21 December in Indian and World History is celebrated, observed, and remembered for various reasons. 21 December is the birth anniversary of Man Singh, Sunderlal Sharma, Thakur Pyarelal Singh, Krishnamachari Srikkanth, and Sanjiv Chaturvedi.
21 December is also observed as the death anniversary of Baba Sohan Singh Bhakna and Teji Bachchan.
Birth Anniversary
21 December in Indian history is celebrated as the birth anniversary of the following personalities:
Man Singh (21 December 1550 – 6 July 1614), the son of Raja Bhagwan Das. He was the leader of the chieftains. Due to his actions and behavior, he was sometimes called Farjad and sometimes by the name of Mirza Raja. He was born on 21 December 1550 in Amer, Rajasthan.
Sunderlal Sharma (21 December 1881 – 28 December 1940), a versatile genius, a pioneer of social revolution, and a public awakening in the state of Chhattisgarh. He was a poet, social worker, social worker, historian, and freedom fighter. He has been given the title of ‘Gandhi of Chhattisgarh’. ‘Pandit Sunderlal Sharma Open University has been established in Chhattisgarh in his name. He was born on 21 December 1881 in Rajim, Chhattisgarh.
Thakur Pyarelal Singh (21 December 1891 – 22 October 1954), the initiator of the ‘Shramik Movement’ in Chhattisgarh and the leader of the ‘Co-operative Movement’. In 1920, the mill workers in Rajnandgaon went on strike, which lasted for more than 37 days, and the mill authorities had to accept all the demands of the workers. That strike was led by Thakur Pyarelal. He came in contact with Mahatma Gandhi for the first time in 1920. He took an active part in the non-cooperation movement and the Satyagraha movement and was arrested and went to jail. In the year 1945, ‘Chhattisgarh Weavers Cooperative Federation’ was established under his leadership to organize the weavers of Chhattisgarh. He was always active in the direction of freeing the migrant Chhattisgarhis from exploitation and atrocities. Thakur Pyarelal was born on 21 December 1891 in Rajnandgaon, Chhattisgarh.
Krishnamachari Srikkanth, a former captain of the Indian cricket team and former chairman of the selection committee. He was born on 21 December 1959.
Sanjiv Chaturvedi, a 2002 batch Forest Service officer who has been awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 2015. He is the second serving bureaucrat to be honored with this award. Earlier this award was given to Kiran Bedi. Sanjeev Chaturvedi has been given this award for exposing the cases of corruption in the public sector. Apart from Sanjeev Chaturvedi, Indian Anshu Gupta, the founder of NGO ‘Goonj’, has also been honored with the Magsaysay Award. He was born on 21 December 1974.
Read More: 20 December in Indian and World History
Death Anniversary
21 December in Indian history is observed as the death anniversary of the following personalities:
Baba Sohan Singh Bhakna (22 January 1870 – 21 December 1968), one of the revolutionaries fighting for the independence of India. He was the famous leader of ‘Ghadar Party’ formed in America. Lala Hardayal had formed an organization named ‘Pacific Coast Hindi Association’ in America, whose president was Sohan Singh Bhakna. A newspaper named ‘Gadar’ was also brought out by this organization and after this the name of the organization was also named ‘Ghadar Party’. Due to his revolutionary activities, Sohan Singh was arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment. The British government wanted to keep him in jail for a full 16 years, but seeing his health deteriorating, the government had to release him. He died on 21 December 1968.
Teji Bachchan (12 August 1914 – 21 December 2007), the wife of the famous litterateur Harivansh Rai Bachchan and mother of Indian cinema megastar Amitabh Bachchan. She was born in a Sikh family. Teji Bachchan was an ardent devotee of Hanumanji. She also had a passion for acting and singing. During her college days, she acted and sang in many plays. The qualities of acting in Amitabh Bachchan came from his mother Teji Bachchan. In their time, the pair of poets Harivansh Rai Bachchan and Teji Bachchan were considered to be the famous and popular pair of India. Since 2004, Teji Bachchan spent most of her time in the hospital due to illness and died in December 2007 in Mumbai.
Read More: 19 December in Indian and World History
Notable events on 21 December in Indian and World history
21 December 1890 – Hermann Joseph Muller, an American geneticist, evolutionary biologist, and Nobel Prize Laureate, was born.
21 December 1898 – Chemists Pierre and Marie Curie discovered radium.
21 December 1917 – Heinrich Boll, a German writer, and Nobel Prize Laureate, was born.
21 December 1921 – the US Supreme Court declared the strike and stoppage of work unconstitutional.
21 December 1923 – Nepal became a fully independent country freed from the status of a protectorate of Britain.
21 December 1923 – Connie Mark, a Jamaican-born community organizer, and activist was born.
21 December 1931 – The world’s first crossword created by Arthur Wayne was published in the New York World newspaper.
21 December 1934 – Hanif Mohammad, a Pakistani cricketer, was born. He played for the Pakistani cricket team in 55 Test matches between the 1952–53 season and the 1969–70 season.
21 December 1937 – The first cartoon film with color illustrations and sound—Disney’s Snow White was shown.
21 December 1947 – Paco de Lucía, also known as Francisco Sánchez Gómez, a Spanish virtuoso flamenco guitarist, composer, and record producer was born.
21 December 1949 – The Portuguese rulers declared Indonesia a sovereign nation.
21 December 1952 – Saifuddin Kitchlew became the first Indian to receive the Lenin Peace Prize of the then Soviet Union.
21 December 1962 – US President John F. Kennedy and British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan decided to create a multi-faceted NATO nuclear force after talks in the Bahamas.
21 December 1971 – Kurt Waldheim became the fourth Secretary-General of the United Nations Security Council.
21 December 1974 – INS Satavahan, the country’s first submarine training vessel, was commissioned at Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.
21 December 1975 – The Constitution came into force in Madagascar.
21 December 1986 – Salah Jahin an Egyptian poet, lyricist, cartoonist, and playwright, celebrated for his multifaceted contributions to literature, arts, and culture, died.
21 December 1991 – The Commonwealth was formed by 11 Soviet republics in Alma Ata, the capital of Kazakhstan.
21 December 1998 – Resignation of Nepali Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala.
21 December 2002 – Britain closed the Bogota embassy following threats.
21 December 2008 – Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Bollywood star Shahrukh Khan were included in the list of 50 powerful people of the world by the US magazine News Beak.
21 December 2009 – Edwin G. Krebs, an American biochemist, and Nobel Prize Laureate, died.
21 December 2012 – “Gangnam Style” became the first video to get one billion views on YouTube.