Bharat was known for its finest cotton produce and we were among the largest exporters of fine cotton clothes world-over. It is well known that the British attacked this textile industry of ours to help their Manchester cotton mills. BTW, we were also known to be very rational in our choices.

Fine cotton is cool, vibrant and also the best suited cloth for the tropical climate of Bharat. However, owing to the marketing blitz of US and Europe, the brands of denim overtook the fine cottons in daily use. It is surprising to note that while youth prefer so much variety, when it comes to trousers they seem to like uniformity in denim jeans.. Every 4th person in urban Bharat wears a jeans today.

This leads to an intriguing question. Why do many urban youth prefer jeans. Well, the answer that we receive are :

a. It is comfortable.

b. We dont need to wash it

c. Its trendy and maintenance free.

Well, lets look at the above arguments.

a. Denim is the coarsest form of cotton and yet many claim that it is comfortable.   Is it that it is comfortable Or the fact that it is trendy overakes the concept of comfort and we convince ourselves that it is comfortable. Even in summers people wear it in some large numbers when we are sweating in all our inners. Is this rational ?

b. Dont need to wash..for many days is a common thing that many youngsters say .This is a long downslide for us. “Shuchi,” ( cleanliness ) was considered to be a speciality of the Bharatiyas. In fact the ten principles of Dharma include Dhruti, Kshama, Dama, Akrodho, Shoucham, Indriyanigraham, Dhee, Vidya, Satyam, Asteyam, Dashamam Dharma lakshanam. From this, we have come a long way. Why has this irrational behaviour of wearing unclean clothes come into us ?

c. It is trendy – Yes. it has become a trend and is the greatest marketing victory of the West apart from the Colas..and can be countered only by a strong counter-marketing campaign..What do we need to do to establish the Fine cottons back into the Youth of Bharat.  and ofcourse it is maintenance free because we dont wash them !

In the last few years the regular denims moved to tights and now the low -waist jeans which defeats the very purpose of wearing a trouser.. In fact tight jeans is now termed as a health hazard.

http://in.lifestyle.yahoo.com/tight-jeans-may-jeopardize-health-105015417.html

Every purchase that we make is also a statement. When we buy a product, we endorse it and when we buy a family of products then we endorse the entire family of products. What makes the family of denim trendy – is it rationality or because it is a fashion statement ?

Why have fine cottons lost out and in its sway, many of the small cotton businesses ?

Will the native genius of Bharat reclaim his/her rationality or get swayed only by fashion ?

Shridhar Sagar (or Shridhar anna as he is lovingly called), is the director of Hindu Seva Pratishthana. After his education, he worked as a Manager in a Bank for 2 years before he decided to dedicate his life for social service. He joined the Rashtriya Seva Bharati, a Social Service Organisation, as a coordinator and helped organize community activities and train volunteers. He worked in many service organisations in different capacities throughout Karnataka. In the year 1989, he joined Hindu Seva Pratishthana and started working as a coordinator. Since then he has been very active and has overseen the birth and the growth of many projects. He became the Managing Trustee and the Director of Hindu Seva Pratishthana in 1997. In this interview Shridhar Sagar talks of the concept of Seva, about the different projects of HSP and how HSP is helping people internalize the value of Seva. Excerpts from the interview.

