This Day in History on 16th May

The historical events hold a lot of value for aspirants who are sitting for UPSC competitive exams including the IAS Exam. 

On this page, we will list all historical events that occurred on the 16th of May. The students can refer to them while preparing for all competitive exams and banking exams.

Important Days

  • Teachers’ Day (Malaysia)

Important Events

1899: Execution of Indian revolutionary Balkrishna Chafekar.

1911: Pumping Station of Calcutta was commissioned at Tallah.

V. Shantaram
V. Shantaram

1929: The Hollywood Academy of Motion Picture, Arts and Sciences held its first film commemoration ceremony. These awards were later named Oscars.

1932: Hundreds die in fighting between Muslims and Hindus at Bombay.

1946: Gandhiji’s Cabinet Mission announces Plan.

1960: International Telex Service between India and U.K. started.

1969: Soviet Russia’s Venera-5 unmanned spacecraft landed on Venus.

1975: Sikkim merged with India.

1975: Junko Tabei of Japan became the first woman to climb Mount Everest.

1986: V. Shantaram, 75, was chosen for the Dada Saheb Phalke award.

1991: Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom addressed a joint session of theUnited States Congress. She is the first British monarch to address the U.S. Congress.

1993: The first female Indian expedition led by Bachendri Pal honored 18 climbers, including seven girls, to climb Everest, setting a new world record.

1995: The government of India decides not to extend the validity of the TADA Act.

1996: Atal Bihari Vajpayee took over as the 10th Prime Minister of India. However, due to a lack of support, his government lasted only 13 days.

2000: To make badminton more popular and to facilitate television broadcasting of the game, it decided to increase the game by 7 points instead of 15 at the meeting of the International Badminton Federation in Kuala Lumpur. However, this rule was changed again in 2006.

2005: Women gained the right to vote for the first time in Kuwait.

Birthday / Anniversary

The External Affairs Minister, Shri K. Natwar Singh with the President of Pakistan, General Parvez Musharraf in New Delhi on April 16, 2005.

1825: Kerunana Laxman Chhatre, an Indian mathematician.

1831: David Edward Hughes, a British-American inventor, practical experimenter, and professor.

1926: Manik Varma, an Indian classical singer.

1931: Natwar Singh, an Indian politician.

1933: Shani, writer of novel ‘Kalajal’ and film ‘Shaukin’, was born.

1988: Vicky Kaushal, an Indian actor.

Death / Death Anniversary

1830: Joseph Fourier, a French mathematician, and physicist.

1945: Prahraj Gopalchandra, the modern author of Oria language, passed away.

1990: James Henson, an American puppeteer, animator, cartoonist, actor, inventor, filmmaker, and screenwriter.

1994: Phani Mujumdar, veteran film producer and director, passed away.

2004: Kamala Markandaya, an Indian novelist and journalist.

2014: Russi Mody, Indian businessman (b. 1918)

Further Reading

Month-wise This Day in History

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *