Today’s Motto: ‘Something that is ours forever is never precious’

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

On this day, 10 Apr….
(World Homeopathy Day to celebrate the birthday of the Founder of Homoeopathy, Dr Hahnemann).

1633 – Bananas appeared for the first time in Britain (London), imported by a merchant in Bahamas.

1815 – The massive volcanic eruption of Mount Tambora was the most powerful in 1,600 years. It formed a crater 5-miles across on Indonesia’s Sumbawa island, lowered the island by 4,000 feet, and killed 10,000 people. Elsewhere, there were severe storms, excessive rainfall and floods. Widespread famine and disease killed 80,000 more people.

1875 – Arya Samaj is founded by Swami Dayanand Saraswati  in Bombay and in 1877 in Lahore,  to propagate his goal of social reforms. Born as Mool Shankar Tiwari in  Morvi, Gujarat on Feb. 12, 1834,  he preached Vedanta and  removal of  evil traditions of  Hindu society like Untouchability,  caste  restrictions in temples,  village  activities,  Sati Pratha etc. Satyarth Prakash  written by him,  rectified most  rigid  customs  in Indian society.  His prominent  disciples were Lokmanya Tilak, Lala Lajpat Rai, Swami Shraddhanand, Bhagat Singh, Ramprasad Bismil, Shyamji Krishan Verma,  Chaudhary Charan Singh, Pt. Lekh  Ram, Madame Cama, VD Savarkar, Bhai Parmanand, Lala Hardayal, MG Ranade, Kishan Singh, Ashfaqulla Khan,  Madanlal Dhingra, Yogmaya Neupane and many more worldwide.  Second President of India S Radhakraishnan  called him one of the Makers of Modern India.

1912 – Ill-fated  RMS Titanic leaves Queenstown, Ireland for New York. One of the largest  British ocean liner had  2,224 passenger and crew onboard, about 1500 of them were drowned when the shio struck an iceberg   on April 15. (pic credit-secretireland.ie.).

1923 – Hitler demands “hatred and more hatred” for Jews,  in Berlin.

1944 – The first synthetic Quinine was produced by Dr. Robert Burns Woodward (on his birthday) and Dr. William von Eggers Doering. Quinine, an anti-malarial drug, is an organic chemical( pic credit-wearmemorial.com).

1955 – Polio vaccine tested a success by Dr. Jonas Salk.

1993 – Student hijackers of IA plane overpowered in Lucknow.                                                                             1997 – Kerala becomes the first state of India,  to have public Telephone Booths in all its villages, accessible over STD/ISD from any part of the world.

2016 – A devastating fire caused by the explosion of firecrackers stored for Vishu in the Paravur temple (Kerala). It killed more than one hundred people out of the thousands gathered for the seventh day of Bhadrakali worship.

2022 – Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan removed from power after losing a no-confidence vote in parliament.

Born….1894 – Shri Ghanshyam Das Birla.  One of the leading  industrialists of India. A nationalist, philanthropist established Birla Group of  industries encompassing  core items like  textiles, jute, sugar, mining,  cement, media, finance, insurance  and education. He was prompted by MK Gandhi to do business with ethics and also support freedom movement with his resources. He also set up UCO Bank, BITS Pilani, FICCI. He was also honoured with Padma  Bhushan and  Padma  Vibhushan (1957).

1932 – Kishori Amonkar. Legendary Indian classical  vocal singer. Specialist in Thumri and other Hindustani genre. She was honored with Padma Vibhushan in 2002 (pic credit-mid-day.com).

1941 – Mani Shankar Aiyer. Former diplomat, author and politician. Was born in Lahore and served as Indian Ambassador to Pakistan. Has been a vociferrous critic of PM Modi and NDA, in favour of his Congress Party.

1944 – Prof. Prem Kumar Dhumal. Educationist, politician. Former prefessor of Doaba College, Jalandhar, joined  Bhartiya Janata Party in 1982, became  BJP Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh  twice and Member of Parliament for 3 terms. His son Anurag Thakur is also  5th time MP from Hamirpur (H.P.) and former Union Minister for Info. & Broadcasting.

1952 – Narayan Rane. flameboyant  Maharashtra politician, former CM from  Shiv Sena, who shufflled his political allegiance amongst Shiv Sena–BJP  and  is former Union Minister for MSME and Member Lok Sabha twice.

1964 – Sanjiv Kapoor. Popular celebrity Chef, TV presenter of  recipes and hospitality issues. Entrepreneur His programe Khana Khazana was a grerat hit and he is working fotr NGO -run mid-Day Meal program  covering over 1.8 million children in 14,702 schools across India. He has also written some books of his recipes and nutrition issues (pic credit-Forbe’sIndia).

RIP….1995 – Morarjibhai Desai, first non-Congress Prime Minister of India between 1977 and 1979. He was affiliated with Janata Party. He is the oldest person to hold the office of the prime minister, at the age of 81.

You may have known…. Sati was a chiefly historical Hindu practice in which a widow burns alive on her deceased husband’s funeral pyre, either voluntarily, by coercion, or by a perception of the lack of satisfactory options for continuing to live. A cold form of sati, or the neglect and casting out of Hindu widows, has been prevalent from ancient times.                                                                                                                   Sati was also widespread in the Maratha and warrior Rajput  community in 17th to early 19th centuries mainly to save   the widowed Queens from being take by  Mughal s after defeating their  Rajas.  Hindu reformers such as Raja Ram Mohan Roy ultimately led the enactment of the Bengal Sati Regulation, 1829, declaring the practice of burning or burying alive of Hindu widows to be punishable by the criminal courts. Roop Kanwar was the last known Rajput widow who was burned on her husband’s funeral pyre on at Deorala village in Rajasthan. Initial official records and eyewitness accounts record that Roop Kanwar’s act of sati was a voluntary choice. Some news reports claim Kanwar was forced to her death by other attendees present. The villagers glorified this act and started offering coconuts to her at her place of death; this caused a shortage of coconuts.                                                                                                                                                                                                               {Compiled  by  Lt. Gen. (R)   Raj Kadyan}