1. FESTIVALS: Diwali by Fijian Bharatiya Community in US: The Norfolk Sports Cultural Events held a "Multicultural Diwali Festival" organized by the Fijian Bharatiya community at the Hayward High School, California August 22, with more than 500 people of all communities attending the event. To keep the children entertained, there was a bouncing castle, while for the grown-ups, the center stage was alive with music performed by local bands and audience members alike. Radhika Tilak, a dancer from Sacramento, was invited to perform, as was local comedian and singer Hemkumar Joshi. Naveen Maharaj, who has been playing for the local Fiji soccer team for the past 25 years, said, "Very excited, very challenging and very eager to play the other veteran teams of Vancouver." --goTOP
2. TESTING NEW IDEAS OF PUBLIC INTEREST GOOD FOR BHARAT: RASHTRAPATIJI: Rashtrapati Pranab Mukherjee's avatar as a teacher left schoolchildren "enlightened" "encouraged" and "humbled" after they got the "historic" opportunity to become students of the Rashtrapati of Bharat for a day. Asking his pupils to call him "Mukherjee Sir", Rashtrapatiji gave a lecture on the political history of Bharat to senior secondary students of Dr Rajendra Prasad Sarvodaya Vidyalaya inside President's Estate on the eve of Teachers' Day.
In an hour-long class, Mukherjee talked in detail about Bharat's independence, economic growth and political journey post-Independence.--goTOP
3. GLOBAL CONCLAVE ON Hindu-Buddhist Initiative: The Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF) jointly organised a three-day global conclave 'Samvad: Hindu-Buddhist Initiative on Conflict Avoidance and Environment Consciousness', in collaboration with the International Buddhist Federation and the Tokyo Foundation, from 3 to 5 September 2015. Proceedings of the conclave were conducted in the first two days at VIF in New Delhi, while the venue shifted to Bodh Gaya in Bihar on the third day. The conclave was inspired by Pradhan Mantri Narendra Modi's vision of highlighting Bharat's civilizational links with world. Not only did the Pradhan Mantri inaugurate the conclave in Delhi but he also went to Bodh Gaya along with the delegates to offer a special prayer for global peace and harmony at Mahabodhi temple, Buddhism's holiest shrine.
While Japan's Prime Minister Hon'ble Shinzo Abe in a pre-recorded message said Japan owed it's 'rule of law' to Buddhism, Pradhan Mantri Narendra Modi emphasized that teachings of Hinduism and Buddhism can provide answers to many of problems the world faces, especially the ones related to conflicts and environmental degradation. Modi's resounding speech underlined the emerging dangers, both to the world and the environment. He stressed the quintessence of resolving conflicts lies in dialogue.
Delegates from over 15 countries, including SriLanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Japan, Taiwan, and a few European countries, among others, participated in the conference. --goTOP
4. Vishwa Hindi Sammelan: Tenth Vishwa Hindi Sammelan was inaugurated by Pradhan Mantri Narendra Modi in Bhopal on 11th September. He said that eminence of Hindi as language is increasing in the world and to enrich it, it should be linked to other Bharatiya languages and its digital use increased. He dedicated a postal stamp on the Sammelan and also released Vishwa Hindi Sammelan's souvenir and special issue of magazine "Gagananchal'' and "Pravasi Sahitya: Johannesburg Se Aage." Pradhan Mantri Modi said that it is the responsibility of every generation to preserve the heritage and pass it on to the next generation. Language is not static or inanimate, but has consciousness like life. This is experienced through linguistic development and enrichment. 115 representatives of 39 countries participated in the Sammelan.
Pradhan Mantriji said that digital world has permeated deep into our life. We should mould Hindi and other Bharatiya languages to suit technology. Language and script have separate powers. Had proposal of writing all languages in Nagari script been effective, script would have assumed a role of national unity. Today, importance of Hindi is increasing in different countries. Indian films screened abroad have spread Hindi in the world.
Videsh Mantris Smt. Sushma Swaraj while throwing light on significance of organising the Sammelan at Bhopal, said that the state government is committed to promoting Hindi and Bhopal has been famous for organising successful conventions. She said that this Sammelan is being held after a gap of 32 years in Bharat. She hoped that Sammelan will be result-oriented. Mukhya Mantri Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that Shri Modi is Hindi speaking Pradhan Mantri and has enhanced Hindi's honour in country and abroad.
