First Inshore Patrol Vessel of India named after a Jain Queen

First Inshore Patrol Vessel of India named after a Jain Queen

Visakhapatnam, May 28 : 'Rani Abbakka’, the first of the five Inshore Patrol Vessels (IPV), built by Hindustan Shipyard Limited (HSL) was commissioned into the Indian Coast Guard (ICG), here today.

Talking to newspersons, Inspector General of ICG (eastern region) SPS Basra, who was present on the occasion with his wife Ms Harkiran Basra, said HSL was building five such vessels for the Coast Guard at a cost of Rs 231.19 crore.

The vessel, meeting International Maritime Organisation (IMO) standards, was built for dual class certification by the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) and Indian Registered Shipping (IRS). It was a high speed vessel built of light steel hull and fitted with water jet propulsion system to get high speed operations at 34 knots.

The Centre had already approved a large vessel, five off shore patrol vessels, ten fast patrol vessels, 25 inshore patrol vessels and 20 interceptor boats, he said, adding post Mumbai 26/11 attack, the security scenario had warranted extensive patrolling and enhanced surveillance along the coast in the country.

The threats were real and the reaction to such situations needed to be fast and effective, he added.

HSL Chairman and Managing Director Naresh Kumar said the HSL was constructing three vessels concurrently and would be delivering all the five vessels of the series within an year.
--- UNI



-Mahavir Sanglikar

Physically Handicapped Need Opportunities, Not Empathy—Dr Veerendra Heggade

Beltangady, May 19: “Physically-handicapped people need opportunities more than empathy for this boosts their self-confidence”, said Sri Kshetra Manjunateshwara Dharmasthala Dharmadikari Dr D Veerendra Heggade.

Dr Heggade was speaking at the programme organized for free distribution of artificial limbs in Dharmasthala here on Monday May 18. This humanitarian task was undertaken jointly by Sri Dharmastala Manjunateshwara Medical Trust, Dharmasthala, and Marvari Youth Federation, Bangalore.

“Bangalore-based Marvari Youth Federation ventured into social work by extending health care facilities when a major fire broke out at Venus Circus in Bangalore in 1981”, said Dr Heggade. He said that since then, it has been involved in commendable humanitarian tasks that are indeed commendable.

“The physically challenged get special facilities and respect in countries abroad that is not found in our country. At the camp held here, 51 artificial limbs were fitted onto physically handicapped people. Moreover, if there are more number of such cases, one more camp will be held for them to avail the facility”, added Dr Heggade.

Marvari Youth Federation vice-president Mahendra Solanki said that their humanitarian tasks cover free dialysis service for needy patients in 22 hospitals across Bangalore. Free artificial limbs will be fitted to the physically handicapped at Mahaveer Jain Hospital with free accommodation and food.

Marvari Youth Federation president B Chandrapal Bhandary said that the organization has been engaged in polio reversal surgery, health care services to Bhopal gas victims, Kargil war victims, Gujarat earth quake, flood victims of Rajastan, tsunami, and the like.

“The organization has also provided free artificial limbs to 28,736 physically handicapped by conducting 252 camps. Mobile dental care services are made available in remote villages in Karnataka, whereby skilled dental surgeons attend to various dental ailments”, he added.

D Harshendra Kumar of Sri Kshetra Dharmasthala Manjunateshwar Education Trust, secretary Devaraj Gadia, joint secretary Pankaj Bohra, and K Anand Kumar Marleja were present on the dais.

Srinivas Rao compered the programme while Sri Kshetra Dharmasthala Manjunateshwar Medical Trust secretary Shishupala Poovani proposed the vote of thanks.

Veerendra Heggade Honoured by People of His Native Place

Bantwal, May 29: On behalf of all the Jains, Dharmasthala Dharmadhikari Dr D Veerendra Heggade was accorded a warm and emotional honour at his birth place, Bantwal. The people of his birth place exulted at the opportunity to offer their respect and love to Heggade, who had left this place as a young boy, to grow to be a leader, social worker and organizer of international eminence and stature.

