General Awareness

DAYS AND EVENTS - April 2020

Apr 2020

Aug 29, 2020

International Day against Nuclear Tests

On 2nd December 2009, the 64th session of the United Nations General Assembly declared 29th August the International Day against Nuclear Tests by unanimously adopting resolution 64/35. The resolution calls for increasing awareness and education "about the effects of nuclear weapon test explosions or any other nuclear explosions and the need for their cessation as one of the means of achieving the goal of a nuclear-weapon-free world." The resolution was initiated by the Republic of Kazakhstan, together with a large number of sponsors and cosponsors with a view to commemorating the closure of the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test site on 29th August 1991.
2010 marked the inaugural commemoration of the International Day against Nuclear Tests. In each subsequent year, the day has been observed by coordinating various activities throughout the world, such as symposia, conferences, exhibits, competitions, publications, lectures, media broadcasts and other initiatives.
Since its establishment, many bilateral and multilateral governmental level developments as well as broad movements in civil society have helped to advance the cause of banning nuclear tests.
The international instrument to put an end to all forms of nuclear testing is the 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT). Unfortunately, this has yet to enter into force.

National Sports Day

National Sports Day is celebrated on August 29 every year to honour the hockey legend, Major Dhyan Chand. The Government of India decided to celebrate his birthday as the National Sports Day since 2012. Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Kiren Rijiju paid tribute to Major Dhyan Chand at Dhyan Chand Stadium in New Delhi on his birth anniversary.
Due to Covid-19 pandemic, this year President Ram Nath Kovind gaive National Sports and Adventure Awards virtually on National Sports Day. Kiren Rijiju, Narendra Dhruv Batra—President of the Indian Olympic Association and other dignitaries attend the ceremony from Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi.
Major Dhyan Chand, the greatest hockey player of India won three Olympic gold medals. At the Berlin Olympic Games in 1936, Dhyan Chand was appointed as the captain of the Indian Hockey team. Dhyan Chand had scored more than 400 international goals in his international career from 1926 to 1948. He was awarded Padma Bhushan, the third-highest civilian honour in the year 1956 by Government of India.
Major Dhyan Chand Singh came to be known as 'Wizard of Hockey', worldwide.

Telugu Language Day

The State government celebrated birth anniversary of Gidugu Venkata Ramamurthy, father of spokenTelugu language movement, as the Telugu Language Day.
The event was celebrated as the State festival at Thummalapalli Kalakshetra in Vijayawada on August 29 in line with the policy of the TDP government to celebrate the birth anniversaries of eminent people who spread the greatness of Telugu language, culture and art and traditions as State festivals.
The Department of Culture sanctioned Rs.10,000 to each district for celebrating the birth anniversary of Venkata Ramamurthy who was also a social reformer and rationalist.
Late Venkata Ramamurthy was the first person who strove for popularising Telugu prose in colloquial language as against the chaste and literary form of Telugu that was the norm in pre-independence era.
His objective was to promote the Telugu prose in a simple language so that even common people could understand it and brought out the beauty in the spoken language.

Aug 27, 2020

Ladakh Observes First Martyrs Day after Becoming Union Territory

Ladakh observed the first Martyrs Day today (August 27), after becoming a Union Territory. In a low key programme organised by the Ladakh Buddhist Association, at Martyrs Memorial in Leh, senior leaders of various political parties paid homage to martyrs who laid down their lives in the agitations for Scheduled Tribes status, and Union Territory status to Ladakh.

Late Venerable Lobzang Tsondus and Tashi Angchuk on 24th January in 1981 for ST status and Nawang Rinchen, Tsewang Dorjey and Tsering Stobdan for the cause of Union Territory status for Ladakh have made supreme sacrifice in the agitations on August 27th of 1989.

Leh Hill Council Chief Executive Councillor Gyal P Wangyal, former MP Thupstan Chewang, former Minister Nawang Rigzin Jora, LBA President PT Kunzang, LGA President Geshe Shedup Chamba, BJP Leaders Dorjay Angchuk, Samstan, Congress leaders Tsering Namgyal, LBA Women's Wing, Youth Wings also have participated in the martyrs day programme.

Aug 26, 2020

Women's Equality Day

Women's Equality Day is celebrated in the United States on August 26 to commemorate the 1920 adoption of the Nineteenth Amendment (Amendment XIX) to the United States Constitution, which prohibits the states and the federal government from denying the right to vote to citizens of the United States on the basis of sex. It was first celebrated in 1972, designated by Congress in 1973, and is proclaimed each year by the United States President.
Women's Equality Day was first marked in 1972. It is proclaimed each year by the President of the United States. President Richard Nixon had issued the first official proclamation. Since then, every US President issues a proclamation designating August 26 as Women's Equality Day.
This year (2020) is the 100th anniversary of the Women's Equality Day is being observed in the United States.

