GO TO SOURCE MASALPUR, RAJASTHAN, INDIA, August 12, 2001: Near the Rajasthan-Madhya Pradesh border in Masalpur is the fort of Timangarh, which has often been the site of much antique smuggling. “We have seen the helicopters landing near the Timangarh fort so many times. We can identify the noise of a helicopter even in our sleep,” says villager Anant Ram…
GO TO SOURCE INDIA, August 10, 2001: A temple in Rajasthan puts the mentally ill through unspeakable rituals in the quest for a cure, a newspaper reported on Friday. At the Mehendipur Balaji Temple, 100 km from Jaipur, the victims are forced to inhale the fumes of burning dung cakes, bathe in and drink water from a filthy water tank,…
Source: Aaj Tak Hindi TV Channel DELHI, INDIA, AUGUST 12, 2001: Over 250,000 devotees waited in long lines to worship at Lakshmi Narayan temple today. There were even devotees still waiting at midnight, but the exhausted priests had to call it a day. The temple’s chief priest, Sri Lakshmi Narayan Shastri, said that the enthusiasm and interest of people in…
GO TO SOURCE USA, Aug. 13, 2001: Researchers have asserted in studies over the last half decade that religion and good health go hand in hand. One study of 596 elderly hospitalized patients, mostly Christians, began in 1996. Each was was asked if they “wondered whether God had abandoned me,” “questioned God’s love for me” or “decided the devil made…
GO TO SOURCE VATICAN, August 14, 2001: An African archbishop of the Catholic Church, Emmanuel Milingo, 71, is reported by the Vatican to be “renouncing my living together with Maria Sung and my relationship with the Rev Moon,” according to a letter released by the Vatican. The announcement came after a meeting with the pope. Maria Sung, 43, is a…
GO TO SOURCE STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN, August 13, 2001: Water experts are gathering in Sweden to discuss the pressure on the world’s water supplies. Delegates meeting in Stockholm will discuss a range of issues from how to recover and re-use waste water, to what part dams have to play in providing water supplies. Professor Frank Rijsberman, head of the International Water…
Source: The Hindu GENEVA, SWITZERLAND, August 10, 2001: With the backing of China, South Korea and some other countries, India frustrated the attempts of non-government organizations to get the issue of caste discrimination included on the agenda for the coming conference on racism. Despite consistent efforts by the Human Rights Watch and several NGOs, the issue of caste-based discrimination failed…
GO TO SOURCE AHMEDABAD, INDIA, August 10, 2001: Coming on the heels of a young couple being publicly hanged in Uttar Pradesh over caste differences, a young girl Bharti Barot, 19, committed suicide in the Hindu Mahasabha office here following pressure from one of its activists, Dasrath Soni, to desert her husband and reconvert to Hinduism. Bharti and Salim were…
GO TO SOURCE GANDHINAGAR, INDIA, August 11, 2001: The BJP-ruled Gujarat Government will soon pay monthly salaries to priests of Hindu temples in the State. In the first phase, one priest of the 354 Government-controlled “devasthans” temples would be entitled to a monthly salary of US$21.74 from September. When queried why Hindu priests were singled out for this provision, Minister…
GO TO SOURCE GOGAMADI, INDIA, August 11, 2001: Thousands of devotees flocked to one of the prominent fairs of Northern India, Gogamadi Fair, on Saturday evening. Devotees donning yellow clothes could be spotted separately in the rush of mela. They first of all had a bath in the sacred Gogana pond and then had a one-and-a-half kilometers round of the…