Patel Versus Rasul: The Great UK Divide

GO TO SOURCE LONDON, ENGLAND, February 19, 2002: The great sub-continental divide is alive and well, 7,000 miles away from India and Pakistan as Britain digests the news that people like 12-year-old ethnic Indian Abhay Patel and his Pakistani classmate Ahmed Rasul will grow up to be painfully different. According to an interesting new government study of U.K.’s one-million Indians…

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Lord Ganesha Icon Kicked in NBC Episode of “Friends”

Source: HPI USA, February 18, 2002: Readers have complained to HPI about the January 31st episode of the NBC hit series, “Friends.” One report reads, “I was watching the latest episode of ‘Friends’ in NBC. There was a scene, in which Ross and his girl friend were sitting in a sofa, Ross explains the ‘Lord Ganesh’ is an artifact from…

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Hindu Activist Will Address Interfaith Assembly

GO TO SOURCE TEANECK, NEW JERSEY, February 15, 2002: A Hindu swami known as an activist for the poor and as a critic of religious fundamentalism will address the annual Interfaith Brotherhood/sisterhood breakfast on Monday at the Marriott Glenpointe hotel in Teaneck. Swami Agnivesh, chairman of a United Nations trust fund on slavery, will speak about “Interfaith Cooperation as a…

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Police Say Hindu Extremists Attack Church

GO TO SOURCE BANGALORE, INDIA, February 17, 2002: About 50 Hindus attacked a Roman Catholic church in southern India on Sunday and injured several worshippers, police said. V.V. Bhaskar, the police chief in the city of Mysore, declined to say how many people were hurt in the attack. The assailants threw stones at the church, angry at what they said…

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Five Thousands Couples Get Married in Delhi in One Day

Source: Sandhya Times (Hindi) DELHI, INDIA, February 18, 2002: It was Vasant Panchami. On this auspicious occasion, millions of dollars were spent on around five thousand marriages held in Delhi. Traffic was snarled all over Delhi as a result. The cost of each marriage ran from US$5,000 up to $32,000. Marriages — and traffic jams — will continue through the…

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Nepal Rebels Mount Devastating Attacks

GO TO SOURCE NEPAL, February 18, 2002: About 100 people have been killed in two separate but simultaneous attacks by Maoist rebels on government installations in western Nepal. The victims of the raids on two towns in the remote district of Achham included police officers, soldiers and local government officials. The BBC’s Daniel Lak says the scale and ferocity of…

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Delhi Parents and Teachers Oppose Corporal Punishment

GO TO SOURCE NEW DELHI, INDIA, February 12 2002: Corporal punishment may well be commonplace in schools, but teachers and academicians in their role as parents, strongly denounce the practice. This is the latest in a series of articles in the Hindustan Times denouncing corporal punishment. Vibha Parthasarthy, ex-principal of Sardar Patel Vidyalaya and ex-president of the National Commission for…

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Hindu Temple Next to Christian Church in Fiji Attacked

Source: Sun LABASA, FIJI, February 7, 2002: Police have interviewed some church members of Wamikoro town over their alleged involvement in desecrating a Hindu temple next to their church. The Sun reported last week that the temple, next to a Pentecostal church, was vandalized when its door was forced open and pictures of Deities removed from large frames and destroyed.…

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Terrorists Kill Eight Hindus in Jammu and Kashmir

Source: Hindustan Times JAMMU, INDIA, February 17, 2002: Terrorists shot dead eight Hindus and injured six others in a village in Rajouri district last night, an official spokesman said here today. Terrorists swooped on Nirala village in Dharamsal area of the district and fired on the minority community members, he said. A police team and security personnel have rushed to…

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Scarcity of Kumkum Lamented

GO TO SOURCE MANGALORE, KARNATAKA, INDIA, February 13, 2002: Even with so many temples and religious festivals, Karnataka State has yet to achieve self-sufficiency in sacred kumkum, the red powder used in worship. It is traditionally made of tumeric powder and lime, but many chemical imitations have appeared, some of them harmful to the body. The kumkum sold in the…

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