1954 in India

Incumbents

• President of India – Rajendra Prasad
• Prime Minister of India – Jawaharlal Nehru
• Vice President of India – Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
• Chief Justice of India –
  • until 3 Jan. – M. Patanjali Sastri
  • 4 Jan.-22 Dec. – Mehr Chand Mahajan
  • starting 23 Dec. – Bijan Kumar Mukherjea

Governors

• Andhra Pradesh – Chandulal Madhavlal Trivedi
• Assam – Jairamdas Daulatram
• Bihar – Madhav Shrihari Aney
• Maharashtra – Raja Sir Maharaj Singh
• Odisha – Fazal Ali (until 9 February), P. S. Kumaraswamy Raja (starting 9 February)
• Punjab – Chandulal Madhavlal Trivedi
• Rajasthan – Maharaj Man Singh II
• Uttar Pradesh – Hormasji Peroshaw Mody
• West Bengal – Harendra Coomar Mookerjee

Events

• National income - 109,771 million
• 26 January – First Bharat Ratna in India :
  • First recipient: C. Rajagopalachari
  • Second recipient: Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
  • Third recipient: C. V. Raman
• 15 February - Travancore-Cochin Legislative Assembly election results in majority for Indian National Congress. Travancore Tamil Nadu Congress makes significant gains in Kanyakumari region.
• 22 March – Jayendra Saraswathi becomes the 70th Shankaracharya of Kanchi.
• 4 April – Congress Working Committee set up a subcommittee under Jawaharlal Nehru's chairmanship to examine the working of the Constitution of India.
• 29 April - India and China signs Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence (Panchsheel).
• 18 May - K. Kamaraj drops the controversial Modified Scheme of Elementary Education introduced by Rajaji in Madras State.
• 8 July - Bhakra-Nangal Dam inaugurated.
• 11 August – Indian annexation of Dadra and Nagar Haveli: Portuguese forces surrender to the Indian SRP.
• Seven killed in police firing in Travancore following agitation by Travancore Tamil Nadu Congress.
• 6 November – Bombay Electricity Board is formed.
• 7 December - National Defence Academy inaugurated at Pune.
• Sahitya Akademi was established in 1954

Law

• 5 July – The Andhra Pradesh High Court is established.

Births

• 11 January – Kailash Satyarthi, Social Reformer, Co-recipient of Nobel Peace Prize 2014
• 25 March – Pinky Lilani, author and businesswoman
• 12 May – Edappadi K. Palaniswami, chief minister of Tamil Nadu 2018.
• 4 July Manjula Vijayakumar, actress (died 2013).
• 10 July – Malyadri Sriram, politician and member of parliament from Bapatla.
• 14 July
  • Tanikella Bharani, playwright, script writer and actor.
  • R. Sarathkumar, actor and politician.
• 23 July – Nadeem al-Wajidi, Islamic scholar and writer (died 2024).
• 1 August Baba Gurinder Singh, Fifth and Present Satguru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas.
• 11 August – Yashpal Sharma, cricketer (died 2021).
• 14 September – Shrikant Jichkar, politician (died 2004).
• 15 September P. Vasu, film director and actor.
• 3 October Sathyaraj, actor, producer and director.
• 3 November – Laxmikant Berde, comic actor (died 2004).
• 7 November – Kamal Haasan, actor and film director.
• 9 November – Shankar Nag, actor and director (died 1990).

Deaths

• 22 October – Jibanananda Das, poet, writer, novelist and essayist in Bengali (b. 1899)
• 5 December – Sir Girija Shankar Bajpai, civil servant, diplomat and Governor of Bombay (b. 1891)

References

References

1. Austin, Granville. (1999). "Working a Democratic Constitution: The Indian Experience". Oxford University Press.
2. (2019-12-15). "Those Were The Days: How Rajaji’s ‘kula kalvi thittam’ became a controversial education reform". dtNext.in.
3. P S Lele, Dadra and Nagar Haveli: past and present, Published by Usha P. Lele, 1987,
4. "Why did Kerala surrender Kanyakumari to Tamil Nadu without a fight?".