Lieutenant. Nikita Kaul

Do you know? Lt. Kaul, who presented a brave face during the last rites of her husband at his home town Dehradun, had left her job with a multinational company in Delhi to join the Army.

Twenty-seven months after she lost her husband in an anti-insurgency operation in

south Kashmir's Pulwama, 29-year-old Nitika Kaul on Saturday donned the Army uniform after completing one-year rigorous training in Tamil Nadu.

Army's Northern Commander Lt. Gen. Y.K. Joshi pipped the stars on her shoulders at a simple ceremony held at the Officers

Training Academy, Chennai, and wished her best of luck for future endeavours.

Lieutenant Kaul, originally a resident of Kashmir, was married to Major Vibhuti

Shankar Dhoundiyal for just nine months when the news of him making the supreme sacrifice for the nation during a gunfight with Jaish-e-Mohammad militants turned her world upside down. The Major was among five security forces personnel killed in the February 18, 2019, encounter in which three JeM terrorists, including two top commanders believed to be behind the deadly Pulwama suicide attack on a CRPF convoy, were gunned down.

Major Dhoundiyal was awarded Shaurya Chakra (posthumously) for his sa- crifice for the nation. Motivated by her husband, Lt. Kaul cleared the Short Service Commission (SSC) exam and interview last year and officially joined the Indian Army as an officer at the ceremony presided over by Lt. Gen. Joshi, the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Udhampur-based Northern Command.

"#MajVibhutiShankarDhoundiyal, made the Supreme Sacrifice at #Pulwama in 2019, was awarded SC (P). Today his wife @Nitika-kaul dons #IndianArmy uniform; paying him a befitting tribute. A proud moment for her as Lt Gen Y K Joshi, #ArmyCdrNC himself pips the Stars on her shoulders!," the PRO Udhampur tweeted. 

(Ref:News reports)

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The Central Adoption Research Agency (CARA)

This is about Child adoption. Do it legally.

Childline operates a toll free helpline 1098 for children in distress across the country. Make use of it.

Recently Hindu news paper reported this:

“For Adoption: If anyone wishes to adopt a girl, please feel free to contact Priyanka. One girl is three days old and another is six months old. They have lost their parents recently due to COVID-19. Please help these kids get a  new life, spread the word.” Such messages on illegal adoption have been circulating on social media platforms as the second wave of COVID-19 rages on.

Child rights activists want the government to create awareness on adoption measures and monitor such illegal adoption networks to prevent the trafficking of children. They also want the government to involve civil society organisations to monitor and follow up with families affected by COVID-19

"All adoptions are regulated by the Central Adoption Research Agency (CARA). So, if anyone comes across a child orphaned due to COVID-19, they should inform the police, Childline 1098 or the District Child Welfare Committee (CWC),” said a source from the State Adoption Research Agency (SARA). “Civil society organisations should be roped in by the government to monitor families with children affected by COVID-19. This was supposed to be done in the first wave itself. The District Child Protection Units, along with Childline, should check if the children orphaned due to COVID-19 have any relatives to take care of them orthey should be taken to chil-drens' homes and given care," said M. Andrew Sesuraj, State convener, TamilbNadu Child Rights Watch. Smriti Gupta, CEO, Where Are India's Children, said in the past few days, they had been overwhelmed by the amount of messages on social media about adoption of children who had been orphaned by COVID-19. 

“The entire adoption process is regulated pan-India by the CARA. People can find the nearest agency by contacting Childline or using http://cara.nic.in," she added..

=o0o=

 

TN CM appeal for contribtions

CM appeals for contributions to fight Covid19. They will be used exclusively for relief measures

Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Tuesday appealed to the gen- eral public, charitable instiutions and corporates to contribute generously to the Chief Minister's Public Relief Fund to help the State government fight the COVID-19 pandemic In his appeal, Mr. Stalin said Tamil Nadu was in the grip of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The current wave has placed immense stress on the State's health infrastructure and our people. My government has marshalled all ts resources in combating this unprecedented challenge ito protect the lives and livelihood of the people," he said.

The State government had imposed a complete lock- down to break the transmis-

sion chain, in spite of its impact on our economy, he pointed out. In this critical situation, the State needed additional resources to com- bat the second wave, in the backdrop of an economy struggling to recover from the impact of the pandemic, he added.

“Crises always bring out the best in humanity. It is time for all of us to stand to- gether and win this war. In this background, I make this personal appeal to all of you to contribute generously to the Chief Minister's Public Relief Fund. I assure you thatyour contributions at this crucial juncture will be ex- clusively used for COVID-19 mitigation measures like oxygen generation and storage facilities, setting up of beds with oxygen, procurement of oxygen concentrators, RT- PCR kits, other life-saving drugs, vaccines and other equipment,” he said.

