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Himachal Governor meets Dalai Lama at Dharamshala

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Dharamshala: Himachal Pradesh Governor Bandaru Dattatraya met the spiritual leader of Tibetans, Dalai Lama at his residence in Dharamshala, today.  In the meeting, the Dalai Lama discussed India’s ancient culture, tradition, glorious history, especially the affection and contribution towards their comfort from the Himachal people.

He said that during his nearly 60 years of exile in India, he has visited many countries of the world.  But, he was deeply influenced by India’s ancient tradition and the message of non-violence and compassion, which the world needs most today.

Dalai Lama said that any person, irrespective of religious belief, could be happier in life by following the message of non-violence and compassion. He said that ancient Indian knowledge was helpful in providing mental peace.  Therefore, it is important to combine ancient Indian culture with modern knowledge so that better results could be achieved, he added.

Dalai Lama said that he was making efforts in this direction and has started a six-month certificate course in the Government College Dharamshala, which was based on ancient Indian knowledge, spirituality and Indian philosophy.  He said that a program of training for teachers would also be started in future so that this thinking could be extended to future generations.

He said that Indian tradition is based on scientific approach.  He described India as the Guru and referred Tibet as a good ‘Disciple’.

Speaking on the occasion, the Governor said that the Tibetan in exile living in Himachal have had cordial relations and they have also contributed significantly to the development of Himachal.  He hoped that this relationship would remain strong in future as well.

The Governor spoke about the enriching conversations he had with His Holiness the Dalai Lama earlier in the morning.

The Governor also made keen enquiries on the welfare and development of Tibetan communities across India, particularly on the major institutions of Tibetan Buddhist study in North and South India.

He expressed his best wishes to Tibetans all over India and assured them full support in “improvement of lives, education, and all other necessary support”.

He also visited the Tibetan Parliamentary Secretariat and met the Speaker and Deputy Speaker.

Earlier, The Kashag (Eng: Cabinet) of Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) led by officiating President Kalon Ven Karma Gelek Yuthok, received the Governor at the Kashag Secretariat earlier this morning.

Officiating President Kalon Ven Karma Gelek Yuthok, Kalon Sonam Topgyal Khorlatsang, Department of Home, Kalon Karma Yeshi, Department of Finance, Kalon Phagpa Tsering Labrang, Department of Security, Kalon Choekyong Wangchuk, Department of Health, Kashag, Secretary Tsegyal Chukya Dranyi, Chief Representative of Tibetans in Shimla Tenzin Norbu and Dharamshala Settlement Officer greeted the Governor as he arrived at the CTA headquarters.

At the occasion, Kalon Ven Karma Gelek Yuthok, Department of Religion and Culture honoured and felicitated the Governor.

The council of Kalons thoroughly apprised the Governor about the CTA’s robust administration and governance of more than a lakh Tibetans across India, Nepal and Bhutan, and the unparalleled support extended by the Government of India and the Himachal Pradesh Government towards the Central Tibetan Administration and Tibetan people.

7 reasons to eat beetroot daily

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Here we explain which special nutrients beetroot provides and how it affects our body.
1. It lowers the blood pressure.
Beetroot is rich in nitrates. These are converted in the body to nitric oxide, which relaxes and expands the blood vessels so that oxygen and nutrients can be transported better. Improved blood circulation lowers blood pressure. Tip: One glass of beetroot juice a day can lower blood pressure, this study proves.

