SourceNEW DELHI, INDIA, July 25, 2003: Following the hue and cry over presence of pesticides in bottled water, the Centre has finally come out with a changed rule set on packaged water, which the manufacturers have to follow from January 2004. As per the new prevention of food adulteration (PFA) guideline issued on July 18, the individual pesticide residue should…
SourceTHE HAGUE, THE NETHERLANDS, July 24, 2003: MTV Networks Belgium apologized and has removed from circulation a piece entitled “Festival Report,” which included a six-armed Ganesha. In His hands are a guitar, bag of french fries, microphone, cigarette and beer cup, with the sixth hand in the traditional position of blessing. The Dutch watchdog group, AGNI, objected to the producers…
SourceVATICAN CITY, July 17, 2003: The famed temple of Tirupati in India, and others around the world, have instituted dress codes for devotees, and encountered protests in the process. This news report in the Detroit Times shows other religions, too, face the same problem of casually dressed people in their sacred places and have imposed strict dress codes as a…
SourceNASHIK, INDIA, July 20, 2003: Over the coming months, seven million pilgrims will re-live the ancient ritual of traveling to the Maharashtra town of Nashik for the Kumbh Mela. At exactly 11.51 AM on July 30, 2003, as the Sun and Jupiter enter the constellation of Leo, hundreds of thousands of pilgrims will plunge into the Godavari, just as their…
SourceTHIRUVANANTHAPURAM, KERALA, July 24, 2003: Taking a serious note of growing cruelty towards captive elephants and their violent reaction to human captors, the Kerala Government has issued norms for their upkeep which, among other things, insists that the tamed elephants should be retired from working at the age of 65. The set of rules issued recently had clear-cut norms for…
SourceAHMEDABAD, GUJARAT, July 21, 2003: Gujarat police arrested a Christian priest from Junagadh on charges of “offending another’s religion,” officials said here. A complaint was registered against Reverend Suresh Thaker who runs the Grace Ministry of India, an orphanage at Talala in Gir region of the district, alleging he threw a statue of a Deity belonging to a former employee,…
News ReportsUTTAR PRADESH, INDIA, July 12, 2003: Discrimination against Dalits (“Untouchables”) continues to escalate in the state by as much as 30% a year. In actual numbers, this means that the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribes Commission receives about 1,200-1,400 complaints annually about atrocities and discrimination against Dalits. The Dalits themselves hoped to receive an improvement of their condition when Mayawati, a…
SourceLANHAM, MARYLAND, July 7, 2003: After twenty-five years of planning and fund-raising, tens of thousands of Hindus in the Washington area now have a completed Sri Siva Vishnu temple to worship in. The Kumbhabhisheham (dedication) ceremony brought devotees from near and far. Many pilgrims travelled from afar, like Sri Nivasan, a 28-year-old software publisher from San Antonio, Texas, who said…
SourceZAGREB, CROATIA, July 17, 2003: Croatia’s education ministry has withdrawn its recommendation that teachers take yoga classes because the Roman Catholic Church accused it of trying to sneak Hinduism into schools. Deputy education minister Ivan Vavra said that instead, yoga classes will be organized strictly in teachers’ spare time and focused on exercises only, with no students to receive instruction.…
Associated PressNEW DELHI, INDIA, July 15, 2003: Bachchan Singh Bahadur poured cups of melted butter on the wood fire of his father’s funeral pyre on the outskirts of New Delhi. He was in keeping with a centuries-old Hindu funeral tradition, but it’s also the stuff of ecological nightmares for the Indian government. Bahadur could have used an electricity-powered crematorium less…