New Year symbolizes the rejuvenation
time, the coming year brings with it new dreams to be accomplished,
goals to be achieved and wishes to be fulfilled. People around the globe
celebrate New Year with lots of joy and excitement all around. Everyone
bids farewell to the current passing year and welcomes the arriving New
Year. It is an occasion when rejoicing bids farewell to the passing
year with a grand welcome to the New Year.
The time and
celebration of New Year varies from region to region and religion to
religion across the world. This is because people in different parts of
the world use different calendars. Some calendars are based on the
movement of the moon; others are based on the position of the sun, while
others are based on both the sun and the moon. All over the world,
there are special beliefs about New Year.
New YearCelebrations
for the occasion start from 31st December Eve only and blast to the
zenith at the stroke of 12 midnight. People enjoy together with family
and friends, having great time together in relishing lip-smacking food
or dancing to the beats.
The New Year comes with many traditions
associated with it. Different regions of the world follow different
practices on the day. The most commonly followed practices are adopting
New Year’s resolution, exchanging gifts, lighting crackers at midnight
and of course to wish luck and happiness to everyone by three magical
words “ HAPPY NEW YEAR !”
Dr. Sampurnanand Jayanti--Sampurnanand
Jayanti marks the birthday of Dr. Sampurnanand and is celebrated on
January 01 every year. Amid the clanging bells, chants of hymns,
environment scented by the fragrance of incense sticks of Varanasi a
freedom fighter and scholar Dr. Sampurnand was born on January 1, 1891.
Being the holiest city of Hinduism, the impact of the religion is found
everywhere in the city. He was an eminent scholar and teacher of
Sanskrit and astronomy. He was extremely interested in phalit Jyotish.
Dr. Sampurnanand was also a fervent freedom fighter.
He
participated in the Non-cooperation Movement; edited Maryada, a Hindi
monthly and also contributed to the National Herald. He joined All-India
Congress Committee in 1922. He fought the assembly elections of Uttar
Pradesh legislative assembly and was elected as first chief minister of
the state from 1954 to 1960. Dr. Sampurnanand had the longest tenure
among any of the Uttar Pradesh’s Chief Ministers.
He was U.P.
Chief Minister from 28 December 1954 to 07 December 1960. Dr.
Sampurnanand succeeded Govind Ballabh Pant as the education and finance
minister of India on March 04,1947 and continued till Feburary
26,1948.He presented annual budget for 1947-1948 and 1948-1949.
As
a CM Sampurnanand promoted Hindi and also insisted a ban on cow
slaughter. Department of Culture, Govt. of Uttar Pradesh established
State Lalit Kala Akademi on 8 February, 1962; Dr Sampurnanand was
appointed its first Chairman.
Dr Sampurnanand was asked to resign
as CM following the political crisis in Uttar Pradesh and sent to
Rajasthan as the Governor of Rajasthan. Babu Sampurnanand became the
Governor of Rajasthan on 16 April 1962 and continued till 16 April 1967.
As a crusader governor of Rajasthan he promoted the idea of open prison
of Sanganer. These prisons house convicts along with their families,
they go out to work and pay all the taxes. He said that crime should be
looked as an act of reformation and not as an act of revenge. He was
also the opponent of life imprisonment; saying, it is like a death
sentence for a convict as it separates him from family and friends. The
open jail established on experimental basis in 1963 in Rajasthan is
named after him as ‘Sri Sampurnanand Khula Bandi Shivir’.
Government
of India released a postal stamp of Re 1.00 on January 10,1994 in his
remembrance. Dr. Sampurnanand’s birthday is celebrated as ‘Sampurnanand
Jayanti’ every year on January 01. Every educational institute
recognizes his contribution towards education and celebrates the day as
the founder day. Many activities are held on this day like convocation,
blood donation camp etc.