Moraji Desai Birth Anniversary

Morarji Desai, born on 29 February 1896, was the Prime Minister of India (1977–79), and the first leader of sovereign India not to represent the long-ruling Indian National Congress party. 

The son of a village teacher, Desai was educated at the University of Bombay (now the University of Mumbai) and in 1918 joined the provincial civil service of Bombay as a minor functionary. In 1930 he resigned to join Mohandas Gandhi's civil disobedience movement and spent almost 10 years in British jails during the struggle for independence. During the 1930s and ’40s he alternated prison service with ministerial posts in the government of Bombay, rising to the chief ministerial post in 1952. He gained a reputation for administrative skill as well as for harshness.

In 1956 Desai was named commerce and industry minister in the Indian government, for which he worked in high capacities until 1963, when he resigned. He became deputy prime minister in 1967. In 1969 he again resigned to become chairman of the opposition to Indira Gandhi and the Congress Party. He was arrested in 1975 for his political activities and detained in solitary confinement until 1977, whereupon he became active in the Janata Party, a coalition of four smaller parties. That same year, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi unexpectedly held elections after a 19-month suspension of political processes, and Janata achieved a surprising and overwhelming victory. Desai was chosen to be prime minister as a compromise candidate among Janata’s leaders. After two years of political tension, the Janata coalition began to unravel. Desai announced his resignation on July 15, 1979, after numerous defections from the coalition in Parliament, to avoid a vote of no confidence.

Rukmini Devi Arundale Birth Anniversary

Rukmini Devi Arundale, born on 29 February 1904, was an Indian theosophist, dancer and choreographer of the Indian classical dance form of Bharatnatyam, and an activist for animal welfare. She was the first woman in Indian history to be nominated as a member of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Parliament of India.

 

Leap Day 2024

For adherents of the Gregorian calendar, Monday, February 29, 2024, is Leap Day. A leap day occurs in a leap year, which is a year with an inserted period of time. Leap days are necessary because an astronomical year—the time it takes for Earth to complete its orbit around the Sun—is about 365.25 days, while a calendar year is 365 days. Thus, just about every four years (that’s right, not every four years…see the next paragraph to learn why), a leap day is added to account for four extra 0.25 days. In the Gregorian calendar, this is done by giving the month of February—usually only 28 days—an extra day, the 29th. Other calendars also utilize the concept of a leap year.

The idea of adding time to a calendar via a leap day has been around for millennia—Ptolemy III Euergetes tried, but failed, to implement such a scheme in the 3rd century BCE—and has been refined over time. In 46 BCE the Julian calendar introduced a leap day every four years, but a problem with the measurement that was used led to a mounting discrepancy over the course of several centuries. The Gregorian calendar reformed the concept in 1582 by eliminating leap years in century years that weren’t exactly divisible by 400. This is why the years 1600 and 2000 were leap years but 1700, 1800, and 1900 were not and why 2400 will be a leap year but 2100, 2200, and 2300 will not.

There are customs and traditions associated with leap years and days. In Greece, some believe it is bad luck to get married in a leap year or on a leap day. Another tradition that dates back many centuries holds that during a leap year or on a leap day, a woman is allowed to propose marriage to a man instead of waiting for a man to offer a proposal.

Kamala Nehru Death Anniversary

 

Kamala Nehru, who passed away on 28 February 1936, at the age of 36, was an Indian independence activist and the wife of Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of India Their daughter Indira Gandhi was the first female prime minister of India.

Kamala Nehru was involved with Harilal Gandhi in the national movement, and quickly emerged to the forefront. In the Non Cooperation movement of 1921, she organized groups of women in Allahabad and picketed shops selling foreign cloth and liquor. When her husband was arrested to prevent him delivering a "seditious" public speech, she decided to go in his place and read it out to a large crowd of onlookers (filled with her supporters). The British soon realized the threat that Kamala Nehru posed to them and how popular she had become with women's groups all over India. She was arrested on two additional occasions for her involvement in Independence struggle activities, along with Sarojini Naidu, Kamala Nehru's mother, and many other women of the Indian freedom struggle. During this period she started a dispensary in her house Swaraj Bhavan, converting few rooms into a Congress Dispensary to treat wounded activists, their families, and other residents of Allahabad(now Prayagraj). After her death, Mahatma Gandhi with the help of other prominent leaders converted this dispensary into a proper hospital known as Kamala Nehru Memorial Hospital in her memory.

