Gujarat: BJP president Amit Shah today said Hindu religion has solution for all the problems in the world. 

"Hindu religion has solutions for all the problems of the world... I am not saying this because I am born Hindu," Shah said at Gujarat University convention centre, while unveiling former President A P J Abdul Kalam's book 'Transcendence: My Spiritual Experiences with Pramukh Swamiji'.

"When I faced difficulty for two years, I visited each and every religious centre in India. In that period, I sought blessings from all the 'jyotirlings' and 'shaktipeeths' of India, except Somnath temple (in Gujarat)," Shah said referring to the two years that he was barred from entering Gujarat due to legal proceedings in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case.

In December last year, Shah was acquitted in the Sohrabuddin encounter case.
"That was the time when I was not able to do my activities... Perhaps God made me seek his blessings in my youth," the BJP chief said.

He added that the religious leader of Swaminarayan sect, Pramukh Swami, has given a new lease of life to Hindu tradition with the powers of saints like Shankaracharya had done with the tradition of 'akhadas'.

Speaking on the event, Governor of Karnataka Vajubhai Vala said that religion was more important than the state. "'Dharma danda' is much more important than 'Raj danda' and it can make people happy," said Vala.

Recounting an incident when he was the Mayor of Rajkot in 1980s, Vala said he chose to felicitate religious leader Pramukh Swami by going against the local administration. "This is in my blood and this is in the 'sanskaras' of RSS that could lead me to even vacate the post of a Mayor," Vala added.

On the book written by Kalam, Vala said he feels that one saint is giving his opinions for the other saint. Praising Kalam, Gujarat Governor O P Kohli said his personality is unique, as the scientist has saintly qualities. The event was attended by Gujarat Ministers Saurabh Patel and Bhupendrasinh Chudasma and other senior BJP leaders.

Saudi Arabia: Saudi Arabia is planning to build the world's largest hotel with 10,000 rooms at a whopping USD 3.5 billion in the holiest city of Mecca.

Designed by Dar Al Handasah group, the project has a total built area of 1.4 million square meter and will be set in the Manafia area in Mecca's central zone, DesignMENA reported. The 45 stories tall Abraj Kudai hotel will be a spectacular structure comprising 10,000 rooms in 12 towers besides 70 restaurants and four helipads once completed in 2017.

While 10 of the towers are intended to provide four-star accommodation, the remaining two will offer luxurious five-star amenities, said the hotel's architect.

"We are honoured to be trusted with such a challenge. Designing hotel interiors on such a massive scale, with no operators yet in place, requires complex programming and design resourcing," said Andrew Lindwood, head of design at Areen Hospitality, which will design the hotel's interior spaces.

Funded by the Saudi Ministry of Finance, the hotel is aimed at accommodating the rising number of Muslims who visit Mecca and other holy cities during the annual pilgrimage.
"We respond to such a challenge, without ever losing the creative essence needed to welcome and surprise the guests expected at Abraj Kudai," Lindwood said.

Modelled on a traditional desert fortress, the remarkable complex will house a bus station, shopping mall, food courts, conference centre and a lavishly appointed ballroom atop a 10-story podium.

Ullala: Nobody in this world is born as a terrorist. You will get the complete definition for terrorist on the internet. Islam doesn’t propagates terrorism and doesn’t encourage terrorism. But some people are trying to make Muslims as terrorists said, Soofi M.K Chishti, President of Gujarat Haj committee.

He was speaking after felicitating the achievers in the religious program held as a part of the 20th quinquenial and 423rd annual urus celebration of Qutubuzzaman Hazrat Asayyeed Muhammed Shariful Madani at Ullala.

India has the highest number of educational institutions in the world. But even after so many education centres and scholars India is lacking peace. In 16th century when Sadaths came to India to spread peace it was Hindus who welcomed them by giving the water of tender coconut. Some people from the family of the prophet propagated peace in India. They didn’t know language or tradition of this land. But at that time they faced no problem. But today for every petty issues people of two community indulge in violence he said.

Member of Mogaveerapatna life guard association Praveen Kotian, life guard of Shivaji association Kiran Kumar, social worker Abdul Ravoof and educational saint Harekala Hajabba were being honoured.

Priest of Permannur Saint Sebastian Church Father J.P Saldhana, district municipality vice president Satish Kumpala, BJP Mangaluru president Chandrashekar Ucchil, BJP district vice president Chandrahas Ullal, Ullala Nagarasabha councillor Dinesh Rai, general secretary of INTUC Sadashiv Shetty and many other dignitaries were present.   

