Even as Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa has directed the authorities not to disturb the New Type Model (NTM) Government Kannada Higher Primary School on N.S. Road following the proposed construction of a Swami Vivekananda Memorial (Viveka Smaraka) at the site, Sri Ramakrishna Ashram, Mysuru has felt that the opposition to the project was unjustifiable since it was not merely a memorial but a centre for the empowerment of youth, imparting them value education as envisioned by the spiritual leader.

Some Kannada activists had taken exception to the apparent closure of the Kannada school for facilitating the construction and also argued that the school itself was part of Mysurus heritage since it was more than 100 years old. Some of the activists met the Chief Minister and sought his intervention for saving the school. The Chief Ministers directive is to construct the memorial on the remaining area of the site where the school is located.

The project was proposed at the site since Swami Vivekananda stayed there during his visit to Mysuru in the 1880s.

In a statement issued here following reports in the press over the issue, the ashram said many government schools had been shut down in Mysuru in the recent years. They include the government school at Lakshmipuram where writer R.K. Narayan studied, which was closed five to six years ago, besides the schools near the old bus-stand here and the one at Ittigegud near the Mysuru zoo for lack of students.

When no opposition was expressed to the closure of these schools during that time, why is there opposition to the merger of NTM School with another school and the ashrams plans for the construction of the memorial at the site? the statement asked.

We are just implementing the directive issued by the Centre, said the statement issued by the ashram president Swami Muktidanandaji.

The ashram said the NTM School is not being shut down but will be merged with the Devaraja Government Primary School which is nearby and maintained that merger will not affect the children or the parents arguing that it will be give good learning environment for the children.

The statement said the memorial will function as a service centre (Seva Kendra) and cultural centre too. It has been proposed to introduce courses for the personality development of youths besides organising discourses daily for inspiring and guiding the youth and spreading moral education.

Arguing that it had been engaged in pro-Kannada activities, the ashram said many stalwarts of Kannada literature who had associated with the ashram and its activities had unequivocally appreciated its services and contribution to Kannada language. In the last 60 years, the ashrams publishing division published about 400 Kannada books and selling them at a nominal rate with the idea of reaching out the knowledge to the people, the statement added.

It was wrong to spread misinformation among the people on the ashrams visions and plans. The memorial will not only benefit the local people but also the people from surrounding places as it will function as the centre for the youth, spreading moral, spiritual and religious education. It will emerge as a major tourist destination too. The ashram therefore seeks support and cooperation for making it happen, according to the release.

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Continued here:

Opposition to memorial uncalled for, says ashram - The Hindu

Express News Service

DEHRADUN: Superstar Rajinikanth visited Swamy Dayanand's ashram in Rishikesh on Mondayand is expected to go to Kedarnath too.

The actor regularly retreats to the Himalayas to meditate.

Sumit Adlakha, a resident of Dehradun and a family friend of the superstar family said, "Rajini Sir is on a devotional visit to Uttarakhand with his daughter Aishwarya Dhanush. He will visitingKedarnath temple tomorrow and Badarinath shrine a day later."

The celebrity father-daughter duo will leave for Ranikhet then, where Rajinikanth will have a meditation session.

Rajinikanth had landed at Dehradun airport on Sunday and left for Rishikesh after meeting Adlakha at his house.

The superstar is said to be a devotee of Maha Avtar Baba, and will spend some time in his cave too.

It is believed that Babaji lived in a cave, which is almost an hour away from Dunagiri in Kumaons Almora district. Rajinikanth has been going to the cave for over a decade.

The saint finds mention in Yogananda Parmahansa's 'The Autobiography of a Yogi'.

The Tamil superstar last visited Ranikhet in2018.

(With inputs from online desk)

See more here:

Superstar Rajinikanth in Uttarakhand on spiritual tour with daughter Aishwarya Dhanush - The New Indian Express

234pp, Rs 499; Simon & Schuster

Somewhere in the mid-1990s, boys of an elite boarding school on the outskirts of Calcutta are watching a curly-haired 16-year-old Indian cricketer play the Pakistanis in Peshawar. In the common room of Bliss Hall, the tension of an impending loss is fanned further by the sound of firecrackers going off in Mosulgaon, a nearby Muslim settlement that is cheering for Pakistan. Anirvan, a class 7 student, cannot take his eyes off the curly-haired Sachin Tendulkar on TV or his mind off Kajol, the boy next to him. He takes Kajols palm in his, caresses his fingers -- the anxiety of the moment was a disease and one had to share it till the TV is abruptly turned off.

The all-boys boarding is run by a Hindu monastic order and a lot transpires under the eagle eyes of the monks as the middle-school boys shuffle between Bliss and Conscience halls of the ashram spread over many acres of grabbed land 80 villages, it is rumoured.

The Scent of God is Anirvan or Yogis story (Kajol calls him Yogi). Anirvan loves the scents and sounds of the ashram and dreams of becoming a monk as his grandmother had hoped he would one day thereby enabling seven generations of the family before and after her to attain salvation. He lacks the genius to crack IIT or become a football player, even though the monks egg the boys on with, Youll be a lot closer to god if you played football than if you read the Gita.

It is his love for words that makes him a star at school. His English teacher Sushant Kane or SrK (short for Senior Kane) recognises his talent in debating, while the dreaded warden of Bliss Hall, Kamal Swami, who disciplines boys with his eyes, recognises his ability to meditate and tune out like a real yogi. A future monk?

