GO TO SOURCE BANGLADESH, May 8, 2001: Bangladesh police have increased security at cultural centers connected with Rabindranath Tagore, the revered author and poet. Authorities fear the centers may be subjected to bomb attacks. Tuesday is the 140th anniversary of the birth of Tagore, whose largely secular legacy of poems and song stir great emotion in Bangladesh. The government accuses…
GO TO SOURCE JAMMU, INDIA, May 10, 2001: Suspected Islamic guerrillas beheaded eight Hindu villagers and seriously injured three others Thursday after abducting them from a forest in Kashmir state, police said. Police said the militants came to the mountainous area as the 11 villagers were grazing cattle near the village of Sajan in the Doda district, about 150 miles…
GO TO SOURCE PANAJI, INDIA, April 17, 2001: It is estimated that, by the year 2025, India will have the largest number of diabetics in the world. Unable to afford the insulin used in the allopathic treatment of diabetes, Indians are turning toward yoga practices and related changes of lifestyle, according to this article, and achieving some success in the…
GO TO SOURCE KOLKOTA, INDIA, May 3, 2001: A more complete, though not necessarily unbiased, report on the attack and subsequent arrest of dozens of people at the ISKCON temple in Kolkota (Calcutta) is posted at “source” above. The report reads in part, “The high drama began on Friday afternoon as 100 ‘devotees’ from Mayapur burst into the Calcutta temple.…
Source: Agence France-Presse NEW DELHI, INDIA, MAY 5, 2001: With the population count showing a dramatic drop in the male-female ratio among children in many parts of the country, India’s Supreme Court has directed the government to enforce the ban on procedures to determine the sex of unborn children. Such procedures have led to abortions of female fetuses and an…
GO TO SOURCE AGARTALA, INDIA, April 10, 2001: A Buddhist temple and several huts of the Chakma community were ransacked and torched by All Tripura Tiger Force insurgents in Dhalai district of Tripura, police said on April 10. A group of ATTF insurgents raided Taichakma village on Sunday night and ransacked and set ablaze a thatched Buddhist temple, police said…
Source: The Guardian NEW DELHI, INDIA, May 9, 2001: This heart-wrenching article exposing the injustices against Dalit (“untouchable”) women in the feudal states of Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, is based on a study done by Amnesty International. Reportedly women from the untouchable class are routinely raped and harassed by upper caste villagers and landlords. To make matters worse, if rape…
GO TO SOURCE COLOMBO, SRI LANKA, May 10, 2001: A senior US official has criticized Sri Lanka’s sweeping ban on genetically modified (GM) food imports, according to this report in India Abroad, describing it as “totally unwarranted” and without any “credible scientific evidence” to support it. Weyland Beeghly, the agricultural counselor at the US mission in New Delhi, said Thursday…
GO TO SOURCE MUMBAI, INDIA, May 7, 2001: Hiro Shroff’s project, “Sindhi Jottings,” covers the worldwide migration of Sindhis from Pakistan following the partition of India in 1947. He would appreciate input from HPI readers for his project. Contact him at “source” above.
GO TO SOURCE PENANG, MALAYSIA, May 7, 2001: The Malaysia Hindu Sangam has demanded an apology of Idris Omar, a member of PAS, the Pan-Malaysia Islamic political party. This report in The Star newspaper states, “The Malaysia Hindu Sangam demanded a public apology from Idris for his statement that PAS would destroy all statues in non-Muslim places of worship if…