Bhadra Krishna 11 Vik Samvat 2070. Yugabda 5115: September 1, 2013



1. FESTIVALS: Onam is predominantly celebrated by people from Keral. Onam day is decided based on Solar Calendar. Onam is celebrated in Chingam month on Malayalam Solar Calendar. The day when Nakshatra Thiruvonam prevails in month of Chingam is considered for Onam celebrations. Onam falls on September 16 this year. The festival commemorates the appearance of Vamana avatar of Vishnu and the subsequent home coming of the legendary Emperor Mahabali. Onam celebrates the Asura King Mahabali's annual visit from Patala (the underworld). On Thiruvonam day, Asura King Mahabali is believed to visit every Malayali home and meet his people. The celebrations of Onam start on Atham day (the day when Atham Nakshatra prevails) and continue for 10 days till Thiruvonam day. Atham Nakshatra is known as Hasta Nakshatra in other Hindu Calendars.


2. BALAGOKULAM CELEBRATES JANMASHTAMI IN KERALA: Balagokulam, an organisation of children, celebrated Sree Krishna Jayanti/ Gokulashtami all across Kerala with all its charm and devotion on August 28. Thousands of children, dressed up as Sree Krishna, Gopika and other similar characters from Krishna's life, were seen on the streets of each and every village and towns. Huge processions of children, their parents and other devotees accompanied by beautiful tableaus and ‘Chendamelam’ (a typical Kerala style drum set) were taken out in many places. Dr. Debashish Chattterjee (Director, IIM-kozhikkode) inaugurated the celebrations in Kozhikkode. Dr. G. Madhavan Nair (Former chairman, ISRO and Secretory Department of Space) and Dr M. C. Dileep Kumar (Vice Chancellor, Sree Sankara Sanskrit University) inaugurated the celebrations in Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi respectively.

3. SAVE HINDUS AND SIKHS IN PAKISTAN: US HINDU GROUPS PROTEST:  A powerful protest demonstration was successfully organized on 14 August by Indian American Intellectuals Forum (IAIF) in cooperation with Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America, Hindu Human Rights Watch, Justice for Hindus, India Heritage Foundation, Lansing, Michigan; Human Rights Coalition against Radical Islam, Probasi of Brooklyn and Hindu Mahasabha of America (HMSA) in support of the victims of religious bigotry, hate, intolerance and savagery, near Pakistan Consulate in New York.
The Memorandum expressing outrage, shock and indignation at the horrific treatment meted out to Hindus, Sikhs and Christians was submitted to the Consul General of Pakistan. Addressing the audience, Narain Kataria, organizer of the protest said that Hindus have been terrorized in Pakistan to such an extent that in April-May this year, about 500 Hindus who crossed into Bharat under the pretense of visiting a religious festival, refused to go back to Pakistan and begged government of Bharat to give them political asylum.
A similar demonstration was held outside the Pakistan High Commission in London on Aug 17 by Alliance of Pakistani and British Hindus. The protesters, carrying placards reading "No More Forced Conversions", also handed over a petition to the High Commission asking the Pakistani government to take immediate steps to ensure the well being and safety of Hindus in the country. 

4. BHARAT'S FIRST MILITARY SATELLITE SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHED: Bharat's first military satellite GSAT-7 or "Rukmini", which will boost the Navy's blue-water combat capabilities with a 2,000-nautical mile footprint over the crucial Indian Ocean Region (IOR), was successfully launched from Kourou Island in French Guiana by European space consortium Arianespace's launch rocket in the early hours on August 30.
The naval communication and surveillance satellite when placed in the geostationary orbit, it will become "a potent force-multiplier", networking all Bharatiya warships, submarines and aircraft with operational centres ashore through high-speed encrypted data-links. This is the first time a high-power UHF (ultra high-frequency) transponder forms part of an Bharatiya communication satellite like INSAT or GSAT.
From the individual "I see, I kill" operation, the entire Navy will now be "seamlessly" networked to get "a composite, clear picture of all the actors" in the IOR. It will transform from "a platform-centric" Navy to "a network-enabled" force. Shorn of military lingo, this means the ability to detect and share emerging maritime threats "in real-time" so that a counter to "neutralise" them can be swiftly launched, said sources.

