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Newswand: Following are the special festivals or events to be observed in the month of September at Tirumala.
September 2: First Akhanda Parayanam of Balakanda at Nada Neeranjanam and Ankurarpanam for Sodasa Dina Balakanda Parayanam
September 3-18: Shodasha Dina Balakand Parayanam Diksha will begin at Vasantha Mandapam.
September 6: Balaram Jayanti
September 9: Varaha Jayanti
September 10: Vinayaka Chaviti
September 19: Ananta Padmanabha Jayanti
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Newswand: Navaneetha Seva to Lord Venkateswara has begun on August 30 on the auspicious occasion of Sri Krishna Janmashtami.
As part of the festivities, the butter vessels were carried from Goshala by the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam chairman YV Subba Reddy and executive officer Dr KS Jawahar Reddy along with the Srivari Sevakulu in a procession and handed over them to the Archakas at Srivari temple.
Speaking to media persons later, the TTD chairman said the milk from desi Gir cows is used to make curd and through conventional methods it was churned into butter for use in the Navaneeta Seva.
He said the butter will be brought every day to the Srivari temple from the Goshala in a procession to be used in the ritual and Srivari Sevakulu will render service as processional carriers.
Earlier the Tirumala pontiff’s Sri Sri Sri Pedda Jeeyar Swamy and Sri Sri Sri Chinna Jeeyarswamy along with TTD chairman and EO inspected the butter churning exercise at the Goshala which decorated for the event richly with rangoli and flowers.
The TTD EO has presented a 1.12 kg silver vessel to carry the Navaneeta on the occasion.
Kolatam by artists, bhajans by the devotees and fancy dress by girls like Gopikas were the highlight of the Navaneeta Seva procession by Srivari Sevakulu.
Additional EO AV Dharma Reddy CVSO Gopinath Jatti, Goshala director Dr Harnath Reddy, DyEOs Ramesh Babu, Harindranath, Vijaya Saradhi, Lokanatham, Bhaskar, VGO Bali Reddy, TTD board ex member Siva Kumar, AVSOs Pavan, Gangaraju, Surendra and others were present.
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Newswand: Sri Krishnashtami has been celebrated at Tirumala and Tirupati with religious fervor on August 30.
As part of the celebrations, Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam Chairman YV Subba Reddy and executive officer Dr KS Jawahar Reddy participated in the festivities at SV Goshala in Tirupati on Monday.
After darshan of Sri Venugopal Swami, they performed pujas to a well-decorated Desi Cow and a calf amidst chanting of Veda mantras and they offered Harati.
They also performed the milching exercise and offered the milk to archakas for Abhishekam.
Thereafter they also visited Sri Venkateswara Maha mantra Japa Samarpana temple at Goshala and wrote Om Namo Venkatesaya in the book kept with the goal of gathering seven crore entries.
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Newswand: In order to facilitate seamless transfer of vehicles from one state to other, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has introduced a new registration mark for new vehicles i.e. “Bharat series (BH-series)”.
A vehicle bearing this registration mark shall not require assignment of a new registration mark when the owner of the vehicle shifts from one State to another. It means that there would be no need to re-register the vehicle when the owner relocates to other states.
Station relocation occurs with both Government and private sector employees. Such movements create a sense of unease in the minds of such employees with regard to transfer of registration from the parent state to another state. Under section 47 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, a person is allowed to keep the vehicle for not more than 12 months in any state other than the state where the vehicle is registered, but a new registration with the new state- registering authority has to be made within the stipulated time of 12 months.
A passenger vehicle user takes the following steps to re-register a vehicle:
(i) No Objection Certificate from the Parent State for assignment of a new registration mark in another state.
(ii) Assignment of new registration mark after the road tax on prorata basis is paid in the new State
(ii) Application for refund of the road tax in the parent State on pro rata basis.
This provision to get refund from the parent State on pro rata basis is a very cumbersome process and varies from one State to another.
In order to facilitate seamless transfer of vehicles, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways vide notification dated 26 Aug 2021, has introduced new registration mark for new vehicles i.e. “Bharat series (BH-series)”. A vehicle bearing this registration mark shall not require assignment of a new registration mark when the owner of the vehicle shifts from one State to another.
