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FRIDAY, July 29, 2016
Trump vs. Clinton: How they line up on health Read on Page 16 or Call 832-806-1000
Vol. 29 No. 31 Friday, July 29, 2016 • Published Weekly from Houston • 713-774-5140 20 Pages ( 2 sections) 50 cents E-mail: voiceasia@aol.com
MTS Corner Temple Renovation Project Reaches Milestone
Magsaysay award for Wilson, T.M. Krishna
July 24th CTRP Fund Raising Dinner A Huge Success - A Total of $630,000 Raised.
MANILA: Karnataka-born Bezwada Wilson, a prolific campaigner for eradication of manual scavenging in India, and Carnatic singer T M Krishna from Chennai, were today chosen for the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award for 2016. Apart from the two Indians, four others have been selected for the award -- Conchita Carpio-Morales of the Philippines, Dompet Dhuafa of Indonesia, Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers and ‘Vientiane Rescue’ of Laos. Wilson, the national convenor of the Safai Karmachari Andolan (SKA), has been named as an awardee for “asserting the inalienable right to a life of human dignity” while Krishna was chosen for the award under the ‘Emergent Leadership’ category for bringing “social inclusiveness in culture”. “Manual scavenging is blight on humanity in India. Consigned by structural inequality to the dalits, India’s ‘untouchables’, manual scavenging is the work of removing by hand human excrement from dry
latrines and carrying on the head the baskets of excrement to designated disposal sites,” states Wilson’s citation. “A hereditary occupation, manual scavenging involves 180,000 dalit households cleaning the 790,000 public and private dry latrines across India; 98 per cent of scavengers are meagerly paid women and girls. While the Constitution and other laws prohibit dry latrines and the employment of manual scavengers, these have not been strictly enforced since government itself is the biggest violator,” the citation said. 50-year-old Wilson, born into a dalit family involved in manual scavenging in Kolar Gold Fields township in Karnataka, was the first in his family to pursue a higher education. “Treated as an outcast in school and acutely aware of his family’s lot, Bezwada was filled with great anger; but he would later channel this anger to a crusade to eradicate manual scavenging,” the citation said. Wilson has spent 32 years on Continued on Page 10
Sri Meenakshi Temple Society’s Chairman Narayanan (Seated center), Fund raising Co-chair Dr. Appan(2nd from left seated) with other members of the temple’s society and supporters at the Madras Pavilion in Sugar Land. Photo credit: MTS.
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UGAR LAND - On a hot balmy July evening, about 130 of Sri Meenakshi Temple society’s devotees had gathered at the popular culinary place, Madras Pavilion in Sugar Land, MP as it is fondly referred. The mission was pretty focused, to reach the $ 500,000 Fund raising milestone by the end of the evening for the Corner Temple Renovation Project (CTRP).
The special group of attendees had heeded the call to upgrade beyond the Core donor level ($1,000) and generously partook in the Upgrade Pledge initiative with nearly fifty families participating. The event started with a prayer to the almighty and Chairman Narayanan welcomed the gathering. Treasurer Sasi’s message was pointed to encourage participation from the gathering. MTS’s inception
and growth were recounted by Honorary President Sam Kannappan, including work to enhance the corner Sannadhis in the late’90s. Fund raising (FR) co-chair Dr. Appan, who had conceived the idea to hold the Fund raising event and had worked tirelessly on its planning for this evening, explained the nexus between the three religious area
upgrades, which includes the current Corner Temple Renovation project, CTRP being the third phase; as well as the recent past projects (Ganesh Temple Renovation, GTRP; Main Temple Renovation Project, MTRP). Dr. Venugopal Menon then joined the stage and in his inimitable style encouraged all to participate in Continued on Page 5
Rep. Tulsi Gabbard nominates Sanders for president
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HILADELPHIA, 07/27/2016, PTI - Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard nominated Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders as the Democratic party’s candidate for the November general elections at the national convention here. As expected, Sanders lost the nomination to Hillary Clinton, who has become the first woman to be a presidential nominee of a major political party. Gabbard, the first Hindu to be elected to the US Congress, underscored Sanders’ popularity and issues he raised during the Democratic primaries in her nomination speech. “Because this movement is a fueled
by love, it can never be stopped or defeated,” Gabbard said. “Now on behalf of millions inspired by aloha, determined to seek a future reunited in love, passion and justice for all. I am truly honored to nominate Bernie Sanders for president,” the Hawaii lawmaker said as she proposed to nominate Sanders as the party’s presidential candidate. A day earlier, Sanders had asked his supporters to vote for Hillary Clinton. However, his fiercely loyal supporters pushed to ensure that he got a rollcall vote. Gabbard was among the few Democratic lawmakers to have supported Sanders.
On Monday, the Vermont Senator said he would continue to work for a political revolution and announced the formation of a new group called Our Revolution. Sanders had received some 13 million votes during the primaries. Clinton now aims to seek the support of these votes. After the roll-call votes, Sanders made a surprise appearance. He called for suspension of rules to pave the way for unanimous nomination of Clinton as the party’s presidential candidate. With this the party is now expected to show a united front before the November general elections.
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Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-HI., nominated Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-VT., for President of the United States during the second day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia today. Photo credit ASSOCIATED PRESS.
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