The Sammelan started with Hindi Stuti Gaan. Guests were welcomed with stoles. Rajyapals of Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and Goa, Kendriya Mantris and other distinguished guests graced the occasion. 12 parallel sessions, such as Videsh Neeti men Hindi, Prashasan men Hindi, Vijnan kshetra men Hindi, Sanchar aur Soochana Kshetra men Hindi, Bal Sahitya men Hindi, Videshon men Hindi Shikshan: Samasyaen aur Samadhan etc. were held. Union Minister gave two Sankalpas: action will be followed on the recommendations passed in these sessions and that the next session will be held in Mauritius in 2018.
Griha Mantri Rajnath Singh said on the concluding day that Hindi represents Bharatiya culture and values. Reports of 12 parallel sessions held during Sammelan were presented in the last session. He said that Hindi should be included as one of the official languages of United Nations. If 177 countries can support proposal of International Yoga Day, then why support can not be solicited for Hindi? Hindi is among the most spoken languages in the world. Technology companies realised importance of Hindi and are promoting it. Maximum contact on internet is generated in Hindi. --goTOP
5. ISRO conferred with 2014 Gandhi Peace Prize: Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) was conferred with the Gandhi Peace Prize on September 9 for the year 2014 by Rashtrapati Pranab Mukherjee at a function organized at Rashtrapati Bhawan. ISRO last year in its first attempt successfully placed communication satellite in Mars orbiter, wherein, Bharat become the fourth space agency in the world to achieve this. The award was conferred in the presence of Up-Rashtrapati, M. Hamid Ansari, the Pradhan Mantri Narendra Modi and other eminent dignitaries and it was received by A. S. Kiran Kumar, Chairman, ISRO on behalf of the organization. Speaking on the occasion, Rashtrapatiji congratulated each and every member of the Indian Space community on ISRO being awarded the coveted Gandhi Peace Prize. Rashtrapatiji said that ISRO is one such Bharatiya organization, which has nurtured, developed and demonstrated world class capabilities.
The Gandhi Peace Prize was instituted by Bharat Sarkar in 1995 on the occasion of the 125th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. This annual award is given to individuals and institutions for their contributions towards social, economic and political transformation through non-violence and other Gandhian methods. The Award carries an amount of Rupees one crore in cash, a plaque and a citation.
Pradhan Mantri, Narendra Modi congratulating ISRO, on being conferred the Gandhi Peace Prize for 2014, said, "This is a fitting tribute to the hard-work of generations of scientists. Accomplishments of ISRO have contributed greatly towards peace and progress of humanity", the Pradhan Mantri said. A.S. Kiran Kumar said that this is the recognition of the visionary Dr Vikram Sarabhai and the successive leaders of ISRO and their contribution. --goTOP
6. THENGADIJI CARED FOR LABOURERS LIKE MOTHER - MOHAN BHAGWAT: "How should be our conduct, both as a worker and a leader, should be learnt from Thengadiji and we should do it. The success that we see in different spheres of life today is basically due to the great tapasya of the great personalities like Thengadiji. How to find a way in a challenging situation and also how to achieve the goal can be learnt from Thengadiji. He was sure about the success of the path that we have adopted for serving the nation," said Rashtriya Swyamsevak Sangh (RSS) Sarsanghachalak Shri Mohan Bhagwat while releasing two volumes of Dattopant Thengadi - Jeevan Darshan in New Delhi on August 30. The function was organised by Delhi unit of Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS).
The function witnessed many distinguished personalities including RSS Sarkaryavah Bhaiyaji Joshi, Sahsarkaryavah Dattatreya Hosabale, veteran Pracharak Madan Das, Union Minister Piyush Goel, etc. BMS president Baijnath Rai, author of the volumes Amarnath Dogra, senior BMS worker Ramdas Pandey and Delhi state BMS president VS Bhati also shared the dais.
Referring to Thengadiji's meeting with Guruji before becoming a Rajya Sabha MP, Shri Bhagwat said the latter asked him whether he cared and loved the labour class like a mother who cared for and loved her child. "What we saw of him (Thengadiji) was like this only," Shri Bhagwat said. "...He always thought about those who are victimised and downtrodden in the society. And to remove their tension, whatever was necessary, he used to do it," he said adding that since Thengadiji had close relations with the people of other ideologies too the other volumes on his life and works should be released by those people. Dattopant Bapurao Thengadi was a trade union leader and founder of the Swadeshi Jagaran Manch, Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh and the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh. He was born in Arvi village of Wardha district in Maharashtra. --goTOP
7. WORLD HINDU ECONOMIC FORUM: "This forum is a clear symbol of how Britain's Hindu community are vibrant and engaged, contributing to British culture, society and of course, our economy for hundreds of years," said Priti Patel, employment minister and Prime Minister David Cameron's Bharatiya diaspora champion, while addressing the World Hindu Economic Forum (WHEF) held in London from September 11 to 13. "This forum is evidence of the immense contribution Hindus make to this country from your children's success in schools, achievement in all professions and enterprising values," Patel noted.
