1974 in India
{{short description|none}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2022}}
{{Year in India|1974}}
Events in the year 1974 in the Republic of India.
Incumbents
- President of India – V. V. Giri (until 24 August), Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed (after 24 August)
- Prime Minister of India – Indira Gandhi
- Vice President of India – Gopal Swarup Pathak until 30 August; B.D. Jatti
- Chief Justice of India – Ajit Nath Ray
=Governors=
- Andhra Pradesh – Khandubhai Kasanji Desai
- Assam – L. P. Singh
- Bihar – Ramchandra Dhondiba Bhandare
- Gujarat – Kambanthodath Kunhan Vishwanatham
- Haryana – Birendra Narayan Chakraborty
- Himachal Pradesh – S. Chakravarti
- Jammu and Kashmir – L. K. Jha
- Karnataka – Mohanlal Sukhadia
- Kerala – N. N. Wanchoo
- Madhya Pradesh – Satya Narayan Sinha
- Maharashtra – Ali Yavar Jung
- Manipur – L.P. Singh
- Meghalaya – L.P. Singh
- Nagaland – L.P. Singh
- Odisha –
- until 20 August: Basappa Danappa Jatti
- 21 August-25 October: Gati Krushna Misra
- starting 25 October: Akbar Ali Khan
- Punjab – Mahendra Mohan Choudhry
- Rajasthan – Sardar Jogendra Singh
- Tamil Nadu – Kodardas Kalidas Shah
- Tripura – L. P. Singh
- Uttar Pradesh – Akbar Ali Khan (until 25 October), Marri Chenna Reddy (starting 25 October)
- West Bengal – Anthony Lancelot Dias
Events
- National income - {{INR}}793,779 million
= January - March =
- 3 January - A protest against 20% canteen fee hike in Lalbhai Dalpatbhai College of Engineering, Ahmedabad turns into clashes with Police and later transformed to Navnirman Andolan.{{Cite web |last=Team |first=Goan Observer |date=2020-01-17 |title=1974 STRIKE INSPIRED JP MOVEMENT! |url=https://www.goanobserver.in/2020/01/17/1974-strike-inspired-jp-movement/ |access-date=2023-10-23 |website=Goan Observer |language=en-US}}
- 5 January – Worli riots occurred in the chawl in the Worli neighborhood of Mumbai. The tensions prevailed till April.
- January – May smallpox epidemic in East India.
- 19 February - Drillship Sagar Samrat struck oil at Bombay High, 160 km off the shore.{{Cite web |title=ONGC - Mumbai High blossomed from depth of 962 meters on Well H-1-1 this day in 1974 – a new era dawned!! |url=https://www.ongcindia.com/wps/wcm/connect/en/media/press-release/mumbai+high+blossomed+from+depth+of+962+meters+on+well+h+1+1+this+day+in+1974+++a+new+era+dawned+ |access-date=2022-04-17 |website=www.ongcindia.com}}
- 16 March – Navnirman Andolan (Re-construction movement) a socio-political movement started in 1973 December in Gujarat by students and middle-class against economic crisis and corruption in public life. The movement ended with the dissolution of the elected government of Chimanbhai Patel.{{Cite web|title=Nav-nirman Andolan of Gujarat, 1973-74: A new awakening|url=https://www.indiatoday.in/amp/magazine/youth-movements/story/20220103-nav-nirman-andolan-of-gujarat-1973-74-a-new-awakening-1892293-2021-12-26|access-date=2022-01-16|website=India Today|language=en}}
- 18 March – Bihar Movement started as a movement by students in Bihar led by the veteran Gandhian socialist Jayaprakash Narayan, against misrule and corruption in the Government of Bihar.
- 25 March – Gaura Devi and 27 women confronted loggers in Chamoli district in connection with Chipko movement.