Format of Bharat series (BH-series) Registration Mark –
Registration Mark Format: –
YY – Year of first registration
BH- Code for Bharat Series
####- 0000 to 9999 (randomized)
XX- Alphabets (AA to ZZ)
This vehicle registration facility under “Bharat series (BH-series)” will be available on voluntary basis to Defense personnel, employees of Central Government/ State Government/ Central/ State Public Sector Undertakings and private sector companies/organizations, which have their offices in four or more States/Union territories.
The motor vehicle tax will be levied for two years or in multiple of two. This scheme will facilitate free movement of personal vehicles across States/UTs of India upon relocation to a new State/UT. After completion of the fourteenth year, the motor vehicle tax shall be levied annually which shall be half of the amount which was charged earlier for that vehicle.
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Newswand: With a noble objective of promoting usage of desi cow products, organic and natural farming in preparation of food items, Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam has implemented the scheme “Sampradaya Bhojanam” from August 26 in Tirumala.
A trial-run of it was commenced at Annamaiah Bhavan in Tirumala on August 26. It may be mentioned here that the TTD Board has resolved to prepare the Naivedyam of Sri Venkateswara Swamy with the ingredients cultivated out of Desi Cow Panchagavya products. The Prasadams prepared out of the rice, jaggery, cereals, ghee etc. produced through natural farming turned out to be delicious and received a huge response from the pilgrims as well.
On the similar lines, TTD wanted to extend the same facility even on Annaprasadam that is being served to devotees during breakfast, meals and dinner times. This trial-run will be held for eight days, up to September 2.
According to Vijayram, the natural farming expert from Vikarabad who has been working hard to bring awareness among the farming fraternity on the benefits of natural farming using Desi cow products said ”The intention is to bring back hey days for our Desi cows and natural farming techniques which used to have flourished across India some centuries ago.
“After many decades of waiting, we are very happy that a world-renowned religious organization like TTD has come forward to encourage mission. We are confident that this will bring a revolution in the natural farming area with Desi Cow products”, he said.
Food expert Rambabu who is popularly known as “Millet Rambabu” said that the “Sampradaya Bhojanam” will definitely yield fruitful results like physical and mental fitness. Terming it as ‘Amrita Bhojanam ” the food expert said, in breakfast on the first day Idlis and Upma made out of healthy rice viz. Kullakar and Kalabath were prepared and served to pilgrims. “For lunch, our Chef Gopi, who is an expert in millet delicacies preparation, has prepared 14 delicacies including Purnalu, Coconut Rice, Pulihora etc. This is what our ancestors gave to us. But we got used to the western food habits. But with the blessings of Sri Venkateswara, the golden old days are back and this is the beginning of the practice of healthy way of living,” he asserted.
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Newswand: The number of adults aged 30–79 years with hypertension has increased from 650 million to 1.28 billion in the last thirty years, according to the first comprehensive global analysis of trends in hypertension prevalence, detection, treatment and control, led by Imperial College London and WHO, and published on August 25 in The Lancet. Nearly half of these people did not know they had hypertension.
Hypertension significantly increases the risk of heart, brain and kidney diseases, and is one of the top causes of death and disease throughout the world.
The study, conducted by a global network of physicians and researchers, covered the period 1990–2019. It used blood pressure measurement and treatment data from over 100 million people aged 30–79 years in 184 countries, together covering 99 per cent of the global population, which makes it the most comprehensive review of global trends in hypertension to date.
By analysing this massive amount of data, the researchers found that there was little change in the overall rate of hypertension in the world from 1990 to 2019, but the burden has shifted from wealthy nations to low- and middle-income countries. The rate of hypertension has decreased in wealthy countries – which now typically have some of the lowest rates – but has increased in many low- or middle-income countries.
As a result, Canada, Peru and Switzerland had among the lowest prevalence of hypertension in the world in 2019, while some of the highest rates were seen in the Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Paraguay for women and Hungary, Paraguay and Poland for men.
Although the percent of people who have hypertension has changed little since 1990, the number of people with hypertension doubled to 1.28 billion. This was primarily due to population growth and ageing. In 2019, over one billion people with hypertension (82 per cent of all people with hypertension in the world) lived in low- and middle-income countries.
Significant gaps in diagnosis and treatment
Although it is straightforward to diagnose hypertension and relatively easy to treat the condition with low-cost drugs, the study revealed significant gaps in diagnosis and treatment. About 580 million people with hypertension (41 per cent of women and 51 per cent of men) were unaware of their condition because they were never diagnosed.
