Quick glance of 12 April in the pages of History

April 12: Here are the major events that occurred on 12 April….

• 12 April, 1621: Guru Tej Bahadur Singh, Sikh Guru, was born.
• 12 April, 1801: Ranjit Singh proclaimed himself as Maharajah of Punjab.
• 12 April, 1913: Gandhiji in Indian Opinion draws attention to new Immigration Bill’s failure to fulfil terms of Provisional Settlement of 1911. Kasturba decides to join Passive Resistance struggle.

• 12 April, 1917: Mulvantrai Himmatlal Mankad or Vinoo Mankad was one of the great all-rounders of Indian cricket was born on this day. As a batsman,  in 44 Tests, he averaged 31.47 with the bat. He  scored 5 centuries and 6 fifties during the course of his Test career. As a slow left-arm orthodox bowler, Mankad twice took 8-wickets in an innings. He took 162 wickets.

• 12 April, 1927: Kuomintang leader Chiang Kai–shek begins counter revolution in Shanghai.
• 12 April, 1927: The Soviet Union successfully launched the first man into space today taking the prize for “The First Man In Space”. Yuri Gagarin , a 27-year-old air force major. He orbited the Earth in 1 hr 40 minutes. The next target is to put a man on the moon which the US achieves before the end of the decade.

• 12 April, 1955: Polio vaccine tested by Jonas Salk announced to be ‘safe and effective’ and is given full approval by the US Food and Drug Administration.
• 12 April, 1967: U. Thant,UN Secretary General, receives the first Nehru Award for international understanding.

• 12 April, 1973: Balraj Sahni, one of the finest actors to have graced the Hindi film screen, was born Yudhisthir Sahni on 1 May 1913 in Rawalpindi (now part of Pakistan) to a Punjabi family. He died on 13 April 1973.
• 12 April, 1983: Richard Attenborough’s film ‘Gandhi’ wins 8 Oscars.
• 12 April, 1987: V. P. Singh resigns as Defence Minister of India, K. C. Pant appointed in his place.