Parkrit Workshop at Bahubali, Kolhapur

A two day state level workshop on Prakrit Literature and Grammar has been arranged at Bahubali, a Jain pilgrimage center in the district of Kolhapur in Maharashtra, on 2nd and 3rd April 2011. This workshop is jointly arranged by Jain Chair, Shivaji University, Anekant Shodhpeeth.and Bahubali Vidyapeeth.

The chief guest at the inauguration is Dr. N. J. Pawar, Vice Chanceller of Shivaji University.

Two books written by Dr. Padmaja Patil will be published in this workshop.

For further details, please contact Dr. Neminath Balikai Shastri, Secretary Anekant Shodhpeet, Bahubali.
Phone: 0230 2584631, 0 942 077 6631

No alcohol, meat served at halls named after saints: MCD

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has decided to strictly enforce the ban on alcohol as well as non-vegetarian delicacies at weddings and functions held in halls named after religious leaders, or are located inside the temple premises.

The first place it will crack down on is the Mahavir Vatika Community Hall, located in Daryaganj, where the ban on meat and drinks is said to be violated openly.

The matter came to light after Mehmud Ziah, the councillor of Baazar Sita Ram near Daryaganj, raised the issue at a meeting last week. He complained that non-vegetarian delicacies and alcohol are served at Mahavir Vatika in Daryaganj, which goes against the teachings of the Jain leader after whom the park is named.

Ziah demanded that the authorities either rename the park or ensure that alcohol and non-vegetarian delicacies are not served.

“The Standing Committee has taken cognizance of the complaint and the guidelines will be changed soon. Whenever someone comes to book the hall, they will have to give in writing that no alcohol and meat will be served,” said Yogender Chandolia, Chairman of the MCD Standing Committee.

If you have more like Ajit Jain, send them over to me: Warren Buffet to India PM

NEW DELHI: Warren Buffett preferred to play second fiddle to his associate Ajit Jain when the duo called on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday.

"Shareholders in my company have more faith in him than in me. I am just a name," the Oracle from Omaha told the PM. "If you have more like him send them over to me," Buffet said. The 10-minute interaction also brought out Buffet's faith in IITs as centres of excellence. "In 1991, I asked Bill Gates which institution I should recruit from. He suggested IIT, and he was right," he told the Prime Minister.

Buffet who was bullish on economies of India and the US also interacted with a group of MPs. In the hour-long interaction, the investment wizard refrained from proffering any advice on what India should do. He, however, expressed his admiration for the emphasis of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and PM on inclusive growth.

He agreed with Union environment minister Jairam Ramesh that US had turned insular at a time when India and China were looking outward, but said that it was because of the crisis in the US economy. Asked whether financial liberalization was responsible for the economic crisis in the US, Buffet blamed what he called "mass delusion for house ownership". But while he said that another crisis could not be ruled out, the Wizard of Omaha was confident that the American economy would get out of its current woes shortly.
Replying to a question from BJP MP Chandan Mitra about corporate corruption, Buffet said that the USA was built on corporate corruption. But there was a clean up and regulation was brought in, he said. The iconic investment guru, however, stressed that he was not defending corporate corruption, but only suggesting that things needed to be viewed in a perspective.

L C Jain''s family declines Padma Vibhushan

New Delhi, Mar 24 (PTI) The family of noted Gandhian L C Jain has declined to accept the Padma Vibhushan, the country's second highest civilian honour for which he was chosen posthumously. Jain, known as a fierce opponent of "overwhelming" state control, was selected for the coveted award this year posthumously. Sources said Jain's family members and several NGOs said the late Gandhian was against accepting state honours. Jain, a recipient of the Magsaysay Award, breathed his last on November 14 last year at the age of 85. President Pratibha Patil gave away 61 Padma awards at a function at Rashtrapati Bhawan this evening. Another investiture ceremony is scheduled to be held on April 1 to honour the remaining 66 awardees. This year the President has approved 128 awards.

Common entrance test for UP Minority Educational Institutions

Lucknow: In a first perhaps, and laudable trend-setting move, eight recognized minority educational institutions in Uttar Pradesh have joined hand to conduct a Common Entrance Examination (CEE) for admission of minority category students in several professional courses at these institutions.

The institutions that have been granted minority status by the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions (NCMEI) have formed a body -- Consortium of Minority Professional Educational Institutions (COMPEI), for smooth conduct of the CEE-2011.

