INDIA
1954

SIGNIFICANT progress towards international agreement on calendar reform was reported at the Eighth Annual Meeting 14 January 1955 of The World Calendar Association, International, held in the International Building, New York City, . Published highlights (JCR Vol. 24, March 1955) for INDIA:

Under the chairmanship of Professor M. N. Saha, Calcutta, the work this past year in India has been exceedingly productive. The Journal of Calendar Reform has reported these activities in detail and they loomed large in the discussion at the annual meeting. All supporters of The World Calendar must share with this Association a deep sense of appreciation to India for contributing what well may be the most historic step forward in calendar reform in recent years.

INDIA
1953

SUSTAINED progress toward the international enactment of calendar reform was reported at the Seventh Annual Meeting 15 January 1954 of The World Calendar Association, International, held in the International Building, New York City. Published highlights (JCR Vol. 24, April 1954) for INDIA:

The positive attitude of India in regard to calendar reform culminated in October, when the government presented to the United Nations a "Memorandum on the Question of World Calendar Reform," urging that "The ideal of the whole world is to have a logical and perpetual calendar to replace the present Gregorian Calendar." The Memorandum, in six comprehensive sections, is a supporting document for the India government's motion to place The World Calendar on the agenda of the July meeting of the U.N. Economic and Social Council.

India's action at the U.N. is the direct result of recommendations made by a Calendar Reform Committee appointed by Prime Minister Nehru in 1952, under the chairmanship of the distinguished scientist, Professor M. N. Saha of the Institute of Nuclear Physics ;in Calcutta. The committee, after exhaustive preliminary studies, held a plenary meeting for three days in February. Its conclusions were promptly presented to the Prime Minister and action followed without delay at the United Nations.

A program of procedure for the July meeting of ECOSOC was being planned in Delhi at the year-end, with the advisory assistance of James Avery Joyce, honorary secretary of the British Section of The World Calendar Association.

An interesting corollary to the official activities centering in Delhi was the emergence in Hyderabad of a spokesman for calendar reform among the Moslem countries. This authority, Dr. Hashim Amir Ali, dean of agriculture at Osmania University, made a trip to the United States during which he held several meetings on calendar reform--in New York, Princeton, Chicago and other cities--and conferred extensively with the headquarters officials of The World Calendar Association. His studies in the application of calendar reform to Moslem countries were reinforced from Delhi by a statement from the Minister of Education, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, speaking on behalf of the Moslem population of India: "The universal calendar as proposed by The World Calendar Association is very useful indeed, and no religious question arises in this respect against its adoption." Dr. Ali's activities, which at the end of the year included conferences in Delhi and other important centers, will continue in 1954 with visits to Moslem countries which are neighbors of India.

CONTACT The World Calendar Association

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