1. FESTIVALS: Mahashivratri,
the 13th night/14th day of Krishna Paksh of Phalgun falling on 27th March
this year, marks the marriage of Lord
Shiva and Goddess
Parvati. It is believed that on this night Lord Shiva performed Tandava
dance that led to the creation, conservation and devastation of the
universe. Devotees visit Shiva temples in the morning and pour
water mixed with milk on
the lingam of Lord Shiva. Holy mantras are recited and special puja is
performed throughout the night.
Mahashivratri is not only a magnificent
festival in Bharat but also in Nepal
2. WORDS OF A
PRESIDENT - Pranab
Mukherjee has raised valid concerns: President Pranab Mukherjee's
observation during his Republic
Day eve speech that
“anarchy” cannot “substitute governance”, may have raised the Aam Aadmi
Party's hackles. But the party and its well-wishers must take the comment
in their stride and reflect on its wisdom, rather than adopt a combative
posture. It is obvious that Mr Mukherjee had Delhi Chief Minister Arvind
Kejriwal's recent dharna in mind, but it would be wrong to read into the
statement any offence directed at either Mr Kejriwal or his party. As head
of state and having spent decades in governance holding senior
positions at the Centre,
Mr Mukherjee can only have the good of the country at heart, and he has
through the speech shared his views with the people. The observation is
meant equally for all those political leaders who believe that empty
populism can propel them to power, even if such populist conduct militates
against established democratic systems and processes and strikes at the
very interests of society and the country at large. It is this displeasure
with populist tendencies that the President elaborated upon when he
advised the representatives of the people to refrain from making promises
to the electorate that they cannot honour. He said, with telling effect,
“Elections do not give any person the licence to flirt with illusions”.
Since he was addressing the nation — in effect, the people of the country
— Mr Mukherjee's words must not be lost on the citizens. They should hold
their representatives accountable and rap them on the knuckle when the
latter begin selling illusions. At the same time, the people are justified
in their anger when the political class fails to deliver on the assurances
it has offered to gain the votes. It is to this outpouring of dissent that
the President referred to when he remarked, “False promises lead to
disillusionment, which gives birth to rage, and that rage has one
legitimate target: Those in power”. Here, the President is completely
bipartisan, and he in fact acknowledges that the Anna Hazare-led
anti-corruption movement of 2011 was the result of failed assurances by
the ruling class to tackle corruption. Naturally, political parties have
been interpreting the President's speech depending on whom they wish to
target. While the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party are happy over
Mr Mukherjee's disguised jibe at the Aam Aadmi Party, Mr Kejriwal appears
to be elated that there is now a “debate” on whether a Chief Minister
should sit on a dharna. It is typical of the Delhi Chief Minister to
reduce the President's sagacious advice to an observation about his pet
method of resolving issues. He needs to grow up. – Editorial,
The Pioneer, 28 January 2014.
back
3. BRAVERY AWARDS TO
25 CHILDREN: Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh on January 24
presented the National Bravery Awards to 25 children ahead of the Republic
Day, saying that the children were the “nation’s pride” and their
courageous acts an “inspiration” to all. Paying his tributes to the five
brave children who lost their lives while trying to save others last year,
the Prime Minister said: “Mausmi Kashyap and Aryan Raj Shukla from Uttar
Pradesh, M Khayingthei from Manipur, Malsawmtluangi from Mizoram and L
Manio Chachei from Nagaland are not among us today, but the sacrifice of
these brave children will always inspire the country.”
“The youngest among you is seven-year-old
Tanvi, who saved her four-year-old sister from drowning. Helping others at
such a tender age is not an ordinary thing,” he said. Manmohan Singh also
mentioned the brave deeds done by other children like Shilpa Sharma from
Himachal Pradesh who saved a child from a leopard; Shubham Santosh
Chaudhari from Maharashtra who saved two girls from a fire; and Malieka
Singh Tak who took on four men alone.