What is the main objective of Hindu Seva Pratishthana?
HSP’s main objective has been to bring a positive change in the society through community development. We believe in character building and in making men and women who can contribute to the community. We believe that through character building, ordinary people can reach extra-ordinary heights. Through our various programs, we have been able to involve a large number of young people into community development.
What is the philosophy of Hindu Seva Pratishthana?
Hindu Seva Pratishthana believes in ‘Seva Dharma’. Seva, we believe, is one’s Dharma (one’s duty). It should not be done for name or fame or for any other returns. It has to be selfless. But more importantly Seva should restore the dignity and self-respect of its beneficiary. The compassion that accompanies our ‘Seva’ should be capable of transforming a person from a receiver of ‘Seva’ to a giver of ‘Seva’. It is also important that through our Seva we create a strong and a harmonious society.
What do you think of today’s youth? Are they socially responsible? Are they receptive to the ideas of Seva?
There is currently a very strong notion that today’s youth are careless or are not responsible. My experience with young people helps me refute this. Today’s youth are very much receptive to the ideas of Seva and community development. For example look at the Sevavrathi program of the Pratishthana. Every year we invite young people who have passed a minimum of tenth standard to come forward as volunteers. These people have to stay away from their homes in different service project locations sacrificing many of their material comforts for a period of three years. HSP has been successful in attracting and training as many as 4123 Sevavrathis in the past 31 years. Out of which notably 3681 are women. These volunteers have worked on rendering yeomen service in service projects in various states including Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.  This Sevavrathi program is an example of what today’s youth are capable of achieving.
Give us a brief introduction to the projects run by the HSP.
Hindu Seva Pratisthana has been serving the needy, the under-privileged and the marginalized people, irrespective of their class, caste, creed and religion. It is trying to instill the values of seva in the society and helping thousands of people internalize Seva as part of their daily lives. Currently, HSP is mainly focusing on ten projects.

Aruna Chetana: Aruna Chetana is a school for differently-abled and special needs children.  This year, Aruna Chetana completes 24 years of its existence. The school aims to cater to the physical, psychological, educational and health needs of the children. Aruna Chetana has received an award from Women and Child Welfare Department, Govt of Karnataka, for being the best school for special needs children.
Nele: It is a project that has a number of shelter homes for street children, rag pickers and destitute children. We started this project in the year 2000 with one center and 15 children. Today, Nele has 283 children in 10 centers in Bengaluru, Shimoga, Mysore, Tumkur and Bagalkote.
Prasanna Counseling Center: We have been running a counseling center where hundreds of people avail psychiatric counseling free of cost every month. Reputed psychiatrists, doctors and specialists from centers such as the NIMHANS and Victoria Hospitals volunteer here every week. Trainings are also conducted for volunteers who wish to become counselors themselves.
Child Guidance Center: We also conduct free counseling for children who require psychiatric counseling.
Seva Kirana: Under this project, we have a number of non-formal schools for the children of slum dwellers across Bangalore. The project apart from providing education to these children also focuses on the holistic development of these children through cultural activities and sports.
Vidya Nidhi: Through this project we offer scholarships to poor students to enable them complete their education.
Samagra Shishu Shikshana: This project works towards providing comprehensive education to the children, mostly at the primary levels of schooling. The aim of this project is to help and guide the children in all their educational needs. Over a thousand children are being benefited through this project.
Youth for Seva: It is a platform that engages the youth mostly college students and young professionals into different community development activities. Thousands of young people have been connected to different service projects through this initiative.
Nele Swavalambana: Through this project, tailoring and other employment oriented training is provided to women and youth from the economically weaker sections of the society so that they can become self-reliant.
Yoga Bharati: HSP has trained more than a thousand people all over Karnataka in the ancient practice of Yoga through special yoga camps and workshops based on the traditional Patanjali School of yoga.

Any new projects of particular focus that are coming up?
HSP believes in investing in change-makers rather than in the change itself. We believe in creating dedicated volunteers and social entrepreneurs who can work on different existing projects and also start new projects of their own. Training of volunteers is also essential for the continuity, improvement and the growth of the social endeavor. We are planning a center at Yelhanka in North Bengaluru that has the infrastructure for training volunteers and social workers on a continuous basis. The permanent facility with all the modern amenities dedicated solely for volunteer training will help run the training programs on the sustained basis and with improvised methods. The proposed center shall be able to run training programs for over three hundred people and cater to 12 different types of trainings at a time, both occasional and continually run programs.
Our focus will be on inspiring new people to volunteer and on creating dedicated social workers.

