Today’s Motto: ‘Passion and compassion are attributes of a great leader’

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

On this day,  Aug .07…………

August 7 was chosen as the National Handloom Day to commemorate the Swadeshi Movement which was launched on this day in 1905 in Calcutta Town Hall to protest against the partition of Bengal by the British Government. The movement had aimed at reviving domestic products and production processes. The movement took place under then Congress President and social reformer Gopal Krishna Gokhle in Benaras session and was led by BC Pal, Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Lala Lajpat Rai, throughout India.  (Burning of British clothes and products was one of the motives to support local clothes, handlooms etc.

1782 – George Washington creates Order of Purple Heart. (The Purple Heart is a US military decoration awarded to those wounded or killed while serving with the US military).

1906 – First Tricoloured National Flag consisting of Green, Yellow and Red, with eight Lotuses on the top, second strip carrying “Vande Mataram” in Devnagri and the third strip having Sun and Cresent Moon, was hoisted at Green Park in Calcutta.

1970 – Ist computer chess tournament. (The first all-computer championship was held in New York and won by CHESS 3.0 (CDC 6400), a programme written by Slate, Atkin and Gorlen at Northwestern University).

1990 – Govt. of India accepts the Mandal Commission’s recommendations and decides to reserve 27% jobs for the backward classes. Violent protests rock parts of Northern India against it.

1999 – A. B. Vajpayee, Prime Minister, appeals to the United States to name Pakistan as a terrorist state.

2011 – Nepal, India exercise a smoking ban in public places.

2018 – China bans release of Winnie the Pooh movie “Christopher Robin”, after character used to mock Chinese President Xi Jinping.

2018 – Swedish furniture brand Ikea opens its first store in India in Hyderabad.

2021 – Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra makes history winning India’s first-ever Olympic track and field gold with 87.58m in Tokyo.

Born….

1925 – Monkombu S. Swaminathan, an Indian geneticist and international administrator, renowned for his leading role in India’s “Green Revolution,” a programme under which high-yield varieties of wheat and rice seedlings were planted in the fields of poor farmers (pic credit-Getty Images).

1971 – Cyrus Broacha, famous Indian TV comedian (pic credit-Getty Images).

RIP….

1941 – Rabindranath Devendranath Tagore “Gurudev”, great Indian poet, voluminous playwright, Noble Laureate, social reformer, freedom fighter, painter and philosopher. He will be always remembered for the national song “Jana Gana Mana” and as a founder of Vishwa Bharati, Shantiniketen

1957 – Oliver Hardy, comedian of Laurel & Hardy team. He was awarded Homorary Oscar in 1960. (pic credit-Getty Images).

You may have known….

Hooking the flesh and piercing the body: Thaipoosam, Tamil Nadu: Celebrated in Tamil Nadu and parts of southern India during the Tamil month of Thai, Thaipoosam is a festival that honours Lord Murugan (or Kartikeya, the son of Shiva and Parvati) receiving a lance to destroy the evil army of Tarakasura. Following a 48 day fast, many devotees pierce their bodies with hooks, skewers and lances called vel. Some even try pulling tractors or other heavy objects with the hooks in their skin; o thers pierce their tongue and cheek to impede speech and thereby attain full concentration on the Lord. They enter into a trance during such piercing due to the incessant drumming and chanting. The horrifying sight is definitely not for the faint of heart (pic credit-iStock).

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