Buddha statue in New jersey to be inagurated on 26'th September

Sep. 21, NJ-USA : The Buddha Statue Development Committee of the New Jersey Buddhist Vihara in Franklin, New Jersey announces with humility and great joy the unveiling of a statue of the Buddha in seated Samadhi (meditation) posture on the serene temple grounds located at 4299 Route 27, Franklin, New Jersey. The land is also being developed as a future meditation retreat.

The statue measures 30 feet in height making it the largest in the Western Hemisphere. The Buddha Samadhi Statute symbolizes the serenity, peace, tolerance, and compassion, which are integral to the Buddhist doctrine. The statue was sculpted by a Buddhist monk from Sri Lanka, with the financial assistance from Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike from around the United States and Sri Lanka. There were many volunteers who also donated their time and physical energy to help with the construction of the statue.

The statue will be unveiled at 3 p.m. on September 26, 2009. Several honored guests, including N.J. Governor Jon Corzine will be in attendance.

BSP releases first list of candidates for Haryana polls

Chandigarh: The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which is contesting the October 13 Haryana assembly polls on its own, tonight releasedits first list of 63 candidates.
BSP general secretary Man Singh Manhera said the names of the candidates had been cleared by Uttar Pradesh chief minister and party president Mayawati.

He said winnability of candidates had been kept in mind while selecting them. Care had also to be taken that different sections of society got adequate representation, he said.

Among those allotted tickets in the first list are BSP state unit president Parkash Bharti (Mullana), legislator Arjan Singh (Naraingarh), former ministers AkramKhan (Jagadhri), Dervinder Sharma (Thansar), Narender Sharma (Pundri) and Ram Bhaj (Narwana).

Former MLA Zakir Hussein, son of late leader Tayyib Hussein, has been given ticket from Sohana, while former MP Gurdyal Saini will be contesting from Ladwa constituency.
Industrialist Vijay Somani will be contesting from Rewari.

The party recently announced its decision to fight on all 90 seats on its own after it broke its two-month-old alliance with the Haryana Janhit Congress.

Music was dear to Babasaheb Ambedkar, says his violin teacher

Amravati: Former violin teacher of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, Bal Sathe today said that Babasaheb was a dedicated man for any task and music was dear to him.

"His love for music reflected through his desire to learn violin," Sathe said at a felicitation programme here.

Sathe had the honour to teach Dr Ambedkar violin between 1951 and 1953 and is among those few alive who was in contact with the Dalit icon.

"I was 40 when I began giving violin lessons to Dr Ambedkar who was 60 then," he said.

"On the first day, when I told him that learning violin is the toughest task, he asked me to give all the literature regarding violin and I gave him the book 'Violin: How to Master It'," Sathe said.

Nepal Prez prays for peace in Lumbini

BHAIRAHAWA: President Dr Ram Baran Yadav today visited Lumbini — the birth place of Lord Buddha.
Dr Yadav, who was accompanied by his sister-in-law, grandchildren and a niece, reached the birthplace of Lord Buddha amid tight security. He offered pooja at the Ashok Pillar and visited Shantideep, Thai and German Lotus Temples.
‘’I prayed for peace and prosperity of the country,’’ President Yadav told reporters. He also urged all the stakeholders to move ahead forging consensus. “All Nepalis should live harmoniously,” he added. “All
the political parties should also move ahead overcoming disputes.’’
The President said the achievements of the political transformation should be institutionalised. He emphasised that the anarchic activities should end in the country.
Yadav had reached Lumbini by a special Nepal Army chopper. Cadres of the UCPN-Maoist demonstrated outside the temple premises and showed black flags to the president.

Mayawati warns against demolition of monuments and memorial sites of Bahujan Naik

LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Thursday warned that if the monuments and memorial sites dedicated to the Bahujan Samaj Party icons here were demolished, a serious law and order situation would arise in the country.

President’s Rule would have to be imposed. “The Congress and the Samajwadi Party would be responsible for this,” she said.

She was addressing a gathering after laying the foundation stone for the Manyavar Shri Kanshi Ramji Green (Eco) Garden here.

