World Badminton Day

 

World Badminton Day, held on July 5th each year is an eagerly anticipated event for passionate badminton enthusiasts worldwide. It pays homage to its journey through the years, while embodying its unrelenting spirit in this annual gathering. Furthermore, it showcases how practicing badminton can catalyze personal growth and positively transform both communities and nations alike.

On July 5th,1934 the International Badminton Federation (IBF) was founded marking a historical moment for world badminton and inclusive badminton activities. Thus, World Badminton Day was inaugurated, to commemorate this momentous occasion. Originally known as the IBF, this unified governing body of badminton sport worldwide, was established by nine founding member nations.

World Badminton Day signifies not only a celebration but it showcases the essential values ingrained in badminton. It emphasizes inclusivity that promotes global badminton culture, collaboration and elevates development at all levels. This day acts as a catalyst in promoting awareness about badminton. We witness diverse age groups and backgrounds come together to celebrate. This includes players, athletes and enthusiasts who have driven badmintons' success to become one of the most compelling sports of modern history.

World Badminton Day collaboratively develops events with vibrant themes that encompasses culture, music and food. This helps to broaden its network and enrich the platform appropriately.  It provides players globally with a sense of camaraderie fostering unity- a bond irrefutable by geographical borders. This occasion transcends limitations and unites people from diverse backgrounds through their mutual admiration for badminton.

 

Alluri Sitarama Raju's Birth Anniversary

 

Alluri Sitarama Raju, born on 4 July 1897 or 1898, in Pandrangi, Madras Presidency, British India (present-day Andhra Pradesh, India), was an Indian revolutionary who waged an armed rebellion against the British colonial rule in India. He led the Rampa rebellion (1922–1924) which was borne from rising discontent towards British colonial rule in the backdrop of the non-cooperation movement (1920–1922). To recruit for his force, Raju harnessed grievances caused by the 1882 Madras Forest Act that effectively restricted the free movement of adivasis in their forest habitats and prevented them from practicing their traditional form of agriculture called ‘podu’, which threatened their very way of life. Mustering combined forces of tribals and other sympathisers to the cause, he engaged in guerilla campaigns against British forces across the border regions of present-day Andhra Pradesh and Odisha states in India. He was given the title "Manyam Veerudu" (transl. Hero of the Jungle) by the local people for his exploits.

Born into a Telegu family in present day Andhra Pradesh as Alluri Rama Raju, he prefixed the name "Sita" to his in memory of a girl whom he loved during his youth and whose untimely demise at a young age left him heartbroken. He later took up sannyasa at the age of 18 and grew to become a charismatic leader of the downtrodden tribal people in the 20th century colonial India. As the leader of the Manyam rebellion or the Rampa Rebellion of 1922, Alluri Sitarama Raju led his forces against the British colonial rulers with an aim of expelling them from the Eastern Ghats region in the erstwhile Madras Presidency. During the rebellion he led numerous raids on the imperial police stations to acquire firearms for his under-equipped forces. After each raid, he would leave a written note in the station signed by him informing the police about the details of his plunder there, including details of the weaponry he acquired daring them to stop him if they could.

Police stations in and around areas of Annavaram, Addateegala, Chintapalle, Dammanapalli, Krishna Devi Peta, Rampachodavaram, Rajavommangi, and Narsipatnam were all targeted by his forces, which resulted in significant police casualties. In response to these raids and to quell the rebellion, the British colonial authorities undertook a nearly two year long manhunt for Alluri Sitarama Raju that resulted in expenditures reaching over ₹4 million rupees. Eventually, in 1924, he was trapped at Koyyuru village in Chintapalle forests. There, he was captured, tied to a tree, and was summarily executed by a firing squad. A mausoleum with his final remains was built in the village of Krishnadevipeta in Andhra Pradesh.

 

Gulzarilal Nanda's Birth Anniversary

Gulzarilal Nanda, born on 4 July 1898, in Sialkot, Punjab, British India [now in Pakistan], was an Indian politician who twice served briefly as interim prime minister, in 1964 following the death of Jawaharlal Nehru and in 1966 upon the death of Lal Bahadur Shastri. Nanda was a member of the cabinet of both prime ministers whom he succeeded, and he was known for his work on labour issues.

Nanda grew up in Punjab and was educated in Lahore, Agra, and Allahabad. He researched labour problems at the University of Allahabad in 1920–21 before becoming an economics professor at the National College in Bombay (now Mumbai). He joined Mahatma Gandhi’s non-cooperation movement and was twice jailed for civil disobedience.

Nanda was elected to Bombay’s legislative assembly in 1937, where he served as Parliament secretary for labour and excise (1937–39) and as Bombay’s secretary of labour (1946–50). In the latter capacity, he was instrumental in forming the Indian National Trade Union Congress (and later became its president), and in 1947 he represented India at the International Labour Conference in Geneva, Switzerland, where he was a member of its Freedom of Association Committee.

