Shravana Adhik Purnima Vik. Samvat 2080, Yugabda 5125 : 1 August, 2023: SM 5009(For Private Circulation only)
1. FESTIVALS:
RAMAYAN MASAM: Ramayan used to be read in Kerala households during
Karkkidakam, the month in the Malayalam almanac coinciding with June – July.
With the influence of communism in the social and political life, people
gradually moved away from it. The Vishal Hindu Sammelan held in Kochi in 1982
called upon the people of Kerala to revive the observance of Ramayan Masam.
2. MANDIRS PLAY AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN OUR SANATANI TRADITION:
DR. MOHAN BHAGWAT: On July 22, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh Sarasanghchalak
Dr. Mohan Bhagwat inaugurated the world’s biggest International Temples
Convention and Expo (ITCX) at Rudraksh International Convention Centre in
Varanasi. The three-day Mahasammelan was attended by Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, and
Jain representatives from 41 countries. They discussed mandir security,
protection and surveillance, finance management, disaster management,
cleanliness and holiness.
In a letter, Pradhan Mantri Narendra Modi extended support to the initiative and encouraged the participants to make optimum use of this platform and work towards realising the vision of “Vikas bhi, Virasat bhi.” -GoTop
3. TIME TO QUESTION EURO-CENTRIC IDEAS TO DECOLONISE OUR
MINDS: HOSABALE: Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh Sarakaryavah Dattatreya
Hosabale attended the launch of former MP Balbir Punj’s book, ‘Narrative, Ek
Maya Jaal’ on July 28 in New Delhi. Speaking on the occasion, he said that we
have ended up incorporating Euro-centric ideas into our life, education
curriculum, governance, intellectual discourse, media debates and view of our
society. Even though there is a difference between Rashtra and Nation, we
accepted the concept of Nation and the idea of multination states was the
primary reason for the problems in northeast region. He added that it is time to
question the Euro-centric ideas to decolonize our minds and come out of mental
slavery.
4. PM MODI RECEIVES FRANCE'S HIGHEST CIVILIAN AWARD:
During the two-day visit of Pradhan Mantri Narendra Modi to France, he was
conferred with the highest honour of France, the ‘Grand Cross of the Legion of
Honour’, by French President Emmanuel Macron on July 13 at the Elysee Palace in
Paris. This is the highest military and civilian award in France. PM Modi is the
first Bharatiya PM to receive this honour. President Macron also hosted a state
banquet for PM Modi at the iconic Louvre museum on Bastille Day.
5. AKHIL BHARATIYA SHIKSHA SAMAGAM IS CONFLUENCE OF
ANTIQUITY AND MODERNITY: PM MODI: On the occasion of the completion of three
years of National Education Policy-2020, Pradhan Mantri Narendra Modi along with
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan inaugurated the ‘Akhil Bharatiya
Shiksha Samagam’ at Bharat Mandapam, Pragati Maidan on July 29.
The two-day programme, held on July 29-30, provided a platform for academics, sector experts, policymakers, industry representatives, teachers and students from schools, higher education and skilling institutions, among others, to share their insights, success stories and best practices in implementing the NEP 2020 and work out strategies for taking it further ahead. -GoTop
6. BHARAT, UAE SIGN RUPEE-DIRHAM TRADE PACT: On July 15,
the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Central Bank of UAE decided on
strengthening the economic engagement between the two countries by agreeing to
allow exporters and importers from either side to invoice and pay in their
respective domestic currencies - rupee and dirham.
A second MoU dealt with ‘Payments and Messaging Systems’ and includes linking the Fast Payment Systems (FPSs) — Unified Payments Interface (UPI) of Bharat with the Instant Payment Platform (IPP) of the UAE. It also envisages linking the respective payment card switches — RuPay switch and UAESWITCH. -GoTop
7. HINDU YUVA CHAPTERS RECOGNIZED FOR OUTSTANDING
CONTRIBUTIONS: Several chapters of Hindu YUVA USA have been recognized by
esteemed universities for their exceptional contributions and achievements.
Hindu YUVA at California State - East Bay was honored with the SOLAR Awards 2023
for Outstanding Club/Organization. Their Diwali Milan event, with an attendance
of over 500 students, was the largest ever student event on campus.
Hindu YUVA at UT Austin has been recognized with the Pillars of the Forty Acres Exemplary Student Organization award for the chapter’s impactful initiatives such as their ‘Chai’ Time event organized in collaboration with Texas Hillel.
