1985 in India explained

Events in the year 1985 in the Republic of India.

Incumbents

• President of India – Zail Singh
• Prime Minister of India – Rajiv Gandhi
  • Vice President of India – R. Venkataraman Chief Justice of India – Yeshwant Vishnu Chandrachud (until 11 July), Prafullachandra Natwarlal Bhagwati

Governors

• Andhra Pradesh – Shankar Dayal Sharma (until 26 November), Kumud Ben Joshi (starting 26 November)
• Assam – Bhishma Narain Singh
• Bihar – Akhlaqur Rahman Kidwai (until 15 March), P. Venkatasubbaiah (starting 15 March)
• Gujarat – Braj Kumar Nehru
  • • • • • • Haryana – Saiyid Muzaffar Husain Burney Himachal Pradesh – Hokishe Sema Jammu and Kashmir – Jagmohan Malhotra Karnataka – Ashoknath Banerji Kerala – P. Ramachandran Madhya Pradesh – K.M Chandy Maharashtra –
  • until 16 April: Idris Hasan Latif
  • 19 April-30 May: Pir Muhammad
  • starting 31 May: Kona Prabhakara Rao
    • • • Manipur – K. V. Krishna Rao Meghalaya – Bhishma Narain Singh Nagaland – K. V. Krishna Rao Odisha – Bishambhar Nath Pande Punjab –
      • until 14 March: Kershasp Tehmurasp Satarawala 14 March-14 November: Arjun Singh
  • 14 November-26 November: Hokishe Sema
  • starting 26 November: Shankar Dayal Sharma
• Rajasthan – Om Prakash Mehra (until 4 January), Vasantdada Patil (starting 20 November)
• Sikkim –
  • • • • • until 30 May: Kona Prabhakar Rao 30 May-20 November: Bhishma Narain Singh starting 20 November: T.V. Rajeswar
    • Tamil Nadu – Sundar Lal Khurana Tripura – K. V. Krishna Rao Uttar Pradesh – Chandeshwar Prasad Narayan Singh (until 31 March), Mohammed Usman Arif (starting 31 March)
• West Bengal – Uma Shankar Dikshit

Events

• National income - 2,845,341 million
• 16 January - Coomar Narain an employee of SLM Maneklal Industries and certain personal staff of Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister of India were arrested in connection with leaking of classified documents to foreign agents under Official Secrets Act (India).^[1] The person who caught coomair Narainan was Mr Ved Parkash Sharma, a CBI officer by chance. This is explained in a recently published book by Kalol Bhattacharjee in 2024.
• 10 March - India won the first World Championship of Cricket held at Australia by defeating Pakistan in the final.^[2]
• 30 March - The Special Protection Group is created
• 10 April – Chakravarty Committee was set up by the RBI to review the working of monetary system. Its recommendations had far reaching consequences eventually removing India from the 500-year-old silver standard
• 5 June - R. Balakrishna Pillai, a minister from Kerala resigns following controversial speech (Punjab Model needed for Kerala) from him that encourage terrorism.^[3]
• 23 June – Air India Flight 182, a Boeing 747, blows up 31,000 feet (9,500 m) above the Atlantic Ocean, south of Ireland, killing all 329 aboard.
• 26 September – 1985 Punjab Legislative Assembly election.^[4]
• By mid-1985, the statutory preemption on banks' resources in the form of the Statutory Liquidity Ratio and the Cash Reserve Ratio exceeded 45%.
• KS Oils company is founded.^[5]
• Texas Instruments, a multinational corporation, starts its India operations in Bangalore and helps create infrastructure to export software via satellite communications from India for the first time.

Law

• 24 May - Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act is came into effect after presidential assent.
• 2 September - Indira Gandhi National Open University is established by an Act of Indian Parliament.
• 14 November - The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act is passed by Parliament came into force.
• The Administrative tribunals in Delhi, Mumbai, Calcutta and Allahabad were established by Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985.

Births

• 16 January - Sidharth Malhotra, actor and former model
• 17 February Sivakarthikeyan, actor, producer, lyricist, TV anchor.
• 22 February – Bombayla Devi Laishram, archer.^[6]
• 5 March Varalaxmi Sarathkumar, actress
• 9 March - Parthiv Patel, cricketer^[7]
• 26 March – Kedar Jadhav, Cricketer.
• 27 March Ram Charan, actor and producer.
• 6 April – Jai, actor.
• 23 April – Annies Kanmani Joy, IAS.
• 9 May – Neha Bamb, actress.
• 15 May – Tathagata Mukherjee, actor.
• 1 June – Dinesh Karthik, cricketer.
• 19 June – Kajal Aggarwal, actress.
• 20 June – RJ Balaji, radio jockey, actor, television presenter, comedian and film director.
• 25 June – Durga Shakti Nagpal, Indian bureaucrat.
• 22 July Yogi Babu, actor and comedian.
• 7 September – Radhika Apte, actress.
• 18 September Vignesh Shivan, film director, lyricist and producer.
• 23 September – Ambati Rayudu, cricketer.
• 18 October - Sourabhee Debbarma, singer.
• 26 October – Asin Thottumkal, actress.
• 1 November – Anand Ambani, Business Magnet.
• 2 November – Diana Penty, actress.
• 11 November – Robin Uthappa, cricketer.
• 5 December – Shikhar Dhawan, cricketer.
• 21 December Andrea Jeremiah, actress and singer.

Deaths

• 31 October – Hardit Malik, diplomat, civil servant and cricketer (born 1894)
• 6 November – Sanjeev Kumar, actor (born 1938).
• 3 December - Satya Bhakta, founders of Communist Party of India (b.1897)

See also

• Bollywood films of 1985

Notes and References

1. Web site: February 15, 1985. Dilip. Bobb. Spy scandal: India's security breach appears to have reached frightening levels. 2022-01-12. India Today. en.
2. Web site: Benson & Hedges World Championship of Cricket, Benson & Hedges World Championship of Cricket 1984/85 score, Match schedules, fixtures, points table, results, news. 2022-01-16. ESPNcricinfo. en.
3. Writ at Kerala High Court . Indian Kanoon.
4. News: Tempest . Rone . Sikh Party Wins Punjab Election : Will Rule Troubled State; Gandhi Slate Defeated . 27 Dec 2023 . Los Angeles Times.
5. Web site: Mustard oil, Rapeseed oil, healthy cooking oils manufacturer in India. www.ksoils.com.
6. Web site: Bombayla Devi LAISHRAM - Olympic Archery India . International Olympic Committee . 23 April 2019 . en . 20 November 2016.
7. Web site: Parthiv Patel. 2020-10-02. Cricinfo.