04 August - International Owl Awareness Day

Today Is International Owl Awareness Day. August 4 is International Owl Awareness Day, an annual celebration of owls.

Owls are birds from the order Strigiformes, which includes over 200 species of mostly solitary and nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vision, binaural hearing, sharp talons, and feathers adapted for silent flight. Exceptions include the diurnal northern hawk-owl and the gregarious burrowing owl.

Owls hunt mostly small mammals, insects, and other birds, although a few species specialize in hunting fish. They are found in all regions of the Earth except polar ice caps and some remote islands.

Owls are divided into two families: the true (or typical) owl family, Strigidae, and the barn-owl family, Tytonidae.

A group of owls is called a "parliament".

04 August - Remeberence Kashi Prasad Jayaswal

Kashi Prasad Jayaswal (27 November 1881 – 4 August 1937) was an Indian historian and lawyer. One of the intellectual forces behind the Indian nationalist movement, Jayaswal's works Hindu Polity (1918) and History of India, 150 A.D. to 350 A.D. (1933) are classics of ancient Indian historical literature. Among other things, he is credited with showing that Indian republics, based on the principles of representation and collective decision-making, were among the oldest and most powerful of the ancient world.

04 August - Kishore Kumar born in 1929

Abhas Kumar Ganguly (born 4 August 1929 – 13 October 1987), better known by his stage name Kishore Kumar was an Indian playback singer, actor, music director, lyricist, writer, director, producer and screenwriter.He was one of the most popular singers in the Indian film industry and from soft numbers to peppy tracks to romantic moods, Kumar sang in different genres but some of his rare compositions which were considered classics were lost in time.According to Ashok Kumar, Kumar's success came due the fact that his voice hit the microphone straight at its most sensitive point.

Apart from Hindi, he sang in many Indian languages including Bengali, Marathi, Assamese, Gujarati, Kannada, Bhojpuri, Malayalam and Urdu. He also sang on private albums in several languages especially in Bengali. He won 8 Filmfare Awards for Best Male Playback Singer and holds the record for winning the most Filmfare Awards in that category.He was awarded the "Lata Mangeshkar Award" by the Madhya Pradesh government in 1985–86. In 1997, the Madhya Pradesh Government initiated an award called the "Kishore Kumar Award" for contributions to Hindi cinema. In 2012 Kumar's unreleased last song sold for Rs 1,560,000 (1.56 million)at the Osian's Cinefan Auction in New Delhi.

#KishoreKumar

31 July - Martyrdom Day of Shahid Udham Singh 1940

Shaheed Udham Singh ( 26 December 1899 – 31 July 1940) was a revolutionary belonging to the Ghadar Party, best known for his assassination in London of Michael O'Dwyer, the former lieutenant governor of the Punjab in India, on 13 March 1940. The assassination was in revenge for the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar in 1919 for which O'Dwyer was responsible.[1] Singh was subsequently tried and convicted of murder and hanged in July 1940. While in custody, he used the name Ram Mohammad Singh Azad, which represents the three major religions of Punjab and his anti-colonial sentiment.

Udham Singh is a well-known figure of the Indian independence movement. He is also referred to as Shaheed-i-Azam Sardar Udham Singh (the expression "Shaheed-i-Azam", means "the great martyr"). A district (Udham Singh Nagar) of Uttarakhand was named after him to pay homage in October 1995.

On 1 April 1940, Udham Singh was formally charged with the murder of Michael O'Dwyer, and remanded in custody at Brixton Prison. Initially asked to explain his motivations.Singh was convicted of murder and sentenced to death. On 31 July 1940, Singh was hanged at Pentonville Prison. His remains are preserved at the Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar, Punjab. On every 31 July, marches are held in Sunam by various organisations and every statue of Singh in the city is paid tribute with flower garlands.

#udhamSingh

30 July - The Trans-Canada Highway is officially opened in 1962

 

 

The Trans-Canada Highway, the longest national highway in the world, is officially opened on 30 July

The Trans-Canada Highway is a transcontinental federal–provincial highway system that travels through all ten provinces of Canada from the Pacific Ocean on the west coast to the Atlantic Ocean on the east coast. The main route spans 7,821 km (4,860 mi) across the country, one of the longest routes of its type in the world.[4] The highway system is recognizable by its distinctive white-on-green maple leaf route markers, although there are small variations in the markers in some provinces.

Throughout much of Canada, there are at least two routes designated as part of the Trans-Canada Highway. For example, in the western provinces, both the main Trans-Canada route and the Yellowhead Highway are part of the Trans-Canada system. Although the TCH, being strictly a transcontinental route, does not enter any of Canada's three northern territories or run to the United States border, it forms part of Canada's overall National Highway System (NHS), providing connections to the Northwest Territories, Yukon and the border, although the NHS (apart from the TCH sections) is unsigned.

