Nazif
Mujic bags the Silver Bear Best Actor Prize ( An Episode in the Life of an I ron Picker ).
Chiles Paulina Garcia is adjudged Best Actress for Gloria .
Feb. 18: Britains Channel 4 TV releases photographs of slain LTTE leader Prabakarans
son Balachandran Prabakaran before and after his execution as part of a forthcoming
feature documentary No War Zone The Killing Fields of Sri Lanka.
Feb. 19: Saudi Arabias King Abdullah swears in the countrys first women members of
the Shura Council, an appointed body that advises on new laws.
Feb. 21: At least 90 people are killed and more than 250 wounded after a powerful car
bomb explosion near the ruling Baath Party headquarters in the Syrian capital Damascus.
Feb. 24: Fauja Singh (101), the worlds oldest marathoner, calls it a day after taking part in
a 10-km race held as part of the annual Hong Kong Marathon.
Italians begin voting in a watershed parliamentary election spread over two days.
Ben Afflecks Argo picks up the Best Picture Oscar at the 85th Academy Awards in
Hollywood. Britains Daniel Day-Lewis bags the Best Actor Award ( Lincoln ). Jennifer
Lawrence gets Best Actress title for role in Silver Linings Playbook .
Cuban President Raul Castro is elected to a second and final five-year-term by the National
Assembly. Miguel Diaz-Canel named first Vice-President.
Feb. 25: Park Geun hye is sworn in as South Koreas first woman President.
Feb. 26: Italian polls usher in impasse and provides shock debut for Democratic Party
leader Pier Luigi Bersani who manages a razor-thin victory in the Lower House of
Parliament.
Feb. 27: Pope Benedict XVI addresses a massive crowd at his final general audience in St.
Peters Square, Vatican City.
MARCH
March 2 : The U.S. President Barack Obama signs an order to begin a huge $85 billion
programme of government cuts.
March 3 : At least 48 persons are killed and many injured in two blasts targeting the Shia-
dominated Abbas Town area of Karachi, Pakistan.
The Opposition Jamaat-e-Islami and the BNP launch a three-day national strike to protest
against the now 27-day-old unprecedented Shahbag upsurge by those demanding death for
the war criminals of 1971.
March 4 : Polling begins in Kenyan presidential election.
The Czech Senate votes to impeach outgoing eurosceptic President Vaclav Klaus for
treason.
March 6 : Venezuelas charismatic President Hugo Rafael Chavez Frias (58) dies at a
hospital in Caracas after a two-year battle with cancer ending 14 years of tumultuous rule.
Seven days mourning announced.
March 8 : North Korea severs hotline with South Korea installed in 1971, after fresh U.N.
sanctions and threatens to abrogate peace pacts.
Venezuela gives a lavish farewell to Hugo Chavez. To be embalmed for eternity. Nicolas
Maduro sworn in acting President.
March 9 : Uhuru Kenyatta, the son of Kenyas first Prime Minister and President Jomo
Kenyatta is announced winner of the presidential polls.
March 10 : Chinas new leadership unveils the most significant government restructuring
plan in more than a decade.
Aung San Suu Kyi is re-elected Myanmar opposition leader at the first National League for
Democracy party conference in Yangon.
March 11 : Italy refuses to return two of its marines being tried in India for killing two
fishermen off the Kerala coast.
March 13 : Jorge Mario Bergoglio (76) of Argentina is elected the 266{+t}{+h}Pope of the
Roman Catholic Church. He is to be known as Pope Francis I. He is the first Jesuit to
become Pope.
March 14 : Xi Jinping is formally appointed Chinese President during the fourth plenary
meeting of the National Peoples Congress in Beijing.
Nepals Chief Justice Khil Raj Regmi is sworn in interim Prime Minister.
Ieng Sary (87) who co-founded Cambodias brutal Khmer Rouge movement and on trial
for the deaths of 1.7 million people passes away.
March 15 : Li Keqiang is appointed Chinese Premier, bringing to an end the decade-long
term of Wen Jiabao.
Israels Prime Minister signs a last minute deal to form a government that reflects a
centrist power shift.
March 16 : History is made in Pakistan with its Lower House the National Assembly
and Pakistan Peoples Party-led coalition government both completing a full five-year term
a first in the 66 years of the nations existence.
March 19 : People should let tenderness open up a horizon of hope, says Pope Francis I
during his installation mass at the Vatican.
Malala Yousafzai begins schooling at the Edgbaston High School for Girls in Birmingham,
England after an extensive surgery following a bid on her by the Taliban in Pakistan last
October.
U.R. Rao, who led Indias space programme between 1984 and 1994 becomes the first
Indian to be inducted into the Satellite Hall of Fame, Washington.
March 20 : The U.S. military and the Afghan government reach a deal on a gradual pullout
of American Special Forces from Wardak province.
Bangladesh President Zillur Rahman (84) dies in a Singapore hospital.
Belgian mathematician Pierre Deligne is chosen for the 2013 Abel Prize for his seminal
contributions to algebraic geometry.
India along with 25 other nations votes in favour of the U.S.-sponsored resolution on the
Sri Lankan issue at the UNHRC in Geneva.
. March 23 : Controversial Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky is found dead at his home in
Surrey, near London.
March 24 : Central African Republic President Francois Bozize flees the capital Bangui
seized by the rebel alliance Seleka.
The former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf arrives in Karachi after four years of
self-imposed exile in Dubai and London.
March 25 : Cyprus clinches a last-ditch euro 10 billion deal and will wind down state-
owned Popular Bank of Cyprus also known as Laiki.
March 26 : Syrian rebels take the nations seat for the first time at an Arab League summit
in Qatar.
March 27 : The fifth BRICS summit in Durban, South Africa decides to set up an
infrastructure-oriented development bank and to create a $100 billion fund to guard
against currency fluctuation. Virtual secretariat planned.
North Korea severs its military hotline with South Korea.
March 29 : Italian centre-left leader Pier Luigi Bersani announces his failure to form a
government.
Sixteen of the worlds biggest banks win a major victory after a judge in Manhattan
dismisses federal anti-trust claims in London Inter-Bank Offered Rate (Libor) suits.