The details of donations received and expenditure in- curred for the above mea- sures from this fund will be made available in the public domain, he said. Such contributions will be entitled ton100% tax exemption under Section 80 (G) of the Income Tax Act. Foreign contributions by NRIs or foreign entities are exempted under section 50 of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010. "All contributions above 10 lakh from individuals and organisations will be acknowledged through the press and media release[s]. An official receipt will also be sent to all contributors," he said. Contributions can preferably be made electronically through internet banking or credit/debit cards on the website: 

https://ereceipt.tn.gov.in/cmprf/cmprf.html

Payments through ECS/NEFT/RTGS can be made to the designated savings bank

account of CMPRF at the Indian Overseas Bank, Secretariat branch, Chennai 600009; 

account number:

117201000000070; 

IFSC: IOBA0001172; 

MICR Code: 600020061; 

CMPRF PAN: AAAGC0038F.

For UPI payments, 

the VPA ID is tncmprf@iob. 

For further details, visit

http://bit.ly/mkstalinrequest

...

Sun Prayer_Malayalam

🌷 ഇന്നത്തെ പ്രാർത്ഥന 🙏

"സന്താപനാശകരായ നമോനമഃ  

അന്ധകാരാന്തകരായ നമോനമഃ  

ചിന്താമണേ! ചിദാനന്ദായ തേ നമഃ  

നീഹാരനാശകരായ നമോനമഃ

മോഹവിനാശകരായ നമോനമഃ  

ശാന്തായ രൗദ്രായ സൗമ്യായ ഘോരായ  

കാന്തിമതാംകാന്തിരൂപായ തേ നമഃ 

സ്ഥാവരജംഗമാചാര്യായ തേ നമഃ  

ദേവായ വിശ്വൈകസാക്ഷിണേ തേ നമഃ  

സത്വപ്രധാനായ തത്ത്വായ തേ നമഃ  

സത്യസ്വരൂപായ നിത്യം നമോ നമഃ

🙏

ഓം സാവിത്ര സൂര്യ നാരായണായഃ നമഃ

🕉

Tribute to Activist Traffic Ramaswamy

One-man PIL petition army fought to resolve civic issues in Chennai.

K.R. Ramaswamy, 88, popularly called “Traffic" Ramaswamy, died due to age-related ailments at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital on Tuesday. He earned more enemies than friends during his career as an activist. At one point, his family disassociated themselves from him after they received threatening calls and abuses. He started his activism by helping to regulate the chaotic traffic in and around Parry's Corner, and was thereby given the nickname "Traffic' Ramaswamy by the locals. Initially, he was hailed by government officials for his work, only to later become a thorn in the flesh for various departments, particularly the police, with whom he had several run-ins on issues affecting the life of commoners. Be it the eradication of the banner culture in the city, the removal of vendors occupying footpaths or the shifting of iron and steel merchants from George Town to Sathangadu, near Manali, Mr. Ramaswamy had a hand in all. Mr. Ramaswamy's formula to make government servants do their duty was simple - file a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition in the Madras High Court and make the officials of the Greater Chennai Corporation and the city police do the work, as failure to comply with a court order would invite contempt of court. However, residents'  welfare associations and social activists, who initially ap- proached Mr. Ramaswamy to find solutions to civic issues in their locality, found that filing PIL petitions for every issue was not the answer, and slowly moved away from him. S. Rangarajan, who was instrumental in forming Neer Exnora, said the filing of PIL petitions by Mr. Ramaswamy brought to light the encroachment of a huge parcel of railway land at the Velachery station. A senior government official said he was instrumental in making the police and Chennai Corporation officials shift iron and steel shops that lined the narrow streets of George Town to Sathangadu. Mr. Ramaswa- my filed a PIL petition in the High Court, stating that the merchants were not moving. For all his good work, Mr. Ramaswamy was attacked by the cadre of various parties on several occasions when he attempted to remove banners. He was also reprimanded and fined by the Madras High Court for filing frivolous petitions.

Courtesy:The Hindu. 

സാന്ദ്രാനന്ദാവബോധാത്മകം

This is a stanza from the "Naraayaneeyam" poem of  Battathiripad. He lived four centuries ago. When he was inflicted leprosy he prayed Lord Guruvayurappan from the temple premise and wrote this poem and got cure from the disese. That is how" Naraayaneeyam" became popular. It is in sanskrit. Just a stanza is reproduced here in Malayalam with its meaning.

