46 BC, January 4

Julius Caesar defeats Titus Labienus in the Battle of Ruspina

1642, January 4

King Charles I with 400 soldiers attacks the English parliament

1847, January 4

Samuel Colt sells his first revolver pistol to the United States government

1865, January 4

The New York Stock Exchange opens its first permanent headquarters at 10-12 Broad near Wall Street in New York City.

1881, January 4

Publication of newspaper ‘Kesri’ started.

1906, January 4

Prince of Wales laid the foundation stone of Victoria Memorial Hall at Calcutta.

1923, January 4

Lenin’s “Political Testament” calls for removal of Stalin

1932, January 4

British Viceroy of India Lord Willingdon arrests Gandhi & Nehru. Mahatma Gandhi and other members of his All-India National Congress are back in jail again. After the collapse of the London conference, British authorities cracked down even harder on Gandhi and his followers, and the Mahatma urged Indians to increase their acts of civil disobedience. “Wake up from sleep,” Gandhi said as he ordered a boycott of British goods. “Discard foreign cloth. Discard narcotics. Discard violence. Defy all orders calculated to crush the national spirit.” The government declared Gandhi’s Congress an illegal organization. Under new laws, even peaceful picketing is illegal. The Congress party responded to the crackdown by recruiting more followers and striking more plants.

1948, January 4

Burma achieved its independence from Great Britain. In 1989, Burma changed its name to Myanmar to reflect the multi-ethnic composition of the country. Apart from the Burmese, the main ethnic minority groups are the Karen, Shan, Mon, Chin, and Kachin. Just as the Burmese did against the British, almost all of these ethnic groups have struggled against the Burmese government for self-determination.

1964, January 4

The First Diesel Engine came out of the Varanasi Diesel Engine Carshed.

1966, January 4

Indo-Pak Summit, the peace talk between Pakistan and Indian leaders, started at Tashkent. The prominent personalities were Lal Bahadur Shastri and Gen. Ayub Khan.

1967, January 4

Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. began delivery of the MIG aircraft.

1994, January 4

Rahul Dev Burman, famous music director better known as ‘Pancham Da’, died at the age of 56.

1496, January 3

Leonardo da Vinci unsuccessfully tests a flying machine.

1653, January 3

The Coonan Cross Oath is taken in the Saint Thomas Christian community in an effort to avoid submission to Portuguese rule in India

1777, January 3

General George Washington’s revolutionary army defeats British forces at Battle of Princeton, NJ

1911, January 3

The Government of India announces that emigration to Natal, Southern Africa, is prohibited with effect from 1 July.

1921, January 3

First Indian Parliament meets.

1925, January 3

Benito Mussolini dissolves Italian parliament/becomes dictator

1831

Savitribai Phule, famous social worker, was born at Naigaon in Satara district, Maharashtra.

1947, January 3

Gandhiji toured the riot-affected areas in Bihar from January 3 to January 29.

1977, January 3

Apple Computer, Inc incorporates

2000, January 3

A. B. Vajpayee, Prime Minister, accuses Pakistan of the hijack of an Indian Airlines aircraft. (The crisis ended on Dec. 31 last with the Vajpayee Government agreeing to free three terrorists in exchange for the passengers).

1757, January 2

Robert Clive again attacked and annexed Calcutta from Nawab Siraj-ud-Daulah.

After the Battle of Plassey, Robert Clive, Britisher, defeated Siraj-ud-Daulah, Mir Jafar, Nawab of Bengal and re-captured Calcutta, after it had been seized by the Nawab of Bengal who had used the “Black Hole” to imprison British captives.

1899, January 2

Monks started living in Belur Math.

1913, January 2

Mahatma Gandhi leaves the Tolstoy Farm in Transvaal, South Africa

1947, January 2

Mahatma Gandhi met Lord Bevin, the personal emissary of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, in Delhi. Beven is reported to have told the great man, ”Eighteen languages, 500 dialects, some 30 religions, a million Gods and Goddesses, 300 million individuals, an infinity of castes and sub-castes, and a population (that is) practically illiterate and half of which (are) beggars or thieves… Good luck, sir! Such a nation is ungovernable! It’d take you centuries to get anywhere!”. Gandhiji wrapped his large, white shawl a little more closely around him, and modestly replied, ‘India has eternity before her.. and “All around me is utter darkness”.

1948, January 2

Nehru threatens Indian action to stop Pakistani raids into Kashmir.

1953, January 2

The government set up a Board of Editors under Dr. Syed Mahmood to prepare a history of Freedom Movement in India.

1990, January 2

Capt. Nivedita Bhasin, 26, becomes the youngest woman pilot in world civil aviation history to command a jet aircraft.

1991, January 2

Thiruvananthapuram airport declared India’s fifth International Airport.

1993, January 2

Allahabad court allows ‘darshan’ at Ayodhya.

1399

Amir Timur left Delhi. He took the title ‘Emperor of India’ and recrossed the Indus on March 11.

1664

Shivaji assumed the royal title and he marched towards Surat.

1851

Publication of Marathi newspaper ‘Gyanoday’.

1862

Indian Penal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure passed on October 6, 1860 came into force.

1874

The first women magazine “Bola Bodhini” was published.

1877

Queen Victoria was proclaimed as ‘The Empress of India’ in Delhi Darbar.

1880

Money order system was introduced.

1894

Satyendranath Bose, Professor, and famous Indian physics expert was born, He worked with Albert Einstein for some time.

1903

A vast crowd thronged the great plain outside Delhi today, waiting to hear the declaration that King Edward VII was Emperor of India. The crowd, clothed in brilliantly colored garments, was largely composed of common people who had come to the durbar to see India’s princes pledge their fealty to the Emperor. The Duke of Connaught, representing King Edward, sat on the left of the Viceroy of India, Lord Curzon of Kedleston, who sat on a throne surrounded by giant silver footstools. Lord Curzon spoke briefly, then read a message from the King, who expressed regret at not being present at the durbar and his wishes for “the increasing prosperity of my Indian Empire.” Among the dignitaries in the amphitheater were 600 veterans of the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857-58.

1918

Sir Edwin Lutyens was knighted in recognition of his quality of work at Delhi and his gratuitous services to the War Graves Commission.

1944

Sir Edwin Lutyens, the Builder of Rashtrapati Bhavan and England’s most outstanding architect of his time, died.

1948

India raised voice against Pakistani infiltration in the country. A complaint was lodged in the Security Council of United Nation on Kashmir invasion.

1949

A ceasefire eventually came into force. Under UN supervision, a negotiated Cease Fire Line was drawn up on an actual holding basis pending future settlements. This meandering, and at places militarily illogical line, ran some 700 kilometers from Chhamb in the South to a map reference point NJ 9842 in Ladakh in the North. The fighting was to continue for 15 months, with heavy RIAF involvement throughout, but despite being continuously on an operational footing throughout this period, the reorganization and modernization of the service continued unabated.

1972

Indian states abolished the previous rulers of Privy purses and privileges.

1973

Indian General Insurance Corporation nationalized.

1976

Broadcasting of Commercial Advertisements on TV stations started.

1997

30-year Ganga water sharing treaty between India and Bangladesh takes effect.

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