• Rajya Sabha bids farewell to over 70 retiring members.
• The Cabinet decides to include 90 more castes in the list of Other Backward Classes (OBC) eligible for job reservation.

• India wins the fourth one-day match against Australia being played at Baroda.
• The Chief Minister of Pondicherry, R.V. Janakiraman resigns after losing majority following TMC’s withdrawal of support.

• United States announces the removal of 51 Indian institutions from its Entities List.
• 23 candidates are elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha.

• US President Bill Clinton arrives in New Delhi on a five-day State visit.
• India loses the fifth and final Pepsi one-day cricket match against South Africa at Nagpur.

 March 20

• The international credit rating agency Standard’s & Poor’s has revised the outlook on India’s foreign currency sovereign rating from stable to positive in view of its comfortable external liquidity and accelerated the pace of economic reforms.

• Prime Minister Vajpayee and US President Bill Clinton sign a "Vision Statement", defining the direction as well as structure of a new engagement between the world’s two largest democracies.
• US President further eases economic sanctions against India to restart the $25 million Financial Institutions Reform and Expansion (FIRE) programme to modernise Indian financial markets.
• Unidentified militants gun down 35 Sikhs at Chatti Singhpora village in Anantnag district of the Kashmir Valley.
• India and US sign an agreement on the formation of an Indo-US Science and Technology Forum.

• India’s first third-generation satellite, Insat-3B is launched successfully by Europe’s latest Ariane-5 rocket from Kourou in French Guyana, giving a boost to mobile and business communications.
• The Government announces an increase in the ex-storage prices of LPG by Rs. 30 per cylinder, kerosene by Rs. 2.50 per litre and aviation turbine fuel by Rs. 2 per litre. This is a step to reduce the deficit in oil pool account.
• Congress (I) leader, P. Shanmugham, is sworn in Chief Minister of Pondicherry.
• India and US sign a joint agreement on cooperation in energy and environment.

• India’s hockey legend Udham Singh passes away. He was 72.
• India and US businessmen sign nine agreements at Mumbai totalling $ 3 billion, which represent over $ 2 billion in commercial ventures and $ 1 billion in US export-import bank financing.
• Dhirubhai Ambani, Chairman, Reliance Industries, is presented ‘Entrepreneur of the 20^th Century Award’ by William Daley, US Commerce Secretary during the visit of US President Bill Clinton in Mumbai.

• Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) sacks Giani Puran Singh as Jathedar of Akal Takht.
• India and Vietnam sign a defence pact paving the way for greater military cooperation.

• The National Commission for reviewing the working of the Constitution, sets up 10 expert groups to study the areas identified by the Commission for consideration.
• India and Nigeria sign an oil-deal at Abuja which could cement a strategic energy partnership between the two countries.
• The Government decides to bring a Bill to amend the Constitution to undo the 50 percent cap on reservation of jobs for the SC/ST candidates set by the Supreme Court.
• Cabinet approves the enactment of the Registration (Amendment) Bill-2000 paving way for changes in the Registration Act of 1908, the Transfer of Property Act, 1882, and the Indian Stamp Act, 1899.

• President honours 70 eminent persons from the fields of science, education and culture with Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri awards.
• India and Singapore sign a memorandum of understanding to set up a joint task force for enhancing bilateral cooperation in the information technology sector.

• Turkish Prime Minister, Bulent Ecevit arrives in New Delhi on a three-day official visit.
• Union Commerce Minister, Murasoli Maran announces the new Export-Import (Exim) Policy for 2000-01 which includes lifting of Quantitative Restrictions (QRs) on import of 714 items.

• Nepal Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai resigns a day ahead of a scheduled vote.
• A Lahore court sentences Javed Iqbal to death for murdering 100 children.

• Iridium mobile phone company is given legal permission to cut off service to 55,000 customers and destroy its 66 satellites following bankruptcy.
• Chen Shui-bian of Democratic Progressive Party wins Taiwan’s presidential elections.

• 500 Ugandan Doomsday cult members commit mass suicide by fire.

• The Prosecution demands the maximum punishment of death penalty for the deposed Pakistani Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, his brother and five others in the plane hijacking case.
• The Brussels, Amsterdam and Paris stock exchanges announce plans to merge, to create Europe’s second largest market after London.

• Coca Cola Cup Cricket tri-series begins at Sharjah. South Africa beat India by 10 wickets in the first day and night match played here.
• G.P. Koirala of Nepali Congress is sworn in Prime Minister of Nepal by King Birendra.

• India wins over Pakistan by five wickets in their second tie of the Coca Cola Cup one-day cricket tri-series at Sharjah.
• Rwanda’s President Pasteur Bizimungu who has been in power since 1994, resigns.

• Horst Koehler of Germany is the new Managing Director and Chairman of International Monetary Fund (IMF). He replaces Michael Comdessus who resigned recently.
• South Africa beat Pakistan in the third match of Coca Cola tri-series at Sharjah.

• After a five-day visit to India, US President makes a five-hour stop over at Islamabad where he emphatically tells Pakistan to stop cross-border terrorism and create conditions for resumption of Indo-Pak dialogue.

• Pakistan beat India by 98 runs in the triangular tournament in Sharjah.

• Russia’s acting President Vladimir Putin wins over his main rival, Gennady Zyuganov of Communist Party, in the Presidential election.
• Kevin Spacey wins the Best Actor Oscar for his role in ‘American Beauty’ and Hillary Swank adjudged Best Actress for ‘Boys Don’t Cry’ at the 72^nd annual Academy Awards in Los Angeles. The film ‘American Beauty’ bags five awards.
• South Africa beat India by six wickets in the tri-nation day and night match in the penultimate league tie at Sharjah.

• West Indies pace bowler Courtney Walsh sets a new record in wicket-taking by upsetting former Indian captain, Kapil Dev’s six-year old record of 434 wickets.
• Pakistan beat South Africa by six wickets at the tri-nation series in Sharjah. With this both Pakistan and South Africa qualify for the finals.

• Nine out of eleven OPEC countries decide to increase the crude oil production by 1.45 million barrels a day.
• Taiwan’s President-elect Chen Shui-Bian appoints Tang Fei, presently Defence Minister, as Prime Minister of Taiwan.

• All forty persons on board an AN-26 chartered flight from Palaly to Colombo are killed when the plane crashed near Anuradhapura town due to technical failure.

• Pakistan wins the Sharjah Cricket Cup after beating South Africa in the final of the one-day cricket tri-series.
• Mount Usu in Japan erupts after remaining dormant for two decades..

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