A youth was killed and another injured in Bihar’s Hajipur on Friday morning by unidentified assailants ahead of the Tazia procession to mark Muharram, police said.

Police Station Officer Incharge Om Prakash said a youth was shot dead near Masjid Chowk and another sustained serious bullet injuries.

Angry over the incident, residents blocked roads, shouted slogans against the state government and staged protests for hours.

The district administration has imposed Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) in Masjid Chowk area, 30km from here. Heavy security forces have been deployed to maintain law and order.

(IANS)

Authorities in Jamuu and Kashmir on Friday imposed restrictions in parts of the Srinagar city to prevent the 10th Muharram procession, police said.

The restrictions were imposed in Rainawari, Nowhatta, Khanyar, M.R.Gunj and Safa Kadal in the old city area while partial restrictions were put in the uptown Kothibagh area.

“The restrictions are preventive in nature and have been imposed to maintain law and order,” an officer said.

Since 1989, authorities have not allowed the 8th and 10th Muharram procession here due to security reasons.

Shia Muslims carry out mourning processions on the 10th day of the Muharram month to commemorate the martyrdom of Imam Hussain, grandson of Prophet Muhammad .

(IANS)

With RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat putting the spotlight back on the issue of Ram Temple in Ayodhya, those associated with the ongoing title suit case in Supreme Court feel that there is no verdict expected in the near future, most likely not even before the 2019 general elections. The question is, will the BJP with governments both at the Centre and State, make any move on the contentious issue? Or will it leave the matter to be decided by the court itself?

The current three-judge Bench headed by CJI Dipak Misra had been hearing the Ayodhya title dispute. Justice Misra is to retire on October 2 this year and those legally associated with the case say there is absolutely no possibility of any verdict coming in the case before that.
In fact, the Bench has not entirely started with the actual hearing in the title case. Zafar Yah Jilani, the convener of Babri Masjid Action committee and lawyer for the Muslim side in the Ram Janam Bhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute case, says

“The honourable bench has so far heard and reserved its order only on an earlier ruling of the Apex court in 1994, which said, ‘Mosque is not the essential requirement In Islam. Order on this was reserved on July 20th and is expected to be pronounced before Justice Mishra retires’.”

Jilani adds, “If the bench thinks the 1994 ruling is required to be looked into, the issue will be recommended to be heard by a five-judge bench or above it. This, because the 1994 ruling of ‘Mosque not being an essential requirement in Islam’ was given by a five-judge bench.
Then what does it technically mean for the pending civil suit seeking the court order? And to whom does the disputed land belong, Hindus or Muslims? Jilani explains, “If a new bench is to be constituted, the matter will be subsequently heard by it. And if it’s the other way around, even then a new bench—most likely comprising of the new Chief Justice of India
will hear it post Justice Mishra’s retirement. Justice Ranjan Gogoi is set to take over as the new CJI.”

Jilani feels that this 1994 observation doesn’t makes any significant impact on the ongoing title suit case. However, since it’s related to the Ayodhya dispute, the judgement on the ruling will certainly create a flutter.

Advocate Hari shankar Jain of the Hindu Mahasabha is more vocal in his observation. He says, “I don’t see any solution coming from the Supreme Court even in the next two years. Forget about anything before the 2019 General elections.” He further says, “The actual hearing in the title suit has not yet started. First, the court will decide about the 1994 ruling. Only then will there be further progress.”

Now, amid this clarity of no verdict on the sensitive issue in the near future, the question arises about what the Narendra Modi government wishes to do.

With the RSS Chief bringing the focus back on the dispute, questions will be raised on how the BJP wishes to handle the issue ahead of 2019 polls. On Tuesday, Mohan Bhagwat had said, “As the RSS Chief I want that a grand Ram temple should be built at the Ram Janam bhoomi in Ayodhya at the earliest.” He had added, “If it happens through mutual understanding then it will lead to harmony with Muslims. The decision regarding a legislation or not on the issue rests with the government.”

The BJP leaders have been giving a mixed response in the matter. While BJP president Amit Shah and Prime Minister Modi have not spoken a word about the issue during their rallies and visits to Uttar Pradesh, the State’s chief minister Yogi Adityanath had earlier suggested that Temple is not part of party’s agendas for the 2019 elections. Yogi had said, “Lord Rama will himself decide the date of the temple construction.”

This statement was widely read as BJP’s tactical decision to not make it an issue in the 2019 polls. However, UP’s deputy CM Keshav Maurya had taken a different route. Speaking to News18 earlier, Maurya had said, “We are committed about the Ram Temple and Centre will not be shy about bringing in a legislation to pave way for the construction of Ram Temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya.”

