Editing 2001 in India (section)

=== January ===
* 1 January – Calcutta officially becomes [[Kolkata]], reverting to its precolonial name.
* 1 January Dr. Leo Rebello's Encyclopedia of Letters Pen Power and All India Letter Writers Association is entered as a World Record in the [[Limca Book of Records]].
* 2 January – Power cuts leave huge swathes of northern India in darkness for two days starting early on 2 January. A minor fault in [[Uttar Pradesh]] leads to a breakdown in the regional grid across [[Haryana]], [[Himachal Pradesh]], [[Kashmir]], [[Punjab, India|Punjab]], and [[Rajasthan]].
* Early January – The government announces that it aims to double the number of [[aircraft]] operated by [[Air India]] in the next five to seven years as well as to sell off a 60% share in the company. Air India's stock of aging craft is thought to have dulled the company's competitive edge in recent years.
* Early January – The president of the [[Indian Science Congress]], [[R.S. Paroda]], warns a conference of 3,000 Indian scientists that the country could face a severe food shortage in 2020 as the population size outstrips the country's level of supplies.
* 4 January – The government tests its first homemade [[fighter aircraft|jet fighter]], the [[Light Combat Aircraft]] (LCA). The plane, originally scheduled to take its maiden flight in 1991, has taken 17 years to develop and will not be ready for service until 2010.
* 9 January-21 February – More than 100 million people – almost 2% of the world's population – attend the [[Maha Kumbh Mela]] festival in [[Allahabad]], making it the largest gathering of human beings in history. On the festival's most important day an estimated 20 million Hindu pilgrims bathe in the [[sacred waters]] of the three rivers which meet near the town. The festival is held every 12 years.
* 15 January – Voters in Indian-administered Kashmir are able to participate in the first local elections in 23 years. The polls decide positions on some 125 village councils. Islamic militants have urged a boycott of the vote, which they say will undermine the separatist movement.
* 15 January – In a sign of improving relations, Prime Minister [[Atal Bihari Vajpayee]] meets with the visiting chairman of [[China]]'s [[National People's Congress]], [[Li Peng]]. Both leaders say they have made substantial progress in discussing their two countries' disputed borders.
* 16 January- 11 people are killed when six members of the Kashmiri separatist guerrilla group [[Lashkar-e-Toiba]] attempt to storm [[Srinagar]]'s civilian airport.
* Mid-January – The government announces that it is willing to meet the [[United Liberation Front of Assam]] (ULFA) for open negotiations on ending the 20-year insurgency in the northeastern state.
* Mid-January – The eastern state of [[Orissa, India|Orissa]] urges further government assistance in the face of a major drought. Officials estimate that the state has lost around $150.7 million in failed rice crops alone. It is thought that deforestation has played a major part in the drought.
* 17 January – Pakistan reacts angrily to news that the Indian military has successfully test-fired an improved [[Agni-II]] intermediate [[ballistic missile]] capable of carrying a [[nuclear warhead]] to anywhere in Pakistan.
* Mid-January – Researchers reveal that unusually high sea temperatures caused by the extreme weather effect known as [[El Niño]] have irreversibly damaged [[coral reef]]s off India's western coast.
* Late January – 150 million children across India are immunized against [[polio]] in one of the largest [[vaccination]] projects ever undertaken.
* Late January – The government extends its ceasefire in Kashmir for another month despite continuing separatist violence.
* 26 January – The 7.7 {{M|w}} [[2001 Gujarat earthquake|Gujarat earthquake]] shakes [[Western India]] with a maximum [[Mercalli intensity scale|Mercalli intensity]] of X (''Extreme''), leaving 13,805–20,023 dead and about 166,800 injured.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2001-02-02 |title=Earthquake 2001 |url=http://www.nic.in/agricoop/eq2001/eqmain.html |access-date=2023-02-27 |archive-date=2 February 2001 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010202155700/http://www.nic.in/agricoop/eq2001/eqmain.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>
* Late January – The UK-based human rights group [[Amnesty International]] urges the government to crack down on the widespread use of torture by police.
* Late January- Researchers in [[Bangalore]] announce that the common antibiotic [[Triclosan]] has significant effects against the malaria parasite. Malaria is thought to kill around 1 million people every year worldwide.