      

 

 

NEW DELHI: The ruling BJP has become the largest political party in the world with its enrolment drive in the past five months taking its membership to 8.80 crore. The Communist Party of China was until now considered the largest party with about 8.60 crore members.

Sources said the party hit the 8.80 crore mark on Sunday and the BJP expects its membership to cross 10 crore by the end of this month, exactly what it had aimed for when it launched the drive in November last year. Party president Amit Shah will announce the final figure at the national executive to be held in Bangalore on April 3-4.

The ambitious membership drive was Shah's idea. He views a base of active members as a device for consolidating BJP's freshly-achieved pre-eminence.

Sceptics say the groundswell in membership is no reliable reflection of the party's actual strength on the ground, and that while PM Narendra Modi's popularity and the party's current influence may draw thousands into the fold, their loyalty will remain suspect and they might bolt when the going gets tough.

Sources in the party maintain that the enrolment through missed calls is a huge improvement over the old practice where block-level functionaries would mention names of purported members to meet targets. The leadership had no way of independently verifying these claims.

In the new scheme, the party can scrutinize registrations by calling up numbers from where missed calls originated. The phone numbers also provide the party with a way to maintain 'live' contact with members to update them on developments and explain decisions as well as the context in which they are taken.

Mobile phones are also viewed as vehicles for propagating the party's policies and to counter the criticism of opponents.

The membership drive will officially come to an end on March 31 but there are chances that it may be extended in a few states like Maharashtra where, according to the party, a large number of people are still calling to register themselves with BJP. After UP, where it has set a target of 1.5 crore, Maharashtra is expected to fetch the maximum number of members for the party. Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh have both already accounted for more than 80 lakh members.

BJP general secretary Ram Madhav last week hailed the achievement saying the party had added one crore members in the eight days starting March 15. The number increased steadily last week with another one crore joining. Shah is now using the membership drive to also measure BJP's strength in states which are headed to polls later this year and in 2016.

The party's ambitious, hi-tech online membership drive was launched by Modi on November 1 last year when he became a member by dialling a telephone number followed by Shah who became the second member.

"BJP's 8 crore members crossed," Madhav said last week, adding that the first 10 million were added in 30 days, the second in 22 days and the third in 13 days. He said the party added the fourth such unit in 16 days, the fifth in 18 days and the sixth in the subsequent 21 days. The last 20 million were added in 15 days and eight days respectively.

The speeding up of the membership drive comes amid hectic meetings and tours by Shah to various states to step up the effort and finalize the drive by the end of this month.

Washington: Many underground water reserves are already running low, while rainfall patterns are predicted to become more erratic with climate change. As the world's population grows to an expected 9 billion by 2050, more groundwater will be needed for farming, industry and personal consumption.
 
The report predicts global water demand will increase 55 percent by 2050, while reserves dwindle. If current usage trends don't change, the world will have only 60 percent of the water it needs in 2030, it said.

Having less available water risks catastrophe on many fronts: crops could fail, ecosystems could break down, industries could collapse, disease and poverty could worsen, and violent conflicts over access to water could become more frequent.

"Unless the balance between demand and finite supplies is restored, the world will face an increasingly severe global water deficit," the annual World Water Development Report said, noting that more efficient use could guarantee enough supply in the future.

The report, released in New Delhi two days before World Water Day, calls on policymakers and communities to rethink water policies, urging more conservation as well as recycling of wastewater as is done in Singapore. Countries may also want to consider raising prices for water, as well as searching for ways to make water-intensive sectors more efficient and less polluting, it said.

In many countries including India, water use is largely unregulated and often wasteful. Pollution of water is often ignored and unpunished. At least 80 percent of India's population relies on groundwater for drinking to avoid bacteria-infested surface waters.

In agriculture-intense India, where studies show some aquifers are being depleted at the world's fastest rates, the shortfall has been forecast at 50 percent or even higher. Climate change is expected to make the situation worse, as higher temperatures and more erratic weather patterns could disrupt rainfall.

Currently, about 748 million people worldwide have poor access to clean drinking water, the report said, cautioning that economic growth alone is not the solution — and could make the situation worse unless reforms ensure more efficiency and less pollution.

"Unsustainable development pathways and governance failures have affected the quality and availability of water resources, compromising their capacity to generate social and economic benefits," it said. "Economic growth itself is not a guarantee for wider social progress."

Britain will unveil a statue of Mahatma Gandhi on Saturday in London's prestigious Parliament Square, a space packed with monuments to men who defended the British Empire which Gandhi helped destroy.

