Today’s Motto: ‘Good fortune comes out of the womb of diligence’

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

On this day, 02 Oct….
(International Day of Non-Violence).

1905 – First  Indian Shipping Company of India started by  VO Chidambaram Pillai, a legendary freedom fighter, lawyer, and businessman,  to meet the challenge of  British shipping trade.  He started the route between Tuticorin in India and Colombo in  Cylone  (Sri Lanka)  with just Rs. 10 lakhs.

1895 – First cartoon comic strip is printed in a newspaper.

1912 – Gopal Krishna Gokhale, at invitation of Gandhi, arrives in South Africa on a 26-day tour; he also visits Tolstoy Farm. Gokhle, was one of the leading  political and social  awakening of Indians,  is known as Gandhi’s political Guru.

1925 – Rashtriya Sewak Sangh, an organisation for promoting Ram Rajya concept of Governance  in India,  awakening on Sanatan, Hindu culture and  ethos by  Dr. Keshav Baliram  Hedgewar on Dussehra Day in Nagpur.

1934 – Indian Naval Force was established.

1951 – Dr. Shyamprasad Mukharjee established Bhartiya Jan Sangh Party.

1954 – Chandernagar, former under French possession, was made a part of West Bengal.

1957 – World War II epic Film “The Bridge on the River Kwai”   is released.   It was widely praised, winning seven Academy Awards.

1957 – All India Scheduled Caste Federation formally dissolved and a new political party   ‘Republican Party of India’ was formed.

1986 -Rajiv Gandhi survives  assassination attempt made at Raj Ghat.

2018 – Saudi American journalist Jamal Khashoggi enters the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, never to be seen again prompting a diplomatic crisis. He was believed to be killed by  Saudi secret agents on their govt’s behest.

Born…. 1869 – Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi and Father of the Nation who was a guiding light in Indian Freedom movement from 1915 onwards. Born in Porbander (Gujarat), he went to South Africa as a lawyer for  Indian businessmen there.  A turning point in his life came  when some English passengers threw him out of  Ist Class compartment  in Transval (Pietermeritzberg) station  disallowing Blacks/Brown Indians to travel in their compartment (1893). His non-violent protests made him popular among local South Africans.  He came to India in 1915 and took control of Indian National Congress, leading by Satygrahas, non-violent protests against British tyranny, discrimination and ultimately  led India’s Freedom struggle  until 1947. He started The Indian Opinion in South Africa, Harijan in India and wrote on social evils in Indian society.  He was bitterly pained at  blood-shed during  Partition of 1947,  into India and Pakistan; many believe he  favoured Muslims and Pakistan  unduely. After Independence, he pleaded  for dismantling Congress Party but Nehru and others refused. He was killed by a right-wing  activist Nathuram Godse on Jan. 30, 1948.

1904 – Lal Bahadur Shastri, the second Prime Minister of India (1964-66). Was born in Mughalsarai (now called DD Upadhyay Nagar), near Benaras in Uttar Pradesh. He led the country during 1965 Indo-Pak war and gave a slogan of Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan to countrymen. He died of  suspected food poisoning  in Tashkent (USSR)  during a  peace meeting  under  supervision of  Russian  Premier  Alexei Kosygin  on January 10, 1966.

RIP…. 1906 – Raja Ravi Verma. He is remembered for his artistic work portraying  Indian gods and  religious  paintigs  in ‘Ram Panchayatan’, ‘Vishwamitra-Menaka’, ‘Shakuntala writing a letter’, ‘Shiv Parvati’. A commemorative stamp was issued by the Postal Department on April 29, 1971 in his honour.

1975 – Kumaraswami Kamaraj,  popular  freedom fighter from South  who became Madras Chief Minister (1954-63).  Congress President  from 1964-67  and was the main supporter of Indira Gandhi  becoming  Prime  Minister (instead of veteran Morarji Desai)   in  1966,  after Shastriji’s  death. This led to  a split in the party into  Congress (I)  and Congress (O).  Later  in1967 he  joined  Congress(O) faction which faired badly in the 1967 and 1971 elections, leaving Indira as sole and strong Congress leader due to her  bold  political-financial  decesions.  Kamraj  was honoured with  Bharat Ratna in  2004.

You may have  known…. As of now, there are over 53 million pending cases in Indian courts, with approximately 46 million in lower courts, 6.3 million in High Courts, and 86,000 in the Supreme Court. Some of the cases have been pending for decades.                                                                                                                                                                                                          {Compiled by Lt. Gen. (R)   Raj Kadyan}