www.hafsite.org

WASHINGTON, DC, June 30, 2008: In a landmark effort to combat caste-based discrimination, the Hindu American Foundation (HAF) in collaboration with the Global Human Rights Defence (GHRD), a leading non-governmental organization based at The Hague, Netherlands, announced calls for applications for the first annual Shri Narayana Guru Award for Outstanding Leadership in Social Reform earlier today.

The Award seeks to recognize individuals or organizations working for social upliftment and human rights advocacy for “Harijans”, a common term of self-identity used by Hindus considered to exist on the bottom rung of the South Asian social order (or caste), the announcement relayed. The specific areas of work the award seeks to recognize include women’s rights, health, education, economic upliftment, social equality, religious equality, and justice.

The award, along with a $10,000 prize, will be presented in November in India. Award nominees will be selected based on their track record in the area of Harijan human rights, vision for future initiatives and commitment to tolerance, pluralism and respect for indigenous traditions. HAF also plans to simultaneously release an extensive report documenting the ongoing human rights violations against Harijans in India.

Nominations can be submitted on the HAF website by September 1, 2008 at the url above.

news.bbc.co.uk

USA, June 21, 2008: The spelling contest is a big event in the US. Children study hard for months and have to get through regional contests to make the final. Children of South Asian origin dominated the top 10 spots in the gruelling competition this year.

The second prize was bagged by Sidharth Chand, 12, of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, while Kavya Shivashankar, 12, of Olathe, Kansas, tied for fourth place. Over the years many children of South Asian origin have left their mark at the spelling event, but why do they dominate it?

Chicago-based Dr Balu Natarajan, who won the Spelling Bee in 1985 and was a judge at this year’s contest, says there is one common thread - extensive involvement and support from family.

Parents help by finding word lists, looking up definitions and pronunciations and quizzing. Some even took days off work in order to help children prepare.

Rahul Walia, CEO of New Jersey-based Touchdown Media, attributes the success of South Asian spellers to their roots. “Our parents tend to be more focused on a child’s education. Participating in such competitions is seen as an opportunity to enhance those skills,” he said.

news.bbc.co.uk

DELHI, INDIA, June 30, 2008:The Indian government has unveiled a national action plan to confront the threat posed by climate change. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the plan envisaged a gradual shift to greater reliance on sustainable sources of energy.

The prime minister said that over time India must shift from economic activity based on fossil fuels to one based on non-fossil fuels. “In this strategy, the sun occupies centre stage, as it should, being literally the original source of all energy.” The action plan, however, makes no commitment to cut India’s carbon emissions.

A recent Greenpeace report on climate change warned that if greenhouse gas emissions continued to grow at their present rate, South Asia could face a major humanitarian crisis. It estimates that 75 million people in Bangladesh would lose their homes. About 45 million people in India would also become “climate migrants”.

www.hinduismtoday.com

If you would walk the way of love, never feel hurt nor yield to anger, but accept pain as a part of life.
   Dada J.P. Vaswani, spiritual head of Sadhu Vaswani Mission