GO TO SOURCE ALLAHABAD, INDIA, May 9, 2002: An Indian court has urged state authorities to prevent the persecution of couples from different communities. The Allahabad High Court dismissed a private prosecution for kidnapping brought by a father against the young man his daughter had eloped with. The young couple — from different communities within India’s caste system — told…
GO TO SOURCE EUGENE, OREGON, May 9, 2002: Each year Skipping Stones, a multicultural children’s magazine, recognizes outstanding books, teaching resources and educational videos from both large and small publishers and producers. Titles selected in the four different categories for the 2002 awards encourage close relationships with nature and/or promote respect and understanding of cultural diversity in our world. The…
GO TO SOURCE KANYAKUMARI, INDIA, May 10, 2002: Vivekananda Kendra undertakes activities across India in the fields of education, rural development, socio-economic programs, personality development and management camps, yoga and publications. They have given high priority to Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland as these states in the northeast region are being culturally invaded by alien forces which destroy the very…
GO TO SOURCE NATAL, SOUTH AFRICA, May 8, 2002: Indian farmers in KwaDukuza on the North Coast say they have become sitting ducks for criminals preying on remote farmsteads. Recent attacks on farmers and their workers in Doesburg and Nonoti, two communities outside the town, have prompted the local farm watch to beef up security in the area. Some owners…
GO TO SOURCE JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA, May 8, 2002: Deshanya Thambi has founded the first Hindu Student Society at Rand Afrikaans University, dispelling the perception that you need to be a white Afrikaner to feel at home on campus. The 22-year-old BCom student says Hindus have always wanted a society of their own, but complacently accepted that they were not…
GO TO SOURCE DELHI, INDIA, May 7, 2002: Ten years after India ratified a UN convention pledging to protect children’s rights, the country continues to be home to the world’s largest number of child laborers. It is believed there are up to 100 million children working in homes, factories, shops, fields, brothels and on the streets of rural and urban…
GO TO SOURCE KATHMANDU, NEPAL, May 8, 2002: More than 240 police, soldiers and rebels have been killed in fresh violence in Nepal, as Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba said he had secured US support for his crackdown against the Maoist insurgency. Some 140 Nepalese police and soldiers were killed when guerrillas surrounded a joint army-police security post set up…
GO TO SOURCE WASHINGTON, USA, May 8, 2002: The Bush White House fleetingly turned its attention to India’s neighbor Nepal, where a Maoist insurgency that daily kills ten times as many victims as in the Middle-East goes largely unnoticed by the outside world. But the US administration is concerned by developments in the Himalayan kingdom and President Bush invited the…
GO TO SOURCE EDISON, NEW JERSEY, April 20, 2002: Children of Edison Balagokulam were challenged to come up with a Ramayama play to be held during the second anniversary celebration of a monthly Ramayana paat held in New Jersey. The event was seen as an opportunity for the children to become familiar with characters in the Ramayana and to use…
GO TO SOURCE JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA, May 8, 2002: India’s top fashion designer, Jagsharan Jit Singh Valaya, took center stage this week at an exclusive exhibition of bridal garments at the Sandton Convention Centre. Known in the industry as J J, the 35-year-old Rajasthan-born fashion guru opened the Weddings, Glamour and Beauty Expo on Friday night with a stunning collection…