Anirvan is in awe of the thirty-something Kamal Swami. He secretly admires the silent monk, The Lord Lotus, his glowing skin, his scent, the whiff of cardamom, and his flowing saffron robe. A prayer hall that walked, he thinks. The swami, too, goes easy on Anirvan, gently teaching him how to blow the conch before prayer.

The boys are subjected to ruthless discipline. They have to sweat it out on the cricket field and football ground, excel in mathematics and science, prepare to crack top exams without as much as a fan in their hostel rooms, and at the end of the day, bathe in the aroma of incense and flowers in the prayer hall. Minor slips are greeted with beatings. Those who excel in exams and are also fair-complexioned and good-looking are given special attention -- premium rooms right next to the monks.

Anirvan is drawn into the world of monks, the world of saffron. He sees beauty and power in saffron that no colour in this world could match, even as he is curious about the world outside the ashram. The rather reluctant ashram resident Sushant Kanes anecdotes about this other world and its fantastical life intrigues him: The monks say the world is MayaIts not the world; they have Maya here. The incense and the flowers and the music.

SrK offers Anirvan more food for thought. Why were juicy chicken drumsticks served to a student after a brutal beating by a monk? Did the monks beat up the boys because they couldnt really do what they wanted to? Or did they?

Anirvan decides to visit the world outside the ashram with SrK -- the world of prostitutes, bootleggers and wily politicians and stand up for those who need him.

In the ashram, Kajol stays real. When he fails to persuade Anirvan to return to school and worry about exams, he disconnects himself and focusses on what he does best -- prepare to crack the IIT exam.

Saikat Majumdars writing is powerful. It reveals and conceals at the same time. Every word is carefully crafted and the subtle carelessness in every sentence opens an ocean of interpretations. The poetry-prose captures the tension of the two entangled world orders, spiritual and material, where desires range from same-sex love relationships to flourishing post-IIT careers. The Anirvans and Kajols of the ashram are not allowed to nibble the goodies of both these worlds, they are ordained to let go of one.

Saikat Majumdar(Courtesy the publisher )

The beautiful feel of silk and saffron evaporates as soon as the book is put away. The reader looks for answers, aches to see beyond the sensory and the illusory world of the monks, itches to fill in the blanks on what transpires when the boys shuttle between Bliss and Conscience Halls. You want to know if it is old-fashioned to be conscientious in churches, madrasas and ashrams.

Read more:Book Review: A Patchwork Family by Mukta Sathe

The sense that does prevail is of the blurring fine line between the pure and the profane, love and lust, and how deeply flawed our education system is; a system that can frown upon imparting sex education but can trick and trap innocent boys into doing the unimaginable.

First Published:Oct 11, 2019 19:25 IST

See the article here:

Review: The Scent of God by Saikat Majumdar - Hindustan Times

Directed by: Rajesh DeshpandeCast: Sharad Ponkshe, Shruja Prabhudesai, Jayant Ghate, Krushna Rajshekhar, Vighnesh Joshi, Pankaj Khamkar, Omkar Karve, Makarand Navghare, Prakash Sable, Rutuja Chipade and Kapil RedekarDuration: 3 hoursLanguage: MarathiRating: 3.5/ 5

The name of the play Himalayachi Savali, originally written by Vasant Kanetkar in 1972 and revived by director Rajesh Deshpande, translates to the Shadow of Himalayas. The story revolves around Nanasaheb a professor deeply committed to his ashram that works towards the upliftment of young widows. It describes what it feels like to live in the shadow of a great man. Furthermore, it delves into the complex dynamics of a family one where all the members want the best for each other, but differ greatly in perspectives. Nanasaheb is so deeply involved in his charity, that he often ends up neglecting his home and his family in the bargain. This often leads to tension and resentment among his daughter, sons and wife.

See the rest here:

Theatre Review: Himalaychi Savali - Times of India

It is reported that Tamil Superstar Rajinikanth jetted off to the Himalayas for a spiritual vacation recently. Usually, he heads to the place every time he wraps up a film, and before commencing his next movie. He was accompanied by his elder daughter Aishwarya Dhanush. On his spiritual trip, Rajinikanth reached Haridwar and visited Swami Dayanand Saraswati Ashram in Rishikesh on Sunday. He has been visiting the ashram for several years and enjoying the simplicity of life there. He paid a visit at the samadhi of his spiritual guru Swami Dayanand Saraswati who breathed his last at his Rishikesh ashram in 2015 and then visited his room where he meditated for about 10 minutes. He sought blessings from Swami Shuddhanand Maharaj, who is the Spiritual head of Shri Dayanand Ashram Ganga Dhareshwar Trust. In the evening, he attended Ganga aarti at the Triveni Ganga ghat. He also visited Swargarashram area in Pauri Garhwal and Ramjhula-Muni-Ki-Reti in Tehri Garhwal. Rajinikanth then headed to Badrinath and Kedarnath shrines on Monday and reports say that he stayed at Rudraprayag the whole night. As per the locales, he then left for Garhwal Himalayas to introspect and find peace.

