Source: blogs.wsj.com

INDIA, August 24, 2010: As the pilgrimage season to visit Amarnath in India-controlled Kashmir draws to a close today, the state government can count its blessings that the annual high-security event has not been embroiled in the troubles in the state.

Rakhi, the festival that celebrates the bond between sisters and brothers, is the official end to the two-month period when hundreds of thousands of devotees trek miles through the Himalayas to one of the most important shrines in Hinduism. The annual Amarnath journey is one of the world’s oldest religious pilgrimages with historical references dating back more than 2,000 years. Each winter an ice stalagmite forms in the sacred grotto there, forming a shape that Hindus associate with God Shiva.

While riots have engulfed much of Kashmir over the last two months, the pilgrimage, with tighter security than normal, carried on much as usual. More than 450,000 people from across India reportedly trekked through the snow clad peaks this year, with the help of Kashmiri porters and pony handlers and guides to pay obeisance at the cave shrine despite the fresh cycle of violence plaguing the rest of the region.

Separatist leaders in the Muslim-dominated (area) have made clear their beef is with the Indian state, not with the pilgrims who have provided much needed employment to Kashmiris while other kinds of tourism has suffered this summer.

Source: www.hindustantimes.com

NEW DELHI, INDIA, August 25, 2010: About 22,000 volunteers, workers and almost an equal number of security personnel to be deployed at the venues of the Commonwealth Games will observe complete vegetarianism.

To cut costs, the Organizing Committee (OC) has opted for vegetarian items, to be served cold in packets, at a cost of around US$2.50 per head per day. The caterers will supply 40,000 such packets every day.

“Storing and serving non-vegetarian food in packaged form is difficult at the venues. So, we have opted for only vegetarian boxes. “But it won’t be less tasty or less in variety,” Sanjeev Mittal, director general in charge of catering at the venues said.

Now, the hundreds of performers, brought in from across the country for the opening and the closing ceremonies, might also have to eat the same food for about a month. The Ceremonies Functional Area — which has not yet decided on any food supplier — is considering a similar food option.

Source: www.hinduismtoday.com

Yesterday is history, tomorrow is mystery. Today is a gift from God, that’s why it is called the present.
   

Source: www.hinduonnet.com

RAMESWARAM, INDIA, August 29, 2010: The east and west Rajagopurams of Sri Ramanathaswamy Temple in Rameswaram are strong, intact and there is no cause for concern, according to M. Muthiah, Superintending Engineer (Chief Sthapathi), Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment.

After inspecting the towers of the temple in Rameswaram on Saturday, he said the 12-member expert committee, constituted by the State government to study the stability of the temple towers, particularly the Srirangam Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple towers, went up to the nine-story east Rajagopuram of Sri Ramanathaswamy Temple and studied the soundness of the structure. A few points of water leakage were found. There was a hole causing water seepage inside the tower. It had weakened the wooden beams in a few places.

There was a need to remove the weakened wooden beams and undertake related works so as to further strengthen the structures. Fresh beams could be inserted. A. Meher Prasad, Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai, said except a few issues basically due to water leakages, there was no major problem

Source: www.nytimes.com

UNITED STATES, August 25, 2010: More than 100 religion-based organizations are protesting a provision in pending American legislation that would prohibit them from receiving federal money if they consider a job applicant’s religion when hiring. On the other side of the debate, pushing for reform, is The Coalition Against Religious Discrimination, whose members include the American Civil Liberties Union, the Hindu American Foundation and the N.A.A.C.P.

In a letter sent Wednesday to all members of Congress, groups antagonizing the proposal contend that it would dilute protections they have under the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, as well as under the Constitution. “Those four lines in the legislation would be a seismic change in bedrock civil rights law for religious organizations,” said Steven McFarland, chief legal counsel at World Vision USA, a Christian aid organization that is leading the protest.

The debate over federal financing of programs operated by nonprofits with religious affiliations — or so-called charitable choice — dates back to the Clinton administration, when it became part of a welfare overhaul. Organizations are not allowed to discriminate against clients based on religion or require, say, attendance at church services as part of service delivery but are able to exercise their religious beliefs in hiring and other aspects of their operations.

The Coalition Against Religious Discrimination has been pushing Congress to eliminate “charitable choice” altogether for many years, and it said the pending bill did not go far enough.