Kartik Shukla 3 Vik Samvat 2069. Yugabda 5114: November 16, 2012

1. FESTIVALS: Gita Jayanti, also referred as Bhagawad Geetha Jayanthi falls on the Ekadasi day of Shukla Paksha of the Margashirsha, December 23 this year.It  is the day when the Bhagvad Gita was rendered by Bhagwan Sri Krishna to Arjuna in the Kurukshetra on the first day of the famous 18-day battle in the Mahabharata. When prince Arjuna refused to fight against his cousins- the Kauravas in the battle, Sri Krishna expounded the truth of life and the philosophy of Karma and Dharma to him, thereby giving birth to one of the world's greatest scriptures, the Gita.Gita Jayanthi is celebrated worldwide by all those who revere Bhagavad Gita as Mother and respect her, especially devotees of Krishna. Verses from all 18 chapters of the Gita are chanted throughout the day.  At Kurukshetra, devotees and pilgrims from all over Bharat gather to take part in the ritual bath in the sacred ponds - Sannihit Sarovar and Brahm Sarovar. A fair is also organized that lasts for about a week and the people participate in prayer recitals, Gita reading, bhajans, aartis, dance, dramas, etc.  The fair  has gained immense popularity and a large number of tourists visit Kurukshetra during the event. At the temples of ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness) across the globe, Geeta Jayanthi is celebrated with special offerings to Lord Krishna. Gita Jayanti is also celebrated as Mokshada Ekadashi when devotees observe fast.

2. HINDU-AMERICAN ELECTED TO US CONGRESS FOR THE FIRST TIME: Tulsi Gabbard has created history by becoming the first Hindu-American to have entered the US House of Representatives, winning the Hawaii seat by trouncing her Republican rival in a one-sided contest. An Iraq war veteran, 31-year-old Gabbard defeated K Crowley of the Republican Party with a handsome margin. She is also the first female combat veterans to serve in the Congress. "Although there are not very many Hindus in Hawaii, I never felt discriminated against. I never really gave it a second thought growing up that any other reality existed, or that it was not the same everywhere," Tulsi said. Born in American Samoa to a Catholic father and a Hindu mother, Gabbard moved to Hawaii with her family when she was two years old. Her parents gave all their five children Hindu names — Bhakti, Jai, Aryan, Tulsi and Vrindavan. Keen to visit Bharat at the earliest, Gabbard has pledged to work for closer US-Bharat relations.

3. RSS AKHIL BHARATIYA KARYAKARI MANDAL met in Chennai from 2^nd to 4^th of November. On 4^th of November, RSS Sarkaryavah, Shri Suresh Bhayyaji Joshi, alongwith Dakshin Kshetra Sanghachalak Vanniarajan, and Akhil Bharatiya Prachar Pramukh Dr Manmohan Vaidya addressed the Press after conclusion of the baithak. Bhayyaji said that in the baithak, current situation in the country and RSS plans for the next year were discussed. RSS shakhas are held at 52,000 places in the country out of which 40,000 are daily and 12,000 weekly/monthly, increased by 3,000 as compared to those held last year. 75% of those who attend daily shakhas are below 45 years of age and out of those about 20,000 are below 25. In 11,000 colleges, there are 1000 plus activities for the students. Another area of focus is IT Professionals. In Pune, Bengaluru and NOIDA, more than 500 shakhas are held by IT professionals. More than 1, 50,000 service projects especially in slums, urban, tribal areas and remote villages conducted by RSS swayamsevaks. In the last 2 to 3 years, focus has been on rural development. 250 villages in 15 states have been adopted for carrying out programmes to improve health, agriculture, self reliance and social harmony. Six hundred new Goshalas/research units have been started as an outcome of the movement on cow protection launched by saints called the Vishwa Mangal Gou Gram Yatra in which RSS volunteers also participated. Two resolutions were passed in the baithak which follow hereunder:

Resolution No. 1: VIOLENCE IN ASOM AND NATIONWIDE CHALLENGE OF BANGLADESHI INFILTRATORS: The Akhil Bharatiya Karyakari Mandal strongly condemns the July 2012 violence perpetrated by the Bangladeshi Muslim infiltrators in the Kokrajhar, Chirang and Dhubri districts of Asom, the violent demonstrations organized in various parts of the country and the conspiracy to terrorize the people of North-East living in different parts of the country to flee from their places and considers all these acts as a serious challenge to the country.  Continuously growing infiltration in the Asom and nearby areas has created state of a serious crisis.

The infiltrators have settled in large numbers in all the four districts of Bodoland Territorial Area District (BTAD) which was created as a result of an agreement with the Central and State Govts in 2003. These infiltrators have vitiated the social, cultural, natural, economic, religious and political environment over there with far reaching consequences.  Muslims had called for a bandh on May 29, 2012 demanding reservations in the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC).  The unconstitutional assurances of providing reservations to Muslims, given by some political parties of the country flared up the situation. The situation went beyond control after the brutal murder of four Bodo youths by the Muslims on July 20, 2012. In the violence that followed, as per Govt records Ninety persons were killed and four lakhs were displaced into relief camps.  Large number of infiltrators are staying in these relief camps, they need to be identified and deported. From this point of view, the resolve of several organizations of Asom, expressed from common platform, of not allowing rehabilitation of these infiltrators is praiseworthy.

Indeed, on account of illegal assistance and support being extended by the political parties having vested interests and the local residents having communal sympathy towards the Muslim infiltrators, these infiltrators are increasing their clout in local politics besides capturing land, forests, employment opportunities and other resources. Stern action against such elements extending assistance and support to these infiltrators is necessary.

The ABKM decries attempts to portray the Asom incidents in particular and Bangladeshi infiltrators’ issue in general as a Muslim issue. Inflammatory utterances of certain leaders inside and outside the Parliament about fresh wave of radicalization of Muslims and visit of MP’s belonging to only Muslim community to some select camps in the violence affected areas should be condemned by all right thinking sections of the society as efforts to give communal colour to the essentially natives versus foreigners issue.

People in the country are deeply concerned about the preplanned, aggressive and violent demonstrations organized by the Muslim fundamentalists in Mumbai, Prayag, Lucknow, Kanpur, Bareilly, Ahmedabad, Jodhpur, etc.  in the aftermath of Asom incidents.  Violent demonstrators in Mumbai have not only attacked media persons and citizens, snatched away arms from policemen and dared to derogate and destroy national monuments but also targetedly humiliated and manhandled women police personnel. It is even more serious that the Administration could neither anticipate such incidents nor is showing keenness to identify and punish the culprits.  The ABKM strongly condemns all these acts.

At the same time, the anti national elements began issuing, personally and through communication channels, threats to the people of North East residing in different parts of the country of vengeance after the Ramzan.  This forced people from Bengaluru, Pune, Hyderabad and Chennai to flee in large numbers to their homes in the North East. In this hour of crisis, thousands of patriotic persons  demonstrating highest sentiments for national integrity and sense of responsibility , stood up to provide security and all kinds of help to these fear stricken people and persuaded them not to leave their places.  That is the reason why the wave of fear did not spread to other places and the self confidence of the people of North East was restored.  The ABKM expresses hearty appreciation for all those citizens and reassures the people of North East that the whole country stands by them.  The ABKM demands from the Government to identify and bring to book such anti-national scare mongers for stringent punishment.

In spite of the Supreme Court striking down the infiltration-friendly Illegal Migrant Determination by Tribunals Act 1983, orders of Honourable High Courts of Delhi and Guwahati for deportation of the infiltrators and senior and responsible officials repeatedly drawing the attention towards the gravity of the issue, both the Central and various State Govts motivated by their vote bank politics are only encouraging these forces, rather than acting firmly against them.  Bangladeshi infiltrators have today spread in the entire nation. These infiltrators, besides disturbing the demographic balance, are posing serious threat to the security of the country by indulging in various objectionable and illegal acts. They are involved in the circulation of fake currency, illegal trade of arms, drugs and cattle smuggling and several other criminal acts besides becoming a tool in the hands of the ISI.

The ABKM demands that the Central and State Govts, in the light of the Foreigners Act 1946 and the orders of various Courts, including the Supreme Court, should meticulously detect, deny citizenship facilities and deport all Bangladeshi infiltrators. Names of those persons who have got enlisted in the voter lists too need to be deleted immediately.   While rehabilitating the persons displaced in Asom violence, care must be taken that the infiltrators do not get resettled over there and no infiltrator gets the Adhar card. The ABKM also demands from the Govt that the work of fencing the Bangladesh border be completed without delay. The National Register of Citizens be completed systematically.

The ABKM calls upon the patriotic citizens to treat this issue as a national problem and play active role in detecting these infiltrators and deleting their names from the voter lists and also to keep in mind that engaging the infiltrators in any work assignment is not only illegal but, also a grave danger to the country.

Resolution No. 2: Need for a Comprehensive National Security Policy vis-a-vis China: On the eve of 50 years of China - Bharat war of 1962, the Akhil Bharatiya Karyakari Mandal pays rich tributes to the thousands of brave soldiers who had laid down their lives in that war trying to defend our country's borders. Countless stories of inspiring chivalry have been buried under the glaciated battle fields of the Himalayas in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh alongwith the bodies of those brave soldiers. Even after 50 years bodies of some of those soldiers are being found on the mountains.

Our soldiers were made to fight a war in which they were ill-equipped and grossly outnumbered by the enemy. What is most unfortunate is that in its ignoble attempt to hide its failures, the then political leadership of the country also suppressed the courage and sacrifice of these brave soldiers. The ABKM appeals to the nation to respectfully remember their valour and sacrifices.

The ABKM reiterates its solemn and firm commitment to the integrity of Bharat. The outcome of the war of 1962 remains a sad memory for the nation. We lost around 38,000 sq. km of our territory to the Chinese aggressors in that war. The Aksai Chin region continues to be under Chinese control. Our Parliament had passed a unanimous resolution on 14 November 1962 swearing to take back every inch of the territory occupied. However, the ABKM notes with regret that instead of working towards that objective the Governments are engaged only in legalising the LAC in the name of border talks. On its part, China has not stopped its invasion after 1962. It continues to nibble away our territory through endless incursions along all the three sectors of the Bharat-Tibet border.

It is universally acknowledged that the debacle of 1962 was essentially the making of the political and diplomatic leadership of our country. Warnings by several eminent people including Sardar Patel and Sri Guruji were unheeded to by the then leadership which went about with its romantic world view totally ignoring the ground situation. China had annexed Tibet first and then launched aggression on our territory. Unfortunately, the facts of the Bharat - China war of 1962 are still hidden in the South Block cupboards. It is most unfortunate that successive Governments have refused to declassify key documents like the Henderson Brooks - PS Bhagat Report. The ABKM demands that the report be immediately declassified so that the nation would be benefitted by the knowledge of the blunders committed while the political, diplomatic and military leadership too would be able to learn many a lesson from those mistakes.

China has strategically built and upgraded its border infrastructure along Bharat-Tibet border that includes a network of air bases, missile launching pads, cantonments and other physical infrastructure. The ABKM calls upon our Government that in view of the enhanced threats from the aggressive manoeuvres of China along the border Bharat also should invest adequately in border management and security preparedness. The demand of the Armed Forces to develop special Mountain Strike Corps is still hanging fire due to lethargy and red tape in the Government. Modern wars are not necessarily fought only on the borders. We need to develop comprehensive military technological superiority keeping in view the rapid strides China has made in this field. While we can take pride in our advances and successes in missile technology we are still dependent in a big way on imports for major military hardware.

The deep penetration of China in vital sectors like energy, information and communication technology, industry and commerce in Bharat and its designs to divert our river waters are a serious cause of concern.

The ABKM underscores the threat from China in the field of cyber technology and communications. China has invested heavily in developing strong cyber warfare capability using which it can cripple the technological capabilities of even the advanced countries like the US. Those countries are also concerned about this threat from China and are taking counter measures. While our advances in hi tech areas are noteworthy the ABKM urges the Government should give necessary importance to augmenting our cyber-security capability also. Bharat has always strived to maintain good relations with various countries. About two decades ago we exhorted a new Look East Policy thereby trying to establish closer relations with countries to our East and South-East. We have all along been the champions of peace in the world. In order for us to achieve these lofty ideals the ABKM urges the Government that it should learn lessons from the 1962 experience and give highest priority to developing a comprehensive national security policy vis-a-vis China.

