Today’s Motto: ‘Compliments and criticism are part of life;……

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

On this day, 26 Dec….
1704 – Guru Govind Singh Singh’s younger two sons Baba Zorawar Singh and Baba Fateh Singh were bricked alive in a wall (later beheaded or had their throats slit after the wall collapsed) by Mughal Governor Wazir Khan in Sirhind (December 26, or 27) after refusing to convert to Islam despite immense pressure and threats. Their grandmother Mata Gujri died of shock the same day.

1854 – Wood-pulp paper 1st exhibited in Buffalo (US).                                                                             1865 – James H. Mason of Franklin was issued the first U.S. patent for a coffee percolator.

1906 – The world’s first full-length feature film, the 70-min Story of the Kelly Gang was presented in the Town Hall at Melbourne, Australia, where it had been filmed at a cost of £450 (pic credit-IMDb).

1925 – The Communist Party of India is founded at Cawnpore (Kanpur) under the leadership of SW Ghate, as General Secretary. . It led peasants’  agitations between 1946 -51 and was the main Opposition in Parliament  during 1950-60s. It split in 1964 and major group CPI (M) was formed.  Communist Parties have been supporting Congress govts. in the Centre from outside, except that they had their Govts. in  West Bengal for over 30 years and  Kerala as Left Democratic Front for many terms.

1975 – The Tupolev-144, the first passenger supersonic jet carried only mail and freight on its first commercial flight from Moscow to Alma-Ata, Kazakhstan. Although built to carry up to 140 passengers, it was at first limited to service carrying mail instead, because it was so loud. (Aeroflot ceased flying the dangerous and expensive Tupolev airplanes on 6 June 1978).

1978 – Former Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, released from jail on Court’s order.

1985 – Rajiv Gandhi and Pakistan President Zia-ul-Haq meet in Delhi and agree not to attack nuclear plants in each other’s country.

1982 – The Man of the Year in Time magazine was a non-human for the first time. A computer received the honour as 1982’s “greatest influencer for good or evil.”

1989 – India debars Bofors from future contracts until they come out clean (pic credit-YouTube sources).

1989 – The Constitution 62nd Amendment Bill, seeking to extend reservation for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes in Lok Sabha and state assemblies for another ten years, approved in Parliament.

1997 – Biju Janata Dal (BJD), the main party of Orissa, was founded by senior politician Biju Patnaik. An expert pilot, he was the 3rd Congress Chief Minister of Orissa bet ween 1961-63.  He left Congress Party in 1969 forming Utkal Congress and later Biju Janata Dal.

2004 – 9.3 magnitude earthquake creates a tsunami causing devastation in Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, the Maldives and edges of the Indian Ocean, killing 230,000 people.                                                                                                                                                                                                                     2012 – China opens the world’s longest high speed rail route from Beijing to Guangzhou

Born…. 1899 – Udham Singh, was a great  Indian revolutionary belonging to Ghadar Party and HSRA, known for assassinating Michael O’Dwyer, the former British  lieutenant governor of the Punjab, on 13 March 1940.  He killed General O’Dwyer for ordering  firing and massacre of  hundreds of peaceful protestors at Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar of April 13, 1919, a Baisakhi Day.

1714- Baba Amte  (Murlidhar Devidas), a Gandhi follower and social activist.  who led the campaign for eradication of Leprosy in India. He was honored with Maharashtra Bhushan and Gandhi Peace Award.

1921 – Nurul. S. Hasan, educationist and statesman. He was Union Education minister from 1971-77) and Governor of West Bangal and Orissa(1986-93).

RIP…. 1530 – Zahir-ud-din Muhammad Babur, founder of the Mughal dynasty rule in the Indian subcontinent.

1999 Shankar Dayal Sharma, an educationist,   lawyer and  Madhya Pradesh  politician who  was Bhopal state Chief Minister (1951-56),Union Minister  for Communications. Was elected Vice President in  1987 and  President of India between 1992-97. He had the privilege of appointing 4 PMs during his tenure, namely  Atal Bihari Vajpayee, HD Deve Gauda, IK Gujral and Vajpayee again in  1997. He visited  17 countries of the world during his tenure as President.

You may have known…. China possesses significantly more attack aircraft (1,385) compared to India (809) in some assessments.  Indian Air Force prioritizes quality and technology, operating fighters like Sukhoi Su-30MKI, Dassault Rafale, HAL Tejas, MiG-29, and Mirage 2000s.                                       {Compiled by Lt. Gen. (R)  Raj Kadyan}