Historical Events -  November 21

1877 : Thomas Edison announced the invention of the phonograph.

1906 : China prohibited opium trade.

1921 : Prince of Wales (Emperor Edward VIII) arrived at Bombay (now Mumbai) and Congress declared a nationwide strike.

1947 : Independent India’s first postal stamp was issued on this day with the picture of the National Flag of India.

1955 : Fight for a united Maharashtra.

1962 : Yashwantrao Chavan was appointed Minister of Defence of India.

1963  India’s space program began with rockets being released from the Thumba region of Kerala.

1962 : Indo-China War: A unilateral ceasefire was declared on November 19 by China, which invaded the Indian Territory.

1971 : Indian Air Force’s first encounter with Pakistani forces in the Battle of Garibpur in the Bangladesh Liberation War. 

1972 : South Korea adopted a new constitution.

1996 : The first World Television Forum took place and the United Nations General Assembly chose this day to mark World Television Day.

1999 : China launched its first unmanned spacecraft, Shenzhen.

2001 : United Nations proposed the formation of an interim administration in Afghanistan.

2002 : NATO invited Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia to become members of the organization.

2005 : Sri Lanka’s newly elected President Mahinda Rajapaksa appointed former Prime Minister Ratnasiri Vikramanayake as the new Prime Minister of the country.

2006 : India and China decided to increase shared cooperation in the field of civil nuclear energy.

Famous Birthdays   – November 21  

1694: Voltaire, a French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher.

1872: Kesari Singh Barahath, an Indian freedom fighter, and Rajasthani language poet. 

1910: Xian Chong Shu, Chinese writer.

1938: Helen, an Indian film actress, and dancer.

1941: Anandiben Mafatbhai Patel, an Indian politician.

1926: Premnath Malhotra, better known as Prem Nath, an Indian actor, and director.

1899: Harekrushna Mahatab, former chief minister of Orissa. 

1933: Datta Samant, an Indian politician, and trade union leader.

1952: Rajendra Darda, Indian politician.

Death Anniversaries   – November 21

1517: Sikandar Lodi, the Sultan of Delhi.

1908: Satyendranath Bose, an Indian revolutionary.

1916: Franz Joseph, Emperor of Austria.

1969: Norman Alfred William Lindsay, an Australian artist.

1970: Sir Chandrasekhar Venkataraman (C. V. Raman), Nobel Laureate Indian physicist.

1996: Mohammed Abdus Salam, the only Pakistani physicist to win the Nobel Prize. 

2000: Sir Cyril Astley Clarke, a British physician, geneticist, and lepidopterist. 

2012: Ajmal Kasab, a Pakistani militant, and a member of the Lashkar-e-Taiba Islamist militant organization.

2015: Ameen Faheem, Indian-Pakistani poet, and politician.