5.  Naperville-Aurora shakha of the Chicago vibhag celebrated Rakshabandhan utsav: A team of volunteers from Naperville-Aurora shakha of the HSS Chicago vibhag celebrated Rakshabandhan utsav with Congressman Bill Foster who is a scientist and businessman representing the 11th Congressional District of Illinois. 
The meeting lasted for close to 55 mins. This was the 3rd year of celebrating Rakshabandhan utsav with congressman/woman.
Pragya Maheshwari and Shreeraj Garkhedkar explained the Rakshabandhan utsav and tied Rakhi to Congressman and his staff. 

6.  Balinese Hindus celebrate Pagerwesi: Balinese Hindu devotees celebrated Pagerwesi on August 14 by performing prayers in temples throughout the island. In some parts of the island, Pagerwesi is a minor religious holiday, not on par with Galungan and Kuningan, during which the Balinese Hindus celebrate the victory of virtues over vices.
From early morning, people flocked to Kahyangan Tiga temples — the three temples dedicated to Brahma, Wisnu and Siwa — in their villages. Together with family, they also visited their ancestral temples.
For Buleleng natives, the celebration always ends with a prayer performed in cemeteries to pay homage to deceased relatives who have not yet been cremated. The living present an offering of rice, cakes and fruit to the deceased and at the end of the ritual they feast on the offering.

7.  Sewa International gets Jefferson Awards for Public service: Sewa International Houston was conferred with the prestigious 2013 Youth Service Challenge Medallion for outstanding community service by Jefferson Awards in a ceremony held at City Hall in Houston on August 13. Presented by Houston Mayor Annise Parker, this award recognizes Sewa’s monthly community service activities known as Sewa Local Events. From July 2012 Sewa International, Houston has been offering its volunteers a chance to impact in their community and bring forth positive change.
Through Sewa Local Events, over 120 volunteers have committed their time serving various local organizations including the Houston Food Bank, Texas Children’s Hospital, Star of Hope Mission, Habitat for Humanity, and the Huston Zoo. Sewa also operates additional full-fledged programs including Refugee Empowerment, Family Services, and their internship opportunities.

8.   Empowering marginalised with quality learning: With the objective to provide quality education to meritorious students coming from over 15 lakh tribal families of the State, the Gujarat Government has established 80 world-class educational institutions for meritorious tribal students throughout the tribal areas of the State.
These special schools are residential in nature. Considerable investment is made on educational facilities, teachers, students’ nutritional needs, teaching aids, and co-curricular activities. The students are provided education in the English medium in many of these schools in order to enable them to compete with the non-tribal population, a senior officer from Gujarat State Government said.
Giving an example of Vejalpur village of Panchmahal district, a senior officer from Gujarat State Government apprised that an English medium school was established in the village in 2007-2008, which now imparts high standard education. The school is from class six to 12. The school places a great deal of emphasis on pedagogy and the teachers meet fortnightly to prepare their teaching plans. In addition to classroom teaching, the teachers spend extra time on students to enhance the latter’s knowledge repository. The teachers at Vejalpur continue to work out strategies so that children take off on a learning adventure every day.

9.   Chandrayaan helps NASA detect water on Moon: Using data collected by Bharat’s Chandrayaan mission, NASA has detected magmatic water locked under the surface of the Moon. NASA said scientists using data from the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) instrument aboard the Indian Space Research Organisation’s Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, remotely detected magmatic water, or water that originates from deep within the Moon’s interior, on the lunar surface. M3 imaged the lunar impact crater Bullialdus, which lies near the lunar equator.
“Now that we have detected water that is likely from the interior of the Moon, we can start to compare this water with other characteristics of the lunar surface,” said Ms.Rachel Klima, a planetary geologist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel. The study was published in the journal Nature Geoscience.