4. SEWA SERVES SANDY VICTIMS: The US North East witnessed terrible destruction from Hurricane Sandy last week of October 2012 onwards. As always SEWA volunteers came with a quick action plan to cater to the victims. One such event was held at the Community Food Bank in Hillside, NJ 4^th November. Twelve YOUTH volunteers from Sewa International USA spent the Sunday morning at the food bank helping with sorting and packing about 100 large boxes of food & groceries. The Community Food Bank of New Jersey fights hunger and poverty by distributing food and groceries, to help people with low incomes. Traci, the volunteer co-ordinator at the FoodBank noted, “It was a pleasure to see SEWA volunteers in action today and I’m looking forward to building a huge Volunteer Relationship in the future”. In addition to weekend volunteering, Sewa is also conducting a Diwali Food Drive to aid the hurricane victims.

5. A UNIQUE PATH SANCHALAN: 16,000 Swayamsevaks of Indore set an unparalleled example by taking out a relay ‘Charaiveti’ path sanchalan covering 54 kilometres in 12 hours, starting at 7.00 in the morning from Samarth Math, Rambagh and culminating at 7.00 in the evening at Chimanbagh after taking a round of the city. The path sanchalan reached at every spot in the city at the predetermined time, accurate minute to minute. Indore city has been divided in four districts – Dwarika, Rameshwaram, Badrinath and Jagannath – and in 24 nagars by RSS. The swayamsevaks of every nagar took over as soon as the path sanchalan reached their nagar. In his bauddhik at the end of sanchalan at Chiman Bagh, Vibhag pracharak Pramod Jha called upon the swayamsevaks to become brave as the God likes brave persons.

6. Naga IAS officer builds 100-km road in Manipur without govt help: A 2005 graduate from St Stephen's College in Delhi, Armstrong Pame is the sub-divisional magistrate of Tamenglong, his home district, and the first IAS officer from the Zeme tribe. He has, of his own volition, begun the construction of a 100-km road that would link Manipur with Nagaland and Assam. Incidentally, the Centre had sanctioned Rs 101 crore in 1982 for the construction of this road, but the project never took off. In June-July 2012, there was an outbreak of tropical diseases like typhoid and malaria. It takes two days for anyone in the village to make it to the nearest hospital on foot in the absence of a motorable road. Hundreds of patients had to be carried on makeshift bamboo stretchers, but very few made it to the town alive.

To construct an all-weather, motorable road in an area untouched by the progress made by independent Bharat in the last six decades was an uphill task. And with no help coming from the government, Pame turned to his family and well-wishers.

"Armstrong and I grew up in a village in Tousem amid a lot of hardships. Our father was a schoolteacher and had a limited income. We used to walk down to the district headquarters, about 60km away, and carry 25 kilos of rice back home. It used to take us four days to go and come back and the rations used to last for two weeks. The remoteness of our village ruined its economy. So, when Armstrong proposed to undertake the venture, we all threw our lot with him," said Jeremiah Pame, an assistant professor at the Delhi University and elder brother of Armstrong. "My wife and I donated our one month's salary, Armstrong paid five months' of his, and our mother paid our dad's one month's pension of Rs 5,000. Our youngest brother, Lungtuabui, recently started working. He donated his entire first month's pay for the project," he added.

The family together pooled Rs 4 lakh to start the project. They hired a bulldozer and bought two earthmovers. "But it was not enough; we needed more. So, we turned to internet. We created a page, seeking donations. In the last three days, we have received Rs 1.2 lakh from friends all over the globe, with contributions varying from Rs 50 to $1000. And they are willing to contribute more," the young bureaucrat said. "The villagers, too, have contributed as per their capabilities: some are providing food and accommodation for the workers; some are supplying fuel for the earthmovers. They have also provided manpower for the project.

We did not have to engage a contractor with so many people volunteering to shoulder that responsibility," he added. Donation centres have been set up in Delhi, Pune, Bengaluru, Chennai, Guwahati, Shillong and Dimapur and NRIs from Canada, USA and the UK have been sending their contributions for the project christened as Tamenglong-Haflong Road. The road will form a tri-junction with Nagaland and Assam over the Jiri River before entering the Dima Hasao district (formerly North Cachar Hills district) of Assam. Construction began in August this year, but stopped midway due to the rains. It resumed in September, and so far, work on 70km has been completed.