Source: http://hinduseva.org/uncategorized/interview-with-shridhar-sagar/

An active and insistent judiciary uncovered some major scams. It has, at least temporarily, disabled the political power that was harbouring, at times even honouring, the corrupt. It forced the telecom minister to quit, and he was sent to jail. A Congress MP, caught in the CWG scam, had to spend a full summer and winter in jail. A Congress chief minister in Maharashtra, Ashok Chavan, had to resign and with his predecessor, Vilasrao Deshmukh, he is facing a CBI probe in the Adarsh housing fraud. Two former Congress chief ministers are under police lens in the Goa mining case. B S Yeddyurappa, former BJP chief minister in Karnataka, lost his office and is facing criminal charges. Bangaru Laxman, a former BJP president, has been convicted for accepting `1 lakh in a sting operation. The Marans and many more are in the queue. The hope of the corrupt now seems to rest on clever lawyers and crucial retirements in judiciary! A huge fall indeed.

A principal reason for this precipitous fall is the paradigm shift in the political, and even intellectual, class from being shy to becoming shameless. Even a decade earlier, a higher rule of public morality operated on the political class. A political leader accused of bribery or immorality would defend his honour invariably by resigning or suing or volunteering to face the probe. That political class was shy of its integrity being questioned. Today’s political class has become shameless. Now when their integrity is questioned, politicians remain silent or brazenly ask for the case to be proved against them in a court of law. However, the government, which has to probe and prove the case in court, is under their control. They refuse to sue the accuser as suing would land them in the witness box where they would be questioned. Take a telling case of this type.

Schweizer Illustrierte, a popular Swiss magazine, unrelated to politics in India, had reported in 1991 that Rajiv Gandhi had $2.5 billion in secret Swiss bank accounts. It would have now grown to over $10 billion at US treasury rates. Later, Russian journalist Yevgenia Albats, in her research book on the Russian spy agency KGB, uncovered documents that showed that the Gandhi family was receiving, with ‘gratitude’, payoffs from the KGB. These reports have been cited in news items and in columns repeatedly in 1988, 1992, 2002, 2006, 2009 (twice) 2010, and 2011 in The Hindu, Times of India, Statesman, India Today, and repeatedly in The New Indian Express. Yet, the Sonia Gandhi family and the ruling party have been maintaining an intriguing silence on these serious exposes. They did not dare sue the newspapers or the writers. A few weeks back, ‘Business Insider’, a fairly well regarded e-magazine based in US, had listed 23 world’s richest politicians. Sonia Gandhi, with her wealth estimated at between $4-19 billion, stood fourth in the honour list. Only the Saudi king, Sultan of Brunei, and Michael Bloomberg (New York mayor) were above her in the list. Again the Gandhi family and the ruling party are deafeningly silent on this report. Should they not sue them if the reports were false? Intriguing, isn’t it? The government is helpless, understandably. Why is the opposition too silent? More intriguing, isn’t it? Â

A minister in Rajasthan got a young woman he was close to murdered and disposed off the body. A Congress party spokesman, a senior lawyer, was caught on video in a compromising position with a woman lawyer seeking his influence to become a judge. She might well have become one had his driver, angry with him on other counts, not circulated the video. This brings us to judges. The law of contempt once prevented exposing judicial corruption but not any more. K G Balakrishnan, former chief justice of India now heading the human rights commission, stands accused of bribery. His three relatives, including son-in-law, are found to have huge amounts of black money. Justice P D Dinakaran, a chief justice of high court — accused of bribery and land grabbing — had to resign in disgrace. But, the judiciary still looks only outwards. The media, glorified as the fourth estate, stands charged with selling its news space — cash for news. Yet, it still only pontificates. The ruling party has been charged with buying votes in Parliament — cash for votes. Still it rules and loots. Rich men are increasingly and shamelessly ostentatious. A Mukesh Ambani has built a house at over a billion dollars. Still the media celebrates him. There is shamelessness all around. The ordinary people, however, still feel shy to do things wrong. So they looked beyond politics, Parliament, and court for hope towards an Anna Hazare. But with Anna too failing, where would they look for hope?