10.  Bharat to play key role in building world’s largest telescope: Bharat will play a key role in building the world’s largest optical and infrared telescope — the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT), which is expected to be completed by 2022 at Mauna Kea in Hawai. This island in the US is among the best astronomical sites in the world. Institutes from Bharat, Canada, Japan, China, and the universities in the USA signed the master partnership agreement on July 25 to build and operate the world’s largest optical and infrared telescope.

11. 25 years in making, Encyclopedia of Hinduism unveiled in US: "It is a deep honor to be participating in the American release of the Encyclopedia of Hinduism. This is a remarkable work of scholarship and research. I hope that many in academia and in everyday life will turn to it as a resource to better understand the characters, the tenets, and the impact that Hinduism has had, and is having in the world,"  said Dr Harris Pastides, President of University of South Carolina on launching the comprehensive 11 volume  encyclopedia  of Hinduism. The encyclopedia covers Hindu spiritual beliefs, practices and philosophy, and is the culmination of a 25-year academic effort.
The work deals with Bharatiya history, languages, art, music, dance, architecture, medicine, and women's issues. It contains more than 1,000 illustrations and photographs.

12.   ‘Reforms in Education System is need of the hour’: Parikkar: “Schooling system makes kids literate but not really educated. Today we get literate people but not educated people. Unless we make people understand issues and go into depth of issues, education is useless”, said Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parikkar addressing an Intellectual meet for vision and thought leaders at CMR Institute of Technology, Bangalore, organised by ‘Swami Vivekananda 150 Birth Anniversary Celebration Committee, Karnataka’
Noted Writer Madhu Kishwar, Social Activist and founder of SVYM – Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement Dr Balasubramaniam also addressed the meet. The talk was followed by a interactive Q & A session. A total of 506 select intellectuals from various professions participated in the seminar. An inspirational solo song was sung before the speeches.

13: MRM adds new dimension to ‘Rakshabandhan’: Addressing a massive congregation of over 2500 Muslim and Hindu women gathered on the occasion at a specially erected shamiyana in the premises of Khandelwal College in Shastrinagar, Delhi, Indresh Kumar, a senior Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Executive Committee member and Patron of MRM, said that this program was historical in the sense that never in the history of Bharat such a grand program was held.
Senior BJP leader, former Union Minister Dr Murli Manohar Joshi, Swami Yatindranath of Haridwar, Maulana Jafrul Hasan ‘Ayodhyavasi’, MRM National convener Mohd Afzal, Co-Conveners Shahjad Ali, Abu Bakr Naqvi, Reshma Hussain, senior RSS activist Ramprasad and others were present.
Muslim women tied Rakhis to Hindu brothers while their Hindu counterparts tied Rakhis to Muslim brothers in the program presenting a novel concept of Hindu-Muslim unity and harmony.
14. Prestigious Janmashtami Puraskaram Conferred on Guru Chemancheri Kunjiraman Nair: The prestigious Janmashtami Puraskaram instituted by Balasamskarakendram has been bestowed upon renowned Kathakali maestro, the reverential Guru Chemancheri Kunjiraman Nair. Chemancheri Kunhiraman Nair began his Kathakali voyage at the age of 15, which still continues relentlessly. Age has never been a restraining barrier for this great maestro. The award was presented at a function inaugurated by head seer of Advaithashramam Kolathur, Swami Chidananda puri and presided over by Dr. KP Prabhakaran Nair.
The Balagokulam the most famous Children’s organisation of South Asia gave away the Janmashtami Award to the veteran Guru of Kathakali Art form of Kerala, for his lifelong achievement and dedication on Art and preservation of the culture.The key address was delivered by KC Kannan, Sahasarkaryavah of Rashtreeya Swayamsevak Sangh.