The organising committee of the forum is chaired by London-based entrepreneur Anil Puri, chairman of the Purico Group of companies. "We want to encourage Hindus to generate wealth for society's well being. Our Vedas refer to 'Shata Hasta Samahara, Sahasra Hasta Sankira'. It literally means 'generate wealth with 100 hands and share it with 1000 hands'. We believe and practice Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam i.e. the whole world is one family," an official forum release said. Professionals, investors, bankers and entrepreneurs from around 30 countries gathered in London for the event. --goTOP
8. Odissi now becomes part of IIT's BTech syllabus: IIT Bhubaneswar has inducted a course on Odissi in BTech syllabus, thereby becoming the first IIT in the country to introduce a dance form in its curriculum. IIT Bhubaneswar director R V Rajakumar said on September 12 the classical dance would be one of the 'breadth' courses of 12 credits in the four-year BTech programme. A breadth course is a general education course which all students at a university must take to give them exposure at the introductory level to a variety of fields, regardless of their core area of study. Explaining the rationale behind the move, Rajakumar said, "Dance can broaden the intellectual horizon of engineering students. It would also help them de-stress."--goTOP
9. SAMANVAYA BAITHAK:
A
three-day Samanvya Baithak (coordination meeting) of the RSS was held in Delhi
September 2-4. The meeting was attended by 93 functionaries of 15 organisations.
Pradhan Mantri Narendra Modi was also present on the last day.
Briefing the media, RSS Sahsarkaryavah
Dattatreya Hosabale said the inputs and suggestions from various organisations
were shared at the meeting. The workers also shared their experiences in a
natural course. He said the coordination meeting is not any decision making body
of the RSS and no review of the government functioning took place. He said the
direction of the government is right and it is working with full dedication and
commitment, generating a feeling of trust among the people who feel the country
would now move in right direction.
Hosabale also said the Sangh gave no agenda to
the government and it is working on the public agenda. He also dismissed the
reports that the RSS is running the government through remote control. He said
all models of economic development have failed in the country. Therefore, the
meeting discussed the evolution of an indigenous model of development. Since the
villagers have to move to urban areas for employment, study and health
facilities, the experiences of village development activities were also
discussed and shared. The meeting also discussed the Bharatiya prospective of
education and how to achieve the objective of 100 per cent literacy.
Preservation of the places of cultural and historic significance was discussed.--goTOP
10. Parrikar commissions INS Vajrakosh: Seeking to boost the defence capabilties of the nation, Raksha Mantri Manohar Parrikar commissioned INS Vajrakosh at Karwar, marking an important milestone in the history of Bharatiya Navy. During his address, Parrikar said that missiles at INS Vajrakosh should always remain ready for operational deployment.
The commissioning ceremony was marked by traditional naval parade with precision. Captain Arvind Chari, Commanding Officer, read out the Commissioning Warrant and the Naval ensign was hoisted while the Naval band played the National Anthem. The Raksha Mantri expressed his happiness to see the complex and massive project executed successfully. Commissioning of INS Vajrakosh has marked the successful completion of a complex and modern project. Parrikar exhorted the crew to ensure that the 'missiles in Vajrakosh remain ever ready for operational deployment'. --goTOP
11. A HUMANITARIAN POLICY: Refugees who've fled to India deserve better: The Union Government's efforts to officially open doors for persecuted minorities from Pakistan and Bangladesh deserve to be welcomed. Such efforts stem from a much-needed recognition of ground realities and mark a sincere attempt to effectively deal with them. There are no two ways around the fact that religious minorities in the two neighbouring countries face a raw deal - in Pakistan, for example, targeted killings of Hindus, Sikhs and Christians are a routine affair and so are forced religious conversions. In Bangladesh, the situation is only slightly better. An increasingly intolerant strand of political Islam continues to threaten that country's religious minorities. For example, the hostile environment that engulfs Bangladeshi Hindus, including those who live in the big cities, during election season is just one example of how difficult the circumstances can become for minorities in that country. The other ground reality is that, because of religious persecution, several thousands of these minorities have crossed the border and moved to India. However, few of them have valid papers. Worse, India's own amorphous laws regarding such refugees or immigrants have meant that these people struggle to survive on the social fringes. They can't find work or complete their studies; they do not have access to Government subsidies or state facilities. Since there is no proper mechanism for them to be officially incorporated into the Indian mainstream, they have no choice but to slip in through the cracks.