30 July - Japanese submarine I-58 sinks the USS Indianapolis in 1945

 

 

Image taken as reference from google search

 

 

 

USS Indianapolis (CL/CA-35) was a Portland-class heavy cruiser of the United States Navy, named for the city of Indianapolis, Indiana. Launched in 1931, the vessel served as the flagship for the commander of Scouting Force 1 for eight years, then as flagship for Admiral Raymond Spruance in 1943 and 1944 while he commanded the Fifth Fleet in battles across the Central Pacific during World War II.

In July 1945, Indianapolis completed a top-secret high-speed trip to deliver parts of Little Boy, the first nuclear weapon ever used in combat, to the United States Army Air Force Base on the island of Tinian, and subsequently departed for the Philippines on training duty. At 0015 on 30 July, the ship was torpedoed by the Imperial Japanese Navy submarine I-58, and sank in 12 minutes. Of 1,195 crewmen aboard, approximately 300 went down with the ship.[4] The remaining 890 faced exposure, dehydration, saltwater poisoning, and shark attacks while stranded in the open ocean with few lifeboats and almost no food or water. The Navy only learned of the sinking four days later, when survivors were spotted by the crew of a PV-1 Ventura on routine patrol. Only 316 survived.The sinking of Indianapolis resulted in the greatest single loss of life at sea from a single ship in the history of the US Navy.

29 July - Aruna Asaf Ali death in 1996

Aruna Asaf Ali (16 July 1909 – 29 July 1996) was an Indian educator, political activist, and publisher. An active participant in the Indian independence movement, she is widely remembered for hoisting the Indian National flag at the Gowalia Tank maidan, Bombay during a Quit India Movement in 1942. Post-independence, she remained active in politics, becoming Delhi's first Mayor.

29 July - Ólavsøka Summer festival Faroe Islands

Ólavsøka is the biggest summer festival in the Faroe Islands, and by most Faroese considered as the national holiday of the Faroes along with Flagday on 25 April. Ólavsøka is celebrated for several days, but the day itself is on July 29. It is the day when the Faroese Parliament (Løgting), opens its session.

Ólavsøka is a cultural and sports festival with boat races, football matches and other events. The 28 July, which is the day where the finals of the rowing competitions take place, is half working day for the members of some of the labour unions while Saint Olaf's Day (Ólavsøkudagur) on 29 July is full holiday for members of most of the unions.

The literal meaning is "Saint Olaf's Wake" (vigilia sancti Olavi in Latin), from Saint Olaf's death at the Battle of Stiklestad in 1030 (see Olsok). Like several other Faroese holidays, the vøka begins the evening before, so Ólavsøka always starts on July 28 with an opening ceremony. Some events start even before that; there has been a Ólavsøka Concert held on 27 July for several years.

Ólavsøka is the day of the year when many Faroese crowd into the capital Tórshavn. There the national rowing competition finals are held, which is one of the highlights in Faroese sports. In addition, there are art exhibitions, folk music, and Faroese chain dancing. The chain dance is for everyone; normally it is held in Sjónleikarhúsið, which is a theatre in Tórshavn.

The salute for ólavsøka in Faroese is Góða ólavsøku! (Good Olaf's Wake!).

The stamps shown on the right were issued by Postverk Føroya on 18 May 1998, and the artwork was produced by Edward Fuglø.

28 July - Kasu Brahmananda Reddy born in 1909

Kasu Brahmananda Reddy (28 July 1909 – 20 May 1994) was the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, India, from 29 February 1964 to 30 September 1971. On 3 June 1977, he was elected president of the Indian National Congress.

Reddy is credited with creating the Industrial infrastructure in and around Hyderabad. Only Congress president to expel Indira Gandhi from Indian National Congress. During his long regime of seven years (longest for any Congress chief minister in the state of Andhra Pradesh), many major industries like BHEL, HMT, IDPL, Hindustan Cables and several defence establishments like MIDHANI, Bharath Dynamics were established. During his tenure as the Chief Minister, Jalagam Vengal Rao, the Home Minister was instrumental in suppressing the Naxal movement in the north coastal Andhra Pradesh.

Reddy also held key positions such as Telecommunications Minister, Home Minister of India (1974–1977) and Governor of Maharashtra (20 February 1988 to 18 January 1990). He was also only one of two elected All India Congress Committee Presidents, all others having been nominated.

28 July - Remembering Saint Alphonsa

Saint Alphonsa, F.C.C., (born Anna Muttathupadathu; 19 August 1910 – 28 July 1946) was an Indian religious sister and educator. She was the first woman of Indian origin to be canonised as a saint by the Catholic Church, and the first canonised saint of the Syro-Malabar Church, an Eastern Catholic Church based in Kerala. Her feast day is observed on 28 July.