15. From a hut in Nasik village, 15-yr-old girl runs to gold in China: Anjana Dhavalu Thamake won gold for Bharat by winning the girl's 800m race in the second Asian Youth Games held at Nanjing, China. Thamake clocked a personal best of two minutes 11.47 seconds to bag the gold ahead of Savinder Kaur of Malaysia and Sri Lanka's K Dilhani Fernando. 15-year old Anjana Thamake led the eight-athlete field all through and won the race comfortably. Anjana belongs to a small village, Ganeshgaon, in Nasik district of Maharashtra.
 
16. ParameswarANji's appeal: To commemorate 150th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekanandaand and his Chicago speech 120 years ago, Thiruvananthapuram Corporation has agreed to the appeal of Vivekananda Kendra, Kanyakumari and Sri Ramakrishna Mutt, Thiruvananthapuram to install a life-size bronze statue of Swamiji at Kowdiar Palace Park.
The total outlay for the Statue and the over-arching structure with proper landscaping is estimated to be about  One Crore Rs. Honorable Vice-President of Bharat M. Hameed Ansari has agreed to unveil the statue on 11th September 2013, day of Swamiji’s speech at Chickago.
Kindly contribute generously for the venture.
Your contributions can be sent in favour of ‘Vivekananda Kendra’ or can be directly remitted to the A/c No- 822201002059, IFSC – CNRB 0000822, Canara Bank, Puthenchantha Branch Thiruvananthapuram.Kerala.

17.  Maharashtra signs anti superstition ordinance: Maharashtra Governor K. Sankaranarayanan signed an Ordinance on August 24  which will curb practices like black magic, witchcraft and award stringent punishment, up to seven 7 years in jail,  for the practioners of such superstitions. Maharashtra is the first state in the country to enact such a law. The move comes five days after the killing of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar, the founder-head of the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti (MANS) which fought against these practices.
18.     Seminar on ‘Dreams of Bharat-Role of Media’: Samachar Bharati conducted a seminar on “Swamiji‘s Dreams of Bharat-Role of Media “on 24th Aug 2013 at Hyderabad on the eve of the 150th Birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda.
This seminar was inagurated by Justice L.Narsimha Reddy of the AP High court, called for a closer reading of Swami Vivekananda’s message and it’s appropriateness for our current times.
Mr Chandan Mitra, Editor Daily Pioneer New Delhi and Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha)who was guest speaker on this occasion stressed the continuing relevance of Swami Vivekananda and said his ideas were far ahead of their times.
Mr MVR.Shastry Editor, Andhra Bhoomi , Smt Nivedita Bhide Vice-President of Vivekanada Rock Memorial Kanya Kumari and Justice Sri Ramlu of the AP High Court (Retd) also spoke at the occasion.  

19.  Tributes to Dilip Singh Judeo, The pioneer of Ghar Wapasi movement: Dilip Singh Judeo, BJP leader and MP from Bilaspur parliamentary constituency in Chhattisgarh died on August 14at Medanta Hospital Gurgaon. He was known for his daring personality in Chhattisgarh politics and ‘the Ghar Vapsi Abhiyan’ (reconversion of tribals) on the front of social work. He was 64 and is survived by his wife and two sons.

20.  Madison Hindu community begins big expansion: Ground breaking ceremony of a “Hindu Temple & Cultural Center of Wisconsin” was permormed on a seven acre site 2138 S Fish Hatchery Road in Madison Wisconsin. A cultural center and temple building to cost between $350,000 and $400,000 will be built at the site.
For a Midwestern city, Madison has a relatively high concentration of Hindus, with most of them natives of Bharat, “UW-Madison is a big factor,”  said Sharma, 57, a native of New Delhi, Bharat, moved to Madison in 1992. “There are a lot of researchers here and professors and assistant professors. You also have a lot of doctors because of the medical facilities, and a lot of people working for technology companies.”

21. NATION-WIDE PROTEST BY VHP AGAINST BANNING AYODHYA PARIKRAMA YATRA: After a nation-wide protest, which also reverberated in the Parliament, VHP Veteran Ashok Singhal, Dr Togadia were released from Police arrest on August 26.  However UP Govt did not lift the ban on Ayodhya Parikrama Yatra of VHP. Vishwa Hindu Parishad & Bajrang Dal workers protested across the nation at places like Deharadoon, Kasargod – Keral, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Jantar Mantar in New Delhi against the ban imposed by UP government on 84 kosi parikrama which started on August 25 and arrest of Hindu Saints & VHP activists in and around Ayodhya. 