Excerpt from:

Rajinikanth meditates in Rishikesh on his way to Garhwal Himalayas - Times of India

Israel has won a total of nine Olympic medals since its debut in 1952 as a country officially recognized by the International Olympic Committee in the Summer Olympic Games in Helsinki. Israels first medal came in 1992 when Yael Arad nabbed silver in judo. The countrys first and only gold medal for Israel went to Gal Fridman in mens windsurfing at the Olympics in Athens in 2004.

At the last summer Olympics in Rio in 2016, Israeli judokas Yarden Gerbi and Or Sasson claimed bronze medals in the womens 63kg and mens +100kg events, respectively. That year, Israel was proud to have sent its largest delegation to the sporting event with 47 athletes competing in 17 sports. It broke Israels previous record of 43 athletes sent to Beijing in 2008.

SEE ALSO: Israels Olympic Committee Partners With Technion For Joint Sports Research Center

And now, Israel is going even bigger with plans to send an estimated 85 athletes to compete in 18 sports in the summer Olympic Games in Tokyo in July 2020. This is according to Vered Buskila, a three-time Olympic sailor who is now vice president of the Olympic Committee of Israel. In a sit-down interview with NoCamels not far from the Olympic Committees headquarters in Tel Aviv, Buskila says more athletes have yet to qualify including Israeli hopefuls for sports like track & field and swimming.

In Tokyo next summer, Israel will be sending its biggest delegation ever, Buskila tells NoCamels, This is a crazy number by Israeli standards. Thats something that we never thought could happen in the near future, she says.

Buskila says what makes the large 2020 delegation even more unprecedented is that the countrys national Olympic Committee changed some of the qualification rules after the 2016 games and made it even more difficult for Israeli athletes to qualify for the Olympics.

We got a lot of criticism about that, she adds.

David Wiseman, a native Australian who runs the English-language Follow Team Israel Facebook page with Canadian-Israeli Shari Wright Pilo since the London Olympics in 2012, is impressed with the number of athletes who will be representing Israel next summer.

Baseball alone is sending 24, he tells NoCamels, referring to the first Israeli team to qualify for the games, This is also the first time sports such as surfing and equestrian are being represented by Israeli athletes.

(Buskila says the baseball aspect is a huge, amazing surprise.)

Wiseman and Pilo created the Follow Team Israel page as a bridge between fans and athletes, he explains. The pair wanted to build awareness of Jewish and Israeli competitors and their incredible achievements and sacrifices.

Buskila, who began sailing at the age of eight as an extracurricular activity in her hometown of Bat Yam and won her first world championships at age 15 in the Womens 420 yachting event, says she understands what the athletes are going through, as she experienced it firsthand as a competitive sailor.

Now that I look back I understand that my talent was determination and persistence, she explains, When I won the world championships, it was decided. Thats what Im going to do for the rest of my life.

After competing for the third time in London 2012, Buskila announced her retirement and went on to earn a law degree and becoming a notable figure in the Olympic Committee of Israel. Her job entails speaking to people around the world on Israels progress in sports.

Buskila explains that Israel expects to have 10 athletes advancing to the finals in Tokyo. In Rio, we had five. We want to double it. We aim to win two medals, she says, We never had more than two medals at the same Olympic Games so maybe this will be our year.

Three would be amazing, she adds, after a pause.

If we can have the best army in the world and the best high-tech in the world, why cant we have the best athletes? she says.

Israeli teams and individual athletes have already qualified for sports like baseball, rhythmic gymnastics, artistic gymnastics, equestrian show jumping, cycling, sailing, and surfing.

More are (likely) on their way. Lets not count out current judo world champion Sagi Muki, windsurfing world champion silver medalist Katy Spychakov and top Israeli runner Lonah Chemtai Salpeter. Also, Israeli swimmers, both mixed team and individuals, are looking very good this year, Buskila says.

In the meantime, get to know some of the Israeli athletes and the sports they will be competing in next summer.

Israels baseball team made history last month by defeating South Africa 11-1 during a six-team Europe/Africa Olympic qualifying tournament in Italy, securing a spot in the Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo next summer.

Its the first time a baseball team for Israel has qualified for the Olympic Games and the first time an Israeli sports team has qualified since the national soccer team in 1976.

Israel will be competing against five other teams in Tokyo. Japan is the only other nation that has qualified so far. Two teams will qualify through the 2019 WBSC Premier12 tournament in November 2019, another through the Americas Qualifying Event in March 2020, and the last qualifier will be the winner of the final qualifying tournament early next year.

See you in Tokyo, Israel Baseball!

Israels first place finish in the Europe/Africa qualifying tournament secures their spot for #Tokyo2020.@ILBaseball @wbsc @baseball @Tokyo2020

(: Israel Baseball) pic.twitter.com/xZ8l6FyzkH

If soccer just edges out basketball as the most popular sport in the country, according to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, how did baseball, a sport with a much smaller local following, become the first sport whose athletes qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games?

Prior to the 2017 World Baseball Classic (WBC), Israels national baseball team was ranked 41st in the world (and 16th in Europe.) Things began to change in 2017 when Israels team came in 6th at the WBC and ranked 19th in the world. It was around this time that Eric Holtz, a US-born baseball coach who had played for the Israel Baseball League in 2007 and lived in Israel for 10 weeks, was asked to head coach the Israel Senior National Team.

While the national team didnt move ahead in 2017, it turned things around in 2019, effectively winning the 2019 European Baseball Championship B-Pool (the second tier of European Baseball mens competition) in early July 2019.