Kamala Nehru spent some time at Gandhi's ashram with Kasturba Gandhi where she built a close friendship with Prabhavati Devi – the wife of freedom fighter Jayaprakash Narayan. They were also freedom fighters for Indian freedom from the British.

Rajendra Prasad Death Anniversary

 

Rajendra Prasad, who passed away on 28 February 1963, at the age of 78, was the first Indian politician, lawyer, and journalist who was the first president of the Republic of India (1950–62). He also was a comrade of Mahatma Gandhi early in the non-cooperation movement for independence and was president of the Indian National Congress (1934, 1939, and 1947).

Raised in a landowning family of modest means, Prasad was a graduate of the Calcutta Law College. He practiced at the Calcutta High Court and in 1916 transferred to the Patna High Court and founded the Bihar Law Weekly. In 1917 he was recruited by Gandhi to help in a campaign to improve conditions for peasants exploited by British indigo planters in Bihar. He gave up his law practice in 1920 to join the noncooperation movement. Becoming an active journalist in the nationalist interest, he wrote for Searchlight in English, founded and edited the Hindi weekly Desh (“Country”), and started his lifelong campaign to establish Hindi as the national language. Imprisoned several times by the British for noncooperation activities, he served nearly three years (August 1942–June 1945) in jail with the Congress Party’s Working Committee.

In September 1946 Prasad was sworn in as minister for food and agriculture in the interim government preceding full independence. From 1946 to 1949 he presided over the Indian Constituent Assembly and helped to shape the constitution. He was unanimously elected president in 1950 and, after the first general election (1952), was chosen by an overwhelming majority of the new electoral college; in 1957 he was elected to a third term.

Prasad retired from public life in 1962 because of his deteriorating health. That same year he was honoured with the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian award. His autobiography, Atmakatha, was published in 1946. He is also the author of India Divided (1946), Mahatma Gandhi and Bihar, Some Reminiscences (1949), and other books.

National Science Day (India)

 

National Science Day is celebrated across India on February 28 to honour the discovery of the Raman Effect by physicist Sir CV Raman in 1928. The Raman Effect is the inelastic scattering of light by molecules, a discovery that earned Raman the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1930, making him the first Asian to receive the prestigious award in any branch of science.

History of National Science Day

In 1986, the National Council for Science and Technology Communication (NCSTC) proposed to the Government of India that February 28 be designated as National Science Day. Since 1987, this day has been celebrated to commemorate the discovery of the Raman Effect and to promote scientific temper in the country.

Significance and Celebrations

National Science Day aims to promote scientific thinking and highlight the importance of science in everyday life. Educational institutions, scientific organizations, and various other institutions across India organize events such as seminars, workshops, and exhibitions to celebrate the occasion. The day serves as a reminder of India's rich scientific heritage and encourages scientific research and innovation.

International Polar Bear Day

 

International Polar Bear Day observed on February 27 was created by Polar Bears International to raise public awareness of the impact of sea ice loss and climate change on polar bear populations. The future of polar bears is under serious threat from climate change and it is our responsibility to act now to save them. Polar bears are considered aquatic mammals, protected from the bitterly cold air and water they come into contact with on the sea ice of the Arctic Ocean by a thick layer of body fat and a water-repellent coat. International Polar Bear Day serves as a crucial reminder of the issues at stake if we are to protect these amazing species in the future as their home melts away beneath them.

In the early 2000s, polar bear populations began to decline as a result of climate change, and this is when International Polar Bear Day came into existence. Sea ice was melting at an alarming rate as the Arctic region warmed. Polar bears need sea ice to hunt and breed, so its disappearance threatens their survival. International Polar Bear Day was created in 1994 by the non-profit organisation Polar Bear International to raise awareness of the plight of polar bears.

The intention was to raise public awareness of the impact of climate change on polar bears and their habitats and to motivate people and organisations to take action to protect them. First celebrated in 2011, International Polar Bear Day has become a global event that unites people, organisations and governments to raise awareness of the value of polar bear conservation.

Vinayak Damodar Savarkar Death Anniversary

 

Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, who passed away on 26 February 1966, Bombay [now Mumbai]) was a Hindu and Indian nationalist and leading figure in the Hindu Mahasabha (“Great Society of Hindus”), a Hindu nationalist organization and political party.