March 30 : Kenyas Supreme Court upholds the election of Uhuru Kenyatta as the next
President.
APRIL
April 1: Privately-owned daily newspapers hit Myanmars streets for the first time in
decades.
A Maldivian court suspends the trial of former President Mohamed Nasheed.
April 2 : The U.N. makes history with the General Assembly passing an unprecedented
arms trade treaty to better regulate the international trade in weapons.
April 3 : Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (85), the Booker Prize and Oscar-winning novelist and
screen writer dies in New York.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak dissolves Parliament.
April 8 : Margaret Thatcher (87), Britains first woman Prime Minister who led the
Conservative Party for more than a decade, dies following a stroke at Ritz Hotel in
London.
April 9 : Five Indian soldiers are killed and four injured in an ambush of their U.N.
peacekeeping mission while escorting a 32-member convoy near the settlement of
Gumuruk in Jonglei State in South Sudan. Seven civilians too killed.
Uhuru Kenyatta is sworn in Kenyas fourth President at the national football stadium.
William Ruto takes oath as Vice-President.
April 11 : Foreign Minsters of the G8 countries adopt a historic accord on sexual offences
in conflict zones at a meeting in London.
April 12: Bitcoin, the Internet era currency crashes.
April 13: All 108 passengers and crew survive after a new Lion Air jet crashes into sea and
snaps into two while trying to land on the Indonesian resort island of Bali.
April 14: Hugo Chavezs hand-picked successor, Nicolas Maduro wins Venezuelas
presidential election by a stunningly narrow margin.
April 15: At least three persons, including a child are killed and more than 200 injured as
coordinated twin blasts target the finishing line of the 26.2 mile Boston Marathon, a 116-
year-old event, on Boylston Street near Copley Square.
April 16: A magnitude 7.0 earthquake rocks Iran. At least 35 persons are killed and 150
injured in Pakistan, specifically Balochistan, which bears the brunt.
April 17: Chinese mathematician Yitang Zhang achieves breakthrough in solving the
longstanding problem of twin prime conjecture.
April 19: Tamerlan Tsarnaev of Chechnya one of two suspects in the Boston Marathon
bombing is killed in a gun fight with the police in Cambridge. His injured younger brother
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is found hiding in a Watertown home.
Nicolas Maduro is sworn in Venezuela President.
April 20: At least with 192 people are killed and 11,300 injured as a powerful earthquake
hits Bosheng Township in Yaan City in south west Chinas Sichuan province.
Italian President Giorgio Napolitano is sworn in for a second successive term.
Former Pakistan military dictator Pervez Musharraf is placed under house arrest.
April 22 : The Serbian Government approves a landmark pact to normalise ties with
breakaway Kosovo.
April 23 : Bhutan voters cast ballots to choose members of the Upper House National
Council.
April 24: At least 1,100 persons are killed and 800 injured in Savar, on the outskirts of
Dhaka, Bangladesh after Rana Plaza an eight-storied building housing readymade garment
factories and shops collapses.
April 25: Former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf is arrested in the 2007 Benazir
Bhutto assassination case.
April 26: Indian death-row prisoner Sarabjit Singh sustains serious head injuries and
becomes comatose after being attacked by inmates in Lahores Kot Lakhpat Jail.
Serbian lawmakers support agreement normalising ties with Kosovo.
April 28: A coalition cabinet takes oath in Italy. Enrico Letta is sworn in Prime Minister.
April 30: Dr. Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury becomes the first woman Speaker of Bangladesh
Parliament.
The Netherlands Willam Alexander (46) is sworn in as Europes youngest monarch at the
Royal Palace in Amsterdam, following the abdication of his mother Queen Beatrix.
MAY
May 2 : Sarabjit Singh dies of injuries sustained in an attack at the Kot Lakhpat Jail in
Lahore. Judicial probe ordered.
May 5: Malaysias ruling Barisan Nasional (National Front) coalition retains its 56-year
hold on power.
May 6: Najib Razak is sworn in Malaysias Prime Minister for a second term at the
National Palace in Kuala Lumpur.
May 8: The three kidnapped women in Cleveland, Ohio Amanda Berry (27), Gina De
Jesus (23) and Michelle Knight (32) are reunited with their families after they escape
their captor after over a decade of imprisonment.
May 11: Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharifs Pakistan Mulsim League Nawaz (PML-
N) establishes an unassailable lead in general elections.
May 12: Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield records the first video from space on board
the International Space Station.
May 18: The French President Francois Hollande signs the Marriage For All bill allowing
same-sex marriage and adoption of children by homosexual couples.
Raha Moharrak (25), a native of Jeddah becomes the first woman from Saudi Arabia to
climb Mt. Everest.
May 19: Samina Baig becomes the first Pakistani woman to scale Mt. Everest.
Adventurer Raha Moharrak becomes the first Saudi woman and youngest Arab to conquer
Mt. Everest.
May 20: A wave of attacks leaves at least 79 people dead and 150 injured in Shia and Sunni
areas of Iraq.
At least 24 persons, including nine children are left dead after a tornado with winds at over
320 km/hr., rips through Moore, a suburb of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Two elementary
schools Briarwood and Plaza Towers worst hit.
May 22: American writer Lydia Davis, wins the 60,000 Man Booker International Prize.
A British soldier Lee Rigby is beheaded by two men of African descent in Woolwich,
London.
Indian-American Sathwik Karnik wins the National Geographic Bee.
May 24: Ecuadors hugely popular leftist President Rafael Correa takes office for a third
term.
The European Union lifts arms embargo against Syrian rebels.
May 25: Thousands of people take part in the One Run to finish the Boston Marathon
many started a month ago but forced to abandon after bombs exploded near the finish line.
May 26: An audacious lesbian love story, Blue is the Warmest Colour by French-Tunisian
director Abdellatif Kechiche wins the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival. The Grand
Prix goes to Joel and Ethan Coens I nside Llewyn Davis .
May 27: Gunmen kill Yara Abbas, a prominent woman war reporter for Al-Ikhbariyah TV
near the Dabaa military airbase in the Syrian province of Homs.
