: P.O.BOX 5728 SRT NAGAR, NEW DELHI 110055 (BHARAT); Email : [email protected] No. Sm1310/2070 (For Private Circulation Only) Bhadra Krishna 11 Vik Samvat 2070. Yugabda 5115 Tel: 91-11- 23684445; Fax: 91-11-23517722 1 September 2013. 1. FESTIVALS: Onam is predominantly 3. SAVE HINDUS AND SIKHS IN celebrated by people from Keral. Onam day is PAKISTAN: US HINDU GROUPS PROTEST: decided based on Solar Calendar. Onam is A powerful protest demonstration was celebrated in Chingam month on Malayalam Solar successfully organized on 14 August by Indian Calendar. The day when Nakshatra Thiruvonam American Intellectuals Forum (IAIF) in prevails in month of Chingam is considered for cooperation with Vishwa Hindu Parishad of Onam celebrations. Onam falls on September 16 America, Hindu Human Rights Watch, Justice for this year. The festival commemorates the Hindus, India Heritage Foundation, Lansing, appearance of Vamana avatar of Vishnu and the Michigan; Human Rights Coalition against subsequent home coming of the legendary Radical Islam, Probasi of Brooklyn and Hindu Emperor Mahabali. Onam celebrates the Asura Mahasabha of America (HMSA) in support of the King Mahabali's annual visit from Patala (the victims of religious bigotry, hate, intolerance and underworld). On Thiruvonam day, Asura King savagery, near Pakistan Consulate in New York. Mahabali is believed to visit every Malayali home The Memorandum expressing outrage, shock and and meet his people. The celebrations of Onam indignation at the horrific treatment meted out to start on Atham day (the day when Atham Hindus, Sikhs and Christians was submitted to the Nakshatra prevails) and continue for 10 days till Consul General of Pakistan. Addressing the Thiruvonam day. Atham Nakshatra is known as audience, Narain Kataria, organizer of the protest Hasta Nakshatra in other Hindu Calendars. said that Hindus have been terrorized in Pakistan 2. BALAGOKULAM CELEBRATES to such an extent that in April-May this year, JANMASHTAMI IN KERALA: Balagokulam, about 500 Hindus who crossed into Bharat under an organisation of children, celebrated Sree the pretense of visiting a religious festival, refused Krishna Jayanti/ Gokulashtami all across Kerala to go back to Pakistan and begged government of with all its charm and devotion on August 28. Bharat to give them political asylum. Thousands of children, dressed up as Sree A similar demonstration was held outside the Krishna, Gopika and other similar characters from Pakistan High Commission in London on Aug 17 Krishna's life, were seen on the streets of each and by Alliance of Pakistani and British Hindus. The every village and towns. Huge processions of protesters, carrying placards reading "No More children, their parents and other devotees Forced Conversions", also handed over a petition accompanied by beautiful tableaus and to the High Commission asking the Pakistani ‘Chendamelam’ (a typical Kerala style drum set) government to take immediate steps to ensure the were taken out in many places. Dr. Debashish well being and safety of Hindus in the country. Chattterjee (Director, IIM-kozhikkode) 4. BHARAT'S FIRST MILITARY inaugurated the celebrations in Kozhikkode. Dr. SATELLITE SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHED: G. Madhavan Nair (Former chairman, ISRO and Bharat's first military satellite GSAT-7 or Secretory Department of Space) and Dr M. C. "Rukmini", which will boost the Navy's blue- Dileep Kumar (Vice Chancellor, Sree Sankara water combat capabilities with a 2,000-nautical Sanskrit University) inaugurated the celebrations mile footprint over the crucial Indian Ocean in Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi respectively. Region (IOR), was successfully launched from 1 Kourou Island in French Guiana by European Brahma, Wisnu and Siwa — in their villages. space consortium Arianespace's launch rocket in Together with family, they also visited their the early hours on August 30. ancestral temples. The naval communication and surveillance For Buleleng natives, the celebration always ends satellite when placed in the geostationary orbit, it with a prayer performed in cemeteries to pay will become "a potent force-multiplier", homage to deceased relatives who have not yet networking all Bharatiya warships, submarines been cremated. The living present an offering of and aircraft with operational centres ashore rice, cakes and fruit to the deceased and at the end through high-speed encrypted data-links. This is of the ritual they feast on the offering. the first time a high-power UHF (ultra high- 7. SEWA INTERNATIONAL GETS frequency) transponder forms part of an Bharatiya JEFFERSON AWARDS FOR PUBLIC communication satellite like INSAT or GSAT. SERVICE: Sewa International Houston was From the individual "I see, I kill" operation, the conferred with the