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Dataset · Protest in India, 2000 to 2026
India protests dataset, 2000 to 2026
Eleven tables on protest, rioting, shutdowns, strikes and elections in India, from 1953 to 2026, with a catalogue of 217 major protests.
- Tables
- 11
- Rows
- 1,764
- Coverage
- 1953–2026
- Updated
- 2 October 2026
- Format
- CSV, UTF-8
- Licence
- Free with attribution
Download all (120 KB, zip) Method note The research series
Files
| Table | Period | Rows | Columns | Source | Download |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Protest catalogue, 217 rows One row per nationally significant protest: dates, place, trigger, organisers, demands, crowd estimates kept separate by police, organiser and press, deaths, shutdowns, outcome, nearest election, and two or more sources. |
2000–2026 | 217 | 27 | Press and official sources, cited on every row | CSV |
| ACLED demonstrations per year Demonstration events per year by ACLED sub-event type, with fatalities. 2026 is a partial year. |
2016–2026 | 11 | 12 | ACLED aggregated data | CSV |
| ACLED demonstrations per month Demonstration events and fatalities per month. |
2016–2026 | 129 | 3 | ACLED aggregated data | CSV |
| ACLED demonstrations by state and year Demonstration events per state or union territory per year. |
2016–2026 | 36 | 12 | ACLED aggregated data | CSV |
| NCRB rioting, all India, 1953 to 2024 Registered rioting cases, all India, from every edition of Crime in India, with the table each figure came from. |
1953–2024 | 72 | 5 | NCRB, Crime in India | CSV |
| NCRB rioting by motive, 2014 to 2024 Rioting cases by the motive the police recorded, with labels as printed in each edition. |
2014–2024 | 156 | 6 | NCRB, Crime in India | CSV |
| NCRB rioting by state, 2001 to 2024 Rioting cases and the rate per lakh people, by state and year. |
2001–2024 | 923 | 5 | NCRB, Crime in India; population: World Bank | CSV |
| Internet shutdowns per year, 2012 to 2025 Internet shutdowns per year on two trackers, SFLC.in and Access Now, with protest and violence tags where recorded. |
2012–2025 | 14 | 12 | SFLC.in; Access Now | CSV |
| Labour Bureau industrial disputes, 2000 to 2024 Strikes, lockouts, workers involved and person-days lost per year. |
2000–2024 | 25 | 9 | Labour Bureau, Government of India | CSV |
| MHA communal incidents, 2004 to 2017 Communal incidents per year as reported by the Home Ministry to Parliament, with the quoted answer. |
2004–2017 | 14 | 5 | Ministry of Home Affairs, Parliament answers | CSV |
| Election calendar, 2000 to 2026 National and state elections: announcement, polling and counting dates, phases and the winner. |
2000–2026 | 167 | 10 | Election Commission of India | CSV |
Every series behind the India protest research: ACLED demonstrations by year, month and state (2016 to 2026); NCRB rioting cases 1953 to 2024 with police-attributed motives from 2014 and every state from 2001; internet shutdowns 2012 to 2025 on two trackers; Labour Bureau strikes and lockouts 2000 to 2023; Home Ministry communal incidents 2004 to 2017; an election calendar 2000 to 2026; and a catalogue of 217 nationally significant protests with police, organiser and press crowd figures kept apart and two or more sources on every row.
ACLED (aggregated weekly data, not redistributed in raw form); NCRB Crime in India via reclaimchennai/NCRB; SFLC.in and Access Now; Labour Bureau; Ministry of Home Affairs replies to Parliament; Election Commission of India; press and official sources listed on every catalogue row.
UseFree to use with attribution to The Geopolitical Economist and to the original sources named in each file.
How to citeThe Geopolitical Economist (2026). India protests dataset, 2000 to 2026. Updated 2 October 2026. https://geopoliticaleconomist.com/research/data/india-protests
Published with this data
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Research brief · South Asia
What Indians Are Protesting About. It Isn't Prices.
Part 2 of The Protest Question. The grievance behind India's record protest count is the state's failing examination and hiring machine, not the cost of living. The data shows where the pain is, when it erupts, and what companies operating in India should read into it.
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Research brief · South Asia
Are Indians Protesting More? Yes. Here Is the Evidence.
Every count of protests that exists for India points the same way. The ACLED event record shows demonstrations up by half since 2016 and at a record in 2024 to 2026. The police's own count of agitations was rising before that. A catalogue of 217 major protests since 2000 shows the rate doubling since the late 2010s. The protests are also more peaceful than a decade ago. What has fallen is rioting, which is a different thing.
Charts
Drawn from this dataset. PNG for screens, SVG for print. Reuse with attribution.