While a student of law in London (1906–10), Savarkar helped to instruct a group of Indian revolutionaries in methods of sabotage and assassination that associates of his had apparently learned from expatriate Russian revolutionaries in Paris. During this period, he wrote The Indian War of Independence, 1857 (1909), in which he took the view that the Indian Mutiny of 1857 was the first expression of Indian mass rebellion against British colonial rule.

In March 1910 Savarkar was arrested on various charges relating to subversion and incitement to war and was sent to India for trial and convicted. In a second trial he was convicted of his alleged complicity in the assassination of a British district magistrate in India, and, after sentencing, he was transported to the Andaman Islands for detention “for life.” He was brought back to India in 1921 and released from detention in 1924. While imprisoned he wrote Hinditva: Who Is a Hindu? (1923), coining the term Hindutva (“Hinduness”), which sought to define Indian culture as a manifestation of Hindu values; this concept grew to become a major tenet of Hindu nationalist ideology.

Savarkar resided in Ratnagiri, India, until 1937, when he joined the Hindu Mahasabha, which militantly defended the Hindus’ claims of religious and cultural supremacy over Indian Muslims. He served as president of the Mahasabha for seven years. In 1943 he retired to Bombay. When Mohandas K. Gandhi was assassinated in 1948 by a former member of the Mahasabha, Savarkar was implicated, but he was acquitted in his subsequent trial because of insufficient evidence.

Shankarrao Bhavrao Chavan Death Anniversary

 

Shankarrao Bhavrao Chavan, who passed away on 26 February 2004, was an Indian politician who served twice as Chief Minister of Maharashtra from 1975 until 1977 and from 13 March 1986 until 26 June 1988.He was the Finance Minister of India from 1988 to 1989 in Rajiv Gandhi ministry. He also served as the Home Minister of India twice, from 31 December 1984 to 12 March 1986 in the Rajiv Gandhi cabinet, and from 21 June 1991 to 16 May 1996 in the P.V. Narasimha Rao cabinet.

Sir Benegal Narsing Rau Birth Anniversary

 

Sir Benegal Narsing Rau, born on 26 February 1887, Karkala or Mangalore, Mysore [now Karnataka], was one of the foremost Indian jurists of his time. He helped draft the constitutions of Burma (Myanmar) in 1947 and India in 1950. As India’s representative on the United Nations Security Council (1950–52), he was serving as president of the council when it recommended armed assistance to South Korea  (June 1950). Later he was a member of the Korean War cease-fire commission.

A graduate of the Universities of Madras and Cambridge, Rau entered the Indian civil service in 1910. After revising the entire Indian statutory code (1935–37), he was knighted (1938) and made judge (1939–44) of the Bengal High Court at Calcutta (Kolkata). His writings on Indian law include a noted study on constitutional precedents as well as articles on human rights in India. Rau served briefly (1944–45) as prime minister of Jammu and Kashmir state. In 1949 he became India’s permanent representative to the UN. From February 1952 until his death, he was a judge of the Permanent Court of International Justice, The Hague. Before his election to the court, he was regarded as a candidate for secretary-general of the United Nations.

Kuwait National Day

The Kuwait National Day is celebrated on February 25 every year. This special holiday commemorates the day that Sheikh Abdullah Al-Salim Al-Sabah became the ruler of Kuwait in 1950. Al-Sabah was an exceptional leader. During his reign, he signed a treaty that secured Kuwait’s independence from Britain, putting an end to its status as a British protectorate in 1961. It was also during Al-Sabah’s rule that the Constitution of Kuwait and the Parliament of Kuwait were formally established. 

The first celebrations were held in 1963. People in Kuwait celebrate this day by going to different places, watching fireworks at night, hanging out with friends, and more. People decorate their houses with colourful lights, flags, and even candles are lit at dinner time. The historical places like Kuwait National Museum, Al Bahhar Entertainment Historical Village, Mirror House, and Kuwait Towers are decorated with light. Flags are hoisted in buildings and displayed in public spaces. The streets are alive to the early hours of the next morning each year. National Day is a public holiday in Kuwait.

Estonia Independence Day

Each year, on February 24, the Republic of Estonia celebrates Independence Day.

A little over 100 years ago, from 1918 to 1920, the Estonian people were embroiled in the Estonian War of Independence against the Soviet Western Front offensive. The most significant day was February 24, 1918, on which Estonia declared statehood.

