1. FESTIVALS: Shayani
Ekadashi or Maha-ekadashi is Aashadh Shukla 11, July 19 this year, also known as Ashadhi Ekadashi.
On this day images of Vishnu and Lakshmi are worshipped, the entire night is
spent singing prayers, and devotees keep fast and take vows on this day, to be
observed during the entire chaturmas. These may include, giving up a food item
or fasting on every Ekadashi day. It is believed that Vishnu falls asleep in Ksheersagar
on Shesha nāga. Thus the day is also called Dev-Shayani or Hari-shayani
Ekadashi. Vishnu finally awakens from his slumber four months later on
Prabodhini Ekadashi – Kartik Shukla 11, this period is known as Chaturmas.
This
day, a huge yatra or religious procession of pilgrims known as Pandharpur
Ashadi Ekadasi Waari Yatra culminates at Pandharpur, in Solapur district in
south Maharashtra.
2.
Uttaranchal Daivi Apada Peedit Sahayata Samiti (UDAPSS) Dehradun,
Uttarakhand : RSS swayamsevaks and its affiliated
organizations were in the forefront of rescue – relief and rehabilitation
efforts during the recent tragedy in Uttarakhand region where thousands of
pilgrims stranded on the mountains, cut off from the world, and many of them
lost their lives. Following is brief report by Sewa International Team visiting
the areas affected by flash floods.
-
Total 15
centers are being run at different places: Rishikesh, Chamba, Dhansali,
Joshimath, Karnprayag, Chamoli, Srinagar,
Netwar, Haridwar, Dehradun, Pokhari, Dhatyud, Uttarkashi, Guptkashi, Maneri
etc.
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Types of
Camps: Food distribution, medical camps, rescue assistance, transportation to
safe places, helpline centres for relatives of yatrees,
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Approx 5000
volunteers are serving tirelessly in different areas including flood affected
valleys and plains like Haridwar, Rishikesh, etc.
-
There are
many places where roads are completely washed away. There is no way for the
vehicular traffic to tread on. Volunteers have to walk kilometres together
carrying the relief material on their backs. They are also crossing tough &
high hills with the load of relief items, trying to reach far flung
villages.
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In Chamba,
there is a camp running since 22 June where approx 10,000 people are being
provided food and medical treatment regularly.
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Chamba is a
place which is a junction which connects all four ways of Chardham Yatra
(Gangotri, Yamunotri, Kedarnath & Badrinath). A huge shelter has been
established in village Dikhol near Chamba where pilgrims are being provided
food, medicine and everything they need.
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Transport
assistance provided to approx 8,200 yatris from Uttarkashi & Chinyali Saudh
to Rishikesh from 21st June to 24th June, by available vehicles: Bus, truck,
car, sumo, jeep, tempo & police vehicles etc.
-
Approx 200
villages are worst affected in the floods and some of them are totally washed
out. Volunteers are trying their best to reach out to these villages/villagers
and provide them initial relief.
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Flood
devastated villagers, who have been rendered shelterless, are being shifted to
safer places and temporary shelters by volunteers.
-
From the day
1 (16-June) till now 20 truck loads of relief material have been sent to flood
affected areas from Dehradun alone that contains: pulses, rice, sugar, tea,
spices, clothes, blankets, milk powder, water bottles, medicines, biscuits, and
packed food etc. Material supplies from other centres like Rishikesh, Haridwar,
etc are also being sent. Some of the camps above mentioned are being supported
by various charity organizations with truckloads of raw food material. Even the
civil supplies being supplied by the Uttarkhand Government is reaching our
camps because of the paucity of volunteers.
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Army and
Indo-Tibet Border Force personnel are being assisted by volunteers in rescue
operations and providing the personnel with food, shelter and all other
possible necessary help.
-
Three teams
from UDAPSS sent to three different locations, namely- 1.Badrinath-Hemkund
Sahib, 2. Kedarnath, & 3. Gangotri-Yamunotri- for surveying the area and
assessing the loss of life and property. This will help is in planning the
rehabilitation program.