According to Mr Jamal Ahmed, President, COMPEI, the CEE-2011 will be held on May 22, 2011 and will offer 1350 seats in different courses like B.Tech., B.Pharma., MBA and MCA. The CEE-2011 will be held at 35 centres in several cities of UP, Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Uttrakhand, Assam and Jammu & Kashmir. "In UP the CEE-2011 information brochure will be available at select branches of HDFC Bank and Punjab National Bank. The last date for submitting application form will be May 2, 2011," he said.
He also stated that COMPEI has 2700 seats in professional courses and CEE-2011 will be for 1350 which will be for minority students. "For the remaining seats admission will be open for general category seats through the entrance examination by state's Gautam Budha Technical University (GBTU)," said Jamal Ahmed.

He said that minority category students were lagging in admission to professional courses and hence the arrangement has been done so that they can secure admission. "With 50 percent reservation, they stand fair chance of admission, we will also offer fee waiver in some cases to them for facilitating the admission," he said.

The institutions which are part of the COMPEI include Jahangirabad Educational Trust group of Institutions in Barabanki, Azad Institute of Enginnering and Technology, Lucknow, Azad Institute of Pharmacy and Research, Lucknow, Awadh Institute of Technology, Lucknow, Lucknow Institute of Technology, Vidya College of Engineering, Vidya Institute of Fashion Technology, Vidya School of Business-all from Meerut. "All these institutions are minority institutes with Muslim and Jain community," he said.

Central Government finding solution for Minority Status

PTI

On demands for inclusion of Jains in the notified list of national minorities, Central Minority Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said that the government was trying to find a solution to it and the Attorney General will be looking at the ways available before the government as the Centre's role is restricted in the matter in view of a Supreme Court ruling.

Jain College Wins Minority Case in Haryana

INVC,,Chandigarh,  A Division Bench of the Punjab & Haryana High Court has upheld that since the Jain Community is a minority community in Haryana, therefore the Haryana Government cannot interfere in the internal working of the educational institutions run by it even if these institutions receive 95% grant-in-aid from the government. While dismissing an appeal filed by the Haryana Government, the Division Bench upheld the order passed by a Single Judge, whereby he had allowed the writ petition filed by Atma Nand Jain College Ambala against the instructions issued by the government regarding the composition and functioning of the managing committee of the college.

Chief Justice Mr. Ranjan Gogoi and Mr. Justice A.G. Masih constituted the bench.

Mr. Randhir Singh, Addl. AG Haryana had argued that it is within the jurisdiction of the Haryana Government to issue instructions about the proper constitution and working of the Managing Committee of the College and such instructions do not violate the provisions of law.

Mr. Satya Pal Jain, Senior Advocate with Mr. Dheeraj Jain, Counsel for Atma Nand Jain College Ambala, had argued that since Jain Community has been accepted as a religious minority in Haryana, the Government cannot impose any unreasonable conditions in the internal management of the college run by it, as the same would be in violation of Article 29 and 30 of the constitution of India.

The bench held, “That the respondent-College is a minority institution is not disputed before the Court. The agreement between the parties on the said issue severely truncates the dimensions of the conflict between the parties in view of the law that has crystallized over the years in respect of minority institutions and the extent of governmental control over such institutions. The decisions of the Apex Court lay down the law which in substance is that there can be no governmental control over the affairs of a minority institution established under Article 30 of the Constitution.”

“Insofar as the main features of the directions contained in Sr. Nos. (i) to (vi), which are also being extracted below, not much persuasion will be required to accept the position that by the said directions the appellant State has virtually attempted to decide on the composition of the governing body as well as its tenure and had also made the decisions of the governing body subject to the scrutiny, control and approval of the Government/University.”

“We have no doubt in our minds that the aforesaid directions issued are clearly contrary to the principles of law as enunciated by the Apex Court in the several cases reference to which has been made in T. Jose’s case (supra). The same are, therefore, ex facie not tenable.”

“In view of the above, we do not find any merit in the appeal. Accordingly, we dismiss the same and affirm the judgment passed by the learned Single Judge.”

Andhra Pradesh: Jains Get Minority Status

March 8: The state government declared on Monday that along with Muslims and Christians, Jains too will be considered as religious minorities in the state hereafter.

This means that the Jains will have privileges like running educational institutions etc. for their community. As per the 2001 census, there are around 41,486 Jains in the state out of a total population of 7.6 crore which amounts to around 0.1 per cent.

