News Round-up : ?Blind Walk? for promotion of eye donation

Bengaluru/Imphal:  Saksham, the country’s leading organisation dedicated to the cause of differently abled people launched public awareness fortnight to promote awareness about eye donation. The fortnight began on August 25 and will conclude on September 8. On August 28, the RSS swayamsevaks conducted door to door campaign in their respective areas to spread awareness about corneal blindness and eye donation. Addressing a gathering on August 28 at Rashtrotthana Yoga Kendra, former Chief Minister and BJP State president BS Yeddyurappa appealed to the people to join the campaign and pledge for eye donation. Noted Ophtholmologist Dr YL Rajashekar, Saksham State president CS Vijaya Kumar and State general secretary Vinod Prakash also attended the event.
In Imphal, the campaign was inaugurated at GM Hall on August 25. Local MLA Shri K Joykishan said there is stark contrast in the availability and demand of eye donors in the country. India has a demand of 46 lakh cornea transplant, but only 35,000 donors are available. This is due to lack of awareness. He said by donating eyes we can give the gift of light to those who cannot see this world. Dr Sachindra Laishram said the State has a requirement of 13,000 cornea transplants every year but the availability is much less. So far 17 cornea transplants have been undertaken in Shija Hospital till April this year, but the requirement is much more. National general secretary of Saksham Shri Kasinath apprised the audience of the campaign.
State Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities Shri RK Kumarjit and State president of Saksham Dr Sapam Jasowanta Singh were also present on the occasion.  Earlier an awareness rally was organised to generate awareness. Around 300 people participated in the rally.               

BMS thanks Govt for pro-workers decisions

New Delhi: Expressing sincere thanks to Government of India for taking pro-worker decisions, the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) said no government in recent past accepted so many demands of the workers collectively. The BMS directed all its State units and industrial federations to organise victory marches, gate meetings, street corner meetings, work place meetings to explain the general workers about the success it gained through the talks. At the same time it also directed all its units to make use of all types of available publicity mechanisms and give proper publicity to the great success. The BMS directed all its affiliate unions and members not to participate in any strike on September 2.
During the talks with BMS, the Inter Ministerial Group headed by Arun Jaitley had agreed to implement Bonus Amendment Act strictly and also to pay bonus for the years 2014-15 and 2015-16 based on the revised norms. The Government also agreed to take necessary steps to resolve the cases pending in High Courts/Supreme Court with regard to payment of Bonus. It has also decided to fix the minimum wages at Rs. 350/- per day for unskilled non-agricultural workers for ‘C’ category areas keeping in view the modalities of fixing minimum wages. The registration of the contract workers and their staffing agencies is mandatory as per law and states will be advised to strictly implement the same. Erring contractors will face appropriate action for any violation in this regard. “The Government has reiterated its commitment towards tripartite consultation process. Sector specific meetings will be held to resolve issues relating to respective industries,” BMS said in a statement on August 30.       

Swayamsevaks for e-waste free Pune

Pune: RSS swayamsevaks in Pune conducted Samajik Raksha Bandhan Maha Abhiyan from August 18 to 28. During the drive they campaigned for e-waste-free city. On August 28, between 9 am and 1 pm, more than 45 tonne of e-waste was collected and sent for scientific recycling. On August 18, the campaign for elimination of plastic and e-waste was launched.  During the campaign more than 3 lakh houses were contacted. Nearly, 15 lakh citizens were contacted and awareness about plastic and e-waste elimination was spread. The door-to-door campaign received overwhelming response from the public.
On August 28, huge crowd thronged to 44 centres and 173
sub-centres in the city. E-waste like bottles, cans, various toys, plastic bags as trash and old dysfunctional addict mobiles, chargers, wires, chords, fans, coolers, scanners, DVD and VCD players, CDs, freezers, TVs, CPUs, keyboards, computer monitors, tape recorders, irons, hairdryers, inverters, microwaves, printers etc were
collected. More than 70 institutions and banks joined the swayamsevaks in the drive. In the 10 day campaign, more than 15,000 RSS volunteers actively participated. “Society itself must come forward to resolve various problems faced by it. We have to rethink on depending upon Government machinery for each societal problem. Society has the power to associate itself and these efforts have proved
successful,” said RSS Pune Mahanagar Sanghachalak Shri Ravindra Vnjarvadkar.   