-
The floods
have also affected the schools, hostels run by UDAPSS, Vidya Bharati and other
organizations in a big way which will surely affect the student population. One
such major project which was established after the 1991 earthquake is located
in Maneri (14 kms from Uttarkashi), Sewashram which is a school with
residential facility. Twelve rooms of this hostel are washed away in this
flood.
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Remaining
part of hostel has been converted to a relief camp (providing food, medicines,
shelter) for needy people. Rotary Club and Azim Premji Club were impressed by
the Sewa offered here by the dedicated volunteers and have supported this camp
with relief materials. This camp was started on 18th June. This is the nearest
location to Gangotri and people started streaming in soon after the floods.
Till now 7,500 pilgrims (including army soldiers) were provided food for 7 days
round the clock.
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Women from
Bhubaneshwari Ashram have been actively volunteering since the camp is
established, supporting the camp with cooking food at Maneri Sewashram
Camp.
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70 Houses in
Joshiyada village were completely washed away, causing many casualties. Rotary
Club donated 35 tents to affected families and our volunteer team is providing
them food, cloths, gas cylinders, medicines, blankets and all necessary items.
-
Three relief
camps in Uttarkashi district are working round the clock – Maneri, Lakshyeswar
and Naitawaar.
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The
volunteers serving in the Narayana Koti, Rudraprayag relief camp have
identified 27 babies- 6months to 4 years- who have been orphaned or are left
with their lone mother or grandparents due to the floods. Volunteers have
already provided some sort of service for the babies and are working on their
appropriate rehabilitation.
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The
rehabilitation program will require experts in construction in Himalayan/hilly
region for designing and constructing houses. Huge funding would be required
for the proposed rehabilitation program in which houses, community centres,
schools, clinics, etc will have to be reconstructed. Doctors and health assistants are also needed
in good number for reaching out to many flood affected villages. We would
provide the details of these requirements soon.
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UDAPSS and
Sewa International have appealed for donations. Please visit www.sewainternational.org for more
information.
3. BHARAT'S
FIRST EVER DEDICATED NAVIGATION SATELLITE LAUNCHED: In a landmark journey into a new era of space application,
Bharat on July 2 successfully launched its first dedicated navigation satellite
using the Polar satellite Launch Vehicle which blasted off from the Satish
Dhawan Space Centre at Shriharikota – Andhra Pradesh.
The country's workhorse PSLV ejected IRNSS-1A
satellite, the first of the seven satellites constituting the Indian Regional
Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) space segment, which has a mission life of
10 years. It is designed to provide accurate position information service to
users in the country as well as the region extending up to 1,500 km from its
boundary.
"IRNSS-1A was launched at a cost of
approximately Rs 125 crore," ISRO chairman K Radhakrishnan said after the
launch. Consisting of a space segment and a ground segment, IRNSS has three
satellites in geostationary orbit and four satellites in inclined
geosynchronous orbit and is to be completed before 2015.
The launch was "very precise" he said,
adding that when the target of apogee was aimed at 20,650 km plus or minus 750
km, the rocket achieved an apogee of 20,625 km.
4. NATIONAL DHARMA BEE
CONTEST: Dharma Bee, the first
national contest of its kind in the U.S.,
which drew well over 3,000 children from around the country, concluded in Chicago on June 15. The
Dharma Bee tested students' knowledge about Vivekananda and other Hindu leaders
in a written test, oral presentation and team project. It included speech
contest, poster presentation, written test and team activity in four age groups
between grades K-8th grade. More than 130 children, short-listed from regional
competitions, were invited to participate in the final round held in Chicago on June 15.
Congresswoman Tulasi Gabbard,
Chief Guest for the function, in her remarks on the occasion of prize
distribution on June 16, said the Dharma Bee was not just a competition to win
a medal or title as the children have taken to their hearts the teachings of
the Bhagavad Gita and have found a way to understand the message.
