Today’s Motto: ‘Life implies collecting the ill matched threads and…..

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

On this day, 22 Mar….
(World Water Day: This day is observed globally to raise awareness about the importance of fresh water and advocate for the sustainable management of fresh water resources).

1739 – Nader Shah attacked Delhi. After defeating the Mughal armies in the battle of Karnal, his armies marched into Delhi. He gave the signal to one of his soldiers from Sunheri mosque.

1857 – The first departmental  store elevator for passengers was installed at E.V. Haughwout &  Co. in New York City.

1895 – The first motion picture shown on a screen was presented by  French  manufacturers of photography equipment  Auguste and Louis Lumière in Paris (pic credit-readio.perfil.com).

1882 – The deadly infectious disease ‘TB’ was identified.

1907 – Perturbed by a new law restricting Asiatic immigrants, Mohandas Gandhi, a young Indian attorney now living in South Africa, organized a campaign of civil disobedience to resist the statute. The Asiatic Registration Bill was considered by Gandhi unjust and discriminatory to the large Chinese and Indian populations.

1960 – The first laser was patented by Arthur Schawlow and Charles Hard Townes under the title “Masers and Maser Communications System” (pic credit-optica.opn.org)

1957 – The Indian government adopted the Saka Era calendar with Chaitra as its first month along with the Gregorian calendar for official purposes.

1964 – First rally of old cars,  called Vintage Car Rally,  held in Kolkata (representative pic credit-thestatesman.com).

1969 – Indian Petrochemicals Corporation was inaugurated.

1977 – PM Indira Gandhi loses  loses Lok Sabha election after 21 months of Emergency. She resigns the  post, paving  tyhe  way for formation of first non-Congress government led by Janata Party. (though new PM Moraraji Desai and many of his colleagues were ex-Congressmen).                                                                                                                                                          1993 – Intel introduces Pentium-processor.                                                                                          2020 – India puts over  1 billion people under a daytime curfew to curb COVID-19.

2022 – Microplastics found in human blood for first time through new research conducted at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in the Netherlands.

Born….  1459 – Maximilian I. Austria born Emperor of Rome and Germany, who proclaimed himself as elected King instead  of coronation by  the Pope, being done earlier. He also ruled  over Portugal, Spain, Burgundy and established Habsburg  dynasty in  Spain. He ruled over his kingdom from Feb. 4, 1508 to Jan. 12,  1519 (pic credit-wikipedia). 

1797 – Wilhelm I  ( Wilhelm Friedrich Ludwig) . He ruled Prussia and Germany,  from  1861 to 1888.  Had many assassination attempts on him but survived all.

1885 – Ghulam Yazdani, archaeologist. He was one of the founders of the Archaeological Department during the colonial era of Hyderabad Nizam (pic credit-alchetron.com).

1894 – Surya Sen, a revolutionary in the Indian independence movement against British rule in India and is best known for leading the 1930 Chittagong armory raid.

RIP…. 1884 – Pandit Prem Nath Dogra.  A Kashmiri Pandit, freedom fighter who worked relentlessly for unification of Jammu And Kashmir into Indian Union. Also known as Sher -e-Duggar. He was the President of Praja Paridshad and co-founder of Bhartiya Jansangh. He was also  elected to Parliament.

1918 – Chhedi Jagan. an ethnic Indian  dentist who rose to  be the  PM of Guyana (1961-64) and later President from 1992-97.

1961 -Jual Oran. Lok Sabha member from Orissa  belonging to   BJP and Union Minister for Tribal Affairs  since 2024. He has been a Lok Sabha member since  1998 except for a 15th  Lok Sabha term.

1972 – Sanjay Singh. Political activist and Aaam Aadmi Party (AAP)  leader in Rajya Sabha from Delhi. He was active in  the India Against Corruption movement led by veteran activist  Anna Hazare leading to 3 AAP governments in Delhi and the current  one in Pubjab.

1986 – Isabelle Kaif. Hong Kong born actress of Kashmiri parents. She has done some Bollywood and English films. She has taken British citizenship thru’ Hong Kong.

1998 – Dhvani Bhanushali. Indian singer who has done songs for Ishtehaar, Satymev Jayate, Badrinath ki Dulhania  etc. She is the daughter of Vinod Bhanushali, President, Global Marketing & Media for T-Series until 2021 and started his own Bhanushali Studio.   

RIP…. 1977 – Ayillyath Kuttiari Gopalan, popularly known as A. K. Gopalan or AKG.  Born in Kannur distt. of Kerala, he first joined Congress Party and  participated in the Khadi   Movement led by Gandhiji  but later  he became one of 16 Communist Party of India members elected to the first Lok Sabha in 1952. Later, he became one of the founding members of the CPI(M).

2004 – Vithal Mahadeo Tarkunde, a prominent Indian lawyer, and civil rights activist. The Supreme Court of India also praised him as  the most distinguished judge of the post-Chagla 1957 period in the Bombay High Court. During the emergency, he worked closely with Jayaprakash Narayan, providing leadership to the NGOs Citizens for Democracy and People’s Union for Civil Liberties, of which he was the founding president.

2005 – Gemini Ganesan, actor who worked mainly in Tamil cinema. He was also known as Ganapati Subramanian Sarma or Ramasamy Ganesan. He won Filmfare Awards twice. In 1971, he was honored with Padma Shri. Also, he was honored with “Kalaimamani”, the “MGR Gold Medal” and the “Screen Lifetime Achievement Award”  (pic credit-px.fuel.com)                                                                                                                                                   Titbits…. 1941 – Jimmy Stewart is inducted into the Army, becoming the first major American movie star to wear a military uniform in World War II.
You may have known….   India holds the record for the most candidates for a single constituency – 1,032 candidates stood for the Modakurichi assembly seat in the Tamil Nadu state elections in 1996. (All but two of the candidates lost their deposit, and 88 candidates did not get a single vote).    It had a telling effect across the country and uproar.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               {Compiled by Lt. Gen. (R)  Raj Kadyan}