International Day for the Eradication of Poverty

                                       

The International Day for the Eradication of Poverty is celebrated every year on October 17 throughout the world. It was officially recognized by the United Nations,but the first commemoration of the event took place in Paris, France, in 1987 when 100,000 people gathered on the Human Rights and Liberties Plaza at the Trocadéro to honour victims of poverty, hunger, violence and fear.It promotes people’s awareness of the need to eradicate poverty and destitution worldwide, particularly in developing countries.

At the Millennium Summit, world leaders committed themselves to cutting by half by the year 2015 the number of people living in extreme poverty - people whose income is less than one dollar a day.

The theme for this year’s International Day for the Eradication of Poverty -- “Working together out of poverty” -- highlights the need for a truly global anti-poverty alliance, one in which both developed and developing countries participate actively.

World Food Day

16th October has been declared as World Food Day which is observed in remembrance of launching of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in 1945. It is also the Food Engineer day.

The World Food Day theme for 2012 is "Agricultural cooperatives – key to feeding the world".The official World Food Day theme, announced each spring by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), gives focus to World Food Day observances and raises awareness and understanding of approaches to ending hunger.

The aim of the Day is to heighten public awareness of the world food problem and strengthen solidarity in the struggle against hunger, malnutrition and poverty. 

Cooperatives are an important piece of achieving food security for all. 70 percent of those who face hunger live in rural areas where agriculture serves as the economic mainstay. Smallholder farmers are central to addressing hunger, yet many face barriers such as a lack of infrastructure, outdated farming practices, and a lack of access to financial services.  Cooperatives improve farmers’ agricultural productivity and equip them with access to marketing, savings, credit, insurance, and technology. Farmer cooperatives serve both to connect farmers to markets and to increase food production.

Supporting smallholder farmers enhances global food security and reduces poverty. Cooperatives link smallholder farmers to markets by aggregating their product, facilitating the adoption of new technologies and inputs, encouraging greater productivity and crop diversification, and providing a platform for smallholder producers in decisions that affect their livelihoods.

Good things happen when people believe in themselves and get organized. On World Food Day 2012, let us resolve to give cooperatives a helping hand, enabling them to overcome constraints and to play their full role in the drive to end hunger and poverty.

"Today in World"

Today marked as World White cane day, Global Hand-washing day and International day of Rural Woman.

International day of Rural Woman.

"Empowering rural women is crucial for ending hunger and poverty. By denying women rights and opportunities, we deny their children and societies a better future. This is why the United Nations recently launched a programme to empower rural women and enhance food security."

Throughout history, women traditionally have been the backbone of society. While men have gone off hunting or fighting, it has always been the women who have quietly stayed behind to run everything in their absence, caring for children and older relatives, managing the home and simply being there when and if the menfolk returned.

In rural areas women have traditionally played a crucial role in agriculture and the local economy. Although in the developed world where modern machinery is now capable of doing much the work formerly done by a large labour force, this is no longer so evident, but in developing countries, where agriculture continues to be largely centered around smallholder farming, a large labour force is still very important.

Rural women and girls make up about a quarter of the world's population and in the developing world women play a vital part in food production from the land.

International recognition of the vital role of rural women was first recognized during the 4^th UN World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995, when several international organisations launched World Rural Women's Day. Very soon this was being celebrated in more than 100 countries around the world.

In December 2007 the UN General Assembly decided that the particular role of rural women should be highlighted by making 15^th October 2008 the first International Day of Rural Women. This day was chosen since it is the day immediately before UN World Food Day.

The theme for the 57th session of the commission on the statues of Women is:

   " Elimination and prevention of all forms of violence against women and girls" 

Global Hand-washing Day

Global Hand-washing Day is a campaign to motivate and mobilize millions around the world to wash their hands with soap. It takes place on October 15 of each year. The campaign is dedicated to raising awareness of hand-washing with soap as a key approach to disease prevention.

It was made at the annual World Water Week 2008, which was held in Stockholm from August 17 to 23 and initiated the Public Private Partnership for Hand-washing. The Global Hand-washing Day took place for the first time on October 15, 2008, the date appointed by UN General Assembly in accordance with year 2008 as the International Year of Sanitation.

The theme for Global Hand-washing Day’s inaugural year was Focus on School Children. The members pledged to get the maximum number of school children hand-washing with soap in more than 70 countries.

2012 marks the 5th anniversary of Global Hand-washing Day!

World White Cane Day

This day of recognition is held around the world each year on 15 October to highlight the use of the White Cane in our community and to promote the safety needs of people who are blind or have low vision.

People who are blind have used canes to help them find their way for centuries but the origin of the White Cane lies between the two World Wars. James Biggs of Bristol claims to have invented the White Cane in 1921. After losing his sight and feeling vulnerable to traffic near his home, he painted his walking stick white to be more visible to motorists. It was after World War II that American Doctor Richard Hoover developed the "long cane" method of cane travel as a means to help war veterans who were blind return to a more functional lifestyle.

A day recognizing the importance of the White Cane was first proclaimed in 1964 by American President Lyndon B Johnson. He designated October 15th as White Cane Safety Day and called upon the community to observe the day with ceremonies and activities.

We celebrate  the day (now known as International White Cane Day) with events that promote the safety needs of people who are blind and celebrate the independence that can be achieved in spite of little or no vision.