The study also indicated that more than half of people (53 per cent of women and 62 per cent of men) with hypertension, or a total 720 million people, were not receiving the treatment that they need. Blood pressure was controlled, which means medicines were effective in bringing blood pressure to normal ranges, in fewer than 1 in 4 women and 1 in 5 men with hypertension.
Professor Majid Ezzati, senior author of the study and Professor of Global Environmental Health at the School of Public Health at Imperial College London, said: “Nearly half a century after we started treating hypertension, which is easy to diagnose and treat with low-cost medicines, it is a public health failure that so many of the people with high blood pressure in the world are still not getting the treatment they need.”
Men and women in Canada, Iceland and the Republic of Korea were most likely to receive medication to effectively treat and control their hypertension, with more than 70 per cent of those with hypertension receiving treatment in 2019. Comparatively, men and women in sub-Saharan Africa, central, south and south-east Asia, and Pacific Island nations are the least likely to be receiving medication. Treatment rates were below 25 per cent for women, and 20 per cent for men, in a number of countries in these regions, creating a massive global inequity in treatment.
Encouragingly, some middle-income countries have successfully scaled up treatment, and are now achieving better treatment and control rates than most high-income nations. For example, Costa Rica and Kazakhstan now have higher treatment rates than most higher-income countries.
Dr Bin Zhou, a research fellow at the School of Public Health at Imperial College London, who led the analysis, said: “Although hypertension treatment and control rates have improved in most countries since 1990, there has been little change in much of sub-Saharan Africa and Pacific Island nations. International funders and national governments need to prioritize global treatment equity for this major global health risk.”
New WHO guideline for hypertension treatment
The ‘WHO Guideline for the pharmacological treatment of hypertension in adults’, also released on August 25, provides new recommendations to help countries improve the management of hypertension.
Dr Taskeen Khan, of WHO’s Department of Noncommunicable Diseases, who led the guideline development, said: “The new global guideline on the treatment of hypertension, the first in 20 years, provides the most current and relevant evidence-based guidance on the initiation of medicines for hypertension in adults.”
The recommendations cover the level of blood pressure to start medication, what type of medicine or combination of medicines to use, the target blood pressure level, and how often to have follow-up checks on blood pressure. In addition, the guideline provides the basis for how physicians and other health workers can contribute to improving hypertension detection and management.
Dr Bente Mikkelsen, Director of WHO’s Department of Noncommunicable Diseases added: “The need to better manage hypertension cannot be exaggerated. By following the recommendations in this new guideline, increasing and improving access to blood pressure medication, identifying and treating comorbidities such as diabetes and pre-existing heart disease, promoting healthier diets and regular physical activity, and more strictly controlling tobacco products, countries will be able to save lives and reduce public health expenditures.”
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Newswand: Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam will start the sale of Agarbattis made from used flower of garlands of TTD temples by first week of September.
TTD executive officer Dr KS Jawahar Reddy informed it on August 23. Addressing a review meeting on the activities of SV Go Samrakshanasala and Ayurveda college with the concerned officials, the TTD EO said that the Agarbattis (incense sticks) should be sold at Tirumala laddu counters, coconut counters, Goshala, Sri Padmavati temple at Tiruchanoor, Sri Govindaraja swamy temple, Vishnu Nivasam and Srinivasam in Tirupati.
TTD has begun the manufacturing of Agarbattis in Tirupati in collaboration with Bangalore based Darshan International Limited.
He said TTD has also tied up with Coimbatore based Ashirwad company for production of 15 types of Pancha Gavya products.
He directed the officials to finalise terms and conditions of the deal and also to complete all civil and electrical works in the DPW stores.
TTD EO also reviewed the licensing, packing and marketing of the Pancha Gavya products. He asked officials to ready prominent Pancha Gavya products for markets viz. Divya Mangala- Dhoop Churnam, Agarbatti, Sambhrani cups, Dhoop sticks, Dhoop cones, Aishwarya-Vibhuti, Parimala- Herbal Toothpowder, Face pack, Soap, Shampoo, Sanjivini- Nasal drops, Go-thirtha- Go Ark, Pavani-Herbal floor cleaner, Gopala- Cow dung cake, Cow dung balls etc.
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Newswand: The month-long spiritual programme, Sakala Karya Siddhi Srimad Ramayana Parayanam concluded on a religious note at Vasanta Mandapam in Tirumala on August 23.