22. HINDU'S OF SINDH, PAKISTAN CELEBRATE JANAMASHTMI : Despite threats from Talibans, fundamentalists and  persecution and migration to Bharat from Pakistan, the Hindu's of Sindh celebrated Janamashtmi festival with religious fervor.
President of Pakistan Hinduh Seva Welfare Trust, Sanjesh Dhanja informed that trust in collaboration with Shri Naval Ekta Committee celebrated the event of Sri Krishna Janamashtmi at Hyderabad, Pakistan. "It is amazing and indicates that how much Hindu's are aware of their religious rights" he said. Stating that it was the unity among the community that they were able to celebrate the event in such a big way, advocate Ramesh Kumar of the trust said," Hindu's realize their strength and despite all odds they are united to celebrate their religious festivals"
In a similar incident, Hindus and Sikhs from the restive northwest gathered at three temples in Peshawar to celebrate Raksha Bandhan. Arrangements were made at the historic Kali Bari and two other temples in Lower Courts and Gor Ghatri for the celebration where Hindus and Sikhs from cities like Kohat, Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan travelled to Peshawar. 

23.   HINDUS LAUD OREGON PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOL FOR OFFERING YOGA: Hindus have applauded Crescent Valley High School (CVHS) in Corvallis (Oregon, USA) for offering yoga, and have urged all schools in Oregon to do the same for their pupils.According to reports, a week-long yoga summer camp is currently being held in the school and a yoga class will be offered after the school opens on September 4.

24.   Bharatiya professor reports first human-to-human brain interface: A Bharatiya Rajesh PN Rao, Associate Professor of Computer and Science Engineering, at University of Washington in Seattle and his American research colleague have successfully performed the first non-invasive human-to-human brain interface over the Internet. Using electrical brain recordings and a form of magnetic stimulation, sent a brain signal to researcher Andrea Stocco on the other side of the UW campus, causing Stocco’s finger to move on a keyboard.
Rao has been working on brain-computer interfacing for more than 10 years. He has just published a textbook on the subject. For the demonstration, the team had a Skype connection set up so the two labs could coordinate, though neither Rao nor Stocco could see the screens.
On his home page on the university website, Rao says the primary goal of his research is “to discover the computational principles underlying the brain’s remarkable ability to learn, process and store information, and to apply this knowledge to the task of building adaptive robotic systems and brain-human interfaces”.

25.   Bharat lures back 500 NRI scientists: Over the last seven years, initiatives such as the Ramanujan and Ramalingaswamy fellowships and the £160-million India Alliance between the UK’s Wellcome Trust and Bharat’s department of biotechnology have prompted over 500 scientists doing research overseas to shift to their homeland. The first two‘re-entry’ fellowships — started in 2006 and 2007 respectively — are granted for five years and come with a monthly salary of Rs. 75,000 in addition to handsome research grants. A large number of their fellows are absorbed in the institutes where they do their research. The government is now trying to increase both the emoluments and research grants under the fellowship so it becomes more attractive, says department of science and technology secretary Dr T Ramasami.

26. SHRI VISHWA NIKETAN: Pravas:  Dr.Ram Vaidya, sahsamyojak Vishwa Vibhag is touring Guyana and Suriname. Visitors: Ujjwal Bharadwaj – UK, Rajesh - Singapore

FOOD FOR THOUGHT: I am sure, if our mothers make a resolve to uplift the society, then there is no power, either in this world or the other, which can defeat them. The ideal of Savitri, before whom even the Lord of Death accepted defeat, is before them. May they all invoke within themselves such single-minded devotion to the ideal, such purity of character and such peerless heroism! Once we do this, I am sure, the long night will pass and a new dawn will spread its golden hue over the horizon of not only Bharat but over the entire world with the renewed effulgence of our Dharma. – Sri Guruji M S Golwalkar.
JAI SHREE RAM

