JAMMU AND KASHMIR, INDIA, April 2, 2018 (NDTV): The Vaishno Devi yatra has been temporarily suspended due to overcrowding last evening. ”The pilgrimage to Shri Mata Vaishno Devi shrine has been suspended from the Katra base camp in Jammu and Kashmir’s Reasi district due to an unprecedented rush of pilgrims,” an official of the cave shrine said. The official went on to say that such was the rush, that the ticket counter had to be closed at 8 pm, nearly two hours before its scheduled closing time. ”More than 41,000 pilgrims were climbing towards the shrine with many already queued up for darshan. Apart from this, a further 15,000 to 20,000 pilgrims showed up at the Katra base camp. They are currently stranded,” he said.
In January this year, the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi cave shrine pilgrimage yatra, which begins from Katra was suspended as the number of devotees crossed the 50,000 mark on New Year’s Eve. It has been noted that an average 35,000 to 40,000 devotees arrive in Katra every day to pay their obeisance at the Vaishno Devi shrine. In November last year, the National Green Tribunal had limited the number of devotees allowed to visit the Vaishno Devi shrine in Jammu and Kashmir to 50,000 per day, taking into account the increasing pressure of pilgrims on the shrine and its impact on the region.
INDIA, April 2, 2018 (New Indian Express, by Michel Danino): In a previous article (The Great Secular Confusion, March 19), I challenged the secular definition of the Indian nation: there is, in fact, no such definition, nor are the nation’s institutions and Constitution genuinely secular, since they discriminate among the followers of different religions. At the core of the issue lies a binary that has been accepted as a political axiom, though occasionally challenged as we will see: that of majority vs. minority, inherited from the colonial era and enshrined in Articles 28 and 29 of our Constitution. On the face of it, minorities appear to be identifiable enough: no one doubts the existence of a Parsi or Jewish minority. Christians claim to be a minority, too–but are they? Whether such an economically and culturally dominant group qualifies as a minority, with the attached tag of vulnerability, is problematic. Equally ambiguous is the concept of a Muslim minority of about 195 millions (extrapolating from the 2011 Census), nearly three times the population of UK.
But the concept of majority is even more problematic, as the word suggests a monolithic Hindu population, primarily identifying itself as Hindu. This is contrary to India’s ground situation, where an assumed Hinduness is just one strand of a complex identity, others strands being community, language and region. In a secular state, there is no such thing as minority. I have got the same rights, status and obligations as anybody else. I wish those who consider themselves as the majority community would forget that there is any minority today in this country.” Damodar Swarup Seth, a member from United Province, concurred, ”I feel, Sir, that in a secular state minorities based on religion or community should not be recognised. If they are given recognition then I submit that we cannot claim that ours is a secular state. Recognition of minorities based on religion or community is the very negation of secularism.”
More at ”source” above.
After death, the soul goes to the next world bearing in mind the subtle impressions of its deeds, and after reaping their harvest returns again to this world of action. Thus, he who has desires continues subject to rebirth.
— Shukla Yajur Veda, Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 4.4.6
