← 1950 1949 1948 1951 in India → 1952 1953 1954
Centuries:	18th 19th 20th 21st
Decades:	1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s
See also:	List of years in India Timeline of Indian history

Events in the year 1951 in the Republic of India.

Incumbents

• President of India – Rajendra Prasad^[1]
• Prime Minister of India – Jawaharlal Nehru
• Chief Justice of India – H. J. Kania (until 6 Nov.), M. Patanjali Sastri (starting 6 Nov.)

Governors

• Assam: Jairamdas Daulatram
• Bihar: Madhav Shrihari Aney
• Maharashtra: Raja Sir Maharaj Singh
• Odisha:
  • until 5 May: Asaf Ali
  • 6 May-17 July: V. P. Menon
  • starting 17 July: Asaf Ali
• Punjab: Chandulal Madhavlal Trivedi
• Rajasthan: Maharaj Man Singh II
• Uttar Pradesh: Hormasji Pherozeshah Modi
• West Bengal: Kailash Nath Katju (until 1 November), Harendra Coomar Mookerjee (starting 1 November)

Events

• National income - ₹108,633 million
• 4-11 March, First Asian Games held in Delhi.
• 5 November – Central Railway is formed by the merger of several government-owned railways.
• Western Railway is formed by merging smaller railways.
• Central Statistical Organisation is Established.

Law

• 12 March – Patna High Court struck down Bihar Land Reforms Act, ruling it as unconstitutional on the ground that it violated Article 14 of Indian Constitution.^[2]
• 2 June – First Amendment of the Constitution of India bill passed in Parliament of India with 228 votes and 20 votes against it.^[3]

• 18 June – First Amendment of the Constitution of India says "state can make special provisions for advancement of any backward class"
• 5 October – Supreme Court of India in Sri Sankari Prasad Singh Deo vs Union Of India And State Of Bihar case upheld the First Amendment of the Constitution of India.^[4]

Arts and literature

• 16 December – Salar Jung Museum is opened to the public by the Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru.

Births

• 1 January – Nana Patekar, actor and filmmaker.
• 1 March – Nitish Kumar, politician and Chief Minister of Bihar.
• 18 May — Jagdeep Dhankhar, politician and 14th Vice President of India
• 26 June – Pusapati Ashok Gajapathi Raju, politician and member of parliament from vizianagram.
• 9 July – Nav Bhatia, businessman and superfan of the Toronto Raptors.
• 10 July – Narayanasami Sathyamurthy, scientist.
• 11 July – Naramalli Sivaprasad, politician and member of parliament from Chittoor. (died 2019)
• 30 August – Surajit Sengupta, footballer. (died 2022)
• 7 September – Mammootty, actor
• 25 October – A. V. Vasudevan Potti, poet and lyricist.

Deaths

• 15 February – Stephen Hector Taylor-Smith, rocket scientist (born 1891).
• 23 October – Jagat Singh, Third Satguru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas (born 1884).
• 5 December – Abanindranath Tagore, Indian painter writer (born 1871).^[5]