SINGAPORE, August 3, 2008: A mini version of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) will be held in Singapore, October 10 – 11, 2008. “PBD Singapore” is the second such convention of Indian Diaspora to be held outside India. The theme for the event is “Towards a Dynamic Diaspora”. The first Mini-PBD was organized in New York in September last year. The concept of mini PBD is based on requests received over the years from various quarters to organize it outside India to let the Indian Diaspora in the region benefit from the deliberations. This is particularly helpful to those large numbers of Indians in several regions who are not able to make it to the annual PBDs held in India. Last year’s mini PBD in New York was attended by over 400 delegates belonging to the Indian American community and others in the region.
The Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs will jointly host the mini PBD in partnership with the Singapore Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Confederation of Indian Industry. It will be a regional event with participation mainly from ASEAN, Asia Pacific and East Asian countries, though speakers from other parts of the world are also invited.
Toronto Holds Hindu Heritage Day This Weekend
http://www.southasianfocus.ca/community/article/53977
TORONTO, CANADA, August 6, 2008: Toronto’s yearly Hindu Heritage Festival will be held Sunday, Aug. 10, at Toronto’s Black Creek Pioneer Village (1000 Murray Ross Parkway), according to the Hindu Federation. The Hindu Heritage Festival will engage the young and old as it celebrates Hindu culture inside Canada and will provide a perspective on how our Canadian forefathers experienced life in Canada.
“The festival will see Hindus come together from the numerous temples located across the GTA. The central Toronto location of Black Creek Pioneer Village makes this event an attractive opportunity for all to enjoy many hours of relaxation, fun and cultural entertainment,” said Pandit Roopnauth Sharma, President, Hindu Federation. It will include live cultural shows, music, dance, shopping, mouth-watering food and more.
The theme of this year’s festival is Culture, Charity and Conservation, which are three fundamental beliefs of Hindu culture.
The Hindu Federation will also leverage the event to highlight the importance of everyday conservation, and the impact everyone can have to improve Planet Earth’s current environmental situation.
For more information call 905-670-8439 or 1-866-827-8439, or visit www.federationofhindutemples.ca
Asia A Fertile Ground For The Catholic Church’s Future Priests
Catholic World Report
VATICAN, August 4, 20087: Asia, in particular India, is the most vocation-rich region of the world in producing Catholic priests according to a statistical analysis in the Catholic World Report (July).
While it has been well known that Asia and Africa have shown the highest enrollment of Catholic semnarians in the world, the magazine calculated the ratio of seminarians to Catholics in each of the worlds nations and territories based on 2005 data from the Annuarium Statisticum Ecclasiae, a Vatican-based overview of church statistics published in 2007. The ratio of seminarians presents a more accurate picture of how vocation rich a nation is rather than the total number of semnarians in each nation.
Worldwide there is one seminarian for 9,743 Catholics. In Asia, the most vocation-rich continent, there is one seminarian for every 3,877 Catholics, three ties as much. Fifteen of the worlds three dozen most vocation-rich nations are located in Asia. Over 45 percent of Asian seminarians are Indian. Although India ranks only 16th in the world in Catholic population, it has more seminarians than any nation in the world.
The strongly devotional nature of family life in India and Catholic schools are among the reasons given for Indias top rank. Africa and Oceania also rank high as vocation-rich continents.