50 YEARS OF HINDU EMPOWERMENT

Dr Pravin Togadia
Recently while traveling a young suited booted professional approached me and said, ‘Jai Shreeram’. I pleasantly looked up and he continued, “I studied in VHP run High School, did well in the board exam and with VHP support I went on to be an MBA and now I am holding a good post in an FMCG.” The passenger sitting next to us exclaimed, “Oh! VHP is in education too? I thought that you guys did only agitations.” Before I give him the details of our service work in education, health, vocational training, the same smart youth rattled the details of VHP’s total educational projects 50628, 1257 schools, 608 health projects including hospitals, mobile dispensaries and health care centres; girls hostels 32, boys hostels 108, orphanages 45, Self-Help Groups for women 633, vocational skills for youth centres 257 and other social help projects such as legal aid, old age homes, etc are 1205.”  And then he added, “This large-scale social service by VHP is important and equally important are the agitations that are done to defend Hindus and Hindu Dharma. I am proud to be associated with VHP.”
This is not the one off incident. Over 50,000 students who have studied in VHP High Schools, are now placed at various respectful places in various fields like science, technology, corporates, health etc. When they came to our schools, they were either from very poor families or from Vanvasi areas. Now various high schools have over 6000 students. When nobody dared to enter Nagaland, VHP opened hostel in Halflong area of Nagaland 40 years back and now 10,000 Nagas proudly call themselves Naga Hindus. This has prevented massive conversion in the area. The same is for Odisha to Chhattisgarh and Tripura to Maharashtra.
When Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) begun on Janmashtami on August 29, 1964 in Mumbai in a simple Sandipani Ashram, Hindu well-being, restoring dignity for Hindu Dharma, protection of Hindus, spreading Hindu Dharma glory nationally and internationally etc were part of the goals. The objective of the VHP was to organise – consolidate the Hindu society and to serve – protect the Hindu Dharma. A strong, effective, enduring and an ever increasing presence of VHP is now seen in lakhs of villages and towns in Bharat as well as globally.
Today when VHP will be completing 50 years coming year, VHP is present in all 450 (Government) districts in Bharat and also in 5868 Prakhands (Taluk, etc) working through its 51,374 committees. VHP has activities of similar types in over 100 countries. This is not mere data; people work here day and night for Hindu well-being. VHP has always treated untouchability as a big social evil. Through the consistent efforts at eradication of social evils like untouchability, VHP is absolving the Hindu society and rejuvenating it to express its inherent Hindu Unity and Dignity. Respected Shankaracharyas and Sadhu-Saints in VHP conclave have passed a resolution to eradicate untouchability. As a part of it Pujya Shankara-charyaji went to Kashi’s Domb King’s home and ate with him. Today, VHP has a special social equality project named ‘Samarasta’ in which VHP workers make people from other castes ‘Hindu Mitra (Friends)’ who are invited for all religious functions and treated like close family members. Globally, with VHP’s efforts, Hindu Dharma is taught as a part of school syllabus in Australia and UK with Government sanction there. This helps others to know facts about Hindu Dharma and also helps Hindus settled there for generations to get their children know of their glorious Hindu traditions. VHP runs interactive summer camps in many countries including the USA for the children and youth to tell them about Bharat’s glorious culture and Hindu Dharma.
Cow protection is an important part of VHP activity. Bajrang Dal workers are always ahead in Gou Raksha. Many states now have law prohibiting cow butchering. VHP has worked tirelessly to get them pass this law. A lot needs to be done to get other states and Centre even pass the law now. To save non-milking cows which are unaffordable for poor farmers, VHP runs over 515 Goshalas all over Bharat. The late Moropant Pingleji had a great vision of making consumer products made from gomutra (cow yrine), gomay (cow dung) and also from cow ghee, curd and milk. These panchgavya products are now made by many Goshalas. Products like soaps, shampoos, medicines etc at par with any MNC are now being used by millions of Hindus. Moropantji always felt that as many consumer products from panchgavya are used as many liters of gomutra and as many kilos of gomay would be used, farmers can earn from them and cows would be saved. VHP Gouseva Gou Raksha also holds interesting exams for school kids on Gou Mata!
