SourceKABUL, AFGHANISTAN, November 5, 2003: Kabul’s Hindu and Sikh communities are finding it hard to hold funerals because local residents object to open-air cremations. Despite the objections, Afghanistan’s religious affairs ministry has promised to let Sikhs and Hindus reclaim their traditional sites and use them to cremate the dead. Awtar Singh, who represented the Sikh community at last year’s Loya…
Montreal GazetteMONTREAL, CANADA, November 17, 2003: Schoolyard violence can be a problem anywhere. But at one St. Henri elementary school, staff and students decided to do something different about it. Seven years ago, Ludger-Duvernay school began developing a program to train Grade 5 and Grade 6 students as mediators to intervene in small disputes. The program went into effect four…
News ReportMUMBAI, INDIA, November 19, 2003. Roadside shrines that are beneath or alongside trees may escape demolition by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). A BMC circular has asked its officers to decide for themselves whether to demolish shrines adjacent to obstructions such as trees. BMC feels that since a tree cannot be hacked, it would continue to pose an obstruction…
SourceAHMEDABAD, INDIA, November 18, 2003: Seven crude bombs were recovered from a temple in Gujarat early yesterday. The bombs had been planted in the walls of a temple of the Swaminarayan sect in the communally sensitive Vatva neighborhood. “The bombs were improvised explosive devices and of low intensity. They could not have blown up the temple, but could have killed…
SourceNEW JERSEY, USA, November 16, 2003: Navya Shastra, a global Hindu organization of scholars, activists, priests and laypeople whose mission is to promote spiritual equality for all Hindus, has protested the United Nation Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization’s (UNESCO) recent decision to name the Vedic chanting tradition a “Heritage of Humanity” along with twenty seven other cultural expressions, including the…
Times News NetworkAHMEDABAD, INDIA, November 15, 2003: On his 31st birthday, Mitesh Patel of Rajkot, Gujarat found his ageing father was worried because he had not found a suitable bride for his son. The old man was left with no alternative but to “settle” for a tribal girl, in the process coughing up a large dowry (bride price, actually), as…
SourceKARNATAKA, INDIA, November 6, 2003: Recently declared by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as a World Heritage Centre, a visit to Hampi in the state of Karnataka will reveal a glorious ancient Hindu empire. Home to the Vijayanagar empire that was established by two disciples of saint Vidyaranya in 1336 and reigned until its destruction by…
SourceLOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, November 18, 2003: A reader in Malaysia has alerted HPI to the Hindu aspect of the hit movie, “League of Extraordinary Gentlemen,” starring Shan Connery. The movie is based on a comic book series of the same name which brings together a variety of fictional characters from past literature. Among these is Nemo, a Hindu, who is…
SourceRIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL, November 10, 2003: Consuming at least 400 grams of fruit and vegetables each day will ward off heart disease, cancer, Type 2 diabetes and obesity. This statement appeared recently in a published report presented by the World Health Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization’s Food and Nutrition Division. World Health Organization Director Pekka Ruska reinterates,…
Toronto StarTORONTO, CANADA, November 15, 2003: Continuing protests by Hindus led to a revised apology by the Toronto Star for their publishing an photo of an unfinished Goddess Durga icon being prepared for a festival. The initial protests led to the half-hearted apology (see below), but Hindus were not satisfied, and continued discussions with principals of the paper. As a…