30-APR-1948 :- Original Land Rover debuts at auto show.

The Land Rover, a British-made all-terrain vehicle that will earn a reputation for its use in exotic locales, debuts at an auto show in Amsterdam on April 30, 1948.

The first Land Rover, known as the Series 1, was the brainchild of Maurice Wilks, the head designer for the British car company Rover, of which his brother Spencer Wilks was the managing director. Maurice Wilks used an old American-made Willys-Overland Jeep to do work at his farm in England. However, the Jeep was plagued by mechanical problems and Wilks decided to design a more reliable vehicle. He intended it to be used for farm work and be more versatile than a tractor. The resulting Land Rover, known as the Series 1, had a boxy, utilitarian design, four-wheel drive and a canvas roof. Such features as passenger seat cushions, doors, a heater and spare tires were initially considered extras and cost more. The rugged Land Rover was well-received by the public and ended up being used not just for agricultural work, but by police forces, military organizations, aid workers in remote places and travelers on expeditions where road conditions were poor or non-existent. In 1976, the 1 millionth Land Rover rolled off the assembly line in Solihull, Birmingham, England.

In 1970, the Range Rover, a more comfortable, luxurious version of the Land Rover, launched. The Discovery, a less expensive version of the Range Rover made its public debut in 1989; it was marketed to a younger, less conservative audience than Range Rover buyers. By that time, the company had experienced ownership changes: In 1967, Rover became part of Leyland Motors (later called British Leyland). British Aerospace later acquired Land Rover. In 1994, BMW acquired the Land Rover business. Next, in 2000, the Ford Motor Company purchased Land Rover for $2.7 billion. In 2008, Ford, which was experiencing a sales slump due to the worldwide economic crisis, sold Land Rover, along with another British-based brand, Jaguar, to Tata Motors of India for some $2.3 billion.

22-APR-1909 :- BIRTH OF Tukdoji Maharaj.

Tukdoji Maharaj 

(30 apr 1909 – 11 oct 1968) Name : Manik Bandoji Ingle was a spiritual person from Maharashtra, India.

He was born in 1909 in a poor family in the village of Yavali in Amravati District of Maharashtra.

He was a disciple of Aadkoji Maharaj.

Tukdoji Maharaj was involved in social reforms in the rural regions of Maharashtra, including construction of roads. He wroteGramgeeta which describes means for village development. Many of the development programs started by him have continued to work efficiently after his death.

Tukdoji Maharaj once attended a World Religions and World Peace Conference in Japan.On this visit, He wrote a book Meri Japan Yatra.

The postal department of India had honored Tukdoji Maharaj by issuing a commemorative stamp in his name. Former Nagpur University is renamed as "Rashtrasant Tukdoji Maharaj Nagpur University" in his honor.

30-APR-1030 :- DEATH OF Mahmud of Ghazni .

Mahmud of Ghazni 
(‎2 November 971 – 30 April 1030 ), also known as Mahmūd-i Zābulī ) was the most prominent ruler of the Ghaznavid Empire. He conquered the eastern Iranian lands and the northwestern Indian subcontinent(modern Afghanistan and Pakistan) from 997 to his death in 1030. Mahmud turned the former provincial city of Ghazna into the wealthy capital of an extensive empire which covered most of today's Afghanistan, eastern Iran, and Pakistan, by looting the riches and wealth from the then Indian subcontinent.He was the first ruler to carry the title Sultan , signifying the extent of his power, though preserving the ideological link to the suzerainty of the Abbassid Caliphate. During his rule, he invaded and plundered parts of Hindustan (east of the Indus River) 17 times.

30-APR IS International Jazz Day .

International Jazz Day 

Yearly event on 30 April, organized by UNESCO to celebrate “the virtues of jazz as an educational tool, and a force for peace, unity, dialogue and enhanced cooperation among people.”

The Day was proclaimed during the UNESCO General Conference in November 2011. The first annual International Jazz Day was kicked off in Paris by UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova and UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador Herbie Hancock.

UNESCO partners with the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz.