Nanda held several cabinet positions in the government of India. He was named minister of planning in 1951, and the following year, after his election to the Lok Sabha (legislative assembly), he was also given the portfolio of irrigation and power. In 1957 he became minister of labour, employment, and planning. He also served as minister of labour and employment (1962–63) and of home affairs (1963–66) in addition to being called on as interim prime minister. He later was minister of railways (1970–71). In 1997, Nanda was awarded the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian award.

 

 

World Meerkat Day

 

World Meerkat Day is celebrated annually on July 3rd to raise awareness about meerkats and promote their conservation.

Significance of the Day

World Meerkat Day was established to highlight the importance of meerkats in their ecosystems and to encourage conservation efforts. The day aims to educate the public about these fascinating creatures, which are part of the mongoose family and are known for their social behaviour and unique roles within their groups, called mobs or clans. 

History

World Meerkat Day was founded in 2018 by Australian zookeeper Karen James at the Taronga Western Plains Zoo in Dubbo, New South Wales, Australia. The initiative was created to provide a dedicated day for meerkats, as there was no specific celebration for this beloved species. 

Patrice Lumumba's Birth Anniversary

 

Patrice Émery Lumumba, born Isaïe Tasumbu Tawosa;on 2 July 1925, in Onalua, Belgian Congo [now Democratic Republic of the Congo], was a Congolese politician and independence leader who served as the first Prime minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo (then known as the Republic of the Congo) from June until September 1960, following the May 1960 election. He was the leader of the Congolese National Movement (MNC) from 1958 until his assassination in 1961. Ideologically an African nationalist and pan-Africanist, he played a significant role in the transformation of the Congo from a colony of Belgium into an independent republic.

Shortly after Congolese independence in June 1960, a mutiny broke out in the army, marking the beginning of the Congo Crisis. After a coup, Lumumba attempted to escape to Stanleyville to join his supporters who had established a new anti-Mobutu state called the Free Republic of the Congo. Lumumba was captured enroute by state authorities under Joseph-Désiré Mobutu (Sese Seko), sent to the State of Katanga and, with the help of Belgian mercenaries, tortured and executed by the separatist Katangan authorities of Moïse Tshombe. In 2002, Belgium formally apologized for its role in the execution, admitting "moral responsibility", and in 2022, they returned Lumumba’s tooth to his family. He is seen as a martyr for the pan-African movement.

 

King Olav V Birth Anniversary

 

Olav V, born on 2 July 1903, in Appleton House, near Sandringham, Norfolk, England, was the king of Norway (1957-91), succeeding his father, King Haakon VII.

Olav was educated at the Norwegian military academy and at the University of Oxford in England. As crown prince he was a celebrated athlete and sportsman, excelling at ski jumping and yachting. He won a gold medal in yachting at the 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam. In 1929 Olav married Princess Martha of Sweden, who died in 1954. They had three children.

After having resisted the German invaders for two months during World War II, Olav left for England with the king and the government in June 1940. He was named head of the Norwegian armed forces in 1944. He returned a few weeks before the king in 1945, serving briefly as regent. He again became regent in 1955 when his father suffered an accident, serving in that capacity until Haakon’s death in 1957. Like other constitutional monarchs, Olav’s duties were largely ceremonial. He was succeeded in 1991 by his son, Harald V.

Burundi Independence Day

 

Independence Day is a public holiday in Burundi on July 1st.

This is Burundi's National Day and commemorates independence from Belgium on July 1st 1962.

Burundi is a landlocked region in central Africa. It was an independent kingdom until it became part of the colony of German East Africa, which included Burundi, Rwanda, and the mainland part of Tanzania in the 1890s.

After Germany's defeat in the First World War, control of the western part of German East Africa was ceded to Belgium under the Treaty of Versailles in 1919.

In October 1924, Ruanda-Urundi, which consisted of modern-day Rwanda and Burundi, became a Belgian League of Nations mandate territory.

Despite the control by the two European powers, the monarchy in Burundi had continued, and In 1959, Burundi's ruler Mwami Mwambutsa IV requested independence from Belgium and dissolution of the Ruanda-Urundi union.

The country declared its independence on July 1st 1962 and changed its name from Ruanda-Urundi to Burundi. Burundi became a constitutional monarchy with Mwami Mwambutsa IV as king. On September 18th 1962 Burundi joined the United Nations.

Following independence, Burundi has had a tumultuous series of decades with coups, civil war and genocide. The country has been peaceful since 2006 and Independence Day is seen as a day to show patriotism for Burundi but also to bring people together after the violent past.