This day is now commemorated as a national holiday, celebrated with a televised flag raising at Pikk Hermann Tower, the ancient defensive stronghold next to Toompea Castle, fireworks, a parade, and a presidential reception.

Estonia is a country in Northern Europe that borders the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Finland. Home to more than 1,500 islands, Estonia's diverse topography spans rocky beaches, old-growth forests, and many lakes. Tourists visit Estonia to see castles, churches and hilltop fortresses.

Pinocchio Day

 

Pinocchio Day is celebrated on February 23 every year. The day marks the anniversary of the release of the Disney film of the same name in 1940. Disney’s “Pinocchio” went on to become a global sensation due to its familiarity as a folk tale in Europe. It was based on the 1883 Italian book “The Adventures of Pinocchio” by Carlo Collodi. Pinocchio followed up as the studio’s second animated feature-length film after “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.” The film follows a puppet named Pinocchio in his attempt to become a human boy.

Madhubala Death Anniversary

 

Madhubala, who passed away on 23 February 1969, at the age of 36, was an Indian film actress who appeared in Hindi films. She was active between 1942 and 1964. Known for her beauty, personality, and sensitive portrayals of tragic women, she was also known as The Beauty With Tragedy and The Venus Queen of Indian Cinema. Her comparison with Hollywood actress Marilyn Monroe earned her the name Marilyn Monroe of Bollywood.

P.C. Sorcar Birth Anniversary

 

P. C. Sorcar was the stage name of the Indian magician, Protul Chandra Sorcar, born on 23 February 1913. Sorcar was an internationally active magician throughout the 1950s and 1960s, performing his Indrajal show before live audiences and on television. The original family name was "Sarcar", but was changed to Sorcar to more closely match the word "Sorcery."

Sorcar’s publicity design was relentless and steeped in Indianness. His extravagant magic shows began with a ritualistic drawing of a mandala pattern on stage and lighting of an oil lamp before the portrait for Goddess Durga. Dressed as the Rajput royalty, Sorcar presented his magic tricks.

He was the master of grand stage acts like the famous “Water of India” where an earthen pot would always be filled with water up to the brim. Sorcar would throw away the water from time to time and yet the pot would be filled to the brim. His X-Ray vision, drum illusion and the floating lady took him to higher echelons of fame.

Sorcar died of a heart attack at the age of 57 in Ashaikawa, Hokkaidō, Japan, where he was performing.

Heinrich Rudolf Hertz Birth Anniversary

Heinrich Rudolf Hertz, born on 22 February 1857, was a German physicist who first conclusively proved the existence of the electromagnetic waves predicted by James Clerk Maxwell's equations of electromagnetism. He used a spark gap attached to an induction coil and a separate spark gap on a receiving antenna. When waves created by the sparks of coil transmitter were picked up by the receiving antenna sparks would jump its gap as well. The unit of frequency, cycle per second, was named the "hertz" in his honour.

World Thinking Day

 

World Thinking Day, formerly Thinking Day, is celebrated annually on 22 February by all Girl Guides and Girl Scouts. It is also celebrated by Scout and Guide organizations around the world. It is a day when they think about their "sisters" (and "brothers") in all the countries of the world, the meaning of Guiding, and its global impact.

George Washington Birth Anniversary

 

George Washington, born on 22 February 1732. was an American political leader, military general, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Previously, he led Patriot forces to victory in the nation's War for Independence. He presided at the Constitutional Convention of 1787 which established the U.S. Constitution and a federal government. Washington has been called the "Father of His Country" for his manifold leadership in the formative days of the new nation.

Amerigo Vespucci Death Anniversary

 

Amerigo Vespucci, who passed away on 22 February 1512, was an Italian merchant, explorer, and navigator from the Republic of Florence, from whose name the term "America" is derived. Between 1497 and 1504, Vespucci participated in at least two voyages of the Age of Discovery, first on behalf of Spain and then for Portugal.

Kasturbha Gandhi Death Anniversary

 

Kasturba Gandhi, who passed away on 22 February 1944, was the wife of Mahatma Gandhi, a political activist who was a leader in the struggle for civil rights and for independence from British rule in India along with her husband Mahatma Gandhi.