In Sri Lanka we also celebrate it as " Loka Sudu Sarayati Dinaya" 

World Standards Day

Each year on 14 October, the members of the IEC, ISO and ITU celebrate World Standards Day, which is a means of paying tribute to the collaborative efforts of the thousands of experts worldwide who develop the voluntary technical agreements that are published as international standards.The aim of World Standards Day is to raise awareness among regulators, industry and consumers as to the importance of standardization to the global economy.

Today we celebrate the 43rd World Standard Day, under the theme: “Less waste, Better Results - Standards increase efficiency ” Although standardization is very important to nearly all aspects of human activity, ordinary people are still questioning what standardization means to their lives.

One of the most important aspects of standardization is ensuring that products or services are environmentally friendly and safe for humans. For instance, an electronic goods producer must ensure that products from its factory will not harm end users with shocks or dangerous frequencies.

For that reason, national and international standards have an important role in dictating the technical specifications of a product. Furthermore, standardized testing and assessment methods are also important to make sure products meet the necessary specifications.

And also the standardized measurement is very important in national and international society.Measurements are necessary to make everything standard, and every measurement needs a standard.

In conjunction with the World Standard Day, If everybody follows standards and uses proper methods of measurement, dangerous incidents would occur far less frequently.

World Sight Day

      "World Working Together to Eliminate Avoidable Blindness"

World Sight Day is a global event that focuses on bringing attention on blindness and vision impairment. It is observed on the second Thursday of October each year.

World Sight Day is observed around the world by all partners involved in preventing visual impairment or restoring sight. It is also the main advocacy event for the prevention of blindness and for "Vision 2020: The Right to Sight", a global effort to prevent blindness created by WHO and the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness.

World Sight Day is a global observance but it is not a nationwide public holiday.World Sight Day is observed for the following reasons:

• Awareness is created about blindness and vision impairment issues which are considered to be international public health concerns.
• To motivate health ministers and other government officials to understand the problems and take keen interest in listing viable solutions and allocating resources to fight for the cause.
• To raise awareness and educate people about issues related to vision impairment, the importance of a 2020 vision, the corrective steps to be taken in order to restore partially lost sight etc.

World sight day 2012 theme is 

         "Working Together to Eliminate Avoidable Blindness"

World Post Day

                                                         Today is the "World Post Day".

World Post Day, which falls on 9 October, in every year celebrates the Anniversary of the establishment of the Universal Postal Union in 1874 in the Swiss Capital, Bern. World Post Day was declared by the UPU Congress held in Tokyo in 1969.

Since then, countries across the world participate annually in the celebrations organized to mark the day. The Posts in many countries use the event to introduce or promote new postal products and services. This time the theme for 2012: is. 

                                             "a new strategy for a new world."

The purpose of the World Post Day is to create awareness of the role of the postal sector in people's and businesses' everyday lives and its contribution to the social and economic development of countries. Every year , more than 150 countries celebrate World Post Day in a variety of ways.   

For this year, our Ministry of Posts and Postal Department  organized a World Post Day Stamp Exhibition in Postal Headquarters from October 6th  to 10th, to commemorate the 138th Anniversary of World Postal Day.

A series of events have been organized in Sri Lanka for  National Post Day ceremony at the Sir Lanka Foundation Institute presided over by Minister Jeewan Kumaratunge including a special bicycle race with 250 postmen on 09th. The Postal Authorities have issued a new set of stamps depicting flowers of Sri Lanka to mark the World Post Day and public could purchase rare stamps at the exhibition.

World Children's Day

 It is our day, Children's day !

It is said that the greatest need of a person in life is the feeling of ‘being wanted’ and ‘being noticed’. The thirst for wontedness is an unquenchable thirst, found in every human being. It is particularly true in the case of children. They long to be wanted, shown affection and appreciated. So that Children's day celebrated on various days in many places around the world, to honor children globally.Universal Children's Day takes place annually on November 20th and International Children's day is celebrated on June 1. In Sri lanka we celebrate this special day on 1st of October.

Children are the future citizens of the country. The future of the country depends upon the present children. If the children do not develop in a proper way, the country's future will be ruined. On the Children's day the neglecting people will get an opportunity to think of the future of their children. The whole society will think of its duty and responsibility towards the children. They will think of what have been done for the children in the year past and what should be done for them in the year coming. Because children are the future citizens of the country and the future of the country depends upon the present children. People will know that every individual in our society has a sacred duty towards the children.

Every year on the 1st October the Children's Day is observed everywhere in our country. Last year The child development and women's affairs ministry of our country organized the National Children's Day ceremony in Presidents' House. Among the special goodies on offer are the issuing of a Children's day memorial stamp, Flag and a National Anthem for children.For this time also there are many events organize in various areas, to celebrate this wonderful day.

Today children are thrown open to evils of drug, sex, alcohol, hard labor  abuse and violence. Thousands of little children in our country are made to slog for long hours, for little pay. Hundreds are yet to see the light of modern education. Therefore, it is a call to put an end to various forms of child abuse that are taking place in our land. Such a day reminds us of the inestimable worth of those little angels.

They are the valuable asset of our nation, the future of our land, and the hope of tomorrow. The day also invites us to acquire the fine qualities that characterize children such as, simplicity, purity of heart and mind, innocence a sense of affection and attachment, etc.

Children constitute the greatest asset of a nation. A nation prospers or progresses to the extent it is able to develop the hidden potential lying untapped in her children. In a country like Sri Lanka, where children constitute a good percentage of the population, we need to give much more attention to their all-round development. A day like Children’s Day is a right step in this direction. The day invites all of us to give children their due-love, affection and opportunities for development.

"Children are the future of our country. They are the future of our nation. So, every individual should realize the importance of the Children's Day."