Today’s Motto: The mind once enlightened cannot return to darkness’
As Every Day is a new beginning in life, it brings new opportunities, opens new avenues to perform and make a mark, to write a Page in History Book!
This is Your Day: TODAY: Take a Determined Step Forward and Make History!
On this day, 20 Feb….
1673 – 1st recorded wine auction held in London.
1846 – British occupy Sikh citadel of Lahore, defeating Sikh Khalsa Army led by commander Sham Singh Attariwala. Sikhs were asked to pay an indemnity amount of 1.2 million pounds, which they could not. Gulab Singh paid the amount and got Kashmir regionas part of deal. 
1872 – Luther Childs Crowell, received a patent for a machine for manufacturing square-bottom paper bags.
1937 – The first successful automobile-airplane combination was complete. The first flight took place the next day. It claimed a top air-speed of 120 mph and 70 mph on a highway. The Studebaker Corporation eventually took delivery of five Arrowbiles.
1944 – Batman & Robin comic strip premieres in newspapers.
1947 – British Prime Minister Clement Attlee announced in the House of Commons, London, that Britain will release India before June 1948 and for this purpose Lord Louis Mountbatten was appointed to work as the new Viceroy of India.
1976 – Production of Crude Oil started from offshore Bombay High near Mumbai.
1987 – Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh became the 23rd and 24th states of Indian Union.
1993 – Government decides to form an Autonomous Council for the tribals within Assam to solve Bodo issue.
1994 – Government makes the first appointment under 27% reservation for OBCs in Central 
Services and Public Sector Undertaking.
1999 – India and Pakistan signed a formal agreement for launching the Delhi-Lahore bus service. Former PM Atal Berhari Vajpayee travels to Lahore on the inaugural run of the bus between N
ew Delhi and Lahore.
2012 – Scientists successfully regenerate the flowering plant, Silene Stenophylla from a 31,800 year old piece of fruit, greatly surpassing the previous record of 2,000 years.
Born…. 1942 – Mitch McConnoll. American Republican Senator. Faught for minority rights and wrote books like 
Man in the Arena, Rand Slide, Election Rand Paul, West Wing Week etc.
1945 – Annu Kapoor, Bollywood actor, singer, radio dic jockey, TV presenter
and producer. He has acted in Mr. India, Om Jai Jagdish, Vicky Donor, Jolly LLB, The Perfect Murder, Ram Lakhan, 7 Khoon Maaf etc. He won V Santaram Award for direction, Zere Cine and 2 National Awards.
1988 – Rihanna. Popular Barbedian singer of pop/rock. She has won several music awards.
RIP.… 1707 – Aurangzeb, (Muhi-ud-din Muhammed) 6th Mughal emperor, also called Alamgir, ruled India from 1658 to 1707. He was a very oppressive tyrant, who levied Jazia tax on Hindus, non-muslims and demolished many of their
major temples like Ayodhya, Mathura, Benaras, Dwarka and many more. He even imprisoned his father Shah Jahan in his old age due to battle of succession. He got his elder brothers Dara Shikoh and Danyal killed. He even rationed food, water supplies for Shah Jahan in jail..
1950 – Sarat Chandra Bose. A freedom fighter, journalist, popular leader. He was the elder brother of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. He went to Germany to meet Netaji’s wife
Anita Bose and bring her to India but she declined. He faught against the Partition of Bengal and Punjab. He founded Socialist Republican Party in 1948 and wanted to form a United Nations of South Asia (UNSA) by uniting India, Pakistan, Nepal, Burma and Ceylon to have common financial foreign policies. .
You may have known…. Heavy chemical industry was started in 1941 and th
e production of sulphuric acid, synthetic ammonia, caustic soda, chlorine and bleaching powder commenced. The Hindustan Aircraft Company also assembled its first aircraft in 1941.
{Compiled by Lt. Gen. (R) Raj Kadyan}