Sewa Sandesh September 2015 SWAYAMSEWAKS ORGANISE MEDICAL CAMP IN SEWA BASTIS RSS Swayamsewaks of Vidyapeeth Nagar at Banashankari in Bengaluru organised a medical camp in which the swayamsewaks distributed deworming medicines to the residents of Manjunath Colony near Channammanakere Acchukattu. The event was organised as a part of the Sewa Sanghik. After distribution of medicines, the swayamsewaks organised Rakshabandhan programme at the colony. Noted physician Dr Shashidhar inaugurated the camp. TRANCHE OF $500,000 FOR SYRIANS   Bharat on September 7 gave the first tranche of $500,000 for Syrians in distress and displaced from their homes. The Bharatiya ambassador to Jordan gave the money to the Jordanian government which is coordinating relief for the Syrian refugees. Bharat has promised $2 million for humanitarian assistance to Syrians in March. Like most of the world, Bharat too was jolted by the reports of large numbers of Syrian refugees fleeing their war-torn country to Europe, their plight brought home forcefully with the picture of 3-year-old Aylan Kurdi's body washed up on a Turkish shore. The war shows no signs of coming to an end, with Assad and the opposition including ISIS and sundry Al Qaeda-affiliated groups continuing a brutal and bloody conflict. EKAL VISION 2025 In order to expand the organisation up to grass roots level, the Ekal Abhiyan Trust (ABT) has formulated Vision 2025. The number of SVK in sanch of 30 villages would now be 3, instead of 1. Brand Ekal would be propagated and CSR funds would be tapped. Arogya and Gramotthan projects would be provided added impetus and focus. Apart from it working together with the Government would be encouraged, by providing policy inputs and implementation support to Government programmes in Ekal sectors and areas of operations.   RELAXING NORMS FOR MINORITY REFUGEES The recent ordinance passed by the Modi Government for Hindus and other minority refugees from Pakistan and Bangladesh is a revolutionary step in the right direction. When the plight of Muslim refugees has shot to limelight due to the ongoing migrant crisis in Europe, Bharat has done its part to come to the aid of minority refugees from Pakistan and Bangladesh. In a recent ordinance passed on September 7, 2015, the Central Government decided to allow minority refugees from Bangladesh and Pakistan to stay in Bharat on humanitarian grounds even after expiry of their visas. According to the statement issued by the Home Ministry, the Government has decided to exempt Bangladeshi and Pakistani nationals belonging to minority communities who have entered Bharat on or before December 31, 2014, in respect of their entry and stay in Bharat without proper documents or after the expiry of relevant documents. The decision has been taken under Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920 and Foreigners Act, 1946.  There are reports that a number of Bangladeshi and Pakistani nationals belonging to minority communities in those countries, such as Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Jains, Parsis and Buddhists, took shelter in Bharat due to religious persecution or fear of religious persecution. They have entered Bharat either without any valid documents, including passport and other travel document, or with valid documents but the validity of such document has expired. There has been no exact numbers of such minority refugees from these countries but official figures say that around two lakh Hindu and Sikh refugees from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan are presently living in Bharat. Since Prime Minister Narendra Modi Government came to power in May last year, several steps including issuance of Long Term Visa (LTV) for these refugees have been initiated. Nearly 19,000 refugees have been given long-term visas in Madhya Pradesh, around 11,000 in Rajasthan and 4,000 in Gujarat. In November last year, Home Minister Rajnath Singh had approved a number of steps to ease grant of citizenship to such refugees which included manual acceptance of applications for citizenship, consideration of an affidavit filed before the authority in return for citizenship renunciation certificate and permission to the children of such refugees, who entered India, on the basis of their parents’ passport, to apply for Bharatiya citizenship without a passport. In April this year, the Union Home Ministry rolled out an online system for LTV applications and for their processing by various security agencies. The decision was taken to address the difficulty being faced by Hindus and Sikhs of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who had come with the intention of settling permanently in Bharat. Currently, 400 Pakistani Hindu refugee settlements are there in north-western Bharatiya cities, like Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, Bikaner and Jaipur. Similarly, Hindu refugees from Bangladesh have taken shelters in eastern Bharatiya province of West Bengal and also in some north-eastern