RoadPeace  dedicated to supporting road crash victims organised the above event with the following brief for reflection. The organisation run by Brigitte Chaudhry can be contacted at the following address:

PO Box 2579
London NW10 3PW
t 020 8838 5102
f 020 8838 5103
info@roadpeace.org
www.roadpeace.org

helpline 0845 4500 355

The recent debacle over the raising of the Inheritance tax threshold has obscured the crucial point; it is an immoral tax that should in fact be scrapped totally.

It is nothing more than a stealth tax on a person who does not exist any more in this world; a stealth tax on one who has no voice to complain about or fight any unfairness.

We all have a duty to pay our taxes while we are alive, but to continue to be obligated to the State after our death (except for any taxes we owed at the time of our death) simply does not make sense.

Freedom Is Everyone's Birth Right
As Is God's Gift Of Free Choice
For Freedom Verily Is Free Choice!
Wear It With Pride!


India's 60th Independence Day 15th August 2007

DRAFT HCUK RESPONSES – FOR WIDER CONSULTATION WITH HCUK MEMBERSHIP

Introduction

The following is an extract from the Department of Food Rural Affairs (DEFRA) website. It explains the purpose of the consultation paper on the Draft Climate Change Bill:

Hindu Council UK in association with the Indo-European Kashmir Forum has achieved a tremendous success in helping to get the Baroness Nicholson report on Kashmir accepted by a huge majority in the European parliament at Strasbourg.

Suraj Sehgal, Director of Hindu Council UK, had examined the over 40 paragraphs of the draft report and had produced about 20 vital suggestions to be incorporated into the report.

Mayor of London’s
State of London Debate
12 May 2007
Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, Westminster, London

I was one of the 6 members of the panel at the morning session slotted for 11:35-12:50am on the topic:

“Multiculturalism: a key to London’s Success”

Compounding one atrocity committed in the name of religion (Caste) with another atrocity still being committed in the name of religion (Conversion).

Yesterday the undersigned was invited by Premier Christian Radio to participate in a debate with Sam Paul senior member of the All India Christian Council on the issue of caste and conversion. This is a very topical issue. Recently a couple of mainstream TV programmes have also focused on the issue of the outcastes or dalits in India.

Wednesday 2nd May - Professor Charles Taylor was presented with the 2007 Templeton Prize by HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, at Buckingham Palace. Later in the day he joined leading British religious figures, among them HCUK’s Anil Bhanot, at a press conference exploring how spirituality can be used positively to tackle bigotry and violence.
 

People from south Asian communities living in the UK are thirteen times more likely to develop kidney failure than the rest of the population and have a greater chance of needing a kidney transplant. This is mostly due to diet and lifestyle factors, as well as an increased susceptibility to diabetes and high blood pressure.

Right now, over 1,170 Asian people in the UK need a transplant and their chances of success are greater if they can be matched with a donor from the same ethnic background. But with Asian people accounting for fewer than 2% of deceased donors, transplant patients from this community typically wait twice as long as others for a suitable donor to become available. Some will die waiting

Hindu Council UK was invited to the Commonwealth Day 2007 observance at the Westminster Abbey and The Dean of Westminster, The Very Reverend John Hall gave a warm welcoming speech with a message from the Bible, “To follow the way of Jesus Christ is to reach out to others, to break down the barriers of prejudice and to work for mutual understanding.”

London – 26 February 2006 – The Indo European Kashmir Forum (IEKF) supported by the Hindu Council UK (HCUK), delivered a petition to the Prime Minister’s office on Friday 16th February to show the UK Hindu community’s support for Baroness Nicholson’s report on Kashmir as being truthful, objective and fair.

The petition was delivered after a silent demonstration opposite No.10 Downing Street against any proposed changes to the report sought by the Labour’s Foreign Affairs spokesperson in the European Parliament, Mr Richard Howitt, MEP.

Mansion House 1st February 07

As part of our engagement process with the City of London a delegation from HCUK met the representatives from the Lord Mayor’s Office led by his Chief of Staff Kay Brock together with her HR and London Borough Engagement colleagues.
Subjects covered were:

Hindu Council UK attended the GLA’s commemoration of the Holocaust Memorial Day at City Hall, to remember those who suffered as a result of the Holocaust and Nazi persecution.

The event was attended by Mayors of London’s various boroughs as well as other dignitaries, representatives from the Jewish community and holocaust survivors. Trude Levi, a Holocaust survivor, gave a testimony drawing on her experiences at the Auschwitz-Birkenau and Hessisch-Lichtenau concentration camps. The audience sat in silence as she recounted events during her life.

Is Britain becoming more segregated?

My personal and instinctive view is that we are not. However I have some ambivalent views about the issue, so this has to be noted in the context of what I am about to say.

In any cycle of immigration to a country, people experience economic, social and cultural segregation as they initially tend to gravitate to cities and areas where they can find people from their own groups for support, information and eventually employment.

Press Release : London – 18 January 2007 – The Reality Programme Big Brother last night showed the ugly face of bullying that plagues our society where a group from the host community single out one individual, Shilpa Shetty, an Indian, to shower abuse to the limits of vulgarity. The seed of racism was sown when one housemate refused to pronounce Shilpa’s name with respect at the very start of the show.

Kumbh Mela witnesses the largest gathering of humanity on the planet as the Hindu faith shines like a jewel in the crown. The full moon (Paush Purnima) on 3 January 2007 heralded the start of the six-week festival of the sacred urn, Ardha Kumbh Mela. The festival marks the halfway point between the twelve-yearly Maha Kumbh Mela and is in progress in the Northern Indian city of Allahabad. The Mughal Emperor Akbar gave the name to the city in 1583. The "Allah" in the name does not come from Allah as God's name in Islam but from the Din-Ilahi, which was the religion founded by Akbar. In Indian alphabets it is spelt "Ilāhābād": "ilāh" is Arabic for "a God" (but in this context from Din-Ilahi), and "-ābād" is Persian for "place of".
 

For over ten years now the Vivekananda Centre, as the education arm of Hindu Council UK has been running classes teaching GCSE and Advanced level Hinduism. The centre runs classes in a large number of temples and community halls all round the country. These classes are run free of charge and attract candidates from many differing backgrounds and ages. Candidates are drawn from Gujarati, Sindhi, Tamil, Punjabi or Caribbean communities. The age range of the candidates vary from 8 to 72!

We continue to conduct courses on Hinduism for Post Graduate students at about a dozen Universities in the UK. In some cases we travel to the universities, in some cases the students come to us. This week 22 students from University of Exeter visited us to study Hinduism. These sessions which are more philosophically oriented generate visible excitement. After this session the course leader, Mark Brimicombe emailed us, "On the way back in the coach, two young men spent 2hrs and 10 minutes discussing the nature of God in the light of your pluralist ideas. I think that says it all."

In a recent meeting with the Mayor and his team, the Hindu Council UK (HCUK) made their case for greater participation and representation for our community within the GLA and its umbrella organisation for the benefit of all Londoners. The Mayor recognised the very real and valuable contribution the Indian community is making to the economy of London and said that he would welcome further participation from us. In this regard he has promised to remove the unnecessary barriers that impede our progress to the top positions within the GLA group and help us to bring together different communities within London to build a more vibrant and profitable business community.

Diwali In London at Trafalgar Square was celebrated Sunday 15th October by 20000 people, every year the number increases by 5000, the event was organised by the Mayor of London and DIL (Diwali in London Committee chaired by Nitin Palan).

Programme included:

• Music - performances by Raghav, Hunterz and Kalakaar