February 2017: Important Days
February 2: World Wetlands Day
- To raise awareness about the value of wetlands for humanity and the planet.
- Significance of Day: This day marks the date of the adoption of the Convention on Wetlands also called as Ramsar Convention on 2 February 1971 in the Iranian city of Ramsar.
- 2017 Theme: “Wetlands for Disaster Risk Reduction”.
February 4: World Cancer Day
- To raise awareness of cancer and to encourage its prevention, detection, and treatment.
- The theme between 2016 and 2018 WCD is “We can. I can”.
- It reflects on what everyone can do to raise awareness of cancer and asks to take pledge and action in fight against cancer.
February 6: International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation
- To raise awareness of the practice of FGM and work towards its elimination.
- It is sponsored by UN.
- 2017 Theme: “Building a solid and interactive bridge between Africa and the world to accelerate ending FGM by 2030”.
February 10: National Deworming Day
- Main objective to combat parasitic worm infections among preschool and school-age children across India.
- This year it is third edition of the observance of this day, after it was launched in 2015, by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW).
- On this day, Albendazole tablets are given to all targeted children. This year for the first time, deworming tablets were given to the private schools children also.
February 12: National Productivity Day
- The main observance of day is organised by National Productivity Council (NPC) for encouraging all stakeholders in implementation of productivity tools and techniques with contemporary relevant themes.
- 2017 Theme of National Productivity Week: “From Waste to Profits-through Reduce, Recycle and Reuse”.
February 20: World Day of Social Justice
- To recognize the need to promote efforts to tackle issues such as poverty, exclusion and unemployment.
- To mark this occasion, UN and International Labour Office had organised several organisations to spread importance of social justice for people.
- 2017 Theme: “Preventing conflict and sustaining peace through decent work”
February 21: International Mother Language Day
- To promote awareness of linguistic, multilingualism and cultural diversity.
- This year it is the 17th anniversary of IMLD.
- The observance of this day signifies importance of mother language as the greatest weapon to express one’s feeling.
- Mother Language of one country is the sign of independence of that country.
- 2017 Theme: “Towards Sustainable Futures through Multilingual Education”.
February 28: National Science Day
- The National Science Day (NSD) i.e. Rashtriya Vigyan Diwas is celebrated every year on February 28 in India.
- The 2017 theme is “Science and Technology for Specially Abled Persons”.
This day marks the epoch-making discovery of Raman Effect by Indian physicist Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman (CV Raman) on February 28, 1928. This discovery was awarded with the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1930.