Today’s Motto: ‘If we keep our focus on a problem, we will find a solution written in it in small print.’I’

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

On this day, 01 Apr….
(April Fools’ Day,  or  All Fools’ Day, is one of the most light-hearted days of the year. Its origins are uncertain).

1867 – Antiseptic surgery introduced by physician Dr. Joseph Lister. It forever changed surgical techniques                                                                                     1869 – Income Tax was imposed on Indian citizens  in India.

1869 – New Indian Divorce Act came into operation.

1889 – The first commercial dishwashing machine was marketed in Chicago.

1890 – An electric trolley car was patented by Belgian inventor, Charles Van Depoele. (He had designed the first commercial electric railway in the US, maybe the world).

1927 – 1st automatic record changer introduced by  Gramophone company,  His Master’s Voice  (HMV). 

1930 – Government announced 15 yrs and 18 yrs as minimum marriageable age for girls and boys.

1933 – Indian Air Force was established at Drigh Road in Karachi (now in Pakistan). Subroto Mukherjee and four other officers were inducted as pilots when the first Indian Air Force Squadron was formed. Subroto Mukherjee   became the first Air Vice Marshall in 1947 and  first Indian Chief of  IAF  in  April  1954 until Nov. 08, 1960.

1935 – The Reserve Bank of India was established as a Central Bank and the job of issuing notes was entrusted to this bank.

1936 – Orissa was constituted as a province of British India by  separating Oriya speaking areas of Bihar and Central Provinces. It has a rich history of  being  a  Kalinga Kingdom ruled by Mauryas, annexed by Ashoka  in 261 BCE.

1954 – French settlements in India pass under Indian control.

1963 – Delhi Special Police Establishment acquired its popular current name Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           1979 – US President Jimmy Carter visited the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant, four days after the most serious nuclear accident in the U.S. (28 Mar 1979). He toured the control room, which was a deliberate public display of confidence by Carter that the situation was under control, in order to allay the fears of the local population of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, as well as the country.

1995 – The Airports Authority of India (AAI) formed by the merger of IAAI and NAA. AAI currently manages a total of 137 airports, including 34 international airports, 10 Customs Airports, 81 domestic airports, and 23 Civil enclaves at Defense airfields.

2001 – The Netherlands becomes the first country in the world to make same-sex marriage legal. (it is also called LGBTQ+)

2004 – Google introduces Gmail. Today it  has over 1.8 billion  accounts out of 4.03 billion total and controls over 40%  of  Email market. Others areYahooMail, Zoho Mail,  Mail.com, StartMail, ProtoMail etc.

Born…. 1621 – Guru Tegh Bahadur, the ninth of ten Gurus who founded the Sikh religion and he was head of the followers of Sikhism from 1665 until he was executed (by beheading) on 11 November 1675 on the orders of Aurangzeb. His martyrdom is remembered as the Shaheedi Divas of Guru Tegh Bahadur every year on 24 November, according to the Nanakshahi calendar.

1889 – Dr. Keshavrao Baliram Hedgewar, politician and founder of Rashtriya Swayansewak Sangh (RSS) in 1925. He was a physician, freedom fighter, Hindu/Sanatan scholar. He participated in MK Gandhi led Non-Coperation Movement of Congress Party  and Namak Satygraha  and published a newspaper in Central Provinces. He founded RSS on Gudi Padwa day, in 1925.

1936 – Abdul Quadeer Khan.  Pakistani nuclear engineer and metallurgist who led Pakistan’s nuclear weapons and missiles programme, leading to the country’s first nuclear tests on 28 May 1998. He was born in Bhopal,  India, and migrated to Pakistsn in 1952. Khan is believed to have developed nuclear program with support from former PM ZA Bhutto and some Bush Adminstration officials of the US.  He was later  suspected of selling nuclear secrets to  Osama bi Laden, North Korea, Iran, Libya etc.   and put under house arrest. He was later let off due to proof deficvit and given state honour at Death in Oct. 2021 (pic credit-oexlorador.com).

1936 – Tarun Gogoi, politician who served as the 13th Chief Minister of Assam from 2001 to 2016.  Also the longest serving CM of the state.  He was affiliated with Indian National Congress (INC). His son Gaurav Gogoi is the current MP and  state Congress chief.

1937 – Mohammad Hamid Ansari, a retired Foreign Service officer and hardliner Islamic speaker. He was the 12th Vice President of India from 2007 to 2017.

1941 – Ajit Laxman Wadekar, cricketer who was stalwart Indian batsman & capt and Team Manager He was described as an “aggressive batsman”.  He was Capt and  a strict Manager in 1991-92, he  Captained the  Indian team which defeated the West India and England teams in 1971. He played  37 Tests, 2 ODIs before retirement in 1974 . Wadekar  was honoured  with   Padam Shri and Arjuna Award. He also won the CK Nayudu  Lifetime Achievement award and many more.

You may have known…. Viswanathan Anand is the first player in chess history to have won the World Championship in three different formats: knockout, tournament, and match.                                                                                                                                                                                                   Compiled by lt. Gen. (R)  Raj Kadyan}