Denying that her government violated the Supreme Court’s orders on suspending construction work at the memorial sites, Ms. Mayawati accused the Samajwadi Party and the Congress of indulging in a “malicious and mischievous propaganda.”

“Wrong facts”


She also accused a section of the media of presenting “wrong facts” pertaining to work at the memorial sites and cautioned the media against becoming a tool in the Opposition game plan.

The Chief Secretary had submitted an affidavit in the court.

She said work was going on only at those sites against which no writ petition had been filed and no stay granted by the court.

The Chief Minister dubbed the Congress ‘anti-Dalit’ and said thousands of crores of rupees were spent on building memorials, parks, statues and museums in the name of members of the Gandhi and Nehru families.

“It seems eminent persons belong only to these two families and when crores have been spent on building memorials for them the Congress does not say that money has been misused.”

The Green Eco Garden is being developed on 160 acres on which the old Lucknow jail once stood.

'Austerity measures a drama', said Mayawati

Lucknow: Mayawati was at her acerbic best on Thursday as she lashed out at the Congress' austerity drive and hit out at her detractors over parks, statues and memorials.
"Sonia is travelling economy class, Rahul is taking a train... this is nothing but a natak (drama) to fool the people," she said. "The Congress is guilty of maximum misuse of government funds," she told a BSP workers' convention.

On the statue front, she said, "Nobody raised a finger when previous Congress governments spent thousands of crores to put up statues and memorials in honour of Gandhi-Nehru family members."

"The Congress has again proved it is anti-Dalit by opposing memorials for Dalit leaders." Regarding the Shivaji memorial the Maharashtra government proposes to build in Mumbai, she said, "Though we are not opposed to it, won't it also cost crores of rupees?"

Wednesday's function was held to mark the foundation-laying ceremony of the Kanshi Ram Green Eco Garden near the Kanshi Ram Memorial where work has been stopped following a recent Supreme Court order."My government has never flouted any SC order. A section of the media misled the court," she said. She also blamed the Samajwadi Party (SP) for getting writs filed against her government.

She also lashed out at the UPA for deliberately stalling the Ambedkar Park project in Noida. "Environment-related concerns are being used with ill intention to stop this project," she said.

Referring to SP president Mulayam Singh Yadav's statement that her statues would be demolished once the SP came to power in UP, Mayawati warned: "If anybody dares to do any such thing, the law and order would be so badly disturbed that president Rule would have to be imposed in the entire country."

Mayawati visits flood-affected districts

Lucknow : Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati today directed officials to launch relief and rescue operations in flood-hit areas of the state on a war footing, assuring that dearth of funds would not be allowed to hamper their efforts.

Reviewing the floods caused by incessant rains during the last two days and water released by neighbouring Nepal at her official residence here, Mayawati asked the administrative machinery of the concerned districts to keep round-the-clock vigil and provide prompt relief to the affected people.

Directing the officials to relocate the people to safer areas, Mayawati asked for keeping the flood companies of the PAC in a state of high alert and sending them to marooned areas for providing medicines and other necessary relief material.

Raveena to play a character inspired by Mayawati

If you think Raveena Tandon’s comeback film Aap Ke Liye Hum has got delayed and the actor is disappointed then you are wrong. Raveena has an extremely challenging project in her kitty. The actress will soon grace the big screen with a film called Gulab Gang where she plays a character inspired by politician Mayawati.

Gulab Gang is based on real life stories about an all women gang based in Uttar Pradesh. The film will be produced by a well known make-up man turned producer Subhash Singh. Apparently Subhash Singh has signed Raveena for his three upcoming films out of which Gulab Gang is set to go on floors by November.

Apart from Raveena, Tabu, Shahana Goswami and Sandhya Mridul will also be seen in important roles. “The story is based in UP. Gulab Gang is on the lines of Omkara as it has a similar set up,” revealed Subhash Singh.

On his choice of Raveena for his film Singh said, “Raveena is one of the most talented actresses we have in the industry. I strongly believe that she has the potential to play such a strong character.”

