Day: November 9, 2021

Cop26-themed ‘Eco-Diwali’ celebrated at Edinburgh’s Queen Elizabeth House

The third Diwali in the series of Diwalis started by the Scotland Chapter of Hindu Forum Britain was celebrated in the UK Government Hub in Edinburgh on 1st November 2021 (writes Ms RICHA SINHA).

The first Diwali was celebrated by the Hindu Forum Britain in the Scottish Parliament in 2019 and the second one was a Virtual Diwali Hosted Online due to Covid-19.

With a view to supporting COP26, , which started on the same day on 1st Nov 2021, HFB Scotland Chapter celebrated Eco-Diwali, highlighting through Diwali event, the salience that Hindu ethos places on respecting and protecting the environment.

The Eco-Diwali was celebrated at Queen Elizabeth house, sponsored by Ministers of the Office of the Secretary of State for Scotland.

As the UK secretary of state for Scotland was busy with Cop26 conference the event was hosted by Hon Lord Offord of Garvel, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State.

The event was attended by numerous faith Leaders and Cabinet Secretary for the Constitution, External Affairs and Culture Mr Angus Robertson and MSPs including Alex Cole-Hamilton and Pam Gosal.

The programme commenced with the Ceremonial Eco Lamp Lighting ceremony by the Guests

Mr Puneet Dwivedi, Vice president HFB with the help of his Team of Volunteers organized the most colourful celebrations and with sacred chants, traditional Indian dances, followed by speeches by dignitaries.

There were slide shows highlight community works by the temples in Scotland, spotlighting the environmental action being undertaken by the Hindu temples and organisations. 

Puneet Dwivedi welcomed guests byhighlighting the contribution of Scottish Hindu Community during COVID crisis be it amazing frontline workers like doctors and nurses to the temples who opened the kitchen to feed the vulnerable and support the key workers.

He explained how Hindu philosophy consists of eco-friendly principles and practices and has been passed down through generations.

Puneet also highlighted small and sustainable steps taken by Hindu community to protect mother earth e.g. HFB officially launched its Hindu Environmental Task Force (HETF) on 18th September to raise awareness and to support its member organisations to become increasingly more environmental; ISKCON Scotland launched the Cow care project, where Cows and Bulls will be cared for till their natural death.

This project serve as an example of sustainable agriculture by working with bulls, and most temples in Scotland signed the Environmental Charter.

Lord Offord gave the beautiful message of hope with the vaccine of light driving away the disease of darkness.

He was happy to greet his colleagues from Holyrood and pledged towards one common goal which was betterment of people of every political stride and every religion.

He had visited Mumbai recently and recollected his time when tattoo met Bollywood with dancers mixing up and  thanked Hindu Forum Britain for bringing the event to Queen Elizabeth House and wished them well in future endeavours.

Cabinet Secretary Mr Angus Robertson started by passing his best wishes from Nicola sturgeon and mentioned how he attended every single Diwali Reception when in Westminster.

He added that the Hindu traditions have deep reverence to the natural world and reminds us our actions have consequences. He Congratulated Hindu Forum Britain’s Hindu environmental task forces and said that the government was indebted for the work done by the Hindu community who have so many in the vital front line services.

Sister Jayanti From BrahmaKumari made reference to Goddess of wealth Lakshmi, and said the word comes from ‘Lakshan’ which means virtues and reminded us of the wealth of virtues.

As much as we clean home we should clean our Inner beings and environment of pollution so wealth of virtues can come to our lives to create a better world. She ended her speech with ‘Om Shanti’ which means lets there be world peace.

Lord Wallace, moderator of the Church of Scotland spoke of the Vigil that took place in George Square and common hope and congratulated all faith organisations to come together to spread the message of hope.

Maulana Imam Syed Razazvi thanked HFB president Mrs Trupti Patel and Hindu community and reiterated that we are friends and we can always rely on each other.

The program was interspersed by elegant and graceful Indian classical Dance performances by Theiya Arts, where the performers (Ms Himadri Madan, Ms Nandini Manjunath, Ms Karen Watts & Ms Tharanga Wickramsinghe) presented an Indian and Sri Lankan classical forms dedicated to mother earth and our environment: this dance form has evolved from the natural world around us, as a way to embody nature and our environment and incorporate it into our being and storytelling.