The team is a mix of local talent and Jewish Americans, who became Israeli citizens as a requirement for the Olympics.

Israels baseball team is made up of 24 Israelis,' Holtz tells NoCamels. Everyone is a passport holder or citizen of Israel. Fourteen or 15 of the guys have made aliyah over the past 18 months. Most of the players are from the minor leagues, but a few have played in the major leagues and a few are native Israelis, including the pitcher Shlomo Lipetz, who was born in Tel Aviv.

This is the ultimate dream come true, said Peter Kurz, Israel Association of Baseball president and general manager of Team Israel in a statement on the Israel Association of Baseball (IAB) website. It was almost too impossible to imagine but with the astounding performances of a dedicated team that always believed in itself.

Rhythmic gymnastics has an avid following in Israel. Thats because Linoy Ashram, an Israeli individual rhythmic gymnast, is considered the countrys best shot at a medal next summer.

The 20-year-old gymnast from Rishon Lezion, has dominated the sport since her first international competition at 12 years old.

She has made a significant mark on the sport for Israel, becoming the first Israeli rhythmic gymnast to win an individual all-around medal at the 2017 World Championships where she snapped up a bronze medal behind Russian twins Dina and Arina Averina. She is also the first Israeli gymnast to win gold in the all-around competition at the Rhythmic Gymnastics World Cup series, nabbing first place at the 2018 Guadalajara World Cup. She is the first Israeli to win gold in a World Cup series apparatus final and the first Israeli gymnast to win gold at the Grand Prix Final.

Since 2017, Ashram has won a total of six silver and five bronze medals in World Championship events.

Also making a name for herself in rhythmic gymnastics is Nicol Zelikman, an individual rhythmic gymnast who scored a bronze for the hoop apparatus at the 2019 European Championships and helped Israel nab a silver medal in the team all-around competition at the 2019 World Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan. She also qualified for the Tokyo games by placing 11th in the all-around competition. (The top 16 earn a spot to compete in the Olympics.)

This is the first time Israel will have two representatives at the Olympics in rhythmic gymnastics since 2008.

Israeli equestrian show jumpers qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in July, making it the first time that Israel has earned a spot in the games in this sport.

Four Israeli riders Daniel Bluman, Ashlee Bond, Elad Yaniv, and Danielle Goldstein Waldman edged ahead of Poland at the Olympic qualifier for Group C (Central and Eastern Europe) in Moscow to secure a place in the Tokyo Olympics next year.

Bluman is a returning member to the summer games. He is a native of Colombia and rode for Colombia in the 2012 and 2016 Olympics.

Goldstein Waldman is a native of New York.

Israeli gymnast Artem Dolgopyat, 22, recently celebrated a victory, snagging a silver medal in the mens floor exercise at the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Stuttgart, German, and earning a spot to compete in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.

This is the gymnasts second silver medal at the World Championships. He won a silver medal in the same event in 2017.

Israeli gymnast Alexander Shatilov, who has already represented Israel at the last three summer Olympic Games, also qualified for Tokyo 2020 during the World Championships by placing seventh out of the twelve gymnasts eligible for qualification.

Israeli sailors Gil Cohen and Noa Lasry secured a quota for the Israeli delegation by finishing 11th in the womens 470 event at the 2018 Sailing World Championships in Denmark. Mia Morris finished in 12th place in the womens RS:X event and Ofek Elimelech finished in 14th place in the mens RS:X competition, securing two more quotas.

SEE ALSO: Ready For Rio: Israeli Technology To Take Center Stage At Olympic Games

Israeli road racing cyclists secured Israel a place at the Tokyo Olympics by finishing in the top 10 at the 2019 world championships in England.

Israeli shooter Sergy Rikhter secured quotas for Israel in the mens 10-meter air rifle shooting event by winning the gold medal at the 2019 European Games.

Anat Lelior secured qualification for Israel as the highest-ranked surfer from Europe and one of the top 30 surfers in the overall open division at the 2019 World Surfing Games.

Visit link:

Israel Is Sending Its Biggest Delegation Yet To The 2020 Summer Olympics In Tokyo | Social Awareness - NoCamels - Israeli Innovation News

Britain's Prince William (R), Duke of Cambridge, and his wife Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, arrive on a decorated auto-rickshaw to attend a reception in Islamabad on October 15, 2019. - Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan gave a warm welcome in Islamabad on October 15 to Britain's Prince William, the son of his late friend Princess Diana, who is on his first official trip to the country with his wife Kate.AAMIR QURESHI/AFP via Getty Images

On Tuesday evening, the Duke and Duchess were photographed stepping out of a colourful rickshaw for a formal reception in Islamabad. Kate Middleton was clad in a Western-style green gown, while Prince William eschewed suit-and-tie for a dark teal sherwani, a traditional Pakistani outfit.

The photo made headlines as the media and public lauded the couple for its sense of style and efforts to boost local designers. However, when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Sophie wore traditional outfits at an event with Bollywood celebrities during their India trip, they were lambasted for going overboard and ridiculed.

The contrast between public reaction to the royals traditional wear and the Trudeaus in February has been consistent the former are praised, the latter condemned.

On one hand, the Trudeaus could have simply chosen the wrong outfits, according to Canadian designers. On the other hand, the difference in the public feedback could also come from the difference in political relations between the respective countries, according to a former Indian ambassador.