Abul Kalam Azad Death Anniversary

 

Abul Kalam Azad, who passed away on 22 February 1958, was an Indian scholar, Islamic theologian, independence activist, and a senior leader of the Indian National Congress during the Indian independence movement. Following India's independence, he became the First Minister of Education in the Indian government Minister of Human Resource Development. His contribution to establishing the education foundation in India is recognised by celebrating his birthday as National Education Day across India.

Swami Shraddhanand Birth Anniversary

Swami Shraddhanand, born on 22 February 1856, was an Indian educationist and an Arya Samaj missionary who propagated the teachings of Dayananda Saraswati. This included the establishment of educational institutions, like the Gurukul Kangri University, and played a key role on the Sangathan and the Shuddhi (re-conversion), a Hindu reform movement in the 1920s.

Jatindra Mohan Sengupta Birth Anniversary

Jatindra Mohan Sengupta, born on 22 February 1885, was an Indian revolutionary against the British rule. He was arrested several times by the British police. In 1933, he died in a prison located in Ranchi, India.

Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck Birthday

 

Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, the ‘Druk Gyalpo’ or ‘Dragon King’ of the Kingdom of Bhutan, was born on February 21, 1980.

Wangchuck is the current ‘Druk Gyalpo’ or ‘Dragon King’ of the kingdom of Bhutan. He  is the eldest son of the fourth Dragon King of Bhutan, Jigme Singye Wangchuck. King Namgyel ascended the throne in 2006 when his father, the fourth dragon king, abdicated the throne in his favor two years earlier than planned, making Wangchuck one of the youngest monarchs in the world.

Wangchuck is immensely popular among the people of Bhutan and is mostly referred to as the ‘People’s King,’ who has cordial interactions with the people. He is also well-known and popular in India and Thailand. Before becoming king, he toured around the kingdom with his father and frequently represented Bhutan at many public events and foreign conferences, including the twenty-seventh U.N. General Assembly. Wangchuck attended Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s sixtieth-anniversary celebrations in 2006. This event cemented his popularity among the general public, particularly among ladies. The tabloids even dubbed him ‘Prince Charming of the Himalayas.’

Wangchuck married his long-time girlfriend, Jetsun Pema in October 2011 in a small, private ceremony — a three-day celebration in Bhutan

Suryakant Tripathi (Nirala) Birth Anniversary

 

 

Suryakant Tripathi (Nirala), born on 21 February 1896, was a poet, novelist, essayist and story-writer. He also drew many sketches.

Mirra Alfassa Birth Anniversary

Mirra Alfassa, born on 21 February 1878, was a spiritual guru, an occultist and a collaborator of Sri Aurobindo, who considered her to be of equal yogic stature to him and called her by the name "The Mother". She founded the Sri Aurobindo Ashram and established Auroville as a universal town; she was an influence and inspiration to many writers and spiritual personalities on the subject of Integral Yoga.

Kittur Chennamma Death Anniversary

 

Kittur Chennamma, who passed away on 21 February 1829, was an Indian revolutionary, freedom fighter and Rani of the Kittur, a former princely state in Karnataka. She led an armed force against the British East India Company in 1824 in defiance of the doctrine of lapse in an attempt to maintain Indian control over the region, but was defeated in the third war and died imprisoned. The one of the first female rulers to rebel against British rule, she has become a folk hero in Karnataka and symbol of the independence movement in India.

Nutan Death Anniversary

Nutan, who passed away on 21 February 1991, was an Indian film actress. In a career spanning nearly four decades, she appeared in more than 70 Hindi films, many in starring roles. Regarded as one of the finest female actors in the history of Indian cinema, Nutan was noted for playing unconventional parts and her performances often received praise and accolades. Nutan holds the record of five wins of the Best Actress award at Filmfare, which was held only by her for over 30 years until it was matched by her niece Kajol in 2011. In 1974, she was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India.

International Mother Language Day

 

International Mother Language Day is a worldwide annual observance held on 21 February to promote awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity and to promote multilingualism. First announced by UNESCO on 17 November 1999, it was formally recognized by the United Nations General Assembly with the adoption of UN resolution 56/262 in 2002. Mother Language Day is part of a broader initiative "to promote the preservation and protection of all languages used by peoples of the world" as adopted by the UN General Assembly on 16 May 2007, which also established 2008 as the International Year of Languages. The idea to celebrate International Mother Language Day was the initiative of Bangladesh. In Bangladesh, 21 February is the anniversary of the day when the people of Bangladesh (then East Pakistan) fought for recognition for the Bangla language. It is also celebrated in West Bengal.

