1981 in India
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{{Year in India|1981}}
Events in the year 1981 in the Republic of India.
Incumbents
=Governors=
- Andhra Pradesh – K. C. Abraham
- Assam – L. P. Singh (until 10 August), Prakash Mehrotra (starting 10 August)
- Bihar – Akhlaqur Rahman Kidwai
- Gujarat – Sharda Mukherjee
- Haryana – Ganpatrao Devji Tapase
- Himachal Pradesh – Amin ud-din Ahmad Khan (until 26 August), A. K. Banerjee (starting 26 August)
- Jammu and Kashmir – L. K. Jha (until 22 February), B. K. Nehru (starting 22 February)
- Karnataka – Govind Narain
- Kerala – Jothi Venkatachalam
- Madhya Pradesh –
- until 25 May: B. D. Sharma
- 25 May-9 July: G. P. Singh
- starting 9 July: B. D. Sharma
- Maharashtra – O. P. Mehra
- Manipur – L.P. Singh (until 18 August), S. M. H. Burney (starting 18 August)
- Meghalaya – L.P. Singh (until 11 August), Prakash Mehrotra (starting 11 August)
- Nagaland – L.P. Singh (until 11 August), S. M. H. Burney (starting 11 August)
- Odisha – Cheppudira Muthana Poonacha
- Punjab – Jaisukh Lal Hathi (until 26 August), Aminuddin Ahmad Khan (starting 26 August)
- Rajasthan – Raghukul Tilak (until 8 August), K. D. Sharma (starting 8 August)
- Sikkim – B. B. Lal (until 9 January), Homi J. H. Taleyarkhan (starting 10 January)
- Tamil Nadu – Sadiq Ali
- Tripura – L. P. Singh (until 18 August), S. M. H. Burney (starting 18 August)
- Uttar Pradesh – Chandeshwar Prasad Narayan Singh
- West Bengal – Tribhuvana Narayana Singh (until 12 September), Bhairab Dutt Pande (starting 12 August)
Events
- National income - {{INR}}1,727,755 million
- April 30 - Nearly 48 killed in Bihar Sharif due to communal riots between Yadavs and Muslims.{{Cite web |last=Farz |first=Ahmed |date=May 31, 1981 |title=Communal violence in Biharsharif leaves 48 people dead, 68 injured |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/indiascope/story/19810531-communal-violence-in-biharsharif-leaves-48-people-dead-68-injured-772908-2013-11-21 |access-date=2022-09-08 |website=India Today |language=en}}{{Cite journal|first=Asghar |last=Ali |date=1981 |title=Biharsharif Carnage: A Field Report |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4369828 |journal=Economic and Political Weekly |volume=16 |issue=20 |pages=887–889 |jstor=4369828 |issn=0012-9976}}
- July – About 308 people die in Bangalore after drinking illicit liquor (see: 1981 Karnataka liquor deaths).
- Arasan Ganesan Polytechnic is founded in Sivakasi, Tamil Nadu. It is a Government aided co-educational technical institute.
- National Aluminium Company incorporated as a public sector enterprise of the Government of India.
- 2 July – Infosys is founded in Pune.
- 4 December - Around 45 people got killed due to a stampede at Qutb Minar resulting in closure of Minaret for tourists.{{Cite news |last=Times |first=Special to the New York |date=1981-12-05 |title=Around the World; 45 Killed in Stampede At Monument in India |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/12/05/world/around-the-world-45-killed-in-stampede-at-monument-in-india.html |access-date=2022-10-04 |issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite web |date=2021-12-06 |title=December 6, 1980, Forty Years Ago: Qutub Tragedy |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/december-6-forty-years-ago-qutub-tragedy-7657824/ |access-date=2022-10-04 |website=The Indian Express |language=en}}
Law
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Births
File:Mahendra Singh Dhoni January 2016 (cropped).jpg]]
File:Manish Paul at ITA 2012.jpg]]
- 3 January – Sanggai Chanu, field hockey player.
- 28 January – Karunakaran (actor), actor and comedian.
- 25 February – Anuj Sawhney, actor and model.
- Saroo Brierley, writer
- 9 June – Celina Jaitley, actress.
- 17 June – Amrita Rao, model and actress.
- 7 July – Mahendra Singh Dhoni, cricketer.
- 3 August – Manish Paul, Indian television host, anchor and actor
- 25 August – Shiva Keshavan, luge pilot
- 30 August – Shilpa Prabhakar Satish, IAS.
- 5 September {{ndash}} H. Vinoth, film director.
- 27 September – Lakshmipathy Balaji, cricketer.
- 7 October – Abhijeet Sawant, singer and winner of Indian Idol (season 1).
- 12 October {{ndash}} Sneha, actress.
- 14 October – Gautam Gambhir, cricketer and politician
- 7 November {{ndash}} Anushka Shetty, actress.
- 27 November – Vikram Pillay, field hockey player.
- 9 December – Dia Mirza, actress and model.
- 12 December - Ashok, actor.
- 12 December -Yuvraj Singh, cricketer.
Deaths
- 3 May – Nargis, actress (born 1929).
- 19 June – Subhas Mukhopadhyay, Physician created World's second IVF (born 1931)
- 24 September – Brahmarishi Hussain Sha, seventh head of Sri Viswa Viznana Vidya Adhyatmika Peetham and scholar (born 1905).
- 26 December – Savitri, actress (born 1936).
- 28 December – David Abraham Cheulkar, actor (born 1908).