“By dovetailing the message
of Lord Krishna in Bhagavad Gita in whatever we do, we are trying to do service
in the name of Sri Krishna, and thus spiritualize it,” Gabbard said.
Pujya Swami Ishatmananda ji
of Vivekananda Vedanta Society said, “Dharma” has a profound meaning namely,
“that which holds.” Dharma Bee goes to
good things like honey bee goes to the choicest of flowers and pick the best,
the Swami ji said while praising the apt name given to the competition.
Parents of the participating
children were overjoyed on the occasion. Shreya Venkatesh, a contestant (13)
from Phoenix, AZ said that she enjoyed learning (Hindu)
culture and about Swami Vivekananda. Another contestant, Suhas Subramaniam (13)
from San Diego
felt that this was an opportunity to learn about great personalities from the
national and cultural past. Subramaniam said, “I knew about Shri Krishna, but
because of Dharma Bee, I got to know a lot about Swami Vivekananda.”
“We are extremely happy to
report that more than 1000 Sewa (service) projects were executed by children
all across the USA.
Parents and children are already requesting similar future events,” said
Sreevidya Radhakrishna, National Coordinator of Dharma Bee. HSS conducts a
structured values education program through its 150 chapters nationwide to
develop strong character and teamwork and leadership skills and to organize a
dynamic and flourishing Hindu-American community.
5. Uttarakhand tragedy: The lesson here is: Don’t abuse Nature - A week after several hundred people have lost their
lives and thousands remain untraced in the disaster that hit Uttarakhand, the
authorities are coming around to the view that they had grievously erred in
ignoring the warning signals which were put out by official agencies and
non-Governmental organisations. Perhaps, they had believed that the red flag was
merely an instance of crying wolf. The devastation that has occurred will have
disabused them of this notion. Besides effectively proceeding with the relief
operations, the Government — both at the Centre and in the State — must at
least now revamp the entire ‘development model' which they wrongly believe is
in the interests of the people. The people definitely want development, but
they do not want death and destruction alongside. Unfortunately, even now,
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna is trying to play down the warnings
on the pretext that not all of those were “specific”. Yet, 48 hours before
disaster struck, on June 13, the Regional Meteorological Centre in Delhi forecast heavy rains
across Uttarakhand. Over the next few days, the warnings kept coming, and even
though they did not clarify the exact areas that would be affected, it was easy
to see that the traditionally vulnerable places of Uttarkashi, Chamoli and
Rudraprayag — all pilgrim hotspots at this time of the year — would be worst hit.
Still, it was not until June 16 that the Uttarakhand Government issued a
disaster warning. And even then, the pilgrimage was not stopped. The next day,
as many as 12 bridges collapsed, leaving thousands stranded. Many of the people
are yet to be rescued.
Also, long before the
meteorological centre issued its warnings, the Comptroller and Auditor-General
had advised against the rampant destruction of the Garhwal Himalayas. Three
years ago, while assessing the environmental impact of proposed hydro-power
plants — 42 are already in operation and more than 200 are in the pipeline —
along the Bhagirathi and the Alakananda rivers, the CAG had said that the
projects were weakening the mountains. The report also highlighted the perils
of deforestation and the erosion of river beds. It pointed out that most
projects had no plans for environmental protection; and even when there were
provisions for conservation, such as planting a certain number of trees to
offset the loss caused by construction, they were ignored. The CAG's warnings
were repeated by the Wildlife Institute of Bharat in its 2012 report,
commissioned by the Government, to study the feasibility of 24 power projects
in the region. Not only did the WII conclude that the projects must be
scrapped, it also put out a slew of recommendations to maintain the fragile
eco-system of the young Himalayas. But, just
as the authorities had forgotten all about the National Mission for Sustaining
the Himalayan Ecosystem launched in 2008, they also turned a deaf ear to the
warnings from various quarters, cautioning against such disastrous
‘development'.
