Today’s Motto: ‘Recognising greatness in others is the hallmark of a great leader.’

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

On this day, 17 Dec….

1398 – Timur (Tamerlane) captures and sacks Delhi, defeating Sultan Nasir-u Din Mehmud’s armies which include elephants.

1803 – The British East India Company took control of Odisha.

1903 – The first manned, powered, sustained and controlled airplane flights were achieved by the Wright brothers with The Flyer, a wood and fabric biplane. Orville Wright, launched from a track into the wind. The biplane flew low over the ground for 120-ft, aloft for 12 secs. For the first time, a machine carrying a man had raised itself by its own power into the air in full flight, flown forward without reduction of speed and had finally landed at a point as high as that from which it started. Three more flights were made in the next few hours. The last one, with Wilbur Wright aboard, was the longest, covering 852-ft (260-m) in 59 secs. The wind then upset The Flyer, damaged it, and it never flew again.

1928 – Bhagat Singh,  Rajguru, and Sukhdev assassinated Saunders, the police officer responsible for Lala Lajpat Rai’s fatal lathi charge in Lahore, as an act of revenge.

1931 – The Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) was founded by P.C. Mahalanobis in West Bengal.

1933 – Legendary batsman and first captain  of Indian team,  Lala Amarnath scores a century (118) in his Test Cricket debut in England. He also won the first Test series against Pakistan  2-1  in India,  in 1952.

1961 – India seizes Goa and 2 other Portuguese colonies. (Provocative action against our nationals in the vicinity of Anjadip Island and Portugal’s belligerent attitude to the problems of its colonial possessions in this country, resulted in the Government of India’s decision to liberate Goa, Daman and Diu. Operations were launched at night).

1971 – The Indo-Pakistani War ended, leading to the creation of Bangladesh.

1972 – New line of control (LoC ) agreement  signed  on Kashmir, between Prime Ministers  India (Indira Gandhi)  and Pakistan (ZA Bhutto). Called as Shimla Declaration which ended  soon  after  Pakistan continued infiltration  and sending  terrorists  into  Kashmir  and  Punjab.

1979 – The first rocket automobile vehicle claimed to break the sound barrier on land. Driven by Stan Barrett, the 3-wheel vehicle reached 739.7 mph.   demonstrated  along with Brig. Gen. Charles “Chuck”.   It was stopped by a drag parachute. (The speed record never became official because the average of two runs is required, and the car never ran again. Further, the car’s fuel load was insufficient to enable it to complete a measured mile at record speed, and the rocket engines  could not be readied for a return run within the stipulated 1 hour period).

1982 – The Supreme Court of India delivered a landmark judgment guaranteeing dignity and decency to retired officials and pensioners. This day is now celebrated annually as Pensioners’ Day in India.                                                                                

    1993 – Muslims in Bangladesh call for the murder of feminist Taslima Nasrin. She is a writer, women activist,   humourist.  She had been writing against women’s oppression in Bangladesh, her books banned there.  She is living in exile in India  since 2011 though she has  gained Swedish citizenship.

       Born…. 1972 – John Abraham, model,  actor,  sports enthusiast. He has acted in  Bollywood flicks  JIsm, Dhoom, Desi Boyz,, Satyamev Jayate, Dishoom, War, Pathaan, Veda etc. His fist film  Jim won him awards and accolades. Has been awarded Filmfare 4 times and National Award once. He was adjudged among Forbe’s 100 Most celebrities list in 2017.    

 

1978 – Riteish Deshmukh, Bollywood actor son of former Maharashtra chief minister  Vilasrao Deshmukh.  He is a film producer, financer and performs mostly in humorous roles. His films are Masti, Houseful, Ek Villain, Tujhe Meri Kasam, Dhamaal, Raid 1-2, Ved, Kakuda, Visfot etc. He is married to Genelia D’Souza (a Sri Lanka born actress –pic credit-instagram).

RIP….  1645 – Noorjahan,  legendary  dancer, beloved of Mughal Shehzada Salim (Jehangir), who could not marry her due to opposition by  his father Badshah  Akbar, led to a revolt in the family. Many  popular films have been released on this epic story, including  Anarkali, Taj Mahal and  Mughal-e-Azam  by K Asif,  where Noorjahan was  played by actresses  Meena Kumari, Madhubala, Pakistani Noor Jehan, Waheeda Rehman, Rekha  and Shahzada Salim played by  Pradeep Kumar, Dilip Kumar etc.

You may have known….  1. A flea can jump 350 times its body length, the equivalent of a human jumping the length of a football field.                                                                                                                                                                      2.  A  Recent 2025 analyses rank the Indian Air Force as the third most powerful globally due to factors beyond mere quantity.  (pic shows former Air Chief Marshall BS Dhanoa with Wing Cdr. Abhinandan Vardhman  going to fly MiG-21). 

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