The awardees received a medal, certificate
and cash. They will also receive financial assistance until they complete
their schooling.back
4. RSS CELEBRATES REPUBLIC DAY; Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh celebrated 65th Republic Day with hoisting national
flags at various places. Sarasanghachalak Mohan Bhagwat Ji hoisted
National Flag and offered salutes at Tejpur of Assam in a simple
ceremony. Sarkaryavaha Bhaiyyaji Joshi attended Republic Day
celebrtaions at Pune of Maharashtra, hoisted national flag and offered
salutes. Sahsarakaryavah Dattatreya Hosabale hoisted National Flag at
Mumbai, addressed a small gathering and conveyed his wishes and concerns
on Republic Day. Akhil Bharatiya Prachar Pramukh Dr Manmohan Vaidya
hoisted flag at Gaziabad, UP.back
5. TIBETANS CELEBRATE 65TH REPUBLIC DAY OF BHARAT: The
Central Tibetan Administration celebrated the 65th Republic Day of Bharat
at its headquarters at Ghankyi Kyishong led by the caretaker PM Pema
Chinjor. Chinjor, the minister for religion and culture, unfurled the
tricolor Bharatiya national flag in front of the Kashag Secretariat
followed by the Bharatiya national anthem recital.back
6. SOMYA HEGADE SANGH FAMILY DAUGHTER RECEIVES NATIONAL AWARD FROM
PRIME MINISTER: Soumya
Hegade received National Award for Best NCC Cadet from Prime Minsiter Dr
Manmohan Singh in New Delhi on January 28. Soumya Hegade is the daughter
of RSS Karnataka Dakshin Pranth Saha Vyavastha Pramukh Ganapati Hegade.
Mother Bhageerathi Hegade and sister Sindhu Hegade encouraged Soumya’s
skills and interest in NCC. RSS Sahasarakaryavah Dattatreya Hosabale,
Akhil Bharateeya Bouddhik Pramukh Bhagayya, RSS Karnataka Dakshin Pranth
Karyavah N Tippeswamy and several other senior functionaries congratulated
Soumya on receiving the award.back
7. THREE AUSTRALIANS OF BHARATIYA ORIGIN GET AUSTRALIA Australia
Dr Sadanandan Nambiar, a forest scientist,
who works with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research
Organisation (CSIRO), has been awarded the Officer of Order of Australia
(AO), Australia Templestowe , Victoria ,
received the Medal (OAM) of the Order of Australia
8. TEMPLE RELOCATED
USING MODERN TECHNOLOGY: Residents
of Ayyanur, about three miles west of Ambur, Tamilnadu thought of a novel
but hi-tech idea of retaining a small 300-year-old Amman Chennai-Bangalore
National Highway
R. Moorthy, president of the renovation committee of the temple said that he got the idea of relocating the temple by seeing such structural relocations of buildings done in theU.S.
R. Moorthy, president of the renovation committee of the temple said that he got the idea of relocating the temple by seeing such structural relocations of buildings done in the
9. FIRST PREPARE YOURSELF FOR NATION’S CAUSE THEN TELL OTHERS – MOHAN
BHAGWAT: “Prepare
yourself for nation’s cause and then tell others to do it. It is our
responsibility to reshape the nation’s destiny and without uniting the
Hindu society the nation cannot make progress”, said RSS Sarsanghchalak
Shri Mohan Bhagwat while addressing a gathering of swyamsevaks at the
Maharaj Udaya Singh Statiudm in Kota
10. RSS REMEMBERS NETAJI SUBHASH CHANDRA BOSE ON HIS
117TH JAYANTI: Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh celebrated 117th Jayanti of freedom fighter Netaji
Subhash Chandra Bose by organising a traditional Route March (Patha
Sanchalan) with Ghosh (Band) in Siliguri on January 23 afternoon for an
hour. During the Pathasanchalan, R S S swayamsevaks paid their
heart-warming tributes to the national hero who devoted himself for the
motherland. More than 300 swyamsevaks participated in the Path-sanchalan.back
11. NARENDRA MODI A PERSON OF GREAT PROMINENCE: The
European Union on January
24 termed Narendra Modi as a "person of great prominence" on Bharat
political landscape and said it respects the judicial verdict that has
given clean chit to the Gujarat chief
minister for 2002 riots, on which there were "enormous" concerns around
the world. EU Ambassador to Bharat Joao Cravinho said the views of the
28-member bloc on the Gujarat riots
have been based on Bharata's judicial and political process and it engages
with Modi like with any other leader.