The only silver lining here
is the way in which our Armed Forces have conducted successful rescue
operations. The National Disaster Management Authority has also sought to lend
a helping hand, but it has struggled to put together a comprehensive response;
it’s an area that needs urgent attention.
(Editorial, The Pioneer, 24 June 2013)
6.
Two manuscripts from Nepal
now in UNESCO’s prestigious MEMORY:
Two Nepali manuscripts of world significance are now in UNESCO’s Memory of the
World Register. The Nisvasattatvasa_hita, the earliest surviving tantric
manuscript, and the Susrutasamhita, the oldest document in the field of
Ayurveda medicine, have been added on June 18 to the prestigious list
recognizing documentary heritage of outstanding value. They are the first
inscriptions from Nepal
in the Register, UNESCO Kathmandu Office said in a press release on June 19.
“I congratulate Nepal for the
inscriptions of the two manuscripts in the Memory of the World Register. I am
confident that their inclusion in the Register contributes to creating greater
awareness of the need to preserve Nepal’s
memory held in the country’s archives and libraries”, said Axel Plathe, UNESCO
representative to Nepal.
The Nisvasattatvasa_hita Manuscript, which is deposited at the National
Archives, is said to be the earliest surviving tantric manuscript and as such
it is important source for the early history of tantrism. It has had a great
influence in shaping other tantric texts. The 1134 year old palm leaf
manuscript of the Susrutasamhita (Sahottartantra), held by the Keshar Library
in Kathmandu, is considered as the oldest document in the field of Ayurveda
medicine, a systematic and formal tradition of healing that became South Asia's
principal medical system and has profoundly influenced all cultures surrounding
South Asia including Tibet, Central Asia, China, South-East Asia and the Middle
East. The two manuscripts from Nepal
are among 54 new additions to the Memory of the World Register, approved on
June 18 by UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova.
7.
New York's Times Square becomes yoga's Om
Sweet Om: Some 16,000 yoga
aficionados turned up at New York’s Times Square on 22nd June 2013, the longest
day of the year for open air yogabhyas from sunrise to sunset. What has been a
three-person exercise a decade ago has now grown into a thousand-stron annual
event that celebrates “mind over madness”. Although in California court is an ongoing case against
a school district that established a yoga program with a $500.000 grant from
the K Pattabhi Jois Foundation, aimed at helping elementary schools students
focus on studies, keep calm, and contain aggressive behaviour. The participants
at Times Square did not take any congziance of
it.
8.
California Declares October Hindu American Awareness Appreciation Month: "California and our nation have greatly benefited
by Hindu Americans, especially through yoga, meditation, Vedanta philosophy,
ayurvedic medicine, classical Indian music, art, and dance..."
In a historic moment for
Hindu Americans on June 24, the California State Senate unanimously passed
Senate Concurrent Resolution (SCR 32): California Hindu American Awareness and
Appreciation Month. Introduced by State Senate Majority Leader, Ellen Corbett
(10th Senate District), SCR 32 designates October 2013 as California Hindu
American and Appreciation Month and "recognize[s] and acknowledge[s] the
significant contributions made by Californians of Hindu heritage to the state."
"As the Senator
representing the 10th State Senate District, I am honored to represent
constituents from many diverse backgrounds, including a significant number of
Hindu Americans," said Majority Leader Corbett. "California is home to a thriving community
of over 370,000 Hindu Americans that enrich our state's diversity and
professional assets in fields as diverse as academia, science, technology,
business, arts and literature. I thank my colleagues for supporting SCR 32
today that recognizes Hindu American contributions in California, as well as designates October
2013 in their honor."
9.
Mahendraparvata, 1,200-Year-Old Lost Medieval City In Cambodia,
Unearthed By Archaeologists: A lost
medieval city that thrived on a mist-shrouded Cambodian mountain 1,200 years
ago has been discovered by archaeologists using revolutionary airborne laser
technology. In what it called a world exclusive, the Sydney Morning Herald said
the city, Mahendraparvata, included temples hidden by jungle for centuries,
many of which have not been looted.
