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Events
- 15 March - Hindus and Muslims clash in Punjab.
- 27 July- M.N.Kaul handles the charge as Lok Sabha Secretary.
- 7 August - The Bombay Municipal Corporation formally takes over the Bombay Electric Supply and Transport (BEST).
- 15 August - India gains its independence from the United Kingdom. A largely Hindu India and a Muslim Pakistan are created by partition of the subcontinent, with Punjab and Bengal divided along religious-demographic boundaries between the two. Hindu - Muslim riots break out along both the western and eastern borders. Mass transfer of refugees takes place from India to Pakistan and vice-versa. The monarch of Kashmir signs instrument of accession with India in the face of heavy attack from Pakistani tribals and troops. Rajendra Prasad is the first President of India and Jawaharlal Nehru becomes Prime Minister of India. Nehru unfurls the Indian tricolor on the ramparts of the Red Fort, symbolically marking the end of British colonial rule.
- 13 September - Prime Minister Nehru suggests the transfer of 4 million Hindus and Muslims between India and Pakistan.
- 20 October - The Indo-Pakistani War of 1947 begins.
- 27 October - War breaks out between India and Pakistan in the disputed region of Kashmir.
- Air India goes international.
Births
- 12 February - Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, Sikh theologian and leader (d.1984).
- 2 April - Raj Shankar, biochemist (d.2000).
- 19 June - Salman Rushdie, novelist and essayist.
- 5 July - Lalji Singh, molecular biologist.
- 15 August - Raakhee Gulzar, actress.
Full date unknown
- Simi Garewal, actress.
Deaths
- 13 May - Sukanta Bhattacharya, poet (b.1926).
