Today’s Motto: ‘Where there is ruin, there is hope for a treasure’

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

On this day, 25 Aug ….

1609 – Galileo demonstrates his 1st telescope to Venetian lawmakers.

1912 – 1st time an aircraft recovers from a spin. (A spin is a special category of stall resulting in auto-rotation about the vertical axis and a shallow, rotating, downward path).

1917 – The first significant step towards the Indianization of the Army was initiated when seven selected Indians, serving in the Army, were granted King’s Commission in the Infantry and the Cavalry. Before the World War ended, two more Indians, who previously held temporary commissions, were granted King’s Commission.

1919 – 1st scheduled passenger service by airplane, Paris-London.

1920 – 1st U.S. woman (Ethelda Bleibtrey) to win in Antwerp Olympics in Belgium.  (She was a competitive  swimmer, three-time Olympic Gold medalist, and former World Record-holder in multiple aquatic  events).

1940 – 1st (British) night bombing of Germany (Berlin).

1940 – 1st parachute wedding. (The minister, the married couple, the best man, the maid of honour and 4 musicians were all suspended in parachutes.  (pic credit-fity.club.com).

1943 – Lord Mountbatten appointed Supreme Allied Commander in SE Asia.

1948 – Jana Gana Mana to be the provisional National Anthem till Constituent Assembly made a final decision to adopt it.

1948 – Don Bradman scores 150 in 212 minutes in his last innings at Lord’s. He had scored 29 centuries in 52  Tests (6,996 runs).  Indian ace batsman Sachin Tendulkar who  scored 100 Test & First Class centuries, met  Donald George Bradman in 1998  on his  90th Birthday celebration  in Adelaide, Australia.

1958 – Momofuku Ando markets the first package of precooked instant noodles.

1965 – Indian troops cross the Kashmir ceasefire line pursuing Pakistani infiltrators.

1973 – The first scan was made using CAT (Computer Assisted Tomography).

1975 – India became the Polo World Champion (pic credit-googleapis.com).

1990 – GOI announces formation of National Security Council headed by the Prime Minister.

1997 – Indian Cabinet approved the draft of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) which was to replace the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA).

2017 -Spiritual leader Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh is convicted of raping two of his followers in Panchkula.  A woman follower  had filed  a complaint in 2002 accusing him of rape, and a news reporter published evidences.He  has  been  undergoing  20 years long  prison  term.

Born…. 1919 – Bindeshwari Prasad Mandal, former Chief Minister of Bihar and President of Mandal Commission on job reservation quotas  for weaker castes.  He was CM for just a month but was elected to Lok Sabha 1967-72.  The  Mandal  Commission appointed by Morarji  Desai  led govt. in 1979  and was adopted by Prime Minister VP Singh  in 1990.  Implemented in 1993 after a 9-Judge bench of  Supreme Court upeld it.

1930 – Sean Connery, Scottish  actor/producer , who played  secret agent  James Bond roles in  Hollywood  films.  He did  about 71  popular films, viz.,   Dr. No, From Russia with Love, Goldfinger, Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, Diamonds Are Forever, Never Say Never Again, Murder On the Orient Express, The Man Who Would  Be King,  He won 2 Academy Awards, one Golden Globe, one BAFTA  honour and several nominations. He married  twice and had many relationships during his 90 years life. His networth at the time of his death in October. 2020 was over         $ 350 million.

1994 – Vinesh Phogat, wrestler. She became the first Indian woman wrestler to win Gold in both Commonwealth and Asian Games. Phogat comes from a successful family of wrestlers, with her  uncle  Mahavir Singh Phogat  and  cousins Geeta Phogat and Babita Kumari, being international wrestlers and Commonwealth Games medalists as well. She represented India in 2016, 2020 and 2024 Olympics  but could not re4ach the medal stage.  She had accused the WFI chief of sexual harassment, but her case was dismissed  by  Delhi High Court and Supreme Court appointed panel.  She  supportede Farmers Agitation in 2023  and is now  an MLA from Julana Constituency of Haryana.

RIP…. 1996 – 194 to 250   pilgrims die of cold weather and storms  at the Cave temples of Amarnath  in Jammu & Kashmir.

2012 – Astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first person on the Moon, dies at age 82 from heart surgery complications. He had   set his foot on the moon’s surface on  July 20, 1969  riding  spacecraft Apollo 11, travelling  alongwith  Micael Collins and  Buzz Aldrin.

You may have known….  Area wise India is 7th largest  country  in the world.                                                                                                            {Compiled by Lt. Gen. (R)  Raj Kadyan}