prestigious 2013 Youth Service entire Navy will now be "seamlessly" networked Challenge Medallion for outstanding community to get "a composite, clear picture of all the actors" service by Jefferson Awards in a ceremony held at in the IOR. It will transform from "a platform- City Hall in Houston on August 13. Presented by centric" Navy to "a network-enabled" force. Shorn Houston Mayor Annise Parker, this award of military lingo, this means the ability to detect recognizes Sewa’s monthly community service and share emerging maritime threats "in real-time" activities known as Sewa Local Events. From July so that a counter to "neutralise" them can be 2012 Sewa International, Houston has been swiftly launched, said sources. offering its volunteers a chance to impact in their 5. NAPERVILLE-AURORA SHAKHA OF community and bring forth positive change. THE CHICAGO VIBHAG CELEBRATED Through Sewa Local Events, over 120 volunteers RAKSHABANDHAN UTSAV: A team of have committed their time serving various local volunteers from Naperville-Aurora shakha of the organizations including the Houston Food Bank, HSS Chicago vibhag celebrated Rakshabandhan Texas Children’s Hospital, Star of Hope Mission, utsav with Congressman Bill Foster who is a Habitat for Humanity, and the Huston Zoo. Sewa scientist and businessman representing the 11th also operates additional full-fledged programs Congressional District of Illinois. including Refugee Empowerment, Family The meeting lasted for close to 55 mins. This was Services, and their internship opportunities. the 3rd year of celebrating Rakshabandhan utsav 8. EMPOWERING MARGINALISED WITH with congressman/woman. QUALITY LEARNING: With the objective to Pragya Maheshwari and Shreeraj Garkhedkar provide quality education to meritorious students explained the Rakshabandhan utsav and tied Rakhi coming from over 15 lakh tribal families of the to Congressman and his staff. State, the Gujarat Government has established 80 6. BALINESE HINDUS CELEBRATE world-class educational institutions for PAGERWESI: Balinese Hindu devotees meritorious tribal students throughout the tribal celebrated Pagerwesi on August 14 by performing areas of the State. prayers in temples throughout the island. In some These special schools are residential in nature. parts of the island, Pagerwesi is a minor religious Considerable investment is made on educational holiday, not on par with Galungan and Kuningan, facilities, teachers, students’ nutritional needs, during which the Balinese Hindus celebrate the teaching aids, and co-curricular activities. The victory of virtues over vices. students are provided education in the English From early morning, people flocked to Kahyangan medium in many of these schools in order to Tiga temples — the three temples dedicated to enable them to compete with the non-tribal 2 population, a senior officer from Gujarat State Institutes from Bharat, Canada, Japan, China, and Government said. the universities in the USA signed the master Giving an example of Vejalpur village of partnership agreement on July 25 to build and Panchmahal district, a senior officer from Gujarat operate the world’s largest optical and infrared State Government apprised that an English telescope. medium school was established in the village in 11. 25 YEARS IN MAKING, 2007-2008, which now imparts high standard ENCYCLOPEDIA OF HINDUISM education. The school is from class six to 12. The UNVEILED IN US: "It is a deep honor to be school places a great deal of emphasis on participating in the American release of the pedagogy and the teachers meet fortnightly to Encyclopedia of Hinduism. This is a remarkable prepare their teaching plans. In addition to work of scholarship and research. I hope that classroom teaching, the teachers spend extra time many in academia and in everyday life will turn to on students to enhance the latter’s knowledge it as a resource to better understand the characters, repository. The teachers at Vejalpur continue to the tenets, and the impact that Hinduism has had, work out strategies so that children take off on a and is having in the world," said Dr Harris learning adventure every day. Pastides, President of University of South Carolina 9. CHANDRAYAAN HELPS NASA DETECT on launching the comprehensive 11 volume WATER ON MOON: Using data collected by encyclopedia of Hinduism. The encyclopedia Bharat’s Chandrayaan mission, NASA has covers Hindu spiritual beliefs, practices and detected magmatic water locked under the surface philosophy, and is the culmination of a 25-year of the Moon. NASA said scientists using data academic effort. from the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) The work deals with Bharatiya history, languages, instrument aboard the Indian Space Research art, music, dance, architecture, medicine, and Organisation’s