Today’s Motto: ‘In a storm, some trees bend to survive’

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

On this day, 21 Jul….

1946 – Lieutenant Commander James Davidson made successful landing and take-offs (deck launched without catapults) from a ship-based launching platform – the USS Franklin D. Roosevelt.

1947 – Indian Constitution Assembly accepted the Tricolour flag as its National Flag. This flag is with three equal horizontal stripes of Saffron (Sacrifice), White (Truth) and Green (Prosperity) and a Chakra is superimposed on white (Dharma Chakra on the capitol of Ashoka’s Pillar at Sarnath) in blue colour having 24 spokes. The ratio of the width to length is two to three.             The tricolour was  conceptualised  and designed by   freedom fighter Pingali Venkayya  and presented to Gandhiji,  in 1921 in Vijayawada  (then in Madras Presidency)

1955 – Ian Donald made his first investigation  with  the use of Ultrasound in medical diagnosis (pic credit-ob.ultrasound.net).

1959 – 1st nuclear powered merchant ship, NS Savannah, christened, Camden, New Jersey, US.

1960 – Sirimavo  Bandaranaike is world’s 1st woman Prime Minister  in Ceylon. She is the longest serving  PM  in the world, between 1960-65, 1970-77 and  1994-2000. Her husband  WRD Bandarnaike (1956-59)  and her daughter  Chandrika Kumaratunga  were also PMs of the island nation.

1969 – Apollo XI astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin blasted off from the moon after 21.5  hours on the surface and returned to the command module piloted by Michael Collins. The lunar module’s lower section, left behind, has a plaque mounted upon it, reading, “Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the moon, July 1969 A.D. We came in peace for all mankind.”  (we have covered more on the subject in our July 20 issue as well, by error).

1970 – The Aswan High Dam in Egypt was completed after 18 years of work. It captures the world’s longest river, the Nile, in the world’s third largest reservoir, Lake Nasser. It now produces hydroelectricity meeting 50% of Egypt’s power needs. It holds several years of irrigation reserves, assists multi-cropping, has increased productivity 20-50%, enormously increased Egypt’s arable land, and overall, increased Egypt’s agricultural income by 200%.

1984 – 1st documented case of a Robot killing a Human in U.S. (pic credit-washington post.com).
1994 – The Supreme Court  of India declares that SC/ST will lose status on migration to other states.

2018 – India scraps tax on Sanitary products after campaign by activists.

2021 – Life expectancy in the US falls by 1.5 years (3 years for Hispanic Americans. 2.9 for Black Americans) in largest decline since WWII.

2021 – World’s fastest train debuts, a Chinese state-owned Maglev Bullet Train with speeds of 600 kilometers per hour (373 miles per hour) in Qingdao, China.

2023 – 2,000-year-old stone slab used to grind spices unearthed in Óc Eo, South Vietnam, (an archeological site), is the earliest evidence of curry in Southeast Asia and still smells of nutmeg (jaiphal in India)..

Born…. 1920 – Anand Bakshi, famous lyricist.  A migrant from Rawalpindi. Fond of writing poetry from early days. He joined the Indian Army/Navy, where due to a paucity of time, he could only write occasionally. He continued to write poetry whenever time permitted, and used his songs and lyrics in local programmes related to troops motivation. During  this time, he  tried to market his songs in the Mumbai film world. He really established himself as a versatile lyricist with the song “Dum Maro Dum” in the movie Hare Rama Hare Krishna in 1972). Bakshi wrote 600 songs for about 300 films many for legendary Rajesh Khanna.  He won Filmfare award  4 times and Lifetime Achievement award.

1934 – Chandrakant Gulabrao Borde.  Famous as  ‘Chandu Borde‘  is an Indian   batsman -bowler (55 Tests, played for  India during  1959-67). A stalwart alrounder of 1950s-70s, who scored  5 centuries (highest score  177)  against Pakistan  (Madras), 18 half centuries and  took 52 wickets in 55 matches. He was also national selector during 1984-86  and 1999-2002. He was honoured with Arjuna and Padma Bhushan by GOI and  CK Nayudu Lifetime Achievement award by BCCI in 2003.

1942 – Mallikarjun Kharge. Veteran Congress leader, Union minister  and incumbant President of the Party. He’s also Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha. Has been Member of Parliament since 2009. His son Priyank Kharge is a cabinet minister in Karnataka  and  MLA from  Chittapur assembly constituency, and his son-in-law Radhakrishna  is an MP from Gulbarga Lok Sabha constituency, Kharge’s former constituency.

1947- Chetan Chauhan. Indian opener  who  mostly played alongside Sunil Gavaskar, played 40 Test Matches. He joined BJP and was elected to Lok Sabha in 1991 and 1998. He also served as Chairman of National Institute of Fashion Tchology in 2016-17 and Minister in UP Govt. in 2017.

1954 – Sarla Maheshwari. Communist Party politician from Bengal. She was elected to Rajya Sabha in 1999.

RIP…. 2009 – Gangubai Hangal, a famous Khayal singer representing the Kirana Gharana of Indian Classical Music.She was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, India’s second highest civilian honour in 2002 and Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship, the highest award of Sangeet Natak Akademi, India’s National Academy for Music and Performing Arts in 1996. 

Titbits…. 1978 – World’s strongest dog, 80-kg St. Bernard, pulls 2909-kg load upto  27 m.  St. Bernard, St.  is a  Bernhardinner, Alpine Spaniel, (pic credit- ar.inspiredpencil.com)

You may have known…. In India’s current population of 1,476,625,576, the median age is 29.2 years.                                                                                                                                                                     Compiled by Lt. Gen. (R)  Raj Kadyan}