VHP  appreciates Jain saint’s speech in Assembly        

New Delhi: VHP commended the step taken by Haryana Assembly to invite leading Jain Sant Shri Tarun Sagar Maharaj to address the Assembly. The saint stressed on the significance of dharma over politics in socio-political aspects. “His pearls of wisdom are important and a guiding path to all. All Jain saints have been a guiding source for VHP and we respect them all,” said VHP working president Dr Pravin Togadia. “I appeal all in Bharat and abroad not to ridicule/insult any saint or anything that has been a revered part of our socio-religious psyche for ages. Freedom of Speech is not the right to hurt our socio-religious sentiments and symbols. VHP strongly condemns frivolous and insulting remarks by some people. It has become a fancy fashion to ridicule, humiliate and insult all that is a part of a socio-religious psyche and then term it ‘art’, ‘Freedom of Speech’ etc. It is deplorable and we condemn all such efforts to demean and degrade our
socio-religious symbols of faith,” Dr Togadia added.                                

Demand to include ‘Silambam’ in Olympics

Chennai: Kreeda Bharati celebrated National Sports Day on August 29. Around 300 people and children participated in the day long State level competitions. Traditional sports like Pallankuzhi, Paramapatham, Mallar Kambham, Silambam, Pachcha Kuthirai etc were played.  Remembering the great Hockey player Dhyan Chand, Dr Anbarasan narrated how Dhyan Chand became an outstanding player. Citing anecdotes, he highlighted that Pranayama is the base for all sports. He stressed that ‘Silambam’, the traditional sport of Tamil Nadu should be included in Olympics.  Vice
president of Kreeda Bharati Shri Thirumugam said Rajamata Jijabai’s Puraskar would be awarded to outstanding sportspersons. Shri V K Mohanarangan from Apna Industries distributed prizes to the winners.                         

‘Need to harness full potential of co-operatives’

Tumkur: Sahkar Bharati patron Shri Satish Marathe appealed to the Central and State governments to take effective steps to harness full potential of the cooperative sector. Delivering a special lecture at Tumkur University on August 27 on the topic of “Co-Op Movement in India and Abroad: The Road Ahead”, he highlighted the role the co-operative sector is playing in the Indian economy. He said the movement has covered 100 per cent villages and 75 per cent rural households and is functioning through a network of over 6 lakh co-operatives of various levels with membership coverage of over 25 crore. He, however, regretted that in recent years, the Governments have consistently refused to recognise the salient characteristics of the co-operatives and also failed to harness its potential to achieve growth through participation of people. He said the 100 year old co-operative Acts, both, Central and states, need to be radically redrafted in the changed economic, political and social scenario and create an enabling legal and financial environment to empower the co-operatives. “With a view to achieve rapid development and social harmony we need to
promote new models of Gen Next
Co-Operatives,” he added.             

Health camp for Pakistani Hindus

New Delhi: Bhagini Nivedita Sewa Nyas, in association with Heart Hindu Emergency Air and Relief Team, organised a health camp for the Hindus who have come from Pakistan on August 21. The team of doctors which was led by Dr Shilpi checked the patients and provided them free medicines. On request of Nyas general secretary Shri Mahavir Prasad Gupta, Dr Shilpi assured that the health camp would be organised for the Pakistani Hindus on third Sunday of every month. Earlier on August 7, the Bhagini Nivedita Sewa Nyas organised a meeting with the Pakistani Hindus who are in India on religious visa.VHP general secretary Shri Champat Rai and other VHP leaders also attended the meeting. The Hindus from Pakistan shared the agonies and pain which they are undergoing there.                      

