Ahimsa Times 2007 10 SrNo 88

SR No.: 523588
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Ahimsa Times
Publisher: Ahimsa Times
Publication Year: 2007
Total Pages: 16
Language: English
Classification: Magazine, India_Ahimsa Times, & India
File Size: 376 KB

Page 8

AHIMSA TIMES - OCTOBER 2007 ISSUE - www.jainsamaj.org
Page 8 of 16
Homes. In Addition to Next Life, it will Help Purifying the SOUL in This Life Too. [Courtesy: By F. J. Dalal, 9001 Good Luck Road, Lanham, MD 20706. USA).
MISCELLANEOUS JAINS WANT RECOGNITION AS RELIGIOUS MINORITY In a programme organised under the banner of Jain Mahasabha, Delhi to honour Sri Jai Prakash Agarwal on his appointment as Chief of Delhi Congress, Prof. Ratan Jain clarified that jain are demanding recognition as religious minority group. We are not looking for caste based minority & government must understand the difference. Sri Jai Prakash Agarwal assured the jain community, that congress will full fill the promise of its C. M. (in election manifesto ) to provide jain religious minority status. The progarmme was attended by community members in large number from all sects. For more information contact: Prof. Ratan Jain, Jain Mahasabha Delhi, A-161, Ashok Vihar, Phase - II, Delhi - 110 052, Tele : 011272-15644 & 98-992-28882
JHARKHAND GUJARAT SIGN MOU TO DEVELOP TOURIST SPOT AT PARASNATH RANCHI: The state government has entered into an agreement with the Tourism Corporation of Gujarat recently in a bid to develop the famous tourist spot at Parasnath, a Jain centre of pilgrimage. Tourism secretary N.N. Sinha, who signed a memorandum of understanding for the development of the tourism sector in Ahmedabad during the 'Travel and Tourism Fair' organised in Gujarat capital, said that both the states will support each other to develop tourism. Lakhs of tourists from Gujarat, especially Jains, visit the Parasnath hills near Hazaribag to worship the 23rd Jain Tirthankara Shri Parsavnath. The MoU with Gujarat would enable a partnership between the two states to provide more transport linkage to the tourist spot to ensure healthy flow of tourists from the western state and enhancement of infrastructure scenario at the spot. Parasnath Hill located at a height of 4431 ft is the highest mountain south of the Himalayas. It was made accessible since the construction of a road in 1838. The Parasnath Hills hold special significance for the Jains which arises from the tradition of 23rd Tirthankar who attained nirvana on the hill.
AS BELIEVERS IN THE TENETS OF 'AHIMSA', WE JAINS DON'T EVEN KILL INSECTS. SO HOW CAN WE KILL THE GIRL CHILD? - SHANTILAL MUTTHA, PUNE
"As believers in the tenets of 'ahimsa', we Jains don't even kill insects. So how can we kill the girl child?" Using such emotional appeals based on the fundamental principle of the right to life, coupled with hard data on female foeticide and infanticide, the Bharatiya Jain Sanghatana (BJS) here has claimed to have made a breakthrough in Maharashtra in curbing the crime against the girl child.
Numbering barely 42 million in the ocean of 1.02 billion Indians (2001 census), community elders among the
Jains began seeing the impact of a declining sex ratio on the rising unavailability of eligible girls for marriage. This first came to light during a mass marriage movement initiated in by BJS president and businessman-social worker, Shantilal Muttha, in 1986-87.
During a 1993 survey of eligible boys and girls (18-25 age-group) in 25,000 Jain families in Maharashtra, the organisation found that there were barely 780 females of marriageable age per 1,000 males. "This worked out to a male-female ratio of 61:39," BJS national secretary Prafulla Parakh. Parakh said the findings were in tune with the national census statistics on declining child sex ratio. While the 2001 census recorded a child sex ratio of 927 girls per 1,000 boys in 0-6 years as against 945 in the 1991 census, Maharashtra's child sex ratio stood at 913 girls per 1,000 boys, declining sharply by 33 per cent from 946 girls in the 1991 census.
These statistics, coupled with the Jain community's difficulties at match-making events, motivated Muttha to address the issue. Two decades on, the BJS is now convinced that the numerous mass awareness drives and the multi-pronged initiatives that it undertook to discourage female foeticide have borne fruit.
UP GOVT. ACCORDS PERMISSION TO ESTABLISH TIRTHANKAR MAHAVIR MEDICAL COLLEGE AT MORADABAD - The establishment of the biggest medical college and Research Centre of Uttar Pradesh at Moradabad has been accorded due approval by the Central Cabinet and accordingly the State Government has also given its permission. Shri Mayawati, Chief Minister of U.P. has informed the college authorities that they can go ahead with the work of its establishment. The college has been allowed to have its intake capacity as 150. The land for this purpose has
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