06 March - Foundation Day Norfolk Island

 

Foundation Day is an annual public holiday in Norfolk Island commemorating the arrival of the original British settlers on 6 March 1788

Because the United States stopped accepting convicts from Britain after gaining independence, Britain needed new penal colonies. London thus commissioned Captain Arthur Phillip to head a group of 11 ships, known as the First Fleet, to do just that and establish a new penal colony in New South Wales.

After the First Fleet's landing in New South Wales, Captain Phillip instructed Lieutenant Philip Gidley King to take a small team of convicts and free men to colonise Norfolk Island. They reached the uninhabited island on 6 March 1788.

Each year on Foundation Day, local residents gather at the beach in Kingston and re-enact the arrival of the First Fleeters. They put on costumes to dress up as British sailors and row boats.

06 March - Independence Day Ghana

 

The Independence Day of Ghana is a national holiday celebrated yearly. This day is an official state holiday for the citizens of Ghana both within and in the diaspora to honour and celebrate the Heroes of Ghana who led the country to attain its independence. The Independence Day is celebrated on March 6 every year.Independence Day is also remembrance of the day that marks the declaration of Ghanaian independence from the British colonial rule.The first Prime Minister of Ghana; Kwame Nkrumah became the Head of Government from 1957 to 1960.On 6 March 1957 Kwame Nkrumah declared to the people of Ghana about their freedom, he added that, "the African People are capable of managing their own affairs and Ghana our beloved country is free forever."Ghana was the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to achieve its independence from European colonial rule.Many Ghanaians who have had the opportunity to serve as president have remembered the occasion and made Ghana Independence Day a public holiday to celebrate.Granting the day as a national holiday is well recognized such that, if 6 March of a year fell on a weekend of the Independence Day celebration,the working day that follows which is a Monday will be granted and observed as a holiday by the whole nation.Many Presidents from other African countries and Europe have been invited to Ghana to join in the celebration either as Guest Speakers or Invited Guests since the reign of former President Kwame Nkrumah till now.

06 March - International Unemployment Day

 

International Unemployment Day (March 6, 1930) was a coordinated international campaign of marches and demonstrations, marked by hundreds of thousands of people in major cities around the world taking to the streets to protest mass unemployment associated with the Great Depression. The Unemployment Day marches, organized by the Communist International and coordinated by its various member parties, resulted in two deaths of protestors in Berlin, injuries at events in Vienna and the Basque city of Bilbao, and less violent outcomes in London and Sydney.

In the United States, full-scale riots erupted in New York City and Detroit when thousands of baton-wielding police attacked tens of thousands of marchers. A total of 30 American cities in all saw mass demonstrations as part of the March 6 campaign, including Boston, Milwaukee, Baltimore, Cleveland, Washington, DC, San Francisco, and Seattle.

06 March - Mohammed Burhanuddin born in 1915

 

Mohammed Burhanuddin (6 March 1915 – 17 January 2014) was the 52nd Dā'ī al-Mutlaq of Dawoodi Bohras. He led the community for 49 years in a period of social, economic, and educational prosperity;strengthened and re-institutionalized the fundamental core of the community's faith; revived its culture, tradition, and heritage. In successfully achieving coexistence of traditional Islamic values and modern Western practices within the community, Burhanuddin completed the work his predecessor Taher Saifuddin had started.Burhanuddin was presented the highest national civilian honors of the states of Egypt and Jordan recognising his revivalism and restoration efforts.He was known in Arab countries as Azamat us-Sultan (lit. 'the Great Sovereign'). Owing to extensive travels for community reach-out,he was the first Dā'ī al-Mutlaq to visit Europe, Australia, and America
 

05 March - Alessandro Volta death anniversary

 

Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Volta ( 18 February 1745 – 5 March 1827) was an Italian physicist and chemist who was a pioneer of electricity and power who is credited as the inventor of the electric battery and the discoverer of methane. He invented the voltaic pile in 1799, and reported the results of his experiments in 1800 in a two-part letter to the president of the Royal Society.With this invention Volta proved that electricity could be generated chemically and debunked the prevalent theory that electricity was generated solely by living beings. Volta's invention sparked a great amount of scientific excitement and led others to conduct similar experiments, which eventually led to the development of the field of electrochemistry.

05 March - Gangubai Hangal born in 1913

 

Gangubai Hangal (5 March 1913 – 21 July 2009) was an Indian singer of the khayal genre of Hindustani classical music from Karnataka, who was known for her deep and powerful voice.Hangal belonged to the Kirana gharana

Hangal's mother's family was considered to be of low social status and for women of her generation singing was not considered appropriate employment; Hangal struggled against this prejudice and made a career.She performed all over India and for All India Radio stations until 1945. Hangal had initially performed light classical genres, including bhajan and thumri, but concentrated on khyal.Later, however, she refused to sing light classical, saying she sang only ragas.Hangal served as honorary music professor of the Karnataka University.She gave her last concert in March 2006 to mark her 75th career year.
Gangubai died on July 21 in 2009. The Karnataka state government declared two days of mourning for Hangal.A state funeral was announced for 22 July in Hubli by the district commissioner of the Dharwad district.

In September 2014, a postage stamp featuring Hangal was released by India Post commemorating her contributions to Hindustani music
   

05 March - Sant Dnyaneshwar commemorative postage stamp released

 

A commemorative postage stamp on Dnyaneshwar, a 13th century Marathi saint-poet, authored Dnyaneshwari, the first book to translate Bhagavad Gita from Sanskrit to Marathi language : Issued by India Issued on Mar 5, 1997 Design : The commemorative postage stamp in honour of Saint Dnyaneshwar, has been designed by I.S.P. Nashik, on the basis of artwork provided by Shree Dnyaneshwar Maharaj Sansthan Committee.