May 28: The Birtish Government gives nod for the extradition of Ravi Shankaran, one of
the prime accused in the 2006 naval war-room leak scandal.
May 29: India and Japan sign a joint statement on speeding up talks on civil nuclear deal
after summit-level talks between Prime Ministers Manmohan Singh and Shinzo Abe, in
Tokyo.
Harrison Odjegba Okene, a Nigerian cook is rescued after spending three days at the
bottom of the Atlantic Ocean in Jascon, an upended tugboat at a depth of 100 feet. Eleven
other seamen aboard are dead.
May 30: India and Thailand sign an Extradition Treaty, after talks between Prime
Ministers Manmohan Singh and Yingluck Shinawatra in Bangkok.
Indian-American Arvind Mahankali wins the Scripps National Spelling Bee contest at
National Harbor in Maryland.
JUNE
June 1: The newly-elected members of Pakistans National Assembly are sworn in.
June 2 : Egypts highest court declares legislature illegal. Shura Council to maintain
powers.
June 3: More than 60 countries sign the Arms Trade Treaty at the United Nations.
June 5: Nawaz Sharif is sworn in Pakistan Prime Minister by the President Asif Ali
Zardari in Islamabad.
U.S. Sergeant Robert Bales who massacred 16 Afghan villagers in March 2012 escapes the
death penalty after a Washington court rules that he will face a maximum of life behind
bars.
A leak to The Guardian of a top secret court order compelling telecoms provider Verizon to
turn over the telephone records of millions of U.S. customers brings to light PRISM, a
programme that gives the government direct access to servers of IT firms.
June 7: The Washington Post breaks the story on the mega-scale snooping by the U.S. of the
servers of major Internet companies drip-fed to it by Edward Snowden a former CIA
technical assistant and currently with the National Security Agency in Hawaii on behalf of
a private contractor.
June 11: China launches its fifth manned space mission with three astronauts, including
Wang Yaping the second woman astronaut on board Shenzhou-10 spacecraft from the
Jiuquan Satellite Centre in northwest Gansu province.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is elected leader of All Russia Peoples Front, a non-
party movement, at its founding congress in Moscow.
June 12: Jiroemon Kimura (116) of Japan the worlds oldest person dies in his hometown
of Kyotango, western Japan.
June 14: High turnout marks Iranian presidential polls.
June 15: Hassan Rouhani wins Iranian presidential polls.
Turkish police evict protesters from Gezi Park who had launched the stir with a peaceful
sit-in to save 600 trees from being razed, prompting a brutal response on May 31.
June 17: Indian-American legal luminary Srikanth Sri Srinivasan in sworn in as a judge
in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit.
Kolkataborn journalist Amol Rajan becomes the U.Ks first non-white to be appointed
editor of a British national newspaper, The I ndependent.
June 19: The high profile trial in the AgustaWestland chopper deal opens in a Milan
Court. India admitted as a civil party.
The World Food Prize 2013 is awarded to three GMO scientists, including Monsantos
chief technology officer Robert T. Fraley.
June 20: Global stock markets take a hit following the U.S. Fed hinting at plan to slow its
unprecedented stimulus to the American economy.
June 21: The U.S. Justice Department makes public a complaint (filed on June 14) against
the former NSA contractor Edward Snowden charging him with espionage and theft of
government property.
June 23: Hong Kong allows American whistleblower Edward Snowden to leave, rejecting
U.S. request for extradition and he reaches Moscow.
U.S. daredevil Nik Wallanda becomes the first man to cross a Grand Canyon area gorge on
a tightrope about 457 m above the Little Colarado River in eastern Arizona.
June 24: For the first time in 42 years, a war crimes tribunal indicts two former Jamaat-e-
Islami leaders for killing Bangladeshs top intellectuals during the 1971 liberation war.
June 25: Qatars Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani abdicates in favour of his son
Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad-al-Thani after 18 years on the throne.
The former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf is chargesheeted in the plot to
assassinate former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in 2007.
June 27: Kevin Rudd is sworn in Australian Prime Minister.
June 30: Eight persons are killed and 731 injured across Egypt. At least 200,000 people
converge on Tahrir Square, Cairo demanding the resignation of Islamist President
Mohamed Morsy. Ruling Muslim Brotherhood headquarters ransacked. Eight killed in the
ensuing fighting.
JULY
July 1: Croatia becomes the 28{+t}{+h}member of the European Union.
July 2: The Bolivian President Evo Moraless plane is forced to land in Vienna and left
waiting for 13 hours and allowed to leave only after agreeing to a search for U.S.
Whistleblower Edward Snowden. Earlier, Spain, Italy, France and Portugal deny access to
the aircraft.
July 3: Egypts army chief General Abdel Fatah al-Sisi removes elected Islamist President
Mohamed Morsy in a coup, suspends statute.
July 4: Adly Mansour, Chief Justice of Egypts Supreme Constitutional Court is sworn in
as interim President.
July 5: Thirtyseven persons are killed in clashes across Egypt between troops and
supporters of Mohamed Morsy. Bid to storm presidential guard barracks in Cairo. The
African Union suspends Egypt. Upper House Shura Council dissolved.
July 6: Three Indians are among 305 passengers who miraculously survive after an Asiana
Airlines flight 214 crashes, breaks into pieces and catches fire while landing at San
Francisco International Airport. Two Chinese girl students are killed and 49 critically
injured.
The Solar Impulse completes the last leg of a history-making cross-country flight that
began in California in early May gliding to a smooth stop at New Yorks JFK airport.
July 8: At least 54 persons are killed and around 500 injured as the Army and the police
fire at a sit-in supporting the deposed Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy in Cairo.
July 9: Liberal economist Hazem-el-Beblawi is appointed Egypts interim Prime Minister
and Nobel laureate Mohamed ElBaradei named Deputy President.
July 12: Irish Parliament passes the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013 allowing
abortion under limited circumstances after a marathon two-day debate.
Ottavio Quattrocchi (74), main accused in the Bofors scam, dies in Milan, Italy.
July 13: The Peoples Democratic Party led by Tshering Tobgay sweeps the elections to the
General Assembly of Bhutan bagging 32 out of 47 seats.
