Friday, March 20, 2009

Jains lose custody battle of stolen idol of Lord Mahavira

New Delhi, March 18:

The efforts of three Jain temple committees to get a stolen idol of Lord Mahavira for offering prayers did not succeed in a Delhi court which trashed the claim saying it did not belong to them and was the court's property until disposal of the case.

"It (stolen idol) is the case property in the present FIR and its production is very essential for the prosecution case and in such a situation, it would not be appropriate to release the same on the 'superdari' (conditional release)" Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Nivedita Anil Sharma said.

The court said that being followers of the Jain religion did not make the claimants the real owners of the idol.

"Merely because the revisionists are followers of the Jain religion and pray to Lord Mahavira, 24th Trithankar, it cannot be said that the idol should be released in their favour," the court said, adding they were not its owners prior to the alleged theft.

The capital-based Shri Digamber Jain Mandir Management Committee, 1008 Shri Parshvanath Digamber Jain Mandir and Shree Vardman Digamber Jain Mandir Sabha had filed petitions after being denied possession of the idol by a lower court.

The ASJ, however, said the Metropolitan Magistrate may give its custody to the Centre or Archaeological Survey of India in order to maintain and preserve it.

The idol of Lord Mahavira was recovered from accused Manoj Kumar at Maurice Nagar Police station here in 2006 and a case of theft was registered.

The temple committees had approached the court seeking its custody on 'superdari' saying "the Jain community prays to and worships Lord Mahavira and the idol rightfully belonged to them ... it may be handed over to them for performing puja."

The court rejected the claim and said "even otherwise, it is yet to be established if the idol recovered is actually that of Lord Mahavira."

"The committees have not shown anything which could indicate that the right to hold the possession of the idol is vested in them as it is apparently neither they nor the person from whom the idol was stolen are the owner," it said.

The court held that the police, which has to prove the offence of theft and the antique nature of the idol during the trial, was the rightful owner.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Idols found, Jains thank cops

Kolkata: With praises showering from all around, it was an ideal reception for the Kolkata Police.
The Jain community in the city felicitated the Commissioner of Police with some other officers on Sunday for tracing the two idols that had gone missing from a Jain temple in Burrabazar in February.

The officers were honoured with flowers and tikas, with the Kolkata Police being adjudged the “best in the country”, and even being “as good as the Scotland Yard”.

On February 9, two idols - of Astadhatu and Lord Shantinath (made of silver) - had gone missing from the Shree Neminath Digamber Jain Temple in Posta.

The incident led the members of the community to take out processions, demanding action against the culprits. They also submitted a memorandum to various authorities, urging that the idols be recovered at the earliest.

During this period, as a protest, no idols were kept in the temple by the members of the community.

On March 5, the police recovered the idols from one of the employees associated with the temple.

At the felicitation ceremony, the representatives of the community spoke in glowing terms about the police’s swift action. They also recalled the other instance when the police had recovered three idols in 1994 - they went missing from the Shantinath Digamber Jain Mandir in Kakurgachi. The idols were recovered within a month from a pond in Baruipur.

However, they also reminded the cops that the idol of Lord Parswanath (the 23rd Tirthankara), which went missing from the Shri Parswanath Digamber Jain Mandir in Alipore, has not been found yet.

Expressing satisfaction on the recovery of the idols, Commissioner of Police Gautam Mohan Chakrabarti said, “We will try to find the idol stolen from the Alipore temple as quickly as possible.”

Janhavi Dhariwal wins Young Woman Entrepreneur of the year award

Ms. Janhavi Dhariwal, Managing Director, Manikchand Nandadeep Paper Products Private ltd (MNPPPL) was conferred ‘the best young women entrepreneur of the year award’ at a recent function held by Jain International Trade Organization

Pune, March, 2009: Ms. Janhavi Dhariwal, Managing Director, Manikchand Nandadeep Paper Products Private ltd (MNPPPL) was conferred ‘the best young women entrepreneur of the year award’ at a recent function held by Jain International Trade Organization to mark the start of their Jain International Woman Organization (JIWO), Pune Chapter. Considering her hard work, achievements and success Ms. Dhariwal was awarded with this prestigious award in the presence our honorable Mayor, Ms. Raj Lakshmi Bhosale, Mr. Rasiklal Dhariwal, Mrs. Shobha Dhariwal amongst others.

