Friday , November 15 2024

October 11 in the pages of history: Birth of grandfather who took a vow of lifelong social service.

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Nanaji Amritrao Deshmukh, a great personality who fulfilled his resolve of social service throughout his life, was born on 11 October 1916 in Kadoli, Maharashtra. He was awarded the Bharat Ratna posthumously by the Modi government in 2019 for social work and the Padma Vibhushan in 1999 by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government.

Nanaji Deshmukh was influenced by the strong nationalist ideology of Bal Gangadhar Tilak since his childhood. His family was in contact with Keshav Baliram Hedgewar. Hedgewar used to meet the Deshmukh family regularly. He encouraged them to participate in RSS shakhas. After which Nanaji Deshmukh dedicated his entire life to the name of the Sangh. The then RSS chief M.S. Golwalkar had sent him to Gorakhpur as a preacher. He became the co-provost pracharak of entire Uttar Pradesh. Today, schools named Saraswati Shishu Mandir, spread across the country, were established for the first time by Nanaji Deshmukh in Gorakhpur.

In the elections held in 1977 after the Emergency, Nanaji Deshmukh was elected MP from Balrampur Lok Sabha seat of Uttar Pradesh. However, he rejected the offer of joining Morarji's cabinet if the Janata Party government was formed, saying that people above 60 years of age should stay out of the government and do social service work. Throughout his life, he continued to work for the expansion of various projects run under the Deendayal Research Institute. He ran social programs in more than 500 villages in both the states of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. The motto of his project was – “Will give work to every hand, will give water to every field.”

During his visit to India in 1989, Nanaji reached Chitrakoot, the holy place of Lord Ram, for the first time and finally settled there. Seeing the pitiful condition of Chitrakoot, he resolved to change the face of Chitrakoot by sitting near the holy river Mandakini. Under this he established Chitrakoot Gramodaya Vishwavidyalaya, which was the first rural university in India. Nanaji Deshmukh died in Chitrakoot on 27 February 2010 and as per his wish, his mortal remains were handed over to AIIMS for research work.

Other important events:

1737- The most dangerous cyclone storm hit Calcutta (now Kolkata).

1869- American inventor Thomas Edison applied for a patent on his first invention.

1881- American inventor David Henderson Houston patented the first roll film of cameras.

1932 – The first broadcast for a political campaign was made in New York.

1939- US President Roosevelt wrote a letter to Albert Einstein urging him to rapidly develop America's nuclear program.

1968- The launch of America's first manned Apollo mission 'Apollo 7' was televised for the first time from orbit.

1984- American space scientist Katherine D. Sullivan became the first female astronaut to walk in space. She was aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger.

1994- Colorado Supreme Court in the US declared anti-gay rights in the state unconstitutional.

2000- Hansie Cronje banned for life by the South African Cricket Board.

2001- Announcement of awarding the Nobel Literature Prize for the year 2001 to Trinidad-born British writer of Indian origin Vidyadhar Suraj Prasad Naipal.

2002- Nepal King Gyanendra appointed Lokendra Bahadur as Prime Minister.

2005- The third space tourist Gregory Olson returned to Earth.

2007- British novelist Doris Lessing was selected for the Nobel Prize for Literature for the year 2007.

2008- Prime Minister Manmohan Singh flagged off the first train running in Kashmir Valley from Naugaon station.

Birth

1889- Magan Bhai Desai- was a famous Gandhian thinker and educationist.

1902- Jayaprakash Narayan- Famous politician and freedom fighter by the name of Loknayak.

1904- Kazi Lendup Dorji- was the former first Chief Minister of Sikkim.

1916- Nanaji Deshmukh – Strong pillar of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and renowned social worker.

1923- Harish Chandra Mehrotra- India's great physicist and mathematician.

1924- Mata Prasad – Indian politician and former Governor of Arunachal Pradesh.

1929- B. B. Gurung- was the former third Chief Minister of Sikkim.

1936- Tarun Gogoi- Was the former Chief Minister of Assam.

1938- Kamal Kishore Goenka- is a famous Hindi writer.

1942- Amitabh Bachchan- Megastar of Hindi films.

1946- Vijay P. Bhatkar- Indian scientist.

1946- Nirbhay Sharma- Has been Lieutenant General of the Indian Army.

1947- Satish Sharma- was a Congress leader and former Union Minister.

1954- Mithilesh Chaturvedi- was an Indian film and TV actor.

demise

1911- Sister Nivedita- Vivekananda's colleague, teacher and social worker.

1973- Barkatullah Khan- was the former sixth Chief Minister of Rajasthan.

2002- Dina Pathak- Famous actress working in Hindi films.

2004- Gulshan Rai- was a Hindi film producer and distributor.

Important occasions and celebrations

World Post Day (week)

National Legal Aid Day (Week)