As an Indian person, I appreciated the Trudeau familys effort to pay respect to Indian culture and I think they showed a lot of love said Anu Raina, a Toronto-based designer. However, from a professional point of view, the wardrobe could have been better vetted beforehand.

The colours were too bold, she said. And no one wears a sherwani or a brocade sherwani all the time.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, and children, Xavier, 10, Ella-Grace, 9, and Hadrien, 3, visit Sabarmati Ashram (Gandhi Ashram) in Ahmedabad, India on Monday, Feb. 19, 2018.Sean Kilpatrick / The Canadian Press

Media reports criticized the Trudeaus for overdressing during their trips and choosing outfits akin to those worn by an Indian bride and groom. One Twitter user described their penchant for family colour co-ordination as a choreographed cuteness, remarking that it was a a bit much.

I would have recommended a classier look, simpler fabrics and something that would show their personality with a hint of India, Raina said. You dont have to wear all the culture on your clothes.

In this photograph released by the Pakistan Foreign Ministry on October 14, 2019, Britains Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, and his wife Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, arrive at Nur Khan military airbase in Rawalpindi.Pakistan Foreign Ministry / AFP

The Duke and Duchess on the other hand, did a better job of blending in with their host country. You can tell theres a designers touch, said Raina. Theres a lot of thought behind (the outfits) and the country, the culture, everything has been taken into account.

The choice to wear Pakistani colours at the formal reception was an especially politically correct move, she added.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (R), his wife Sophie Grgoire Trudeau (L), daughter Ella-Grace (2R) and son Xavier James (3R) pose for a photograph with Bollywood actor Shahrukh Khan in Mumbai on February 20, 2018.INDRANIL MUKHERJEE/AFP/Getty Images

Despite the Trudeaus fashion gaffes, Raina believed the criticism they garnered was unfair. They shouldnt have been criticized, she said. India is a bold country and people wear bold colours on the street. They really made an effort to blend into Indian culture.

Rajiv Bhatia, a former Indian ambassador who also served as Consul General of Toronto, said simmering tensions between the Indian and Canadian government during the visit could have added to the media criticism.

There was a great deal of expectation for that visit, said Bhatia, for the simple reason that the relationship was going very well (at the time).

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (L) and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi shake hands at Hyderabad house in New Delhi on February 23, 2018.MONEY SHARMA/AFP/Getty Images

However, Trudeau treated the visit with sartorial diplomacy, which complicated the Indo-Canadian relationship, he explained.

There was a considerable delay in scheduling the visit of Trudeau because it was well into Modis first term (as prime minister of India). And the second factor was the way the visit was designed. It gave the impression that the main people being addressed were Canadians back home more than the people in India.

He added that the Liberal administration had also disrespected Indias protocol when it comes to hosting foreign visits. Trudeaus schedule had him travel around the country Agra, Ahmadabad, Mumbai and Amritsar before he was formally received in New Delhi, the national capital.

Indias protocol is that the prime minister visit Delhi first but the Canadians chose to reverse that order, he said.

Finally, Trudeaus perceived endorsement of the Sikh separatist movement by the Indian government, marked by the invitation of Jaspal Atwar to a formal dinner by the Canadian High Commissioner was the final nail in the coffin, he explained.

Britains Prince William and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge attend a meeting with Pakistans Prime Minister Imran Khan in Islamabad, Pakistan, October 15, 2019.Andrew Parsons/Reuters

The political significance of the Duke and Duchesss visit to Pakistan, which is rocked by domestic turmoil, paints a different picture. The visit of the British royals comes as a godsend to Pakistan, he said. It gives them a clear signal that they are not without friends in the West.

What if the royal couple were to visit India in the future? If it is done in balance,it would be taken positively, he said. It would be taken as a signal that the British, who are in doldrums thanks to Brexit, are trying to connect to the people of India.

Original post:

Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are praised for wearing traditional clothes. Months ago, the Trudeaus were ridiculed for the same - Clinton News Record

Bal Mitra Gram (BMG), a path-breaking concept introduced by Kailash Satyarthi Childrens Foundation, is a village where all the children are free from exploitation and are going to schools to pursue education. The most important and integral part of this concept is the participation of the children themselves as also the relationship of friendship that develops between the community and the children. Children get their first tryst with the principles of democracy as they elect the Bal Panchayat among themselves. The idea is to ensure the protection of rights of all children through the engagement and involvement of the villagers, the constitutional body ~ Gram Panchayat, or the village council, ~ and the local administration.

These children, when they become a part of this Panchayat as Bal Pradhans, or members, of the Bal Panchayat, are made aware of their roles and responsibilities by Bal Ashram activists. Leadership and decision-making are two paramount pillars of this arrangement, which these girls clearly exemplify in their fight against social issues that ails their villages be it child marriage or child labour. In fact, some girls, after coming in touch with the Foundations activists, have stopped their own child marriages and now campaign against it in their villages and neighbouring areas.

Till date 540 BMGs have been instituted in six states of India. The model has also been replicated in villages of Nepal and Uganda. To mark the International Day of Girl Child, which fell on 11 October, we bring to the readers a few case studies of some amazing girls:

Arti Kumari: Casteism, illiteracy, child labour, child marriage ~ 13-year-old Arti Kumari is fighting them all. She has initiated a fight against these social evils in her village, vowing to eradicate them.

