IANS:

Taking note of pitiable condition of widows in Vrindavan of Uttar Pradesh, the Supreme Court on Wednesday appointed a seven-member panel to collect data on their socio-economic conditions.

A Bench of Justice D K Jain directed the committee, headed by chairman of Mathura District Legal Services Authority to conduct an enumeration of the widows living in the city within eight weeks.

The Bench asked the committee to submit its report to it by July 25, the next date of hearing.

The Bench said the committee should compile and prepare a list of widows with their respective names, ages, addresses, places of origin, reasons for being in Vrindavan and whether there was any property in their or their husbands’ names in their native places.

The committee would also comprise of the representatives of the National Commission for woman, those from the Uttar Pradesh government, district collector, district medical officer and Mathura’s senior superintendent of police, the Bench said.

The court passed the order on a plea seeking its direction to the Centre and the state government to provide shelter and other necessary facilities to the widows in the city, who have been abandoned by their family members.

The court’s direction came as per the recommendations of advocate Indira Shani who on behalf of the National Legal Services Authority suggested that the court should set up the committee for enumeration of widows in the religious town of Vrindavan.

Earlier, the apex court had sought replies of the Centre and the Uttar Pradesh government on the plea by the pitiable conditions of Vrindavan widows, requiring immediate steps for their rehabilitation and better living.

The court had issued notices on a PIL highlighting the plight of widows who have been living in Vrindavan and begging at temples and then huddling together in hovels, which they call their homes.

The NGO, in its petition pointed out to the court that the widows who congregate for around seven to eight hours for Bhajans, get only Rs 18 a day.

The NGO also had told the court that a majority of the 1,000-odd widows interviewed in Vrindavan by the NCW have children who do not care for them.

In a report to the apex court, the statutory women’s body recommended fastening of liability on the children under the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007.

It had said an estimated 5,000-10,000 widows were living like beggars in ashrams dotting the two holy cities of Mathura and Vrindavan and were being sexually exploited.

The NCW’s second report to the court said 81 per cent of these women were illiterate.

Irregularities in Eco-City Programme, probe role of CPCB: PAC
(PTI)
A report tabled by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in both Houses of Parliament today noted that the CPCB was authorised to implement the Eco-City Programme in six historically important cities including Kottayam, Puri, Thanjavur, Tirupati, Ujjain and Vrindavan and audit scrutiny of the projects “reveals startling irregularities” in various stages of its implementation.

The Committee, headed by Murli Manohar Joshi, pulled up the Environment Ministry for serious deficiencies and inadequacies in the implementation of various green programmes while expressing concern over the indiscriminate exploitation of natural resources.

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The panel has expressed shock over the loot of public money in the name of afforestation and pulled up the Centre for not taking action against the guilty.
On Eco-City Programme, it said irregularities were found in the stages of approvals, release of installments in violation of prescribed financial procedure, release of funds even when there were reports of unsatisfactory implementation, non-implementation of the scheme where the municipality was unable to provide matching fund of 50 per cent etc.

“The committee therefore urges the government to ascertain the reasons for such a slackness on the part of CPCB and also to revisit the Eco-city Programme for effective and speedy implementation and to apprise them in due course,” the panel said.

The project was conceptualized by the CPCB to bringg environmental improvement in select cities during the 10th five year plan period- 2002-07. Twelve cities of historical importance were selected but the programme was initiated in six cities only.

