Today’s Motto: ‘Learn to forgive. It accelerates our peace of mind;

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

On this day, 11 Jan….

1613 – Emperor Jahangir in a proclamation permitted East India Company to establish factories in Surat.

1922 – First use of insulin as a treatment for diabetes.

1955 – Production of Newsprint paper factory started for the first time in India.

1958 – Two lakh Hindus in East Pakistan were rounded up and lodged in concentration camps for opposing conversion to Islam.

1964 – Hazardous Health effects of smoking first officially publicised in US.  The U.S. Surgeon General Luther Terry, announced the results of a study on the health effects of smoking, ordered by President Kennedy in 1962. As America’s first widely publicized official recognition of the dangers, it stated “Cigarette smoking is a health hazard of sufficient importance in the United States to warrant appropriate remedial action.”

1972 – East Pakistan renames itself Bangladesh.

1986 – The first MiG-27M fighter, built under license by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd,  Bengalore,  is delivered and inducted into the Indian Air Force.

1986 – Union Government declares Ladakh a Scheduled Tribe area under a constitutional amendment order by the President, applying article 342 for the first time to J&K.

2007 – Author J. K. Rowling finishes the 7th and last Harry Potter novel in room 552 of the Balmoral Hotel, Edinburgh.

1991 – Bharat Ratna, India’s highest award, was given to former PM Morarji Ranchhodji Desai, who led the  first non-Congress Govt. between 1977-80, as conglomerate of  former Congressmen, Bhartiya Jan Sangh, CPI, CPI (M), Bhartiya Lok Dal, Samajwadi  groups. Known as Janta Party, formed after Emergency period in June 1975 to March 1977, under guidence of Lok Nayak Jaiprakash Nara in (pic credit-imsvintagephotos.com).                                                                                                         2024 – The US and UK launch multiple air-strikes against Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen in retaliation for attacks on vessels in the Red Sea.

Born…. 1954 – Kailash Satyarthi, engineer, academic, and activist, Nobel Prize laureate.  Born as Kailash Sharma  in Bidisha (M.P.), he is an Indian children’s rights and education advocate and an activist against child labour. He founded the Bachpan Bachao Andolan in 1980 and has acted to protect the rights of more than 83,000 children from 144 countries.

1973 – Rahul Dravid, cricketer. Known as ‘The Wall’, he played 164 Tests and 344 ODIs. Scored 36 Test centuries (highest score being 270) in a total Test score of 13,288. , Has captained Indian team between 2005 -2007 and was coach for some years. Prersently he  coaches  Rajasthan  Royals in IPL format. He was  awarded Padma Shri  in 2004  and  Padma Bhushan  in  2014.

1992 – Fatima Sana Shaikh,  is an Indian actress, who worked in Hindi films. Shaikh started her career as a child artist in such films as Chachi 420 and One 2 Ka 4. In 2016, she portrayed as  wrestler Geeta Phogat in the top-grossing sports film Dangal by Amir Khan..

RIP…. 1872 – Gail Borden. Famous inventor,  surveyor, newspaper publisher and food processing  expert. He developed  technique for Milk Condensation (pic credit-photos.com).

1966 – Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indian academic and politician; 2nd Prime Minister of India. He was posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna. (He worked for the betterment of the Harijans and dropped his caste-derived surname of “Srivastava”).  He died at 61 in Tashkent (formerly in USSR) believed to be a Pakistani sabotage. Shastriji  joined the Indian independence movement in the 1920s. Deeply impressed and influenced by Mahatma Gandhi (with whom he shares his birthday), he became a loyal follower  of Gandhiji, and of Jawaharlal Nehru. Following independence in 1947, he joined the Union  government and became one of Prime Minister Nehru’s principal lieutenants, first as Railways Minister (1951–56), and then in a variety of other functions, including Home Minister. Shastri, while a staunch supporter of Nehru, differed from his socialist policies on Industry. Shastri’s greatest moment came when he led India in the 1965 Indo-Pak War and also gave a slogan Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan to countrymen.  He was awarded the Bharat Ratna posthumously.

1983 – Ghanshyam Das Birla, Indian industrialist and  educator. He took over the financing and  management of The Hindustan Times on Gandghiji’s advise in  around 1927 and became a big media magnate. Birla group has business acttivities in mining, metals, coal, insurance, financing etc. and had a worth of over US$ 17 million in 2023.

You may have known…. 1. The human eye can perceive the subtle hues of 1 million colours and is filled with tens of millions of photosensitive rods and cones. Our eyes help interpret reality  of  the Universe  for us.                                                                                                                                                                       2.  For nearly 58 percent of India’s population (as per India Brand Equity Foundation) agriculture is a primary source of livelihood. But agriculture accounts only 14 percent of the GDP.  Hence, there is a huge requirement to move people away from agriculture into other areas. This can be done if enough industry and jobs are created. For that land is required and farmers have that land.                                                                                                                     {Compiled by Lt. Gen. (R)  Raj Kadyan}