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.