Historical Events on January 20.

1.  1788, 20th Jan: Criminals deported from England landed on the shores of New South Wales, Australia. The convicts who prepared to settle here, were pardoned.

2.  1817, 20th Jan: Hindu College established in Calcutta (now Kolkata).

3.  1841, 20th Jan: Occupation of Hong Kong by the United Kingdom.

4.  1892, 20th Jan: Basketball was played for the first time.

5.  1937, 20th Jan: Franklin Delano Roosevelt was sworn in as the 32nd President of the United States.

6.  1944, 20th Jan: During World War II, Britain’s Royal Air Force dropped 2,300 tons of bombs on the city of Berlin.

7.  1948, 20th Jan: Fourth assassination attempt on Mahatma Gandhi.

8.  1957, 20th Jan: Asia’s first nuclear reactor was dedicated to the country by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and the Atomic Energy Establishment (now Bhabha Atomic Research Center) established.

9.  1963, 20th Jan: China and Nepal signed a border agreement.

10.  1972, 20th Jan: Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya became Union Territories of India.

11.  1972, 20th Jan: Pakistan launched its nuclear weapons program, a few weeks after its defeat in the Bangladesh Liberation War, as well as the Indo-Pakistan War of 1971. 

12.  1998, 20th Jan: Polar Music Award announced to Ravi Shankar.

13.  2009, 20th Jan: Barack Obama, the first African-American president of the United States, was sworn in.

Famous Birthdays & Birth Anniversaries on January 20.

1.  1775: André-Marie Ampère, a French physicist and mathematician.

2.  1827: Chakhi Khuntia, a Jagannath Temple priest and a poet.

3.  1871: Ratanji Jamshedji Tata, an Indian financier, and philanthropist.  

4.  1930: Buzz Aldrin, an American former astronaut, engineer, and fighter pilot.

5.  1945: Ajit Kumar Doval, the 5th and current National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister of India. 

6.  1960: Aapa Sherpa, a Nepalese Sherpa mountaineer.

7.  1964: Fareed Rafiq Zakaria, an Indian-American journalist, political scientist, and author.

8.  1982: Ruchi Sanghvi, an Indian computer engineer. She was the first female engineer hired by Facebook. 

Death Anniversaries of famous people on January 20.

1.  1900: John Ruskin, the leading English art critic of the Victorian era, as well as an art patron, draughtsman, watercolorist, philosopher, prominent social thinker, and philanthropist.

2.  1930: George V, the King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India.

3.  1949: Tej Bahadur Sapru, a prominent Indian freedom fighter, lawyer, and politician.

4.  1951: Thakkar Bapa, an Indian social worker who worked for the upliftment of tribal people in the Gujarat state in India.

5.  1980: Kasturbhai Lalbhai, an Indian industrialist and philanthropist.

6.  1988: Abdul Ghaffār Khān, a Pashtun independence activist who worked to end the rule of the British Raj in colonial India.

7.  2002: R. N. Kao, an Indian spymaster and the first chief of India’s external intelligence agency, the RAW.

8.  2005: Parveen Babi, an Indian film actress, model, and an interior designer.

20-January-1684

Treaty between Marathas and Portuguese.

20-January-1817

Ram Mohun Roy started Hindu College in Calcutta with the help of Justice H. East David Hare. This college was later renamed as the Presidency College.

20-January-1871

Sir Ratanji Jamshedji Tata, famous Indian industrialist, was born.

20-January-1879

Raghunath Chaudhary, famous Assamia nature poet, was born.

20-January-1897

Gandhiji declines to prosecute assailants.

20-January-1898

Krishnarao Ganeshpant Fulanbrikar (Master Krishnarao), famous singer, actor and music director, was born.

20-January-1931

Saroj Kumari', a feature film produced by Mahavir Photoplays and Theatres Ltd., Secunderabad, was prohibited on January 20 on the grounds that it was ''sordid'' and ''revolting''.

20-January-1939

Nalin Chandra Wickramasinghe, great Indian astronomer, was born.

20-January-1948

1. Bomb exploded near Birla House during a prayer meeting of Gandhi. 2. Three member UN Commission for investigation/mediation on Kashmir. 3. K.M. Cariappa succeeded Lieutenant General D. Rissell as the Army Commander, Delhi and East Punjab and was responsible for conducting the operation in Kashmir.

20-January-1949

Junagarh formally merged with Saurashtra.

20-January-1952

Vasant Patankar, famous Marathi writer, was born.

20-January-1957

South Africa banned Indian Cargo ships to dock at their Ports.

20-January-1957

First Indian Atomic Reactor "Apsara" at Trombay, Mumbai, was dedicated to the nation.

20-January-1959

Tej Bahadur Sapru passed away.

20-January-1972

Manipur, Meghalaya and Tripura become states of Indian union. Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram become Union Territories. Assam's North East Frontier Agency (Nepha) was renamed as Arunachal Pradesh territory.

20-January-1988

Shiv Charan Mathur sworn in as CM of Rajasthan.

20-January-1988

Khan Abdul Gafar Khan, follower of Mahatma Gandhi, better known as Sarhadi Gandhi or Frointier Gandhi, passed away.

20-January-1990

Dr. Raja Ramanna sworn in Minister of State for Defence.

20-January-1992

Australia beat India 2-0 to win the World Series Cup.

20-January-1993

Karnataka ministry expanded to include 27 more members; S.M. Krishna made Dy. CM.

20-January-1993

Captain Karamjeet Singh, first Pramveer Chakra Awardee, passed away.

20-January-1993

Bindeshwari Dube, former Chief Minister Bihar, passed away.

20-January-1994

Chinese film 'Farewell, My Concubine' and Adoor Gopalakrishnan's 'Vidheyan' adjudged best Foreign and Indian films in the 25th International Film Festival at Calcutta.

20-January-1995

Supreme Court orders closure of 84 industries in and around Taj Mahal in UP due to pollution.

20-January-1996

The Indian Army conducted United Nation Peacekeeping Keeping Operations in New Delhi from 20 to 26 Jan 1996, wherein delegates from UN HQ and 17 foreign countries of the Asia-Pacific region participated. The Under Secretary General, Mr Kofi Annan, was the chief guest.

20-January-1997

Indian Express launches its 18th edition from Belgaum.

20-January-1997

The third Test between India and South Africa ends in a draw in Johannesburg.

20-January-1999

Renowned playwright Girish Karnad is selected for the 1998 Jnanpith Award.

20-January-2000

J&K accepts the report of the State Autonomy committee tabled in the Assembly last year.