News Bulletin : 01 May 2018

Personalia

Revered President Maharaj returned to Belur Math on 7 April after his visit to Delhi and Mayavati. He is keeping well.

Swami Vagishananda ji will be visiting Malda from 7 to 14 May. He is keeping well.

Swami Gautamananda ji, now in Delhi, will be visiting Gwalior, Goa, Dharwad and Belagavi from 1 to 13 May, Rajkot, Limbdi and Vadodara from 18 to 25 May, and Kalady, Kochi and Thrissur from 28 May to 2 June. He is in good health.

Swami Prabhananda ji will be visiting Baghbazar centre from 16 to 27 May. He is keeping well.

Swami Shivamayananda ji is scheduled to visit Sargachhi from 7 to 12 May, and Gol Park centre from 23 to 28 May. He is in good health.

Swami Suhitananda ji, now in Darjeeling, is scheduled to return to Belur Math on 5 May. He will be visiting Bengaluru, Ponnampet and Mysuru from 18 to 27 May. He is keeping well.

Headquarters

The new toilet block at Belur Math for the use of devotees and visitors was formally inaugurated on 27 April. Photos and Report.

PSA-RKMM Skill Development Project, a collaborative effort between Peerless Skill Academy (PSA), Kolkata, and Ramakrishna Math & Ramakrishna Mission (RKMM), was launched by Sri Rajib Banerjee, Minister of Irrigation and Waterways Department, Government of West Bengal, in a programme held at the Institute of Culture, Kolkata, on 14 April. The General Secretary, a number of monks and about 1000 youths, devotees and well-wishers attended the programme. The project aims at streamlining and strengthening the vocational training programmes conducted by our centres.

New Mission Centre

Ramakrishna Mission, Cuttack, which was till now a sub-centre of Ramakrishna Mission, Bhubaneswar, has been made a full-fledged branch centre of Ramakrishna Mission. As announced in December 2016 Bulletin, its address is “Ramakrishna Mission, Mata Math, Ring Road, Cuttack, Odisha 753001”, phone no: (0671) 2305300, and email id: <[email protected]>.

Celebration of the 150th Birth Anniversary of Sister Nivedita

The following centres commemorated the 150th birth anniversary of Sister Nivedita by holding the programmes mentioned against their names:

Centres in India:

Jalpaiguri: A programme comprising lectures, music and a drama on 20 April which was attended by about 1600 people. Photos and Report

Bagda: A convention on 24 March in which about 250 students and teachers from different schools participated.

Bamunmura: A youths’ convention on 11 March in which 346 delegates took part.

Gadadhar Ashrama: Four students’ conventions on 10 February, 10 & 24 March and 7 April at four schools in Bankura district and Kolkata, which were attended by about 900 students in all. Photos and Report.

Swamiji’s Ancestral House: Seven lectures at the centre and elsewhere in Kolkata between 22 March and 20 April. In all, 3500 people attended the lectures. 

 

Outside India:

Holland: A programme comprising lectures and music on 29 April in which a good number of devotees and well-wishers took part. A booklet on Sister Nivedita was also released in the programme. Photos and Report.

Communication Addresses

Chittagong (Bangladesh) centre has a new email id: <[email protected]>.

Delhi centre has discontinued its fax facility: 2358 0848.

Since writing “Tehsil Bissam-Cuttack” in the address of Hatamuniguda centre needs to be discontinued, the centre’s address is to be written as follows: “Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama, Hatamuniguda, Dist. Rayagada, Odisha 765 020”. Further, the centre has discontinued all its landline telephone connections and the fax facility. It has a new mobile phone connection: 94380 15552, and a new website: <www.rkmhatamuniguda.org>.

The name of Karimganj centre has been changed from ‘Ramakrishna Mission Seva Samiti’ to ‘Ramakrishna Mission’.

News of Branch Centres (in India)

Swami Gautamananda ji inaugurated the renovated and extended physiotherapy unit at Chennai Math on 4 April. Photos and Report.

Sri V P Singh Badnore, Governor of Punjab, participated in the annual celebration of Chandigarh Ashrama on 8 April and addressed the gathering.

The General Secretary inaugurated the newly built living rooms of the students’ home at Chandipur Math on 8 April. Photos and Report.

Swami Suhitananda ji declared open the first floor of the patients’ recovery building at Muzaffarpur centre on 8 April.