Hindu YUVA at Rutgers University was presented with the esteemed Spirit of Rutgers Award in recognition of the chapter’s commitment to the community through events like annual Guru Vandana.
Hindu YUVA at Northwestern University was honored with the Wildcat Impact Award for Winter 2023 for the chapter’s outstanding contributions in creating a positive and inclusive campus environment by providing a safe space for Hindu students to share their experiences on campus.
Hindu YUVA at Georgia Tech received the Celebrating Student Leadership Award for starting new initiatives on campus such as the Hygiene and Period Kit packing event, organized in collaboration with Hillel.
These awards highlight the dedication, hard work, and positive impact that Hindu YUVA chapters continue to make in their respective campuses. -GoTop
8. BHAGAT SINGH SHAKHA RECEIVED HUMAN AND SPIRITUAL VALUES
AWARD: Bhagat Singh Shakha in Issaquah, WA, USA, received the Kiwanis Club
of Issaquah’s Human and Spiritual Values Award. The Kiwanis Club of Issaquah is
known for its dedication to volunteerism and activism since the Great
Depression.
9. SEVIKA WINTER CAMP IN SOUTH AFRICA: Hindu Swayamsevak
Sangh HSS South Africa conducted winter camp for sevikas on June 24-25 at the
Redcliffe Hindu Sabha. 29 participants from 6 Shakhas were involved in various
activities including yoga, martial arts, yogchaap, drills, meditation, mantra
chanting, discussions and lectures on current topics.
10. ASSISTANCE CAMPAIGN BY SEWA BHARTI FOR DELHI FLOOD
VICTIMS: The water level in the Yamuna River in the National Capital Region
of Delhi is still up to two to five feet high. As a result, several residents
are facing significant challenges. Sewa Bharti Delhi has been actively engaged
in relief work in the flood-affected areas of Delhi. More than 250 volunteers
have been deployed at various locations in Delhi where relief camps have been
set up for the flood victims. These camps distributes food, water, medicine, and
other essential supplies to the affected individuals.
11. OVERSEAS STUDENTS ORIENTATION PROGRAM: Vishwa Vibhag
Bengaluru launched its first edition of ‘Nayi Udaan’ program on July 16 at
Oxford College of Engineering. 60 students going to 10 different destinations
including USA, Canada, several European countries and Australia registered for
the program and around 40 students along with 60 guests and parents attended the
event.
Prof. Jayadev, Professor in Finance & Accounting at IIM Bangalore, Ms. Nupur Dave - NRI Counsellor and author and Dr. Karunakar Rai, RSS Bangalore Karyavaha were also present on the occasion.
On July 22, the program organised by Gujarat Yuva in Karnavati was attended by 25 students while a few more students from other cities attended virtually. The program gave practical guidance to the students going abroad, connected them with the like-minded organisations in the respective countries and highlighted the importance of their identity outside Bharat. Practical guidance was provided by panelists who joined virtually from USA and Canada. Aruna Kathiriya conducted an identity awareness session and Shailesh Patel, Gujarat Prant Karyavah, gave the concluding motivational guidance.
The programme included an introduction to RSS through the ‘Sangh Darshan’ video and a presentation on ‘The Glory of Education in Ancient Bharat’.
Practical guidance was given to students in 6 parallel groups based on the territories they were heading for. Swayamsevaks who had the experience of student life in those places guided them through audio-visual means and addressed their queries. At the same time, parents were informed about the various sewa activities being conducted through ‘Samarth Bharat Abhiyaan’. Six representative students were also felicitated by dignitaries.
For the students who were unable to attend the program, an online session was arranged on July 30 to provide them similar guidance. 35 students, including some from Bengaluru, attended the session. -GoTop
12. CHANDRAYAAN-3 IN DESIRED ORBIT TO BEGIN MOON JOURNEY:
Bharat has launched its third Moon mission, aiming to be the first to land
near its little-explored south pole. The Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft with an
orbiter, lander and a rover had lifted off at 14:35 on July 14 from Sriharikota
space centre.
The Chandrayaan-3 mission aims to demonstrate end-to-end capability in safe landing and roving on the lunar surface. The spacecraft is expected to land on the uncharted south polar region of the Moon, where it will conduct investigations into water, ice, and minerals. This presents a significant advantage for Bharat, as the South Pole remains a relatively unexplored region with immense scientific potential.
The lander is due to reach the Moon on August 23-24. -GoTop
13. ISRO SUCCESSFULLY PLACES SEVEN SINGAPOREAN SATELLITES
INTO INTENDED ORBIT: On July 30, ISRO successfully launched its proven PSLV
rocket carrying seven Singaporean satellites and placed them into intended
orbits.
