Important Dates & Festivities - Current Affairs for September, 2016

A once in 12 years festival of Buddhist culture, tradition and spirituality commenced on 16th September 2016 at the Hemis monastery of Drukpa lineage in Ladakh region, India

• Festival will conclude on 22nd September
• Monks, devotees and tourists reached Ladakh for the Kumbh Mela of the Himalayas, the Naropa Festival
• This drew large number of Buddhists
• Most were from the Drukpa branch practiced in Ladakh and Bhutan
• Dancers in silk costumes and traditional gear performed to drum as well as pipe music as part of the mountain festival to celebrate 1000th birth anniversary of Buddhist saint Naropa.
• A 60 foot tall silk embroidery brocade of Buddha Amitabha was also launched on 19th Sept 2016
• 12th Gyalwang Drukpa, spiritual head of the 1000 year old Drukpa Order based in Himalayan town unfurled the brocade thanks amidst chanting of prayers
• Special stand was erected at Naropa palace to display this thanks, said to be the world’s largest silk embroidered thanka or brocade
• Naropa was an Indian Buddhist Mahasiddha saint and a contemporary of Atisa, a Buddhist Bengali leader and spiritual master
• He was born in a high status Brahman family of Bengal and entered the Buddhist University at Nalanda in his 20s to study Sutra and Tantra
• He was given the title of Guardian of the North Gate and was a disciple of Tilopa; he was also a pupil of Niguma
• Hemis Monastry is a Tibetan Buddhist monastery of the Drukpa Lineage located in Ladakh’s Hemis hamlet
• Monastery has existed since the 11th century and is the abode of Saint Naropa
• Monastery was re-established in 1672 by Ladakh’s King Sengge Namgyal

President of India Shri Pranab Mukherjee extended greetings and felicitations to Government and people of United Mexican States on the 206th anniversary of their Independence day on 16th Sept.

• Mr. Enriqué Peña Nieto is the current President of the United Mexican States\
• India and Mexico share close ties; PM Modi paid a visit to the country in recent times
• Meanwhile Indian observed Engineers day on 15th Sept
• It is the birth anniversary of Bharat Ratna M. Visvesvaraya
• On his birth anniversary, Engineer’s Day is celebrated in India

5th edition of Dharamshala International Film Festival (DIFF) will begin on November 3 in the mountain town of McLeod Ganj, Dharamshala.

• 4 day festival has announced 6 first films:
• South Korean drama “A Korean in Paris”, cinematographer
• Rajiv Ravi’s “Kammatipaadam”,
• Marathi film “Lathe Joshi”,
• “Sonita” based on Afghan rapper Sonita Alizadeh,
• British documentary “Syrian Love Story” and
• Thai film “The Island Funeral”.
• Festival directors, Ritu and Tenzing, are determined that the event will maintain its established momentum.
• DIFF is presented by White Crane Arts & Media, a trust founded by Ritu and Tenzing
• It aims to promote contemporary cinema, art and independent media practices in the Himalayan regions of India.
• It debuted in 2012 and showcases the best of Indian and world cinema

President of India Shri Pranab Mukherjee extended greetings to the following nations on their Independence Day (Sept 15, 2016): Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.

• Mr. Luis Guillermo Solis Rivera is the President of the Republic of Costa Rica.
• The India-SICA Dialogue, to which India attaches great importance, adds yet another dimension to the mutually beneficial bilateral cooperation between the nation and Nicaragua, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador
• Mr. Daniel Ortega Saavedra is the current President of the Republic of Nicaragua
• Mr. Jimmy Morales Cabrera is the President of the Republic of Guatemala.
• The ties are further reinforced through platforms such as the Central American Integration System (SICA), the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) and Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) etc between India and Guatemala/Costa Rica/Nicaragua/Honduras/ El Salvador
• Mr. Juan Orlando Hernandez is the President of the Republic of Honduras
• Mr. Salvador Sanchez Ceren is the President of the Republic of El Salvador

The day was observed to promote the Matra Bhasha or mother tongue of India and show its importance as a language in the country and the world at large.

• As part of the Hindi Diwas Samaroh, a special function named Hindi Hain Hum was organised at PHD Chamber of Commerce, New Delhi
• On the occasion of Hindi Divas , the Indian President awarded the Rajbhasha award instituted by the Rajbhasha Vibhag, MHA to recognise the excellent contribution of Ministries, Departments and Nationalised Banks in the field of Hindi.
• National Hindi Divas is observed on 14th Sept annually in India because it was on this day in 1949 that CA of India adopted Hindi in Devanagari script as the Official language of the Union
• Hindi is the fourth most spoken language of the world
• In India it is used as a mother tongue by 258 million persons
• Outside Asia, Hindi is Fiji’s official language along with Fijian and English- the dialect of Hindi spoken here is Fiji Baat or Fiji Hindi.
• Official language policy of the Union has been explained in detail under A120 (Part 5) A210 (Part 6). A342, 355 and A348 to 351 prescribed the official language of Union and States

President of India Shri Pranab Mukherjee extended greetings to the Republic of Cabo Verde on their National Day’s eve.

• The national day is celebrated on September 12, 2016
• The current President of this nation is Mr. Jorge Carlos de Almeida Fonseca
• Shri Mukherjee also greeted India on the eve of Idu’l Zuha
• Festival recalls the selfless sacrifice by Hazrat Ibrahim and inspires people to embrace universal brotherhood, peace and harmony
• Vice President Shri Hamid Ansari also greeted the citizens on the occasion of this festival which inculcates spirit of “sacrifice, sympathy and and brotherhood” in the community
• This festival is celebrated with traditional fervour and zest in India and the world
• National state and local government offices, post offices and banks are closed
• This festival is considered a festival of sacrifice and gets its name from “iwd” festival and Zaha or uzhaiyya which translates into sacrifice
• The tradition of sacrificing comes from an ancient legend revolving around Ibrahim/ Abraham.

