March 30 Tendulkar becomes the first to complete 10,000 runs in one dayers.

Six people, including an Additional District Magistrate are killed in a clash between the police and the crowd protesting against the alleged burning of the Holy Quran in Kanpur.

The President, Mr. K.R. Narayanan honours the former South African President, Mr. Nelson Mandela, with the Gandhi Peace Prize.

Eleven people, including two policemen, have been killed and four injured in an encounter between police and the supporters of Rashtriya Janata Dal MP, Shahabuddin in Siwan District of Bihar.

INS Tillanchang, the second indigenous warship in the Trinkat class fast attack craft series commissioned at the naval base of Vishakhapatnam.

Mr. Ratan N. Tata, Chairman of Tata Sons, India's largest industrial conglomerate, has been conferred an honorary doctorate by Ohio State University.

- External Affairs Minister, Jaswant Singh, has been appointed the country's new Defence Minister in addition to his current charge.

The winner of the Gandhi Peace Prize 2000, Mr. Nelson Mandela donates the prize money, $ 106,698, to the Gujarat earthquake victims.

- Chief Justice of India turns down the government's request to nominate a judge of the Supreme Court, to probe the Tehelka expose.

Lok Sabha passes the "vote on account" for fiscal year 2001-2002.

Agriculture Minister Nitish Kumar is assigned the additional charge of Railway Ministry.

C.B.I. registers a case against Vincent George, personal secretary of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, for amassing wealth disproportionate to his known sources of income.

The Commerce and Industry Ministry approves the release of 50,000 tonnes of onion for export with immediate effect.

Ministry of Health and Dept. of Food Processing Industries decide on the symbol to be used on packaged foods containing vegetarian and non-vegetarian ingredients.

Noted singer Lata Mangeshkar honoured with country's highest civilian award - Bharat Ratna.

In a significant order to reduce the number of nearly two lakh undertrials crowding the jails, the Supreme Court hold that they should be released from prison if the trial proceedings continues beyond five years.

The Karanjia court in a case relating to looting of cows and burning of a truck, acquits Dara Singh, accused in the killing of Australian missionary Graham Stains.

Noted Journalist B.G. Verghese is appointed Information Consultant to Defence Minister Jaswant Singh.

India win the Cricket Test Series against Australia by 2-1.

The Government raises the minimum support price of wheat for the Rabi harvest by Rs. 30 per quintal from Rs. 580 to 610.

March 24

Justice K. Venkataswami, a retired judge of the Supreme Court, will head the one-man commission of inquiry to probe the Tehelka expose on graft in defence deals.

Patna High Court issues a non-bailable arrest warrant against Union Civil Aviation Minister Sharad Yadav for allegedly driving out voters from polling stations during the last Lok Sabha elections in his constituency in Madhepura.

India win by 60 runs against Australia in the first one-dayer to take a 1-0 lead in the five-match series at Bangalore.

The Army and the Railways inaugurate the highest Passenger Reservation System at Leh.

India crosses a population of over 1.02 billion as on March 1 this year.

P. N. Bhagwati, former Chief Justice of India, is appointed as the Chairman of the Human Rights Committee in New York, the first-ever Indian to get the assignment.

Sitar Maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar conferred with the honorary Knight Commander of the Excellence Order of the British Empire for his contribution to music.

 

- President K.R. Narayanan admitted to Sir Ganga Ram Hospital for undergoing surgery to remove gall bladder stones.

The self-styled chief of the Lashkar-e-Taiba in Jammu and Kashmir, Salauddin Ayubi, killed by the special operations group of the State Police near Nowgam in central Kashmir.

The launch of Geo-synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) is aborted as one of the strap-on engines fails and catches fire just before the launch at Sriharikota.

Australia beat India in second one-day cricket match at Pune and level the 5 match series by 1-1.

Dr. Suman Sahai of the Gene Campaign, a Delhi-based NGO working on biological resources, is conferred with a Dutch environmental award and appointed a Knight of the order of the Golden Ark.

 

The Central Bureau of Investigation arrests Ketan Parekh, leading stock broker, in connection with the Rs. 130 crore pay-order scam.

 

 

India's medium range surface-to-surface missile, Prithvi-II successfully test-fired from the interim test range at Chandipur-on-sea.

Sachin Tandulkar becomes the first batsman in the history of one-day cricket to complete 10, 000 runs.

The Government dismantles the system of Quantitative Restrictions (QRs) on imports and announces a strategy to promote agricultural exports as a step towards achieving a one per cent share in global trade.

 

A total of four explosions kill 200 people in the northern Chinese province of Hebei.

 

A civilian plane slams into a mountain near the Angolan City of Lubango, killing all 17 people on board.

Afghanistan's radical Taliban rulers have ordered beauty parlours in the country's western Heart City to close down for violating Islamic Sharia laws.

 

 

West Indies fast bowler Courtney Walsh becomes the first bowler in cricket history to take 500 test wickets at the Queen's Park, Oval when he trapped South African batsman Jacques Kallis leg before.

Fiji will return to the ballot box on August 27 in a bid to restore constitutional democracy lost in a coup last year.

The world's biggest offshore oil rig hit by the blasts that apparently killed 10 people sinks in the South Atlantic in Brazil.

A meeting of Pakistan Army Corps Commanders has agreed that the country should sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty as it has achieved a certain level of nuclear deterrence.

India beat arch rivals Pakistan in a penalty shootout to win the final of the nine-nation Prime Minister's Gold Cup Field Hockey Tournament at Dhaka.

Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls has confirmed that nuns had suffered sexual violence from priests in the countries that he did not specify.

 

 

 

Robert D.Blackwill, a career diplomat and currently the Belfer lecturer on international security with Harvard University, is to be the next Ambassador of USA to India.

The United States has ordered the expulsion of 50 Russian diplomats at Washington, following the recent arrest of a FBI agent accused of spying for Moscow.

Ending a glorious 15- year history, Russia's Mir space station crashes safely into the Southern Pacific to its permanent-resting place.

Animation pioneer William Hanna, who with partner Joseph Barbera created such beloved cartoon characters as Fred Flinstone, Yogi Bear and Tom and Jerry, dies at the age of 90 in Los Angeles.

Pakistan has edged past India in nuclear weapons capability since the two countries conducted nuclear tests in May 1998, London-based 'Janes Intelligence Review' has reported.

 

 

 

 

 

At least 58 students were burnt to death when a fire broke out at Kyangulu Mixed Secondary School in the early hours at a dormitory in eastern Kenya's Machakos district.

The ancient Roman epic 'Gladiator' takes the best Picture and earns Russell Crowe an Oscar for best actor. Julia Roberts gets best actress Oscar for the film 'Erin Brockovich' at the 73^rd Academy Awards in Los Angeles.

Pakistan officially opens its Chinese-built second nuclear power plant at Chashma in central Punjab.