Today’s Motto: ‘A good leader is a person who takes more than his share of the blame and less than his share of the credit’

This is Your Day-TODAY:  Take a Determined Step Forward and Make History! 

On this day,  Aug. 15……..

1784 – The first successful balloon ascent to be made in England was demonstrated by an Italian, Vincenzo Lunardi before a crowd of onlookers in London (Credit-Gari Walton).

1857 – A U.S. patent was issued for the design of a typesetting machine invented by Timothy Alden of New York. This is the first such machine that actually operated.

1885 – A U.S. patent was issued for saccharine, the artificial sweetener discovered by Constantin Fahlberg.

1918 -?1st full length cartoon (Sinking of Lusitania).

1947 – India declares independence from UK, Islamic part becomes Pakistan. (The British ruled India first (1757 – 1858) through East India Company and from 1858 to 1947 through Crown or direct rule. This system of governance was instituted on 28 June 1858, when, after the failed war of independence of 1857, the rule of the British East India Company was transferred to the Crown in the person of Queen Victoria who, in 1876, was proclaimed Empress of India. The Independence Movement, that lasted 190 years, was first started in Bengal. Moderate leaders sought only their basic right to appear for Indian Civil Service examinations, as well as more rights, economic in nature. The early part of the 20th century saw a more radical approach towards political self-rule proposed by leaders such as Lal, Bal, Pal and Aurobindo Ghosh. The last stages of the self-rule struggle from the 1920s onwards saw Congress adopt Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi’s policy of nonviolence and civil resistance. Activists Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and Bhagat Singh preached armed revolution to achieve self-rule. Feminists such as Sarojini Naidu and Begum Rokeya promoted the emancipation of Indian women and their participation in national politics. Babasaheb Ambedkar championed the cause of the disadvantaged sections of Indian society within the larger self-rule movement. The period of the Second World War saw the peak of the campaigns by the Quit India movement led by Mahatma Gandhi and the Indian National Army movement led by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose).

1949 – Chandernagore joins the Indian Union.

1949 – Panchayati Raj inaugurated in 114,000 villages.

1950 – Indian Constitution goes into effect.

1955 – Satyagrah started for the freedom of Goa (pic ccredit-JagaranJosh)

1969 – Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) was formed.

1972 – Postal Index Number (PIN Code) of 6-digits was introduced.

1975 – Army officers in Bangladesh stage a military coup d’état, assassinate elected President Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and most members of his family and install Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad as President.

1994 – Terrorist Carlos the Jackal, ( real name  Ilich Ramírez Sánchez) was a Spanish/Venezuelan revolutionary turned terrorist).  Captured in Khartoum Sudan.

2015 – North Korea creates its own time zone -moving its clocks back half an hour to GMT+8.5.

2017 – Scientists genetic study of the apple reveal its origin was in Kazakhstan, published in “Nature Communications”.

2019 – 60th annual finger wrestling (Fingerhakeln) championships takes place in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, southern Germany, part of Partenkirchner Festival week.

Born….

1872 – Sri Aurobindo, Indian spiritualist, philosopher.

1947 – Raakhee Gulzar, veteran Bollywood romantic actor. Cted in Shirmilee, Jaaevan Mrityu, Lal Pather, Joshila, Daag, Saugandh, Ankhon Ankhon Mein, Kasme Vaade etc.  Honored with Padam Shri, 2 Filmfare and 1 National Films award.

1973 – Adnan Sami, Indo-Pak composer, singer.

1990 – GOI declares Prophet Mohammed’s birthday a national holiday.

RIP….

1950 – 8.6 earthquake in India kills 20,000 to 30,000 in Assam.

You may have known….

Fun by deception – Dhinga Gavar, Jodhpur: At first, the Dhinga Gavar festival may strike you as strange. But then you’ll realize how much fun it might actually be. A part of the Rajasthani Gangaur festival, Dhinga Gavar is only celebrated in Jodhpur. Shiva’s consort, Parvati (Gangaur), had once playfully teased him by dressing up as a tribal woman. Gavar is considered to be the playful side of Gangaur. After sunset, statues of Dhinga Gavar are put up at 11 locations, all decorated with up to 30 kgs of gold! And that isn’t all. Offerings of cannabis are made to the deity! Wait, there’s more. Women take out processions, dressed in all sorts of costumes – Hindu gods and goddesses, police, saints, dacoits and what not – carrying lathis to hit people with and protect the statues! It is a popular belief that any unmarried man who comes near these women and is stricken by the stick gets married soon.

                                                                                                                                  {Compileed  by Lt. Gen. (R) Raj Kadyan}