| 1902 | Born on 23 December in village Nurpur, Meerut district. |
| 1923 | Received his BSc from Agra College, Agra. |
| 1925 | Received his MA from Agra College. Married to Smt Gayatri Devi on 5 June 1925 |
| 1926 | Received his LLB from Meerut College, Meerut, Agra University. |
| 1928 | Practiced law in Ghaziabad. |
| 1929 | Joined the Indian National Congress and, thereafter, gave up his practice for a full-time political career. Established the Town Congress Committee of Ghaziabad in which he held various positions until 1939. Remained in the Congress until 1967 |
| 1930 | First imprisonment, during Gandhi’s Salt Satyagraha, for six months. Becomes vice-chairman, district board, Meerut until 1935. |
| 1937 | Elected to the UP Legislative Assembly on the Congress ticket from Meerut district (South-West), comprising tahsils Baghpat and Ghaziabad, and winning 78.06 per cent of the total vote. |
| 1938 | Introduced an Agricultural Produce Market Bill in the legislative assembly to protect the cultivators from exploitation by the food grains dealers. However, facing opposition, the bill was not finally passed until 1964. |
| 1939 | Held one of two positions—president or general secretary—of the Meerut District Congress Committee until 1946. Established his place as the most prominent spokesman for the interests of the cultivators, sponsoring several measures before the party and in the legislature on their behalf. Proposed a resolution before the executive committee of the Congress Legislature Party, calling for reservation of 50 per cent of positions in public sector jobs for the sons and dependents of the cultivators or agriculturists. The resolution, however, was never considered by the party. In the same year, he formulated the Land Utilization Bill, precursor of the Zamindari Abolition Bill, calling for the transfer of land owner- ship to all tenants or actual tillers of the soil who chose to pay an amount equivalent to 10 times the annual rental on the land they cultivated. In the same year, published several articles proposing various measures for the protection and promotion of the interests of the cultivators. Also in the same year, he introduced a resolution before the Congress Legislature Party prohibiting any enquiries with regard to the caste of any Hindu who sought admission in an educational institution or a position in any government service, except in the case of scheduled castes. Further, he played a leading role in the formulation and passage of the Debt Redemption Bill, again a measure to provide relief to the cultivators. |
| 1940 | Second imprisonment in November for one year during the individual satyagraha movement. Remained general secretary and president of Meerut DCC until 1946. |
| 1942 | Third imprisonment, from August 1942 until November 1943. |
| 1945 | At a meeting of kisans in Banaras, chaired by Acharya Narendra Dev, drafted a Congress Manifesto calling for the abolition of landlordism, which was passed as a resolution of the All-India Congress Working Committee in December. At the same kisan gathering, he also formulated his proposal for increasing the employment of cultivators in government services, but it never received the support of the Congress or the government. |
| 1946 | Elected to the UP Legislative Assembly again from Meerut District (South-West). Appointed parliamentary secretary in the second Congress government. Retained that position until 1951, serving in succession under the health minister, the local self-government minister, and finally the chief minister. Became a member of the All-India Congress Committee (AICC). |
| 1947 | How to Abolish Zamindari: Which Alternative System to Adopt and Abolition of Zamindari published. |
| 1948 | General Secretary, UP Legislature Congress Party until 1956. Abolition of Zamindari in U.P.: Critics Answered published. |
| 1951 | Becomes minister of justice and information with cabinet rank from June to 9 August 1951, after which he held the portfolios of animal husbandry and information. |
| 1952 | Passage of the Zamindari Abolition Bill in the framing of which he played the principal part. Appointed minister of revenue and agriculture in May until 27 December 1954. |
| 1954 | Appointed minister for revenue and transport in the government of Dr Sampurnanand on 28 December, held until 9 April 1957. |
| 1957 | Given the portfolio of finance in addition to revenue on 10 April 1957. Portfolio of power added in February 1959. Publication of Agrarian Revolution in Uttar Pradesh. |
| 1959 | Resigns from the government of Dr Sampurnanand on 22 April. Out of the government for 19 months. Publishes Joint Farming X-Rayed: The Problem and Its Solution. |
| 1960 | Rejoins the UP government of C.B. Gupta on 7 December as cabinet minister, home and agriculture, until 13 March 1962; continues as minister for agriculture, but without the home portfolio, from 14 March 1962 until 1 October 1963. |
| 1963 | Joins the UP government of Sucheta Kripalani as minister for agriculture, animal husbandry, fisheries and forests; drops the agriculture portfolio on 14 May 1965; holds forests and local self-government from 14 February 1966. |
| 1964 | Publishes India’s Poverty and Its Solution. |
| 1967 | Defects from the Congress in April to become the first non-Congress chief minister of UP from 3 April 1967 until 25 February 1968, and forms the Bharatiya Kranti Dal, renamed in 1974 under his continuing leadership as the Bharatiya Lok Dal and renamed again as the Lok Dal in September 1979. |
| 1970 | Becomes chief minister of UP second time on 17 February until 29 September. Publishes The Story of New Congress–BKD Relations: How New Congress Broke the U.P. Coalition. |
| 1971 | Becomes leader of the opposition, UP Legislative Assembly until 1977. |
| 1975 | Imprisoned for two years during Indira Gandhi’s authoritarian “Emergency” regime. |
| 1977 | Released from jail and provided the principal electoral base for the defeat of the Congress in the 1977 General Elections. Elected to parliament, and became home minister, from March 1977 to June 1978, and later deputy prime minister and union minister of finance from January to July 1979 in the Janata government of Morarji Desai. |
| 1978 | India’s Economic Policy: The Gandhian Bueprint published. |
| 1979 | Becomes prime minister of India for a brief period (from 28 July 1979 to 14 January 1980) after the fall of the Janata government. |
| 1980 | Elected to parliament again. |
| 1981 | Publication of Economic Nightmare of India: Its Cause and Cure. |
| 1984 | Elected to parliament again. |
| 1985 | Suffered a severe, incapacitating stroke. |
| 1986 | Land Reforms in U.P. and the Kulaks (as told by Charan Singh) published. |
| 1987 | Died on 29 May and cremated at his memorial, named Kisan Ghat, in Delhi. |
Source: This timeline is compiled by Paul R. Brass.
This is taken from his work: An Indian Political Life: Charan Singh and Congress Politics, 1967 to 1987, published by Sage (2014)
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