20 April in Indian and World History

OV Digital Desk
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20 April in Indian and World History

20 April in Indian and World History is celebrated, observed, and remembered for various reasons. 20 April is the birth anniversary of Gopinath Mohanty, Chandrabali Singh, Nara Chandrababu Naidu, and Mamta Kulkarni.

20 April is also observed as the death anniversary of Pannalal Ghosh, Gaurishankar Hirachand Ojha, and Shakeel Badayuni.

Birth Anniversary

20 April in Indian history is celebrated as the birth anniversary of the following personalities:

Gopinath Mohanty (20 April 1914 – 20 August 1991), a famous Odia writer. The time between 1930 and 1938 is considered to be the building period of his writer’s life. He was awarded the ‘Jnanpith Award’ in 1973 for his contribution. Later in 1981, he was awarded ‘Padma Bhushan’ by the Government of India in the field of literature and education. Mohanty was born on 20 April 1914 in Nagbali, Orissa.

Chandrabali Singh (20 April 1924 – 23 May 2011), a writer as well as an excellent translator and critic. He published books titled ‘Lok Drishti’, ‘Hindi Sahitya’ and ‘Aalochna Ka Janapaksha’. He was also counted as a translator of excellent quality. He was born on 20 April 1924 in Ghazipur.

Nara Chandrababu Naidu, a famous politician, and former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president N. Chandrababu Naidu was sworn in as the first Chief Minister of the new Andhra Pradesh formed after the separation of Telangana at a ceremony held at Nagarjuna Nagar, about 18 km from Vijayawada, on 8 June 2014. He served as the Chief Minister of United Andhra Pradesh (from 1 September 1995 to 13 May 2004) for eight years, eight months and 13 days. That is the longest tenure of any Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. He was born on 20 April 1950.

Mamta Kulkarni, a former Indian actress, and model. She has appeared in commercial successful Hindi films such as Aashiq Awara (1993), Waqt Hamara Hai (1993), Krantiveer (1994), Karan Arjun (1995), Sabse Bada Khiladi (1995), Andolan (1995), Baazi (1996), China Gate (1998) and Chhupa Rustam: A Musical Thriller (2001). She was born on 20 April 1972 in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.

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Death Anniversary

20 April in Indian history is observed as the death anniversary of the following personalities:

Pannalal Ghosh (24 July 1911 – 20 April 1960), his real name was Amul Jyoti Ghosh and he was a flute player. Pandit Pannalal Ghosh, the “messiah of the flute“, the father of the new flute and the aged man of Indian classical music, converted the folk instrument flute into a color of classical and made it a classical instrument. He died on 20 April 1960.

Gaurishankar Hirachand Ojha (15 September 1863 – 20 April 1947), a famous historian of India. He specialized in history, archeology, and ancient scripts. He stood as a beacon of knowledge for half a century. He continued to find light in traversing the path of India’s past. He continued to find light in traversing the path of India’s past. Along with the history of Sirohi state, Solankis and Rajputana, you wrote many books on history and other subjects.

Shakeel Badayuni (3 August 1916 – 20 April 1970), a great poet and lyricist. Lucknow, the city of Tehzeeb, has given many celebrities to the film world, one of which is lyricist Shakeel Badayuni. Encouraged by the unceasing success of his poetry, he left his government job in the supply department and moved to Mumbai from Delhi in 1946. Shakeel Badayuni was awarded the Filmfare Award three times in a row for his songs. He was given his first Filmfare Award for the song ‘Chaudhavi Ka Chand Ho Ya Aftab Ho…‘ from the film “Chadahvi Ka Chand” released in 1960. He died on 20 April 1970.

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Notable events on 20 April in Indian and World history

20 April 1712 – Jahandar Shah ascended the throne of Delhi.

20 April 1777 – New York adopted a new constitution as an independent state.

20 April 1871 – Eduard Slavoljub Penkala — a Croatian engineer and inventor of Dutch-Polish descent — was born.

20 April 1888 – 246 people died in Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh due to hail.

20 April 1918 – Karl Ferdinand Braun, a German electrical engineer, inventor, physicist, and Nobel Prize Laureate, died.

20 April 1920 – Hurricanes killed 220 people in Alabama and Mississippi.

20 April 1929 – Mohammed Ghani Hikmat — an Iraqi sculptor and artist credited with creating some of Baghdad’s highest-profile sculptures was born.

20 April 1939 – the 50th birthday of dictator Adolf Hitler was celebrated as a national day in Germany.

20 April 1940 – The first electron microscope was shown by RCA.

20 April 1951 – Luther Vandross — an American singer, songwriter, and record producer — was born.

20 April 1953 – Sick prisoners of war were exchanged between Korea and the United Nations forces.

20 April 1960 – The first jet aircraft, the Boeing 707, joined Air India’s fleet.

20 April 1971 – India won its first test cricket match.

20 April 1972 – The Apollo 16 mission landed on the Moon after struggling for six hours. The team of John Young and Charles Duke became the fifth team in history to land on the Moon.

20 April 1973 – Canada’s “AMIK A-2” became the first commercial satellite.

20 April 1978 – The Soviet Air Force shot down South Korean passenger aircraft number 902.

20 April 1992 – The world’s largest fair opened at Expo ’92, Seville, Spain.

20 April 1997 – Shri Indra Kumar Gujral became the 12th Prime Minister of India.

20 April 1999 – Former Chancellor of Germany Helmut Kohl was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the US highest civilian honor.

20 April 1999 – two high school students at the Columbine School in the US city of Denver killed 25 people in an indiscriminate shooting.

20 April 2003 –  Bernard Katz, a German-born British biochemist, physiologist and Nobel Prize Laureate, died.

20 April 2008 – Maharashtra BJP leader and national general secretary Gopinath Munde had resigned from his post.

20 April 2010  Dorothy Irene Height, an American civil rights and women’s rights activist who dedicated her life to fighting for equality and justice, died.

20 April 2008 – the first South Korean astronaut, Yeisoeon, returned to Earth safely after spending nine days aboard the International Space Station.

20 April 2011 – The Indian Space Research Organization’s (ISRO) satellite launch vehicle ‘PSLV’ successfully put three satellites into space.

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