Home > 2006 Issues > May 21, 2006

FDI in retail trade to be opposed ?Murlidhar Rao Swadeshi Jagaran Manch convenor Murlidhar Rao has said that foreign investment in retail trade is against the national interest, and the people in any democratic country have the right to get market to sell their products along with the right to produce. He was speaking at a seminar jointly organised by Swadeshi Jagaran Manch and Rashtriya Swabhiman Andolan in New Delhi. Shri Rao criticised the UPA government?s policy to allow Foreign Direct Investment in retail trade. He further said the economy of India and the USA has no comparison. ?In India, a bank does not provide loan to a person doing the work of a barber, but it happily provides the loan to the person working as a lawyer. There are people in Santhal Paragana or Baster where moneylenders provide loans to people at the rate of four per cent to 120 per cent,? he narrated. Speaking at the seminar Shri Govindacharya stressed the need to launch a massive agitation against the recent demolition and sealing drive in Delhi. He said the political parties of Delhi were not fair in this drive and they were agitating just for their political gains and they are not doing what it really needed today for Delhiites. He said after finishing the small-scale industries of the country there is a conspiracy now to finish the retail trade and in the coming days the Indian agriculture would be targeted. He said any effort to convert India into America must be opposed tooth and nail.  (FOC) Vishwa Hindu Sammelan in February 2007 VHP has decided to organise Vishwa Hindu Sammelan during the Ardhkumbha at Prayag in 2007. Shri Champat Rai, joint general secretary of VHP informed that the Karyakari Sabha of VHP has taken the decision to organise the sammelan from February 11 to 13. He said the VHP would create its unit in one lakh villages of the country and only the villages having VHP units would participate in the sammelan. With the preparations of the sammelan the VHP would also expand its organisational network. He pointed out that the VHP today had over 50,000 units across the country. Besides it, there are Bajrang Dal convenors at 40,000 places, 12,000 service projects and 19,000 Ekal Vidyalayas across the country. Shri Champat Rai pointed out that it would be the third biggest Vishwa Hindu sammelan. The previous two sammelans were held in Prayag in 1966 and 1979.  (FOC) Untouchability not Hinduism ?Ashok Singhal The Manu Smriti or the Yagyavalkya Smriti has no connection with Adi Manu or the Sage Yagyavalkya. The Smritis were written during the reign of Pushyamitra about 2200 years ago. There is no reference of such Smritis in the Mahabharata also,? said Shri Ashok Singhal, VHP president in a statement issued in New Delhi recently. He said, ?There are two portions in the Smritis?Yama and Niyama. Yama consists of eternal values while the Niyamas were the periodic governing laws or codes of conduct meant for running the affairs of the state of the then kings. There are more than 300 Smritis. They have little to do with the eternal values of dharma. These have been responsible for gross discrimination that is alien to our concept of ekaatmataa (integralism) that is expounded in our ancient scriptures?the Shrutis (the four Vedas?the eternal revealed scriptures) and the Upanishads.? Shri Singhal said that the caste untouchability never existed in Hindu society. ?It is the creation of the Muslim rule. Because those who fought and refused to embarace Islam were punished for their commitment to their indigenous ethos and thrown out of the society as untouchables. These heroic people are enlisted as Scheduled Castes. We must differentiate between the Scheduled Castes and the shudras. Shudras were held with respect before the advent of the Smritis and the Scheduled Castes are of recent origin created during the Muslim rule,? he added. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad totally rejects the Manu Smriti as it has no place in a civilised society. The Dharma Sansad and the Margadarshak Mandal of VHP have totally rejected the caste untouchability. They have decided to give Mantra Deeksha without any discrimination. He said in the Vedas, there is no discrimination amongst the four Varnas. All are considered genius and masterminds in their own fields and all looked upon one another with respect. Recitation of the Vedic mantras in daily life was practiced by the entire society irrespective of Varnas.  (FOC)

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