On winning the award Ms. Janhavi R. Dhariwal (MD, MNPPPL) emphasized that, “It is not at all tough for a woman to make a mark in the society today provided she leaves her mentality at home when she comes to work. Woman today are multitasking, balancing both their personal and professional lives. They should not be judged by their attires but by the work they do”

“Traditionally marriages have been the priority for women. However in today’s world, there is much more to be achieved beyond the realms of marital existence”, she further added.

Recently in December Ms. Dhariwal was also conferred with the ‘best women entrepreneur of the year award’ by Moraya Gosavi Trust- Pimpri Chinchwad, Pune.

As a well accepted challenge, Janhavi Dhariwal took up Nandadeep Paper Products Pvt. Ltd, as the executive director in September 2005. It was a courageous decision for the young lady, as the company was then a loss making unit. She started with a modest workforce of 60 people and today Nandadeep Paper Products Pvt. Ltd has grown to 150 people and after breaking even in just one year, the company today boasts of being a profitable unit with distinguished corporate brands as their customers. While this is testimonial to the boom in the Paper products industry it is also an indicator of Ms. Dhariwal’s able leadership .Spear heading corporate affairs, her sharp business acumen combined with progressive business strategy makes her, an ideal next generation business leader.

Saturday, March 7, 2009

JITO Worldwide body of Jains to launch its New Chapter at Hyderabad

JITO is setting up a Jain Universtiy at an outlay of Rs 500crore, offers free medical insurance to 8000 Jain Monks at a cost of Rs 50 crore.

Jain International Trade Organization (JITO), a worldwide body of Jain businessmen, industrialists, knowledge workers and professionals in various fields reflecting their glory of ethical business practices to launch its 20th Chapter in India at Hyderabad on Sunday at 10am at Hotel Marriot.

The JITO Hyderabad Chapter will be inaugurated by Shri Ajay Jain, IAS, Managing Director of A.P. Genco. And guests of honour include Shri Hemant M Shah, National President, Shri Shantilal M. Kawar, Secretary General, Shri Mahinder Kumar Jain, President and Shri N. Tarachand Dugar, Secretary General of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Pondy Zone.

Immediately after the inauguration of the new Hyderabad Chapter, Shri Goutam Chand Jain Pikarna as Chairman, Shri D.C. Galada as Chief Secretary and other members of Managing Committee will be installed by The National President of JITO.

JITO aims to confer its members the benefits wider Global Business Contacts, access to Global Trade Directory on Web, opportunity to participate in International Trade Fairs, Conferences and Delegations. JITO invites all fellow Jains throughout the world to become a united force.

JITO is fast spreading many countries abroad such as South East Asian Countries, Far East Countries, USA, Europe and others. It already has chapters at Dubai and Hongkong. It has three tiers of membership. And has about 2000 across all categories of memberships. Many well known Jain Industrialists in the country have already become the members of JITO.

Some of the activities of JITO includes setting up a Jain University at an outlay of Rs 500crore. For which Rajasthan and Gujarat Governments promised all sorts of help in setting up the same. JITO has already mobilised Rs 2.5 cr as seed capital towards the same. JITO has been providing free and cash less medical insurance to 8000 Jain monks spread all over India at a cost of Rs 50 crore. JITO has been providing free training to Jain youth who plan to write Civil Service exams. It even provides educational loans at very nominate rate of 4 per cent interest.

Muni Param Pujya Naypadmasagarji, Maharaj Saheb, is the mentor and conceptualiser of JITO with the blessings of Guru Bhagwants had a dream of uniting all Jains under one Umbrella Organisation i.e.JAIN INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATION (JIO), JIO is the Apex confederation of all Jains, spread around the world, having under it sixteen different organisations such as Jain International Trade Organisation (JITO), Jain International Doctors' Federation (JDF), Jain International Chartered Accountants' Federation (JICF), Jain International Advocates' Federation (JIAF),Jain International Women (JIWO), Jain International Youth Organisation (JIYO), Jain International Government Employees' Organisation (JIGEO) etc. Almost 75% of the working population of Jains is engaged in business and industry.

The Jain population in India according to 2001 census is about 50 lakhs. The Jain population is spread across Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. The Jain population in Andhra Pradesh is estimated to be about one lakh. The Jain population in USA is estimated to be about 130,000.

