Tribals of Tripura celebrate Ganga festival

Author: ANI

Publication: Hamaraphotos.com

Date: February 4, 2009

URL: http://hamaraphotos.com/news/national/tribals-of-tripura-celebrate-ganga-festival.html

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A large number of Tribals in Tripura recently celebrated the Ganga festival to worship the holy river Ganga, which is revered by millions of Hindus in India and across the world as a divine river.
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Of many festivals in the hilly northeastern states, Ganga festival holds its own importance in the times of dying cultural heritage.
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Members of about five tribal communities on Tuesday, gathered by a streamside of river Howrah and traditionally pealed off three pieces of bamboo into beautiful flowers. Then they created a temple made of bamboo sticks in the middle of the river and the rituals were carried on.
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A group of tribal priests performed the rituals and offered prayers at the newly constructed temple.
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The annual Ganga festival celebrated during February-March was gradually losing ground, but the state authorities have now come forward to support the local residents and religious-minded to celebrate the auspicious festival.
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"We pray for peace and prosperity. We believe if this annual festival is not celebrated it will bring bad luck upon us. We have been celebrating it for decades and now even the authorities are helping us," said Uttam Narayan Debbarma, a priest in the local church.
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Ganga puja is celebrated every year after the observation of Navanna, the festival of new rice.
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Local residents say that the festival dates back to the period of Royal Manikya Dynasty that ruled Tripura for around five centuries between 1458-1947.
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This festival has successfully remained an inseparable part of the culture of the tribal community, which constitutes about thirty percent of Tripura's population.

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Source: Hindu Vivek Kendra
URL: http://www.hvk.org/

Party fears 'Islamisation' of Norway

Author: AFP

Publication: Dawn

Date: February 6, 2009

URL: http://www.dawn.com/2009/02/06/int8.htm

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Norway's leading opposition Progress Party slammed on Thursday what it termed the "gradual Islamisation" of the country after an order allowing policewomen to wear the Islamic head scarf if they so wished.
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"We've hit bottom. Once again, we see an example of Norway and Norwegian society caving to the special demands of Muslims," the populist party's spokesman on immigration issues, Per Willy Amundsen, said in an interview with a television channel.
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"Sector by sector, Norway is adapting to Muslims instead of Muslims adapting to a country in which they, after all, have chosen to live of their own free will. I call that a gradual Islamisation of Norway," he said.
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On Wednesday Norway's centre-left government announced that it would allow female police officers to wear the hijab if they wish.
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"After advice from the police directorate, it has been decided that rules on police uniforms will be modified to allow for the wearing of a religious scarf with the uniform," the justice ministry said in a statement.
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The police directorate said it was in favour of permitting the scarf to be worn with the uniform in order to improve the possibility of recruiting in Norway's Muslim community.
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"We think it's necessary to recruit widely and to develop a police force which reflects all classes in society, regardless of beliefs and ethnicity, which is more important than demanding a neutral uniform," wrote police chief Ingelin Killengreen.
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Several other European countries, including Sweden and Britain, have already allowed the wearing of religious headgear by their police officers.
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The Progress Party, which currently holds 38 seats in parliament out of 169, is posing a serious threat to the left-wing coalition in power in the lead-up to general elections in September.

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Source: Hindu Vivek Kendra

URL: http://www.hvk.org/

Dr. Koenraad Elst

Dr. Koenraad Elst was born in Leuven, Belgium, on 7 August 1959, into a Flemish (i.e. Dutch-speaking Belgian) Catholic family. He graduated in Philosophy, Chinese Studies and Indo-Iranian Studies at the Catholic University of Leuven. During a stay at the Benares Hindu University, he discovered India's communal problem and wrote his first book about the budding Ayodhya conflict. While establishing himself as a columnist for a number of Belgian and Indian papers, he frequently returned to India to study various aspects of its ethno-religio-political configuration and interview Hindu and other leaders and thinkers. His research on the ideological development of Hindu revivalism earned him his Ph.D. in Leuven in 1998. He has also published about multiculturalism, language policy issues, ancient Chinese history and philosophy, comparative religion, and the Arya invasion debate.

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Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koenraad_Elst