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 (until 10 August), Prakash Mehrotra (starting 10 August)
 * Bihar – Akhlaqur Rahman Kidwai
 * Gujarat – Sharda Mukherjee
 * Haryana – Ganpatrao Devji Tapase
 * Himachal Pradesh – Amin ud-din Ahmad Khan (until 26 August), A. K. Banerjee (starting 26 August)
 * Jammu and Kashmir – L. K. Jha (until 22 February), B. K. Nehru (starting 22 February)
 * 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 (until 18 August), S. M. H. Burney (starting 18 August)
 * Meghalaya – L.P. Singh (until 11 August), Prakash Mehrotra (starting 11 August)
 * Nagaland – L.P. Singh (until 11 August), S. M. H. Burney (starting 11 August)
 * Odisha – Cheppudira Muthana Poonacha
 * Punjab – Jaisukh Lal Hathi (until 26 August), Aminuddin Ahmad Khan (starting 26 August)
 * Rajasthan – Raghukul Tilak (until 8 August), K. D. Sharma (starting 8 August)
 * Sikkim – B. B. Lal (until 9 January), Homi J. H. Taleyarkhan (starting 10 January)
 * Tamil Nadu – Sadiq Ali
 * Tripura – L. P. Singh (until 18 August), S. M. H. Burney (starting 18 August)
 * Uttar Pradesh – Chandeshwar Prasad Narayan Singh
 * West Bengal – Tribhuvana Narayana Singh (until 12 September), Bhairab Dutt Pande (starting 12 August)

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 (see: 1981 Karnataka liquor deaths).
 * 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
12 December -
 * 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.
 * 19 June – Gulzar Khan, philosopher and mathematician.
 * 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 (season 1).
 * 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.
 * Ashok, actor.
 * Yuvraj Singh, cricketer.

Deaths

 * 3 May – Nargis, actress (born 1929).
 * 19 June – Subhas Mukhopadhyay, Physician created World's second IVF (born 1931)
 * 24 September – Brahmarishi Hussain Sha, seventh head of Sri Viswa Viznana Vidya Adhyatmika Peetham and scholar (born 1905).
 * 26 December – Savitri, actress (born 1936).
 * 28 December – David Abraham Cheulkar, actor (born 1908).