Events in the year 1974 in the Republic of India.

Incumbents

• President of India V. V. Giri until August 24, Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed
• Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi

Events

• January to May smallpox epidemic
• 18 May - Under project Smiling Buddha, India successfully detonates its second nuclear weapon near the Pakistani border, the first time in the country openly becomes the sixth nation to do so.
• 1974 railway strike in India

Births

• 1 January - Abha Dawesar, novelist.
• 7 January - Varun Badola, actor.
• 8 March - Fardeen Khan, actor.
• 22 April - Chetan Bhagat, novelist.

23 April - Shwetha Menon, Actor.

• 7 June - Mahesh Bhupathi, tennis player.
• 22 June - Joseph Vijay, actor and playback singer.
• 25 June - Karisma Kapoor, actress.
• 9 August - Mahesh Babu, actor
• 16 August- Balachandar - URA (Upcoming Real Actor)- Chennai/Mannargudi
• 23 October - Aravind Adiga, journalist and author, 2008 Man Booker Prize winner.
• 1 November - V. V. S. Laxman, cricketer.
• Manjeet Kullar, actress.
• 19 December - MVP, Writer & Author.

Deaths

• 4 February - Satyendra Nath Bose, physicist (b.1894).
• 23 September - Jayachamaraja Wodeyar Bahadur, last Maharaja of Mysore, philosopher, musicologist, political thinker and philanthropist (b.1919).
• 6 October - V. K. Krishna Menon, nationalist and politician (b.1897).
• 16 October - Chembai, Carnatic music singer (b.1895).
• 16 October - Edasseri Govindan Nair, poet, playwright and essayist (b.1906).
• J. P. Chandrababu, comedian-actor, singer and dancer (b.1926).
• Kshetresa Chandra Chattopadhyaya, scholar of Sanskrit (b.1896).
• Sucheta Kriplani, freedom fighter, politician and in Uttar Pradesh, became first woman to be elected Chief Minister of a state (b.1908).
• Matthew Pothen Thekaekara, scientist (b.1914).

See also

• Bollywood films of 1974