Lord Mountbatten - Last Viceroy of India

On 20 February 1947, British Prime Minister Clement Attlee announced that all the powers would be handed over to the Government of India. As per the Cabinet Mission, the British Government was to quit India by June 1948. In March 1947, Lord Louis Mountbatten was appointed as the Viceroy of India in place of Lord Wavell.

Mizoram Foundation Day

 

On 20 February 1987,  Mizoram became a full-fledged state. 

Mizoram is one among the seven sister states of north-eastern India. Aizawl is its seat of government as well as capital city. Name of this state is derived from Mizo and Ram’ which means land in the Mizo language. Thus, Mizoram means “land of the Mizos”. It is the southernmost landlocked state among northeast region of India. The state share borders with three states namely Tripura, Manipur and Assam. It also shares a722-kilometre border with Bangladesh and Myanmar. 

Maria Goeppert Mayer Death Anniversary

 

Maria Goeppert Mayer, who passed away on 20 February 1972, was a German-born American theoretical physicist, and Nobel laureate in Physics for proposing the nuclear shell model of the atomic nucleus. She was the second woman to win a Nobel Prize in physics, the first being Marie Curie.

Frederick Douglass Death Anniversary

 

Frederick Douglass, who passed away on 20 February 1895, was an American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. After escaping from slavery in Maryland, he became a national leader of the abolitionist movement in Massachusetts and New York, becoming famous for his oratory and incisive antislavery writings. Accordingly, he was described by abolitionists in his time as a living counterexample to slaveholders' arguments that slaves lacked the intellectual capacity to function as independent American citizens. Northerners at the time found it hard to believe that such a great orator had once been a slave. It was in response to this disbelief that Douglass wrote his first autobiography.

Amrita Bazar Patrika founded in 1868

Amrita Bazar Patrika, was one of the oldest daily newspapers in India founded on 20 February 1868, Originally published in Bengali script, it evolved into an English format published from Kolkata and other locations such as Cuttack, Ranchi and Allahabad. The paper discontinued its publication in 1991 after 123 years of publication.

Arunachal Pradesh Foundation Day

Arunachal Pradesh celebrated the Golden Jubilee of its Foundation Day on February 20, 2022. On the occasion, India Post released a commemorative stamp.

Arunachal Pradesh is a state in northeast India. It became a full-fledged state on February 20, 1987. Until 1972, it was known as the North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA). It acquired Union Territory status on January 20, 1972 and was renamed Arunachal Pradesh. Officially, the state is divided into 16 districts. Itanagar is its capital and largest town. It borders the Indian states of Assam and Nagaland to the south.

Thomas Edison patents the phonograph in 1878

 

Thomas Edison announced his invention of the first phonograph, a device for recording and replaying sound, on November 21, 1877 (early reports appear in Scientific American and several newspapers in the beginning of November, and an even earlier announcement of Edison working on a 'talking-machine' can be found in the Chicago Daily Tribune on May 9), and he demonstrated the device for the first time on November 29 (it was patented on 19 February 1878, as US Patent 200,521). "In December, 1877, a young man came into the office of the Scientific American, and placed before the editors a small, simple machine about which very few preliminary remarks were offered. The visitor without any ceremony whatever turned the crank, and to the astonishment of all present the machine said: 'Good morning. How do you do? How do you like the phonograph?' The machine thus spoke for itself, and made known the fact that it was the phonograph..."

Beant Singh Death Anniversary

 

Beant Singh, born on 19 February 1922, was an Indian politician and the Chief Minister of Punjab from 1992 to 1995. He was a member of Indian National Congress. He was killed in a car bombing.

Nicolaus Copernicus Birth Anniversary

 

Nicolaus Copernicus, born on 19 February 1473, was a Renaissance-era mathematician and astronomer, who formulated a model of the universe that placed the Sun rather than Earth at the center of the universe, in all likelihood independently of Aristarchus of Samos, who had formulated such a model some eighteen centuries earlier.

Rajkumar Lal Pratap Singh Death Anniversary

 

Rajkumar Lal Pratap Singh who passed away on 19 February 1858, was a member of the Bisen Rajput dynasty of Kalakankar. He was prominent leader in the Indian Rebellion of 1857. He was killed during the 1858 Battle of Chanda.

