Tamil Nadu Priests Demand Fifty Percent of Offerings

www.chennaionline.com KUMBAKONAM, INDIA, January 9, 2006: (HPI note: To put this article in context, realize that the government of Tamil Nadu runs the temples where these priests work.) Temple priests in Tamil Nadu today demanded 50 per cent of the collections through offerings made by devotees and urged the government to fix their share on a monthly basis. The Tamil…

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Selective Abortion: Ten Million Girls “Missing” In India

www.breitbart.com INDIA, January8, 2006: Around 10 million female foetuses may have been aborted in India over the past two decades because of ultrasound sex screening and a traditional preference for boys which cuts across all India’s religions, according to a study published online in The Lancet. Researchers based in Canada and India looked through data from a national survey, conducted…

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Toronto Devi Mandir Website Redesigned

www.devimandir.com TORONTO, CANADA, January 6, 2006: The Devi Mandir here announced their revamped website: “Welcome to the completely redesigned website for the Devi Mandir! With this new design comes a host of new features and content to better serve you, our loyal visitors. Aside from our regular news coming out of the Devi Mandir, we now have a section dedicated…

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Afghan Sikhs and Hindus Regain Cremation Grounds

www.dnaindia.com KABUL, AFGHANISTAN, January 6, 2006: Sikh and Hindu communities here no more have to agonize over finding a place to cremate their dead – a funeral ground vandalized by the Taliban has been restored to them. The Afghan government has given back the possession of the cremation ground in downtown Kabul to the two communities after getting encroachments removed…

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London’s Mahalakshmi Temple Feeds Jobless Indian Doctors

news.independent.co.uk LONDON, UK, January 2, 2006: Standing in the courtyard of the Sri Mahalakshmi Hindu temple in east London, a dozen jobless doctors are eating dhal, rice and potatoes off paper plates. Wrapped against the cold, they come here each evening when the temple serves free food. They are among thousands of overseas doctors who have flocked to Britain in…

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Christians Wary of Tamil Nadu’s Free Feeding Program

NDTV CHENNAI, INDIA, January 4, 2006: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa’s offer of “Annadhanam,” or free meal scheme, has divided the Christian churches in the state. While the Protestants have welcomed the extension of the daily feeding program to seven churches after Hindu temples and dargahs (Sufi saint shrines), the Catholic Bishops Council wants it stopped. They feel that…

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HPI E-Mail Service Issues

www.hinduismtoday.com KAUAI, HAWAII, January 8, 2006: We believe the problems with our e-mail service has been solved. All HPI reports for the first few days of January have been consolidated and are available in our archives at “source.”

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California Board of Education Revisits Proposed Textbook Changes

HPI SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA, January 8, 2005: California State Board of Education members and staff conducted a special, closed-door meeting on January 6 to revisit the Hindu requests for changes in the 6th grade social studies books currently proposed for adoption by the State. The history of the issue is, in brief, that two Hindu groups, the Hindu Education Foundation and…

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International Temple Summit Being Held in Mumbai

www.telegraphindia.com MUMBAI, INDIA, January 4, 2006: Almost all famous temples of the country are coming together to conduct for the first time serious worldly business. On January 28 and 29, the temple teams will come together at a new five-star hotel in the city for a seminar, held at the initiative of Mumbai’s most revered mandir, the Siddhivinayak temple, to…

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HPI Reports Combined For January 1 to 5

HPI KAUAI, HAWAII, January 5, 2006: We apologize to subscribers for a glitch in our mail system — we’re calling it the Y2006 bug — which caused our mail server to stop sending out HPI as of January 1. Following are the stories from January 1 through today, January 5, as a one report sent on January 5. HPI will…

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