Sant Dnyaneshwar also referred to as Jnaneshwar, Jnanadeva, Dnyandev or Mauli or Dnyaneshwar Vitthal Kulkarni (1275–1296),as a 13th-century Indian Marathi saint, poet, philosopher and yogi of the Nath Shaiva and Varkari tradition. In his short life of 21 years, he authored Dnyaneshwari (a commentary on the Bhagavad Gita) and Amrutanubhav.These are the oldest surviving literary works in the Marathi language, and considered to be milestones in Marathi literature.Sant Dnyaneshwar's ideas reflect the non-dualistic Advaita Vedanta philosophy and an emphasis on Yoga and bhakti towards Vithoba, an incarnation of Lord Vishnu.[6] His legacy inspired saint-poets such as Eknath and Tukaram, and he is one of the founders of the Varkari (Vithoba-Krishna) Bhakti movement tradition of Hinduism in Maharashtra.Dnyaneshwar undertook samadhi at Alandi in 1296 by entombing himself in an underground chamber.

04 March - Geological Survey of India formed in 1851

 

The Geological Survey of India (GSI) is a scientific agency of India. It was founded in 1851, as a Government of India organization under the Ministry of Mines, one of the oldest of such organisations in the world and the second oldest survey in India after Survey of India (founded in 1767), for conducting geological surveys and studies of India, and also as the prime provider of basic earth science information to government, industry and general public, as well as the official participant in steel, coal, metals, cement, power industries and international geoscientific forums.

04 March - First Asian Games 4 to 11 March 1951

 

The 1951 Asian Games officially known as the First Asian Games, was a multi-sport event celebrated in New Delhi, India from 4 to 11 March 1951. The Games received names like First Asiad and 1951 Asiad. A total of 489 athletes representing 11 Asian National Olympic Committees (NOCs) participated in 57 events from eight sports and discipline. The Games was the successor of the Far Eastern Games and the revival of the Western Asiatic Games. The 1951 Asiad were originally scheduled to be held in 1950, but postponed until 1951 due to delays in preparations. On 13 February 1949, the Asian Games Federation was formally established in Delhi, with Delhi unanimously announced as the first host city of the Asian Games.

04 March - Shyam Lal Gupta composed the song Raising the Flag In 1924.

 

Shyamlal Gupta, popularly known by his pen name Parshad, (9 September 1896 – 10 August 1977) was an Indian poet and lyricist. A song written by him which featured in the 1948 Hindi film, Azadi Ki Raah Par, (sung by Sarojini Naidu), has been accepted as the flag song of India and is sung every year during the flag hoisting ceremony at the Independence Day and Republic Day celebrations.He was the recipient of the fourth highest civilian award (Padma Shri) in 1969. In 1997, the Government of India issued a postage stamp in his honor.

The song was originally written by Gupta in March 1924 as a patriotic poem and was released by Khanna Press in Kanpur, The poem sold over 5000 copies.The Indian National Congress adopted the song as the official flag song in 1924 and it was first sung at the Jallianwala Bagh Martyrs' Day on 13 April 1924 at Phool Bagh in Kanpur, a function attended by Jawaharlal Nehru.In 1938, Sarojini Naidu presented the song at the Haripura Session of the Indian National Congress in the presence of freedom leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi, Motilal Nehru, Jawaharlal Nehru, Dr Rajendra Prasad, Govind Vallabh Pant, Jamnalal Bajaj, Mahadev Desai, and Purushottam Das Tandon.A decade later, the song was featured in the film, Azadi ki Raah Par, released in 1948.The film was directed by Lalit Chandra Mehta,and had Prithviraj Kapoor and Vanamala Pawarin the lead roles.The song, composed by Shekhar Kalyan and sung by Sarojini Naidu,is reported to have instilled a sense of patriotism among Indians during the pre-independence period. It is sung every year during the flag hoisting ceremony at the Independence Day and Republic Day celebrations.

The song in Hindi:

विजयी विश्व तिरंगा प्यारा, झण्डा ऊँचा रहे हमारा।

सदा शक्ति बरसाने वाला, प्रेम सुधा सरसाने वाला। वीरों को हर्षाने वाला, मातृ भूमि का तन मन सारा।। झण्डा ऊँचा रहे हमारा ...

स्वतंत्रता के भीषण रण में, रख कर जोश बढ़े क्षण-क्षण में। काँपे शत्रु देखकर मन में, मिट जाये भय संकट सारा।। झण्डा ऊँचा रहे हमारा ...

इस झँडे के नीचे निर्भय, हो स्वराज जनता का निश्चय। बोलो भारत माता की जय, स्वतंत्रता ही ध्येय हमारा।। झण्डा ऊँचा रहे हमारा ...

आओ प्यारे वीरों आओ, देश धर्म पर बलि-बलि जाओ। एक साथ सब मिल कर गाओ, प्यारा भारत देश हमारा।। झण्डा ऊँचा रहे हमारा ...

शान न इसकी जाने पाये, चाहे जान भले ही जाये। विश्व विजयी कर के दिखलाएं, तब हो ये प्रण पूर्ण हमारा।। झण्डा ऊँचा रहे हमारा ...