Srimad Bhagawatham, a great epic, compiled some 1,200 years ago, tellingly describes the ongoing Kali Yuga, the Age of Darkness. It says: “In Kali Yuga, wealth, not virtuous conduct, will determine a man’s worth. Might will decide what is good and bad. Thieves will lead the country. Rulers, greedy and cruel, will degenerate into brigands and plunderers. Business will be tantamount to practising fraud. Cheats will take to trade and business and introduce dishonest practices. Poverty will be regarded as sufficient proof of guilt in courts. Ostentatious show will be the hallmark of character. A master of (abusive) vocabulary will be considered a scholar. Moral values will be observed solely for popularity, not by conviction.” It goes on and on. Is it not a running commentary of the nation today? The text predicts more decline. Finally it gives hope. It says that when the decline is total, the Lord will be born as Kalki to destroy the evil and revive values. So Kalki seems to offer the ultimate hope to the hapless people.

(Views expressed in the column are the author’s own)
S Gurumurthy is a well-known commentator on political and economic issues.

URL: http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/article3419339.ece

A statue was installed in honour of Chitra Tirunal, in Chennai, for enabling temple access to all Hindus

Chitra Tirunal Bala Rama Varma was the last ruler of Travancore. He became ruler at the age of 12, his aunt Setu Lakshmi Bayi serving as the regent. In 1930, he became ‘maharajah’ in his own right and ruled till 1947.

A saintly man, whose devotion to the deity of Ananthapadmanabhaswami was legendary, his reign was marked by several enlightened acts, in most of which he was guided by a formidable duo — his mother, Setu Parvati Bayi, the junior ‘maharani’, and his ‘dewan’, the multi-faceted and controversial Sir C.P. Ramaswami Aiyar.

One of the most acclaimed steps taken by the ‘maharajah’ was the Temple Entry Proclamation of 1936, which opened temples in Travancore to all Hindus, irrespective of caste. In its time it was a path-breaking measure and praised by many, including Mahatma Gandhi. In a way, it marked the culmination of the Vaikkom Satyagraha launched with similar aims in the 1920s by Periyar E.V. Ramaswami Naicker. Chitra Tirunal was feted and honoured, and in Madras, public appreciation manifested into a statue.

Sculpted by M.S. Nagappa, it was installed on October 28, 1939, at a corner of the Esplanade, roughly opposite the Raja Annamalai Manram. A park was developed at the rear of the statue and this became the Travancore Maharajah’s Park. A passing shot in the 1942 film En Manaivi, as seen on YouTube, captures the statue in all its glory.

With time, the statue was forgotten. A bus terminus gobbled up the park and the pedestal of the statue, which bears the full text of the 1936 proclamation, became a convenient urinal. The ruler’s hand often carried the flag of the political party that last conducted a rally in the vicinity.

When Chitra Tirunal died in 1991, several of his admirers, including veteran vocalist Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, came together to move the statue to a better spot. It now stands in a corner of the Ananthapadmanabhaswami temple in Gandhi Nagar, a much-better location, for the ruler was partly responsible for this shrine.

The Travancore family’s Madras palace — Ramalayam — stands at the corner of Besant Avenue and Sardar Patel Road. The Sishya School and housing colonies such as Padmanabha Nagar and Parameswari Nagar have come up on the former palace grounds.

In the 1950s, when residents of the newly formed Madras Co-operative House Construction Society (now Gandhi Nagar) desired a temple, they approached the ‘maharajah’ for help. He funded the acquisition of land in part, and also underwrote the sculpting of the main idol, which is fashioned after the deity at the Thiruvananthapuram temple.

When the statue was moved in the 1990s, the pedestal was preserved too, making it possible to read the text of the Temple Entry Proclamation and reflect on how our society has changed for the better. And the ‘maharajah’ is probably happier at the foot of his favourite deity.

- Sriram V. is convener, INTACH. The views expressed in this column are his own.

