3 February – Members of teams trying to conduct social audit of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) were attacked in Manohar Thana block of Jhalwar district in Rajasthan.
5 February – The Orissa government decides to provide a monthly pension of ₹ 200 to HIV positive persons under the State-sponsored 'Madhu Babu Pension Yojana.'
12 February – "Year of Russia in India" was inaugurated jointly by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Russian counterpart Victor Zubkov in New Delhi.
15 February – The Election Commission issues notice to Congress president Sonia Gandhi seeking her response to an allegation that she had incurred disqualification as member of Parliament under Article 102(1)(d) of the Constitution for accepting the Order of Leopold (Belgium) from the King of Belgium in November 2006.
20 February – The former Queen Mother of Jaipur Gayatri Devi sat on a dharna near the Moti Doongri Fort protesting encroachment, by the land mafia, of land she donated.
24 February – In an affidavit filed before the Gujarat High Court, the CID has officially implicated former Gujarat Additional Director General of Police, D. G. Vanzara, as the "chief conspirator" in the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case.
24 February – Tarun Vijay joins Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee Research Foundation, the BJP's newly created think tank, as its director. He has been the chief editor of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh organ Panchjanya.
26 February – Ratakonda Dayakar named India's new Ambassador to Sweden. Dayakar is 1976 batch IFS officer.
26 February – Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar predicts the foodgrain production to reach the record level of 219.32 million tonnes during 2007–08.
27 February – Three teachers in Jalaun district in UP sent to jail under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. They were found to be discriminating against the dalit children by making SC students have their mid-day meal separately.
3 March – Central government launches Dhan Laxmi scheme in seven states. Under this scheme an insurance cover of ₹ 100,000 would be provided for the girl child at her birth. The scheme aims to improve the girl-child ratio.
5 March – S. M. Krishna resigns from his post of Maharashtra Governor.
8 May – Jerome Bonnafont, the French Ambassador to India, puts forward the proposal of a large scale nuclear cooperation between India and France.
13 May – Bomb blasts rock Jaipur. About 80 people killed in serial blasts.
18 May – The bruised body of social activist and member of NGO Vikas Sahyog Kendra, Lalit Kumar Mehta found in Kandra forest in Palamau in Jharkhand. Mehta was involved in social audit of NREGS and is suspected to have been killed by those having "vested interests."
20 May – Calling Chhattisgarh government's Salwa Judum vigilante campaign against naxalism as "an abdication of the state itself", an experts group of the Planning Commission called for its immediate scrapping.
21 May – Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav announces cash awards amounting to ₹ 174 million for officers and staff of all zonal railways.
22 May – Following resounding victory of the Trinamool Congress in the panchayat elections in Nandigram area, violence erupts in Purbo Medinipur district. In clashes between workers of Trinamool and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) five persons were injured.
23 May – President Pratibha Patil starts her maiden visit to Jammu and Kashmir.
23 May – A week ahead of first anniversary of police firing on agitating Gujjars violence erupts in Rajasthan. Four Gujjar protesters and one policeman killed in clashes in Bharatpur district. The tally goes up to 17 later.
24 May – Eighteen killed and 38 others injured in police firing in Dausa district of Rajasthan in the ongoing Gujjar-police clashes.
25 May – The Bharatiya Janata Party comes to power in Karnataka. In the assembly elections held earlier in the week, BJP win 110 seats. Congress is second with 80.
June - December
4 June – The Government announces an increase in petrol, diesel and LPG prices by ₹ 5, ₹ 3 and ₹ 50 respectively.
27 June – First Field Marshal of Indian Army Sam Manekshaw died.
26–29 November – 2008 Mumbai attacks: 175 people were killed and over 308 wounded in more than ten coordinated shooting and bombing attacks across Mumbai, India's largest city, carried out by Islamic terrorists[6][7] from Pakistan.[8]
3 February – Inaugurating the tenth Mumbai International Film Festival (MIFF) for documentary, short and animation films at the National Centre for Performing Arts (NCPA), Mumbai, the Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi announced that a dedicated channel for short films in the Eleventh Plan is under consideration.
14 February – The Government decides to extend visa of exiled Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen, for another six months. Her visa was to expire on 17 February.
19 February – The K.K. Birla Foundation decides to give the following awards:(1) The Sixteenth Vachaspati Puraskar for 2007 to Swami Rambhadracharya for his work Sribhargavaraghaviyam (Mahakavyam). (2)The 2007 Bihari Puraskar to Hindi poet Yashwant Vyas for his Hindi novel Comrade Godse. (3) The Shankar Puraskar for 2007 to Prof. R.S. Tripathi for his work Baudh Darshan Prasthan.
8 May – The Delhi high court quashed three criminal proceedings initiated against the artist M. F. Husain for allegedly hurting public sentiments through some of his nude paintings that were perceived as obscene.
25 May – Pakistani rock band Junoon performs in Srinagar on the occasion of opening of the Institute of Kashmir Studies at the Kashmir University.
Abhinav Bindra became the first individual gold-medalist at the Olympics for India.11 August – Shooter Abhinav Bindra wins the gold in the 10 m Air Rifle event at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. He became the first Indian to win an individual gold medal at the Olympic Games.
20 August – Wrestler Sushil Kumar wins a bronze medal in the Men's 66 kg Freestyle Wrestling category at 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
21 August – Boxer Vijender Kumar became the first Indian boxer to win an Olympic medal when he won bronze medal in the middleweight category at 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
7 October – Cricketer Sourav Ganguly announces retirement from Test Cricket.
17 October – Cricketer Sachin Tendulkar becomes the leading scorer in Test Cricket and also becomes the first batsman to score 12,000 runs in Test Cricket.
^Chang, Richard S. (10 January 2008). "Tata Nano: The World's Cheapest Car".
^"Farm loan waivers won LS polls for Cong". The Times of India. 15 December 2009. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
^"BJP, RSS workers attack CPM HQ". The Times of India. 10 March 2008. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
^"India setting world record by sending 10 satellites into orbit". The Times of India. 28 April 2008. Archived from the original on 21 October 2012. Retrieved 6 October 2008.
^"Chandrayaan-1 Successfully Enters Lunar Orbit". ISRO. Archived from the original on 18 November 2008. Retrieved 8 November 2008.
^Friedman, Thomas (17 February 2009). "No Way, No How, Not Here". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 29 August 2012. Retrieved 17 May 2010.
^"Indian Muslims hailed for not burying 26/11 attackers", Sify News, 19 February 2009, archived from the original on 23 October 2010, retrieved 9 September 2010
^Schifrin, Nick (25 November 2009). "Mumbai Terror Attacks: 7 Pakistanis Charged – Action Comes a Year After India's Worst Terrorist Attacks; 166 Die". ABC News. Retrieved 17 May 2010.