Gandhiji Death Anniversary & World Leprosy Eradication Day

World Leprosy Day is observed internationally on 30th January or the Sunday closest to that date. The main purpose of this festival is to increase public awareness of Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease. This particular day was actually chosen to commemorate the death of Indian leader, Gandhi, who understood the importance of this disease. Leprosy is one of the oldest diseases recorded in the world. The disease targets the nervous system, especially the nerves in the cooler parts of the human body which include the feet, hands and face.

World Leprosy Day creates awareness that leprosy is in fact curable. This day is meant to help people living with the disease to understand that it is in fact a curable disease and to know that other people care about them. Though the disease has a cure, there are many people living with the disease. Leprosy holds the stigma that it is like HIV/AIDS which is why World Leprosy Day was developed to educated people and removes or weakens the stigma. Typically leprosy is associated with being highly contagious and has disfigurement properties. Once the diagnosis is made a person suffering from leprosy become social pariahs. This is another reason why World Leprosy Day was established.

For more than sixty years, millions of people from all over the world don't realize how horrible leprosy is and the horrendous effects it has on the person diagnosed with the disease. Nowadays, this observance has been marked in over 100 countries. A research study conducted in countries where a leprosy cure is well known indicates that the leprosy stigma still exists. People look at this disease as a curse and the stigma becomes even stronger in countries where people have not been educated about the disease. World Leprosy Day educates those who are ignorant to the diseases and attempts to demolish the stigma associated with it.

This past year, World Leprosy Day focused mainly on the essential needs of the poor as well as marginalized people from different parts of the world. The focus was mainly on people who are affected by leprosy. During World Leprosy Day people come out to show support and care to people suffering from the disease. Social groups are also educated on the important of extending a helping hand to people suffering from the disease. This is the day when people around the world make contributions to raise money for assisting people living with leprosy. Non-governmental organizations and social groups are encouraged to make contributions being one of main fundraisers for assisting people with the disease.

World Leprosy Day is also meant to raise awareness on the need of breaking the poverty cycle all over the world. Leprosy has, for many years, been associated with poverty. To some point, this is true. Many people suffering from the disease have economical problems. World Leprosy Day focuses on poverty eradication especially on people living with leprosy. Many supporters like the Leprosy Mission England provide a springboard to thousands of people suffering from the disease. World Leprosy Day has helped in poverty eradication reaffirming how important this celebration really is.

