February 28 marks the Foundation Day of Auroville, an experimental international township in South India dedicated to human unity.
Historical Significance
World Protein Day is celebrated on February 27th every year. It is a worldwide celebration to mark the importance of protein in our diet for good health. This day aims to promote the significant role of protein for kids and adults alike. It raises awareness about protein and protein deficiency while serving as a reminder of vital nutrients needed for growth, development, and energy.
Date – World Protein Day
The world observes World Protein Day on February 27 every year. Over the years, this day has become a global event. In India as well, National Protein Day is celebrated on the same day to officially spread awareness about the benefits of protein in daily diets.
History & Origin of World Protein Day
Who Initiated World Protein Day and Why?
The world protein day was introduced by the US Soybean Export Council (USSEC) to create awareness about protein intake and solve the issue of protein deficiency. The objective is to promote the inclusion of protein-rich foods in daily meals, ensuring better health and nutrition for all.
How the Day Aims to Create Awareness About Protein Deficiency
To raise awareness about protein deficiency, the USSEC launched the ‘Right To Protein’ initiative, encouraging individuals, businesses, and industries to come together and address the rising demand for protein while offering solutions to combat deficiency.
Significance of International Protein Day
International Protein Day plays a crucial role in educating people about the importance of protein consumption. This macronutrient is a building block of the body as it benefits muscle growth, bone health, immunity, tissues, hormones and enzymes, making it vital for overall health.
Moreover, a protein rich diet is a solution to
numerous health challenges. Therefore, it should be consumed regularly by kids
as well as adults.
Tell a Fairy
Tale Day is celebrated on February 26 every year, and just
by the sound of it, it conjures a feel-good effect. It is a spectacular
occasion to bring out the child in us and have a happy day while escaping from
the monsters and evils of the world. When we were children, we were introduced
and exposed to fairy tales. It usually is our happy time, mostly before
bedtime, when we are excited to hear these stories. The fairy tales depict
enchanting folkloric characters like fairies, goblins, trolls, witches, talking
animals, and inanimate objects that move, of heroes and villains engaged in
plots relatable to real life, and happy endings.
Celebrated every February 25th, Let’s All Eat Right Day this day is all about giving your body the fuel it deserves and reflecting on your nutritional habits.
The date honours the birthday
of Adelle Davis (born 1904), a pioneering nutritionist who
famously advocated for whole foods and vitamins long before they were
mainstream. She is the one who coined the legendary advice: "Eat
breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper".
Laxmikanta Mohapatra, who passed away on 24 February 1953, aged 64 years, in Bhadrak,was an Indian Odia poet, writer, performance artist, and freedom fighter. He authored more than ten published works. Mohapatra was a prominent campaigner in the Odisha State Unification Movement and an active member of the Utkala Sammilani.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, born on 18 February 1946, was the
supreme personality of Godhead and the chief proponent of the Achintya Bheda
Abheda Vedanta school and the Gaudiya Vaishnavism tradition within Hinduism.
Rani Gaidinliu, who passed
away on 17 February 1993, was a Naga spiritual and political leader who led a
revolt against British rule in India. At the age of 13, she joined the Heraka
religious movement of her cousin Haipou Jadonang. The movement later turned
into a political movement seeking to drive out the British from Manipur and the
surrounding Naga areas. Within the Heraka faith, she came to be considered an
incarnation of the Goddess Cherachamdinliu. Gaidinliu was arrested in 1932 at
the age of 16, and was sentenced to life imprisonment by the British rulers.
Jawaharlal Nehru met her at Shillong Jail in 1937, and promised to pursue her
release. Nehru gave her the title of "Rani" ("Queen"), and
she gained local popularity as Rani Gaidinliu.
Dinesh Nandini Dalmia, born
on 16 February 1928, was an Indian poet, short story writer and novelist
of Hindi literature. She was the fifth wife of Ramkrishna Dalmia, founder of
the Dalmia Group, and three of his four previous wives were still alive and
married to him when she became his fifth wife. Nevertheless, she positioned
herself in opposition to gender discrimination and purdah system, and published
poems, prose poems, short stories and novels on the theme of women's
emancipation. Shabnam, Niraash Aasha, Mujhe Maaf Kama and Yeh Bhi
Jhooth Hai are some of her notable works. The Government of India awarded
her the third highest civilian honour of the Padma Bhushan, in 2006, for her
contributions to literature.
Galileo Galilei, born on 15 February 1564, was an
Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a polymath,
from Pisa. Galileo has been called the "father of observational
astronomy", the "father of modern physics", the "father of
the scientific method", and the "father of modern science".
Damodaram Sanjivayya, born on 14
February 1921, was the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, India from 11
January 1960 to 12 March 1962. Sanjivayya was the first Dalit Chief Minister of
an Indian state. He wrote a book
on Labour problems and industrial development in India, in 1970 published by
Oxford and IBH Pub. Co., New Delhi. He introduced pension system for widows,
elderly people, he established Lalitha kala academy in Andhra pradesh, he was
the youngest chief minister ever in India, he introduced the office of
Anticorruption Bureau {ACB}, he completed the irrigation projects like
Gajuladinne in Kurnool dist., Vamsadhara, Pulichintala and varadarajula swamy
project near Atmakur in Kurnool dist.
Chuck Yeager, born on
13 February 1923, was a United States Air Force officer, flying ace, and
record-setting test pilot who in 1947 became the first pilot in history
confirmed to have exceeded the speed of sound in level flight.