provinces. Many organisations welcomed this ordinance as approximately one crore Bengali Hindu refugees in Assam and West Bengal from Bangladesh will be benefited. Their stay in Bharat will not be treated henceforth as illegal. Now they would not be treated as ‘D’ voters anymore. As the previous government has done nothing for the Hindu refugees, the present government is living up to its promises by taking this landmark decision. JHANDEWALAN TEMPLE JOINS CLEAN YAMUNA DRIVE     Joining the Clean Yamuna Drive, the Badri Bhagat Jhandewalan Temple Society and the devotees have made it a routine to organise cleaning and doing puja of river Yamuna on first Sunday of every month. On September 6 the cleaning and puja was performed at Shri Shyam Ghat in Jagatpura Village in Wazirabad. The temple society provides free conveyance to the devotees joining the drive. After the cleaning, first the aarati of Yamunaji is performed then the aarati of Jhandewala Mata is done.    APPRISING CHILDREN OF RICH CULTURAL HERITAGE   Saraswati Shishu  Bal Mandir (Paharganj) run by Samarth Shiksha Samiti Delhi, celebrated Shri Krishna Janma-sthami with a difference. The school organised a big function at Talkatora Stadium on September 2. The event was named as ‘Sri Krishna Ananta Sagar’. The light and sound show on the life of Meerabai was hugely appreciated. Chief Guest on the occasion was Union Minister of State for Culture and Tourism Dr Mahesh Sharma and Member of Parliament Smt Meenakshi Lekhi. National secretary of Shiksha Sanskriti Utthan Nyas Shri Atul Kothari, national general secretary of Vidya Bharati Dr Lalit Bihari Goswami and president of Samarth Shiksha Samiti Shri Pravinkant were also present. The event successfully displayed the devotion of Meerabai to Sri Krishna. The prime objective of the event was to apprise the students of the rich cultural heritage of the country.   CONGREGATION OF MUSLIM GAU PALAKS Blasting the general perception about association of Muslims with the slaughter of cow and its progeny, the Muslim Rashtriya Manch (MRM) has added a feather of success in its cap by organising the first ever national conclave of Muslim cow protectors.  Held at Friozpur Zirka Anaj Mandi in Haryana’s Mewat region on September 13, this unique congregation was attended by over 10,000 Muslim gau palaks from all over the country. This was historic gathering and beyond our expectations, said MRM’s National Convener Mohd. Afzal. The MRM has been preparing for such an event since last one year. Mewat is a Muslim dominated area of Haryana known for cow slaughter cases and subsequent violence on several occasions during the Congress regime in the past. Senior RSS member and MRM patron Indresh Kumar, Haryana Chief Minister Manoharlal Khattar, and Chairman of All Bharat Imam Council Maulana Umer Iliyasi were conspicuous by their presence. Besides, MRM National Convener Mohd Afzal, Co-conveners Latif Magdum, Abbas Ali Bohara, Dr Imran Chaudhary, Convener of Cow Protection Cell Mohd Faiz Khan, Renuka Sharma, Tanveer Ahmed, Organising Convener Girish Juyal and others were also present.   Declare cow as national animal—MRM The MRM has demanded the Centre to declare cow as national animal and is also moving international community as part of its efforts to elevate cows to a global status. The MRM will also be touring the country to spread awareness among Muslims that "cow slaughter was created as a divisive issue by the British and then perpetuated in post-Independence by the Congress, Left and pseudo-secularists" to drive a wedge between Hindus and Muslims, said Mohd Faiz Khan, Convener of MRM Cow Protection Cell. A CD and a book was also launched on the occasion. On this occasion the MRM felicitated over 80 Muslim gau palaks from different parts of the country at the hands of Indresh Kumar and Chief Minister Manoharlal Khattar. An exhibition on the subject was the star attraction of the programme. The event titled as Akhil Bharatiya Muslim Gau Palak Sammelan was held to attract the nationalist Muslim cow breeders and herders who follow the directions of Islam as enshrined in the Islamic scriptures including the holy Quran, said Mohd Faiz Khan. He added that the holy book does not sanction sacrifice of cow as Islamic religious duty.  Slaughter or sacrifice of cow has never found any sanction in the religion neither it has been the necessary part of religion, he added.  