The General Secretary inaugurated the newly constructed school building of Ma Sarada Vidyamandir at Orchha in Chhattisgarh on 11 April. The Vidyamandir is run by Vivekananda Institute of Social Health, Welfare And Service (VISHWAS), an organization working in association with Narainpur centre.

Narainpur centre held a sports meet from 12 to 16 April in which 1482 students from 37 schools of 3 districts in Chhattisgarh participated. The General Secretary flagged off the event.

Dehradun centre celebrated its centenary from 17 to 19 April with public meetings, a youths’ convention and music concerts. On this occasion, Swami Gautamananda ji inaugurated the new monks’ quarters, named Swami Ranganathananda Bhavan, and the General Secretary inaugurated the eye care centre, named Vivekananda Netralaya. About 200 monks and 2200 devotees attended the programmes. Photos.

On 18 April, Swami Prabhananda ji inaugurated the new school building of Shishu Vidyavithi of Narendrapur centre and also released the platinum jubilee commemorative volume of the centre.

Swami Gautamananda ji dedicated Saradananda Bhavan, the new building for running skill development courses, at Vivekananda Cultural Centre of Shillong centre on 27 April. Sri Ganga Prasad, Governor of Meghalaya, and many other dignitaries, monks and about 2500 students and devotees attended the programme. On this occasion, the centre held a symposium on Swamiji’s message of religious catholicity, public meetings, a devotees’ convention and cultural events on 28 and 29 April. A commemorative volume and a documentary film on the centre’s activities were also released. Report and Photos.

 

Four of our degree colleges have secured good positions in the all-India rankings for the year 2018 announced by National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, on 3 April. The details are as follows:

WordPress Tables

 

Two students of Deoghar Vidyapith and fourteen students of Narendrapur Vidyalaya won the prestigious Kishore Vaigyanik Protsahan Yojana (KVPY) Fellowship-2017.

Three students of Purulia Vidyapith secured the top three ranks at the state level in the International Olympiad of Mathematics conducted by Silverzone Foundation, New Delhi. 

Seva Pratishthan held two cancer camps at Rajarhat and Narendrapur in Kolkata on 15 and 27 March in which about 30 patients were examined.

Vrindaban Sevashrama conducted a urology and general surgery camp from 4 to 6 April, in which 12 specialist doctors checked 282 patients and performed 71 surgeries. Photos and Report.

The following centres conducted free eye camps:

WordPress Tables

* through Chengalpattu centre

 

News of Branch Centres (Outside India)

Dhaka (Bangladesh) centre conducted a medical camp at Langalbandh in Narayanganj district on 24 March on the occasion of Ashtami Snana, an annual bathing festival, at Brahmaputra River. Photos and Report

 

Values Education and Youth Programmes

Delhi centre held 36 values education workshops between 11 and 27 April, which were attended by 2927 teachers. The workshops were held in 8 states apart from Chandigarh and Delhi.

Taki Ashrama held a students’ convention on 11 April in which about 200 students from different high schools in Taki took part.

Salem centre conducted a three-day residential values education programme from 26 to 28 April which was attended by 220 students from 8 schools.

Swachchha Bharat Abhiyan (Clean India Campaign)

On 29 March, about 400 students of the polytechnic of Chennai Students’ Home cleaned the campus of Sri Kapaleeshwarar Temple, Chennai, after the celebration of an annual festival there. Photos and Report.

Kamarpukur centre conducted a cleanliness drive at Kamarpukur village on 29 April.

Mangaluru Ashrama conducted the following activities in April: (i) five cleanliness drives in Mangaluru involving about 4000 volunteers, (ii) a campaign in which 1150 volunteers reached out to nearly 2200 households in Mangaluru and spread awareness about cleanliness, and (iii) cleanliness drives at 65 villages in Dakshina Kannada district in which about 5500 people took part.

Obituary

We record with sorrow the passing away of Swami Putananda ji (Kalipada Maharaj), head of Balaram Mandir centre, at Seva Pratishthan, Kolkata, on 9 April at 5.35 pm. He was 92 and had been suffering from liver cancer for the last few months. Initiated by Swami Virajananda ji Maharaj, he joined the Order in 1947 at Deoghar Vidyapith and received sannyasa diksha from Swami Shankarananda ji Maharaj in 1957. He served at Deoghar and Purulia centres as an assistant and Balaram Mandir centre as the head. Affectionate and kindhearted by nature, the swami was meticulous in his routine even at an advanced age. His gentle manners had endeared him to one and all.