June - Prime Minister Indira Gandhi dispatches troops into Amritsar's Golden Temple, Sikhdom's holiest shrine. More than 1,000 people are killed in the operation to oust separatist militants using the temple as a headquarters.
October 31 - Gandhi is assassinated by Sikh bodyguards in apparent retaliation for dispatching troops to the Golden Temple. Her son Rajiv Gandhi takes over as prime minister and leader of the Congress-I Party with India in turmoil as Hindus kill some 2,700 Sikhs in revenge riots.
December - Deadly gas leaks from a pesticide plant owned by U.S.-based Union Carbide Corp in the central city of Bhopal, killing some 6,500 people and injuring 20,000 in the world's worst industrial disaster.
