August 20

1597:     Dutch East India Company’s first ship returned from East Asia.

1828:     The first session of Raja Ram Mohan Roy’s Brahmo Samaj was held in Calcutta (now Kolkata).

1897:     Ronald Ross identified malaria-causing anopheles mosquito while working at the Presidency General Hospital in Calcutta (now Kolkata).

1921:     Start of Mopala Rebellion in Malabar, Kerala.

1944:     Former Prime Minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi was born.

1979:     Prime Minister Chaudhary Charan Singh resigned from his post.

1988:     A magnitude 6.5 earthquake in India and Nepal killed a thousand people.

2011:     India’s famous historian Ram Sharan Sharma died.

2018:     Vinesh Phogat of India won the gold medal in the 50 kg category of the Jakarta Asian Games women’s wrestling competition. She became the first woman wrestler in the country to achieve this feat.

August 21

1790:     The British army, led by General Meadows, captured Dindigul in Tamil Nadu.

1931:     Pandit Vishnu Digambar died.

1972:     The Wildlife Protection Act was passed in India.

1988:     One thousand people died due to the severe earthquake that hit the Indo-Nepal border.

2005:     The ceasefire agreement between Bangladesh and India’s Border Security Force concluded.

2006:     Renowned Shehnai player Ustad Bismillah Khan passed away with Bharat Ratna.

2008:     The Caravan-e-Aman bus service plying between Muzaffarabad, the capital of Srinagar and ‘Pakistan-occupied Kashmir‘, resumed.

2008:     In 2008, India joined hands with NASA on the Moon mission.

2009:     The Indian Navy’s fighter aircraft ‘Sea Harrier’ crashed in the Arabian Sea after flying from Goa in 2009.  Commander Saurabh Saxena died.

August 22

1639:     The British East India Company established Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu (erstwhile Madras).

1818:     Warren Hasting, the first Governor General of India, died.

1918:     India’s first proficient pilot Indralal Rai was killed in an air battle with Germany in London during the First World War.

1921:     Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi lit Holi of foreign clothes.

2012:     Pranab Mukherjee was elected the 13th President of India.

1996:     The state government changed the name of Madras to Chennai.

August 23

1944:     The famous heroine of Indian films Saira Banu was born.

1947:     Vallabhbhai Patel was appointed as the Deputy Prime Minister of the country.

1986:     Bombay’s Shambhu Apashane won the longest typing marathon by winning a world record.

1995:     The country’s first cellular phone was commercially introduced in Calcutta.

2011:     Scientists at the Chinese Academy of Sciences discovered the origin of the Brahmaputra and Indus rivers and completed a comprehensive satellite study of the length of their route.

1960:     The world’s largest frog (3.3 kg) was caught.

2008:     The Government of Uttar Pradesh nominated 16 members in the State Women’s Commission in 2008

August 24

1908:     The revolutionary Rajguru was born.

1600:     The first ship of the East India Company, Hector, reached the coast of Surat.

1690:     Calcutta city was established.

1969:     VV Giri became the fourth President of India.

1974:     Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed became the fifth President of India.

1999:     Pakistan refused to consider the 8 prisoners of war captured by India during the Kargil operation as a prisoner of war.

1910:     ITC Limited bought the third largest tobacco company in Kolkata, India.

1925:     Social reformer Ramakrishna Gopal Bhandarkar died.

1971:     India beat England by four wickets in the Oval Cricket Test match to register their first win on the ground.

August 25

1351:     Sultan Ferozeshah Tughlaq III was crowned.

1917:     In 1917, 7 Indians serving in the British India Army received the Kigs Commission for the first time.

1957:     India won the title of world winner by winning the final of the Polo World Championship in France.

2003:     The 2003 car bombings near Mumbai’s Gateway of India and Mumbi Devi Temple killed more than 50 people and injured more than 150.

2008:     The Government of Madhya Pradesh in 2008 requested to insure all students of government schools for the year 2008-09.

August 26

1303:     Alauddin Khilji captured Chittorgarh after defeating Rana Bhim Singh.

1910:     Nobel Peace Prize-awarded Mother Teresa was born in Skopji, Yugoslavia.

1914:     Bengal revolutionaries attacked the British fleet in Calcutta and looted 50 mausers and 46 thousand rounds.

1975:     Dr. Narayan Subbarao Hardikar, a freedom fighter, journalist and Padma Bhushan, died.