India-Sri Lanka Relations – New Challenges

Dr Subramanian Swamy said relations between India and Sri Lanka is both cultural and historical. Lord Ram anointed Vibhishan Ji as the King of Sri Lanka after defeating Ravan. In fact, scientific reports have proved that the DNA of people from India and Sri Lanka are the same. Dr Swamy said that in the wake of these facts the government of India should focus its attention on the plight of ordinary Tamils and not on the LTTE. He added that if India spoils its relations with Sri Lanka then yet another neighbouring country would become our enemy and would then be exploited by China and Pakistan. Dr Swamy further said that the issues of Tamil people are regional and regional issues should not be given precedence over national interest. Due to myopic policies of the present UPA government at the Centre, all neighbouring countries are turning hostile towards India which marks a big diplomatic failure of the government, he said.

Shri Balbir Punj said that Sri Lankan Parliament has a statue of Vibhishan Ji, who is revered and acknowledged by Sri Lankans as their first King. Shri Punj added that though Sri Lankan people do not understand much of Hindi yet they love and watch Hindi movies and like listening to Hindi songs. He further said that Lankans are followers of Buddhism and have a deep regard towards India. Yet, Tamil and Sinhalese live in complete separation in Sri Lanka. Sri Punj, further explained that Lankan Army has been imposed in all Tamil dominated areas and the situation is so grim that if any individual from the Tamil community wants to organize a function or a party, he/she needs to first inform the Army. No decision can be taken without Army’s permission, he added. Shri Punj said various associations of Sri Lankan Tamils have told him that they all want and favour an undivided Sri Lanka.

Symposium at India Foundation, NewDelhi

CPI’s D. Raja said that he was the first person who spoke for the rights of Sri Lankan Tamils. Detailing on the ground realities, Shri Raja said Tamils can live in Sri Lanka but cannot be a part of the ruling set up. Preference to Sinhalese language is given across government jobs and other places. The Sri Lankan Army and Police have almost zero percentage of Tamils. He further explained that after independence, India and Sri Lanka had entered into an agreement under which Sri Lanka sent back a few Tamils to India. This was unfortunate. After Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination Tamil movement in Sri Lanka turned into a terrorist movement. Shri Raja further pointed out that today all Tamil monuments are being destroyed in Sri Lanka. Though I am a Communist yet I have to say that Buddhist idols are being put up at the Hindu temples in Sri Lanka. At several places it becomes difficult to distinguish whether the temple is Hindu or a Buddhist. In fact, now the movement has graduated from terror opposition to being a Tamil opposition, said Shri Raja.

The symposium was convened by BJP’s National Spokesperson Smt Nirmala Sitaraman. Shri Chandan Mitra, Shri Tarun Vijay, Smt Jaya Jaitley, Shri R Balashankar, Shri Ram Madhav, Shri NN Jha and several other intellectuals of the society participated in the symposium.

Source : Samvada.org

Mohd Arshi Rafique, Hindustan Times

Lucknow: A Lucknow girl’s simple query to know if Mahatma Gandhi was ever conferred the title of ‘The Father of The Nation’ has come a cropper. From the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) to the ministry of home affairs (MHA) no one seems to really know the answer to the 10-year-old’s question.

MK Gandhi

They coolly forwarded the RTI plea of class VI student Aishwarya Parashar to the National Archives of India (NAI), the body that claims to be the repository of the non-current records of the Government of India. Surprisingly, the NAI, after a hectic search in their records, was unable to find the desired information and requested Aishwarya to come and search for it in NAI’s public records and library material herself.

Jayaprabha Ravindran, assistant director of archives and chief public information officer (CPIO) wrote back in a letter dated March 26: “As per search among public records in the National Archives of India, there are no specific documents on the information sought by you.”

As a consolation, it has promised to provide Aishwarya all facilities permissible under the rules, if she chooses to visit the national archives.

Aishwarya, expectedly, is amused. “The first piece of history taught to us in school is about Mahatma Gandhi as Father of the Nation. I never knew, I was asking such a difficult question,” she says.

Popular notion, nothing official

According to reports, when a demand to confer the title of ‘Father of the Indian Constitution’ on Dr Ambedkar was made, deputy prime minister LK Advani, in a letter to Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit in 2004, had written: “It is not, however, feasible to formally confer the title of ‘Father of Indian Constitution’ on Dr Ambedkar, since Article 18 (1) of the Constitution specifically provides that “no title, not being a military or academic distinction, shall be conferred by the state.”