HFB president Ms Trupti Patel,  sent video message as she couldn’t attend the event. In her video message she highlighted the connection between celtic people and vedic people and how Scottish Hindu Community can work together by taking steps to preserve our environment.

Mr Mithilesh Vaddiparthi, who holds a guinness world records in singing sung the beautiful devotional song   “Vaishnav Jan To..” and ended his singing with traditional rendition and the foot tapping “Jai ho “

MSP Alex-Cole Hamilton, who has become quite the favourite of the Hindu Diaspora in Edinburgh, with his past heartfelt speeches lured the audience with his Indian greeting of ‘Namaste’ ‘Om Shanti ‘ and Jai Shri Ram. He highlighted that Diwali is also time to triumph of light over ignorance over climate change.

Pam Gosal in her speech mentioned how the first 2 Indian Scottish Ministers joining the Scottish Parliament and the First Hindu Minister in Sandesh Gulhane has added to the Diversity in Parliament.

Finally  HFB Scotland Chapter Diwali brochures were launched by the Minsiters, Cabinet Secreteary, MSP & Armed forces officials

The vote of Thanks was given by Richa Sinha who spoke about what it means for her to be a Scottish Hindu and thanked the leadership in creating an atmosphere where she could take pride in her Scottish Hindu Identity and contribute to the diversity of this great nation.

Hindu Forum Britain are proud to carry out the 3rd consecutive Diwali Celebration and hope the tradition will continue in the years to come and bring the Diverse Scottish Hindu community together with all faiths working together for the betterment of the nation.

This Diwali reception by Hindus in Scotland hosted by HFB Scotland is the only event that encompasses and invites members and peers from all political parties to share the colourful and wondrous Diwali celebration with Hindu community leaders, religious leaders and leading figures from businesses across Britain.

The spirit of hope, friendship, religious tolerance peace and harmony that Deepavali embodies is really quite profound and resonates with people of all faiths.

UK boost to advance gender equality in climate action

COP President Alok Sharma will announce how £165 million of UK funding will progress gender equality while tackling climate change

  • Two new programmes to boost women’s climate leadership and support those most vulnerable to climate change.
  • Ministers and representatives from private sector and civil society from across the world will meet at Gender Day at COP26 to announce new commitments which address the links between climate action and gender equality.

At its COP26 Gender Day today (Tuesday 9 November), the UK will announce £165 million to tackle climate change while addressing the inequalities that make women and girls more vulnerable to climate change and empowering them to take climate action.

Around the world, the UN has found that women are more vulnerable to the effects of climate change than men, in part because they constitute a large majority of the world’s poor and often depend on small-scale farming for a livelihood, which is particularly vulnerable to climate change. Women and children can comprise 80% of those displaced by climate-related disaster. But addressing gender inequality has also been proven to advance efforts to tackle climate change.

£165 million in UK funding will drive forward these aims:

  • up to £45 million to help empower local communities and grassroots women’s groups in Asia and the Pacific to challenge gender inequalities and adapt to the impacts of climate change.
  • £120 million to build resilience, prevent pollution, protect biodiversity, strengthen renewable energy and better manage waste, while also supporting women’s leadership, access to finance, education and skills in Bangladesh.

The chair of the flagship Gender Day event, UK International Champion on Adaptation and Resilience for the COP26 Presidency, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, said: “It is women, girls and those who are already most marginalised, that will be most severely impacted by climate change. But they also have a critical role to play to address the climate crisis.

“The UK is committed to addressing this dual challenge head on, committing new funding to empower communities and women’s groups to take locally-led adaptation action, to build local, national and global resilience. I urge more countries to make commitments to implement the UNFCCC Gender Action Plan and deliver the goals of the Feminist Action for Climate Justice.”

Through its COP26 Presidency, the UK has been urging countries around the world to put gender equality at the heart of climate action, and will today convene ministers and other actors to discuss new action to tackle gender and climate change. A number of countries and stakeholders will also announce bold new gender and climate commitments today.

The UK will jointly launch a toolkit on gender-smart climate finance. Co-led by CDC, the UK’s Development Finance Institution, the toolkit will improve understanding on the opportunities of gender-sensitive climate investment by providing guidance to the finance community on how to deliver climate outcomes while promoting gender equality and women’s economic opportunities.

