8 January 1025
Sultan Mehmood completely destroyed the Temple of Somnath.
8 January 1598
Jews are expelled from Genoa, Italy
8 January 1790
1st US President George Washington delivers 1st state of the union address
8 January 1835
The United States national debt became 0 for the first and only time.
8 January 1867
African American men granted the right to vote in Washington, D.C. despite President Andrew Johnson’s veto.
8 January 1884
Keshav Chandra Sen, nationalist leader of Bengal, social worker and good orator of Brahma Samaj, passed away at his home in Lily Cottage, Calcutta. He was one of the first Indians to sow the seeds of secularism in our country. He strongly believed that education was the basic necessity to change the society.
8 January 1908
Gandhiji asks the Government for suspension of Registration Act, offers voluntary registration.
8 January 1926
Abdulaziz Ibn Saud becomes King of Nejd and Hejaz; forerunner of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
8 January 1927
The first scheduled London-Delhi flight arrives after 63 hrs. Air Minister Sir Samuel Hoare is on board.
8 January 1954
Elvis Presley pays $4 to a Memphis studio & records his 1st two songs, “Casual Love” & “I’ll Never Stand in Your Way”
8 January 1965
‘Star of India’, world’s largest sapphire, returned to American Museum of Natural History.
8 January 1968
The Official Languages Act, 1963 was amended. Accordingly, a provision was made in Section 3 (4) of the Act of the effect that employees of the Union Government proficient either in Hindi or in English may carry out their work effectively and that their interests may no be adversely affected merely because they are not proficient in both the languages. According to Section 3 (5), it is necessary for bringing to an end the use of English language for the Official purposes of the union that resolutions to this effect are passed by the legislatures of the states (i.e. states where Hindi is not the Official Language) and after considring these resolutions, a resolution is passed by both the houses of the Parliament to put an end to the use of English language.
8 January 1993
FERA restrictions removed, resident Indians allowed to keep as much as $500.