Arti Kumari hails from village Raipura in Alwar, Rajasthan. Her father, a jawaan in the Indian Army, is posted in conflict areas of Jammu. Her mother looks after four children, including Arti. A student of Class VIII, Arti studies in the Rajkiya Uchch Prathmik Vidyalaya (Government Primary School) along with her siblings.

Artis village comprises many families from backward castes and tribes. Access to social spaces and village infrastructure depends very much on a persons caste. Despite the fact that Arti never faced any discrimination, her zeal to take up the issue of casteism at such a young age is noteworthy. How can you decide how to treat another person based on their caste? This isnt even something they choose for themselves, she asks passionately. One wonders about her motivation.

Arti noticed that none of the children from lower castes or the Banjara community went to school. This drove Arti and some other children to work to change this situation. As a result, today, all 96 children in her village are enrolled in schools.

When BBA started its work here in 2015, every third child in the village was either out-ofschool, or not enrolled. Many children worked in the stone quarries for a meager sum of money. The area is also considered to be a source point for child trafficking.

The Banjara community, a nomadic tribe, lives on the outskirts of the village, ranking the lowest in the societal hierarchy. None of the Banjara children from here ever went to school until 2015. Guided by the activists, Arti along with other children, learnt about the rights children have. They were astonished to see how these rights were violated regularly, especially of children from the Banjara and other low-caste communities. This realisation made the group decide to take the matter into their own hands.

Thus motivated, Arti contested the Bal Panchayat elections and became an elected member. As a child leader, Arti, and the other children organised rallies, door-to-door campaigns and personal meetings with parents, highlighting the consequences of ill-practices like child marriage, child labour, abuse and exploitation of children. With the support of village elders and activists, they were even pivotal in stopping child marriages in their village.

Convincing the Banjara parents to send their children to school wasnt an easy task. Who will take the cattle out for grazing? Who will go earn for the family? Will the children from the upper caste even talk to our children? Questions like these hounded the Bal Panchayat members.

Therefore, the group changed their strategy. They started regularly engaging the Banjara children in sports and playing with them. Slowly, they convinced the Banjara children about the importance of education and play. The Bal Panchayat members and the Banjara children together convinced the parents to send their children to school. In the second year, the Bal Panchayat had a Banjara boy elected as the Sarpanch (head), which was groundbreaking. Arti, as the secretary of the council, continued to focus on regularisation of education for children from the Banjara community.

The group also campaigned against caste-based discrimination, and for improving the quality of education and infrastructure in their schools.

The Bal Panchayat members come up with innovative ways to challenge various regressive practices. The latest was on harvest festival, Makar Sankranti, when the members decided to feast in the houses of children belonging to the so-called lower castes.

The Gram Panchayat also recognizes this Bal Panchayat and thus acts swiftly on childrens concerns. Due to their impact, the Block Development Officer and other administrative officials also cooperate with them.

They have collectively been able to contribute to the villages development tremendously, especially the condition of schools. Improved attendance of enrolled children owing to regular teachers, improved meals, better student-teacher ratio, and better play grounds have been some of the major achievements of this collaboration.

At present, the children are trying to get an open drain adjacent to their school diverted. The drain overflows during the rains and spews waste around the school and the play ground. The Gram Panchayat has told us that they will act on this soon, said Arti, with a twinkle in her eyes that speaks of the confidence these kids have in themselves.

Tara Banjara: Belonging to a poor family from Nimdi village, District Alwar, Rajasthan, Tara Banjara, 13, had always wanted to study but her deprived community could not allow her to do so.

She belongs to Banjara Community, which is mostly illiterate. Since they migrate from one place to another, they do not give importance to education. At a very young age of 7, Tara would clean the road during construction together with her mother and sometimes took care of her younger siblings while her mother was away for work. Taras parents were not keen to send her to school.

After Bal Ashram staff convinced them of the importance of education, Tara was enrolled in the school in January 2013, and became the first generation school learner. She is in Class IX now. Along with academic education, Tara is also active in social work. She has learnt about issues like child labour, child marriage, intoxication and child trafficking. She is actively advocating for childrens rights, particularly for girls, for the last five years. Through her initiative, she managed to enroll seven children in school. Now there is no child labour in Taras community and child marriage is completely eliminated in Nimdi.

Lalita Duhariya: Belonging to a poor family of Dera village, Viratnagar Block, Rajasthan, Lalita Duhariya, 14, is an active member of Bal Panchayat since 2015. She has emerged as a child leader who has been fighting for girls education and girls rights in her as well as the neighboring villages. Her father is a construction labourer and mother is a housewife.

She wants to be a doctor and want to serve in rural parts of India. Lalitha has been actively campaigning against castism and untouchability in her village. To set an example, she initiated and participated in communal lunch on the occasion of Makar Sankranti. Lalitha, along with other Bal Panchayat members, went door-to-door to the family of all castes and had lunch together. She thus spread the message to the entire community to join hands and work together for the development of the community.

Children, who dropped out of the schools, were engaged in domestic help. She motivated the parents to send their children to school which led to school enrolments and regularisation of school dropout children in the schools.

Through her initiative and awareness campaign, 12 children were re-enrolled in the school. Her campaign together with Bal Panchayat led to the complete elimination of child marriage in her village and from the neighbouring villages.

