March1

Tata Iron & Steel Company was the first steel company to be established in India.

First Indian Iron Company 'Tata Iron and Steel' established.

Central Translation Bureau was setup as a subordinate office under the Ministry of Home Affairs. The Bureau undertakes translation work of manuals, codes, forms and other non-statutory procedural literature of various ministries, departments, offices of the Central Government and Undertakings, Banks etc.

Rajendra Sethia, the biggest personal bankrupt ever, arrested in New Delhi.

A Pakistani official quoted as saying, "Pakistan has nuclear bomb capabilities at New Delhi".

Vaidya Jogeshchandra Banerjee was born.

Pareshchandra Bhattacharya, former Gonerner of Indian Reserve Bank, was born.

Karmaveer Bhausaheb Hire was born.

A.E.T. Barrow, educationist, was born.

Habib Rahman, great Architect, was born at Calcutta.

Kartar Singh Duggal, famous author, was born at Dhamyal, Pakistan.

Naresh Mehta was born.

Coimbatarao Doraikannu Gopinath, cricketer (batted in 8 Tests for India in the 1950's), was born in Madras.

Satish Kumar Sareen was born in Rawalpindi (now in Pakistan). He became the Air Chief Marshal.

NitishKumar RamLakhanSingh was born in Bakhtiarpur, Distt. Patna (Bihar).

Salil Ashok Ankola, cricketer (Indian pace bowler one Test 1989), was born in Solapur.

Mahatma Gandhi announced his desire to start 'Satyagraha' against proposed Rowlatt Act meant to curb civil and political liberties.

Britishers were allowed to do commercial activities in Madras.

Singhgad won by the Britishers after the end of Peshwa kingdom.

The first AN-12B arrived in India. This was added in the force because of the increasing frequency of clashes with Chinese forces on the Sino-lndian Himalayan border and the need that these revealed for yet further increase in airlift capability, together with a requirement for medium helicopters suitable for high-altitude operation, orders were placed in the Soviet Union for eight Antonov An- 12B and 24IL-yushin 11- 14 transport aircraft plus 10 Mi-4 helicopters.

25 Sqn, AF was formed with 04XAN-12 aircraft acquired from the erstwhile USSR. This was to supply lines to the Army in the Northern Sector encompassing J&K and Ladakh regions.

National Aeronautical Research Laboratory moves to Bangalore with offices at Palace Road and Jayamahal Road. It soon becomes National Aeronautical Laboratory. Dr Nilakantan invites Dr D M Rao to lead the 4 ft tunnel project.

India develops Phased Array Radars critical for its "Akash" surface-to-air missile and launches its indigenous main battle tank 'Arjun'.

Bharat Ratna is awarded to Dr. A.J.P. Abdul Kalam, Scientific Adviser to the Defence Minister, and Smt. M. S. Subbulakshmi, Carnatic musician. The award is also conferred posthumously on film director Satyajit Ray, freedom fighter Aruna Asaf Ali and former Prime Minister Gulzari Lal Nanda.

Supreme Court frees CBI from the control of PM Rao and directs that CBI would take no instruction or permission from or report to any authority personally interested in or likely to be affected by the investigation into the hawala case.

The population figure for India is announced as 347,340,000.

Pakistan vs India five Test Cricket series ends in a 0-0 draw.

Gopi Chand and P.V.V. Lakshmi retain individual titles and India takes team titles in SAARC badminton in Colombo.

India `A' blanks Sri Lanks 5-0 in the inaugural tennis `Tests' in Delhi.

India under-19 team wins third `Test', claims three-test series 2-0 win in Matara.

Gopichand wins the Indian Oil Servo National badminton championship at Kochi-making it four in a row.

P.Harikrishna becomes India's youngest International Master in the Sangli International chess tournament.

J. F. Maden gave a preview of the first Bengali fiction film "Satyawadi Raja Harischandra".

Gaya University renamed as Magadh University.

Francisco de Almeida, Viceroy of Protuguese India, passed away in a battle.

Minto Gilbert Jhon Alieat, former viceroy of India, passed away.

Vasantdada Banduji Patil, former Chief Minister of Maharashtra and Governor of Rajasthan, passed away.

Anant Gundopant Tendulkar, great journalist, passed away.

Narayan Ganesh Goray passed away (1-5-98).

Iftikar, famous character actor, died.

Manmohan Desai, famous Hindi film maker, passed away. He was 57.

General Election ( 5th) of India begins.

BJP swept to power in Madhya Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh, shares power with JD in Gujarat and Rajasthan.

JD secures four-fifth majority in Orissa Assembly elections; Biju Patnaik becomes the new CM.