Aug 23, 2020

Odisha and Chhattisgarh Celebrates '2020 Nuakhai Juhar' Agricultural Festival

Nukhai Juhar, an ancient festival which is also known as Nuakhai Parab or Nuakhai Bhetghat is celebrated on the fifth day of lunar fortnight of Bhadrabaa, to welcome the new crop of the season in Odisha, Chhattisgarh and other neighbouring states. Nuakhai is a combination of two words, Nua which means new and Khai which means eat.
The 2020 Nuakhai Juhar was celebrated on 23rd August.
The farmers offer the first produce of the season to the presiding deity, Goddess Samaleswari of Sambalpur, Odisha.
The people worship food grains and prepare special meals with khiri, pitha and kakra.
Cultural programmes like folk songs and dances will be organised to showcase the local culture and traditions of the state.
Shyam Sundar Dhar Folklore researcher, mentioned that Nuakhai Juhar is extended for elders to bless the younger members of the family and for the people to wish the seniors of the locality.

International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition

The United Nations' (UN) International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition is annually observed on August 23 to remind people of the tragedy of the transatlantic slave trade. It gives people a chance to think about the historic causes, the methods, and the consequences of slave trade.
Each year the UN invites people all over the world, including educators, students, and artists, to organize events that center on the theme of this day. Theatre companies, cultural organizations, musicians, and artists take part on this day by expressing their resistance against slavery through performances that involve music, dance, and drama.
Educators promote the day by informing people about the historical events associated with slave trade, the consequences of slave trade, and to promote tolerance and human rights. Many organizations, including youth associations, government agencies, and non-governmental organizations, actively take part in the event to educate society about the negative consequences of slave trade.
In late August 1791, an uprising began in Santo Domingo (today Haiti and the Dominican Republic) that would have a major effect on abolishing the transatlantic slave trade. The slave rebellion in the area weakened the Caribbean colonial system, sparking an uprising that led to abolishing slavery and giving the island its independence. It marked the beginning of the destruction of the slavery system, the slave trade and colonialism.
International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition was first celebrated in many countries, in particular in Haiti, on August 23, 1998, and in Senegal on August 23, 1999.

European Day of Remembrance for Victims of Stalinism and Nazism

The European Day of Remembrance for Victims of Stalinism and Nazism, known as Black Ribbon Day in some countries, is an international day of remembrance for victims of totalitarian regimes, specifically Stalinism, Communism, Nazism and Fascism. It is observed on 23rd August and symbolises the rejection of "extremism, intolerance and oppression".
It was designated by the European Parliament in 2008/2009 as "a Europe-wide Day of Remembrance for the victims of all totalitarian and authoritarian regimes, to be commemorated with dignity and impartiality", and has been observed annually by the bodies of the European Union since 2009.
23 August was chosen to coincide with the date of the signing of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, a 1939 non-aggression pact between the USSR and Nazi Germany which contained a protocol dividing Romania, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Finland into designated German and Soviet spheres of influence. The treaty was described by the European Parliament's president Jerzy Buzek in 2010 as "the collusion of the two worst forms of totalitarianism in the history of humanity." The remembrance day originated in protests held in western cities against Soviet crimes and occupation in the 1980s, initiated by Canadian refugees from countries occupied by the Soviet Union. The protests culminated in The Baltic Way, a major demonstration during the Revolutions of 1989 that contributed to the liberation of the Baltic states.
August 23 is also officially recognised by Canada and the United States, where it is known as Black Ribbon Day.

Aug 19, 2020

World Humanitarian Day

World Humanitarian Day (WHD) is observered on August 19. On this day the world commemorates humanitarian workers killed and injured in the course of their work, and we honour all aid and health workers who continue, despite the odds, to provide life-saving support and protection to people most in need.
It was designated by the United Nations General Assembly as part of a Swedish-sponsored GA Resolution A/63/L.49 on the Strengthening of the Coordination of Emergency Assistance of the United Nations,[1] and set as 19 August. It marks the day on which the then Special Representative of the Secretary-General to Iraq, Sérgio Vieira de Mello and 21 of his colleagues were killed in the bombing of the UN Headquarters in Baghdad.
The designation of 19 August as World Humanitarian Day is the outcome of the relentless efforts of the Sérgio Vieira de Mello Foundation and his family working closely with the Ambassadors of France, Switzerland, Japan and Brazil in both Geneva and New York to table and steer the draft Resolution through the General Assembly.
The Sérgio Vieira de Mello Foundation is committed to working closely with all Governments, the United Nations, International Organisations and Non-Governmental Organisations to give the Word Humanitarian Day a meaningful observance every year.
This year's World Humanitarian Day honours the front-line health workers - the Real-Life Heroes - including doctors and nurses, midwives and community volunteers, and those who risk their lives to ensure that everyone has access to health services, testing and treatment, protective equipment, and medication especially during the COVID-19 pandemic and all other emergencies.

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