Category: Amazing Feats

For the First Time – Birth Anniversary of Dr.B.R. Ambedkar commemorated at the United Nations(UN) , New York : April 2016

Dr.Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (popularly Dr.B.R.Ambedkar aka..Babasaheb Ambedkar) was an Indian jurist, social reformer, politician and economist. He was the First Minister of Law and Justice in Independent India amongst many other positions and accompolishments.

Dr.Ambedkar’s 125th birth anniversary was commemorated and celebrated at the UN in New York on April 13th, 2016, a day before his actual birthdate.

At the keynote speech delivered by Helen Clark, Chair of UN Development Group and Adminstrator of UN Development Program, she said ” Ambedkar’s work on the empowerment and inclusion of excluded groups, reform of labour laws and promotion of education for all, made him an icon for marginalised people in India and in other countries as well”.

A documentary film titled ‘Dr.Babasahed Ambedkar… A Man of the Century’ was screened for 10 minutes at the UN Conference. The full length documentary of 28 minutes was made by Marathi Film maker Sandeep Manohar Navre.

The event was organised by the ‘Permanent Mission of India to the UN’  in association with ‘Kalpana Saroj Foundation’ and ‘Foundation for Human Horizon’.  The UN Event was titled ‘Landmark 2030 : Agenda for Sustainable Development’.

Dr.Babasaheb Ambedkar was born on April 14th,1891 in Mhow, Central Province(now Madhya Pradesh) and died on December 06th, 1956 in New Delhi. He was the youngest of 14 children.

Dr. Ambedkar was educated in University of Bombay(now Mumbai), Columbia University (USA), University of London (UK) and London School of Economics.

Babasaheb was the Chairman of the ‘Constitution Drafting Committee’, the first Minister of Law and Justice. He inspired the Dalit Movement and campaigned against Social Discrimination. He was posthumously awarded the highest civilian award ‘Bharat Ratna’ in 1990.

 

First Captain in the World to create a ‘World T20 Captaincy’ Record. March 2016

Mahendra Singh Dhoni (M S Dhoni), India’s National Cricket Team Captain created a World Record . He became the only Captain from any Nation to have led a team in all 6-editions of the ‘World T20’ championships. March 15th, 2016.

M S Dhoni was first appointed Skipper for the Indian Cricket Team in 2007. Subsequently 2009, 2010, 2012, 2014 and presently 2016 edition.

The 34-year Dhoni, is the only Captain in history to have won all 3 ICC Trophies (World T20 in 2007, Word Cup in 2011 and Champions Trophy in 2013.

First Indian to Receive the Nobel Prize for Literature. 1913 .

Rabindranath Tagore was the first Indian to receive the Nobel prize for Literature . He was also the first Asian and simultaneously the first non-European to be awarded the Nobel for Literature. December 19th, 1913.

He was awarded the prize for Gitanjali, a collection of songs and poems. Tagore himself had translated the poems into English in 1912 with an introduction by W.B.Yeats who won the Nobel for literature a decade after his Indian friend in 1923.

This year (2016) marks the 103rd anniversary of Tagore winning the Nobel prize in 1913.

 

More Info….Coming Up.

First differently-abled Indian Athlete to win Gold at IPC Athletics World Championship, France . July 2013 .

Devendra Jhajhaira scripted history and became the first differently-abled Indian to win Gold as he bagged the first position in the Javelin event at the 6th IPC Athletics World Championship held at the Rhone Stadium in Venissieux near Lyons, France on Monday – July 22nd, 2013.

Jhajhaira also created the record of the event in France by hurling the Javelin to 57.04m in the F-46 category meant for one-armed athletes. He led the 11-athlete field from the very beginning.

India was represented by a 10-member contingent in this July 19-28 Championship. The Paralympics Committee of India (PCI) President, Sultan Ahmed congratulated Devendra Jhajhaira and the PCI announced an award of 5 lakhs.

The 2013 6th edition IPC Athletics World Championship featured over a 1000 athletes from 100 countries and is the biggest gathering of internationally disabled athletes since the 2012 London Olympics.