fresh sliced beetroot on wooden surface

2. It reduces the risk of heart disease.
Beetroot contains a lot of betaine and B-vitamin folate, which together with lower the cholesterol levels in the blood. The effect, therefore, prevents arterial diseases and heart disease.
3. It promotes endurance.
Professional athletes swear by beetroot. Why? The nitrates contained are absolute power boosters that promote endurance. Studies with athletes confirm this positive effect. You need three to five beetroot tubers (e.g. as juice) in front of the sports unit to perform much better. The nitrate level is highest two to three hours after intake.
4. It improves brain function.
Nitric oxide relaxes and dilates the blood vessels – also in the brain. This is particularly important with increasing age, as our capacity to form nitrogen oxides decreases. In the same way, brain metabolism and nerve activity decrease. Here, beetroot acts as a motor for the brain. The results of a 2010 study showed that people on a two-day nitrate-heavy diet were able to concentrate, organize and work better than those who ate fewer nitrates.
5. It supports liver functions.
Eating beetroot daily can help reduce the accumulation of fat in the liver. This is due to betaine, which is otherwise only found in spinach and quinoa. The tuber not only promotes liver function, but it also reduces cholesterol and liver size.
6. It helps with chronic diseases.
Beetroot is rich in betalains, a class of antioxidants – and other anti-inflammatory drugs that, according to science, fight free radicals and reduce inflammatory and chronic diseases.
7. It is good for digestion.
To improve the digestive process, it helps to eat foods rich in fiber – like beetroot. A cup of beetroot juice a day helps reduce the risk of constipation, hemorrhoids, and diverticulitis. The betaine also has a positive effect on digestion, the scientists say.

Discussion on Ancient Indian Tradition with Indian Buddhists & students

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Dharamsala, India – Two groups of Indians met with His Holiness the Dalai Lama at his residence this morning. One consisted of members of the Youth Buddhist Society of India, Sankisa: students, teachers, doctors and engineers from 13 states and their friends. The other group were students and faculty from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication who have been getting to know the Tibetan community in Dharamsala.

His Holiness began his talk to them be declaring that his primary commitment is to promoting the practice of altruism, the awakening mind of bodhichitta.

Dalai Lama“We are encouraged to view all sentient beings as being as dear as our own mother. There are beings in other galaxies with whom we have no direct contact. Here in this world there are animals, birds, insects, worms and so forth, who it is difficult to help because they have no language. However, we can do something for our fellow human beings, because we can communicate with people who are mentally, physically and emotionally the same as us. Training in compassion brings people peace of mind—it brings happiness.

“When we’re too frustrated, angry or full of fear, we have no peace of mind. Money, fame and power don’t bring peace of mind, but paying attention to compassion does. Young children don’t care about their companions’ faith, nationality or race, so long as they smile and play cheerfully together. That’s the spirit we all need.

“Unfortunately, modern education gives little instruction on how to tackle our disturbing emotions and achieve inner peace. On the other hand, for more than 3000 years the concepts of ‘ahimsa’—restraining from harming others, and ‘karuna’—cultivating a compassionate motivation, have flourished here in India. These practices existed before the Buddha.

“Originally Tibetans were nomads and warriors, but after we encountered Buddhism, we became more peaceful. In 7th century the Tibetan king decided to model a form of Tibetan writing on the Indian example. Then in the 8th century, another king, despite his close relations with China, chose to introduce Buddhism to Tibet from India.

“He invited a great scholar, a monk who was a philosopher and logician called Shantarakshita from Nalanda University. Shantarakshita recommended that Indian Buddhist literature should be translated into Tibetan, with the result that we have a collection of 300 volumes of scripture. 100 volumes contain records of the Buddha’s words, the remaining 200 or more consist of commentaries by subsequent Indian masters. In the process of translation, the Tibetan language was deeply enriched. Now it is the most accurate medium for explaining Buddhist thought.

“Followers of the Pali Tradition rely on the authority of the Buddha’s words. Followers of the Nalanda Tradition, like us Tibetans, rely on reasoning and logic. We ask “Why? Why did the Buddha teach that? What did he mean?” The Chinese tradition had little interest in logic and analysis. Many Chinese practitioners advocated concentration and non-conceptual meditation. Shantarakshita anticipated tension between that point of view and his logical and analytical approach.

“He advised the Tibetan king to invite his foremost student, Kamalashila to Tibet to debate with the Chinese monks. After defeating the Chinese point of view, Kamalashila emphasized study and analytical meditation. This approach has given us the confidence to engage in fruitful discussions with modern scientists about such topics as cosmology, neuro-biology, physics and psychology.”