"He is a person of great prominence in the
political scene. So, of course, we are interested in knowing his views,
seeing what plans he has if he comes to power," Cravinho said.back
12. ‘BHARATIYA WOMEN
CAN GUIDE THE WORLD AT CROSSROADS’: Coinciding
with the 151st birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda a woman’s convention
‘Bharatiya women as the guide for the world at crossroads’ was organized
at Chennai on January 23. Thousands of women attended the convention. Dr.
V Shanta, Chairman of Cancer Institute (WIA), recipient of many awards
gave the welcome address, in which she gave a clarion call to women in
Bharat—in the words of Swami Vivekananda “Awake, Arise, Stop not till the
goal is reached”. This was a call to women to be part of what is happening
around them, to bring back values and principles in life and for women to
understand and appreciate their respective roles and responsibilities.
Dr Padma Subramanyam Chairperson,
Organizing Committee of Swami Vivekananda 150 Women’s Initiative, gave a
short brief on the origin of this convention. She cited various
contributions of women in Vedic times namely Gargi, Avvaiyar (Sangam
period), Karaikkal Ammaiyar (Saiva Nayanmars), Brahmavadini, Andal (Srivilliputhur),
Queen Akka Mahadevi (Karnataka), Meera (Rajasthan), Rani Padmini (Chittor),
Velu Nachiyar, Jhansi Rani and gave an outlook on how women are held in
high esteem in religious, spiritual and temporal traditions.
Speaking about his mother who raised his
stature, the factory of Dharma, S. Gurumurthy said that Bharatiya economy
was essentially family based and woman-centric, which is in contrast to
the rights-based and duty based approach of the West. The convention
concluded with an oath to resolve the views of Swami Vivekananda on women
and to become a contributor and exporter of Bharatiya thoughts to the
world. back
13. BHARAT TEST FIRES NUKE AGNI-IV MISSILE: Bharat
on January 20 successfully test-fired its nuclear-capable strategic
missile Agni-IV, with a strike range of about 4,000 km, from a test range
off the Odisha coast. “The test firing was a total success. The missile
travelled its full range,” M V K V Prasad, the director of Integrated Test Range
14. LITERALLY FROM KASHMIR TO KANYAKUMARI: Samskrita
Bharati, an all Bharat movement to pupularise spoken Samskritam, literally
spreads Sanskrit from Kashmir to
Kanyakumari. Last year, shikshaks of ten-day spoken Samskrita Shibiram
from all states converged in Jammu and
conducted camps at 300 places in Jammu
15. PROF SC MITTAL FELICITATED WITH DR VAKANKAR
PURASKAR: Noted
historian Prof Satish Chandra Mittal was honoured with the 16th Dr Vishnu
Vakankar Puraskar by the Baba Saheb Apte Smarak Samiti in Delhi on January
19. After doing PhD from the Kurukshetra University Mittal started
teaching in the same university and is now Rashtriya Adhyaksh of the Akhil
Bharatiya Itihaas Sankalan Yojna. He specialises on Bharatiya national
movement and is a renowned historian. The Puraskar is presented to those
historians who have contributed in the propagation of glorious Bharatiya
history.