July 16: The University of North Virginia is ordered to shut down with immediate effect,
leaving a large number of Indian students stranded.
July 20: Seventyone persons are killed in a coordinated wave of late night car bombings
and other attacks in the Iraqi capital Baghdad.
July 21: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abes ruling LDP and New Komeito bloc win
decisively elections to the Upper House.
July 22: At least 89 persons are killed and more than 500 injured after a 6.6-magnitude
earthquake strikes Chinas north-western Gansu province. Over 1,200 homes reduced to
rubble.
Britains Prince Williams wife Kate gives birth to a baby boy at the St. Marys Hospital in
London. He has been given the title of Prince of Cambridge.
July 23: Habiba Sarobi, Governor of Bamyan, Afghanistan and Lahpai Seng Raw, founder
of Myanmars largest civil society group are among the winners of this years Ramon
Magsaysay awards.
Royal baby is named George Alexander Louis and will be known as His Royal Highness
Prince George of Cambridge.
July 24: At least 79 persons are killed and 95 injured after a massive train derailment near
the major Spanish pilgrimage centre of Santiago de Compostela.
July 25: The former Communist Party of China Politburo member Bo Xilai is formally
charged with bribery and abuse of power.
July 26: Egypts interim government formally levels criminal charges against deposed
President Mohamed Morsy for plotting a violent jailbreak in 2011. At least 72 persons are
killed and 239 injured in clashes in Cairo.
An Ariane5 rocket lifts off at the French and European spaceport Guyana Space Centre ,
near Kourou in French Guiana carrying two satellites: Alphasat and Insat 3D, Indias
advanced weather satellite.
July 27: Kuwaitis vote for the sixth time in seven years in an election for their 50-member
Parliament.
July 28: Malians cast ballots in presidential polls.
Kuwaits Shia minority loses more than half of their seats and liberals make slight gains in
the Gulf states second polls in eight months.
The ruling party of Cambodian Premier Hun Sen claims victory in the days elections.
July 30: Mamnoon Hussain is elected Pakistans 12{+t}{+h}President.
Irish President Michael D. Higgins gives his assent to the Protection of Life During
Pregnancy Bill passed by Parliament recently.
Bradley Manning, the U.S. whistleblower behind WikiLeaks publication of confidential
cables, is convicted on charges relating to espionage and treason, but the military court in
Fort Meade holds him not guilty of aiding the enemy.
July 31: Zimbabweans cast ballots in presidential polls.
Uruguays Parliament gives nod for an unprecedented plan to create a legal marijuana
market.
AUGUST
Aug. 1: U.S. whistleblower Edward Snowden is granted Russian asylum after spending 40
days in limbo in the transit zone of a Moscow airport.
Bangladesh High Court declares illegal Jamaat-e-Islamis registration as a political party,
thus barring it from taking part in any national election.
The U.S. Senate confirms human rights activist Samantha Power as ambassador to the
U.N.
Aug. 3: Robert Gabriel Mugabe is re-elected President of Zimbabwe extending a 33-year
reign at the helm of the nation.
Moderate cleric Hassan Rouhani takes office as Iran President.
The New York Times Company sells 141-year-old newspaper The Boston Globefor $70
million cash to the principal owner of the Boston Red Sox baseball team.
Aug. 4: Japan launches Kirobo, a small humanoid communication robot aboard a cargo-
carrying rocket loaded with supplies for the ISS crew.
Hassan Rouhani is sworn in Irans President at a function in Tehran amid a galaxy of
world leaders.
Aug. 5: The Washington Post is sold for $250 million to Amazon.com founder Jeffrey P.
Bezos.
Aug. 6: Japan unveils Izumo, its biggest warship since World War II.
Aug. 11: Malians cast ballots in a presidential runoff.
Aug. 14: At least 683 people are killed in a brutal crackdown on two major encampments
of mostly Muslim Brotherhood activists in Cairo. A month-long state of emergency
declared. Vice-President Mohammed ElBaradei resigns.
Iqbal Mirchi (63), close aide of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and an accused in the
1993 Mumbai serial blasts case, dies of heart attack in London.
Aug. 15: Mali announces Ibrahim Boubacar Keita as its new President after confirming
that he had won a landslide victory in a runoff.
Aug. 16: Ninetyfive persons are killed in Cairo and 78 others across Egypt as the military
crackdown on pro-Morsy protesters continues.
Aug. 17: Egyptian police clears Islamist protesters from a Cairo mosque after a standoff, as
the toll from four days of violence crosses 750.
Aug. 18: Michel Djotodia, head of the Seleka rebel coalition is sworn in Central African
Republic President.
Aug. 20: Former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf is charged with murder and
criminal conspiracy in the Benazir Bhutto assassination case by a court in Rawalpindi.
Aug. 21: A military court sentences Bradley Manning to a 35-year prison term after being
convicted of the biggest breach of classified data in the U.S. history.
An Egyptian court orders the release of ousted dictator Hosni Mubarak pending a probe
into a graft case.
At least 1,400 people, including 400 children are believed killed on the outskirts of
Damascus following chemical weapons attack by the Syrian army.
Aug. 22: Robert Mugabe is sworn in Zimbabwes President for another five-year term, in
Harare.
The trial of former Politburo member Bo Xilai for bribery and abuse of power opens at
the Jinan Intermediate Peoples Court, China.
Aug. 23: A U.S. military jury sentences to life Staff Sgt. Robert Bales for the March 11,
2012 killing of 16 Afghan civilians at their homes in two villages in Kandahar.
A military jury convicts U.S. Army psychiatrist Major Nidal Hasan of all 13 charges of
premeditated murder and all 32 charges of attempted premeditated murder for the
November 2009 shooting spree at Fort Hood, Texas.
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announces retirement, after 13 years at the helm.
Aug. 27: The trial of former Pakistan President General (Retd.) Pervez Musharraf in the
Benazir Bhutto assassination case begins at the anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi.
Aug. 28: A military jury sentences to death U.S. Army Major Nidal Hasan for killing 13
persons and wounding 31 others in a November 2009 shooting rampage at Fort Hood,
Texas.
