24 February in Indian and World History is celebrated, observed, and remembered for various reasons. 24 February is the birth anniversary of Sachindra Chaudhuri, V. Nanammal, Talat Mahmood, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Jayaram Jayalalithaa, and Sanjay Leela Bhansali.
24 February is also observed as the death anniversary of Rukmini Devi Arundale, Lalita Pawar, Anant Pai, Pandit Bhimsen Gururaj Joshi, and Sridevi.
Birth Anniversary
24 February in Indian history is celebrated as the birth anniversary of the following personalities:
Sachindra Chaudhuri (24 February 1903 – 12 June 1992), an Indian lawyer and politician who was Minister of Finance of the Government of India and worked with Lal Bahadur Shastri and Indira Gandhi. He also was Director of several companies, a member of the Central Board of State Bank of India, member of the Law Commission and member of the Indian delegation to the General Assembly of the United Nations. He was born on 24 February 1903 in Kolkata, India.
V. Nanammal (24 February 1920 – 26 October 2019), an Indian yoga Teacher. She trained more than one million students in her illustrious duration of 45 years. She was awarded with India’s National Nari Shakti Puraskar in 2016 and the country’s fourth-highest civilian award the Padma Shri in 2018. She was born on 24 February 1920 in Coimbatore, India.
Talat Mahmood (24 February 1924 – 9 May 1998), an Indian playback singer who is considered as one of the popular male Indian film song and ghazal singers. In 1992, he has honoured with Padma Bhushan the third-highest civilian award by the Government of India. Talat Mahmood was born on 24 February 1924 in Lucknow, India.
Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, an Indian scholar, literary theorist, and feminist critic. She is a University Professor at Columbia University and a founding member of the establishment’s Institute for Comparative Literature and Society. She was honored with the 2012 Kyoto Prize in Arts and Philosophy for being “a critical theorist and educator speaking for the humanities against intellectual colonialism in relation to the globalized world. She was also honored with Padma Bhushan, the third-highest civilian award by the Government of India. She was born on 24 February 1942, in Kolkata, India
Jayaram Jayalalithaa (24 February 1948 – 5 December 2016), an Indian politician and film actress. She served six times as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu between 1991 and 2016. She worked in 140 films in Tamil, Telugu and Kannada movies. She joined the world of cinema reluctantly upon the urging of her mother to support the family. However, in a short span of time, she gained acclaim in the cinema world. In 1991 Jayalalithaa became chief minister, Tamil Nadu’s youngest, for the first time. Jayalalithaa was born on 24 February 1948 in Karnataka.
Sanjay Leela Bhansali, an Indian director, producer, screenwriter, and music director. He received numerous awards and acclaim in his career. He received five National Film Awards, eleven Filmfare Awards. In 2015, the Government of India honored him with the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award. He was born on 24 February 1963, Mumbai, India.
Read More: 23 February in Indian and World History
Death Anniversary
24 February in Indian history is observed as the death anniversary of the following personalities:
Rukmini Devi Arundale (29 February 1904 – 24 February 1986), an Indian dancer, choreographer, and activist. She was the first woman in Indian history to be nominated a member of the Rajya Sabha. She was also an animal welfare activist. In 1956, she was awarded the Padma Bhushan, the third-highest civilian award by the Government of India. In 2016, Google honored Rukmini Devi on her 112th birthday with a doodle. She died on 24 February 1986 in Chennai, India, at age of 81.
Lalita Pawar (18 April 1916 – 24 February 1998), an Indian actress. She appeared in more than 700 films in Hindi, Marathi, and Gujrati. She received the Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award. She was honored by the Government of India as the first lady of Indian cinema in 1961. She died on 24 February 1998 in Pune, India, at age of 81.
Anant Pai (17 September 1929 – 24 February 2011), an Indian author, illustrator, educationalist, and a pioneer in Indian comics. Besides comics, Pai was also a specialist in personality development. He founded the Partha Institute of Personality Development in August 1978, which conducted personality development classes through correspondence for children and teenagers. He died on 24 February 2011 in Mumbai, India, at age of 81.
Pandit Bhimsen Gururaj Joshi (4 February 1922 – 24 January 2011), an Indian vocalist from Karnataka in the Hindustani classical tradition. Pt. Joshi is noted for his concerts, and between 1964 to 1982, Joshi toured Afghanistan, Italy, France, Canada and the USA. In 1998, he was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademy Fellowship, the highest honor conferred by Sangeet Natak Akademi, India’s National Academy for Music, Dance and Drama. Later, he received the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian honor, in 2009. He died on 24 February 2011 in Pune, India, at age of 88.
Sridevi (13 August 1963 – 24 February 2018), an Indian actress. She worked in Telugu, Tamil, Hindi, Malayalam and Kannada movies. She was regarded as “First female Superstar” of Indian cinema. in 2013, the Government of India honored her with the Padma Shri, the country’s fourth-highest civilian award. She died on 24 February 2018 in Dubai, UAE due to accidental drowning.
Read More: 22 February in Indian and World History
Notable events on 24 February in Indian and World history
24 February 1582 – Pope Gregory XIII announces New Style (Gregorian) calendar, which remains in use as the internationally accepted civilian calendar to this day.
24 February 1739 – The Battle of Karnal; Iranian ruler Nader Shah defeats the forces of the Mughal emperor of India, Muhammad Shah. It paved the plundering and mass murder, and rape in Delhi.
24 February 1967 – Brian Schmidt an Australian-American astronomer, astrophysicist, and Nobel Prize Laureate, was born.
On 24 February, Central Excise Day is observed in India. It is observed every year to encourage the employees of the excise department to carry out the central excise duty in a better way to prevent corruption in the manufacturing business and to carry out the best possible exercise services in India.
In Thailand, 24 February is observed as “National Artist Day”. It is observed to promote cultural heritage such as literature, fine arts, visual arts, applied arts. The date was chosen because it is the birthdate of Buddha Loetla Nabhalai, or King Rama II, who was an artist himself.
24 February 2008 – Fidel Castro retires as the President of Cuba due to ill health after nearly fifty years