Speaking on the occasion RSS Sahsarkaryavah
Suresh Soni said Baba Saheb Apte focused on two topics—Sanskrit and
History. He wanted that Sanskrit should become the language of the masses.
He said if the history is distorted the future would also be distorted.
Now since our history has been distorted we shall have to put our efforts
to bring the real history into limelight.back
16. FREE TEMPLES FROM
STATE CONTROL: The
Supreme Court delivered a landmark judgment on January 6, 2013, allowing
the former Union Minister Dr Subramanian Swamy’s Special Leave Petition
that sought the quashing of the Tamil Nadu Government's G.O. of 2006 which
had mandated the government takeover of the hallowed Sri Sabhanayagar Temple
17. MUKTESWAR DANCE FESTIVAL: The
Mukteswar Dance Festival was held in Bhubaneswar
18. CENTENARY OF
SARDAR VALLABH BHAI PATEL’s CALL TO THE BAR-AT-LAW: The
Indo British Cultural Exchange and the British Sikh Association in
partnership with the Sardar Patel Memorial Society UK, National Congress
of Gujarati Organisations UK and Society of Asian Lawyers held a historic
event to mark the centenary of Bharat Ratna Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s
call to the Bar-at-Law on 27th January 2014 at the Middle Temple, London.
A plaque was unveiled by the Chief Guest, the Rt. Hon. Dominic Grieve QC,
MP; the Attorney General for England and Wales, Advocate General for
Northern Ireland. Dr. Rami Ranger MBE, FRSA, Chairman of the British Sikh
Association welcomed the guests by sharing the message of the British
Prime minister, the Rt. Hon. David Cameron MP lauding Sardar Patel’s
contribution to modern Bharat as a barrister and statesman”. The Rt. Hon.
Dominic Grieve QC, MP then unveiled the commemorative plaque to an
audience that had been waiting in anticipation. Presiding over the
function, H.E. Mr Ranjan Mathai – Bharatiya High Commisioner to UK
19. LADAKH CIVILIANS GET BRAVERY AWARD FROM ARMY: For
the first time, three civilians from Ladakh region, including a porter in
Siachin who saved two soldiers buried in an avalanche, have been honoured
by Army with special award for their exemplary courage and devotion to
duty. Lt. Gen. Sanjeev Chachra Army Commander of Northern Command, gave
away the awards to Stanzin Padma, Jigmet Urgain and Nima Norboo on January
14, the eve of Army Day at Udhampur, Jammu
Padma was honoured for digging out alive
two army soldiers who were buried under snow due to an avalanche on May 28
last year while risking his own life. Jigmet Urgain’s career in the army
was cut short by an unfortunate mine accident during training in which he
lost his eyesight as well as both his hands but that did not stop him for
helping others. Padma also saved the life of fellow porter Nima Norboo.