ഓം നമോ ഭഗവതേ വാസുദേവായ:

 🕉 ശ്രീ ഗുരവേ നമഃ 

സാന്ദ്രാനന്ദാവബോധാത്മകം

   🍁☘🍁☘🍁☘ 🍁☘🍁☘🍁 

ഭാഗവത്മഹിമാനുവർണ്ണനം

"സാന്ദ്രാനന്ദാവബോധാത്മകനുപമിതം

 കാലദേശാവധിഭ്യാം

നിര്‍മുക്തം -നിത്യമുക്തം നിഗമശതസഹ-

സ്രേണനിനിര്‍ഭാസ്യമാനം 

അസ്പഷ്ട്ടം ദൃഷ്ടമാത്രേ പുനരുരുപുരുഷാര്‍-

ഥാത്മകം ബ്രഹ്മതത്ത്വം 

തത്താവദ് ഭാതി സാക്ഷാദ് ഗുരുപവനപുരേ  

ഹന്ത ! ഭാഗ്യം ജനാനാം".

വ്യാഖ്യാനം :- നിറഞ്ഞു പൂർണ്ണമായ ആനന്ദവും അവബോധവുമാണ് ബ്രഹ്മത്തിന്റെ സ്വരൂപം. നിറഞ്ഞ് എങ്ങും വ്യാപിച്ചു നിൽക്കുന്ന പൂർണ്ണതയാണ് സത്ത് എന്ന് പറയുന്നത്. പൂർണ്ണമായ ആനന്ദവും പൂർണ്ണമായ ബോധവും രണ്ടാണോ? ആകാൻ തരമില്ല.അവ രണ്ടും ഒന്നുതന്നെയാണ്. സുഷുപ്തിയിലെന്താണ് അനുഭവം? ഉണരുമ്പോൾ സുഖമാണല്ലോ നമുക്ക് തോന്നുന്നത്. സത്ത അഥവാ ഉണ്മ മാത്രമായതിനെ ബോധം എന്നും, ആനന്ദം എന്നും പറയുന്നത് അത് പലതാകുന്നതുകൊണ്ടല്ല. ആ അവസ്ഥ അസ്തിത്വമാണ്; ആനന്ദവുമാണ്. കേവലാബോധവുമാണ്.അതുകൊണ്ടാണ് സച്ചിദാനന്ദം ബ്രഹ്മം എന്നും നാം പറയാറുള്ളത്. ശരീരത്തിനും ഇന്ദ്രിയങ്ങൾക്കും മനസ്സിനുമൊക്കെ അതീതമായ യാഥാർഥ്യത്തിന്റെ മണ്ഡലമാണത്. അറിയുന്നവനും അറിയപ്പെടുന്നവനും അറിവായി മാത്രം പ്രകാശിക്കുന്ന ഒന്നാണത്. സത്തും ചിത്തും (അറിവും) ആനന്ദവും ബ്രഹ്മത്തിന്റെ ധർമ്മങ്ങളാണെന്നു തെറ്റിദ്ധരിക്കരുത്.    

ഇവിടെ ന്യായമായ  ഒരു സംശയമുണ്ടാകാം. ബ്രഹ്മത്തിന്റെ സ്വരൂപമാണല്ലോ സത്തും ചിത്തും ആനന്ദവും. സത്തുണ്ടങ്കിൽ അസത്തും ചൈതുണ്ടങ്കിൽ ജഡവും, ആനന്ദമുണ്ടങ്കിൽ ശോകവും ഉണ്ടാകണമല്ലോ. അപ്പോൾ സത്തെന്നോ ചിത്തെന്നോ ആനന്ദമെന്നൊബ് മാത്രം പറഞ്ഞാലും അസത്തോ ജഡമോ ദുഃഖമോ ആയ ദ്വന്ദ്വത്തെ കുറിക്കുമെന്നുള്ളത് തീർച്ച. അതിന് പരിഹാരമെന്താണ്? പ്രസ്തുത ധർമ്മം ഏതെങ്കിലുമൊന്നു ബ്രഹ്മത്തിൽ കല്പിച്ചാൽ ബ്രഹ്മം തന്നെ ദ്വന്ദ്വമായിത്തീരും. രണ്ടെണ്ണ അവസ്ഥ അപേക്ഷികമാകയാൽ (പരസ്പരാശ്രയത്വമുള്ളതാകയാൽ) രണ്ടുമില്ലാതായി തീരും. ഈ ദോഷം പരിഹരിക്കാൻ വേണ്ടിയാണ് ബ്രഹ്മത്തിനു വീണ്ടും നിർവചനം നല്കപ്പെട്ടിരിക്കുന്നത്.

Curtesy: പ്രൊഫസർ ആർ. രാമവർമ്മതമ്പുരാൻ

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