Category: Arts, Culture & Entertainment

For the First Time – Birth Anniversary of Dr.B.R. Ambedkar commemorated at the United Nations(UN) , New York : April 2016

Dr.Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (popularly Dr.B.R.Ambedkar aka..Babasaheb Ambedkar) was an Indian jurist, social reformer, politician and economist. He was the First Minister of Law and Justice in Independent India amongst many other positions and accompolishments.

Dr.Ambedkar’s 125th birth anniversary was commemorated and celebrated at the UN in New York on April 13th, 2016, a day before his actual birthdate.

At the keynote speech delivered by Helen Clark, Chair of UN Development Group and Adminstrator of UN Development Program, she said ” Ambedkar’s work on the empowerment and inclusion of excluded groups, reform of labour laws and promotion of education for all, made him an icon for marginalised people in India and in other countries as well”.

A documentary film titled ‘Dr.Babasahed Ambedkar… A Man of the Century’ was screened for 10 minutes at the UN Conference. The full length documentary of 28 minutes was made by Marathi Film maker Sandeep Manohar Navre.

The event was organised by the ‘Permanent Mission of India to the UN’  in association with ‘Kalpana Saroj Foundation’ and ‘Foundation for Human Horizon’.  The UN Event was titled ‘Landmark 2030 : Agenda for Sustainable Development’.

Dr.Babasaheb Ambedkar was born on April 14th,1891 in Mhow, Central Province(now Madhya Pradesh) and died on December 06th, 1956 in New Delhi. He was the youngest of 14 children.

Dr. Ambedkar was educated in University of Bombay(now Mumbai), Columbia University (USA), University of London (UK) and London School of Economics.

Babasaheb was the Chairman of the ‘Constitution Drafting Committee’, the first Minister of Law and Justice. He inspired the Dalit Movement and campaigned against Social Discrimination. He was posthumously awarded the highest civilian award ‘Bharat Ratna’ in 1990.

 

First Indian to Receive the Nobel Prize for Literature. 1913 .

Rabindranath Tagore was the first Indian to receive the Nobel prize for Literature . He was also the first Asian and simultaneously the first non-European to be awarded the Nobel for Literature. December 19th, 1913.

He was awarded the prize for Gitanjali, a collection of songs and poems. Tagore himself had translated the poems into English in 1912 with an introduction by W.B.Yeats who won the Nobel for literature a decade after his Indian friend in 1923.

This year (2016) marks the 103rd anniversary of Tagore winning the Nobel prize in 1913.

 

More Info….Coming Up.

First American-Indian Crowned ‘ Miss New York 2013 ‘ at Staten Island, NY . July 2013 .

Nina Davuluri, a Syracuse, NY native was crowned as ‘ Miss New York 2013 ‘ making her the first Indian to be crowned ‘ Miss New York ‘.

The 24-year old winner Nina Davuluri was crowned by Miss America Mallory Hagan and her predecessor Miss New York Shannon Oliver during a specatular production at the stately St.George Theatre in Staten Island, New York on Saturday July 13th, 2013. Nina Davuluri was attired in a floor length evening gown of light yellow.

Davuluri embraced her culture performing a bollywood dance as her talent. In overcoming her obstacles Nina lost 60 pounds in the last 2 years and did it all with the help of her sponsor and trainer Tia Falcone. ” Just to be on that stage and show everyone how hard I’ve worked to achieve this, just meant the world to me ” says Davuluri. She plans to use the $10,000 she won in scholarship money to achieve her goal of becoming a doctor.

Nina is working closely with the ‘Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals’ to raise funds for the local children’s hospitals.

As Miss New York she will now represent the Empire State, at the forthcoming ‘ Miss America pageant ‘ at the Atlantic City. Th final night of the Pageant competition and the crowning of ‘ Miss America ‘ is scheduled for September 15th. The event will be broadcase at 9pm ET/PT on ABC television network.

www.missny.org/missny2013/ – Miss New York Organization., Inc.

Anmol Rajan appointed ‘ The Independent ‘s Editor and becomes first non-white Editorial head of a UK national newspaper . June 2013 .

In a bold move Evgeny Lebedev the Russian owner of The Independent named, Anmol Rajan, a  29-year old Indian-origin journalist,as the newest editor of  The Independent newspaper on June 17th, 2013. He was the editor of The Independent Voics section. Rajan takes over from Chris Blackhurst who became Group Content Director.

Anmol Rajan one of the youngest ever at 29, makes Fleet Street history by becoming first non-white newspaper editorial head of a UK national newspaper creating ripples in London’s all-white Oxbridge media elite. And also the first- ethnic minority editor, a first-British Asian editor of a British national newspaper.

Rajan was born in Calcutta (Kolkata)on July 04th, 1983 , before moving to London as a three year old. He grew up in Tooting, South London and went on to read English literature at Downing College, Cambridge University and edited the prestigious student magazine ‘Varsity’. He spent his gap year working at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

After graduating, Rajan worked briefly for the ‘Evening Standard’ and ‘Channel 5’ before moving to ‘The Independent’ in August 2007 where he rose through the ranks from being a news reporter , columnist, comment editor and editor of Independent Voices. He is also a devoted foodie, writing a restaurant column for The Independent on Sunday and appeared as a judge on BBC1’s Masterchef in April. Rajan was the secondary presenter on ‘The Wright Stuff’ the daytime talk show on the Five Network during its 2006-07 season. A former columnist of ‘The Salisbury Review’.

Anmol Rajan is also a volunteer youth worker with Prospex, a charity based in Islington.

Books: Anmol Rajan is a keen cricket fan and has even written a well regarded book ‘Twirlymen: Unlikely History of Cricket’s Greatest Spin Bowlers’ published by Random House in 2011.

India’s first ‘ Miss World ‘ . 1966 . First Asian to win the ‘ Miss World ‘ title. 1966

Reita Faria was the first Indian to be crowned ‘Miss World’ in 1966. She was also the first Asian to win the ‘Miss World’ title in 1966.

The red sari with golden zari work bagged the ‘Best Evening Gown’ prize.

The brown eyed beauty Reita Faria made the whole world sit up and look at India. By winning the crown, she showed the way for later competitors giving them confidence that they too could take the world by storm. She could be the first international beauty queen to qualify as a doctor during her reign.

Reita Faria was a student at the Grant Medical College and Sir J.J.Group of Hospitals.  Born 1945 she hailed from Mumbai with ancestral ties to Tivim, Goa. After winning the crown, she turned down offers of modelling and films, fame and fortune, instead chose to focus on her medical studies.

She won the Miss Mumbai crown and subsequently won the Eve’s Weekly ‘Miss India’ contest. Dr.Reita Faria was a judge at ‘Femina Miss India’ 1996. She adjudicated the ‘Miss World’ competions 3 times and attended the 25th and 50th anniversary of the contest.

Dr.Reita Faria married endocrinologist Dr.David Powell and lives in Dublin, Ireland. She has 2 Daughters,both in the medical profession and 5 grandchildren.