He also informed that Raveena herself came up with the subject when they were working on a different project. Bengali filmmaker Shoumik Sen will be directing Gulab Gang.

With Gulab Gang, Raveena, who has earlier received accolades for her role in films like Shool, Daman and Satta will have one more remarkable performance to boast about.

HJC Leader Harvinder Kalyan Joins BSP

Karnal : The Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) Leader Harvinder Kalyan has joined the BSP.

Information to this effect was shared in a press conference addressed by BSP General Secretary Man Singh Manhera, who welcomed Mr.Kalyan into party fold.

It is to mention that Kalyan has joined BSP, only after getting assurance of BSP ticket from Gharaunda, which he lost hope to get while in HJC.

BSP to contest all 288 seats in MAHA Assembly polls

Nagpur, Sep 3: The Bahujan Samaj Party has decided to contest all 288 seats for the Maharashtra assembly elections scheduled to be held on October 13.

"As per the directives of party President Mayawati, we will fight alone in state assembly elections on all the 288 seats," BSP General Secretary and in charge of party affairs in Maharashtra, Vir Singh said today.

BSP has maintained its upward graph and thus party has decided to fight alone and create a situation where no party is in a position to form the government without its support, Singh told reporters.

Singh along with national secretary K K Sachan and state leaders is already camping in the city to select the probable candidates.

16-yr-old Dalit girl raped, burnt alive

KENDRAPADA: A 16-year-old dalit girl of Kapaleswar village in Kendrapada district succumbed to her burn injuries on Tuesday evening. She was set on fire because she protested against her offender Jhili Mallick was kidnapped last year and was being held against her will at Kantia Mallick's house. On Monday, when she protested, the youth poured kerosene over her and reportedly set her on fire in the presence of his parents.

The victim's brother, Bhagawan Mallick, alleged that he had filed an FIR against Kantia last year and informed police that Kantia had kidnapped his sister and forcefully kept her in his house. But the police did not take any step to arrest the culprit or rescue his sister. "Police only registered a missing diary in her name," he said, adding that he had repeatedly urged the police to take action against Kantia. "But they paid no heed to my pleas. Now my sister is dead," he said. tnn

Tension mounted at Kapaleswar after the victim's body arrived at the village. At least 200 villagers blocked the road on Wednesday, demanding action against the police officials who earlier shielded the accused and refused to resuce the girl.
Source : THE TIMES OF INDIA

Andhra CM YSR dies in chopper crash, his Amravati dream lives on

Dharamsala, September 3 - Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy has died in an air crash, the Prime Minister’s Office said on Thursday. The bodies of 60-year-old Reddy, his Special Secretary P Subramanyam, chief security officer A S C Wesley, pilot Group Captain S K Bhatia and co-pilot M S Reddy were found on Rudrakonda Hill, 40 nautical miles east of Kurnool, besides the mangled remains of the helicopter.

The helicopter carrying YSR Reddy, two of his staff and two pilots went missing in pouring rain Wednesday morning over the Naxal and tiger-infested Nalamalla forests.

Nearly 24 hours after YSR's chopper went missing, it was located atop Serai Salem hill, at a distance 40 nautical miles (70 kms) east of Kurnool.

The CM left Hyderabad on a six-seater Bell chopper at 8.35AM for Chittoor. After 9.27AM, radio contact was lost with the helicopter.

Reddy met with His Holiness in 2006 during the Kalachakra initiations for which his government took an active interest and provided on huge scale the infrastructure and facility for the religious congregation making Amravati Kalachakra one of the best organized Kalachakras of all time.

Reddy responded positively to His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s plea to turn Amravati into an international Buddhist learning and tourist center. His Holiness the Dalai Lama said he was encouraged by the revival of Buddhism in Amravati in the 21st century.

Reddy will be cremated with full state honours at his native place Pulivendula in Cuddapah District on Friday. The Andhra Pradesh Government has announced seven days state mourning in honour of the deceased leader. The national flag will be hoisted at half-mast.

The Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi will visit Andhra Pradesh to pay their last respects to the departed soul. BSP Supremo & UP CM Mayawati also express deep concern over the tragic death of YSR.