1. Judge Allows California School Textbook Lawsuit to Proceed
2. United States Schools Hunt for Hindi Teachers
3. Jill Taylor's Stroke of Insight
4. Daily Inspiration

1. Judge Allows California School Textbook Lawsuit to Proceed

www.capeem.org

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, March 26, 2008: California Parents for the Equalization of Educational Materials (CAPEEM) scored a major victory on Tuesday when Judge Frank C. Damrell, Jr. of the United States District Court of the Eastern District of California rejected the defendants' motion to dismiss CAPEEM's lawsuit to correct inaccuracies in sixth grade history textbooks. CAPEEM's complaint contends that the process to adopt the textbooks discriminated against Hindus and that the textbooks indulge in indoctrination of Abrahamic religions while using disparaging language against Hinduism.

The motion for summary judgment (http://www.capeem.org/docs/CAPEEM_Order.pdfj) asking for the dismissal of the lawsuit was filed by the office of California's Attorney General on behalf of the officials of the State Board of Education and the California Department of Education. Judge Damrell rejected the claim that an earlier ruling in a lawsuit filed in a state court by the Hindu American Foundation (HAF) had definitively settled the issues raised by CAPEEM in its lawsuit.

The judge pointed out that the ruling in the HAF case strengthened CAPEEM's claim of discrimination against its members. Judge Damrell noted, "the superior court found in favor of the HAF plaintiffs on their state APA claim; arguably, this finding lends support to CAPEEM's claims in this case that defendants conducted the adoption process in a manner that was discriminatory."

The judge also agreed with CAPEEM's claim that the issues in the two cases were different: ". . . Similarly, the superior court concluded the textbooks at issue there did not violate the state standards for content, as promulgated by defendants. This court could find defendants violated the Establishment Clause without reaching a judgment that is inconsistent with that of the superior court; this court could find that the underlying standards themselves violate the Establishment Clause."

Reacting to the judgment, Arvind Kumar, a director of CAPEEM said, "the arguments in the Defendants' motion posed the biggest challenge to us so far and we are happy to have won this victory. We can now focus our energies on our main claims in the lawsuit." CAPEEM's attorneys Venkat Balasubramani and Michael Newdow expressed satisfaction with the order. This was the third motion filed by the defendants against CAPEEM in attempts to seek summary dismissal of the lawsuit.

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2. United States Schools Hunt for Hindi Teachers

timesofindia.indiatimes.com

MUMBAI, INDIA, March 23, 2008: Little would Jagdish Prasad Sharma have dreamed that his proficiency in Hindi would one day take him from the quiet holy town of Mathura to the bright lights of the US. Earlier this month, Sharma was one among the 100-odd Hindi teachers who travelled to Noida to be interviewed by a delegation from Connecticut and Carolina, in India to headhunt young, full-time Hindi teachers for their schools.

Hindi is the new Mandarin. Just as Mandarin is being learnt by youngsters all over the world to give them a strategic advantage with the emerging China, Hindi too is being sought after as the language of the other Asian tiger. Some schools in the US have decided to introduce Hindi as a foreign language with staples like French, Spanish and German.

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3. Jill Taylor's Stroke of Insight

www.ted.com

KAUAI, HAWAII, March 27, 2008: TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is an annual series of high-minded meetings, an invitation-only event where the world's leading thinkers and doers gather to find inspiration. Jill Taylor, one of the speakers, shares some amazing discoveries about how we perceive the universe and think, based on the interaction between the two sides of the human brain. The latest finds echo the most ancient Yoga scriptures. It is an 18-minute adventure that bridges science and mysticism, as Jill Taylor finds herself adrift in a realm of consciousness that changed her life. HPI definetly recommends this video. Click on the link above to see it.

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4. Daily Inspiration

www.hinduismtoday.com

If there is one place on the face of earth where all the dreams of living men have found a home from the very earliest days when man began the dream of existence, it is India.
French scholar Romain Rolland

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