30-APR-2000 :- DEATH OF Poul Hartling , 36th Prime Minister of Denmark.

Poul Hartling 

(14 August 1914 – 30 April 2000) was a Danish diplomat and politician. He was a member of the Liberal Party (Denmark) and served as Prime Minister of Denmark from 1973 to 1975.

Hartling served as Foreign Minister of Denmark from 1968 until 1971 in the Cabinet of Hilmar Baunsgaard. In 1973 Hartling became Prime Minister of Denmark when the sitting Danish Social Democratic Party government of Anker Jørgensen was unable to form a government after the 1973 Danish parliamentary election. Hartling was Prime Minister from 18 December 1973 until 13 February 1975, when Anker Jørgensen and the Social Democrats came to power again.

Hartling then left Danish politics to work for the United Nations. He was the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees(UNHCR) from 1978 until 1985. In 1981 Hartling accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the UNHCR.

30-APR-1995 :- DEATH OF Maung Maung Kha , Prime Minister of Burma.

Colonel Maung Maung Kha 

( 7 June 1920 – 30 April 1995) was the 8th Prime Minister of Myanmar between 1977 and 1988.

Maung Maung Kha was born to Khin Tint and Chit Pe in Yangon. He enrolled in University of Rangoon in 1937 to study engineering but left school in the final year of studies to join the Burma Independence Army (BIA) in 1941. He completed military training, and became a member of the Burmese armed forces during the Japanese occupation of Burma (1942–1945). After independence in 1948, he rose to the rank of colonel and served as the Director of Defence Industries of Burmese Armed Forces.

Colonel Maung Maung Kha became a cabinet member in Gen. Ne Win's military government in 1972 when he was appointed Minister of Industry. Following the establishment of the Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma (SRUB) on 4 January 1974, and adoption of a new Constitution, Maung Maung Kha continued to served as Minister of Industry and later on as Minister of Mines. On 29 March 1977, he was appointed as the 8th Prime Minister of Myanmar. After increasing unrest in the country, on 26 July 1988, Maung Maung Kha was replaced by Tun Tin as Prime Minister.

30-APR-1945 :- DEATH OF Adolf Hitler .

Adolf Hitler 

( 20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the leader of the Nazi Party  (National Socialist German Workers Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945 and leader of Nazi Germany from 1934 to 1945. As effective dictator of Nazi Germany, Hitler was at the centre of World War II in Europe, and the Holocaust.

Hitler was a decorated veteran of World War I. He joined the German Workers' Party  in 1919, and became leader of the NSDAP in 1921. In 1923, he attempted a coup in Munich to seize power. The failed coup resulted in Hitler's imprisonment, during which time he wrote his autobiography and political manifesto Mein Kampf ("My Struggle"). After his release in 1924, Hitler gained popular support by attacking the Treaty of Versailles and promoting Pan-Germanism, antisemitism, and anti-communism with charismatic oratory and Nazi propaganda. Hitler frequently denounced international capitalism and communism as being part of a Jewish conspiracy.

Hitler's Nazi Party became the largest elected party in the German Reichstag, leading to his appointment as chancellor in 1933. Following fresh elections won by his coalition, the Reichstag passed the Enabling Act, which began the process of transforming the Weimar Republic into the Third Reich, a single-party dictatorship based on the totalitarian and autocratic ideology of National Socialism. Hitler aimed to eliminate Jews from Germany and establish a New Order to counter what he saw as the injustice of the post-World War I international order dominated by Britain and France. His first six years in power resulted in rapid economic recovery from the Great Depression, the denunciation of restrictions imposed on Germany after World War I, and the annexation of territories that were home to millions of ethnic Germans—actions which gave him significant popular support.