Addressing the 10,000 strong gathering of Muslim gau palaks MRM patron Indresh Kumar said that Islam or the holy Quran never allowed slaughter of cow as religious ritual. Had it been so, there would have been instances of cow sacrifice at the holy Kaaba in Mecca, he said adding that in the past 1,400 years history of Islam there was not a single incident of cow sacrifice. On the contrary, the Prophet had time and again stated that cow milk and ghee are good for health while the beef is not good for human consumption, he added. Describing this event as a grand success, Indresh Kumar said that the Muslims from states of Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Gujarat, Assam, Jammu and Kashmir, besides Islamic scholars attended the conclave. He said that the MRM would continue with its mass awareness and education programme on cow protection. Cow slaughter has been the most contentious issue and cause of communal violence in Bharat. “Those who advocate in favour of cow slaughter are not nationalists, nor secular, they are anti-people and anti-democracy”, he added. Chief Minister Manoharlal Khattar congratulated MRM for organising such a great event and exposing the myth that Muslims were responsible for cow slaughter in Bharat. Describing Mewat as one of the famous regions for cow breeding, the Chief Minister said that time has come to wipe out the blot that Mewat was notoriously known for cow slaughter and communal clashes. He said that he received good support for the Bill on cow protection and breeding from Mewat region. This legislation has been in discussion in the entire country, he said.    Titbits It is a moment of rare honour for Bharatiya conservationists Sukhram Baiga, Ujiyaro Bai and Gopal Mandal, who have been invited to address the 5-day XIV World Forestry Congress in Durban beginning on September 7. They were invited by Timber Watch, a South African NGO working on forest conservation with the help of local communities. The efforts of Ujiyaro Bai and her fellow villagers from Pondi have successfully saved forests in Dindori (Madhya Pradesh, Bharat) from forest fires and illegal wood contractors. The community organisation-Rural Development Society-has about 15 hectares of community mangrove forests in about seven villages, This has developed generated various options of  traditional livelihoods like  fishing and  honey collection.  According to Gopal, nearly 350 persons have been diverted from the tiger habitat to these community mangrove forests.This has not only reduced incidents of man-tiger conflicts but also controlled human pressures in tiger habitat, thereby helping in big cat conservation. “For generations Baiga tribe has been co-existing with tigers.  Today, both Baigas and tigers are endangered. Both need the jungles to survive. Yet in this battle for survival why are only tigers allowed to flourish and Baigas left to perish as victims of displacement from their native jungles,” Ujiyaro asks. “Our age old co-existence with big cats has been endangered,” said Sukhram, adding, “Our lives, livelihood, culture and ethos are all rooted in the jungles.”Ujiyaro, who belongs to the Baiga tribe, started her fight to save forests, seven years back.   Amit Vaidya, a Gujarati, was born and brought up in the US, with a Ph.D. in economics; he was diagnosed with first stage gastric cancer when he was 27. He went in for “aggressive chemo radiation” in New York. Two years later he went into remission. Doctors told Amit that his life too was just a matter of time. “I started planning my funeral”, says Amit. Soon he planned a trip to India. He lived in Delhi with a friend when he was told about alternative therapies. The treatment at a hospital in Gujarat was disciplined with yoga, meditation and he was made to drink a mix of desi cow milk, curd, ghee and gobar, go-mutra (panchagavya). Scans showed that the cancer “had not spread”. Another 40 days in the hospital, and reports showed the cancer had decreased. Wanting to continue the therapy, Amit stayed with a farmer, who opened his house to Amit. “I continued the therapy and after months was able to walk. Over time, walks became jogs, jogs became runs and I started finding joy in my mind. The villagers had time for me, which was the best gift I got, especially when I needed time to heal.” After 18 months Amit claims he is cancer free and decided on planning to live his life instead of planning a funeral. He now talks to people about his journey and that healing is possible. He  spends time with cancer patients. He started an NGO called Healing Vaidya (healingvaidya.org.).  He does not plan on going back to the US as “this country has given me much. I have learnt that people here don’t value what it can offer.” Amit has written a book  ‘Holy Cancer – How A Cow Saved My Life’,   Shri Bharat Gupta from Satna, Madhya Pradesh, posted this on mygov.orgwebsite: “Nowadays awareness of cleanliness is high among people, particularly the Railway users, thanks to Swatch Bharat campaign. Passengers look for a dust bin in compartment. If they do not find one, they keep all the waste heaped neatly in a corner. They don’t litter all over.” On reading this I was very happy. (Courtesy: Panchaamritam)     For Further Information Please Contact: SEWA INTERNATIONAL BHARAT 49, Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg, New Delhi – 110 002, Bharat (India) Telephone   +91-11-43007650, 23684445 Email ID: sewainternationaldelhi@gmail.com Website: http://www.sewainternational.org Blog: http://www.sewasandesh.blogspot.com

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