Naturally, all eyes will now be fixed on the Modi government. Will it decide to move forward in the issue? Weather the government intends to bring in an ordinance or a legislation, as has been the demand of hardliner Hindu leaders like Vinay Katiyar from within the party, is not clear. What we can say is that on ground BJP’s focus has been more on the development issue, riding on the slogan of ‘Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas’.

Any move regarding Ram Temple will therefore derail the political campaign on the development issue. How the government strikes a balance between the two remains to be seen.

PTI

By Ayesha Fathima Correspanding with Nasheman Weekly resident of kammanahalli Bangalore,

Ganesh Chaturthi also known as Vinayaka Chaturthi or Vinayaka Chavithi is a Hindu festival celebrating the birth of Ganesha it is a ten-day festival, it starts on the fourth day of Hindu Lunisolar calendar month Bhadrapada, which typically falls in the months of August or September of the Gregorian calendar.

The festival is marked with the installation of Ganesha clay idols privately in homes, or publicly on elaborate pandals Observations include chanting of Vedic hymns & Hindu texts such as Ganapati Upanishad, prayers and vrata (fasting) Offerings and prasadam from the daily prayers is distributed from the pandal to the community include sweets such as modaka believed to be a favorite of Lord Ganesha .

Public preparations for the celebrations begin months in advance local Mandapa or Pandal’s are usually funded either from donations by local residents or hosted by businesses or community organizations.
At home, the festival preparation includes purchases such as puja items or accessories few days in advance and booking the ganesha murti as early as a month beforehand (from local artisans). The murti is brought home either a day before or on the day of the ganesh chaturthi families decorate a small, clean portion of the house with flowers and other colourful items before installing the idol.
When the Murti is installed, it & its shrine are decorated with flowers and other materials. On the day of the festival, the ceremonial installation of the clay murti (idol) is done along with chants of holy mantras and pooja including bhajans during a certain auspicious period of the day.
A priest performs Prana Pratishtha to invite Ganesha like a guest this is followed by the 16-step Shodashopachara ritual (Sanskrit: Shodash Upachara process) during which coconut, jaggery, modaks, durva grass and red hibiscus (Jaswand) flowers are offered to the idol. Depending on the region and time zone, the ceremony commences with hymns from the Rigveda, the Ganapati Atharvashirsa, the Upanishads and the Ganesha stotra (prayer) from the Narada Purana are chanted.

In Maharashtra as well as Goa Aartis are performed with friends and family, typically in the morning and evening the festival ends on the tenth day , the idol is then carried in a public procession with music & group chanting, then immersed in a nearby body of water such as a river or ocean.
This year Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations have started with a positive note when it comes to saving water bodies ,
According to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara palike (BBMP) which oversees Ganesh Chaturthi idol immersion activities the number of plaster of Paris ( pop) idols have reduced with people going for clay and Eco friendly idols a senior BBMP official at yediyur lake a major location for immersing idols stated that only 6000 of the 52,009 idols immersed at yediyur lake were made of POP “However we have to wait and see whether the same trend continues for the on coming days ” he added.
Inorder to help in the immersion of idols BBMP has made artificial tanks ( kalyanis) near the city near 22 lakes , lakes with these facilities are yediyur lake , kaikondahalli lake , Doddakenahalli kere, kasavanahalli lake ,Devarbessanahalli lake,muneekokalu Kere , Dorekere, singasandra lake , Herohalli lake, mallathahalli lake , ullala lake, darasarahalli ( chokkasandra lake) , Sankey tank ,ulsoor lake , kogilu lake, jakkur lake ( sampigehalli lake) ,Rachenahalli lake, pallanahalli lake, yelahanka kere, Attur lake, Allasandra lake and doddabomasandra lake.
For the devotees whose residential areas are away from these lakes mobile tankers and artificial tanks have been set up for Ganesha Immersion by BBMP & Karnataka state pollution control board and necessary precautions like encouraging people to opt for Eco friendly Ganesha’s , arificial tanks for immersion of idols and creation of awareness among people to opt for idols made from natural colors which does not pollute water, are taken to ensure a safe Ganesh chathurthi.

Friends Of Tribals Society “Ekal Sur Ekal Taal”

The Friends of Tribals Society (FTS) Bengaluru Chapter in association with Ekal Abhiyan has organized a musical cultural program Ekal Sur Ekal Taal to support goal of reaching further out to tribal & remote rural children.