Hitler actively sought Lebensraum ("living space") for the German people. His aggressive foreign policy is considered to be the primary cause of the outbreak of World War II in Europe. He directed large-scale rearmament and on 1 September 1939 invaded Poland, resulting in British and French declarations of war on Germany. In June 1941, Hitler ordered an invasion of the Soviet Union. By the end of 1941 German forces and the European Axis powers occupied most of Europe and North Africa. Failure to defeat the Soviets and the entry of the United States into the war forced Germany onto the defensive and it suffered a series of escalating defeats. In the final days of the war, during the Battle of Berlin in 1945, Hitler married his long-time lover, Eva Braun. On 30 April 1945, less than two days later, the two committed suicide to avoid capture by the Red Army, and their corpses were burned.

Under Hitler's leadership and racially motivated ideology, the Nazi regime was responsible for the genocide of at least 5.5 million Jews and millions of other victims whom he and his followers deemed Untermenschen ("sub-humans") and socially undesirable. Hitler and the Nazi regime were also responsible for the killing of an estimated 19.3 million civilians and prisoners of war. In addition, 29 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of military action in the European Theatre of World War II. The number of civilians killed during the Second World War was unprecedented in the history of warfare.

30-APR-1945 :- DEATH OF Eva Braun , Hitler Wife .

Eva Anna Paula Hitler 

(6 February 1912 – 30 April 1945) was the long time companion of Adolf Hitler and, for less than 40 hours, his wife. Braun met Hitler in Munich when she was 17 years old, while she was working as an assistant and model for his personal photographer, and began seeing him often about two years later. She attempted suicide twice during their early relationship. By 1936, she was a part of his household at the Berghof near Berchtesgaden and lived a sheltered life throughout World War II. Braun was a photographer, and many of the surviving colour photographs and films of Hitler were taken by her. She was a key figure within Hitler's inner social circle, but did not attend public events with him until mid-1944, when her sister Gretlmarried Hermann Fegelein, the SS liaison officer on his staff.

As the Third Reich collapsed towards the end of the war, Braun swore loyalty to Hitler and went to Berlin to be by his side in the heavily reinforced Führer bunker beneath the Reich Chancellery. As Red Army troops fought their way into the neighborhood on 29 April 1945, she married Hitler during a brief civil ceremony; she was 33 and he was 56. Less than 40 hours later, they committed suicide together in a sitting room of the bunker, she by biting into a capsule of cyanide. The German public was unaware of Braun's relationship with Hitler until after their deaths.

30-APR-1987 :- BIRTH OF Rohit Sharma .

Rohit Gurunath Sharma 

born 30 April 1987 is an Indian cricketer. . He is a right-handed batsman and an occasional right-armoff break bowler who plays for Mumbai in domestic cricket. He is the captain of Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier Leagueand has been one of the most successful batsmen in the IPL.

Having started his international career at the age of 20, Sharma quickly came to be pegged by many analysts as a permanent fixture in the Indian cricket team in the next decade. In 2013, he started playing as an opening batsman for the Indian ODIteam, and performed consistently. He scored consecutive centuries in his first two Test matches against the West Indies in November 2013, scoring 177 at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on debut, followed by a score of 111* in the next Test at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

On 13 November 2014, he scored 264 against Sri Lanka at Eden Gardens, Kolkata, which is the highest individual score in ODIs and thus became the only player in the world to score two double-hundreds in ODIs. He also holds the record for being the only player to score 250+ in ODIs.

30-APR-1959 :- BIRTH OF Stephen Harper , 22nd and current Prime Minister of Canada.

Stephen Joseph Harper

(born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who is the 22nd and current Prime Minister of Canada and the Leader of the Conservative Party. Harper became prime minister in 2006, forming a minority government after the 2006 election. He is the first prime minister to come from the newly reconstituted Conservative Party, which formed after a merger of the Progressive Conservative Party and the Canadian Alliance.

Harper has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for the riding of Calgary Southwest in Alberta since 2002. Earlier, from 1993 to 1997, he was the MP for Calgary West. He was one of the founding members of the Reform Party, but did not seek re-election in the 1997 federal election. Harper instead joined and later led the National Citizens Coalition, a conservative lobbyist group.In 2002, he succeeded Stock well Day as leader of the Canadian Alliance (the successor to the Reform Party) and returned to parliament as Leader of the Opposition. In 2003, he reached an agreement with Progressive Conservative leader Peter MacKay for the merger of their two parties to form the Conservative Party of Canada. He was elected as the party's first non-interim leader in March 2004.