7. SHARADOTSAVA 2012 AT CHITRAKOOT: A 3-day cultural programme 29^th-31^st October 2012 was held at Chitrakoot on the occasion of the 96th birth anniversary of Rashtrarishi Nanaji Deshmukh. The programme was jointly organised by Deendayal Research Institute, New Delhi and the Ministry of Cultural Affairs, Government of Madhya Pradesh at Ramnath Goenka Ghat on the banks of the holy Mandakini River. In the inaugural evening, Classical Singer Pawan Tiwari sang devotional songs; and a dance troupe, led by renowned film actress Gracy Singh enacted dance performances based on the life of Radha-Krishna. Sharat-Poornima Prasad of Amratmayee Kheer was distributed to thousands of participants at the end of the programme.

The second evening, had performances by the folk dancers of Madhyapradesh and Rajasthan famous classical & Bharatnatyam performer Deepti Dimple Shah enacted dance performances based on the life of Sita-Ram. Renowned Singer Nitin Mukesh delighted the audience by his excellent singing on the final day programme organized at Deendayal Khel Parisar, Udyamita Vidyapeeth.

8. RAMANUJAN’S GENIUS FINALLY PROVEN: Hence proved! A US scientist has finally proven the mathematical relation — discussed by great Bharatiya mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan with his mentor G.H. Hardy in one of his last letters. Ramanujan, the young genius who died at the age of 32, often managed to leap from insight to insight without formally proving the logical steps in between. Ken Ono of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia settled on a discussion in the last known letter that Mr. Ramanujan wrote to Mr. Hardy, concerning a type of function now called a modular form. 
Functions are equations that can be drawn as graphs on an axis, like a sine wave, and produce an output when computed for any chosen input or value. The functions looked unlike any other modular forms, but Mr. Ramanujan wrote that their outputs would be very similar to those of modular forms when computed for the roots of 1 like the square root —1.
Characteristically, Mr. Ramanujan offered neither proof nor explanation for this conclusion.
It was only 10 years later that mathematicians formally defined this other set of functions, now known as mock modular forms.           
However, still no one fathomed what Mr. Ramanujan meant by saying the two types of function produced similar outputs for roots of 1.        
Now Mr. Ono and colleagues have exactly calculated one of Mr. Ramanujan’s mock modular forms for values very close to —1, and said the difference in the value of the two functions, ignoring the functions signs, is tiny when computed for —1, just like Mr. Ramanujan said.
The result confirms Mr. Ramanujan’s incredible intuition, said Mr. Ono.  

9. NEW WORLD RECORD FOR PLANTING TREES IN LEH: On October 29, Leh became witness to an event in which 9,814 volunteers planted 99,103 saplings of Ladakhi willow within the stipulated time of one hour. Although short of the targeted 1 lakh trees, the number was enough to set a world record. It bettered the previous record of planting 66,000 trees set in the Philippines in January last year.
The event was organised by Live to Love International, an NGO founded by His Holiness the Gyalwang Drukpa, the supreme spiritual head of the Drukpa lineage of Mahayana Buddhism. Volunteers had travelled several kilometres to participate in the record breaking event. Chhewang Spalwar, who was the leader of one of the groups, had come from Nubra, about 150 km from Leh. Tanzi Mongo had come from Phukte, 30 km from the plantation site while Rigzin had come from a village located 35 km away from the Hemis monastery. The event also coincided with the ongoing fourth Annual Drupka Council (ADC) and hence there were volunteers from countries like Bhutan, Malaysia, Taiwan and Singapore. The event concluded with cries of 'gyospa' (hurry up) and 'kikisoso largayallo'. The facilitating ceremony was celebrated with the traditional Zabra dance and a performance by the Ladakh Scouts.

10. GOD’S TREASURE SHOULD REMAIN IN SHRINE: Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on November 9 rejected the CPI(M) argument that the treasures at the Sri Padmanabhaswamy temple in Thiruvananthapuram were public property even as Opposition leader VS Achuthanandan said he would implead in the case pertaining to the shrine in the Supreme Court. Chandy said the assets should remain within the temple itself. “These treasures belong to the Sri Padmanabhaswamy temple. It can never be seen as public property,” Chandy told mediapersons in Thiruvananthapuram on Friday, within 24 hours of State CPI(M) secretary Pinarayi Vijayan making the claim that a major portion of the invaluable treasures kept in the shrine’s six secret vaults was public property.