Speaking on the occasion, additional executive officer of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam AV Dharma Reddy said that as a part of the efforts to fight against ill effects of Covid some spiritual programmes have been taken up from April, 2020. “Ramayana Parayanam is one such programme, which commenced on July 25 and 16 Vedic scholars recited important slokas from various kandas of Ramayana every day while another 16 Ritwiks performed Japa-Homams at Dharmagiri Veda Vignana Peetham simultaneously”.
He said that we were able to overcome the ill effects of Covid first wave and second wave by reciting the slokas from Sundarakanda and Yuddhakanda. As the scientists and doctors are warning about the possibility of a third-wave, TTD would take up Balakanda Parayanam from epic Ramayana from September 2 onwards.
Meanwhile, all the important slokas from all kandas of Ramayanam were recited during these 30 days. The deities of Sri Ramachandra Murthy with Sita Devi and Sri Lakshmana Swamy were rendered Unjal Seva in the Vasanta Mandapam. The idols of Anjana Devi with Sri Bala Anjaneya Swamy were also placed in the Mandapam.
Dr K Vandana, Lecturer in SV College of Music and Dance of TTD rendered Bhavayami Raghu Ramam—a Sankeertana penned by Sri Swathi Tirunal which included all the kandas starting from Balakanda to Yuddhakanda in a mellifluous manner along with her team.
After the completion of Sloka Parayanam at Vasanta Mandapam, the Vedic scholars performed Purnahuti at Dharmagiri Veda Vignana Peetham marking the successful completion of the month-long spiritual programme.
Additional EO AV Dharma Reddy, principal of Dharmagiri Veda Vignana Peetham KSS Avadhani, CEO SVBC Suresh Kumar, SV Higher Vedic Studies Project Officer Dr A Vibhishana Sharma and other scholars were also present.
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Newswand: The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation foreign ministers have expressed deep concern about the grave events in Afghanistan and called for an immediate end to the violence.
They have also expressed deep concerns about reports of serious human rights violations and abuses across Afghanistan in a meeting on August 20. They affirmed their commitment to the statement by the UN Security Council on 16 August, and called for adherence to international norms and standards on human rights and international humanitarian law in all circumstances.
The NATO foreign minister stated that their immediate task now was to meet their commitments to continue the safe evacuation of our citizens, partner country nationals, and at-risk Afghans, in particular those who have assisted their efforts.
They called on those in positions of authority in Afghanistan to respect and facilitate their safe and orderly departure, including through Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul. As long as evacuation operations continue, they would maintain their close operational coordination through Allied military means at Hamid Karzai International Airport.
They stated that the Afghan people deserve to live in safety, security and dignity, and to build on the important political, economic and social achievements they have made over the last twenty years. They stood by civil society actors who must be able to continue to safely play their meaningful role in Afghan society.
They have called on all parties in Afghanistan to work in good faith to establish an inclusive and representative government, including with the meaningful participation of women and minority groups. Under the current circumstances, NATO has suspended all support to the Afghan authorities. Any future Afghan government must adhere to Afghanistan’s international obligations; safeguard the human rights of all Afghans, particularly women, children, and minorities; uphold the rule of law; allow unhindered humanitarian access; and ensure that Afghanistan never again serves as a safe haven for terrorists.
They said that for the last twenty years, they have successfully denied terrorists a safe haven in Afghanistan from which to instigate attacks. They would not allow any terrorists to threaten them. They would remain committed to fighting terrorism with determination, resolve, and in solidarity.
The NATO foreign minister said that they would honour the service and sacrifice of all who have worked tirelessly over the last twenty years to realise a better future for Afghanistan. Together, they would fully reflect on their engagement in Afghanistan and draw the necessary lessons. They would continue to promote the stable, prosperous Afghanistan that the Afghan people deserve and address the critical questions facing Afghanistan and the region, in the immediate future and beyond, including through their cooperation with regional and international partners, such as the European Union and United Nations.
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Newswand: Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam has postponed the release of on-line quota of Rs 300 Special Entry Darshan tickets which is scheduled on August 20 due to administrative reasons.
Every month on 20, TTD usually releases the online quota of Rs 300 ticket for the successive month.
Further date of release will be intimated to pilgrims. The devotees are requested to make note of this.
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