Today’s Motto: ‘At the end of the day it’s not about what you have;……..

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

On this day, 21 Jul….

1928 – 1st woman to win an Olympic gold medal – Halina Knonpacka of Poland.

1946 – A U.S. first aviation of the adaptability of jet aircraft to shipoyard operations. An XFD-1 Phantom took off from a ship-based launching platform – the USS Franklin D. Roosevelt. The ship had been launched the previous year, then the biggest ship in the World.

1947 – Indian Constitution Assembly accepted the tricolour flag as its National Flag. This flag is with three equal horizontal stripes of Saffron (Sacrifice), White (Truth) and Green (Prosperity) and a Chakra is superimposed on white (Dharma Chakra on the capitol of Ashoka’s Pillar at Sarnath) in blue colour having 24 spokes. The ratio of the width to length is two to three.It was conceptualosed and designed by   freedom fighter Pingali Venkayya  and presented to Gandhiji,  in 1921 in Vijayawada  (then in Madras Presidency)

1955 – Ian Donald made his first investigation of the use of ultrasound in medical diagnosis (pic credit-Getty Images).

1959 – 1st nuclear powered merchant ship, NS Savannah, christened, Camden, New Jersey, US.

1960 – In Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) Sirima Bandaranaike is world’s 1st woman PM.

1969 – Apollo XI astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin blasted off from the moon after 21 1/2 hours on the surface and returned to the command module piloted by Michael Collins. The lunar module’s lower section, left behind, has a plaque mounted upon it, reading, “Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the moon, July 1969 A.D. We came in peace for all mankind.”

1970 – The Aswan High Dam in Egypt was completed after 18 years of work. It captures the world’s longest river, the Nile, in the world’s third largest reservoir, Lake Nasser. It now produces hydroelectricity meeting 50% of Egypt’s power needs. It holds several years of irrigation reserves, assists multi-cropping, has increased productivity 20-50%, enormously increased Egypt’s arable land, and overall, increased Egypt’s agricultural income by 200% (pic credit-britannica.com).

1984 – 1st documented case of a robot killing a human in U.S.

1994 – The Supreme Court declares that SC/ST will lose status on migration to other states.

2018 – India scraps tax on sanitary products after campaign by activists.

2021 – Life expectancy in the US falls by 1.5 years (3 years for Hispanic Americans. 2.9 for Black Americans) in largest decline since WWII.

2021 – World’s fastest train debuts, a Chinese state-owned maglev bullet train with speeds of 600 kilometers per hour (373 miles per hour) in Qingdao, China.

2023 – 2,000-year-old stone slab used to grind spices unearthed in Óc Eo, South Vietnam, is the earliest evidence of curry in Southeast Asia and still smells of nutmeg.

Born…. 1920 – Anand Bakshi, famous lyricist. (A migrant from Rawalpindi. Fond of writing poetry from early days. He joined the Indian Army and continued to write poetry whenever time permitted, and used his songs and lyrics in local programmes related to his troop. He worked in the Army for many years and simultaneously tried to market his songs in the Mumbai film world. He really established himself as a versatile lyricist with the song “Dum Maro Dum” in the movie Hare Rama Hare Krishna in 1972).

1934 – Chandrakant Gulabrao Borde, nicknamed Chandu Borde, Indian   batsman (55 Tests for India 1959-67). A stalwart alrounder of 1950s-70s, who scored  5 centuries (highest 177 against Pakistan  (Madras), 18 half centuries and 52 wickets in 55 matches. He was also national selector during 1984-86  and 1999-2002. He was honoured with Arjuna and Padma Bhushan by GOI and  CK Nayudu Lifetime Achievement award by BCCI in 2003.

1942 – Mallikarjun Kharge. Veteran Congress leader and incumbant President of the Party. He’s also Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha. Has been Member of Parliament since 2009.

1947- Chetan Chauhan. Indian opener  who  mostly played alongside Sunil Gavaskar, played 40 Test Matches. He joined BZJP and was elected to Lok Sabha in 1991 and 1998. He also served as Chairman of National Institute of Fashion Tchology in 2016-17 and Minister in UP Govt. in 2017.

1954 – Sarla Maheshwari. Communist Party politician from Bengal. She was elected ton Rajya Sabha in 1999.

Titbits…. 1978 – World’s strongest dog, 80-kg St. Bernard, pulls 2909-kg load upto  27 m. (pic credit- ar.inspiredpencil.com)

You may have known…. The sex ratio in India, which represents the number of females per 1,000 males; is currently around 1,020 females per 1,000 males. This ratio is based on the latest data from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) for 2019-2021.

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