Both are employed at Siachin — an assignment which is challenging and
fraught with danger. On 5 December 2012, while operating a trolley, Narboo
fell into a 200 feet deep crevasse. The only way to save him was for
someone to lower himself down into the treacherous crevasse and physically
extricate Narboo. Undaunted by the grave danger, Padma volunteered for
this task and after a gruelling effort which extended for about 20 hours,
was able to extricate Norboo from the jaws of certain death.back
20. NRI SCIENTIST AJ PAULRAJ WINS TECH ‘NOBEL’: A
Bharat-born engineer-scientist whose work in the US is at the heart of the
current high speed WiFi and 4G mobile systems, has been awarded the 2014
Marconi Prize, a Nobel equivalent for technology pioneers. Coimbatore-native
and Stanford University Professor Emeritus Arogyaswami Joseph Paulraj,
simply known as ''Paul'' to his legion of friends and admirers, has been
recognized for his work in inventing and advancing MIMO (Multiple Input
Multiple Output) technology, a key enabler of wireless broadband services
that has revolutionized high speed delivery of multimedia across the
world. The Marconi Prize, whose previous winners include worldwide web
pioneer Tim Berners-Lee, Internet legend Vint Cerf, Google search maestro
Larry Page, and cell phone inventor Martin Cooper, comes with a $100,000
prize. ''Paul has made profound contributions to wireless technology, and
the resulting benefit to mankind is indisputable. Every wifi router and 4G
phone today uses MIMO technology pioneered by him,'' said Professor Sir
David Payne, Chairman of the Marconi Society and Director of the
Optoelectronics Research Centre at the University of Southampton.back
21. BHARAT-ORIGIN PROF. RAKESH KHURANA TO HEAD HARVARD: Rakesh
Khurana, who is currently a Professor of Leadership Development at Harvard
Business School (HBS) and professor of sociology in the Faculty of Arts
and Sciences (FAS), will be the new Dean starting July of theHarvard College Harvard Business School
Khurana earned his BS from Cornell University
22. SURYA NAMASKAR YAGNA 2014 IN INDIANAPOLIS : On
Saturday, January 18th, the first Yogathon for Indianapolis was
held at United Methodist Church Indiana such
as Fishers, Greenwood , Indianapolis ,
and Greenfield
The program began with a detailed
presentation by Akshay Bhagwatwar explaining what is SNY and its benefits.
Aparna Soni helped everyone warm up with different stretching exercises.
This was followed by a Surya Namaskar demonstration by Aathreya Murthy and
Darshan Soni with Aparna Soni being the Sutradhar. Yogathon concluded with
guided Shavasana by Uday Murthy ji.back
23. TAIWAN-ORIGIN SCHOLAR OF TAMIL GETS THIRUVALLUVAR
AWARD: Taiwan
Dr. Yu Hsi was born in Taiwan Tamil University
24. US RETURNS
MISSING SCULPTURES TO BHARAT: The US has
returned to Bharat three ancient sculptures that had been smuggled into
the US US
25. YOUNG BHARATIYA SCIENTISTS NO LONGER HESITANT TO
RETURN, SAYS MASHELKAR:Young
Bharatiya scientists – in great demand all over the world – are now more
than willing to come back to their motherland, feels renowned scientist
Dr. RA Mashelkar who was awarded the Padma Vibhushan on January 25.
“There is a new realization among young
scientists that it is great to be in Bharat. Bharat was always the land of
ideas. But it was the US
26. RUPEE, LEGAL TENDER IN ZIMBABWE: The
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, on January 29 said it would add the Bharatiya
rupee to the basket of currencies to be circulated in the country.The
decision has been taken keeping in view the growing trade and investment
ties between the two countries. Zimbabwe
27. INFOSYS CO-FOUNDER GIVES IISC Rs 225
CRORE: In
one of the biggest philanthropic contributions to the Pure Sciences,
Infosys executive vice-chairman Kris Gopalakrishnan has set aside Rs 225
crore to develop a Centre for Brain Research at the Bharatiya Institute of
Science in Bangalore. It's also one of the single-largest donations the
105-year-old institute has received from an individual. Kris, a co-founder
of the Bangalore-based IT giant, will give the money under the banner of
the Pratiksha Trust, a charitable organization he has set up with his wife
Sudha. The trust funds education, research, innovation and
entrepreneurship. Kris will also fund the setting up of three chairs each
in the departments of computer science, IISc and at the IIT,Madras
28. BHARAT’S CULTURAL TREASURES TO GO ONLINE: In
the days to come, with just a click of the mouse one can have a glimpse of
lakhs of Bharat’s rich cultural treasures, including artefacts and
