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AHIMSA TIMES - DECEMBER 2007 ISSUE - www.jainsamaj.org
Page 4 of 20
ISHA HIMANI JAIN TOPS US SCIENCE COMPETITION
An Indian American girl, Isha Himani Jain, has been declared national champion in one of the most coveted student science competitions in the US. The 16-year-old student of Freedom High School in Behtlehem, Pennsylvania, won in the individual category of the Siemens Competition in Mathematics, Science and Technology. She has been awarded a $100,000 scholarship for her college education for having identified a cellular mechanism underlying bone growth spurts in zebra fish, similar to the way children's bones grow. She is applying to Harvard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Yale to specialise in genetics, and want to eventually have her own lab. Isha dedicates her success to father Himanshu Jain, a chair professor at department of materials science and engineering at Lehigh University, Bethlehem, and her mother Sweety Jain, who practises family medicine. The entries were judged by a panel of scientists led by Joseph Taylor, winner of the 1993 Nobel Prize in physics and a professor emeritus at Princeton University.
JAIN IRRIGATION'S FOUNDER-CHAIRMAN GETS UNESCO AWARD
Mumbai: Jain Irrigation Systems Limited's founder chairman, B. H. Jain, has been conferred with the UNESCO & West Net-instituted 'Water Conserver of India' award for work in the area of water conservation. The award was presented by Union Minister of Water Resources Saif-Ud-Din Soz in New Delhi on November 29. Till date, the company has received 46 state awards, 85 national awards and three international awards for outstanding export performance, R&D achievements, entrepreneurship and fair trade practices, a company press release said.
MISCELLANEOUS
BILL TO PUT MINORITY TAG ON JAINS IN WEST BENGAL
Calcutta, The Assembly today passed a bill that will empower the government to declare the Jain community a religious minority. "From now on, if the government considers it important to give any community minority status on the basis of religion, it can do so by only issuing a notification. This means the government will no longer have to drag the matter to the Assembly," minority affairs minister Abdus Sattar told the House. However, Opposition legislators dubbed the West Bengal Minorities' Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2007, "a bait" for minority voters. "The government has chosen to clear the bill because it will consolidate its vote bank among the minorities in next year's panchayat polls. Minorities were attacked and killed in Nandigram. So the move will help the government improve relations with the communities," said Asish Banerjee of the Trinamul Congress. Sattar rubbished the argument, saying Jains constituted only 0.07 per cent of the state's population and there was no question of "building a vote bank". The minister also denied any instance of torture on minorities in Nandigram.
DARSHEEL SAFARY A GREAT JAIN ACTOR
Darsheel Safary, a Gujarati Jain guy has done a marvelous acting in the recent Bollywood film TAARE ZAMEEN PAR. I am sure that Darshil is going to receive National and International awards for his performance. Do not miss this film. Please visit www.jainway.blogspot.com to read the review of the film and some photographs of Darshil.
ASHOK SINGHAL OF VHP CRITICISED FOR FOR FAVORING JAINS Junagadh, All India Sadhu Samaj president (Gujarat Chapter) Mahant Gopalanand has come down heavily on Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) president Ashok Singhal for his derogatory remarks on the sadhus of Gujarat, who have been tacitly campaigning against the Narendra Modi government. He said though the foundation-laying ceremony of the ambitious Girnar ropeway project in Junagadh has been completed thrice, it could not get started, because of the opposition of the Jains to this project. "This is because Jains are against this project and, Singhal and Modi are pro-Jains." HeL also said during the last five years, many sadhus, including several VHP office-bearers have been murdered, but none of the accused have been convicted or punished by law. "Why is the VHP not raising this issue of sadhus' murder under the BJP rule? There are number of slaughter houses functioning in Gujarat, but why is the VHP keeping quiet?"
JITO - 2ND JAIN INTERNATIONAL TRADE FAIR AT MUMBAI, JANUARY 2008
The Jain International Trade organisation will be organizing the next trade fair from 3rd January to 6th January,
http://jainsamaj.org/magazines/december-2007.htm
8/11/2009
