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India gains its Indepence from Great Britian after Worl War II. The Prevention of Dedication Act is adopted which made it illegal for girls to be dedicated to Hindu Temples (prositution).
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Untouchability is abolished and its practice in any form is forbidden.
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The law was intended as a means of limiting and eventually abolishing prostitution in India by gradually criminalising various aspects of sex work.
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Economic reform programs begin by Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao and Finance Minister Manmohan Sing.
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Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Government voted out of power in Delhi due to inability to control rising onion prices
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India carries out nuclear tests, leading to widespread international condemnation.
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India population hits 1 billion people.
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Former Finance Minster Manmohan Singh is sworn in as prime minister
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India launches an application for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.
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India's largest-ever rural jobs scheme is launched, aimed at lifting around 60 million families out of poverty. Millions of Indians depend on the farming sector
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India's first commercial space rocket is launched, carrying an Italian satellite.
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Government announces its strongest economic growth figures for 20 years. India had a GDP increase of 9.4%.
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India and Russia sign deals worth $700m, according to which Moscow will supply uranium to Delhi.
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A Delhi court rules that homosexual intercourse between consenting adults is not criminal, overturning a 148-year-old colonial law.
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An onion shortage causes onion prices to raise.
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Results of 2011 census put India's population at 1.21bn, an increase of 181 million over ten years.
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India overtakes China to become the world's largest importer of arms, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
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A court sentences four men to death for the gang rape and murder of a student in Delhi the previous December - a case that led to violent protests across India and new laws against rape.