Happy Republic Day -India

National Voters Day 2017

25th January is observed as the National Voters’ Day (NVD). It is also the day when the founding fathers of Indian Constitution gave to their people ‘the Election Commission of India’, with the mandate of Superintendence, direction and control of elections. The Commission is dedicated to the task of delivering free, fair and credible elections to the Indian people. But to make democracy meaningful, there has to be maximum participation of the people in the electoral process.
Conducting of Election entails the inbuilt responsibility to have every eligible Indian on the electoral roll and get everyone in the roll to vote voluntarily. Besides, the participation of citizens in elections needs to be informed and ethical for a healthy democracy. The objective behind National Voters’ Day celebrations is to increase enrolment of voters, especially of the newly eligible ones to make universal adult suffrage a complete reality. National Voters’ Day is aimed at reaching out to the people, learning the reasons for their disillusionment with the process and helping them in realizing the fact that democracy is not complete until everyone is part of it. The day is also utilized to spread awareness among voters regarding effective participation in the electoral process. The Pledge that the new voters take on this day is a reaffirmation of our faith in ourselves, our country and democracy.
Till date Election Commission of India has conducted 15 General Elections to the Lok Sabha and many general elections to State Legislative Assemblies, thus facilitating peaceful, orderly and democratic transfer of power. Added to this list are the elections to top constitutional positions, to Rajya Sabha and State legislative councils. In its effort to conduct free, fair and transparent polls, the Commission fiercely guards its credibility, besides ensuring the vote of every eligible Indian to count. It faces the new challenge now to conduct the next Lok Sabha elections this year amidst the rise of new political fronts led by young, educated, techno savvy leaders backed by young voters. According to the 2011 Census, the first-time voter number is a staggering 149.36 million. That’s well over 20% of the 725 million voters the Election Commission (EC) reckons will be eligible to vote in 2014.The total number first-time voters is likely to swell by May 2014 to around 160 million (the census was held in 2011).
Considering this mammoth election management exercise in the world, the Election Commission is concerned about greater participation of citizens in the country’s electoral process as against the present level of apathy and non-involvement among certain sections, especially the youth. In particular, the Commission has found that the new voters (18+) are missing from the electoral roll in a big way year after year. In certain cases, the level of their enrolment is as low as 20 to 25%.
In order to effectively deal with this problem, the Commission has initiated a vigorous exercise to identify all the eligible voters attaining the age of 18 years as on 1st of January every year, in each of the 8.5 lakh polling station areas of the country. Besides registration, these newly enrolled voters are also administered a pledge that goes as follows: “We, the citizens of India, having abiding faith in democracy, hereby pledge to uphold the democratic traditions of our country and the dignity of free, fair and peaceful elections, and to vote in every election fearlessly and without being influenced by considerations of religion, race, caste, community, language or any inducement”. Moreover, the newly enrolled voters are given a badge with the slogan “Proud to be a voter – Ready to vote” during the felicitation ceremony along with their EPIC. This process is expected to give the youth a sense of citizenship, empowerment, pride and participation and also inspire them to exercise their franchise, when the occasion comes.
In keeping with the objectives of the National Voters’ Day, a countrywide special campaign is taken up to reach out to the newly eligible (18+) electors, and to register them in the electoral roll. The Chief Electoral Officers (CEO’s) of all states and UT’s have been instructed by the commission from time to time, to enroll every youth who has attained the age of 18. The Commission has specially been impressing upon the fact that as many women voters as possible need to be enrolled. Without the participation of women, a significant proportion of our country’s population remains on the fringe of democracy.
Through the National Voters’ Day, we have been able to somewhat bridge the widest gap in our electoral roll– the under registration of the newly eligible electors. All this has been accomplished through the laudable efforts and sustained hard work of the election machinery right from Chief Electoral officer in the state down to the Booth Level Officer and with the sustained SVEEP campaign, which stands for ‘Systematic Voters Education and Electoral Participation’. Election Commission of India has launched various campaigns under our SVEEP programme, to disseminate necessary information, motivate voters and facilitate participation. The messages from the youth icons, namely, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Former President of India, Shri M.S. Dhoni, and Shri Virat Kohli of Indian Cricket Team, Olympic medallists Ms. Saina Nehwal, Ms. M.C. Mary urging the eligible voters to get registered, are being used in the campaign. Messages from the regional icons are also being used to ask the youth to register and vote.
The occasion has surely turned out to be momentous thereby bringing home the point that to ensure democratic government of the people, for the people and by the people one needs to understand Vote is our Right and Might. All the major issues relating to elections such as corruption, casteism, communalism and the like continue to draw attention because of the apathy and poor participation of the ordinary populace in elections. Certainly the message from the Commission is loud and clear: it will not relent until every single eligible voter is able to- and is willing to- vote.

National Girl Child Day -India

National Girl Child Day in India

National girl child day is celebrated every year on 24th of January as a national observance day for the girl child. This celebration was started to offer more supports and new opportunities to the girls in the country. It is celebrated to increase the awareness among people about all the inequalities faced by the girl child in the society. Inequality about girl child is a vast problem which includes many areas like inequality in education, nutrition, legal rights, medical care, protection, honour, child marriage and so many.

Why National Girl Child Day is Celebrated

It is celebrated to promote the girls position in the society to make their living better among society people. It is very necessary to remove different types of social discrimination and exploitation that girls generally face in their life. To increase the awareness about the necessity of the girls right in the society, various political and community leaders speech to the public about the girls right for the equal education and fundamental freedoms.

It is very necessary for the girls to get full potential, safe and enabling environment. They should be aware of all their legal rights and the facts of life. They should be aware that they have the good education, nutrition and health care rights. They should be well aware about legislations including Domestic Violence Act 2009, Prohibition of Child Marriage Act 2006 and Dowry Prohibition Act 2006 in order to get their proper rights and face all the challenges in life.

In our country, female literacy rate is still 53.87% and one third of the youngster girls are malnourished. Reproductive age group women are anemic and suffering from various other diseases just because of the gender discrimination in the society and limited access to the health services. Various steps have been taken at national and state level by the Ministry of Women and Child Development to improve the girl child status through a range of schemes.

The Women and Child Development Ministry had implemented a scheme called “Dhanalaksmi” to make cash transfer to the girl child family to fulfil the basic needs such as immunization, birth registration, school enrollment and maintenance up to the Class VIII. The Right to Education Act has made available the free and necessary education to the girl child.

