Almanac is originally an Arabic word, which has been taken from Al Manakh meaning the calendar. In modern sense too an almanac, or almanakh, is an annual calendar of events and developments, data and statistics of a country, a group of countries or the world as a whole. However, bringing out an almanac is, by no means, to under-estimate the importance of other periodicals like newspapers or magazines. An almanac has the following characteristics:
1. It is an annual account and updating of the world developments and events, by way of reports, data, country-profiles etc.;
2. It gives the gist or sum total of the developments and achievements of a country, a group of countries, or the world as a whole;
3. Unlike other periodicals like dailies or weeklies, which is not possible to be kept together for long, an almanac can be preserved and referred to as and when it is required;
4. It is easier to retrieve even 10-year old information through an almanac than any other periodicals. Thus, the durability of preserving information is relatively quite longer here;
5. By way of annual update, an almanac has the scope of providing a background or a glimpse into history, religion and culture, thus quietly transmitting information like a silent dawah work; and
6. An almanac is frequently referred to by various sections of the intelligentsia like academia, media, professionals, students and so on.
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