RSS chief Bhagwat to address World Hindu Cong

Agencies
September 4, 2018

Washington, Sept 4: RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat will be a keynote speaker at the World Hindu Congress, a gathering of Hindu leaders from across the globe in Chicago later this week, the organisers said.

More than 2,500 delegates from 80 countries are scheduled to participate in the three-day World Hindu Congress (WHC) in Chicago from September 7 to 9. Bhagwat in his keynote address is likely to focus on the theme of the conference Sumantrite Suvikrante or Think Collectively, Achieve Valiantly.

The RSS chief is expected to underscore the need of the Hindu community spread across the globe to unite and think alike for the good of the mankind, former IITan Swami Vigyananand, and the brain behind the mega event, said.

"The idea of the WHC is to unite and gain strengthen the Hindu society and with that look after the interest of the society as well as help other deprived, marginalised communities of the world," Swami Vigyananand told PTI in response to a question. He insisted that this is not a religious conference.

"The conference is neither religious nor philosophical. The conference is focused on community issues. It is focused on issues that are relevant to the progress of any community in the modern time," Vigyananand said.

Over three days, more than 250 speakers along with over 2,5000 delegates from over 80 countries would hold brainstorming sessions over seven parallel conferences: economic, education, media, organisational, political, and women and youth. These parallel conferences would also showcase the values, creativity, and entrepreneurial spirit of the global Hindu community, he said.

The WHC is a global platform for Hindus to connect, share ideas, inspire one another, and impact the common good, said Abhaya Asthana, convener for the Congress. He is also the president of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America

The congress offers Hindus an opportunity to introspect towards improvement and tap into our collective resources to seek tangible solutions to the most pressing issues of the 21st century, he said.

In addition to Bhagwat, other prominent speakers at the conference are likely to be the Dalai Lama, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Ashwin Adhin (Vice President of Suriname), RSS joint general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale, MIT professor S P Kothari, Mohandas Pai, Anupam Kher, Raju Reddy, Swami Paramatmananda Saraswati, Chandrika Tandon, Prof Subhash Kak, and angel investor Raju Reddy.

Among top speakers at the economic conference are Mukesh Aghi, president of US India Strategic partnership Forum, former vice chair of NITI Aayog Arvind Panagariya, Mahindra group president Dilip Sundram, Daniel Bryant from Walmart, Rajesh Sundaram from Federal Express, and Ed Monser from Emerson Electric.

Other prominent speakers at the conference are Anupam Kher, Vivek Agnihotri, Madhur Bhandarkar, Amish Tripathi, and Francois Gautier. On the eve of the Congress, renowned classical musician wife-husband duo of Kavita Krishnamurti and Dr L Subramaniam would perform live for the delegates.

Meanwhile, the newly formed Coalition for the Defence of the Constitution and Democracy has announced that it will hold a press conference in New York on September 6 to lodge its protest against the WHC.

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Agencies
March 25,2020

Moscow, Mar 25: An earthquake measuring 7.5 on the Richter scale struck off Russia's Kuril Islands on Wednesday, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said.

The magnitude of the quake, which occurred at 2:49 am (UTC), was registered at a depth of 56.7 kilometres, about 219 kilometres southeast of the Russian town of Severo-Kuril'sk, the USGS said.

There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage to the property as a result of the quake.
Further details are awaited.

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Agencies
February 29,2020

Islamabad, Feb 29: A coalition comprising digital media giants Facebook, Google and Twitter (among others) have spoken out against the new regulations approved by the Pakistani government for social media, threatening to suspend services in the country if the rules were not revised, it was reported.

In a letter to Prime Minster Imran Khan earlier this month, the Asia Internet Coalition (AIC) called on his government to revise the new sets of rules and regulations for social media, The News International reported on Friday.

"The rules as currently written would make it extremely difficult for AIC Members to make their services available to Pakistani users and businesses," reads the letter, referring to the Citizens Protection Rules (Against Online Harm).

The new set of regulations makes it compulsory for social media companies to open offices in Islamabad, build data servers to store information and take down content upon identification by authorities.

Failure to comply with the authorities in Pakistan will result in heavy fines and possible termination of services.

It said that the regulations were causing "international companies to re-evaluate their view of the regulatory environment in Pakistan, and their willingness to operate in the country".

Referring to the rules as "vague and arbitrary in nature", the AIC said that it was forcing them to go against established norms of user privacy and freedom of expression.

"We are not against regulation of social media, and we acknowledge that Pakistan already has an extensive legislative framework governing online content. However, these Rules fail to address crucial issues such as internationally recognized rights to individual expression and privacy," The News International quoted the letter as saying.

According to the law, authorities will be able to take action against Pakistanis found guilty of targeting state institutions at home and abroad on social media.

The law will also help the law enforcement authorities obtain access to data of accounts found involved in suspicious activities.

It would be the said authority's prerogative to identify objectionable content to the social media platforms to be taken down.

In case of failure to comply within 15 days, it would have the power to suspend their services or impose a fine worth up to 500 million Pakistani rupees ($3 million).

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Agencies
February 17,2020

Islamabad, Feb 17: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday warned that Pakistan may face another refugee crisis if the international community failed to take notice of the current situation in India.

Speaking at the two-day refugee summit in Islamabad on 40 years of hosting Afghan refugees in Pakistan, he said India’s "ultranationalist ideology going unchecked could lead to destruction and the region could become a flashpoint", The Express Tribune quoted him as saying.

Khan said if the international community does not take notice of this situation, it will create another refugee crisis for Pakistan as Muslims of India will move to Pakistan.

"This is not the India of Jawaharlal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi. The United Nations (UN) must play its role otherwise it will become a very big problem in the future," Duniya News quoted Khan as saying.

He said said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement that India can destroy Pakistan in 11 days is not a responsible statement by a premier of a nuclear state with a huge population, the paper reported.

Khan made the statement in the presence of visiting UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, who was also attending the summit.

He said because of the "Hindutva" ideology, Kashmiris have been lockdown for over 200 days. He alleged under the same ideology, the BJP-led government passed two discriminatory nationalistic legislations, targeting 200 million Muslims in India.

Khan was referring to India's Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the revocation of the special status to Jammu and Kashmir.

The new citizenship law passed by the Indian Parliament in December 2019 offers citizenship to non-Muslim persecuted religious minorities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

The Indian government has maintained that the CAA is an internal matter of the country and stressed that the goal is to protect the oppressed minorities of neighbouring countries.

India revoked Jammu and Kashmir's special status on August 5. Reacting to India's move, Pakistan downgraded diplomatic ties with New Delhi and expelled the Indian High Commissioner.

India has always maintained that Jammu and Kashmir is its integral part and ruled out any third party mediation, including either from the UN or the US, saying it is a bilateral issue with Pakistan.

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