Today’s Motto: ‘The greatest ideas are usually the simplest’
As Every Day makes a new beginning in life, it brings new opportunities, opens new avenues, to perform and make a mark, to write a Page in History Book!
This is Your Day-TODAY: Take a Determined Step Forward and Make History !
On this day, 15 Dec….
1515 – Portuguese general Afonso de Albuquerque captures Goa.Portugese controlled Goa until it was liberated in 1954 by Police Action and agitatation led by freedom fighter Ram Manohar Lohia.
1803 – East India Company captured Orrisa state.
1916 – French defeat Germans in WW I Battle of 
Verdun. The Battle of Verdun was one of the largest and longest battles of the First World War on the Western Front between the German and French armies (pic credit-Sky History).
1939 – Nylon yarn was first sold commercially.
1953 – S. Vijayalakshmi Pandit, sister of India’s first PM Jawaharlal Nehru, became the first woman President of the UN General Assembly.
1991 – Satyajit Ray, legendary Indian filmmaker, received an Honorary Academy Award (Oscar).
2001 – The Leaning Tower of Pisa, Italy, was reopened to the public after a $27 million realignment that took over a 
decade.
2011 – Jacques Chirac, former President of France, is declared guilty of embezzlement an
d violating trust for filling non-existent jobs with party members while serving as Mayor of Paris. Chirc remained President from 1995-2007.
Born…. 1832 – Gustave Eiffel, French civil engineer who specialised in metal structures, known especially for the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
188
4 – Dada Lekhraj (Lekhraj Khubchand Kirpalani), founder of the Brahma Kumaris spiritual movement. 1888 – Maxwell Anderson. American writer, poet, journalist
known for his works Elizabeth the Queen, Both Your Houses, Wnterset, High Tor, The Wingless Victory, Joan of Lorraine etc. He was awarded Pulitzer Prize, Gold Medal in Drama and Honorary Doctorates etc.
1924 – Nek Chand (Saini). He was a self-taught artist, known for building the Rock Garden, an eighteen-acre sculpture garden in the city of Chandigarh. Nek Chand was born in Shakargarh (near Gurdaspur) and worked as Road Inspector during the development of Chandigath, a planned City under French/Swiss architect Le
Corbusier in 1950s, collected rejected, broken pieces of old buildings/houses and gave them creative shapes depicting various forms of social, cutural and family lives in India. His Rock Garden was recognised later in 1975 by Govt. of India appreciating his vision and was (pics from Rock Garden galleries)
1951
– Air Chief Marshal Norman Anil Kumar Browne, former Indian Air Chief between July 31, 2011 to Dec. 31, 2013 (pic credit-Wikipedia)..
1971 – Jeev Milkha Sing
h, golfer. Son of legendary athlete “Flying Sikh” Milkha Singh and India Volleball team Captain Nirmal Kaur, Jeev has been top Indian entry to Europe Tour. He has won 4 events in European Golf Tour from 1998 onwards.
1976 – Baichung Bhutia, most popular Indian striker footballer. He has capta
ined India team to Asian, national and International tournaments. Was awarded Arjuna Award twice in 1998-99, AIFF Player in 1995, 2008 and AFC Challenge Cup and Padam Shri in 2008 (pic credit-Free Press
1988 – Geeta Phogat, a pioneering Indian freestyle wrestler, famous for winning India’s first-ever wrestling gold at the 2010 Commonwealth Games and being the first Indian woman to 
qualify for the Olympics (2012 London).
RIP….1950 – Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, first deputy Prime Minister of independent India also known as the ‘Iron Man’ and Bharat Ratna awardee. He played a vital role in integrating India into a united country. He got more than 562 Indian Princely states to merge into India during the period 1946-1948 when India gained Independence. As the Home Minister it was the most monumental task as the country was also facing violent riots due to Partition of India. (it is also written in some documents that he was first choice as Prime Minister of India by Congress’ AICC meeting with 14 out of 15 members voting in his favour but Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi nominated Jawarlal Nehru to the PM’s post.
You may have known.... India is reported to have around 600 military helicopters, with recent significant deals to add advanced aircraft. The nation has been actively modernizing its fleet, for example by inducting US-made Apache attack helicopters and Chinook heavy-lift helicopters, and sealing major deals for indigenously developed Light Combat Helicopters.
{Compiled by Lt. Gen. (R) Raj Kadyan}
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