Advani further said: “I may clarify that although Mahatma Gandhi is popularly known as “Father of the Nation,” no such title was ever formally conferred on him by the government.”

History has it

Father of the Nation is an honorific title given to a man considered the driving force behind the establishment of a nation. As per Wikipedia, it was Subhas Chandra Bose who used the term for Mahatma Gandhi, in a radio address from Singapore in 1944. Later, it was recognised by the Indian government. When Gandhi was assassinated, India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, in a radio address to the nation, had announced that the Father of the Nation “is no more.”

http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/Lucknow/Who-named-Mahatma-Gandhi-father-of-nation-Govt-foxed/Article1-834824.aspx

 A day after the Hanuman Jayanti, it seems that the Muslim leadership

of Old City, Hyderabad  is back to its old trick of polarising the society…

and as usual the miscreants are running free.

In the early hours of Sunday, 8th April 2012, the bhakts ( devotees) of

the Hanuman temple at Kurmaguda, (in Saidabad ) were in for a shock.

They found that the green colour had been splashed on the walls of the temple.

When they opened the doors of the temple, they found that larges

pieces of beef ( Cow meat) was thrown inside the temple from the

grills.

The naturally agitated Hindu youth protested against this

sacrilegious act.

The Muslims who are a majority in that area launched an

offensive on the Hindus and both sides engaged in a duel of stone fight.

Sensing trouble, the police indulged in lathi charge and also

fired tear gas hurting many of the protesters. At the same time,

the Muslims grouped themselves into a larger group and more

or less occupied the main road of Saidabad armed

with stones and swords.

One of the expectations from administration is security and punishment of

the wrong doers. The ruling Majlis party whose Mayor himself is a

criminal ( an accussed in 7 criminal cases )cannot guarantee the security of

the Hindu temples. It seems that the administration is responsible only for the

protection of non-Hindu sites . The Hindu society has to be vigilant and protect itself. .Meanwhile the tension on the spot continues ….
Saidabad becoming a haven for Islamic extremists

Saidabad in Hyderabad has been in the news continuously for the

last decadewith a number of ISI agents, SIMI & TTSI activists & a

few other terrorists being arrested.

2003 - 

Four suspected ISI activist arrested. Zameeluddin Ahmed

of Santoshnagar, Abdul Samad of Mallepally, Manzoor Siddiqui

a resident of SBH Colony in Saidabad and Maulana Mufti Akbar of Karimnagar.

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2003-07-24/hyderabad/27193559_1_isi-agents-isi-links-haren-pandya

2004 -

DJS activists attack policemen.

http://www.djsindia.org/djsnews.htm#Activists of the DJS attacked policemen as they reached Sayeedabad

This organization was later banned for planting bombs in the churches 

2008 - It was also notorious for the incident when a number of burkha clad women

stormed into a police station ransacking it.

http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/mar/06look.htm

July 2008

http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/countries/india/terroristoutfits/simi.htm

Police arrested Mohammed Muqeemuddin Yaser, a former SIMI member,

from his residence in the Saidabad area of Hyderabad. Yaser, who is a

MBA student, is also the eldest son of Maulana Naseeruddin,the

founder president of Tehreek-e-Tahaffuz-e-Shaan-e-Islam (TTSI).

Yaser’s younger brother Raziuddin Naser, a suspect

in the twin blast cases in Hyderabad in August 2007, was arrested

by the Karnataka Police in January 2008 for planning terrorist

attacks in Karnataka and Goa.

SIT sources said ”Yaser was an active member of SIMI.

Now, he along with some other former SIMI activists of the city

has formed a group which downloads jihadi material and religious

killing videos from the internet and distributes disks to extremist

religious groups in the country.”

2010

http://arisebharat.com/2010/03/29/muslim-attacks-on-hindus-in-old-city-hyderabad/

2011 -

Attacks on Ganesh processions

 2012 -

Also, minority groups within the Muslim society like the Ahmediyas are

also unsafe due to the bullying of the dominant Summi groups here.

