Today’s Motto: ‘Buttering up is lifeblood of survival in any competitive human endeavour’

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

On this day, 14 Jun….

1940 – During World War II, the German army captured Paris, the capital of France.

1942 -1st Bazooka rocket gun produced in Connecticut, US. Bazooka is the common name for a man-portable recoil-less anti tank rocket launcher weapon. The innovative bazooka was among the first generation of rocket-propelled anti-tank weapons used in infantry combat (pic credit-wikipedia.org).

1942 – Anne Frank begins her diary. (Her Diary has since been published in more than 60 different languages). She was a German born Jewish who moved to Nederlands  after  massive holocast on Jewsish people  occured in the mid-twentieth century under Hitler rule.

1947 – The Congress Working Committee placed the proposal acceptance of the Mountbatten Plan for Partition of India in 1947, before the All-India Congress Committee.

1987 – Rajiv Gandhi, PM, rules out termination of Rs. 1700 crore Bofors gun deal.  The  Bofors scam issue  (alleged bribe  worth Rs. 64 Cr.)  was raised by one the confident ministers  of Rajiv Gandhi, VP Singh and  the Opposition Parties BJP,  Shiv Sena  Left etc.

1991 – Punjab was declared “disturbed area”; Army deployed.

2012 – An explosion at an Indian steel plant kills 11 people and severely injures 16.

2013 – The US government charges NSA leaker Edward Snowden (an NSA  agent) with violating the Espionage Act and theft of government property (pic credit-wikileaks.com).

Born….   1946 – Donald John Trump, the incimbent US President, who occupies 2nd term since January 25, 2024.  Coming from  German-Scottish lineage, he  inherited his father’s Real Estate business  in Quuensland, Manhatten and expanded his  business with agressive business litigatrions, acquisations etc.  He entered US national politics challenging Hillary Clinton (wife of  former President Bill Clinton) in 2016. and won Prssidetial poll at  304 vs   227 .  In 2024 he defeated  Democrat  Vice Presadent  Kamala  Harris. Despite his  bold and controversial  global policies,  he  has been able to garner  Amercian citrizens support by his MAGA and other  nationalist policies   (pic credit-bernard Gotfryd  for wikimedia.org).

1952 – Kirron Anupam Kher, a theatre, film, and television actress, singer, entertainment producer, TV talk show host, and a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party.She  has  represented  the Chandigarh (UT)  in  Lok Sabha in 2014, 2019.Kiron is known for films like Bariwali, Pestonji, Sardari Begham,  Ehasa, Devdas,  Mein Hoon Na, Veer Zara, Rang De Basanti etc. She has won National Film Award twice  and  Filmfare  3  times apart  from  seveal  others.

1967 – Kumar Mangalam Birla, an Indian billionaire industrialist, and the chairman of the Aditya Birla Group. He is a fourth-generation member of the Marwari Birla family from the state of Rajasthan and leads one of the leading  industry business groups; BITS Pilani, IIM Ahmedabad and many more. He was awarded Padma Bhushan in 2023.

1969 – Steffi Graf, German tennis star who won 22 Grand Slam singles titles. She was ranked No. 1 in Singles  in the Women’s Tennis Association for 377 weeks, having won 107 Singles titles and   won  several accolades like WTA Player of the Year 8  times and  International Tennis Hall of Fame and German Sports Hall of Fame in 2008 (pic credit-britannica.com).

RIP…. 2010 – Manohar Malgonkar, an Indian author of both fiction and nonfiction in the English language. He was also a  Lt.  Col. in  Indian army before  joining politics, a big game hunter, a civil servant, a mine owner, and a farmer. He wrote a  fast selling The Men Who Killed Gandhi  (1978),  Distant Drum,  A Bend in  Ganges,  Spy in   Amber, The Princess, Bombay Beware  etc.

2013 – Massive flooding occurs in northern India killing up to 10,000 people.

Titbits…. 1989 – Zsa Zsa Gabor arrested for slapping Beverly Hills motorcycle patrolman. (She is a Hungarian-American actress who began her stage career in Vienna and was crowned Miss Hungary in 1936. She emigrated to the United States in 1941 and became a sought-after actress with “European flair and style, ” with a personality that ”  exuded charm and grace ( pic credit-wwd.com).

You may have known…. According to the Forbes magazine, Sanskrit is the most Suitable language for Computer Software. It may be a reason  why  most IT professionals and Programmers are Indians  conversant wih Hindi/Sanskrit  in their daily life.

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