History, Birthdays and Historic Events of 18 January-

• January 18, 1842 – Mahadev Govind Ranade, a distinguished Indian scholar, social reformer, author, was born on 18 January 1842 who was a founding member of the Indian National Congress (INC). He died on 16 January 1901.  He was the chief architect of Bombay Prathana Samaj.
  

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• January 18, 1853 – First train in Asia, 36 km section opened between Bombay (Mumbai) and Tannah (Thane).
  

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• January 18, 1886 – Modern hockey was born with the formation of The Hockey Association in England.
  

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• January 18, 1896 – An X-ray generating machine was exhibited for the first time by H. L. Smith.
  

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• January 18, 1925 – Gajanan Johari, famous Marathi writer, was born on 18 January 1925.
  

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• January 18, 1927 – Sundaram Balachander, Indian veena player, actor, and singer, was born on 18 January 1927 and died on 13 April 1990.
  

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• January 18, 1930 – Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore (Thakur) and Mahatma Gandhi met at Sabarmati Ashram on 18 January 1930.
  

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• January 18, 1936 – Rudyard Kipling, famous English writer and author, died in Burwash, England on 18 January 1936. He was born on 30 December 1865 and wrote in verses, stories, novels childen’s stories like The Jungle Book, Kim and Just-50 stories. He was honoured with the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1907.
  

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• January 18, 1945 – Balagangadharanatha Swamiji, Indian religious leader, was born on 18 January 1945 and died on 13 January 2013.
  

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• January 18, 1947 – K.L. Saigal (Kundanlal Saigal), Indian singer and film actor, passed away on 18 January 1947 and was born on 11 April 1904.
  

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• January 18, 1948 – Mahatma Gandhi broke 121-hour fast in New Delhi, after halting of Muslim-Hindu riots in Calcutta.
  

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• January 18, 1950 – India is declared a secular republic. Constitution makes Hindi official national language, English to continue for 15 years, 14 major state languages are recognized.
  

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• January 18, 1955 – Saadat Hassan Manto, Pakistani author, born on 11 May 1912, died on 18 January 1955.
  

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• January 18, 1959 – Miss Meera Behn, follower of Gandhi, left India.
  

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• January 18, 1968 – The Resolution on Official Languages was passed by both the houses of the Parliament, making the knowledge of either Hindi or English compulsory for recruitment to the services of the Union.
  

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• January 18, 1969 – Lekhraj Khubchand Kripalani, also known as Dada Lekhraj and Indian spiritual leader, born on 15 December 1876, was the founder of the Brahma Kumaris. He died on 18 January 1969.
  

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• January 18, 1972 – Vinod Ganpat Kambli, cricketer, was born in Bombay on 18 January 1972.
  

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• January 18, 1976 – Subhrajit Mitra, born on 18 January 1976, is an Indian Film Maker.
  

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• January 18, 1977 – After 21 months of emergency rule, Indhira Gandhi announced the release of Morarji Desai and other leading opponents, hence suspended her ban of political parties and called a free election.
  

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• January 18, 1978 – Shri Bhim Sen Sachar, freedom fighter, leader and Chief Minister of Punjab, passed away on 18 January 1978.
  

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• January 18, 1982 – Six thousand labor activists were arrested in two days and national strike was called in New Delhi.
  

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• January 18, 1990 – Farooq Abdullah, Jammu & Kashmir CM, quitted.
  

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• January 18, 1991 – Iraq attacked Tel Aviv, and Haifa, with Scud missiles, hoping to bring Israel into the Gulf War and turn it into a wider conflict including other Arab Nations.
  

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• January 18, 1992 – Muthuswami Pillai, father of Bharat Natyam classical dance, passed away on 18 January 1992.
  

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• January 18, 1996 – N. T. Rama Rao, former chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, passed away at Hydrabad.
  

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• January 18, 1997 – India’s first electric car ‘Reva’ launched in Bangalore on 18 January 1997.
  

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• January 18, 1997 – Phase II of Pulse Polio Immunisation Programme began on 18 January 1997.
  

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• January 18, 1997 – SC said telephone tapping as violation of fundamental rights but permitted it by government in special circumstances.
  

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• January 18, 1998 – Justice M. M. Punchhi was sworn in Chief Justice of India.
  

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• January 18, 1999 – Gul Panag was crowned Femina Miss India Universe at the Miss India 1999 beauty pageant in Pune.
  

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• January 18, 1999 – Prof. Amartya Sen, Nobel Laureate, was selected for Bharat Ratna.
  

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• January 18, 2000 – S. S. Dawra was appointed new Director of the Enforcement Directorate.
  

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• January 18, 2003 – Harivansh Rai Bachchan,  a noted Indian poet of the Nayi Kavita literary movement, born on 27 November 1907 and died on 18 January 2003.
  

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• January 18, 2012 – Anthony Prabhu Gonsalves, Indian composer, born on 12 June 1927, died on 18 January 2012.
  

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• January 18, 2012 – Several thousand websites joined in a blackout protest over US lawmakers’ SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protest Intellectual Property Act). Websites like Google and Wikipedia made a statement against the proposed laws, saying the the laws would not stop piracy and lacked cohesive definitions that could turn into an abuse of power.
  

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• January 18, 2016 – A Pakistani court had acquitted former military ruler Pervez Musharraf over the 2006 killing of a Baloch rebel leader, one of three legal cases he faced after returning from exile.
  

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to be Continued ..