The al jazerra post was a cut down version of the Hi India full article that I posted earlier.
Here is both the link for Hi India article and the full article - now find fault with them. http://hiindialive.com/?p=42868 Vedic Pandits go 'missing' in US, reports Hi India IANS Chicago, January 26, 2014 | UPDATED 16:36 IST In a shocking revelation, as many as 163 Indians, most of them brought to the US as teenagers from villages in northern India to be trained into Vedic Pandits by two institutions set up by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi of transcendental meditation fame, appear to have gone missing over the last 12 months. Of the 1,050 young Indians brought to the Maharishi Vedic City and the Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa, 163 - some of them just 19 years old - have gone missing in the last one year, Hi India, a Chicago-based weekly newspaper for the Indian community, reported in its latest issue. Both the Vedic city and the university are owned by the late Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's family. According to the report, the management running these places did not even care to trace the missing people. Even the Global Country of World Peace (GCWP), one of the many teaching centres set up by the India-born spiritual guru, does not know about the plight or flight of these Vedic scholars called 'world peace professionals'. "They have jumped the fence for immigration purposes or for chasing their American Dream," the newspaper quoted the varsity bosses as saying. The GCWP runs a Vedic Pandit programme claiming to "bring about peace on earth where there will be no war". Under the project to recruit Maharishi Vedic Pandits, publicity literature is distributed in Indian villages, mostly in Hindi speaking areas, among people living under the poverty line. Children are enrolled with the permission of their parents, who are promised that their wards would be given education up to 12th standard, after which they would be turned into Pandits or masters of the art of Hindu religious rites and services. After some 10 to 15 years, the qualified Pandits are supposed to have a choice to either remain with the organisation and make a living, or leave the centre and work outside on their own. Investigations by Hi India have found that the kids of the programme, enrolled at the tender age of five years, were rarely provided education beyond fifth standard. After investigation by the newspaper, it came to light that these Vedic Pandits were brought to the US from India and were kept in makeshift trailer homes to be guarded by round-the-clock guards. When contacted, most officials of the Maharishi's Fairfield complex refused to comment. Only one of them suggested that these students might have "run away for immigration purposes". According to one Pandit, before the visa application at the US embassy in India, a contract is prepared and signed by the organization and the concerned Pandit for rules, regulations and compensation. The Pandits are initially sent to the US for two years, and thereafter, either their visa is extended for six more months or they are sent back and recalled for two more years. According to the report, a contract is drafted in English but the copy is neither given to Pandits nor is it translated or explained to the fifth-grader emigrants who do not even understand English. The contract states that they will be given $50 compensation while in the US and another $150 in India. This $150 is not given on a monthly basis to the families of the Pandits but, rather, is considered as bond money. "If the Pandit 'behaves well', his so-called compensation for two years is given to him or his family on his return from the US. The contract is prepared in a way to obtain visa," the report said. According to the newspaper, if the management of the Vedic City finds out that some Pandits are desperate to leave the US, a mock travel plan is chalked out and the Pandits are taken in a van to Chicago's O'Hare airport and dropped at the entry gate. After asking them to wait till the aircraft arrives while the van driver goes around and comes back in a short while. According to one Pandit who was about to flee, "some of the strong-willed Pandits run away from the airport for better prospects and the rest of them are picked up by the driver and taken back to the Vedic City". According to sources in the Indian consulate in Chicago, in a situation where an Indian passport holder is considered or presumed gone missing and his passport is left behind, it has to be returned immediately to the nearest Indian mission which has to also be informed about the circumstances in which the Indian citizen went missing. The Chicago consulate, however, says the GCWP has never returned or deposited any passport and neither has it shared any missing person information. According the sheriff's department and police department of Fairfield, Iowa, no missing person report has ever been filed by the GCWP. Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/vedic-pandits-go-missing-in-us/1/339928.html -------------------------------------------- On Tue, 1/28/14, merudanda <no_re...@yahoogroups.com> wrote: Subject: [FairfieldLife] RE: The New Maharishi Effect: 10% Missing Pundits To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Date: Tuesday, January 28, 2014, 1:15 PM But let's not forget Aljazeera.com lists its address as a post office box in Dubai but has a London telephone number and has been criticized for it inflammatory comments by THE GUARDIAN and THE TIMES. I am only curious about the timing of the article . OTOH It seems to be the only topic they broadcast about MMY and nothing about Girish C.Varma Living almost my last third of my life in Eas Asia I like to rely for source info on personal contact (e.g. recent inquiring phone call to Bhopal Police++) and media info not only on the European and US ,not to forget on CCTV, RT and of course recently Aljazeera.com for diverse opinion and may say a means for survival , being sometimes in dangerous geographical spot for example. Since we talking about religion and Dawkin often.Here an interesting article about Professor Dawkins' assault on the existence of a divine being looks for evidence in all the wrong places called Blue whale in a bathtub . by Ghazi bin Muhammad H R H Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad bin Talal of Jordan(PhD from Trinity College, University of Cambridge and Al-Azhar University, Cairo.)http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2013/01/2013181262030173.html ++Dear Buck-dhamiltony2k5- gave you for your inquiring mind the addresses of the Shankaracharya in a different post For further inquiry in G.V.'case you may call SHRI SALEEM KHAN Tel.No.Office 2443205-338 and /or mobile phone 9425300081 Apologize ,you cannot give merudanda as a reference but Salim Khan,the City Superintendent of Police in charge of the case is a very friendly"guy"and telling him about your Vedic background...and worries will certainly help. BTW our movement housing do have "horse facilities" , too..just in case you do want to come over to "unifying-fieldesize" the TMO -Hostage -Holder the Chancellor of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi Vedic Vishwa Vidyalaya (Madhya Pradesh) and Maharishi University of Managementand Technology (Chhattisgarh) Chairman Maharishi Vidya Mandir Schools Group President Maharishi Institute of Management, India and Maharishi Institute of Information Technology,Director General Maharishi World Centre of Gandharva Ved and Maharishi World Capital of Peace, Brahmsthan of India and IHHO (in his humble opinion)MMY most beloved and blessed follower and according to G.V. in His divine (personal)guidance chief administrator and high priest of Maharishi Yagya technology for how many years? to Prevent the Danger that Has Not Yet Come Scientific Technology-...... ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <dhamiltony2k5@...> wrote: Thanks for the link. Finally something rises out of the fourth estate to shed some light on TM India. The article in Al Jaseera it seems was some journalism probing for substance too. Truth should be able to hold up to that. -Buck
