1938 in India
Events in the year 1938 in India.
Indian independence – Government of India Act gives Indians a role in governing their provinces.
Incumbents
Events
- National income - 29,799 million
- Minor engagements on the North West Frontier throughout the year.
Law
- December – Announcement that the Ottawa trade agreement would not be continued after 31 March 1939.
- Good Conduct Prisoners' Probational Release Act
- Insurance Act
- Manoeuvres, Field Firing and Artillery Practice Act
- Cutchi Memons Act
Births
- 5 January – Sukumar Barua, Bangladeshi poet
- 7 January – B. Saroja Devi, actress
- 13 January
- *Shivkumar Sharma, musician.
- *Nabaneeta Dev Sen, novelist, children's author and poet
- 2 February – Qamruddin Ahmad Gorakhpuri, Islamic scholar
- 10 March – Ijaz Butt, Pakistani cricketer
- 18 March – Shashi Kapoor, Bollywood actor.
- 31 March – Sheila Dikshit, politician and Chief Minister of Delhi
- 9 April – Ahmad Kamal, Pakistani diplomat
- 23 April – S. Janaki, playback singer.
- 5 May – Chandrama Santha, politician
- 19 May – Girish Karnad, writer, playwright, actor and director.
- 10 June – Rahul Bajaj, businessman
- 12 June – Yesudasan, political cartoonist
- 1 July
- * Hariprasad Chaurasia, classical flutist
- * Durai Murugan, lawyer and politician
- 9 July – Sanjeev Kumar, actor.
- 13 July – Thomas Savundaranayagam, Sri Lanka Tamil priest, former Roman Catholic Bishop of Jaffna
- 15 July – Pilot Baba, Indian Air Force fighter pilot, later guru
- 18 July – R. K. Krishna Kumar, business executive.
- 19 July
- * Dom Moraes, poet, writer and columnist
- * Jayant Narlikar, astrophysicist
- 25 July – Sudhir Kakar, psychoanalyst and writer.
- 8 September – Poornachandra Tejaswi, writer and novelist
- 18 September – Amalendu Chakrabarti, Indian political cartoonist
- 24 September – Piloo Reporter, cricket umpire
- 2 October – Sajid Mir, Pakistani politician and Islamic scholar
- 13 October – Mahboob Shah, Pakistani cricket player and umpire
- 17 November – Shamim Hanafi, Urdu scholar
- 21 November – Helen, actress and dancer
- 11 December – T. S. R. Subramanian, politician
Full date unknown
- Shashi Deshpande, novelist.
- Manohar Singh, theatre director and actor.
Deaths
- 16 January – Sharat Chandra Chatterji, novelist.
- 21 April - Allama Muhammad Iqbal, Poet, politician
- 14 November – Mahatma Hansraj, educationist, Arya Samaj leader