antiquity, kept in the 52 Government-run museums across the country. These
were never on display and the new initiative would make Bharat the first
country in the world to adopt such a nationwide system wherein rich
cultural treasures that are currently inaccessible to be available to the
public through a searchable and centralised database. In the first phase,
by the year-end, the treasure in the trove kept in the country‘s 10 major
national museums will be available
online through a website, said a senior official from the Union Culture
Ministry. The official said that the digitization, which is being done by
‘Jatan’ software by Pune-based Centre for the Development of Advanced
Computing (CDAC), includes archiving the location to which the artifact
belongs, its date and age, nature, measurements and detailed visual
description. Jatan, a virtual museum builder software, is basically a
digital collection management system specially designed for museums.back
29. ACT, TO RETAIN OUR CULTURAL PURITY – RAJIV MALHOTRA: It
was an enlightening evening for hundreds of patriotic citizens of Bangalore
Rajiv Malhotra said "the situation is
grim...unless we act now, it will be too late for us to retain our
cultural purity". There are many forces and concerted efforts out there to
demean our great heritage and culture. Crores of dollars are being spent
every year on projects meant to spread mis-information about our history
and religion. Many of the foreign supported so called 'human rights
groups', 'empowerment projects', 'education projects', 'training programs'
etc are really involved in nefarious activities. Justice N Kumar of
Karnataka High court called upon the audience to sacrifice little bit from
our present day comforts and support such projects. He said, without that
sacrifice and action from each individual, there is no point in how much
ever we talk.back
30. SHRI VISHWA
NIKETAN: Pravas: Shri
Saumitra Gokhale samyojak Vishwa Vibhag would reach Bharat for ABPS
baithak and other pravas till mid-March. Visitors: Ashes
Ramjivan - Mauritius ,
Savitriji – Netherlands ,
Arjun Lal Sharma – UK
FOOD FOR THOUGHT: “Youth
is not the prime of life, but a state of mind. You are as young as your
faith and as old as your doubts, you are as young as your self-confidence
and as old as your fear.” –
Yadav Rao Joshi.back
JAI SHREE RAM
HE WAS LUCKY TO HAVE MET NETAJI
Vivek Shukla
Sardar Sewa Singh Namdhari was a bridge
between the Sikhs of Thailand and Bharat, and one of the few people alive
who had a face to face meeting with Netaji Bose. His passing away snaps
yet another link with the charismatic leader. With the recent passing away
of Sardar Sewa Singh Namdhari, Bharat lost another link with Netaji Subhas
Chandra Bose’s era. Till the last days of his eventful life, the memory of
his meeting with Netaji was not diminished.
It was at his place in Bangkok
Once, while recalling that meeting,
Namdhari said, “Netaji came to the meeting place exactly on time. The
crowd went wild on seeing their hero in flesh and blood for the first
time. People lifted him on their shoulders and started chanting slogans
like, ‘Netaji zindabad’ and ‘Bharat mata ki jai’. Many in the crowd
started weeping in the wake of his brilliant oratory. They felt helpless
sitting thousands of miles away from their motherland.”
Netaji exhorted the Bharatiya community to
help so that he could fight the British. He spoke for over 30 minutes and
the moment he completed his emotionally charged speech, the expatriate
Bharatiya community started giving everything they had with them. When
almost everybody had contributed, he was taken aback that his main host
Sardar Pratap Singh didn’t contribute anything. He asked his host the
reason for not helping the cause of his motherland. Namdhari was present
when Netaji asked this question. After a pause, Sardar Pratap Singh said
that he was waiting to see how much money was collected. After that he
would donate the same amount later. Netaji was overwhelmed with this
gesture and embraced his host. Even after the passage of so many decades
of that meeting, Namdhari remembered every word Netaji spoke to his
father: “Now, I am convinced that with sons like you, your motherland
would be freed sooner than later”, Netaji had said.
Namdhari was born in Bangkok Thailand after
1920 and Bangkok Thailand
Once Bharat got freedom in 1947, Sewa Singh
Namdhari shifted to Delhi Delhi ,
he was very active with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and remains head
of Delhi New
Delhi
For a while, he was also heading the Vishwa
Hindu Parishad’s Delhi Thailand Thailand
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