Narayan Meghaji Lokhande Death Anniversary

 

Narayan Meghaji Lokhande, who passed away on 9 February 1897, is recognized as the “Father of the Trade Union Movement in India.”  Lokhande dedicated his life to championing the rights of workers and spearheading the labour movement in the country.

Narayan Meghaji Lokhande's journey began in the late 19th century when he witnessed the plight of mill workers in Bombay (now Mumbai). Deeply affected by their poor working conditions, low wages, and lack of basic rights, Narayan Lokhande took it upon himself to fight for their rights and improve their lives.

In 1890, Narayan Meghaji Lokhande founded the Bombay Mill Hands Association, one of the earliest trade unions in India. Through this association, he led several strikes, protests, and movements, demanding better wages, improved working conditions, and legal protections for workers. His charismatic leadership and unwavering commitment to the cause garnered significant attention and support.

Apart from being a labour leader, Narayan Lokhande was also a social reformer. He actively worked towards eradicating social evils like child labour, gender inequality, and caste discrimination. He believed in the empowerment of workers and fought for their overall well-being, including access to education, healthcare, and social justice.

Narayan Meghaji Lokhande's contributions laid the foundation for the trade union movement in India. His relentless efforts paved the way for significant labour reforms and the recognition of workers' rights. 

Baba Amte Death Anniversary

 

Baba Amte, who passed away on 9 February 2008, was an Indian lawyer and social activist who devoted his life to India’s poorest and least powerful and especially to the care of those individuals who suffered from leprosy. His work earned him numerous international awards, notably, the 1988 UN Human Rights Prize, a share of the 1990 Templeton Prize, and the 1999 Gandhi Peace Prize.

Amte was born into an affluent Brahmin family and grew up in a life of privilege. After earning a law degree in 1936, he set up a legal practice. In 1942 he acted as a defense lawyer for those imprisoned for participating in Mahatma Gandhi’s Quit India campaign against the British occupation of India. Influenced by Gandhi’s nonviolent fight for justice, Amte abandoned his legal career in the 1940s and settled in Gandhi’s ashram in Sevagram, Maharashtra, India, working among the downtrodden.

After an encounter with a man suffering from advanced leprosy, Amte’s attention turned to that disease. He studied leprosy, worked at a leprosy clinic, and took a course on the disease at the Calcutta School of Tropical Medicine. In 1949 Amte founded Anandwan, an ashram dedicated to the treatment, rehabilitation, and empowerment of leprosy patients. The centre came to encompass programs in health care, agriculture, small-scale industry, and conservation and to serve people with disabilities.

In addition to his work with lepers, Amte was involved in various other causes, including environmentalism and religious toleration. In particular, he opposed the building of hydroelectric dams on the Narmada River, both for environmental reasons and because of the effects on those displaced by the dams. In 1990 Amte left Anandwan to devote himself to this cause, but toward the end of his life he returned to the ashram. Amte’s sons, Prakash and Vikas Amte, became doctors and continued their father’s philanthropic work.

Chocolate Day

Chocolate Day - the third day of Valentine's Week - is celebrated on February 9 every year. On this day, you can gift your favourite box of chocolate to your beloved, friends, and family and let them know they matter to you, by adding a little sweet delight to their lives.

Chocolates are a universally loved dessert that is sure to bring a smile to anyone's face.

There is an assortment of chocolates that you can choose from --- from dark chocolate, milk chocolate, and mint chocolate, to chocolates with nuts and raisins.

Chocolates not only taste good but the cocoa in them is healthy and rich in antioxidants. Chocolate also plays a vital role in building relationships and is often used as an icebreaker as well. So, it is only befitting that an entire day is dedicated to this sweet indulgence!

Halidor Laxness Death Anniversary

 

Halldor Laxness, was an Icelandic writer and winner of the 1955 Nobel Prize in Literature. He wrote novels, poetry, newspaper articles, essays, plays, travelogues and short stories. He passed away on 8 February 1998.

Zakir Hussain Khan Birth Anniversary

Zakir Husain Khan, born on 8 February 1897, was an Indian statesman, the first Muslim to hold the largely ceremonial position of president of India. His fostering of secularism was criticized by some Muslim activists.

Husain responded to the nationalist leader Mahatma Gandhi’s appeal to Indian youth to shun state-supported institutions; he helped found the Muslim National University in Aligarh (later moved to New Delhi) and served as its vice-chancellor from 1926 to 1948. At Gandhi’s invitation, he also became chairman of the National Committee on Basic Education, established in 1937 to design a Gandhian syllabus for schools.

In 1948 Husain became vice-chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University, and four years later he entered the upper house of the national Parliament. In 1956–58 he served on the executive board of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). He was appointed governor of Bihar state in 1957 and was elected vice president of India in 1962. As the official Congress Party candidate, he was elected president of India in 1967 and served until his death.

Dmitri Mendeleev Birth Anniversary

 

Dmitri Mendeleev, born on 8 February 1834, was a Russian chemist and inventor who is best known for formulating the Periodic Law and creating a version of the periodic table of elements. This table—which was arranged by atomic weight and presented the elements in a grid where elements in the same column exhibited similar chemical properties—was a significant breakthrough in the history of chemistry.

In his formulation of the Periodic Law, Mendeleev predicted the properties of elements yet to be discovered. He left gaps in his table for these elements, and remarkably, when they were discovered, their properties matched Mendeleev's predictions. These accurate forecasts lent significant credibility to his work and solidified the acceptance of the periodic table.

Aside from his work on the periodic table, Mendeleev made significant contributions to other areas of chemistry, metrology, and technology. He also made efforts towards improving Russia's higher education, and he advocated for modernization and industrialization in Russia. The crater Mendeleev on the Moon, as well as element number 101, the radioactive mendelevium, are named after him.

Jagjit Singh Birth Anniversary

 

Jagjit Singh, born on 8 February 1941, often referred to as the "Ghazal King", was a versatile and talented Indian Ghazal singer and musician who also wrote several memorable songs. He, in collaboration with his singer wife Chitra Singh, contributed immensely to ghazal as a musical genre and made it popular across multiple age groups.