11. SUPER 30 FOUNDER BECOMES 'PEOPLE'S HERO': Anand Kumar, founder of Super 30 institute, which provides free residential coaching to students from underprivileged families for IIT-JEE exams, has found a place in the People magazine as the "People's Hero." People magazine of the Time magazine group in its latest Bharatiya edition issue carries a detailed feature on Anand, listing him as a "People's Hero," a release said.
This is a rare occasion as the magazine, which usually profiles celebrities from films and other fields, has chosen a person who is a teacher by profession.
"Anand has done it on his own, which is remarkable," the magazine has said.
"It feels great to find a place in 'People'. It will inspire me to work even harder. I am not a celebrity. I am just an ordinary man, but it is a great gesture from the magazine to find me good enough for this honour," the release quoted Kumar as saying.   

12. BHARATIYA-AMERICAN DESIGNS FLYING ROBOT: Bharatiya-American computer scientist Ashutosh Saxena and his team at Cornell University have created a flying robot as smart as any bird, with a tremendous potential in search-and-rescue operations. Designed by Saxena, assistant professor at Cornell, the flying robot, the size of a card table is able to guide itself through forests, tunnels or damaged buildings.
The toughest part is keeping the object from slamming into walls and tree branches.
Saxena, who did his B.Tech. in 2004 from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur, in a bid to overcome these limitations is building on methods he previously had developed to turn a flat video camera image into a 3-D model. 
Saxena plans to improve the robot’s ability to respond to environment variations such as winds and enable it to detect and avoid moving objects, like real birds. The results were presented at the International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems in Portugal during early October.   

13. Yoga is Truly Universal: Father John Ferreira, a Catholic priest in Agra, whose book on yoga, "Health, Wealth and Happiness Through Yoga" was recently released by Archbishop Albert D'Souza of Agra, said the exercise is beyond religion and "truly universal". “The book is a primer, aimed at popularising the intricate knowledge of the esoteric science of yoga, which is beyond religion and truly universal," he added. He further said that modern society with its cup full of stresses, and a package of mental and physical ailments, stands in dire need for Bharat's yogic knowledge.

"Yoga integrated into the school curriculum will provide a holistic approach to education as a science that not only prepares a student for life but provides the art of living well. Fr. Ferreira said he has been a follower of many yoga gurus and has extensive research to produce the book. The book also includes views of Christian priests who have approved his yoga experiments.

14.  Harappan people used an older form of Brahmi script: Expert-- A palm leaf manuscript discovered from Harappan site in Afghanistan has strengthened the belief of existence of a proto Brahmi script, which was used by Indus Valley people, said Dr DP Sharma, Harappan archaeologist and director, Bharat Kala Bhawan, Banaras Hindu University (BHU) in the International Conference on Harappan Archaeology held recently in Chandigarh. Sharma has carried out research on the palm leaf manuscript with Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) for the last five years. The palm leaf has Harappan as well as Kohi script engraved.

"Kohi symbols and letters have an affinity with the Harappan script and hence can be very significant in the decipherment of Harappan scripts. At the same time the palm leaf manuscript has seven lines, which is the longest script recovered from any Harappan site. So far the scripts or the signs of Indus Valley script engraved on tablets, seals, potteries and other objects had not more than 18 letters or pictures," informed Sharma.

15. SEVA SANGAMA—2012 IN SHIMOGA: The two-day Sewa Sangama -2012 jointly organised by Rashtriya Sewa Bharati and Hindu Seva Pratishthana concluded at Shimoga - Karnatak on October 28 with the call to ‘get involve of in regular sewa and involve others in sewa’.  At the concluding ceremony presided over by the Akhil Bharatiya Sah Sewa Pramukh Shri Ajit Prasad Mahopatra and attended by Director of the Hindu Seva Pratishtana Shri Shridhar Sagar and Uttar Kannada Prant Pracharak Shri Gopal Bhat; Shri gopal Bhat said we have to serve the society not to ‘do and die’ but for ‘do and live’. He said the sewa is not only service during calamities but also serving the needy and the society in our day-to-day life.

