Today’s Motto: ‘More than ideals, life requires standards of action’

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

On this day, 04 Mar….

1849 – Bethune College founded in Calcutta, it was a pioneering institution for women’s education and the first women’s college in the British Empire outside of Britain.

1906 – Hakim Abdul Majeed founded Hamdard Dawakhana in Delhi, marking a significant contribution to traditional Unani-Ayurvedic medicine. Rooh Afza, Safi, Sualin, Cinkara, Chavanprash,  Badam Shirin  and Joshina are some of their top selling products.

1931 – Following the Salt Satyagraha, Mahatma Gandhi was released from prison and began critical negotiations with Viceroy Lord Irwin, leading to the Gandhi-Irwin Pact signed the next day (March 5).

1951 – Eleven countries and 489 male and female athletes participated in the first Asian Games started at National Stadium in New Delhi.

1961 – India’s first aircraft carrier was commissioned into the Indian Navy at Belfast by Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit.

2009 – A new version of the supersonic BrahMos cruise missile was successfully test-fired from Pokhran, Rajasthan.

Born…. 1922 – Dina Patyak, veteran actress and theatre director. She acted in over 120 films over  about  six decades of her cine career viz.,  Mena Gurjari, Mohan Joshi Hazar Ho, Koshish, Mirch Masala, Saat Hindustani, Satyakam, Khoobsoorat,  Gol Maal, Pinjar etc. She was nominated  to Filmfare and won sevetral  film awards.

RIP…. 1939 – Lala Har Dayal, an Indian revolutionary and founder of the Ghadar Party. He passed ICs but left the serrvice to join Freedom Struggle and  visited America, Canada, Britain and Germany to  get support for his  revolutionary  organisations. He also wrote on Hinduism and Buddhist philisophy.

2011 – Arjun Singh,  senior Congress politician from Madhya Pradesh, who was Chief Minister twice and Union HRD  Minister under PV Narasimha Rao and Manmohan Singh  govts. He was also Governor of Punjab and conducted the Rajiv Gandhi-HS Longowal Accord for Peace in Punjab. He also  got Chambal decoit Phoolan Devi surrender in 1983 and introdued 27% reservations for OBCs in AIIMS, IITs and IIMs.                                                                   He was alleged to have  emboiled in Churhat Lottery scandal and  safe exit of  Union Carbide  Chief Warren Anderson soon after the Bhopal Gas leak disaster which killed or incapacitated  thousands of  Bhopal citizens.

2016 – P. A. Sangma, former Speaker of the Lok Sabha and Chief Minister. of Meghalaya. He represented Tura in Lok Sabha 8 times and was a minister in PV Narasimha Rao ministry. He co-founded NCP with veteran Congress  Sharad Pawar in 2004 and later supported NDA Govt. He was a presidential candidate in 2012  with NDA support but lost to Pranab Mukherji to the top constitutaional  post of India. He was honoured with Padma Vibhushan in  2017. His son Conrad Sangma is the corrent CM  of the state.                              You may have known…. The 2011 Kumbh Mela was the largest gathering of people with over 75 million pilgrims. The gathering was so huge that the crowd was visible from space. In the 2013 Maha Kumbh and the 2019 Kumbh, some estimates cited over 100 million visitors over the duration of the festival.

{Compiled by  Lt. Gen. (R)  Raj Kadyan}