The 360-kg satellite, upon deployment at an altitude of 535 km into a Near-equatorial Orbit (NEO), would be used to support the satellite imagery requirements of various agencies within the Government of Singapore.
This ISRO mission was undertaken by its commercial arm NewSpace India Limited. -GoTop
14. BHARATIYA, JAPANESE SCIENTISTS DISCOVER
600-MILLION-YEAR-OLD OCEAN WATER IN THE HIMALAYAS: As per a release on July
27, researchers, and scientists from the Indian Institute of Science (Bharat)
and Niigata University (Japan) have jointly found and discovered droplets of
water trapped in mineral deposits in the Himalayas that were likely left behind
from an ancient ocean that existed 600 million years ago.
Prakash Chandra Arya, a PhD (doctoral) student at the Center of Earth Science in IISc, and first author of the study said that this could provide more clues about the Earth’s past climate, and this information can be useful for climate modelling. -GoTop
15. OBITUARY : MADANDAS DEVI: Madandas Devi (81 years),
senior pracharak of RSS, former Rashtriya Sangathan Mantri of the ABVP and
former Sah Sarakaryavah of RSS passed away at Rashtrotthan Hospital in Bengaluru
at 5 am on July 24. His mortal body was brought to Pune on July 25 and placed at
Sangh’s Motibaug office for last darshan. Later, Madandasji’s nephew Radheshyam
Devi performed the last rites at Vaikunth crematorium.
While paying tribute to Madandasji after his last rites, RSS Sarasanghchalak Dr. Mohan Bhagwat said that Madandasji did a great job of activating every person who came in contact with him in some kind of social work by inspiring him with thoughts and inner affection. He added that following his teachings and increasing the work will be a real tribute to him.
RSS Sarakaryavah Dattatreya Hosbale, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Bharatiya Janata Party National President J. P. Nadda and other dignitaries also attended the funeral. -GoTop
16. BHARATIYA-CANADIAN SHUVALOY MAJUMDAR WINS PRESTIGIOUS
SEAT IN HOUSE OF COMMONS: In a significant electoral breakthrough for the
community, a Bharatiya-Canadian candidate Shuvaloy Majumdar has captured the
prestigious Calgary Heritage seat in the House of Commons that was once
represented by the then Prime Minister Stephen Harper. He won the seat in the
Alberta Province in a federal by-election on July 24.
Following that stint in the government, he was involved with think tanks, most recently as a senior fellow with the Ottawa-based Macdonald Laurier Institute (MLI). -GoTop
17. BHARATIYA-AMERICAN NISHA BISWAL BECOMES DEPUTY CEO OF
US FINANCE AGENCY: Bharatiya-American policy expert Nisha Biswal was
confirmed by the Senate to serve as Deputy Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the
United States International Development Finance Corporation.
18. RUCHIRA KAMBOJ BECOMES CHAIR OF COMMISSION FOR SOCIAL
DEVELOPMENT: Bharat’s permanent ambassador to United Nations Ruchira Kamboj
assumed the chair of the 62nd Session of the Commission for Social Development
and stressed its crucial role in addressing social challenges.
19. SHRI VISHWA NIKETAN: Pravas: Vishwa Vibhag Sah
Samyojak Anil Vartak has returned to Bharat Visitors: Pradeep Sharma - USA,
Bharat Dwivedi - Netherlands -GoTop
FOOD FOR THOUGHT: “The world is indeed a mixture of truth and
make-believe. Discard the make-believe and take the truth.” — Swami
Ramakrishna Paramhansa -GoTop
JAI SHRI RAM
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DHARMOCRACY, THE INDIAN VERSION OF DEMOCRACY
Ram Madhav
“2023 BC” – blared the headline of
an English daily published from Kolkata. It had a picture of the saints of the
Adheenams from Tamilnadu standing in the well of the parliament while Prime
Minister Narendra Modi was installing the Sengol near the Speaker’s podium. “Is
this the noble mansion that we had dreamed of?”, it cynically lamented.
Many other commentaries followed discussing the significance or otherwise of the
new parliament building and the Sengol. While the supporters elatedly declared
the arrival of Hindu Rashtra, the critics bemoaned the death of the spirit of
free India as envisioned by leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru.
