1981 in India
Events in the year 1981 in the Republic of India.
Incumbents
- President of India – Neelam Sanjiva Reddy
- Prime Minister of India – Indira Gandhi
- Vice President of India – Mohammad Hidayatullah
- Chief Justice of India – Yeshwant Vishnu Chandrachud
Governors
- Andhra Pradesh – K. C. Abraham
- Assam – L. P. Singh, Prakash Mehrotra
- Bihar – Akhlaqur Rahman Kidwai
- Gujarat – Sharda Mukherjee
- Haryana – Ganpatrao Devji Tapase
- Himachal Pradesh – Amin ud-din Ahmad Khan, A. K. Banerjee
- Jammu and Kashmir – L. K. Jha, B. K. Nehru
- 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, S. M. H. Burney
- Meghalaya – L.P. Singh, Prakash Mehrotra
- Nagaland – L.P. Singh, S. M. H. Burney
- Odisha – Cheppudira Muthana Poonacha
- Punjab – Jaisukh Lal Hathi, Aminuddin Ahmad Khan
- Rajasthan – Raghukul Tilak, K. D. Sharma
- Sikkim – B. B. Lal, Homi J. H. Taleyarkhan
- Tamil Nadu – Sadiq Ali
- Tripura – L. P. Singh, S. M. H. Burney
- Uttar Pradesh – Chandeshwar Prasad Narayan Singh
- West Bengal – Tribhuvana Narayana Singh, Bhairab Dutt Pande
Events
- National income - 1,727,755 million
- April 30 - Nearly 48 killed in Bihar Sharif due to communal riots between Yadavs and Muslims.
- July – About 308 people die in Bangalore after drinking illicit liquor.
- 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.
Births
- 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 H. Vinoth, film director.
- 27 September – Lakshmipathy Balaji, cricketer.
- 7 October – Abhijeet Sawant, singer and winner of Indian Idol.
- 12 October Sneha, actress.
- 14 October – Gautam Gambhir, cricketer and politician
- 7 November 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.
- 19 June – Subhas Mukhopadhyay, Physician created World's second IVF
- 24 September – Brahmarishi Hussain Sha, seventh head of Sri Viswa Viznana Vidya Adhyatmika Peetham and scholar.
- 26 December – Savitri, actress.
- 28 December – David Abraham Cheulkar, actor.