How National Girl Child Day is Celebrated

Varieties of events are organized all across the country to celebrate the girl child day to promote girls position in the society. Government of India organizes a big campaign to increase people consciousness towards the girl children in the Indian society.

National Girl Child Day celebration was started by the Women and Child Development Ministry since 2008 to celebrate as the national observance. Through this campaign, the Indian Government has highlighted the inequalities towards the girl in the Indian society. At this day, various advertisements are run by the government on the TV channels, local newspapers and radio stations and through the message of “Save the Girl Child”. NGO organizations and non government organizations also come together and take part in the celebration to fight against the social stigma about girl child.

Objectives of Celebrating National Girl Child Day

• It is celebrated as a national observance to increase the consciousness of the people and offer new opportunities to the girl child in the society.
• To remove all the inequalities faced by the girl children of the Indian society.
• To make certain that every girl child is getting proper respect and value in the Indian society.
• To ensure that the girl children are getting their all the human rights in the country.
• To work against diminishing the child sex ratio in the India and change the people mind about the girl child.
• To initiate couple towards the girl child by increasing awareness about the importance and role of the girl child.
• To address the girl children issues associated to their health, respect, education, nutrition and etc.
• To propagate the gender equality among people in India.

Girl Child Rights in India

Government of India has taken various steps by declaring variety of schemes to make the girl child status better. Some of are:

• Sex determination during pregnancy through the clinics has been blocked by the government.
• Child marriages of the girls have been restricted.
• Antenatal care has been made necessary for all the pregnant women to fight with the malnutrition, high illiteracy, poverty and infant mortality in the society.
• “Save the Girl Child” scheme has been introduced by the government to save the girl child.
• Girl child education status in India has been improved through the free and compulsory primary school education for both boys and girls till 14 years of age.
• To improve the status of the girl child in India, the government of India has reserved 1/3 seats in the local government for women.
• Anti-MTP, anti-sati laws, anti-dowry Act has also been introduced by the legislature to enhance the women status and employment opportunities.
• Five Year Plan has been implemented to pay attention towards the education status in the backward states of the country.
• School children are well availed with the uniforms, noon meal and educational materials and repayments to the SC and ST caste girl’s families.
• Balwadi-cum-creeches have been implemented for caring the girl babies and attend the primary school.
• “Operation Blackboard” including other programmes has been organized for the teacher’s education to make the school services advance.
• The Open Learning System has been established for easiness to the girls of backward areas.
• It has been declared for the girl child that “girls must be given equal treatments and opportunities from the very beginning” to expand the opportunities for them.
• The SHG means Self-Help Groups has been introduced by the government as the main policy in order to make better the livelihood of rural areas girls.

120th Birth Anniversary of Subhash Chandra Bose(Netaji)

                                    Subhas Chandra Bose Jayanti 2017

Subhas Chandra Bose (1897-1945 C.E.) was born on 23^rd January 1897 in Cuttack, Orissa. He was famously known as Netaji. Netaji was one of the prominent leaders who struggled for India's Independence from British rule. He is most famously known for building Indian National Army with Japanese support.

Cimpetitions Winners

Happy Sankranthi

104th Indian Science Congress

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Savithri Bai Phule Birth Anniversary

Hailed as the country's first woman teacher, Savitribai Phule was also a social worker and a poet. Born on January 3, 1831, 2017 marks her 186th birth year. Savitribai Phule is credited with laying the foundation of education opportunities for women in India and played a major role in improving women's rights in the country during the British Raj. Many of her poems were against discrimination and spoke about the need to get educated. She campaigned against untouchability, Sati tradition, child marriage and other social evils most of her life.

Savitribai Phule was born in Maharashtra's Naigaon. She was the eldest daughter of Lakshmi and Khandoji Neveshe Patil. At the age of 9, in 1840, she was married to 13-year-old Jyotirao Phule.

Jyotirao Phule educated her at home and trained her to become a teacher. Along with her husband, also a social reformer, she opened 18 schools for girls, going on to become India's first woman teacher and headmistress. Both her first and 18th school came up in Maharashtra's Pune. In her honour, the University of Pune was renamed as Savitribai Phule University in 2014.

Savitribai Phule fought against the caste system and worked towards the upliftment of the marginalised. In 1863, they started a 'home for the prevention of infanticide' in their own house, to ensure the safety of widows. Both she and her husband dedicated their lives to building a movement for equality between men and women and a fight against the caste system and remain shining examples for social reformers fighting for gender equality.