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Major communities in Mumbai log lower birth-death ratio

MUMBAI: An analysis of the number of births and deaths registered among different religious denominations in the city shows that the birth-death ratio is on the decline for all major communities, indicating perhaps greater awareness of family planning

Public health department records of the number of births and deaths in Mumbai reveal that for every 100 Muslims who died in 2008, around 290 were born. For every 100 Hindus who died in the same period, around 180 were born. While 1.28 lakh infants were born into Hindu families in 2008, 70,558 Hindus died in the same period, a Right To Information (RTI) query filed by activist Chetan Kothari revealed. In the same year, Muslims registered 45,654 births and 15,936 deaths.

A similar query by Kothari last year had revealed that among Hindus, the birth to death ratio for 2005-07 was over two, and among Muslims over three. Both ratios have thus dipped. Sociologists attribute the higher ratio of births to deaths among Muslims to socio-economic factors like poverty, illiteracy and lack of adequate family planning.

The infant mortality rate amongst the poorer sections of society has generally been on the higher side. So they tend to have more infants. But the overall mortality rate will be lower as compared to other sections of society, as they tend to have a larger family,’’ S Parasuraman, director of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, told TOI. He said poverty was a major factor and studies have already shown the strong link between poverty, illiteracy and population growth.

Reformist community leaders like Asghar Ali Engineer agree. “Many lower middle class families who live in slums are not exposed to the concept of family planning. They have more than two or three children in every household. They believe that even though there is one more mouth to be fed in the family, the two hands will earn for the entire household,’’ Engineer said.

He said studies show that 65% of literate Muslims in Kerala have done effective family planning compared to 38% poor Hindus in Uttar Pradesh. “This shows literacy and poverty are linked to population control,’’ he said. The city’s Christians are a case in point. For every 100 Christians who died, only about 100 were born last year. This shows the community has not been increasing as compared to others.

Christian community leaders put this down to effective pre-nuptial counselling and natural birth control methods.

Anthony Charanghat, spokesperson for the Catholic archdiocese of Bombay, said the Catholic church does not encourage artificial methods of birth control and volunteers conduct camps to educate young people about the rhythm method, which relies on awareness of a woman’s ovulation cycle. “These are aspects many youngsters are still not aware of, and we tell them to be extra careful for at least seven days in a month,’’ he said.

Charanghat said factors like migration also contribute to the dwindling birth figures. “Youngsters migrate to other countries after they have finished their studies, which results in the dwindling number of infant births.’’ He added that the statistics also reflected the fact that people were marrying at a later age.

It would be risky, however, to read too much into these figures. Here’s why: The all-India birth rate is about three-and-a-half times the death rate. The ratio in Mumbai’s case is less than two according to the data Kothari got in response to his query. Migration has a large part to play in explaining this. People born elsewhere who move to the metropolis and settle down and die here skew the ratio significantly. It’s also possible that a section of migrants moves back to ancestral villages in the last years of their life. This section could be bigger or smaller in different communities, thus making a difference to the death rates.

The figures are even more alarming for Parsis. For every 100 Parsis who died, only around 14 were born in 2008. Here, too, delayed marriages and the ensuing fertility problems are held responsible. “Many couples marry in their mid-thirties, and some never get married,’’ said Berjis Desai, social activist and columnist on Parsi affairs.

For every Jain who died, about 15 were born last year. Community leaders like Dipchand Gardi say Jains live long because of their way of life. A vegetarian lifestyle and fasting combine to remove toxins from the body, Gardi said.

Jamir calls for efforts to revive individual philanthropy

Mumbai , Feb 28

Expressing concern over the declining practice of philanthropy, Maharashtra Governor S C Jamir today called for collective efforts to revive individual and collective philanthropy. Jamir said that philanthropy could play a significant role in advancing social equity and bridging the rich-poor divide.

He also released a postage stamp in memory of well-known philanthropist, industrialist and social worker, the late Harakh Chand Nahata issued by the postal department at Raj Bhavan.

Jamir said members of Jain community to which Nahata belonged had done remarkable social and philanthropic work in the form of building schools, hospitals, sanatoriums and dharam shalas across the country.

Nahata was a distinguished social leader and was associated with more than 40 socio-religious organisations. Jamir lauded his contribution in the field of road transportation, which paved way for the economic development of Tripura and other Eastern states of India.

Born in 1932, Nahata was an entrepreneur and contributed to the field of social service, education, art and business. He died in 1999.

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