Asian Age: The Akhilesh Yadav government is preparing an ambitious blueprint for the development of Mathura-Vrindavan, the birthplace of Lord Krishna, as a major tourist destination.
Chief minister Akhilesh Yadav has asked various departments, including tourism, PWD, power, housing and forest, to develop the blueprint and present it to him at the earliest. The housing department ahs been appointed as the nodal authority for the implementation of the blueprint.
According to official sources, a sum of `600 crores has been earmarked for upgradation and maintenance of roads in the twin holy cities and also roads linking the Govardhan Parbat, Kosi, Barsana, Nandgaon and Vrindavan-Chattikara-Radhakund.
“The chief minister wants Mathura Vrindavan to be developed at par with other religious destinations like Vaishno Devi and Tirupati temple. This will create a major tourist hub within the state and attract worshippers of Lord Krishna from across the world. Ayodhya and Varanasi do not offer much scope for expansion since the major temples in these cities are located inside narrow lanes but Vrindavan poses no such problem and there is ample scope for development,” said a senior official.
The blueprint for Mathura-Vrindavan will include widening of roads, proper electrification, tree plantations, development of low cost hotels, public toilets, clean drinking water facilities, renovation of ghats, preservation of heritage buildings, efficient transport system and maintenance of parks.
Interestingly, to ensure that there is no politics in the development of Mathura Vrindavan, the chief minister has asked officials to convene a meeting of all local MPs and MLAs as soon as the development plan is finalized.
‘Mr Akhilesh Yadav is keen to invite suggestions from all local MPs and MLAs, irrespective of their political affiliations, so that development work does not attract criticism later on. This is one project that is linked to the sentiments of millions of Hindus and the chief minister does not want any irritants in it,” the official added.
The blueprint for development of the holy cities is expected to be finalized by the end of May and work is expected to commence after monsoon.
The Mayawati government, it may be recalled, had also drawn up a plan for development of Mathura-Vrindavan but the same could never be implemented.

(IANS): The Agra district authorities have begun an exercise to clean up the Yamuna, fearing Supreme Court action on non-implementation of its directives on the pollution threat to the 17th century Taj Mahal.

On Friday, some encroachments were removed from the ghats along the Yamuna river bank.

“On Thursday they destroyed standing kheera and kakdi (cucumber) plus tarbooz (melon) crops to clean up the riverbed near Hathi Ghat,” said Yamuna activist Ashwin Sharma.

The operation was launched after complaints by eco-activists and the Supreme Court monitoring committee members that farmers were using a huge quantity of pesticides and insecticides which find their way to the water works pipeline used to supply water to the residents.

Agra Municipal Corporation officials indicated that the clean-up drive will continue at Balkeshwar Ghat.

The Uttar Pradesh Forest Department has also launched a big drive to plant thousands of saplings along the riverbank.

Divisional Forest Officer P.K. Janu said , “We have taken up afforestation work along the riverbanks in the city area. You will see in a couple of months the whole barren patch turning green after the rains.”

“We have already planted more than 2,000 saplings of fairly big size and you will see the results immediately after a few monsoon showers,” he added.

The Supreme Court while disposing of advocate M.C. Mehta’s public interest plea on pollution around the Taj Mahal had directed that agricultural operations in the riverbed must be restricted, and the dhobis and dairies shifted out.

The Taj Ganj crematorium has to be shifted, but every time an initiative is taken, Hindu groups start opposing it. The river police squad formed two years ago— to stop cattle from entering the river and prevent washermen from washing clothes in the river—is still to be activated.

An eco-activist said, “The transport companies on the Yamuna Kinara road have not been shifted to Transport Nagar, the open drains have not been diverted and industrial effluents plus domestic waste is directly emptying into the river without treatment.”

Shravan Kumar Singh of the Braj Mandal Heritage Conservation Society said, “There is an urgent need to clear up all encroachments and rid the floodplains of the river of illegal constructions. The UP Pollution Control Board must take stern action against polluters.”

Lucknow, April 19 (Headlines India): In a fresh impetus to tourism in and around the Agra region, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav today asked officials to complete all ground work for the international airport project at Agra and to chalk out a plan to encourage tourist influx in the Braj area.

Chairing a high-level meeting here, the chief minister asked officials to work on a time-bound plan for the Mathura, Agra and Vrindavan area.

Specifically asking for development of infrastructure in the Braj area, Akhilesh said the pathways around Govardhan and the route on which “parikrama” (circumambulation) of the shrine should be improved as early as possible and directed the chief secretary to submit a report to his office within a month.

“Not only the infrastructure, facilities for tourists and devouts should also be improved,” he told officials at the meeting of the Agra, Mathura and Vrindavan Development Authorities.

The chief minister also asked officials to ensure that the areas near the Taj Mahal were clean and green and asked officials to speed up work on development of the Taj Nature Park near the Taj Mahal.