The expedition used an
instrument called Lidar -- light detection and ranging data -- which was
strapped to a helicopter that criss-crossed a mountain north of Angkor Wat for
seven days, providing data that matched years of ground research by
archaeologists. It effectively peeled away the jungle canopy using billions of
laser pulses, allowing archaeologists to see structures that were in perfect
squares, completing a map of the city which years of painstaking ground
research had been unable to achieve.
It helped reveal the city
that reportedly founded the Angkor Empire in 802 AD, uncovering more than two
dozen previously unrecorded temples and evidence of ancient canals, dykes and
roads using satellite navigation coordinates gathered from the instrument's
data.
Jean-Baptiste Chevance, Director
of the Archaeology and Development Foundation in London who led the expedition, said it was
known from ancient scriptures that a great warrior, Jayavarman II, had a
mountain capital, "but we didn't know how all the dots fitted, exactly how
it all came together".
"We now know from the
new data the city was for sure connected by roads, canals and dykes," he
said. The discovery is set to be published in the Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences in the United
States.
"We need to preserve the
area because it's the origin of our culture," secretary of state at Cambodia's
Ministry of Culture, Chuch Phoeun, said.
Angkor Wat was at one time
the largest pre-industrial city in the world, and is considered one of the
ancient wonders of the world.
It was constructed from the
early to mid 1100s by King Suryavarman II at the height of the Khmer Empire's
political and military power.
10. BHARATIYA American youngsters trace
the footsteps of Swami Vivekananda in America: more than a century after Swami
Vivekananda travelled to America, youngsters of Bharatiya origin, are hitting
the trail and visiting places where the Swami visited, stayed and delivered
lectures. The program named 'Vivekananda Express' has been facilitated by the
Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh USA,
to mark the 150th birth anniversary celebrations. As part of the series of
visits planned, over a hundred young professionals of the Silicon
Valley and students of nearby Universities and schools visited the
First Unitarian Church of Oakland where Swami Vivekananda gave a speech in the
year 1900. The speech is known to have brought many residents of Berkeley in contact with his message and later led to the
establishment of the Vedanta Society at Berkeley.
11. Muslim body urges President to reject
Interlocutors’ report on
J & K: A delegation of Muslim
Rashtriya Manch (MRM) called on Rashtrapati Pranab Mukherjee and urged him to
direct the Union Government to reject the report and recommendations of the
Dilip Padgaonkar Committee on Jammu
and Kashmir. The delegation included MRM Patron
Indresh Kumar, former Union Minister Shahnawaz Hussain, MRM National Convener
Mohd. Afzal and others.
The delegation also urged
Rashtrapati to direct the Government to scrap the controversial Article 370
guaranteeing special status to the state of J & K.
The MRM had collected 8,
04,598 signatures of the Muslims in Bharat demanding total rejection of the
report of the interlocutors and scrapping of Article 370.
The Memorandum said that the
MRM believed that the report and recommendations made by the interlocutors
appointed by the Government of Bharat on Jammu
and Kashmir issue were detrimental to the national
security, and injurious to social harmony. J & K has been the integral and
inseparable territory
of Bharat, and any
compromise with the territorial integrity of J & K should not be tolerated.
The memorandum stated that
Article 370 which guaranteed special status to J & K was in fact
responsible for the backwardness of the state.
12.
BrahMos can't be intercepted in next 20 years: Pillai: "The equivalent of BrahMos is yet to built. And,
in the next 20 years, it cannot be intercepted by an enemy," says A
Sivathanu Pillai, scientist, and CEO and MD of BrahMos Aerospace sharing the
vision for the future trajectory of growth for the iconic missile technology
developed jointly by Bharat and Russia.
Pillai, also Chief Controller
(R and D), DRDO and hailed largely as the "father of BrahMos"
mentions "missile technology" as one of the 10 key and "unique
leap-frog technologies" for building a securer and greater future of Bharat,
"driven by youth power" in a new book which he has co-authored with
the former President APJ Kalam.