‘Purity of thought is must in Sangh work’

Lucknow: RSS Sarsanghachalak Shri Mohan Bhagwat appealed to the Sangh workers to follow the Sangh ideals in practical life and show those values to the society through their conduct. He was addressing the gathering of Sangh workers in Lucknow on August 28. “The change that we expect in the society should be visible in our own personal conduct. The society should be supreme in our individual profession also. The Sangh work will grow when every Sangh worker acts according to the Sangh ideals,” he added.
He said the only agenda before the Sangh is to take the nation to the pinnacle of ancient glory. We all are working to achieve this objective. Therefore, there should be purity of thoughts in this yajna. He said the Hindutva is not against anyone and it loves  everyone. But it does not mean that it should remain weak. We have to make the Hindus powerful in all sense. “The society is our God. We are the people who serve the society without expecting anything in exchange. We have to work for all round development of the society. But while doing it not even an iota of ego should touch us,” he added.                                                               n  

Kalyan Ashram’s health workers workshop

New Delhi: Union Minister of Science and Technology Dr Harsh Vardhan applauded the sewa activities of Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram and said its workers are really rendering public service. He was addressing a gathering of Kalyan Ashram health workers assembled for a workshop in Delhi on August 27. Kalyan Ashram organising secretary Shri Somyajulu was also present. Dr Harsh Vardhan further said the Kalyan Ashram workers are serving the deprived people in remote areas and thousands of people are benefited from those services. Akhil Bharatiya Swasthya Pramukh Dr Pankaj Bhatia and Kalyan Ashram Delhi president Shri Shanti Swarup Bansal were also present on the occasion. Health workers from across the
country participated in the function.               n
    

Goa Sanghachalak relieved for
joining politics

Goa: Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) on August 31 relieved Goa Prant Sanghachalak Shri Subhash Velingkar for floating a political party. In a statement Konkan Prant Sanghachalak Dr Sahish Sheshanarayan Mod said: “RSS is of the firm opinion that all efforts should be made to strengthen the system for primary education in Mother Tongue in all parts of the country. RSS has supported and will continue to support the cause of agitation in Goa by Bharatiya Bhasha Suraksha Manch (BBSM), which is in consonance with the aforesaid opinion of RSS. As a part of the agitation, BBSM has made announcement about formation of a political party. RSS, since its inception, has never been involved in politics, and hence, RSS would have no role in the political endeavour of BBSM. With this background, it has been announced at a recent meeting of senior RSS office bearers in Goa that convener of the BBSM Prof. Subhash Velingkar has been relieved from his responsibilities as the Goa Vibhag Sanghachalak.” RSS Akhil Bharatiya Prachar Pramukh Dr Manmohan Vaidya, in a tweet, termed the news that Shri Velingkar has been sacked for doing anti-BJP activities as incorrect and wrong.                    

Sewa Bharati camp for adolescent girls
Rachi : A two-day training camp for adolescent girls was organised by Sewa Bharati in Ranchi from August 27 to 28. A total of 95 girls from 65 localities of Ranchi participated in the camp. Inaugurating the camp Rashtriya Sewa Bharati deputy general secretary Shri Gurusharan Prasad stressed the need on generating self-confidence among the adolescent girls. He said the girls need to be educated about health, education and cleanliness and Sewa Bharati is making sincere efforts in this regard. Distinguished guest on the occasion Smt Soni Mehta said adolescent girls should play an active role in nation building. Pramukh Acharya of Chinmya Mission Swami Madhvanand said educated and healthy girls can play more active role in resolving the social problems. Trustee of Rashtriya Sewa Bharati Smt Rama Popali addressed the concluding ceremony. Sewa Bharati is in the process of starting weekly centres for adolescent girls in Ranchi.