This is what the Modi Government has sought to regularise, one step at a time. Earlier this week, it issued a notification under the Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920, and the Foreigners Act, 1946, allowing Bangladeshi and Pakistani minorities who had entered India on or before December 31, 2014, to stay on in India, even if they didn't have valid documents. In April, the Union Ministry for Home Affairs got the ball rolling on a new online system to handle long-term visa applications. Before that, in November last year, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had approved several steps that would make it easier for the Government to grant citizenship to such refugees. Moreover, easing the plight of refugees who fled persecution in neighbouring countries, and moved to India - on humanitarian grounds - has always been on Mr Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party's agenda.
But all said and done, issues of migration and citizenship, not to mention assimilation, are of a sensitive nature, as the boiling controversy in Assam stands proof, and they must be handled with care. The Governments at the Centre and the State (which, notably, are on the same page, despite being led by different parties) must reach out to the opposition groups and build consensus. The latter's argument that this week's notification violates the Assam Accord, which labels all those who illegally entered India after March 24, 1971, as 'foreigners', is incorrect. As Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has pointed out, the Assam Accord deals with citizenship issues while the notification only says that those without proper papers will be allowed to stay - it is silent on the matter of citizenship, which presumably will be dealt with later. (Editorial, The Pioneer, 11 September 2015) --goTOP
12. Ranganathaswamy temple consecrated: Thousands of devotees from all over Tamil Nadu offered worship when consecration for 11 towers and 43 sub-temples of the famous Ranganathaswamy temple at nearby Srirangam was performed amid chanting of vedic hymns on September 8. The consecration is being performed in two phases -- for the sub temples in the first phase (presently) and for the main temples, including Sri Ranganathaswamy temple, Sri Ranganayaki Amman temple, and Sudarsana Alwar temple later this year. The temple, popularly known as 'Bhoo Loka Vaikuntam' (Vishnu's abode on Earth), and first among the 108 Sri Vishnu Sthalams, was renovated at a cost of Rs 25 crore from public contributions and that of HR and CE. --goTOP
13. tranche of $500,000 for Syrians: Bharat on September 7 gave the first tranche of $500,000 for Syrians in distress and displaced from their homes. The Bharatiya ambassador to Jordan gave the money to the Jordanian government which is coordinating relief for the Syrian refugees. Bharat has promised $2 million for humanitarian assistance to Syrians in March. Like most of the world, Bharat too was jolted by the reports of large numbers of Syrian refugees fleeing their war-torn country to Europe, their plight brought home forcefully with the picture of 3-year-old Aylan Kurdi's body washed up on a Turkish shore. The war shows no signs of coming to an end, with Assad and the opposition including ISIS and sundry Al Qaeda-affiliated groups continuing a brutal and bloody conflict. --goTOP
14. Jhumpa Lahiri Gets National Humanities Medal From Barack Obama: President Barack Obama presented the 2014 National Medals of Arts and Humanities to Pulitzer Prize winning Bharatiya-American author Jhumpa Lahiri and 20 other distinguished persons at a White House ceremony on September 10. "I always do good with writers and scientists. Those are my crew," said the president in his address to the audience starting with a quote from Emily Dickinson followed by his own joke on the political class.
"The men and women that we honour today, recipients of the National Medals for the Arts and the Humanities, are here not only because they've shared rare truths, often about their own experience, but because they've told rare truths about the common experiences that we have as Americans and as human beings," Obama said. "They span mediums and methods. We have artists, actors, writers, musicians, historians, a landscape architect, and a chef," he said. "Without them there would be no Edible Schoolyard, no Jhumpa Lahiri novels, no really scary things like Carrie and Misery," said Obama amid laughter.