Yeager enlisted in the U.S. Army in September 1941,
shortly after graduating from high school, and was assigned to the Army Air
Corps. He was commissioned a reserve flight officer in 1943 and became a pilot
in the fighter command of the Eighth Air Force stationed in England. He flew 64
missions over Europe during World War II, shot down 13 German aircraft,
and was himself shot down over France (he escaped capture with the help of the
French underground). After the war he became a flight instructor and then a
test pilot, securing a regular commission as a captain in 1947.
Yeager was chosen from several volunteers to
test-fly the secret experimental X-1 aircraft, built by the Bell Aircraft
Company to test the capabilities of the human pilot and a fixed-wing aircraft
against the severe aerodynamic stresses of sonic flight. On October 14, 1947,
over Rogers Dry Lake in southern California, he rode the X-1, attached to
a B-29 mother ship, to an altitude of 25,000 feet (7,600 metres). The X-1
then rocketed separately to 40,000 feet (12,000 metres), and Yeager became the
first man to break the sound barrier, which was approximately 662 miles
(1,066 km) per hour at that altitude. The feat was not announced publicly until
June 1948. Yeager continued to make test flights, and on December 12, 1953, he
established a world speed record of 1,650 miles (2,660 km) per hour in an X-1A
rocket plane.
In 1954 Yeager left his post as assistant chief of test-flight
operations at Edwards Air Force Base in California to join the staff
of the Twelfth Air Force in West Germany.
Following other routine assignments, he returned to Edwards in
1962 as commandant of the Aerospace Research Pilot School with the rank of
colonel. In 1968 he took command of the 4th Tactical Fighter Wing. He
retired from the air force with the rank of brigadier general in 1975. His
autobiography, Yeager, was published in 1985.
Charles Darwin, born on 12
February 1809, was an English naturalist, geologist and biologist, best known
for his contributions to the science of evolution. His proposition that all
species of life have descended over time from common ancestors is now widely
accepted, and considered a foundational concept in science. In a joint
publication with Alfred Russel Wallace, he introduced his scientific theory
that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called
natural selection, in which the struggle for existence has a similar effect to
the artificial selection involved in selective breeding. Darwin has been
described as one of the most influential figures in human history, and he was
honoured by burial in Westminster Abbey.
Deendayal Upadhyaya, who passed away on 11 February
1968, was an Indian politician and thinker of RSS ideology, and former leader
of the political party Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the forerunner of Bharatiya Janata
Party. He became president of the Jana Sangh in December 1967. He died in
mysterious circumstances; his body was found on 11 February 1968 on a railway
track near Mughalsarai Junction railway station. The railway station was later
renamed in his honour in 2018, 50 years after his death.
T.
Balasaraswati, who passed away on 9 February 1984, was a
celebrated Indian dancer, and
singer in the Karnatak (South Indian) tradition, who was one of the
20th century’s foremost exponents of the bharata natyam style of
classical dance. She was instrumental not only in expanding the
performance of this dance form beyond the precincts of the temples where it was
traditionally performed but also in cultivating international appreciation of the art
form.
For her
contributions to Indian arts and culture, Balasaraswati received a Sangeet Natak Akademi (India’s
national academy of music, dance, and drama) award in 1955 and the Padma Vibhushan, one of the
country’s top civilian honours, in 1977. Although she danced extensively
throughout her life, she was seldom filmed. In 1976, however, the acclaimed
Indian film director Satyajit Ray made a short documentary, Bala,
as a tribute to her artistic achievement. In 2006 Aniruddha Knight,
Balasaraswati’s grandson, also produced a short documentary.
Kanhaiyalal Maneklal Munshi, who passed away on 8
February 1971, was an Indian independence movement activist, politician, writer
and educationist from Gujarat state. A lawyer by profession, he later turned to
author and politician. He is a well-known name in Gujarati literature. He founded
Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, an educational trust, in 1938.
Charles Dickens, born on 7
February 1812, was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of
the Victorian era. His many volumes include such works as A Christmas Carol,
David Copperfield, Bleak House, A Tale of Two Cities, Great Expectations, and
Our Mutual Friend.
Dickens
enjoyed a wider popularity during his lifetime than had any previous author.
Much in his work could appeal to the simple and the sophisticated, to the poor
and to the queen, and technological developments as well as the qualities of
his work enabled his fame to spread worldwide very quickly. His long career saw
fluctuations in the reception and sales of individual novels, but none of them
was negligible or uncharacteristic or disregarded, and, though he is now
admired for aspects and phases of his work that were given less weight by his
contemporaries, his popularity has never ceased. The most abundantly comic of
English authors, he was much more than a great entertainer. The range,
compassion, and intelligence of his apprehension of his society and its
shortcomings enriched his novels and made him both one of the great forces in
19th-century literature and an influential spokesman of the conscience of
his age.
Sayajirao Gaekwad III, who passed away on 6 February
1939, was the Maharaja of Baroda State from 1875 to 1939, and is notably
remembered for reforming much of his state during his rule. He belonged to the
royal Gaekwad dynasty of the Marathas which ruled parts of present-day Gujarat.
Bertrand Russell, who
passed away on 2 February 1970, was a British philosopher, logician,
mathematician, historian, writer, essayist, social critic, political activist,
and Nobel laureate.
He was the figure in the analytic movement in
Anglo-American philosophy, and recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1950. Russell’s
contributions to logic, epistemology, and the philosophy of mathematics
established him as one of the foremost philosophers of the 20th century. To the
general public, however, he was best known as a campaigner for peace and as a
popular writer on social, political, and moral subjects. During a long, productive, and
often turbulent life, he published more than 70 books and about 2,000 articles,
married four times, became involved in innumerable public controversies, and
was honoured and reviled in almost equal measure throughout the world.
The Mumbai General Post Office (GPO) has a historic connection to 13 March , as the construction of its iconic heritage building was co...