Harper's Conservative Party won a stronger minority in the October 2008 federal election, showing a small increase in the percentage of the popular vote and increased representation in the Canadian House of Commons, with 143 of 308 seats. The 40th Canadian Parliament was dissolved in March 2011, after his government failed a no-confidence vote on the issue of the Cabinet being in contempt of parliament.

In the May 2011 federal election, Harper's Conservative Party won a majority government, the first since the 2000 federal election. His party won 166 seats, an increase of 23 seats from the October 2008 election.

30-APR-1949 :- BIRTH OF António Guterres , 114th Prime Minister of Portugal.

António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres
( born 30 April 1949) is a former Portuguese politician, prime minister and former President of the Socialist International. He has been serving as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees since June 2005.

30-APR-1943 :- BIRTH OF Frederick Chiluba , 2nd President of Zambia.

Frederick Jacob Titus Chiluba 
(April 30, 1943 – June 18, 2011) was a Zambian politician who was the second President of Zambiafrom 1991 to 2002. Chiluba, a trade union leader, won the country's multi-party presidential election in 1991 as the candidate of the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD), defeating long-time President Kenneth Kaunda. He was re-elected in 1996. As he was unable to run for a third term in 2001, former Vice President Levy Mwanawasa instead ran as the MMD candidate and succeeded him. After leaving office, Chiluba was the subject of a long investigation and trial regarding alleged corruption; he was eventually acquitted in 2009.

30-APR-1921 :- BIRTH OF Roger L. Easton ,the principal inventor and designer of the Global Positioning System (GPS).

Roger Lee Easton, Sr. 
(April 30, 1921 – May 8, 2014) was an American scientist who was the principal inventor and designer of the Global Positioning System (GPS).He was born in Craftsbury, Vermont.

In 1955, Easton co-wrote the Naval Research Laboratory's Project Vanguard proposal for a U.S. satellite program in competition with two other proposals, including a proposal from the U.S. Army prepared by Wernher Von Braun. The Eisenhower Administration selected Project Vanguard. In 1957, Easton invented the Mini track tracking system to determine the Vanguard satellite's orbit. When Sputnik I was launched, Easton extended the system to actively follow unknown orbiting satellites.

In 1959, he designed the Naval Space Surveillance (NAVSPASUR) system. The Naval Space Surveillance System became the first system to detect and track all types of Earth-orbiting objects. It goes through the 33rd parallel, which is basically coast to coast.

Later in his career at NRL, Easton conceived, patented, and led the development of essential enabling technologies for the United States Global Positioning System (GPS). During the 1960s and early 1970s he developed a time-based navigational system with passive ranging, circular orbits, and space-borne high precision clocks placed in satellites. The idea was tested with four experimental satellites: TIMATION I and II (in 1967 and 1969) and Navigation Technology Satellites (NTS) 1 and 2 (in 1974 and 1977). NTS-2 was the first satellite to transmit GPS signals.

30-APR-1908 :- BIRTH OF Bjarni Benediktsson , 13th Prime Minister of Iceland.

Bjarni Benediktsson 

(30 April 1908 – 10 July 1970) was Prime Minister of Iceland from 14 November 1963 to 10 July 1970. His father, Benedikt Sveinsson (1877–1954), was a leader in the independence movement in Iceland and a member of Althingi from 1908 to 1931.

Bjarni studied constitutional law and became professor at the University of Iceland at the age of only 24. He was elected to the city council in Reykjavík in 1934 as a member of the Independence Party and from 1940 to 1947 was mayor of the city.

In 1947 he became Foreign Minister and served in various posts in cabinets until 1956. His tenure included the establishment of Iceland as a founding member of NATO in 1949. In 1956, when the left-wing parties formed a coalition government, Bjarni, out of office, became editor of Morgunblaðið, a leading conservative newspaper.

