On This Day

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Important events of history that took place in India and elsewhere on today’s date.

21 August

🇮🇳 In India

1790 The British army, led by General Meadows, captured Dindigul in Tamil Nadu.

1972 The Wildlife Protection Act was passed in India.

2006 Renowned Shehnai player Ustad Bismillah Khan passed away.

🌎 Elsewhere

1911

Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre by three Italian handymen; it was not recovered until 1913, and the media sensation helped make it one of the world's most famous paintings.

1986 At least 1,200 people are feared dead after volcanic gases escape from a lake in Cameroon.

1986 Usain Bolt, former Jamaican sprinter, widely considered to be the greatest sprinter of all time, was born in Jamaica.

1989 Voyager 2, launched by NASA on 20 August, 1977, begins a fly-by of planet Neptune.

1991 Latvia declared its independence from the Soviet Union.

1993 NASA lost communication with the Mars Observer almost a year after its launch. The robotic space probe was tasked with exploring and studying the Red Planet.

2001 The Red Cross announces that a famine is striking Tajikistan, and calls for international financial aid for Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

2012 20 people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo die from the Ebola virus.

⭐ Significance

World Senior Citizen's Day was celebrated for the first time in 1991. The day is intended to increase awareness of the factors and issues that affect older adults, such as health deterioration and elder abuse.

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