Titled "Thoughts for
Change: We can Do It", by two renowned scientific minds aims to be a
clarion call to the youth of Bharat to "reclaim its ancient scientific
wisdom" even as it exhorts them to embrace and work towards building a
future where "multiple technologies will intersect and interoperate".
BrahMos, developed jointly in
a strategic partnership between Bharatiya DRDO (Defence Research and
Development Organisation) and Russian NPO Mashinostroyeniya, is a stealth
cruise missile with a range of 290 km and travels at a speed of Mach 2.8 to 3.
The name BrahMos is a
portmanteau formed from the names of two rivers, the Brahmaputra of Bharat and
the Moskva of Russia.
13.
RSS or Its functionary Indresh Kumar has no role in Malegaon Blast Case; says
NIA:The National Investigation Agency
(NIA) which is probing the Malegaon blasts of 2006 that rocked the
Muslim-majority textile town, believes that the RSS was never in favour of
carrying out the terror strike. According to the NIA, Indresh Kumar did meet
RSS member Sunil Joshi in Jaipur a few months before the Malegaon lasts. During that meeting, Joshi
had told Kumar about the plan to carry out an attack in Malegaon. Kumar is believed to have told
Joshi that neither he nor the Sangh would support an act of terror. During the meeting, Kumar reportedly said the RSS does
not support the eye-for-an-eye ideology propagated by Joshi and others.
14.
In a first, girls among IIT entrance test toppers: The 16 year-old, Sibbala Leena Madhuri, originally
from Thirupathi and now based in Hyderbad, is one of the first two girls ever to
feature in the top 10 ranks of the entrance exam to the Indian Institutes of
Technology (IITs). Her rank is eighth; the other girl, Aditi Laddha from
Ratlam, Madhya Pradesh (Delhi
zone), is sixth.
15. Hindi hot favourite among firangs:
Hindi is the new favourite with foreign students in Delhi University.
For the first time, 10 Chinese students have applied for Hindi in DU this year.
Candidates from 10 other countries have also applied for Hindi course.
Moreover, there has been a marginal increase in number of foreign aspirants.
Students from over 100 nations have registered this year as against 90 in 2012.
According to the foreign
students registry of the university, while the maximum applications have been
received for Bachelor in Management Studies, commerce and political science,
the surprise trend has been the growing interest in Hindi. While aspirants from
neighbouring countries like Nepal,
Bhutan and Bangladesh used
to come for Hindi course, it's the interest of the Chinese students which is
noteworthy.
16.
14th century Jain manuscript now a global treasure: Shantinatha Charitra a text written in Sanskrit, that
describes the life and times of Shantinatha, the 16th Jain Tirthankara has been
included in the most prestigious list of the worlds greatest documents. UNESCO’s
world heritage body on June 19 included the Bharatiya entry in the Memory of
the World Register 2013 and said the story is of lasting value to humankind.
The manuscript talks about
peace, non-violence and brotherhood and was composed and written in the late
14th century.It contains 10 images from the life of Shantinatha in the style of
Jain paintings from Gujarat. UNESCO said the
document is an universal message of friendship, global peace and unity with
integrity.
It also describes historical
facts and professes high moral and cultural values. The illustrations found in
this manuscript are oldest specimens of miniature painting.These illustrations
are beautifully drawn in multi-colour and are examples of a highly evolved
style of painting. As these illustrations are rarest of rare, their
preservation and protection is necessary for humanity. These are the best and
oldest examples of miniature paintings while the story itself is of lasting
value to humankind, UNESCO added.
The manuscripts are owned by
Lalbhai Dalpatbhai Institute of Indology. It was donated by late Muni
Punyavijayji who had inherited it through family. The Lalbhai Dalpatbhai
Institute of Indology has a rich collection of nearly 75,000 rare manuscripts.
17.
