Financial outreach camp at Ccpur to mark RBI platinum jubilee celebration

IMPHAL, Feb 19: The Reserve Bank of India will be celebrating its 75th year (Platinum jubilee) in Imphal on February 22 along with a Financial Outreach Camp in Pearsonmun village, Churachandpur on February 23.

A press statement of the bank has stated that the Governor, RBI has decided the platinum jubilee celebration will launch a series of initiatives and activities. The RBI, Guwahati under its Platinum jubilee celebration has held a series of village camps in rural areas and seminars in the urban areas of North East Region.

It has also stated that the village outreach camp in Manipur will be preceded by a seminar on 'North Eastern Region Vision Document 2020 with Special Reference to Manipur' at 3:30pm on February 22, at Classic Hotel. VK Sharma, executive director, RBI will deliver the keynote address. It has also stated that the seminars held so far have been an attempt to understand and assimilate the issues regarding development of the NER in general and the region concerned in particular through interactions with the intelligentsia of the state concerned.

The village outreach camp will have T Phungzathang, minister power/horticulture & SC/Sc and Technology, government of Manipur as chief guest, VK Sharma, executive director, RBI as functional president along with DS Poonia, IAS, chief secretary, government of Manipur and AN Jha, IAS, principal secretary, finance, government of Manipur as guest of honour, added the statement.(IFP)

Meghalaya govt confiscates 'blasphemous' Jesus textbooks

Kolkata, February 19 (BBC): The government in the Indian state of Meghalaya has confiscated textbooks showing pictures of Jesus Christ holding a cigarette and a can of beer. The book has been used for primary classes and has caused a furore in the north-eastern state, where more than 70% of the population are Christians. State Education Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh said legal action against the publishers was being contemplated.
The company, based in Delhi, has so far not responded to the complaints. "We are now considering legal action against the Skyline Publications of New Delhi who published the controversial textbooks," Lyngdoh said.
The controversial picture of Jesus was discovered in cursive writing exercise books being used at a private school in the state capital, Shillong. The minister said that although private schools were not obliged to use textbooks prescribed by the Meghalaya Board of Secondary Education, his government has taken speedy action by seizing all the copies of the textbook from schools and bookshops. "We are deeply hurt by the insensitivity of the publisher. How can one show such total disrespect for a religion?" asked Dominic Jala, the Archbishop of Shillong.
"Just think how this would impact on students at such a tender age." The Catholic Church in India has banned all textbooks by Skyline Publications from all its schools. "We have told all our member schools across the country to ban this publisher," said Catholic Bishops' Conference of India (CBCI) spokesman Babu Joseph. The Church has also asked the government to take strict action against the publisher and to ban any such "objectionable publications" from all schools in future, he said. "Jesus Christ is central to Christian faith and Christian life. The attempt to tarnish his image is highly objectionable and goes against the spirit of religious tolerance in India," Joseph said.