"The 2014 National Humanities Medal to Jhumpa Lahiri for enlarging the human story. In her works of fiction, Dr. Lahiri has illuminated the Indian American experience in beautifully wrought narratives of estrangement and belonging," read the aide as Lahiri received the award amid applause. The humanities medal honours an individual or organization whose work has deepened the nation's understanding of the human experience, broadened citizens' engagement with history and literature or helped preserve and expand Americans' access to cultural resources. Lahiri's novel "The Lowland" was among the books Obama took with him while vacationing in Martha's Vineyard, an island summer resort in Massachusetts, last month. "The Lowland" is a story about two brothers who grew up in Calcutta in the 1960s. After one is killed, the other marries his pregnant widow and moves to the US. The New York Times calls the premise of this novel "startlingly operatic". --goTOP
15. ANNADANAM TO BUDDHIST MONKS: Sanatan Dharma Swayamsevak Sangh organised mass offering of food to the monks in State Periyatti Sasana University, Yangon and I had the privilege of attending this program and offering food to the monks in the University. The University is one of the major centres of learning for monks in Yangon. It is surprising to see hundreds of young monks together in saffron robes and leading monastic life. We were fortunate enough to offer the alms to the revered Rector (Vice-Chancellor), a very senior and learned monk high in order, and the Registrar who also happens to be a senior monk.
This program is an important part of the Buddhist tradition in Myanmar and forms an essential feature of monastic life of the monks as well as the society in general. There are a lot of rules for monks around eating. Foods must be offered by hand from a layperson, though monks who have received food can share, or trade, offerings with other monks. Most foods must be consumed by noon of the day they are offered, so these cannot be saved for a snack or for the next day's meal, except to return them to a layperson. Filtered fruit juices may be offered and consumed after noon, till dawn the next day. From 12 in the noon till next day morning they are supposed not to consume any food and this is followed religiously.
Bhagwan Buddha laid utmost importance to this monastic tradition and did not permit monastics to grow, cook or even store food, but to eat only what was duly offered from a lay hand on a daily basis, locking them into strict dependence. This is aimed at developing humility among the monks on one hand as they are not allowed to amass wealth, not even a loaf of bread for themselves and on the other hand creating awareness among the laity that they have a responsibility of supporting the monks who have sacrificed their mundane life. - Shyam Parande, Secretary, Sewa International.) --goTOP
16. Mahesh Ramanujam named CEO of US Green Building: Bharatiya-origin professional Mahesh Ramanujam has been named the new CEO of the prestigious US Green Building Council (USGBC), a non-profit organisation that promotes sustainability in how buildings are designed, built, and operated. Ramanujam, who hails from Chennai, would replace Rick Fedrizzi, the co-founder of USGBC and current CEO after he steps down at the end of 2016. USGBC board chair Marge Anderson said, "Mahesh is a proven leader who has exhaustive knowledge of the organisation, respect from its volunteer leadership and strong support from its team. He has extensive global experience and broad business acumen. He is the perfect choice to lead the organisation into the future." --goTOP
17. PIO girl, 12, betters Einstein's IQ: A 12-year-old Bharatiya-origin girl in the UK has achieved the highest possible score of 162 on a Mensa IQ test, outwitting physicists Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking. Lydia Sebastian from Essex has joined the one percent of all entrants to attain the highest mark in the Cattell III B paper supervised by Mensa, the society for people with high IQs. Lydia completed the paper with minutes to spare at the sitting at Birkbeck College, London during her school holidays.
Lydia's father, Arun Sebastian, a radiologist at Colchester general hospital, said his daughter "had looked at the websites for the IQ tests herself and had shown an interest in them and talked to my wife about them." Cattell III B has 150 questions, often assessing comprehension through passages of texts, while the maximum score is 161 for adults, and 162 for under-18s. --goTOP
18. cyberbullying Expert Gets $188,776 Facebook Grant: Sameer Hinduja, a prominent Bharatiya-American and cyberbullying expert from Florida Atlantic University, has received a $188,776 grant from social networking site Facebook to study cyberbullying and dating violence among teenagers. The overarching goal of the study is to illuminate the nationwide prevalence, frequency and scope of cyberbullying and electronic dating violence among a population of youth in the US. --goTOP
19. SCHOOL KIT DISTRIBUTION PROGRAMME IN NEPAL: Nepal Earthquake caused massive damage to 500K houses & 7000 schools, which meant that innumerable school kids (near to 1 million) lost their study/school materials also in the rubble. On his visit to Nepal, Shyam Parande, International Coordinator, Sewa International found that the need of school kits was much more than anticipated and it could really help kick-start education process in the country. It was thus decided to almost double the existing lot to a total of "65,000" school kits, of which now 34,000 kits need to be procured and sent to Nepal.