Anderson council opens with Hindu mantras: The Anderson City Council had its first historic Hindu
invocation on June 18, containing verses from world's oldest existing
scripture. Hindu statesman Rajan Zed delivered the invocation from ancient
Sanskrit scriptures before the City Council. After Sanskrit delivery, he then
read the English translation of the prayer.
Zed recited from Rig-Veda,
the oldest scripture of the world still in common use, besides lines from
Upanishads and Bhagavad-Gita. He started and ended the prayer with "Om".
18.
Nepali community in Australia
gift Buddha statue to PM Gillard:
Nepali community in Australia
has presented a gift of Buddha statue along with a letter wishing world peace
to the Prime Minister of Australia, Julia Gillard. Gillard thanked for the gift and expressed
her happiness to "have an opportunity to decorate her office with statue
of Buddha as a peace symbol".
19.
Incredible India!
Now in all UN languages: To attract
more Chinese and Germans tourists, who are among the high spenders on tourism
annually, Ministry of Tourism has floated tenders for agencies to convert the Bharatiya
tourism website — Incredible India — in all United Nation languages plus four
other foreign languages.
Ministry of Tourism has also
set themselves a target of six months for the job. “We have also hired
translators for converting the website, which is so far accessible in English
to five remaining UN languages - Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish
along with Japanese, Korean, Italian and German,” said an official from the
Tourism Ministry.
20. Now, rail link till Katra: Travel for devotees to the famous Vaishno Devi shrine
will become more comfortable with trains expected to go right up to Katra, the
shrine's base camp, from August. Railways is going to open the 25-km
Udhampur-Katra rail link in August as work on the difficult route is almost
complete.
The Udhampur-Katra rail route
to be completed at an estimated cost of Rs 960 crore passes through hostile
terrain, making it an extremely challenging railways project. The route
consists of seven tunnels and 30 small and big bridges, including - a 185-feet
high tunnel. A total of seven tunnels span over 10 km of the 25-km stretch.
21. LONGEST RAILWAY TUNNEL OPENS: A11-km-long tunnel across the treacherous Pir Panjal
mountain range on the Banihal-Qazigund railway line in Jammu and Kashmir, dedicated on June 26 by
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, is the longest such transportation passage in Bharat.
About 1,300 workers and 150 engineers worked tirelessly overcoming all odds for
the last seven years to accomplish the engineering marvel. The tunnel passes
approximately 440 metres below the existing Jawahar Road Tunnel.
22.
PM's daughter honoured for pioneering work in human rights law: Prominent legal activist Amrit Singh has been honoured
for her groundbreaking work in the field of human rights law, along with a
number of other noted Bharatiya-Americans including US Congressman Ami Bera and
USAID chief Rajiv Raj Shah. Singh, 43, the youngest daughter of Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh is a senior legal officer for National Security and
Counterterrorism at the New York-based Open Society Justice Initiative. She
received the India Abroad Publisher's Special Award for Excellence 2012, at the
event organised by 'India Abroad' on June 21.
23. SHRI VISHWA NIKETAN: Pravas: Visitors: Shri Indravadan Gandhi and family - UK, Susri Anita Patel- Kenya.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Dr. Hedgewar had dived deep into past history and recognized certain
basic truths: Ours was not a nation born just yesterday. It has been here since
ages, in fact long before other nations of the world appeared on the stage. Nor
was it primitive or uncivilized. When most of the modern nations of the West
were not yet out of the jungles and the world had not even heard of Jesus or
Mohammed, our country was universally revered for its achievements in every
sphere of human activity – science, arts, commerce, philosophy and
spirituality. And all this was made possible by the endless efforts and
sacrifices of the Hindu people. This fact has been acknowledged in glowing
terms by all the great historians – foreign as well as Indian, old and modern.
This is precisely why this land has been called Hindusthan, the cradle-land of
the Hindus – which only goes to show that this is verily a Hindu Nation, i.e.,
Hindu Rashtra. – Dr. Hedgewar the
Epoch-Maker by B. V. Deshpande and S.R. Ramaswamy.
JAI SHREE RAM
