GO TO SOURCE GUJARAT, INDIA, February 25, 2003: The Gujarati state government has plans to introduce a new law stopping the practice of unethical religious conversion. State Governor Sunder Singh Bhandari declared the Freedom of Religion Bill would be brought before the state assembly during the session that opened on Tuesday. The law — known as Dharam Swatantrata Vidheya —…
Source: NewsQuest Media Group Limited LONDON, ENGLAND, February 18, 2003: Hindus in the U.K. are using a service offered by a ferry company which will send a boat out onto the Thames to perform the ritual of scattering of ashes of the deceased for US$80. City Cruises takes up to 50 friends and relatives on the half-hour trip. Sales manager…
GO TO SOURCE UNITED STATES, February 27, 2003: Ira Rifkin’s new book, “Spiritual Perspectives on Globalization — Making Sense of Economic and Cultural Upheaval,” takes the globalization debate global — exploring how it looks to Hindus, Jews, Buddhists, Catholics, Protestants, Baha’is, pagans and Muslims. This look by a noted religion author at globalization from other cultural perspectives helps to understand…
GO TO SOURCE KATHMANDU, NEPAL, February 22, 2003: The grandson of a Nepali sherpa in the first expedition to scale Mount Everest 50 years ago plans to set up the world’s highest Internet cafe at the mountain’s base camp. Tsering Gyaltsen, whose grandfather, Gyaltsen Sherpa, was in the 1953 team that helped Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reach summit,…
Source: Paras Ramoutar PORT-OF-SPAIN, TRINIDAD, February 27, 2003: The Mere Desh Organization of Trinidad and Tobago has dedicated 2003, to the Classical singers of Trinidad and Tobago and the Father of Hindi Poetry, Sant Kabir. The Organization is inviting all local classical singers throughout the country to enter. The date of the competition is yet to be announced.
GO TO SOURCE UNITED STATES, February 26, 2003: The following statement is issued by the India Development and Relief Fund regarding allegations their funding strategy is designed to encourage hatred and dissension between India’s religious groups. “On November 20, 2002, Sabrang Communications and the Forum of Indian Leftists released a report titled, ‘The Foreign Exchange of Hate’ asserting that the…
GO TO SOURCE GORAKHPUR, INDIA, February 18, 2003: The seventh World Hindu General Assembly which concluded in Gorakhpur, India, has decided to hold the next General Assembly in Birgunj, Nepal. An 11-point proposal including a complete ban on cow slaughter and assistance to Hindu orphans was also passed by the assembly. Some 28 countries, including Nepal, took part in the…
GO TO SOURCE MUMBAI, INDIA, February 14, 2003: Shaida.com has taken their site from cyberspace to a brick and mortar location by holding a swayamvara in the cities of Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata. A swayamvara is a Hindu custom in which a girl chooses her own husband from an assembled group of prospects, though in this case the…
GO TO SOURCE CAMBRIDGE, CANADA, February 26, 2003: The Radha Krishan Temple of Cambridge, Ontario, Canada, is seeking a full-time Hindu priest. The prospective priest must have a good knowledge of Hindi and English. Additionally, it is preferred they have elementary knowledge of Christianity and Islam so they can converse well with Christian Clergymen and Islamic Mullas in the Cambridge…
GO TO SOURCE LONDON, ENGLAND, February 26, 2003: The Vivekananda Center London in yesterday’s HPI was incorrectly named. Instead of the Vedanta Center London, they are correctly known as the Vivekananda Center London, which is a different organization from London’s Ramakrishna Vedanta Center.