- Vaishnava Center for Enlightenment
The Vaishnava Center for Enlightenment (founded 1994) is an organization based in
East Lansing, Michigan . It is a signatory to a wide range of public resolutions and petitions and works towards creating awareness on certain issues.The centre has worked on issues such as :
-Urging Congress to support civil liberties [http://www.aila.org/content/default.aspx?bc=6714%7C6866%7C17547%7C11631] [ [http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2004/06/16/usdom8771.htm Asking Congress to Support the Civil Liberties Restoration Act (Human Rights Watch, 16-6-2004) ] ]
-Ending the genocide inDarfur ,Sudan [ [http://www.savedarfur.org/about/signatories] Dead link|date=March 2008] .
-Meeting the demands of theNarmada Bachao Andolan and halting the construction of the Maheshwar and Narmada dam projects [ [http://www.narmada.org/maheshwar/april.1999.ngo.declaration.html Resolution Of International Ngo'S On Maheshwar Dam ] ] [ [http://www.narmada.org/sardar-sarovar/wbletter.19991110.html IRN's Narmada Campaign: NGO Letter to World Bank on SSP ] ] ,
-Promoting harmony and dialogue between Hindus Muslims , as well as opposing communalism and human rights violations [http://www.promiseofindia.org/AppealList.cfm?SortOption=DateEntered&SortAscending=1] [ [http://www.southasian.org.uk/intro_conference.html South Asian Development Partnership, UK ] ] [ [http://nrisahi.ektaonline.org/press/091202.htm NRI's for a Secular and Harmonious India ] ] .
The center opposed allegedly revisionist edits proposed by two Hindu organizations in California's textbook curriculum (see
Californian Hindu textbook controversy ), and has been active in interfaith dialogue [ [http://www.motherstrust.org/interfaithstudies.htm Welcome to The Lakeshore Interfaith Institute of Mother's Trust ] ] .The Vaishnava Center was awarded the Bahadur Shah Zafar Award For Promoting Pluralism and Communal Harmony in India by the
Indian Muslim Council-USA in 2004. [ [http://www.milligazette.com/Archives/2004/16-31Aug04-Print-Edition/163108200433.htm IMC-USA’s annual awards, The Milli Gazette, Vol.5 No.16, MG110 (16-31 Aug 04) ] ]Shrikumar Poddar was one of three founding trustees of the
Bharatiya Temple of Lansing [ [http://lansingtemple.org/about/history.html history ] ] , who established the temple as a non-profit organization in January 1982.References
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