Today’s Motto: ‘The best way to predict the future is to create it’

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

On this day, 15 Aug ….

1784 – The first successful balloon ascent to be made in England was demonstrated by an Italian, Vincenzo Lunardi before a crowd of onlookers in London that included the Prince of Wales and other eminent statesmen.

1817 – The first U.S. mill to roll and puddle iron was opened. (A puddling furnace reduces the carbon content in cast iron to produce malleable iron).

1830 – William Huskisson, a British statesman became the first railway fatality while observing the ceremonial procession of locomotives at the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester railway.

1857 – A U.S. patent was issued for the design of a typesetting machine invented by Timothy Alden of New York. This is the first such machine that actually operated.

1885 – A U.S. patent was issued for saccharine, the artificial sweetener discovered by Constantin Fahlberg. He described mixing 2-lb of the chemical compound with 1-ton of grape sugar, by solution and evaporation. Taking advantage of the lower cost of grape sugar, this was cheaper than cane-sugar.

1918 – 1st full length cartoon (Sinking of Lusitania).

1947 – India declares independence from UK, Islamic part becomes Pakistan.  The British ruled India first (1757 – 1858) through East India Company and from 1858 to 1947 through  the Crown or direct rule. This system of governance was instituted on 28 June 1858, when, after the   First War of Independence  failed in  1857, the rule of the British East India Company was transferred to the Crown in the person of Queen Victoria who, in 1876, was proclaimed Empress of India. The Independence Movement, that lasted 190 years, was first started in Bengal. Moderate leaders sought only their basic right to appear for Indian Civil Service examinations, as well as more rights, economic in nature. The early part of the 20th century saw a more radical approach towards political self-rule proposed by leaders such as Lal, Bal and Gopal, and   Aurobindo Ghosh. The last stages of the self-rule struggle from the 1920s onwards saw Congress adopt Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi’s policy of non-violence and civil resistance. Activists Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and Bhagat Singh preached armed revolution to achieve self-rule. Feminists such as Sarojini Naidu and Begum Rokeya promoted the emancipation of Indian women and their participation in national politics. Babasaheb Ambedkar championed the cause of the disadvantaged sections of Indian society within the larger self-rule movement. The period of the Second World War saw the peak of the campaigns by the Quit India movement in 1942, led by Mahatma Gandhi and the Indian National Army movement led by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. (Red Fort pic credit-News18.com)

1949 – Chandernagore joins the Indian Union.

1949 – Panchayati Raj inaugurated in 114,000 villages.

1950 – Indian Constitution goes into effect.

1955 – Satyagrah started for the freedom of Goa under the leadership of Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia.

1969 – Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) was formed.

1972 – Postal Index Number (PIN Code) of 6-digits was introduced.

1975 – Army officers in Bangladesh stage a military coup d’état, assassinate their  first elected President Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and most members of his family, and install Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad as President.

1990 – GOI declares Prophet Mohammed’s birthday a national holiday.

Born….  1872 – Sri Aurobindo,  Maharishi, Yogi, philosopher and nationalist freedopm fighter. He co-founded and edited  the newspaper Bande Matram alongwith Bipin Chandra Pal in 1905. He wrote several books on Hindu Dharma, Culture and Indian Way of Life. He visited Europe and had several foreign followers visiting him in his Ashram later.

1947 – Raakhee Gulzar, popular Bengali and Bollywood  film actress. She debuted in film industry through Badhu Bharan, a Bengali film and the Jeevan Mrityu in Hindi.  Her sucessful films are Kabhie Kabhie, Daag, Ankhon Ankhon Mein, Kaala Pather, Trishna, Muqaddar Ka Sikandar, Ram Lakhan, Tapasya, Baazigar, Shakti, Barsat Ki Ek Raat, Border, Karan Arjun  etc. She won 2 National Film and 3 Filmfare awards apart from Bengal Film Journalists’ Award and Padma Shri in 2003. She married veteran poet,  lyricist Gulzar and has a film producer Meghna Gulzar aas their daughter.

1973 – Adnan Sami, is an Indian  singer, composer and actor who sings in Hindi, Urdu, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam. He has married Four times and has a son. He worked in My Name is Khan, Koi Mil Gaya,  Ajnabi, Bajrangi Bhaijan. He was awarded Padma Shri and his net worth is about $ 50 million.

Titbits…. 2017 – Scientists’ genetic study of the Apple  fruit,  reveals its origin is in Kazakhstan, published in “Nature Communications”.
You may have known…. Various reports indicate that about 24.3% of the incremental global workforce over the next decade will come from India. This projection is based on India’s large working-age population and its potential to contribute to the global labor supply.                                                                                                                                                                                                                    {Compiled by Lt. Gen. (R)  Raj Kadyan}