Heggade was born and brought up at the Bandasale near river Netravati in the town. He completed his primary education in the board school here. After being enthroned as the Dharmasthala Dharmadhikari at a young age of 20, Heggade as the first step reconstructed the local Adinathaswami Jina Chaityalaya. He converted the Bandasale where he grew, as the centre of his brainchild, Dharmasthala Village Development Project’s local office.

To express their gratitude for the initiatives taken by Heggade to develop the taluk, the Jain Samaj and Jain Milan here jointly felicitated Heggade and his wife Hemavati Heggade on Thursday May 29. Heggade, who gratefully accepted the honour, said that character makes a man. Character also brings recognition and respect to a person. People should strive to inculcate good character and lead an ideal life in the society, he advised. His address was interspersed with anecdotes from his childhood life he spent here.

Heggade visited Sri Adinathaswami Chaityalaya at Bastipadpu here, from where the couple was brought in a process to the venue of felicitation, Sri Dharmastala Kalyana Mantap. On this occasion, a volume titled 'Jina Maitri' containing full details of the Jains and Jain Basadis in Bantwal taluk that was in the pipeline since long, was released by Heggade. MLA B Ramanath Rai, Jain Samaj president P Jinaraj Ariga, secretary Pa Anantaraj Indra, Jain Milan president Sudarshan Jain, secretary Subhaschandra Jain and many others were present.

Media directors arrested over Jainism articles

New York, January 8, 2009--B.V. Seetaram and his wife, Rohini, who head the media group Chithra Publications in Karnataka state, southern India, have been in judicial custody since Sunday in connection with two-year old criminal charges relating to their newspapers, according to local news reports.

State police arrested Seetaram, chairman and chief editor of the group, and his wife, the director, while the couple were traveling in the state's Udipi district, the reports said. Police told Seetaram the arrest was in connection with criminal charges lodged against them in 2007 for offending the sensibilities of a religious group in articles published by two of Chithra's Kannada-language dailies, Karavali Ale and Kannada Janantaranga. Seetaram told local reporters that the arrest follows a recent campaign of harassment against Karavali Ale, which is published from the nearby district of Mangalore, according to the reports.

"We are concerned that the arrest of these media owners, which coincides with attacks against one of their newspapers, is part of a campaign of harassment because they have dared to take on a sensitive religious issue," said Bob Dietz, CPJ Asia Program Coordinator. "We call on authorities to drop these criminal charges and ensure the safety of our colleagues."

The original complaint was filed in March 2007 by a practitioner of the religion Jainism, shortly after the newspapers published articles questioning the right of Jain leaders to appear naked in public, according to national English-language daily The Statesman. The couple spent a total of 10 days in jail in 2007 before being freed on bail. Seetaram characterized those arrests as harassment, and said that Karavali Ale had exposed links between the Jain community, a bus company allegedly carrying out illegal activities, and local police, The Statesman report said.

The reason for the two-year delay in the re-emergence of the charge was not clear from published reports. But attacks against Karavali Ale escalated in late 2008. In December, Seetaram lodged a complaint with the Press Council of India, a New Delhi-based watchdog body, saying that groups were commandeering quantities of the newspaper from vendors and then burning the copies. Its printing press was also attacked in November, according to local news reports. The reports quoted Seetaram saying local Hindu nationalist groups with the support of the state's Bharatiya Janata Party government were targeting the paper in retaliation for articles criticizing their activities.

Local journalists have protested heavy-handed official treatment of the media chief. In March 2007, police arrested the couple in their home at midnight without proper paperwork, according to The Statesman. After Sunday's arrest (which one report said involved 25 police officers), handcuffs and chains were used to restrain Seetaram when he was produced in an Udipi court on Monday, an unusually high security measure, local newspapers reported. Seetaram refused bail during that session, saying he feared re-arrest on similar charges if he returned to Mangalore, according to The Hindu newspaper. He and his wife have been remanded until January 17.

Tensions between religious groups run high in Mangalore, and newspapers are often accused of contributing to communal disharmony with provocative or one-sided coverage, according to the popular current affairs blog Churumuri Two individuals registered complaints with local police against Vijaya Karnataka, another Kannada-language newspaper owned by the Times of India Group, in December 2008 and January 2009, for separate articles said to incite hatred against Christians in the wake of mob violence by Hindu groups which targeted churches in the state in September 2008, according to the blog and local news reports.