Defending Hindus and Hindu rights have been VHP’s one of the objectives. Ayodhya’s Ram Temple, Kashmir’s Amarnath, South Bharat’s Rameshwaram Ram Sethu and stopping reservations to Muslims in jobs / education, / loans are the larger agitations VHP did and have been following up. Amarnath pilgrimage now gets over 10 lakh people annually where no Hindu was safe earlier. Rameshwaram Ram Sethu has been protected with VHP’s continued legal and social fight. Hon. Supreme Court of India has discarded all proposals and committee reports on Muslim Reservations terming them ‘unconstitutional’ due to VHP’s constant socio-legal fight.
Apart from these national agitations, VHP also takes up local issues of Hindus from all states. Recently when a Scheduled Caste minor girl was gang raped and killed by Muslims in Pratapgarh district of UP, VHP dared the Uttar Pradesh government and got the police file an FIR and arrest the culprits. They did it after 15,000 Hindus of all castes from surrounding villages did democratic peaceful march to the police station.
There are umpteen such examples like Kokrajhar Assam where Bangladeshi infiltrators attacked local original Vanvasis and burnt their houses. VHP not only opened the relief camps but also pushed the polity to agree that 1951 would be Citizen Registry cut off and not 1971 as the infiltrators came in then. When North East Indians were being chased away from all parts of Bharat after Kokrajhar incidents, VHP, RSS together stood with them, protected them and those who still wished to be at their homes in NE, helped them with special trains, protection and food supplies on way. From Marad, Kasargoud at Kerala to recent Kishtwar incident in Jammu & Kashmir all states, VHP has been holding Hindu hands many ways.
To help Hindus in routine emergencies like medical, travel, legal etc Hindu Help Line runs a 24X7 call cantre through which Hindus get emergency help all over Bharat. We wish to extend it to globally now. Recently when Hindus from Pakistan fled and came in Bharat, VHP helped them settle and now taking up the issue of their safety and status. ‘Hindu Ahead’ project has excellent youth participation with the appeal of ‘Aware Hindu and Active Hindu’.
Before VHP was established in 1964, Hindus did give fight on their own globally and in Bharat. Now nationally and globally VHP has become a rallying point for Hindus for protection, prosperity and dignity as a Hindu. Many other Hindu organisations followed VHP footsteps and are now active to help Hindus. VHP works with many of them when it comes to Hindu issues.
With 43000 primary schools in Vanvasi areas, VHP has achieved what many governments could not. Preventing mass conversions and not letting separatist movements in are the big successes of this. Over 5 lakh Hindus did voluntary Home Coming (paravartan) from forced Muslim and Christian practice.
It is said that life begins at 50. VHP has come leaps and bounds ahead to spread and protect Hindu Dharma. An apolitical socio-religious movement has become a support hand for Hindus, which now has strength to express in one voice the issues of Hindus and influence the polity so that Hindu rights are protected. We all have many many miles to go. Vicious efforts to malign the image and work of VHP will continue by the so-called anti-Hindu and pseudo secular forces.
VHP will move ahead for Hindus all the tie irrespective of individuals as we believe that ideology is prime. To multiply VHP’s efforts in all the fields of socio-legal, socio-religious and socio-economic aspects for Hindus, VHP is gearing up with the ‘VHP Vision’ which was announced in Kerala meeting in 2011 when a young team had been announced (The detailed VHP Vision document is available on www.vhp.org  Or one can simply give search on Google: VHP Vision – Kerala). Past 2 years much has been charted out and achieved. Much more is to be done. Let us together make a difference! (Contact: drtogadia@gmail.com, www.facebook.com/HinduNewsNetwork)
(Published in Organiser 1 September 2013)