This program will be performed by Ekal karyakartas who have been trained for 18 months and then last year they performed in 52 marvelous programs viewed by more than 22,000 people in 30 states of USA by travelling average 316 kilometer daily during their short 3 months visit to USA. Now they are continuing to present their shows in many cities of India & Bengaluru had organized the program on Sat 15th Sept, 2018 at Jnana Jyoti Auditorium, Central College Campus, Palace Road, 6:00 pm to 8:30 pm.

Presently at all India level They are running more than 75,000 Ekal Vidyalaya, serving over 20 lakhs children. In Karnataka, alone they have around 1470 schools with over 38,000 children in the districts of Mysore, Chamrajnagar, Hassan, Chikmagalur, Gulbarga, Bidar, Bagalkot, Gangavathi & Khanapur.

Speaking on the occasion Ramesh Agarwala (President, FTS Bangalore) averred, “We have been successful in devising an effective concept of One Teacher School (Ots) Or Ekal Vidyalaya. The children of a village who do not go to any school or even those who go to other schools, are given support education for 3 hours every day. We motivate the children to go to the schools and have succeeded in substantial reduction of the dropout rate in formal schooling”.

The 1st Ekal on Wheels Van for Karnataka and 19th overall in the country will be launched by senior executives of Yahoo Employee Foundation of India. This Van will operate in South Karnataka villages. It is an initiative that gives a big boost to Digital India program.

The goals & Objectives of the Project are:-

Mass Scale Digital Awareness & Literacy to the remotest places: Every child must get basic knowledge of computers. They further literate their elders. No villager should be unknown to computers.

Demystify Computers: The program will demystify computers to the children & youth who have remained untouched & unreached.

Financial Literacy: The program includes modules to teach varied applications related to financial literacy (netbanking, e-wallets et al).

Certification & employment opportunities: Certification program will make trainees eligible for varied employment opportunities.

Creating Micro – entrepreneurs: Their experience shows that many of the trainees start their own business after completing the training.

Friends of Tribals Society (FTS) an organization established in the year 1989 at Kolkata, by a group of social service workers, with a motive to help the people living in distant rural & tribal areas & to provide schooling for the underprivileged particularly in the field of education, health care, development, empowerment & culture. Friends of Tribals Society (FTS) is one of the biggest non -government voluntary social service organization of India working in tribal & rural areas. The motto of FTS is to not only improve socio economic condition of tribal society but also to free them from the clutches of deprivation that have for so long hindered the progress of the entire community.

EKAL’s mission is to eradicate illiteracy from rural areas, particularly amongst tribals, so that the people here can get access to basic education. Ekal’s mission is to uplift tribal villages by providing and creating awareness of Panchamukhi Shiksha (5 Dimensional Education) which consists Primary Education, Healthcare Education, Village Development Education, Empowerment Education & Value Education.

They work & run the schools completely on funds received as donation. The donated amount is utilized for payment of honorarium to Teachers, Full Time Workers & for purchasing teaching/study material. The donors are eligible for tax exemption under 80G of IT Act 1961 & FCRA.

With the support of volunteers & very low administration cost, they have been able to run this massive programme with an annual budget of only Rs 20,000/- per school.

There has been a lot of agitation from the southern states of India over the past few years against the alleged imposition of the Hindi language, considered to be a largely northern language.

As a sign of protest, members of the Karnataka Rakshana Vedike (KaRaVe), on Friday, September 14, blackened the Hindi signboards along various national highways in the state on Friday, September 14. The Centre celebrated Hindi Diwas (Hindi day) on September 14, to mark the day on which Hindi became an official language of the Union Government under Article 343 of the Constitution back in 1949.

KaRaVe President T A Narayana Gowda claimed that the Centre was propagating its hidden agenda of imposing Hindi on the population, a large majority of whom are non-Hindi speaking and that this was their way of resisting this policy.

Milestones on NH 48 near Davangere and signs along on the various highways in Bengaluru, Mysuru, Kolar, Shivamogga and some other districts were blackened by the KaRaVe activists.

A similar form of protest was carried out by the KaRaVe back in 2017 when they barged into the metro stations in Bengaluru and blackened the Hindi signboards while shouting slogans against the imposition of the Hindi language.

KaRaVe activists, in a bid to seek equality among all the languages in the country, are trying to get other non-Hindi speaking states to join in their efforts to oppose the BJP-ruled Centre’s imposition of the Hindi language on them.

Narayana said that it is disrespectful to other languages and unacceptable to make Hindi the official language of the union government, as India is a multilingual country. He also condemned the fact that the Centre wants to celebrate only Hindi Diwas.

PTI