His Holiness clarified that he is committed to promoting basic human values, to encouraging inter-religious harmony, and to preserving Tibetan knowledge and culture. He quoted a 15th century Tibetan master who declared that until the light of India reached Tibet, despite its being the Land of Snows, it had remained dark. His Holiness added that Tibet’s preservation of the Nalanda Tradition is a real source of pride.

He observed that in the past India produced many great scholars and thinkers who developed a rich understanding of the workings of the mind and emotions—knowledge of crucial benefit to many in the world today. Since he believes that India has both the opportunity and ability to combine this ancient knowledge with modern education, he is committed to trying to revive appreciation of it.

In answering the audience’s questions, His Holiness made clear the contribution that ‘ahimsa’ and ‘karuna’ make to fostering religious harmony. Where there is a basic intent to do no harm, there may be argument, but no violence.

He advised that being too self-centred can give rise to anxiety and depression. An effective antidote is to cultivate a sense of altruism, taking the whole of humanity into account. Appreciating the oneness of humanity leads us to recognise our essential equality as human beings. He pointed out that the Buddha opposed caste divisions.

“Today, with the help of technology, the whole of humanity is one community.”

Asked how to better share Tibetan culture with the rest of the world, His Holiness commented that prior to 1959 there were those who referred to Tibetan Buddhism as Lamaism, as if it were not an authentic tradition. Nowadays, it is properly respected as the heir to the Nalanda Tradition, a system that even attracts the interest of modern scientists.

Questioned about his next reincarnation His Holiness recalled that when, on a previous occasion, a journalist had asked about this, he took off his glasses, looked him in the eye and asked, “Do you think there’s any hurry?” He remarked that certain Chinese hardliners seem very keen to know the answer to this, but they will have to wait another 30 or 40 years to find out.

“The future of the Dalai Lama is really in my hands. Before I die, I’ll write a will. And I think I’ll probably come back in some Buddhist community. However, as far back as 1969, I made it clear that whether or not there will be a 15th Dalai Lama will be up to the Tibetan people. It’s not so important. There is no reincarnation of the Buddha, but his teaching survives. There are no reincarnations of the Nalanda masters, but their writings remain. In my case, books and recordings of my talks will be there.

Sleep disorders increase the risk of heart attack

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New Delhi: Adults suffering from sleep disorders have a higher risk of cardiovascular disease. This is shown by a recent study conducted in China. The results show that it is very important to take sleep problems seriously and to treat them.
The risk was nine percent higher for people who did not sleep well and seven percent higher for people who woke up early in the morning. Those who had concentration problems during the day due to sleep disorders were 13 percent more likely to develop strokes or heart disease.
Dr. Liming Li of Beijing University reported: “The link between the symptoms of insomnia and these diseases was more in younger adults. The results suggest that we can later reduce the number of cases of stroke, heart attack, and other diseases by treating the sleep problems of people with behavioral therapies.
For the study, 487,200 Chinese aged 51 on average were interviewed. Eleven percent said they had difficulty falling asleep or sleeping through, ten percent woke up too early and two percent suffered from a lack of concentration during the day. These people were then observed for an average of 10 years. In this time it came to 130,032 strokes, heart attacks, and comparable incidents.

