SourceMUMBAI, INDIA, December 25, 2003: About 500 tribals, including 200 women, were reconverted to Hinduism at a VHP sponsored Conversion Sammelan at Lalmati town of Gujarat on Christmas eve, VHP sources claimed in Mumbai on Thursday. The tribals included priest Motu Nurawalvi of Silo Delsya Church in Navapur town of Nadurbar district of Maharashtra. Twelve others from the church town…
SourceCHENNAI, INDIA, December 26, 2003: Police were guarding a church in southern India on Thursday after more than 250 lower-caste villagers who converted to Christianity were barred from a Christmas Mass. The villagers, known as Dalit Christians after the untouchable Hindu social group they once belonged to, were prevented from attending midnight Mass at St. Ebiben’s Church in Manjakuppam, in…
SourceNEW DELHI, INDIA, December 23, 2003: Indian Muslims are divided over the continuance of a subsidy that the government has been providing to 72,000 Haj pilgrims every year to undertake the holy trip. The differences have come into the open with the government introducing regulations for their availing of the subsidy in the airfare under which air tickets are provided…
SourceCHOTILA, INDIA, December 15, 2003: At least seven Dalit (Untouchables) teachers have been transferred in Gujarat’s Surendranagar district for objecting to segregation of upper and lower-caste students during mid-day meals in some schools. Now upper-caste parents in other villages are using the threat of transfer to keep Dalit teachers from opposing the practice, reports this article. “During training, we are…
SourceAHMEDABAD, INDIA, December 21, 2003: Before lining up prospective grooms, many girls in Gujarat are lining up at clinics of dermatologists and plastic surgeons. When it began four years ago, the trend was restricted to the rich, but now even middle-class brides-in-the making submit to the scalpel to seek beauty. And one reason driving this need to look good is…
SourceWAGAH, PAKISTAN/INDIA BORDER, December 22, 2003: For the first time after 1997 a group of 49 Hindu pilgrims today crossed over to Pakistan to pay obeisance at the various Hindu temples in the neighboring country. The Hindu pilgrims group led by Sant Yudishtra Lal from Chattisgarh before crossing over to Pakistan said that after a gap of more than five…
SourceHELENSBURGH, AUSTRALIA, December 23, 2003: The Rajagopurams for Lord Venkateswara, Lord Siva and Goddess Thirupurasundari have now been completed. The Ashtabhandana Maha Kumbhabhishekam celebration of Sri Venkateswara Temple, in Helensburgh, is taking place on Sunday the 1st of February, 2004, between 5:30 a.m. and noon. Consecration ceremonies will take place from Thursday January 29 to Saturday January 31. Construction of…
SourceCHICAGO, U.S.A., December 22, 2003: For the first time since tracking began 20 years ago, U.S. women outnumber men in higher paying, white collar managerial and professional occupations. The gap will continue because of a self-perpetuating cycle of workplace gains for women, according to international outplacment firm Chicago-based Challenger, Gray & Christmas. “As a growing number move into upper management…
SourceCHENNAI, INDIA, December 23, 2003: For years they were not considered good enough to perform in India. But expatriates who have been quietly and diligently learning Indian musical traditions abroad for years have now found a big platform here, thanks to the Hamsadhwani festival. The annual event, which began here this weekend, has come to be known as the non-resident…
SourceWASHINGTON, U.S.A., December 19, 2003: The U.S. State Department released its fifth annual report on international religious freedom on Thursday, December 18. The executive summary is at “source” above, and the complete report can be reached through related links. Six countries, Burma, China, Cuba, Laos, North Korea and Vietnam were named as countries that have “totalitarian and authoritarian attempts to…