In 1959, when the Independence Party formed a coalition government with the Social Democrats, Bjarni became Minister of Justice. Two years later he was elected chairman of the Independence Party and in 1963 he took over from Ólafur Thors as Prime Minister. He served in this position until his death, which was caused by a fire at a government summer house at Þingvellir; his wife and grandson also perished in the blaze.

Bjarni was the father of Björn Bjarnason and the father-in-law of Vilmundur Gylfason.

30-APR-1901 :- BIRTH OF Simon Kuznets , Nobel Prize Winner .

Simon Smith Kuznets 

( April 30, 1901 – July 8, 1985) was a Jewish-American economist, statistician, demographer, and economic historian who won the 1971 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences "for his empirically founded interpretation of economic growth which has led to new and deepened insight into the economic and social structure and process of development."

Kuznets made a decisive contribution to the transformation of economics into empirical science, and to the formation of quantitative economic history.

30-APR-1245 :- BIRTH OF Philip III , King Of france .

Philip III 

(30 April 1245 – 5 October 1285), called the Bold  was a Capetian King of France who reigned from 1270 to 1285.

Philip proved indecisive, soft in nature, and timid. The strong personalities of his parents apparently crushed him, and policies of his father dominated him. People called him "the Bold" on the basis of his abilities in combat and on horseback and not on the basis of his political or personal character. He was pious but not cultivated. He followed the suggestions of others, first of Pierre de La Broceand then of his uncle King Charles I of Naples, Sicily, and Albania.

30-APR-1939 :- Opening Of New York World's Fair.

On April 30, 1939, a very hot Sunday, the fair had its grand opening, with 206,000 people in attendance. The April 30 date coincided with the 150th anniversary of George Washington's inauguration as President in New York City. Although many of the pavilions and other facilities were not quite ready for this opening, it was put on with pomp and great celebration.

David Sarnoff, then president of RCA and a strong advocate of television, chose to display a TV set at the opening of the World's Fair for the world to see. Before the fair, they had published a brochure for their dealers to explain television. As a reflection of the wide range of technological innovation on parade at the fair, Franklin D. Roosevelt's speech was not only broadcast over the various radio networks but also was televised along with other parts of the opening ceremony and other events at the fair. Roosevelt was seen on black and white television sets with 5-inch tubes.NBC used the event to inaugurate regularly scheduled television broadcasts in New York City over their station W2XBS (now WNBC). An estimated 1,000 people viewed the Roosevelt telecast on about 200 television sets scattered throughout the New York area.

In order to convince skeptical visitors that the television sets were not a trick, one set was made with a transparent case so that the internal components could be seen. As part of the exhibit,visitors could see themselves on television. After this formal introduction of television sets, they became widely available for the public.

In addition to Roosevelt's speech, Albert Einstein gave a speech which discussed cosmic rays. This was followed by the ceremonial lighting of the fair's lights. Dignitaries received a special Opening Day Program which contained their names written in Braille.

30-APR-1803 :- The United States purchases the Louisiana Territory from France.

On Saturday, April 30, 1803, the Louisiana Purchase Treaty was signed by Robert Livingston, James Monroe, and Barbé Marbois in Paris. President Jefferson announced the treaty to the American people on July 4. After the signing of the Louisiana Purchase agreement in 1803, Livingston made this famous statement, "We have lived long, but this is the noblest work of our whole lives...From this day the United States take their place among the powers of the first rank."

30-APR-1789 :- George Washington oath of the first President of the United States of America.

The Electoral College elected Washington unanimously as the first president in 1789, and again in the 1792 election; he remains the only president to have received 100 percent of the electoral votes.John Adams, who received the next highest vote total, was elected Vice President. At his inauguration, Washington took the oath of office as the first President of the United States of America on April 30, 1789, on the balcony of Federal Hall in New York City.

29-APR-1997 :- DEATH OF R.N. Molhotra.

R. N. Malhotra 

(1926 - April 29, 1997)was the seventeenth governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), serving from 4 February 1985 to 22 December 1990.