Aug. 30: The 2,650 kg GSAT-7, Indias first full-fledged military communications satellite,
is launched from the Kourou spaceport of French Guiana in South America.
SEPTEMBER
Sept. 1: The Tokyo Electric Power Co., the operator of Japans stricken Fukushima
nuclear plant announces leakage of highly radioactive water from a pipe connecting two
coolant tanks.
Sept. 2: American long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad (64) becomes the first person to
swim from Cuba to Florida without the help of a shark cage.
Sept. 4: Indian author Sushmita Banerjee, whose book Kabuliwalar Bangali Bou (A
Kabuliwala's Bengali Wife) about her escape from the Taliban in 1995 was made into
Bollywood film Escape from Taliban , is shot dead by militants at her home in Paktika
province in Afghanistan.
Sept. 5: The BRICS group moves towards creating a $100-billion Currency Reserve Fund
by announcing individual contribution, on the sidelines of the G-20 meeting in St.
Petersburg.
Sept. 7: Tony Abbotts Liberal/National coalition heads for a landslide victory in
Australian general elections.
Mohamed Nasheed leads in Maldives presidential polls. Runoff scheduled for September
28.
Australian pilot Ryan Campbell (19) becomes the youngest person to fly a single-engine
aircraft solo around the globe and lands in Wollongong, in southern New South Wales
from where he began his journey on June 30.
Sept. 8: Asif Ali Zardari steps down as Pakistan President after completing his five-year
term.
The ruling Cambodian Peoples Party of Prime Minister Hun Sen is declared winner of the
July polls by the election committee.
Sept. 9: Mamnoon Hussain is sworn in as Pakistans 12{+t}{+h}President by Chief Justice
Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry at a ceremony in Islamabad.
Sept. 10: Erna Solberg leads her Conservative Party to victory in Norways parliamentary
polls.
Sept. 15: Miss New York Nina Davuluri is crowned Miss America in Atlantic City, New
Jersey in the process becoming the first winner of Indian descent.
Sept. 16: Twelve persons, including one of Indian origin are killed as a gunman Aaron
Alexis opens fire at the U.S. Navy Yard on the Anacostia river in Washington.
Sept. 18: By a 9-1 majority, the U.S. Federal Reserve chooses to continue with its $85
billion a month monetary stimulus policy of quantitative easing.
Obabiyi Aishah Ajibola of Nigeria wins the Miss Muslimah World contest held in the
Indonesian capital Jakarta.
Sept. 19: Japans Prime Minister Shinzo Abe orders Tokyo Electric Power Co. to scrap all
the six nuclear reactors at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant.
A U.S. federal court imposes $200,000 fine on Halliburton Co. which pleads guilty to
charges of its destroying evidence in the BP oil disaster.
Sept. 21: More than 60 per cent polling is registered in Sri Lankas Northern Province.
Seventyseven people, including 10 of Indian origin are killed and 175 injured following an
attack by militants on a mall in Kenya.
Sept. 22: Angela Merkel on track for a third term as German Chancellor as poll results
show the conservative bloc to be in a strong position.
Former politburo member Bo Xilai is sentenced to life by a provincial court in Jinan,
China after finding him guilty of all charges.
The Tamil National Alliance resoundingly wins (by securing 80 per cent of the total votes)
the Northern Provincial polls in Sri Lanka.
Seventyeight people are killed and 100 injured as two suicide bombers blow themselves up
at the All Saints Church in Kohati Gate, in Peshawar, Pakistan.
Sept. 23: An Egyptian Court bans Muslim Brotherhood and orders its assets be
confiscated.
The Maldivian Supreme Court orders postponement of the second round of presidential
polls slated for September 28.
Sept. 24: More than 350 people are killed and 765 injured after an earthquake of 7.7
magnitude hits south-western Pakistan.
Kenyan security forces defeat militants ending a four-day siege in the upscale Westgate
shopping complex in the capital Nairobi.
Cambodias Parliament approves a new five-year term for Prime Minister Hun Sen.
Sept. 27: Indian American Sri Srinivasan is sworn in judge of the U.S. Courts of Appeal for
the District of Columbia Circuit.
India and the U.S. have resolved to cut through American laws that have been inhibiting a
full-fledged defence partnership, says a joint declaration issued after the Obama-
Manmohan Singh meeting in Washington.
The U.N. Security Council unanimously passes a landmark resolution ordering the
destruction of Syrias chemical weapons and condemns the poison gas attack in the
Damascus suburb of Ghouta on August 21.
Sept. 28: The Philippines Megan Young is crowned Miss World 2013 at the
63{+r}{+d}Miss World pageant in Bali, Indonesia.
Sept. 30: The U.S. Federal Government shutdown of all non-essential services begins.
OCTOBER
Oct. 1: A Bangladesh war crimes tribunal awards death penalty to Salauddin Quader
Chowdhary, a top BNP leader and MP, for murder and genocide during the 1971
Liberation War.
Oct. 2: Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta wins confidence vote. Oct. 3: At least 300
people are killed after a ship carrying African migrants to Europe catches fire and capsizes
off the Italian island of Lampedusa.
Oct. 4: Vo Nguyen Giap (102), the legendary Vietnamese general who masterminded the
defeat of the French military at Dien Bien Phu and led North Vietnams forces against the
U.S., dies at a military hospital in Hanoi.
Oct. 5: The U.S. Armys Delta Force captures a top Al-Qaeda leader Abu Anas al-Liby
indicted in the 1998 bombings of the U.S embassies in Kenya and Tanzania from the streets
of the Libyan capital Tripoli.
Oct. 6: International inspectors begin destruction of Syrias stockpile of chemical weapons.
Oct. 7: The 2013 Nobel Prize for Medicine is awarded to three scientists James E.
Rothman, Randy W. Schekman and Thomas C. Sudhof for their discoveries of machinery
regulating vesicle traffic, a major transport system in our cells.
Former Supreme Court Judge C.V. Wigneswaran is sworn in the first Chief Minister of Sri
Lankas Northern Province.
The Maldives Supreme Court annuls the results of the first round of presidential polls held
on Sept. 7.