Saidabad is also been in the news for the dominant Muslim Sunni groups

attacking the Ahmediya mosques.

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-03-26/hyderabad/31239516_1_mosque-prayers-ahmadis

Few other reports  on the issue : 9th April 2012

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Old-City-riot-shatters-calm/articleshow/12588555.cms

A police team last evening traced Fr. Joseph Palanivel Jeyapaul in a parish near Erode that comes under Ootacamund, his mother diocese.

The police today produced him in the Erode Judicial Magistrate Court that ordered that he be handed over to Interpol officials in New Delhi.

Interpol, an organization that facilitates international police cooperation, has been on the lookout for the 57-year-old priest for the past five years.

Fr. Jeyapaul had gone to the States in 2004 and for a year worked in a children’s care home under Crookston diocese, Minnesota.

Two teenage girls there accused him of sexually molesting them.

Though a case was registered in the US in 2005, the priest returned to India in the same year.

The US police hand over the case to the Interpol that issued an arrest warrant against the priest.

It also informed the Tamil Nadu Police to trace and arrest him.

A police team led by Erode Superintendent of Police S Panneerselvam found him serving as an assistant at Simmittihalli in Thalawady area.

Fr. Jeyapaul has repeatedly denied the charges.

He has repeatedly told reporters that he was innocent and that he would not resist his extradition to the United States to face the charges since he wanted to clear his name.

The case also dragged even the Vatican into it.

Some groups in the States cited documents to allege that the Holy See had aided the priest to escape to India.

According to them, Bishop Victor Balke of Crookston had complained to the Vatican against the accused priest, but it took no disciplinary action.

In another development September 2011, Crookston diocese decided not to fight the case and settle the case paying US$750,000 to the victims.

Along with the sum of money, the diocese agreed to post the Indian priest’s picture and information about the case on its website. It also promised to reach out to and work with other potential victims of the priest.

Source:deccanherald.com/articles.cnn.com

P.P.Sarsanghachalakji; respected team of Akhil Bharatiya Padadhikaris; Sanghachalaks and Karyvahas of the Kshetras; Members of the ABPS; other invitee brothers and sisters working in various fields of our national life! I extend a hearty welcome to all of you to this Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha (ABPS) session taking place in Yugabd 5113 -March 2012 AD.

Obituary

Today we all miss some of our brethren who had been with us for many years. Ma. Bhavarlalji Kothari, Prant Sanghachalak of Jodhpur, a dedicated servant of the Go Vamsha (cattle wealth), had just returned from a pilgrimage with family only to set off again on his final journey; Ma. Rajendraji Agrawal, who had been the Prant Sanghachalak of Kashi Prant for a long time, is no more; Sri Venkatesh Gurunayak of Karnataka, who started effective sewa activity in Gulbarga through the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and succeeded in mobilizing the support of many eminent citizens through his effable personality left us for heavenly abodes after a prolonged fight with cancer; Sri Krishnachandraji Bharadwaj, a senior Pracharak in Punjab too passed away due to old age (92 years); Shri Narendra Singhji Ma. vibhag sanghchalak of Darbhanga, Sri Rutum Kamgo, our Sambhag Karyavah in Arunachal Pradesh met with untimely demise in an accident; Sri Satyanarayanji Goyel, who was well-known for his artistic skills, too departed away permanently leaving behind his Kalakunj family; Dr. Madhukarji Bhatwadekar of Vidya Bharati from Jaipur, life-member of NMO Dr. P.S. Mathur and journalist and former Pracharak Sri Madanlalji Veermani from Kapurthala passed away. National Treasurer of Samskar Bharati Sri Puranchandji Agrawal passed away suddenly; eminent thinker who left profound impact on all of us through his perspicacious writings on social issues Sri Arvind Godbole of Mumbai and former Editor of Rashtra Dharma and former President of Akhil Bharatiya Sahitya Parishad Sri Ramnarayanji Tripathi alias ‘Paryatak’ succumbed to cancer and left us; Sri Narayanji Bhagat who was instrumental in establishing Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram in Jharkhand and served as its Vice President for long years and Sri Satyadeoji Ram, state secretary of Vanavasi Kalyan Ashram, Shri Jamanadasji Shah worked as a pracharak in Gujrat and started work in cooperative sector in Nagpur, too left for heavenly abodes.

