Examples of the Mughal style at its Shah Jahani peak.

At Barrackpore, near Calcutta on March 29, 1857, Pandey attacked and injured his British sergeant on the parade ground and wounded an adjutant with a sword after shooting at him, but instead hitting the adjutant’s horse. The motivation behind Pandey’s revolt was the use of a new kind of bullet cartridge, rumored to be greased with cow and pig fat. The cartridges had to be bitten to remove the cover, and that was detestable to the soldiers. The general feeling was that this was intentional on the part of the British, to defile their religions. General Joyce Hearsay ordered the Jemadar of the troops, Ishwaria Pandey, to arrest Mangal Pandey. However, the entire troop refused to arrest Pandey except Shaikh Paltu who was immediately promoted to the post of a Havaldar (native sergeant). Pandey tried to kill himself, before he was arrested; however he failed and ultimately was hanged on this day.

Apart from being a Buddhist revivalist, Indian jurist, scholar and Bahujan political leader, Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar is also the chief architect of the Indian Constitution. Born into a poor community, Ambedkar spent his life fighting against the system of Hindu untouchability and the Indian caste system. Overcoming numerous social and financial obstacles, Ambedkar became one of the first ‘untouchables’ to obtain a college education in India. He went on to pursue higher studies in the United States and England, where he earned law degrees and multiple doctorates for his study and research in law, economics and political science. Returning home a famous scholar, Ambedkar practised law for a few years before he began publishing journals advocating political rights and social freedom for India’s untouchables. Upon India’s independence on August 15, 1947, Ambedkar served as the country’s first law minister. Later that year, Ambedkar was appointed chairman of the Constitution Drafting Committee, charged by the Constituent to write free India’s new Constitution.

It was on this day that the Jallianwala Bagh (garden) in Amritsar turned into a cemetery. Under the command of Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer, the British Indian Army opened fired at a gathering of unarmed men, women and children. The firing that lasted for 10 minutes and discharged 1600 rounds claimed 379 lives and wounded over 2000. The gathering violated the prohibitory orders banning gatherings of five or more persons in the city.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) was established in Karachi with its first Squadron consisting of five pilots, one RAF Commanding Officer and four Westland Wapiti biplanes. One of the pilots, Subroto Mukerjee, later went on to become the first Chief of the Air Staff. During World War II, the IAF went through a phase of steady expansion. New aircraft, including the U.S. built Vultee Vengeance and the British Hawker Hurricane and Westland Lysander, were added to its fleet. In recognition of the services rendered by the IAF, King George VI conferred the prefix ‘Royal’ in 1945. Thereafter the IAF was referred to as Royal Indian Air Force. In 1950, when India became a republic, the prefix was dropped and it reverted back to Indian Air Force.