Today’s Motto: ‘Sometimes pride blinds us from reading the writing on the wall’

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

On this day, 26 Jul….

1509 – Chola king Krishnadevaraya became the  Maharajadhiraj  of Deccan with capital at Vijayanagara defeating the  armies of Bijapur, Golocunda,  Bahamani Sultanate,  Raichur of  Doab, Gajapathis of Odisha. It was the declining period of Babur and  He ruled upto 1529.  He was a learned ruler who promoted Suth Indian cultures like Telugu, Kannada, Tamil and Sanskrit. Earlier to a short Chola kingdom of  Rajaraja Chola  (also called –Arulmoli Varman),   ruled   the region between 985-1014 AD,  that stretched across South India, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, and parts of Southeast Asia.  (pic credit-commons.wikimedia.org)

1910 – Unrest flares up in the Deccan region of India.  Through designs of  British rulers, to weaken the  struggle for India’s  Independence, a demand  for self-determination for raised by some locals.

1974 – Aspartame artificial sweetener was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

1999- India-Pak  war  in Kargil comes to an end after  thwarting  Pakistan infiltrators  from the region. . The day is celebrated as Kargil Divas.  Two months and three weeks old war, ended with capturing back   the  peaks at  Mushkoh Valley, along the Marpo La ridgeline in Dras, in Kaksar near Kargil, in the Batalik sector east of the Indus River, on the heights above of the Chorbat La sector where the LOC turns North and in the Turtuk sector south of the Siachen area. Pakistan’s designs were to  seize Kargil  mountains and gain control over Siachin Glacier, in Ladakh (sketch credit-wikipedia.com).

2000 – The Centre imposes a ban on employing children below 14 years as domestic servants by all Government employees in the All India services at the insistence of the NHRC.

2005 – Mumbai, India receives 99.5 cm of rain within 24 hours, bringing the city to a halt for over 2 days.                                                                                                                    2007 – Pakistan  test-fires  the nuclear-powered cruise missile Babur Hatf-7.

2008 – 21 blasts took place in Ahmedabad city of Gujarat. 56 people were killed and more than 200 were injured in this accident. 38 terrorists involved were sentenced to death by theCourts, confirmed by the High Court   on July 7 this year, 11 were given life dsentences.

2017 – Great Britain announces it will ban gasoline and diesel cars by 2040.

2023 – World’s largest Office Building, Surat Diamond Bourse (Exchange), at 6,60,000 square meters is unveiled in Surat, India, by architectural studio Morphogenesis.

Born…. 1874 – Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj, a true democrat and social reformer in India. He is still famous as a priceless gem in the history of Kolhapur. Chhatrapati Sahu Maharaj was such a person who, despite being a king, understood the suffering of the downtrodden and the oppressed class and always kept closeness to them. The revolutionary measures he took towards social change is remembered in history. He was Bron on 26 July 1874 in Bombay (Mumbai).

1922 – Blake Edwards, American actor, screenwriter, director and producer.  He wrote a  classic comedy Breakfast at Tiffany’s, The Pink Panther series,  The Party, Peter Gun etc.(piccredit-ar.inpiredpencil.com) 

1924 – Girilal Jain, famous journalist and editor of Times of India from 1978-1988. He believed in re-establishing of Sanatan Hindu culture, traditions and  opposed radical/racial politics of  1980s  and afterwards. He was  fired under for writing some articles  on Hinduism and nationalism. He also wrote some books like The Hindu Phenomenon and De-Turbanisation of Sikhs.  He also believed  the Nehru and Congress ideologies  of Secularism and  Socialism  have lost  much of its glitter and  Nehru’s policy of  Non-alignmernt has  become redundant. He was honuored with Padma Bhushan award.

1943 – Mick Jagger.  British singer, songwriter, producer.  He was also co-founder of Rolling Stones band and has an estimated  worth of $ 600 million.

1972 – Jugal Hansraj. Popular child actor who acted in Shekhar Kapoor’s film Masoom and later in Karma, Aa Gale Lag Jaa and Sultant etc. He also wrote and directed Roaside Romeo, Pyaar Impossible etc.

You may have known…. By launching the National Family Planning programme in 1952 India became the first country in the world to have a population policy. The family planning programme yielded some noticeable results, bringing down significantly the country’s fertility rate from 5.77  per woman  in 1952  to 1..94  in 2025 (mainly among the majority population)  the fertility rate  has to  one-thirds.                                                                                                              {Compiled by Lt. Gen. (R)  Raj Kadyan}