The route from Mathura-Govardhan, Kosi-Nandgaon-Barsana, Mathura-Govardhan, Vrindavan-Chatikara Radha Kund routes, Mathura-Saunk road and Govardhan-Saunk should also be broadened and developed, he said.

He also called for the need of developing resting places, sun shades, Sulabh lavoratories, lighting of the nearby areas and gave ‘on-spot’ principal approval of the same. (IANS)

Dear friends, lovers and well-wishers of Vrindavan Dham,

Due to lack of time and funding, it is not possible for me to continue with this project for the time being. If anyone wishes to sponsor this important endeavor so that we can get competent help and material facilities, we welcome their help.

Vrindavan Dham, Braj and India as a whole, are at a crossroads. Indeed, the entire world is facing tremendous challenges in the coming century. In many ways, Vrindavan is a microcosm of those challenges.

The clash between modernity, with its technological advances on the one side and its neo-liberal economic rapaciousness and consumerist ethic on the other, and spirituality, which values above all the internal evolution of the individual and one’s relation to God, other human beings and the environment, is perhaps nowhere more transparently manifest than here.

Vrindavan Today is meant to both chronicle what could well be the epic story of our age manifest here in the Holy Dham of Srimati Radharani, the supreme symbol of divine love as the goal of human life, and to serve the best outcomes.

We certainly hope that some friends and well-wishers will come forward to volunteer and support.

In the meantime, those knowing Hindi may consult the Hindi site for some of the latest news.

Jai Sri Radhe

Jagadananda Das

You may contact me at vrindavantoday@gmail.com

this is a review for the film Rasa Yatra, a four-year labor of love for film director Param Tomanec, artist in residence both at Vrindavan’s Sri Chaitanya Prema Samsthana and Oxford University’s Centre for Hindu Studies. The film guides its viewers through several scenes in India, eventually taking them to what Tomanec has called “the heart of India”: Vrindavan. The film’s final edit was just completed and a distributor is currently being sought.

The film’s greatest triumph lies in its ability to connect viewers of all kinds to Krishna’s expression as pure consciousness, to Krishna the cowherd boy, and to the devotion glorifying him. Whether or not the viewer is a Krishna devotee is irrelevant; Rasa Yatra communicates on a universal level. Devotional scenes include devotees from all over the world, yet do not dwell on this detail.

Yatra is translated as “journey.” Rasa is often defined as “juice,” “taste,” or “essence.” According to scholar Susan L. Schwartz, rasa involves “the experience of emotional states and their potential to induce religious response.” When speaking of rasa, Schwartz  also says that, “It is through the experience of the rasas… that the rasika, the enlightened observer, might approach the highest levels of understanding that Hindu tradition embraces.” Rasa Yatra offers the possibility of just such an experience. However, it does so in the framework of the narrative of each soul’s inner journey. It offers a chance for devotees to experience their own journeys to date over again, seeing the clear path of devotion that stretches ahead beyond the horizon. 

Pilgrims from all over the world undertake costly and arduous journeys so they may  personally experience this divine form, whose sinuous tribhanga (three-fold bending) pose, exquisite detail and playfully benevolent expression have elicited immediate devotion from all who have laid eyes on Him for the past 500 years. Resplendent in head to toe adornments and gold colored garments, the otherwise still shot of Radharama undulates; is this wavering vision from intense heat? Incense offerings? A dream state?

Rasa Yatra calls itself “A pilgrimage into the heart of India.” At first we are spinning as other flowers appear all around us; marigold petals rain down as Radha and Krishna dance in a Ras lila performance. Then the wind blows, and we find ourselves in another far-off place: the Himalayas. Pristine wilderness literally lords over us as its majesty is conveyed in several still shots: snow-covered mountains, valleys of green, brown, gold. The moonlit night, the sun-infused day, a clear lake Chandra Tal reflecting the Himalayas are there for us to adore and marvel at. All is calm, all is still and we see words from the Bhagavad Gita reach us as we continue to float: “… of stationary things, I am the Himalayas.”

