This Day in History on 23 December
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 23 December. The students can refer to them while preparing for all competitive exams and banking exams.
Important Days
Kisaan Divas (Farmers Day)
Important Events
1912: Viceroy Lord Harding II entered the city on an elephant to declare New Delhi as the capital of the country, but during this time he was injured in a bomb blast.
1919: King’s proclamation was made that the new reforms of Government of India offer some sort of self government.
1920: King George V signs Home Rule Act.
1926: Swami Shradhanand, great revolutionary freedom fighter, social worker and politician, was assassinated by a revolver shot that was fired by a young Muslim Abdul Rashid.
1930: The British governor of Punjab was wounded in an assassination attempt.
1940: Walchand Hirachand started the Hindustan Aircraft Factory in Bangalore, marking the beginning of India’s aircraft manufacturing industry.
1947: Bell Research Labs in the United States announced the invention of the transistor device.
1954: Dr. J. Hartwell Harrison and Dr. Joseph E. Murray performed the first successful kidney transplant surgery by removing a living kidney.
1954: Bijan Kumar Mukherjea became the fourth Chief Justice of India.
1954: Tito, Nehru reject plan for neutral third bloc, yet insist on peaceful co-existence.
1964: India & Ceylon hit by cyclone, about 4,850 killed.
1968: Successful launch of India’s first meteorological rocket Maneka.
1969: Armstrong and Aldrin collected Moon rock, which was kept on exhibition in New Delhi.
1972: Chandrasekhar takes 8-79 India v England at Delhi.
1976: Indira Gandhi attacks the pro-Moscow Communist party for enticing her son Sanjay, but she denies grooming him as her successor.
1989: V. C. Pande was appointed as the Cabinet Secretary of India. He held this office till 11-12-1990.
1990: All India BMAC and VHP hand over the historical and archaeological documents to support their claim to Home Ministry officials.
1992: Varma Commission indicts IB, the Centre and Tamil Nadu police for failure to protect Rajiv Gandhi.
1993: PM announces Local Area Development Scheme by which each MP can sanction projects worth Rs.1 crore.
1995: 400 people, mostly children and their parents, die in a fire that broke out during the Annual Day celebrations of DAV Public School. The fire was suspected to be caused due to electric short-circuit in Mandi Dabwali, Haryana.
1995: The crew of the seized aircraft in Bombay confess dropping of arms at Purulia.
1998: Jayaprakash Narayan posthumously awarded Bharat Ratna, the country’s biggest honour.
2000: The Centre gives a green signal to West Bengal Government’s proposal to rename Calcutta as ”Kolkata”.
2001: The world’s largest Buddhist stupa was found at Kesaria village in Bihar’s Champaranya district. Its height is 104 feet.
2008: World Bank banned software company Satyam.
Birth/Birth Anniversary
1690: Pamheiba, Indian emperor (d. 1751)
1725: Ahmad Shah Bahadur, the 13th Mughal Emperor.
1845: Rasbhihari Ghosh, famous patriot and law expert, was born.
1853: Kamalakanta Bhattacharya, an Assamese prominent essayist, and poet.
1854: Henry B. Guppy, a British surgeon, geologist, botanist, and photographer.
1889: Justice Mehr Chand Mahajan, the third Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India.
1900: Kalicharan Patnaik, famous Orria dramatist, poet and journalist, was born.
1902: Chaudhary Charan Singh, the 5th Prime Minister of India.
1940: Mamnoon Hussain, as the 12th President of Pakistan.
1944: U C Joshi, cricketer (Sussex off-spinner 1970-74 from India), was born.
1977: Harvinder Singh, great Indian ODI pace-bowler (1997), was born.
1983: Micheal Chopra, Soccer(Football) player, was born in Newcastle, England.
Death/ Death Anniversary
1834: Thomas Robert Malthus, an English cleric, scholar, and influential economist.
1913: Gondhavalekar Maharaj, famous saint, died.
1926: Swami Shraddhanand, an Indian Independence activist and an Arya Samaj sannyasi.
1959: Edward Frederick Wood, the former viceroy of India.
2000: Noor Jehan, a Pakistani playback singer, and actress.
2004: P. V. Narasimha Rao, Indian lawyer and politician, 9th Prime Minister of India (b. 1921)
2010: K. Karunakaran, Indian lawyer and politician, 7th Chief Minister of Kerala (b. 1918)
2013: G. S. Shivarudrappa, Indian poet and educator (b. 1926)
2013: Mikhail Kalashnikov, a Russian Lieutenant-General, inventor, military engineer, writer, and small arms designer. He is most famous for developing the AK-47 assault rifle.
2014: K. Balachander, an Indian filmmaker, and playwright.