PANCHAAMRITAM 261
Amavaasya / KALI YUGABDA 5116 / Jaya
Karthigai 6 (November 22, 2014)
ONE
The
draft resolution for an 'International Day of Yoga' was prepared by India and
informal consultations were convened in October, 2014 by the Indian mission in
the UN General Assembly where views on the topic were expressed by other
delegations. The draft resolution was finalsed with 130 countries co-sponsoring
it, an all-time record for a resolution of such kind. The draft resolution, expected
to come up for adoption in the General Assembly on December 10, 2014, would
recognise that "yoga provides a holistic approach to health and
well-being," echoing India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi's remarks in his
maiden address to the 193-member UNO in September, 2014. Modi had asked world
leaders to adopt an International Yoga Day, saying that by changing lifestyle
and creating consciousness, it can help us deal with climate change. "Yoga
embodies unity of mind and body; thought and action; restraint and fulfillment;
harmony between man and nature; a holistic approach to health and
wellbeing," he had said. The resolution would also proclaim June 21 as the
'International Day of Yoga'. It would recognise that wider dissemination of
information about the benefits of practising yoga would be beneficial for the
health of the world population. Yoga is the 5,000-year-old Indian physical,
mental and spiritual practice that aim to transform body and mind. Based on a report in THE HINDU, November
14, 2014. [Central Minister Shri
Ananth Kumar, himself a staunch practitioner of Yoga, had promised, on June 21,
2014, to approach Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with the concerned
Minister to request him to pressurize the United Nations Organization (UNO) to
declare 21st June as the World Yoga Day, according to a report in Yoga Sudha, July, 2014.]
TWO
Cow
protection activists across the country and abroad have an unexpected supporter
in the form of Sunni cleric from the house of Barelvis, Maulana Tauqeer Raza.
He has called for closure of meat factories and threatened to go on a
fast-unto-death at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi if this is not done. Terming the
meat factories as the biggest killers of cows in the country, the Maulana said,
"Islam states that the milk of a cow is like 'amrit' (nector) but its meat
is 'zeher' (poison); but look, the factories are exporting meat to Pakistan,
Bangladesh and China. Even the calves are not spared by unscrupulous meat
exporters who do not care that in their bid to meet the target of exporting
meat. Pressing for closure of meat factories, Tauqeer Raza said he feels
stopping the slaughtering of cows would reduce price of milk by half ". He
said it is a wrong notion that Muslims in India consume cow meat; it is
prohibited by Shariat, which explicitly states that it should not be consumed
as it is full of diseases. When asked what made him take up the issue of cow
slaughter, the cleric said, "This region (Bareilly – Rohilkhand, Uttar
Pradesh, Bharat) has become notorious as red meat corridor of the country with
almost daily seizures of cattle for illegal slaughtering. Based
on a report in news portal NEWS BHARATI, November 15, 2014.
THREE
For
the third successive year, cadets from National Defence Academy (NDA) have
excelled in the world arena with podium finish at an international competition
on the Law of Armed Conflict (LOAC) for military academies. Held at the
International Institute of Humanitarian Law in San Remo, Italy, the contest was
based on Geneva Conventions and the international humanitarian law, a branch of
International Law. Chief of Integrated Staff Committee of the tri-services Lt
Gen H S Lidder met the NDA team and congratulated them for their outstanding
performance. Cadet Harshwardan Pathak was adjudged the second best in the
individual category and Cadet Ritwik Sankrit bagged the second prize in the
team category, a Ministry of Defence release said. A total of 28 military
academies from 18 countries including the US, South Africa, France, Israel,
Ireland and Canada took part in the competition. Khadakvasla-based NDA
(Maharashtra, Bharat) was adjudged the third best academy in the world. Other
members of the team were Cadet Yogender Kathayat and their guide Major G Dogra.
"India is also likely to field more teams from Army, Navy and Air Force
academies in the coming years," the release said. Based
on a report in Rediff.com, June 03, 2008
FOUR
Dr.
Kalyani Gomathinayagam is a young Indian doctor who volunteered to spend four
weeks in Foya, Liberia (west Africa) during September-October, 2014, helping
those suffering and dying of Ebola, the awful epidemic. While her family --
parents, sister, nephews -- was bringing in Dussehra, and later Diwali in
Madurai (Tamilnadu, Bharat), Kalyani was one and a half continents away in
Foya, a border town in central Liberia, valiantly struggling through her
Ebola-affected patient load. She was one of the few doctors, and likely the
only Indian, who had volunteered to work in that region treating victims At the
Medecins Sans Frontieres-run makeshift tent hospital, she and her colleagues --
they were three doctors and 125 medical personnel on the team -- in their
cumbersome special protective gear, horribly stifling in the west African heat,
were planning the daily rounds of their 100-120 patients. Kalyani, who has seen her share of tough
assignments in epidemic- and illness-prone parts of the world like Haiti (post
the earthquake), Ivory Coast, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, feels that
treating and aiding the Ebola affected has been her most challenging and
emotionally taxing assignment till date. Kalyani
is no stranger to practising medicine in rough situations. After her medical
training in Madurai, and working in rural Kerala, she opted to spend a decade
working as a medical officer with the Indo-Tibetan Border Police at extremely
isolated regions on the border, including remote places in Jammu and Kashmir,
Arunachal Pradesh, as well as a stint, once, on the Kailas-Mansarovar yatra
route at Kunji Post. “The most heartening news is that for the past one month
they have not recorded any new case coming from Foya. There are some cases in
the periphery -- in other districts. On the whole I think the community has
really participated a lot in bringing the epidemic under control in Foya.
That’s a good sign.”
From an interview to Shri Vaihayasi Pande Daniel of Rediff.com
(November, 2014)
FIVE
This
is the story of a group of women who decided to go in for a full clean up act
in their villages. Arati Behara, Anusuya Sahoo, Rajalaxmi Sethi, and Ammbu
Behara are part of a brigade called the Whistle Bahini, drawn from various Self
Help Groups in different villages of Jagannath Prasad block in Ganjam district (Odisha,
Bharat). They have launched an all-out offensive against open defecation. Every
day, from 4 am to 6 am and then again from 4 pm to 8 pm, 30 women leave their
household chores to take on a task they feel merits their urgent and undivided
attention. Armed with whistles they fulfil their duty sincerely, reprimanding
those who don’t listen to them. Apart from blowing the whistle, we plant the
holy Tulsi plant on either side of the main block road. (Along the road they
patrol, nearly 1,000 students and 500-600 people walk by every day). Next on their agenda is to motivate families
to build a toilet in their homes and also put them to good use. According to
Census 2011, against a national average of 69.3 per cent, 85.9 per cent
households in rural Odisha do not have a latrine. We planted nearly 1,000
saplings as we knew that people would never go for open defection near the Tulsi
because we worship it,” reveals a member of the Whistle Bahini. This move
finally had the desired effect. Within a span of one month – the movement began
in September 2014 – the number of people coming to the main road to relieve
themselves has come down drastically. However, this has led to a serious issue:
if they can’t go to the main road and they don’t have a toilet in their home
where would they go to answer nature’s call? To get over this hurdle, for now, the
women have identified some faraway fields that people can use. At the same
time, the move to push through applications for making toilets has been
undertaken on a war footing. Of course, the Whistle Bahinis haven’t let down
their guard yet. In fact, to do some rigorous night rounds they have asked the
local police to station a couple of constables with them. The group is happy
that their block road is now completely open defection free. Based on a report by Smt Rakhi Ghosh for
Women’s Feature Service, republished in www.thebetterindia.com, November 19, 2014.
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