Tamil Nadu Timeline

GovernanceDMK-AIADMK alternation

Madras officially renamed Chennai

· Chennai

Madras officially renamed Chennai
jamal haider from india, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

The Tamil Nadu government officially changed the capital's name from Madras to Chennai.

In July 1996 the DMK government of M. Karunanidhi officially changed the name of the state capital from Madras to Chennai. The name Chennai derives from Chennapatnam, the town that grew next to Fort St. George, and had long been used in Tamil. The change was part of a nationwide trend of replacing anglicised city names, after Bombay was renamed Mumbai in 1995. Institutions such as the Madras High Court and the University of Madras kept their old names.

Related events

  1. 1969

    1. 14 Jan 1969ChennaiGovernance

      Madras State renamed Tamil Nadu

      With the Madras State (Alteration of Name) Act, 1968 in force, the state officially took the name Tamil Nadu.

  2. 1989

    1. 1989ChennaiSocial Reform

      Separate 20% quota for Most Backward Classes

      The DMK government split the 50% backward class quota into 30% for Backward Classes and 20% for Most Backward Classes and Denotified Communities.

  3. 1990

    1. 1990ChennaiSocial Reform

      Separate 1 percent reservation for Scheduled Tribes

      The Karunanidhi government split the combined SC/ST quota and gave Scheduled Tribes a separate 1 percent reservation.

  4. 1996

    1. 1996ChennaiEducation

      Free bus passes for students

      The Karunanidhi government introduced free bus travel for government school and college students and half fares for private institutions.

  5. 2004

    1. Oct 2004ChennaiLanguage

      Tamil declared a classical language

      The Government of India declared Tamil the first classical language of India.

  6. 2019

    1. 1 Nov 2019ChennaiCulture

      Tamil Nadu Day first observed on 1 November

      The Palaniswami government began observing 1 November as Tamil Nadu Day; in 2022 the DMK government moved it to 18 July.

Open in the timeline explorer