Today’s Motto: ‘Imagination is mightier than knowledge’
As Every Day makes a new beginning in life, it brings new opportunities, opens new avenues, to perform and make a mark, to write a Page in History Books !
This is Your Day-TODAY: Take a Determined Step Forward and Make History !
On this day, 31 Dec….
1861 – Cherrapunji Hills in Assam, gets a world record rainfall of 22,990 mm.
1929 -Congress leader Jawaharlal Nehru unfurled the Indian flag on the banks of the Ravi River in Lahore, symbolizing the pledge for Poorna Swaraj (complete self-rule) for India.
1938 – The “drunkometer,” for testing human blood alcohol was fist successfully tested.
1993 – Smallpox, the world’s most dreaded plagues until 1977, was declared eradicated.
1600 – Queen Elizabeth I granted the British East India Company its charter, beginning centuries of British influence and eventual rule in India.
1996 – Gold import policy liberalized in India by PM Narasimha Rao government.
Born…. 1902 – Dr. Raghu Bira, Rawalpindi born, Sanskrit scholar, Shabdkosh creator, having knowledge of Vedic Sanskrit, Tibeta
n Bodhic , Chinese and Mongolian. He was also member of Constituent Assembly of India and Rajya Sabha member between 1952-57. He differed with PM Nehru and resigned the party and RS. He had worked with Lala Lajpat Rai, Ram Manohar Lohia and established a research institution, in Saraswati Vihar which his son Lokesh Chandra and daughters look after now. He collected lakh of original manuscripts on Hinduism, Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu and other South Indian languages. He visited Tibet, China, Mongolia, Persia and learnt many Indian and foreign languages. He also served Bhartiya Jana Sangh president between 1962-63.
1943 – Ben Kingsley, British-Indian actor who acted in Film Gandhi, produced and directed by Richard Attenborough in 1982. Also acted in Schindler’s List, Sexy Beast, The Iron Man 3, Shutter Island, Night Hunter etc. He won Academy Award, 2 Golden Globe and BAFTA award etc.
1956 – Prabhu Ganesan, younger son of Shivaji Ganesan, an actor and film producer from Chennai . Has acted or produced about 95 films and won some South Indian state film awards. RIP…. 1706 – Francois Martin, founder of Pondicherry (now called Puducherry). He was also Governor General of the 
state between 1699-1706.
1965 – VP Menon, key figure in India’s integration after independence. An Indian civil servant who served as Secretary to the Government of India in the Ministry of the St
ates, under Sardar Patel to integrate 562 princely states.
You may have known…. The number of active destroyers for India and China in 2025 is 13 and 50, respectively, according to Global Firepower data. Other sources provide slightly different figures, but the data indicates China possesses a significantly larger fleet of destroyers than India.
{Compiled by Lt. Gen. (R) Raj Kadyan}
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