Today’s Motto: ‘Arousing hope is the hallmark of a good leader’

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

On this day, 03 Jun….
(World Bicycle Day, as declared by the United Nations).

1818 – Maratha War between British & Maratha Confederacy in India ends.

1946 – 1st  Bikini bathing suit displayed in Paris (pic ctedit-vintagenewsdaily.com).

1947 – British Government issued the Partition plan for India, which was accepted by both Muslim League and Congress. The salient features of the partition were, 1) Provices of Bengal and Punjab to be divided, 2) The Indians will form the constitution of India and it will only be applicable in the areas where people accept it, 3) The province of Baluchistan shall adopt proper ways to decide its future, 4) 562 Princely States shall be free to decide their own future, 5) Referendum shall be held in N.W.F.P. and Assam, 6) The Governor General of both countries shall be the executive head of their respective countries, 7) Military assets shall be divided between the two countries and 8) Radcliffe Mission was setup to demarcate the boundaries of the two countries. India would become free on 15th August 1947.  Partition of India resulted in  crores of Hindus and Muslims being displaced and lakhs of them looted, killed  by  fanatics.

1970 – Har Gobind Khorana and colleagues announced the first synthesis of a gene from chemical components. He was awa5rded Nobel Prize for Physiology (Medicine) alogwith 2 other scientists in 1968.

1972 – India’s first modern-age warship INS Nilgiri was commissioned in the Indian Navy.

1985 – The week comprising of five working days was implemented in Central Government Offices for its staff.

1989 – Beginning of the Tiananmen Square Massacre as Chinese troops open fire on pro-democracy supporters in Beijing.

1999 – Flight Lieutenant K. Nachiketa is handed over by the International Committee of the Red Cross to the Indian High Commissioner inside the Indian High Commission premises in  Islamabad.  His  aircraft was shot down by Pak  missile  during Kargil War and he was  taken POW.  He later met the Indian Defence Minister  Fernandes and PM Vajpayee.

Born…. 1751 – Henry Shrapnel, English  army Lt. General and inventor of the Shrapnel shell, a spherical case designed to explode in midair, spreading its content of small lead musket balls to injure enemy soldiers over a wide area.

1890 – Khan Abdul Gafar Khan, follower of Mahatma Gandhi. He participated in the Freedom struggle  and  opposed Partition of India.  But shifted to  Frontier Province of Pakhtunistan after 1947. He was also popular as   Badshah Khan and Frontier Gandhi.

1912 – Sohrab Pirojsha Godrej, great industrialist. He was chairman of Godrej group from 1972 and expanded the  group  into many new  business  sectors.

1924 – Muthuvel Karunanidhi,  a film playwright who  became politician and follower of C Annadurai. He promoted the  Dravid  movement in  Tamil Nadu and  Tamil language activist who ruled  as CM for about 2 decades.  He was co-founder of  DMK (Dravid Munetra Kazagham) in the state.

1930 – George (John) Fernandes, a journalist, labour union activist, social reformer and politician. He joined JP Movement in mid-seventees and was elected to Lok Sabha 9 times. He was Railway Minister Janata Party Govt and  Defence Minister during Kargil War in 1999, in Atal Behari Vajpayee government  until 2004. He was put in jail during Emergency in 1977 and acusede of  trying to topple Indira Gandhi govt. He also faqced several enquiries on corruption but none went against him. He was awarded with  Padma Vibhushan in 2020.

RIP…. 1906 – Raja Ravi Varma’s, one of India’s  well-known and  respected  artists. His unique paintings especially  on Indian spiritual deities,  combined Indian culture with European techniques and are celebrated even today.

1989 – Ayatollah Khomeini [Ruhollah Khomeini].Also called Ruhollah Mostafavi Musavi Khomeini, the top Shia  cleric and fundamentalist Islamist leader.  He became the Supreme Leader of Iran after  dethroing Shah Regime and remained  in power in  Iran (1979-89).

You may have known….    1. India is the latrgest producer of millets. 

2. Shakuntla Devi was given this title after she demonstrated the calculation of two 13 digit numbers: 7,686,369,774,870 × 2,465,099,745,779 which were picked at random. She answered correctly within 28 seconds.

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