Events in the year 1959 in the Republic of India. Incumbents President of India – Rajendra Prasad Prime Minister of India – Jawaharlal Nehru Vice President of India – Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan Chief Justice of India – Sudhi Ranjan Das (until 30 Sep.), Bhuvaneshwar Prasad Sinha (starting 1 Oct.) Governors Andhra Pradesh – Bhim Sen Sachar Assam – until 22 August: Saiyid Fazal Ali 23 August-14 October: Chandreswar Prasad Sinha starting 14 October: Satyavant Mallannah Shrinagesh Bihar – Zakir Hussain Karnataka – Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar Kerala – Burgula Ramakrishna Rao Madhya Pradesh – Hari Vinayak Pataskar Maharashtra – Sri Prakasa Odisha – Yeshwant Narayan Sukthankar Punjab – Narahar Vishnu Gadgil Rajasthan – Gurumukh Nihal Singh Uttar Pradesh – Kanhaiyalal Maneklal Munshi West Bengal – Padmaja Naidu Events National income - 161,017 million March 31 - India grants political asylum to the Dalai Lama after he fled Tibet and crossed into Indian territory following 1959 Tibetan uprising. April 10 - An English Electric Canberra jet bomber of Indian Air Force that crossed into Pakistani Airspace was shot down near Rawalpindi by Pakistan Air Force's Sabre jets. May 1 - President of India Rajendra Prasad gave assent for Reserve Bank of India (Amendment) Act 1959 which created provision for introduction of External Rupee (Gulf Rupee and Hajj Rupee) for using as tender in Trucial States, Oman, Qatar etc. The move is meant to curb the misuse of Indian rupee by gold smugglers. July 31 - The EMS ministry, an elected communist government in Kerala brought down through President's rule following Vimochana Samaram. Dates unknown Bajaj Auto obtains license from Government of India to manufacture two- and three-wheelers in India. Law Eighth Amendment of the Constitution of India Births 3 January – Ninong Ering, politician and member of parliament from Arunachal East. 6 January – Kapil Dev, cricketer. 25 June Suresh Krissna, film director. 29 July – Sanjay Dutt, actor. 29 August Nagarjuna, actor and film producer. 19 December – H. D. Kumaraswamy, politician and Chief Minister of Karnataka. Deaths 1 November – M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar, actor and Carnatic singer (born 1909). 4 December – Ahmad Saeed Dehlavi, freedom fighter and first general secretary of the Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind. (born 1888) See also List of Bollywood films of 1959 References India Years of the 20th century in India