Malhotra was a member of the Indian Administrative Service. He had served as Secretary, Finance, and as India's Executive Director of the International Monetary Fund before his appointment as governor of the RBI. During his tenure, the 500-rupee note was introduced.He signed the 8hq A 50 rupees note 1986.

His wife Anna George Malhotra was the first woman member of the Indian Administrative Service.

29-APR-1957 :- National Civil Defence College was founded .

The National Civil Defence College

 was formerly known as Central Emergency Relief Training Institute (CERTI), which was founded on 29 April 1957 in Nagpur district of Maharashtra in India. It is the first disaster management training institute of the country. The conflicts of 1962 and 1965 compelled the Government of India to reorient it's emergency training activities from natural disasters to those relating to protection of life and property, reducing damage and raising public morale during any war emergency. Hence, CERTI was renamed as National Civil Defence College on 1 April 1968.^]

This college is identified as a premier training establishment in Chemical Disasters by the Ministry of Environment & Forests of Government of India. It is also listed/cataloged in UNDHA centres of Disaster relief training.

29-APR-1936 :- BIRTH OF Zubin Mehta , music conductor.

Zubin Mehta 
( born 29 April 1936) is an Indian Parsi conductor of Western classical music. He is the Music Director for Life of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and the Main Conductor for Valencia's opera house. Mehta is also the chief conductor of Maggio Musicale Fiorentino festival.

Mehta was born into a Parsi family in Bombay , India, the son of Mehli and Tehmina Mehta. His father was a violinist and founding conductor of the Bombay Symphony Orchestra, and also conducted the American Youth Symphony upon moving to Los Angeles, CA. Mehta is an alumnus of St. Mary's School, Mumbai, and St. Xavier's College, Mumbai. While in school, Mehta was taught to play the piano by Joseph de Lima, who was his first piano teacher. Mehta initially intended to study medicine, but eventually became a music student in Vienna at the age of 18, under Hans Swarowsky. Also at the same academy along with Mehta were conductor Claudio Abbado and conductor–pianist Daniel Barenboim.

Mehta's first marriage was to Canadian soprano Carmen Lasky in 1958. They have a son, Mervon, and a daughter, Zarina. In 1964, they divorced.Two years after the divorce, Carmen married Mehta's brother, Zarin Mehta, formerly the Executive Director of the New York Philharmonic. In July 1969, Mehta married Nancy Kovack, a former American film and television actress.Mehta, a permanent resident of the United States, retains his Indian citizenship.

Awards And Honours

Wolf Prize in Arts. In 1999.

Lifetime Achievement Peace and Tolerance Award" of the United Nations.

Padma Bhushan in 1966.

Padma Vibhushan in 2001.

Kennedy Center Honors in 2006.

 Tagore Award in 2013

29-APR :- Day of Remembrance for all Victims of Chemical Warfare.

The Day of Remembrance for all Victims of Chemical Warfare is an annual event held on April 29 as a "tribute to the victims of chemical warfare, as well as to reaffirm the commitment of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to the elimination of the threat of chemical weapons, thereby promoting the goals of peace, security, and multilateralism."It is officially recognised by the United Nations (UN) and has been celebrated since 2005. On the 2013 observance day, the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon gave a speech where he stated:

On this Remembrance Day, I urge the international community to intensify efforts to rid the world of chemical weapons, along with all other weapons of mass destruction. Let us work together to bring all States under the Convention and promote its full implementation. This is how we can best honour past victims and liberate future generations from the threat of chemical weapons.

29-APR :- International Dance Day.

International Dance Day 

introduced in 1982 by the International Dance Council  a UNESCO partner NGO, and is celebrated yearly, on April 29. The date is not linked to a particular person or a particular form of dance, although it's also the day when the French dancer and ballet master Jean-Georges Noverre was born.. The main purpose of Dance Day events is to attract the attention of the wider public to the art of dance. Emphasis should be given to addressing a new public, people who do not follow dance events during the course of the year.

Every year, the president of the International Dance Council sends the official message for Dance Day which circulate in every country around the world.

