26 November in Indian and World History is celebrated, observed, and remembered for various reasons. 26 November is the birth anniversary of Nathuram Premi, Ram Sharan Sharma, Venkatrama Pandit Krishnamurthy, Yashpal, and Ravi Rai.
26 November is also observed as the death anniversary of Shankar Dayal Singh, and Hemant Karkare.
Birth Anniversary
26 November in Indian history is celebrated as the birth anniversary of the following personalities:
Nathuram Premi (26 November 1881 – 30 January 1960), a famous writer, poet, linguist, and editor. He used to write his compositions under the name ‘Premi’. Nathuram Ji acquired a good knowledge of Sanskrit, Bangla, Marathi, and Gujarati languages. Along with the publication of original texts, he accomplished the commendable task of filling the stock of Hindi by publishing translations of works of eminent writers of Indian languages, especially Bengali. He was born on 26 November 1881 in Madhya Pradesh.
Ram Sharan Sharma (26 November 1919 – 20 August 2011), an Indian historian and educationist. He was one of the Indian historians of international repute, who made society aware of reality. Ram Sharan Sharma was counted among those who started the process of writing social and economic historiography by freeing ‘Indian history’ from dynastic tales. He extensively expanded the Department of History of the University of Delhi during the 1970s. The credit for the creation of most of the posts in the department is also given to the efforts of Professor Sharma. He was born on 26 November 1919 in Begusarai, Bihar.
Venkatrama Pandit Krishnamurthy (26 November 1923 – 7 April 2014), a well-known name in the Indian cinema industry. He is a famous cinematographer of Hindi films. VK as a cameraman Murthy has earned a lot of names. The magic of his camera can capture the sadness of smiling lips, the dampness of dark circles under eyes, the humming warmth of rosy winters, and the fragrance of love emanating from the letters hidden in the books. V.K. is the name of the wonderful combination of art and technology and the incomparable experiments of light and shadow in Hindi cinema. He was associated with the team of actor-director Guru Dutt. In Guru Dutt’s black and white films like ‘Pyaasa’, ‘Kaagaz Ke Phool’, ‘Chundahvin Ka Chand’ and ‘Saheb Bibi Aur Ghulam’, he enthralled the audience by creating miracles with light and camera. He was also selected for the country’s highest honor ‘Dada Saheb Phalke Award’ (2008). He was born on 26 November 1923 in Mysore, Karnataka.
Yashpal (26 November 1926 – 24 July 2017), an Indian scientist and educationist. His contribution to the development of scientific talent in the country is considered to be special. Honoring his achievements, the Government of India honored him with Padma awards. Yashpal also used to host a scientific program named ‘Turning Point’ on Doordarshan. He has made a special contribution in the field of education in India. He was strongly against overburdened studies in education. That is why he had drawn the attention of the Government of India to this issue many times. Yashpal was born on 26 November 1926.
Ravi Rai, a politician and former Speaker of the Lok Sabha. The elections to the Ninth Lok Sabha heralded a new era in India’s parliamentary democracy. No single political party could get an absolute majority in the House and thus for the first time in the history of the Indian Parliament, a “Hung Parliament” was formed. Despite this unprecedented political uncertainty, members of the Lok Sabha, rising above party sentiments, unanimously elected Shri Ravi Rai as the Speaker of the Ninth Lok Sabha. Ravi Rai, endowed with inherent simplicity and transparent honesty, increased the prestige and dignity of the post of President with his fair and prudent attitude. He was born on 26 November 1926 in Puri, Orissa.
Read More: 25 November in Indian and World History
Death Anniversary
26 November in Indian history is observed as the death anniversary of the following personalities:
Shankar Dayal Singh (27 December 1937 – 26 November 1995), one of the youngest members of the Fifth Lok Sabha and was twice elected for the Parliament of India in which he represented the Chatra parliamentary constituency in Bihar (now in Jharkhand). He was again elected to the upper house, the Rajya Sabha, in 1990 from Bihar. Shankar died on 26 November 1995.
Hemant Karkare (12 December 1954 – 26 November 2008), a 1982 batch IPS officer. He was the head of the Anti-Terrorist Squad of Mumbai. Hemant Karkare was martyred while bravely facing the serial blasts and firing in Mumbai on 26 November 2008.
Read More: 24 November in Indian and World History
Notable events on 26 November in Indian and World history
26 November 1885 – The first meteorite picture was taken.
26 November 1921 – Verghese Kurien, considered the father of the country’s White Revolution, was born.
26 November 1931 – Adolfo Perez Esquivel, an Argentine activist, community organizer, painter, writer, sculptor, and Nobel Prize Laureate, was born.
26 November 1932 – The great cricketer Don Bradman scored ten thousand runs in first-class cricket.
26 November 1948 – The National Cadet Corps was established.
26 November 1948 – Elizabeth Blackburn, a biological researcher, and Nobel Prize Laureate, was born.
26 November 1949 – Our Constitution, the highest law of the country, was adopted.
26 November 1949 – The Constitution of independent India was signed by the President of the Constituent Assembly.
26 November 1953 – Britain’s upper house, the House of Lords, approved a resolution moved on this day to start a commercial television channel in the country.
26 November 1960 – STD service started in India for the first time between Kanpur and Lucknow.
26 November 1964 – Hedwig Kohn, pioneering physicist, died.
26 November 1967 – About 450 people died in a cloudburst in Lisbon.
26 November 1992 – On this day, the British Parliament in a historic decision decided that Queen Elizabeth of Britain would have to pay tax on her income.
26 November 1996 – To find out the possibilities of life on Mars, the US space agency NASA sent the spacecraft ‘Mars Global Surveyor’ into space.
26 November 2002 – Winston Churchill was voted the greatest British citizen in a BBC poll.
26 November 2008 – The suicide terrorist attack took place in the city of Mumbai, India. The terrorists entered the Taj Hotel and took many guests hostage. It was freed by the Indian Army after three days of action. Terrorist attacks in Mumbai in 2008 killed 164 people and injured over 250.
26 November is Observed as Constitution Day of India also known as Constitution Day or Samvidhan Divas, to commemorate the adoption of the Constitution of India. On 26 November 1949, the Constituent Assembly of India adopted the Constitution of India, and it came into effect on 26 January 1950.