Today’s Motto: ‘They Can, because they think They Can’

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

On this day, 19 Jan….
1841 – The island of Hong Kong was ceded to Great Britain. (It returned to Chinese control in July 1997).

1892 – The first official basketball game was played by students at the Springfield, YMCA, Massachusettes, Training School.

1838 – The first Travelling Post Office in Britain, a converted horsebox on the Grand Junction Railway in which the mail could be sorted, was started. Its success led to a rapidly expanded system with specially-designed railway wagons added to passenger trains.

1914 – The first group of Transvaal Indian women satyagrahis are released from Pietermaritzburg Prison in South Africa after three months imprisonment.

1937 – 20th January was set as the date for the swearing in of the US President and Vice President.

1948 – Bomb exploded near Birla House during a prayer meeting of Gandhi.

1949 – Junagarh formally merged with Saurashtra.

1972 – Manipur, Meghalaya and Tripura become states of Indian union. Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram become Union Territories. Assam’s North East Frontier Agency (Nefa) was renamed as Arunachal Pradesh territory.

1981 – Iran released 52 Americans that had been held hostage for 444 days. The release occurred minutes after the US presidency had passed from Jimmy Carter to Ronald Reagan.

1998 – American researchers announced they have cloned calves that may produce medicinal milk. This is a step towards the mass production of human drugs in animals. Their goal was to turn cows into drug factories, mass producing milk that contains human proteins important for treating human diseases (pic credit-Science Photo Library).

2013 – Calcium deposits are discovered on Mars by NASA’s Curiosity Rove.

Born….

1871 – Sir Ratanji Jamshedji Tata, famous Indian Persian  industrialist who helped  Tata Group establish and expand into various business  trading/manufacturing activities in India. Industrial and philanthropist whose son Naval and  grandchildren  Ratan Naval Tata  (former Chairman), Neol Tata  (current Chairman)  and  JimmyTata form  the family tree and tradition, and  manage the Trusts.                                                       Tata Group net worth is $ 403 Billion and market capitalisation  at  $ 33.7 trillion as in  August 2024 from 29 listed companies.

1945 – Ajit Kumar Doval, Indian National Security Adviser. Former diplomat, bureaurocrat,  served as Director IB in 2004-05 and in Indian missions including Pakistan.  He was appointed  as NSA by  PM Modi govt. in 2014 and continues in his 3rd term.

RIP…. 1988 – Khan Abdul Gafar Khan, follower of Mahatma Gandhi, better known as Sarhadi Gandhi or Frointier Gandhi. He was against  India’s  but  shifted to Pakistan and Afghanistan after India’s  Partition in 1947.

Titbits…. 

1952 – In Juarez, Mexico, Patricia McCormick debuted as the first professional woman bullfighter from the United States . She appeared in over 300 Bullfights and was once seriously injured and a priest performed her last rites in 1954. Yet she survived until March 26, 2013. (pic credit-Los Angeles Times).

You may have known….

Patanjali, in Yogasutra of about the 4the Century CE, explains a technique of yoga by  comparing it to “the way a farmer diverts a stream from an irrigation canal for irrigation”. Though Yogacharya  Baba Ramdev and  Acharya Balakrishna have  been practicing and promoting  Rishi Patanjali’s Yoga  and Ayurveda formulations for human health.                         

 

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