Senior Pracharak Sri Ashwini Kumarji, who was working in the BJP passed away after a brief illness while Sri Sukumaran Nambiar, a BJP leader from Chennai and Sri Anil Gupta, a dedicated and committed activist too met with untimely death; former President of Utkal Pradesh BJP Sri Aseem Bose too passed away; Minister for Higher Education in Karnataka Dr.

V.S. Acharya passed away suddenly due to massive heart attack.

Vice-president of Bharat Sevashram Sangh Swami Abhayanand Maharaj who served Hindu refugees from Bangladesh, Pujya Panditkaka Dhanagare from Vidarbha also passed away. Former Chief Minister of Karnataka Sri

S. Bangarappa and veteran politician of Karnataka Sri Bapusaheb Kaldate of Sambhaji Nagar, too are no more. Padma Vibhushan Dr. Bhupen Hazarika, who left an indelible impression on not only Assam but the entire Bharat through his music and veteran film actor Sri Dev Anand will now remain as cherished memories in the minds of the people of the country. Former Chairman of IAEA Dr. P. K. Aiyengar and; renowned industrialist and philanthropist Sri Arvindji Mafatlal, famous choreographer Sri Subodh Sarkar, Smt. Indira Goswami well-known writer who was recepient of Jnanpeeth Award and theatre artist Sri Satyadev Debey, Padmavibhushan hounoured first women photo journalist Homai Vyarawala, Shri Natwarlal Pandya alias ‘Ushanas’, famous for his vaishnav songs in Gujrati, founder member of Mohanbagan club and well-known indian football player shri Shailen Manna will now remain only as eternal memories of the science, industry, literary, arts and sports fields for the countrymen.

We express our deep condolences for our brethren who departed from this world due to natural disasters, or died due to violence perpetrated by terrorists and Naxalites, and we pay our homage to nobel departed souls.

The remarks by Azra Fazal Pechuho, a lawmaker of the ruling Pakistan People’s Party, came against the backdrop of the Supreme Court’s recent directive to authorities to produce three Hindu women who were allegedly kidnapped in Sindh.

Two of the women – Rinkle Kumari and Lata Kumari – have told magistrates they voluntarily converted.

Speaking in the National Assembly or lower house of parliament on the issue of Rinkle Kumari, Pechuho said Hindus faced a lot of challenges in Sindh.

She stressed the need for laws to protect the rights of minority communities and to end forced conversions.

Nafeesa Shah, another lawmaker from Sindh, endorsed Pechuho’s stand and said parliament should introduce legislation on forced conversions.

Media reports had said that non-Muslims were being forced to accept Islam, she said.

“Protection of the minorities should be ensured as enshrined in the Constitution,” Shah said.

Minority parliamentarians, including Lal Chand and Mahesh Kumar, too expressed concerns at the kidnapping and forced conversion of Hindu women.

They said it was the right of every person to follow any religion but nobody can be forced to convert, they said.

In his statement, Minister of State for Interfaith Harmony Akram Masih Gill, a Christian, said the government has taken several steps to empower minorities.

The steps included a five per cent quota in government jobs and declaration of August 11 as Minorities Day, he said.

PML-N lawmaker Araish Kumar raised the issue of minorities being forced to attend classes on Islamic studies.

“Our students are being forced to study Islamiat in government schools…If they refuse to study Islamic studies, they are struck off by the school administration,” he contended.

The remarks by the lawmakers came at a time when a report said almost three-quarters of women from Pakistan’s minority communities have faced sexual harassment while 43 per cent complained of religious discrimination at workplaces, educational institutions and neighbourhoods.

The report, prepared by the National Commission for Justice and Peace, states that about 74 per cent of the women faced sexual harassment.

—PTI

http://www.siasat.com/english/news/hindu-girls-forced-marry-muslims-zardaris-sister