- 28 March - Minister of Food and Agriculture Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed announced that Government of India has decided to scrap take over of wholesale wheat distribution.{{Cite news |first=Bernard |last=Weinraub |date=1974-03-29 |title=India Ending Take‐Over Of Distribution of Wheat |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/03/29/archives/india-ending-takeover-of-distribution-of-wheat-prices-up-36-per.html |access-date=2022-04-17 |issn=0362-4331}}
= April - December =
- 8 May – A railway strike started by 1.7 million workers of Indian Railways. The strike lasted for 20 days till 27 May 1974 and was the largest recorded industrial action in the world.{{Cite web |date=2020-04-05 |title=It was 1974 total strike of Railways that first showed India what life was without trains |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/coronavirus-impact-indian-railways-stopped-once-upon-a-time-when-trains-stopped-in-their-tracks-6347633/ |access-date=2022-04-17 |website=The Indian Express |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Better jail than rail: George Fernandes' slogan that led to Asia's biggest railway strike in 1974 |url=https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2019/jan/30/better-jail-than-rail-george-fernandes-slogan-that-led-to-asias-biggest-railway-strike-in-1974-1931637.html |access-date=2022-04-17 |website=The New Indian Express |archive-date=29 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200329041811/https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2019/jan/30/better-jail-than-rail-george-fernandes-slogan-that-led-to-asias-biggest-railway-strike-in-1974-1931637.html |url-status=dead }}
- 18 May – Under project Smiling Buddha, India successfully detonates its first nuclear weapon in the Thar Desert, and becomes the sixth nation to do so.{{Cite web |title=First Nuclear Test at Pokhran in 1974 - India Nuclear Forces |url=https://nuke.fas.org/guide/india/nuke/first-pix.htm#:~:text=India%20conducted%20its%20first%20nuclear,a%20depth%20of%20107%20meters. |access-date=2022-04-17 |website=nuke.fas.org}}
- 28 June - Sirima–Gandhi Pact signed to solve the statelessness of Sri Lankan Tamils.{{Cite news |last=Premkumar |first=Rohan |date=2020-01-25 |title=Fifty years on, Citizenship Amendment Act brings new fears to Tamils repatriated from Sri Lanka |language=en-IN |work=The Hindu |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/fifty-years-on-new-fears-for-repatriates/article61640688.ece |access-date=2022-04-17 |issn=0971-751X}}{{Cite journal |last=Phadnis |first=Urmila |date=1967 |title=The Indo-Ceylon Pact and the "Stateless" Indians in Ceylon |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2642476 |journal=Asian Survey |volume=7 |issue=4 |pages=226–236 |doi=10.2307/2642476 |issn=0004-4687|url-access=subscription }}
- 5 July - Colaba area of Bombay registers intense rainfall of 57.5 cms in 24 hours.{{Cite web |date=August 6, 2020 |first=Poonam |last=Ahuja |title=Mumbai records its second highest all-time rainfall after 1974 |url=https://mumbaimirror.indiatimes.com/mumbai/other/mumbai-records-its-second-highest-all-time-rainfall-after-1974/articleshow/77395215.cms |access-date=2022-04-17 |website=Mumbai Mirror |language=en}}
- 11–17 November - 1974 Indian Open held at Bombay.
Births
- 1 January – Abha Dawesar, novelist.
- 9 January – Farhan Akhtar, actor.
- 7 January – Varun Badola, actor.
- File:Hrithik Roshan promoting Mohenjo Daro.jpg]]10 January – Hrithik Roshan, actor.
- 25 February – Divya Bharti, actress (died 1993).
- 28 February – Sunil (actor), actor and comedian.
- 8 March – Fardeen Khan, actor.
- 14 March {{ndash}} Rohit Shetty, film director.
- 22 April – Chetan Bhagat, novelist.
- 23 April – Shwetha Menon, actor.
- File:Captain Vikram Batra Portrait.jpg]]20 May – Shiboprosad Mukherjee, film director, writer and actor.
- 28 May – Mayur Puri, screenwriter, lyricist, actor, filmmaker.
- 30 May {{ndash}} Mohan Raja, film director.
- 7 June – Mahesh Bhupathi, tennis player.
- File:Vijay at Protest of the Nadigar Sangam.jpg]]22 June – Joseph Vijay, actor and playback singer.
- 22 June {{ndash}} Devayani, actress.
- File:KarismaKapoor16.jpg]]25 June – Karisma Kapoor, actress.
- 15 July – Neikezhakuo Kengurüse, kargil hero. (died 1999).
- 5 August – Kajol, actress.
- 9 September – Vikram Batra, Indian Army-KARGIL HERO. (died 1999).
- 25 September {{ndash}} AR Murugadoss, film director.
- 4 October- Subeer Sakssena- IT leader
- 23 October – Aravind Adiga, journalist and author, 2008 Man Booker Prize winner.
- 1 November – V. V. S. Laxman, cricketer.
- 9 November – Manav Gohil, television actor{{cite web|url=http://www.tellychakkar.com/news/happy-birthday-manav-shalini-payal-malhar-pankaj-and-tanvi|title=Happy Birthday to Manav, Shalini, Payal, Malhar, Pankaj and Tanvi|publisher=tellychakkar.com|date=9 November 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121111172612/http://www.tellychakkar.com/news/happy-birthday-manav-shalini-payal-malhar-pankaj-and-tanvi|access-date=2012-11-25|archive-date=11 November 2012}}
- 19 December – MVP, Writer & Author.
- 21 December – Sanjiv Chaturvedi, Indian Forest Service officer.
- 25 December {{ndash}} Nagma, actress and politician.
Deaths
- 4 February – Satyendra Nath Bose, physicist (b. 1894).
- 11 February – Ghantasala, Telugu Play Back Singer (b.1922).
- 23 September – Jayachamaraja Wodeyar Bahadur, last Maharaja of Mysore, philosopher, musicologist, political thinker and philanthropist (b. 1919).
- 6 October – V. K. Krishna Menon, nationalist and politician (b. 1897).
- 16 October – Chembai, Carnatic music singer (b. 1895).
- 16 October – Edasseri Govindan Nair, poet, playwright and essayist (b. 1906).
- J. P. Chandrababu, comedian-actor, singer and dancer (b. 1926).
- Kshetresa Chandra Chattopadhyaya, scholar of Sanskrit (b. 1896).
- Sucheta Kriplani, freedom fighter, politician and in Uttar Pradesh, became first woman to be elected Chief Minister of a state (b. 1908).
- Matthew Pothen Thekaekara, scientist (b. 1914).