Hyderabad Liberation Day

 

Hyderabad Liberation Day is observed on September 17 in honour of the martyrs of the Hyderabad Liberation Movement.

Hyderabad did not get independence for 13 months after India's independence on August 15, 1947, and was under the rule of the Nizams.

The region was liberated from Nizam's rule on September 17, 1948, after a police action namely 'Operation Polo'.

When India gained independence, the Razakars called for Hyderabad state to either join Pakistan or to become a Muslim dominion while resisting its merger with the Union of India.

The people of the region fought valiantly against the atrocities of the Razakars to merge the region into the Union of India.

The Razakars, a private militia, had committed atrocities and defended the erstwhile Nizam rule in Hyderabad.

On September 17, 1948, the then Hyderabad state, which was under the rule of the Nizams, was annexed into the Union of India following military action, initiated by the then Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.

 

World Ozone Day

World Ozone Day or International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer is a global event held annually on September 16 to promote awareness about the ozone layer's significance and the dangers of its depletion. 

History of World Ozone Day

The date of the world ozone significantly goes to the 1980s when scientists realized that there was a reduction in the ozone layer due to certain human-made chemicals such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and halons. This dire realization led to concern about the impacts that might ensue from the depletion of the ozone layer on man as well as the environment.

In response, the Montreal Protocol was signed on the 16th of September, 1987 aimed at eliminating production of the ODS. The protocol has been ratified by all the member states thus placing it among the most successful environmental conventions in history.

 

Significance of the Ozone Layer

The ozone layer is a thin shield of gas in the Earth's stratosphere that absorbs most of the sun's harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation. It plays a crucial role in protecting life on Earth by preventing excessive UV radiation from reaching the surface, which can lead to higher rates of skin cancer, eye cataracts, and ecosystem damage.

 

International Day of Democracy

The International Day of Democracy observed every year on 15 September provides an opportunity to review the state of democracy in the world. Democracy is as much a process as a goal, and only with the full participation of and support by the international community, national governing bodies, civil society and individuals, can the ideal of democracy be made into a reality to be enjoyed by everyone, everywhere. Democracy, in both theory and practice, is the subject of a huge field of literature. Within this literature, the international dimensions of democracy are increasingly understood and explored. Democracy has even come to be seen by some practitioners as something of a political panacea. It is widely accepted as a universal value. Yet the role of the United Nations – the embodiment of international society – in the promotion of democracy remains understudied, even though the organization has adopted democracy promotion as an important objective ‘‘The phenomenon of democratization’’ has had a marked impact on the United Nations. Just as newly-independent States turned to the United Nations for support during the era of decolonization, so today, following another wave of accessions to Statehood and political independence, Member States are turning to the United Nations for support in democratization.

Hindi Day or Hindi Divas

 

Hindi Day (Hindi: हिन्दी दिवस, romanized: hindī divas) is celebrated in India to commemorate the date 14 September 1949 on which a compromise was reached—during the drafting of the Constitution of India —on the languages that were to have official status in the Republic of India. The compromise, usually called the Munshi-Ayyangar formula, after drafting committee members K.M. Munshi and N. Gopalaswami Ayyangar, was voted by the Constituent Assembly of India after three years of debate between two opposing camps. The Hindi protagonists wanted Modern Standard Hindi register of the Hindustani language in Devnagiri script to be the sole "national language" of India (replacing the British era Hindustani of Perso-Arabic script); the delegates from South India preferred English to have a place in the Constitution. The Munshi-Ayyangar formula declared (i) Hindi to be the "official language" of India's federal government; (ii) English to be an associate official language for 15 years during which Hindi's formal lexicon would be developed; and (iii) the international form of the Hindu-Arabic numerals to be the official numerals. The compromise resolution became articles 343–351 of India's constitution, which came into effect on 26 January 1950. In 1965, when the 15 years were up, the Government of India announced that English would continue to be the "de facto formal language of India."

 

Shane Warne's Birth Anniversary

Shane Warne, born on 13 September 1969, in Ferntree Gully, Victoria, Australia, was an Australian cricketer who was one of the most effective bowlers in history, with good disguise on his top-spinner and fine control on two or three different googlies (balls bowled with fingerspin that break unexpectedly in the opposite direction from that anticipated). His success promoted the almost-forgotten art of leg-spin and brought variety to a sport that had been dominated by fast bowling. In 2006 he became the first bowler to take 700 Test wickets.

Warne came to cricket relatively late in his teenage years, and his relaxed manner, bleached hair, stud earring, and fondness for surfing made him a folk hero among young cricket fans around the world. He had played just seven matches in the Sheffield Shield domestic club competition before being selected for Ausrtralia, and he made his Test debut against India at Sydney in 1991–92. In the 1993 Ashes series against England, Warne took 34 wickets in six Tests at an average of 25.79. He was perhaps best remembered for one ball, bowled to England’s Mike Gatting at Old Trafford, Manchester, in the 1993 series. The ball was a perfect example of the leg-spinner’s art, pitching on leg stump and spinning viciously past the bat to hit Gatting’s off stump. It was Warne’s first ball in a Test in England and established a huge psychological advantage for Warne and the Australian team, which lasted into the next Ashes series in 1994–95. In that series Warne took 27 wickets at 20.33, including a match-winning 8 for 71 in the second innings of the first Test and a hat trick (three wickets on three balls) in the second Test.