In the hyper-animated debate, too little attention was paid to what the Prime
Minister, the prime mover of the project, had said at the inauguration. He did
not dismiss the important contributions after independence, nor did he proclaim
taking India back to any bygone era. He acknowledged that after losing so much
during the colonial rule, India began its new journey after independence and
that “journey has gone through many ups and downs, overcoming many challenges”,
and now entered the ‘Amrit Kaal’ of independence. “Preserving the heritage and
forging new dimensions of development” will be the leit motif of the Amrit Kaal,
Modi averred.
Seventy-five years ago, it was Jawaharlal Nehru who was at the wheels of independent India’s government. He led the country through the first seventeen years, or “Six Thousand Days” as Amiya Rao and B G Rao, the bureaucrats served under him called it. He too had a vision for building a developed India. Socialism was the path chosen by him to achieve that.
At the stroke of midnight on 14-15 August 1947, standing in the parliament building built by British architects Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker in 1927, Nehru delivered his historic address to the just-independent nation. He called the moment rare in history when the soul of a nation, “long suppressed, finds utterance”. He called it end of an age and a nation’s stepping out “from the old to the new”.
Interestingly, Modi too called the moment of the inauguration of the new parliament “immortal forever” and will “etch an indelible signature on the forehead of history”. If Nehru believed in democracy and constitutionalism, Modi too insisted that the “democracy is our inspiration, our Constitution is our resolve”.
But Modi’s vision, irrespective of the idiomatic approximation with some Nehruvian ideals, markedly differs from that of Nehru. Many rightly see it as the demise of that Nehruvian vision. Some revel in it while some repent. Nehru appreciated India’s age-old civilisation but abhorred its manifestation in its religion and culture. In objecting to the participation of President Rajendra Prasad in the consecration ceremony of the Somnath temple in March 1951, Nehru insisted that a secular government cannot associate itself with such a ceremony, which was “revivalist in character”.
Modi, and the ruling establishment – for that matter a majority of the countrymen – do not see cultural and religious symbols of India as anti-secular or revivalist. In fact, secularism draws from the ancient Indian religious and cultural traditions, which upheld pluralism and celebrated diversity. Modi presented the new parliament building as the “ideal representation of both the modern and ancient coexistence”. Sacred Sengol in the epicentre of state-of-the-art parliament marked that “ideal representation”.
Nehru called religion obsolete and saw a dichotomy in culture and modernity. Nehruvians detest religion of the majority and endorse communalism of the minority. How else can one explain Rahul Gandhi’s ridiculing of “prostration” before the Sengol and declaration of Muslim League as secular?
But there was Mahatma Gandhi, for whom politics bereft of religion was a sin. He declared that his politics and “all other activities were derived from my religion”, and admonished Nehruvians that they “do not know what religion is”.
The Constituent Assembly witnessed intense debates between the so-called modernists and the Gandhians. At one point, looking at the draft constitution, a member from South India indignantly asked, “where is Gandhi in it?”
After independence, Gandhi was installed outside the parliament while the inside was overwhelmed by the Nehruvian vision. Gandhi continues to be there outside the new parliament building. But the Sengol – representing Gandhi’s Ram Rajya, the “Dharma Rajya” – is inside the parliament now.
Having established post-Nehruvian symbolism, the government has to now establish those values in governance and national life. As Modi pointed out in his address, democracy is in the genes of this ancient society. It never was majoritarian. Gandhi described it as a system where “the weakest shall have as much power as the strongest”.
Deen Dayal Upadhyay, eminent thinker and propounder of BJP’s political philosophy of Integral Humanism, insisted that democracy “is not merely the rule of the majority. Therefore, in any form of democracy in India, election, majority and minority… all must be combined and harmonised at one place. Anyone, who has a different opinion from the majority, even if he is a single individual, his viewpoint must be respected and incorporated into the governance”. That is Dharmocracy, the Indian version of democracy.
Sengol represent that Dharmocracy, or true spirit of our Constitution, where fundamentalisms of all hues are rejected and justice to every citizen and appeasement of none is the rule of law. Tolerating one form of fundamentalism, whether in the name of secularism or majoritarianism, will lead to the rise of the other.
One of the several definitions of Dharma is “Dhaarayati iti Dharmah” – meaning “Dharma is one that unites”. Nehruvian politics thrived on social divisions and minority-majority syndrome. Prime Minister exhorted that achieving unity with the spirit of “Nation First” would be his priority.
By the way, 2023 BC was when the Indus Valley Civilisation thrived in India. It was the most advanced among the contemporaries like Mesopotamian, Greek and Chinese.
Sometimes, leaning backwards, we actually surge forward.
https://www.rammadhav.in/articles/dharmocracy-the-indian-version-of-democracy/ -GoTop
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