This Day in History

🇮🇳 India

1860 M Viswesvaraya, considered India's greatest engineer, was born. The day is celebrated as Engineers Day in the country.

1863 Gaurishankar Hirachand Ojha, historian from Rajasthan, a prolific author who wrote several books on the history of Rajasthan and other historical subjects, was born.

1876 Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay (alternatively spelt as Sarat Chandra Chatterjee), Bengali novelist and short story writer, author of Devdas, was born.

1909 Thiru Conjeevaram Natarajan Annadurai, "Anna", founder of DMK (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) and former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, also an editor, writer, orator and patriot, was born in a weaver community of Kanchipuram.

1912 Rustom Khurshedji Karanjia (Russi Karanjia), Indian journalist and editor who founded the Blitz, a weekly tabloid with focus on investigative journalism in 1941, was born.

1927 Sarveshwar Dayal Saxena, Hindi writer, poet, columnist and playwright, was born.

1953 S. Vijayalakshmi Pandit was elected as the first lady President of the eighth session of the United Nations Organisation's (UNO) General Assembly.

1959 India's national broadcasting service Doordarshan started in Delhi for the first time.

1997 Prasar Bharati Act comes into force seeking to free Doordarshan and Akashvani from government control.

🌍 International

1835 HMS Beagle, with Charles Darwin aboard, reaches the Galapagos Islands. The ship lands at Chatham or San Cristobal, the easternmost of the archipelago.

1890 Agatha Christie, English crime novelist, short story writer, playwright, and best-selling author of all time, was born.

1958 The deadly disease trachoma virus was first discovered in medical science.

1997 Google.com is registered as a domain name.

⭐ Significance

National Engineer's Day is celebrated to recognise and honour the achievements of the great engineer Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya who undertook many complex projects and delivered remarkable infrastructural results during his career.

The purpose of celebrating International Day of Democracy is to promote and uphold the principles of democracy. In 2007 the United Nations General Assembly invited all member states and organizations to commemorate the day in an appropriate manner that contributes to raising public awareness.