Oct. 8: Britains Peter Higgs and Belgiums Francois Englert are awarded the Nobel Prize
for Physics for predicting the existence of the Higgs boson particle.
Oct. 9: Martin Karplus, Michael Levitt and Arieh Warshel are awarded the 2013
Chemistry Nobel Prize.
Azerbaijanis cast ballots in presidential polls.
Oct. 10: Alice Munro, acclaimed for her finely tuned storytelling wins the 2013 Nobel Prize
in Literature, becoming the first Canadian woman to win the prize.
Pakistans Malala Yousafzai, is awarded the European Unions Sakharov human rights
prize.
The European Parliament passes a historic resolution recognising caste-based
discrimination as a violation of human rights.
Scott Malcolm Carpenter (88) legendary U.S. astronaut who in 1962 became the fourth
American in space and second to orbit the Earth passes away following a stroke in a
hospice in Denver, Colorado.
Oct. 11: The Hague-based Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons is
awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2013.
Oct. 14: The 2013 Economics Nobel Prize is awarded to three Americans Eugene Fama,
Lars Peter Hansen and Robert Shiller, for their empirical analysis of asset prices.
Prime Minister Erna Solbergs conservatives and the right-wing Progress Party take office
in Norway.
Oct. 15: At least 185 persons are killed after a 7.1 magnitude earthquake rocks Philippines.
Cebu and Bohol are the worst hit.
New Zealands Eleanor Catton wins the Man Booker prize 2013 for her 852-page novel,The
Luminaries .
Oct. 16: The U.S. Senate announces a proposal extending government financing until
January 15.
Oct. 17: The Congress reopens the U.S government and signs off on more borrowing so
America could pay its bills.
Oct. 22: Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi receives the European Unions Sakharov
Human Rights Prize for 1990 at the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
Oct. 23: India and China sign nine pacts, including the Border Defence Cooperation
Agreement after talks between Prime Ministers Manmohan Singh and Li Keqiang in
Beijing.
India-Bangladesh Extradition Treaty comes into effect.
Oct. 25: Sri Lankas Northern Provincial Council holds its historic first ever session at
Kaithady near Jaffna.
The Shandong High Court upholds the life sentence awarded to the former Politburo
member Bo Xilai by the Jinan Intermediate Peoples Court.
Oct. 27: Argentines cast ballots in nationwide congressional polls.
Oct. 29: Turkey opens Marmaray, the worlds first underwater rail link between Asia and
Europe.
NOVEMBER
Nov. 1: Hakimullah Mehsud, head of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan is believed killed in a
U.S. done strike in Dande Darpa Khel area in north Waziristan.
Nov. 4: The trial of the former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy begins in Cairo.
Adjourned to January 8.
Nov. 5: A special court in Dhaka awards death sentence to 152 persons and lifer to 161
others for their involvement in the February 26, 2009 Bangladesh Rifles mutiny that left 74
dead.
Nov. 6: Tajikistans President Imomali Rakhmon wins re-election by a landslide, extending
his 20-year long rule by another seven years.
Nov. 8: Super typhoon Haiyan devastates Philippines leaving 10,000 dead and decimating
towns, in the countrys worst recorded natural disaster.
Nov. 11: All 52 Ministers and state ministers quit the Bangladesh Cabinet to pave the way
for the setting up of an all-party interim Cabinet to oversee next general elections.
Nov. 12: The communist Party of China gives decisive role to the market. Nod for
blueprint for reforms.
Nov. 16: Abdulla Yaameen wins the Maldivian presidential run-off narrowly.
Aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya is inducted into the Indian Navy at the Sevmash
Shipyard in Russia, bringing down the curtains on a 13-year saga of reconstruction.
Nov. 17: Dorris Lessing (94), the Nobel prize winning author of the Golden Notebook , dies
at her London house.
Abdulla Yaameen is sworn in Maldivian President, in Male.
Michelle Bachelet wins the first round of presidential election in Chile.
Nov. 18: A multi-party interim government headed by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is
sworn in in Bangladesh.
Nov. 19: At least 23 persons including Irans cultural attach are killed and 146 injured as
twin blasts rock the Iranian embassy in Lebanon.
More than 70 per cent of Nepals 12 million voters cast ballots in elections to the countrys
second Constituent Assembly.
Frederick Sanger (95), the father of genomics and the only person to win the Chemistry
Nobel twice (in 1958 and 1980) dies at the Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge, eastern
England.
Scotland Yards human trafficking unit raids a house in Lambeth, south London and
arrests a man and a woman for practising slavery.
Nov. 20: Pakistani teenager Mala Yousafzai is presented the EUs Sakharov human rights
rights prize at Strausborg on World Childrens Day.
Nov. 23: Negotiators seal a new climate deal at Warsaw involving a relatively weak
mechanism for addressing Loss and Damage.
China announces setting up of an Air Defence Identification Zone over parts of the
disputed East China Sea.
Nov. 24: Iran strikes a historic nuclear pact with the U.S. and five other world powers at
Geneva.
Nov. 27: Lt. General Raheel Sharif is appointed Pakistan Army Chief. Justice Tassaduz
Jillani is named the next Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
German Chancellor Angela Merkels Christian and Social Democratic Union and the
Social Democratic Party sign a coalition agreement in Berlin.
A UN General Assembly Committee passes a landmark resolution on womens rights
defenders.
Nov. 28: Thailands embattled Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra survives a no-
confidence vote in Parliament.
Nov. 29: Ukraine refuses to sign a landmark accord with the European Union at the
Eastern Partnership summit in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius.
General Ashfaque Parvez Kayani hands over charge to the new Pakistan Chief of Army
Staff General Raheel Sharif in Rawalpindi.
Nov. 30: Paul Walker (40), Hollywood actor, best known as undercover agent Brian
OConnor in the Fast and Furious action movies dies in a fiery car crash in California.
Prelude, a 1,601-foot floating liquefied natural gas platform is set in the water by South
Korean shipbuilder Samsung Heavy Industries.
DECEMBER
Dec. 1: China launches its first-ever moon rover mission with a Change-3 rocket blasting
off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center carrying the Jade Rabbit.