On October 27, the Sewa Sangam was inaugurated by Shri Prasannanatha Swamiji of Adichunchungiri Mutt who spoke on the need to preserve dharma through sewa by quoting examples of lessons from Ramayana, Mahabharata, Vedas and Upanishdas.

16.   Prime Minister of Canada visits Someshwara Temple at Bangalore: Canada PM Stephen Harper, along with his wife  Ms Laureen Harper, visited the historic Sree Someshwara Temple at Ulsoor  in Bangalore, on November 8 evening. Mr Harper and his spouse came to the temple barefoot. The Temple Priest Sri Sundar Dixit explained the history of the temple, which has a mixture of Chola, Hoysala and Vijayanagar architecture, to the Harpers. The Prime Minister had a deep look at the Gopuram (the Main Entrance) and was amused to see the temple architecture inside. The Harpers stood in front of the Sree Kaamakshaamba and Sree Someshwara Swamy Uyyale Mantapa, where the decorated idols of Lord Shiva and Parvathi were there. The priest chanted mantras and performed Aarathi. The Harpers took the Aarathi and touched their eyes.

17. World's longest married couple is FROM Bharat: In an age where few marriages endure the test of time, a centurion Bharatiya couple have lived in wedded bliss for 87 years making them the world's longest married couple. 107-year-old Karam and his wife Katari Chand, 100, who have eight children and 28 grandchildren together, say that the key to success is looking after each other in every way possible.  The marriage of the NRI couple, who now live in Bradford, has lasted nearly five years longer than that of the current Guinness world record holders and the couple is in the process of getting confirmation from the company that they will be named as the new record holders. "I have been told laughing makes you live longer. My wife is still alive so it must have worked! I love her so much and I want to spend another 80 years by her side," said Karam. From romantic meals to sharing jokes, the couple hailing from Punjab ensure to do little things to keep the romance alive.

18. Hindu Funeral Hall in Melbourne: The first Hindu Funeral Hall in Melbourne was recently inaugurated at Le Pine Funerals in presence of Rakesh Kawra, representing the Consulate General of Bharat and approximately 70 people from different faiths and religions. Addressing the audience, Kawra said that the Government of Bharat has made many provisions for funeral help to those Bharatiyas who meet death overseas. Dr. Jayant Bapat, a prominent priest, serving the community for about 30 years, spoke about the significance of final Samskara at the time of a death, as per the Hindu philosophy. The Le Pine hall was well decorated with the large canvass drops of the shloks from Bhagvat Geeta which were specially imported from Nagpur. There were also picture frames of gods and an idol of Krishna. Dr. Ravi Bhave, President Maharashtra Mandal and Mrs. Geeta Devi, President VHP both emphasised the need of such services for the reapidly growing Hindu community in Victoria.

19. GANGA SAMAGRA YATRA: The month long Ganga Samagra Yatra conducted by senior BJP leader and head of the party’s Save Ganga Project, Uma Bharati, concluded in Gangotri on October 28. She made it clear that her Yatra has no political intention and her endevour is purely to save the holy river.

20. CHINA, BHARAT SET TO DWARF G7 BY 2030: OECD: China's economy is likely to overtake the Eurozone's this year, Bharat is leapfrogging Japan and by 2030 the Asian pair will be bigger than the US, euro area and Japan combined, the OECD said on Friday. In a crystal-ball exercise to tease out long-term trends in the global economy, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said the combined gross domestic product of China and Bharat was likely to exceed that of all the current Group of Seven rich economies by around 2025. Their output in 2010 was less than half the G7's GDP. The projections of the Paris-based OECD, a club of industrial democracies, are based on 2005 purchasing power parities (PPP).

21. SHRI VISHWA NIKETAN: Visitors: Pravaas: Dr. Sadanand Sapre sahsamyoak Vishwa Vibhag will visit Mauritius, South Africa and Kenya in Dec – Jan. Shri Shyam Parande, Secretary Sewa International will visit UK and Finlandd in Nov – Dec.

 FOOD FOR THOUGHT: If you really want the good of others, the whole universe may stand against you and cannot hurt you. – Swami Vivekananda.

JAI SHREE RAM

P.O.BOX 5728 SRT NAGAR, NEW DELHI 110055 (BHARAT);  Email: vishwav@bol.net.in

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