Payal Jangid: A child rights prodigy from the hinterland of Rajasthan, Payal shows that where there is a will there shall always be a way! A glint in the eye and determination in the walk marks the 17-year-old Payal Jangid from Hinsla in Rajasthan. The infectious teen rubs off positivity with a resolve to stand up for what is right for the children ~ a voice that is accepted in her native village.

Elected as Sarpanch (Head) of Bal Mitra Gram (BMG), she was also chosen as jury for the World Childrens Prize for the Rights of the Child. Payal, the second Bal Pradhan of the Bal Panchayat (Childrens Council) in 2013, got engaged in community work through the mechanism of BMG set up by Kailash Satyarthi Childrens Foundation. After foiling her own marriage at the age of 11 by raising voice against her parents and especially her grandmother, Payal, along with other children of the village, began protests against the social evil of child marriage and Ghunghat Pratha (women veiling their faces).

Within a year, everyone could see conditions changing. Women, as well as children started coming out and voicing their opinion. People started getting more aware of their rights and responsibilities.

Eventually, Hinsla became a child marriage-free village. This was a victory for Payal. In 2013, she was chosen as the jury for Worlds Childrens Prize for the Rights of the Child for her community work. In Sweden she got the opportunity to meet other achievers like herself. I was chosen to pick up the Queen. It made me feel special, recalls the young girl.

In 2017, she received the Young Achiever Award by the global sports and fitness brand Reebok. Recently, Payal Jangid was given the prestigious Changemaker Award by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation at the Goalkeepers Global Goals Awards held in New York.

This award has been conferred upon her in recognition of her work for abolition of child marriage in her village, Hinsla and other neighboring villages. As a Bal Pradhan, she undertook a lot of field activities to empower not only children but also women of her village. As a child rights advocate, she pleads for children to come together and raise their voices against any injustices done to them.

Until and unless children themselves realise that they have rights, they wont be able to relate. However, there should be someone to guide the child through, added Payal.

Champa Kumari: As vice-president, National Maha Bal Panchayat (NMBP), 13-year-old Champa Kumari, who won the prestigious Diana Award for her work against child marriages in mica-mining areas of Jharkhand, was felicitated and honoured by Jharkhand Governor Dropdi Murmuat Raj Bhawanin Ranchi. Champa Kumari was once a school dropout and would go to mines to collect mica as her education was never a priority for her family.

In 2016, Kailash Satyarthi Childrens Foundation intervened in Champas village to end practices like child marriage, child labour, child trafficking and all forms of child exploitation, as well as ensuring 100 per cent enrolment of children in school.

With the efforts of a KSCF activist, she was enrolled in school. She is now the president of Jamdar villages children council and also the vice-president of National level childrens council. Having worked near mica mines, she understands how hazardous it is.

Champa not only led the initiative to spread awareness about child marriage but intervened in two child marriages in her village, successfully foiling them. Champas village is a changed one now and she has emerged as the catalyst for the change. Being the vice-president of National Level Bal Panchayat, she presented the Childrens Charter of Demands along with co-members to the incumbent Union Minister of state for Labor and Employment Santosh Gangwar.

She also presented Childrens Manifesto to the British High Commissioner and Parliamentarians and had also shared the stage with Chief Minister of Jharkhand Raghubar Das and Nobel Peace Laureate Shri Kailash Satyarthi for the cause of making mica supply chain child labour free in Koderma.

Pinki Kumari: Belonging to a lower middle class family, 16-year-old Pinki Kumaris father works as a cook and a waiter in a hotel. Her mother is a housewife. The family income is around Rs 6500 per month. Due to her familys monetary and social issues Pinki Kumari had to drop her education after Class V.

Since the BMG initiative started in her village she aspired to be part of the Bal Panchayat. She was elected as a member of the Bal Panchayat and was vocal about the prevailing issues. She also encouraged other children to know about their basic rights and to be a part of the Bal Panchayat.

The Bal Panchayat members intervened when her parents decided to fix her marriage. Despite their rigorous counseling her parents did not relent. Other stakeholder groups were also involved and they collectively prevented the marriage plans. Now, Pinki wishes to study further and be independent.

She is now getting admission into Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidhyalaya. She aspires to be a teacher.

(Compiled by Kailash Satyarthis Children Foundation)

Continued here:

Girl power to the fore - The Statesman

October this yearmarks Mahatma Gandhis 150th birthday. One of the 20th centurys most iconic figures, Gandhis legacy defines how many people think about peace, self-reflection and the path to a more just world.

Much less celebrated is Gandhis friend and follower, the American pacifistRichard Bartlett Gregg.

Gregg never made any significant speeches, so no grainy newsreels feature his words. And his books are not required reading in college courses.

Gregg has nonetheless been an influential figure in taking forward Gandhis message regarding the power of nonviolence. Gregg explained Gandhis ideas in a way that made sense to a Western audience. His books eveninfluencedMartin Luther King Jr.s understanding of nonviolent resistance.

My own interest in Gregg was something of an accident. Im apolitical scientistwith interest in peace activists as agents of change. I learned of Gregg a few years ago from acolleague, who told me that dozens of Greggs personal notebooks weremoldering in a yurton a farm up in northern Maine. These journals soon became the subject of my scholarship.