Dec. 5: Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (95), anti-apartheid icon and former South Africa
President passes away at his Johannesburg home.
Dec. 7: The ninth WTO Ministerial meeting adopts the full Bali package that addresses the
Doha Development Agenda.
Dec. 9: Thailands Premier Yingluck Shinawatra dissolves Parliament and calls for snap
polls.
Whistleblower Edward Snowden is chosen The Guardians Person of Year 2013.
Dec. 10: Uruguays Senate passes a law allowing the citizens to grow, sell and smoke
marijuana.
A British Court sentences three Sikh men and a woman convicted of carrying out an attack
on Lt. Gen. (Retd.) K.S. Brar for his role as Commander of the 1984 Operation Blue Star
in Punjab, to 10-14 years in prison.
Dec. 11: Timemagazine names Pope Francis its 2013 Person of the Year.
Dec. 12: War crimes convict Abdul Quader Mollah, assistant secretary general of Jamaat-
e-Islami is executed at the Dhaka Central Jail.
Jang Song-Thaek, uncle of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and former Vice-Chairman
of the National Defence Commission is executed after a special military trial.
Indias Deputy Counsul-General in New York, Devyani Khobragade is arrested and
handcuffed after being charged with visa fraud. Released after executing a $250,000 bond.
Dec.14: Chinas lunar probe softlands the 140-kg Jade Rabbit or Yu Tu rover in the Bay of
Rainbows or Sinus Iridum on the Moons surface.
Dec.15: The former South African President Nelson Mandela is laid to rest at a family plot
in his rural boyhood home of Qunu after a state funeral.
Michele Bachelet wins the Chilean presidential runoff against Evelyn Matthei with a huge
majority.
Dec.17: Angela Merkel begins her third term as the German Chancellor heading a Grand
Coalition with the opposition SPD. For the first time a woman, Ursula von der Leyen is
appointed Defence Minister.
Dec. 18: British criminal Ronnie Biggs (84), part of a gang that took part in the Great
Train Robbery on August 8, 1963, dies in London.
The U.S. Federal Reserve announces the start of a tapering of its $ 85 billion monthly bond-
buying programme.
A 75-year-old man is implanted with the worlds first artificial heart developed by French
biomedical firm Carmat at the Georges Pompidou Hospital in Paris.
Dec. 19: Two British Muslim converts Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale are
found guilty of murdering Drummer Lee Rigby, an Afghan War veteran on May 22 at
Woolwich.
South Sudan loses control of Bor, the capital of its largest and most populous Jonglei state.
Three Indian U.N. peacekeepers and 20 civilians are killed in an attack on a base in Akobo
town.
Dec. 20: Mikhail Khodorkovsky Russian oil tycoon is freed after spending 10 years in
prison on charges of fraud and tax evasion.
The Hague-based International Court of Arbitration allows India to go ahead with
construction of the 330-MW Kishenganga hydro-electric project in North Kashmir,
rejecting Pakistans objections.
Dec. 23: Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, members of the Russian punk
band Pussy Riot jailed for performing a musical punk prayer at a church are freed.
Dec. 24: South Sudan retakes Bor, the state capital of Jonglei. The U.N. votes to augment
force.
Dec. 25: Egypt declares the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group.
Dec. 27: Five persons, including Mohammad Chatah, an anti-Syrian regime figure are
killed and more than 50 injured in a huge car bomb blast in the Lebanon capital Beirut.
Dec. 28: China abolishes labour camps re-education system and loosens family planning
restrictions.
A student is killed and 60 arrested as Egyptian police enters the Al Azhar University
campus in Cairo after Islamist protesters torch a building.
Dec. 29: Seventeen persons are killed and 40 injured in a suicide bomb attack at a railway
station in Volgograd, Russia.
Dec. 30: Fourteen persons are killed and 41 injured as a bomb tears through a trolleybus in
Volgograd city, Russia.
Iran and six global powers begin expert-level talks.
Dec. 31: Maragarita Simonyan is appointed chief editor of Russia Today, the new state
media behemoth.

JANUARY obituary
Jan. 3 : M.S. Gopalakrishnan (82), legendary violinist , in Chennai after a brief illness.
Jan. 21 : M.S. Udhayamurthy (85), founder of Makkal Sakthi Iyakkam and author, of cardiac arrest
at his residence in Akkarai near Injambakkam, Chennai.
Kamal Basu (94), veteran CPI (M) leader, at a private nursing home in Kolkata.
FEBRUARY
Feb. 2 : P. Shanmugam (86) former Chief Minister of Puducherry, at the Karaikal Government
Hospital of injury after a fall at his residence.
Feb. 12 : Jagannathan (98), Sarvodaya leader, at Gandhigram in Dindigul district, Tamil Nadu.
Feb. 22 : Hari Shankar Singhania (79), leading industrialist and president of JK Organisation, at his
residence in New Delhi.
MARCH
March 5 : Rajasulochana (78), veteran actor at her residence in Madipakkam, Chennai.
March 11 : Kalamandalam Ramankutty Nair (88), Kathakali exponent, at his house in
Njalamkurissi at Vellinezhi, near Palakkad.
Sripada Pinakapani (100), legendary Carnatic musician , at his residence in Kurnool, Andhra
Pradesh.
March 13 : Ganesh Pyne (76), eminent painter, at a Kolkata hospital .
March 26 : S. Sukumari (74), veteran South Indian actor at a private hospital in Chennai.
APRIL
April 10 : Robert G. Edwards (87), test tube baby pioneer at his home near Cambridge, England.
April 14 : Rama Prasad Goenka (83), chairman emeritus of RPG Enterprises in Kolkata.
Prathivathi Bayangaram Srinivos (82), veteran playback singer, in Chennai.
April 17: T. K. Ramamurthy (92), veteran music composer, in Chennai.
V. S. Ramadevi (79), former CEC, in Bangalore.
April 19: C. Kuppusamy (87), former DMK MP , in Chennai.
April 21: Shakuntala Devi (80), math whiz, at a Bangalore hospital.
April 22: Lalgudi G. Jayaraman (82), violin maestro, in Chennai.
The former CJI Jagdish Sharan Verma (80), at a hospital in Gurgaon.
