1957: India’s first satellite Aryabhata is launched on April 19. Named after the ancient Indian astronomer and mathematician Aryabhata, the satellite is launched from a Russian rocket launch site and gathers information such as the effect of the sun’s rays on the earth.

Local

2018: Property tax holiday ends in New Town and from April 2, the nearly one lakh property owners there have to start paying tax.

National

1858: Rama Dongre is born to a Sanskrit scholar in Maharashtra on April 23. Her father starts teaching her Sanskrit at home but passes away when she is 16. Dongre starts travelling the country reciting scriptures and in 1878 becomes the first woman to receive the titles of Pandita and Saraswati from Calcutta University. She devotes her life to work for women’s education.

Sam Manekshaw The Telegraph picture

1914: Sam Manekshaw is born in Amritsar on April 3. He goes on to join the army, where his career spans four decades and five wars. He is particularly remembered for his leadership during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. Popularly known as Sam Bahadur, Manekshaw becomes the first Indian army officer to be promoted to the rank of the Field Marshal.

Iqbal Masih The Telegraph picture

Global

1995: Iqbal Masih, a 12-year-old Pakistani boy, is shot dead near Lahore on April 16. When he was four, Iqbal’s parents sent him to work in the carpet industry in lieu of a debt repayment. He was tied in chains and worked 17 hours a day, seven days a week, till he escaped at the age of 10. He joined school and started campaigning globally against bonded labour. It is unclear whether he is shot by a drug addict or members of the carpet mafia.

Amir Taimur The Telegraph picture

1336: Amir Taimur is born on April 9 in what later becomes Uzbekistan. As founder of the Timurid Empire, he conquers western, southern and central Asia. A military genius, he is hailed as a hero in his homeland but blamed for destruction across Arab, Iraq, Persia and India and massacre of some 17 million people, amounting to five per cent of the global population.

Sports & entertainment

1986: Pakistan needs four runs from the last ball to win the Austral-Asia Cup final against India in Sharjah. India’s Chetan Sharma bowls a full toss, Pakistani batsman Javed Miandad sends it for a six. Pakistan wins the game in what becomes a historic moment in cricketing rivalry between the neighbours.

1973: Japanese TV series Doraemon is aired for the first time from April 1 till the end of September. But the show, about a cat from the future helping a boy, returns and continues to be screened across the world well into the 21st century, making Doraemon a cultural ambassador of Japan and one of the most recognised animated characters globally.

Beethoven The Telegraph picture

1810: German music composer Beethoven pens one of his most famous pieces — Fur Elise — on April 27. Also known as Bagatelle No. 25 in A minor, Fur Elise means “For Elise”. The piece is discovered and published 40 years after his death but the original manuscript is signed April 27, 1810. The identity of Elise remains a mystery.