Year 1562
Marriage of Akbar and Amber Princess Hira Kunwari
JANUARY 20
Daily Historical Chronicle
UPSC CSE • State PSC • SSC CGL Matrix
20 January: What Happened On This Day in History
Curated historical timeline of momentous political pacts, freedom struggle uprisings, constitutional developments, scientific breakthroughs, and prominent birthdays recorded on 20 January.
Year 1684
Treaty between Marathas and Portuguese.
Year 1788
Criminals deported from England landed on the shores of New South Wales, Australia. The convicts who prepared to settle here were pardoned.
Year 1817
Ram Mohun Roy started Hindu College in Calcutta with the help of Justice H. East David Hare. This college was later renamed as the Presidency College.
Year 1841
Occupation of Hong Kong by the United Kingdom.
Year 1892
Basketball was played for the first time.
Year 1897
Gandhiji declines to prosecute assailants.
Year 1931
Saroj Kumari', a feature film produced by Mahavir Photoplays and Theatres Ltd., Secunderabad, was prohibited on January 20 on the grounds that it was ''sordid'' and ''revolting''.
Year 1937
Franklin Delano Roosevelt was sworn in as the 32nd President of the United States.
Year 1944
During World War II, Britain’s Royal Air Force dropped 2,300 tons of bombs on the city of Berlin.
Year 1948
Fourth assassination attempt on Mahatma Gandhi. 1. Bomb exploded near Birla House during a prayer meeting of Gandhi.
Year 1949
Junagarh formally merged with Saurashtra.
Year 1957
Asia’s first nuclear reactor was dedicated to the country by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and the Atomic Energy Establishment (now Bhabha Atomic Research Center) was established.
Year 1957
South Africa banned Indian Cargo ships to dock at their Ports.
Year 1957
First Indian Atomic Reactor "Apsara" at Trombay, Mumbai, was dedicated to the nation.
Year 1963
China and Nepal signed a border agreement.
Year 1972
Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya became Union Territories of India.
Year 1972
Pakistan launched its nuclear weapons program, a few weeks after its defeat in the Bangladesh Liberation War, as well as the Indo-Pakistan War of 1971.
Year 1972
Manipur, Meghalaya and Tripura become states of Indian union. Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram become Union Territories. Assam's North East Frontier Agency (Nepha) was renamed as Arunachal Pradesh territory.
Year 1995
Supreme Court orders closure of 84 industries in and around Taj Mahal in UP due to pollution.
Year 1996
The Indian Army conducted United Nation Peacekeeping Keeping Operations in New Delhi from 20 to 26 Jan 1996, wherein delegates from UN HQ and 17 foreign countries of the Asia-Pacific region participated. The Under Secretary General, Mr Kofi Annan, was the chief guest.
Year 1998
Polar Music Award announced to Ravi Shankar.
Year 1999
Renowned playwright Girish Karnad is selected for the 1998 Jnanpith Award.
Year 2009
Barack Obama, the first African-American president of the United States, was sworn in.
Year 2012
Gujarat govt appealed in SC against HC order on Lokayukta appointment
Born 1775
André-Marie Ampère, a French physicist and mathematician.
Born 1827
Chakhi Khuntia, a Jagannath Temple priest and a poet.
Born 1871
Ratanji Jamshedji Tata, an Indian financier, and philanthropist.
Born 1879
Raghunath Chaudhary, a famous Assamia nature poet, was born.
Born 1898
Krishnarao Ganeshpant Fulanbrikar (Master Krishnarao), a famous singer, actor and music director, was born.
Born 1927
Qurratulain Hyder, Indian-Pakistani journalist and academic (d. 2007)
Born 1930
Buzz Aldrin, an American former astronaut, engineer, and fighter pilot.
Born 1939
Nalin Chandra Wickramasinghe, great Indian astronomer, was born.
Born 1940
Krishnam Raju, Indian actor and politician
Born 1945
Ajit Kumar Doval, the 5th and current National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister of India.
Born 1952
Vasant Patankar, famous Marathi writer, was born.
Born 1960
Aapa Sherpa, a Nepalese Sherpa mountaineer.
Born 1964
Fareed Rafiq Zakaria, an Indian-American journalist, political scientist, and author.
Born 1982
Ruchi Sanghvi, an Indian computer engineer. She was the first female engineer hired by Facebook.
Born 1982
Ruchi Sanghvi, Indian computer engineer
Died 1900
John Ruskin, the leading English art critic of the Victorian era, as well as an art patron, draughtsman, watercolourist, philosopher, prominent social thinker, and philanthropist.
Died 1930
George V, the King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India.
Died 1949
Tej Bahadur Sapru, a prominent Indian freedom fighter, lawyer, and politician.
Died 1951
Thakkar Bapa, an Indian social worker who worked for the upliftment of tribal people in the Gujarat state in India.
Died 1959
Tej Bahadur Sapru passed away.
Died 1980
Kasturbhai Lalbhai, an Indian industrialist and philanthropist.
Died 1988
Abdul Ghaffār Khān, a Pashtun independence activist who worked to end the rule of the British Raj in colonial India.
Died 1993
Captain Karamjeet Singh, first Pramveer Chakra Awardee, passed away.
Died 1993
Bindeshwari Dube, former Chief Minister Bihar, passed away.
Died 2002
R. N. Kao, an Indian spymaster and the first chief of India’s external intelligence agency, the RAW.
Died 2005
Parveen Babi, an Indian film actress, model, and interior designer.