October 01 – INTERNATIONAL DAY OF OLDER PERSONS

International Day of Older Persons is observed to recognize the contributions of older persons and to examine issues that affect their lives. The objectives of the International Day of Older Persons are to draw attention to enabling conditions/measures that influence the readiness of older persons to participate including securing healthcare, regular income, legal protection and access to financial services, and to facilitate contributions and participation in old age, including technology, education and lifelong learning, access to information, as well as overcoming barriers that exclude or discriminate against older persons.

The theme for the year 2019 is  "The Journey to Age Equality", that aims to draw attention to the existence of old age inequalities and how this often results from a cumulation of disadvantages throughout life, and highlight intergenerational risk of increased old age inequalities, bring awareness to the urgency of coping with existing — and preventing future — old age inequalities, explore societal and structural changes in view of life course policies: life-long learning, proactive and adaptive labour policies, social protection and universal health coverage, and reflect on best practices, lessons and progress on the journey to ending older age inequalities and changing negative narratives and stereotypes involving "old age."

(Image credit: UN Photo/Paulo Filgueiras)

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OCTOBER 01 – INTERNATIONAL MUSIC DAY

International Music day was initiated on the 1st October in 1975 by Lord Yehudi Menuhin. It was first organized by the International Music Council on 1st October, 1975, in accordance with the resolution taken at the 15th General Assembly in Lausanne in 1973. World Music Day aims to create global atmosphere of music, a platform for people to come together with their diversities and mingle to make one unified whole

OCTOBER 02 - GANDHI JAYANTHI

Gandhi Jayanthi is celebrated to mark the occasion of the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi, Father of the Nation. This year marks the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. The Government of India has lined up a string of events across the globe to commemorate the 150th anniversary year of Mahatma Gandhi, which would include a global cycling event, a vegetarian food festival, compilation of a ‘Gandhi Anthology’ with write-ups from 150 globally renowned persons, and promotion of khadi abroad as an “idea” and a “health solution”, and not just a “garment”.

OCTOBER 02 -  INTERNATIONAL DAY OF NON-VIOLENCE

The United Nations General Assembly announced on 15 June 2007 that it adopted a resolution which declared that 2 October, the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi, father of Indian nation and pioneer of the philosophy and strategy of non-violence, will be celebrated as the International Day of Non-Violence.

(Image: The sculpture "Non-Violence" in the Olympic Park in Lausanne, Switzerland)

OCTOBER 02 – 08  - WORLD WILDLIFE WEEK

Wildlife Week is celebrated every year with the view to arouse a general awakening in the common man in favour of protection of wildlife.

OCTOBER 04 - 10 WORLD SPACE WEEK

World Space Week is an important international event celebrated since 1999, according to a United Nations (UN) resolution. The week long celebrations held from October 4 to 10 of every year, commemorate two milestones in Space exploration; 4th October marking the launch of the first man-made satellite, Sputnik-1 in 1957 and 10th  October marking the day on which the UN declaration for peaceful uses of outer Space came into force in 1967. World Space Week is celebrated every year under the auspices of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), and ISRO Inertial Systems Unit (IISU), Thiruvananthapuram, since 2001. 

The theme of World Space Week 2019 is “The Moon: Gateway to the Stars”. It celebrates the 50th anniversary of humankind’s first step on the moon on 20 July 1969.

OCTOBER 07 -  WORLD HABITAT DAY

World Habitat Day is observed on the first Monday of October every year. This year it falls on 7th October.  It was in 1985 that the United Nations designated the first Monday of October every year as World Habitat Day. World Habitat Day was first celebrated in 1986 with the theme “Shelter is My Right”. The World Habitat Day aims to draw the people attention towards the anxious need of poor people for an adequate housing.  It is also intended to remind the world of its collective responsibility for the future of the human habitat. It is observed that approximately 1.6 billion people worldwide are living in substandard housing.

The global observation of the World Habitat Day 2019 will be hosted by the Government of Cameroon in the City of Yaoundé on 7 October this year. The theme is “Frontier Technologies as an innovative tool to transform waste to wealth”.

(Photo : Workers of a factory sorting waste for re-cycling)

OCTOBER 09 -  WORLD POST DAY

World Post Day is celebrated each year on 9th October, the anniversary of the establishment of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) in 1874 in the Swiss Capital, Bern. It was declared World Post Day by the UPU Congress held in Tokyo, Japan in 1969. Since then, countries across the world participate annually in the celebrations. The Posts in many countries use the event to introduce or promote new postal products and services. 

(Image: Post-box of erstwhile Travancore and new Indian post-box erected in front of the Head Post Office, Vaikom in Kerala)

OCTOBER 10 –  WORLD MENTAL HEALTH DAY

World Mental Health Day is observed with the overall objective of raising awareness of mental health issues around the world and mobilizing efforts in support of mental health. Studies show that at least 13.7 per cent of India’s population has various mental disorders.