Narendra Modi inaugurates the Rising Himachal: Global Investor’s Meet 2019

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Dharamshala: Narendra Modi today inaugurated the Rising Himachal, the Global Investors Meet 2019 at Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh. Prime Minister of India Mr. Modi congratulated the Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh for organizing this event.
Addressing the gathering, Modi said, he is happy to welcome all the Wealth Creators to this meet. He said earlier states were offering various discounts to attract investment and that the investors were waiting to see which State offered more concessions or discounts.
He said it is essential that there is an enabling ecosystem for investors to invest in the states, where it is free of the Inspector Raj and the need for permits at every stage.
Rising HimachalHe said nowadays the States are competing to provide such an enabling ecosystem to the investors.
He added, over the past few years, several reforms such as ease of doing business, scrapping of obsolete laws were undertaken in this direction. He said healthy competition among states would enhance the competitiveness of our industries on the global platform.
Prime Minister said this would benefit the states, the local population and the country at large and India would progress at a very rapid pace.
He said Industry also likes a clean and transparent system and governments.
Prime Minister said that between 2014 and 2019 India improved 79 places in Ease of Doing Business Rankings. He said “Every year we are improving in each parameter. Improvement in these rankings means that our Government is making decisions after a thorough understanding of the needs at the grassroots level for the industry.”
“This is not just an improvement in rankings but a major revolution in the way of doing business in India. In today’s global scenario, India is standing strong as we did not allow our economic fundamentals to become weak”, he said.
He said Government has decided to restart the stalled housing projects across the country so that 4.58 Lakh families can now get their houses in which they have invested.
The central government has also slashed Corporate Tax to 15% for new domestic companies.
He requested Industry and Global representatives to view India as one of the most favorable destinations for investment.
Prime Minister said that the decision to invest over Rs 100 Lakh Crores for infrastructure development would benefit the state of Himachal Pradesh too.
Prime Minister also visited the exhibition showcasing the investment potential and opportunities of Himachal Pradesh.
Prime Minister also released a coffee table book in this context.
UAE is the Partner Country for the Global Investor’s Meet. Over 1700 Business Delegates including 200 International delegates participated in the event.

Naturopathy needs to be promoted: Himachal Governor

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Palampur: Himachal Pradesh Governor Bandaru Dattatraya today arrived at Palampur during his three days visit to Kangra district. This is his first visit to Kangra district as Governor.

During his visit today he visited the Vivekananda Medical Institute at Holta. Former Union Minister and Chairman of the Trust Shanta Kumar welcomed the Governor.

Naturopathy The Governor was apprised of the activities of Naturopathy such as Nirmay Center of Trust, Physiotherapy Section, Combination Therapy, Continuous Passive Motion (CPM), etc. being undertaken by the trust. He also visited the Sadhana complex and Old Age home being built under the name Vishranti. Shanta Kumar gave the detailed information of the institute to the Governor.

He appreciated the Management of the Trust for providing various facilities to the people and health projects being run by the Institute. He said that naturopathy was the need of the hour and needs to be promoted.

Himachal: Met department issue red alert on 7th November

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Shimla: The meteorological department, Shimla, has issued a red alert for Shimla, Mandi, Kullu, Chamba, Solan, and Sirmour in Himachal Pradesh on 7th November. Meteorological Department has predicted heavy to very heavy rains accompanied by thundershowers and lightning in various parts of districts in Himachal Pradesh.

Manmohan Singh, The director of the Meteorological Center Shimla, told HillsPost that the weather will remain clear until 5th November. The western disturbance will change the weather on 6th, 7th and 8th November.
Mr. Singh said that some districts of Himachal Pradesh may witness moderate rains with thunderstorms and lighting. The weather will be clear on 9th November.

Himachal Pradesh campaign No Horn please

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Shimla: Himachal Pradesh department of Environment, Science and Technology in Shimla and Manali towns will organize a campaign for No Horn please series of event under “Horn Not Ok” campaign from 4th November to 20th November, 2019. This campaign was launched by Himachal CM Jai Ram in the month of August last year with a view to create awareness among common citizens and tourists about ill effects of noise pollution in Shimla and Manali towns.

Director, Environment, Science and Technology D.C Rana said that the awareness campaigns would also be organized among the school children by delivering lectures during the morning assembly and by way of assigning duty to them to affix stickers of “Horn Not Ok” in their parent’s cars. Debate, declaration, painting, essay writing on noise pollution theme would also be part of this campaign.

He said that the school children will be requested once in a week to stand outside the school with placard showing the messages like “No Horn Please”, “This is silence zone”, “School area No Horn please”, “Honking is prohibited in silence zone” etc. Special lectures would be organized in colleges of Shimla town like and the painting, debate, declamation, essay writing competitions would also be organized in a series on “Horn Not Ok” in schools and colleges of Shimla town.