SI's partner organisation HSS Nepal's District Coordinators (pracharaks) have been working in close contact with Nepal Government's LDO/CDOs in order to select schools in the remote and least accessible areas which have been most affected and need most assistance. SI has received hundreds of applications from affected schools requesting school kits drive to be conducted. --goTOP
20. PIO ENTREPRENEUR IN FORTUNE'S LIST OF POWERFUL WOMEN OF 2015: A Bharatiya-origin entrepreneur has been named among the most promising businesswomen of 2015 by Fortune magazine in its annual recognition of 10 women innovators, groundbreakers and game changers. Payal Kadakia is the CEO and co-founder of ClassPass, a two-year-old start-up that gives customers access to thousands of boutique fitness classes in their area. "ClassPass is only two-year-old, but it has already booked more than 7 million fitness class reservations at gyms and studios across the US, plus Canada and the UK," Fortune said in a statement. Kadakia says she started the company after trying and failing to find a ballet class in New York City that she could attend. "In that moment, I realised the pain point that most people must experience in staying connected to their hobbies and passions," the magazine quoted her as saying. Fortune said Kadakia's idea tapped into a fitness craze. --goTOP
21. bharatiya-origin boy sweeps Australian spelling bee contest: Anirudh Kathirvel, a nine-year-old Bharatiya-origin boy is Australia's new spelling champion after he won the 50,000 dollars 'The Great Australian Spelling Bee' competition. Kathirvel, born in Melbourne to a Tamilian couple won 50,000 dollars education scholarship along with an impressive 10,000 dollars worth goods for his school on September 8. Anirudh said he could not believe his luck after winning the scholarship and asked his fellow spellers to "pinch" him. Anirudh said his favourite word to spell was 'euouae' as he liked the structure of the word as it was the longest word with consecutive vowels. "Some of the other words I like to spell are feuilleton, cephalalgia, ombrophobous," he said adding that he loves watching Bharatiya movies. Anirudh, whose parents Prithiviraj and Sujatha also migrated to Australia from Tamil Nadu 16 years ago, said, "I started reading from the age of two and slowly my reading passion evolved into my love for words. My parents encouraged and helped me to build up on my spelling." --goTOP
22. A SIKH - AUSTRALIAN OF THE DAY: Tejinder Pal Singh, a Bharatiya-origin Sikh migrant driver in Australia has been named 'Australian of the Day' for feeding the homeless in Darwin for the past three years. He has dedicated the last Sunday of the month to feed the poor and homeless locals of northern Darwin.
Tejinder Singh works as an air conditioner mechanic by day and a taxi driver by night. It is for this noble act that he was featured as Australian of the Day on their website. He often finishes his taxi shift in the wee hours of the morning and carries out his food drive on very little sleep, but he quoted saying that the act of giving provides him to energy to continue. He cooks up 30 kilogrammes of Bharatiya cuisine to feed the homeless after his night shift. The free lunch that Singh offers comprises chickpeas, rice and vegetarian curry.
Commonwealth Bank has sponsored the Australian of the Year Awards for over 35 years, recognising extraordinary Australians who have made a big difference to the country.--goTOP
23. MPhil DEGREE IN HINDI TO WOMAN IN PAKISTAN: Military-run National University of Modern Languages (NUML) has become the first Pakistani university to award an MPhil degree in Hindi. Shahin Zafar is the first student to receive the degree. Her thesis, titled 'Swatantryottara Hindi Upanyason Mein Nari Chitran (1947-2000)' was supervised by Professor Iftikhar Husain Arif and endorsed by the Higher Education Commission. Due to dearth of Hindi experts in Pakistan, Zafar's thesis was evaluated by two experts from Bharat's Aligarh Muslim University. --goTOP
24. More tourist inflow after e-visa scheme: The e-tourist visa scheme launched last year in November has brought in more tourists in the country with the Government data putting the footfalls in 1,69,976 during January-August, 2015 as compared to 17,120 during the same period last year, registering a growth of 892.9 per cent. The number of foreign tourists who arrived on e-visa was 22,286 during August itself against 2,705 during the same month in the previous year. At present e-tourist visa facility is available for citizens of 113 countries arriving at 16 airports in the country. --goTOP
25. SHRI VISHWA NIKETAN: Visitors: Jagdish Sehwani - USA.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT: The gift which is offered to one who can make no return, with the feeling that it is one’s duty to give and which is given at the right place and time and to a worthy (deserving) person - that gift is held Saattwik. --Shreemadbhagavadgeetaa. --goTOP
JAI SHREE RAM
Blog: shrivishwaniketan.blogspot.com, Email: vishwav@gmail.com