President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee has extended his greetings and felicitations to the Government and people of the Republic of Tajikistan on the eve of 25th anniversary of their Independence Day (September 9, 2016).

• Currently Mr. Emomali Rahmon is the President of the Republic of Tajikistan.
• The President has also extended his greetings and felicitations to the Government and people of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea on the eve of their Foundation Day (September 9, 2016).
• Marshal Kim Jong Un, the First Secretary of Worker's Party of Korea, First Chairman of National Defence Commission and Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army is the President of DPRK
• DPRK is currently fighting with the Republic of South Korea
• It has an anti US policy

The International Literacy Day was celebrated on Sept 8, 2016 across the world.

• The theme of the day was “Reading the Past, Writing the Future”
• Theme was chosen to honour past 5 decades of national and international engagement efforts and progress made to increase literacy rates across the world
• Theme also addresses current challenges and looks to innovative solutions to further boost literacy in the future
• Literacy is also part of the Sustainable Development Goals aiming to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
• Target by 2030 is that all youth and considerable number of adults achieve literacy and numeracy
• As per the Census 2011 report, illiteracy rate in India is 22 percent
• Kerala is the most literate state with 93.91 percent and Lakshadweep at 92.28 percent
• Bihar and Telangana have the lowest literacy with 63.82 percent and 66.50 per cent illiterate people respectively
• In 2014, literacy rate of India rose by 10 percent
• India is the world’s largest population of illiterates
• Illiteracy is high among many communities in India
• Jains are thee most literate community above 7 years of age among religious communities, 86.73 percent of them are literate
• Close to 61.6 percent men and 38.4 percent women have studied up to graduation or above
• As per UNESCO new Global Education Monitoring report, India will be expected to attain universal primary education in 2050, secondary education in 2060 and upper secondary education in 2085.
• First World Literacy Day was celebrated on 8th September 1966
• It was proclaimed by UNESCO in 1965
• On this day 5 Literacy Prizes are conferred namely International Reading Association Literacy Award, Noma Literacy Prize, UNESCO King Sejong Literacy Prize, The Malcolm Adiseshiah International Literacy Prize and UNESCO Confucius Prize for Literacy.

Western Odisha on 6th September 2016 celebrated the festival of Nuakhai, an agricultural festival of the region with fervour.

• Celebrations commenced with Nabanna in which freshly harvested rice was offered to Goddess Samaleswari as per Lagna or the auspicious moment
• The deity was also adorned with new vestments and ornaments not the occasion.
• People then offered Nabanna to presiding deities.
• This agricultural festival is observed by Western Odisha’s agrarian community to welcome the new rice of the season
• Festival is linked to Goddess Samaleswari in Sambalpur while Patneswari in Balangir, Sureshwari in Subarnapur and Sekharbasini in Sundargarh are worshipped.
• The Hindu calendar holds that this this festival is marked by gratitude to the bumper crop, good rain and suitable farming weather and is observed the day after the Ganesh Chaturthi on the fifth day of the lunar calendar of August-September.
• Eldest members of the family also worship paddy fields and cattle during this festival

President of India Shri Pranab Mukherjee extended greetings to the kingdom of Swaziland on the occasion of their independence day on 6th Sept 2016.

• King Mswati III is the current ruler of Swaziland which celebrated its 49th Independence Day in 2016
• Swaziland participated in the IAFS III Summit adding significant momentum to bilateral ties held in Delhi in October 2015
• He also extended greetings to Brazil on the eve of their independence day, held on 7th Sept
• Michel Temer is the current president of this nation
• India and Brazil have strategic partnership and interaction at bilateral and pluri-lateral levels and important global fora
• This includes IBSA, BRICS, BASIC, G-20, G-4 and UN, WTO,WIPO.

Shri Pranab Mukherjee presented the National awards to meritorious teachers from across the nation at Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi on the occasion of Teacher’s Day.
Distinguished teachers were conferred the award and the President emphasised the need for building a knowledge society.

• Award carried a Silver Medal, Certificate and INR 50,000
• 346 teachers were awarded the 2015 National Teachers award.
• This award was instituted in 1958
• September 5th is the date of investiture to accord public recognition to meritorious teachers in elementary and secondary schools

NE is home to numerous tribes with distinct culture and rich heritage.

• Adi tribe of AP recently celebrated the Solung Festival associated with farming
• Large number of people came together to celebrate this harvest festival
• Apart from rituals performed to appease the Solung Goddesses for a bumper harvest, the festival was also marked by traditional dance performances.
• Celebration of such festivals in the capital showcase its essential richness and identity of different tribes of the NE
• Festivals help in promoting unity and integrity

President of India Shri Pranab Mukherjee has extended greetings and felicitations to government and people of Slovak Republic on the eve of their Constitution Day September 1, 2016

• Andrej Kiska, President of the Slovak Republic was also greeted
• In July 2016, Slovakia assumed the Presidency of the EU
• President of India also extended greetings to Uzbekistan celebrating their independence day on the same date
• President of the Republic of Uzbekistan is Islam Karimov. In June 2016, Uzbekistan successfully hosted the SCO Summit in which India signed the historic Memorandum of Obligations towards SCO membership
• The 2 countries are bound by historical and cultural linkages