The theme selected for this year’s Day is suicide prevention. In our world every 40 seconds someone loses their life to suicide. Suicide affects people of all age groups in all countries. Suicide is the second leading cause of death among 15-29 year-olds. A prior suicide attempt is an important risk factor for suicide. So let us begin our efforts to raise awareness of the scale of suicide around the world and the role that each of us can play to help prevent it

OCTOBER   11 – WORLD SIGHT DAY

World Sight Day is observed annually on the second Thursday of October. This year it falls on 10th October. It is a global event to draw attention on blindness and vision impairment. Globally, the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) has a leadership role in preparing the annual World Sight Day. Cataract, refractive errors, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, AMD, ROP — eye care issues impact every age group and their well-being. So IAPB advices everyone for an eye examination. Look around in your family, especially for those who are vulnerable: young, school-going children, the elderly, those with diabetes. This year’s call to action on the World Sight Day is "Vision First".

OCTOBER 13 – INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR DISASTER REDUCTION

International Day for Disaster Reduction is observed to raise the profile of disaster risk reduction. It also encourages people and governments to participate in building more resilient communities and nations. This year’s theme is “Reduce disaster damage to critical infrastructure and disruption of basic services”.  The theme focuses on Target (d) of the Sendai Framework: “Substantially reduce disaster damage to critical infrastructure and disruption of basic services, among them health and education facilities, including through developing their resilience by 2030.

(Image: A landslide spot that wipe out almost an entire village in Kerala)

October 16 – WORLD FOOD DAY

World Food Day is observed in honor of the date of the founding of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in 1945. The theme of this year is: “Healthy Diets - For A Zero Hunger World” that calls for action across sectors to make healthy and sustainable diets affordable and accessible to everyone. At the same time, it calls on everyone to start thinking about what we eat. A healthy diet is one that meets the nutritional needs of individuals by providing sufficient, safe, nutritious and diverse foods to lead an active life and reduce the risk of disease. It includes, among others, fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds and whole grains, and foods that are low in fats (especially saturated fats), sugar and salt. Nutritious foods that constitute a healthy diet are not available or affordable for many people

OCTOBER 17 -   INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR THE ERADICATION OF POVERTY

International Day for the Eradication of Poverty is observed to promote people's awareness of the need to eradicate poverty and destitution worldwide, particularly in developing countries, as decided by the United Nations General Assembly.  The theme of this year’s international day for the eradication of poverty is “Acting together to empower children, their families and communities to end poverty”

OCTOBER 17 – NATIONAL AYURVEDA DAY

Ayurveda, India's natural system of healing has spread worldwide as an innovative and comprehensive system of mind-body medicine. Recognising the importance of global Ayurveda, the government of India has decided to observe National Ayurveda Day on the birth day of Lord Dhanwanthari, the Lord of Medicine.  This year, it is being celebrated on 17th October.

OCTOBER 24 – UNITED NATIONS DAY

United Nations Day marks the anniversary of the entry into force in 1945 of the UN Charter. In 1945, nations were in ruins. World War II was over. And the world wanted peace. 51 countries gathered in San Francisco that year to sign the document. The document was a Charter, creating a new organization, the UNITED NATIONS. Since then, the UN is maintaining international peace and security, promoting development and giving humanitarian assistance to those in need,  upholding the international law, protecting human rights, promoting democracy and now working together to fight  climate change. 

(Image: Signing of UN Charger by leaders of participant nations – courtesy:www.un.org)

OCTOBER 27 – DEEPAVALI

Divali or Deepavali, known as the "festival of lights", is an ancient Hindu festival celebrated in autumn every year. The festival spiritually signifies the victory of light over darkness, knowledge over ignorance, good over evil, and hope over despair. The festival preparations and rituals typically extend over a five day period, but the main festival night of Diwali coincides with the darkest, new moon night of the Hindu Lunisolar month Kartik.

In Kerala Deepavali is celebrated in memory of the killing of Narakasura by Lord Sri Krishna.  It is celebrated in the month of Thulam (October-November).  The oil bath of early morning, preparation of different types of sweets, fireworks are some of the special features of Deepavali.

OCTOBER 27 – WORLD DAY FOR AUDIO-VISUAL HERITAGE

The World Day for Audiovisual Heritage is the commemorative day chosen by UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization to raise of awareness of the significance of and preservation risks recorded sound and audiovisual documents (films, sound and video recordings, radio and television programmes; providing opportunities to celebrate specific local, national or international aspects of the heritage; highlighting the accessibility of archives; attracting media attention to heritage issues; raising the cultural status of audiovisual heritage; and highlighting audiovisual heritage in danger, especially in developing countries.

(Image: Stacks of film reels preserved at the UNESCO headquarters: courtesy- www.un.org )

OCTOBER 29 – INTERNATIONAL INTERNET DAY

The internet has transformed the world like no other force before it, and it’s just getting started. The international Internet Day is observed to commemorate the event of sending of the first electronic message which was transferred from one computer to another in 1969. 

Image: Internet BGP peering map (red - multi homed AS, green stubs)(courtesy: Wikipedia)