In 1998 Warne faced controversy when it was revealed that he and fellow Australian cricketer Mark Waugh had taken bribes from an Indian bookmaker four years earlier. The pair claimed they gave only pitch information and weather forecasts. (The two were secretly fined by the Australian Cricket Board soon after the bribes were given.) Despite the scandal, Warne was named one of the Five Cricketers of the Century by Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack in 2000. In February 2003 Warne encountered further controversy when he was ejected from the World Cup in South Africa after a drug test revealed the presence of a banned diuretic; he subsequently received a 12-month ban. In his first Test match after his return in March 2004, he took his 500th wicket, becoming just the second bowler to have accomplished the feat. By the end of the 2003–04 season, both Warne and Sri Lankan off-spin bowler Muttiah Muralitharan had broken the record (519) for Test wickets set in 2001 by Courtney Walsh of the West Indies.

In 2007 Warne retired from Test cricket but continued to compete on the club level until 2011. His international career totals included an unprecedented 708 Test wickets; his record was broken by Muralitharan in 2007.

 

World Dolphin Day

 

World Dolphin Day is an international awareness day that is celebrated annually on September 12th. It was created by Sea Shepherd Global, an international marine conservation organization that has been fighting to defend dolphins and other marine wildlife for over 40 years.

The date of World Dolphin Day was chosen to commemorate the anniversary of the largest single slaughter of dolphins in recorded history. On September 12, 2021, an unprecedented white-sided dolphin hunt took place in the Faroe Islands: 1, 428 dolphins were caught and killed in a single day, including juveniles and pregnant females. This was nearly five times the average annual catch of white-sided dolphins in the Faroe Islands.

What are the main threats to dolphins?

Dolphins face many dangers from human activities that harm their health, habitat, and population. Some of the main threats are:

Hunting: Dolphins are hunted for their meat, skin, oil, or teeth in some parts of the world, such as Japan, Peru, Solomon Islands, and Faroe Islands. The hunting methods are often cruel and indiscriminate, causing immense suffering and killing large numbers of dolphins at once.
Bycatch: Dolphins are often caught accidentally in fishing nets or hooks, where they suffocate or drown. According to some estimates, more than 300,000 cetaceans (including dolphins and whales) die every year as bycatch.
Pollution: Dolphins are exposed to various pollutants that contaminate their water and food sources, such as plastics, chemicals, heavy metals, and noise. These pollutants can cause injuries, infections, diseases, reproductive problems, and behavioural changes in dolphins.
Habitat destruction: Dolphins depend on healthy and diverse marine habitats for their survival. However, human activities such as coastal development, oil and gas exploration, mining, and climate change are destroying or degrading their habitats, reducing their food availability and quality.

There are many ways we can help dolphins and make a difference in their future. By reducing waste and pollution, we can work on an eco-friendly lifestyle that is already a big step in helping marine life. We can also stop using plastic bags and grab our own eco bags when we shop.

Vinobha Acharya Birth Anniversary

 

Vinoba Bhave, born on 11 September 1895, in Gagode, Bombay Presidency [now in Maharashtra], India, was one of India’s best-known social reformers and a widely venerated disciple of Mohandas K. (Mahatma) Gandhi. Bhave was the founder of the Bhoodan Yajna (“Land-Gift Movement”).

Born of a high-caste Brahman family, he abandoned his high school studies in 1916 to join Gandhi’s ashram (ascetic community) at Sabarmati, near Ahmadabad. Gandhi’s teachings led Bhave to a life of austerity dedicated to improving Indian village life. Bhave was imprisoned several times during the 1920s and ’30s and served a five-year prison sentence in the ’40s for leading nonviolent resistance to British rule. He was given the honorific title acharya (“teacher”).

Bhave’s idea of the land-gift movement was conceived in 1951, while he was touring villages in the province of Andhra Pradesh, when a landholder offered him an acreage in response to his appeal on behalf of a group of landless Dalits (members of the lowest castes, formerly called “untouchables” and now officially named Scheduled Castes). He then walked from village to village, appealing for gifts of land to be distributed among the landless and relating the act of giving to the principle of ahimsa (nonviolence), which had been adopted by Gandhi. According to Bhave, land reform should be secured by a change of heart and not by enforced government action. His critics maintained that Bhudan Yajna encouraged the fragmentation of land and would thus obstruct a rational approach to large-scale agriculture, but Bhave declared that he preferred fragmented land to fragmented hearts. Later, however, he encouraged gramdan—i.e., the system whereby villagers pooled their land, after which the land was reorganized under a cooperative system.

Throughout 1975 Bhave took a vow of silence over the issue of the involvement of his followers in political agitation. As a result of a fast in 1979, he secured the government’s promise to enforce the law prohibiting the killing of cows (animals sacred to Hinduism) throughout India. Bhave’s original project and his philosophy of life are explained in a series of articles collected and published as Bhoodan Yajna (1953, reprinted 1957).