April 23: Shamshad Begum (94), playback singer , at her residence , in Powai, Mumbai.
April 25: Ambica Banerjee (86), Trinamool Congress MP, at a hospital in Kolkata.
April 29: Vasudev Singh (81), veteran CPI(M) leader at AIIMS, Delhi.
MAY
May 8: Zia Fariduddin Dagar (80), Dhrupad maestro, in Mumbai.
May 14: Ashgar Ali Engineer (74) noted Islamic scholar , at his home in Santa Cruz, Mumbai, after a
prolonged illness.
May 25: T. M. Soundararajan (91), Tamil playback singer, at his residence in Chennai.
May 30: Rituparno Ghosh (49), Bengali filmmaker at his residence, in Kolkata, of cardiac arrest.
JUNE
June 6: Thomas Ridley Sharpe (85), English comic novelist at Llafranc, Spain.
June 15: Manivannan (58), Tamil actor and director of a heart attack at his residence in Chennai.
JULY
July 2: Douglas Carl Engelbart (88), the inventor of the computer mouse, at his home, in Atherton,
California, due to kidney failure.
July 11: Nookala Chinna Satyanarayana (89), eminent Carnatic musician, in Hyderabad.
July 12: Amar Gopal Bose (83), Indian-American entrepreneur , in Wayland, Massachusetts.
July 13: Sharmila Rege (48), eminent sociologist and scholar , at Pune of colon cancer.
July 14: N. Rangabashyam (79), eminent gastroenterologist at his home in Chennai.
July 16: Ambal Ramamurti (87), freedom fighter and wife of late CPI(M) leader P. Ramamurti in
Chennai.
July 18: Vaali (82), Tamil lyricist and poet in Chennai after protracted illness.
Samar Mukherjee (100), veteran leader and oldest member of the CPI(M) at a hospital in Kolkata.
C. Perumal (62), sitting MLA from Yercaud of cardiac arrest at a hospital in Salem.
July 20: Khurushid Alam Khan (95), former Minister and father of External Affairs Minister
Salman Khurshid, at a hospital in New Delhi.
July 23: Manjula (59), yesteryear Tamil actor, in Chennai following a brief illness.
July 25: Arun Nehru (69), former Union Minister of State for Internal Security and Rajiv Gandhis
cousin at a Gurgoan hospital after prolonged illness.
AUGUST
Aug. 2: V. Dakshinamurthy (92), patriarch of Malayalam film music, in Chennai.
Aug. 4: Jasjit Singh (79), ace pilot and strategic thinker, of pneumonia in New Delhi.
Aug. 11: Zafar Futehally (93), one of Indias best known naturalists and ornithologists, at his home
in Kihim, Maharashtra.
Aug. 25: Pandit Raghunath Panigrahi (79), eminent Indian classical singer and music director , at
his residence in Bhubaneswar of heart attack.
Aug. 30: Seamus Heaney (74), Irish writer and poet at a Dublin hospital following brief illness.
Aug. 31: David Frost (74), veteran British journalist and broadcaster , aboard Queen Elizabeth
cruise ship.
SEPTEMBER
Sept. 5: L. H. Hiranandani (96), Chairman of Hiranandani Group of Companies , at his residence in
Mumbai.
Sept. 7: Romesh Bhandari (85), a former Foreign Secretary , in New Delhi.
Sept. 12: Vinod Raina, educationist , of cancer in New Delhi.
Ray Dolby (80), an inventor and audio pioneer who founded Dolby Laboratories, in San Francisco.
OCTOBER
Oct. 1: Tom Clancy (66), widely read military novelist of his time, in Baltimore.
Oct. 9: Srihari (49), well-known Telugu film actor, at a Private hospital in Mumbai.
Oct. 14: Mohan Dharia (88), former Union Commerce Minister, at a hospital in Pune.
Oct. 16: B. Ramachandra Adityan (79), Managing Editor of Maalai Murasu , a Tamil eveninger, at
his residence in Adyar, Chennai due to prolonged illness.
Oct. 17: Sarojini Varadappan (92), veteran social activist , at a private hospital in Chennai after a
brief illness.
Oct. 19: K. Raghavan (99), veteran Malayalam music director , in Thalaserry, Kerala.
Oct. 31: Radha Burnier (90), international president of the Theosophical Society, in Chennai.
NOVEMBER
Nov. 3: Reshma (66), legendary Pakistani folk singer of Lambi Judai fame, in Lahore of throat
cancer.
D. Rajendra Babu (62), Kannada filmmaker, of a heart attack in Bangalore.
Nov. 6: Tarla Dalal (77), celebrity chef, in Mumbai after a brief illness.
Nov. 10: Pushpa Thangadurai (82), Tamil novelist, in Chennai.
Nov. 30: R. Raghuram (64), veteran choreographer, at his residence, in Chennai.
DECEMBER
Dec. 10: Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wodeyar (60), the scion of the Mysore royal family and a
former Lok Sabha MP, of cardiac arrest at a private hospital in Bangalore.
Dec. 14: Peter O Toole (81), The Lawrence of Arabia star at a London hospital.
Dec. 16: Uthradom Tirunal Marthanda Varma (91), head of the erstwhile royal family of
Travancore, of cardiac arrest in Thiruvananthapuram.
Dec. 22: Pran Chopra (92), veteran journalist and former editor of The Statesman , in New Delhi
after a brief illness.
Dec. 23: G.S. Shivarudrappa (87), renowned Kannada poet and researcher at his residence in
Banashankari, Bangalore.
Mikhail Kalashnikov (94), the designer of the fabled AK-47 automatic rifle in Russia.
Dec. 27: Farooq Sheikh (65), Bollywood actor, of a heart attack, in Dubai.
Dec. 28: Rosamma Punnose (101), veteran Communist leader in Oman.
Kali Ghosh (83), a senior CITU leader in Kolkata.
Dec. 30: G. Nammalvar (75), organic farming scientist and crusader at Pichinikadu village in Tamil
Nadus Thanjavur district.
Dec. 31: T.C. Narendran (69), renowned insect taxonomist, of a heart attack in Kozhikode.