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AHIMSA TIMES - JUNE 2009 ISSUE - www.jainsamaj.org
Page 11 of 17
important to promote for the development of the society. The closing ceremony on 28th June was attended by several eminent persons. The Chief Guest of the event was Mr. J.C. PEGU, Commissioner of Income Tax, New Delhi, A.K.Jain presided over the closing ceremony and thanked the children, parents and the members of the academy for participating and organizing this unique event for the children.
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JAINS SHOULD BE READY FOR 2011 CENSUS OF INDIA According to 2001 census of India, the total population of India was 120 Crores. The population of Jains was 48 lakhs, which was just 0.4% of the total population. This number of bei Jains is absolutely false one. According to many Jain leaders, social activists and social researchers, the number should be at least 2 to 4 crores (20 to 40 millions), comprising 1.66% to 3.32% of total Indian population. Then why it is not seen in the Census data? There are many reasons for it. The most important reasons are ignorance and meanness by the data collectors. While filling the data in the printed forms, the data collectors do not ask the religion to the respondent. (Actually they have to ask it, but they do not follow the rule). Instead, they assume the religion and tick on the religion they want. As most of the surnames of Jains are like their other counterparts in their region, the data collectors 'think that the family is a Hindu one, and they circle or tick the letter H instead of J. It is happening every time. It is not just ignorance, but many of the data collectors do it purposely. It is happening not in the case of Jains only, but also in the case of Buddhists, Christians, Sikhs and Adivasis.
Why Jain? Why should we write our religion as Jain? The answer is very simple. We should write it 'Jain because we are Jains. When we are Jains, and if someone is converting us to other religion on paper, it is a very sad and bad thing. We should protect our identity. By writing 'Jain' we are going to help our Governments and our community to get the correct population of Jains. If the correct population of Jains is recorded, Government of India, All State and Union Territory Governments, Various Government Bodies, All Political Parties, Print and Electronic Media, Municipal Corporations, Zilla Parishads, Nagarpalikas, Grampanchayats will stop ignoring Jain community. The members of Jain community itself will become confident, as they will not remain members of a 'Tiny Minority community, but the members of 'Effective Minority community'. Courtesy: Mahavir Sanglikar sanglikar, E-Mail: msanglikar@yahoo.com
COURSES IN JAINISM AT SINGAPORE, PERTH AND KUALALUMPUR Malaysian Jain Sangha had expressed interest last year for running the FOUNDATION IN JAIN STUDIES course there. This course has been on offer in London for many years. Eventually, the three coordinators from KL, Singapore and Perth worked out a time table which would allow the course to be delivered in all three cities in one tour lasting five weeks. The Trustee and Hon. Secretary of the Institute of Jainoligy, London, Dr Harshad N Sanghrajka worked with the three coordinators and finalised the program. In all three centres seven day courses were arranged with a special two day course in Malacca. Two sessions were delivered each day, in Gujarati during the day and in English in the evenings. In all cases, extensive use of time was made on Saturdays and Sundays. Additionally a One Day workshop was run in KL and Perth with selected new topics.
The grand success of the tour is easily summarised in the feedback received from Western Australia and Singapore. KL Sangha was also overwhelmed by the results of the course. According to Mr Rakesh Shah, President of Western Australia Jain Sangha Inc, "Your clarity of thought, depth and lucid presentations with clear notes, and the very professional standards, including the use of technology, precise timing and comprehensive broad coverage of all topics has taken the Jain Community in WA by a storm. We have never seen such a powerful commitment and regularity of attendance here, and it is clear that you gave what the public wanted. We are all proud to be Jains, but you showed us why and also brought back the missing link between us and our culture. For your information we had over 150 people everyday for a continuous ten days listening to you for 2 hours daily. In addition most of the people were present for the full day on Sunday too. For Perth this is a record."
Mr Mayur Ghelani, President, Singapore Jain Religious Society wrote: "We had been apprehensive during the planning phase of staging the courses as to the number of participants that would commit to attending an intensive 20hrs course across 7 days! However, we were most pleasantly surprised with the overwhelming
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