Promotion of Dance Day by the International Dance Council

The International Dance Council , the umbrella organization for all forms of dance within UNESCO is competent for representing and supporting the art of dance. It promotes Dance Day through its global network of Sections and members. Its president delivers the official message every year.

The International Dance Council considers that while dance has been an integral part of human culture throughout its history, it is less prioritized by official establishments in the world. In particular, Professor Alkis Raftis, president of the International Dance Council, in his 2003 Dance Day Message said: "In more than half of the 200 countries in the world, dance does not appear in legal texts (for better or for worse!). There are no funds allocated in the state budget to support this art form. There is no such thing as dance education, private or public."

The year 2005 focus of Dance Day was on primary education. International Dance Council urged dance establishments to contact the Ministries of Education with the proposals to celebrate this day at all schools with writing essays about dance, drawing dance pictures, dancing in the streets, etc.

The 2006 message of president of the International Dance Council addresses the reluctance of dancers to join collective organizations, expresses an opinion that this is a major reason of the lack of the due recognition (legislation, financing, visibility) of dance in society, and calls: "Dancers of the world, unite!"

The 2007 Dance Day was dedicated to children.

In 2008, Alkis Raftis circulated an e-mail which said, in part: "Governments, sponsors, and the media is our main concern this year. Governments (national, regional or local), sponsors (private or public) and the media (newspapers, magazines, radio, TV) are the three most important factors affecting the practice of our art. Dance professionals struggle to approach them individually - with poor results. We propose a better way: through CID Sections representing all forms of dance, all levels, all functions" 

In 2010, Professor Alkis Raftis, President of the International Dance Council, UNESCO, Paris, wrote:

The United Nations proclaimed 2010 as International Year for the Rapprochement of Cultures and designated UNESCO as lead agency in this celebration, having regard to its experience of more than 60 years in advancing the mutual knowledge and understanding of peoples.

The new Director-General of UNESCO Irina Bokova, has proposed a universal vision, which she has called the “new humanism” - a vision open to the entire human community, providing a humanist response to globalization and crisis, aiming at the safeguarding of social cohesion and the preservation of peace.

Dance, being a central part of every culture, constitutes the ideal means for bringing together people from different countries.

Festivals promote in the most lively manner reciprocal knowledge and respect of diversity; there are hundreds of millions attending international dance festivals each year.

Teachers offering classes in foreign countries provide immediate bridges of understanding ingrained into the bodies of dancers; there are tens of thousands of dance teachers crossing national borders yearly.

Congresses and open conferences provide opportunities to showcase one's work to an audience of peers; there are dozens of international meetings of dance researchers, historians and critics in any given year.

Even outside festivals, classes or conferences, simply watching on television a dance from a foreign country offers the most striking, appealing and convincing image of another ethnic group.

For vividly illustrating cultural diversity, for embodying rapprochement, there is no better means than dance.

In 2014, around 50 classical dancers got together to perform a flash mob at Chennai and performed dance. It is said to be the first flash mob of classical dancers.

29-APR-2012 :- DEATH OF Roland Moreno , Inventer the smart card.

Roland Moreno 
(June 11, 1945 – April 29, 2012) was a French inventor, engineer, humorist and author who was the universally accepted inventor of the smart card.Created in 1974, his invention has "Touched almost everyone on the planet" in the words of The Guardian and is now used in identity cards, drivers licenses, passports, oyster cards and SIM cards.Moreno's smart card, orla carte à puce in French, was little known internationally. However, he became a national hero in France and was awarded the Légion d'Honneur in 2009.

Moreno was born in Cairo, Egypt, to Egyptian Jewish parents on June 11, 1945. His original last name was Bahbout, but the family changed their surname to Moreno when they moved to France when he was very young. He attended the Montaigne and Condorcet schools in Paris, but dropped out early, and described his education as "self taught" for the rest of his life.Moreno worked in several smaller jobs after leaving school. He worked as a young reporter for Détective Magazine and a runner for the L'Express news magazine.From 1970 to 1972 Moreno was also an editor at Chimie-Actualités, a French chemistry magazine.