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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