In the quiet of caves, on hillsides, and in valleys – clothed in dingy dhotis, brilliant vermilion, pristine white, and dazzling saffron there are people, who understand this as a daily way of life.  Meanwhile, the clouds move in a spectacular time lapse. A young hand rings a temple bell, and there is movement, life, the herding of cows, the waterfall in which we somehow seem to get caught and whisked away. We know we are still safe, still loved and still on our sacred journey.

We move through the night and it is morning. We are greeted by the temple spire (chakram), by flowers, by dew-covered offerings to a Shiva lingam. We enter a courtyard where we get to overhear a Aunties’s conversation taking place as she applies mehndi and a two others prepare food. The woman expresses sheer joy from being able to visit the temple, to do pilgrimage, to connect with God in so many ways. The worries of the world fall away from her in a way that is beautifully and fully tangible. She begins to speak of God even coming to visit her in a dream – we follow her into the dream, into the Himalayan clouds.

Now we spin and drift through time as we watch the night sky rotate around the North Star. Our current picks up speed and we are moving at our fastest pace thus far. People are everywhere, moving through towns, enduring airport queues, and at river banks. We experience interaction, competition, exploitation:  the so-called “necessary evils” of society in the world: vogue, indigence. We see the result of material aspirations as the sun rises over a skyline crowded with pollution-smeared rooftops. Road-clogging traffic consisting of every conceivable mode of mechanical or animal-powered transportation, pedestrians and cows. Then the camera leads us to a small lane where a car hits a bicycle cart.

Now we see the many traditions inspired by Sri Krishna: we see Holi colors thrown in Vrindavan. We again see the Ras Lila troupe and then see dancing Holi revelers spinning; we, too, are spinning. Suddenly we see the woman from earlier who had dreamt about Krishna dancing in an incense-filled temple. Then we see a charkula dance as a veiled dancer balances a multi-tiered fire lamp on her head. Suddenly we are in a soft rain of flowers for a while before Krishna appears to us one final time. 

The film concludes with a dedication to the sweet-flowing river Goddess of Braj: ‘To Yamuna, daughter of the Sun.”

Where did we go? Did we go on a pilgrimage to the heart of India? We surely did. Where are we now?  On a pilgrimage to the heart itself: the heart of creation, the heart of humanity, the heart of our own selves.

Lucknow, 2012.03.01 (Indian Express): After a six month-long tussle with the Uttar Pradesh government over her suspension, 1976 batch IAS officer Promilla Shanker retired on Wednesday as the Commissioner of NCR cell in Ghaziabad, and not as the Chairperson of State Administrative Tribunal, where she was posted by the state government last week.

Shanker said that retirement did not mean that she would give up the issue she had raised and that she would fight against “massive urbanisation along the Yamuna Expressway” besides filing “a defamation case against those who humiliated” her. “I am a free bird now. No restraints, no bindings,” she said.

Sources in the Department of Appointment and Personnel said the state government had decided not to continue with the case of indiscipline against her for not taking charge as Chairperson of State Administrative Tribunal, as ordered on February 22. “She is a senior officer. If she decided to give charge as Commissioner of NCR cell on her retirement then it would be so. As of now, the government has not decided to oppose her claim or initiate any disciplinary proceedings,” said a senior government officer.

Shanker had been at the centre of a controversy for the past six months since she opposed the urbanisation plan along the Yamuna Expressway as a violation of law and rules. Soon after she recorded her opposition, the government placed here under suspension on September 9 last year saying that she had traveled abroad without permission.

Shanker maintained that her suspension was the result of her opposition to the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority master plan and appealed to the Union government, which recently decided in her favour and declared her suspension “void ab initio”. However, instead of reinstating her in the NCR Cell, from which she was suspended, the UP government posted her as Chairperson of State Administrative Tribunal. With only a few days left for her retirement, Shanker was hesitant to join the new post in Lucknow. Two days ago, she was made special observer by the Election Commission in Gautam Budh Nagar.

“I relinquished the charge of the office of Commissioner of NCR cell on my retirement today. That is from where I have retired.” she said.