Today’s Motto: ‘The opposite of life is not death, it’s indifference’

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

On this day, 02 Jun….

1756 – Fort William, (now called Vijay Durg), the English stronghold in Bengal, built in 1696 on the bank of  Hooghley  (Ganga) in the Bay of Bengal, was surrendered to Siraj-ud-Daulah. It now houses a big National Library.

1954 – The first test of a VTOL (vertical take off and landing)  airplane takes place.

1964 – Lal Bahadur Shastri elected  2nd Prime Minister of India, after PM Nehru’s sudden death. He was ealier Home Minsiter of India  between 1961-63 and earer a Minister in Uttar Pradesh. Shastriji, as he was popularly known,  remained the PM between June 09, 1964 to Jan. 11, 1966, when he  died mysteriously in Tashkant  after signing a  ceasefire with Pakistan.  He  led the country to a  resounding   victory over Pakistan  in  1965  Indo-Pak War. He is also known to coin the slogan Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan  when the country faced  double  crises of Food shortages and India Pakistan war.

1966 – The US landed a spacecraft on the moon in its first attempt.

1990 – Union Government set up a tribunal to settle the Cauvery water issue between Tamil Nadu & Karnataka (pic credit-jagranjosh.com).

2013 – Columbia University researchers believe the new material, graphene, even if stitched together, is the strongest material in the world.

2014 – Hospitals are beginning to use genetic profiling of tumors in order to identify the most effective treatments for various cancers; tumour genetics is thought to be of greater significance than the place of origin in the body.

2014 – Telangana became the 29th state of India dividing Andhra Pradesh on language issues. KC Rao, the prominent agitator of Telangana Rashtriya Samiti,   for separate state became the first CM of the state.

2023 – A three-train collision in Balasore district of  Odisha, leaves 288 dead and about 1,000 people injured in the country’s worst rail accident this century. The collision occured when a high speed Coromandal Express collided with a stationary goods  train  and  Bengaluru Hawrah Superfast coming  on the other  track.  An enquiry has established an alleged   sabotage by  3 persons by  changing point rails and electronic Kavach  monitiring system (pic credit-france24.com).

Born…. 1943 – Ilaiyaraaja,  popular  Tamil and Telugu musician,  lyricist, singer and   composer. Padma Bhushan and Sangeet Natak Academy awardee. Winner of National Film Award, 4 Filmfares, Nandi and 2 Kerala State awards (pic credit-All About Music).

1955 – Nandan  (Mohan)  Nilekani. He was chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India and later President NCAER. Indian entrepreneur, co-founder of IT giant Infosys Ltd. in 1981 and a politician.  He faught  2014 Lok Sabha election (Cong.)  from Bengaluru but lost  to Anant Kumar of BJP  by over 2 lakh votes.  As of October 2025, he is the 100th richest person in India with a net worth of US$3.2 billion. He donated 50% of his waelth for   Giving Pledge charity  co-foundede by  Microsoft Chaisman Bill Gates.  Nandan has been awarded Padma Bhushan and several other honours by   techno-financial organisations.

1956 – Mani Ratnam, film director, screenwriter, and producer who predominantly works in Tamil cinema. Ratnam has won six National Film Awards, four Filmfare Awards, six Filmfare Awards South, and numerous awards at various film festivals across the world.

1980 – Dola Banerjee, the first female archer from India, qualified for the Olympics. She has won more than 16 Gold, 3 Silver and 8 Bronze medals for the country from World, Asian and other competoitions in over 20 years,  (pic credit-alchetron.com).

1987 – Sonakshi Sinha, Bollywood actress, daughter of veteran actor cum politician Shatrughan Sinha.  Acted in films like Dabangg, Singh is King, Kalank, Khandaani Shafakhana, Bhuj, Double  XXL etc. Won a  filmfare and other awards. She married  an industry  person  Zaheer Iqbal in 2024.and faqced lot of flak from her family and fans.

RIP…. 1988 – Raj Kapoor, legendary Bollywood actor, film producer, and film director who worked mainly  in Hindi cinema. Son of  veteran  actor/producer and theatre personality  Prithvia Raj Kapoor, he  is widely considered the greatest showman in Indian cinema and entertainment history. He received multiple accolades, including three National Film Awards and 11 Filmfare Awards in India. The Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award is named after Kapoor. In 1935, at the age of 10, he made his acting debut with the film Inquilab.   Known as the First Family  of Indian Cinema, Kapoors have many established names  incldung Shammi, Shashi,  sons Ranbir, Rishi, Rajeev and grandkids like  Ranbir Kapoor, Kareena, Karishma  etc. who kep the flag high by their  steller performances.

2004 – Dom Moraes, writer and poet, son of veteran journalist Frank Moraes. Dom also wrote  biography of legendary cricketer Sunil Gavaskar in 1987.He wrote many famous books like My Son’s Father, Never at Home and Letter to My Mother and John Nobody etc. (pic credit-siasat.com)

You may have known…. 1.  The Beatles’ first band name was The Quarrymen. They also briefly changed their name to Johnny and the Moondogs.  The main promotors of the band were  John Lennon,  Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr.   (pic credit-alphacoders.com)                                                                    2.  India was the first country to develop extraction and purifying techniques for sugar. Many visitors from abroad learnt the refining and cultivation of sugar from us.                                         {Compiled by Lt Gen. (R)  Raj Kadyan}