Fatou Jeng, Founder, Clean Earth Gambia and Co-Lead YOUNGO Women and Gender working group, said: “Gender inequality creates additional burdens and barriers for women and girls during times of conflict and climate-related crisis which increases their risks of hunger, food insecurity and violence. But women play fundamental roles in local food systems and are carers and activists, which make them uniquely placed to drive longer term climate resilience.

“Women should be involved in the policy making, project planning and implementation of climate adaptation projects, and gender equality should be a key portion in climate financing. If gender equality is not taken as a serious issue in our climate decision-making, climate financing and climate adaptation processes, it will undermine opportunities for women in vulnerable communities to drive effective climate change adaptation and mitigation approaches that meet their needs.”

COP26 President Alok Sharma and Anne-Marie Trevelyan will host the UK’s Presidency Gender Day event accompanied by Little Amal, the 3.5 metre puppet travelling 8,000km in support of refugees, and Brianna Fruean, a Samoan Climate Change activist.

The First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, will speak along with youth advocate Fatou Jeng, UN Women Deputy Executive Director Asa Regner and Indigenous activist Tarcila Rivera Zea, for a discussion on how to enable gender equality through climate actions. The Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, will also address the event.

Minister for Europe and the Americas, Wendy Morton, will also announce the UK’s new commitment to develop a FCDO girls’ education and climate policy to help secure concerted global action on climate change in the education sector, to prevent climate change disrupting girls’ education and empowering girls to take climate action.

This follows COP26 Youth and Public Empowerment Day last week, where the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy for Girls’ Education Helen Grant announced support for girls’ education in the face of climate change. This includes an £85,000 research grant to support the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre. The Centre will produce better information on the education needs of refugee children to enable a more effective international response.

Pharmacies delivering swift patient care

More than 2 million consultations with NHS Pharmacy First

An innovative NHS community pharmacy service has helped see patients quickly and relieve pressure on A&E units and GP surgeries by sparing the NHS 200,000 avoidable appointments for the treatment of urinary tract and skin infections in the last year.

The NHS Pharmacy First network of more than 1,200 community pharmacies are the first port of call for minor ailments and common clinical conditions. The NHS Pharmacy First Scotland service has carried out over 2 million consultations since the launch of the service in July 2020.

The service provides free access to a consultation with an appropriately qualified member of the pharmacy team who provides advice on self-care, referral to another part of the NHS if they feel it is necessary and, if appropriate, will provide treatment. 

The community pharmacist can also treat certain conditions such as urinary tract infections, shingles and impetigo without the need for a prescription or to see a doctor. This is part of a co-ordinated series of measures to improve patient care and help reduce demand on A&E.

Pharmacists in the network have taken more than 200,000 appointments in the last year which would otherwise have gone to GP surgeries or hospital A&E departments.

Since its launch at the height of the pandemic, only 4% of patients needed to be referred on to another healthcare professional, such as a GP or hospital unit. The majority were handled by the pharmacy team, advice on self-care or with treatment.

Health Secretary Humza Yousaf said: “Community pharmacists are playing a fantastic role in ensuring that millions of people have their minor ailment needs addressed quickly, without needing to go to a GP or hospital. They are a prime example of getting the right care in the right place at the right time.

“This is particularly helpful as our NHS faces one of the most difficult winters in its history, with the NHS Pharmacy First service helping to relieve some of the current pressures faced by emergency departments. As community pharmacy staff continue to give care and advice during the busy winter period, please continue to be kind and patient.

“The Scottish Government introduced the NHS Pharmacy First service, backed by £10 million of investment. As part of the NHS Recovery Plan we will look to expand the range of common clinical conditions that can be treated by community pharmacists, avoiding unnecessary GP and out of hours appointments.

“We have also committed to establishing a community pharmacy hospital discharge and medicines reconciliation service to help speed up the process for people being discharged from hospital. New digital solutions such as ePrescribing and eDispensing will make prescribing paperless and free up capacity for healthcare professionals to see more patients, while making it easier for the public to access their medicines quickly and safely.”

NHS Pharmacy First Scotland launched on 29 July 2020, and is designed to encourage everyone to visit their community pharmacy as the first port of call for all minor illnesses and specific common clinical conditions.