The minorities welfare department issued the orders on Tuesday declaring the Jain community as a religious minority in the state following a representation from the Shri Bharatvarshiya Digamber Jain (DS) Mahasabha. It was stated in the representation that as per Article 30 of the Indian Constitution, Jains can be declared as a minority based on religion and language. Reacting to this in 2007, the then minority affairs minister, Mr A.R. Antulay, had written to the former CM, Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, informing him that a religious community, which was less than 0.5 per cent of the population, would definitely fall under the minority category and had to be notified by the state government as a religious minority.

In July, 2010, the minority affairs ministry had confirmed that for the purpose of determining minority, the unit taken into consideration should be the state and not the country.

Munisree Yasawai Sagarji Maharaj Passes Away

KOLKATA: An 88-year-old Jain monk breathed his last on Monday afternoon, after embracing the voluntary fast to death called Santhara, sanctioned by Jain scriptures. Munisree Yasawai Sagarji Maharaj of the Digambar community took neither food nor water for 51 days.

In a rare honour to Yasawai Sagarji, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation reserved the wooden pyre of Kashi Mitra burning ghat from 2am to 10am on Tuesday for his cremation. In fact, Jain leaders had applied to KMC the day the monk started his fast to reserve the pyre for a month. The KMC agreed. There is no precedence for this in the KMC's history.

On Tuesday, mayor Sovan Chatterjee personally asked chief municipal health officer J C Roy to pass an instruction to the sub-register of Kashi Mitra crematorium to arrange for everything. According to tradition, the monk was cremated in a sitting posture on the wooden pyre.

Yasawai Sagarji passed away at 3.25pm on Monday. He had decided to breathe his last through meditation and by fasting unto death two years ago, soon after becoming munishree', but his guru, Bardhaman Sagarji Maharaj, allowed it on January 17, said Dinesh Bajaj Gangwal), a senior member of the Parashnath Digambar Jain Belgachia temple trust. The trust immediately applied to KMC to reserve the pyre.

However, keeping the wooden pyre reserved led to an untoward incident about three weeks ago when a group of people from a north Kolkata locality created a furore after being refused to use it.

The KMC, which had reserved the wooden pyre at Kashi Mitra burning ghat for Munisree Yasawai Sagarji Maharaj, had to issue a fresh order after a family demanded to be allowed to use it.

The civic authorities then told the Parashnath temple trust that in honour of the fasting monk, the wooden pyre would be reserved for four hours. "We asked the temple trust to inform us about the demise of the monk immediately so that we could ask the sub-register of Kashi Mitra crematorium to keep the wooden pyre reserved as a token of respect for the Jain saint," said MMiC health Atin Ghosh.

A resident of Belgaum in Karnataka, Yasawai Sagarji Maharaj was attracted to Jainism at the age of 60 years. A father of four, he devoted himself to a saint's life 10 years ago, when he left family for good. Thereafter he attained three important feats of a Jain monk Brahmachari, Chhullak and Munisree.

His brother, Devegouda Jinjouda Patil, was present when Munisree Yasawai Sagarji Maharaj breathed his last. "He was always a devout person in search for the ultimate truth' all his life," said Patil. According to sources in the temple, the monk's son and all three daughters also camped at the Belgachia temple to witness the rare' event.

Dinesh Bajaj thanked KMC and Kolkata Police for cooperating with them for the last rites. The funeral procession of the monk was attended by 10,000 devotees and senior monks, Bajaj said.

Jain scholar Vilas Sangave, passes away

By Mohsin Mulla

A veteran scholar in Jain religion, sociologist and historian, Vilas Sangave, 92, died in the wee hours of Tuesday. He was bedridden for several days at his home in Rajrampuri area here.


He is survived by a son and daughter-in-law.

Born on June 2, 1920, in Solapur, Sangave completed his doctorate in sociology in 1950 from the University of Bombay. He served as a professor of sociology in Karnataka College and Rajaram College and was the head of the Shivaji University’s sociology department in 1980.

The veteran Jainologist had done monumental research on the religion and society, apart from research on Rajarshi Shahu Maharaj. He compiled eight out of nine volumes of Shahu Gaurva Granth.

Read More about Vilas Sangave at Famous Jains
http://famousjains.blogspot.com/2011/03/dr-vilas-adinath-sangave.html