D.C Rana said the Traffic Police, Shimla would start challans in and around Shimla town on noise due to pressure horns during this period. It would also be considered to declare a particular day for challaning w.r.t. “Horn Not Ok Campaign” in the town.

He said that special derive to create awareness among all stakeholder departments like drivers of GAD, HP PWD, I&PH department, H.P. Pollution Control Board, Regional Transport Office etc. and  taxi, truck operator unions of Shimla area will also be organized in the town. The awareness material and stickers will be distributed on 4, 5 13, 14, 18 and 19 November in Shimla and around.

Russia launches its own Internet, disconnect the world

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Russia wants to protect itself against cyber attacks with a controversial Internet law that came into force today. Critics believe this law is an extension of state control. But implementation is still lagging behind. Russia wants sovereignty on the Net. In other words, Russia wants to be independent on the World Wide Web and set up its own Internet under complete state control. We are doing this for security reasons, the Moscow government has stated. After all, one must have an autonomous Internet in the event of a possible cyber attack from abroad or other dangers.

That is the reason Kremlin drafted the controversial Internet law, which came into force today. Among other things, it provides the establishment of a new network infrastructure, a national domain system. For example, the government wants to ensure that the Internet in Russia will still function even if it is cut off from the outside world.

The law is intended to oblige all Internet providers operating in Russia to use only these Russian domains – and also to install technology that guarantees the state authorities direct access to their channels. This should make it easier to block data and content. Russia, according to the Kremlin, could thus protect itself ideally against cyber attacks.
Critics, on the other hand, speak of an impending digital isolation of Russia. Even now, many Internet sites that are freely accessible worldwide remain closed to Russian users such as those of Kremlin opponent Mikhail Khodorkovsky. The human rights organization Agora sees the law as a “fundamental change” in government policy on controlling the Internet.

Thousands mostly young people had demonstrated against the law in the spring. They fear that the Kremlin could switch off the Internet at will for political reasons. Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, who is responsible for Internet issues in the Kremlin, rejected this as nonsense. Nobody intends to disconnect Russia from the World Wide Web. Rather, there is a danger that the West will disconnect Russia from the Internet. Therefore, the country needs an independent digital infrastructure as a reserve structure.

The organization Reporters Without Borders (ROG) criticizes the law. They said it is an attack on the freedom of the press and opinion. Control and filtering of data traffic would now lie with the media supervisory authority and the secret service. That is why the law is a threat to the freedom of the Internet. “It proves that the Russian leadership is willing to bring the entire infrastructure of the network under political control in order to cut off the digital flow of information if necessary,” said ROG managing director Christian Mihr.

The law could also have greater consequences for the economy. Companies are already complaining about enormous costs because they have to store data traffic for months on end. Companies recently asked the Russian state to bear the costs.

Himachal CM pays tribute to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel

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Shimla: Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, while paying floral tributes to first Union Home Minister of the country, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel at Secretariat Complex here today on his 144th birth anniversary celebrated throughout the country as ‘Rashtriya Ekta Diwas’ (National Unity Day), said that this day provides an opportunity to re-affirm the inherent strength and resilience of our nation to withstand the actual and potential threats to the unity, integrity and security of our country.

Jai Ram Thakur said that it was because of Sardar Patel that today India stands united as he did the almost impossible task of merging about 562 princely states after India attained freedom. He said that Sardar Patel also did the task of forging a united India by successfully integrating the newly independent nation. His commitment to national integration in the newly independent country was total and uncompromising, earning him the sobriquet “Iron Man of India”, he added.

He said that as the first Union Home Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of India, Sardar Patel also organised relief efforts for refugees fleeing to Punjab and Delhi from Pakistan and worked relentlessly to restore peace.

Jai Ram Thakur said that as a mark of respect to the immense contributions made by the Sardar Patel towards the Nation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has got built the highest statue of the world of Sardar Patel known as ‘Statue of Unity’ in Gujarat, which is 182 meter in height and has emerged as a biggest attraction for the tourists.

Chief Minister also administered ‘National Unity Pledge’ to the officers and employees of the State Secretariat on the occasion.