Gregg was born to a Congregational minister in 1885. It was a time of rapid industrial growth andindustrial conflict, as railroads and industrialization proceeded quickly.

Gregg discovered Gandhi in a journal article he read in a bookstore in Chicago in 1924.Deeply impressedby Gandhis philosophy, at the age of 38, Gregg, a largely self-taught scholar, resolved to study with him in India.

In along letterto his family explaining his decision to move to India, Gregg said he was so profoundly disenchanted with the violence of American labor relations and the American system that he sought alternatives.

As I write in my forthcoming book, Gregg arrived at Sabarmati Ashram in the western Indian state of Gujarat in early February 1925. Gandhi, just released from prison, returned to his home at the ashram a few days afterGregg arrived.

During an evening walk,Gregg writesin his notes, he told Gandhi why he had come to India:

I felt at first awed by his presence, but he listened attentively to what I said and made me feel entirely at ease, Gregg recalls.

It was the start of a 23-year friendship thatended only with Gandhis death on Jan. 30, 1948.

Gregg spent those yearstraveling, teachingand studying in India.

At the time, apacifistmovement was emerging around the world. Pacifists are those who believe in confronting both domestic and international violence with peaceful resistance.

Gregg learned more deeply about Gandhis strategy of nonviolence. He wrote an important book, The Power of Nonviolence, in his first four years with Gandhi, whichprovided guidanceon how to make pacifism more effective.

Greggarguedthat onlookers should see the violent assailant, when confronted by nonviolent resistance, as excessive and undignified even a little ineffective.

This was a tactic that Gandhi had used with enormous effect during theSalt Marchagainst Britains domination of India in 1930. The march demonstrated Gandhis ability to mobilize tens of thousands of Indians, who were forced to pay a salt tax to the British colonialists.

The peaceful demonstrators, who followed Gandhi to the Arabian Sea Coast to make their own salt, were beaten up and more than 60,000 arrested by British troops. The world watched, appalled at therepression of the British colonial rule.

Learning from Gandhi, Gregg also wrote that nonviolent protests should serve as amedia spectacle. He knew nonviolence was not passive resistance: It was an active planned strategy that required intense even military-style training, both physical and spiritual.

This was controversial and shocking to many pacifists. But Gregginsisted that nonviolent protest represented a war of its own.

Gregg learned Hindi during his time with Gandhi and came to understand theGandhian valuesof simplicity, self-reliance and how to live in harmony with the world.

Gandhi encouraged each home to have its own spinning wheel so Indians would not have to depend on cloth made in British factories. Gregg embraced the philosophy behind each Indian home spinning its ownkhadi clothand became a leading advocate of organic farming and simple living.

Like Gandhi, Gregg believed that a peaceful world could only come about as humans developed inner peace and recognized theirharmony with nature.

In 1936 Gregg publishedThe Value of Voluntary Simplicity, a term he coined while serving as director of the Quaker retreat at Pendle Hill in Pennsylvania. In that post, he continued to build on Gandhis belief in simple living and harmony with nature as part of the true path to peace.

He was not, however, a Quaker; he remained deeply Christian.

Although he rejected Marxism and Soviet-style socialism, Gregg came to believe that the only solution to violence and injustice lay in a completetransformationof production and consumption.

There is no doubt that Martin Luther King Jr. wasawareof Gandhis ideas from other sources. But Greggs book, The Power of Nonviolence, deeply affected how he thought about passive resistance. Gregg put these ideas in a context that more closely fit the American civil rights struggle.

I argue, Kings writing during this period carried very similar themes and perspectives to those laid out by Gregg. King made the distinction that nonviolent resistancewas not cowardicebut rather a brave act that required great training.

In 1959, King wrote theforewordfor The Power of Nonviolence, having already become deeply familiar with Greggs earlier editions of the work. It went on to be published in108 editions in six languages.

On the 150th anniversary of Gandhis birth, Greggs role in translating the Mahatma meaning a great soul for a Western audience and in being an early advocate of simplicity is worth commemorating, too.

How deeply he understood Gandhis ideas is evident in Gandhis own words, recorded in apersonal letterto him from a friend in India:

If you understood me as well as Richard Gregg does, he once said to a group of Indian independence leaders, I would die happy.

This article was originally published in The Conversation

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Gandhi's 150th Anniversary: How America Embraced the Mahatma - Qrius

Banda (UP), Oct 16 (PTI) A 65-year-old priest was killed and two others were injured after their SUV hit a roadside tree when the driver tried to avoid hitting a stray cattle, police said on Wednesday.

Sri Sri Shantipuri Maharaj, the chief priest of Baraudiya Kalan Shantipuri Ashram in Madhya Pradesh''s Indore, died on the spot near Mahua village under Girwa police station limits here on Tuesday, they said.

The ''mahant'' was returning from UP''s Chitrakoot in his vehicle, along with a disciple, the police said.

While trying to avoid hitting the cattle, the priest''s driver Rahul lost control of the vehicle and it hit a roadside tree, they said.

The two injured were admitted at a hospital where Rahul''s condition was stated to be serious, the police said. PTI CORR SAB ADAD

Disclaimer :- This story has not been edited by Outlook staff and is auto-generated from news agency feeds. Source: PTI

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Priest killed as SUV hits tree in UP''s Banda - Outlook India