In an ironic twist, Gandhi's likeness will sit close to that of Britain's former wartime leader Winston Churchill, a man who strained to thwart Indian independence and who despised Gandhi and everything he stood for.

Churchill famously called Gandhi "a seditious Middle Temple lawyer, now posing as a fakir of a type well known in the East, striding half-naked up the steps of the Vice-regal palace."

But almost seven decades after India won independence from Britain in 1947, in large part thanks to Gandhi's peaceful civil disobedience campaign, relations between the two countries are strong with both nations keen to boost economic ties.

Prime Minister David Cameron and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will unveil the statue, opposite the British Parliament, to mark the 100th anniversary of Gandhi's return to India from South Africa to start the struggle for self rule.

"It also marks an important, historic moment celebrating the strong bond between our two nations," Jaitley said in a statement before the unveiling.

"India and the UK share the same values and we are a partnership of equals. This lasting friendship is just one of many legacies left by Gandhi."

British Culture Secretary Sajid Javid said his country's relations with India were those that Gandhi dreamed of - as friends and equals.

Gandhi's grandson, and former governor of West Bengal, Gopalkrishna Gandhi, will speak about his famous relative at the ceremony. Hundreds of invited guests and members of the public are also expected to attend.

The bronze statue of Gandhi was crafted by British sculptor Philip Jackson and is based on a number of photographs and in particular one of Gandhi standing outside the London offices of the British prime minister in 1931.

The statue will be lower than others on the famous square, a deliberate decision made by the Gandhi Statue Memorial Trust to reflect the fact that Gandhi considered himself a man of the people.

The idea, the trust says, was that the statue would be among visitors to Parliament Square. The square also includes statues of former US president Abraham Lincoln and South African president Nelson Mandela.

Mangaluru: `Tulunada porlu tirl’ a unique programme about Tulu culture will be showcased  on December 14 Sunday Evening 3pm on S.R Hegde Chavady stage in World Tulu festival organized by All India Tulu Federation on its silver jubilee celebration jointly by Karnataka Tulu Sahitya Academy in Adyar Sahyadri College from December 12 to 14.

The programme wil be performed by the members of Surathkal banta Sangha. `Tulunada Porlu tirl’ programme has been sponsored by Karnataka Tulu Sahitya Academy. The programme is composed by Mohan Koppala and directed by Navin Shetty Alake.
The programme will showcase the culture, tradition and unity of Tulunad (The coastal region of southern Karnataka). The lifestyle, worships, deities, history, last rites and many more traditional activities of the people of the coastal belt has been enacted in the programme. Bants, fishermen, toddy extractors, potters, Christians, Muslims, carpenters and other communities and their lifestyle will be showcased. 

House of the land lord, paddy collection, worship of Balindra, cow worship and many other cultural aspects of tulunadu will be depicted.

From three month old child to 80 year old elder 102 artists have acted in the programme. The team is headed by Ullas Shetty, President of Surathkal bantara sangha, vice President Sudhakar Punja and cultural secretary Leeladhar Shetty. Rajeshwari D. Shetty will host the programme.

Cancer is the second most dangerous disease in the world. The number of people dying from cancer is increasing every year. As per records approximately 15 million people are suffering from cancer and 8 million people have lost their lives.

Each and every part of human body is prone to cancer. Throat, lungs, mouth, breast, uterus, reproductive system are most vulnerable to cancer. Especially woman suffer from breast, uterus and cervical cancer while the danger of getting mouth, lungs, liver and throat cancer is more in men.

The cancer is a curable disease when it is diagnosed in the primary stage. In developed countries cancer is cured even after second stage. But in countries like India due to lack of knowledge and lack of basic facilities people often consult doctors when the disease has reached third or fourth stage. Hence to create awareness among the people about the cancer November 7 has been witnessed as Cancer Awareness Day.

In India more than 10 lakh people are diagnosed with cancer every year. India is in the 5^th spot in world cancer list. 90% of the cancer in India is due to the consumption of tobacco. Chewing and smoking tobacco products is the most common reason from throat, lungs and mouth cancer.  Consumption of alcohol is also a reason for liver and pancreas cancer.

Even after taking steps to make people aware of the health problems caused by consuming tobacco people pledge their lives for the sheer enjoyment or excitement of some hours. Financially unsound people are more affected by the disease as they often take their health for granted.

A little bit concern about our health can keep cancer at bay. All we need to do is abstain tobacco products, maintain a healthy life style and consult the doctor whenever small doubt comes in the mind.

Let’s take this opportunity to make India a cancer free country. It is possible only if we join hands together to banish this deadly disease.