Balwantrai Mehta Birth Anniversary

 

Balwantrai Mehta, born on 19 February 1900, was an Indian politician who served as the second Chief Minister of Gujarat state, India. He participated in Indian independence movement and later hold various public offices. He is considered as the 'Architect of Panchayati Raj’ due to his contributions towards democratic decentralisation.

Munshi Nawal Kishore Death Anniversary

 

Munshi Nawal Kishore, who passed away on 19 February 1895, was a book publisher from India. He has been called Caxton of India. In 1858, at the age of 22, he founded the Nawal Kishore Press and Book Depot at Lucknow. This institution today is the oldest printing and publishing concern in Asia. Mirza Ghalib was one of his admirers.

Gopal Krishna Gokhale Death Anniversary

 

Gopal Krishna Gokhale, who passed away on 19 February 1915, was an Indian liberal political leader and a social reformer during the Indian Independence Movement. Gokhale was a senior leader of the Indian National Congress and the founder of the Servants of India Society. Through the Society as well as the Congress and other legislative bodies he served in, Gokhale campaigned for Indian self-rule and for social reforms. He was the leader of the moderate faction of the Congress party that advocated reforms by working with existing government institutions.

Shivaji's Birth Anniversary

 

Shivaji Bhosale I, born on 19 February 1630, was an Indian warrior-king and a member of the Bhonsle Maratha clan. Shivaji carved out an enclave from the declining Adilshahi sultanate of Bijapur that formed the genesis of the Maratha Empire. In 1674, he was formally crowned as the chhatrapati (emperor) of his realm at Raigad.

The first official flight with air mail in 1911

 

On 18 February 1911, The first official flight with air mail took place in Allahabad, British India, when Henri Pequet, a 23-year-old pilot, delivered 6,500 letters to Naini, about 10 km away.

Although airborne mail transport had occurred during the nineteenth century, the first official airmail flown by airplane took place in India in 1911.

During the 1800s, balloons and gliders carried the first flown mail. The first official U.S. airmail delivery took place on 17 August 1859. On that day, veteran balloonist John Wise (1808-1879) carried 123 letters and twenty-three circulars from Lafayette to Crawfordsville, Indiana, a distance of thirty miles, in his balloon Jupiter.

On 17 December 1903, Orville (1871-1948) and Wilbur (1867-1912) Wright made the first sustained, powered airplane flight at Kitty Hawk in North Carolina. Orville flew 120 feet for twelve seconds. No mail was carried. During the following decade, pilots around the world barnstormed the countryside, holding aerial demonstration meets, creating postcards and souvenir labels. Many pioneer pilots carried unofficial mail on their short flights. “Unofficial mail” refers to mail carried privately and postmarked before or after the flight, while the post office authorized and serviced “official mail.”

 On 18 February 1911, French pilot Henri Pequet (1888-1974) carried the first official mail flown by airplane. The flight occurred in India. Pequet carried a sack with about 6,000 cards and letters on his Humber biplane. The plane flew a distance of five miles, from an Allahabad polo field, over the Yamuna River, to Naini. All mail received a special cancel depicting an airplane, mountains, and “First Aerial Post, 1911, U. P. Exhibition Allahabad.”

Pequet was in India flying demonstration flights for the United Provinces Exhibition in Allahabad. Walter Windham (1868-1942), a British aviation pioneer, organized the aerial demonstrations. The event marked the first time airplanes flew in India. An appeal from Rev. W.E.S. Holland, a chaplain of the Holy Trinity Church, Allahabad, spurred the event. He had appealed to Windham for help in fundraising for a new youth hostel. Windham conceived the aerial post and obtained approval from the post office for officially sanctioned mail. Postal officials asked Windham to design the cancel. Most mail has a magenta cancellation, but a few examples exist with black ink. The regular postage rate required an additional surcharge as a donation for the Church Hostel Building.

To tell the story of airmail’s development and expansion, aerophilatelists avidly collect worldwide airmail stamps and mail flown by a variety of aircraft. Airmail redefined global postal communications in the twentieth century.

 

Enzo Ferrari Birth Anniversary

 

Enzo Ferrari, born on 18 February 1898, was an Italian motor racing driver and entrepreneur, the founder of the Scuderia Ferrari Grand Prix motor racing team, and subsequently of the Ferrari automobile marque. He was widely known as "il Commendatore" or "il Drake".