Source: Hinduism Today HOMEBUSH, AUSTRALIA, December 18, 2001: The Hindu Council of Australia has confirmed that McDonald’s fast food restaurants in Australia have been cooking their french fries in a frying mix of 92% beef tallow and 8% cottonseed oil for the last twenty years. This is the same practice abandoned about 15 years ago by McDonald’s in the USA,…
GO TO SOURCE December 17, 2001: Yuko Sato’s animated version of the Ramayana is now being sold online at “source” above. Sato’s US$12 million film, originally released in the mid-1990s, won recognition at the Santa Clarita International Film Festival 2000, the Lucca Animation Film Festival in Italy 2000, the Toronto Film Festival and the Cardiff Animation Film Festival in the…
GO TO SOURCE KANCHI, INDIA, December 18, 2001: An Ati Rudra Sahita Sahasra Chandi Yegnam is being performed in Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam, Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu, for world peace and prosperity. Find necessary information and day-to-day reports/photos at “source” above. The live webcast is of events on December 19, from 7:30 pm to 8:30 pm (Indian time) and on the 20th…
GO TO SOURCE DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA, December 09, 2001: Welfare organizations have launched a campaign to stop what has been described as a “crisis” in the Indian community of Pietermaritzburg after the suicide of 15 children in the past seven months. In addition to the fatalities, between 100 and 150 children in the predominantly Indian areas of Northdale and Raisethorpe…
GO TO SOURCE TEHRI, INDIA, December 8, 2001: Despite protests from Indian scientists and environmentalists, the government has forged ahead on building a dam whose construction will result in the total submergence of the 200-year-old northern Himalayan town of Tehri by November of 2002. Scientists are concerned that the dam is too close to the “edge of the central Himalayan…
GO TO SOURCE KOLKATA, INDIA, December 12, 2001: The West Bengal government today passed a bill prohibiting smoking, spitting or consumption of tobacco in public places. The bill, which now awaits the president’s approval, will prohibit smoking and spitting in public auditoriums, hospitals, health institutions, amusement centers, public offices, court buildings, educational institutions, libraries, places of worship, public conveyances and…
GO TO SOURCE November, 2001: This article by Debra Stang gives some concrete suggestions about what to do if you see someone hitting their child. Debra encourages everyone to take a stand against the culturally accepted practice of spanking and advices, “Use your voice — silence is consent.” Eleven suggestions are given including direct confrontation (works most effectively if you…
GO TO SOURCE TAMIL NADU, INDIA, December 11, 2001: Officials in the Salem district of India’s Tamil Nadu state say there is a new awareness among the villagers against the notorious practice of female infanticide after two village couples handed over their newborn baby girls, in front a huge crowd, to Salem’s District Collector. With so many baby girls killed…
GO TO SOURCE UNITED KINGDOM, December 13, 2001: Liberal Democrat David Ward education spokesman in Bradford, one of the towns affected by racial riots earlier this year, has said he would support the abolition of single faith schools. “I believe that prejudice is created when people are kept apart,” he said. The idea of having a quota system for minority…
GO TO SOURCE REPUBLIC OF SEYCHELLES, November 27, 2001: Hindus in Seychelles, a republic consisting of 115 islands located in the southwest of the Indian Ocean, are actively promoting their culture and contributing to the community at large. From coordinating a huge Diwali celebration to stocking a library with Hindu literature, plus affiliating itself with a Council in Africa and…