Devendra Jhajhaira, 32 year old, who lost his left hand in an accident is the son of a farmer Ram Singh hailing from the desert terrain Churu district of Rajasthan, the gateway to the Thar desert. He is a class IV employee of the Indian Railways and is thankful to the Railyways who allowed him to practice and train throughout the year.

It was in 1997, that Jhajhaira was spotted by his coach Ripudaman Singh Aulak, a Dronacharya Awardee in Javelin. He shifted to the nearby town of Kasab for better training facilities. Soon he was training at the National Institute of Sports (NIS), Patiala (Punjab).

Devendra Jhajhaira is the (1) 2nd gold medallist at the Paralympics after Murlikant Petkar (2) At Athens (Greece) he created a new world recored of 62.15m throw (3) He won a Gold medal at the 8th FESPIC Games in Korea.

Following his spectacular performance in the 2004 Paralympics Games, Jhajhaira was conferred the ‘ Arjuna Award ‘ in 2005. He is also the first Paralympian* to be awarded the ‘Padma Shree’ in March 2012. (* Paralympian…. Paralympic sports person).

India’s first ‘ Miss World ‘ . 1966 . First Asian to win the ‘ Miss World ‘ title. 1966

Reita Faria was the first Indian to be crowned ‘Miss World’ in 1966. She was also the first Asian to win the ‘Miss World’ title in 1966.

The red sari with golden zari work bagged the ‘Best Evening Gown’ prize.

The brown eyed beauty Reita Faria made the whole world sit up and look at India. By winning the crown, she showed the way for later competitors giving them confidence that they too could take the world by storm. She could be the first international beauty queen to qualify as a doctor during her reign.

Reita Faria was a student at the Grant Medical College and Sir J.J.Group of Hospitals.  Born 1945 she hailed from Mumbai with ancestral ties to Tivim, Goa. After winning the crown, she turned down offers of modelling and films, fame and fortune, instead chose to focus on her medical studies.

She won the Miss Mumbai crown and subsequently won the Eve’s Weekly ‘Miss India’ contest. Dr.Reita Faria was a judge at ‘Femina Miss India’ 1996. She adjudicated the ‘Miss World’ competions 3 times and attended the 25th and 50th anniversary of the contest.

Dr.Reita Faria married endocrinologist Dr.David Powell and lives in Dublin, Ireland. She has 2 Daughters,both in the medical profession and 5 grandchildren.

First Indian American and First Asian American elected to U.S. Congress. 1957 .

Dalip Singh Saund PhD., an American – created history by becoming the first Asian American, the first Indian American, the first Punjabi, the first Sikh to become a U.S. Congressman in 1957.

Saund ran for election as a ‘ Justice of the Peace ‘ in 1950 for Westmoreland township in California and won. As a Democrat, he served as a member of the United States House of Representatives, serving the 29th District of California from January 03, 1957 to January 03, 1963. Dalip Singh Saund served almost three terms in Congress.

Obtained his Bachelors degree in Mathematics, Prince of Wales College (Jammu), University of Punjab in 1919. Subsequently went to the US for higher education. Obtained his Masters degree (1922) and PhD (1924) both in Mathematics at University of California, Berkeley. He became an American citizen in 1949.

Saund married Marian Kosta. Dalip Singh Saund (born Chhajulwadi, Punjab, India  September 20th, 1899 – April 22nd, 1973) aged 73, Hollywood, California.

http://wwww.saund.org

Indian sisters are the ‘ first twins ‘ in the world to scale Mount Everest. May 2013 .

Twin sisters Nunshi Malik and Tashi Malik became the world’s first twins on May 19th, 2013 to scale Mount Everest, the earth’s highest mountain in the world .

The Uttarakhand sisters from Dehradun were with a 11 member joint Indian and Nepal army expedition. They reached the top with two sherpas, who incidentally were also twins.They were among a team of 135 other people who reached the top of Mount Everest at 8,848 meters above sea level.

Nunshi and Tashi Malik are children of Col.Virendra Singh Malik and Manju Malik of Johri village. The sisters havew previously also scaled Mount Kiliminjaro in Africa.

Background: Other women from the state in the past who have reach the top peak of the world are Bachendri Pal (who was the first women mountaineer from the country to climb the mountain), Sumanlata Kuthiyal, Savita Martolaya and Kavita Burathoki.